Chapter 1509: Fusing with the Great Rat Immortal
"The three Sage Lords have reached such a level of power? The sole sovereign of all realms..." For a moment, Li Fan was utterly stunned.
"The Immortal World is boundless, and from ancient times to the present, it has produced countless prodigies. Yet, only four beings have ever earned the title of 'Sage'. Even my master, with his heaven-defying power, was merely revered by the world as 'Gong' and could not claim the title of 'Sage'. How could you underestimate them, junior brother?" Cheng Dao shook his head.
"It's not that I'm underestimating them," Li Fan said with a wry smile. "It's just that my understanding of the Immortal World is based entirely on vague records, making it impossible to form an accurate picture. If it weren't for your guidance, senior brother..."
"The sole sovereign of all realms, or perhaps the sole sovereign of the Mountain and Sea. That must be the legendary state of true transcendence, right? The Connecting Mountains Saint and the Returning to Sea Saint achieved their Daos by opening the Upper Mountain and connecting to the Infinite Spring, respectively. How did Saint Tai Yi reach that step? Could there be something in existence comparable to the Mountain and Sea?" Li Fan tactfully changed the subject.
Cheng Dao smiled. "While your senior brother is knowledgeable, the secrets of a Sage Lord's apotheosis are beyond my ken. Unless the Sage Lords themselves reveal such things, who could possibly know? However, it is true that Saint Tai Yi is equal in power to the Connecting Mountains and Returning to Sea Saints. The Connecting Mountains Saint himself admitted this in the presence of Immortal Emperor Louhuang and a host of Nameless True Immortals. As for the last one to achieve the Dao, the Scripture Grave Great Saint..."
"Forgive my saying so, but in the eyes of the other three Saints, the Scripture Grave was likely just a talented junior."
"The three are the Saints of the Mountain and Sea. But the Scripture Grave is merely the Sage Lord of our world."
"Of course, this judgment is based on the state of things when the Immortal World was destroyed. After so many years, one cannot presume to know what level the Scripture Grave Great Saint has reached. Perhaps he, like the other three, has also taken that final step toward transcendence."
...
"Shanhua has already located the immortal coffin, following Kui Xing's guidance."
"Just as you predicted, senior brother, the coffin is indeed a condensed manifestation of the Great Dao. At their current speed, the immortal within will arrive in my Primordial Desolation Immortal Realm in about ten hours," Li Fan said, showing Cheng Dao the images sent by his clone.
"Should we choose another battlefield? A fight between us and an immortal from the Other Shore might endanger this continent," Cheng Dao suggested, glancing at the world below.
"If it's destroyed, I can simply remake it. If it cannot withstand even this trial, then its destruction is of no great loss. Besides, while the beings in this realm are a bit weak, they can still serve as support," Li Fan declined.
Cheng Dao, however, praised him sincerely. "Your mindset, junior brother, is much like that of the Sages of the Immortal World."
Li Fan chuckled softly but didn't respond.
"Still, with a great enemy before us, some preparations are necessary..."
Cheng Dao pondered for a moment before speaking. "If you don't mind, junior brother, I have a divine ability I can impart to you. Though I don't know which Dao the Nameless Immortal in the coffin has embodied, this ability should be more than enough for self-preservation, even if it cannot defeat the enemy."
Li Fan was overjoyed. "Senior brother, what are you talking about? I couldn't ask for more!"
Without any ceremony, Cheng Dao tapped the space between Li Fan's brows.
In an instant, Li Fan's body and soul felt as if they had returned to the Infinite Sea, washed over by countless, rapidly changing scenes.
He could see it all clearly. Most of the visions were of a solitary figure sitting on a mountain, gazing out at the sea.
It was Shou Qiu Gong!
Li Fan had seen this scene countless times in the "Shou Qiu Prose."
But what Cheng Dao was transmitting now was different. This was a third-person perspective, looking up in reverence.
It was not Shou Qiu Gong's own enlightenment.
Shou Qiu Gong was not only sitting on the mountain gazing at the sea, but he was also shielding a spirit stone beneath him, protecting it from the cataclysmic collisions of the Mountain and Sea.
"The Mountain and Sea Unmoving Body."
"When you channel this divine ability, you can be like Shou Qiu Gong, facing the monumental, ever-changing tides of the Mountain and Sea, yet remaining eternally steadfast."
"Beyond defense, depending on your own comprehension of the Mountain and Sea's phenomena, you can mimic the erosive power of its tides through your Dharma body. Of course, this doesn't mean you can truly replicate the Mountain and Sea. Rather, you pull your opponent into the vast, boundless realm of the Mountain and Sea as you perceive it, making them feel as if they are the ones keeping watch from the mountain!"
"If your opponent has the prowess of Shou Qiu Gong, or has inherited his legacy, they can naturally ignore this pressure. But for an ordinary person..."
