Chapter 1479: One Dao, One Step
Chapter 1479: One Dao, One Step
Within the crushing shadows, Li Fan felt innumerable versions of himself being endlessly replicated.
This mass of shadow, hidden deep beneath Yuandao Province in the Xuanhuang Realm, was collectively evolving toward the state of an Ink Killer Immortal Soul.
Empowered by the twin Dao characteristics of [Fantasy Becomes Truth] and [Eternity], they were able to bypass the threshold of ascension, vaulting directly across the boundary between mortal and immortal.
From mortal to immortal!
Immersed in a vast, inky ocean, Li Fan perceived the function of these two Dao paths with perfect clarity.
Fantasy Becomes Truth provided the infinite engine for evolution, expanding to numerical and quantitative extremes, stretching endlessly until it shattered the shackles that separated mortals from immortals.
Eternity, meanwhile, formed an unshakably solid Dao foundation. It was the bedrock that remained constant, no matter how the interior or exterior transformed. Even the most towering skyscraper must be built upon this ground.
In this interplay of change and constancy, millennia passed in the blink of an eye.
The Xuanhuang Realm, a mortal vessel, had somehow conceived and birthed an Immortal Soul!
Since Li Fan alone had provided all the energy consumed during the Ink Killer’s ascension, he was, in essence, its true parent. It had merely used the Xuanhuang Realm as a womb.
But as the birthplace of this Immortal Soul, the Xuanhuang Realm was not left without reward. After the Ink Killer ascended, the subtle connection forged over tens of thousands of years provided a certain degree of nourishment back to the world.
However, compared to the glorious transformation the Xuanhuang Realm would have undergone upon its own natural ascension, the changes wrought by the Ink Killer's premature ascent were far less sublime.
Once just one of many Spirits of Heaven and Earth, it now held absolute dominance. As the Ink Killer evolved into an Immortal Soul, it also ruthlessly imposed its own characteristics upon the Xuanhuang Realm.
Dense, layered storm clouds rose from nowhere, completely blanketing the Xuanhuang sky. Across the land, gusts of black wind scoured the surface. It was as if the Ink Killer itself had descended; wherever the wind passed, all things disintegrated into fine, black particles.
The Xuanhuang Realm, once vibrant and renewed after the threat of the Immortal Ruins had been vanquished, was abruptly plunged into a dim, apocalyptic gloom!
Fortunately, the vast majority of life slumbered within the dreamscape of the Land of Carefree Joy, sheltered by Li Fan’s power. The Ink Killer, out of respect for Li Fan—its own "kin" and "parent"—refrained from a direct confrontation with this sanctuary.
Li Fan could faintly sense the roiling emotions of the Xuanhuang Realm’s Heavenly Dao: it was utterly furious, yet dared not voice its rage. Even the full power of the world was no match for the new Ink Killer Immortal Soul. The Heavenly Dao had no choice but to endure, slowly gathering strength from the boons that came with this grim ascension.
But the Ink Killer showed no sign of restraint.
While it didn't attack the Heavenly Dao directly, it extended its tendrils toward the world's other Spirits of Heaven and Earth.
These Spirits—manifestations of countless different laws, each with its own unique form—were slowly corrupted by the Ink Killer Immortal Soul. Inky stripes began to mar their bodies, and their powers, when expressed in the world, now carried the destructive signature of the Ink Killer.
Even originally less aggressive Spirits, like Crimson Flame, became terrifying forces to be reckoned with.
"If this corrupted Crimson Flame were ordered to boil the oceans, the entire Cong Yun Sea would likely evaporate overnight."
The Ink Killer's influence wasn't limited to mere corruption.
As the ink seeped deeper into the Xuanhuang Realm, the forbidding shadows surrounding Li Fan began to differentiate, giving rise to new "Ink Killer Immortal Souls," each possessing unique properties.
Though their fundamental nature remained the same, they had assimilated certain traits from the world’s other Dao paths.
The result was strangely harmonious, bringing with it a peculiar form of vitality.
...
Witnessing all these changes between the Ink Killer and the Xuanhuang Realm, Li Fan felt a strange premonition take root in his mind.
"Perhaps... this remodeled Xuanhuang Realm now possesses a certain degree of resilience against the Dao Annihilation Calamity."
"This level of modification might not be enough on its own, but compared to its original state, its resistance to the calamity has undeniably grown stronger."
"Could this be what the experimental site intended all along when they implanted the Ink Killer's power?"
The Xuanhuang Realm now appeared sinister and terrifying. But against the backdrop of an entire mortal world on the verge of being consumed by the Dao Annihilation tide, this new state seemed strangely... more appropriate.
