Chapter 1658: The Inscription Immortal Reappears
Chapter 1658: The Inscription Immortal Reappears
Li Fan tried to glean more clues from the phantom conjured by [Truth], but it was clear that its handiwork was far beyond his current ability to decipher.
Ultimately, he had no choice but to give up.
“For now, I’ll set aside [Truth]’s intentions and just assume it’s patching up the flaws in my Saint Creation Plan. But the mere fact that its power is gradually recovering is enough to put me on high alert.”
Li Fan was no longer the man he once was, who simply saw [Truth] as his personal cheat item, his golden finger.
All signs now indicated that [Truth] possessed an independent consciousness and was likely connected in some intricate way to the so-called "Creator God" of the Mountain Sea.
He vividly remembered what had happened when he activated [Truth] at the edge of the Eternal Silent Void Realm.
Within that void, a terrifying presence had seemed to awaken, striking fiercely at the white mist that represented [Truth]. The power of True False Transformation had been shackled, frozen in place. The memory was still chilling, a portrait of absolute despair.
“The higher my power level, the closer I get to beings like the Saints and the Void Realm, the more easily [Truth]’s existence is exposed. If not for the heaven-defying ability of True False Transformation, which can overturn the Mountain and Sea with a single thought, I would have long fallen under the Saints’ direct scrutiny.”
“And now, it’s bypassing me entirely to directly influence the Mountain Sea...”
“Indeed, only the power I forge myself is truly dependable.”
Li Fan narrowed his eyes, suppressing the discontent he felt toward [Truth].
With forced patience, he once again attempted to communicate with it.
But just as before, [Truth] met his efforts with silence.
There was nothing more Li Fan could do.
His mood was already sour, but it was then that he heard waves of cheers erupting from beyond the Guangwu Immortal Embankment.
“Thanks to everyone’s hard work, all three hundred and ninety-nine new Heavenly Pillars are complete.”
“After a brief period of rest and reorganization, we can officially accept the invitation and journey to the Life and Death Realm!”
The words "Life and Death Realm" immediately captured Li Fan's attention.
“Hmm?”
Previously, to avoid detection by the soon-to-be transcendent Rinsing Moon Bai, Li Fan had not been within the Primal Possibility. Instead, he had been hiding within the Mountain Sea, observing from a distance.
Furthermore, most of his attention had been fixed on Rinsing Moon Bai, so he had paid little mind to the events unfolding in the Guangwu Xinghai.
He never imagined they would become entangled with the Life and Death Realm and the Five Fellow Calamity Venerables!
“Accept the invitation?”
Li Fan scoffed inwardly. “They haven’t even reached the transcendent stage. Why would they ever catch the eye of the Five Fellow Calamity Venerables? Making that long journey would be like sheep walking into a tiger’s den, only to be devoured as nourishment.”
But a moment later, he realized something was amiss.
He knew the people of Guangwu Xinghai quite well, having personally annihilated them once before. They were so weak that they had no real value to exploit. Under normal circumstances, the Five Fellow Calamity Venerables would never have taken an interest in them, let alone extend an "invitation."
“But if the invitation is real...”
Li Fan couldn't help but recall his speculation about the Heavenly Net Emperor successfully leading his people to transcendence.
“If there’s anything about this group from Guangwu Xinghai that might make the Five Fellow Calamity Venerables look twice, it would have to be their identity as survivors from the Primal era.”
“The transcendence of the Primal Immortal Realm blessed its descendants, greatly enhancing their potential and spirituality...”
Li Fan secretly observed Xing Fu, the leader of the Guangwu immortals, and a plan began to form in his mind.
The Life and Death Realm was an unknown and treacherous land. Even the Inscription Immortal had ventured there and never returned, and the Faceless Immortal, after splitting his Dao, had met a miserable end within its borders.
Though it had been effortlessly swept away by the might of the Saints, offering almost no resistance, for an ordinary transcendent expert, it was still a place of extreme peril.
Under normal circumstances, Li Fan would never have taken the risk to explore it without a compelling reason.
But now, a risk-free, heaven-sent opportunity lay before him.
Besides, the long wait for Rinsing Moon Bai’s fall was becoming dreadfully dull. He had nothing better to do, so why not venture into the Life and Death Realm and see it for himself?
“I might even uncover the reason for the Faceless Immortal’s mysterious and sudden demise.”
His mind made up, Li Fan gently blew out a breath.
A figure as ethereal as a wisp of smoke materialized before him.
It had no definite form. Following Li Fan's command, it drifted, unseen, toward Xing Fu and slipped into his body.
Xing Fu was merely at the Nameless realm; against Li Fan's immeasurable power, he had no chance of resistance.
The smoke-like figure enveloped Xing Fu’s soul.
“When the false is taken for real, the real itself becomes false!”
As Li Fan's voice chanted leisurely, the figure's empty form took on Xing Fu's appearance, like a perfect impression.
