Lan Xiaobu, having cultivated this far, was no novice. He knew well that the more complete one’s mastery of heaven-and-earth rules, the stronger they became.
He wasn’t unfamiliar with the rules of darkness, but this was his first time encountering someone who specialized in cultivating them. Though he hadn’t fought that woman, he was certain she was incredibly powerful—far beyond him unless he reached First-Turn Saint level.
In a flash of thought, Lan Xiaobu decided to first integrate the darkness rules into his Eternal Life Great Dao. The name of his dao might sound mundane, but it had to encompass every rule existing between heaven and earth.
Within his Eternal Life Technique, the basic rules—metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, thunder, ice—were essential. As for other great dao rules: spatial rules, check. Time rules, check. Reincarnation rules, he had the Reincarnation Dao Scroll, so check. Now, with darkness rules appearing, they absolutely had to be fused into his Eternal Life Technique. And causal rules? Well… not yet. But if he ever got his hands on a Causal Dao Scroll, they’d be included too.
Lan Xiaobu’s arrival didn’t cause a ripple in the golden Sacred Dao City. Even Fang Zhifan, whom he’d chased, didn’t care where he went.
In a place like the golden Sacred Dao City—a cultivation paradise—failing to rent a cave mansion to cultivate would be idiotic. Fang Zhifan’s top priority was naturally to frantically recover his strength. That trip Lan Xiaobu had spotted him on? Just a quick errand to buy essentials.
…
Lan Xiaobu didn’t dive into cultivation right away. Instead, he used the dimensional structure mapped by his Cosmic Dimension Model to comprehend the darkness rules. With that structure as a guide, it took him just one year to integrate the darkness rules into his Eternal Life Technique.
The only downside was that the darkness rules in this region were too faint. He couldn’t delve deeper or develop supernatural techniques based on them.
He embedded two chaotic divine spirit veins and surrounded himself with a pile of divine essence pills. As he ran the Eternal Life Technique to absorb the heaven-and-earth vitality, he immediately felt the edge this place had over the golden Sacred Dao City.
Here, he could genuinely absorb a trace of the dao aura from the universe’s creation—a boost that multiplied his cultivation speed several times over.
Could this be the cosmic heart?
Lan Xiaobu even considered using the Cosmic Dimension Model to map its structure, but he held back. It wasn’t necessary, and he suspected this was indeed the cosmic heart.
That meant he could tap into Saint Island’s cosmic heart.
Saint Island’s value—why it drew countless powerhouses who’d rather stay here than vie for rank in the Eternal Life Realm—likely stemmed from the cosmic heart.
Cultivating on an island with a cosmic heart offered unmatched speed and comprehension, far beyond other places.
Lan Xiaobu was certain the rapid cultivation here came from the cosmic heart clarifying dao auras, making it easier to grasp one’s own great dao rules.
It definitely wasn’t about absorbing the cosmic heart itself. If everyone could do that, Saint Island wouldn’t be Saint Island anymore. No matter how much creation aura the cosmic heart held, it’d be drained dry eventually.
Lan Xiaobu forced himself to dial back his absorption of the cosmic heart, focusing instead on drawing heavily from the chaotic divine spirit veins and divine essence pills, supplementing with some of Saint Island’s ambient vitality, and only cautiously sipping a thread of the cosmic heart’s aura.
Absorbing less each day would yield noticeable results over time. If he’d gone all out from the start, he’d probably have been caught in no time.
In just four years, he broke through to Quasi-Saint Seventh Layer. By then, his surroundings were thick with chaotic divine essence and clear dao rules.
He kept voraciously absorbing the vitality, occasionally popping a few Five-Needle Pine Dao Fruits to speed up his comprehension of the five-element rules.
Fifteen years later, he hit Quasi-Saint Eighth Layer. Thirty years in, bolstered by dao fruits, chaotic divine qi, divine essence pills, and the cosmic heart’s aura, he knocked on the door of Quasi-Saint Ninth Layer.
Though he’d never seen the cosmic heart, Lan Xiaobu was sure he’d absorbed about a tenth of it in those thirty years. He’d been subtle enough that no one had noticed—yet.
