Chapter 1267: Encountering a True Immortal Script Once More
As the Gloomy Sea of Darkness stirred, the You Clan members kneeling across the land seemed to sense it. Their expressions twisted, becoming even more frenzied and devout.
Like a gathering storm, a force blew in from every corner of the Gloomy Sea, converging on the small opening the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance had drilled.
The pressure spiked. Invisible ripples spread from the wound, and under layers of immense, stacking power, Li Ping sensed the fragile stability at the opening instantly shatter.
The condensed and compressed Source Power retreated in disarray, seemingly moments away from being completely expelled from the Gloomy Sea of Darkness.
Yet, at that very moment, Li Ping was stunned to see light bloom within the lightless sea.
This wasn't an illusion born from the sea's own rhythmic pulses, but a genuine, tangible light that had truly been born here.
A golden abacus appeared, anchoring the collapsing front of the Alliance's Source Power. Its beads clicked and shifted, the output of Source Power surged, and the two forces were once again brought into equilibrium.
The Gloomy Sea of Darkness churned, its tides crashing and throwing up waves of spray. But each surge was perfectly neutralized by the golden abacus's calculations, allocations, and adjustments.
Though the light didn't travel far before being utterly swallowed by the gloom, its influence was undeniable. The raging torrents of the Gloomy Sea were slowly pacified.
The unknown entity that had been stirring from its slumber was soothed by the abacus's golden glow and sank back into deep sleep.
As this change occurred, an eyeball silently materialized above the wound in the Gloomy Sea.
Or rather, it was born from the golden abacus itself—a bizarre and unsettling sight.
The eyeball seemed to animate the abacus, which began to meticulously scan the Gloomy Sea for any disturbances.
Its gaze was cold, devoid of all emotion. It swiveled, surveying the area, as if trying to pinpoint the reason for the imbalance in the Gloomy Power extraction device.
The Saint Emperor's heart tightened. He immediately concealed himself and the hundred or so You Clan members under his protection.
The eye scanned the area several times but found nothing suspicious. At last, it slowly faded away.
During this time, thanks to the golden abacus's strenuous repairs, the Gloomy Sea of Darkness had returned to a state of balance and tranquility.
Li Ping stood not far from the opening, lost in thought. After a moment of contemplation, he decided to postpone his plan to destroy the Alliance's device here.
It wasn't that he feared a direct confrontation with the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance. Rather, he had sensed a familiar aura from the eye that had suddenly appeared.
The aura of a cultivator who, in theory, had completely vanished from the Xuanhuang Realm.
It was this uncertainty that prompted the Saint Emperor to change his decision at the last minute.
"If it were just a similar aura, that would be one thing. But if he himself is still alive, hiding within the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and helping them steal the power of the Gloomy Sea of Darkness..."
A flicker of doubt crossed the Saint Emperor's mind.
But until he could get to the bottom of this, it was better to avoid a direct clash.
With this thought, Li Ping led the You Clan members back to the Great Qi.
Connecting his divine sense to the stone slab, he began to sift through the information recorded on the Creation Stone Slab.
"Xuantian King..."
"It makes no sense at all."
Scene after scene flashed before Li Ping's eyes.
The Xuantian King, starting as an unremarkable cultivator, defied all odds. He experienced one fortuitous encounter after another, eventually becoming the last ascender of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Not long after he shattered the void and became an eternal legend of the Xuanhuang Realm, he reappeared, shaking the world to its core.
Then came the founding of the Xuantian Sect, followed by its ultimate destruction at the hands of the Ten Great Immortal Sects.
The images were fragmented, and at certain critical junctures, they seemed to have been forcibly erased.
But even this incomplete personal history was a tumultuous and gripping tale.
"According to the memories synced from the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao and the records on the Creation Stone Slab, the eye that appeared in the Gloomy Sea of Darkness is a near-perfect match for the Xuantian King."
"And that’s what’s so strange."
The Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao itself has certified that the Xuantian King is dead. So where on earth did the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance get his eye?
"The detailed records of the Ten Great Immortal Sects' siege on the Xuantian Sect are also a blur. Whatever could obscure the world’s own fundamental power must be an entity of at least comparable strength."
