“Swept in by the Yong Ye Vortex?” A faint voice sounded, and in Lan Xiaobu’s divine sense, a cultivator clad in scale armor appeared. Moments later, this figure landed beside him and reached out to grab him.
Lan Xiaobu was momentarily stunned. How little did this guy think of him? A mere Unity God cultivator daring to seize him with a hand seal?
But he quickly understood. This person assumed his divine sense and energy had been devoured by Yong Ye Lan, leaving his cultivation suppressed to almost nothing.
Lan Xiaobu didn’t resist, letting the Unity God cultivator take him away.
The area was riddled with restrictions. Though he could dismantle them, he wasn’t sure he could find the Reincarnation Saint alive before that. After all, according to Shan Bu’ang, the Yong Ye Saint was a powerhouse nearing eternity.
If they captured him, they might lock him up with the Reincarnation Saint.
No one paid much attention to Lan Xiaobu intruding into the star beneath Yong Ye Lan and being seized. Perhaps they’d seen it too often.
Half an incense stick later, Lan Xiaobu was tossed into a funnel-shaped vortex. His captor didn’t even bother placing restrictions on him, a sign of their confidence in this place.
Lan Xiaobu’s divine sense had already scanned it. The funnel was a void vortex constructed by an array, and at its end was a sand prison.
Having proven the Dao of Rules, Lan Xiaobu sensed the sand’s binding and devouring rules before he even landed. Once someone touched it, they’d sink endlessly, their vitality and blood essence devoured by the sand, with no chance of escape.
It was just as he’d seen. Over a dozen people were trapped in the sand, the worst buried up to their eyes. His divine sense pierced beneath, revealing countless bones. Clearly, once consumed, a cultivator would perish, their essence nourishing the sand prison.
He’d guessed right—the Reincarnation Saint was indeed trapped here, sand up to his chest. It wouldn’t be long before he, too, was swallowed.
“Dao Lord, you…” Seeing Lan Xiaobu drop in, despair flickered in the Reincarnation Saint’s eyes.
His only hope had been Lan Xiaobu, but sending that message had dragged him in too. Truthfully, he cared less about Lan Xiaobu’s fate and more about his own survival. If Lan Xiaobu fell, no one else would come for him. Falling here meant total annihilation—no remnant soul could escape. Even as the Reincarnation Saint, rebirth would take eons, and trapped here, he vaguely sensed that if he died, there’d be no second chance.
This realization hit him hard. Had he cultivated all these years without making a single true friend to rely on? Was this his failure as a person?
Thinking of his earlier selfishness, the Reincarnation Saint sighed. He’d failed indeed.
Lan Xiaobu had come for him, yet he hadn’t cared about Lan Xiaobu’s life—only that his death would leave no one to save him. What was that if not failure?
“Sorry, I’ve dragged you into this,” he said, conscience finally stirring.
Lan Xiaobu walked over, “Tell me, how’d you end up here? Why is it always you—fleeing or begging for help? Others progress in their cultivation, but you’re just coasting, huh?”
“Well, it’s a long story…” The Reincarnation Saint began, then froze, staring at Lan Xiaobu, “You…”
Not just him—everyone in the sand prison gaped at Lan Xiaobu in disbelief. They’d never seen someone walk freely in Yong Ye Sand Prison. Once you landed here, you were stuck where you fell until interrogation or death. Moving? A pipe dream. The only motion was the sand dragging you down, and when it covered your head, you were done.
The Reincarnation Saint snapped out of it, “How’d you get in? How can you walk in Yong Ye Sand Prison?”
“I walked in myself,” Lan Xiaobu snapped, then with a flick of his hand, pulled the Reincarnation Saint from the sand. Landing on the surface, the saint found his restraints gone, his cultivation surging back.
“I…” After a single excited word, he exhaled, “Dao Lord, I was right about you. You’re the one most likely to reach eternity. It’s my honor, Li Jun’s, to follow you.”
Even a fool could see Lan Xiaobu hadn’t been captured—he’d entered on his own. Li Jun might not be the strongest beyond his plane, but his eye for talent was top-notch.
“Senior, please help us too,” a middle-aged man trapped in the sand called out, thrilled by Lan Xiaobu’s feat.
Lan Xiaobu waved him off, signaling silence.
Sure enough, at his gesture, the prison quieted. They all knew he’d come for someone specific—not them. They’d have to wait for their chance.
“No more nonsense. How’d you end up here?” Lan Xiaobu said, setting up an isolation barrier as he spoke.
Seeing him casually create a barrier here stunned not just the Reincarnation Saint but every trapped cultivator. This was Yong Ye Sand Prison, built on Yong Ye Star’s cosmic rules. Anyone here was at its mercy—extending divine sense was impossible, let alone forming a soundproof barrier. Yet Lan Xiaobu did it effortlessly. That strength…
“Dao Lord, I found the Seven Realms Stone Banner…” the Reincarnation Saint said, voice trembling with excitement.
Lan Xiaobu eyed him skeptically, “You’re not saying it’s in Yong Ye Lan, or even this plane, are you?”
In his understanding, all Seven Realms Stone Banners should be in the Great Desolate Divine Realm’s plane, not here.
“I’m telling the truth, no lies. If I’m right, Dao Lord, you’ve likely got three banners already,” the Reincarnation Saint said.
“Correct, you guessed it. I do have three,” Lan Xiaobu admitted, having planned to include him anyway.
The Reincarnation Saint grew more excited, “Here’s the thing—I searched everywhere and found solid info. Once three banners are taken, the other four flee into the void, vanishing across the vast cosmos.”
Lan Xiaobu nodded, agreeing. After he’d claimed the third, the fifth and seventh had indeed escaped into the void from the Seven Realms Desert in the Rootless Divine Realm. “Friend Reincarnation, stop beating around the bush. Just tell me where the fourth banner is. Time’s tight—we need to find it fast.”
He’d crossed the Soul Departure Dao’s ancestor, a definite Eternal Saint. Lan Xiaobu reckoned he was a Creation Path Saint, working under the Creation Saint Huang Quan Dao Ancestor alongside Li Zhou Palace’s ancestor. Though both were eternal, Creation Path and Creation differed.
“I don’t know its exact location…” the Reincarnation Saint began.
Lan Xiaobu glared, annoyed, “You don’t know, and you still got caught here?”
If he’d found the fifth or sixth, it’d be useless to Lan Xiaobu. The banners followed a sequence—one led to two, one and two to three. With one, two, and three in hand, only the fourth mattered.
“Though I don’t know, Dao Lord, you do. Just take out the first, second, and third banners—they’ll point straight to the fourth,” the Reincarnation Saint said, thrilled.
“How do you know that?” Lan Xiaobu asked, surprised and delighted.
The Reincarnation Saint grinned, “I got caught by Yong Ye Star’s forces because I found this out. They likely wanted to lure you into a trap. Funny thing is, you’re here, and they don’t even realize it.”
Lan Xiaobu found it ironic too. They’d been after him, yet when he arrived, they mistook him for some random intruder and tossed him into the sand prison.
“So it wasn’t the Yong Ye Saint who grabbed you?” Lan Xiaobu asked, his divine sense sweeping outward. He saw Yong Ye Lan’s outer array open—important guests arriving, greeted by a crowd.
The Creation Saint gave a self-deprecating smile, “With my meager strength, why would the Yong Ye Saint bother?”
