“The Jicheng World,” the guard said with a chuckle, “they got lucky. Just when they were about to be wiped out, Ling Zhuzhen somehow defeated the Tianmeng Clan. The Tianmeng Clan found the Jicheng World a tough nut to crack, so they invaded other human worlds first. The Jicheng World, surprisingly, survived. Though they sealed off their own world, when the Tianmeng Clan finishes off the other worlds, they’ll still be destroyed. Facing the Tianmeng Clan’s invasion, the human cultivators of the Great Cosmos have united like never before. The Jicheng World’s selfish and self-serving actions are despicable.”
Lan Xiaobu fell silent, a faint killing intent in his eyes. If he had previously thought the issue with the teleportation array had little to do with Ling Zhuzhen and was mostly Yang Tian’s fault from the Great Wilderness World, he now felt that assumption might be wrong.
What if Ling Zhuzhen was colluding with the Tianmeng Clan?
But when he and Mo Wuji were invited by Pei Qionghu to help, Ling Zhuzhen was clearly being beaten to death by the Tianmeng Clan. Collusion seemed unlikely. Yet after he and Mo Wuji teleported away, Ling Zhuzhen not only held off the Tianmeng Clan but was now safe and sound.
Just as Lan Xiaobu was pondering this, hundreds of warships, like flashes of lightning, approached from the distance. In the blink of an eye, dozens of warships lined up in the void plaza, completely surrounding Lan Xiaobu and the others.
Each warship was at least ten thousand zhang long and several thousand zhang wide, essentially a mobile fortress. Atop these warships stood densely packed soldiers.
The soldiers on the hundred warships numbered at least a million in total.
There were two types of soldiers: one type were normal human soldiers wielding long swords or spears, and the other had human faces but beastly bodies, clearly Tianmeng Clan soldiers. These Tianmeng Clan soldiers exuded powerful auras, each holding magical treasures of various designs, though long sabres were the most common.
Additionally, each warship was equipped with an array of rule-based cannons.
“Tianmeng…” All the cultivators guarding the Seven Heavens’ exit were stunned, their voices trembling, unable to control their emotions.
Not long ago, they were certain the Tianmeng Clan couldn’t reach this place from the outside in such a short time. Reality had quickly slapped them in the face.
“Was it Lan Xiaobu or Mo Wuji who just arrived here?” a tall Tianmeng Clan man stepped forward.
Hearing this, Lan Xiaobu immediately realised these forces hadn’t come here by chance but because he had arrived.
Lan Xiaobu stepped forward, “I’m Lan Xiaobu. From your words, it seems you’re here specifically for me.”
The tall Tianmeng Clan man sized up Lan Xiaobu before saying, “Originally, we planned to wipe out all human cultivators here in one fell swoop, but your arrival prompted us to surround this place early.”
This confirmed Lan Xiaobu’s suspicions.
The Seven Heavens had always believed they controlled this exit of the Great Cosmos in the short term, thinking they could retreat from here if the battle turned against them.
But the truth was, a massive ambush had been set up outside the exit, waiting to trap them.
When the Seven Heavens led human cultivators to escape through here, they’d be caught in the ambush.
Clearly, the Tianmeng Clan had no intention of letting any human cultivator not aligned with them leave the Great Cosmos alive.
As Lan Xiaobu spoke, he had already activated the Cosmic Mill.
However, his Cosmic Mill wasn’t aimed at these enemies yet but at completely locking down this space. They didn’t want him to leave, and he similarly didn’t want them to escape. Soon, he’d show them why the Cosmic Mill was named so.
Moreover, he began inscribing void array patterns. In a short time, he had set up a simple trapping array around the void plaza.
“Lan Xiaobu, hand over the item belonging to Mengmu Dayan’s Ancestor Hui Zhi, and we won’t touch you. Otherwise, under ten thousand rule cannons, even if you’re at the ninth step of the Great Dao, you won’t escape,” said a woman.
Her cultivation was at most the fourth step of the Great Dao, but from her armour and the nearly invisible rule-based protective patterns floating around her, Lan Xiaobu knew she was from the Weiju World.
Lan Xiaobu chuckled, “No wonder such a grand setup. So, Hui Zhi sent you. And you lot…” His gaze fell on the tech-cultivator army from the Weiju World, “You’re wearing human skin, yet you serve the Tianmeng Clan. I’ve seen shamelessness, but garbage as low as you is rare. Where’s Jing Xizhen? Doesn’t he know sending you here is sending you to your deaths?”
