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Chapter 1371: The Immortal Chess Pieces Fuse

"The first Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerate didn't descend from the Immortal Realm..."

"But was an immortal who became mortal?"

In an instant, Li Fan's mind reeled with shock.

An immortal descending to the mortal world, and an immortal becoming mortal. The two concepts might appear similar, but in reality, they were fundamentally different.

An immortal who descended was still a True Immortal, their power merely constrained by the limits the lower realm could endure.

But once one became mortal...

An immortal... was no longer immortal!

Becoming a True Immortal was the dream of every mortal cultivator. Yet, in the ancient Xuanhuang Realm, there had been a True Immortal who chose to willingly fall, to be banished to the mortal plane.

"The Dao Annihilation Calamity!" The name flashed through Li Fan's mind.

"When the first Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerate became mortal, there must have been a considerable amount of time left before the great calamity in the Immortal Realm."

"Such foresight, such courage!"

"This was a true immortal's descent into the mortal coil!"

Li Fan couldn't help but marvel inwardly.

But then another thought struck him. "However, I can't rule out the possibility that he was forced. After all, from the True Immortal memories I've seen, the Immortal Realm was also rigidly hierarchical."

"If his only goal was to escape the Dao Annihilation Calamity for himself, theoretically, he would never have accepted the position of Xuanhuang Heavenly Venerate."

"Clearly, the first one's descent was to cooperate with some plan orchestrated by the Immortal Realm."

"And the Xuanhuang Realm was one of the testing grounds."

He connected this to the indeterminate ring and the Nine Stars Red Pearl he had seen in the immortal array, as well as the countless frozen corpses controlled by the Observer.

Li Fan faintly began to piece everything together.

"It's even possible that the Immortal Realm's purpose in creating this Xuanhuang experimental plot wasn't just for refuge."

"They were also trying to find a way to resolve the Dao Annihilation Calamity."

"But judging by the final outcome, they failed."

"The Dao Annihilation Calamity ravaged and spread through the Immortal Realm faster than anyone could have imagined. Countless True Immortals perished in its wake."

"Meanwhile, the lower Xuanhuang Realm remained safe and sound. This must have shaken the will of some immortals to fight the calamity."

"And so, the later Immortal Realm Fragment plan was born..."

Narrowing his eyes in thought, an even greater question arose in Li Fan's mind.

"Did that first Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerate truly die?"

The True Immortal's remains had been passed down and controlled by successive generations of Xuanhuang Heavenly Venerates.

But what about the first one himself?

Mortals and immortals were distinct. Since the first one could leave behind a bloodline, he must have completely transformed into a mortal vessel.

Could such a figure have simply vanished into the river of history like countless other mortals when his lifespan ran out?

Or did he take on a new identity, live in obscurity, and silently observe everything from the shadows?

"It seems now that the close connection between the Xuanhuang Realm and the Immortal Realm is definitely tied to this first Heavenly Venerate. A True Immortal, demoted and banished, acted as a bridge between immortals and mortals, secretly monitoring everything that happened in the Xuanhuang Realm."

"And this True Immortal was also controlled by the Immortal Realm. Perhaps he grew dissatisfied and faked his own death to escape."

"The second Xuanhuang Heavenly Venerate was no longer an immortal-turned-mortal, but a being chosen from the Xuanhuang Realm itself..."

"Either the cost of an immortal becoming mortal was too great to be sustainable, or the Xuanhuang Realm project was top secret even in the Immortal Realm, with very few True Immortals able to participate. They simply couldn't find another candidate to become mortal."

"Or perhaps, it was a combination of both."

Recalling the profound character he had seen within the bloodline of the You Clan, Li Fan mused, "For an immortal to become mortal, it must involve far more than simply being demoted."

"It also involves the [Immortal-Mortal Transformation]."

"That is a power even greater than [Creation]..."

His thoughts raced.

In that instant, Li Fan had roughly pieced together the possible truth about the Immortal Realm and the Xuanhuang Realm.

Most of this was speculation, based on the similarities Li Fan had instantly perceived between the demotion of the first Great Heavenly Venerate and Xing Wuque. Yet, the fact that it corresponded with the clues he had gathered previously was very telling.

"A banished immortal, hidden in the shadows all this time..."

"But in the last life, when the High Wall collapsed and the Star Sea was in turmoil, he still didn't show himself."

"It seems that at this point in time, even the banished immortal is no longer in the Darkest Star Sea."

"Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean he's perished. It's highly likely he has already escaped beyond the High Wall!"

The Darkest Star Sea was Li Fan's current base of operations, and on the surface, it was still relatively safe. This gave him a slight sense of relief.

"Since the You Clan are descendants of the first Great Heavenly Venerate..."