Before preparing to break through to First-Turn Saint, he pulled out the Divine Origin Hall.
The divine essence pills refined here would carry a trace of the cosmic heart’s aura. He absolutely couldn’t attempt his First-Turn Saint breakthrough on Saint Island. Doing so would get even ten thousand Lan Xiaobus killed.
…
Sixty years after Lan Xiaobu arrived on Saint Island, in the city lord’s mansion at the heart of the golden Sacred Dao City, a man with a pockmarked face sat frowning in deep thought.
After about an incense stick’s time, a tall man with wild, messy hair burst in, shouting from the doorway, “Big Brother, why’d you call me here in such a rush?”
The pockmarked man and the wild-haired man were Saint Island’s two founding Saints: Tree Saint and Mad Saint.
Compared to the single-minded, cultivation-obsessed Mad Saint, Tree Saint was far more perceptive.
Mad Saint frowned. “Nothing’s off, Big Brother. I even feel like my dao comprehension and cultivation speed have picked up these past few decades. At this rate, I might break through to Fifth-Turn Saint soon.”
Tree Saint snorted. “Fei Lian, I think you’ve gotten too comfortable and forgotten how we escaped here and struggled to establish ourselves.”
At Tree Saint’s rebuke, Mad Saint—Fei Lian—rubbed his messy hair and fell silent. He had a fiery temper and wouldn’t hesitate to blast anyone who annoyed him—except Tree Saint.
Seeing Fei Lian’s reaction, Tree Saint continued, “We came here for a cosmic heart. You know we can’t hide that from others—everyone probably knows. But to them, the cosmic heart must be fused into Saint Island. That’s why cultivating here boosts speed and comprehension so much.”
“Big Brother, that’s just temporary. Once the cosmic heart absorbs enough saintly dao charm, we can peel it off and take it with us,” Fei Lian said with a grin.
Tree Saint nodded. “True. But what if someone can absorb the cosmic heart?”
“No way, right? If they could, why stay here?” Fei Lian froze. The cosmic heart was theirs—if someone took it, they’d be screwed.
Tree Saint said coldly, “You think the people sticking around Saint Island are ordinary? I’ll tell you straight: we’ve got the infamous Curse Saint and Reincarnation Saint here. Plus, there’s a terrifying figure I can’t even trace—feels like us, not a human who attained the dao. Oh, and in the main city, there’s a woman in black—her cultivation’s probably no weaker than ours.”
“Ah…” Fei Lian gasped, clearly not having considered this. After a while, he muttered, “So what do we do?”
Tree Saint’s pockmarked face twitched as he growled, “Cultivating on Saint Island is fine—live and let live. But if anyone dares touch the cosmic heart, don’t blame us for getting nasty, no matter who they are.”
“Big Brother, you point, I punch. I’ll make their brains splatter,” Fei Lian said, thumping his chest.
Tree Saint waved him off. “No need to worry yet. I’ll check carefully first—see if someone’s absorbing the cosmic heart. If not, great. If so, we’re not pushovers.”
…
Lan Xiaobu had stopped cultivating. His progress had stalled—he’d reached Quasi-Saint Perfection, just one step from proving First-Turn Saint.
But he wasn’t planning to do it here. If breaking through to First-Turn Saint caused too big a stir, he’d be in deep trouble.
Packing everything up, he prepared to leave Saint Island for a while. Once he’d proven First-Turn Saint, he’d return to kill Fang Zhifan. And beyond that, he wanted the cosmic heart too.
He didn’t know why no one had taken it from Saint Island, but since he’d found it, he wasn’t about to be polite.
The great dao was a contest of opportunities. The opportunity was here—if he didn’t act, who could he blame? If he acted and still couldn’t claim it, well, that was that.
He stowed the Divine Origin Hall, now holding tens of millions of divine essence pills. Unlike those from the Abandoned Divine Abyss, these carried a hint of chaotic qi and the cosmic heart’s creation aura—thanks to the cosmic heart itself.
To an average cultivator, even one of these pills would be priceless, let alone two or three thousand. To Lan Xiaobu, this batch was one of his trump cards for breaking through to First-Turn Saint.
