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Chapter 1579: Dao One Becomes Ink Death

Chapter 1579: Dao One Becomes Ink Death

The true divine efficacy of the Seizing Heaven cats corresponded perfectly to their names.

They applied the principles of medicine not to the body, but to the world itself.

The pharmacological effects that medicinal herbs once had on the human body, once transformed into Seizing Heaven cats, were mirrored in their influence upon the heavens.

The cycle of life and death for all things was like the breath of the world. Bai Qian, the Cynanchum, governed this cycle, ensuring the natural order flowed smoothly.

In the primordial past, the Scripture Grave Great Saint had managed the decay and dissipation of Daos, guaranteeing the Immortal Realm's eternal existence. Yet the Tai Wei Sacred Dynasty, with a single dose of Bai Qian, could achieve nearly half the effect of the great saint.

The Great Dao surged, without beginning or end. Pi Pa, the Loquat, intercepted the very genesis of the Dao, using it to nurture all creation. In the Xuanhuang Realm, there was a tree called Ruomu that governed all life force. But Ruomu’s vitality stemmed from the Xuanhuang Realm itself. If the realm prospered, the tree thrived; if the realm weakened, the tree withered. Pi Pa’s life force, however, was drawn directly from the Dao. It transcended the limits of a single possibility; wherever the Great Dao flowed, Pi Pa could intercept its stream to generate life.

A single dose of Pi Pa could safeguard a world’s vitality, ensuring it would never falter for ten thousand generations!

...

The magnificent figure standing before the myriad medicinal plants had to be the Tai Wei Saint Emperor. As if sensing Li Fan's prying gaze, the figure turned slightly, its eyes meeting Li Fan's.

In that instant, time seemed to freeze, grinding to a halt.

Perhaps it was because of the "Fantasy Becomes Truth" blessing that Li Fan habitually kept active, or maybe because [Truth] was dormant and he had purged the power of the Longevity Dao from his body.

For whatever reason, the Tai Wei Saint Emperor did not detect anything special about Li Fan from that fleeting glance.

But he didn't sever Li Fan's line of sight either.

Instead, he seemed to offer a faint smile. With a grand, magnanimous wave of his hand, he invited Li Fan to look his fill.

The scene before Li Fan’s eyes suddenly magnified a millionfold.

Innumerable divine medicines, as dense and sprawling as a continuous bank of dark clouds, filled his entire field of vision.

It wasn't just common herbs. Even the dazzling Seizing Heaven Seven Prototypes he had seen earlier were present in numbers too vast to count!

Only then did Li Fan understand.

What he was seeing were vast, sprawling medicinal gardens! The Tai Wei Saint Emperor had cultivated each type of divine medicine in its own dedicated plot, stretching out endlessly in a breathtaking spectacle!

The Tai Wei Saint Emperor had relied on these endless divine medicines, cultivated in his gardens, to forge an empire that spanned the Mountain and Sea.

The reason he so generously displayed his secrets in the face of Li Fan's prying gaze was pure imperial bearing!

"This is no Saint Emperor; this is a primordial god of life!"

For a moment, Li Fan felt himself on the verge of being lost in this boundless ocean of divine herbs. He discovered, to his alarm, that his own heart was showing signs of being swayed by the Tai Wei Saint Emperor's sheer presence.

He quickly forced himself to break eye contact.

Only after a long while did his racing heart begin to calm.

"I never imagined the Tai Wei Saint Emperor had already reached such a terrifying level of power. The moment I peeked at just one of his countless herbs through the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, he was able to perceive my presence."

"He knows I've captured and suppressed two of his Seizing Heaven cats. But..."

"The Tai Wei Saint Emperor simply doesn't care."

"Divine medicines like these are virtually limitless in the Tai Wei Sacred Dynasty..."

The gap between himself and a powerhouse like the Tai Wei Saint Emperor was made starkly, tangibly clear. A faint sense of defeat inevitably rose in Li Fan's heart.

He even found thoughts of "surrendering" beginning to surface.

At Li Fan's current realm, his mind was like a flawless mirror; he was in complete control, aware of the origin and flow of every thought. He knew this was the Tai Wei Saint Emperor's method of intimidation, one of the reasons he had been deliberately shown the "Saint Emperor's Medicinal Gardens."

"An ordinary person, after a single glance, would probably be completely subjugated by the Saint Emperor's might and rush to pledge allegiance to Tai Wei."

"Even a Transcendent expert would likely struggle to resist this influence."

"Fortunately..."

A cold glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes. He quickly crushed the various aberrant thoughts in his mind, purging them until his composure was fully restored.

"The Tai Wei Saint Emperor may be strong, but he has not yet reached a level equal to the Mountain and Sea. I was able to discard the Longevity Dao, which is on par with the Mountain and Sea itself. How could I be intimidated or beguiled by you?"

He let out a cold snort. He might not be a match for the Saint Emperor, but that wouldn't stop him from taking it out on the emperor's medicines.

