1349 - 1359

Chapter 1349 You"re So Bad

Li Lanfeng smiled and glanced at Luo Lang. "I have a brain."

Luo Lang almost fainted from anger. "You little…"

Ling Lan helplessly looked at the childish conversation between the two people in front of her. She knew that during this time, Li Lanfeng would always provoke Luo Lang in order to make him not think about Xie Yi's death.

Every time Luo Lang was angry and annoyed, he would be more energetic than when he was quiet. Ling Lan knew that so she didn't do anything about Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang's little argument.

She looked at that piece of granite and then stepped on it with great force.

A force went through her leg and then they heard a soft clicking sound.

Behind them, 20 meters away from the mountain wall, a hole suddenly appeared in the ground.

"Holy sh*t, it actually so far from us. Who would think of looking there?" Luo Lang had already forgotten about quarreling with Li Lanfeng. He jumped over and reached the edge of the hole.

"There's stairs," Luo Lang said joyfully. It seemed that this was indeed a passageway.

"Let's go down," Ling Lan said indifferently.

"Alrighty." Luo Lang instantly jumped in after hearing those words.

Ling Lan shook her head speechlessly once again. When will Luo Lang be able to become more careful and think things over? He didn't even know what the situation was like down below but he still jumped down without a care in the world. He was so fearless. Was he not afraid that it would be filled with traps down there?

"Luo Lang can deal with most of the common difficulties," Lanfeng smiled as he comforted Ling Lan.

"It seems his calm personality can't be by his side all the time," Ling Lan said with a thought in mind.

"It's quite taxing for the main body to activate his domain so many times. His calm personality probably doesn't want Luo Lang to feel any backlash," guessed Li Lanfeng.

"Maybe. I'll find a chance to get to the bottom of it." Ling Lan remembered Luo Lang's odd change during the fight on the 7th Bugle Call against Lord Gen's disciple. She decided when things become more stable, she would go find the calm personality and talk about it.

"I'll go down and take a look." Li Lanfeng chose to go down first. He instantly jumped down just like Luo Lang.

For domain realm masters such as themselves, they could easily negate the impact of a fall. Even if they were to jump down thousands of feet, it wouldn't be a problem.

Ling Lan sighed once again. Couldn't they just walk down and not jump down one by one? They were too rash.

Ling Lan, who felt she needed to keep her word, chose to hold on the railing as she walked down the stairs. After walking for seven or eight steps…

Alright, jumping down seemed to be less tiring. Ling Lan chose to jump down. Since everyone else had jumped down, she shouldn't go against the grain just because of her stubbornness, right?

Ling Lan definitely wouldn't admit that she had just done something dumb.

After floating in the air for more than 30 seconds, Ling Lan finally saw the bottom of the hole.

The bottom of the hole only had a large sealed door. Other than that, there was nothing else there.

Without any light source, it was pitch-black. However, domain realm masters could use their spiritual power to investigate their surroundings without actually seeing with their eyes. This method's effectiveness was much better than the naked eye since it didn't miss any blind spots.

"It's so dark. I would be nice if there was some light." Ling Lan wasn't afraid of the dark, but she still liked lit up places.

Right after she said that, she felt something softly jump onto her shoulder. Then, a dim light appeared. It brightened up this dark place by quite a lot.

"Little White, why are you also here?" asked Luo Lang when he saw a bright ball shining on Ling Lan's shoulder. It should be known that after Little White squished Boss, it had buried itself in the snow and played dead. Luo Lang originally thought it would stay up there and guard the five guardians. He didn't think it actually didn't care about its little life and followed them here.

"Rawr (I'm here to help my master. I'm a little sun that brings light and warmth.)…"

Little White excitedly waved its little tentacles as if being a help to its master was a very proud thing for it to do. Little White had already forgotten it had squished its master under its butt just moments ago.

Well, with Little White's simple mind, it couldn't be helped that it couldn't think about complex situations, especially when it was the cute type where it would smile dumbly after giving just a bit of praise. It had no hope of learning from its faults. The chance of it repeating a mistake was more or less 100% of the time.

Ling Lan flicked her finger to flick Little White away. She then softly dusted her shoulder and calmly spoke as she raised her head, "Let's go in."

Luo Lang watched as Little White got flicked away and bounced around the walls. In the end, the little ball rolled to a corner. Little White's googly eyes showed twirls and its mouth twitched many times. Luo Lang could almost feel its pain. When they accidentally make Boss mad, they would be in the same state as Little White right now. Oh, wait, no, maybe even worse.

After hearing Ling Lan's words, Luo Lang stood up straight, turned around and walked over to the door.

Bang! Luo Lang bumped into the door.

This scene made Li Lanfeng's eyes twitch uncontrollably. Luo Lang being stupid suddenly was definitely something he didn't want to see.

Ling Lan also had a frustrated expression on her face. She rubbed her forehead with a speechless expression… What kind of underling and pet did she bring? One was dumber than the other…

In the end, Ling Lan placed her hope into Li Lanfeng. He hoped that the strategist she trusted wouldn't be infected by the dumbness and have his intelligence drop below zero.

Sensing the hope in Ling Lan's eyes, Li Lanfeng instantly felt immense pressure on him. He took a deep breath, walked to the door and began to look for clues to open the door.

Luckily, the books he read in the past were actually useful to let him find the clues he was looking for.

He slowly put his right palm on the circular center of the door. Then, he slowly put forth energy into it according to the path his mind believed to be correct.

As the energy flowed through, the patterns on the door began to react and slowly lit up. In the end, the entire door was covered in dim lights. Then after a few cracking sounds, the door was slowly opened.

Li Lanfeng breathed a sigh of relief before looking expectantly at Ling Lan. He then saw Ling Lan smile at him, It seemed like Ling Lan approved of him or was relieved he could do it. This made Li Lanfeng very happy. He felt that he managed to perform well in front of his crush for once.

At that moment, Li Lanfeng was grateful towards Luo Lang and Little White's dumbness. It was their dumb behaviors that made his intelligence shine in comparison.

In reality, Ling Lan was thinking that it was good Li Lanfeng wasn't infected with Luo Lang and Little White's dumbness. It made her feel that this world was still good to her and didn't let her fight the battles alone.

Other than that, she didn't feel anything else.

Right as Ling Lan was about to walk in, she suddenly thought of something. She then pointed at Little White, who was still on the floor all dizzy, and spoke to Luo Lang, "Take it with us. It can be used to light the way."

Surprisingly, the creature at the top of the food chain on Planet Juhao, Little White, was only good enough to be a lantern while with Ling Lan… Let's pity our Little White for having such a terrible master with a drop of our tears.

Chapter 1350 Why Is It So Difficult To Be A Pet?

A Tangdao formed in Luo Lang's hand. He lifted the Tangdao and hung Little White, whose tentacles were tied up in a knot, from the blunt edge of the Tangdao.

Although Little White accidentally sat on Ling Lan, she wasn't really angry about it. However, in order to let Little White understand that there was a price to every mistake it made, she didn't mind punishing it with this mild punishment.

Little White's glowing body lit up the passageway quite well. After walking for a few hundred meters, they finally could see the end of it.

The three of them hastened their pace. But, they soon realized that it was a forked path. There were three routes in front of them.

"Where shall we go?" Luo Lang asked.

Ling Lan's gaze turned sharp. She pointed toward the leftmost route and said, "This way."

Her Profound Insight told her that the leftmost route was where she would find her answer.

Luo Lang never suspected Boss's keen judgment. So, he walked towards the leftmost route without any hesitation.

The three of them continued walking for quite some time. Suddenly, Luo Lang stopped in his tracks.

As soon as Luo Lang stopped, space in front of him suddenly distorted and crackled.

"It's dangerous." Luo Lang turned serious as he scanned the distorted space.

He only stopped because someone in his mindscape reminded him of the danger in front of him. He was unfamiliar with this new arrival. It was definitely not the Little Leng he knew and trusted.

Seeing the distorted space, Li Lanfeng closed his eyes and stretched out his right hand to sense the air around him. When he opened his eyes again, he seemed slightly puzzled. "There's a sinister and dark energy near here. However, it doesn't feel like the bug element energy that Lord Gen had."

"We'll know once we go in," Ling Lan replied calmly.

Luo Lang nodded with a sharp gaze as he started to walk forward again but this time, he was more vigilant.

After walking for a few meters, Luo Lang suddenly jumped up. It was because the space around him had suddenly turned into a swamp. As the land was terraforming itself before his eyes, a fifteen meter long snake suddenly emerged from the swampy lake before baring its jaws towards Little White who was still swaying on the tip of Luo Lang's Tangdao.

Just as the snake was about to clamp down its jaws, Luo Lang swung his Tangdao back forcefully, flinging Little White towards his back through the air.

While still spinning in mid-air, Little White quickly covered its mouth with its tentacles, which stopped today's lunch from getting vomited out of its stomach. From the corner of its vision, it finally saw the giant snake who was looking at it like a rare delicacy.

'What the f**k? Someone is now trying to eat me? Hmm, is this what irony is? Hmph, no matter, you want to eat me? I'll eat you instead.'

The enraged Little White suddenly elongated its tentacles and whipped the snake across its face furiously. The snake, which now like a disheveled wife, was forced back into the swamp because of the sudden slap.