The real Xing Fu struggled futilely, but he was powerless to resist. He had been replaced.
From beginning to end, Xing Fu’s physical body showed no sign of anything unusual. The assembled Guangwu immortals remained completely oblivious, unaware that their leader had been surreptitiously replaced.
The method used for this possession was the very same one Li Fan employed to create his completely independent clones.
Except this time, the target he was replicating was not himself, but Xing Fu.
Moments later, Li Fan had fully adapted to his new body.
He searched through Xing Fu’s memories, looking for any information related to the invitation from the Life and Death Realm.
“So it wasn't an exclusive invitation from the Five Fellow Calamity Venerables, but a widespread, cast-a-wide-net type of appeal targeting all survivors of the Primal Immortal Realm.”
“And the one who wrote the invitation...”
Li Fan’s heart skipped a beat. “The Primal Inscription Immortal?”
After the destruction of the Primal Realm, some of the surviving True Immortals eked out a meager existence in the lower star seas. The more capable ones, however, left the Primal Possibility for others, with some even achieving transcendence.
The survivors of the Primal era were scattered far and wide.
However, the Inscription Immortal had authored the Supreme Dao Scripture, a work from which more than half of the Primal True Immortals had benefited.
Upon sensing the aura the Inscription Immortal had left on the invitation, the number of those willing to accept would undoubtedly be significant.
Xing Fu of Guangwu was one of them.
In fact, Xing Fu had his own glorious past.
He had chosen “Revival” as his Dao because he was a descendant of an Immortal Emperor.
His ancestor was none other than the Wuji Immortal Emperor, whose lifespan had stretched for an astonishing ninety-nine million, nine hundred and ninety thousand years.
After the Wuji Immortal Emperor fell, no new ruling Immortal Emperor had ever emerged from his family line.
Thus, from a young age, Xing Fu had taken it upon himself to restore the great legacy of his ancestor.
Xing Fu’s aptitude was extraordinary. After a thousand years of arduous cultivation, he had reached the Nameless realm. With the lingering fortune of his ancestor, another few tens of thousands of years of accumulation might have truly allowed him to become the second ruling Immortal Emperor of his family.
Unfortunately, the Dao Annihilation descended, and the Immortal Realm was no more.
His dream of revival was shattered along with it.
When the apocalypse came, Xing Fu fled in a sorry state. Relying on his Nameless cultivation, he barely survived the ordeal and made his way to the lower star seas.
But he did not abandon his path. He gathered other surviving True Immortals and established the Guangwu faction.
Using a method of fishing in the wake of the Dao Annihilation, he collected several immortal treasures, hoping to one day leave this ruined land, find a new home, and rebuild an immortal enterprise.
That was until the letter from the Inscription Immortal arrived, completely upending his plans.
Xing Fu’s prestige was nothing compared to the Inscription Immortal’s. In his letter, the Inscription Immortal painted a vivid picture of the Life and Death Realm, a magnificent world that was in no way inferior to the former Immortal Realm—a perfect second home.
The homeless Guangwu immortals were naturally captivated. Even Xing Fu himself was moved.
However, being cautious by nature, Xing Fu remained skeptical about the reality of the beautiful world the Inscription Immortal described.
But all those worries vanished the moment he personally visited the Life and Death Realm.
Li Fan carefully examined the memories of the Life and Death Realm within Xing Fu’s mind.
“The reason it’s named ‘Life and Death’ is because this realm is a fusion of countless possibilities that were annihilated in the great calamity!”
A sharp glint flashed in Li Fan’s eyes. “This isn’t creating something from nothing, like [Truth] does, regenerating from the void. This is about reconstructing past memories within reality...”
What Xing Fu had seen was the very Immortal Realm he had once known so well!
“Perhaps this is why the Inscription Immortal chose to stay in the Life and Death Realm. With the Primal Realm destroyed and no home to return to, recreating his homeland from memory is certainly an appealing option.”
The scenes Xing Fu had witnessed were almost completely indistinguishable from the true Primal Immortal Realm. Even Li Fan, observing from a detached perspective, could find no flaws.
“According to the Inscription Immortal’s letter, the more past memories that are gathered, the more real and stable the reconstructed possibility becomes. If they could gather all the surviving True Immortals from the Primal era... perhaps they could truly recreate a completely identical possibility! Not just the world itself, but even the living beings within it!”
“This is the fundamental reason why the Inscription Immortal sent an invitation to the Guangwu immortals,” Li Fan mused, somewhat amazed.
This art of Empty Thought Construction was, of course, no match for the divine power of [Truth]. If one had to make a comparison, it could be seen as a Mountain Sea version of the Fallen Immortal Realm.
However, the Xuanhuang Realm was a tiny place, a mere speck. A single person could perhaps recreate it from memory. But a single possibility contained endless star seas below and the boundless Immortal Realm built upon the Mountain Sea above.
Even a transcendent expert could not possibly know and see everything, let alone construct it from thought.
