Lan Xiaobu could sense a fleeting killing intent from Ku Cai, but he didn’t mind. Even if he couldn’t defeat her, she wouldn’t be able to kill him here.
Taking a step back, even if she did kill him, she’d never access his Longevity Realm. As long as she couldn’t breach it, any smart person wouldn’t dare attack him and risk making an enemy for no reason.
Returning to his cave, Lan Xiaobu promptly dismantled all of Ku Cai’s protective arrays. Back when it was leased, he’d left them untouched. Now that it was his, he had no need for someone else’s setup.
He rebuilt the defenses with his own array of protective and trap-killing formations before planting divine spirit veins—ten top-grade ones and three chaotic ones. Then he brought out the Divine Source Hall. Only with it could he refine divine energy pills imbued with the Heart of the Universe’s essence. Cultivating atop the Heart of the Universe, he wouldn’t skimp on resources.
Once everything was set, just as he prepared to cultivate, an abrupt voice rang out: “The Golden Saint Dao City Island Master’s Mansion on Saint Island will hold a top-tier auction. Among the items are the finest treasures, including innate treasures, various dao fruits, saintly dao techniques, and a Seven Realms Flag…”
Seven Realms Flag? Lan Xiaobu froze. That was clearly one of the Seven Realms Stone Flags. He already possessed the First and Second Realm Stone Flags—what flag was this auction offering?
Initially, he’d had no intention of attending. With plenty of treasures already, he wasn’t interested in auctioned dao pills or fruits. His priority was cultivating with the Heart of the Universe’s aid—he had a gut feeling this encounter was a rare opportunity.
As Ku Cai had said, the Heart could flee at any moment. If it did, he’d lose this chance forever.
But a Seven Realms Stone Flag changed everything. He couldn’t let it fall into someone else’s hands. The more he thought about it, the more he suspected that gathering all seven flags might be the key to claiming the Seven Realms Stone—a treasure possibly on par with his Cosmic Dimensional Model.
Abandoning his plan to seclude himself, Lan Xiaobu sealed his cave completely. He’d attend the auction and return to cultivate afterward—no need to remove the planted spirit veins.
This auction wasn’t just for him—most of Saint Island’s residents would likely join in.
While Lan Xiaobu eyed the Seven Realms Stone Flag, others coveted the dao fruits for breaking into the first revolution and the array of divine techniques.
Though Saint Island was filled with “saints,” true saints were rare. Most were quasi-saints, with some pseudo-saints mixed in. Lan Xiaobu didn’t care for dao fruits, but plenty of others did.
Cultivating here with a dao fruit multiplied one’s odds of reaching the first revolution several times over. Even without one, breakthroughs to the first revolution happened periodically on Saint Island.
—
Lan Xiaobu had been cultivating in Golden Saint Dao City for some time but had never explored it. This was his first visit to the Island Master’s Mansion.
As he arrived, streaks of light—other cultivators—converged on the site. Among the Saint Dao Cities he’d visited, this was perhaps the only one without a flight ban.
Quasi-saints and pseudo-saints were indeed plentiful here. His divine sense didn’t spot Kun Wei—likely the man had already fled back to the Longevity Dao Court.
Cultivating atop the Heart of the Universe was ideal, but for Kun Wei, with his diminished strength and having offended the island masters, staying was risky. The Mad Saint and Tree Saint might not touch Lan Xiaobu or Ku Cai, but they could easily kill a weakened Kun Wei.
He didn’t see Ku Cai either. No surprise—she probably had no interest in the auction and was busy with that chaotic divine spirit vein. In Lan Xiaobu’s view, her hoping to reach the eighth revolution with one vein was a pipe dream.
Following the crowd into the auction hall, Lan Xiaobu noted this was the first auction he’d seen without an entry fee. Anyone could walk in—no tickets required, no private booths, just plain seats. Say what you will, the Mad Saint and Tree Saint were generous in this regard—or perhaps they simply didn’t care for petty ticket profits.
The hall was spacious. A divine sense sweep suggested it could hold ten thousand people. Today, three to four thousand cultivators had shown up.