"Ice Blockade." Seeing the snake getting slapped back into the swamp, Ling Lan used her technique to freeze the swamp around them. Luo Lang and Li Lanfeng slowly landed back onto the ice surface. They looked grimly at the giant snake that was twisting and turning under the thin sheet of ice.

"I remember that Lord Gen summoned this kind of poisonous animal on the 7th Bugle Call before." The appearance of this giant snake was similar to the giant snake that appeared on the 7th Bugle Call. The only difference was that the snakes on the 7th Bugle Call were smaller. It wasn't like this giant snake which almost filled up the entire swamp with its body.

"There is not only the snake. There is more." Ling Lan frowned slightly as she looked past the rampaging giant snake.

Following Ling Lan's gaze, Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang saw a half-revealed yellowish-brown toad behind the giant snake. It's golden slitted eyes were staring ferociously at them. The toad was similar to the colour of the swamp, in addition to the fact that it didn't move, Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang almost missed it.

"There's even more." When Ling Lan noticed that their attention was on the toad, Ling Lan reminded them again.

Hearing Ling Lan's words, Luo Lang and Li Lanfeng moved their attention away and looked further past the unnerving toad. Near the outer edges of the swamp, they saw two more creatures.

They didn't expect four different poisonous creatures to exist in this swamp simultaneously. These four creatures, which normally couldn't exist together, lived harmoniously in this swamp.

Besides the giant snake and the toad, there was a ten meter long centipede crawling at the shallow edges of the swamp. Near the end of the swamp, there was a humongous spider spinning its web, biding its time for its next prey to arrive.

"If you include the scorpion that Lord Gen summoned, the five poisonous creatures are all present." Ling Lan was deep in thought.

"This might be why there's an endless supply of bug domain concept in the rainbow palace." Li Lanfeng stared at the four poisonous creatures. "Based on the aura these poisonous creatures are exuding, they must be titled domain realm or above."

"That explains everything but I feel that there is more than meets the eye." Ling Lan looked at Little White who was having a staredown against the giant snake in the air. She said calmly, " I'll leave them to you."

"Rawr~" (I understand, master.)

Poof! Little White's huge round body dove straight towards them. The three of them were speechless when they saw it. They immediately retreated a few kilometers back so that they wouldn't be squashed by it.

Little White turned back into his real form without informing them again.

Little White thought that it would spurt the muddy swamp water everywhere after it fell down but instead, it landed on a hard surface. Confused, it looked down and saw the thin layer of ice on the surface of the swamp. The layer of ice looked very thin but it was extremely strong. Even when a giant cannonball like it landed on top of it at high speed, there were no cracks.

Little White squealed in delight when it saw the ice. It thought, 'Master must be really worried about me for her to use her ice domain concept to protect me. Master is the best master in the world. Little White loves master the most.'

The giant snake got excited when it saw its prey falling down from the sky. It opened its mouth and charged towards the surface.

Before it could get near, it saw the soft furs on Little White suddenly exploding and piercing through the ice. Instantly, the furs became huge tentacles that were more than ten meters in length. It attacked him from all directions.

Gasp! 'Oh my god, what kind of monster is this?'

The frightened giant snake dove back deeper into the swamp and disappeared without a trace in an instant.

Little White threw its tentacles in the swamp. Muddy water and cracked ice flew everywhere but its efforts were futile. It couldn't find the giant snake that was hidden in the depth of the swamp.

The frustrated Little White wanted to find the other poisonous creatures but it realized that all of them were gone. Only an empty spider web was left.

"Rawr!" 'You bunch of cowards! I finally managed to get the chance to perform in front of my master but all of you are hiding from me. I'm so angry.'

Little White just wanted to perform well and please its master. Why was it so difficult?

"Do you really want to perform?" Ling Lan's voice suddenly entered Little White's ears.

"Rawr…" Yes, Little White wants to be a useful Little White. Master, please don't abandon me.

Little White's eyes were full of tears. It felt that if it didn't perform well this time, its master would really ignore it. Little White didn't forget that every time its master went on a mission, she would forget about it and throw it to her little brothers and little sisters. This was the same as abandoning him. In the end, it still has to rely on itself to find its master. Why is it so difficult to be a pet?

1351 Heart Of Imperial.

The moment Little White finished expressing its feelings, it felt the layer of ice melting below it. Little White's huge body slowly sunk into the swamp.

"Rawr!" 'Oh my god. What's happening? I'm drowning! Help!'

"It looks like I raised you into some useless…" Ling Lan felt helpless when it saw Little White's flailing tentacles. "Did you forget where you come from?"

"Oh? Right!" With the help of its master's reminder, Little White finally remembered that it had lived three-quarters of its life underwater. There was lots of mud in the swamp but as a creature who specialized in swimming, it wouldn't affect him.

Little White quickly calmed down and allowed the swamp to engulf its huge body. When it was fully submerged in the swamp, its body disintegrated into countless pocket-sized Little Whites as they quickly buried themselves into the mud around it. The Little Whites were scattered all over the swamp.

"Boss, will Little White be alright?" Luo Lang asked in concern after retreating to the edge.

"No problem. This is its chance to perform," Ling Lan replied calmly.

Luo Lang nodded to express that he understood. Since Boss said that it was alright, it would be alright.

He thought that Ling Lan would continue watching the battle but instead, she said, "Let's go."

"Go? To where?" Luo Lang couldn't follow Ling Lan's train of thoughts.

"Are we ignoring this place now?" Li Lanfeng immediately understood what Ling Lan meant. He raised his eyebrows.

"If those four poisonous creatures were on the ground, I might be worried for Little White. However, in the swamp…" Ling Lan smiled. "I'm more worried about them."

"It seems like we still don't understand Little White's full strength," Li Lanfeng smiled and replied. He always thought that Little White was a landbound creature. From the looks of it now, that wasn't the case. Not only did Ling Lan like to hide her own strength, but she also hid the real strength of her pet. Only the people who followed her closely would know about her secrets.

"Actually, I don't know its real strength too…" Ling Lan started pondering. As she got to know Little White more, she felt that it surrendered too easily in the past. However, her father, Ling Xiao, was present at that time. No matter how well Little White was able to disguise itself, it wasn't as strong as her father. Without the battle at the Qingri wormhole, she wouldn't even know that her father had reached profound god-class. No matter how strong Little White was, it wouldn't be able to defeat her father. It looks like Little White's instinct was very accurate. It was able to see through her father's disguise immediately so it didn't resist and followed her willingly.

It also looked like she inherited her love for hiding her true strength from her father. Ling Lan decisively let her father take the blame.

As time passed by, Ling Lan's emotions began to calm down. She wasn't as heartbroken or as furious as she was in the past. She slowly started to realise the signs that she missed. What she firmly believed in was her Profound Insight. It allowed her to see the almost unnoticeable clues in a mess of a fight.

She even felt that the crucial clue was the learning device on Little Four. This would explain why when her father 'died', Little Four disappeared and the learning device went into sleep mode.

Whenever she was free, Ling Lan would contact the learning device with her spiritual power. However, the learning device was in a state of hibernation so she didn't get any results. But, she wasn't disheartened. She continued nourishing the learning space with her spiritual power every day. She believed that one day, she would be able to communicate with it one day and see her beloved little brother, Little Four, as well as the instructors she respected.

The three of them quickly flew past the swamp. Of course, while they were crossing the swamp, the four poisonous creatures attempted to stop them. However, Little White managed to stop them the moment they started moving.

Multiple bubbles floated to the surface of the swamp. The churning muddy water and the massive waves were a reflection of the vicious battle going on at the bottom of the swamp.

But, all that wasn't Ling Lan's concern. Since she decided to pass the four poisonous creatures to Little White, she would believe in Little White entirely.

Soon, Ling Lan reached the edge of the swamp. Surprisingly, there was a cave at the end of the swamp. The three of them entered the cave and walked along the rugged and slippery slope filled with water before they finally reached the center.

Normally, the deepest part of the tunnel should be the darkest. However, that wasn't the case as there was something floating in mid-air that lit up the entire cave.

"What's that?" Luo Lang asked in surprise.

"It has such powerful concept energy." Li Lanfeng always had a smile on his face so you couldn't see his emotion but this time, his smiling face cracked, revealing an astounded expression.

Ling Lan frowned at the sight of the glowing object. Seeing the unfamiliar object, she tried her best to find the relevant information in her brain. After rummaging through her memories, she found it. Fortunately, Little Four always gave her tuition from time to time, telling her about the various top-secret files that every country tried to hide.

"It feels like the Heart of God," Ling Lan replied.

"Heart of God." Luo Lang and Li Lanfeng exclaimed at the same time. No matter how calm and composed someone was, they wouldn't be able to remain indifferent when they heard the Heart of God.

"I just said that it feels like. I didn't say that it is." Ling Lan glanced at them nonchalantly. She seemed to be reprimanding them for getting surprised over such a minor matter. They were embarrassing her.

"If it's not, don't mention the Heart of God. It's a scary thing," Luo Lang muttered to himself. They got dumbfounded because Boss mentioned those three words.

"This should be the Heart of Imperial." As the first successor of the Li family, Li Lanfeng knew many secrets.

"Heart of Imperial?" Luo Lang was weaker in this aspect. He knew about the Heart of God through a series of coincidences but he didn't know about the Heart of Imperial.

