Chapter 1393: The Tian Beast Dies and is Reborn
Within the Great Whirlpool, the storms gradually subsided.
Thanks to the various restorative measures Li Fan had taken recently, the life force of the Xuanhuang Realm was far more vigorous than before. Now, it was being channeled by the new Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerate, Wuming.
This wound, which had scarred the world for ten thousand years, was healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The turbulent energies were calming, and the once-severed line of sight was temporarily restored.
Li Fan seized the fleeting opportunity, his gaze fixed on the final sliver of the rift before it vanished completely.
Previously, with the help of Sun Luyuan, the spirit of the Immeasurable Mirror, Li Fan had glimpsed a scene from ten thousand years ago: the entire demon race, led by Di Yi, tearing through the world's boundary to depart.
Di Yi had revealed his divine face and used a key, hidden within the colossal serpent coiled around Nanming Mountain, to unleash the terrifying energy contained within. This power had shattered the shackles of spacetime.
That power was like a sharp sword. As it pierced through the spatial passage, it left behind a trace of its own mark.
Now, in a fleeting glimpse, Li Fan caught sight of a few blurry, indistinct images within the closing rift.
With his work here complete, Wuming did not depart immediately.
Instead, he continued with further restoration.
An unending stream of life force continued to flow from all corners of the Xuanhuang Realm. The calm sea surface rumbled as islands rose one after another from the ocean floor.
On the once-barren seabed, greenery began to sprout. Carried by the gentle sea breeze, grass and trees gradually covered the surfaces of these newborn islands.
They were like crystalline pearls, adorning the surface of the ocean.
Li Fan also sensed countless creatures from interconnected waters rushing toward this area, all vying for a place in this newly born, perfect home.
From this day on, the Xuanhuang Realm had one less treacherous dead zone and one more vibrant, life-filled paradise.
The Heavenly Grace of Xuanhuang upon Wuming intensified, but this time, it was not a gift from Li Fan. It was earned through Wuming's own meritorious service to the world.
With his work at the Great Whirlpool complete, Wuming pressed on without pause, heading for the next location.
His destination was the Cangwu Abyss, located in the southwestern corner of the Xuanhuang Realm.
This massive chasm dwarfed the Great Whirlpool. It had served as a temporary dumping ground for the various materials created by the Dharma Spreader and the Heavenly Doctor during their process of reshaping and suturing the Xuanhuang Realm.
In the normal course of history, this abyss would likely only be filled after the Tianfa Realm was truly reborn within its new host. But now, Wuming was taking the initiative to resolve this persistent affliction.
With the ability to command nearly the full power of the Xuanhuang Realm, eliminating the Cangwu Abyss would be no difficult task for Wuming.
However, it also meant that his actions would inevitably alert the Dharma Spreader and the Heavenly Doctor, who were still on the other side of the Star Sea.
In fact, ever since the Xuanhuang Realm had been sealed, the group of Dharma Transmitters hiding within the Heavenly Profound Mirror had been trying tirelessly to contact the Dharma Spreader. But no matter what they tried, their methods were ultimately mortal. How could they possibly break through the immortal array Li Fan had established?
As a result, the Dharma Spreader and the Heavenly Doctor remained completely unaware of the drastic changes occurring in the Xuanhuang Realm.
There was even a three-year waiting period before Wuming would officially succeed as the Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerate. Until that time, they would perceive nothing amiss.
It wasn't that these two supreme beings were incompetent. Rather, the power of the immortal array had transcended the mortal plane. Even if they were present in person, they would be deceived, let alone the minor measures they had left behind.
"The early arrival of the Dharma Spreader and the Heavenly Doctor would only disrupt my plans. The Cangwu Abyss..."
"Let's put that on hold for now," Li Fan said lightly.
There was no one around, yet he wasn't speaking to himself. He was communicating with the Heavenly Dao of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Li Fan keenly sensed the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao's reluctance. It seemed the existence of the Cangwu Abyss truly displeased it.
"Don't worry, I will compensate you. And it will be even better," Li Fan added, his calm tone laced with a hint of temptation.
The Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao seemed to hesitate for a moment. Perhaps out of trust in Li Fan, it ultimately consented.
Mysterious ripples of will descended from the heavens. Wuming, the Great Heavenly Venerate, perceived their meaning, and for the first time, a flicker of astonishment crossed his face.
His speeding figure halted mid-air. He looked up at the sky, his expression full of confusion.
The Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao offered no explanation, merely reiterating its request.
Though Wuming couldn't understand, he did not defy the will of the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao. He changed course and headed toward another of the Xuanhuang Realm's desolate lands.
His new path led toward the Ten Thousand Miles Flame Beach, a stretch of scorched earth. Once a vibrant land, it had suffered a mysterious calamity a thousand years ago, transforming it into the barren wasteland it was today. Compared to the Cangwu Abyss and the World Cracking Great Vortex, the Flame Beach was indeed far easier to handle. Wuming likely wouldn't need much time.
