Chapter 1277: A True Immortal Hidden in the Dark Sea
Chapter 1277: A True Immortal Hidden in the Dark Sea
A killing intent so palpable it felt solid surged toward the Saint Emperor, only to dissolve into nothingness against the threads of golden light shimmering before him.
Only after Mo Rubin's fury had somewhat subsided did Li Ping remark calmly, "I can see that you aren't truly angry."
"Are you still putting on a show for me? Or have you become so lost in the role that you can no longer tell what's real?"
"Watch. This is what real anger looks like..."
The Saint Emperor lunged forward. A formidable power erupted from the tip of his boot, blasting out in all directions. The radiance of the white jade flagpole flickered precariously, like a candle flame in a gale.
Yet, the moment this torrent of energy passed beyond the circle of light and entered the Gloomy Sea of Darkness, it rapidly dissipated.
The silent Gloomy Sea of Darkness stirred with faint ripples, smoothing away all traces of the disturbance.
It was as if the sea itself were soothing the Saint Emperor's rage.
Mo Rubin's form suddenly materialized behind Li Ping. A shadow, concealed by the white glow of the jade flagpole, coiled like a venomous serpent and poised to strike at Li Ping's neck, fangs bared.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the surface of the Saint Emperor's golden armor. From a fissure at its center, a thin black line erupted, lunging for Li Ping's throat.
Yet, just before it could find its mark, Li Ping's hand shot out and caught it.
Li Ping stared at the squirming shadow trapped in his palm. "Another personality?" he inquired coldly. "This one... feels a lot like you."
With that, he didn't crush the surreptitious attacker but released it, allowing the shadow to retreat to Mo Rubin's side.
Mo Rubin, however, had already abandoned even the immortal artifact, the white jade flagpole. He had used the brief exchange as a distraction and vanished without a trace.
Li Ping shook his head. His earlier kick had not been without purpose.
Following the faint connection he had established, he shot through the Gloomy Sea of Darkness in pursuit of Mo Rubin.
Mo Rubin was heading toward the very rift the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance was using to siphon power from the Gloom.
"You learn some cheap trick somewhere and dare to spout nonsense in front of me?"
"Do I not know that this Gloomy Sea of Darkness embraces everything, that even a cultivator's emotions stir ripples only to be swallowed by the dark?"
"See through my heart?"
Dozens of faces resembling Mo Rubin materialized in the darkness, drifting toward Li Ping to taunt him with cold sarcasm.
Their tones were all different, but without exception, each one dissolved back into the Gloomy Sea of Darkness after delivering its line.
Since the demonic faces launched no attacks, Li Ping simply ignored them, letting their mockery wash over him as he rapidly closed the distance to Mo Rubin.
The chattering of the faces continued.
"What is the 'real me'? I am the greatest genius of the Nine Refinements Temple, the one they pinned all their hopes on to be the first to achieve immortality. I am also one of the twelve Law Kings of the Xuantian Sect, who helped Xuanyuan Hong forge his great enterprise and unify the Xuanhuang Realm."
"Even so, must I always wear the same face? Should the chief prodigy always be composed? Should the Twelve Law Kings always plan before they act?"
"Wrong, wrong, wrong! To laugh with joy and curse with anger, that is me! To be defiant and untamable, that is me! To be wild and unrestrained, that is also me!"
"An immortal's heart controlling a demon's mask! For every person I meet, I show the face they deserve!"
"For those who act, I act with them. For the terrified, I intimidate them to their core. For the irredeemably evil, I join them in their depravity."
"As for a pedantic good man like you, you deserve a vicious tongue-lashing to wake you up!"
"Who the hell do you think you are?! You haven't even stepped into the Immortal realm, yet you dream of saving the world?!"
Dozens more faces swarmed around the Saint Emperor, unleashing a torrent of vile insults.
The Saint Emperor, however, remained utterly impassive.
His gaze seemed to penetrate the layers of darkness, and in the distance, he could see that the face of Mo Rubin's true body was just as serene as his own.
