Chapter 1328: Dark Gathering Among the Peaks |
“The difference between immortals and mortals is absolute. Relying solely on ourselves, reaching that level is naturally impossible. That is why we must borrow the power of an external force. It was the same for Shang Immortal Ark back then, and it is the same for our Xuan Immortal Ark today.” Zhong Daogong smiled faintly. He did not explain in detail and instead answered somewhat ambiguously.
“An external force? The True Immortal seal script? Is that the reason you want to join forces with our Great Qi?” Li Fan asked directly.
“Yes, and no.” Zhong Daogong replied with an unreadable expression.
“Very well. Since you have already seen the weak point in the High Wall, and we have also demonstrated the sincerity of our Immortal Ark, why not return to a safe place first before discussing our cooperation further? This is not a place to remain for long...”
Before Zhong Daogong could finish speaking, the high point of the Remnant World Great Wall where they stood suddenly began to tremble slightly.
Everyone instinctively looked downward.
Within the Darkest Star Sea beneath the countless peaks, ripples had begun spreading for some unknown reason.
Like waves rolling across a sea of clouds, they surged endlessly through the Star Sea.
“It is the echoing star force!” The elders of the Immortal Ark all changed expressions slightly.
Li Fan looked into the distance. Although the distorted perspective prevented him from seeing the actual events unfolding within the Star Sea, he could vaguely sense the source of the echoing star force.
The Remnant World Great Wall, which resembled a breakwater, had developed a gap after one of its remnant worlds disappeared. Part of the residual power of the True Immortals accumulated beneath the High Wall had found an outlet.
It poured through the breach like a great flood.
Something similar had happened in his previous life. It had been caused by his Holy Embryo clone destroying the many remnant world fragments that the Heavenly Doctor had embedded within the Chizha Abyss of the Xuanhuang Realm, forcing the Heavenly Doctor to replenish them with new worlds.
But in this life, that trigger had never occurred. So why had the Remnant World Wall become disturbed?
'Could it be that Yin Shangren and the others caused this?'
'They should not have acted so recklessly...' A trace of doubt flashed through Li Fan's mind.
While he was still pondering, the elders of the Immortal Ark carried Li Fan as they descended from the heights of the Star Sea.
The scenery changed rapidly. The boundless Darkest Star Sea disappeared from view.
The towering Remnant World Great Wall once again stood before them, while the elevated perspective from before seemed nothing more than an illusion.
Clearly, ascending to that viewpoint was no simple task, even for the elders of the Immortal Ark. After only a brief moment, every elder's breathing had become disordered, with beads of sweat covering their foreheads.
Zhong Daogong's expression remained solemn as he looked toward the distant source of the disturbance along the Remnant World Great Wall.
In the end, however, he abandoned any thought of investigating it and instead organized everyone to withdraw immediately.
During the return journey to the Immortal Ark, Li Fan once again led the way with the phantom image of his Golden Sword.
Only now did the elders truly experience just how astonishingly fast the sword phantom was.
By the time they reached the location of the Xuan Immortal Ark, the echoing star force had not even spread that far.
The elders looked at Li Fan with noticeably different expressions.
“Fellow Daoist, please come aboard the Immortal Ark first. We can discuss our future cooperation afterward.” Jian Daosheng pointed toward the opened entrance of the Immortal Ark with a smiling expression.
Unexpectedly, Li Fan shook his head without hesitation.
“I will decline. I still need to return to Great Qi first.”
The expressions of the elders immediately became rather complicated.
Li Fan remained completely fearless, raising his head proudly.
“What? It seems all of you have objections?”
“This is different from what we agreed upon. After learning the greatest secret of our Immortal Ark, you intend to simply leave?” Zhong Daogong's expression darkened, while the other elders fixed their gazes firmly upon Li Fan, their auras locking onto him.
Li Fan merely snorted.
“I think you should stop wasting your efforts. You have all witnessed my Immortal Slaying Sword. If I use it, which of you can stop me?”
The elders fell silent.
It was indeed faster than even the spread of the residual True Immortal power throughout the Star Sea.
It could even carry multiple people at once. Such an movement art lay completely beyond their understanding.
Yet allowing Li Fan to leave so easily was equally impossible. The atmosphere gradually became tense until Li Fan himself broke the stalemate.
“Why make things so difficult? I am merely leaving temporarily and will soon return. I know what concerns you. You fear I will reveal the location of the weak point in the High Wall. There is no need for such worry.”
“This time, I intend to return and persuade Great Qi once more, to see whether they are willing to change their minds. Now that I have personally confirmed the existence of this weak point in the High Wall, my words should carry much greater weight. If my master and the others still refuse to take the risk, then naturally I will not reveal this secret. If, by some stroke of fortune, I manage to persuade them...”