Afterward, he would likely travel throughout the Xuanhuang Realm, healing the many wounds scarred into the land.
Li Fan simply had the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao transmit sensory images to him as needed; he didn't continue to monitor or follow Wuming himself.
Instead, he intended to deliver on the "benefit" he had promised the Xuanhuang Realm.
With a thought, countless fleeting images from the Array of All Living Beings appeared in his sea of consciousness.
All living beings were ensnared in the illusionary array, and their every thought and feeling was simultaneously perceived by Li Fan.
Consequently, they had almost no secrets left from him.
Combined with his constant, covert searching in the previous life, Li Fan had managed to locate all the half-immortal artifacts within the regions of the Xuanhuang Realm currently under his control.
He called them half-immortal artifacts because all thirteen items, much like the Immeasurable Mirror, had once been true immortal artifacts. But after enduring numerous calamities, they had lost all their immortal spiritual energy, retaining only the remnants of their former wondrous abilities.
For instance, a fan that could perceive and alter a person's emotions, or a blank scroll that could slowly bring whatever it depicted into reality.
And another, a layer of skin that allowed one to transform almost perfectly into someone else, mimicking their soul and appearance so closely that ordinary methods could never tell the difference.
Though these half-immortal artifacts were extraordinary, they no longer held much value in Li Fan's eyes.
So now, he decided to confiscate them all and feed them back to the Xuanhuang Realm!
Thirteen globes of light slowly drifted out of the illusionary array, transitioning from the unreal into reality.
Within the illusion, their owners still believed they possessed their unique treasures. But in the real world, the artifacts had silently fallen into Li Fan's hands.
As the globes of light gathered, the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao seemed to sense what was about to happen.
A wave of immense excitement washed over from it, and the slight dissatisfaction it had felt toward Li Fan earlier vanished without a trace.
Li Fan did not immediately refine these immortal artifacts. Instead, he observed them closely for a while.
"Just like the Immeasurable Mirror, every one of these immortal artifacts bears the shadow of the Annihilating Wind, to a greater or lesser degree."
"Some even have significant residues of the wind calamity left within them."
After a moment of contemplation, Li Fan followed his previous method, using Source Power Essence as bait to lure out all the hidden Annihilating Wind from the thirteen artifacts.
He carefully gathered it all in one place, sealing and preserving it with threads of golden light.
"The Annihilating Wind seems to specialize in destroying immortal artifacts. It's a terrifying power, one that anyone below the level of a True Immortal would flee from on sight."
"Even if I don't use it in the Dao Annihilation Calamity, collecting a large amount of it would make for a potent trump card." Li Fan mused, recalling the reactions of the Dharma Spreader and the other supreme beings when they faced the erupting Annihilating Wind in his last life.
Without the Annihilating Wind, these half-immortal artifacts looked even more delectable to the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao.
It urged Li Fan to proceed without delay.
Li Fan remained still, standing silently for half a day, whetting the Xuanhuang Realm's appetite.
Only then, under the Heavenly Dao's constant pleas of yearning, did he proceed to the next step.
"Xuanhuang World-Ending Transformation: The March of Ages, the Turning of Tides!"
This was a transformation that would only manifest when the Xuanhuang Realm faced a crisis of annihilation. With the world currently brimming with vitality, this transformation did not yet exist.
The process was identical to when he had refined the Immeasurable Mirror.
Under the shroud of this mystical power, the flow of time in the space occupied by the thirteen half-immortal artifacts seemed to accelerate a thousandfold.
The power of the world writhed, like a stomach digesting the artifacts.
The half-immortal artifacts gradually grew dim and indistinct.
Li Fan raised his head slightly, sensing the reappearance of the Heavenly Spirit—the entity responsible for converting immortal artifacts into wonders of heaven and earth.
His interest piqued, he secretly observed the transparent figure's actions.
In the past, it only had to "transport" one immortal artifact remnant at a time, or at most, two simultaneously.
Now, a full thirteen of them were laid out before it. The transparent Heavenly Spirit seemed a bit troubled.
"It's alright, I'm watching over things," Li Fan conveyed a friendly thought to it.
The transparent Heavenly Spirit was a manifestation of the Xuanhuang Realm's laws, so it naturally inherited the world's relationship with Li Fan.
After giving Li Fan a slight nod, it made its selection. Then, it enveloped three of the half-immortal artifacts and merged back into the world.
Seeing this, Li Fan's focus sharpened.
According to his previous observations, the transparent Heavenly Spirit would "transport" the consumed half-immortal artifacts into the bodies of newborn children in the Xuanhuang Realm, where they would become companion wonders for the new lives.