If he hadn’t cultivated his own Great Dao, let alone these tech soldiers with rule-breaking swords and guns, even those rule cannons could probably take him down.
He found it hard to understand. Knowing he cultivated his own Great Dao, rendering the Great Cosmos’ rule-breaking methods useless against him, why would Jing Xizhen send so many to surround and kill him? Were they here to die? And Hui Zhi’s status must be high, to mobilise the Tianmeng Clan’s army ambushing the Seven Heavens’ retreat so quickly for that chaotic world ring.
“You’re not worthy of facing our Dao Ancestor,” the woman replied, seemingly unfazed by Lan Xiaobu’s words, her tone still calm.
Lan Xiaobu was stunned. Why weren’t they attacking? But he soon realised they were waiting for stronger forces to arrive. This cultivator army was only here to ensure he didn’t escape.
If he had learned about the Great Cosmos’ situation here and chosen not to enter, no amount of troops could have stopped him. Hui Zhi, overly fixated on his chaotic world, must have used some means to convince the Tianmeng Clan to spring the ambush early.
Hui Zhi likely deduced he might come here because he used the teleportation array to the Great Cosmos.
No matter how long it would take for Hui Zhi and the others to arrive, Lan Xiaobu quickened his array setup. He had initially set up a simple trapping array, but now he reinforced it and even added a killing array on top.
“You’re Senior Lan…” The guard who had stopped Lan Xiaobu from entering the Great Cosmos finally realised who he was and hurriedly stepped forward to bow respectfully.
Not only him, but the nearly hundred guards all came forward to pay their respects. Lan Xiaobu had deep ties with the Seven Heavens’ Dao Ancestor. Moreover, without him, they wouldn’t stand a chance against this massive Tianmeng Clan army. Now, they could only hope Lan Xiaobu could lead them to escape.
“Rule cannons, fire! Level this place!” To Lan Xiaobu’s surprise, before his killing array was complete, the woman issued the attack command.
“Everyone, fall back!” Lan Xiaobu shouted, activating his Longevity Halberd.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The rule-breaking cannons tore through the void, ripping space apart. The rules of heaven and earth here had almost no resistance against the cannons’ assault.
Despite Lan Xiaobu’s warning, half of the hundred guards were caught in the cannon waves and instantly torn to shreds. The commercial buildings and other structures on the Great Cosmos plaza were reduced to nothing under the rule cannons. The void plaza itself collapsed in large swathes.
Lan Xiaobu was secretly shocked. If the Tianmeng Clan used these rule-breaking cannons in the Great Cosmos, how could human cultivators fight back?
The booming continued, but Lan Xiaobu’s Longevity Domain had locked down this space. While the rule-breaking cannons could tear through any Seven Heavens cultivator’s domain, they couldn’t breach his.
The relentless cannon waves bombarded outside his domain, shredding the void into chaos. Spatial rules became wildly unstable, with black holes and spatial dislocations filling the area.
Lan Xiaobu confirmed there were no eighth-step powerhouses here. The strongest was a Tianmeng Clan cultivator at the sixth step of the Great Dao, close to the seventh but still a fair distance away.
Indeed, an eighth-step powerhouse wouldn’t bother ambushing in this desolate place. Even if Hui Zhi were coming, it would take time.
Lan Xiaobu’s Longevity Halberd swept out, turning dozens of Tianmeng Clan cultivators into blood mist.
“This is all you’ve got to trap me?” Lan Xiaobu chuckled, about to activate the Cosmic Mill when two blue beams shot out.
The beams struck his domain, instantly tearing it apart. A terrifying aura of death surged toward him. Lan Xiaobu, alarmed, threw a punch and retreated. His domain was shattered, and another thirty or so of the Seven Heavens guards behind him were killed.
“Rule-breaking cannon waves,” Lan Xiaobu’s heart tightened. The waves themselves weren’t terrifying. What was terrifying was that these waves were specifically targeted at his Longevity Dao principles.
Clearly, after he and Mo Wuji easily crushed the Weiju World’s rule-breaking methods last time, the Weiju World had developed these new rule-breaking cannon waves specifically to counter him and Mo Wuji.