Now that he understood the nature of the Seizing Heaven cats, Li Fan acted without any further hesitation.

"Ink Death!"

A roiling black cloud surged forward, enveloping the two Seizing Heaven cats.

Sensing the arrival of a fatal crisis, the fur on both cats stood on end, and they let out continuous low growls. As the cloud of Ink Death drew closer, they realized they could not resist its corrosion.

After a moment's hesitation, the two Seizing Heaven cats made their decision.

With shrill cries, they transformed into two orbs of light—one black and white, the other a vibrant orange-yellow.

The two orbs drew near each other, hovered in a brief standoff, and then rapidly merged.

The black-and-white halo dissolved into the orange-yellow light.

Instead of diluting the orange hue, it made it even more brilliant and dazzling.

"This is... using one medicine to supplement another, pushing the Seizing Heaven power to a new level!"

Li Fan was well-versed in pharmacology. Seeing the transformation of the two cats, he quickly understood the principle behind it.

At the same time, Pi Pa, having consumed Bai Qian, reformed its body.

Its orange fur was now streaked with black and white stripes, and its body had swelled to several times its original size.

It no longer resembled a cat, but rather a young tiger!

Facing the tide of Ink Death, Pi Pa was fearless. It let out a soft roar, and its body radiated a massive wave of yellow life force, forming a dike that temporarily held back Ink Death's assault.

Seeing Ink Death's setback, Li Fan felt not alarm but a surge of delight.

"So this is what it means to cross the Mountain and Sea while enduring the Dao Annihilation calamity? By absorbing another medicine, this Seizing Heaven cat, Pi Pa, has truly reached the Transcendent realm."

Shielded by the orange-yellow light, Pi Pa charged recklessly through the cloud of Ink Death, looking as if it would break through the encirclement at any moment. Even as the dark cloud seethed like boiling water, it couldn't seem to get ahold of its target.

If not for the support of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, Pi Pa would have likely escaped Ink Death's blockade long ago.

"Although it can't completely negate the Dao Annihilation calamity, its own power is enough to traverse the void and find a safe place before being consumed."

"This is the most fundamental principle of traversing the Mountain and Sea."

"The stronger one is, the longer one can endure within the tide of Dao Annihilation, and the more easily one can cross the Mountain and Sea."

Li Fan recalled the heaven-piercing path Ziyi had shown him, and the Transcendent's remains on the solitary sail fished up from the Guangwu Xinghai. Comparing those images with the scene before him, countless insights he couldn't grasp before now erupted in his mind.

Facing the Transcendent Pi Pa, Ink Death was at a disadvantage. However, its ability to devour and analyze was not nullified.

A wealth of pharmacological knowledge about the divine medicine Pi Pa slowly surfaced in Li Fan's mind.

"This can be considered Pi Pa's Path of Transcendence."

"Unfortunately, this principle only applies to medicine. It cannot be used by people."

Despite its extreme limitations, Li Fan did not disdain it. He still treated it as a rare opportunity for enlightenment, carefully pondering it in his mind.

"I may not be able to use Pi Pa's principles for myself, but through the Medicine King's scripture on Dao refinement, I can integrate them into my Xuanhuang Immortal Realm!"

"No matter how extraordinary a medicine is, it is still just a medicine. Returning to your proper path is your destiny!"

Pi Pa was, after all, one of the Seizing Heaven Seven Prototypes. The life force it intercepted from the Dao seemed truly endless. It rampaged through the cloud of Ink Death for a full thirty-three days without any sign of weakening.

By this time, Li Fan had already grasped about seventy or eighty percent of Pi Pa's medicinal principles through Ink Death's absorption.

He pointed a cold finger at the orange cat within the cloud. Ink Death churned and, in an instant, transformed into a colossal alchemy cauldron!

It was a mere change in shape, yet its restrictive power over Pi Pa instantly multiplied by several hundred times.

The once-energetic and swift orange cat now seemed to have its limbs bound. Its previous speed was gone, and it could only struggle to charge forward with excruciating slowness.

Furthermore, the protective orange-yellow light around it began to flicker like a candle in a gale, no longer a steadfast fortress. It wavered violently, looking as if it might collapse at any moment.

The Ink Death Cauldron stood firm in the highest heaven of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm.

Li Fan presided over it personally. First, he invited the gaze of the "Eternal" senior.

Then, with a flourish of his brush, he wrote a scroll of illusory scripture and tossed it into the Ink Death Cauldron.

This scroll was none other than the Mountain and Sea Primordial Genesis Chapter he had obtained from Shanhua in a previous life!

The scripture chronicled Saint Tai Yi's insights while observing the two saints, Lian Shan and Gui Hai, create the Immortal Realm from nothing. It contained the principles of the Mountain and Sea as well as the Dao of Tai Yi.

The foundations of Ink Death were precisely [Tai Yi] and [Eternal].