A sigh seemed to echo through the void...
The swell of the Gloomy Sea of Darkness rose to block Mo Rubin's path.
He came to an abrupt halt, his head tilting up to stare at the sky far away.
A rift in the fabric of space pulsed rhythmically, spewing out the power of the Gloom. The intermittent, muffled thuds sounded like a colossal, laboring heart.
"Damn them all."
"How can anything succeed when dragged down by such vermin?"
Another shadow-face appeared above Li Ping's head. This time, its tone was not one of manic fury. But Li Ping could sense that beneath the calm, a true killing intent was concealed.
"I once tried to channel the power of the Gloomy Sea of Darkness to close that opening. But I was stopped... by an eyeball."
"Was the owner of that eyeball the Xuantian King?"
The Saint Emperor came to a stop beside Mo Rubin, placing a hand on his shoulder as he transmitted his voice.
Mo Rubin didn't turn around, but a face suddenly appeared on the back of his head, looking at Li Ping with utter contempt.
"Would big brother Xuanyuan do something like that?"
Unperturbed, Li Ping continued along the same line of questioning. "Then why could that eyeball command the power of the Gloomy Sea of Darkness?"
The face on the back of Mo Rubin's head vanished. "Do you have any idea what the essence of this Gloomy Sea of Darkness is?"
"An array?" Li Ping replied after a moment of thought.
"As foolish as I expected," Mo Rubin scoffed. "The array is merely the surface. The true force that created this convergence of gloom, that allows the Xuanhuang Realm to resist the pull from the ruins of the ascension passage, is..."
He paused at the critical moment.
"Do you want to know?" he asked, his voice light and teasing.
"I do," Li Ping said frankly.
Seeing Li Ping so earnest, Mo Rubin seemed to lose interest in the game. His tone instantly returned to normal.
"Only the power of a True Immortal can contend with a True Immortal."
"The catastrophe that created the Darkest Star Sea was wrought by a Moral True Immortal. Therefore, the force powerful enough to allow the Xuanhuang Realm to escape..."
"Is, naturally, another True Immortal."
The words struck the faceless Saint Emperor's mind like a bolt of lightning.
In that instant, the surrounding gloom seemed to come alive, every shadow turning to peer at him.
"A True Immortal indeed," the Saint Emperor said, his voice as calm as if he had expected it all along, despite the shocking revelation. "But a dead True Immortal. Am I right?"
"Talking to clever people like you is no fun at all," Mo Rubin shrugged.
"That's right. The foundation of this entire Gloomy Sea of Darkness is formed from the remains of a True Immortal."
Li Ping was not surprised by this outcome.
The Gloomy Sea of Darkness could absorb the faith of the You people and convert it into Source Power Essence. Yet, it was indifferent when its believers changed their faith.
A True Immortal's Dao Net, once formed, was a tangible existence, independent of will.
Once caught in the net, escape was impossible unless one could unleash a force capable of tearing it apart.
The frail You people certainly lacked such power. The only logical explanation was that the master of the Dao Net was already dead.
The restraints were gone.
"A True Immortal," Li Ping repeated. "A True Immortal who fell in the Xuanhuang Realm."
"It's quite amazing, isn't it? A mere lower realm, yet a True Immortal fell here. But it's fortunate that the Xuanhuang Realm was hiding a True Immortal's corpse. Otherwise, even a clever housewife can't cook without rice. Big brother Xuanyuan wouldn't have had any way to save the Xuanhuang Realm," Mo Rubin said with a touch of nostalgia.
Li Ping then told Mo Rubin about the existence of the Fallen Immortal Realm.
"Oh. To think a successor Heavenly Venerate would actually be willing to share the legacy of a True Immortal with the world." After hearing the tale, Mo Rubin's aura became unstable once more.
"It's hard to imagine there's someone in the world even more foolish than big brother Xuanyuan. Truly..."
"He has long since perished," Li Ping added.
Mo Rubin instantly grew calm again.
After a long silence, he finally said, "Good that he's dead. Good that he's dead..."
