Chapter 1526: The Painting that Hid the Reverse Flow Boat
"In this world stands the Ruo Tree, consuming life day and night,"
"Life and death know no cycle, only longevity remains..."
Li Fan slowly recited the lines that belonged to the Ruo Tree while simultaneously delving into its memories. The tree itself, meanwhile, cowered in a corner, trembling uncontrollably as Li Fan explored its very essence.
The time from the Xuanhuang Realm's birth to the present was an immeasurably long stretch of ages. Yet, from Li Fan's perspective as an observer, it took no more than a dozen breaths to review.
"This is what they call longevity..." Li Fan mused, shaking his head slightly.
Perhaps due to its long period in a near-death state, the Ruo Tree's memories were not particularly clear. There were even vast, empty gaps at certain critical junctures. Nevertheless, it was enough to give Li Fan a general understanding of the Xuanhuang Realm's history.
From the Ruo Tree's perspective, the Xuanhuang Realm could be roughly divided into three periods.
The first period stretched from the dawn of the Xuanhuang Realm to the rise of countless cultivation sects. During this time, the world was still under the control of the Immortal Realm. The Ruo Tree even retained memories of True Immortals using it to balance and adjust the lifespans of all living beings.
The second period began with the shattering of the Immortal Realm and ended with the sudden fall of the Xuantian Sect. Throughout this era, the Xuantian King replaced the True Immortals as the helmsman of the Xuanhuang Realm. The marks of his various modifications to the Ruo Tree and the world itself remain imprinted upon its body to this day.
This had been the Ruo Tree's most liberating period. The Ten Great Immortal Sects, and later the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and the Dharma Spreader Heavenly Venerate, all claimed to control the Ruo Tree and divide its longevity fruits. In reality, however, their control was qualitatively different from that of the True Immortals and the Xuantian King.
Their supposed mastery was merely the act of harvesting the fruit once it ripened. If the flow of life force in the Xuanhuang Realm ran into a deficit and the tree could not bear fruit, they were utterly helpless.
In contrast, the True Immortals and the Xuantian King of old could use the Ruo Tree to forcibly extract the life force of every living being in the Xuanhuang Realm to coalesce the longevity fruits.
In short, it was the vast difference between a true controller and a mere user.
This was also why the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance did nothing when the Ruo Tree fell ill and its vitality withered. Both the Heavenly Doctor and the Dharma Spreader had attempted to treat it. They failed because of the unique creation restrictions embedded within the tree's core.
A creation of a True Immortal could naturally only be controlled by a True Immortal.
What's more, the Ruo Tree, and indeed the entire Xuanhuang Realm, was far more than an ordinary creation of a True Immortal.
Yet now, having gained absolute control over the Ruo Tree through the immense life force within his own body, Li Fan—in his merely mortal form—found the restrictions upon it profoundly familiar.
The theoretical chasm between mortal and immortal proved no obstacle. As if guided by instinct, Li Fan cracked and bypassed the restrictions just a few moments after detecting them, the process as natural as breathing.
The heavily guarded immortal restrictions, in the face of the abundant green vitality Li Fan commanded, were as if completely defenseless!
At that moment, Li Fan had not only become the Ruo Tree, but also its master.
The core of the sky-supporting ancient tree, now brimming with renewed life, was covered in patterns of extreme complexity.
Although it seemed to be Li Fan's first time seeing them, he quickly understood the meaning behind these patterns after a moment's observation. What intrigued him most were the modifications left behind by the Xuantian King.
After careful contemplation, Li Fan began to grasp the Xuantian King's intent in modifying the Ruo Tree back then.
"To divert a portion of life force from within the Ruo Tree for his own use."
"Perhaps this is one of the main reasons for the imbalance in the Xuanhuang Realm's life force circulation and the Ruo Tree's rapid decline. But where was this diverted life force sent?"
Li Fan frowned slightly. His perspective instantly shrank, surveying the entire vicinity of the Ruo Tree. He didn't have many memories of the Xuantian King, but whether it was his own faint intuition or what he had seen in the Ruo Tree's memories, this figure was undoubtedly among the most powerful in the history of the Xuanhuang Realm. Even though he had been gone for countless years, Li Fan dared not be careless.
The Ruo Tree's roots and branches spread throughout the whole of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Soon, Li Fan followed one of its branches and tracked the separated stream of life force to its destination.
