Ji Qu’s worry wasn’t because Lan Xiaobu was too powerful. In his eyes, their strength was more than enough to crush Lan Xiaobu. On their side, they had one Unity God, two Divine Kings, two World Gods, and he himself was also a Divine King. With such strength, Lan Xiaobu would definitely be no match.
After the upheaval in the Eternal Realm, Ji Qu, with his extraordinary talent and the full support of his family, had seen his strength grow exponentially. In a short time, he had advanced from the World God stage to the Divine King stage.
What worried him was that Lan Xiaobu might escape. Lan Xiaobu had managed to flee when the Eternal Sacred Dao, Taihan Sacred Mountain, and Myriad Dao Sacred Sect joined forces to capture him. Later, he even escaped from the Great Desolate Valley, proving just how formidable his escape skills were.
If they could hold Lan Xiaobu here for half the time it takes to burn an incense stick, the experts of the Eternal Sacred Dao would be able to arrive using escape talismans. They could then seal off the area, and no matter how capable Lan Xiaobu was, he wouldn’t be able to escape. But they had just arrived and sent out their messages when Lan Xiaobu left the market. What could they do?
In the Great Desolate Valley, some people knew that Lan Xiaobu’s strength was formidable. Unfortunately, those who weren’t captured had mostly gone into hiding, frantically secluding themselves to cultivate. Those who were captured were all in Taihan Sacred Mountain and had no connection to the Eternal Sacred Dao. So, in Ji Qu’s perception, Lan Xiaobu’s strength was still at an average level.
Several divine senses swept over Lan Xiaobu without restraint, and his disguise was completely ineffective under their scrutiny. One Divine King immediately lunged at Lan Xiaobu, fully aware of the immense rewards that capturing him would bring. He didn’t dare to think about the treasures Lan Xiaobu might have on him, but just the rewards from his sect would be enough to skyrocket his status.
Lan Xiaobu raised his hand and summoned a long blade. He thought to himself that he really needed to refine a proper magical weapon. Otherwise, this long blade just didn’t feel right in his hand.
The blade slashed through the air, and all anyone could see was a white blade light followed by a burst of blood mist. The Divine King was split in two by Lan Xiaobu’s strike. From a distance, it looked as though the Divine King had thrown himself onto Lan Xiaobu’s blade.
Ji Qu’s mouth hung open in shock. To kill a Divine King with a single, effortless strike—this was definitely not something a Divine King could do.
Feeling the overwhelming strength of Lan Xiaobu, the Unity God hesitated and didn’t immediately move to attack. Lan Xiaobu, on the other hand, ignored the Unity God and walked toward Ji Qu. “Kid, last time I captured you, I didn’t kill you. Not only did you not show gratitude, but you even came back to ambush me. You’re something else…”
“Dao Lord Lan, this matter…” Ji Qu had only managed to say a few words when he felt a terrifying aura of death lock onto him.
Ji Qu’s face twisted in fear. “Dao Lord Lan, spare me, and my Ji family will listen to you…”
Before he could finish his sentence, Lan Xiaobu’s blade swept across Ji Qu’s brow.
“Pfft!” Blood sprayed as Ji Qu, too, was killed without any ability to resist.
The Unity God took a deep breath, certain now that he was no match for Lan Xiaobu.
Lan Xiaobu looked at the Unity God and the other stunned disciples of the Eternal Sacred Dao who hadn’t moved. He said calmly, “If you don’t want to risk your lives for Ji Qu, I suggest you run. The Eternal Realm is vast and boundless. The sooner you leave, the sooner you’ll survive. Otherwise, do you really think the Ji family will let you off?”
After saying this, Lan Xiaobu decisively summoned his Reincarnation Pot. With a slight ripple in space, the pot vanished without a trace.
A few Divine Kings and a Unity God thought they could stop him? Even Sage Puheng had failed to capture him and had his treasures stolen.
The Unity God, seeing that Lan Xiaobu hadn’t attacked him, breathed a sigh of relief. Without needing Lan Xiaobu’s reminder, he summoned his own flying treasure and fled in a different direction. The Eternal Realm was now full of opportunities, and he wasn’t tied to the Ji family. There was no need to bind himself to the Eternal Sacred Dao.
The remaining disciples also scattered in different directions, quickly leaving the market.
Less than half the time it takes to burn an incense stick after they left, several figures landed at the market’s entrance.
The blood at the entrance was still fresh, and the bodies of Ji Qu and the Divine King, which Lan Xiaobu hadn’t bothered to destroy, were scattered in pieces outside the market.
“Lan Xiaobu!” Ji Sansha roared in anger. He had come here because of Lan Xiaobu.
Although he hadn’t yet fully stepped into the first-turn Sage stage, Ji Sansha, a pseudo-sage, had held Ji Qu in high regard. To see this promising junior of his lying dead before his eyes was a heavy blow.
…
Lan Xiaobu’s Reincarnation Pot continued to race through the void. By now, the entire Eternal Realm knew that Lan Xiaobu had appeared at the foot of Mount Buzhou. Not only that, but he had also killed two disciples of the Yun Shen Dao and two disciples of the Eternal Sacred Dao.
When Kun Wei of Taihan Sacred Mountain heard this news, he was still frantically setting up his Revelation Array. But after all these years, his array was still confined to the area around the Eternal Sea, not even extending beyond it.
Now, hearing that Lan Xiaobu had appeared at Mount Buzhou was like a slap in the face. Clearly, his plan had failed. Look at Lan Xiaobu—when he left, he didn’t even bother to change his form. If it weren’t for someone at the Mount Buzhou market using their divine sense to detect that Lan Xiaobu was disguised, they still wouldn’t know that he had long since left the Eternal Sea. They would still be foolishly setting up Revelation Arrays here.
