Chapter 1527: The Hidden Emperor Builds an Immortal Boat
Seized in an instant, Li Fan was inwardly startled, but his words betrayed no weakness.
He shot back the same question, "The Reverse Flow Boat?"
His eyes were fixed on the wooden boat resting on the disheveled man's shoulder, its exterior now looking completely refurbished.
The disheveled man chuckled and released his grip on Li Fan.
"As expected of Shou Qiu Gong's disciple, your insight is truly remarkable." He made no attempt to hide it, openly admitting the identity of the treasure in his hand.
"Shou Qiu Gong..." Li Fan repeated the name silently, a name both familiar and strange, as a torrent of images flashed through his mind. He also became aware of something unusual about his body.
After entering this painting, he found that when he tried to recall the past, the piercing pain that usually wracked his skull was gone. It seemed he could freely browse his memories.
Yet, a deep-seated intuition warned him that doing so would lead to a terrible end.
Seeing Li Fan's silence, the disheveled man wasn't annoyed. Instead, he posed a different question. "As a disciple of Shou Qiu, you should have no interest in my Reverse Flow Boat. So, young friend, what brings you here?"
"I thought I would never see another soul in this lifetime," the disheveled man remarked with a sigh.
Li Fan noticed that while he had channeled a vast amount of life force into the painting, it seemed to have been completely devoured by the Reverse Flow Boat. The disheveled man, its master, hadn't received a single drop. He remained unchanged.
Though his face was that of a middle-aged man, it exuded an ineffable aura of death.
Brimming with immense life force himself, Li Fan was naturally extremely sensitive to its presence.
In that brief silence, he finally confirmed his suspicion: the disheveled man before him was not a living being, but something akin to a projection.
Nevertheless, Li Fan didn't let his guard down.
After all, the power the man had just displayed was terrifying. If a mere phantom projection could exert such pressure, it was difficult to imagine what realm he had reached in his prime.
"The Great Dao of Longevity, a disciple of Shou Qiu."
"Could this be the source of the endless life force within me?" Li Fan vaguely recalled something more.
Since the man showed no obvious hostility, Li Fan decided to press his advantage and probe for more information.
He said in a low voice, "Sir, you're making a rather broad assumption. Why couldn't a disciple of Shou Qiu covet a treasure like the Reverse Flow Boat? To reverse the flow of time—what an incredible opportunity! It might not be any less profound than the Great Dao of Longevity!"
The disheveled man looked at Li Fan, a flash of surprise in his eyes.
Then, as if reaching some conclusion, his expression softened into a smile. He then tossed the wooden boat to Li Fan.
"Shou Qiu Gong must be trapped in the Eternal Silent Void Realm, which would explain why he only passed down his lineage without having the time to properly instruct his disciples. Here, take a look at this Reverse Flow Boat. See if it's as wondrous as you imagine."
If the man dared to throw it, Li Fan dared to catch it.
With the legendary Reverse Flow Boat in his hands, he began to inspect it closely.
As if sensing the endless life force within Li Fan, the boat began to pull at it greedily, like a black hole. Li Fan didn't cut off the flow entirely, consciously allowing a thin stream of his vitality to trickle into it while using that connection to sense the boat's internal state.
He had always been curious why this treasure, rumored to be capable of reversing time, required life force to sustain itself, just like a living creature.
The palm-sized wooden boat was as heavy as a mountain. Li Fan had to exert all his strength just to hold it steady. His consciousness followed the stream of life force, venturing deep inside the vessel.
He discovered that the boat's internal condition was even worse than its exterior suggested.
Alarming cracks riddled every inch of its interior, like a web of hideous scars. Peering through these fissures, Li Fan glimpsed countless scenes that did not belong to this time and space.
A dawning realization struck Li Fan: this was no illusion. The images were more than mere phantoms. If one were to fall into those cracks, they would surely become lost in the turbulent currents of time.
Steering his consciousness clear of the perilous fissures, Li Fan tried to pinpoint where his life force was going within the Reverse Flow Boat.
The pervasive temporal fissures distorted his senses, making it difficult to track the energy. It took considerable effort before he finally understood.
"Reverse flow... against the current."
