Chapter 1541: Xuanhuang Gives Birth to a True Immortal
Chapter 1541: Xuanhuang Gives Birth to a True Immortal
First, a deathly silence gripped the Xuanhuang Realm. Then, an uproar erupted.
"What in the world is happening?"
"Can he possibly fight on? He should give up. It's too tragic to watch. There's no hope of victory."
"Where are those cowards from the Ten Sects! Let me through! I'm going to the Taiyuan Realm to die alongside our God of War!"
...
The vast majority of cultivators in the Xuanhuang Realm saw only one thing: "Li Ping" had risen to his feet again, as if determined to fight on. Only a select few understood the meaning behind the inexplicable aura that now erupted from him.
Their faces contorted in shock, they all shot to their feet.
"Sect Master Fang," the Lord of the Indeterminate Prison, Xiahou Yan, asked, his voice laced with disbelief, "unless my eyes deceive me, is that...?"
But as the distorted scene on the celestial screen grew more pronounced, he finally became certain. "A breakthrough," he breathed. "Is this truly the sign of a breakthrough?"
"But he's already at the pinnacle of the Dao Integration realm. If he were to advance one step further..."
Fang Dingge's mouth fell open, his face a mask of utter astonishment.
"An immortal?"
The handful of figures in the hall exchanged glances, their faces pale with shock and bewilderment.
A moment later, they all turned their gazes back to the screen in unison, terrified of missing a single detail.
On the celestial screen, the distorted ripples intensified, all centered on Li Ping's unwavering figure.
It was like a stone dropped into a vast lake, sending concentric waves of turmoil across its surface.
The Taiyuan cultivators, who had been in silent mourning, also noticed the anomaly. Casting aside their grief, they hastily launched another wave of attacks.
But a tempest of unimaginable force now raged around Li Ping.
Any creature that dared to approach was inevitably swept up by the gale, sent spinning through the air as helpless as an ant. Even cultivators at the Dao Integration realm were no exception!
Even with their full power, they couldn't get an inch closer, let alone dream of harming Li Ping.
At the eye of the storm, Li Ping's life force and aura climbed ever higher, seemingly without end. The pressure was so immense it radiated through the Golden Lock Across the Sky Array, palpable even within the Xuanhuang Realm.
Every being who laid eyes on that figure at the storm's center felt an instinctive, crushing pressure. An undeniable urge to fall to their knees in worship washed over them.
They didn't understand what was happening, but they knew it was something monumental.
A dead silence descended upon the Xuanhuang Realm. In the Taiyuan Realm, however, a rising tide of fear spurred the cultivators into a final, desperate struggle. They had to stop Li Ping's metamorphosis.
But in the end, their efforts were in vain.
When the storm finally subsided, Li Ping reappeared before the crowd, his body completely unharmed.
Gone was the stench of blood from the grueling battles. In its place was an ethereal grace, as if he were a being descended from the heavens.
"An immortal!"
The word exploded simultaneously in the minds of every being in both realms who beheld him.
And their bodies began to tremble uncontrollably.
Ever since the Immortal Path was severed, tens of thousands of years had passed without a single True Immortal appearing in the world.
But today, an immortal was born before the very eyes of all!
The people of the Xuanhuang Realm could no longer resist; they fell to their knees in fervent worship.
The cultivators of the Taiyuan Realm, however, though still gripped by fear, launched a fearless, death-defying assault against Li Ping, this newfound "immortal."
But with Li Ping's ascension, the tide of battle turned in an instant.
Before, Li Ping would have been unable to evade the onslaught of techniques that blotted out the sky.
Now, however, he simply reached out a hand.
The myriad streams of multicolored light, the torrent of abilities, were all deflected and drawn into his palm.
Then, with a gentle breath...
...he sent every single lethal attack hurtling back toward its caster.
Caught completely off guard, the Taiyuan cultivators suffered catastrophic losses. Their own concentrated barrage, unleashed in perfect unison, now brought about their own massive casualties.
The area around Li Ping, once packed so tightly that not a drop of water could pass, was instantly cleared as the backlash from their own spells tore through their ranks.
If turning their own attacks against them hadn't filled the Taiyuan cultivators with dread, what happened next plunged even these infinitely resurrecting warriors into the depths of despair.
Li Ping gently raised his left hand.
Across the battlefield, the relics of the fallen Xuanhuang cultivators began to stir. As if answering a call, they soared into the sky.
One by one, phantom figures materialized beside the relics, as if summoned from the great beyond.
They were the spirits of their former owners—the cultivators of the Xuanhuang Realm who had fallen in battle!
Though their faces were not perfectly clear, the people of the Xuanhuang Realm recognized their resurrected friends and family. Many broke down and wept on the spot.
