As Lan Xiaobu was pondering whether he might implicate Mo Wuji, he suddenly felt an indescribable aura lock onto him, stirring an inexplicable fear deep within. As his Dao charm circulated, this fear vanished without a trace.
The Great Curse Technique? Lan Xiaobu had cultivated the Great Curse Technique himself, and its Dao scroll was still in his possession. The moment this Dao principle invaded, he sensed it. It seemed this entity had realised he had little connection to Shi Changxing and thought he could be easily bullied. What a miscalculation.
Without moving, Lan Xiaobu had already used the Cosmic Dimension Model to construct a corner of the Cursed Dao City, locking onto it.
This corner of the Cursed Dao City ensured the opponent would flee before he could break through.
The entity, skilled only in curse techniques, tried to whisk him away, but after waiting for a while, Lan Xiaobu wasn’t taken. Was that Dao principle merely meant to amplify his fear? Realising this, Lan Xiaobu decided he shouldn’t appear too calm. His fingers trembled slightly, and he frantically lunged toward the outside of the Cursed Dao City.
As expected, as Lan Xiaobu rushed outward, a curse principle laced with a chilling aura wrapped tightly around his neck. The next moment, he was swept away by this curse principle.
“Bang!” When Lan Xiaobu landed, he found himself surrounded by stone walls. A sweep of his divine sense revealed he was inside a massive boulder.
In an instant, Lan Xiaobu’s domain locked onto the boulder, and arrays of void formation patterns sealed the space within.
Only then did Lan Xiaobu’s gaze fall on a corner of the boulder, where there was only a half-rotted wooden carving.
“Sacred Soul Wood?” Lan Xiaobu exclaimed in surprise. Sacred Soul Wood was no ordinary item, its value comparable to the Heavenly Poison Heart he had traded.
However, Lan Xiaobu was well aware that this Sacred Soul Wood contained a powerful remnant soul. Moreover, it could transform into a physical body at any moment, and with that body and soul combined, it would be no weaker than a cultivator with a complete physical form.
“You don’t seem too worried,” a sudden voice came from the Sacred Soul Wood. The curse principle locking onto Lan Xiaobu suddenly multiplied, as if countless hands were grasping at his Dao veins and even his soul.
A more terrifying aura surged around him, but Lan Xiaobu chuckled, tossing out a handful of formation flags. At the same time, the Longevity Dao Tree extended strands of longevity curse principles. In an instant, the curse principles infiltrating Lan Xiaobu’s body were locked by the longevity principles. With a pull of his hand, Lan Xiaobu grasped the silent curse principle as if it were a tangible object.
Despite being an invisible, colourless principle, in Lan Xiaobu’s hand, it seemed almost solid.
“You’ve also cultivated the Great Curse Technique?” The voice from the Sacred Soul Wood was filled with shock. Immediately, the entire Sacred Soul Wood turned into a grey streak and vanished from the stone chamber.
Lan Xiaobu didn’t bother to pursue. Then, he heard a muffled sound, and a three-foot-tall figure appeared before him, while the Sacred Soul Wood was gone. Lan Xiaobu knew this figure was the Sacred Soul Wood.
“You’re only at the fourth step of the Great Dao, while I’m at the fifth. Since we both cultivate the Great Curse Technique, we could be considered of the same lineage. If we fight, both sides will suffer, which benefits neither of us. It was my mistake to abduct you earlier, and I’m willing to offer compensation,” the three-foot figure said, clasping its fists toward Lan Xiaobu with a sincere tone.
But inwardly, it was terrified. This was a boundary, a cosmic boundary! To think he had abducted someone capable of setting up a cosmic boundary—had he lost his mind?
Lan Xiaobu didn’t respond. With a squeeze of his palm, the curse principle shattered into countless fragments of law. With a wave, he made them vanish completely.
The three-foot figure was stunned. Grasping a Dao principle wasn’t an issue, even for someone who hadn’t cultivated the Great Curse Technique. Many could do it with a strong enough domain and deep enough understanding of the universe’s laws.
But to seize a curse principle as Lan Xiaobu had and effortlessly turn it into countless fragments of law? Even Shi Changxing might not be capable of that.
It wasn’t that Shi Changxing was inferior to Lan Xiaobu, but that his understanding of curse principles wasn’t as profound.