"It's like finding yourself in a desolate wasteland of cultivation; a humble cave hidden underground offers better chances of survival than a magnificent palace on the surface."
"If this Xuanhuang model were applied to the entire mortal world..." Li Fan narrowed his eyes at the thought.
"Even if it couldn't stop the tide from submerging everything, perhaps an island or two might remain after the waters receded. In a way, it could be considered a method of salvation."
"But it would require a baptism by the Ink Killer first."
Li Fan felt the thousands of shadows writhing around him and shook his head.
Not every cultivation world could endure the changes brought by an Ink Killer Immortal Soul as easily as the Xuanhuang Realm had.
Putting aside its unique status as an experimental site for the Immortal Realm...
Even a world as special as this one would have been devastated by the inky baptism without the crucial combination of Li Fan's protection and the deep bond forged over millennia of gestation. Lacking either element would have spelled disaster.
Let alone any other ordinary cultivation world.
"If this mass of shadows were unleashed, I doubt even Shuo Xinghai, empowered by its Dao Net, could withstand the onslaught."
"It might resist for a time, but faced with an Ink Killer Immortal Soul that wields the power of [Fantasy Becomes Truth], it would ultimately be stained black, inch by inch."
Having once delved into the core of the Dao Net and possessing a clear understanding of both its power and that of the Ink Killer Immortal Soul, Li Fan reached a conclusion after a brief deduction.
"Allowing it to evolve on its own, rather than me devouring and absorbing it, seems to be the better way to harness its true potential."
Li Fan studied the newly evolved Ink Killer shadows around him, examining each one with great care.
He had already achieved Dao Integration with the Ink Killer Immortal Soul. If he could master these newly tainted laws, he could easily replicate them at will.
Surveying the scene, Li Fan felt he had glimpsed the next step on his own path.
"For a True Immortal seeking enlightenment, a major obstacle is the law that prevents the simultaneous cultivation of multiple Great Daos."
"Even with a heaven-defying technique like the Boundless Heavenly Pivot Separating Spirit Art, one can fuse two or three Daos at most. But if I use the Ink Killer Immortal Soul as my foundation..."
"Then all three thousand Great Daos will be within my grasp!"
Li Fan envisioned the Dao Net, stretching from the heavens to the earth in an endless web, slowly being tainted by an Ink Killer that emerged from an unknown origin.
He subconsciously held out his hand and looked at his palm.
Within the countless writhing black particles, different Dao paths seemed to branch off in response to his enlightenment.
Though they were merely common paths he had comprehended in his past cultivation—the Five Elements, Green Wind, Blue Flame, and the like—with each new facet that appeared, Li Fan felt his own power grow stronger in that instant.
"The reason I can so easily achieve what countless sages of the past could not is because the Dao of [Ink Killer] does not belong to this world."
"Its very core is the Dao Annihilation, the Infinite Sea."
"It transcends the Daos of the mortal world! Therefore, it is not bound by the restriction that they cannot be cultivated together!"
"Any Dao found in this world can be comprehended and wielded by me."
As he watched his inky form become more and more vivid, a profound understanding washed over him.
"If it's like this for the Ink Killer, then..."
"What about [Truth]?"
The ink seethed. In the end, Li Fan brought his thoughts back to his most fundamental core.
"I can use the Ink Killer to corrupt all the Daos in the world."
"One Dao, one step. When I have mastered every Great Dao in the mortal world, perhaps I will be but a single step away from the [True False Transformation]..."
With a soft pop, Li Fan's inky form dispersed, merging completely into the newborn Ink Killer Immortal Soul of the Xuanhuang Realm.
His first task was to borrow the Dao paths that the newborn Immortal Soul now commanded.
...
His true self had made a monumental discovery, finally finding a path perfectly suited for him amidst this apocalyptic era where the path to immortality was severed and the Great Dao had withered.
And as Li Fan sensed the changes in his true self, he looked at the Tiandu Grandmaster, still shrouded in the phantasmal shadow of Fantasy's Birth, and a plan began to form in his mind.
A speck of black appeared on his fingertip.
It then transformed into a wisp of black energy that drifted slowly toward the Tiandu Grandmaster.
It merged with the droning sound of Dao recitation, vanishing like a drop of ink in a vast lake.
But the ink did not vanish.
On the contrary, it began to change the color of the lake itself!
The phantasmal shadow rippled, attempting to purge the encroaching ink.
But every ripple was an opening, giving the Ink Killer an opportunity to advance.
Within the phantasmal body, a dark blot quietly formed upon its forehead.
