Chapter 1344: Li Fan's Self-Defense
Chapter 1344: Li Fan's Self-Defense
The elders of the Mysterious Immortal Boat were far from as young as they appeared.
For thousands of years, they had repeatedly used the ancient script to reverse the flow of time upon their bodies, returning to their youth and preserving their vibrant appearance. But this regression was not synonymous with true immortality.
Old age still accumulated within them, unseen.
Now, after being struck by Master Yin's deathly aura, all the decay they had accumulated over the past ages erupted violently.
The consequence was that the effect of this death art was far more potent than one could have imagined.
In an instant, the three from the Immortal Boat saw their hair turn frost-white. Deep wrinkles swiftly carved their way across their faces.
An aura of decay surged from within them.
"Ancient!" Lu Yuzhi, snapping back to his senses, forced himself to remain calm. With a slightly trembling hand, he swiftly drew an ancient character in the void.
Bathed in the power of the 'Ancient' character, the rapid aging of their bodies finally eased to some degree.
But it was a temporary fix, not a cure.
The character emitting the regressive power was no genuine True Immortal Seal Script, but merely a crude imitation. The degree to which it could turn back time was far outpaced by the speed of their decay.
Meanwhile, the surrounding storm of deathly aura was only intensifying. If this continued, all four of them would soon be reduced to nothing but bones.
Under the combined influence of the storm of death and the power of the ancient script, Li Fan and Xu Gongding were also jolted awake.
Their faces were masks of terror, completely at a loss.
"Go! Now!"
Lu Yuzhi roared at Li Fan, struggling to maintain his defense.
Li Fan's already salt-and-pepper hair had turned completely snow-white. He looked toward the direction where the sealed sphere had vanished, his expression torn. "But the gray chess pieces..."
"If you're dead, you'll have nothing!" Lu Yuzhi's eyes also held a trace of reluctance, but he roared nonetheless.
"Aargh!"
With a frustrated roar, the phantom of the Wooden Sword emerged from its sheath, temporarily easing the onslaught of deathly aura.
A flash of sword light flared, carrying the four of them away from the terrifying, all-encompassing storm of death.
Only after the four figures had vanished over the horizon did Bai Hua and Master Yin slowly reveal themselves.
Unleashing and controlling such a massive storm of death was no easy feat, even for Master Yin, who had only just absorbed the Yin Yang Jade.
The vortexes in his mismatched black and white eyes spun faster and faster, seemingly beyond his control.
Master Yin had no choice but to close his eyes and regain his composure.
Bai Hua, meanwhile, followed Li Fan's instructions, casting streams of golden light to seal the sphere they had just seized.
"I wonder who those three people with the Saint Teacher were."
"The characters they conjured... they seemed identical to the remnant power of the True Immortals found throughout the Star Sea..."
"Still, the Saint Teacher is a truly brilliant actor. If he hadn't secretly sent a message for us to coordinate, even I might have been fooled." Bai Hua's expression was complex as she continued to weave the sealing formation in her hands.
The sealing formation was incredibly intricate, but with Li Fan's guidance, Bai Hua was just about able to complete it.
...
Outside the Realm Fragment Great Wall.
The group from the Mysterious Immortal Boat, having escaped with their lives, still wore looks of profound shock.
Even though they had escaped the storm's reach, remnants of the deathly aura still lingered within them, relentlessly chipping away at their lifespans.
"Back to the Immortal Boat," Lu Yuzhi rasped. He now looked utterly decrepit, like a mortal man in his eighties on the verge of death. He had to summon all his remaining strength just to utter those few words.
The others were in no better state.
Li Fan, in particular, could only shake his head feebly, indicating he was too weak to use his escape arts again.
Among the four, only Nangong Lie was in a slightly better condition.
He supported the others, flying toward the Immortal Boat while simultaneously sending out a distress signal.
A short while later, Zhong Daogong arrived with seven other elders from the Immortal Boat. Wary of a plot to lure the tiger from the mountain, they had not deployed their full strength, even with the lives of four elders on the line.
Zhong Daogong and the other rescuers looked on with grave expressions at the four figures, who were on the verge of death and shrouded in an aura of decay.
Knowing that saving them was the priority, they refrained from asking questions and immediately brought the four back for treatment.
