Lan Xiaobu was intimately familiar with One Pure Saint City, but this time, instead of entering, he stopped in a wilderness millions of miles away.
Fearing Guan Chong might track Guan Yuxue to this location, Lan Xiaobu didn’t bring her out. Instead, he decisively entered the Cosmic Dimension Model.
“Who are you?” Guan Yuxue demanded loudly upon seeing him, but halfway through, she hesitated, “Wait, who are *you*?”
Lan Xiaobu waved his hand, and Tai Chuan, from the Longevity Realm, appeared before her. Tai Chuan looked at her disdainfully, “Back then, your Grandpa Chuan warned you not to mess with me, but you didn’t listen. Look at you now—a prisoner.”
“You’re Boss Bu?” Guan Yuxue blurted out in urgency.
She didn’t know Lan Xiaobu’s name, but Tai Chuan had repeatedly warned her that Boss Bu would come for it and not to oppose him. She never imagined she’d actually meet this Boss Bu, let alone fall into his hands.
With a gesture, Lan Xiaobu brought the bound Heavenly Poison Saint before him like a tattered sandbag.
“Boss Bu, I’m truly innocent in this,” the Heavenly Poison Saint pleaded respectfully upon seeing Lan Xiaobu.
He sighed inwardly, realizing he’d guessed correctly—Lan Xiaobu had indeed come. Even a sixth-step Great Dao expert was his subordinate, doing his bidding. Lan Xiaobu was a force to be reckoned with wherever he went. If Mo Wuji joined him, the two together might soon dominate the Great Universe, renaming it the Mo-Lan Universe.
“Innocent? Heh, I haven’t settled the score for you letting Qin Qingtian escape in the Bailing Universe. And then you colluded with him in the Great Derivation Realm—explain that,” Lan Xiaobu’s voice was icy, making the Heavenly Poison Saint shudder.
Why had he been foolish enough to ally with Qin Qingtian? Even if the Great Derivation Realm hadn’t been taken by Guan Chong, he and Qin Qingtian would’ve been caught by Lan Xiaobu eventually. Someone who could operate in the Great Universe, destroy the Holy Sword Palace, and capture him in a mid-tier universe—how could he not catch the Heavenly Poison Saint?
Hearing Lan Xiaobu’s words, the Heavenly Poison Saint wanted to argue but found no remotely valid excuse. In front of someone like Lan Xiaobu, excuses were meaningless. He sighed, resigned to his fate. Given his half-hearted efforts back then, Lan Xiaobu would never take him as a subordinate.
“You captured me, but my grandfather will eventually find out it was you. The True Derivation Holy Dao will hunt you down, and there’ll be no place for you in the Great Universe,” Guan Yuxue said, calming down. She knew her life was in Lan Xiaobu’s hands, and Nine Infants was clearly his subordinate. Even if her grandfather knew her location, he couldn’t save her in time.
Lan Xiaobu ignored her, reaching out to seize the ring from her hand. His divine sense probed it, bombarding it with various Dao principles. In just half an incense stick’s time, he stripped away all its outer restrictions.
Instead of immediately probing the ring with his divine sense, he began inscribing boundary Dao principles and refining the Great Derivation Realm ring.
As Lan Xiaobu refined the Great Derivation Realm, Tai Chuan kept watch over Guan Yuxue and the Heavenly Poison Saint.
“Tai Chuan, I treated you well, didn’t I? I sent you to the auction but never mistreated you,” Guan Yuxue said, trying to find a breakthrough through Tai Chuan as Lan Xiaobu refined the realm.
Tai Chuan sneered, “That’s because you weren’t worthy of making your Grandpa Chuan recognize you as master. Originally, Boss Bu might not have killed you, but you killed Sister Qingshan, so don’t expect to keep your life.”
“I didn’t kill Yi Qingshan,” Guan Yuxue protested immediately.
Tai Chuan scoffed, “You think that old fossil Guan Chong will live much longer? He’s been too comfortable and dared to provoke Boss Bu and your Grandpa Chuan.”
Guan Yuxue closed her eyes. Saying her grandfather wouldn’t live long? Who would dare say that?
The Heavenly Poison Saint, silent beside her, suspected Tai Chuan’s words might be true. Back then, Lan Xiaobu and Mo Wuji nearly took down Qin Qingtian together. Now, Lan Xiaobu could command a sixth-step expert, destroy the Holy Sword Palace, rescue Tai Chuan, and openly abduct him and Guan Yuxue from the True Derivation Holy Dao. Lan Xiaobu was likely at the fourth step of the Great Dao—an astonishing progression.
