Chapter 1556: Forging the Xuanhuang Realm with Alchemy
In the end, this was simply Li Fan's nature.
Utterly selfish, he would never truly trust another soul.
Just as he had done back when he was a mere mortal struggling to survive in the Great Xuan Kingdom. Whenever it came to matters of his future, or even his very life, Li Fan insisted on handling everything himself.
From searching for ore veins deep in the mountains to leading the musketeers to crush bandits. Even rescuing Prince Langya from a mob of rebels, only to end the man's life with his own hands later on. The root cause for all these actions was the same: he could not trust anyone else with such critical tasks.
He had to take matters into his own hands.
Now, after a hundred lifetimes in samsara, Li Fan’s power was such that he could toy with True Immortals at will. Yet, this fundamental aspect of his personality had not changed in the slightest.
The continued existence of the mortal realm was tied to his own life.
Therefore, Li Fan would absolutely never entrust its fate entirely to others.
Even beings like Shou Qiu and the Three Saints, who seemed to surpass the current Li Fan in both moral standing and power, could not sway the decision in his heart by a single fraction.
Drawing his gaze back from the end of the River of Time, Li Fan directed the Great Heavenly Venerate puppet's body, striding through the Darkest Star Sea.
Although it had devoured all the immortal domain chess pieces, Li Fan could faintly sense that the puppet's power hadn't actually improved by much.
Forget transcendence; it was still a long way from even approaching the realm of a Nameless True Immortal.
Fortunately, Li Fan wasn't counting on the Great Heavenly Venerate puppet as a true combat force. It was merely a convenient tool for moving about and wielding the infinite power of the immortal arrays.
The immortal arrays, the phantom of Shou Qiu, the Fantasy Becomes Truth divine ability...
These were Li Fan's true trump cards.
After resolving the hidden threat of the Immortal Ruins, Li Fan finally arrived at the lowland beneath the Darkest Star Sea, a depression where countless streams of life force converged.
At this point in time, the Azure Nether Pearl had not yet completely shattered. Si Tu Xing had not yet lost all his power.
The nascent life forms taking shape in the underground river of the lowland were also in a vastly different state of progress from what they would be eight thousand years later.
Li Fan first suppressed and secured the Azure Nether Pearl before casually beginning his search for Si Tu Xing—or rather, Xing Wuque. Perhaps the sudden disappearance of the pearl, which was still radiating life force, had alerted him.
Despite his grievous injuries, he was attempting a desperate escape through the subterranean river.
But it was futile. The entire cradle of life beneath the Star Sea was already under Li Fan's control. Where could he possibly run?
Li Fan's voice echoed faintly, "Immortal Scribe Si Tu, has it been a while?"
And with that single question, his flight came to an end.
"Who... which old friend is this?" After a dead silence, a voice laced with excitement, confusion, and vigilance emerged from Si Tu Xing.
Li Fan directed the first-generation immortal puppet to reveal itself.
Si Tu Xing stared, momentarily stunned. "The First Generation? But I thought that was long since..."
"No!" Si Tu Xing seemed to realize something, his expression changing drastically.
His body dissolved into a wisp of black smoke, attempting to flee once more.
But how could he possibly be fast enough?
In an instant, Li Fan had him captured.
Si Tu Xing was both terrified and furious, yet he could no longer make a sound.
Having already seen through his very essence, Li Fan skipped the interrogation entirely, refining him directly into a heavenly pillar.
And so, the four great heavenly pillars of the former Primordial Desolation Immortal Realm—Primal, the Hunger Immortal, the Tiandu Grandmaster, and Si Tu Xing—were once again gathered in this lifetime.
"The first three are slightly less effective than in the last life. But this pillar of [Engrave], forged from Si Tu Xing, is actually more potent without the wear and tear of eight thousand years."
"Still, it's far from enough," Li Fan mused, shaking his head slightly.
The Primordial Desolation Immortal Realm he had built in his last life seemed impregnable, supported by the four pillars and suspended above the Star Sea, capable of resisting the Dao Annihilation Calamity to some extent.
But when the Guangwu Xinghai diverted disaster their way, sending the Great Rat Immortal to attract the attention of the transcendent corpse from the Dao Annihilation tide, the entire realm had been thrown into turmoil. Even with the High Wall, it had teetered on the brink of collapse at any moment.
It was only when Cheng Dao took the initiative to merge the Dao Net of Shuo Xinghai with it, creating a High Wall-Shuo Xinghai conglomerate, that they had barely managed to hold on.
Now, with [Truth] dormant, the Darkest Star Sea within the High Wall had become Li Fan's foundation. And even though Cheng Dao had shown immense goodwill in the previous life, Li Fan would not entrust his life and safety to him.
Fortunately, Li Fan already had a plan.
"To build an eternal immortal ark, I can only rely on myself."
At Li Fan's command, the first-generation immortal puppet flew to the edge of the Darkest Star Sea. It crossed the High Wall and entered the Shuo Xinghai.
Due to the gravitational pull of the Immortal Ruins, there was a massive difference in the flow of time inside and outside the High Wall.
