Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Divine Mandate Grove

"Lan, what do you intend to use to settle the bill?"

After listening to Lan Yi’s request for a reasonable—or perhaps unreasonable—deal, Jin Buhuan grinned, rubbing his hands together. Years of grime visibly peeled off his palms.

A moment later, the faint sword aura of the Gengjin element swirling around Lan Yi swept the filth away.

"Since you still remember the past after the reset, our old accounts remain unsettled," Lan Yi said, smiling for once. Since the score hadn’t been settled, he intended to freeload.

"Are you trying to get something for nothing?"

Jin Buhuan slammed his hands on the table in fury.

The loud thump echoed through the empty lounge, reaching the ears of martial artists waiting nearby, filling them with unease.

Who was this beggar, after all? Dare to challenge Master Lan Yi so brazenly? Perhaps, just as the tales described, this beggar was a sage masquerading as a vagrant for amusement. Only a sage would dare confront another sage; anyone else would be turned to pulp before uttering a harsh word.

Jin Buhuan argued heatedly, words tumbling over each other, trying every trick—past is past, present is present, not the same person, not the same account.

Yet the more he argued, the more confident Lan Yi became.

If the deal were off, Jin Buhuan would have left already.

Clearly, as an omniscient merchant who brought both hope and despair to others, Jin Buhuan saw Lan Yi as a valuable client worth investing in. Otherwise, he’d never have come by when conditions were right, triggering this peculiar encounter in the artificial divine realm.

Jin Buhuan could roam freely throughout the artificial divine realms, even entering abandoned or unfinished ones, but to interact with spirit cultivators from the conquest spaces, he still had to obey certain underlying rules.

Besides, this deal was particularly tricky.

Opening a passage between the main world and an artificial divine realm—superimposing two worlds—isn’t as simple as one plus one. It entails ripples and interference in space-time, defensive loopholes, temporal pollution, spatial tremors, and sudden superhuman transformations—any of which could bring unexpected surprises to the main world.

Even during the era when the two major civilizations of the main world dominated the dimensional oceans, integrating an artificial divine realm into Twin Realms Mountain (called Avalon by the oceanic civilization) required complex quantum supercomputing simulations to ensure success.

Before his rebirth, Lan Yi was a lone wolf.

When it came to opening dimensional passages, he was rather unscrupulous, lacking reliable and stable experience. He often wreaked havoc in the artificial divine realms of the oceanic civilization.

These realms were typically afterthoughts—Loli Island, post-apocalyptic wastelands, cannibal playgrounds, and so forth—not only Lan Yi, but also spirit cultivators from the river and lake civilization would disguise themselves and stir up trouble in these backyards. Sometimes, they’d run into Lan Yi, the notorious villain, and knowingly cooperate without revealing their true identities.

The oceanic civilization’s spirit cultivators frequently protested against the river and lake civilization, accusing them of undermining fair competition among human civilizations.

In response, the river and lake cultivators would publicly tell the foreigners to take it up with Lan Yi, while privately grumbling about their depraved playgrounds, then urging Lan Yi and other lone wolves to intensify their efforts.

Such were the anecdotes of the past.

Now that Artificial Divine Realm 1909 was to be under his control,

He could no longer rely on unscrupulous methods.

"...Fine, fine. You’re so weak and adorable right now—even if I had a method, you wouldn’t be able to use it. Your requirements for the deal are impossible to fulfill in full, like erasing traces of spiritual energy resurgence," Jin Buhuan relented after some negotiation.

One core logic of the artificial divine realms: causality.

For instance, if you trigger spiritual energy resurgence in an artificial divine realm, it inevitably involves mythical species, ancient monsters, and celestial sects sensitive to such energies. If you invoke the apocalypse, you’ll be followed by Cthulhu, zombies, swarms, disasters, and so on.

In the spirit cultivators’ parlance:

To mask the workings of fate, only those with immense power can succeed!

To completely isolate an artificial divine realm from all other systems, to leap beyond the three worlds and the five elements, untouched by calamity, is as hard as recreating the cosmos in the void.

"Then you should be able to handle the rest," Lan Yi replied. If the traces of spiritual energy resurgence couldn’t be erased, so be it—he was hoping to fish for trouble anyway.

"I can get you a temporary passage, no problem," Jin Buhuan said, rifling through information in his mind.

"Temporary?" Lan Yi’s PTSD flared.

Ever since he’d been told his grievances would be answered by a temp worker, he’d gone on a killing spree, venting his pent-up bitterness and injustice. Only bloodshed could help him express his pain and remind those who looked down on him what equality truly meant.

"Temporary isn’t the same as permanent. You haven’t cultivated the void nor forged a stellar river. Even if I secured a permanent passage for you, could you handle it?" Jin Buhuan scrutinized Lan Yi.

His level was still too low.

But his combat power was undeniable.

Others might not see it, but Jin Buhuan could estimate that Lan Yi’s destructive capacity was around the fifth energy level, already brushing the edge of the sixth!

Fifth energy level—a vast spiritual force spanning thousands of meters. One can refine the body in intricate detail, granting abilities from solid to ethereal, breaking the limits of mortal flesh. Effects vary, but control extends to the nanoscale: bacteria, viruses, curses, radiation, none threaten such beings.

Its most notable feature: small nuclear warheads pose no threat whatsoever—even detonated in one’s face, there are means to neutralize the blast unharmed.

Such is the terror of Daoist arts.

With enough Daoist knowledge, even a Life Refining Grove can leverage astonishing power, wreaking city-destroying disasters.

No wonder a top-tier spirit cultivator could return from rebirth.

With Lan Yi’s current strength,

If the main world lacked other reborn individuals to balance him, ordinary national forces would be useless—he’d be a living deity. Anyone daring to challenge him would only be courting death.

"I want to add another term to the deal: you must tell me if this artificial divine realm contains information on the Divine Life Grove," Lan Yi said, conceding a step—temporary passage would suffice, he could always turn it permanent later.

The Divine Life Grove was crucial to Lan Yi.

In fact,

His rebirth was largely for the sake of the Divine Life Grove—this was one of his deepest secrets. His ability to switch to a pristine, original body at will was prepared precisely for the Divine Life Grove.

If he couldn’t assemble the Divine Life Grove,

Then all his struggles to be reborn would amount to nothing more than repeating the world-ending tragedy.