Chapter 1542: The Great Heavenly Venerate's Identity
He who obtains the Supreme Dao Scripture can attain the rank of True Immortal!
This was no baseless rumor but a claim with a solid foundation.
And that foundation was none other than the figure who now commanded unparalleled reverence in the Xuanhuang Realm: the Xuanhuang True Immortal!
It was crucial to remember that the Xuanhuang True Immortal had not simply appeared out of thin air. His journey from a humble Foundation Establishment cultivator to the realm of a True Immortal was a path of constant battle and growth, with every step of his progression traceable.
Thus, when people realized this fact, their astonishment became something that defied words.
Because the Xuanhuang True Immortal had completed the journey from mortal to immortal in just a few short years!
Although the Ten Great Immortal Sects had officially declared that this was due to his exceptionally unique constitution, which allowed him to transform and be reborn through slaughter and combat, it was inevitable that some would harbor doubts.
Even within the Ten Sects, a meticulous investigation into the True Immortal’s life before his rise to prominence was secretly launched.
No matter how shrewd the chief disciple of the Verdant Valley Sect was, she could not hide everything from the methods of the Ten Sects. Consequently, the history between her and the True Immortal was exposed for all to see.
Jiang Yingshan of the Tai Shang Sect, tasked with this secret investigation, stared at the familiar thin plate in her hand, her expression unreadable.
"It's identical to the one in my mind."
"According to Bai Lishan, he also possessed an identical plate before his... passing. No wonder I always felt there was something strange and inexplicable about him. So that's the reason..."
"A unique constitution, guided by the Supreme Dao Scripture. Is that how he accomplished this unprecedented feat of ascension?" Jiang Yingshan clenched the thin plate, a flicker of resolve in her eyes.
If that man could achieve immortality, then so could she.
Perhaps not as swiftly...
Without a shred of mercy, she executed Bai Lishan, hoping to keep the secret as contained as possible. Yet, the moment she returned to her sect with the plate, she received a summons from her sect master.
"The Supreme Dao Scripture concerns the future of the Xuanhuang Realm. It must be shared among the Ten Sects."
The old Daoist, who had once gracefully declined that dazzling, starry sky of the Great Dao in hopes of carving his own path, could no longer maintain his composure after witnessing Li Ping's ascension to immortality in a matter of years.
Jiang Yingshan felt a strange sense of loss, yet also a profound sense of relief.
Clutching the confiscated plate of the Supreme Dao Scripture, she slowly departed.
From that day on, the Supreme Dao Scripture became a shared treasure of the Ten Sects. Based on the experiences of Jiang Yingshan and others, the sects concluded that other plates might still be scattered throughout the world.
For a multitude of reasons, the Ten Sects could not stand by and allow a treasure of this magnitude to fall into the hands of others. Thus, a secret organization was formed within their ranks to begin the search.
For three years after the great war, the Xuanhuang Realm remained calm and peaceful.
Even though the Xuanhuang True Immortal had resurrected the vast majority of the cultivators who had fallen on the Taiyuan battlefield, meaning the overall losses to the Xuanhuang Realm were not catastrophic, the war had undoubtedly left deep psychological scars on the cultivation world. It would take time to heal.
The once-tense atmosphere between the Ten Sects and the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, which had been on the brink of conflict, temporarily eased thanks to their experience fighting side by side on the Taiyuan battlefield.
More importantly, by successfully conquering the Taiyuan Realm, they had opened a gateway to another part of the star sea. The Xuanhuang Realm was no longer a trapped, dead-end world. The cosmos beyond held infinite possibilities.
The conflict between the two factions was no longer irreconcilable.
The great river of history, having taken a sharp turn at this juncture, now surged forward in a completely different direction.
And within the towering waves kicked up by this change of course, a lone figure was struggling desperately to stay afloat.
Were it not for the fine threads that emerged from the river, wrapping around him and holding him fast, he would have long been drowned by the utterly ferocious currents of time.
"What is the Dao of reversal? How does one define forward and backward, positive and negative, flow and counter-flow? Is the end of this river already determined? Or are there still different outcomes?..."
Amidst the raging torrent, Li Fan did his best to keep his form from dissolving while also finding a grim sort of pleasure in the ordeal, using it to meditate on the Dao.
Although the grand, world-deceiving drama of attaining True Immortal status in front of countless beings from two realms had been deeply satisfying to perform, the price was severe.
With the river of time now flowing toward a different future, it was moving further away from its original course with every passing moment.
Thus, the backlash was relentless.
It was a hundred times more violent than the tempests he had faced when swimming upstream against the river's current before.
The reason was simple: previously, he was more or less traveling within the same stream. But his current actions were pushing him horizontally, toward the other bank of the river of time.
