Chapter 1123: Myriad Spirits Against a True Immortal
As for the Gloomy Prison, after such a massive breakout, it was defunct in all but name.
Once the remaining prisoners were transferred, no one even bothered to conceal the entrance.
It was simply left to fall into ruin.
Time flowed on, and no one ever returned. It was as if the world itself had forgotten the place.
After an unknown passage of time, Li Fan’s figure slowly materialized.
“Imprisoned in the deepest reaches of the Gloomy Prison, and even I couldn’t make out their face.”
“The transfer required three Dharma Transmitters to oversee it personally...”
“Interesting.”
It wasn't that the formations in the depths were too profound for him to crack, but rather that the guards themselves were a team of three Dao Integration cultivators.
Their sole purpose seemed to be suppressing that one inmate; even when the upper levels were breached and countless vicious criminals poured out, the trio remained unmoved, making no effort to intervene.
When the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance escort team arrived, Li Fan finally caught a glimpse of the prisoner during the transfer.
Something about the prisoner felt faintly familiar.
However, their features were obscured by a secret technique, so he couldn't be certain.
“Before the Myriad Spirits Grand Array is complete, it’s best not to stir up any more trouble.”
“I’ll wait until the next life to get to the bottom of this.”
“For now, the only thing to do is wait for the right moment... and watch the world turn upside down!”
Li Fan gazed at the distant horizon, as if he could see the light of the Myriad Spirits Grand Array flaring to life across a thousand mortal worlds.
The "Heaven and Earth Myriad Spirits Grand Array" he had shown the convicts was not, in fact, the formation's complete name.
The array was the product of three years of deduction by the Final Dissociation Disc.
It represented the apex of the Disc's deductive capabilities in its current state.
Using the Heaven and Earth Myriad Spirits Grand Array that had once enveloped the Spirit Wood Realm, the Empire, and the Beast Seed Realm as a prototype, the Disc had conducted further deductions to create a truly world-shaking formation.
Its full name was the [Array of Heaven and Earth's Myriad Spirits, Forging Divinity from All Life].
The array's primary function was the very reason Li Fan had gone to such lengths to free the prisoners from the Gloomy Prison and compel them to work for him.
That purpose was encapsulated in the second half of its name: Forging Divinity from All Life.
The principle was remarkably similar to the Soul Forging Array that Song Hesong had used against Senior Brother Zhang back in Ningyuan City, within the Fallen Immortal Realm.
Its destructive power was drawn from the collective will of the world’s myriad spirits—of countless living beings.
However, Li Fan’s revised version...
was countless billions of times more powerful.
This was because the 'materials' it consumed were also greater by that same astronomical factor.
Back then, Song Hesong had used the power of a single city’s mortals to nearly drive Senior Brother Zhang to desperation, forcing him to reveal the secret of his Indestructible Purple Core.
Li Fan, on the other hand, was using over a thousand small worlds and trillions of lives from the Xuanhuang Realm, all for the sole purpose of stalling the Faceless Immortal for a single, fleeting moment.
During the three years he’d spent hiding in the Gloomy Prison after the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance destroyed the Spirit Wood Realm, Li Fan had been relentlessly reassessing his final, world-ending plan.
It was, after all, his first time confronting the power of a True Immortal. Even if his plan was to pit one power against another and watch from the sidelines, the risks were still immense.
These two beings were, after all, genuine immortals who had transcended the mortal world.
They weren't some simple-minded Foundation Establishment cultivators.
If they were so easily manipulated, how could they possibly be worthy of the title True Immortal?
A single failure would lead to a fate beyond redemption.
His caution had grown exponentially, especially after the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance had besieged and annihilated the Spirit Wood Realm, revealing unexpected trump cards in the process.
He had to account for every single possibility.
And in doing so, he discovered a problem he had previously overlooked, taking it for granted.
In Li Fan’s original design, he would first trigger the power of the immortal from the Immortal Ruins, then use that transcendent force to provoke a reaction from the Faceless Immortal.
Indeed, living beings instinctively react to threats.
In his simulations, the Faceless Immortal and the entity from the Immortal Ruins would likely perceive each other first and immediately engage in battle.
They would ignore him, the instigator of the whole affair.
But that was only the ideal scenario.
What if, after ascending to immortality, their thought processes no longer resembled those of mortals?
Or what if they sensed the presence of the [Truth] on him?
What if, instead of locking onto their evenly matched foe, they targeted him first?
If he made no preparations, and a True Immortal locked onto him, he feared he wouldn't even have time to escape to the Gloomy Realm and force a reset with [Truth].
The more he considered this possibility, the more restless he became.
So, he finally decided he had to find a way to buy himself at least that single sliver of time.
And the [Array of Heaven and Earth's Myriad Spirits, Forging Divinity from All Life] was the final answer provided by the Dissociation Disc.
The gap between a cultivator and a mortal, or between a True Immortal and a cultivator, was as vast as the chasm between heaven and earth.
But once quantity reaches a certain threshold, it can trigger a terrifying qualitative change.
“Plunged into an endless sea formed from the wills of trillions, even a True Immortal is bound to falter for an instant.”
“That brief moment of distraction is the only chance I'll have to escape.”
The power of a True Immortal could, indeed, annihilate the Xuanhuang Realm in an instant.
However, if things went as he predicted, the True Immortal—after locking onto him—wouldn't just obliterate the Xuanhuang Realm. They would want to capture the ant that dared to scheme against them.
And that would give him the opening he needed.
“Heh, a thousand mortal worlds, the wills of countless living beings.”
“Such a colossal force. And yet, no matter how many times I run the calculations, it can only stall them for a fraction of a second.”
“This disparity in absolute power...”
“It’s truly something to aspire to.”
Li Fan clasped his hands behind his back, falling silent.
Restrained by the power of the Faceless Immortal, that band of utterly vicious criminals would have no choice but to obediently complete the construction of the grand array.
Li Fan had no concerns on that front.
And once the array was complete, it would be far beyond their control.
“The day the Soul Forging Array is finished is the day the Xuanhuang Realm will end.”
“Soon. Within the year.”
In the meantime, all Li Fan had to do was wait.
But with the end of this life drawing near, Li Fan still had a few loose ends to tie up.
First, he traveled to Tianling Province, to the former site of the Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven.
Ever since Li Fan had devoured the previous grotto-heaven—one that had gestated for countless years—a new one had begun to form within this formless void known as the [Root of Heaven and Earth].
The process, however, was exceptionally slow.
Only now was the faint outline of a nascent grotto-heaven beginning to manifest.
Li Fan strolled through the void, activating his Falsifying Heavenly Dao ability to observe and comprehend the principles of the world.
Sensing a rhythm like a beating heart, Li Fan narrowed his eyes, carefully waiting for a prompt from [Truth].
And from this strange treasure, an innate part of him, Li Fan faintly sensed a trace of dissatisfaction.
(End of this chapter)
Comments