Though his words were harsh, Li Ping felt a strange sense of sorrow in his demeanor.
So Li Ping asked the question that had been on his mind for some time. "Is the Xuantian King truly dead?"
Mo Rubin turned his head, staring blankly at Li Ping. "You ask me, but who do I ask? He's probably not dead. I'm looking for him too. A man as powerful as big brother Xuanyuan wouldn't die so easily, even if he was betrayed by villains."
With that, he turned away, giving Li Ping no chance for further questions.
"The Gloomy Sea of Darkness uses the Spirit Gathering Immortal Ascension Array as its foundation, the True Immortal's remains as its skeleton, and the bloodline of the first Great Heavenly Venerate as its sinews. It generates, from nothing, a power sufficient to counteract the pull of a True Immortal."
"But in the end, it's just a dead thing. Without a core to control it, it's become sustenance for others."
"So, you see, you must never die. What does it matter if you were a True Immortal in life? After you're dead, even ants can bully you."
Mo Rubin gazed again at the device the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance was using to draw power from the Gloom, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
"The bloodline of the first Great Heavenly Venerate?" An image of the strange appearance of the You people flashed through Li Ping's mind, and an idea sparked.
"No wonder only they can communicate with the Gloomy Sea of Darkness. But..."
The direct bloodline of a True Immortal—one could only imagine how noble that was. Yet now, they had been reduced to these forms that were neither human nor ghost.
As if reading his mind, Mo Rubin said coldly, "You needn't pity them. If you had lived in that era and personally experienced how the Great Heavenly Venerate's bloodline enslaved others..."
"You'd probably be the first to raise a rebellion."
"If not for big brother Xuanyuan's intervention back then, wiping out all their minions, who knows how long those so-called 'masters of men' would have continued their tyranny. Becoming what they are today is a blessing they've earned," Mo Rubin sneered.
Li Ping did not argue the point with Mo Rubin.
"The Gloomy Sea of Darkness uses the remains of a True Immortal to gather gloomy immortal power and resist the Immortal Ruins. So what exactly is that eye the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance possesses?" he asked quietly.
"Immortal Ruins..." Mo Rubin scoffed again, as if he strongly disagreed with the term.
This time, however, he didn't get bogged down in semantics and answered Li Ping's question directly. "That is merely an artifact big brother Xuanyuan refined back then to control the Gloomy Sea of Darkness. After all, he couldn't keep his eyes on this place at all times, and the Gloomy Sea was too critical to the entire escape plan, so he needed our help. There were three of them in total, each given to a different Law King."
"I just don't know whose this one in the hands of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance is," Mo Rubin said, a flicker of murderous intent in his voice.
Li Ping nodded slightly. "Is there a way to interfere with that artifact's control over the Gloomy Sea of Darkness?"
"If your mastery of arrays is greater than big brother Xuanyuan's..."
"Hmm?"
Mo Rubin was about to launch into a sarcastic remark when he suddenly recalled the level of array mastery the Saint Emperor had displayed during their earlier clash.
He swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.
"Within the central core of the Spirit Gathering Immortal Ascension Array, it might be possible to try," Mo Rubin said.
His gaze shifted from the rift in the Gloomy Sea of Darkness and turned in another direction.
Li Ping followed his gaze and remarked with some awe, "This array is truly profound. I pride myself on my skill with formations, yet within this gloom, I cannot discern the slightest trace of its workings."
"That's the effect of the True Immortal's remains," Mo Rubin pointed out bluntly, correcting Li Ping. "If it weren't for the dissipating power of the remains, you should be able to."
The Saint Emperor was left speechless.
"Follow me."
Mo Rubin called out, then, after briefly getting his bearings, his form dissolved into a black streak and vanished into the darkness.
Li Ping followed close behind.
As they drew closer to the so-called core of the Gloomy Sea of Darkness, a strange sense of unease inexplicably welled up in Li Ping's heart.
Faint, blurry images even flashed through his mind.
