Chapter 1329: A Finger Falls, the Firmament Crumbles
Chapter 1329: A Finger Falls, the Firmament Crumbles
Li Fan had long held two theories regarding the formation of the High Wall.
One possibility was that it was created by the True Immortals within the Immortal Ruins. It would be akin to a restrictive barrier a cultivator might set up during secluded cultivation to prevent any disturbances.
The other possibility was that the High Wall was erected by an unknown existence from beyond. Its purpose would have been to seal off the Star Sea and contain the calamity of the spreading True Immortal Scripts.
Both theories held a certain logic.
The High Wall was formless and intangible, yet it could seal the entire Star Sea—an incomprehensible feat that only a being at the level of an "Immortal" could achieve. Although the Darkest Star Sea was vast in the eyes of lower-realm cultivators, a True Immortal could survey its entirety with a single glance. As a cultivation ground for an Immortal, this casually cordoned-off region was perhaps perfectly suited in scale.
On the other hand, the Star Sea was boundlessly vast; the Darkest Star Sea was surely not the entirety of the lower realms. It might not even constitute a small corner of them. After the collapse of the Immortal Realm, the region where the Xuanhuang Realm was located had seen the return of Xuantian King after his ascension and the escape of the Faceless Immortal. Could it be that there were no other survivors from the Immortal Realm elsewhere? It was entirely plausible that upon discovering the anomaly in the Xuanhuang star region, they would have taken preventative measures.
"With the collapse of the Immortal Realm, the vast lower realms became a battleground for various powers. What sort of scene lies beyond the High Wall now?"
"Do those surviving Immortals still hold dominion? Or have the cultivators of the past risen in rebellion, finding a way to contend with True Immortals? Have they even developed a civilization capable of hunting them?"
His heart surged with emotion, unable to find calm for a long time.
"Soon. In this life, the Mysterious Immortal Boat will lead the charge across the High Wall. Even if they ultimately fail, I can help them summarize their experience and try again in the next life. After three to five attempts at most, the chances of crossing the High Wall will be quite high."
"And once I achieve Dao Integration with the Heaven and Earth Immortal Soul, becoming the strongest being in the Darkest Star Sea, I can also maximally unify the strengths of the Xuanhuang Realm and the Immortal Boat to begin exploring beyond the High Wall."
"Just as I once explored the Cong Yun Sea and the Xuanhuang Realm, step by step, from the small world of the Great Xuan Kingdom!"
In a faint trance, the memory of enduring countless hardships to break free from the Immortal-Forbidden Array and arrive in the cultivation world suddenly surfaced in Li Fan's mind.
"Beyond the High Wall, though it may be perilous, I am no longer who I once was."
Li Fan's eyes glinted. "The difference between high and low..."
Looking down upon the Star Sea from an elevated perspective below the High Wall, the insights that flooded his mind were dozens of times more potent than cultivating within the Star Sea itself.
Furthermore, the things he naturally comprehended from such a high vantage point were inherently on a superior level compared to his normal state.
It was as if he were truly comprehending the Dao from the standpoint of a True Immortal!
"Why are all beings beneath Immortals considered mere ants?"
"A True Immortal can obliterate the Xuanhuang Realm with a single glance. Yet, no matter how powerful a mortal cultivator is, destroying such a vast world would still require considerable effort."
"It is because Immortals stand high enough. In the eyes of a True Immortal, an entire realm is nothing more than a tiny speck!"
He recalled the scene he had witnessed from the peak of the Realm Fragment Great Wall.
The continuous chain of realm fragments had gradually shrunk with increasing altitude, then twisted into a ring, and finally converged into a single point.
Compared to the behemoth that was the Realm Fragment Great Wall, the current Xuanhuang Realm was but a negligible shard.
The Great Wall had become a point.
And to see the Xuanhuang Realm as a point, one did not even need to ascend to such a height.
Reliving that sensation of constant climbing, the vistas of the Great Xuan small world and the Xuanhuang Realm distorted and slowly shrank in Li Fan's eyes.
Though they had not yet converged into a single point, they resembled a swirling cloud of yellow mist, as if he were observing them from the void beyond the world.
Li Fan instinctively tried to reach out and touch it, only to find himself as if frozen in ice. An infinite resistance surrounded him, rendering him utterly immobile!
"I'm still too weak! While I may have chanced upon the perspective of a True Immortal, vision and action are two entirely different concepts..." Li Fan tried several times, but the result was always the same.
His body felt as if it were outside the world, completely unable to exert any effective control. Worse still, these few attempts had rapidly drained his internal energy. Even with Li Fan's current reserves, he found himself stretched thin, nearly exhausted in moments.