Now, under Li Fan's guidance, both foundations were further strengthened. While not comparable to the two great powers acting in person, it was a considerable "borrowing" of their strength.

Like fuel to a flame, the power of the new Ink Death swelled to an explosive degree in an instant.

The cauldron solidified, becoming so vivid it seemed to have transitioned from illusion to reality.

The inky blackness intensified, and in a flash, it completely suppressed the last flicker of orange-yellow light within the cauldron.

Before the temporarily enhanced Ink Death, even the Transcendent Pi Pa could only meet the fate of being suppressed!

The new Ink Death was born within the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm.

But now, bolstered by the power of two fundamental sources, it was already showing faint signs of transcending the constraints of the realm itself.

Fortunately, Li Fan was at the helm, ready to withdraw the support of Eternal and Tai Yi at any moment. Otherwise, after devouring Pi Pa, it might have advanced further and consumed the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm along with it.

"This is like bargaining with a tiger for its skin. But I have no choice but to use it."

Ink Death was not Li Fan's only trump card. With a thought, countless, constantly twitching black dots from all corners of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm began to converge in the highest heaven.

Unlike the cloud of Ink Death, which was visible to all, these black dots could only be seen by Li Fan.

They were the Dao One Worms!

"Ink Death, in the end, is the creation of another. It has too many uncontrollable factors, too many hidden dangers."

"But the Dao One Worms... they are something I created and nurtured from nothing."

"Pi Pa can devour Bai Qian. Dao One can devour the Mountain and Sea. Ink Death is the shape of Dao Annihilation..."

"Dao One can become Ink Death!"

As Ink Death took the form of a cauldron, focusing on refining the Seizing Heaven cat within.

Without it even noticing, the Dao One Worms on the cauldron's exterior were also attempting to erode it!

Li Fan could see that the worms' progress in assimilation was extremely slow.

But their efforts were not in vain.

Li Fan secretly shared his own understanding of the Dao of Ink Death with the worms, which slightly accelerated their assimilation speed.

But the Ink Death that the Dao One Worms perceived was likely different from the one Li Fan saw.

Thus, his help was only minimally effective.

"No matter. To have started is to be halfway to success."

Li Fan continued to urge Ink Death on, keeping its attention focused on dealing with Pi Pa, creating a larger window for the Dao One Worms' erosion.

And Ink Death did not disappoint.

Rolling black smoke completely devoured the last remnants of Pi Pa within the cauldron.

Next, just as Li Fan had predicted.

Having completely consumed Pi Pa, Ink Death did not stop.

The cauldron began to expand, threatening to encompass the highest heaven of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm.

Fortunately, Li Fan was prepared. He promptly withdrew the reinforcement from the powers of Eternal and Tai Yi.

Without the support of its two fundamental sources, the expanding Ink Death instantly reverted to its original state.

The strange activity ceased.

Under Li Fan's watchful gaze, it finally calmed down.

The dark cloud churned and spat out wisps of orange-yellow light.

They coalesced into a pill, condensed and so vividly orange-yellow it was almost golden.

"So this is Pi Pa's life force, intercepted from the Dao."

A strange light flickered in Li Fan's eyes.

He toyed with it in his hand for a long time, but instead of consuming it, he crushed the pill between his fingers. Then, with a sweep of his hand, he scattered its essence across the heavens and earth of the Xuanhuang Realm.

On that day, a fiery sunset appeared in the skies of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, bathing half the heavens in its brilliant glow. It lingered long after the moon had risen to its zenith.

From that point on, the generation of life force within the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm quietly changed.

The living beings of the world were oblivious to it, for neither the quantity nor the quality of life force had undergone any obvious change.

"The difference will only become apparent when calamity strikes."

"Even if I were to bring down a world-ending disaster, annihilating all living things except those whose names are on the investiture list, and then let the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm recover on its own without my intervention... it would only take about three years to go from utter desolation back to being teeming with life."

In Li Fan's eyes, a vision of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm's terrifying regenerative ability, now enhanced by the intercepted Dao life force, played out.

"Intercepting the Dao, intercepting the Dao."

"From where exactly is this life force being intercepted?"

Li Fan couldn't help but look beyond the Xuanhuang Realm.

He could indeed sense a faint, ethereal stream of life force, drifting in like an immortal melody from an unknown source.

But it arrived without a trace, its origin impossible to pinpoint.

After observing for a long time, Li Fan slowly arrived at an answer.

"It is not being stolen from other possibilities. It is being intercepted from the Great Dao itself."

"From the very flow of 'the Dao is born, the Dao is extinguished'..."

"As long as the Great Dao continues to exist, as long as it has not fallen into a state of annihilation, the life force intercepted by Pi Pa can be drawn upon endlessly."

"So this is a divine medicine of Seizing Heaven..."

Thinking back on the countless other herbs in the Saint Emperor's Medicinal Gardens, Li Fan once again gained a clear understanding of the proud Tai Wei Saint Emperor's true power.