Chapter 1309: First Encounter in the Land of Joy
The Xuanhuang World-Ending Transformation was a series of extreme changes that arose naturally within the Xuanhuang Realm as a form of self-preservation when it sensed its impending doom.
Each transformation was the evolution of a certain aspect pushed to its absolute limit.
For instance, the transformation Li Fan had used in his previous life to masquerade as a Dao Integration cultivator—[Heat Death of Heaven and Earth, Myriad Things Frozen]. It was no weaker than an ordinary ice-attribute Heavenly Spirit in the Xuanhuang Realm, and in fact, stronger than most.
The World-Ending Transformations were often highly aggressive and destructive. Since they typically only manifested when the Xuanhuang Realm faced a cataclysmic threat, their appearance in the world would inevitably trigger a stress response from the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao. The consequence was that the Heavenly Dao would instinctively grow wary and distrustful of anyone who possessed such a transformation, just as it did now with Li Fan.
Meanwhile, the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, having absorbed its own separated malevolent thoughts, was undergoing a change akin to an infusion of immortal power, a comprehensive revival. However, this transformation was specifically manifesting in the foundational laws of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Setting aside the changes to the logic of reversing heaven and earth for longevity, the various restrictions the Xuanhuang Realm imposed on cultivators also grew harsher with its internal revitalization.
The Heavenly Disaster bottleneck, the law of incompatible cultivation, the celestial phenomena that appeared upon a cultivator's death—all were becoming more severe.
These laws, so intimately tied to a cultivator's journey, were quietly and rapidly changing.
Breakthroughs would become more difficult; the celestial visions upon a cultivator's demise would record more information about their life; the criteria for what constituted a "different law" would become stricter, and the total number of cultivation techniques in the world would mysteriously be reduced.
A faint murmur, like the sound of digestion, echoed through the world, imperceptible to ordinary cultivators.
In the Xuanhuang Realm, cultivators practiced by devouring heaven and earth. Now, with the world's strength suddenly swelling, the cultivators within it were bound to experience a surge in their own power.
Foundation Establishment cultivators battling Golden Cores, and Golden Cores triumphing over Nascent Souls. In the near future, such feats might become commonplace.
For the cultivators of the older generation who wished to escape this predicament, they had two choices: either discard their cultivation and start anew, or find a way to break through to the next major realm as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, these cultivators who had not "grown" alongside the Xuanhuang world would soon be cast aside by the changing times.
...
Observing the dramatic transformations sweeping through the Xuanhuang Realm, Li Fan merely watched and analyzed, making no move to extract anything. Although the world's growth had not yet reached the level he required, it was already enough to provide him with profound inspiration.
"This is a change of the Dao," Li Fan mused. "Those who answer its call shall live; those who lose its path shall perish. It is true for the Xuanhuang Realm, true for the Dark Star Sea, and perhaps it was true for the Immortal Realm of old."
He was reminded of Sun Erlang's experience within the illusion of the Truth Inducing Fruit in his past life.
"I wonder what they will find on their journey to the Land of Carefree Joy this time?"
Within the Lecture Stage, his silvery eyes shifted slightly, and an image of Sun Erlang and his two companions materialized.
Though they were only at the peak of the Golden Core realm, they were fortunate to have been taught the Great Dao by the Saint Teacher. The defensive formations of both the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders Council were like paper in their eyes.
They advanced unimpeded, passing through the Human Dao Heavenly Realm, and finally arrived in the so-called Land of Carefree Joy.
At first glance, it appeared no different from any other region in the Xuanhuang Realm.
Yue Zhenwei, the eldest of the three, scanned their surroundings, a flicker of confusion in his eyes. "Are there fewer people here than in the other territories of the Five Elders Association?"
Sun Erlang nodded. "Indeed. And they all seem so listless. It doesn't look or feel anything like a land of 'carefree joy'."
Wang Xuanba, however, was unconcerned. "Who cares? Our goal is to find a Grotto-Heaven to break through to the Nascent Soul realm, right? The fewer people, the better!"
Sun Erlang and Yue Zhenwei found his logic sound. One does what one can with the power one has. The secrets of the Land of Carefree Joy were certainly not for mere Golden Core cultivators like them to unravel.
They continued to conceal their presence, using the secret arts taught by the Saint Teacher to search for any trace of a Grotto-Heaven within the Land of Carefree Joy.
However...
Ten days passed, and they found nothing.
The faces of the three grew grim.
"This is impossible! We've searched nearly all of Qiuxi Prefecture, and we haven't found a single Grotto-Heaven?" Wang Xuanba exclaimed in disbelief.