“You think a mere broken fifth-step Great Dao gives you the right to negotiate with me?” Lan Xiaobu said mockingly.
“What do you want?” The Sacred Soul Wood figure was filled with endless regret. After hiding for so many years, why had it grown bold these past few days? It had nearly harmed Shi Changxing’s daughter and now provoked this young man without discernment.
Someone who could travel with Shi Changxing couldn’t be ordinary. Just the fact that he casually set up a cosmic boundary-level trapping formation meant there was no escape for it today.
“Let me see your Great Curse Technique Dao scroll,” Lan Xiaobu said calmly. He was puzzled. By logic, an origin Dao scroll should be unique and unreplicable. Since the Great Curse Technique was with him, how had this entity cultivated it?
“The Great Curse Technique Dao scroll was stolen by my beast companion. After I was gravely injured in an ambush, my incomplete body prevented me from fully cultivating the Great Curse Technique. I stayed here to absorb cultivators’ essence, blood, and Dao charm to perfect my body and, in turn, the Great Curse Technique,” the Sacred Soul Wood figure said earnestly.
“Your beast companion? What kind of beast companion?” Lan Xiaobu was surprised.
The figure replied, “You may not believe it, but my beast companion was a Nine-Headed Serpent, one of the top sacred beasts. I treated it like my disciple. My name is Fang Zhiqian, and I named it Fang Jiuying. But this beast was rotten to the core. Despite giving it my all, it betrayed me. Not only did it ambush me when I was injured, but it also stole my Great Curse Technique and a curse Dao seed.”
Fang Jiuying? Lan Xiaobu thought of Fang Zhifan and was almost certain they were the same.
Fang Zhifan, a true curse sage, had a face as pale as paper, a lanky bamboo-like body, and an aura of malice with sinister eyes. No matter how you looked at him, he didn’t seem like a good person.
Unexpectedly, this figure was the Nine-Headed Serpent incarnate. However, Lan Xiaobu suspected Fang Zhifan’s serpent body had also been destroyed. Through some opportunity, it had gained a true physical body, only to be later possessed by Kun Wei. These two cunning old foxes were well-matched.
Lan Xiaobu also understood why his curse Dao always felt incomplete—it was likely due to the curse Dao seed. He possessed the curse Dao seed but hadn’t used it to comprehend the curse Dao. Moreover, he didn’t treat the Great Curse Technique as his core Dao, only cultivating it as a divine ability.
To perfect his Great Curse Technique, he didn’t need Fang Zhiqian at all—just the curse Dao seed would suffice.
“Your information is useless to me. In that case, you can die,” Lan Xiaobu decided to eradicate the Great Curse Technique today. By killing Fang Zhiqian, as long as he didn’t leak the Great Curse Technique, it would effectively be extinct.
“Friend, spare me! I’m willing to offer my soul imprint to you, placing my life and death in your hands,” Fang Zhiqian, sensing Lan Xiaobu’s killing intent, said urgently.
He knew that, despite being at the fifth step of the Great Dao, his incomplete body and Dao made him as easy to kill as a chicken for Lan Xiaobu.
Lan Xiaobu chuckled, “You think I’d care about such a filthy thing? The Great Curse Technique ends with you.”
“Friend, do you know why Ku Yichi didn’t kill me back then? He destroyed the Cursed Dao City but spared my life. Would you believe me if I said I escaped?” Fang Zhiqian called out desperately.
Lan Xiaobu didn’t believe it, of course. Ku Yichi was at the seventh step of the Great Dao. Killing a mere Fang Zhiqian shouldn’t have taken much effort.
“Because I taught Ku Yichi the Great Curse Technique, fully and completely. So even if you kill me, the Great Curse Technique won’t vanish,” Fang Zhiqian said rapidly, fearing Lan Xiaobu might act without warning.
“Ku Yichi is extremely ambitious. He even wants to overthrow the Dao Ancestor and unify the Great Universe. Though he never said it, I’m confident in my ability to read people. I’ve cultivated the Great Curse Technique for years, and countless have died under it, so my grasp of human nature is unmatched. I can help you. With your talent and opportunities, plus my assistance, you can achieve anything effortlessly. You won’t need to act yourself—just tell me, and I’ll handle everything perfectly,” Fang Zhiqian’s voice was not only sincere but carried a desperate yearning for survival.