"I wonder if I can use the [Manifest] character technique to activate the bloodline connection between them and track down that banished immortal?"

A dangerous idea suddenly surfaced in Li Fan's mind.

But he quickly suppressed it.

"For now, there's no need for such a pointless risk. Perhaps in the future, when I'm strong enough to explore beyond the High Wall, I'll reconsider."

From these many fragments of clues, he had glimpsed the tip of the iceberg of what the Immortal Realm once was.

This made Li Fan all the more curious about the Immortal Realm, but it also filled him with immense wariness toward the Immortal Realm Fragments he had collected but not yet assembled.

"If there really were True Immortals who saw the lower realms as a sanctuary to escape disaster, then this disassembled and sealed Immortal Realm could very well be their hiding place..."

Li Fan pondered, hesitating over whether to activate the Immortal Realm Fragments left by Sun Piao Miao.

After long deliberation, he finally made up his mind and suppressed his doubts.

"This blind box has to be opened sooner or later."

"Better to open it sooner than later."

"I've mastered the method for downgrading immortal arrays, and with so many of them at my disposal, I can ensure a calm activation of [Truth] even if something unexpected happens."

"Besides, there's a place in the Star Sea that is especially effective against immortals..."

A sharp glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes.

He summoned Liu Ruchen and the other descendants of Sun Piao Miao from the Medicine King Sect, bringing all the Immortal Realm Fragments with them.

Under the shroud of the Wooden Sword's phantom, he swept them away to the center of the Star Sea.

The phantom solidified, transforming into a scene of a normal world with a blue sky and bright sun.

He did not let the people from the Medicine King Sect realize their true situation.

Only Li Fan could see the boundless black miasma in the distance, a sight that made his heart pound with dread.

"The speed of its spread is faster than I expected."

"And the outer edge of this black miasma..."

Li Fan observed for a moment, comparing it to what he had seen before, and couldn't help but frown slightly.

He had seen the harbingers of the Dao Annihilation Calamity here more than once before, but always from a great distance. The sense of crisis had only emerged in his heart upon "witnessing" the black miasma.

But now, even when he looked away and didn't directly observe the boundless black miasma, a terrifying premonition still rose in Li Fan's heart like a tide, for no apparent reason.

The sense of crisis was unrelenting, and even the Xuanhuang Immortal Heart Mantra could not dispel it.

In fact, the longer he stayed, the more intense it became.

Suppressing his instinct to flee, Li Fan carefully analyzed the specific sensation.

"It's as if a precarious wall is collapsing, a great building is about to fall, and I'm standing right beneath it..."

Despite the intense sense of crisis, Li Fan pushed forward instead of retreating.

The Wooden Sword's phantom drew near, almost reaching the edge of the constantly churning and expanding sea of black miasma.

"Begin," Li Fan said calmly to Liu Ruchen and the others inside the Wooden Sword's phantom.

Oblivious to their own circumstances, the members of the Medicine King Sect simply stared at the floating sphere of light before them, their expressions dazed.

Wrapped in chains of golden light were a seven-colored chess piece, a white chess piece, and six gray chess pieces.

"These are the Immortal Realm Fragments left by our ancestor!"

About to unlock the secrets of the ancient Immortal Realm left by Sun Piao Miao, the people of the Medicine King Sect, with hearts pounding in excitement, began to fuse the Immortal Realm Fragments under Li Fan's direction.

Guided by the longevity-bestowing green energy of Liu Ruchen's World Saving Longevity Scripture, they first fused the six individually sealed gray chess pieces.

The process was surprisingly smooth.

Just as when Li Fan had manipulated their fusion before, the six gray pieces merged to become a single, slightly larger, seven-colored chess piece.

Now, only two of the six-in-one seven-colored pieces remained, along with the most crucial one: the white chess piece transformed from the Medicine King Cauldron.

The white chess piece, seemingly stimulated by the other two fused pieces, emanated a rippling seven-colored light from its edges.

Although it was a size smaller than the seven-colored pieces, it seemed to be the core.

The golden chains binding it wavered, on the verge of breaking apart at any moment.

Li Fan's figure shot backward as he released the seal.

The eyes of the Medicine King Sect members filled with fervor as they maneuvered the two seven-colored pieces to flank the white one.

In an instant, the halo of light at the edge of the white piece suddenly expanded outward.

It swallowed the two seven-colored pieces.

In the center, only a single chess piece remained.

Hummm...

A low, almost imperceptible hum began to emanate from the piece.

Through the multiple layers of immortal arrays, Li Fan carefully observed the newly formed chess piece.

Strangely, although it had finished absorbing all the other pieces, the Immortal Realm he had imagined did not manifest directly.

However, Li Fan was certain that the fusion had succeeded.