Li Fan crouched, gently stroking the boat's deck, deep in thought. "It appears to be an object, but it's actually a living thing. To travel upstream against time, it must consume its own lifespan. Under the relentless wash of temporal forces, the cost is hundreds, even thousands of times greater. And besides life force... it seems to be consuming something else..."
Li Fan's eyes narrowed.
From his perspective, the Reverse Flow Boat was like a dying old man. It desperately absorbed external vitality to cling to life, but it was barely enough to keep it from fading away completely. And it was hard to say how much longer even that could last.
If Li Fan hadn't arrived today and contributed such a massive amount of life force, this world-shaking immortal treasure might have one day faded into nothingness, silently, along with the painting that housed it.
"How could this be?"
A wave of disappointment washed over Li Fan.
He had thought he'd found a supreme treasure capable of reversing time, only to discover it was a nearly ruined husk, severely depleted and on the verge of collapse.
After checking it several more times and confirming the grim reality, Li Fan withdrew his consciousness from the boat.
"So? Even if I gave it to you, would you want it? I'm afraid you'd drown in the river of time long before you reached your destination..." the disheveled man said with a wry smile.
He didn't expect Li Fan's response, which completely broke from the script. "I'll take it," Li Fan said without hesitation. "Of course, I'll take it."
"Even a damaged Reverse Flow Boat represents a chance to survive a hopeless situation. No matter how slim the hope of success, when all other paths are closed, this becomes the only way out," Li Fan declared, his expression solemn.
The disheveled man stared, the smile slowly fading from his lips.
After a long silence, he finally spoke, his voice tinged with melancholy. "You're not wrong."
"If Xuanyuan Hong had possessed that kind of understanding back then, he wouldn't have simply left the Reverse Flow Boat here."
Hearing the familiar name, Li Fan immediately pressed, "Xuanyuan Hong... is he the Xuantian King from the Xuanhuang Realm? Did he achieve all that he did because of this boat?"
The disheveled man's eyes grew distant with reminiscence. He shook his head slowly. "In my view, Xuanyuan Hong's success was thirty percent luck and thirty percent his own tenacity and effort. As for the remaining forty percent, the Reverse Flow Boat accounted for only half of it. The other half..."
"...the Mountain and Sea Fishing Ground deserves the rest of the credit." The disheveled man's gaze drifted beyond the confines of the painting.
"The Mountain and Sea Fishing Ground?" Li Fan was startled for a moment before realizing the man must be referring to the Fishing Pool.
"But why name it after mountains and seas?"
In a trance, visions of a boundless ocean and towering mountain ranges flooded Li Fan's mind once more. Along with this mountain and sea phenomenon came a vision of infinite light and heat, of countless possibilities melting away in a blazing incandescence.
It felt as if he were another step closer to recovering his memories completely.
But at that critical moment, the disheveled man placed a hand on his shoulder again, pulling Li Fan from the reverie of his memories and back to reality.
Only then did Li Fan realize the peril he was in.
Both his clone in the Xuanhuang Realm and his true body in the Great Xuan's small world...
...their heads had exploded.
More than half of their bodies were evaporating from the top down, annihilated by the sheer power of the mountain and sea vision. Even the Great Dao of Longevity within him could not halt this process of dissolution.
If the disheveled man hadn't awakened him in time, Li Fan himself would have soon become nothing more than a phantom.
"Your condition... seems a bit unusual," the disheveled man observed, studying Li Fan with a look of surprise and uncertainty.
Li Fan clasped his hands in a gesture of respect. "Senior has a discerning eye indeed. To be frank, I seem to have encountered a problem in my cultivation. Most of my memories are gone, and when I try to recall even a little, my body suffers a severe backlash. I've had to claw my way back from being a mortal, re-cultivating to my current state purely on instinct and the aid of the Great Dao of Longevity within me."
"As for Shou Qiu Gong, whom you mentioned..."
Li Fan paused. "I do have some impression, but only a vague image." As he spoke, he manifested the image of a solitary figure—Shou Qiu, gazing out at the sea—before the disheveled man.
The disheveled man's expression grew solemn in respect at the sight of Shou Qiu Gong.
He then studied Li Fan again before speaking slowly. "The Great Dao of Longevity within you is indeed his. Since he is present in you, it cannot be a falsehood."
"As for the Mountain and Sea Great Dao, however, I was merely fortunate enough to hear Shou Qiu Gong explain a little about it once. I do not know the details, so I cannot help you much with that."