In his last life, Li Fan had measured the time differential to be a factor of one hundred and twenty.
If calculated at that ratio, eight thousand six hundred years before the initial anchor point in the Xuanhuang Realm would be over a million years ago in the Shuo Xinghai!
But the pull of the Immortal Ruins had intensified slowly as the Hunger Immortal comprehended its Dao. The time flow ratio had not been constant but had gradually increased.
Li Fan scanned the surrounding cosmos, comparing what he saw with his memory of the Shuo Xinghai's geography.
He found that although there were changes, it was still roughly recognizable.
"It seems that during this period, the Shuo Xinghai has remained relatively safe and stable."
"Perhaps due to its proximity to the High Wall."
"The Dao Net does not yet exist. Many surviving cultivators, and even True Immortals, are gathered together."
Li Fan gazed at the vibrant expanse of light in the distance, carefully discerning the auras within.
But the purpose of his venture beyond the High Wall was not the people of Shuo Xinghai.
He didn't travel far. Following the memories of his past life, Li Fan soon arrived in a desolate, silent region of space just outside the High Wall.
There, amidst a field of ruins, he was fortunate enough to find his target.
An octagonal, four-sided tower—the Ascension Platform!
In his past life, Qian Ruochang of the Immortal Hunt had used this very Ascension Platform to create a True Immortal of flesh and blood.
"With this Ascension Platform in hand, I can enthrone countless immortals within the Darkest Star Sea and recreate the Immortal Realm, all without revealing myself!"
"Then, I will have an endless supply of laborers, lackeys, and materials for heavenly pillars." Li Fan's eyes flashed, his entire plan already perfectly laid out in his mind.
Though he had once created the so-called Primordial Desolation Immortal Realm, Li Fan knew in his heart that the continent had the name of an Immortal Realm but lacked its substance.
What he intended to forge next, however, was a true and genuine Immortal Realm!
An Immortal Realm that stood upon the Upper Mountain and connected to the Infinite Sea!
"Even more advanced than the original Immortal Realm of the Primal Possibility."
"Imperishable through ten thousand tribulations, indestructible before the Dao Annihilation."
With his objective secured, the Great Heavenly Venerate puppet wasted no time, returning directly inside the High Wall.
He glanced back at the distant Shuo Xinghai, leaving behind a wisp of divine sense to quietly slip inside.
On one hand, it was to gather intelligence on the Holy Merchants.
On the other, it was to calculate the current time differential between inside and outside the High Wall.
The Hunger Immortal was gone, but the pillar remained.
For the moment, Li Fan had no intention of sealing off the pillar's pull and eliminating the time differential.
Thanks to the isolating effect of the High Wall, even if heaven and earth were turned upside down in the Darkest Star Sea, it wouldn't affect the Shuo Xinghai or the surrounding star domains in the slightest.
Even without the fugitives from the Ten Great Immortal Sects, the overall course of history would not be affected.
Therefore, it was highly probable that it would continue to develop along the historical trajectory Li Fan was familiar with.
And that was precisely the outcome Li Fan desired.
"The Dao Net contends with the remaining True Immortal factions, and the Adversary intervenes repeatedly, turning the tide..."
Li Fan recalled Cheng Dao's narrative, a sharp glint in his eyes.
Carrying the Ascension Platform, he returned to the Xuanhuang Realm. The Great Heavenly Venerate puppet then produced a stone slate.
It was the Key of the Dao left by the Xuantian King, also a replica of the Immortal Realm's Ascension Platform.
Li Fan placed the two before him, comparing them meticulously.
"The Xuantian King was truly not to be underestimated. A newly ascended True Immortal, not yet connected to the Infinite Sea, was able to perfectly replicate the immortal script on the Ascension Platform in such a hurry."
After a moment, Li Fan couldn't help but marvel.
After his detailed comparison, he found that the slate left by the Xuantian King had perfectly copied almost all the useful True Immortal Scripts from the entire Ascension Platform.
"Although it lacks the Ascension Platform's most crucial component: the connection to the Infinite Sea."
"And it was precisely the absence of this part that prevented him from ever becoming a True Immortal."
Li Fan gently caressed the Key of the Dao. Countless points of light seemed to emerge from the void, swarming toward the slate from all directions.
Before long, another identical, octagonal, four-sided Ascension Platform materialized before him.
As he created it from the void, Li Fan also casually completed the missing parts from the slate.
With Li Fan's experience of having entered the Infinite Sea multiple times and even once merging with the Mountain and Sea, the immortal scripts he added to connect to the Infinite Sea were even more efficient than those on the original Ascension Platform.
Next, Li Fan repeated the process.
He created two more octagonal towers from thin air.
A total of four Ascension Platforms now floated silently above the Xuanhuang Realm.
"For a mortal being to connect to the Infinite Sea, aside from achieving the state of a True Immortal themselves, they also require a presiding immortal official to use immortal spiritual power and specific True Immortal Scripts to activate the Ascension Platform and assist them."
"Only then can one formally link to the Infinite Sea and the Upper Mountain. With feet planted on the Mountain and Sea, one can attain the Dao and become a True Immortal."
