Chapter 1476: Shadow of the Nameless Immortal
Li Fan peered intently, searching for any trace of the Dao Annihilation Calamity upon it.
Shou Qiu had gazed upon the Mountain and Sea for over a hundred epochs, growing intimately familiar with every peak and every current. Now, borrowing that profound power, Li Fan did indeed sense a faint, familiar aura emanating from the colossal 'Hunger' character emblazoned across the Immortal Ruins.
"Whether the previous Hunger Immortal perished in the Dao Annihilation, or transformed their body into a pillar to withstand the cataclysm from the Immortal Realm, one thing is certain," Li Fan mused. "They had a very close encounter with the calamity, no doubt about it."
"Though their body perished, their Dao endured. The current Hunger Immortal discovered this profound secret. The temptation to ascend to the rank of Nameless was too great, so she willingly braved the immense risks. Instead of fleeing like the other True Immortals, she chose to seek enlightenment right here."
"In truth, it's not as dangerous as it seems."
"From an outsider's perspective, the Immortal Realm has been shattered for ages. But from the Hunger Immortal's point of view, barely a day has passed. Moreover, with the remnant of a Nameless True Immortal serving as a pillar, if the Dao Annihilation Calamity were to erupt again, the Immortal Ruins would likely be safer than anywhere else in this star sea."
"If it were me, I would have made the same choice," Li Fan concluded.
Although he was committed to helping the Hunger Immortal ascend to the Nameless stage, Li Fan had no intention of ignoring the Great Dao of Hunger as he had claimed he would.
A Dao capable of warping the flow of time in its vicinity could hardly be described as 'weak'.
He meticulously recorded the entire process.
"If I'm not mistaken," he thought, "once the Hunger Immortal ascends to the Nameless stage, all of these records will cease to exist. It's analogous to the simulations [Truth] runs in my mind, but with a slight difference. Even if I use [Truth] to return, I can't recall a simulation that ends in total annihilation."
"But in the Hunger Immortal's case..."
"If she dies, or if I move on to the next life, a time when no one has yet mastered the Dao of Hunger, these records will reappear."
"By then, I will possess the remnant of the Hunger Immortal from two generations ago and the complete record of the last one's ascension. With that, anyone with even a modicum of talent could reach the Nameless stage in a short time! It won't necessarily have to be *her*."
His mind a tranquil lake, Li Fan recorded every last detail without the slightest ripple of emotion.
He continued until the small 'room' of the Dao of Hunger could no longer contain a second presence.
Then, a profound and mysterious ripple was suddenly born between heaven and earth.
The second high wall, which Li Fan had personally constructed, collapsed with a deafening roar and without the slightest warning.
It wasn't that the Hunger Immortal had suddenly turned on him; the collapse was a natural consequence of the shockwaves from her ascension to the Nameless stage.
Li Fan's replica wall could contain the Hunger Immortal during her enlightenment, but it could no longer withstand a being who had attained the Nameless realm.
At the same moment, Li Fan noticed that a segment of his memory had been inexplicably erased.
His mission, however, remained firmly etched in his mind.
An aura as deep as an abyss and as vast as the sea reminded him that standing before him was a Nameless True Immortal.
And she was his prey.
The process of ascension was not yet complete; the opportune moment to strike had not yet arrived. Li Fan gathered his power, preparing to fell his target in a single, decisive blow.
It was as if a colossal meteorite had plunged into the Darkest Star Sea, unleashing monstrous waves that swept out in every direction. In the face of this immense power, no remnant in the star sea, no matter how resilient, could maintain its stability.
Relic artifacts and realm fragments alike were swept away with irresistible force.
They hurtled toward the boundary of the star sea, crashing against the high wall.
A deafening series of impacts echoed through the void.
The reverse gravitational pull that had accumulated beneath the wall for millennia acted as a buffer, allowing many of the relics and fragments to halt their momentum just in time. Still, a great number crashed headlong into the massive barrier.
The wall, a manifestation of Shou Qiu's phantom, stood like a majestic, unmovable dam. The relics shattered against it like eggs against a stone, disintegrating into fine dust upon impact.
The wall itself did not so much as tremble.
It even managed to firmly contain the shockwaves emanating from the Nameless Hunger Immortal.
The wall's performance greatly reassured Li Fan.
The power of Shou Qiu was indeed worthy of his trust.
Meanwhile, amidst the tempest stirred by the ascension, Li Fan noticed something else. Far below the Darkest Star Sea, in the basin that held the [Shape of Living Beings], a strange transformation was taking place in perfect synchrony.
With his current level of power, even a disturbance as faint as this could not escape his notice.
"Is it... recording the fluctuations from the Nameless Hunger Immortal's birth, just like me?"
