Chapter 1348: The Immortal Boat's Heaven-Devouring Technique
Chapter 1348: The Immortal Boat's Heaven-Devouring Technique
"I owe you my life, a debt I can never truly repay," Li Fan responded, cupping his fist in his palm. "I would walk through fire for you."
As he spoke, Li Fan checked the attributes on his [Truth] panel.
His remaining lifespan had skyrocketed from a mere ten years to over five hundred.
It was a testament to the immense power of the [Jun Tian Divine Art].
"Now that the divine art has been cast upon me, my lifespan should be on par with these Immortal Boat elders."
"Over five hundred years... It wasn't an eternity, but it was far from a short time. But more importantly..."
Li Fan carefully examined the current state of his body.
Suddenly, his gaze sharpened. "This added lifespan... it's not stable?"
As Li Fan watched, the fluctuating number on his [Truth] panel confirmed his suspicions.
Li Fan made no effort to hide the change in his expression.
Zhong Daogong noticed his confusion. "The Heavenly Dao is capricious and ever-flowing," he explained. "Change is eternal; balance is but a fleeting moment."
"To create balance under heaven is, by its very nature, an act of defying it. I suspect that not even a True Immortal Script, written by a True Immortal's own hand, could maintain a state of perfect equilibrium indefinitely—let alone what we've done. So, don't be concerned. Falling from this state of balance is perfectly normal."
"There are two ways to mitigate it. First, you could visit the true script of the [Ancient] character again. A brief regression in time can slow the rate of decline."
"The second method is to wait until your life is about to run out again, and then we will cast the [Jun Tian Divine Art] once more. In fact, this is precisely what the elders of the Immortal Boat are already doing."
"We use the lives of many to extend the life of an individual. Everyone helps me, and I, in turn, help everyone," Zhong Daogong said with a smile, glancing at the other elders.
Li Fan's understanding dawned. "In that case, I have nothing to worry about."
He let out a breath. "I finally understand," he remarked. "The elders of the Immortal Boat may have their disagreements, but when it comes to crucial matters, you always manage to move forward as one."
"This Jun Tian Divine Art is truly profound! Even in the Great Qi, it would undoubtedly rank among the most supreme techniques!"
Despite Li Fan's effusive praise, Zhong Daogong didn't look pleased. Instead, a wry smile touched his lips. "It was born of necessity. Constrained by limited resources, the Immortal Boat's population has always remained small. The rate at which new talent emerges is slow. To survive in this Darkest Star Sea, we must preserve the number of elders on the council."
"Researching the True Immortal Scripts is fraught with peril. The slightest misstep can lead to being struck by a True Immortal's power. Throughout history, quite a few elders have perished this way. But this research is the very lifeblood of the Immortal Boat's future; we cannot abandon it."
"Therefore, every elder is the Immortal Boat's most precious asset..."
Li Fan remained noncommittal in the face of Zhong Daogong's explanation. He knew of the Immortal Boat's secret technique, the "Dao Pills"—a method of refining geniuses into elixirs that, when consumed, would transfer all their talent to the user.
*I'm sure there has been no shortage of geniuses on the Immortal Boat over the years,* Li Fan mused, keeping his thoughts to himself. *But talent alone is clearly not enough to become a new elder. In a way, the elders are like the mortals of the Xuanhuang Realm. Their numbers cannot be too high, nor too low. A delicate balance must be maintained.*
After the Jun Tian Divine Art had been cast, the attitude of the elders around him shifted subtly.
Before, they had approved of Li Fan based on his usefulness and performance. Now, their acceptance came from a place of genuine recognition.
It was as if he were truly "one of the family."
With this newfound camaraderie, Li Fan decided to ask about the "Jun Tian Plan"—the one that required the people of the Great Qi as sacrifices.
"To require so many lives to bear the backlash... what exactly is the target of the Jun Tian Divine Art?"
This time, Zhong Daogong and the others answered without hesitation.
They revealed the answer directly. "Our target is..."
"The source consciousness of the Star Sea!"
Li Fan's eyes lit up at the words.
"Thanks to the [Taijia Divine Art] you previously shared with us, fellow Daoist, we were able to perceive the vast, reviving will of the Star Sea."
"Only through direct contact can one truly comprehend the boundless power of the Star Sea. Its might hasn't diminished in the slightest despite its annihilation, and it remains far beyond the comprehension of us mortal cultivators."
"But..." A peculiar expression appeared on the faces of all the Immortal Boat elders.
With a grand wave of his hand, Jian Daosheng conjured a scene for Li Fan, displaying the dead silence of the Darkest Star Sea.