"It's one level lower than the Heart of God. Legend has it that when an imperial realm formidable warrior dies, his entire concept energy will be congregated into a Heart of Imperial," Li Lanfeng explained.

"This will explain why the rainbow palace has an endless supply of concept energy," Ling Lan walked to the front of the Heart of Imperial and said calmly.

"But I don't sense any bug concept from this Heart of Imperial…" Luo Lang asked in confusion.

"In order for the concept energy here to reach the rainbow palace, it must pass through the swamp." Ling Lan thought for a moment before continuing, "I remember that some creatures are able to absorb other concept energy and turn them into their own concept."

"Those four poisonous creatures must be the transfer station." Li Lanfeng got the answer too.

"The faction supporting the 13 Lords seems really powerful. They could actually get a Heart of Imperial to protect them. This is equivalent to having an extra life… Luckily, Little White acted quickly. If not, the results might be different." Li Lanfeng frowned too. He couldn't help but start to worry. Would the 13 Lords really be afraid of the Soul Society and the mercenary world? What if they already had some relationship with the Soul Society or the mercenary world? They wouldn't have any chance of winning in that case.

Ling Lan understood Li Lanfeng's worry. "We have to take the risk. If we lose, I'll need you to continue fighting with me in another world."

This time, Ling Lan's success rate wasn't high. Based on her past style of doing things, she never took an unfavorable bet. But, she had no choice but to do so now. She had to risk it. If she risked it, she might have a chance. If she didn't, there would be no chance at all.

1352 Original Form!

Li Lanfeng nodded at Ling Lan's words. Since they already made the decision, they would have to bear with the result, whether it was good or bad.

Ling Lan lifted her right hand and waved at the Heart of Imperial. The hovering Heart of Imperial seemed to be attracted to her hand as it flew gently into her grasp.

Ling Lan closed her fingers gently. She held the Heart of Imperial in her hand.

"Such a pure and clean imperial domain concept energy." Ling Lan observed the Heart of Imperial. As she admired it, she felt a little puzzled too. "I don't understand why Lord Gen didn't choose to absorb it directly but instead, left it here."

"Maybe he can't absorb it because their concept didn't complement each other. He might get injured if he tried to absorb it forcefully," Li Lanfeng thought for a moment before replying.

"You make sense. Since we can't find the answer, let's bring it back," Ling Lan replied in an even tone. "After we make an agreement with the 13 Lords, I'll find some time to analyse it. We'll know the answer by then."

Worry flashed past Li Lanfeng's eyes. But, he still nodded. As for Luo Lang, anything Boss said was correct. The thought that analysing the Heart of Imperial was dangerous never crossed his mind.

The three of them went back on the same path. When they reached the swamp again, Li Lanfeng and Luo Lang were flabbergasted by the scene in front of them.

The swamp wasn't a swamp anymore. It had turned into a gigantic dry 'reed field'. The entire place was covered with and densely populated with reed. The characteristic of a swamp was nowhere to be seen. Plus, these 'reeds' were durable and soft. They were dancing around casually in the wind.

The four haughty poisonous creatures were also nowhere to be seen. They wondered if they were dead or Little White had swallowed them into its stomach.

"Is this Little White's original form?" Luo Lang asked in surprise. He suddenly remembered something. "I remember now. They are the tentacles at the bottom of the river on Planet Juhao."

Luo Lang remembered the time when their entire mecha clan was beaten up badly by Little White. In the end, Boss killed it with his beam gun. Did this mean that Boss didn't kill Little White in the past and even brought it back as a pet?

Luo Lang's thoughts were all written on his face. It was so easy to guess what he was thinking. Ling Lan nodded. "Yes. The one that died before you was his clone.

"So these are all Little White's clones." Li Lanfeng looked at the soft reeds in front of him. When he recalled their fight in the past, he felt his hairs standing on end. He believed that if someone entered this reed pool accidentally, they would die a horrible death. They wouldn't even have any bones left because he could see the tiny slit opening on the stem of the reeds that looked like a clean set of sharp teeth. Those were fatal weapons that could kill people without spilling a drop of blood. Anyone would die if they met them.

When Little White saw its master returning, a white round ball flew out of the 'reed field' and jumped into Ling Lan's arms directly.

"Rawr…" (Master, I took care of those creatures.)

"Pfft~" Little White spit out four black round balls from its mouth and looked at Ling Lan in anticipation.

The black round balls had a sinister domain concept energy to them. Ling Lan felt the energy and understood that these must be the heart of the concept of the four poisonous creatures. Their concept energy was messy and not pure. It even gave off a sinister aura that made people uncomfortable.

Ling Lan patted Little White's big head and replied, "You can use them. This kind of thing is not suitable for us."

All the concepts in this world had their set of rules. Although many animals were able to evolve into powerful creatures, they couldn't be substituted. For instance, if Ling Lan and her comrades wanted to find a shortcut to increase their strength, they could only look for the Heart of Imperial from a human to increase their strength. They couldn't use the Heart of Concept from another species. Anyone that tried to challenge this rule would be injured heavily.

Ling Lan wasn't so arrogant to think that she could challenge this rule that had been around for many centuries. Plus, she already had a Heart of Imperial. Thus, she didn't care about those from the poisonous creatures. She would rather give them to Little White to increase its strength. It might be able to help her in the future.

Little White was elated at Ling Lan's words. Other creatures might have to reconsider before devouring these Heart of Concept but for Little White, a bugged character who could swallow anything, even if you gave it a human's Heart of Imperial, it would be able to stomach it.

Little White quickly finished gobbled up the four black round balls. Then, it jumped onto Ling Lan's shoulder like nothing had happened. It felt as though the four black balls were four pieces of sweets.

Ling Lan shook her head. At first, she wanted to use Little White as reference but it seemed like she found the wrong creature.

"Erm, Little White, are you not going to retrieve your clones?" Luo Lang reminded Little White when he noticed that it was starting to fall asleep in Ling Lan's shoulder without any intention of removing the huge 'reed field'.

Little White was unhappy that someone disturbed its beauty sleep. It rolled its eyes at Luo Lang and made a few sounds. Then, it turned its back to Luo Lang and ignored him.

"Huh? What did it say?" Luo Lang looked at Li Lanfeng with tears all over his face. Sob, he couldn't understand Little White's language.

"Well… Little White says that there's ample nutrients in this swamp so his clones can grow quickly here while protecting the rainbow palace. It can kill two birds with one stone." How could he tell Luo Lang what Little White really said? In actual fact, Little White said, "Retrieve my clones? Are you an idiot? That is a stupid question." Li Lanfeng felt mentally exhausted. He had a hard time trying to maintain a good relationship between his comrades.

Ling Lan smiled at Li Lanfeng. As a strategist, his intelligence wasn't suited to work in human relations so it must be hard for him to think of a reasonable excuse for Luo Lang. However, since he seemed like he was capable of it, she would let him handle all of her personal relationships. Plus, Ling Lan was used to using Li Lanfeng too.

If Li Lanfeng knew Ling Lan thoughts, would he feel helpless or happy? No matter what the answer was, it couldn't be denied that Li Lanfeng was getting more important in Ling Lan's mind.

The three of them returned to the hall of the rainbow palace. Just as they arrived, the five guardians were slowly waking up. They were astounded when they saw Ling Lan who was sitting on the ice throne and smiling at them.

"Since you agreed to surrender, I have to give you some gifts," Ling Lan said calmly.

If that excruciating pain was their gift, they would rather not have it. The five guardians cursed silently in their hearts. However, on the surface, they appeared respectful, not daring to show any signs of discontent. They were afraid that they would get some more of those gifts.

"Go back and feel it properly. You will like it." Ling Lan saw through their thoughts immediately. Her Profound Insight was too powerful. It was impossible for any weaker people to hide their real feelings in front of her. But, Ling Lan didn't mind it. She kept the five guardians because she needed them for manual labour so in her mind, they just needed to be obedient. If they didn't bow down to her sincerely, it wouldn't affect her.

The five guardians' faces started twitching when they heard Ling Lan telling them that they would like this excruciating pain. Did she think that they were masochists?

They would never expect that in the future, they would really like this agent just like what Ling Lan said. They even hoped that they could drink it every day. However, at that time, it would only be given based on their merits, which would cause them to put in all their efforts into completing all the missions Ling Lan assigned them, afraid that if they didn't do well, their merits would be cut and they wouldn't get the gene agent they desired.

1353 Shemale?

The sky turned dark, leaving only Lord Gen's rainbow palace as the only source of light in this dimly lit area. Since Ling Lan killed Lord Gen secretly and swiftly, the rainbow palace hadn't descended into chaos as it continued to operate as per normal. Plus, with the help of the five guardians controlling the situation, everyone in the rainbow palace was pacified quickly. Nothing noteworthy happened in the territories controlled by Lord Gen either. Everything seemed peaceful and orderly.

Of course, Ling Lan knew that this peace was just temporary. If she didn't gain the approval of the other 12 lords in the end, she would be faced with endless challenges and the unrest among the people below her.

Li Lanfeng also followed the five guardians to take care of the matters in the rainbow palace. If Ling Lan really became the new Lord Gen, the general manager of the entire rainbow palace would definitely be Li Lanfeng. Compared to Luo Lang's brash and reckless attitude, Ling Lan trusted Li Lanfeng's intelligence and meticulousness more.