Among them, shockingly, was the sight of Mo Rubin, reduced to an empty shell, lying silently in the depths of this dark sea.
"Wait!"
A chill ran down his spine, and Li Ping called out to Mo Rubin.
"What?" Though slightly annoyed, Mo Rubin still came to a temporary halt.
"You'd better have a good reason for this."
Li Ping paid no mind to his attitude. After a moment's contemplation, he asked, "What kind of power could kill you in an instant?"
As if he had heard the most absurd joke, faces flew from Mo Rubin's body, swarming before Li Ping, shouting and screeching.
"Kill me in an instant? As long as my demonic heart is indestructible, my immortal body will never perish. As long as a single personality remains, I can never truly die!"
"Even a True Immortal..."
"A True Immortal... could probably do it," Mo Rubin's true body suddenly interjected, and the noisy faces instantly fell silent.
"Actually, with his level of power, big brother Xuanyuan could also do it, if he caught me off guard," Mo Rubin's main body analyzed with perfect rationality.
"I feel that something is wrong with the array core up ahead."
After hearing Mo Rubin's conclusion, Li Ping directly stated his concern.
Unexpectedly, Mo Rubin did not argue this time.
Instead, he suddenly said something that seemed completely unrelated. "The entire Gloomy Sea of Darkness is built upon the remains of a True Immortal."
"In our era, this place was far from being as vast as it is today. It seems the Great Heavenly Venerate's bloodline has propagated well over the years."
"Hmm... though it seems to be shrinking a bit recently, it doesn't affect the whole."
"Spirit Gathering Immortal Ascension, Immortal Ascension Spirit Gathering... in truth, this place can be seen as the ownerless shell of a True Immortal that has been cultivating on its own for nearly ten thousand years. Its body is filled with pure True Immortal power."
"However... this True Immortal power was cultivated using the True Immortal's remains as a foundation. So, theoretically, only that deceased True Immortal can wield it."
"Theoretically," Mo Rubin repeated those words.
"But there are countless wondrous techniques in this world. Who knows if there isn't some method to break this restriction."
The faceless Saint Emperor gazed out at the boundless Gloomy Sea of Darkness. "Such immense energy. If one could control it, they could likely unleash a power comparable to a True Immortal in an instant."
"A child trying to lift a giant cauldron will only end up crushed by it," Mo Rubin said, shattering Li Ping's fantasy.
He continued on toward the core of the Spirit Gathering Immortal Ascension Array.
"I was thinking, is it possible that after being gravely injured, big brother Xuanyuan has been hiding here?"
"If there's anyone in the Xuanhuang Realm who could possibly absorb the power of this Gloomy Sea of Darkness, it would have to be him."
He seemed to be muttering to himself, yet also explaining to Li Ping his reasons for pressing on despite the danger.
"No matter. I am by your side. With the two of us together, even if we encounter a crisis, escape shouldn't be a major problem," Li Ping said frankly, keeping pace with him.
"What a fool. That's why good people die young," Mo Rubin sneered, seemingly ungrateful for Li Ping's offer.
Li Ping's attention, however, was focused on his surroundings.
The darkness here was converging, growing ever thicker. Knowing now that the essence of this darkness was the power of a True Immortal's corpse, Li Ping felt a completely different sensation being within it.
What he found strange, however, was that the Cat Treasure, usually so greedy for immortal-level energy, seemed completely oblivious to this vast power.
It remained sound asleep on his shoulder.
It hadn't even opened its eyes once.
"Interesting." Li Ping's vigilance increased.
Before long, Mo Rubin stopped.
"This should be it," he said, looking around.
"'Should be'?" Li Ping asked, a hint of doubt in his voice.
Such an uncertain phrase was not something one would expect to hear from Mo Rubin, a Law King of the Xuantian Sect.
"Someone has been here. And they've modified the array," Mo Rubin's tone became unprecedentedly grave. Yet Li Ping could also hear a faint undercurrent of anticipation and excitement.
However, after a full circle, he turned back to Li Ping.
