Chapter 00452: The Void Swamp Mud River
# The Void Swamp Mud River
Chapter 452
Novel: Abandon The Universe
Chapter 452: The Void Swamp Mud River
It was truly the Luo Caisi he had been searching for, and contrary to what Liang Changxu had said, Luo Caisi was clearly not in Liang Gucai’s clutches—she was perfectly safe.
Facing Luo Caisi, Jia Yunkong didn’t dare put on airs.
He quickly clasped his fists and said, “Fellow Daoists Zhu Ke, Liang Xuan, and Dong Anhan were imprisoned by Liang Changxu because of you. But then they encountered Fellow Daoist Lan Xiaobu here. Lan Xiaobu subdued Liang Changxu and rescued the three of them.”
Hearing this, Gudao smugly turned to Luo Caisi and said, “See, Mistress? Didn’t I tell you? Master Bu would never suffer any grievances. Now he’s already crushed that Liang Changxu effortlessly. You know Liang Changxu—he was the strongest Immortal Emperor on the Kunpeng. He acted all high and mighty there, but in front of Master Bu, he had no choice but to grovel.”
“Wait, what did you just call me?” Luo Caisi fixed her gaze on Gudao.
Gudao grinned obsequiously. “Before, when I didn’t know when we’d find Master Bu, I just called you by your name. After all, we were drifting through the void, so there wasn’t much room for formalities. But now that we’re about to find Master Bu, if I keep calling you by your name, he might get angry and decide to stew me into soup. Mistress, when you see Master Bu, could you put in a good word or two—or three or four—for me?”
Having traveled with Gudao all this way, Luo Caisi was well aware of its shameless nature.
She snorted. “I’m not married yet. Why call me ‘Mistress’?”
“Right, right! That’s exactly why I called you by your name—because you’re not married yet. How about I call you ‘Senior Sister’ for now?” Gudao felt its previous excuse was a bit weak.
With Master Bu’s sharp mind, he’d probably realize at once that Gudao hadn’t taken Luo Caisi—a mere Great Yi Immortal—seriously.
Now that Luo Caisi had given it a new reason, Gudao decided this was the perfect justification.
Luo Caisi ignored Gudao and bowed to Jia Yunkong. “Island Master Jia, my apologies. Please continue.”
Jia Yunkong went on, “Because Fellow Daoist Lan vouched for them, Zhu Ke and the other two no longer need to go to the Leviathan Ruins Sea. I’ve already sent people to escort them to the Five Realms Immortal World. After Fellow Daoist Lan learned that you had been captured by Liang Gucai, he forced Liang Changxu to speed up the journey to the Liang Family in the Leviathan Ruins Sea. They left eight years ago. Given the Kunpeng’s speed, I’m afraid you won’t be able to catch up.”
“Is there any way to contact Lan Xiaobu?” Luo Caisi asked urgently.
Jia Yunkong looked embarrassed. “Fellow Daoist Lan and I had such a pleasant conversation that I forgot to exchange communication bead imprints. Besides, the void between here and the Leviathan Ruins Sea often disrupts messages. There’s a stretch along the way where the void’s rules are extremely chaotic, making communication difficult.”
Truthfully, Jia Yunkong had wanted to exchange communication imprints with Lan Xiaobu.
But Lan Xiaobu had initially intended to kill him, and only spared him because Jia Yunkong managed to come up with an excuse.
How could he possibly ask for an imprint after that?
Luo Caisi fell silent.
Should she return to the Five Realms Immortal World, or continue to the Leviathan Ruins Sea?
After a moment’s hesitation, she turned to Gudao. “Gudao, what do you think? Should we keep going to the Leviathan Ruins Sea, or return to the Five Realms Immortal World?”
Gudao chuckled. “Senior Sister, that’s up to you.”
In its heart, it wanted to go to the Leviathan Ruins Sea.
Master Bu was there, after all.
The Leviathan Ruins Sea was bound to be exciting—far better than returning to the Five Realms Immortal World for a dull life.
Luo Caisi realized that the only reason they had come this far was because they had no sense of direction in the void.
If she could get a set of void coordinates from Island Master Jia, they could return to the Five Realms Immortal World.
“Then let’s go back to the Five Realms Immortal World. Island Master Jia, could you provide me with the void coordinates for the return journey? We’ll head back now.”
Their arrival here had been pure luck.
In truth, she and Gudao had been wandering the void like headless flies—completely lost.
Gudao talked a big game, but when it came to navigating the void, it was even worse than her.
“Yes, yes! I think Fairy Luo’s suggestion is excellent. The journey to the Leviathan Ruins Sea is fraught with dangers, including the Void Swamp Mud River and packs of void beasts. I happen to have the void coordinates for the Five Realms Immortal World right here.” Jia Yunkong quickly agreed.
What kind of cultivation did Luo Caisi have? A mere Great Yi Immortal, even with a seventh-grade immortal beast, would be courting death by heading to the Leviathan Ruins Sea alone.
Gudao scoffed. “What nonsense! Master Bu is in the Leviathan Ruins Sea right now. If we go back to the Five Realms Immortal World, wouldn’t we be going in the opposite direction?”
Luo Caisi hesitated.
Gudao had a point.
What if Lan Xiaobu stayed in the Leviathan Ruins Sea? Would she just wait idly in the Five Realms Immortal World?
Wait—no.
Luo Caisi snapped out of it and glared at Gudao. “Gudao, didn’t you just say it was up to me? Why are you giving opinions now?”
Gudao muttered, “I’m just offering a suggestion. Just a suggestion.”
