Chapter 1087: The Immortal World Sends an Edict
Chapter 1087: The Immortal World Sends an Edict
A great fissure split the sky of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Countless rays of sacred golden light shot out from the rift, bathing the entire world in a gilded sheen.
Celestial flowers rained from above as auspicious clouds filled the heavens.
A somewhat indistinct figure rose from the earth, slowly ascending toward the fissure.
The figure’s silhouette glowed with a dazzling seven-colored light, a truly spectacular sight.
As it ascended into the rift, a misty rain began to descend from the opening.
Trickling down, it nourished all living things.
Under the nourishment of this immortal rain, the entire Xuanhuang Realm underwent a nearly instantaneous, visible transformation.
The living beings on the land, irrigated by the immortal rain, became more intelligent, more gifted.
A wave of joyous consciousness from countless beings spread across the heavens and the earth.
Even the world itself shared in this exultation!
...
"This is..."
"Ascension?"
An ancient term, one that cultivators would never forget, instantly surfaced in Li Fan's mind.
The era when the path to immortality was still open was so distant that its splendor could now only be glimpsed between the lines of ancient texts.
And now, Li Fan was fortunate enough to witness a cultivator from the Xuanhuang Realm ascend with his own eyes!
His mind trembled, utterly captivated by the scene.
"So when a cultivator ascends, the entire world reaps unimaginable benefits."
"The more cultivators who ascend, the stronger the foundation of their cultivation world becomes."
"It seems quite a few cultivators once ascended from the Xuanhuang Realm. No wonder..."
The phenomenon of the cultivator's ascension lasted for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
The fissure in the sky slowly closed, and the golden light gradually faded.
But in the final moments, a scroll drifted down from the rift.
It unfurled in the wind, revealing itself across the sky.
"A cultivator from the Xuanhuang Realm... who has practiced for eight hundred and sixty-five years, whose merit rivals creation, has attained the Dao and ascended."
"This immortal edict is hereby issued to commemorate this great event."
"The path to immortality is arduous, yet its spark is never extinguished. May those who follow take heart."
...
The characters on the scroll were blurry, and the name of the ascender, in particular, was missing.
But it seemed to briefly outline the life of this cultivator who had ascended to become an immortal, and it conveyed the Immortal World's encouragement to the cultivators of the lower Xuanhuang Realm.
"This scroll... is this the legendary Immortal Scroll Edict passed down from the Immortal World?"
Li Fan stared intently at the seemingly ordinary scroll, his heart surging with emotion.
"But why does the format of this Immortal Scroll Edict feel so familiar?"
"It's almost identical to the phenomena that occur when cultivators perish nowadays. So it wasn't a spontaneous creation of the Heavenly Dao, but something that had a precedent."
"Except one is a reward from the upper realm, while the other is the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao's mockery of cultivators."
Li Fan shook his head slightly.
"However, judging by the wording of this Immortal Scroll Edict, the Immortal World was extremely welcoming, even encouraging, of cultivators who ascended."
"The immortal rain that falls during ascension might be a form of reward."
"And yet, at some point in time, something suddenly happened to the Immortal World. Not only was the path of ascension severed, but even True Immortals had to flee in all directions..."
Li Fan couldn't help but narrow his eyes.
After a long while, he reined in his thoughts.
His gaze returned to the Immortal Scroll Edict before him.
"To take it or not to take it?"
A difficult choice was suddenly placed before Li Fan.
"Even if I fail, I can always try again in the next life."
"Just to be able to see the Immortal Scroll Edict with my own eyes would make this trip worthwhile."
Without much hesitation, Li Fan reached out, invoking his boundless divine power and instantly shattering the restrictive seals covering the two treasures.
However, when he tried to claim them, a small problem arose.
The Desolate God Seal and the Immortal Scroll Edict were both items from the Immortal World.
They were not ordinary objects that could be taken with ease.
With Li Fan's current power as the Xuanhuang Heavenly Venerate, he could have taken one of them quite smoothly without alerting the cultivators of the Tianshu Sect.
But attempting to seize both at once proved to be a bit of a strain, inevitably creating a significant disturbance.
The first to notice the anomaly was the third party in the secret vault: the wooden box.
Seemingly sensing that its two long-time neighbors had broken free, the unknown entity sealed within the box immediately grew agitated.
It began to emit a series of rapid, soft sounds.
Countless illusions swarmed him, flashing before his eyes.
Li Fan's motion to retrieve the two treasures faltered for a fraction of a second.
"You dare!"
An enraged roar exploded like thunder.
Then, five formidable auras of the Longevity realm suddenly appeared, locking onto Li Fan from a distance and rushing toward the secret vault at incredible speed.
"What a nuisance."
Li Fan felt a touch of helplessness.
A moment later, however, he finished securing the scroll and the Desolate God Seal.
He glanced at the five Longevity cultivators who had already charged into the Tianshu Courtyard and shook his head slightly.
Then, under their watchful eyes, his figure vanished without a trace.
After a series of successive teleports, he traveled from the Tianshu Sect all the way to the southwestern frontier of the Xuanhuang Realm, finally shaking off the pursuit of the five Longevity cultivators.
It wasn't that Li Fan was no match for them; it was simply that fighting them was utterly meaningless.
Li Fan began to examine the two treasures he had plundered.
Setting the Desolate God Seal aside for the moment, Li Fan first slowly unfurled the Immortal Scroll Edict.
"A pity..."
After seeing the contents of the scroll, Li Fan let out a sigh.
As it turned out, the scroll was identical to the one in the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao's memory!
Incomplete and indistinct!
"It's beyond the upper limit of what the Xuanhuang Heavenly Venerate can trace back to."
"In that case, this Desolate God Seal is also just an empty shell, unable to truly manifest the power of an immortal artifact."
Li Fan suddenly felt a sense of disappointment.
"Never mind. To learn so much about so many immortal artifacts at once is no small feat."
"The theft from the Tianshu Sect's vault is such a humiliating affair that they will surely not publicize it, choosing instead to investigate in secret. It will probably take some time before the other sects of the Ten Great Immortal Sects learn of this. I must hurry."
With a flicker, Li Fan's figure appeared at the location of the next immortal artifact.
This time, having learned his lesson, Li Fan didn't linger over the other treasures in the vault.
He acted swiftly, stealing one immortal artifact after another.
In the end, it took him a mere three days to successfully collect all the immortal artifacts from the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao's memory.
It could be said that there was no difficulty at all; any normal cultivator, after possessing Mr. Bai, could have accomplished it with ease.
"Strange. In that case, what exactly is the trial to become the Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerate testing?"
Gazing at the thirteen immortal artifacts of various shapes before him, Li Fan fell into deep thought.
At the same time, under the constant urging of the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao in his mind, Li Fan received the next stage of his "main quest."
"With the power of Xuanhuang, detonate the immortal artifacts. Bathed in immortal power, leap over the Immortal Wall. From then on, you shall be free and unfettered..."
Feeling the anticipation and joy welling up within him, Li Fan's breath couldn't help but quicken.
(End of Chapter)
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