As for Luo Lang, he went back to the 7th Bugle Call just as a precaution. If the 13 Lords didn't accept Ling Lan, they would definitely attack the 7th Bugle Call and the rainbow palace together. Although Little Seven, Tian Fang, and Luo Yang were in the 7th Bugle Call, their combat abilities didn't ease Ling Lan's worry. With Luo Lang around, Ling Lan would feel more at ease.

Of course, this was what she told everyone on the surface. In actual fact, Ling Lan was also planning her route of retreat. If by any chance the 13 Lords really decided to cast aside all considerations for a potential war with the Soul Society and attacked them, Luo Lang and the crew members would have a higher chance of escaping under the protection of the 7th Bugle Call.

As for Li Lanfeng and her… since they seeked to gain, it was necessary for them to risk their life for it.

Why did she choose Li Lanfeng to take the risk with her? Thinking up to this point, Ling Lan felt sorry for Li Lanfeng. Luo Lang was her little brother whom she raised personally. She couldn't bear to let him take the risk of dying. As for Li Lanfeng… he was her friend and her soul mate. It seemed natural for him to take the risk with her.

This isn't a good… Ling Lan felt guilty. She decided that if they survived this predicament smoothly, she would treat Li Lanfeng better.

Ling Lan didn't know that when Li Lanfeng heard her asking Luo Lang to leave while letting him stay behind, he was extremely elated. Then, random thoughts about Ling Lan's intention behind her action began to surface in his mind. If Ling Lan treated him even better… fine, Ling Lan, you are seeking your own death.

Ling Lan sat on the ice throne alone as she waited silently for the 12 lords to come and give her their final verdict. This feeling of her life being controlled in the palms of someone else wasn't good.

"This will be the last time." Ling Lan put her head down as a malicious intent flashed past her eyes. As long as she could persevere through this most difficult checkpoint, she would be able to control her fate entirely.

At this moment, many shadowy figures appeared in the hall. They came silently without any notice.

Ling Lan placed one hand on her head and looked at them directly. She saw the five expected guests barging in her hall and smiled. "Five lords came to visit the rainbow palace personally. I feel so honoured."

Lord Card suddenly rushed in front of Ling Lan until he was an inch away from Ling Lan's face as he smiled cheekily in his clown outfit. "Are you the Lan Xiao who pretended to be from the Rainbow Raiders? No, that shouldn't be your real name. How should I address you, little friend?"

Seeing Lord Card being so close to him, it ticked a nerve of Ling Lan as her force of presence suddenly exploded outwards. Lord Card instantly retreated back to his original position. He continued smiling as he said, "You're really unfriendly."

Ling Lan replied calmly, "I don't like it when people come too close to me. As for my name, you can address me as Lord Gen."

The moment she said this, Lord Card's smile froze. The other four lords' faces turned cold.

Lord Holy, who was wearing a white gown and had golden hair and blue eyes, sneered. "You're really impolite. Do you really think that we will allow an organization to enter the Lawless Lands?"

Ling Lan gave a small smile. "Then shall we make a bet?" Her fearless and nonchalant attitude frooze the expressions on the five lords' faces. This was the first time they saw such an arrogant invader. In the past, everyone who wanted a piece of the Lawless Lands acted cautiously in front of them as they were afraid that the 13 Lords would ban together and eradicate them if they provoked the lords. If the five lords had a choice, they wanted to attack this arrogant little brat together.

However, Ling Lan was fiddling with two objects in her other hand. One was the token representing the governor of the 18th District of the Soul Society. The other was the token used by White Monarch from the Rainbow Raiders. These two items reminded them that there were very influential organizations supporting this arrogant little fellow.

Why did the 13 Lords choose to believe Ling Lan's lies? It was because Ling Lan was too strong for her age. Only the extremely elusive Soul Society was able to groom such a rare genius. Only a rare genius was able to convince White Monarch to work with him.

Without this crucial factor, they would have killed anyone that had the same two items and had spoken the same words as Ling Lan. Did they really think that they were idiots? Would they believe anyone who came with a token and declaring that they were from a certain organization?

Lord Zhen noticed the awkward atmosphere. It was hard to continue the conversation so he tried to mediate the situation. "Lord Qian and Lord Kun would like to know besides the Soul Society, and the Rainbow Raiders, who else wants a part of the Lawless Lands?"

Ling Lan replied indifferently, "On the front, I belong to the Rainbow Raiders. As for the Soul Society, they are not involved in this."

"That means the Soul Society is working with the Rainbow Raiders, or the mercenary world, right?" Lord Demon, who was dressed quite openly, instantly covered her mouth and laughed sweetly at Ling Lan's words. Her chest jiggled as she laughed.

"You can think of it that way." Ling Lan gave a mysterious smile to Lord Demon.

"How about this? Little brother, if you're willing to spend a good night with me, I can help you." Lord Demon's eyes lit up when she saw Ling Lan's gaze. She licked her lips and looked at Ling Lan lovingly.

Ling Lan raised her eyebrows slightly when she heard this. Her smile got a tone brighter. Lord Demon followed her and smiled sweetly at her too, making her look even more enchanting and seductive. Contempt could be seen in the other four lords' eyes when they saw this. They seemed to be directing their disgust at Lord Demon and Ling Lan.

At this moment, Ling Lan opened her mouth and emphasised every one of her words. "I'm sorry, I don't like a man."

"Hahaha…" Lord Card clutched his stomach and laughed loudly. "Shemale, you finally met your match today. I'm going to die from laughing."

The other three lords laughed too. This was the first time Lord Demon's real identity got exposed and also the first time she got rejected. In the past, once Lord Demon activated her seduction domain concept, she never failed. Even they almost succumb to her enticement. The fellow in front of them was young but his willpower was amazing. Most importantly, he had good eyesight. He didn't get fooled.

"Go and die." Lord Demon was instantly infuriated when her secret was exposed. She swung her whip at Lord Card.

"Slap!" Lord Card flicked a card out, forcefully directing the whip away from him. The next second, he came beside Ling Lan and shouted in a fearful tone, "What a fierce shemale. Lan Xiao, hurry up and help me."

Lord Demon was even more furious when she saw this. She swung both of her hands and ten whips flew out. Just as they were a distance away from Ling Lan, the tip of the whips suddenly turned into hideous snakeheads. They opened their big mouths and bit towards her.

The snakes were about to reach Ling Lan but she didn't move as she sat on her ice throne. She just raised her eyebrows in response.

1354 She Couldn"t Lose!

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! The snakes were being whipped back.

Even Lord Card was also suddenly attacked. He was forced back to his original position.

At that moment, the icy throne Ling Lan sat on had ten intimidating tentacles flailing around it, creating an indomitable image to the people below. Along the tentacles, there were slit-like openings that had teeth in them. In that moment, the tentacles currently had their slit-like mouths open savagely and it would drool from time to time. As the drool fell onto the floor, it would create a sharp hiss before quickly corroding holes on the ground.

'What a terrifying sight!' The five lords got vigilant when they saw the tentacles.

Lord Zhen stood there frozen like a statue. He had seen Lan Xiao's space domain concept and ice element concept. Now, he was showing a plant based concept? He was now completely confused. What was his actual domain concept? Or perhaps he had three different domains concepts?

Lord Zhen shook his head to get rid of the ridiculous thought out of his mind. Logic told him that it was impossible. However, what was before his eyes made him doubt himself. What was even happening? He could now only hope that Lord Qian and Lord Kun could give him a logical answer to these series of ridiculous events. Otherwise, he would actually doubt the knowledge he acquired in the past. If that were to happen, it would damage the foundation of his domain concept, which would be really bad for his progress into god-realm.

"It seems Mr. Lan Xiao has many trumps cards up his sleeve," Lord Kan, who hadn't made any remarks, finally said his first few words. A guarded look appeared in his eyes. If they were afraid of the Rainbow Raiders in the beginning, then they were also now somewhat afraid of Ling Lan as well.

"I wouldn't dare to come and stay in the Lawless Lands if the Emperor didn't have confidence in me to do so." Ling Lan smiled lightly. While he said that, pride and confidence oozed out of her demeanour.

It seemed like Lan Xiao was probably the most prized underling of the Emperor of the Soul Society. Some of them even suspect that Lan Xiao might be the Soul Emperor's son or grandson. Only those who had the full backing of a strong organization would be able to show such a confident expression.

The five lords all made this judgment in unplanned unison. The reason they came to the rainbow palace wasn't because they had made a decision. Instead, they were trying to probe Ling Lan. If Ling Lan's behavior was off by even a little bit, they would determine that taking Ling Lan out wouldn't cause the Soul Society and the Rainbow Raiders to react. If that was the case, the five of them would definitely cooperate and kill Ling Lan on the spot. However, Ling Lan's uncanny behavior made her hard to read.

The five of them looked at each other with suggestive glances, in the end, Lord Zhen spoke up, "Lan Xiao, as long as the Soul Society keeps its promise by only taking Lord Gen's territory, not cause problems or start wars and open trade routes to the Lawless Lands, we will not take offense for the previous Lord Gen's death."

"No problem," Ling Lan said without hesitation. Since she was about to succeed, she wasn't going to back down.

"When will the shipment of supplies arrive?" Lord Holy suddenly asked in a serious tone.

The other four lords all looked towards Ling Lan, waiting for her response.

Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. She knew that this was one of the tests for the other lords to accept her as one of them. If she was to say that she couldn't supply them supplies, it would reveal that her position in the Soul Society wasn't as high as she behaved. At the same time, it would show them her cooperation with Rainbow Raiders wasn't on the best of terms. Once they believe they could bear the negatives of killing her, the other lords would definitely make a move on her life.

"When do you want it to arrive?" Ling Lan smiled lightly, looking as if she was very confident.

"One month!" Lord Kan said without hesitation.

"You are purposely making it hard for me…" Ling Lan had a helpless look on her face. "Even if I report this to the Emperor now, from preparation to communicating with the mercenary world and shipping it here, it would be impossible without at least three months. The Lawless Lands is too far away from the center of everything."

"If you depart from the closest nation near the Lawless Lands, just one month should be enough," Lord Kan said plainly.

"You think we're so stupid to expose where the Soul Society is stationed?" A look of mockery showed on Ling Lan's face, mocking them for doubting her intelligence.

If they actually import supplies from the closest nation near the Lawless Lands, that territory would instantly become useless. With that intelligence, that nation's government would immediately move out all their forces to wipe out all of the Soul Society influences in their territory.

"Since we're going to cooperate, you need to show your sincerity." Lord Kan's attitude was quite clear. If the Soul Society wanted the lords to accept them, the Soul Society must accept their conditions.

"If we were to give up a stable territory for an unstable territory… Do you think the Soul Emperor will agree to that?" Ling Lan half-smiled. "If you want to cooperate peacefully, don't bring up such unrealistic conditions."

The two of them met each other's gazes with neither of them wanting to let up. The atmosphere instantly turned tense and it seemed as though a battle was going to ensue.

"It��s just supplies, isn't it? Lan Xiao's words make sense, so we should give him some time. However, the Lawless Lands is currently in dire need of more supplies, so the faster the better. How about this? We will meet in the middle. How about two months? If we see the supplies in two months, we won't interfere with the Soul Society doing anything in Lord Gen's territory. If the supplies don't arrive in two months, then sorry, we will take back Lord Gen's territory and ask the Soul Society to find somewhere else to settle," Lord Zhen spoke up. He had a determined look on his face with the meaning that the terms were not for discussion.

"Is that a promise?" Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and asked.

"Yes, it's a promise and condition from us," Lord Zhen said without hesitation.

Ling Lan's eyes brightened, and after a few seconds, she responded, "Alright, I will notify the Emperor."

"Alright, we await your good news." After saying those words, the five lords disappeared from sight.

After waiting quietly for a while, Ling Lan confirmed that the lords had left. Then, she said plainly, "Come out."

A silhouette appeared in the main hall of the palace. His expression was somber while his eyes had a look of worry that he couldn't hide.

At the same time, the dancing tentacles suddenly disappeared. Then, a little white ball jumped out of thin air. It was Little White. Those tentacles were created by Little White. Its tentacles seemed to have evolved because it had devoured the cores of the four poisonous insects.

"Two months? Where are we going to get them those supplies?" Li Lanfeng steeled himself and forced the low spirited feeling he had into the back of his mind as he spoke out the biggest problem they had at hand.

Ling Lan closed her eyes with an exhausted expression. Although she only spoke with the five lords for a short amount of time, every sentence and expression was still the results from her careful consideration and practice. Maintaining such a high-state of concentration, it was really taxing to her mind.

Looking at the tired Ling Lan, Li Lanfeng felt heartbroken. He walked behind Ling Lan and slowly caressed the side of her head, hoping it would help her feel a little better.

"We'll let Tian Fang, Luo Lang and the others go back once to find Qi Long to deal with it," With a steeled expression, Ling Lan forced those words out of her mouth, even though it made her feel useless.

"Will there be enough time?" A back and forth trip, in addition to the time spent on gathering supplies, was already difficult in three months, not to mention how the 13 Lords only gave them two months to work with.

Ling Lan clenched her fists until her nails dug into the palms of her hands. She really didn't want to drag too many people into this. However, now it seemed that couldn't be avoided.

"If Luo Chao fuses with Jialan, it can be done." In the end, she still dragged in her two little sisters. However, she was already at this step. She couldn't just lose like this!

1355 Risk!

"Also, go and find Xia Qingyi. Ask him to prepare a portion of the supplies we need."

Li Lanfeng sounded frustrated. "Are you preparing to gamble everything on the Lawless Lands?"

"There are too few people I can use. No matter who's available, as long as they can be used, I'll use them," Ling Lan replied.

"Can Xia Qingyi be trusted?" Li Lanfeng asked earnestly.

"He has to listen to me until I die," Ling Lan replied decisively.

Although Ling Lan wasn't able to contact the learning space and Little Blossom, she still decided to meet Xia Qingyi. It was because with the help of her Profound Insight, she knew that Little Blossom's clone was still inside his brain. It wasn't affected by Little Blossom's disappearance. Little Blossom ordered his clone to hibernate, so even without Little Blossom's presence, the order remained as it was.

Luckily, only Ling Lan knew about Little Blossom. As for Xia Qingyi, he thought that placing Little Blossom was one of Ling Lan's abilities so for his safety, he would never betray her as long as she was alive.

"I understand." Since Ling Lan had spoken, Li Lanfeng knew what he had to do.

Almost immediately, Li Lanfeng left the rainbow palace. He went back to the 7th Bugle Call and relayed Ling Lan's new order.

The 7th Bugle Call immediately unloaded all of its goods. Ji Ming and Yu Shangfei took care of the safety of the supplies.

The 13 Lords weren't able to confirm Ling Lan's background so they suppressed the news that Lord Gen had already died. Thus, the other factions in the Lawless Lands didn't know that Lord Gen's identity had changed.

At the same time, Ling Lan went down to the swamp below the rainbow palace which had already turned into a 'reed field'.

"Little White, protect me." Ling Lan spoke to Little White which was on her shoulder.

Little White nodded its entire body obediently. The next second, it jumped down from Ling Lan's shoulder and entered the 'reed field' before disappearing without a trace.

Ling Lan took a step forward and arrived at the center of the 'reed field'.

Suddenly, the 'reeds' parted away, revealing a deep hole around ten metres in diameter. Ling Lan slowly entered the hole and the hole slowly closed behind her. It turned into a swamp again. New 'reeds' started forming on top of the hold. Finally, it turned back into an inconspicuous 'reed field'. No evidence of the hole was left behind. It was as though nothing ever changed.

Actually, after Ling Lan found the Heart of Imperial, she had tried to swallow it. She wanted to use the power from the Heart of Imperial to open the doors of the learning space and make contact with Little Four.

Ling Lan felt that there was no reaction from the learning space because her domain concept wasn't powerful enough to open the doors. Now, with the Heart of Imperial, she saw a ray of hope.

Since there was hope, Ling Lan didn't want to continue waiting. There was a huge risk but she didn't care about it anymore.

Ling Lan wasn't making this decision because she was impulsive. She just didn't have the time to do things safely. She had already met six of the 13 Lords of the Lawless Lands. In order to kill one Lord Gen, she already needed to borrow Little White's strength. If she relied on her own strength, she would still be able to kill her opponent but she would get seriously injured in return. In reality, one lord was already on par with her. So what if she had the advantage of the unknown? She didn't just have one enemy. She had a bunch of enemies. If two or three of them attacked her together, she would be in trouble.

The 13 Lords were aggressive in their approach too. They only gave her two months to do something that normally could only be done in three months. This was all because she wasn't strong enough… Ling Lan hated the feeling of helplessness. Hence, she needed to become stronger so that she could protect those people that followed her and ensure their survival.

Luckily, it wasn't impossible to become stronger in two months, especially when she had the Heart of Imperial.

Since there was a possibility of success, Ling Lan wouldn't give up. Anyway, she was already dancing with Hades. She didn't mind doing another dance with him.

Returning to the darkness again made her feel like she was going back into a womb like she did in the past. At that time, she was cultivating in her mother's womb. She didn't know how long she spent inside but when she woke up, her mother was already giving birth. She didn't know what was happening so she almost caused a difficult labour to her mother. Fortunately, Little Four reminded her so she was able to avoid a disaster.

Thinking back about it, Ling Lan felt sad. She was all alone again. She didn't have her mother doting her. She also didn't have the accompaniment of Little Four. Her mind and heart felt empty.

Ling Lan suddenly smiled. Why was she feeling sad? If she was able to stand at the peak, she could get everything back. Her mother, her younger brother, all of them would return to her. None of them would be left out.

Ling Lan's gaze was firm. She slowly closed her eyes. The Heart of Imperial in her arms slowly floated out of her grasp. As it was floating in front of her, she used her spiritual power to bind the Heart of Imperial and started extracting the concept energy inside.

The Heart of Imperial's physical appearance was small but in actual fact, it was the culmination of all the concept energy an imperial realm formidable warrior gathered in his entire life. There was almost an endless supply of energy inside. However, to absorb the energy, the concept energy had to be converted to one's own. Ling Lan was very careful when doing this step. She would control the amount of energy she extracted each time, afraid that something would happen, causing her to injure herself.

This wasn't the only thing she was careful about. She also brought the last 30 second generation Nuwa agent with her.

All in all, Ling Lan wasn't a reckless and impulsive person. It was just that the current situation forced her to take a risk, but all the decisions she made were done after serious considerations. Ample preparations were already made beforehand.

