Chapter 1558: I Am the Father of Xuanhuang
Nourished for a century by blood essence rich with the power of Longevity, the life force hidden within the Xuanhuang Realm had reached an unbelievable level. Yet, because the grand elixir was not yet complete, all this vitality lay dormant, unexpressed.
Within the Xuanhuang Realm, perhaps a few rare beings could sense that a monumental change was underway. But only Li Fan, the alchemist himself, could truly perceive the power coalescing within the great pill of Xuanhuang before him.
"It is said that all living things are born of heaven and earth, treating them as parents. But you have grown to this state entirely thanks to my blood essence," Li Fan mused with a smile, sensing the Xuanhuang Realm's Heavenly Dao consciousness fawning over him in a subservient manner.
"In a way, I am the one who has nurtured heaven and earth."
Compared to the past, the Xuanhuang Realm's adulation now felt less contrived and more genuine, stemming from pure instinct. It was like a hungry infant begging its parents for milk.
The Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao knew with absolute certainty that despite the immense life force contained within the world, it could only be unleashed and absorbed by the realm upon Li Fan's command.
For a full century, it could only look, not touch. The Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao was nearly driven mad by the anticipation.
Now that Li Fan had indicated he might begin the final step of the refinement, how could the Heavenly Dao dare to object to his words?
In that very instant, Li Fan felt a new, indescribable connection form between himself and the Xuanhuang Realm, something that transcended mortal understanding.
"He who nurtures heaven and earth is their parent."
"The bond is forged..."
"Let the alchemy... commence!"
Li Fan pointed a finger into the void, and in that moment, the entire Xuanhuang Realm seemed to freeze in absolute stillness.
The blades of grass, the gentle breeze, the ants on the ground, and the mortals in their cities; from Foundation Establishment cultivators to those who had achieved Longevity.
Even the mountains and rivers, the lakes and seas, the ley lines of the earth, and the flow of spiritual energy.
Everything was frozen solid.
In Li Fan's eyes, the illusory cauldron that had enveloped the Xuanhuang Realm for a hundred years shattered with a silent roar. The gentle, milky-white light swirling around the great pill of Xuanhuang erupted in a brilliant flash.
An instant later, it all contracted, pouring back into the heart of the Xuanhuang Realm.
In this world of absolute stillness, the ancient, withered Ruo Tree was the first to thaw. As a single new leaf sprouted from a branch, the tree began to grow with an explosive, frantic energy, multiplying its size thousands of times over.
It was as if time had been fast-forwarded for the Ruo Tree. The already colossal ancient wood tore through the vault of heaven, spreading out the canopy.
It climbed ever upward, ascending infinitely into the void.
The Xuanhuang Realm did not descend into chaos as the heavens were rent asunder, for the world itself began to expand in perfect sync.
The century of stored Longevity power finally seeped into every corner of the world. In a single breath, the Xuanhuang Realm's scale swelled to encompass the entire Darkest Star Sea.
If not for Li Fan's will forcibly halting its rampant growth, the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm would have violently collided with the five phantoms of Shou Qiu in the next moment.
To the other regions of the Darkest Star Sea, the emergence of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm was utterly bizarre. It brutally assimilated everything that had once existed in the starry expanse, forcing it all into the fabric of the Xuanhuang world.
It was less an act of blanketing than one of devouring.
Everything that had once occupied the star sea now appeared within the Xuanhuang Realm, giving rise to all manner of strange and illogical phenomena.
For instance, the sprawling Realm Fragment Great Wall now floated like a chain of dark clouds above the Xuanhuang Realm's frontier. Beyond it, the countless relics from the Relic Sea were swept up by an unknown force, drawn into the sky. Then, carried by the atmospheric currents, they drifted across the realm and fell like rain upon the land.
In the center of the former Darkest Star Sea, its muddled, nascent consciousness stirred.
Suddenly finding its very being usurped, it froze in confusion for a moment before instinctively attempting to struggle fiercely.
The Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, however, swallowed it in a single, indifferent gulp.
The Star Sea's consciousness had no power to resist; it was simply and utterly erased.
To the old Xuanhuang Realm, the consciousness of the Darkest Star Sea had been an unimaginably vast and unattainable entity. But now, it was nothing more than a morsel of candy, barely enough to whet the appetite.
Though the physical expansion had ceased, the changes occurring within the Xuanhuang Realm were far from over.
As the heavens grew higher and the earth wider, everything within the world underwent a profound, qualitative transformation.
Li Fan sat cross-legged in the air, silently observing the unfolding creation below.
...
Deep in meditation, Xuanyuan Tuo was jolted awake.
He looked around, his expression one of bewilderment.
No one had intruded or disturbed him. His location had not changed.