"Especially for those who have truly experienced the endless despair within the Mountain and Sea. After countless eons of escape, to be plunged back into that nightmare... they would likely break down on the spot!"
As Li Fan comprehended the "Mountain and Sea Unmoving Body," he narrated its wonders aloud.
He wasn't speaking for himself, but for Cheng Dao.
Cheng Dao nodded repeatedly as he listened, deeply satisfied with how quickly Li Fan had grasped it.
"This technique of yours, senior brother, is truly brilliant."
"It won't harm allies, and it will have a miraculous effect on the True Immortals of this world. The more they fear the Dao Annihilation Calamity and shirk their responsibilities, the more they will be affected by this divine ability," Li Fan continued, heaping on the praise.
At the same time, he activated the "Mountain and Sea Unmoving Body."
Li Fan was still Li Fan.
But around him, it was as if the Mountain and Sea swirled.
Cheng Dao's eyes lit up. "Junior brother, your understanding of the Mountain and Sea is quite profound, isn't it?"
"Only because my master and senior brother taught me well!"
...
For the next while, Li Fan consolidated the Unmoving Body divine ability with Cheng Dao's help. Although he already had the protection of "Fantasy Becomes Truth," one could never have too many defensive abilities. It might just save his life at some future moment.
Thus, Li Fan studied with intense focus, promptly asking Cheng Dao whenever he had a question.
Far from finding it bothersome, Cheng Dao was pleased.
"He's here."
Li Fan suddenly retracted his Dharma body and fixed his gaze on the horizon.
The phantoms of the Mountain and Sea vanished from around him, but a strange phenomenon immediately erupted across the Primordial Desolation Immortal Realm.
Screeeech...
A grating noise, like the grinding of rusted metal, echoed across the continent. Every living being that heard it felt an uncontrollable surge of irritation welling up from the depths of their hearts.
Then, as the grinding grew louder, this irritation morphed into a powerful impulse.
Go to the source of that sound! Find its origin!
Once this impulse arose, it was nearly impossible to suppress.
In an instant, countless figures across the continent lost control and began to fly out into the void.
It was then that Li Fan's cold snort echoed across the Primordial Desolation Immortal Realm.
Under the creator god's authority, many of the beings briefly regained their senses, forcibly suppressed the urge, and returned to the surface.
But some still charged toward the sound, heedless of everything else.
It was as if that ghastly grinding noise was their eternal pursuit, more important than their lives, more important than their Dao!
"Childish mind-control tricks. Surely this immortal in the coffin has more than this?" Li Fan no longer tried to stop them, allowing the inhabitants of his continent to throw their lives away.
In his vision, a corner of the immortal coffin had indeed been pried open.
The gap was like an abyss—dark, deep, and bottomless, devouring everything that surged into it.
Any being that flew within a certain range of the coffin was swallowed by that darkness in a flash.
The sounds from within the coffin grew louder.
And now, a new, discordant noise joined the first.
If the initial sound was the slow opening of the coffin lid, the new sound was of some unknown, bizarre entity scratching at the coffin's inner walls with its nails, as if struggling to rise, to break free!
The coffin's target was clearly Li Fan's Primordial Desolation Immortal Realm.
It was constantly accelerating as it approached.
The change in sound did nothing to diminish its alluring, bewitching ive effect. Beings from the dark star sea swarmed toward the coffin like moths to a flame.
With every life it devoured, its speed increased.
As Li Fan's expression grew grave, the immortal coffin arrived in the skies above the Primordial Desolation Immortal Realm!
"Allow me to test him first, senior brother."
Cheng Dao suddenly rose, took a single step, and in the next moment, appeared near the immortal coffin.
"You dare make such a racket in my presence?"
His seemingly frail body pulsed with what looked like an infinite wellspring of energy. He reached out and slammed a hand against the coffin.
With every move, the faint roar of the Mountain and Sea echoed, overpowering the strange noises emanating from the coffin.
In that instant, Li Fan felt as if he were witnessing the magnificent sight of mountains and seas colliding, of monstrous waves crashing against the shore.
"Is this Cheng Dao's true, unrestrained power?" Li Fan's pupils constricted.
Under the scouring force of the Mountain and Sea, the immortal coffin trembled violently.
Already dilapidated, it was now pushed to its limit by this baptism of primordial power.
It looked as if it was about to disintegrate.
But the great hope of the Guangwu Xinghai had never been just a coffin. It was the immortal from the Other Shore within.
Thud!
A massive, muffled sound erupted from inside the coffin.
It was as if some entity, in response to the roar of the Mountain and Sea outside, was striking the coffin fiercely from within.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The banging grew more rapid.
It was like thunder piercing the night sky, like a lantern cutting through the fog.