...
The more he pondered, the more questions arose.
This supposed savior of the Xuanhuang Realm was shrouded in too many mysteries.
Most importantly, there was the matter of his cultivation realm.
A half-immortal body, vanishing just like that. It was hard to believe. Now that Li Ping himself had vaguely reached the limits of the Xuanhuang Realm, he could better appreciate just how powerful such a being was.
Only a True Immortal, or a being of even greater power, could perhaps erase the Xuantian King without a sound.
But if such a being truly appeared, the event would have been earth-shattering. The Xuanhuang Realm itself might have been dragged into the grave as collateral damage.
Yet, in the memories of the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, no such event had occurred.
Perhaps that True Immortal deliberately concealed their aura while acting...
But that raised another question.
In the eyes of a True Immortal, mortals are no different from ants.
Even as a half-immortal, the Xuantian King was no exception. Why would a True Immortal need to be secretive about killing him?
"Perhaps I can find some clues from the few Xuantian Sect Law Kings who survived."
The faceless Saint Emperor flipped through the Creation Stone Slab, trying to find any trace of a lead.
Meanwhile, far away in the Ash Sky Small World, Li Fan's divine sense frowned slightly.
Ever since he had personally experienced how troublesome the Xuantian Sect's Law Kings could be, he had specifically and unilaterally blocked the Saint Emperor’s memories of Mo Rubin to avoid complications in this life.
He never expected that, through a series of coincidences, the Saint Emperor would once again show signs of getting entangled with Mo Rubin.
"Since the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance could use various clues to locate Mo Rubin's sleeping place, the Saint Emperor should be able to as well. Now this is getting interesting."
"That eye from the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance can't possibly belong to the Xuantian King himself. Otherwise, Mo Rubin would have discovered it back when he possessed the Dharma Transmitter's body and learned all the Alliance's secrets."
Li Fan pondered this while urging the Immeasurable Mirror to continue analyzing the world-protecting grand array.
"However, considering he later died inside the Gloomy Sea of Darkness, we can probably guess that the eyeball must have some inexplicable connection to the Xuantian King. Perhaps it’s even... a part of the Xuantian King's authority?"
"Mo Rubin discovered the existence of this Alliance eye, realized its connection to the Gloomy Sea of Darkness, and that’s why he ventured into that perilous place, only to be lost without a trace."
"Authority..."
"The Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerate, the world-protecting grand array!"
A sharp glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes. Within the still-forming array model being deduced by the Final Dissociation Disc, a point of light suddenly flared.
Even though he still couldn't see the whole picture, Li Fan understood the meaning of that point of light in an instant.
"Just like the Mysterious Origin Primal Spirit Grand Array, this unknown world-protecting array is also composed of several different subordinate arrays. And each one has its own independent control core, a central hub."
"This point of light is that core!"
Through the analysis of the Immeasurable Mirror's dim light, the lines of the array ruins hidden deep beneath the Ash Sky Small World finally revealed the location of their corresponding "core."
However, the place that should have been the array's central hub, where the lines were most concentrated, was now completely empty.
It looked as if it had been scooped out entirely.
Just as the Immeasurable Mirror was about to probe deeper into that void-like core region, a sudden sense of crisis washed over Li Fan.
He stopped the Immeasurable Mirror's actions in an instant.
Li Fan narrowed his eyes, staring at that place of nothingness.
A deceptive, hair-raising aura lurked within.
It wasn't that nothing was there!
Rather, its very existence was beyond the scope of ordinary perception!
"True... Immortal... Script... Character!"
Li Fan spelled out the words in his mind, his guard raised to its absolute highest.
It was different from the [Hunger], [Submerge], and [Chaos] characters Li Fan had previously encountered, nor was it quite the same as the residual power in the Darkest Star Sea.
It wasn't even mentioned in the records of the Mysterious Immortal Boat.
This was a completely new, unknown power. A mysterious and esoteric force that didn't attack other things, but targeted only the core of the world-protecting array.
Having already accomplished their goal, they now lay quietly upon the "corpse" of the world-protecting array's central hub.
(End of this chapter)
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