Chapter 1111: A Captive's Net Quietly Cast
Chapter 1111: A Captive's Net Quietly Cast
Xuanhuang Realm, Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
In every floating celestial city, at the exact same moment, the frantic tolling of bells suddenly erupted.
The Alliance cultivators froze, their hands halting mid-motion.
After a moment of stunned incomprehension, they recalled the meaning behind the tolling.
It was the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance's highest level of alert.
Activated only when the Alliance faced a crisis of life and death.
After a brief silence, a tumultuous roar erupted.
Panic spread as people scrambled, lost and confused.
At first, he thought his world-ending plans had been discovered.
But he quickly realized that the sudden tolling was likely connected to the events within the Life and Death Reversal Grand Array.
And when the images from the array recorder, left behind by the True Immortal's corporeal remnant, came through, his suspicions were confirmed.
The final image showed the group of Dharma Transmitters disappearing into the white mist.
Afterward, the recording array itself was destroyed by the surging, endless white mist.
Li Fan reviewed the footage repeatedly, a grave look in his eyes. "For the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance to react so strongly, this means..."
"The three Dharma Transmitters are dead?"
Li Fan's mind reeled with shock and uncertainty.
He knew that every Dharma Transmitter was under the protection of the[Dharma Transmission Heavenly Sovereign].
As long as that protective power remained, they were, for all intents and purposes, immortal and indestructible within the Xuanhuang Realm.
Though it restricted them from advancing to the Longevity stage, it was practically the same as longevity itself.
Yet, before the newly ascended Rebirth Heavenly Sovereign, they had proven so utterly fragile.
"To be able to kill Dharma Transmitters instantly?"
"If those three Dharma Transmitters truly died just like that, then the Rebirth Sovereign's power..."
Li Fan's eyes narrowed slightly.
A flicker of doubt crossed his mind.
"If this being is truly that powerful, what was the reason for killing the three Dharma Transmitters?"
"They had clearly wandered in by mistake, and they hadn't done anything destructive or disrespectful."
Li Fan slowly rewatched the recorded footage from the array one more time.
Finally, he noticed something was off.
"It seems that right up until the moment before they left, the Rebirth Sovereign had no intention of revealing itself."
"But Dharma Transmitter Wei seemed to have discovered something, and that's what provoked the Sovereign's appearance."
"So, was it to silence them?"
Li Fan's expression turned strange.
Killing witnesses to silence them... for such an act to be committed by a Heavenly Sovereign seemed rather beneath them.
And yet, that is precisely what it did.
There could be only one explanation: if what Dharma Transmitter Wei discovered were to get out, it would have an unpredictable impact on the Sovereign.
To prevent any unforeseen variables, the Rebirth Sovereign chose to eliminate them.
"Before his death, Dharma Transmitter Wei must have been thinking about reversing the Life and Death Reversal Grand Array."
Following this line of thought, Li Fan put himself in Wei's shoes. With his current mastery of formations, he quickly grasped the crux of the matter.
"Just as I suspected before, the ultimate goal of reversing life and death isn't to reverse the life and death of cultivators."
"The resurrection of cultivators is merely a side effect, a change in the principles of heaven and earth brought about by the process."
"The true target this Heavenly Sovereign wants to reverse life and death for is a [world]."
A sharp glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes.
"To conceal this objective, it had to eliminate the group from the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance."
"This means the target it wants to resurrect isn't the [Xuanhuang Realm], but one of the many cultivation worlds that the Xuanhuang Realm has devoured over the years."
"Interesting. A lingering attachment to one's homeland?"
After sorting through the chain of events once more, Li Fan nodded slightly. "No wonder this individual has acted so discreetly all these years, never revealing themselves to the public. This plan is tantamount to borrowing a corpse to resurrect a soul. If it succeeds, their home world might actually have a chance to live again."
"But the fate of the Xuanhuang Realm itself would be another matter entirely."
"If this were to leak, it would undoubtedly face fierce resistance from the native cultivators of the Xuanhuang Realm."
"So, just like me, they're involved in something that can't see the light of day."
A faint smile touched the corners of Li Fan's lips.
"But all these plans are doomed to fail."
The smile vanished in an instant.
Li Fan's attention returned to the True Immortal's corporeal remnant.
By now, it had returned to the Xuanhuang Realm.
And as the direct cause of the three Dharma Transmitters' demise, it was immediately hunted by the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance the moment it appeared.
This time, the Alliance was dead serious.
After all, not even a single Dharma Transmitter had perished during the Mo Rubin possession incident.
Now, three had fallen at once; one could only imagine the shockwaves it sent through the Dharma Transmitters' council.
More than a dozen Dharma Transmitters appeared in unison, locking their focus on the True Immortal's remnant at the center.
And among the crowd, Li Fan was surprised to spot the director of the Museum of Divine Treasures, the beast race's Emperor Sanmo.
Compared to his appearance in the Fallen Immortal Realm, he looked far older.
He seemed, however, largely unconcerned with the Alliance's pursuit.
His face was impassive, his eyes slightly closed.
He was clearly just going through the motions.
Besides them, Li Fan also finally laid eyes on the lineage of the Mirror Holders.
They were all clad in dark green Daoist robes, with an insignia resembling a mirror's surface engraved on their foreheads.
The three true powers that controlled the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance had gathered in one place, a testament to the immense impact of the three Dharma Transmitters' fall.
Under the influence of their combined power, Li Fan felt his control over the True Immortal's remnant weakening.
He was just about to detonate the remnant, to tear open a passage between the Xuanhuang main world and the Gloomy Realm and unleash a tide from the Gloomy Sea.
But then, something startling happened.
The core members of the Alliance, who had been poised to strike, suddenly seemed to receive some kind of message.
First came looks of confusion and disbelief.
Then, without the slightest hesitation, they acted in perfect unison.
Their figures blurred as they turned a blind eye to the culprit and prepared to depart!
Li Fan even saw Emperor Sanmo, whose eyes had been closed, suddenly open them wide, as if the arrival of something—or someone—had captured his attention.
Far away in the Spirit Wood Realm, a sense of foreboding washed over Li Fan.
Years of experience prompted him to make an instant decision.
He severed his connection to the True Immortal's remnant and simultaneously detonated it.
In the instant the remnant's body shattered piece by piece, a figure made of white mist appeared silently beside it.
Its appearance was without warning, and impossibly fast.
But ultimately, it was a step too late.
Endless gloom poured out from the fissures in the True Immortal's remnant.
It collided with the white mist surging from the phantom figure.
The great tide of gloom that Li Fan had expected did not materialize.
The white mist acted like waterproof sandbags, or like an unbreachable dam holding back the sea.
It held firm, blocking the tide of gloom that could have caused a catastrophe.
...
In the Spirit Wood Realm, a cold, indifferent look flickered across Li Fan's face.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"Have the two sides started cooperating?"
"To find me, they're willing to ignore the deaths of their own Dharma Transmitters?"
(End of Chapter)
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