Even with the echo of the Mountain and Sea all around, it could no longer suppress the sound of the impacts.
At its peak, the banging suddenly ceased.
In that moment, the immortal coffin shattered into pieces. A black shadow burst forth, lunging straight for Cheng Dao.
"Senior brother, be careful!" Li Fan shouted a warning.
Before the words left his mouth, the black shadow had already clashed with Cheng Dao.
Droplets of water kicked up by the storm of their collision even reached Li Fan, who was watching from a great distance.
The Primordial Desolation Continent, built to the same specifications as the Immortal World, was like a lone boat tossed on a stormy sea, swaying violently.
As the gales swept over it, Li Fan felt the stable Dao principles of his continent slowly being blown into disarray.
He paid no mind to his realm, merely letting the five Heavenly Emperors and thirteen Heavenly Scars emerge to maintain order.
Li Fan turned his gaze toward Cheng Dao and the black shadow.
The black shadow, the immortal from the coffin, had revealed its true form.
It was not human.
It was a massive rat!
To simply call it a rat might be inaccurate. Its sudden lunges, the swiping of its claws, the gnashing of its teeth—its movements were uncannily human.
Its fur was a brilliant, iridescent tapestry of seven colors, as if it were dressed in embroidered silk.
On its head sat a straw hat of earthy yellow, though one edge of the hat was missing a piece, as if something had bitten it off.
The expression on the rat's face was as vivid as any human's.
Greed, solemnity, urgency—a whole spectrum of emotions flickered across it.
"A member of the strange beast race?"
Looking at the monster, Li Fan couldn't help but think of Emperor Sanmo's kin.
But he quickly dismissed the thought.
Not only did the Ten Thousand Beast Wheel show no reaction to this bizarre rat, but a telepathic warning from the fighting Cheng Dao confirmed it.
"Be careful, junior brother, this is a 'Great Rat Immortal'!"
Cheng Dao then explained what a Great Rat Immortal was.
It wasn't a Nameless True Immortal who had achieved their Dao through the path of the "Great Rat." It was the monstrous product of a True Immortal who had greedily, ceaselessly devoured other Daos until they were warped by them.
Under normal circumstances, with the myriad immortals of the Immortal World gathered, a Great Rat Immortal would not be born.
They generally only appeared in possibilities where the end of the world had come.
To maximize their chances of survival while adrift in their immortal coffins, the immortals within would do everything in their power to collect remnant Daos to fortify their vessel.
But if they drifted in the Mountain and Sea for too long, they would not only decay and perish but also suffer a backlash from the coffin forged from condensed Daos.
The realm of a Nameless True Immortal was achieved by merging the self with a single Dao.
The three thousand Great Daos were inherently incompatible. Once one had merged with a Dao, it was impossible to accommodate another.
But in the unique circumstances of drifting through the Mountain and Sea within a sealed coffin, a miracle might occur, allowing a Nameless True Immortal to be imbued with multiple Daos.
The price, however, was...
The True Immortal would be warped, twisted into a bizarre form.
The Great Rat Immortal was the most typical of these abominations.
It still possessed a sliver of consciousness but was dominated by the instinctual desire to fuse with Daos, to devour anything around it that could be of use.
"If my master encountered a True Immortal who had perished in a coffin, he might help lay them to rest. But these warped True Immortals are to be killed on sight!"
"Leaving them alive is a complete disaster!"
"Once I've suppressed this beast, I'll settle the score with that Guangwu Xinghai!" Cheng Dao's voice was tinged with fury.
Li Fan watched the Great Rat Immortal, its form flickering, each swipe of its claws causing the surrounding Daos to tremble. A strange feeling suddenly crept into his heart.
"The Guangwu Xinghai came for my method of suppressing the Dao Sword and Dao Saber. They surely wouldn't entrust such a mission to a mindless Great Rat Immortal..."
Just then, Li Fan saw a glint of cunning flash in the rat's eyes.
He quickly sent a telepathic warning: "Senior brother, be careful! This is no ordinary Great Rat Immortal."
"Someone has either possessed it or willingly fused with it!"
Hearing this, Cheng Dao's movements faltered for an instant.
At that very moment, a fine black light erupted from the Great Rat Immortal's claws.
The light exploded, enveloping Cheng Dao.
The Great Rat Immortal itself shot backward, retreating to a safe distance. Like a person, it stroked its whiskers, a smug look on its face.
"This black light..."
Li Fan sensed an aura remarkably similar to that of Ink Death.
"It seems the Rotten Axe Dojo isn't the only one researching the fusion of Mountain and Sea powers," Li Fan mused.
Though the black light was terrifying, Li Fan wasn't worried for Cheng Dao.
Anyone who could survive for billions of years by Shou Qiu Gong's side at the edge of the Mountain and Sea would not be so easily felled.
(End of Chapter)
Comments