"This array is somewhat complex."
The implication was clear: he wanted the Saint Emperor's help.
Li Ping shook his head slightly. "The power of the True Immortal's remains permeates everything. I cannot sense the traces of the array."
Mo Rubin snorted. "Watch closely!"
A shadow-face instantly flew from his body and shot toward Li Ping.
Li Ping sensed no malice, so he did not evade.
With a twisted sense of humor, Mo Rubin's shadow-face wriggled and attached itself to Li Ping's blank visage.
Before Li Ping could even express his displeasure, he was captivated by the magnificent scene that suddenly unfolded before his eyes.
The dark, silent Gloomy Sea of Darkness was abruptly stripped of its mysterious veil.
Its true face was revealed.
Like thick clouds accumulating in the sky, evolving into various forms, the gloomy power gathered in vast swathes. Li Ping and Mo Rubin felt as if they were high in the heavens, in a kingdom of clouds.
These aggregates of gloomy power drifted slowly, yet with incredible speed. When they drew near one another, they would merge and devour each other, transforming into new shapes.
And at the very center of this Gloomy Sea of Darkness, the most ancient clouds of gloom, which had settled for over ten thousand years, emanated an aura that made even Li Ping's heart tremble.
These ancient congregations were like terrifying primeval beasts, resting silently in the depths of the dark sea.
"Truly the power of a True Immortal. If the energy contained in any one of these clouds were to erupt, it would far surpass the full-force strike of a Longevity cultivator."
"What incredible might!" Li Ping marveled internally.
Li Ping also noticed that the device used by the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance to extract the gloomy power was, in fact, just absorbing the stray clouds floating around the Gloomy Sea.
Moreover, the Alliance seemed able to distinguish the size of the clouds, as they left the larger congregations untouched. Their targets were mostly the smaller, drifting individuals.
"Do you see clearly now?" Mo Rubin's voice broke Li Ping's reverie.
Shaking himself from his awe, Li Ping took another, more careful look.
Sure enough, around these congregations, he discovered faint traces of an array.
Before he began to decipher it, however, Li Ping asked a question.
"In my previous deductions, the Floating Starry Sky Grand Formation was composed of four sub-arrays."
"There's the golden chain that locks onto and captures cultivation worlds outside the Star Sea; the Tian Beast's Eye that acts as an observation station; and the Gloomy Sea of Darkness, which is the Spirit Gathering Immortal Ascension Array, used to escape the pull of the Immortal Ruins. What is the last one?"
Through Mo Rubin's demonic face, Li Ping stared intently at Mo Rubin's true body.
Mo Rubin shrugged, his reply perfectly natural. "How would I know?"
"The grand formation was almost entirely built by big brother Xuanyuan himself. We only got a chance to see it up close after he completed its construction. Different Law Kings were responsible for different areas. I'm only somewhat familiar with this place."
Li Ping found no flaws in Mo Rubin's words.
But he didn't believe him so easily either.
Setting the matter aside for the moment, Li Ping focused on analyzing the formation before them.
After all, he truly did want to meet the legendary Xuantian King in person.
"The array has some age to it. Its style is somewhat different from the traditions passed down in the Xuanhuang Realm."
"There also seem to be signs of it being activated. Was there a struggle here?"
"It can only be considered an anomaly. It's not particularly complex. Not enough to reach the threshold of an immortal-grade array."
After a period of observation, Li Ping reached his conclusion.
"Will casting a spell here trigger a violent reaction from the gloomy power?" Before breaking the array, Li Ping cautiously asked Mo Rubin.
Unsurprisingly, Mo Rubin replied with a mocking laugh, "Have you advanced to the True Immortal realm? Don't worry about such things."
"If you could trigger a rampage of the True Immortal power here, the first thing I would do is run for my life."
With Mo Rubin's assurance, Li Ping had no more reservations.
One by one, the hidden formation patterns separated before his eyes, interlocking, combining, and deconstructing.
Before long, Li Fan had found the flaw in the array.
"This way."