The Tiandu Grandmaster, whose expression had remained as placid as a still well since Li Fan had targeted him, finally showed a flicker of change.
He still appeared outwardly calm and composed.
But Li Fan could see he was forcing it.
"The Ink Killer... much more effective than the brute force of my Dao Net."
With this thought, Li Fan channeled a wisp of the Ink Killer Immortal Soul's power into his own body.
It was as if every star in the sky had suddenly dimmed, plunging the heavens into silence.
But a few breaths later, an even greater vitality stirred beneath this darkened canopy.
Enhanced by the Ink Killer's power, Li Fan was still no match for the phantasmal shadow, but he could now ignore its influence to a certain degree.
Surrounded by the droning chants, he advanced, step by difficult step.
Slowly but resolutely, he reached the Tiandu Grandmaster.
He seized the man by the throat and, as terror finally bloomed on the Grandmaster's face, dragged him bodily out from the protection of the phantasmal shadow!
"You..."
The Grandmaster tried to speak, but the shadowy Dao Net had already wrapped tightly around him.
Tendrils of ink poured into him from the crown of his head.
The pupils in the Grandmaster's eyes vanished, leaving only pitch-black orbs.
His struggles slowly ceased.
Li Fan was using the Ink Killer to corrupt the Grandmaster's cultivated Dao path.
Li Fan had assumed that since the Grandmaster had clung to the Dao of Fantasy's Birth for millennia, it must be the path he cultivated.
But after following the Ink Killer's corruption into the Grandmaster's very core, he was startled to realize he was mistaken.
"The Grandmaster isn't like the Hunger Immortal, who experienced distorted time due to cultivating the Dao of [Hunger]—tens of thousands of years passing for him in what was only a few days for the outside world. This man had genuinely been comprehending the Dao with the phantasmal shadow since the era of the Xuantian King."
"After spending so many ages in constant contact with the phantasmal shadow of Fantasy's Birth, even a pig would have gained a profound understanding of its Dao. And yet, this Grandmaster..."
"Since our encounter, he has relied almost entirely on the shadow for protection. His own ability to avert disaster is practically nonexistent."
Even though Li Fan had used the Ink Killer's power to enter the Grandmaster's core...
What he found there was far too... shallow.
It wasn't just his comprehension of the Dao, but also his experiences and memories.
It was nothing like the depth one would expect from the Tiandu Grandmaster, a figure who had presided over the Heavenly Capital and watched over the Xuanhuang Realm for tens of thousands of years.
Li Fan looked around, instinctively sensing that something was amiss.
Looking at the empty space around him, he was suddenly reminded of the high-wall experimental site, of the countless cubic star seas arrayed side by side.
"Perhaps... this is just one part of the Grandmaster's inner world?"
Li Fan followed his intuition.
Boundless ink erupted from his form.
Within breaths, it completely flooded the space.
Then, under immense and terrifying pressure, it began to seep elsewhere.
Boom! Boom!
As cracks spiderwebbed through the void, a deluge of ink surged beyond the Grandmaster's superficial reality.
He had suddenly broken into a world teeming with life.
Countless figures floated everywhere, filling the sky.
Though they all shared the same face, they were, without a doubt, all the Tiandu Grandmaster!
"These people... seem a bit familiar."
Among these figures, Li Fan recognized several familiar faces.
They were the mortals and cultivators of Yuandao Province.
Lan Yu, Dugu Xi, Dugu Shi, Feng Mu, and others.
Their expressions were all different—some were beside themselves with rage, others were paralyzed with terror, and some simply looked on with detached indifference.
"Are all the inhabitants of Yuandao Province merely transformations of the Tiandu Grandmaster?"
This was the first thought that flashed through Li Fan's mind.
But he quickly realized that couldn't be right.
The real inhabitants of Yuandao Province were still living their lives, completely unaffected by the Grandmaster's capture.
Then Li Fan remembered the strange phenomenon in Yuandao Province—the ten years of time that would mysteriously vanish.
Understanding dawned in an instant.
"It wasn't that ten years actually disappeared. Instead, every living being in the province was placed in a state of stasis."
"Only the Grandmaster was able to move freely."
"During that decade, he created a perfect replica of every living being in Yuandao Province within himself."
"And as for his purpose..."
Li Fan seized the figure of "Lan Yu."
"Although it's not the real Lan Yu... but..."
Li Fan could still sense the aura of comprehension of the [Dao of Life and Death] emanating from it.
In fact, its understanding seemed even more profound than that of the real Lan Yu he had once known.
Li Fan gazed at the countless, varied forms of the Grandmaster floating in the sky.
Each one was comprehending a different Dao path!
(End of this chapter)
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