This outcome took Li Fan by surprise.
However, their methods of recording were different.
Li Fan was making a complete, comprehensive recording, while the Shape of Living Beings was using the shockwave from the Nameless Hunger Immortal's birth to rewrite itself.
It was like pressing a finger into an ink pad, leaving behind the 'fingerprint' of a Nameless True Immortal. In this way, it preserved information that should have been impossible to record.
Within the basin, the long-dormant undercurrent of life force suddenly began to seethe, stirred by the transformation of the Shape of Living Beings.
It was a distant echo of the grand spectacle unfolding in the star sea: the advent of a Nameless True Immortal.
Drawing upon nearly all of its stored life force, a figure corresponding to the Hunger Immortal quietly manifested at the center of the pattern.
"A shadow of the Nameless Immortal."
"Interesting."
Li Fan's thoughts raced. "According to my previous investigations, the Xuantian King ordered Xing Wuque to construct this Shape of Living Beings."
"The Xuantian King, for all his once-in-a-generation talent, was merely at the half-immortal stage when he vanished. He should not have possessed a method capable of imprinting the shadow of a Nameless True Immortal. It's highly likely, then, that the secret lies with Xing Wuque."
"Exhausted, his soul nearly scattered, leaving behind only a broken mask..."
If Xing Wuque were merely a native cultivator of the Xuanhuang Realm, with power inferior even to the Xuantian King's, it would have been utterly impossible for him to construct such a pattern.
But when you consider that the Xuanhuang Realm was once a key strategic point for guarding [Truth], it becomes highly probable that an incarnation of a Nameless True Immortal infiltrated it...
...everything falls into place.
"Among the twelve Law Kings, how many are truly blameless?"
His target was the Nameless Hunger Immortal, so Li Fan tore his gaze away from the shadow in the basin.
The ripples subsided, and the disturbance began to fade.
How fortunate the Darkest Star Sea was to witness the birth of a Nameless True Immortal.
For her, however, it might also prove to be a great misfortune.
The moment the Hunger Immortal achieved her Dao, she completely claimed the path of Hunger. As a result, the remnant of her predecessor beneath her lost its divine properties, becoming nothing more than a mundane artifact.
On the plains of the Immortal Ruins, the 'Hunger' character first dimmed as if dying.
Then, an instant later, it flared back to life, remanifesting.
Now, however, it had a new master, and it gradually began to merge with the Hunger Immortal's body.
RUMBLE!
A faint, world-ending roar seemed to emanate from beyond the heavens.
It was the sound of the Dao Annihilation Calamity encroaching, triggered by the sudden absence of the Nameless remnant that had served as a supporting pillar.
It was like a tiny hole appearing in a once-impregnable dam. Though the breach hadn't yet pierced all the way through, the tide on the other side was already surging against it.
If Li Fan were to return the power he had borrowed from Shou Qiu's phantoms at this moment, the newly acquired Primal Bone, combined with the five phantoms themselves, would be more than enough to withstand the calamity's assault.
But Li Fan did not make a move.
He even resisted the force of retraction from Shou Qiu's phantoms.
He had never forgotten his true target.
He was waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
And the Hunger Immortal did not disappoint.
Perhaps it was a duty inherited from her predecessor, or perhaps it was simple instinct in the face of disaster.
Facing the surging tide of Dao Annihilation, the Nameless Hunger Immortal casually sent forth a portion of her own power to temporarily plug the gap.
At the same time, she sent a message to Li Fan: "Fellow Immortal, you must leave now. It is no longer safe to remain here."
Even after ascending to the Nameless stage, she still addressed him as 'Fellow Immortal'. This was partly because he had aided her enlightenment, placing her in his debt, and partly because the power he displayed, while strange, was clearly no less than her own. Her attitude, therefore, remained amicable.
But his next move was something she never could have expected.
In the blink of an eye, her 'benefactor' turned on her!
Li Fan's body froze for a brief moment, then instantly exploded, scattering in all directions.
It transformed into a vast silver Dao Net that filled the sky, absorbing the full might of Shou Qiu's phantoms.
A roar even greater than that of the Dao Annihilation tide thundered in the Nameless Hunger Immortal's ears.
Within the silvery web before her, she could faintly make out a majestic figure standing with its hands clasped behind its back.
As immense as a mountain, as vast as the sea.
Even she, who had become the embodiment of a Great Dao of heaven and earth, was but an ant living between that mountain and sea by comparison.
The figure bore some resemblance to her 'benefactor'...
...but it was far more like the figure from the ancient legends of the Immortal Realm...
...that man.
"Shou Qiu?!!"
The Nameless Hunger Immortal's body and soul trembled, and for an instant, her mind went blank.