“There’s no need to set up the Revelation Array anymore. Lan Xiaobu has appeared at Mount Buzhou, and our array is useless against him,” Kun Wei said through gritted teeth.
After wasting so much time and, more importantly, consuming a mountain of array materials, they had caught nothing. This was hard for anyone to accept.
“Can he detect our Revelation Array?” Curse Sage Fang Zhifan, whose information network wasn’t as strong as Kun Wei’s, didn’t know how Lan Xiaobu had made it to Mount Buzhou.
Kun Wei couldn’t take his frustration out on Fang Zhifan, so he took a deep breath and said, “He didn’t change his form; he only disguised himself to go to Mount Buzhou. So our Revelation Array was completely useless against him.”
Disguise and form-changing were different. A disguised cultivator could be detected with a simple sweep of divine sense. It was precisely this kind of disguise that made the Revelation Array useless.
“What a cunning brat. He must have hidden his tracks and sneaked to Mount Buzhou,” Fang Zhifan said, also seething with anger.
For years, he had sacrificed valuable cultivation time to block Lan Xiaobu in the Eternal Sea, based on their calculations that Lan Xiaobu couldn’t have left the area.
Kun Wei snorted coldly. “Hidden his tracks? Hmph, he went to the market at the foot of Mount Buzhou openly, as if he wanted everyone to know. He even killed two disciples of the Yun Shen Dao. Not only that, but he also killed several of the Eternal Sacred Dao disciples sent to intercept him.”
This time, he wasn’t going to listen to Fang Zhifan. He was determined to mobilize the entire Taihan Sacred Mountain to capture Lan Xiaobu.
Now that so many people were after Lan Xiaobu, if another sacred sect captured him, Taihan Sacred Mountain would be left with nothing. Whether or not he could advance to the ninth-turn Sage stage hinged on capturing Lan Xiaobu.
He really couldn’t understand it—how could someone who was wanted everywhere be so brazen, swaggering around without a care?
…
Sitting in his Reincarnation Pot, Lan Xiaobu removed his disguise. Disguises were indeed useless; a simple sweep of divine sense would reveal them. It seemed he still needed to change his form, but he would have to be careful of Revelation Arrays.
The Eternal Realm was vast and still expanding. He didn’t believe Kun Wei could set up Revelation Arrays everywhere. Even if Kun Wei had the resources and enough array masters, it would take tens of thousands of years to accomplish. And that was a conservative estimate—it might even take hundreds of thousands of years.
But even if it took tens of thousands of years, so what? If he couldn’t prove his Dao and become a Sage in that time, then he might as well give up being a Dao Lord.
The Reincarnation Pot continued to speed forward. Lan Xiaobu’s divine sense quickly broke through the restrictions on the ring Cui Xinglan had given him. Cui Xinglan was clearly observant and knew he was here to search for treasures at Mount Buzhou. So the information she had mentioned earlier must be a jade slip about Mount Buzhou.
This was a basic survival skill for wandering cultivators, something he had experienced himself. Even now, as a Dao Lord, his low strength meant he was constantly on the run.
When he opened the ring, he found two jade slips inside. Lan Xiaobu grabbed one of them but was surprised to find a slightly withered fruit tree…
Wait, this wasn’t an ordinary fruit tree. The tree was surrounded by Dao rhythms, clearly a Dao fruit tree.
Not just any Dao fruit tree, but a top-tier one. Lan Xiaobu immediately sent the tree into his Eternal Realm.
By now, his divine sense had identified what kind of Dao fruit tree it was—a priceless innate spiritual object, the Five Needle Pine.
The Five Needle Pine Dao Fruit was something as renowned as the Ginseng Fruit, which belonged to the great deity Zhen Yuanzi.
There was no way Cui Xinglan didn’t know how valuable this was. So why had she given it to him?
Lan Xiaobu grabbed the jade slip and infused it with his divine sense. He immediately saw a hurried voice message from Cui Xinglan.
“Thank you, senior, for saving my life. If it weren’t for you, I would have been killed by the Yun Shen Dao disciples. This Five Needle Pine is one of the innate spiritual objects discovered at Mount Buzhou. During the struggle for it, a first-turn Sage perished, and the Five Needle Pine Dao Fruit Tree hid itself. No one managed to capture it.
I never expected to obtain the Five Needle Pine Dao Fruit Tree. The two Yun Shen Dao disciples were trying to seize it. I know that a treasure like the Five Needle Pine chooses its master. After so many years as a wandering cultivator, I have some self-awareness—the Five Needle Pine wouldn’t choose me. If you, senior, can’t be sure of keeping it, I suggest you send it away. I took ten of the Dao fruits from the tree, and I suspect that someone else has already obtained the tree and left a mark on it…”
Looking at the Five Needle Pine Dao Fruit Tree, Lan Xiaobu saw that there were indeed forty Dao fruits left. Normally, the tree would bear fifty fruits, each representing one of the five elements. Cui Xinglan had taken ten, leaving forty behind.
Lan Xiaobu understood now. Cui Xinglan knew the Five Needle Pine was a hot potato and didn’t dare to keep it. By leaving forty fruits, she showed that she wasn’t greedy and knew how to repay kindness. Of course, there was another possibility: if Lan Xiaobu were captured, the fact that forty fruits remained on the tree would mean the Yun Shen Dao wouldn’t go all out to hunt down Cui Xinglan, who had only taken ten.
