Chapter 1591: The Heavenly Scroll Annihilates Guangwu
Chapter 1591: The Heavenly Scroll Annihilates Guangwu
The Xuanhuang Immortal Boat arrived in the Guangwu Star Sea.
Its arrival was a stone cast into a still pond, sending ripples throughout the cosmos.
The sudden, forceful arrival of the immense immortal boat, appearing without a whisper of warning, sent violent tremors across the entire star sea.
In an instant, dozens of radiant streaks shot out from the depths of the Guangwu Star Sea, streaking across the void to investigate.
The aura radiating from each figure was unmistakably that of a True Immortal.
"In my previous life, Ziyi swept through the Guangwu Star Sea, leaving behind over three hundred True Immortal Purple Talismans. And then there are the numerous Nameless Immortals guarding the dam."
"The Xuanhuang Realm, on the other hand, has only ninety-nine True Immortals. However..."
"The advantage is mine!"
The True Immortals from Guangwu sped toward the barrier, only to collide with it as if it were an insurmountable celestial wall, their advance halted completely.
Simultaneously, ninety-nine Dao Integration cultivators soared out from the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, intercepting the Guangwu True Immortals.
There were no words exchanged, no pleasantries wasted. They attacked immediately with lethal, all-out force.
The Dao Integration cultivators of Xuanhuang drew upon the inherent might of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, channeling the infinite power linked through its Four Heavenly Gates to attain a state equivalent to that of an Immortal.
The true strength they could wield was, in fact, slightly inferior to that of a genuine Immortal, a weakness particularly pronounced outside the confines of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm.
At a signal from Li Fan, however, the Xuanhuang Immortal Boat erupted in a dazzling display of phantasmal light. The battlefield was instantly enveloped, creating an environment where the Xuanhuang cultivators fought as if on their home ground, while the True Immortals of Guangwu found themselves suppressed by the very laws of this new space.
With the tables turned—one side weakened, the other strengthened—and with a clear numerical advantage, the battle's outcome was never in doubt.
Immortals, once they reach their lofty realm, are not easily killed or captured. Typically, even in defeat, they possess the means to escape and preserve their lives.
However, each Xuanhuang cultivator wielded an Immortal-Binding Lock, a gift from the Immortal Ancestor. Once ensnared, even a True Immortal was instantly reduced to the state of a mortal, stripped of all supernatural abilities and magical power.
Thus, the Xuanhuang forces claimed victory in this first engagement with almost contemptuous ease.
At Li Fan's direction, the first batch of captured True Immortals was imprisoned within a nine-story, exquisitely crafted Xuanhuang Pagoda that materialized in the heavens above.
Once all the prisoners were inside, the pagoda’s massive doors boomed shut. Moments later, the tower began to emanate a dense cloud of Xuanhuang Qi.
Half of this energy dissipated into the surrounding space.
The other half, however, surged directly toward the assembled Dao Integration cultivators.
As the Xuanhuang Qi entered their bodies, their minds were instantly flooded with the cultivation memories and profound insights into the Dao from the imprisoned True Immortals.
Though the memories were fragmented and incomplete, they were an invaluable boon for cultivators who had only recently stepped into the immortal realm.
"Thank you, Immortal Ancestor, for your benevolence!" they exclaimed, their voices filled with sincere, devout gratitude.
Following the Immortal Ancestor's instructions, they began to absorb and integrate the insights bestowed by the Xuanhuang Pagoda.
The so-called Immortal-Binding Locks were simple artifacts, their cores forged from Wuji power and reinforced with numerous immortal arrays. Though their craftsmanship was simple, even crude, the sheer level of power they contained gave them an innate advantage, allowing them to suppress ordinary True Immortals.
As for the Exquisite Xuanhuang Pagoda, its interior was swarming with Ink Death and Dao One Worms.
Once imprisoned, a True Immortal would be devoured by Ink Death and the Dao One Worms. Their very foundation would then be fed back to the outside world.
"This is the very definition of fueling war with war."
The essence of over thirty True Immortals was a fine supplement, but for the current Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, it was no longer a necessity.
After suffering such a staggering loss so suddenly, the powers of the Guangwu Star Sea were clearly stunned into inaction. A long silence followed, with no further movements.
They didn't even send scouts to test the waters.
It was clear, however, that they would not let such an insult go unanswered.
Li Fan seized the opportunity, commanding the Xuanhuang Immortal Boat to drop anchor and firmly root itself within the Guangwu Star Sea.
Dropping anchor was a euphemism. In reality, the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm was actively converting a region of the Guangwu Star Sea's space for its own. From the realm's periphery, countless nigh-invisible Dao One Worms swarmed out, voraciously consuming the external reality.
These Dao One Worms acted as a living, expanding border for the Xuanhuang Realm.
At a speed visible to the naked eye, a layer of gray "armor" formed around the Xuanhuang Immortal Boat.
"The immortal boat requires further refinement to reach its perfect state," Li Fan mused. "And this... this is the raw material for that process."
"Of course, this alone is far from sufficient."