Through the use of the genuine 'Ancient' character script and a host of life-extending treasures, they finally managed to stabilize the group's condition and pull them back from the brink of crisis.
Three days later.
Li Fan stood in a small courtyard, his expression dazed.
"I only have about ten years of life left."
"I lost half of it on a single trip!"
Hearing this, Lu Yuzhi gave a bitter laugh. "My situation is much the same as yours. Less than fifty years..."
The expressions of Nangong Lie and Xu Gongding were equally grim.
With such a disaster befalling them, the council of elders was bound to launch a thorough investigation. They recounted their ordeal truthfully.
Zhong Daogong offered his condolences and made every effort to extend their lifespans using various methods.
But it was all to little avail.
"Hmph!"
After a moment of silence in the courtyard, Nangong Lie suddenly slammed his fist on the stone table. "We suffered a catastrophe, and they even stole four of the gray chess pieces..."
"It's an absolute disgrace! Zhong Daogong should have immediately led a party to investigate. Even if he couldn't get justice, he should at least find out who the perpetrators are."
"But look at him now! So much time has passed, and he's done nothing. Ask him, and he just spouts pleasantries about 'taking the long view'... Bah! I say they saw what happened to us, saw our time running out, and got scared!" Nangong Lie vented, his voice thick with frustration.
Lu Yuzhi frowned. "But Elder Zhong has a point. That storm of death was truly bizarre and terrifying. Even after mulling it over for the past few days, I still can't think of a way to confront it directly. The four of us were grievously wounded; the Mysterious Immortal Boat cannot afford another blow like that so soon."
Li Fan nodded in agreement. "It's a bitter pill to swallow, but he's right. That deathly aura appeared too suddenly, and it was clearly targeting the gray chess pieces we possessed."
"And don't forget, there is still one more piece on the Immortal Boat. For all we know, our unknown enemy could show up at our doorstep at any time..."
Li Fan's words plunged the others into an immediate silence.
The Mysterious Immortal Boat had always prioritized the greater good.
They could distinguish between a personal grudge and the overall interests of their civilization.
"The enemy is formidable," Lu Yuzhi sighed, his eyes filled with worry.
To address this unknown threat, the Mysterious Immortal Boat soon convened a meeting of the full council of elders.
Li Fan, having experienced the incident firsthand, was also in attendance.
Zhong Daogong opened the meeting with a summary. "Our adversary was undoubtedly after the gray chess pieces. The piece we currently hold has lost some of its connection to the others, presumably the four that were stolen."
"However, two questions remain."
"First, how did they pinpoint Elder Lu Yuzhi's party so precisely?"
"Second, what method did they use to block our own piece's ability to sense the others?"
"As for the storm of deathly aura they used in the attack..."
"After searching the Immortal Boat's records, we have found a few possibilities."
Zhong Daogong's words immediately captured everyone's attention.
Jian Daosheng cleared his throat and began to explain, "Deathly aura and life force are opposites, yet codependent. In the Darkest Star Sea, where the vast majority of regions have fallen silent after the great cataclysm, it should be theoretically impossible for such an immense concentration of deathly aura to exist."
"Therefore, we speculate that the source of this aura must be a cultivation world."
"And to be able to weaponize deathly aura on such a scale... the amount they must possess is... truly unimaginable," Jian Daosheng concluded, his tone heavy.
Upon hearing this, the elders of the Immortal Boat quickly began to voice their doubts.
"The great calamity of the Star Sea destroyed the myriad realms long ago. Where could they have possibly gathered so much deathly aura?"
"It completely defies logic!"
Zhong Daogong sighed. "That is the crux of the problem. We fear this deathly aura was accumulated in ancient times, before the calamity ever befell the Star Sea."
"It is highly likely that, like us, they are a civilization that has survived since antiquity."
"They preemptively dodged the attack from the True Immortal script, they showed a deep understanding of the gray chess pieces—artifacts of a True Immortal—and they caught us completely by surprise. And from beginning to end, they never once revealed themselves..."
"Judging by their actions, this unknown civilization is our equal, if not our superior."
After Zhong Daogong finished, the meeting descended into an eerie silence.
All the elders sat with furrowed brows, lost in thought.
Li Fan broke the silence. "To think," he mused, "that in this seemingly dead Star Sea, other brilliant civilizations exist besides the Mysterious Immortal Boat and the Great Qi."