And yet, Xuanyuan Tuo felt... the world was somehow different.
Unsettled, he instinctively tried to probe his surroundings with his spiritual sense. A moment later, his face contorted in shock.
His spiritual sense, upon leaving his body, could not advance a single inch.
It was as if the very air was filled with unyielding, invisible barriers, completely obstructing his perception.
"What is happening? What is this?" An ominous premonition bloomed in Xuanyuan Tuo's heart.
He tried to rise into the air to survey the area and get to the bottom of this.
Then, something even more horrifying occurred.
He, a cultivator at the peak of Dao Integration, could not fly!
"Have I lost all my cultivation?"
Instinctively, the Dharma Spreader tried to draw upon the power of the Heavenly Spirit, the Golden Seal, within his body.
He would have been better off not trying. The attempt felt like smashing his head against a stone wall; stars burst before his eyes, and his soul quaked violently.
"How can this be?" For the first time in an age, the Dharma Spreader felt an unprecedented wave of panic.
The Heavenly Spirit was still there, yet he was utterly unable to command it!
If the Golden Seal had once been a familiar iron staff, it was now a colossal celestial pillar whose top was lost in the heavens and whose ends were beyond sight.
The mere sight of it sent an uncontrollable tremor through his being, let alone the thought of lifting and wielding it.
Even the widely experienced Xuanyuan Tuo needed the better part of a day to compose himself and accept this unbelievable reality.
His knowledge was insufficient to fathom the cause of this transformation, but he could faintly sense that the enormous Heavenly Spirit within him was being suppressed by some kind of seal.
He couldn't use its power, but it couldn't harm him either.
But...
The seal was not permanent.
It was slowly weakening with the passage of time.
"If, on the day this seal vanishes, I still lack the strength to control it..."
Xuanyuan Tuo's face grew visibly pale.
He could almost see the scene: the colossal pillar crashing down, grinding him into dust.
The very foundation of his cultivation had now become a blade poised to claim his life at any moment. The staggering reversal of fortune left Xuanyuan Tuo struggling to accept it.
But soon, the Dharma Spreader realized something, murmuring to himself, "Is it that I have grown weaker, or is it that..."
It had been a long time since he had walked on solid ground like a mortal. With an awkward, unfamiliar gait, he slowly pushed open the doors of his seclusion chamber.
He wondered if it was his imagination, but even the heavy doors seemed more difficult to move than before.
The doors swung open with a resounding boom, revealing the vista of a brand-new world to the Dharma Spreader's eyes.
And there he stood, the Dharma Spreading Immortal Venerable of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, frozen like a statue of stone.
The world had changed.
...
The Dharma Spreader's reaction was, among all the beings in the Xuanhuang Realm, one of the most composed.
When the world resumed its motion after the great stillness, the vast majority of living creatures struggled to adapt to the sudden, drastic transformation.
Scores of cultivators, who had been flying, plummeted from the sky.
The grand formations of every major sect ceased to function.
It was as if heaven and earth had been remade, and the old order of the world had been completely wiped clean.
It took a long, long time before the cultivators of Xuanhuang gradually grew accustomed to this new world.
For cultivators of both the old and new methods, there were now distinct advantages and disadvantages.
The old-method cultivators found their past comprehension of heaven and earth to be utterly useless. Whether they were at the Dao Integration or Longevity stage, their former realms had vanished like bubbles. No different from frail mortals, they had to start everything anew.
As for the new-method cultivators, the heavenly wonders and grotto-heavens they had devoured remained within them. However, these treasures had transformed along with the world, becoming forces they could no longer control. They, too, had to start from the beginning, slowly relearning how to master them. Worse, if the seals on their inner power vanished before they had grown strong enough, they would be torn apart by their own cultivation.
Furthermore, as the total area of the Xuanhuang Realm expanded, cultivators who could once easily contact one another found their communications severed.
Beyond the now-vast distances between them and the failure of most flight and messaging techniques, the most fundamental reason was the appearance of various spirits blocking their paths.
These spirits had not existed in the Xuanhuang Realm before; they were born from the world's transformation. As physical manifestations of the realm's power, they possessed their own intelligence.
To the cultivators, who had been stripped of their former powers, these beings were utterly invincible.
Fortunately, it seemed some mysterious rules confined these spirits to specific territories, which prevented the mass extinction of all cultivators in the Xuanhuang Realm.
However, the cultivators keenly observed that these spirits were slowly expanding their domains. It was certain that in the near future, a war between the cultivators and these ubiquitous spirits was inevitable.
Faced with this existential threat, a heavy pressure settled upon the hearts of cultivators from both paths.
...
"The Xuanhuang Immortal Realm does not support idlers."
