Chapter 1240: Where the Rainbow Light Vanished
A murderous intent surged through Li Ping's mind, but just as quickly, the aura radiating from him vanished without a trace.
As the Saint Emperor of the Great Qi, he had to master the art of masking his emotions.
This was a discipline he maintained even when no one else was present.
"Reclaiming the power of the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao doesn't necessarily mean I have to execute them," he mused.
"If they return the power willingly, I have no desire for unnecessary bloodshed. But if they refuse..."
A chill settled in Li Ping's heart.
Ruomu and Shiban might be solitary beings, but their combat prowess was undoubtedly on par with the Longevity stage. A war against them would serve as an excellent trial run before the final confrontation with the Ten thousand Immortals Alliance.
"Even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit," he reminded himself. "I cannot afford to underestimate them."
A plan began to form in the Saint Emperor's mind.
The ancient earth-vein tree, being one of the three major branches of Ruomu that fell into the mortal realm, was certain to share a unique connection with its parent entity.
Since being grievously wounded by cultivators, Ruomu had become erratic and reclusive, vanishing from the world.
He could perhaps use the earth-vein tree to pinpoint Ruomu's true location first, and then find a way to weaken him.
With a mere thought, Wang Xuanba appeared before the Saint Emperor's throne moments later.
With the Xuanhuang malevolence completely devoured by Li Ping, there was no longer any need for Wang Xuanba to remain on the mountain peak guarding the sealed small world.
He had returned to the Sacred Capital some time ago, after receiving the Saint Emperor's summons.
He had also benefited from the shower of heavenly grace during Li Ping's breakthrough, thanks to his presence in the small world.
Wang Xuanba's cultivation had now reached the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, with the Soul Transformation realm just within reach.
However, Wang Xuanba's true strength lay in the abilities of the various strange beasts he commanded. His own cultivation realm was of secondary importance.
"The Dao One Worm has a variant that can corrode spiritual wood," Li Ping instructed. "Begin cultivating them. I will have a great need for them soon."
Wang Xuanba nodded in acknowledgment and took his leave.
...
Just as Saint Emperor Li Ping was preparing to make his first show of power to the Xuanhuang Realm, a crisis was unfolding elsewhere.
On the far side of the Darkest Star Sea, outside the Mysterious Immortal Boat, the Sacred Fetus Li Fan found himself facing a crisis.
The danger came not from the residual power of True Immortals lingering in the void, nor from some unknown cultivator.
It came from the very Relic Sea in which he was adrift.
Just a short while ago, this vast and previously stable expanse of ruins had, for some unknown reason, begun to tremble.
The tremor itself was a minor concern. More alarmingly, as the sprawling field of debris lost its cohesion, the pull from the High Wall, deep within the Star Sea, grew noticeably stronger.
To the Sacred Fetus Li Fan, it was as if a sudden tide had surged through the cosmos, sweeping up the countless clustered relics and dragging them toward an unseen shore.
The Mysterious Immortal Boat initiated a special contingency plan.
Though the vessel remained hidden, concealed within the void, the Sacred Fetus Li Fan could clearly sense its movement.
It wasn't moving in a fixed direction, but rather shifting and maneuvering, constantly altering its position.
Like a spinning gyroscope, it deflected the immense gravitational pull from the High Wall.
The Sacred Fetus Li Fan initially tried to imitate this method to resist the pull.
But it was not nearly as simple as it looked.
"The vessel isn't just spinning on its own axis," he realized. "It's subtly connected to the entire Relic Sea, using the near-infinite mass of debris to barely escape the pull."
The Sacred Fetus Li Fan felt an inexorable force dragging at his body.
Even flying on his sword in the opposite direction, he was losing ground, inch by inch.
He was drifting farther and farther from the Mysterious Immortal Boat, about to be pulled into the depths of the Relic Sea. The thought of forcing his way onto the vessel for refuge crossed his mind.
A fierce battle would surely follow, but that was far better than being smashed against the invisible High Wall.
Just as he was about to act, a brilliant, seven-colored rainbow flared to life in the Darkest Star Sea, originating from the direction of the Xuanhuang Realm and the Immortal Ruins. It immediately captured his attention.
He froze for a moment, then realization dawned: it was the sixteen Dao Integration cultivators from the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, answering the Dharma Spreader's call!
"So soon?"
The Sacred Fetus Li Fan was taken aback.
Even accounting for the varying flow of time in different regions of the Star Sea, their arrival was far sooner than he had anticipated.
"Wait... could this sudden increase in gravitational pull be meant to guide the Alliance's rainbow light here?"
