Chapter 1405: The Omen of the End
Chapter 1405: The Omen of the End
Li Fan carefully scrutinized the [Dissociation Disc, Immortal Rank].
In his previous life, he had already experienced the terrifying power of the Dissociation Disc after it was officially upgraded to an immortal artifact.
With a single thought, an immortal array could be formed.
And once formed, it could slay immortals and annihilate gods!
Among all the Heavenly Spirits, Ink Death was one of the most powerful. After it had followed the Xuanhuang Realm and completed the transformation from mortal to immortal, the sheer might of Ink Death as a Heavenly Immortal Spirit was almost unimaginable.
A wave of inky blackness veiled Li Fan's eyes, and countless writhing black dots erupted from the tip of his right forefinger.
Li Fan extended his right hand, gently pressing that wisp of ink onto the mass of bound True Immortal remnant energy in his left palm.
The remnant energy, which had once wreaked havoc across the Star Sea, offered no resistance against the corrosive power of the Heavenly Immortal Spirit, Ink Death. It was utterly engulfed by the dense ink and completely annihilated from existence.
"It can obliterate the remnant energy of a True Immortal, which means it wouldn't be at a significant disadvantage even when facing a True Immortal directly. This is the benefit of ascending through the New Method. As long as the devoured Heavenly Immortal Spirit is strong enough, its power can be instantly converted for my own use."
"With the power of Ink Death protecting me, even though this 'half-immortal' self of mine lacks the conventional tools of an immortal, such as Immortal Spirit Qi, it's more than enough to dominate and crush the Star Sea."
"But my true ace in the hole is still the Immortal-Rank Dissociation Disc!"
Within his mind, the myriad sub-discs of the Dissociation Disc blazed with light. From each star-like disc, faint strands of silvery starlight flowed out, merging together.
The light materialized in the palm of Li Fan's hand.
"The Heavenly Immortal Spirit, Ink Death, is already this formidable. And yet, before the Dissociation Disc, which can lay down true immortal arrays, it would die like an ant in an instant!"
Li Fan's current half-immortal state was achieved by integrating the Dao of Ink Death. This meant that, before upgrading his other divine abilities to a half-immortal level, he wasn't actually much stronger than the Heavenly Immortal Spirit itself.
He would be just as powerless before an immortal array he himself had laid.
"Like a toddler wielding an immortal treasure. My offensive and defensive capabilities are completely out of proportion."
"And the reason for this absurd situation is..."
Li Fan narrowed his eyes, trying to absorb the silver starlight in his palm into his body.
However, it remained completely unmoved.
"Immortal Spirit Qi. But I can't use it?"
The Dissociation Disc exhibited such unimaginable performance because, in his previous life, at the critical moment of his Dao Integration, Li Fan had siphoned off a stream of Immortal Spirit Qi—obtained by the Xuanhuang Realm from the Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerate's legacy—and given it to the disc.
Only after receiving the Immortal Spirit Qi did the Dissociation Disc undergo a true transformation.
Moreover, this transformation seemed even more thorough than that of the Xuanhuang Realm, or even Li Fan himself. R*A+NoBеs
To verify the theory in his mind, Li Fan's thoughts stirred, and the myriad stars of the Dissociation Disc began to shine.
Immortal Spirit Qi flowed, instantly forming a miniature immortal array before him.
On the outside, it looked like a palm-sized silver ring. But within, it was built upon the core of the Grand Bewilderment Array of Sentient Beings, further enhanced by integrating the principles of the "Bind" character. A single toss of this ring could easily suppress any existence below the immortal realm.
The Dissociation Disc's starlight continued to flash, and one silver ring after another materialized.
They formed a neat line in front of Li Fan. Only after a full ninety-nine had been created did the Dissociation Disc's power finally wane, forcing it to stop.
The energy contained within each of these silver rings far surpassed that of the mortal-level bewilderment array he had painstakingly laid across the entire Xuanhuang Realm in his last life. After all, the gulf between immortal and mortal was immeasurable.
Even as an immortal artifact, creating ninety-nine immortal arrays in one go seemed to be its limit.
Li Fan stared at the Dissociation Disc, which seemed to have exhausted its Immortal Spirit Qi.
He then saw that within the countless star-like sub-discs, new Immortal Spirit Qi was slowly, but surely, regenerating!
Li Fan was certain that during this process of depletion and regeneration, the Dissociation Disc had not absorbed any energy from the outside world.
"A form of infinity, in a sense," Li Fan mused thoughtfully.
At the same time, a hint of regret and deep confusion arose within him.
"After Wuming succeeded the Great Heavenly Venerate, I used the Heavenly Dao of Xuanhuang to inspect the four remaining immortal artifacts."