After reprimanding Gudao, Luo Caisi bowed to Jia Yunkong again. “Island Master Jia, I’ve decided to proceed to the Leviathan Ruins Sea.”
Now that she knew Lan Xiaobu was at the Liang Family in the Leviathan Ruins Sea, as Gudao had said, if she returned to the Five Realms Immortal World and Lan Xiaobu left the Liang Family for somewhere else without coming back, wouldn’t she just be waiting there endlessly?
Jia Yunkong was troubled.
With Luo Caisi’s level of cultivation, traveling to the Leviathan Ruins Sea on a void ship would be manageable.
But going alone in her flying immortal artifact? That was far too risky.
Yet he couldn’t dissuade her.
If Lan Xiaobu blamed him later, he wouldn’t be able to bear the consequences.
After a long hesitation, Jia Yunkong came up with an idea. “Fairy Luo, how about this? Your flying artifact alone is too dangerous for the journey. On our Kunqian Island, there’s another immortal ship waiting for the meteorite array to end—this one belongs to Luanjiao Island. Luanjiao Island is ranked fourth among the six major powers of the Leviathan Ruins Sea. Why don’t you board Luanjiao Island’s void ship to the Leviathan Ruins Sea? As for me, I have some free time, so I’ll accompany you there.”
Even with arrangements made for Luanjiao Island’s void ship, Jia Yunkong didn’t dare let Luo Caisi go alone.
If something happened to Luanjiao Island’s ship, his presence would at least ensure her safety.
If he didn’t go and Lan Xiaobu held him accountable, he’d have no defense.
After all, she had been willing to go alone, but he had insisted on sending her with Luanjiao Island’s ship—if anything went wrong, it would still be his fault.
“Thank you, Island Master Jia, but there’s no need to trouble yourself. Just introduce us to Luanjiao Island’s void ship, and we’ll be on our way.” Luo Caisi quickly declined.
She knew void ships were quite safe—she had felt perfectly secure on the Kunpeng before.
Jia Yunkong waved a hand. “It’s no trouble. I happen to have some business in the Leviathan Ruins Sea anyway. Let’s consider it settled.”
…
The Kunpeng’s speed was terrifyingly fast—so fast that some of the void ship’s restrictions couldn’t keep up.
Thirty years after leaving Kunqian Island, cracks began to appear in the Kunpeng’s protective formations.
But that wasn’t the biggest problem.
The real issue was that the Kunpeng was currently crossing the Void Swamp Mud River.
If the ship’s formations failed at this moment, the consequences would be unthinkable.
If the void ship fell into the swamp mud river, everyone aboard would die without a trace.
Liang Changxu could no longer delay.
He hurried to the fifth level and knocked on the restrictions of Lan Xiaobu’s cave abode.
“What is it? Have you found Liang Gucai?” Lan Xiaobu’s expression was grim.
When he left Kunqian Island, he had been at the ninth level of the Immortal Venerable realm.
Decades had passed, yet he was still at the ninth level—at most, his immortal energy had grown more refined.
Lan Xiaobu understood why.
During his ten years of cultivation in the Silent God Valley, his immortal energy had already transformed into divine energy.
Making further progress now was incredibly difficult.
The last time he had advanced from the eighth to the ninth level was likely due to the lingering foundation from absorbing divine energy.
After decades of stagnation, Lan Xiaobu guessed that while his cultivation hadn’t improved, his combat strength probably rivaled that of a peak Immortal Emperor.
His cultivation was slightly lacking, but the divine energy he unleashed was far beyond ordinary immortal energy.
Even without formations, he might have been able to crush Liang Changxu effortlessly last time.
“Fellow Daoist Lan, our Kunpeng is currently crossing the Void Swamp Mud River, but the ship’s restrictions are failing. If this continues, the ship may sink into the swamp mud. The rules of the Void Swamp Mud River are absolute—once you fall in, death is certain.” Liang Changxu spoke respectfully.
Lan Xiaobu frowned and stepped outside.
With a sweep of his divine sense, he quickly confirmed the problem—the ship’s restrictions had deteriorated from prolonged high-speed travel.
This was no trouble for Lan Xiaobu.
He casually took out a handful of formation flags, then began repairing the ship’s original protective formations.
In less than half an hour, the ship’s restrictions and formations were fully restored.
Liang Changxu watched in shock.
With Lan Xiaobu’s formation skills, he was certain the entire Liang Family wouldn’t stand a chance against him, even if they all attacked at once.
After repairing the ship’s restrictions, Lan Xiaobu stood on the fifth-level deck, staring in awe at the swamp mud river below.
When he had first begun fixing the ship’s formations, the swamp mud river had been nothing more than an endless expanse of marshland, indistinguishable from any ordinary swamp.
But by the time he finished, the river had transformed into a churning sea of mud waves—some as small as a few feet, others towering hundreds, even thousands of feet high.
The surging mud waves were terrifying.
If the Kunpeng—or even a ship ten times its size—were caught in them, not even bone fragments would remain.
This was no mere swamp river—it was a swamp ocean.
Lan Xiaobu cautiously extended his divine sense downward.
The moment it touched the swamp mud, he detected faint traces of divine energy.
But in the next instant, his divine sense was crushed into nothingness by the raging mud waves.
Lan Xiaobu clenched his fists.
After cultivating with the divine energy of the Silent God Valley, advancing further had become exceedingly difficult.
If he wanted to progress, the divine energy in this swamp mud river was exactly what he needed.
(That’s all for today’s update.
Goodnight, friends!)
(End of Chapter)