If his past journey was a struggle *against* the current, this was a "crossing."
Fortunately, the elaborate show he had staged was spectacular enough to be deeply seared into the minds of every living being in the Xuanhuang Realm. With so many sufficient and weighty anchor points, no matter how great the storm, as long as this tributary of time still flowed, as long as the Xuanhuang Realm was not completely destroyed...
...it was enough to ensure his safety within this segment of the river of time for now.
"This is what it means to be unshakable for ten thousand ages, for a true name to last for eternity!"
From now on, no matter what choice he made—whether to continue upstream or to remain where he was—he first had a safe point to stand on, a place to call his own.
It was just like the Great Xuan Kingdom was to the Xuanhuang Realm, the Xuanhuang Realm to the Darkest Star Sea, and the world within the High Wall to the Primal Possibility.
Of course, given the general moral character of the Xuanhuang Realm's cultivators and the high probability of another world-altering calamity in the future, Li Fan didn't expect this stable anchor to remain eternally solid.
Therefore, in addition to the name "Xuanhuang True Immortal," he had also left behind the "Supreme Dao Scripture" as a contingency, a backup anchor for emergencies.
Furthermore, beyond the beings of the Xuanhuang Realm, there was still the Taiyuan Realm.
In that heaven-shaking flash of white sword light, Li Fan had not completely destroyed the Taiyuan cultivators or their Rebirth Furnace.
Instead, he had sealed them all away, deep within the unfathomable chasm he had carved into the world.
Adoration from the masses was an anchor. But so was desperate, overwhelming fear.
Li Fan, naturally, would not let such an opportunity go to waste.
On the contrary, slaughtering them all would have brought him no benefit whatsoever.
With the Taiyuan Rebirth Furnace, the Taiyuan cultivators, who could be endlessly revived while retaining their memories, were destined to be far more suitable vessels for his anchors than the cultivators of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Perhaps, after many years, as time wore on, the prestige of the Xuanhuang True Immortal might slowly fade from the memories of the Xuanhuang people. The statues erected in every corner of the world, once objects of worship, might be neglected.
But the towering image of him, one man with one sword, leading the charge from the brink of defeat to single-handedly overthrow the Taiyuan Realm, would be forever etched into the hearts of those Taiyuan cultivators. Not even the dissolution of body and soul could erase it.
It took another two years, a total of five, for Li Fan to finally stabilize himself amidst the turbulence of the river's altered course.
When he once again set foot on solid ground in reality, Li Fan felt a sensation entirely different from the past.
He was no longer like rootless duckweed, connected only by a few anchor points. Instead, he was deeply rooted within the river itself, having become a true member of this timeline.
"As long as you set down enough anchors, you can shed the status of a stowaway and become one of the locals," Li Fan realized with a sense of understanding.
The benefits of completely integrating into this timeline were immediately obvious.
His cultivation had almost fully returned to the level it was at before he traveled upstream, and even his comprehension of the Great Dao had been perfectly recalibrated by the constant washing of this era's temporal waves.
Li Fan had a premonition.
The Ink Death Immortal Soul, the True False Transformation... it wouldn't be long before he could fully manifest all these abilities within this timeline.
In high spirits, Li Fan did not immediately return to the Xuanhuang Realm.
Instead, he looked down at the chasm he had carved with a single slash of his sword.
Over the past five years, the Ten Sects had completely sealed off this area. They had also made numerous attempts to probe the chasm's depths.
But how could the members of the Ten Great Immortal Sects possibly break through the sealing arts Li Fan had put in place before he plunged into the river's waves?
All their attempts were destined to end in failure.
"Besides the Ten Great Immortal Sects..."
Li Fan squinted, sifting through the images recorded by the array.
The scenes flashed by rapidly, then suddenly froze as a particular figure appeared.
"Found you, Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerate!" Li Fan's eyes gleamed with excitement.
It was just as he had expected.
After the path to immortality was severed, for a True Immortal to suddenly descend upon the world was an incredible event for any cultivator. The higher one's cultivation, the closer one was to the True Immortal realm, the more intense their curiosity would be.
This was especially true for the Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerate, who held a post granted by the Immortal Realm.
Thus, he was willing to take a great risk to personally visit the Taiyuan Realm, hoping to glimpse or comprehend something from the traces left by the True Immortal.
He never imagined that he would be captured by the measures Li Fan had left behind.
Even though this mysterious Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerate instinctively concealed himself, he was doomed to be detected by the arrays Li Fan had deployed.
She wore a simple, elegant pink dress and a thin veil over her face. At her temple was a small, red, plum-blossom-shaped scar.
Li Fan was certain that this was the Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerate who had mysteriously vanished from Xuanhuang history.
At the same time, Li Fan felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
"It's not someone I've faced directly. It's from someone else's memory..."