"They did indeed contain Immortal Spirit Qi, but it was a finite resource—once used, it was gone. They were completely incapable of regenerating it endlessly like my Immortal-Rank Dissociation Disc!"
"What is the meaning of this?" Li Fan's gaze flickered, his thoughts racing.
After a long period of contemplation, he temporarily concluded, "Perhaps it was a deliberate restriction imposed by the Immortal Realm when it bestowed the immortal artifacts upon Xuanhuang."
"But now that the Immortal Realm has been shattered, this newly born immortal artifact is free from the constraints of a higher realm. Thus, it has recovered the original properties an immortal artifact should possess."
"But..." Li Fan still felt a nagging sense that something wasn't right.
If one could mass-produce immortal artifacts at their peak state simply by using Immortal Spirit Qi, then the successive Great Heavenly Venerates of the Xuanhuang Realm should have destroyed all the old artifacts and forged new ones long ago.
"Perhaps it has something to do with the Final Dissociation Disc itself."
After a long while, Li Fan suddenly seemed to understand something.
"The Final Dissociation Disc was formed from the fusion of the Terminal Disc and the Dissociation Disc. Both are secondary bodies of the Heavenly Profound Mirror."
"The Heavenly Profound Mirror was one of the immortal artifacts that the Xuantian King brought back from the Immortal Realm."
"In a way, the Final Dissociation Disc is itself a descendant of an immortal artifact."
"Moreover..." The process of obtaining the Final Dissociation Disc flashed through Li Fan's mind.
Gu Xinghan, the Medicine King Sect disciple who held the Dissociation Disc that was Li Fan's incarnation, had by a stroke of fate also obtained the Terminal Disc.
When brought close, the two gradually merged into one.
And after Gu Xinghan's death, this object was buried deep underground with him, where it remained for thousands of years.
It could be said that the birth of the Final Dissociation Disc was an extremely improbable and arduous event.
"Perhaps a simple fusion of two secondary bodies isn't enough. It might also require the tempering of time, and even the destruction and rebirth of an entire world, to qualify for the conditions to be promoted to an immortal artifact..." Only now did Li Fan truly appreciate what an incredible stroke of luck it was to have obtained the Final Dissociation Disc.
Although he couldn't understand the principle behind it, he was now, for all intents and purposes, the master of this immortal artifact.
Li Fan was thoroughly satisfied with the Dissociation Disc's power. His only frustration was that he couldn't absorb or utilize the Immortal Spirit Qi it contained and generated.
He made another series of attempts, trying to infuse the Immortal Spirit Qi from the Dissociation Disc into other items.
Such as the Myriad Beast Condensation Crystal, the Transformation Dao Stone, and so on.
But without exception, the silver starlight passed right through them, not lingering for a single moment.
And the infused items themselves seemed completely unaware of the Immortal Spirit Qi's presence.
"It's as if this infinite Immortal Spirit Qi belongs exclusively to the Dissociation Disc."
"It's not that I can't do it. It's that nothing can."
Li Fan shook his head slightly, musing to himself, "No wonder the Xuantian King struggled so much to ascend from his half-immortal state, despite having plundered so many treasures from the Immortal Realm."
"Artifacts are different from other artifacts, and artifacts are different from immortals."
"I'm afraid even the Faceless Immortal, that True Immortal, couldn't transfer the Immortal Spirit Qi within his body to the Xuantian King. Otherwise, given their friendship and the infinite nature of Immortal Spirit Qi, the Faceless Immortal wouldn't have been so stingy as to not lend him a hand."
Suddenly, Li Fan recalled a piece of lore about the Xuantian King he had learned from Ji Yuzhen's memories. "But it's said that the Xuantian King was able to seize Immortal Spirit Qi from the Tiandu Grandmaster and refine it for his own use? How can that be explained?"
"The fractured memories of a Xuantian Sect Law King can't be fully trusted."
"But it serves as a reminder. When I return to the Xuanhuang Realm in this life, I need to be wary of that enigmatic Grandmaster..."
Li Fan stood amidst the Star Sea, his thoughts taking a long time to settle.
Only then did he open the [Truth] panel again to check the specific changes after his ascension to Dao Integration and his attainment of a half-immortal state.
Name: Li Fan
Realm: Immortal
Physiological Age: ...
Psychological Age: ...
Emptying Charge Progress: 50%
Anchoring Charge Progress: 0%
Current Anchor Points: 3
Current Available Anchor Points: 1
Bound Items: [...Leg Bone], [Falling into the Mortal Dust], [Dissociation Disc, Immortal Rank], Transformation Dao Stone, Heavenly Profound Mirror Origin (Fragment), Grand Derivation Boat, Myriad Beast Condensation Crystal, Myriad Lives Blood Essence.
