Chapter 1642: The Same Retrospective Culprit
The single act sent ripples through the cosmos.
As if sensing the disturbance, the tides of Dao Annihilation began to swell.
Li Fan felt a sense of wrongness, his mind instantly tensing. He was ready to activate [Truth] at a moment's notice.
Fortunately, this unknown, eerie power only severed the statue's head and made no further moves.
He Gan Xian, in his horror, instinctively touched his own neck.
The moment the statue's head fell, it was as if he, too, had been struck.
He Gan Xian's Moral Dao flowed, nearly reaching perfection. He prided himself on being but a single step away from the realm of the Saints.
Yet, when faced with that strange power, it felt as though he had no strength to resist at all.
How was this possible?
"Can you trace its source?" Li Fan asked, his expression grave.
He Gan Xian gazed out at the Mountain Sea for a long while before shaking his head. "It came so strangely, so ethereally... it's difficult."
"Besides, even if I could sense it, I wouldn't dare to investigate too deeply."
"My other self, though somewhat weaker, still possessed the true meaning of the Moral Dao. With his transcendent power, he was exceedingly difficult to kill."
The implication in He Gan Xian's words was clear.
But Li Fan held a different opinion.
Even a being like the All Knowing Immortal, who was suspected of threatening the entire Mountain Sea, had not been executed by the Saints, merely suppressed within the Eternal Heaven Steps.
The Faceless Immortal, though without virtue, had never committed any truly depraved acts.
The Saints had no reason to strike.
"Then who else in the Mountain Sea possesses such power?"
The two fell into an uncanny silence.
The Faceless Immortal's sudden demise had completely shattered their plans.
He Gan Xian's hope of attaining Sainthood anytime soon was dashed, and Li Fan's own plan to glimpse the true essence of the Moral Dao had come to nothing.
Faced with this unexpected turn of events, Li Fan felt a chill of alarm, but also a surge of inexplicable irritation.
"In the last lifetime, the Faceless Immortal lived on just fine, yet this time he dies a bizarre death. Is this related to the destruction of the Primal Possibility, or to the All Knowing Immortal?"
"I can still clearly feel the remnants of his immortal power on the statue..."
Li Fan couldn't help but cast a suspicious glance at He Gan Xian.
As if sensing Li Fan's doubt, He Gan Xian could only explain with a sigh, "The Moral Dao flows in a cycle of endless creation; this is our divine ability to evade calamity. Wherever we leave a trace, a remnant of our moral aura remains. You could think of them as special avatars we leave behind. If our true self were to unfortunately perish, as long as these remnants of moral aura exist within the Mountain Sea, we can be reborn from destruction."
"That is how it should be," He Gan Xian added heavily, his expression turning grim.
"But now, he is dead."
He Gan Xian pointed a hand at the headless statue. "Though the moral aura still flows upon it, it has lost its rightful core principle. In the future, even if the moral energy were to recover on its own, he will never return."
"This is true death."
Li Fan could faintly detect a trace of sorrow for his own kind—and an unconcealable fear—in He Gan Xian's words.
After all, he and the Faceless Immortal were two sides of the same coin, born from the Moral Separation.
If that unknown, mysterious entity could execute the Faceless Immortal, it could just as easily kill him, He Gan Xian!
"Not only was the true self slain, but he was also erased from the Mountain Sea as a separate individual."
"All the contingency plans he ever left behind became irrelevant the moment he vanished."
"This is the method of true erasure!"
The method was certainly terrifying, but what unsettled Li Fan more was that it had appeared without any warning and vanished without a trace.
It was worth noting that Li Fan had once roamed nearly a tenth of the Mountain Sea. Coupled with the immense power of the Sacred Dynasty that spanned across it, one could say that there were few unknown realms left in the Mountain Sea for Li Fan.
He, too, had believed that to be the case.
The inexplicable appearance of this strange power that had slain the Faceless Immortal, however, had given him a rude awakening.
The situation was just like every time he thought he had explored the secrets of the Xuanhuang Realm to their very depths, only for the world to surprise him once more.
More importantly...
This power... it felt very close!
If the Mountain Sea were a pond he had gradually grown familiar with, then now, a terrifying, man-eating monster was hiding in its murky depths.
How could Li Fan not feel a mixture of shock and anger?
His anger was not born of the enemy's strength, but of the unknown.
The Saints of the Other Shore and the Tai Wei Saint Emperor were powerful indeed, but while Li Fan couldn't afford to provoke them, he could at least avoid them.
What he truly feared was an enemy powerful enough to threaten him, yet who remained perpetually hidden in the shadows.
If his luck was poor, he might just stumble right into it one day while journeying through the Mountain Sea.