After tracing back his memories, Li Fan finally remembered.
The figure before him slowly merged with the image of Mr. Bai's mortal lover from Ningyuan City.
It was precisely because this lover of his had died tragically in the battle between Zhang Qianmo and the rebellious Purple Heaven Sect disciple, Song Hesong, that Mr. Bai had later embarked on the path of cultivation.
"Looking at it now, it's likely that Song Hesong's sudden rebellion was influenced by this Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerate. What a contemptible method for a supposed Great Heavenly Venerate to use," Li Fan scoffed inwardly.
However, he could understand her motives.
Most likely, bound by the duties of her position, she could not simply abandon her post, even if she wanted to. At the very least, she needed to find a suitable "successor."
And she couldn't just appoint anyone; she had to find someone who met all the requirements to inherit the title of Great Heavenly Venerate.
And Su Bai, perhaps, was the most suitable candidate she had secretly scouted.
"As expected, there are no random coincidences in this world. Even if Su Bai's talent was peerless, allowing him to transform his spirit from a mortal body in an instant and achieve Dao Integration overnight, the position of Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerate isn't something one can attain with just talent and cultivation."
Just like Wuming's succession.
Su Bai's succession, too, bore the heavy shadow of manipulation.
"Perhaps Su Bai himself faintly sensed something. But because his guide was his mortal love, his white moonlight, he was willing to silently endure it all." Recalling the slivers of memory he had glimpsed from the Xuanhuang's malevolence and Su Bai's eternal lingering will, Li Fan couldn't help but think this.
Shaking his head, Li Fan destroyed all the recorded images.
With a single step, he arrived at the very bottom of the chasm.
The prison of the Taiyuan Realm cultivators.
For the cultivators of Taiyuan, death was not something to be feared. The true horror was being unable to live and unable to die.
The torment they had endured these past five years was a hundred times worse than anything before. Even dying over and over again on the battlefield was far less painful than their current state.
Trapped within a tiny space, unable to take a single step outside.
A place of darkness, devoid of sunlight, filled with a dead silence.
They had tried every method imaginable, but none could break the restriction on this place. Even when they killed themselves in despair, they were immediately revived by the Taiyuan Rebirth Furnace above.
Compared to the battlefield, this place seemed to be the true, eternal purgatory.
Li Fan's arrival did not alert anyone.
Looking down at the overall state of the Taiyuan cultivators, however, he frowned slightly.
Li Fan's fundamental goal was to use their fear to forge anchor points.
But he discovered that in this environment, the Taiyuan cultivators' fear of him was slowly diminishing.
"This is not a good thing."
"They need to be reminded from time to time."
Li Fan gently pointed a finger toward the Taiyuan Rebirth Furnace in the sky.
A brilliant light suddenly bloomed, illuminating the deep blackness.
In the radiance that shone like a great sun, the Taiyuan cultivators seemed to once again see the war-god-like figure of Li Fan, standing with his sword held high.
It was as if they had returned to the battlefield of old. The dead, confined space erupted with wave after wave of terrified, despairing screams.
Li Fan nodded in satisfaction.
He vanished, reappearing inside the Taiyuan Rebirth Furnace in the sky.
The Observer and the Repairer.
These two immortal servants, responsible for the defensive arrays of the Taiyuan Realm, did not attack upon seeing Li Fan.
Instead, they respectfully knelt and kowtowed in greeting.
Admittedly, based purely on strength, Li Fan in his previous Dao Integration state was no match for these two immortal servants.
But no matter how powerful an immortal servant was, they were still just servants.
As a disciple of Shou Qiu and the inheritor of Mount Tai Emperor's legacy, Li Fan had more than enough methods to directly seize control of them.
This was why, from beginning to end, even when the Taiyuan Realm was pushed to the brink of destruction, even when the Taiyuan cultivators begged and pleaded, they had never appeared.
Ignoring the two immortal servants, Li Fan went straight to the core hub of the ancient immortal array.
As expected, he saw the Armillary Ring, and at its center, the shimmering Nine Stars Red Pearl.
Standing at the heart of the immortal array, Li Fan could truly feel the inexplicable pressure from the Upper Mountain and the Infinite Sea.
A strange light flashed in his eyes. His purpose in coming here was not for this pearl, which recorded the information of every living being in the Taiyuan Realm.
It was for the complete immortal array itself.
"Although I cannot connect to the Infinite Sea myself,"
"I can use this immortal array to indirectly steal the infinite immortal power from within the Infinite Sea."
"Just as I did before through my clone."
"Now that the Ink Death Immortal Soul is gone and the Myriad Dao Net no longer exists, I must first use this method to temporarily restore my True Immortal cultivation."
(End of Chapter)
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