Chapter 1118: Heavenly Venerate's Marionette
Though the formation was one Li Fan had only just devised, it was perfectly tailored for the cultivators of the Spirit Wood Realm. It centered around the Tianyang Immortal Puppet, leveraging its Longevity stage defenses to amplify the combat prowess of everyone within to its absolute peak.
The array also possessed an effect similar to Burning Soul, capable of fully unleashing the cultivators' potential in a short burst, albeit at the cost of incinerating their spiritual souls.
Before rallying the formation to retreat, the Sacred Embryo Li Fan cast one final glance back at the Spirit Wood Realm.
"The next one will be better."
Without a shred of sentimentality, he then led them out of the Spirit Wood Realm in a sudden charge.
They had expected to be met by a massive encirclement, the full force of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance waiting for them. Yet, to Li Fan's and everyone's surprise, the void outside the Spirit Wood Realm was utterly empty.
What was strange, however, was the unnerving sensation of being watched—a feeling that coiled in the pit of their stomachs and refused to fade.
"Be careful!" Daoist Bai Hua was the first to cry out. Her face was ashen, and beads of cold sweat trickled down her forehead. Not even when facing Li Fan's relentless pressure had she ever appeared so distressed, so utterly unnerved.
"Pure evil..."
Liu Ruchen and the others from the Medicine King Sect were also on high alert, their faces grim as if confronting a formidable foe.
Though the void before them appeared completely empty, with no defenders in sight, they all halted their charge as one.
Including Li Fan at their head.
A primal instinct screamed at them that to advance any further meant certain death.
Like prey caught in the gaze of a predator, they stood frozen, not daring to make a single move.
At that moment, Tianyang's voice reached Li Fan.
"Ahead. Longevity stage. Strange."
The words were terse, heavy with gravity.
To the Sacred Embryo Li Fan, the words struck like a clap of thunder.
"Longevity stage?"
"Has the Dharma Spreader come?"
It felt as if a cold hand had seized his heart. Even Li Fan's true self, hidden away in the Gloomy Prison, felt his composure shatter, his aura thrown into disarray.
"Of course. The Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance had long known the Federation of All Worlds possessed a Longevity stage expert. After their initial probes, it was only natural they would stop sending cultivators to their deaths and instead deploy a decisive force to end things in a single, final blow."
"But..."
"For Him to personally intervene just to avenge a few Dharma Transmitters? Wouldn't that be beneath His station?"
The arrival of the Dharma Spreading Heavenly Venerate had clearly caught Li Fan completely by surprise.
Yet, a moment later, his mind was flooded with a thousand doubts.
Judging by the Heavenly Venerate's past treatment of the Dharma Transmitters, it was clear He viewed them as little more than disposable tools. Dharma Transmitter Jiang might have been an exception, but in His eyes, the others were likely no different from any other cultivator in the Xuanhuang Realm.
Would the Dharma Spreader truly show himself in person, all for the sake of three mere Dharma Transmitters?
Li Fan refused to believe it.
Besides, Li Fan had once felt the Heavenly Venerate's immense power firsthand. His aura was sacred, vast, and utterly unfathomable.
It bore absolutely no resemblance to the palpable evil that now surrounded them.
"If not the Dharma Spreader, who could it be?"
There were only a handful of Longevity Heavenly Venerates in the Xuanhuang Realm.
Excluding the five Heavenly Venerates of the Five Elders Council, and it couldn't possibly be Rebirth, who had only just achieved his apotheosis.
As his thoughts raced, a name buried deep in the recesses of his memory, one he had almost forgotten, suddenly surfaced in his mind.
Heavenly Venerate Dongji!
Heavenly Venerate Dongji. Even after scouring every text in the archives of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, Li Fan had found only a few fleeting mentions of Him.
It was as if His life story had been deliberately erased from history. The only known fact was that He had invented the Pure Body Spirit Pool, the very same one the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance now used to cleanse mortals of the Immortal-Mortal Miasma.
Beyond that, there was nothing.
A Longevity Heavenly Venerate—and besides the Dharma Spreader, the only one the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance had ever had.
For such a figure to be treated this way was truly bizarre, almost beyond comprehension.
If this erasure wasn't at His own request, then the truth of what had happened to Him was a matter of deep and unsettling speculation.
Furthermore, the Longevity Heavenly Venerates of the Xuanhuang Realm were all named for the principle of heaven and earth that they had reversed to achieve their state.
Only Heavenly Venerate Dongji was the exception; his title seemed to be nothing more than a name.
...
In that brief instant, countless thoughts raced through Li Fan's mind.
Meanwhile, the malevolent presence that had been watching them like a predator finally struck.
The power of a Heavenly Venerate was truly on another plane from that of ordinary cultivators.
The Tianyang Immortal Puppet, which had been radiating a pure white light, was suddenly tainted by a sinister aura. Its glow flickered erratically. Tianyang's expression was grim, as if it were wrestling with an unseen force. Splotches of black began to mar the surface of its body, spreading like a disease.
The malevolent energy bypassed the protection of Li Fan's formation entirely, descending upon every single person from the Spirit Wood Realm at once.
Not everyone possessed the strength to contend with a Longevity Heavenly Venerate.
In the blink of an eye, they were overcome.
And Li Fan witnessed the fate of those completely consumed by the malevolent presence.
Their pupils vanished, leaving only pits of absolute darkness where their eyes had been.
In the next instant, they turned on their own companions, attacking with a mindless fury that showed they had completely lost control of themselves.
Almost instantaneously, the contingent from the Spirit Wood Realm descended into chaos, teetering on the verge of a complete rout.
And still, the enemy lurking in the shadows refused to reveal itself.
"So this is the true power of a Longevity Heavenly Venerate?"
"I can accept defeat. But to fall without even seeing my foe's face..."
Amidst the chaos, Li Fan's expression remained impassive. His gaze was fixed on Tianyang.
A blinding crimson light suddenly erupted from within Tianyang.
It blazed like a newborn sun, banishing the darkness and illuminating the empty void.
"In my entire existence..."
"I have been second to none!"
The Tianyang Immortal Puppet's body swelled instantaneously, growing a million times its original size until it stood as a primeval giant of fire, a titan of creation standing resolute in the dark void.
Rings of crimson flame pulsed from its body, rippling outwards into the void, threatening to incinerate the very fabric of space.
Yet, within the scorching heat of Tianyang's flames, the cultivators from the Spirit Wood Realm remained completely unscathed.
As for those who had been corrupted by the malevolent presence, they disintegrated into black ash amidst blood-curdling shrieks.
And at last, the culprit lurking in the darkness was forced to reveal itself!
The sight that greeted them caused the Sacred Embryo Li Fan's eyes to narrow.
A tall, naked man stood suspended in the void.
His black hair cascaded to his ankles, and his body was covered in black patterns that pulsed with a malevolent aura.
Behind the naked man, innumerable, almost invisible threads materialized from the void, sinking deep into his flesh.
The man's eyes were pits of darkness, his face a blank mask—just like the cultivators who had lost their minds.
"A Longevity Heavenly Venerate... reduced to a marionette."
The grotesque sight sent an uncontrollable chill through the hearts of everyone from the Spirit Wood Realm.
Li Fan, however, drew in a sharp, cold breath.
"This is..."
"The long-vanished Heavenly Venerate Dongji... he's been turned into this?"
"He isn't dead, but this is a fate far worse..."
"Who did this?"
"The Dharma Transmitters of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance certainly lack the power to do something like this."
"The only possibility... is the Dharma Spreader himself!"
Deep within the Gloomy Prison, Li Fan's true self unconsciously clenched his fists.
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