The phantoms of the Xuanhuang warriors first bowed respectfully to Li Ping. Then, gripping their weapons, they charged fearlessly toward the Taiyuan cultivators.
Solid against specter, the armies of the two realms clashed once more with ferocious intensity.
This time, the tables had turned!
In terms of both overall and average combat strength, the Taiyuan cultivators were far inferior to their Xuanhuang counterparts. They had driven the Xuanhuang Realm to the brink of annihilation solely through the unnatural power of the Taiyuan Rebirth Furnace, which granted them infinite lives.
But now...
Now, whenever a Taiyuan cultivator fought with all their might to disperse a Xuanhuang phantom...
...a streak of light would fly from Li Ping, who stood watch over the battle. In the blink of an eye, the phantom would reform. The instantly "resurrected" Xuanhuang warrior would then cut down their stunned enemy.
Then they would charge toward the next foe on the battlefield.
Finally getting a taste of the enemy's greatest weapon, the Xuanhuang phantoms fought as if their spirits were bolstered a hundredfold, slowly driving the Taiyuan army back.
Any phantom that fell in battle was instantly restored by Li Ping.
Streaks of light flashed ceaselessly across the battlefield, like a magnificent meteor shower gracing the skies of the Taiyuan Realm.
When the celestial display finally ended, the assembled Taiyuan forces in the vicinity were either dead or had fled in utter panic.
"Slay them!"
Li Ping did not pause. He pointed his sword forward and uttered a single, quiet command.
The blade's tip aimed directly at the Tianyu Dao Palace, at the location of the Taiyuan Rebirth Furnace!
And so, the countless streaks of light began their slow, inexorable advance into the heart of the Taiyuan Realm.
They were unstoppable. They were inevitable.
Anything that dared stand before this inexorable tide was instantly torn to shreds.
This soul-stirring spectacle made the blood of countless onlookers in the Xuanhuang Realm boil with excitement.
They wished for nothing more than to join the fray.
Only a select few could see past the exhilarating spectacle to the profound truth hidden beneath.
The resurrected Xuanhuang cultivators were mere phantoms, it was true. But the techniques and killing blows they unleashed were undeniably real and lethal.
On the Taiyuan battlefield, hundreds of thousands of cultivators had been returned from the dead.
And "Li Ping" alone was sustaining their immense expenditure of energy?
As if struck by a revelation, Fang Dingge seemed to lose himself completely. Unable to conceal the tremors in his heart, he muttered, "Infinite... the boundless power of an immortal. Can it be? Is he truly... an immortal?"
Every cultivator with even a shred of knowledge about the nature of True Immortals shared Fang Dingge's stunned reaction.
And amidst this collective shock, Li Ping had already led his million-strong army of phantoms to the foot of the Tianyu Dao Palace.
Before this glorious army of a million souls, the Taiyuan Realm's greatest advantage in battle was rendered meaningless.
You can be resurrected, but I can be resurrected even faster.
Your will is unyielding, your discipline absolute; you do not break even in the face of annihilation. But my warriors lack subjective will entirely; they are nothing but lingering obsessions, driven only by the need for vengeance.
...
The immortal spiritual power might be infinite, but the immortal array that channeled it had its limits.
After countless, nonstop resurrections, the strain on the Taiyuan Realm's ancient protective array finally reached its breaking point.
To the naked eye, the speed at which Taiyuan cultivators were resurrected slowed dramatically.
A great cheer erupted from the Xuanhuang Realm.
But the faces of the Ten Sects' leaders and elites—those who had personally entered the Tianyu Dao Palace—remained grim.
The combat prowess displayed by the demi-immortal "Li Ping" truly surpassed their imagination. But the immortal array deep within the Dao Palace was a source of equal despair.
But what Li Ping did next once again defied their expectations.
He did not lead his forces to storm the Dao Palace.
Instead, he faced the ninety-nine-story edifice on the mountain's peak and brought his sword down in a single, cleaving strike.
A blinding light flared, illuminating heaven and earth and searing the vision of all who watched.
A terrifying roar, like a chain of thunderclaps, echoed through the heavens.
The tremor was so immense it crossed the vast expanse of space and time to shake the Xuanhuang Realm itself.
Two worlds trembled before the power of Li Ping's strike.
When vision returned, the Tianyu Dao Palace and the Taiyuan cultivators had all vanished.
All that remained was a deep chasm carved into the earth.
It was an abyss, dark and fathomless.
Only the ethereal figure of Li Ping remained, standing resolute.
And...
...a strange, ornate furnace clutched in his hand.
Once more, a dead silence fell over the world.
"Is this the might of a True Immortal?"
The minds of every living being went blank, utterly overwhelmed by the sheer power of that single strike.