...
When Li Fan saw the single word "Immortal" under his realm on the [Truth] panel, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
"It seems that in the eyes of [Truth], there's no substantive difference between a half-immortal and an immortal."
Li Fan stared at the word "Immortal," savoring it for a long while before continuing down the list.
Once he stepped from mortal to immortal, physiological age was no longer a shackle.
And the psychological age limit, which had long been his only source of concern, had also vanished into thin air. For a moment, Li Fan's expression grew distant.
"I suppose I've achieved what is generally considered longevity, for now."
A milestone had been reached. Yet the true [Longevity] he sought seemed still quite distant.
But it was no longer an ethereal, unattainable dream.
What Li Fan found strange was that the physiological and psychological ages displayed on the [Truth] panel were not marked as "infinite."
Nor were they a fixed number.
Instead, much like the prefix on the Nameless True Immortal's leg bone, or the immortal copper coin he had once seen, they appeared as a constantly shifting scene.
Li Fan narrowed his eyes, trying to make out the specific content it was trying to convey.
It must be said that after ascending to the immortal realm and elevating his own standing, tasks that once required his utmost effort and would result in backlash...
...were now accomplished by the current Li Fan with almost no effort at all.
"Seven million, three hundred sixty-five thousand, eight hundred sixty-four years, thirteen days, and seven hours..."
After deciphering the age, or rather, the age limit, displayed by [Truth], Li Fan's brow furrowed deeply.
A mere seven million years. This was far, far less than he had imagined!
How could this possibly be worthy of a legendary immortal?
Moreover, based on his observations, this constantly ticking number was not changing at a uniform rate.
For the vast majority of the time, after a certain period, it would plummet.
Only very rarely would it increase.
Li Fan stared intently at this string of profoundly mysterious numbers.
Suddenly, an inexplicable understanding flooded his mind.
"An immortal's lifespan surely can't be a mere few million years."
"But in [Truth]'s judgment, this is the longest I can survive..."
A golden light flashed in his eyes as he instantly understood. "It's because this is the lifespan of the mortal world, not mine!"
As if he had discovered some earth-shattering secret, even as a half-immortal, Li Fan's heart couldn't help but pound violently. "When that constantly ticking number reaches zero, the entire mortal world will meet its end."
"All living beings within it will be doomed to eternal damnation!"
"If I am within it, and I don't activate [Truth], the same fate awaits me!"
"Wait, that's not right?!"
As Li Fan pondered, his heart began to beat even faster.
"In the past, my psychological age never changed along with [Truth]'s shifts."
"It was only related to my own experiences."
"So now that my psychological age has merged with this string of numbers and disappeared..."
Li Fan's expression turned grim.
"Does this mean that even if I continuously activate [Truth], this death countdown for the mortal world will not change in the slightest?"
"The arrival of this true world-ending calamity is not something I can avert simply by using [Truth]?"
He had just ascended to immortality, with hardly any time to feel excited.
And now, Li Fan was directly confronted with the terrifying omen of the end, revealed by [Truth].
Even with his incredibly resilient spirit, he found it hard to bear at this moment.
The only good news was that there was still a long time before the true end of the world arrived.
And the number displayed by [Truth] was not unchangeable.
Taking a deep breath, Li Fan gradually calmed himself.
"From the looks of it, what [Truth] is showing is its deduction, its prediction, of the mortal world's lifespan."
"Something must have gone terribly wrong. Even the destruction of the Immortal Realm might be tied to this apocalypse!"
"It's not that I can't live that long, but that the world itself cannot exist for that long!"
A thick cloud of gloom seemed to settle over Li Fan's heart, instantly extinguishing the joy his ascension had brought.
Putting aside the sentient beings of the mortal world...
For the sake of his own obsession with longevity, Li Fan knew he had to try and resolve this apocalyptic crisis.
"Perhaps, in the eyes of [Truth], only an immortal can be a variable in changing this crisis."
"Below the immortal realm, no amount of struggle can alter fate in the slightest."
"Even if it showed it to me before, it would have been useless, only adding to my worries."
Li Fan gazed at the Darkest Star Sea before him.
"Perhaps, to understand the truth of the end, I must start with the Dao Annihilation Calamity."
...
Li Fan continued to look at the remaining parts of the [Truth] panel.
After ascending to immortality, the Emptying Charge progress of [Truth] had also undergone a qualitative change.
It seemed that the ability of [Truth] itself had been enhanced. After activating a return, he no longer needed to accumulate the charge progress from scratch.
Instead, it would immediately be 50% charged.
(End of Chapter)
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