Chapter 1500: Two Treasures Shatter the Dao Net
Chapter 1500: Two Treasures Shatter the Dao Net
Among the immortals of Shuo Xinghai, Shensi had always been one of the more affable and well-liked. The memory of his face and smile was still vivid, yet now, from the blood-red ring in Li Fan’s hand, Chaos and Shanhua sensed the unmistakable aura of his Dao.
The implication was chillingly clear.
Their former companion had been reduced to nothing more than sustenance for an artifact.
Even for powerhouses of the Nameless True Immortal realm, a wave of pity and terror was unavoidable.
But one look at Li Fan's cold, merciless eyes snapped them out of their mourning. The dead were gone. All that mattered now was staying alive.
Shanhua naturally picked up the conversation. "With Shensi gone, I'm the only one who can maintain contact with the Guangwu Xinghai for the time being. When I returned to Shuo Xinghai, I didn't venture deep into the Dao Net. Instead, I contacted Chaos from a distance to strategize."
"Therefore, [The Great Net] is still unaware that our expeditionary force of True Immortals was almost completely annihilated."
"Though so much time has passed without a report, which must have raised his suspicions, at most he'll assume we're caught in a fierce battle or a stalemate. He would never believe we were so easily and utterly defeated. If he had, he never would have approved the invasion in the first place..."
Chaos added, "It may sound like a crude plan, but the key is gaining his trust. Shanhua and I have been laying the groundwork for some time, consistently feeding him false battle reports. [The Great Net] hasn't seemed to notice anything unusual; he even proactively asked if we needed reinforcements."
"Though [The Great Net] is powerful, nearly half of his strength is tied to the Dao Net itself. If we can lure him away from it, capturing him will be far easier," Shanhua concluded.
...
After the two Nameless True Immortals finished their simple explanation, Li Fan looked at Chaos and praised him with a smile, "It seems you've been planning to surrender for quite some time. Very good, very good indeed."
Stroking the blood-red ring, Li Fan paced over to one of the celestial pillars that stood tall within the space.
"Your plan might just be feasible," he began, "but in my view, it has a fatal flaw."
His gaze drifted to the pillar, his voice turning distant.
The expressions on Chaos and Shanhua turned solemn. "We await your guidance, Great Venerable."
"Just as you were so confident you could capture me, your plan seems to assume that simply luring out [The Great Net] is enough to guarantee his defeat and suppression."
"You overestimate your own abilities and underestimate your opponent."
"Since you know nothing of his origins, his background, or his Dao, how can you be so certain that my intervention alone will be enough to subdue him?"
"Why couldn't this be a case of me letting the wolf in the door, only to be crushed by my own carelessness?"
"Or perhaps... that's precisely what you're hoping for? A false surrender, a plan within a plan, all for the sake of turning the tables?"
Li Fan's voice grew progressively colder.
Chaos and Shanhua trembled, their expressions filled with shock.
"Great Venerable, you misunderstand! We would never dare harbor such treacherous thoughts," Shanhua clarified hastily.
"We are considering this entirely for your sake, a fact the Great Dao itself can attest to," Chaos added, reaffirming his loyalty.
Inwardly, however, both were cursing their luck.
This legendary Great Venerable seemed to have undergone a drastic change in personality after the calamity that shattered the Immortal World. He was so suspicious, so mercurial, so tyrannical.
He was as bad as, if not worse than, the most ruthless Immortal Emperors of the past.
"I have no interest in what you're truly thinking. It's not important."
"After all, you'll simply side with whoever wins."
"That being the case, I have a plan of my own."
Li Fan reached out, seemingly just to touch the Wuji Heavenly Pillar. In reality, his Myriad Dao Net had already surged forth, instantly enveloping the entire pillar and the statue of the Grandmaster contained within.
Though he had spent a century comprehending the Dao of Wuji, his understanding was certainly no match for the Grandmaster—Wuji himself.
"Since the enemy is there," he declared, "we'll simply go to them."
With a thunderous roar, Li Fan wrenched the Wuji Heavenly Pillar from its place. It shrank rapidly, transforming into a simple, grayish-white stone staff in his hand.
A figure flickered into existence in the space before him.
It was Li Buren, summoned to his side.
"Catch!"
Li Fan tossed the Wuji Heavenly Staff directly to his clone.
Considering the possible existence of a "Saint Emperor Li Fan" in other timelines, he had no choice but to let his clone handle this task as well.
As he also cultivated the Myriad Dao Net, Li Buren wielded the Wuji staff with effortless ease.