The leaders of the Ten Sects, however, once they recovered from their shock, began to consider the implications.
With a True Immortal now in the world, what was the future of the Ten Sects?
The answer seemed inescapable.
Even the combined might of all their cultivators would be no match for this True Immortal. Even if they deployed every last one of their legacy immortal artifacts, victory would be far from certain.
The only question was, would this True Immortal hold their earlier abandonment against them?
The minds of the Ten Sects' leaders were in turmoil.
Back in the Taiyuan Realm, another change was taking place.
The furnace clutched in Li Ping's hand suddenly erupted in a brilliant seven-colored radiance that soared to the heavens.
It illuminated the entire Taiyuan skyline.
Li Ping looked down upon the Xuanhuang phantoms. Their mission of vengeance complete, they now seemed lost.
He offered them a faint smile.
The seven-colored light pouring from the furnace cascaded down upon them like countless waterfalls.
Infused with the power of the Taiyuan Rebirth Furnace, the million phantoms of Xuanhuang began to undergo a remarkable transformation.
Their ethereal faces slowly grew distinct.
Their translucent forms began to solidify.
The vibrant life force unique to the living surged within them.
They...
...were truly being resurrected, returning from death to life!
Though the day had been filled with one shock after another, the people of the Xuanhuang Realm were overcome with elation at this sight.
Especially as they watched their resurrected friends and family stare at their own bodies in disbelief, they too shed tears of overwhelming joy.
A million Xuanhuang warriors, returned from the dead, wept with joy.
After the initial euphoria subsided, they all realized what had happened.
They turned as one and prostrated themselves before the True Immortal above, the one who had saved them and granted them new life.
But a long time passed, and the True Immortal remained motionless.
The warriors couldn't help but raise their heads.
And they witnessed a sight they would never forget.
Motes of starlight began to emerge from the True Immortal's form.
A gentle breeze swept past, and the motes of light began to drift away from his body.
At first, there were only a few dozen, then hundreds.
Then their numbers grew.
Like the stars of the highest heavens, they scattered across the mortal plane.
And when the sky was filled with a river of stars, the True Immortal was gone.
The people of both realms were stunned into silence.
It took nearly half a day for them to comprehend what had occurred.
And then, a great cry of anguish and grief echoed through both worlds.
It did not cease for a long, long time.
...
One month later.
The war that had changed the destiny of the Xuanhuang Realm was long over, but its people had yet to emerge from their grief.
With their endlessly resurrecting enemy gone, the Xuanhuang Realm successfully occupied the Taiyuan Realm.
They had carved out a new, safe haven for themselves on the far side of the starry sea. It was only then that the threat of the Immortal Ruins beyond their own world slowly became common knowledge.
But more than the Immortal Ruins, the people of the Xuanhuang Realm were consumed by one question: what had truly happened to the one they called the[True Immortal of Xuanhuang]?
After careful deduction and an examination of the battlefield, the leaders of the Ten Sects reached a preliminary conclusion.
The Immortal Path was broken. This was an undeniable fact. The immortal that "Li Ping" had become was not an immortal in the truest sense of the word.
It was only through his unparalleled, world-shaking talent that he had managed to forcibly overdraw his own life force, elevating himself to a state between Dao Integration and True Immortal—a state that could perhaps be called a demi-immortal.
Had he truly become an immortal, he should have been able to reverse his fatal injuries.
But unfortunately...
Before he finally perished, he held on.
He not only led the fallen warriors to exact their revenge upon the Taiyuan Realm...
...but he even used the Taiyuan Rebirth Furnace to resurrect as many of them as he could.
In the end, however, he could not defy fate, and so he passed from the world.
And it was clear that a True Immortal who sacrificed himself to save the people of Xuanhuang would be remembered far more profoundly than one who had simply lived on.
In every home, memorial tablets and statues of the[True Immortal of Xuanhuang]were erected. Incense was burned, prayers were offered, and scriptures were chanted in his name.
Even the cultivation sects, both great and small, erected grand halls to honor him.
The few dissenting voices that initially arose were quickly silenced.
Though the immortal was gone, his legacy lingered, its ripples refusing to fade.
The improved versions of the Ten Sects' ultimate techniques, which Li Fan had left under his pillow, were also discovered.
The Ten Sects immediately classified them as a supreme secret.
On the very day these scriptures were returned to the Xuanhuang Realm, the leaders of the Ten Sects convened to study and discuss them.
"Worthy of one who could attain immortality," one murmured. "These improved techniques... they surpass even our most guarded and sacred arts..."
The leaders of the Ten Sects were all left in awe.
Meanwhile, among the common people, a rumor began to spread in hushed whispers.
He who obtains the Supreme Dao Scripture shall achieve true immortality!
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