"Giving you a hundred years to adapt is already a sign of the Great Master's mercy!"
These words were not spoken by Li Fan.
They came from a young girl who was attending to him.
She was the physical manifestation of the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao's consciousness!
The instant the great alchemy was completed, catalyzed by the power of the Longevity Dao, the consciousness of the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao was finally able to manifest a physical form.
Her face was perfect, without a single flaw.
Yet, her eyes and tone carried a subtle, incongruous harshness.
"You cannot be idle either," Li Fan stated faintly.
"Heaven and earth are newly created. You must inspect all places and continually make improvements."
The girl's expression shifted in an instant. She quickly bowed her head and replied, "I shall obey the Great Master's command."
The Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao had originally addressed Li Fan as "Holy Father," but he found it awkward and had her change it.
"A leopard truly cannot change its spots."
After dismissing the Heavenly Dao, Li Fan's gaze shifted to a certain location deep underground in the current Xuanhuang Realm.
The place where Source Dao Province once stood.
The source of Ink Death's power.
As the Xuanhuang Realm was nourished by the power of the Longevity Dao, everything connected to it underwent a metamorphosis.
The source of the Heavenly Spirit, Ink Death, was no exception.
However, compared to the Ink Death Immortal Soul that had been born when Li Fan had previously pushed the Xuanhuang Realm's evolution...
This Xuanhuang Immortal Realm's [Ink Death] had undergone a different kind of change.
With a single step, Li Fan appeared beside the shadow of Ink Death.
Owing to Li Fan's unique status as the Father of Xuanhuang, Ink Death did not attack him.
Nevertheless, it maintained a faint aura of hostility.
Li Fan, however, remained completely unfazed. He reached out and summoned a cloud of the roiling shadow into his hand.
As the architect of the Xuanhuang Realm's transformation, Li Fan, embodying the Sitting Heaven Technique, was the greatest beneficiary of the cataclysmic change.
However, out of consideration for the Mountain Sea, Li Fan still had not taken the orthodox step of "Becoming an Immortal."
Even so, the unimaginably immense feedback of power was more than enough for him to disregard the threat posed by the Ink Death before him.
With a slight exertion of his power, he suppressed the restless Ink Death, forcing it into complete submission.
Li Fan narrowed his eyes, discerning the difference between this entity and the Ink Death Immortal Soul.
"The Ink Death Immortal Soul was a force of Mountain and Sea fusion."
"But this Ink Death has a greater share of the Longevity Dao, which has, in turn, diminished the impetus of the Mountain and Sea fusion."
"Its power to annihilate all things is slightly weaker. But in exchange, it has gained..."
Holding the mass of shadowy cloud, Li Fan ascended to the zenith of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm's sky.
The four celestial pillars that once stood in the Darkest Star Sea now stood here.
With the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm providing an incredibly solid foundation, even with their minor flaws, these pillars were now largely sufficient to withstand the Dao Annihilation Calamity.
However, they still fell short of the eternally indestructible immortal ark envisioned in Li Fan's plan.
This was merely the completion of the first phase of reconstruction.
Li Fan was in no hurry to begin the next stage.
The second phase of reconstruction would commence in a hundred years, once the inhabitants of the Xuanhuang Realm had barely caught up to the pace of the world's evolution.
With a single thought, the four celestial pillars began to rumble and groan.
Li Fan was forcibly siphoning a portion of their power for an experiment.
Four phantom pillars detached from their original positions and merged at the center, forming a single, pitch-black, broken column.
Then, Li Fan hurled the Ink Death cloud he controlled toward the broken pillar.
As if sensing delectable prey, the Ink Death cloud, like a hound off its leash, launched a frenzied assault on the pillar.
Countless dense, black dots, like swarming insects, continuously tried to devour the laws of the Great Dao condensed within the broken column.
Even though it was the fruit of a Nameless Immortal's enlightenment, the seemingly solid, fused pillar was utterly defenseless before the Ink Death cloud.
Without much effort, it consumed half of the pillar.
But just as the Ink Death cloud was feasting with gusto, Li Fan seized it in his grasp.
He then commanded the Ink Death cloud to spit out the "food" it had just swallowed.
It is difficult to relinquish food that has already reached one's mouth.
Let alone that which has already been devoured and digested?
How could the Ink Death cloud possibly be willing?
It instantly went berserk, preparing to turn on Li Fan.
Li Fan chuckled softly. He spread his left hand, and within it, countless overlapping illusions of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm appeared.
The Ink Death cloud, after all, was born from the Xuanhuang Realm.
The Xuanhuang Immortal Realm was like its parent, holding a natural power of restraint over it.
And now, in Li Fan's hand, there were thousands, tens of thousands, of its parents!
(End of this chapter)
Comments