And at its center, shining with the brilliance of a diamond, was the true source will of the Star Sea.
"The consciousness of the Star Sea," Jian Daosheng began, his voice ringing with power, "is essentially the same as the Heavenly Dao of the old cultivation world."
"In the past, cultivators could achieve resonance between heaven and man, allowing them to partially control a world's Heavenly Dao. Now, if we combine our strength to cast the Jun Tian Divine Art, it is not impossible for us to command the power of the Star Sea together!"
Zhong Daogong stroked his beard and chuckled. "If we can balance the power of the Star Sea, crossing the High Wall—even without relying on the True Immortal Scripts—will be within our grasp!"
Li Fan frowned, lost in thought.
After a moment, he slowly nodded. "The High Wall may seal the Darkest Star Sea, but that applies to the beings *within* it. If you could use the power of the Star Sea itself to raise a monstrous wave... then a single drop of water from its crest might just be able to leap over the wall!"
"Precisely! Only those who have reached the level of a True Immortal can cross the High Wall. But the power of the Star Sea is in no way inferior to that of a True Immortal! In ancient times, even True Immortals had to shy away from the various phenomena that blazed across the cosmos. This shows just how formidable the Star Sea's power truly is. Even though it was caught in the Immortal Realm's calamity and fell into ruin, its life force has not been extinguished..."
The elders' voices grew increasingly fervent.
"It is the perfect target for our art of balance!"
"If we succeed, even if we can't lift the entire Immortal Boat over the High Wall, wielding the power of the Star Sea for even a short while would be enough to carve out an absolutely safe harbor for ourselves here in the Darkest Star Sea!"
...
After hearing the elders' plan, Li Fan couldn't help but clap his hands in admiration. "Brilliant! Simply brilliant!"
"This is what you call claiming the power of heaven for yourselves. But..."
Li Fan's tone suddenly shifted, his brow furrowing. "I have used the [Taijia Divine Art] to contact the Star Sea's consciousness before. In its presence, we cultivators are no different from ants. And now, this colony of ants dares to dream of stealing its power, of sitting as its equal..."
His expression grew somber as he looked at the elders. "Heaven has its fury, and so too will the Star Sea. Even if you succeed, you will surely face the frenzied retaliation of its source consciousness. And that's to say nothing of failure."
"I fear the Immortal Boat will not be able to withstand the consequences."
"Victory or death... isn't the risk a little too high?"
Li Fan was playing his part perfectly, adopting the mindset of someone who had just gained five hundred years of life. His thoughts and actions were no longer as extreme as they had been before.
Zhong Daogong nodded in agreement. "You make a good point. The Immortal Boat has not yet reached a point where we must risk everything on a single gamble. That is why your journey to the Great Qi is so important."
He spoke with utter confidence.
Li Fan was perplexed. "Can the lives of a hundred million mortals truly be enough to quell the wrath of the Star Sea?"
Zhong Daogong smiled, a sharp glint in his eyes. "Not with people. With a *world*!"
"If it were merely a matter of numbers, even several times more mortals would likely make no difference to the Star Sea's source consciousness. But if we use those hundred million lives as a foundation, fashioning them into the semblance of a world, and then draw upon the Star Sea's power in the name of that world..."
"The Star Sea's backlash will be drastically weakened!" Zhong Daogong declared with conviction.
"This is a result of the Star Sea's own mechanics. Based on scattered records from the Immortal Boat's past, we are almost completely certain of this."
Li Fan fell silent, pondering the implications of Zhong Daogong's words.
"Nurturing and evolving cultivation worlds is one of the Star Sea's inherent, fundamental laws. Even if a cultivation world grows so powerful that it begins to affect the Star Sea itself, the Star Sea will not directly destroy it."
"At most, it will respond by creating various cosmic phenomena."
"And cosmic phenomena," Jian Daosheng interjected, not giving Li Fan a chance to think for himself, "are far, far easier to deal with than the direct wrath of the Star Sea's source!"
Zhong Daogong's eyes gleamed with pride. "We have records of the vast majority of cosmic phenomena that have ever occurred, along with basic methods for dealing with them. The Star Sea is currently only recovering from its destruction; it hasn't yet reached a stage of rebirth or mutation. The likelihood of it generating entirely new phenomena..."
"...is low."
"And even if, by some small chance, a new one does form, it would likely be related to the residual True Immortal power lingering in the void. With the True Immortal Scripts in our possession, weathering such a storm would be no problem at all."
All the elders of the Immortal Boat were supremely confident.
Silence fell for a moment.