Blessed with the protection of the Wuji Dao, no Dao-based art from the Primal Possibility could even approach him.
"Unless this [The Great Net] is also a visitor from another possibility, with this Wuji staff in hand, my clone is already invincible," Li Fan mused.
"Excellent for defense, but a bit lacking in offense."
As he considered this, Li Fan spat out a pair of sea-green blades—the Dao Sword and Dao Saber.
"I entrust these treasures to you as well."
"If you still cannot win, then flee at once. If you cannot even escape..."
"Then self-destruct immediately."
This entire exchange took place only within his mind.
The two witnesses, Shanhua and Chaos, knew nothing of it.
From their perspective, they only saw Li Fan distribute two supreme treasures without a moment's hesitation.
After sensing their power, they were overcome with a mixture of joy and astonishment.
They were overjoyed because they recognized the origin of the two treasures. The Dao Sword and Dao Saber had belonged to the Star-Gazing Nameless Immortal. They had once witnessed the power of these blades firsthand, which was why they had so readily cooperated with her and been convinced by her arguments. As for the gray stone staff, although they couldn't discern its secrets, the mere fact that it defied all their senses told them it was an extraordinary treasure of the highest order.
With the help of these two treasures, [The Great Net] was surely doomed to become a prisoner.
Their astonishment stemmed from the fact that Li Fan had managed to tame the formidable Dao Sword and Dao Saber in such a short time. More importantly, he had given away such priceless treasures without a hint of reluctance. If they had obtained such artifacts, they would have immediately sought a quiet, safe place to enter seclusion and study them.
Chaos thought to himself, "He didn't care for the ancient scripture from Saint Tai Yi, either. As expected of someone who served the Sage Lord for so long. His perspective is far beyond that of us vulgar beings."
"Just follow along. Whether you help or not is up to you," Li Fan instructed them coolly.
Then, with a wave of his sleeve, he sent Li Buren and the two Nameless True Immortals out from behind the High Wall.
"Though I have a ninety percent chance of success, I must still prepare for failure," Li Fan thought to himself, his gaze fixed on the distance.
The blessing of Fantasy Becomes Truth was already upon him.
He was ready to Return to Truth at the first sign of trouble.
If The Great Net could truly triumph against the combined assault of the Wuji staff, the Dao Sword, and the Dao Saber, then that being was far beyond what the current Li Fan could handle. Returning to Truth immediately would be the only correct choice.
...
In the dim expanse of the Star Sea, Li Buren shouldered the Wuji staff and, mimicking his original self, swallowed the green Dao Sword and Dao Saber. Then, transforming his body into a path, he swept up Shanhua and Chaos and shot straight for the Dao Net of Shuo Xinghai.
It was as if he had rehearsed the route of attack millions of times. With practiced ease, he aimed directly for the core region of the Shuo Xinghai Administrative Council.
Using his body as a path to traverse the cosmos, he crossed billions of miles in an instant.
Before the two Nameless True Immortals could even react, Li Buren had already halted his charge, having penetrated the Dao Net's range of influence.
Under normal circumstances, any foreign object invading the Dao Net would instantly trigger a stress response from the entire network.
Not only would the intruder face the pressure from every Dao within the net, but they would also be swarmed by countless members of the Immortal Hunt.
Even a Nameless True Immortal trapped so deep within the net would face certain death or grievous injury.
In their many years of contact with Shuo Xinghai, Shanhua and Chaos had accepted this as a fundamental truth. That was why, in all their past battles, the True Immortals had always resorted to infiltration and ambushes on the net's periphery.
But now...
Li Buren’s beeline for the very heart of their enemy completely shattered their understanding of reality.
As he tore through space, the Dao Net failed to mount any response.
The celestial web of Dao strings seemed to crumble at his touch.
Wherever the gray stone staff passed, it was like a searing flame, burning gaping holes through the Dao Net!
The Dao strings snapped one after another. The Dao Net was no longer a net!
This bizarre scene left both Chaos and Shanhua utterly dumbfounded.
Not even in their wildest, most unrealistic fantasies had they ever imagined the Dao Net being defeated so effortlessly.
While they were still lost in their stupor, Li Buren had already reached the core of the Dao Net.
The headquarters of the Immortal Hunt and the Shuo Xinghai Administrative Council were both located here.
Watching the people of Shuo Xinghai awaken from their dreamlike state and descend into chaos, the two True Immortals stared at the gray stone staff in Li Buren’s hand.
An unbelievable, yet perfectly fitting thought surfaced in their minds.