He could feel the "weight" of the distant Immortal Realm steadily increasing.

The Wooden Sword's phantom and the enveloping immortal arrays were all on the verge of collapse.

Under the influence of the Immortal Realm, they could shatter at any moment.

Just as Li Fan was about to channel more power into them, at least enough to maintain them until the true Immortal Realm appeared, a strange, protective power emanated from the final white chess piece.

It directly enveloped the Wooden Sword's phantom and the immortal arrays.

It was as if they had entered another layer of space, and the oppressive might of the Immortal Realm naturally vanished.

Li Fan, however, remained outside the range of the Immortal Realm.

He used the Wooden Sword's phantom as his eyes, peering into the scene within.

Strictly speaking, the Wooden Sword's phantom hadn't truly entered the Immortal Realm. The realm had merely extended a pillar of protection for it.

The shocked members of the Medicine King Sect received the same treatment.

Like a crumpled ball of paper, it began to unfold.

The light released by the chess piece representing the Immortal Realm grew brighter and brighter.

At one point, it even pushed back the continuous black miasma that was about to encroach from the distance.

Li Fan's figure shot backward again, avoiding the light shining on him.

The radiance from the Immortal Realm did not extend endlessly forward through the Darkest Star Sea like ordinary light.

It merely expanded to a certain area and then stopped.

From a distance, it looked like a giant sphere of light, floating at the edge of the sea of black miasma.

The white light was so dazzling that it even blocked the perception of the Wooden Sword's phantom Li Fan had placed within it.

Li Fan faintly saw countless blurry, flickering images within.

Seemingly human, yet not quite.

Seemingly landscapes, yet not quite.

Just as Li Fan was eagerly anticipating the Immortal Realm's reveal, the sea of black miasma, which had been pushed back by the Immortal Realm's radiance, suddenly began to churn violently.

A black tide surged, its rate of expansion quickening.

The black miasma billowed, arriving in an instant at the edge of the Immortal Realm's sphere of light.

And the Immortal Realm, which was about to appear, seemed to sense something utterly terrifying.

Its light contracted abruptly.

From a massive sphere of light, it reverted to a white, rainbow-edged chess piece.

Then, to the utter astonishment of the Medicine King Sect members, it transformed into a streak of white light, pierced the sky, and fled at high speed.

The "sky" in the eyes of the Medicine King Sect members was, of course, the protection of the Wooden Sword's phantom and the immortal arrays Li Fan had set up.

The measures that could trap the Heavenly Doctor for a short time couldn't even block this white light for a moment.

Just as the Immortal Realm chess piece was about to disappear into the Star Sea, a giant finger descended from the heavens, suddenly breaking through space and pressing down firmly upon it.

It was none other than Li Fan's Nine Heavens Descending Dust Finger!

Perhaps it sensed the high-level aura from the Nine Heavens Descending Dust Finger.

Or perhaps the threat from the black miasma had passed.

In any case, after trembling slightly for a moment, the white light stopped struggling.

It withdrew all fluctuations of its aura, and floated silently in the air.

"That reaction was a bit too extreme."

"The appearance of the black miasma must have triggered some kind of impediment."

"The unfolding of the Immortal Realm failed."

Li Fan observed for a moment and immediately understood.

This temporary failure didn't mean the Immortal Realm chess piece had become useless.

It had merely gone dormant for the time being.

However, from that brief moment before it unfolded, Li Fan had managed to glimpse some scenes from within the Immortal Realm.

"I can basically confirm that there are no living beings in this Immortal Realm."

"My fear of a slumbering True Immortal lurking within won't come to pass."

"However, aside from the most basic laws of the Immortal Realm, the most distinct thing within it was..."

Li Fan's brow furrowed deeply. He held out his palm and tried to trace something in the air.

"These floating shadows of light..."

"Are they True Immortal Scripts?"

Li Fan wasn't entirely sure.

In the fleeting glimpse of the Immortal Realm, Li Fan had seen many swimming black lines.

Having been immersed in the study of True Immortal Scripts for a long time, Li Fan recognized them at a glance as the very structures that appeared in various True Immortal Scripts.

"True Immortal Scripts are, in essence, the materialization of laws."

"And when a materialized True Immortal Script decomposes and reverts to being a law..."

"Is that the process of the chess piece unfolding into an Immortal Realm?"

Li Fan felt a flash of understanding.

The Immortal Realm chess piece could actually be seen as a superposition of countless True Immortal Scripts!

At the same time, Li Fan's heart skipped a beat.

To be able to construct a complete Immortal Realm, the number of True Immortal Scripts contained within this chess piece was likely beyond imagination!

"The True Immortal who created this piece back then must have been no ordinary figure!"