With plenty of seats, Lan Xiaobu chose one slightly forward, pondering why the island masters were holding this auction.
Though he’d only been here a few decades, he knew Saint Island had never hosted an auction before. For Tree Saint to publicly announce one now—after Ku Cai had just humiliated them—was something fishy afoot? With their prestige here, taking a hit like that without retaliation seemed odd. To stay on Saint Island, they needed to maintain some authority. Getting slapped down and staying silent—would anyone respect them next time?
“You’re Lan Xiaobu? Lord of the Great Desolate Divine Realm?” A sudden voice jolted him. Looking up, he saw a man of average build, utterly unremarkable—yet exuding a threat greater than Ku Cai’s.
A faint, familiar dao charm washed over him, and Lan Xiaobu instantly realized: this was the Reincarnation Saint.
He’d obtained the Reincarnation Dao Scroll, though he hadn’t cultivated it. His plan was to use reincarnation to prove one of his nine revolutions someday.
To meet the Reincarnation Saint here, complete with the Reincarnation Pot, was unexpected. How did he know who Lan Xiaobu was?
Sweeping his divine sense, Lan Xiaobu spotted Pu Heng. Sensing the scan, Pu Heng shrank back, instinctively retreating a few rows.
“No need to look, Lord Lan. It was indeed Friend Pu Heng who told me,” the Reincarnation Saint said mildly.
“Who might you be?” Lan Xiaobu asked calmly, feigning ignorance despite recognizing him.
The man smiled faintly. “I’m Qi Min. Those who know me call me the Reincarnation Saint.”
Lan Xiaobu steadied himself. A fourth-revolution saint, Qi Min’s pressure surpassed Ku Cai’s. If it wasn’t her weaker technique, then her dao foundation might be damaged.
No—Ku Cai cultivated a darkness technique, a top-tier Great Dao with the potential to reach eternal sainthood. It wasn’t inferior to reincarnation in some respects.
That meant her weaker strength likely stemmed not from her technique but from a compromised dao foundation. Her pursuit of a chaotic divine spirit vein made sense—she aimed not just for the eighth revolution but to repair her foundation.
“So it’s Friend Reincarnation. A pleasure,” Lan Xiaobu said, clasping his fists. His words were polite, but his gaze remained unflinching.
So what if he was the Reincarnation Saint? Lan Xiaobu was a realm’s Dao Lord. If Qi Min’s reincarnation dao had been proven in the Great Desolate Divine Realm, he’d still fall under Lan Xiaobu’s authority.
“Heh, I wouldn’t dare,” Qi Min replied. Seeing Lan Xiaobu’s lack of deference or concern, he sat down nearby. “I hear you’ve got my Reincarnation Pot?”
Lan Xiaobu’s tone stayed cool. “Friend Reincarnation, seats here are free, but words aren’t.”
Qi Min frowned. “Lord Lan, are you saying the Reincarnation Pot isn’t mine?”
Lan Xiaobu’s voice chilled. “Friend Reincarnation, I didn’t know you were a master artificer capable of forging an innate treasure like the Reincarnation Pot.”
Qi Min’s tone matched his. “I didn’t forge it. It’s a cosmic treasure born at the universe’s dawn. I was simply the first to claim it. I gave it to my unworthy disciple, who lost it—that’s all.”
Lan Xiaobu chuckled. “So it’s not something you made?”
“No, but I was indeed the first to obtain it,” Qi Min said evenly.
The implication was clear: such treasures belonged to whoever claimed them first.
Lan Xiaobu nodded. “True enough. After I forged the Reincarnation Pot to help open the cosmos, I lost it. Countless eons later, I awoke again. Sensing me, the pot returned to my side. It’s picked up some messy auras, but that’s nothing—I can cleanse it with a flick.”
Qi Min said flatly, “Lord Lan’s got quite the spirit. Impressive.”
With that, he ignored Lan Xiaobu, settling into his seat to await the auction’s start.
Lan Xiaobu knew that post-auction, Qi Min wouldn’t let him off. A fourth-revolution saint? Bring it on—he’d take it.