The thought surfaced in his mind as he watched the brilliant streak speed through the cosmos.
After a moment of contemplation, he ceased his futile struggle. Letting the pull guide him, he followed the light toward the depths of the Star Sea.
The rainbow light was incredibly fast, but its pace inevitably slowed as it navigated the dense debris of the Relic Sea.
Protected by his sword formation, Li Fan followed stealthily behind.
Li Fan had initially assumed the Relic Sea was of a finite size.
But after trailing the light for what felt like three days in Xuanhuang Realm time, he had still not emerged from the endless expanse of ruins. Only then did he begin to grasp the sheer scale of the cultivation civilizations that had once flourished in the Darkest Star Sea.
The field of relics stretched on without end, a void without cardinal directions.
The Alliance's rainbow, however, clearly had a guide, holding a steady course in a fixed direction.
Its path seemed meticulously calculated, expertly avoiding the most hazardous areas within the debris field.
Thanks to them paving the way, the Sacred Fetus Li Fan's journey in their wake was remarkably smooth.
Another four days passed.
The dense field of shattered relics ahead suddenly thinned, giving way to open space.
Li Fan's senses sharpened; he knew he was about to exit the Relic Sea.
Free from the obstacles, the rainbow light began to accelerate.
Barely half a day later, a sight appeared before him that he would never forget.
A great wall stood sentinel in the dark void ahead.
At first, Li Fan mistook it for the legendary High Wall.
But as he drew closer and discerned its details, a shocking realization struck him.
The "bricks" composing the impossibly long wall were not stone—they were the shattered remains of entire worlds!
Just as he had passed through a sea of relics, he now faced a wall of worlds!
He quickly calculated that even the current Xuanhuang Realm, which had grown far beyond its ancient scale by devouring countless fragments, would constitute nothing more than an insignificant section of this Realm Fragment Great Wall.
"Just how many cultivation worlds perished in the ancient calamity?"
"And what immense power gathered them all here?"
"The High Wall..."
Li Fan strained his eyes, trying to find the legendary High Wall, which he had only ever heard of but never seen.
But in the oppressive darkness, there was nothing to see but the endless fragments of dead worlds.
After a moment of stunned silence, Li Fan realized he was still being pulled uncontrollably toward the wall of dead worlds.
And his speed was increasing.
"If I crash into that, even with my divine sword body, I'll be annihilated," Li Fan thought, his brow furrowed.
But he quickly focused on the Alliance's rainbow light ahead of him.
For some unknown reason, the light showed no sign of decelerating.
On the contrary, it accelerated, hurtling toward the wall.
"What...?"
After a moment's hesitation, the Sacred Fetus Li Fan made a decisive choice: he followed it.
"The Dharma Spreader went to great lengths to bring these Dao Integration cultivators here," he reasoned. "He wouldn't let them die so pointlessly."
As if to confirm his suspicion, after penetrating some distance into the sea of realm fragments, the rainbow light suddenly defied the High Wall's pull, veered sharply, and shot toward a specific world fragment.
It was as if some force, even more powerful than the High Wall's echoing star power, was drawing it in.
A sudden sense of unease washed over the Sacred Fetus Li Fan.
"The Dharma Spreader?"
As he neared the point where the rainbow had turned, he too felt that same immense pull.
But an instinctual warning held him back. The Sacred Fetus Li Fan did not follow.
Instead, he continued deeper into the sea of realm fragments. Perhaps influenced by the Dharma Spreader's power, his momentum gradually slowed.
He eventually found a point of equilibrium and came to a stop.
But Li Fan knew this stability was only temporary.
The moment that suspected power of the Dharma Spreader vanished, he would once again be hurtled uncontrollably toward the High Wall.
Li Fan tried to take refuge within one of the shattered worlds.
But unlike the Xuanhuang Realm, the corpses of these worlds offered no shelter to cultivators.
"Looks like my time is up," he thought grimly.
Just as the Sacred Fetus Li Fan resigned himself to this thought, something happened not far away, at the destination of the Alliance's rainbow.
The sudden disappearance of an aura sent a jolt through him.
Before he could even react, the auras of a second, then a third Dao Integration cultivator vanished in quick succession.
Dao Integration cultivators—even those rushed to their level through artificial means—were still the most powerful beings below the Longevity stage.
An existence countless cultivators dreamed of achieving.
Yet here, in the dark void within the Realm Fragment Great Wall, they died without a sound, without the slightest struggle.
"What's happening?"
"Did the Dharma Spreader do this?"