The eyes of every elder in the room turned to focus on Li Fan.
Jian Daosheng's eyes narrowed slightly. "Fellow Daoist Li," he asked, "is it possible that this unknown enemy that attacked you... is from your homeland, the Great Qi?"
This was the question on every elder's mind.
Now that Jian Daosheng had voiced it, they all stared intently at Li Fan, awaiting his answer.
"The Great Qi?" Li Fan was clearly taken aback by the question.
"How could it be..." he began, an instinctive denial on his lips.
But he trailed off, a thoughtful frown creasing his brow as if he had just realized something.
After a long pause, Li Fan spoke again, his voice quiet. "First, I can state with certainty that I am under no form of surveillance from the Great Qi. And I am most certainly not their inside agent..."
"I have no evidence to offer. But all of you have spent a great deal of time with me. You should know my character by now."
He paused, then added with a touch of pride, "Forgive my bluntness, but if I were truly a spy from the Great Qi with my sights set on the gray chess pieces, I could have simply taken them and fled back when I was helping to rebuild your defensive formations. My escape arts are second to none in this Star Sea."
"There would have been no need for such an elaborate scheme."
The room grew even quieter.
No one offered a rebuttal. Most seemed to tacitly accept his explanation, though a few still regarded him with a hint of suspicion.
Li Fan's defense continued. "Furthermore, at the time of the attack, we were about to venture deeper into the Realm Fragment Great Wall to find more pieces. If I were really an agent, why not wait until we had gathered more before signaling the attack and taking them all at once?"
"And after it was all over, what reason would I have to return here?"
"The other three elders were on the verge of death. Without my escape arts, they would have surely perished. Wouldn't it have been simpler to let them die, to have them vanish without a trace? Why go through all this trouble?"
As Li Fan spoke, a note of anger began to creep into his voice.
He scoffed. "If I hadn't come to see the Mysterious Immortal Boat as my final home in these last years of my life, I wouldn't be wasting my breath with any of you."
"If I wanted to leave, who among you could possibly stop me?"
Not a single elder could refute his claim.
After all, the phantom of the Wooden Sword, with its incredible ability to bypass nearly all restrictive forces, was truly beyond comprehension.
Zhong Daogong quickly intervened to smooth things over. "Fellow Daoist Li, please, don't be so agitated," he said with a placating chuckle. "We have absolute faith in you. But we know so little about the Great Qi. It is only natural for doubts to arise."
Li Fan's anger subsided slightly.
He considered this for a moment before answering cautiously, "The Great Qi is rife with factions. I am only truly familiar with my Master's own lineage..."
"However, I have never heard of anyone within the Great Qi who commands such an immense amount of deathly aura."
"Besides, my face is rather well-known in the Great Qi. If they were truly from there, they would never have dared to attack me! If they did, even if I died, my Master would never let them go unpunished!" Li Fan declared with absolute certainty.
Zhong Daogong nodded slightly, ceasing his line of questioning for the moment.
"Regarding the circumstances of this attack, I have a few theories I'd like to share for discussion."
"The gray chess piece lay undisturbed in our treasury for many years without incident. Yet now, it is suddenly the target of an attack..."
"Setting aside the possibility of an intentional leak, perhaps gathering so many pieces in one place is what drew their attention."
Zhong Daogong's voice rang out, clear and steady. "This unknown civilization may have been searching for the gray chess pieces for many years. But without a piece of their own, they were unable to use its resonant senses to track the others."
"However, as we collected them, the growing concentration of pieces allowed them to finally find a trace. That is how we were exposed and attacked..."
The elders present fell into a contemplative silence.
It sounded far-fetched, but for now, it was the only explanation that made sense.
"If my theory is correct," Zhong Daogong's tone suddenly sharpened, "then our most pressing concern should be an attack on the Immortal Boat itself."
"The gray chess pieces can sense one another. The piece that became part of our ship's outer armor is undoubtedly providing the enemy with a constant fix on our general location..."
"This, for us, is clearly unacceptable."
The color drained from the faces of the elders.
"Our first priority must be to resolve this matter."
"Either we strip off the armor and separate it from the ship, abandoning the gray chess piece entirely..."
"Or we find a way to block the connection between the pieces," Zhong Daogong concluded.
The elders looked at one another, a tense silence filling the air.
A fierce debate erupted among them.
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