In that moment of shock, the vast mountain and sea crashed down upon her.
The Nameless Hunger Immortal only snapped out of her shock when the tide was upon her and the mountain was overhead.
There was no time to question why; her instincts screamed at her to fight back.
Even if her opponent truly was the great being who had saved the Immortal Realm, she would never surrender without a fight!
"Hungry."
"I am so... hungry..."
A spectral, profound voice emerged from within the great tide of mountain and sea.
It seemed to come from the Hunger Immortal.
But it was more like the voice of a mysterious existence from beyond the Great Dao itself.
The power Li Fan had prepared to imprison the Nameless Hunger Immortal was devoured by his opponent as if it were food.
Facing the boundless power of the mountain and sea, the Hunger Immortal was fearless.
She would devour the mountain and drink the sea, turning everything in existence into sustenance for herself!
Like a great vortex devouring all things, the Nameless Hunger Immortal's figure became indistinct.
Before this terrifying suction, even Li Fan felt his Dao Net body begin to warp.
The strength of the Hunger Immortal after attaining the Nameless stage was indeed somewhat beyond his expectations.
But this alone was not enough to turn the tables...
Li Fan's other body, seated in his grand preceptor's chair, gave a slight bow to the five phantoms of Shou Qiu.
An instant later, a little more power was drawn from the five phantoms.
This was the maximum amount Li Fan had calculated he could borrow without risking the collapse of the high wall under the pressure of the Dao Annihilation Calamity.
A power equivalent to two and a half Nameless True Immortals!
Consequently, the Nameless Hunger Immortal felt the immense force binding her more than double in an instant.
The mountain and sea, which had already seemed as vast as the universe, now appeared as mere pebbles on a mountain range, mere drops in the ocean.
The expansion of the mountain and sea seemed to have no end, no limit.
Her momentum and resolve to devour the mountain and drink the sea faltered upon discovering this terrifying truth.
Her endless hunger was almost sated.
More importantly...
...the pressure from the Dao Annihilation Calamity—which she had casually deflected, intending to leave quickly—had intensified.
The combination of these two factors left her momentarily immobilized!
What's more, as if sensing a potential breach, the Dao Annihilation Calamity converged on her as though it had a will of its own.
In that instant, the pressure she endured from the calamity was many times stronger than anywhere else in the star sea!
It wasn't just the Hunger Immortal who noticed this shift in the battle. Li Fan saw it too. The more pressure the calamity exerted on her, the less strain was placed on Shou Qiu's phantoms. This meant he could borrow even more power.
He pressed his advantage, unleashing a force equivalent to three Nameless True Immortals.
Already struggling under the threat of the Dao Annihilation Calamity, the Nameless Hunger Immortal began to falter.
Like a bird in a cage, she had no hope of escape.
Li Fan's Dao Net body transformed into innumerable ropes.
They bound the Hunger Immortal.
Tightening and locking, they slowly 'nailed' her into the fabric of this star sea.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
"No!"
"Have mercy, Shou Qiu!"
Realizing her opponent's intention, the Hunger Immortal cried out in terror.
To use a Nameless True Immortal as a celestial pillar.
This was no secret in the Immortal Realm.
The Hunger Immortal, at least, had known of it for a long time. During her years of cultivation, she had even witnessed the foundation of such a pillar with her own eyes.
To think that today, she would suffer the same fate.
Yet, no amount of unwillingness could change this fact.
The world before the Nameless Hunger Immortal's eyes grew dim.
The starlight, the mountain, and the sea vanished from her sight as if she were sinking slowly into an endless ocean.
All she could feel was eternal darkness and a crushing, ever-increasing pressure.
...
The moment the body of the Nameless Hunger Immortal vanished from the Darkest Star Sea...
...a nameless celestial pillar had been successfully hammered into this corner of the universe by Li Fan.
However, the faint roar of the Dao Annihilation did not cease, so Li Fan decisively returned the power he had borrowed from Shou Qiu's phantoms.
The Primal Bone, the Hunger Immortal's pillar, and the five phantoms of Shou Qiu.
A dam constructed from such a confluence of power was far beyond the current Dao Annihilation Calamity's ability to overwhelm.
After a few futile attempts...
...the surging tide abruptly retreated.
Li Fan inspected his Dao Net body.
Proximity to the great tide of Dao Annihilation had nearly caused it to turn illusory.
Fortunately, the tide had not lasted long.
Within a few deep breaths, Li Fan had returned to his normal state.
"The Dao Annihilation tide ebbs and flows, as expected," he reflected. "And it seems to follow no discernible pattern."
"It can surge with incredible force the moment it detects a weakness."
"It's as if..."
"...it has a will of its own."
(End of Chapter)
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