Ling Lan's spiritual power and the cultivation techniques of the Divine Command sect were like cheat codes in a game. For normal humans, their energy came from their bodies. For instance, the absorption of the Heart of Imperial was done by the body. Then, the person would have to change the concept energy he sucked into his own domain concept. There would be serious damage done to the body using this method because of the collision of the concept energies in the body. That was why Lord Gen didn't dare to absorb the Heart Of Imperial. It was very easy to get injured by the energy core of an imperial realm formidable warrior. That was why he placed it below the rainbow palace and used the poisonous creatures as the transferring medium before sucking the energy.

With this method, some of the concept energy would be wasted and the effects were slower but it was overall safer.

However, to Ling Lan, getting a little injured wasn't a problem. She was able to activate her spiritual power and used the techniques of the Divine Command sect to extract the energy of the Heart of Imperial outside her body. Then, she would use her spiritual power again to fuse and change the concept energy, pulling out any foreign elements that would harm her. After that, she would absorb the energy into her body. With the cheat-like techniques, she evaded the step that everyone was most afraid of.

It had to be said that Ling Lan's golden finger was really amazing.

1356 Don"t Want To Die!

The energy from the Heart of Imperial entered Ling Lan's body continuously. Ling Lan could feel the concept in her body getting thicker and thicker. Even with such obvious signs, she remained patient and started congregating and compressing the concept energy. She had asked her master, Mu Shui-qing, how to advance to god-realm in the past. He told her that she must compress her concept until she couldn't compress it anymore. When the concept in her body reached a point where it couldn't hold anymore, this was the time to break through to the god-realm.

Ling Lan didn't know how far away she was from the step her master mentioned. After all, she just entered the imperial realm not long ago and had just begun compressing her concept. She just hoped that the Heart of Imperial would allow her to achieve half step into god-realm. That way, she would have the confidence to fight with the 13 Lords.

During this period of time, she had been analysing her Profound Insight. Number One told her that Profound Insight was the most powerful innate talent in the universe. Ling Lan had always thought that its strength could only be utilized in mecha piloting. Now, she finally understood what Number One really meant. The power of Profound Insight she was able to control was heaven-defying enough. If she could completely grasp Profound Insight, the space domain that everyone was fearful of was not even worth mentioning.

This was the reason why Ling Lan had the confidence to fight with two most powerful lords out of the 13 Lords, Lord Kun and Lord Qian.

The concept in Ling Lan's body being compressed stably. Just like that, she continued repeating the same procedure over and over again. Ling Lan didn't know how many days had passed or how long she had cultivated. She always thought that she would only end her cultivation when the energy in the Heart of Imperial was finished or someone disturbed her. But, unexpectedly, the Heart Of Imperial, which had been giving off energy steadily, suddenly exploded. She was caught off her guard.

Every imperial realm formidable warrior had a motive for creating their Heart of Imperial before they died. Some wanted to give their descendants a shortcut to grow stronger while others had some hidden secrets. If it was the former, there was nothing wrong with using it as long as you were careful enough. The latter was worse as it was impossible to guard against it.

It seemed like Ling Lan's luck was bad. This Heart Of Imperial wasn't the former. It was the latter. Also, it was the most irritating kind, the kind of Heart Of Imperial that had revenge in mind.

Normally, this kind of Heart Of Imperial would give off some dark aura. Yet, this Heart Of Imperial, whether it was from the appearance or its aura, didn't give off any kind of weird feeling. That was why Ling Lan neglected this point.

We could only say that some things were not written entirely in books. The Heart of Imperial was already very rare. Even if the military had done some research on it, they wouldn't be able to completely understand it. There would definitely be some omissions of details and information they couldn't find out.

As luck would have it, Ling Lan chose to believe the research and compared the Heart Of Imperial with it. She thought that the Heart of Imperial was the first kind so she used it boldly. If she knew that it was the second kind… fine, Ling Lan would still use it. However, she would be more careful and remain vigilant.

However, it was too late now. The energy of the Heart Of Imperial escaped the control of her spiritual power and started entering Ling Lan's body furiously.

"Pfft~" Ling Lan's body couldn't handle the impact of such huge concept energy. Blood spurted out of her mouth.

Different concept energy started tearing her body apart. A vicious look flashed past her eyes. "Double Limit Release!"

The snowflake symbol appeared on her forehead. Then, it turned black as it swiftly spreaded through her entire forehead. She looked devilish. At the same time, her hair grew longer and turned silver instantly.

"Suppress it!" The double imperial realm domain concept suppressed the messy and violent concept energy in her body simultaneously. At the same time, Ling Lan repeatedly compressed the violent concept energy. She had no time to care about the different concept energies anymore. She knew that this would cause implications to her advancements of physical skills in the future but now, she just wanted to stay alive. Hence, she completely disregarded the risk involved in doing so.

The two energies collided and got suppressed in her body, increasing the damage caused to her body.

Ling Lan quickly downed a bottle of the second generation Nuwa agent. The Nuwa agent quickly nourished Ling Lan's body.

Just like that, when the concept energy hurt Ling Lan's body until she couldn't bear with it anymore, she would drink a bottle of the Nuwa agent. The process repeated again and again. She compressed the concept energies continuously. Finally, Ling Lan drank her last bottle of Nuwa agent. Yet, the collision in her body didn't stop. Seeing this, Ling Lan's heart turned cold. Was she going to announce her failure here today?

The effect of the last bottle of agent was diminishing and the pain got stronger. Blood kept flowing down the side of her lips.

Ever since she came into this world, she had been vomiting blood all the time. But, she never died from it. It seemed quite funny.

In the face of life-or-death, this was actually the thought that appeared in Ling Lan's mind.

"That's really quite funny. However, since I can't die from vomiting blood, I will not die here." Ling Lan opened her mouth and scolded angrily, "F**k! You want to play hard? I will not play with you anymore!

"I want to live. Let's see who will survive to the end." Ling Lan smiled. Since her body couldn't handle it, she wouldn't use her body.

Ling Lan decisively moved the violent energy to her mindscape, which caused a severe headache. Fortunately, Ling Lan's spiritual power was strong enough so she didn't lose her consciousness because of the excruciating pain.

"If you want to charge, let me give you an opportunity. Go ahead." Ling Lan guided the huge energy towards the learning space.

"Ah~!" Ling Lan screamed into the air. Her silver hair flew in the wind. Any normal human being wouldn't be able to handle the extreme pain caused by the impact. Veins started popping out on Ling Lan's forehead. Her expression was crazy but determined. The epitome of 'To win, or die trying'.

Number One, who was nourishing Little Four and the other instructors, suddenly looked up. For the first time, astonishment appeared on his cold and expressionless face.

The next second, he came to the great hall of the learning space. He raised his hand and pushed it forcefully in the direction of the entrance.

"Boom!" The combination of the force outside and inside finally shattered the enclosed passageway.

"Huh?" Number One sensed that the concept energy didn't belong to Ling Lan so he frowned slightly. The next second, invisible barriers appeared and protected some of the doors.

Number One ignored the other doors.

He heard many cursing and swearing in the background. "F**k!�� "What the hell is this?" "What sneak attacked me?" "Damn it, come out and I'll hit you." The next moment, the other eight instructors appeared in a haggard state in the great hall.

Number One looked calmly at the passage. His lips seemed to be tilted at a certain angle. "It's a little stupid and reckless but fortunately, the passage is opened."

Then, he disappeared on the spot.

"Erm… did Number One just smile just now?" Number Three was flabbergasted.

"He didn't. You must have mistaken," Number Six, Number Seven, and Number Eight replied simultaneously.

Number Nine quickly retracted her astounded expression and resumed her cold expression.

Number Five glanced at Number Nine with a smile. He moved his mouth without a sound. "Your brother is really funny."

Number Nine rolled her eyes at Number Five. She wouldn't admit that her brother, the ice mountain that never had expressions on his face, would smile. She would never admit it.

Number Four touched her chin thoughtfully.'This is fun. I never expect the ice mountain to look even more handsome when there are expressions on his face. I really like him.'

1357 Starting From Zero the Next Day!

After using concept energies from the Heart of Imperial to push through the pathway into the learning space, Ling Lan's mindscape exploded in a bang, causing her to fall unconscious.

Even with Ling Lan's strong spiritual power, the terrifying energy created from instantaneous shock was still too much for her to handle. Her mind automatically protected her by making her fall into a deep sleep.

Just like that, Ling Lan was in a trance for quite some time, not knowing how long had passed. Finally, she felt something around her. She didn't know who was softly breathing on her face. It made her feel somewhat itchy and uncomfortable.

Ling Lan slowly opened her eyes and saw Little White's large round eyes with tears within them. The itchy feeling she had was Little White using its little tentacles carefully wiping off the blood coming out of the corner of her mouth.

Seeing its master awaken, Little White called out excitedly.

"Wah wah wah, master, you're finally awake. You slept for three days. I thought you were going to leave me all by myself. Wah wah wah…" Little White spoke as tears flew everywhere. It seemed Ling Lan's deep sleep did indeed terrify it.

Ling Lan put her hand out and softly caressed Little White's small head and said in a hoarse voice, "Don't worry, I won't leave you behind."