He led them inside without triggering the array's countermeasures.
"So swift. You do have some skill," Mo Rubin offered a rare compliment.
The scene within the array seemed no different from the outside.
But from Mo Rubin's expression, Li Ping knew they hadn't gone the wrong way.
"This is it. The original core hub of the Spirit Gathering Immortal Ascension Array."
Following Mo Rubin's words, Li Ping scanned his surroundings.
The ancient congregations of gloomy power from the outside were being absorbed here.
They transformed into wisps of green smoke and dissipated into nothing.
"There are no remnants of True Immortal power. The essence of the energy lies deeper within the array," Li Ping said thoughtfully.
"Once the power source of the ascension array is sealed, it cannot be entered again. But the main control area was not sealed."
"Be careful," Mo Rubin said, expertly continuing deeper into the core.
Li Ping followed at a steady pace, observing his surroundings and committing every detail of the array to memory.
Although only a small part of the array was visible, with his current level of mastery, he could extrapolate the source of the formation by seeing just a fraction of it, like seeing a leopard from a single spot.
"Interesting. There are traces of a fight."
Mo Rubin, leading the way, suddenly paused.
He looked toward a corner of the array.
From the slight damage to the formation, Li Ping also saw the trace of a sword's light.
"Longevity realm," Li Ping judged, his senses instantly on high alert.
"And not a weak one," Mo Rubin added.
With that, he quickened his pace, continuing to press onward.
From a visual perspective, it seemed as though their position hadn't changed at all.
The ancient congregations above, below, and on all sides remained fixed relative to them.
But Li Ping could clearly feel that even with the aid of Mo Rubin's demonic face, the environment was growing progressively darker.
"The depths of the Gloomy Sea of Darkness."
The familiar, all-encompassing blackness returned.
Compared to the gloom of the outer regions, the darkness here was even more suffocating.
Li Ping felt the very circulation of his cultivation being obstructed. Not even the Source Power Essence was exempt.
Just as the darkness swallowed the last glimmer of light, when he could only barely perceive his surroundings through Mo Rubin's demonic face, Li Ping suddenly sensed that Mo Rubin had stopped moving ahead.
An icy aura faintly drifted toward him.
Li Ping slowly approached and discovered the reason for Mo Rubin's stillness.
Not far ahead, a skeleton lay silently.
Or rather, to call it an empty shell would be more accurate.
It was impossible to tell how long it had been dead, yet its face was still perfectly preserved, clearly showing the terror and disbelief on the man's face before his demise.
And his seemingly full body was, in reality, completely hollow inside.
Nothing was left.
"Longevity realm," Mo Rubin communicated with Li Ping through the attached demonic face.
"And his clothes... they look a little familiar," Mo Rubin's killing intent suddenly flared.
"Great Dao Sect, Fang Dingge."
After careful observation, Li Ping identified the man from the records of the Creation Stone Slab.
"So this is the place," Li Ping realized.
At the same time, his sense of vigilance rose to an unprecedented level.
"Who was he?" Mo Rubin asked succinctly.
"Thousands of years after your era, he was the sect master of the Great Dao Sect when the great calamity descended."
"In order to hunt down the Dharma Spreader—the founder of today's Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance—six Longevity realm cultivators attacked him in unison. All of them vanished without a trace. No sign of them alive, no corpses found. And yet, the Dharma Spreader survived."
"At the time, the Dharma Spreader was only at the Dao Integration stage," Li Ping briefly explained the history to Mo Rubin.
"Six Longevity cultivators died here?" Mo Rubin was no longer calm.
He took a slight step back, his expression grave.
"I hope it's not what I think it is," Mo Rubin muttered to himself after a long moment.
"Did the Dharma Spreader use the power of this Spirit Gathering Immortal Ascension Array to kill those six Longevity cultivators?" Li Ping asked.
"If that were the case, it would actually be the best possible outcome," Mo Rubin's grim voice replied.
"What I fear is that the True Immortal's remains... have come back to life."
(End of Chapter)
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