Regardless of the reason, now that the Five Needle Pine was in his hands, no one else would be able to take it. Lan Xiaobu immediately applied a dimensional modeling structure to the Five Needle Pine. This structure formed almost instantaneously, and within a short time, Lan Xiaobu was able to locate a divine sense imprint through it. This imprint was definitely left by a first-turn Sage or higher. Without the Cosmic Dimensional Model, it would have been extremely difficult for him to find this imprint.
Even if he had found it, removing it wouldn’t have been a matter of a day or two.
At this moment, Lan Xiaobu couldn’t help but admire Cui Xinglan. Most people who obtained a treasure like the Five Needle Pine Dao Fruit Tree would never give it up. In fact, if Cui Xinglan hadn’t handed over the Five Needle Pine, she would have been killed sooner or later. Even if she hadn’t been killed, she wouldn’t have had a place to plant the Five Needle Pine Dao Fruit Tree. Keeping it in a storage ring would only lead to its withering, and it would eventually be detected by a powerful expert.
As a wandering cultivator, Cui Xinglan had survived to this day not by luck alone. She was decisive and knew when to let go of even the best treasures. Lan Xiaobu felt that, in this regard, he might even be inferior to Cui Xinglan. He had nearly gotten himself killed trying to snatch the Yin-Yang Mirror from Sage Puheng.
However, fortune and misfortune often go hand in hand. The very recklessness that had nearly cost him his life had also brought him to where he was today. Still, he decided that he should learn from Cui Xinglan and avoid unnecessary risks in the future.
As for why the Five Needle Pine had escaped and hadn’t been recaptured yet, there were only two possibilities. First, the Five Needle Pine, as a spiritual entity, might have recognized that the Sage who captured it wasn’t worthy of its allegiance. Thus, it temporarily blocked the Sage’s divine sense imprint. But over time, it would inevitably be discovered.
The second possibility was that the Sage who captured the Five Needle Pine was being restrained by another Sage, preventing them from retrieving it in time.
Alternatively, the Sage might have been confident that the Five Needle Pine couldn’t escape far due to the imprint. Unfortunately for them, they had encountered Lan Xiaobu. No matter how strong the imprint was, Lan Xiaobu could remove it in a matter of moments.
Lan Xiaobu let the Reincarnation Pot continue flying while he entered his Eternal Realm. With the help of the dimensional modeling structure, he removed the imprint in just the time it takes to burn an incense stick.
After removing the imprint, Lan Xiaobu didn’t store it in the Cosmic Dimensional Model or destroy it. Instead, he sealed it in a jade box and placed it in a top-grade divine artifact flying ship. He then set the ship to fly in a random direction, using a pile of divine crystals and a flight array to power it.
Even if the Sage who left the imprint managed to free themselves, they would never be able to retrieve the Five Needle Pine Dao Fruit Tree.
Once the imprint was removed, Lan Xiaobu planted over a dozen top-grade divine spirit veins around the Five Needle Pine Dao Fruit Tree and infused it with a trace of chaotic energy.
The previously wilted Five Needle Pine quickly regained its vitality, standing tall alongside the Emperor Rest Tree, adding immense life force to Lan Xiaobu’s Eternal Realm. Not only that, but the Dao rhythms and rules within the realm also became much clearer.
“Not bad,” Lan Xiaobu thought to himself with satisfaction. Helping others truly was helping himself. With the Five Needle Pine Dao Fruit Tree, achieving Sagehood in the future would be much easier.
Returning to the Reincarnation Pot, Lan Xiaobu took out the second jade slip. This one contained information about Mount Buzhou.
After Mount Buzhou appeared in the Eternal Realm, it was covered in top-tier divine herbs and heavenly treasures, with the most valuable being the Five Needle Pine Dao Fruit Tree. Lan Xiaobu was somewhat speechless. It seemed that the entire world knew about the Five Needle Pine Dao Fruit Tree on Mount Buzhou. This meant that whenever Five Needle Pine Dao Fruits appeared in the future, people would immediately know who had the tree.
According to the jade slip, the Five Needle Pine Dao Fruit Tree had been taken by Sage Kuachen, the leader of the Buzhou Sect. After the Buzhou Sect was established, Mount Buzhou was closed off, and no one was allowed to search for treasures there. Later, a war broke out between the various sacred sects and the Buzhou Sect.
Although Lan Xiaobu hadn’t witnessed the war, he vaguely guessed that the conflict between the sacred sects and the Buzhou Sect might not have been solely over the Five Needle Pine Dao Fruits.
Unfortunately, there were no images or videos in the jade slip. It only described the Sage-level battles as earth-shattering, with countless Buzhou Sect disciples perishing and rivers of blood flowing…
Putting away the jade slip, Lan Xiaobu felt somewhat helpless. His current strength only allowed him to circle the foot of Mount Buzhou. He couldn’t even set foot on the mountain without being surrounded and blocked.
He decided to head to the Rootless Divine Realm and find the Divine Essence Sea. No matter what, he needed to reach the Quasi-Sage stage as soon as possible. With nine-turn Sages already appearing, he was still lingering at the early Unity God stage, which was far too low.