"Either the Saint Teacher's secret art is flawed, or..." Yue Zhenwei's expression was just as dark.
Sun Erlang finished his thought. "Or there are simply no Grotto-Heavens in this Land of Carefree Joy. Perhaps what we see is not the real thing, but merely an empty shell. The legendary dreamscape must be where it truly lies."
"What do we do now?" Wang Xuanba scratched his head. "We can't just break into a dream to steal something, can we? Why don't we head back to the Human Dao Heavenly Realm? It's more heavily guarded, but it's also much larger. If we're careful, 'borrowing' a few Grotto-Heavens shouldn't be a problem."
Sun Erlang and Yue Zhenwei both nodded.
Having quickly reached a consensus, the trio prepared to leave the Land of Carefree Joy.
But to their creeping horror, as they retraced their steps back to the border, the scenery they encountered was completely different.
The wall of white mist that served as the natural boundary between prefectures was gone. In its place was a vast, endless desert that stretched to the horizon.
"This is..."
The three stood at the edge of the desert, telekinetically pulling a handful of the yellow sand to rub between their fingers.
"It's real," Sun Erlang said gravely, clenching his fist.
Still skeptical, Wang Xuanba stepped forward, his foot sinking into the flowing sand. "How can this be? We came this way just fine, and now we can't go back? We didn't get lost!"
"I'm afraid," Yue Zhenwei said, the calmest of the three, "that we have unknowingly stepped into the true dreamscape of the 'Land of Carefree Joy'."
He gazed out at the distant desert, seeing no signs of life.
"We shouldn't venture rashly into this desert. Let's try another direction."
The trio crossed Qiuxi Prefecture once more. On another border, they encountered yet another completely different landscape.
A roaring torrent of water fell from the heavens. The moment it touched the ground of Qiuxi, it dissolved into bubbles of light and shadow, vanishing without a trace.
Not far off, a water world was suspended high in the sky.
Within it, not only were countless creatures swimming about, but they could also faintly make out the silhouettes of numerous underwater buildings.
"How about we try our luck there? It's not like we can get out of here anyway," Wang Xuanba suggested.
"Let's observe a little more," Yue Zhenwei said. He watched closely and discovered that while there was life in this water world, the civilization that had built the underwater structures was composed of writhing, octopus-like creatures.
They seemed to have their own language and script, and they ruled over this aquatic domain.
But they were utterly oblivious to Sun Erlang and his companions watching them from just a stone's throw away, as if they existed in entirely different worlds.
Leaving the water world for the time being, the three continued to search along the border of Qiuxi Prefecture.
Finally, in the southwestern corner, they discovered a third adjoining territory.
In the distance, a colossal stone stood on the shore of a sea.
It was identical to the giant stone they had seen on the coast of Shilin Province in the Xuanhuang Realm.
"Excellent! We've finally found a way out!" Wang Xuanba couldn't help but shout in excitement.
He was about to charge forward but was stopped by Sun Erlang.
"Be careful! Something's not right!"
As Sun Erlang spoke, two figures appeared in the sky above the great stone, one chasing the other.
The figure in the lead was in a wretched state, seemingly gravely injured.
The pursuing figure, though clearly much faster, seemed to be relishing the thrill of the hunt. It maintained a constant distance between them, giving the fleeing person the illusion that they might escape with just a little more effort, when in truth, there was no escape at all.
If it were a normal chase, the trio wouldn't have been so astonished. But the one hunting the frantically fleeing human cultivator was a monster with the body of a man and the head of a dog!
Just as the human cultivator was about to escape the bounds of Shilin Province and reach the Cong Yun Sea, the dog-headed beast finally grew impatient and ended its game.
Its hands morphed back into canine paws, pinning the human cultivator to the ground. As the human shrieked in agony, the dog-headed beast let out a great laugh, savoring the look of despair and pain on its victim's face.
Then, with satisfaction, it opened its maw, about to swallow the cultivator whole.
"Vile beast! Stop!" In the fiery passion of youth, Wang Xuanba could not stand by and watch such a gruesome scene unfold.
Before Sun Erlang and Yue Zhenwei could react, a massive, archaic gray-and-white axe tore through the boundary between the two domains, appearing right before the dog-headed beast.
But the dog-headed beast seemed to have been waiting for this.
A savage, excited gleam shone in its eyes. It casually tossed aside the captured human delicacy.
Completely ignoring the axe about to cleave its head, it charged straight towards Wang Xuanba and his companions.