"The Great Heavenly Venerate puppet can serve as the presiding immortal official for the Xuanhuang Realm. With these four Ascension Platforms, I can enthrone countless True Immortals."
A look of pride on his face, Li Fan engraved four different characters onto the four Ascension Platforms.
On the platform forged from the Xuanhuang Key of the Dao, the glowing character was the "Immortal-Mortal Transformation" that Li Fan knew so well. The True Immortal Scripts carved onto the other three platforms were also extremely similar to it, differing only in minute details.
"It's just a method of accessing the Infinite Sea, nothing more."
"If I weren't trying to avoid being detected by the Infinite Sea, I wouldn't need to be so troublesome. With a single thought, I could send every living being in the Xuanhuang Realm into it."
"But their fate then would be beyond my control."
Now that the Ascension Platforms were ready, Li Fan did not rush to enthrone immortals.
The foundation of the Xuanhuang Realm was still far too weak.
The fluctuations caused by the appearance of a single True Immortal would likely be enough to tear it to shreds.
While the previous enhancement plan to sublimate the Xuanhuang Realm was viable, for the current Li Fan, it was far too troublesome and inefficient.
He had a better way.
"Life and death as one, with the True Dao I align. Beyond the world I wander, and the grand elixir shall be mine..."
As Li Fan slowly chanted, the Great Heavenly Venerate puppet responded, exhaling a cloud of ethereal mist.
This was the pure energy form of the Immortal Ruins and the various immortal domain fragments he had previously devoured and absorbed.
Li Fan sat cross-legged high in the heavens, looking down upon the tumultuous world below.
In his eyes, the image of an alchemical cauldron flickered in and out of existence.
With a flash of his will, the ethereal mist exhaled by the Great Heavenly Venerate puppet was silently infused into every corner of the Xuanhuang Realm.
"During the refinement, even as the furnace fire blazes, the myriad beings within will feel nothing."
"Until..."
Li Fan's hands moved through a series of mudras, using his authority as the Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerate to compel the world itself to cooperate, undergoing a quiet but drastic transformation.
The Xuanhuang Realm was, after all, one of the core testing grounds of the Immortal Realm's Rotten Axe Dojo. It possessed an instinctual familiarity with all things concerning the Immortal Realm.
Like a puppy that had caught the scent of its food, the Heavenly Dao of the Xuanhuang Realm could barely contain its excitement. It eagerly curried favor with Li Fan, swiftly executing every one of his commands.
Nourished from without by the ethereal mist of the Immortal Realm, and accepting the drastic changes from within...
In Li Fan's eyes, the alchemical fire within the Xuanhuang Realm blazed to life!
To forge an eternal immortal ark, a replica of the Immortal Realm, fragments of the Immortal Ruins and a few immortal domain pieces were naturally not enough.
"One inch higher on the Upper Mountain is the difference between heaven and earth..."
In Li Fan's mind, countless phrases from the [Mountain and Sea Primordial Genesis Chapter], written by Saint Tai Yi, streaked past like shooting stars.
Admittedly, with his current strength, he was far from capable of creating an Immortal Realm from scratch on the Upper Mountain.
But "borrowing a corpse to resurrect a soul"—grafting the Xuanhuang Realm onto the surviving ruins of the former Immortal Realm on the Upper Mountain—that was something he could just barely manage.
A short while ago, after the Great Heavenly Venerate puppet had devoured the Immortal Ruins and the domain fragments, he had seen a fleeting vision of their original forms on the Upper Mountain.
They were like specks of light scattered across an endless mountain range, like a constellation in the dark.
Li Fan had understood at that very moment.
Since they had not yet been consumed by the Dao Annihilation, their foundations on the Upper Mountain still existed.
What Li Fan needed to do now was to gather all these surviving foundations.
And then, upon the ruins, raise a new edifice!
As the alchemical fire pulsed, the points of light scattered across the mountains in Li Fan's vision were slowly drawn together by this unfathomable power.
The entire process was exceedingly slow.
But Li Fan was extremely patient.
After all, he no longer had [Truth] as a safety net. If he were the slightest bit careless during the refinement and the Xuanhuang Realm was blown to smithereens, then the anchor point and foundation he had just painstakingly built would be instantly reduced to dust.
Even if he didn't die, he would have to struggle for survival in the River of Time all over again.
Strangely, however, even though his very life was at stake, Li Fan felt not the slightest hesitation or fear as he conducted the refinement.
On the contrary, he was filled with a deep certainty, an unshakeable conviction that he would succeed.
Li Fan had noticed this peculiar change in his heart from the very beginning of the process.
As the refinement progressed, this confidence only grew stronger.
"This confidence doesn't come from my mastery of the Medicine King's alchemical scriptures. Nor does it stem from my understanding of the Upper Mountain or the Infinite Sea."
"It's because..."
"...the Xuanhuang Heaven and Earth is, in itself, a half-finished elixir."
"I just need to follow the steps and not add any unnecessary flourishes. This elixir is bound to be completed!"
"Sun Piao Miao!"
Understanding dawned in Li Fan's mind, but the alchemical movements of his hands did not pause.
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