"But don't worry too much. With the protection of the Great Dao of Longevity, you will remain unharmed even if this realm is annihilated." There was a trace of envy in the man's voice.
Li Fan nodded. "Thank you for your guidance, Senior. May I ask your name?"
The disheveled man waved a dismissive hand. "I am already dead. A name is like smoke in the wind; what is the point of mentioning it?"
But Li Fan insisted, "One day, when I recover my memories and return to my master's side, I will certainly tell him of today's events. Though you have fallen, Senior, this phantom of you remains. With my master's power, it might not be impossible to bring you back from death."
The disheveled man seemed to hold no hope for this.
But after a moment's thought, he seemed to change his mind.
"I am the Mount Tai Emperor of the Immortal World."
"I ruled for a thousand years, untroubled by the position, and then retired into seclusion. When the Dao Annihilation Calamity began and grew ever more intense, I secretly sought a way to avert it. This Rotten Axe Dojo was built under my direction," the man explained calmly.
The hidden emperor of the Immortal World, the Rotten Axe Dojo, the Dao Annihilation Calamity...
Each keyword triggered a fresh cascade of memories in Li Fan's mind.
It took him a long time to recover from the severe backlash.
Li Fan now looked at the man with a new expression.
"Since you were once the ruling Immortal Emperor of the Immortal World, your power must have been immense. How did you end up in this state?" The question was blunt, but Li Fan asked it directly, his voice filled with curiosity.
He held up the Reverse Flow Boat. "Was it because of this?"
The Mount Tai Emperor nodded. "That was part of it. But the main reason was that my cultivation was insufficient. I failed at the final hurdle."
He sighed, seemingly lost in recollection.
After a long pause, he continued, "You sent your consciousness into the boat just now. Did you sense its life force?"
"I did. This treasure seems to be an object, but it is actually alive."
"That's because this Reverse Flow Boat was forged from my own body," the Mount Tai Emperor said with a faint smile.
Li Fan's eyes widened in shock.
He looked at the disheveled man, certain he wasn't joking.
"But the rumors say the Reverse Flow Boat was created by a so-called 'Reverse Immortal'..."
"Oh? A 'Reverse Immortal'? I've never heard of such a person. But there may not be only one Reverse Flow Boat in existence. As long as one comprehends the Dao of Reverse Flow, it's not impossible to forge another," the Mount Tai Emperor said calmly.
"Comprehend the Dao of Reverse Flow?"
A thought struck Li Fan. "The Xuantian King?"
The Mount Tai Emperor was noncommittal. "I am just a lonely spirit. How could I know everything about the outside world? But if there is anyone in this world who could create another Reverse Flow Boat, I would imagine Xuanyuan Hong is the most likely candidate. After all, when we parted ways, his understanding of the Dao of Reverse Flow was already quite formidable."
Li Fan remained silent.
"There are some things one can only understand through experience. For instance, while most events can be altered by reversing time, it is the tiny, unchangeable fraction that ultimately decides the final destination of the river of time."
"No matter how you alter its course, the river will always flow into the same calm, vast ocean in the end."
"Without the power to change the ocean itself, reversing time is nothing but a futile struggle," the Mount Tai Emperor said calmly.
Listening to his words, Li Fan felt a strange sense of familiarity.
It seemed he himself had once had a similar thought.
"Unrelated to the final outcome."
The phrase surfaced in his mind, perfectly matching the scene the Mount Tai Emperor had just described.
"Though I once held the title of Immortal Emperor, how many emperors has the Immortal World seen over the ages?"
"And how many have truly transcended, like Shou Qiu Gong?"
"You are his disciple, blessed with the Great Dao of Longevity. You already possess the foundation for transcendence, making you far greater than any ordinary Immortal Emperor."
Despite the Mount Tai Emperor's praise, Li Fan felt no honor, only a growing discomfort.
It was as if he didn't truly accept the identity of "disciple of Shou Qiu."
"Strange."
"Could it be..."
Li Fan suppressed the strange thought and continued along the emperor's line of reasoning. "Does a figure like my master possess the power you speak of—the power to change the entire ocean?"
"He has but a sliver of a possibility. Within the Eternal Silent Void Realm, I fear even Shou Qiu Gong himself must tread with extreme difficulty."
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