It led to a seemingly ordinary Daoist temple. Inside were an old man, a young Daoist child, and a common-looking pool of water.
The old man was at the Nascent Soul stage, and the child didn't appear to be human. And as for the pool...
"Hmm?"
Upon seeing this scene, a primal sense of crisis flared within Li Fan's heart. It came not from the old man or the child, but from the pool of water.
An image of countless wondrous treasures twinkling like stars within the pool instantly surfaced in his mind. The vision ended with the terrifying sight of a cat leaping up and swallowing all the treasures of the heavens in a single gulp.
"The Fishing Pool..."
"A cat?"
Li Fan instinctively halted his advance, even though the body he currently inhabited was merely an extension of the Ruo Tree.
He did not enter the temple but watched from afar, tracing the path of the life force diverted from the Ruo Tree.
Observing carefully, Li Fan finally realized that the life force was not being directed toward the temple or the Fishing Pool, but into the nearby mountain forest. The two were simply in close proximity, and the Fishing Pool was so eye-catching that it had led to his initial misjudgment.
Putting the Fishing Pool aside for the moment, Li Fan followed the siphoned life force to its true destination.
Upon stepping into the underground space, he couldn't help but be taken aback.
"This method of condensation..."
"Though a vast amount of life force is gathered here, none of it leaks out. If I were not the Ruo Tree at this moment, I doubt I would have sensed the vitality converged below, even standing directly on the surface!"
"This is a technique worth learning."
Li Fan's greatest problem at present was the uncontrollable leakage of his life force. The vitality contained within him was simply too immense. Even if just a billionth of his aura escaped, to any outside observer, it would be an absolute, unparalleled treasure. This situation only grew more severe the more he activated his latent life force.
To find a potential solution here of all places, he began to observe with great focus.
It seemed that even with the knowledge from his forgotten memories, he could only partially comprehend the arrangement here. This truly surprised Li Fan.
This was the first time he had encountered such a situation since this new simulation began.
"Although I cannot comprehend its workings, I can still determine the purpose of this life force."
Li Fan's gaze swept left and right.
Buried within this underground space was an entire village. Aside from some buildings and objects, there were no other living beings present. The guided life force from the Ruo Tree served, on one hand, to maintain the village in its original state.
On the other hand, it was all converging inside a single house within the village.
"From the time the Xuantian King made his modifications until now, the continuously drawn life force adds up to an extremely vast amount. Though still less than a ten-thousandth of my own, it is far greater than the scale currently on display."
Li Fan's heart tightened. After a moment of contemplation, he finally approached slowly.
He stood outside the house for a moment before finally pushing the door open.
Following the flow of life force, he crossed the small courtyard and came to the most central room in the back of the house.
Li Fan's steps came to an abrupt halt. Through the door and window, he could vaguely make out a figure standing inside!
However, by observing through the converged life force of the Ruo Tree, Li Fan ultimately determined that the figure was not a living being in the conventional sense.
After a moment of hesitation, Li Fan decided to investigate further.
The truth was just as he had suspected. The so-called "figure" in the room was merely a painting.
"Why does this painting need to be nourished by life force?" A flicker of doubt crossed Li Fan's mind.
The painting depicted several young children playing together in the mountains. Among them, a boy and a girl held hands. The moment Li Fan saw them, he felt a faint sense of familiarity.
"This is the Xuantian King. And..."
It was as if another switch had been flipped. A flash of imagery in his mind told him that the girl beside the Xuantian King must be his childhood sweetheart.
Li Fan pressed his temples, restoring the brain that had just exploded from being unable to handle the sudden influx of information. Only then did he continue to observe the scroll before him.
Due to the massive infusion of life force, the children in the painting seemed to have come alive. The Xuantian King, in particular, was looking straight ahead. It was as if he were looking out of the painting!
For a brief second, Li Fan almost had the illusion that the young Xuantian King had glanced at him.
But as he studied it further, Li Fan discovered that the young Xuantian King was not the most peculiar part of this painting.
In an inconspicuous corner of the painting, a long-haired man in tattered clothes lay outside one of the village houses.
His face was obscured by his hair and beard, making it impossible to see his features. The man was gazing distantly at the group of children playing outside the village, his expression strange.
Resting on the man's chest was a palm-sized wooden boat.
Looking closely, one could faintly see the faces of those same children reflected in the boat's windows!
"What does this mean?"