With such growth, eliminating Guan Chong didn’t seem impossible.
The Heavenly Poison Saint didn’t know that Lan Xiaobu hadn’t used Fang Zhiqian to destroy the Holy Sword Palace.
When Lan Xiaobu broke the Great Derivation Realm ring’s restrictions and began refining it, Guan Chong sensed it immediately. To his fury and madness, he couldn’t pinpoint Lan Xiaobu’s location. Clearly, Lan Xiaobu was in his own world, and it was no low-tier one.
Perhaps only a Dao Ancestor could locate him. If he gave the Great Derivation Realm’s restriction principles to a Dao Ancestor, they could find Lan Xiaobu even if he was refining it in his world.
But as a saint, getting a Dao Ancestor’s help was nearly impossible.
Then, Guan Chong thought of someone. He bowed to Ku Yichi, “Emperor Ku, I spoke rashly earlier due to concern for my granddaughter. Please forgive me.”
Ku Yichi, puzzled by the apology but seeing Guan Chong’s courtesy, returned the gesture, “Saint Guan, you’re too polite. It’s natural to be anxious in such circumstances. Fang Zhiqian has fled into the chaotic region. It’ll be hard for him to emerge. If he doesn’t die there, he might reach the seventh step. But whether he does or not, if he dares show himself, the Central Heavenly Court will capture him.”
Guan Chong thanked him again, then said, “Emperor Ku, I just sensed someone breaking my granddaughter’s world, but I can’t track their location…”
Before he finished, Ku Yichi understood, smiling wryly, “A Dao Ancestor’s time is precious. I’m just a minor Heavenly Emperor—I can’t summon one.”
Guan Chong was asking for a Dao Ancestor’s help, which was out of the question. If everything required a Dao Ancestor, there’d be no need for a Heavenly Court.
Guan Chong quickly clarified, “I don’t mean to ask a Dao Ancestor but Venerable Shi Changxing.”
Only Ku Yichi, as Heavenly Emperor, knew Shi Changxing’s whereabouts, so Guan Chong sought his help.
“Saint Guan, Shi Changxing might be connected to Fang Zhiqian. How could he help?” Li Jie, the Broken Ruins Holy Dao’s saint envoy, asked skeptically.
Guan Chong explained, “The connection to Shi Changxing is just our speculation, based solely on a chaos unicorn. What if there’s no connection? Even if there is, I believe Venerable Shi wouldn’t send someone to abduct my granddaughter.”
Not long ago, Guan Chong had declared in the True Derivation Holy Dao that even Shi Changxing couldn’t disregard justice. Now, needing his help, he reversed his stance—a classic case of words bending to convenience.
No one called him out.
Ku Yichi nodded, “I recently received word that Venerable Shi has arrived in Anluo Heavenly City, likely planning to stay for a while. Since Saint Guan wishes to meet him, let’s go there together.”
With Ku Yichi, the Heavenly Emperor, they could return to Anluo Heavenly City swiftly within the Central World.
As Ku Yichi said, Shi Changxing had just arrived in Anluo Heavenly City to have his daughter, Shi Wanrong, attend the Immortality Conference. Afterward, he planned to help her reach the sixth step of the Great Dao.
Moreover, he wanted Shi Wanrong to gain experience by meeting various people. Otherwise, if she encountered another sect like the Great Ice Palace, could he always be by her side?
Since Shi Changxing was already attending the Immortality Conference, Ku Yichi easily met him at Jinluo Tower.
Hearing Guan Chong and Ku Yichi, Shi Changxing frowned, suspecting the infiltrator was Lan Xiaobu. But he had no proof, only that Fang Zhiqian was involved. When he left the Cursed Dao City, both Lan Xiaobu and Fang Zhiqian were there, and they could have allied.
What puzzled him was Fang Zhiqian’s sixth-step Great Dao status with no Dao flaws. First, Fang Zhiqian couldn’t have perfected his Dao so quickly. Second, Lan Xiaobu couldn’t have enlisted him. So, he doubted it was Lan Xiaobu.
Besides, if it was Lan Xiaobu, such extreme measures weren’t necessary. Shi Changxing had given him an identity token, allowing Lan Xiaobu to use his name in the True Derivation Holy Dao. If they had detained Lan Xiaobu’s friend, his name could secure their release.
No—Shi Changxing soon realized it was almost certainly Lan Xiaobu. He recalled Lan Xiaobu rescuing someone from the Great Ice Palace, likely the chaos unicorn. It dawned on him: Lan Xiaobu had played him.