Unable to suppress the unease in his heart, Li Fan made an immediate decision: he had to seize this opportunity, while some clues remained from the Faceless Immortal's death, to uncover as much information about the attacker as possible.
If not their complete identity, he at least needed to pinpoint their general location in the Mountain Sea. Until he was strong enough to face the danger, he would simply have to steer clear.
With that in mind, Li Fan looked at He Gan Xian again and sneered, "Are you afraid?"
"The chance to become a Saint was right before you, yet someone cut it short. As the saying goes, obstructing one's path on the Dao is a feud as deep as the murder of one's parents."
"You two are two sides of one moral whole. His death is like your own."
"The murderer of your other self is out there, and you choose to flee?"
"Don't you even have the courage to pursue them?"
Hearing Li Fan's taunts, He Gan Xian's expression remained unchanged. He replied calmly, "When one's strength is inferior, what can one do?"
"If it were me, I would at least find out who they are. Otherwise, when you're strong enough for revenge in the future but can't even find your target, wouldn't that be a tragedy? Surely you haven't been so crushed by this blow that you've lost all will to fight, completely abandoning even the thought of vengeance?" Li Fan stared intently at He Gan Xian.
He Gan Xian fell silent once more, his heart clearly wavering.
"If that's the case, then just forget I said anything. To think the legendary Moral True Immortal could be so timid." Li Fan clicked his tongue and shook his head.
"You don't need to provoke me. I'm actually rather curious—why are you so concerned about this culprit?" He Gan Xian retorted.
"Firstly, because I am furious at having lost the chance to witness the birth of a Saint. And secondly..."
Li Fan's gaze turned distant. "I suspect this culprit is someone I've been tracking all along."
A single sentence sent new waves through He Gan Xian's heart. "Are you truly so certain you can help me become a Saint?"
"If both aspects of the Moral Dao were present, it would be almost a certainty. But now... perhaps we'll have to wait many years for the moral cycle to turn and for your virtueless half to be reborn. I hope that when that time comes, this Mountain Sea still exists, and you're still alive." Li Fan gave a smile of ambiguous meaning.
With that, his figure began to fade, about to disappear.
"Wait!" At the last moment, He Gan Xian suddenly called out.
"I will try it, just this once. I hope that in the future, when the time is right again, you will lend me your aid!"
After all, the temptation of Sainthood was simply too great. Even for a promise so ethereal and baseless, He Gan Xian was unwilling to let it go.
"Of course! Rest assured, if the opportunity arises, I will certainly help you become a Saint!" Li Fan declared proudly.
Having reached an agreement, He Gan Xian looked at the headless statue before him and took a deep breath.
Then, he reached up, grabbed his own head, and gave a low shout.
He actually tore his head right off his body.
"Settle, my precious."
The head of He Gan Xian, held in his own hand, glared with wide-open eyes as it muttered the words.
He Gan Xian's body, moving somewhat woodenly, walked step by step toward the Faceless Immortal's statue.
Finally, cupping the head in both hands, it placed it with extreme solemnity upon the statue's smooth neck.
The body of the Faceless Immortal's statue, the head of He Gan Xian.
As the two, who had originally been one and the same, were joined, an exceedingly profound change immediately occurred.
It was as if the Faceless Immortal, who had been truly dead just moments before, had been resurrected!
As if reliving everything the Faceless Immortal had experienced before his death, a look of terror slowly crept onto He Gan Xian's face.
His hands and feet flailed uncontrollably, as if instinctively trying to flee.
But whether in reality or in the memory he was reliving, he could not escape.
Terror finally turned to despair.
"I am doomed!"
With a mournful cry, He Gan Xian's head shot into the air, separating from the statue.
The same scene played out again, but this time, a torrent of blood gushed from the statue's body!
Only a moment later, the eyes of the flying head had regained their clarity.
As it searched for its body, it shouted, "Run!"
Li Fan's reaction was faster.
The moment he sensed that bizarre power striking again—severing He Gan Xian's head and threatening to spread outward—Li Fan had already ignited the True Spirit embers he had planted in the surrounding possibilities.
In an instant, a raging inferno blazed, burning the mountains and boiling the seas!
It formed a terrifying wall of light and heat, blocking the tendrils of power reaching from the depths of the Mountain Sea.
The 'arena' that had originally been meant to trap the Moral True Immortal had now become the straw that saved their lives.
And it was because he had this measure in place that Li Fan still did not use [Truth], even though they were in extreme danger.
The fire of the True Spirit burned the possibilities to fragments. Having lost their foundation, they immediately drew in a great tide of Dao Annihilation.
Fire and water raged, devouring the Mountain Sea.