The painting seemed to possess a special allure, captivating Li Fan's mind without him realizing it. No matter what he thought about, his gaze would ultimately return to that small wooden boat.
The boat appeared to have weathered the eons, becoming scarred and dilapidated. It looked as if it might shatter at any moment. However, seemingly nourished by the endless life force, it was still able to maintain its form.
As Li Fan stared, he became lost in a daze, and in the boat's window, he saw his own reflection. Just as he couldn't resist reaching out a hand to touch the boat...
His eyes met those of his reflection.
Memories that had once vanished suddenly resurfaced. Li Fan snatched his hand back as if he had received an electric shock.
"The Xuantian King appears to be the most fortunate individual in the history of the Xuanhuang Realm. He always managed to turn peril into safety, to find auspicious outcomes in disaster. He even managed to safely avoid the great calamity that destroyed the Immortal Realm and claimed the lives of countless immortals..."
Li Fan's gaze focused on the wooden boat in the scroll. "Could this be the legendary Reverse Flow Boat?"
"One of the three great treasures for escaping worldly calamity..."
Li Fan forcefully channeled his life force to mend his severe injuries, trying his best to recall more.
"However, this was a treasure clearly forged after the destruction of the Immortal Realm. How could it be in the hands of the Xuantian King before the great calamity struck?"
"Reverse flow... could he have actually succeeded?"
Li Fan couldn't help but turn his gaze back to the disheveled man holding the wooden boat.
Ultimately, his current body was insufficient to support the recovery of all his memories.
Li Fan temporarily withdrew from his recollections.
Looking at the scroll before him, he showed a rare moment of hesitation.
This painting had been nourished by the Ruo Tree's life force for ten thousand years. And now that Li Fan had become the new Ruo Tree, he could, in theory, use that same life force to envelop the scroll and take it away.
However, he would then have to face the unknown dangers lurking within the painting.
Li Fan took no immediate action, instead pondering the matter of the Xuantian King's disappearance.
"I seem to have investigated this before. The Xuantian King was last seen disappearing into the Fishing Pool."
"As for whether he disappeared voluntarily or was forced..."
"In that case, this scroll must have been left behind intentionally. Was it for his childhood sweetheart? Yet there was no mention of it in the messages he left for her. Clearly, he did not want her to know of its existence."
"If this scroll truly conceals the Reverse Flow Boat, then why would the Xuantian King abandon a treasure capable of defying heaven and changing fate?"
...
These were questions that could not be answered by mere contemplation.
In the Grand Preceptor's Manor in Xuanjing City of the Great Xuan small world, Li Fan's true self confirmed that he could return to the beginning of the simulation at any moment. Feeling the boundless life force within his body, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes as he made his decision.
"Timidity will get me nowhere. It is only a simulation, after all. Even if I am gravely injured, the worst that can happen is another bout of amnesia and being fed a few bowls of talisman water."
"Rather than leaving this mystery as a hidden danger, it's better to uncover its true nature right now!"
"Since life force is useful to it, then I shall give it life force!"
...
In the Xuanhuang Realm, Li Fan's avatar acted accordingly.
The look of apprehension vanished from his eyes. He slowly exhaled a breath of longevity qi, which surged toward the scroll before him.
This wisp of longevity qi was the essence he had condensed since beginning his cultivation in this life. It surpassed the life force he had bestowed upon Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi, and even what he had used to possess the Ruo Tree, by several orders of magnitude.
Even Li Fan himself turned somewhat pale after releasing this condensed qi.
But the effect was immediate.
Li Fan stared intently at the changes before him.
Faced with the sudden influx of life force, the scroll accepted it all without refusal. No matter how much vitality was offered, it absorbed it without fail.
Strands of green began to appear within the scroll.
The scene within the painting changed accordingly as the life force poured in. On the ground, green grass and vibrant flowers bloomed everywhere. In the sky, seven-colored auspicious clouds rolled in.
And the wooden boat, which had been on the verge of decay and ruin, was restored to a pristine state at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The boat's transformation caught the attention of the disheveled man who held it.
His hair and beard flew back, revealing his true face beneath.
The man suddenly looked up, his gaze piercing through the canvas.
His eyes met Li Fan's.
Li Fan then felt the world spin around him, and his consciousness was instantly sucked into the painting!
Before he could even struggle, he felt a hand press down on his shoulder.
"The Dao of Longevity?"
The disheveled man's voice was filled with utter astonishment.
(End of Chapter)
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