After everyone left, Lan Xiaobu immediately called out Su Cen.
“Xiaobu, where is this?” Su Cen looked around, feeling the rich divine aura, she knew right away this wasn’t the void or the immortal realm.
In Lan Xiaobu’s Longevity Realm, she hadn’t used divine crystals for cultivation, though she’d seen them, she avoided top-tier immortal and divine crystals, knowing that using high-grade energy now would slow her later progress.
“This is the Great Desolate Divine Realm, my territory. You’ve advanced fast, already at the Earth Immortal stage, but I feel your strength needs to rise even quicker. The Great Desolate Divine Realm has thick fortune and clear heavenly rules, cultivating here, you’ll soon recover your past life’s power. Plus, I’m about to use spatial rules here to ascend to a fifth-turn sage, you can sense the charm of my spatial enlightenment, it’ll benefit you greatly,” Lan Xiaobu said.
With Su Cen’s talent in the divine realm, practicing the Immortal Great Dao, and feeling the rhythm of his spatial ascension, her strength would soar, she’d even touch spatial laws early.
This wasn’t a perk just any cultivator could get, imagine a fifth-turn sage ascending with a mere Earth Immortal watching?
“Good,” Su Cen agreed instantly, she’d been training nonstop precisely because she knew she had to grow stronger fast.
After settling Su Cen aside, Lan Xiaobu grabbed a pile of divine essence pills, two chaotic divine spirit veins, and dozens of top-grade divine spirit veins, then took out a spatial array disc, starting to comprehend that faint trace of spatial law.
Without a spatial law scroll, he relied on the disc.
In no time, the space around Lan Xiaobu was enveloped in dense divine aura, swirling with the mysterious breath of spatial rules.
After leaving the Great Path Gobi Valley, the Heavenly Astral Sage marveled at the complete realm rules and thick divine aura, he couldn’t believe a divine realm this intact existed post-apocalyptic tribulation.
The Shallow Qi Sage sighed, “The Dao Lord didn’t lie, he pulled it off.”
Even the usually quiet Unraveling Sage remarked, “In just a thousand years, the Great Desolate Divine Realm’s transformation is beyond imagination. Back when we first left the Great Path Gobi Valley, this was still the Longevity Realm, the rules were broken, the energy and fortune nowhere near this, now, the markets I see with my divine sense have no malice, everything’s so peaceful it feels like a dream.”
Chen Hu secretly rejoiced at his choice, without following Dao Lord Lan to the Great Desolate Divine Realm, he’d never ascend to sagehood in the Rootless Divine Realm, here, with such perfect rules and fortune, a first-turn sage seemed within reach.
“Kun Wei Sage…” Xuan Hui suddenly exclaimed, halting instinctively.
Shallow Qi Sage, Unraveling Sage, Bei Ji, and the others recognized the approaching figure, a tall, stern man with narrow eyes, his aura flowing with the charm of a third-turn sage, clearly a recent breakthrough.
Shallow Qi Sage reacted fast, “Xuan Hui, no need to fear, we’ve got Heavenly Astral and Zhen Ti with us.”
Xuan Hui snapped out of it, she’d been terrified of Kun Wei, now she remembered their side outmatched him, Heavenly Astral was a fourth-turn sage, Zhen Ti a third-turn, Kun Wei couldn’t top them all.
“Heh, thanks to the Dao Lord, I get to see such a perfect divine realm, I haven’t done much for him yet, from what Xuan Hui says, this guy’s your enemy, huh? Leave it to me,” Heavenly Astral chuckled, stepping forward.
The rushing cultivator landed before them, recognizing Shallow Qi and the others, he paused, then quickly clasped his fists, “Kun Wei greets Shallow Qi Sage, Unraveling Sage, Bei Ji, Xuan Hui, Tu Wang…”
He didn’t know Heavenly Astral, Great Book Sage Zhen Ti, or Chen Hu, so he skipped them.
“You…” Shallow Qi Sage frowned at Kun Wei, he’d once imprisoned her outside the Great Path Gobi Valley.
And Xuan Hui? A nobody under Kun Wei, cannon fodder, now a third-turn sage called her “fellow daoist”?
