Chapter 1064: The Golden Sword of the Immortal Alliance Departs
Chapter 1064: The Golden Sword of the Immortal Alliance Departs
Li Fan had confirmed this only after several observations using [False Claiming Heavenly Dao]: the attributes of the spiritual energy that would once again suffuse the world would, in turn, influence the Xuanhuang Realm to a certain degree.
For instance, spiritual energy imbued with a "slaughter" attribute might compel the Heavenly Dao of the Xuanhuang Realm to encourage cultivators to engage in bloodshed.
If the energy carried a "chaos" attribute, the laws of the Xuanhuang Realm would likely become erratic, unpredictable, and exceedingly strange.
"Before I transmigrated," Li Fan mused, "I'd heard urban legends about organ transplant recipients whose personalities gradually began to resemble those of their donors."
"The Heavenly Dao is just like a person," he reflected. "The Heavenly Doctor was right all along!"
Within Li Fan's world-ending space, over a dozen species of mutated Dao One Worms lay sealed. Each possessed a unique spiritual energy attribute it could release, enabling Li Fan to reshape the Xuanhuang Realm to his liking after the spiritual catastrophe.
He could even orchestrate this entire process from start to finish without any help from Dharma Transmitter Zhou and his associates.
He could accomplish it all on his own, and effortlessly replicate the outcome in every future cycle.
It had nothing to do with the current spiritual plague.
Dharma Transmitters Zhou and Wei, despite appearing to be the masterminds behind the spiritual plague, were in truth already caught in the web of Li Fan's own world-ending scheme.
...
In Shilin Province, everything was unfolding exactly as Li Fan had anticipated.
When the Immortal Alliance headquarters received the plea for aid from Shilin Province, they gave it little thought, their response colored by habitual arrogance. It was, after all, a mere insect infestation. A single Dao Integration cultivator could easily suppress it. Compared to the other urgent matters being reported from various provinces, this hardly qualified as a major crisis.
Thus, after a brief assessment, the Alliance headquarters decided to handle it through their standard procedures for routine affairs.
First, they dispatched a special envoy to Shilin Province to verify the authenticity of the report.
Only then would they dispatch an appropriate Dao Integration cultivator to resolve the minor trouble.
By the time the Alliance's special envoy reached Shilin Province, witnessed the true horror of the infestation firsthand, and rushed back to report...
With the firsthand account brought back by the envoy, the headquarters' level of concern did increase, but not by much.
After lengthy deliberation, they sent out a series of inquiries to various Dao Integration cultivators, checking on their availability.
They finally settled on a candidate to handle the disaster: Golden Sword Immortal Venerable.
When Golden Sword Immortal Venerable unleashed his thousands of golden swords, their spiritual power was contained, dealing damage only with their razor-sharp edges. He was the perfect choice for dealing with the black insects.
Upon receiving the Alliance's appointment, Golden Sword Immortal Venerable readily accepted the task.
However, he made it clear that he was currently attending a crucial conference and could not leave immediately.
He would be free in about seven days.
The Immortal Alliance headquarters assessed this new development.
The attendees unanimously concluded that the infestation was unlikely to change drastically in just seven days. A short wait would do no harm.
After all, another Dao Integration cultivator might not be as efficient as Golden Sword Immortal Venerable. Besides, every Immortal Venerable was exceptionally busy. Choosing a different candidate wouldn't guarantee they could find the time either.
In truth, there were quite a few Dao Integration cultivators within the Alliance headquarters who had time to spare.
However, by unspoken agreement, such thankless tasks were typically assigned to cultivators stationed "outside" the headquarters.
Deliberately assigning a thorny mission to transfer a headquarters-based cultivator away for any length of time was often seen as a provocation or the prelude to a conspiracy, a move not made lightly.
Everyone at the headquarters saw each other constantly. Most upheld the principle of maintaining harmony to ensure prosperity.
In any case, due to a confluence of unwritten rules and customs, by the time a self-satisfied Golden Sword Immortal Venerable bid farewell to the two Dharma Transmitters and officially departed for Shilin Province to handle the infestation...
...nearly half a month had already passed since the outbreak began.
As was customary, upon his arrival in Shilin Province, Golden Sword Immortal Venerable did not proceed directly to the disaster site.
Instead, he attended a lavish welcoming ceremony held in his honor by the local cultivators.
The event was a great success, with hosts and guests enjoying themselves immensely.
The following day, as was his custom, Golden Sword Immortal Venerable took a day to rest.
It was not until the third day that he, accompanied by an entourage, finally arrived at the Hundred Stone Grotto-Heaven, now swarming with black insects.
When he finally laid eyes on the dense, overwhelming tide of black insects within the subterranean caverns, the once-confident Immortal Venerable felt his heart skip a beat.
But as a veteran Immortal Venerable, he betrayed no emotion. He immediately summoned his thousands of golden swords and began to slaughter the insects.
Once he began his assault, Golden Sword felt a measure of relief.
Under his razor-sharp blades, the black insects—so resistant to spiritual energy attacks—were as fragile as paper.
They died in droves, and within moments, he had scoured the cavern clean.
Seeing the looks of overjoyed adoration on the faces of the Shilin Province cultivators, Golden Sword Immortal Venerable felt a surge of pride.
"How large is this grotto-heaven?" he asked casually, intending to press his advantage and resolve this troublesome matter once and for all.
To his surprise, their answer caught him completely off guard.
"You don't know? What do you mean?" Golden Sword Immortal Venerable's expression soured.
The explanation from the Shilin Province cultivators made Golden Sword Immortal Venerable gasp.
It turned out that the so-called Hundred Stone Grotto-Heaven was a colossal system of subterranean caverns on the frontier of Shilin Province.
Within the grotto, countless passages branched and intertwined.
At regular intervals, these passages would open up into vast, cavernous chambers.
Strange, jagged rock formations grew wildly within these chambers, jutting down from the ceilings and bursting from the walls.
Their varied shapes, resembling both men and beasts, were unsettling to behold.
Many a cultivator had lost their way within, never to be seen again.
The full extent of the Hundred Stone Grotto-Heaven had never been completely mapped.
Some cultivators speculated that the grotto had been excavated by an ancient beast known as the Origin-Returning Toad.
Though no cultivator had seen such a beast in millennia, it was thought that one or two might still survive somewhere in the depths of the endless subterranean maze.
It was possible that the ground beneath the entirety of Shilin Province had been hollowed out.
"Why didn't you mention something so important sooner?" Golden Sword Immortal Venerable’s face darkened at the thought of facing a swarm of black insects potentially covering an area the size of the entire province.
"Huh? We explained all of this in our report to the Alliance headquarters," the Shilin cultivator replied, looking utterly blameless in the face of the Immortal Venerable’s sharp questioning.
Golden Sword Immortal Venerable’s face turned grim. Realizing the gravity of the situation, he wasted no more words, raised his sword, and plunged into the depths of the caverns.
...
As her brood was being slaughtered en masse, the Dao One Worm Mother grew somewhat agitated. Her perfectly round body shifted restlessly.
But it was only a flicker of irritation.
A reduction of this magnitude did not even match the swarm's natural rate of attrition.
Even three more cultivators like Golden Sword Immortal Venerable would pose no real threat to the Dao One swarm.
Comments