Knowing he couldn't force it, Li Fan quickly plummeted from that high place.
As his perspective lowered, movement became fluid once more.
Li Fan heaved a long sigh of relief, recovering from his recent expenditure.
A moment later, his gaze sharpened as he noticed something peculiar.
According to his usual recovery rate, he should have been back to his peak state within a few breaths. After all, with the Five Elements Great Cave-Heaven as his foundation and having absorbed the Xuanhuang World-Ending Transformation, the energy the fused Xuanhuang Realm could unleash during a world-ending crisis was immense. To an individual cultivator, it was practically an inexhaustible supply.
But now, merely attempting to act from that "high place" had drained this energy reserve in a short time.
"It's not just a change in altitude; the energy required to move and act normally also increases almost exponentially."
"This is one of the fundamental reasons for the gap between mortals and Immortals. Spiritual power, even the spiritual power of an entire world, cannot sustain the consumption of acting at that 'height'."
"The energy level is too low. A higher-grade substitute is needed." rA-noBEs
"Immortal Spirit Qi..."
These realizations flashed through Li Fan's mind.
With a single step, Li Fan left the Great Xuan small world and arrived in another, a desolate small world with no signs of civilization, only a continuous primeval forest.
After waiting quietly until he was fully rested, Li Fan once again attempted to elevate his perspective.
This time, however, he controlled the rate of ascent. He stopped when the primeval jungle before him had shrunk to the size of a glass marble.
For Li Fan, who was fundamentally at the lowest point, simply maintaining this "height" consumed a vast amount of energy.
But this time, he did not choose to fuel it with his own spiritual power. Instead, he used the Source Power Essence, which was remarkably close to Immortal Spirit Qi.
A golden light enveloped him, and the sense of restraint loosened slightly.
It was a vast improvement from being completely frozen before.
Li Fan looked at the small world, which now resembled a glass marble, and slowly extended his right index finger.
Omm...
As if sensing a fatal crisis, a sound like a mournful, weeping song suddenly echoed through the sky of the desolate small world.
Yet, it was destined to be powerless to stop what was to come.
Li Fan's finger gently descended.
Simultaneously, a colossal finger materialized in the firmament of the desolate small world.
He applied a little pressure.
Li Fan felt a slight resistance.
The golden Source Power Essence surged and roared.
The resistance shattered like it was made of paper.
The shadow of the finger in the sky, like a sky-spanning dark cloud, completely eclipsed the small world.
There was no earth-shattering explosion.
Only the soft sound of glass being crushed.
In an instant, the desolate small world was annihilated, turned to dust and smoke!
A violent hurricane, born from the world's destruction, spread through the void.
But no matter how it blew, Li Fan stood firm within it.
Protected by the golden light, the storm could not harm him in the slightest.
His eyes narrowed as he looked at his own finger.
He was still immersed in the power of that world-ending touch.
The massive consumption of Source Power Essence had already caused him to fall from that "high place," returning to his normal perspective. But to so easily erase a small world...
It truly gave Li Fan the illusion of being a supreme god.
Li Fan closed his eyes, taking a long time to dispel this sense of dislocation.
"Back then, the True Immortal of the Immortal Ruins destroyed the Xuanhuang Realm with a single glance. In essence, it was no different from what I just did. They just stood higher and could command greater power..."
"Given enough time, I too will be able to do it someday."
Li Fan gently touched the tip of his right index finger, as if wiping away non-existent dust.
"This technique, descending from above, like the fall of a True Immortal's finger..."
"I'll call it the [Nine Heavens Descending Dust Finger]!"
"It signifies both a True Immortal descending to the mortal world and the power of a True Immortal subduing it."
"Not bad!"
Li Fan was quite pleased with his naming.
Sensing several divine consciousnesses approaching to investigate the inexplicable destruction of the small world, Li Fan's form dissolved into a sword shadow and vanished.
The desolate small world was too minuscule; its disappearance would not affect the overall stability of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Returning to Great Xuan, Li Fan savored the sensation of executing the [Nine Heavens Descending Dust Finger] while contemplating how he could unleash this divine ability more easily in the future.
The Nine Heavens Descending Dust Finger possessed world-destroying might, but its drawbacks were also glaringly obvious.
The casting time was far too long. Just ascending to the required height took Li Fan a great deal of time to build up momentum.
Afterward, he had to gather Source Power Essence to move freely at that specific altitude...
It was fine if the target was a world. After all, a world wouldn't grow legs and run; its position was fixed.
But if the target was a cultivator, it was unlikely they would grant Li Fan such a long preparation time.
"First, I could set up an ambush with a formation to trap them, buying myself enough time."
"And as for the second option..."