And as the dog-headed beast moved, the world it occupied, the Xuanhuang Shilin Province, seemed to expand in unison. In an instant, it swallowed the territory of Qiuxi Prefecture, enveloping the trio!
As if a dream had descended upon reality, the world of the dog-headed beast and the world of Sun Erlang's group merged into one!
Clang!
Wang Xuanba's variegated axe struck the beast's neck, but it only produced the sound of metal on metal! A blow powerful enough to split a mountain failed to even break the beast's skin!
Wang Xuanba scoffed, entirely unafraid. "Did you think my axe was only sharp?! To take the blow with your body... a beast is a beast!"
The dog-headed beast seemed to understand his words, its expression shifting slightly. Only then did it notice a distinct gray scar materializing on its neck. The grayness spread rapidly upwards, consuming its entire head.
A moment later, the gray-and-white head disintegrated into dust and scattered in the wind.
"Watch out!"
Yue Zhenwei and Sun Erlang's voices rang out at the same time.
While Wang Xuanba was still reveling in his victory, the headless body of the dog-headed beast moved again.
Its form flickered, and it was already in front of him.
Its paw became a streak of black light, instantly piercing through Wang Xuanba's heart.
"Xuanba!" Sun Erlang roared, his eyes filled with rage.
A blade seething with baleful energy arrived a moment too late, unleashing an endless black wind that engulfed the dog-headed beast.
In a matter of moments, the flesh of the dog-headed beast was completely scoured away by the black wind, leaving only a stark white skeleton.
But this skeleton radiated an unusual golden light.
"Something's wrong..." Yue Zhenwei's face changed, but he was completely unaware of a figure silently approaching from behind.
It was the very human cultivator the dog-headed beast had been chasing!
A mocking smile played on his lips as he looked at Yue Zhenwei, his eyes gleaming with greed. His aura suddenly exploded, showing no signs of injury whatsoever.
His neck stretched with terrifying speed, his head flying off his shoulders to swallow Yue Zhenwei's head in a single gulp.
Poor Yue Zhenwei, his attention entirely focused on the skeletal beast and Sun Erlang, was caught completely by surprise. In that unguarded instant, he was dead!
"Aaaah! You will all die for this!" With both his companions killed, Sun Erlang's eyes turned blood-red.
Veins bulged on his forehead as a black aura enveloped his entire body.
His pupils were completely submerged in blackness. He paid no heed to anything else and charged straight for the long-necked monster.
But he was stopped, held fast by the golden skeleton from behind.
As the golden skeleton tightened its grip, it let out a cackling, eerie laugh.
"This trick is so useful. I can always catch a few idiots on the hook."
Sun Erlang's rage burned even hotter.
"Ah!"
A roar shook the very heavens.
A black storm suddenly erupted from his dantian.
It was many times more terrifying than the wind from his blade.
It instantly swallowed the still-jeering golden skeleton.
"Damn it! What is this—"
Before it could finish its words, the golden skeleton, along with Sun Erlang, vanished into the black storm.
The long-necked monster, however, had no intention of coming to the rescue.
It watched the scene with great interest, all while continuing to chew on Yue Zhenwei's corpse.
Soon after, the black storm completely dissipated.
The bodies of Yue Zhenwei and Wang Xuanba had also become a meal for the long-necked monster.
...
"Ah!"
Sun Erlang, Wang Xuanba, and Yue Zhenwei suddenly awoke from the nightmare.
Cold sweat beaded on their foreheads. It took them a long moment to recover from the terrifying experience.
"I died?"
"I'm not dead?!" Wang Xuanba said, his voice still trembling with fear.
Sun Erlang was lost in deep thought.
Yue Zhenwei, as always, was the first to regain his composure and survey their surroundings.
"It seems we are still in Qiuxi Prefecture, where we were trapped before."
"But..."
Yue Zhenwei looked up at the sky. "Has the entire world grown... darker?" he asked, uncertain.
"It's not your imagination. The world we're in has indeed dimmed, as if night has fallen," Sun Erlang confirmed after a moment of observation.
"But our cultivation realms haven't changed... Wait, what is this?!"
Sun Erlang's voice suddenly rose several octaves.
"Sun Erlang, Golden Core Perfection, Death Count: 1."
"Land of Joy Experience Level: 1."
"Carefree Coin: 100."
Sun Erlang read aloud the lines of text that had inexplicably appeared before his eyes, his expression one of utter shock.
"I have it too," Wang Xuanba exclaimed, having noticed something similar.
"Wait, that's not right! Why is my Carefree Coin count zero?"
"And where did you get one hundred?" Wang Xuanba asked, completely bewildered.
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