"Did he go to all that trouble just to slaughter them?"
As shock and suspicion warred in the Sacred Fetus Li Fan's mind, the rate at which the cultivators vanished did not slow.
In the blink of an eye, all sixteen Dao Integration cultivators were dead.
"If they die here, will their Dao still Return to Heaven?" The thought suddenly struck the Sacred Fetus Li Fan.
"Wait a minute... Returning Dao to Heaven..."
Li Fan's mind raced as he realized something. He quickly focused his senses on the spot where the rainbow light had vanished.
Though their life auras were gone, the power of the world's laws still lingered faintly in that location.
However, it was fading with a steady rhythm, like an ice cube slowly melting in water.
"This is..." A tremor went through Li Fan's heart. He now understood exactly what had happened.
And in the moments that followed, the turbulent sea of realm fragments began to stabilize.
This only confirmed his horrifying suspicion.
"He's using the Spirit of Heaven and Earth from their bodies to repair the Realm Fragment Great Wall?"
Shock and rage surged through Li Fan.
"All this effort, just to rob Peter to pay Paul?"
The sheer absurdity of it was staggering.
And yet, what followed was undeniable: the Realm Fragment Great Wall stabilized completely, and the echoing star power from the High Wall began to weaken.
He had no choice but to believe it.
A part of him desperately wanted to rush to the spot where the rainbow vanished and see for himself.
But the Sacred Fetus Li Fan was not yet ready to confront the Dharma Spreader. His current body, forged from the Xuanhuang Realm's laws of the sword, was especially vulnerable.
If he rushed in recklessly, he would likely share the fate of those sixteen cultivators—reduced to raw material for patching the Great Wall.
The Sacred Fetus Li Fan wasn't afraid of death, but dying in such a humiliating way was unthinkable.
"The great turmoil in the Xuanhuang Realm stems from the High Wall's echoing star power."
"From what I'm seeing, this echoing star power and the Realm Fragment Great Wall exist in a delicate balance. Normally, the force shouldn't be strong enough to reach the Xuanhuang Realm."
"So, the balance must have been disrupted by an external force, causing this massive upheaval in the Star Sea?"
...
"For this ancient wall of world-ruins to suddenly become unstable..."
The Sacred Fetus Li Fan's mind went back to his time in the Xuanhuang Realm, to the Roaring Abyss, where he had destroyed a realm fragment.
A figure, likely the Dharma Spreader, had appeared afterward and patched the gap with a new fragment.
"Could it be? Was that single act the cause of this entire chain of events?"
A wry, bitter feeling rose in Li Fan's heart.
"What is this? Robbing Peter to pay Paul, then robbing Paul to pay back Peter?"
After a moment's reflection, however, he had to admit the possibility was disturbingly high.
"After all, judging by the current situation, he actually managed to avert the catastrophe."
...
Li Fan fell silent.
He carefully replayed the events in his mind, examining every detail.
"Still, some things don't add up."
"If the Great Wall's stability is so fragile, the Dharma Spreader should have been far more cautious when he took that fragment. Acting so recklessly, without considering the consequences, doesn't seem like his style at all."
"Unless the mechanics of the Great Wall are so profound that even he only has a partial understanding of them. Or..."
"...that node within the Roaring Abyss was so critical to the Xuanhuang Realm that it could not be lost. So critical that the Dharma Spreader had no choice but to risk destabilizing the Great Wall to secure it."
The Sacred Fetus Li Fan's thoughts raced.
With the information he had, it was impossible to determine which theory was correct.
But one thing was now certain: the Dharma Spreader was here, within this Realm Fragment Great Wall.
Or perhaps, it was the Heavenly Doctor.
The Sacred Fetus Li Fan carefully concealed his aura once more. He made no rash moves, choosing instead to hide and observe.
Fortunately, the energies here were complex and chaotic.
Though the echoing star power was now contained by the Great Wall, it still sent ripples through the void like waves on an ocean.
This turmoil easily masked the faint fluctuations of his own presence.
He waited patiently for more than ten days until the sense of danger in his heart finally faded completely.
Only then did the Sacred Fetus Li Fan cautiously make his way toward the place where the rainbow had vanished.
He moved slowly, taking nearly half a day to cover a distance he could have crossed in an instant.
Once he was certain no one was around, Li Fan began to examine the small world fragment.
It seemed no different from any of the other fragments in the wall.
And yet, for some reason, he felt a deep sense of familiarity.
"What is it...?"
After a moment, realization dawned.
"The Cong Yun Sea..."
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