Little White's white hairs had already turned gray from dust. Some parts of its hairs were even in knots and filled with mud that were already dry. These were all around its body. It seemed that during the past few days, while Little White was guarding her, it didn't even have time to clean its little white hairs. It should be known that Little White liked being clean and would always clean its little white hairs from time to time. Sometimes even Ling Lan thought it was excessive.

Now, it seemed like she was the most important thing on Little White's mind. It wasn't how she thought Little White was forced to follow her. If Little White cared for her so much, then she would also treat Little White as an important family member and never leave its side.

Acquiring Ling Lan's acknowledgment was actually quite difficult. Ling Lan's would never put forth feelings into someone first. However, if she were to feel that someone cared for her genuinely, she wouldn't shun them away. Instead, she would put them in her care and put forth her true feelings as well.

"Rawr!" (Master, how are you doing right now? You spat out a lot of blood. I'm scared.)

Little White was deeply traumatized after remembering Ling Lan's terrible state in the past two days. In those two days, it actually thought its master was going to leave it. It thought that it wouldn't be able to see its master open her eyes again and talk to it.

"I'm awake so I'm fine." Ling Lan held Little White in her arms and softly caressed the hairs on its body. Little White's warm body temperature made Ling Lan feel that she was still living in reality.

At the last moment before she closed her eyes, she felt her mindscape explode after using the Heart of Imperial to force open the learning space, Ling Lan had thought she was actually going to die. However, now it seemed that Hades probably thought she was too troublesome and sent her back into the world of the living.

"Did anything happen in the rainbow palace in the past few days?" Since she was now fine, Ling Lan returned to reality and began asking Little White about the current state of affairs.

"Rawr!" (Nothing. It's been very quiet.)

Little White thought carefully for a moment. Although its main body was by its master's side this entire time, there was still a clone of it looking over everyone in the rainbow palace. It should be fine since it didn't see anyone coming in to try to destroy them.

"Forget it. I'll wait until my injuries are healed and go up and take a look." Little White's answer made Ling Lan smile. With Little White's simple thought processes, she actually couldn't get much information out of it.

"Rawr!" (Master, don't worry. I will protect you.)

Seeing Little White trying to get on her good side, Ling Lan smiled. "Alright then, don't let me down."

After that, Ling Lan closed her eyes once again and began to use her Qi exercises to repair the damage caused by the explosion from using the Heart of Imperial's concept energy.

Ling Lan had the Qi exercises ever since she was inside her mother's womb and never stopped in the past 20 or so years. She didn't know just how many levels the Qi exercises had, but looking at how it recovered her body's injuries, Ling Lan hypothesized that the level she reached was probably quite high.

She slowly organized the messy concept energies. Other than the ice element and her Profound Insight concept, there was another unknown concept energy that didn't belong to either of them. Ling Lan knew that the energy must be the culprit that caused the Heart of Imperial to implode. Ling Lan attempted to get rid of that problematic concept energy out of her body but to her surprise, she found out it was actually entwined with her Profound Insight concept. No matter how much Ling Lan tried to get rid of it, it wouldn't budge even one bit.

After failing to do so for more than 10 times, Ling Lan finally gave up. It was because she had discovered the more she tried to get rid of it, the more the unknown concept energy wrapped around her own Profound Insight concept energy. It was as though she wasn't trying to get rid of it, but rather compressing and combining it.

"Man, I still have other things to do. Whatever." Ling Lan gave up on it and began to focus on her Qi exercises to repair her body's injuries. One round after the other, the Qi exercises began to repeat itself automatically. After not needing her to focus her attention on it, Ling Lan put her focus on her mindscape.

The part where her mindscape had exploded worried Ling Lan a lot. It was just that she was injured too severely that she had to focus on her body's injuries. Now that her injuries didn't need her attention, Ling Lan decided to investigate this part of her mindscape.

She carefully stepped into her mindscape. As expected, the condition of the mindscape was terrible. The originally vast and limitless mindscape had disappeared, not to mention the dark clouds, strong winds, thunder and lightning. There was only a wasteland left there, as if it was the end of the world.

"Looks grim. Starting from zero it seems." Right as Ling Lan was going to use her spiritual power, she felt a sharp pain in her head. It almost caused her to faint, a sign that her spiritual power had been depleted. Currently, Ling Lan couldn't use her spiritual power and could only let her spiritual power recover naturally.

"It seems now I can only leave it up to fate," Ling Lan said helplessly.

Ling Lan turned her gaze to a certain area inside the mindscape since the entire mindscape didn't need her to tend to it. In the past, she had always refused to enter that place, but now…

Ling Lan felt somewhat helpless. She hoped that the Heart of Imperial could successfully help her break through into the learning space, but she was also afraid of it failing. She just needed to investigate to see whether it had worked, but Ling Lan actually felt somewhat afraid and scared.

If it didn't work, then in her current state, she didn't know when she would have another chance at breaking through the learning space. Her Little Four and instructors… she really missed them. Even hearing Instructor Number One's reprimanding voice would still make her feel warm inside.

Ling Lan, who lost so much, wanted a family member to stay by her side. She was afraid her hope would be destroyed again. She didn't know whether she would become insane from the pain if the outcome was a failure.

1358 The Best Son. The Best Brother.

"Ling Lan, you're f*cking weak." Ling Lan forced herself to shut her eyes. The fear of failure in her erupted, and by the time Ling Lan realized fear was taking over her, she swore at herself to get herself out of that pitiful state. When Ling Lan felt that her turbulent mind was calm, she opened her now calm eyes that had no hesitation.

What was wrong with failing? No failure could stop Ling Lan's drive towards the top. The learning space was only a tool that would help her to the top, but on the road to the top, the constant variable was always her.

Ling Lan walked up with determination and pushed the large door that stopped her from entering the learning space for all this time.

Unexpectedly, the doors that were heavy as mountains in the past, were easily pushed open. Ling Lan had already prepared for her to fail. So, when the doors opened right before her, the grand scene dumbfounded Ling Lan.

"Why are you standing there staring at nothing?" Instructor Number One's calm and soothing voice echoed in her ears.

This was a voice that Ling Lan couldn't be anymore familiar with, a voice that Ling Lan would think about in her dreams. Hearing that voice she so dearly missed broke down Ling Lan's hardened heart. "I-Instructor Number One!"

Tears quickly dropped down from the corners of Ling Lan's eyes. Those were tears of happiness, and a rare show of weakness because Ling Lan finally saw someone she could depend on.

"Come in." Seeing a heartbroken Ling Lan, Instructor Number One's voice was still very calm, but Ling Lan seemed to hear a soft sigh as well.

"Yes, sir." Ling Lan immediately disappeared from where she stood, and appeared in Instructor Number One's dimension.

On top of a mountain, Instructor Number One was currently sitting on a stone slab meditating with his eyes closed.

Sensing Ling Lan's arrival, he slowly opened his eyes and said, "You were too reckless to use the Heart of Imperial in your mindscape. Next time, don't be so reckless."

Even with Number One's reprimand, Ling Lan still answered him with a genuine smile, "Yes, Instructor Number One."

"Although the result isn't bad, it would still affect your development somewhat in the future. I'm sure you understand already." Instructor Number One looked at Ling Lan. A look of astonishment passed through his eyes in an instant.

"Yes. Having two domain concepts is already a restriction for advancing into the god-realm. Now there's another unknown concept that doesn't belong to me adding to the mix. If I can't resolve this issue, then I would forever stay within the imperial realm, never having the chance to advance to the god-realm." Ling Lan spoke out her realizations.

"As long as you know," replied Instructor Number One. "This can be a blessing or a misfortune. It just depends on how you resolve it."

"Thank you for the pointers, Instructor Number One," said Ling Lan gratefully. Other than her father, Ling Xiao, and her mother, Lan Luofeng, the instructors in the learning space were the only ones who gave her pointers selflessly.

"However, being able to break through into the learning space so quickly is great for Little Four. Good job." After seeing Ling Lan had learned her lesson, Instructor Number One praised her. Instructor Number One knew that reprimanding and praising sometimes need to be used in tandem. That was why he didn't forget to praise the effort Ling Lan had put in.

"Little Four?" Ling Lan's heart skipped a beat. She already found it weird that Little Four hadn't actually came to her after she had been in the learning space for so long. Normally, after not seeing her for so long, Little Four would immediately jump on her and ask for hugs and kisses the moment she stepped in.

"Come with me." Instructor Number One stood up and used his finger to slash the air to open up a tear in the dimension.

Ling Lan followed Instructor Number One apprehensively into the tear. While Ling Lan was thinking of the worst case scenarios in her head, she arrived at the dimension Little Four was sleeping in.

After seeing Little Four laying in the air silently with bands of light around his body supplying him with energy, Ling Lan felt her heart ache as tears uncontrollably came down her face. Her voice turned hoarse. "What happened?"

"Come with me." Instructor Number One didn't answer her and only gestured to Ling Lan to continue to follow him into the next dimension.

In this dimension, there were two cores giving off light. The first core was bright but gave off a somewhat odd feeling. The other core was dim and lifeless as if it was going to flicker out of existence in the next second.

Ling Lan felt the energy presences given off by these two cores. The familiar feeling caused tears to fall from her eyes again.