Seeing their looks and Heavenly Astral’s spilling killing intent, Kun Wei hurriedly explained, “Don’t misunderstand, I’ve long joined Dao Lord Lan, handed over the Longevity Realm, and enlisted in the Great Desolate Dao Court, the Longevity Realm’s gone, only the Great Desolate Divine Realm remains, I’ve been maintaining order here per the Dao Lord’s will.”
Back then, Kun Wei had grudges, forced to submit due to weaker strength, now, he had none, recognized by Lan Xiaobu with a sage title, he felt the realm’s laws and fortune clearer, jumping from second to third-turn sage in short order.
At this pace, ninth-turn sagehood didn’t seem impossible.
“You joined the Great Desolate Dao Court?” Shallow Qi Sage echoed, stunned, she knew Kun Wei’s ambition—always craving control, trampling sects.
Kun Wei said earnestly, “Yes, you all just arrived, maybe you don’t know, sage titles here are limited, those who don’t acknowledge Dao Lord Lan have left, staying, they can’t advance.”
“Limited sage titles?” Chen Hu blurted, he wasn’t a first-turn sage yet, if slots were capped, was he stuck?
Not just him, Xuan Hui tensed too, the realm’s rich fortune and clear rules made first-turn sagehood easier here, but a limit was bad news.
Kun Wei nodded, “Yes, 108 first-turn sages, 72 second-turn, 36 third-turn, 18 fourth-turn, 10 fifth-turn, 7 sixth-turn, 5 seventh-turn, 3 eighth-turn, 1 ninth-turn, within this realm, sage numbers can’t exceed that.”
Shallow Qi Sage saw Chen Hu and Xuan Hui’s worry, she wasn’t a first-turn sage either, about to speak, Kun Wei added, “The Dao Lord’s not in Sage Dao City now, its rules and fortune are a hundred times richer than here, I’ll take you there to settle, it’ll speed up your first-turn ascent.”
“Where were you rushing off to?” Shallow Qi Sage asked.
Kun Wei’s tone grew heavy, “After the realm stabilized, the heavenly dao formed a boundary array, but there’s a flaw at the Great Path Gobi Valley, a powerhouse, likely past sixth-turn, slipped in from there, with the Dao Lord away, I fear he’ll hit Sage Dao City, I was heading to seal that void passage, or at least find a way to stop him getting backup.”
Tu Wang waved it off, “Don’t worry about that, the Dao Lord will handle the valley when he’s back, take us to Sage Dao City first.”
His words clicked for everyone, Lan Xiaobu was back, at the valley, in closed-door cultivation, if Kun Wei went and disturbed him, it’d be bad, plus, Tu Wang wasn’t fully sold on Kun Wei’s story.
“Alright, follow me,” Kun Wei knew these folks were tight with Lan Xiaobu, far closer than he was, he couldn’t afford to cross them.
“You say someone over sixth-turn came in, any proof, or just a guess?” Heavenly Astral asked.
With Lan Xiaobu gone, he was the strongest here, worried he couldn’t handle such a foe, if he had to fetch Lan Xiaobu and disrupt his retreat, it’d dent his standing.
Kun Wei’s voice turned grave, “An open-air market got wiped out for no reason, since the Dao Lord built this realm, no slaughter’s dared happen, not even a single killing, all disputes go through the Divine Prohibition Office for judgment.”
“How do you know it was him?” Heavenly Astral pressed.
Kun Wei replied, “The realm’s got surveillance arrays everywhere, mostly void runes, I checked and saw a red-robed man do it, looked like Great Slaughter Technique.”
“Great Slaughter’s the Great Demise Technique, could he be the Demise Sage?” Bei Ji said, glancing at Tu Wang, he knew Tu Wang had sold the Lesser Demise Technique at Sky Street.
Tu Wang quickly clarified, “I got the Lesser Demise Technique, sure, but I’m not the Demise Sage, I just know him, didn’t get it from him either.”
“You know the Demise Sage?” Kun Wei jolted, then traced a figure in the air, “Recognize this guy?”