In the highest heavens, a colossal, transparent furnace materialized above the Xuanhuang Pagoda, visible only to Li Fan's eyes.
With a flick of his finger, the furnace expanded in an instant, enveloping the entire Xuanhuang Immortal Boat.
A flash of yellow light heralded the appearance of Pi Pa, who landed atop the furnace to stand guard over the immortal boat.
Wisps of Xuanhuang Qi from the pagoda and the essence of the star sea devoured by the Dao One Worms converged and fused within the great furnace.
This mixture transformed into a swirling, ethereal vapor that drifted toward the Xuanhuang Immortal Boat, mending the numerous vulnerabilities that the Dao Annihilation tide had exposed.
As he oversaw the refinement, Li Fan’s gaze periodically drifted toward the depths of the Guangwu Star Sea.
"All this time, and still nothing..."
"They're not afraid," he concluded. "They're preparing to settle this in a single, decisive strike."
And just as Li Fan had predicted...
After the better part of a day had passed in tranquility, a streak of light shot forth from the depths of the Guangwu Star Sea.
In an instant, it arrived before the surging curtain of light that marked the Xuanhuang Realm's border.
The light halted, revealing its true form.
It was a bead, utterly plain and unremarkable in appearance.
"Just as I expected," Li Fan thought. "The Dao Chronicle Projection Pearl."
The thought had barely crossed Li Fan's mind when the pearl erupted. An infinite torrent of light and shadow burst forth, containing every Dao art and divine ability ever wielded by any being across a single timeline, from the desolate past to the eternal void of the future.
A blinding, incandescent radiance enveloped the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm.
In that moment, the full power of the Dao Chronicle Projection Pearl was unleashed—a force capable of obliterating an entire possibility with ease.
But Li Fan had long known of the pearl's existence. How could he not have prepared for this?
"Though the divine arts be boundless, a single vessel can sail the sea."
Facing a deluge of divine powers projected from countless prodigies across history, Li Fan's expression remained unchanged. Calm and composed, he simply watched as the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm was brutally bombarded by the myriad attacks.
Just as it had when sailing through the Dao Annihilation tide, the entire Xuanhuang world began to tremble violently.
But this was not a single, massive tremor. It was more akin to being struck by a billion hailstones at once.
A cacophony of small, dense explosions and piercing whistles, punctuated by thunderous booms, engulfed the realm. The entire world was drowned in the deafening noise.
It was like being caught in a torrential downpour of destructive power.
Inevitably, the Xuanhuang Immortal Boat sustained damage.
However, empowered by the Eternal Dao and the feedback from Li Fan's own phantoms via the Sitting Heaven Technique, the damage lasted but a moment before being rapidly repaired.
But that was not all.
The "imprints" left by each of these divine arts as they struck the Xuanhuang Realm were recorded by the colossal furnace that enveloped the world.
The more potent the ability, the deeper the wound it inflicted upon the Xuanhuang Realm, and thus, the clearer the imprint it left behind.
This, in turn, made it easier to replicate.
With a casual point of Li Fan's finger, another long scroll began to form in the highest heavens, taking its place beside the one that recorded countless names like an Investiture of the Gods.
It was as if countless invisible brushes were furiously at work, scribbling across its surface.
One by one, every divine ability contained within the Dao Chronicle Projection Pearl was flawlessly replicated onto the scroll.
"The projections of the Dao Chronicle can only be used once."
"But my Myriad Dao Heavenly Scroll," Li Fan declared, "can be used again and again."
Li Fan extended his hand. A phantasmal image of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm appeared in his palm and drifted toward the scroll.
Upon absorbing the phantom, the illusory images recorded on the scroll rapidly solidified, becoming tangible.
Bolts of lightning occasionally crackled across its surface, radiating an aura of extreme danger.
The power contained within the Dao Chronicle Projection Pearl, while vast, was not infinite.
After three full years of unleashing a torrential storm of attacks, its power was finally depleted.
When the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm emerged from the deluge of light, completely unscathed, a dead silence fell over the Guangwu Star Sea.
Before they could even begin to process this, a heavenly scroll came drifting toward them.
The scroll unfurled, stretching for countless miles, vast enough to seemingly encompass the entire Guangwu Star Sea.
With a flash of brilliant light, an infinite number of phantasmal divine abilities surged forth from its surface.
Like a torrential downpour, they instantly inundated the Guangwu Star Sea.
"A taste of their own medicine."
Li Fan chuckled, crushing another Xuanhuang phantom in his palm.
He then unleashed a second heavenly scroll.
The storm of attacks intensified, a black deluge that completely obscured the Guangwu Star Sea from view.
Occasionally, a flicker of an aura would struggle to break free from the torrent of projected powers.
But Li Fan would instantly answer with another scroll.
After nine consecutive scrolls had been unleashed, all signs of resistance from the Guangwu Star Sea vanished completely.
The ceaseless storm of divine abilities raged on for twenty years.
By the time Li Fan finally ceased his assault, the Guangwu Star Sea was a scene of utter devastation.