Among all of Li Fan's current cultivation realms, his attainment in the Dao of Formations was the highest.
Now that he had grasped a near-Immortal divine ability that he couldn't freely use, he instinctively sought a breakthrough through formations.
"All the Great Daos under heaven share the same origin. A divine ability can become a formation, and a formation can become a divine ability..."
Ever since ascending to that high peak, Li Fan felt his thoughts were more active than ever before.
This high-level perspective allowed him to contemplate problems from a standpoint that transcended the mundane.
"Final Dissociation Disc, deduce!"
Temporarily halting all other tasks, Li Fan poured his entire experience from the foot of the High Wall and his insights into the Nine Heavens Descending Dust Finger into the disc.
Because the request to directly convert this divine ability into a formation was clearly beyond the Dissociation Disc's processing capabilities, its fabricated personality immediately began to lag.
Seeing this, Li Fan pondered for a moment.
Then, he changed his strategy.
He no longer sought to directly convert the Nine Heavens Descending Dust Finger into a corresponding formation. Instead, he broke down the steps of unleashing the divine ability into a series of smaller, tiered formations.
It was similar to how several ancient immortal arrays ultimately constituted the Xuanhuang Realm's Floating Starry Sky Grand Formation.
Li Fan intended to use a chain of linked formations to achieve a rapid execution of the Nine Heavens Descending Dust Finger.
"The first step is, of course, [Ascension]."
Having personally climbed several times, Li Fan already had a preliminary understanding of this process.
The so-called ascension was, in fact, the act of exciting energy to raise its "potential" within this star sea.
"To achieve this, perhaps I need to follow the Mysterious Immortal Boat's plan: collect enough power from the True Immortal Scripts and then use the High Wall for a concentrated burst."
"But on one hand, I'm not expecting to topple the High Wall with a single finger, so the required energy isn't as terrifying as one might imagine."
"And on the other hand..."
An image flashed through Li Fan's mind again: the converging peaks in the depths of the Gloomy Sea of Darkness.
"Perhaps I can draw inspiration from the [Spirit Gathering Immortal Ascension Array]," Li Fan mused.
"The Spirit Gathering Immortal Ascension Array can so easily form one of the rare energy peaks in the Darkest Star Sea because it is built upon the remains of a True Immortal."
"If I were to use the remains of a True Immortal as the material for the formation..."
Li Fan's line of thought instantly broadened.
A red light flashed in his hand.
It was a writhing mass, exuding an ominous and bizarre aura.
It was the leftover flesh and blood of a True Immortal, stimulated by the ancient script on the Kun-Qian Bone Hand in Ou Shangtian's body.
"It has no Immortal Spirit Qi, but it did belong to a True Immortal. It should be helpful to some degree, right?"
Li Fan muttered to himself as he began his first experiment, using this clump of True Immortal flesh and blood as the raw material.
With the Spirit Gathering Immortal Ascension Array as a template, the Final Dissociation Disc's deduction process went smoothly.
Before long, the prototype of a formation was born.
Li Fan laid out the formation with Source Power Essence, mixing the constantly writhing True Immortal flesh into it.
After a long while, the preparations were complete.
Li Fan narrowed his eyes and activated the formation.
A moment of silence.
Then, a blindingly brilliant pillar of light was born within the formation.
Fueled by the True Immortal's flesh, the light was incredibly dazzling.
What delighted Li Fan even more was that, from his perspective, this pillar of light was not merely bright.
It was slowly rising, constantly ascending, soaring above all living beings!
"It's this successful?"
The moment this thought surfaced in his mind, the pillar of light that seemed to illuminate the entire sky suddenly extinguished.
Li Fan was stunned for a moment.
After a thorough inspection, he realized that it wasn't a problem with the formation.
The True Immortal flesh and blood used as fuel had been completely consumed.
Li Fan frowned slightly. "The utilization rate is still a bit low."
"I can still find ways to improve it."
"Besides, it's not just the Kun-Qian Bone Hand."
"There should be other True Immortal remains in the Xuanhuang Realm. Perhaps I can gather them all..."
The purpose of the Ascension Formation was not as simple as quickly casting the [Nine Heavens Descending Dust Finger].
Being able to elevate one's potential might play an indispensable role in crossing the High Wall in the future, or even in achieving the stage of a True Immortal.
Li Fan attached great importance to this.
Temporarily casting aside all external matters, he focused his entire spirit on the research.
Under the deductions of the Final Dissociation Disc and Li Fan's personal guidance and modifications, the Ascension Formation underwent over a thousand iterations in just seven days.
Finally, the utilization efficiency of the True Immortal flesh climbed to a level that Li Fan found barely satisfactory.
(End of this chapter)
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