Finally, Zhong Daogong added in a solemn tone, "Of course, to avoid the worst-case scenario, we will leave the Mysterious Immortal Boat when we cast the [Jun Tian Divine Art], taking only the most essential supplies with us."
"Even if our plan fails, the Immortal Boat itself will be preserved. With the embers we leave behind, the Immortal Boat can endure for another thousand years."
...
It seemed that while the Mysterious Immortal Boat's plan to balance the Star Sea was audacious, it was far from reckless. The elders had clearly considered it with meticulous care.
If they succeeded, the vast sea would be theirs to roam. With control over half the Star Sea's power, they could carve out a sanctuary for themselves, even with the dangers that lurked beyond the High Wall.
And if they failed, they would not lose everything.
It was a far better proposition than their previous plan of simply ramming the Immortal Boat into the High Wall.
And this was the change that Li Fan's [Taijia Divine Art] had brought to the Immortal Boat.
It had to be said that the elders of the Immortal Boat were anything but rigid and hidebound.
They were perfectly capable of absorbing new knowledge and putting it to use with remarkable speed.
"So, when do we act?" Li Fan asked.
"Since you can balance the power of the Star Sea, wouldn't it be theoretically better to wait for it to recover and become more powerful?" Li Fan mused aloud.
But he quickly refuted his own idea. "No, the stronger the Star Sea becomes, the more powerful its retaliation will be. If we get too greedy, we might exceed the threshold of what we can withstand..."
Zhong Daogong concurred. "Which is why we must choose the opportune moment."
"The Immortal Boat has already established a dedicated team. Elders work in shifts, continuously using the [Taijia Divine Art] to approach and observe the Star Sea's consciousness."
"According to our predictions, the ideal window will open within the next thirty years."
"During that time, the power of the Star Sea and the lingering power of the True Immortals will counteract each other, creating a delicate equilibrium."
"Any later than that..."
"...and as one waxes, the other will wane. The residual True Immortal power will likely be completely absorbed by the Star Sea."
Zhong Daogong had reached the same conclusion as he had in the previous timeline.
Li Fan was pleased. "Good. I have more than enough lifespan now, so I have plenty of time to wait."
"Are there any preparations I need to make?"
Li Fan asked, offering his help.
Zhong Daogong considered for a moment before offering some suggestions. "First, it would be best if you could try to increase the number of mortals encompassed by the ritual..."
Li Fan's brow furrowed instantly.
He hesitated for a moment before his expression smoothed. "It carries some risk, but if I'm careful, it should be possible. But it's something that can only be done once. If we're going to do it, we should go all out to avoid future regrets."
Zhong Daogong was very pleased with Li Fan's response. "The number of sacrificial offerings is crucial. Every time we double the number, our chances of success increase by ten percent. We'll have to trouble you to put more thought into this."
"Understood," Li Fan agreed, his expression growing serious as if he were already contemplating how to make it happen.
"As for the second matter..." Zhong Daogong paused. "You can simply see to it if the opportunity arises. It would be best if you succeed, but it won't affect the plan if you don't. Think of it as a contingency."
Li Fan prompted, "Oh? Please, Elder Zhong, do tell."
"The key to the ritual's success lies in creating the illusion of a cultivation world within the Star Sea," Zhong Daogong explained, conjuring a simulated image in front of Li Fan.
"As you know, all the worlds in the Star Sea have been shattered. All except for your Great Qi..."
"But the Great Qi's strength is no less than our own. Attempting to seize it to use as a ready-made disguise would undoubtedly provoke a massive war. That would be most unwise."
"Therefore, using the corpses of those shattered worlds for the disguise is our alternative."
"Within the Realm Fragment Great Wall, the fragments of past worlds are all interconnected; moving one piece affects the entire structure. They are not easily taken. But we don't actually need the wreckage of a world, merely the imprints left behind after its Heavenly Dao was shattered..." Zhong Daogong said, gesturing toward the distant Great Wall.
"Hm?" Li Fan wore a puzzled expression.
"And what, precisely, are these 'imprints left after the Heavenly Dao was shattered'?"
Zhong Daogong extended his hand and produced an object.
It resembled both amber and white jade.
It looked entirely natural, without the slightest trace of having been carved.
It was shaped like a small wooden parasol.
"This," he said, "is the sole remnant of a cultivation world after its destruction. We found it in the void after a cosmic phenomenon had subsided."
"If you search carefully, you're bound to find many similar objects within the Realm Fragment Great Wall. With your masterful movement techniques, searching would be far easier for you than for us."
Zhong Daogong quickly put the jade parasol away.
"But don't feel pressured. We have a few more of these Heavenly Dao imprints in the Immortal Boat's treasury. It should be enough to complete the disguise."
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