Devoid of life, it was permeated by an aura of deathly silence and ruin.
Broken ramparts and shattered ruins were all that remained. The few celestial pillars that still stood were scarred and battered.
At Li Fan's command, the cultivators of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, who had been eagerly waiting, swarmed out like a released tide.
They set about scouring the battlefield.
In the Star Sea's current condition, any surviving Nameless Immortals would be grievously wounded and on the verge of death.
Subduing them would pose no challenge for the Xuanhuang cultivators.
Ignoring these trivialities, Li Fan headed straight for the great dam at the heart of the Guangwu Star Sea.
As he expected, the middle-aged man he had met once before—the presumed leader of the Guangwu Star Sea—was there, staggering and dressed in rags, having fled to this final sanctuary.
Sensing Li Fan's approach, the man turned, his eyes burning with resentment. "We have no quarrel, no grudge between us. Why would you be so ruthless?"
"Possessing such a treasure is a sin in itself," Li Fan stated coldly. "But to possess it and not wield it? That is a wanton waste, a crime far greater than the first!"
He didn't even bother asking for the man's name before casually suppressing him.
"A Nameless Immortal, after all. Such power should not go to waste."
"Let's see... his Dao is [Revival]."
"Hmph..."
Li Fan shook his head, utterly unconcerned.
He then turned his attention to the center of the now-dilapidated dam.
The bombardment from the nine scrolls seemed to have had no effect on the pool of Dao Annihilation gathered there. If anything, the intense fluctuations of power had only served to make the tide more active.
"I can't sense the aura of the transcendent's remains."
"Even the Great Rat Immortal isn't here."
"The Great Rat Immortal's whereabouts are uncertain, but judging by the look on [Revival]'s face before I suppressed him, they must have already salvaged the transcendent's remains by this point."
"The reason it's not here..."
"...is likely that they released it back into the Mountain and Sea, using it as bait to trap other drifting oddities."
Li Fan focused his senses on the Guangwu dam once more.
Sure enough, within the surviving celestial pillars, he detected faint, almost imperceptible connections, like silken threads reaching into the central pool of Dao Annihilation.
"Without my prior experience crossing the Dao Annihilation tide, I would have struggled to notice these 'threads'."
"They must have been forged from the remains of a transcendent being, or perhaps a powerful expert who failed in their attempt."
Having made his assessment, Li Fan reached out and gathered the threads in his hand.
Then, he gave a gentle tug...
The other end of the lines remained completely motionless.
Unfazed, Li Fan tossed the threads toward the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm.
A dense swarm of Dao One Worms descended, connecting the threads to the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm itself.
Then, with a world-shaking roar, he channeled the power of the entire Xuanhuang realm and finally managed to slowly drag the threads.
But in that same instant, Li Fan felt an immense opposing force from the other end of the line.
Li Fan’s eyes narrowed. In an instant, he crushed dozens of Xuanhuang Immortal Realm phantoms.
His power surged. The Xuanhuang Immortal Boat exerted its colossal might, violently yanking whatever was at the bottom of the dam, deep within the Dao Annihilation vortex, out into the open!
It was the very thing Li Fan had seen once before: the remains of the Mountain and Sea's Solitary Sail.
Compared to his previous sighting, however, this corpse was far more complete.
Aside from Evil Su Bai, this was the second transcendent being Li Fan had ever encountered. Even though it was deceased, Li Fan dared not let his guard down for a second.
Furthermore...
There was something else attached to its body.
A black box, made of a material that was neither jade nor gold, was fused to the head of the transcendent's corpse.
The point of contact seemed to have fused, making them one.
It looked unnervingly like a person with a black box for a head.
"I don't remember seeing this thing in my last life."
Li Fan wasn't sure if his premature retrieval of the body had altered the timeline.
But regardless of the black box's contents, with the remains of a transcendent being right before him, Li Fan had no intention of letting it go.
Because he could once again feel a rare stirring from [Truth].
"Hunger..."
It was a faint, indistinct pulse emanating from [Truth].
In his previous life, upon seeing these same remains of the Solitary Sail, [Truth] had already shown a faint desire to consume them.
Seeing it again now, even in its deep slumber, It still managed to convey this message to Li Fan.
"Perhaps," Li Fan thought, "if [Truth] can devour this, it will awaken from its slumber."
The thought spurred him to action, and he hesitated no longer.
He immediately unleashed Ink Death to probe the strange object.
A roiling cloud of darkness enveloped the transcendent remains and the black box.
But Ink Death, which had always been brutally effective, suddenly met its match.
It was like trying to bite through a steel plate. While Ink Death could still consume its target, the speed was agonizingly slow.
Furthermore, the process was incredibly draining.
Before it could make any significant progress, the cloud of Ink Death had been depleted by more than half.
It was a classic Pyrrhic victory—inflicting a hundred points of damage at the cost of eight thousand.
This was a situation he had never encountered before.
"Worthy of an existence that has drifted through the Dao Annihilation of the Mountain and Sea for so long."
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