But now, with most of the world's creatures deep in slumber under the immortal array's influence, what would it do?
The events that followed proved that humans, and even plants and animals, were merely one part of the world—and not an indispensable one at that.
Even without them to help it "digest" the artifacts, the Xuanhuang Realm had other methods.
In Nine Mountains Prefecture, the nine towering mountain ranges that stretched across the land began to tremble violently without warning.
Boom! Boom!
As if the sky were falling and the earth were cracking open, the nine mountain ranges collapsed one after another.
The dust and debris thrown up by the collapsing mountains blotted out the sun.
The land continued to shudder from the aftershocks of the cataclysm.
If not for the power of the immortal array protecting the slumbering inhabitants, this catastrophe would have likely killed over ninety percent of the life in Nine Mountains Prefecture.
Li Fan watched this scene of the Xuanhuang Realm's self-destruction with great interest.
A short while later, a sharp gleam flashed in his eyes.
No longer observing from afar, he unsheathed his wooden sword and personally traveled to Nine Mountains Prefecture.
As the dust settled over the land, now reduced to hills, a peculiar life form was taking shape.
Within its body, Li Fan could see the shadows of the three half-immortal artifacts the transparent Heavenly Spirit had transported.
But what intrigued Li Fan even more was that this newborn creature bore a seventy to eighty percent resemblance to the sacred beast of the Xuantian Sect, the Tian Beast!
Merely at birth, it was already one-fifth the size of Nine Mountains Prefecture.
It seemed to be in a deep sleep, its snores thundering across the land.
Li Fan keenly perceived that as the little Tian Beast grew in its sleep, its body was actually shrinking, becoming more and more concentrated!
Li Fan was overcome with a strange delight. "In my last life, I learned from Mo Rubin that the Tian Beast was actually formed from a jade pendant that the Xuantian King brought down from the Immortal World."
"Although the Tian Beast later died in battle and became the Nine Mountains, it seems now that it may have just exhausted its power and reverted to its jade pendant form."
"When the Xuanhuang Realm was searching for a vessel to digest the immortal artifacts, it logically found this slumbering Tian Beast, since nearly all cultivators were asleep!"
While Li Fan's thoughts were racing, the little Tian Beast rapidly shrank until it was no larger than an adult's palm.
In that brief time, the three half-immortal artifacts within its body had become almost invisible!
"As expected of a creature from the Immortal World. Its digestive ability is terrifying."
Even Li Fan was stunned. Concealing his aura completely, he slowly approached the little Tian Beast.
He picked up the still-slumbering creature.
Even in its infant stage, the little Tian Beast felt no weaker to Li Fan than a Dao Integration cultivator of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Its breaths were like the rumbling of wind and thunder.
Falling into Li Fan's grasp, the little Tian Beast grew instinctively alert.
It couldn't yet open its eyes, but its body thrashed about, trying to escape his hold.
Li Fan offered it his own spiritual energy, but the little Tian Beast disdained it, shrinking away.
He then switched to the higher-grade Source Power Essence.
The little Tian Beast poked its head out and sniffed for a moment before quickly retracting it.
No matter how Li Fan tried to tempt it, it was no longer interested.
Li Fan frowned slightly. After some thought, he tried again, offering it power from the Infinite Star Sea and life force from the chasm, one by one.
Although the little Tian Beast no longer resisted, it remained listless.
"Don't tell me it only wants immortal spiritual energy?"
"You little bastard, you're quite the picky eater. Even I have to rely on the Great Heavenly Venerate's legacy for a taste of immortal spiritual energy. Where am I supposed to find rations for you!" Li Fan cursed inwardly.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to Li Fan, and his eyes flickered.
With a flip of his hand, he produced a gray chess piece.
It was the hidden gambit left behind by Sun Piao Miao, meant to revive the Immortal Realm.
In this life, Li Fan had no intention of gathering all the chess pieces to resurrect the Immortal Realm.
But he had still collected most of the pieces scattered throughout the starry sky.
He had simply sealed them away in different locations.
"The only thing I need to be wary of is the Southern Immortal Pillar."
"If I unfold a single piece on its own, it won't appear."
"In my last life, the Immortal Boat unfolded one of them, generating the keratinous layer that attached to its surface..."
"But that's just in theory. I originally had no need to take this risk."
"However..."
Sensing the aura emanating from the Immortal Realm chess piece, the little Tian Beast acted as if it had smelled the most exquisite delicacy, scrambling and tumbling its way closer.
It opened its mouth and began to gnaw relentlessly.
But the chess piece was protected by a barrier Li Fan had set up, and the little Tian Beast couldn't chew through it faster than it regenerated.
After gnawing for a long time without getting what it wanted, the little Tian Beast grew anxious.
There's one more chapter, coming at 2:30. Don't wait up, brothers.
(End of this chapter)
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