"This is my father's and Xie Yi's." Her intuition about her father was correct. But, what surprised her even more was that Xie Yi was still alive. She couldn't be even more happy than she was currently. It was also because the chance of Xie Yi surviving from that explosion was so slim that her Profound Insight couldn't actually detect Xie Yi's life signal. Ling Lan had always thought that Xie Yi had actually left them. Luo Lang was heartbroken, but so was she. However, as the Boss, she couldn't let herself give in to that feeling of loss and vent the pain in her heart. She could only silently endure all of it in her heart.

"Yes. When Little Four saw your father self-destructing to save your life, he rushed over in an attempt to grab ahold of his spiritual power just like how he did in your past life. But he neglected to factor in how weak your spiritual power was when compared to your father's. Your father's spiritual power is of a different existence. The outcome of trying to take in more than he could handle was backlash. He was lucky that he didn't fully collapse from it." Instructor Number One finally told Ling Lan the reason why Little Four was unconscious.

"Little Four, you are the best son and brother my parents and I could ask for," Ling Lan said proudly with tears in her eyes.

Back when she said her parents would be Little Four's parents and Little Four would be her only younger brother, she was being sincere. She thought Little Four didn't understand such emotions and feelings. Perhaps the father and mother he had mentioned were only seen in books and that he actually didn't understand feelings of child and parent and how one could die for the other. Now it seemed that she was wrong. Not only did Little Four understand it, he also did it was well. He was a better human than she could ever be. She was still the child that her father and mother worried about while Little Four already protected their father.

"Son? Brother?" Shock passed through Instructor Number One's eyes. He had always thought that Little Four putting his life on the line to take in Ling Xiao's spiritual power core was because of Ling Lan. He thought Little Four didn't want Ling Lan to become sad, evolving to a point where he only acknowledged Ling Lan. Now it seemed that wasn't the case. Could Majesty Four actually have evolved to the point where he possessed emotions and feelings?

"Yes, Little Four is my younger brother and my parents' son, Ling Shi." Ling Lan finally understood that Little Four gave himself this name because of her. (Note: Although four in Chinese is pronounced 'si', 'shi' is likely used here because 'si' does not sound as good; reason was not mentioned by author)

Little Four really did want to be her parents' son, and her younger brother. He didn't just say it randomly.

Instructor Number One was silent for a short while and then sighed, "If that's the case, then Ling Lan, I will leave Little Four in your care in the future. Don't let him down."

Perhaps Majesty Four no longer needed them to watch him. With Ling Lan here, Majesty Four would not evolve down the wrong path.

Ling Lan was the disciple Number One had nurtured with great care, a disciple he prized the most. Although Number One never said it out loud, he still trusted Ling Lan with the depth of his heart. He believed that Ling Lan would definitely not disappoint him.

"Yes, Instructor Number One." Ling Lan nodded deeply. Even if Instructor Number One didn't say anything to her, she still wouldn't let Little Four down in this life.

"You've seen everything now so you now know everyone's situations are all quite dire." Instructor Number One temporarily stopped talking about Little Four and pointed towards the two cores.

1359 Forbidden!

"Yes. Although father's spiritual power core shines brightly and is full of life, it still lacks a feeling of completion. It's as though something is missing. Xie Yi's situation is worse since he only has a small piece of his spiritual power core left. It could extinguish at any moment now," Ling Lan spoke out what she had sensed.

"Your father… is actually the same as you, a double innate talent individual. He awakened two domain concepts." Number One's expression was serious. "Little Four wasn't aware at the time, so it caused a huge deal of problems when he tried to put these two concepts together inside of him."

"Father is too strong." Ling Lan felt grateful to Little Four for saving her father without any care in the world. But, she was also angry at her father for hurting Little Four

"Strength is one thing, but what hurted Little Four the most was the domain of your father's terrifying innate talent." After saying that, Number One's expression turned steeled. Even if it was him, facing Ling Xiao's Devour innate talent probably won't be easy either.

"Terrifying?" Ling Lan was shocked.

"Your Profound Insight innate talent is the strongest innate talent in the world. However, there is a forbidden innate talent that can almost rival yours."

"Forbidden… my father?" said Ling Lan in shock.

"Little Blossom is like that too." Instructor Number One nodded.

"Devour!" Ling Lan took in a deep breath. When Instructor Number One mentioned Little Blossom, she knew what the forbidden innate talent was.

"Come." Number One opened up a tear once again and led Ling Lan to the next location.

Ling Lan finally saw Little Blossom. He was unconscious just like Little Four, hovering in the air with countless bands of light pouring energy into Little Blossom. It seemed that Little Blossom's condition was just as bad as Little Four's.

"What's wrong with Little Blossom?" Ling Lan's expression was serious as she asked worriedly.

"The spiritual power core of Devour isn't something that can be absorbed. That thing would devour all energy once it touches something and would not stop until there's nothing left." Instructor Number One remembered the moment of crisis from when it first happened and sighed inside his head. "If Little Blossom didn't use all of his own devour energy to force your father's Devour spiritual power core out of the learning space, we and the learning space might not exist anymore."

"However, the result of that is Little Blossom's energy being completely drained, causing him to fall into a coma. His injuries are more severe than Little Four's." Number One told Ling Lan Little Blossom's condition in detail, then he led Ling Lan back into the room where Ling Xiao and Xie Yi's cores were being kept.

"Look closely at Xie Yi core," Instructor Number One asked Ling Lan.

Ling Lan activated her Profound Insight domain and saw a layer of dark energy swirling around that dim and seemingly extinguishing light source. That small amount of dark energy was slowly sucking Xie Yi's life force dry.

"That's the Devour concept?" The concept energy gave Ling Lan a sense of familiarity. It was strange to her because it was something she had never experienced before, yet it was ever so familiar to her.

"Yes." Instructor Number One's hand slowly reached towards Xie Yi's core. Then, he transferred his own energy to Xie Yi's core, supplying it energy while not damaging the core.

Slowly, the light source in Xie Yi's core became brighter. This seemingly simple action actually caused a thin layer of sweat to form on Instructor Number One's forehead. It should be known that no matter what Instructor Number One did, he would do them all calmly and nonchalantly. He definitely wouldn't become like this. It seemed like keeping Xie Yi alive was not an easy task.

Ling Lan didn't dare to make a sound, in case it would bother Number One. Just like that, she stood there without moving a muscle for half an hour. Just when she saw Instructor Number One slowly take back his hands. Xie Yi's core's light source was now much brighter than before and was more lively. However, compared to Ling Xiao's core, it was not even worth mentioning.

"One session of energy transfer used to be able to support him for one week. Now it can only support him for three days," said Instructor Number One. "The Devour concept your father has left behind is much stronger than Little Blossom. Moreover, it has the ability to take in energy and evolve into something even stronger. One of these days, I won't be able to keep it at bay. When that happens, Xie Yi cannot be saved anymore."

"Even you are out of ideas?" Ling Lan asked anxiously.

"If forbidden concepts were that easy to handle, they wouldn't be forbidden," said Instructor Number One as he shook his head. "On Mandora, it's considered something that cannot be resolved. Whoever touches it, dies. The Mandora Star System once had a Devour virus, the Doomsday Flower, appear in our star system. Back then, it almost destroyed the entire star system. Countless hackers, scientists and two intellect kings died before we managed to successfully lock up the Doomsday Flower. However, even until now, we can only lock it up. We didn't have the power to completely destroy it. You see, Little Blossom is really strong, right? Well, in reality, he is only just code left over by the Doomsday Flower who evolved into what he is now. He can't be compared to an actual Doomsday Flower back in the day."

After saying all that, Instructor Number One turned around and asked Ling Lan, "And that was the Doomsday Flower of just the virtual world. However, your father's Devour concept is an existence that can devour energy from both reality and the virtual world. Its power is stronger than the Doomsday Flower by a hundredfold."

"So, only my father can deal with it?" Ling Lan didn't want to lose any of her friends. If no one could deal with the Devour concept, her father's own powers should be able to resolve the issue.

"It would have to be a Ling Xiao with the Devour concept." Instructor Number One didn't believe that Ling Lan's idea was any good. Especially because after the Devour core was spat out by Little Four, they didn't know where it had gone. Perhaps they might not even find it in this lifetime. If in the future, conditions allowed it, using the Duplication core to resurrect Ling Xiao still wouldn't be a way of resolving this problem.

"Then, is there anyone else in this world that can deal with this problem?" Ling Lan clenched her fists forcefully. Why was she always so weak and could only watch as her loved ones die in front of eyes?

"Little Blossom could perhaps be able to deal with it," Instructor Number One guessed. However, Little Blossom was still in a coma. No one knew whether it would work or not. "However, there's a problem. We don't know when Little Blossom will wake up and if Little Blossom waking up is related to whether Little Four can wake."

Ling Lan raised her head and looked towards Instructor Number One with determination, "Tell me Instructor Number One, what do you need me to do?"

"Meditate like your life depends on it. Provide more energy to the learning space. You know that the learning space's energy comes from your concept energy and strong spiritual power supply. We can't be short of either of those two things," Instructor Number One replied in a serious tone.

"I understand," Ling Lan turned around, preparing to leave.

"Are you not going to stay by your father, Little Four and the others for a bit longer?" asked Instructor Number One nonchalantly.

"Staying by them now won't do any good. I would rather go back and research how I can supply the learning space with more energy," said Ling Lan calmly. It wasn't because she didn't want to stay, but because she knew what was more important for her to do.