…
The Reincarnation Pot sped up as Lan Xiaobu headed toward the location Ye Baiyi had mentioned. While others might worry about traversing the void passage, Lan Xiaobu wasn’t concerned—he had the Cosmic Dimensional Model.
As Lan Xiaobu made his way to the void passage leading to the Rootless Divine Realm, deep within Mount Buzhou, in a narrow valley, a purple-faced man suddenly let out a furious roar, his body erupting with purple energy.
“Break!” the purple-faced man bellowed, his Dao rhythms solidifying into tangible forms. His hands continuously traced out mysterious patterns.
Boom! It was as if some rule had shattered. A black lotus was sent flying, and a man clutching the lotus vanished into the void.
The purple-faced man, Sage Kuachen, the leader of the Buzhou Sect and now a second-turn Sage, coldly stared at the spot where the black lotus had disappeared. “You think you can suppress me, Kuachen? Just you wait.”
After breaking free from the seal, Sage Kuachen didn’t immediately chase after his enemy. Instead, he sensed a direction and then vanished in a streak of light.
Several days later, in a desolate wilderness, Sage Kuachen stood on a top-grade divine artifact flying ship, holding a jade box in his hand. At his feet lay a corpse.
His hands trembled as he realized that his Five Needle Pine Dao Fruit Tree was gone. The corpse at his feet was merely a Divine King who had stumbled upon the ship. This Divine King had tried to seize the ship and had been killed by Kuachen, but he had nothing to do with the Five Needle Pine Dao Fruit Tree.
Kuachen couldn’t understand how someone had managed to remove his divine sense imprint from the Five Needle Pine in such a short time. He was a second-turn Sage! Even another second-turn Sage would need a month or two to remove his imprint. Yet, it seemed that whoever had done it had accomplished this in less than half a month.
Kuachen knew exactly what the Five Needle Pine Dao Fruit Tree meant to him. As a second-turn Sage, advancing further would require either top-tier resources or an immense amount of time. While he could eventually reach the third-turn Sage stage through sheer accumulation of time, reaching the fourth-turn Sage stage would be nearly impossible without extraordinary resources.
The Five Needle Pine Dao Fruit Tree could not only help him reach the fourth-turn Sage stage but could even propel him to higher realms. Now, someone had taken it from him during the brief period he was sealed.
Whoever dared to take his Five Needle Pine would pay with their life.
…
Lan Xiaobu’s speed was unmatched. Even over vast distances, the Reincarnation Pot far surpassed any other flying divine artifact.
Four months later, Lan Xiaobu stopped at the edge of a cliff. This was the void passage Ye Baiyi had told him about—the place that led to the Rootless Divine Realm.
There was no one here. Ye Baiyi hadn’t even arrived yet, and Lan Xiaobu didn’t see any traces left by Sage Qianqi or the others.
Lan Xiaobu’s divine sense swept the area, and he noticed two figures approaching from the distance, seemingly heading for the same place.
Below the cliff, the space seemed to ripple, but the ripples didn’t quite match the fluctuations of a spatial passage. As the two figures drew closer, Lan Xiaobu decided to disguise himself as an ordinary wandering cultivator.
The two soon arrived before Lan Xiaobu—a man and a woman, both at the Divine King stage. Without top-tier treasures, these two would have a hard time traversing the void passage to the Rootless Divine Realm.
“Greetings, fellow Daoist. Are you also heading to the Rootless Divine Realm?” asked the woman, who was at the late Divine King stage.
Lan Xiaobu nodded. “Yes, I heard there’s a void passage here that leads to the Rootless Divine Realm. I thought I’d try my luck.”
The male cultivator immediately said, “The Eternal Realm is currently experiencing a surge of fortune. Going to the Rootless Divine Realm now would be a waste.”
Lan Xiaobu looked at the man in confusion. Was he saying that going to the Rootless Divine Realm was a waste for Lan Xiaobu but not for them?
Sensing Lan Xiaobu’s puzzlement, the man quickly explained, “We have no choice but to go to the Rootless Divine Realm for other reasons.”
Lan Xiaobu understood. These two were likely fleeing from enemies. Although the Eternal Realm was continuously expanding, fleeing to the Rootless Divine Realm seemed excessive. Even he, as a Dao Lord who had offended so many sacred sects, could find places to hide within the Eternal Realm if he really wanted to.
But Lan Xiaobu wasn’t interested in their story. He simply asked, “I heard there’s a void vortex here that leads to the Rootless Divine Realm, but I’ve been here for a while and only noticed some spatial fluctuations. I haven’t seen any void vortex.”
Hearing this, the woman quickly said, “Fellow Daoist, you might not be aware, but the Rootless Divine Realm and the Eternal Realm are likely to merge in the future. This merging process will take a long time, and the void passage is currently very unstable. Sometimes it appears for long periods, and other times it only appears briefly. If you wait here, you’ll eventually see it.”
“Sigh, we have no choice. This unstable void passage is extremely dangerous. Entering it could easily result in being torn to shreds, with no chance of reincarnation,” the man sighed.