“In any case, we are destined to cooperate eventually. At that point, whether the secret is revealed or not will no longer matter.”
“My lifespan is nearly exhausted. Now that I have personally witnessed the only opportunity to cross the High Wall before my death, how could I possibly abandon it?” Li Fan said earnestly.
After cupping his fists in farewell, he directly rode the sword phantom through the air, breaking through the encirclement of the Immortal Ark elders.
His speed was so great that even Zhong Daogong had no chance to react.
His figure vanished without a trace.
“This young man truly is troublesome,” Jian Daosheng stroked his beard and frowned.
“There is nothing we can do. He possesses True Immortal seal script, extraordinary mastery of formations, and an movement art beyond imagination. On top of that, his lifespan is nearly over, so he does not fear death at all. Someone like him is best avoided as an enemy.”
“Fortunately, he does not have many years left to live. Otherwise, our Immortal Ark would likely know no peace in the future.”
“I actually think his words made sense. If Great Qi refuses to participate because of the warning issued by their World-Protecting Immortal Artifact, then our Immortal Ark will become his only remaining hope. After all, it is clearly impossible for him alone to cross the High Wall.”
While the elders continued discussing among themselves, Li Fan had already returned to the boundary of the Remnant World Great Wall.
The echoing star force had become increasingly violent, like a growing storm.
The phantom wooden sword that Li Fan had previously left there now flickered like a candle in the wind, on the verge of collapse.
He sent out a streak of golden light, reinforcing it until it became stable once more.
After searching the surrounding area for Qiao Gong and the others without success, Li Fan frowned slightly.
The secret markings they had agreed to leave behind while separately searching for suitable remnant world fragments had all been scattered by the echoing star force.
“They have all lost contact?”
Li Fan was somewhat surprised.
“Fortunately, the Inch Apart, Worlds Away Grand Formation has not suffered serious damage.”
He floated beside the formation and strengthened it once more before giving up on searching for them.
“I can only hope they can take care of themselves.”
“With the fortune possessed by those few, mere echoing star force should not be enough to kill them.”
“Once the storm gradually subsides, if they remain safe, they should naturally return here on their own.”
After passing through the grand formation and returning to the Xuanhuang Realm, Li Fan discovered, just as expected, that traces of residual True Immortal power had leaked out along the formation. Only after setting up another layer of blockade on this side using a net of source power essence did he finally eliminate the disturbances that had attracted the echoing star force.
"Among them, if anyone was most likely to have caused this upheaval in the Star Sea, it would have to be Yin Shangren."
Li Fan recalled the somewhat peculiar expression on Yin Shangren's face when they had first arrived at the Remnant World Great Wall.
"He must have seen scenes from the memories of the world specters he once absorbed."
"But Yin Shangren is by no means a reckless man. If that were all, he would not have disregarded the consequences and rashly tampered with the remnant world fragment."
"The truth behind this should become clear once Yin Shangren returns." Deep within his heart, Li Fan had an inexplicable premonition that Yin Shangren was still alive somewhere within the Remnant World Great Wall.
He might even have encountered an extraordinary fortune.
"Perhaps it is related to the formation of the Remnant World Great Wall?" This thought suddenly arose in Li Fan's mind.
Within the Darkest Star Sea, not only was the origin of the High Wall unknown.
Even the formation of the Remnant World Great Wall beneath it had always remained an unsolved mystery.
Back then, the countless cultivation worlds destroyed throughout the Star Sea did not gather at the location of the Immortal Ruins.
Instead, they accumulated beneath the High Wall, connecting into one continuous structure.
In Li Fan's view, the force maintaining the Remnant World Great Wall was a great power no weaker than residual True Immortal power.
Yet it lay completely beyond his understanding.
One had to know that Li Fan's knowledge had long surpassed that of ordinary cultivators.
Through countless reincarnations, each one allowing him to explore without restraint or concern for consequences, there were now very few blind spots left for him within the Xuanhuang Realm and the Darkest Star Sea.
The force maintaining the Remnant World Great Wall was one of them.
The deepest reaches of the Dark Sea was another.
After returning to Great Xuan, Li Fan possessed the body of a sturdy You Clansman with a strand of divine sense.
He then gathered the You Clansmen, carried out the ritual to enter the Dark Sea, and slowly stepped inside.
The Dark Sea was filled with endless blackness.
To ordinary cultivators, it was naturally a deadly place full of danger. But Li Fan had traversed it countless times already. Completely familiar with the route, he encountered no danger along the way.
He ignored the corpse of the Ancient Longevity Immortal of the Xuanhuang Realm lying on the ground and continued forward without distraction.
Eventually, he arrived at the central core of the Spirit Gathering Ascension Formation.
It resembled a transparent observation platform overlooking the outline of the True Immortal corpse throughout the entire Sea of Darkness.