Perhaps the Saints possessed such an ability, but it was clear that the Saints of the Mountain Sea, who held the belief that nothing was relevant to the final outcome, would not waste their energy on such trivial matters.
Therefore, the inhabitants of the Life and Death Realm had to pool their efforts, gathering the strengths of many immortals. And it wasn’t limited to the Primal era; every possibility Xing Fu had seen within the Life and Death Realm represented countless surviving True Immortals from that specific possibility!
“It must be said, this is a truly formidable and immense power. And one that is completely unknown to the wider world.”
“But...”
Li Fan snorted inwardly. “Even a force as impressive as this, when I diverted disaster their way and drew the gaze of the Saints of the Other Shore, was utterly powerless to resist. It was turned to dust in an instant, leaving behind nothing but the empty possibility itself.”
Thinking of the Life and Death Realm he had once seen, wiped clean of all existence, Li Fan couldn't help but sigh. “This is the meaning of ‘all are but ants beneath the Saints’.”
“Only by finding a way to contend with the Saints can I truly establish a foothold in the Mountain Sea. Therefore, the Saint Creation Plan must succeed. If Rinsing Moon Bai is not the one, then I will find someone else! The Mountain Sea is filled with countless talents; there must be one who can fulfill my needs.” Having once again glimpsed the might of the Saints through these fragments of knowledge, Li Fan’s resolve hardened.
His thoughts, after wandering far, returned once more to the Life and Death Realm.
“The core of the Fallen Immortal Realm is the Supreme Dao Scripture, which was left behind by the Inscription Immortal. It’s possible that the construction of the Life and Death Realm is also his doing.”
“The invitation he sent to the Guangwu group also serves as a method of guidance. It doesn’t specify the exact location of the Life and Death Realm within the Mountain Sea, but instead directly transports them there.”
“However, it only provides transport and offers no protection against the Dao Annihilation one encounters during the journey. This is why the Guangwu group only thought of the Life and Death Realm after they had acquired near-transcendent means of their own.”
“As for Shuo Xinghai, they actually received an invitation from the Inscription Immortal as well. The Guangwu immortals were initially able to discover the existence of Shuo Xinghai precisely because of the Inscription Immortal’s guidance.”
“And yet, not a single True Immortal in Shuo Xinghai knows of this...” Li Fan thought for a moment and surmised that Cheng Dao must have intercepted the invitation and kept it hidden.
Cheng Dao's master, Shou Qiu, was one of the Saints of the Other Shore. He would naturally hold disdain for joining forces with the likes of the Five Fellow Calamity Venerables. He likely wouldn't even permit his subordinates in the Dao Net to engage in such a degenerate affair.
“The Life and Death Realm, while insignificant in the eyes of the Saints, is a place where I can certainly broaden my horizons.”
“This method of Empty Thought Reconstruction...”
“Perhaps it will be of immense help to my comprehension of the True False Transformation.” After some deliberation, a premonition bloomed in Li Fan's mind.
Even though his mastery of the True False Transformation could be considered profound, he still had to rely on that fleeting moment during each activation of [Truth]—when all things shift from real to unreal, and then back again—to gain any insight into it.
No other treasure in the entirety of the Mountain Sea could aid his comprehension of this power.
This had been a source of great frustration for Li Fan for a long time.
But now, he faintly perceived a turning point. How could he possibly not go and investigate?
“Besides, with this new body, even if I’m discovered, my own life won’t be in danger.”
“No, that’s not right. This isn’t some new body. I *am* Xing Fu!”
Within the figure, the connection to Li Fan slowly and completely dimmed.
It was as if Xing Fu himself were now directing the Guangwu immortals, preparing for the journey to the Life and Death Realm.
His every word and action, even his manner of thinking and doing things, was indistinguishable from the Xing Fu of the past.
The Guangwu immortals noticed nothing amiss. With all preparations complete, they combined their powers and crushed the invitation left by the Inscription Immortal.
It wasn't a physical invitation, but merely a line of text that existed within Xing Fu’s memory. Furthermore, the Inscription Immortal's methods included a cloaking art. Ordinary means of soul-searching or perceiving memories, when viewed from an "outsider's" perspective, would be unable to see the characters he had left behind.
Only Xing Fu “himself” could clearly remember and call upon it.
This was why Li Fan had swept through the Guangwu Xinghai several times before and had never discovered the existence of this invitation.
This time, by using a Fantasy Becomes Truth clone for the possession and becoming Xing Fu himself, he had stumbled upon the connection between the Guangwu immortals and the Life and Death Realm by a stroke of fortune.
As the line of text in Xing Fu’s memory solidified from illusion into reality, an unfathomable and wondrous power descended upon them.
It transformed into a thin thread, visible only to Xing Fu, pointing directly into the deepest reaches of the Mountain Sea!
“That direction... it is indeed the location of the Life and Death Realm!”
(End of this chapter)
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