Chapter 1127: Immortal Power Fades to Nothingness
[This simulation has ended.]
[You may choose one of the following to retain:
1. An item in your possession from this simulation.
2. Your cultivation realm from this simulation.
3. The simulation memories of one person with whom you were closely associated. This person can inherit these memories.
4. Forgo the above choices to accelerate the recharge process.]
...
The prompt from [Truth] materialized before Li Fan’s eyes, but he was in no state to make a choice.
His entire focus was on the strange transformation overtaking his body.
This time, having barely escaped the brilliant radiance of the Faceless True Immortal's power, a single use of [Truth] wasn't enough to completely purge the corrosion of its immortal might.
"The side effect from the Immortal Ruins immortal was an all-consuming hunger. But the Faceless True Immortal..."
Li Fan carefully ran his hands over his face.
It felt as if a layer of skin had been stretched taut over his head, obscuring all his features.
Only the sense of touch remained.
Although he could use his divine sense to perceive his surroundings, allowing him to move and live normally, the sensation still sent a faint chill creeping into his heart.
"It's not just that my face has vanished, but..."
Li Fan turned his divine sense inward, "looking" at his own body.
It flickered with an intermittent transparency, like a phantom.
"My very [existence] is also fading away."
He had just returned to the first year of his anchor point, and [Truth] was still recharging. If he died now, it would be a true death, with no second chances.
Faced with such a desperate situation, Li Fan did not panic.
Instead, his mind raced with cold, calculated logic.
His past experience of using [Truth] multiple times to completely dilute the effects of the Immortal Ruins' power gave him a crucial insight. He understood that the influence the Faceless True Immortal had exerted upon him could likely be washed away through repeated uses of [Truth] as well.
This didn't mean that the power of [Truth] was showing its limits against a True Immortal. Rather, it was a reflection of how utterly weak he was in comparison.
But several critical problems now stood before him.
"First, [Truth] needs to recharge. And before it does, if I don't do something, I'm afraid I won't last that long."
"Second, under the influence of the Faceless True Immortal's brilliant power, I've become like this. Compared to my last life as its emissary, its influence on me is actually deeper now. Which means..."
"From the very beginning of this life, I have already fallen into the True Immortal's web. Based on my final moments in the last life, even if I trigger all the world-birthing changes in the Xuanhuang Realm, I might not attract the Faceless True Immortal's attention. But the moment I activate [Truth], I will inevitably draw it to me."
...
Li Fan stepped out of the wooden cabin on the mountain peak and walked to the edge of the boundless sea of clouds.
He watched the red sun rise over the horizon. As its light washed over him, he felt no warmth at all.
Instead, an uncontrollable chill bloomed in his heart.
Li Fan sat quietly on the cliff's edge, deep in thought.
At the same time, it seemed as if he was waiting for something.
He waited until the sun was high in the sky. Nearly half a day passed, but Jieli Mountain in the Great Xuan Kingdom remained calm and peaceful.
Nothing unexpected happened.
Only then did Li Fan let out a long breath, a sense of having narrowly escaped death washing over him.
"The Faceless True Immortal didn't come."
He stood up and dusted himself off.
Feeling his body growing even more ethereal, Li Fan looked at the prompt from [Truth] still flashing before his "eyes."
He still made no choice, temporarily ignoring it.
Returning to the cabin, he lay down on the bed and mused.
"What is the fundamental nature of [Truth]?"
"Truth to lies, reality to dream."
"I am a bug that appeared in the True Immortal's web without any warning, yet the Faceless True Immortal chose to ignore me. This means one of two things. Either it cannot perceive the specific details within a small world of the Xuanhuang Realm, or..."
"Before this moment, the world did not exist. The instant I returned, time began to flow, and everything gained true meaning. From my perspective, I suddenly appeared in the True Immortal's web because of the karma from my previous life. But from the Faceless True Immortal's perspective, I was always a part of its web. Therefore, there was no anomaly. And that is why it did not descend."
Countless thoughts churned in Li Fan's mind.
"If it were simple time reversal, then the Faceless True Immortal at this point in time should have been able to keenly sense the changes happening to it. For a True Immortal, for something to occur beyond its control... it would never let such an anomaly go. It would follow the threads and find its way to me."
"But none of that happened."
Li Fan repeated the seven words that always accompanied the activation of [Truth] in his mind.
"Truth to lies, reality to dream."
"To turn illusion into reality, to reassemble all of existence... To possess such a divine artifact and still end up in such a wretched state, it's really quite pathetic," Li Fan shook his head, mocking himself.
In the end, he had still underestimated the power of a True Immortal.
He never expected that even after activating [Truth], that brilliant immortal power could still trace its way back to him.
And it seemed that the more powerful a being was, the more sensitive it was to the power of [Truth].
The way the Faceless True Immortal had suddenly erupted, suppressing the immortal power of the Immortal Ruins in its haste to reach him, clearly indicated it knew something about [Truth].
"The performance of [Truth] is inextricably linked to my own strength. Before I reach the Longevity stage, I'd better not provoke them again."
With this thought, Li Fan concluded his preliminary analysis of True Immortals and [Truth]. Only then did he finally begin to contemplate how to solve his current predicament.
"I am currently at the third anchor point. [Truth], my Foundation Establishment Wonder, is at the late Foundation Establishment stage. If I choose to inherit my cultivation from the previous life, I will instantly leap from Foundation Establishment to Soul Transformation."
"But I am currently within the True Immortal's web. The reason I haven't drawn its attention is that my own strength is negligible. But if a Foundation Establishment ant were to suddenly become a Soul Transformation ant... that might just catch its eye."
"So the solution to this crisis is clear. I must hide within the Gloomy Realm. The moment I choose to inherit my cultivation from the last life, I will immediately activate [Truth] again. This will prevent the Faceless True Immortal from tainting me once more, and at the same time, I can use [Truth] to wash away the mark it left on me. I will have to repeat this process."
"But before any of that..."
Li Fan reached out, intending to pick up a teacup from a table in the cabin.
At first, there was no issue. But as his body became somewhat transparent, the teacup slipped right through his grasp and fell to the floor.
"So this is the power of the Faceless True Immortal. The stripping of existence..."
The first thing Li Fan needed to solve was how to stabilize his own existence before [Truth] finished recharging.
Otherwise, all would be for naught.
And judging by the current state of his body, he didn't have much time left.
(End of Chapter)
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