Here, he finally stopped.
He did not descend any deeper to directly face the hidden survival instinct of the True Immortal.
Before him stood the ancient storm clouds that had accumulated for untold ages.
They resembled terrifying primordial beasts of every imaginable grotesque form.
Looking down upon these masses of accumulated power from above, Li Fan unexpectedly felt a sense of familiarity.
"As expected. My intuition was correct."
A gleam flashed through Li Fan's eyes as the scene he had witnessed not long ago while overlooking the Dark Sea from the heights of the High Wall appeared before him once more.
It gradually overlapped with the sight of the storms gathering within the Dark Sea.
It was not that the scenery itself resembled each other. Rather, because of the immense concentration of energy, this region of the Dark Sea had likewise risen to a much higher level.
"This should be one of the many mountain peaks I saw from that summit."
"The energy gathered here stands far 'Higher' than the Xuanhuang Realm as a whole. It even surpasses the position I reached beneath the High Wall by relying on the power of the Remnant World Great Wall."
Li Fan's eyes flickered as countless thoughts raced through his mind.
"It is not merely because the Spirit Gathering Ascension Formation of the Dark Sea was built upon the corpse of a True Immortal."
"It is also because nearly ten thousand years have passed since the formation was established."
"Back then, Xuantian King established this formation to carry the Xuanhuang Realm across the High Wall. However, due to various unforeseen events, Xuantian King mysteriously disappeared, and the plan ultimately failed halfway."
"But the accumulation of energy within the Dark Sea never ceased because of that. Instead, it has continued uninterrupted for nearly ten thousand years."
"During these ten thousand years, countless upheavals have occurred throughout the Star Sea. Yet in reality, the height of the High Wall surrounding the Star Sea has never changed."
"In other words..."
Li Fan once again looked toward the Dark Sea below.
Those accumulated storm clouds suddenly transformed into towering mountain peaks in his vision.
Each one floated above the Darkest Star Sea.
Standing opposite the High Wall from afar.
"The Immortal Ark regards these elevated places as priceless treasures, requiring external assistance just to reach them. Yet within the Xuanhuang Realm, such locations exist everywhere."
"Standing here, crossing the High Wall is far easier than from anywhere else."
"The only concern is that it might awaken the survival instinct hidden within the True Immortal here."
"But as long as I proceed carefully, it should not be a problem."
Maintaining this elevated perspective was becoming increasingly taxing for Li Fan.
He slowly exhaled and returned to his normal state.
He then began considering how best to make use of the legacy Xuantian King had left behind.
"Simply using these high points as stepping stones is definitely not enough. I still need more data. Preferably results verified through actual practice."
"The Immortal Ark would make excellent cannon fodder."
"The Spirit Gathering Ascension Formation is one component of the Floating Across Starry Sky Grand Formation and is related to crossing the High Wall. The Eye of the Heavenly Beast is the same."
"In that case, the Eye of the Heavenly Beast is probably not merely used for navigation and target locking."
"What it sees may also be the 'height of the High Wall,' the same higher dimensional perspective I witnessed before." Li Fan gradually arrived at this realization.
Controlling the body of the You Clansman, Li Fan remained within the main control core of the Spirit Gathering Ascension Formation for seven full days.
Only after the You Clansman's body could no longer withstand the dense power of darkness and was completely consumed by it, causing Li Fan's perception to disappear, did he finally stop.
Within the Great Xuan Small World, Li Fan slowly opened his eyes.
His divine sense swept across heaven and earth. Having become accustomed to the higher dimensional perspective before returning to ordinary reality, he unexpectedly felt slightly uncomfortable.
"In ancient times, once one broke through the limit of height, one could ascend and become an Immortal."
"Later, after the path to immortality was severed, the High Wall appeared."
"But perhaps the principles behind the two are somewhat similar."
Looking upon the countless living beings within Great Xuan, an indescribable realization suddenly welled up within Li Fan's heart.
"It is simply that the height of the High Wall may surpass even the height required for becoming an Immortal. After all, Xuantian King was able to ascend through the Immortal path, yet he still could not cross the High Wall."
"Looking at it from another perspective, if one could now cross the High Wall, then perhaps in the past, one would have been able to ascend and become an Immortal."
At this thought, Li Fan fell into a brief daze.
"Immortals..."
Ten thousand years had passed, and the world had changed beyond recognition. Though the cultivation realm remained the same, one path had once led to ascension into immortality, while the other left one imprisoned beneath the High Wall.
Even if one managed to cross it, the unknown dangers beyond the High Wall still awaited.
"The Great Dao has changed. Immortals are no longer truly Immortals."
Li Fan could only sigh with such emotion.
"If my speculation is correct, and the method used to construct the High Wall originates from the very same principle as the shackles that once governed Ascension To Immortality, then things become truly interesting."