They had seen with their own eyes that this staff had transformed from one of the celestial pillars.
They had never been able to identify the Dao sealed within that pillar, but now, as the staff unleashed its divine might within the Dao Net, they could finally confirm its nature.
And so, the two Nameless beings, who had lived for unknown ages, began to tremble uncontrollably.
"Wuji..."
"The Great Venerable?"
They had previously mistaken Li Fan for the long-lost Wuji Venerable, who served under Saint Tai Yi, because Li Fan had once displayed the power of Wuji, which could dissolve all Daos.
But now, as the gray stone staff revealed the very same ability, they finally understood.
The power of Wuji did not come from the reclusive emperor.
It came from the one sealed and suppressed by him—Wuji himself!
"He is a disciple of a Sage Lord, a congenital being, of indescribable nobility!"
"The Immortal World may be shattered, but the Sage Lords have not necessarily fallen. If we anger a Sage Lord..."
"Even the Wuji Venerable ended up in such a state..."
"How could he dare..."
In an instant, countless thoughts flooded the minds of the two Nameless True Immortals.
Ultimately, they all coalesced into a profound terror of this mysterious, reclusive emperor, Li Fan.
And Chaos, more than ever, was certain of his judgment.
"It seems he has truly walked his own path to sagehood."
"Only another Sage Lord would show such disrespect to a fellow Sage Lord."
While the two immortals were reeling from the shock, Li Buren had already begun a massacre deep within the Dao Net.
After coldly declaring, "Resistance is death," and still being met with an assault from the forces of Shuo Xinghai, Li Buren unleashed the Dao Sword and Dao Saber without mercy.
Billions of green lights filled the void, like willow branches dancing in the wind.
Wherever they passed, not even a cry of alarm was left behind. All life simply vanished, leaving only emptiness.
The swirling green light only grew a little more verdant.
The Wuji staff cleared the path, while the Dao Sword and Dao Saber cleared the enemies.
Li Buren charged forward, tearing through the dense layers of the Dao Net.
He made no attempt to search for the mysterious [The Great Net] within the network. Instead, he headed straight for the four pillars of the Dao Net.
The cages that sealed the Nameless True Immortals.
As the most stable structures in the entire Dao Net, these grim prisons were like paper before the power of Wuji.
They offered no protection whatsoever.
Li Buren quickly located one of the imprisoned Nameless True Immortals.
The stone staff swung, and the cage shattered with a single blow.
The imprisoned Nameless one was pierced with countless Dao strings of different colors.
He appeared to be still deep in slumber.
Li Buren waved his hand, clearing all the Dao strings from the being's body.
Only then did the imprisoned Nameless one show signs of slowly stirring awake.
"This one seems to be the [Rich and Noble Duke]?"
Following behind Li Buren, Chaos seemed to recognize the immortal's identity and couldn't help but exclaim in shock.
Like Shou Qiu Gong, he was honored with the title of "Duke."
However, it was clear that their strengths were not on the same level.
Perhaps he had merely been touched by the Dao of "Wealth and Honor."
Li Buren paid it no mind. Before the Rich and Noble Duke could fully awaken, the power of the Myriad Dao Net flared and enveloped him in an instant.
Then he was sent directly through the High Wall to where his original body was waiting.
Seeing Li Buren's actions, Chaos, the Nameless True Immortal, started to speak but stopped himself.
He saw Shanhua shake her head slightly, and he held his tongue.
With one of the four pillars suddenly gone, the Dao Net, already riddled with holes, saw its suppressive power greatly diminish.
Both Chaos and Shanhua could feel the pressure around them lessen significantly.
"Strange. Things have already escalated to this point. Why hasn't [The Great Net] appeared yet?"
"Be careful. [The Great Net] is not one to admit defeat easily. From what I know of him, he must be gathering his power for a killing blow."
Having joined Li Buren in destroying the Dao Net, the two Nameless True Immortals were now completely bound to this reclusive emperor.
Their conflict with Shuo Xinghai had reached a point of no return; there was no possibility of reconciliation.
For the sake of their future, they had no choice but to offer a warning.
Li Buren, however, seemed completely oblivious as he proceeded to the next cage.
This time, he rescued a Nameless one whose Dao was [Rock Solid].
This immortal was in much better condition than the Rich and Noble Duke.
Despite being imprisoned for an unknown number of years, he still looked full of spirit.
The Rock Solid Nameless one stared in bewilderment at the intruders who had suddenly appeared.
Just as he was about to say something, Li Buren's Myriad Dao Net had already descended upon him.
(Chapter End)
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