In a single moment, it was as if the apocalypse had arrived!
At that moment, He Gan Xian, who had found his separated body, reattached his head, and returned to normal, stared at the scene before him, utterly stunned.
He had never imagined that Li Fan could be so reckless!
To burn a perfectly good piece of the Mountain Sea just like that!
"What are you standing there for? The fire is at its peak! If we don't run now, when will we?"
Li Fan's low shout pulled He Gan Xian back to reality.
He couldn't afford to hesitate and instinctively followed Li Fan, plunging into the flames.
Since the great fire was fueled by Li Fan's own spirituality, with Li Fan leading the way, He Gan Xian was not scorched by the True Spirit flames in the slightest. He only had to dodge the crashing waves of the Dao Annihilation tide.
They fled rapidly from the blockade of fire and water.
After escaping across countless possibilities, as the light of the fire faded into the distance and the intense sense of crisis in their hearts gradually subsided, the two finally slowed their pace.
He Gan Xian looked back at the ruins of the Mountain Sea, now burned to cinders and swallowed by Dao Annihilation, still shaken.
After a long pause, he cupped his hands toward Li Fan in admiration. "If not for your decisive action in igniting the Mountain Sea, fellow Daoist, I fear we would not have escaped this calamity."
Li Fan's expression turned stern. "Don't you slander me. When have I ever committed such a heinous act as setting the Mountain Sea ablaze? It was clearly the work of the villain who sought to kill us!"
He Gan Xian was taken aback by his words.
Then he could only smile wryly.
"After facing such a great danger, did you learn anything?" Li Fan asked.
He Gan Xian nodded, then shook his head.
"Using the method of Moral Unity, I did indeed see the final moments of my other self's life. But it was limited to only a very brief period."
"Moreover, the assailant never once truly revealed their form. So..."
"Their true identity remains unknown."
"But I have memorized the place of his death and the aura of the attacker. If I were to encounter it again, I would surely be alerted beforehand."
This outcome was within Li Fan's expectations. "Can you show me the direction?"
He Gan Xian immediately marked a location within the Mountain Sea.
"It should be around here."
"Hm?"
Staring at the shimmering illusion of the Mountain Sea before him, Li Fan felt a hint of familiarity.
"This place is..."
He Gan Xian also noticed Li Fan's strange reaction and quickly asked, "Could it be that you know of this place, fellow Daoist?"
Li Fan remained silent for a long time before slowly uttering a few words.
"The Five Fellow Calamity Venerables, the Life and Death Realm!"
"The Life and Death Realm?" He Gan Xian repeated in a murmur. In all his experience, he had never heard of such an existence within the Mountain Sea.
He couldn't help but believe a little more in Li Fan's earlier claim that the culprit might be someone he had been tracking.
In truth, even across his hundreds of lifetimes, Li Fan had only heard of the Life and Death Realm once.
It came from the memories within the Supreme Dao Scripture, from the Fallen Immortal Realm!
Long ago, the shadowy figure named Zhu Kong who had stolen the thirty True Immortal Scripts from the Primal Supreme Dao Scripture had come from the Life and Death Realm.
Besides Zhu Kong, there were four others. Together, they had withstood the attack of the Primal Inscription Immortal.
The Inscription Immortal had called them the Five Fellow Calamity Venerables.
In order to retrieve the thirty stolen True Immortal Scripts, the Inscription Immortal pursued Zhu Kong. But he never returned.
The danger of the Life and Death Realm was plain to see.
Relying on the faint connection between the Supreme Dao Scripture and the stolen True Immortal Scripts, Li Fan knew the approximate location of the Life and Death Realm.
Thus, during his later travels through the Mountain Sea, he had deliberately avoided it.
It seemed now that he had indeed dodged a disaster.
"After so many years, the so-called Five Fellow Calamity Venerables have grown this powerful?"
"The sense of crisis that arose in my heart just now..."
"Even if they aren't Saints, they can't be much weaker."
"Of course, it's also possible that was the result of the five of them acting together."
"I just don't know how the Faceless Immortal managed to provoke such dangerous figures." Countless thoughts flashed through Li Fan's mind.
At the same time, he breathed a sigh of relief.
The Mountain Sea was still the one he knew; a deadly enemy hadn't just appeared out of thin air.
It was simply that an entity he already needed to be wary of now required several more layers of caution.
"So, where do you intend to go next, fellow Daoist?"
Having survived such a major incident, and still mindful of Li Fan's promise to help him achieve Sainthood, He Gan Xian couldn't help but ask as he watched the pensive Li Fan.
Li Fan glanced at He Gan Xian and said in a low voice, "I intend to go to the Life and Death Realm and investigate."
"Are you willing to come with me?"
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