Chapter 801: The Xuanhuang Realm Faces Annihilation
The moment its gaze locked onto the Sacred Embryo Li Fan, the craving for "hunger" in his mind crested into an overwhelming, all-consuming wave.
If one is hungry, one must eat.
Every fiber of his being, every speck of flesh and blood, seemed to awaken with a consciousness of its own, desperate to devour everything in its surroundings to appease this gnawing emptiness.
The Sacred Embryo Li Fan's mind was completely overrun.
And so it was...
In a single instant, the Sacred Embryo collapsed inward, like a star consumed by its own gravity.
With a silent implosion, the furious, self-devouring mass of his body shrank into a single, infinitesimal particle, and then vanished from the world entirely.
His last thought was frozen in the moment he saw the eyes of the immortal remnant in the Immortal Ruins blink open.
Of course, the qualifier "mortal shell" might be unnecessary. Even if his Nascent Soul stage true self had been there, the outcome would not have been much better.
A cultivator, especially one below the Longevity stage, stood worlds apart from a true immortal. The difference was a chasm so vast that words could not begin to describe it.
With the demise of the Sacred Embryo Li Fan, it would logically follow that the simulation would simply run its course until the allotted time expired. Then, Li Fan's avatar, trapped within Gu Xinghan's coffin, would automatically trigger a return via [Truth].
However, the phenomena within the Immortal Ruins—be it the humanoid remnant bound by crimson chains or the character for [Hunger] carved into the desolate earth—were existences that defied all logic and reason.
The Sacred Embryo, created by the Empire's improved Holy Blood Embryo Transformation technique, was a completely independent individual from the main body, yet it was also a clone that shared a deep, intrinsic connection.
Even though the clone had perished, this sympathetic link persisted, stretching across time and space to remain tethered to the main body's avatar.
This connection was imperceptible to ordinary cultivators. Even the supreme experts of the Xuanhuang Realm, the Longevity stage Heavenly Venerates, might not have noticed it.
But... within the Immortal Ruins was an existence known as an "Immortal."
Thus, the figure within the Immortal Ruins used this thread of connection, and its gaze pierced through the barriers of time and space, descending upon the Xuanhuang Realm itself!
A terrifying, inexorable suction force followed in its wake.
The entire Beast Seed Realm collapsed in an instant, shrinking into a single point of absolute blackness. Everything within it plunged into that point and vanished.
In the next moment, the sphere of influence of this suction force reached the Longevity Valley.
After more than two hundred years of development, the Medicine King Sect had reached a new zenith of prosperity. It boasted ten Dao Integration cultivators and seventy-six at the Soul Transformation stage. Nascent Soul and Golden Core cultivators were too numerous to count. In its current state, it surpassed even the peak of its ancient glory.
But in that instant, all these "great cultivators"—Liu San, Fang Zaiji, Jiang Yushan, and many, many more—were utterly powerless. They had no time to resist, no time even to react. They simply vanished into the black point.
Having consumed two small worlds, the black point was not satisfied. Instead, its expansion accelerated. A sphere of absolute nothingness, a void that would consume everything, materialized within the Xuanhuang Realm. The true, world-ending calamity had arrived.
The moment the black point was born, the protective charge on Li Fan's avatar plummeted, hitting zero in a flash. If Li Fan's main body had been there, he would have likely suffered the same fate as the other obliterated cultivators, unable to react quickly enough to activate [Truth].
Fortunately, this time, [Truth] activated on its own.
But things were different from before. After [Truth] activated, the surrounding scene did not immediately fade into illusion. Instead, it entered a bizarre state. A circular field of pure blackness formed around [Truth], and beyond this field, scenes of the Xuanhuang Realm's destruction flashed by with dizzying speed.
It seemed someone let out a world-shaking roar, attempting to halt the black sphere's wanton consumption.
It seemed a colossal, decaying tree that scraped the heavens appeared against the sky, its form accompanied by manic, unhinged laughter. "Everyone must die! That's right, everyone must die!"
It seemed two intersecting beams of light swept across the vanishing Xuanhuang Realm before tearing through space, fleeing into the endless void beyond.
It seemed countless cultivators stared in horror at the black sun rising in their sky, awaiting their doom in absolute despair.
...
The images flickered faster and faster until they finally dissolved into complete darkness.
And then...
A brilliant silver light erupted from the black domain of [Truth], blasting outward.
Anchor Year 1.
The summit of Jieli Mountain!
Li Fan, at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm, snapped his eyes open. They were crimson, like those of a wild beast!
Hunger! Hunger! Hunger! Hunger! Hunger!
An endless, gnawing hunger flooded his mind, threatening to strip him of his reason in an instant. He was starving. He desperately wanted to cram everything within his sight into his stomach.
He violently smashed the wooden bed beneath him and then, like a leviathan inhaling the sea, swallowed the splintered remains into his gut. But the hunger did not subside in the slightest. On the contrary, it grew even more intense!
A powerful sense of crisis surged through Li Fan's heart. If he continued like this, dominated by hunger, his fate would surely be complete annihilation. He knew that [Truth] had not finished recharging; there would be no second chances!
Seizing a fleeting moment of clarity, Li Fan glanced at the [Truth] panel. In the section for cultivation techniques, he saw the words "Xuanhuang Immortal Heart Mantra." He immediately began to circulate it.
To endure a thousand lifetimes of tribulation, yet the immortal heart remains unchanged!
The Xuanhuang Immortal Heart Mantra could not diminish the effects of the [Hunger], but it allowed Li Fan to maintain a clear mind, preventing him from becoming a monster that knew only how to mindlessly devour everything.
He pushed the mantra to its limits, resisting the infinite, relentless craving. Although his life was saved, the cost was a torment akin to being trapped in the deepest pits of hell.
For eight long years, Li Fan was forced to remain on the summit of Jieli Mountain, locked in a grueling battle against the sensation of starvation. He was so consumed by the struggle that he didn't even notice when [Truth] had finished recharging in the sixth year.
"Eight years have passed, and this hunger shows no sign of weakening," Li Fan thought, a flicker of resolve crossing his feral eyes.
First, he looked at the prompt from [Truth] that had been waiting for some time.
[Simulation has ended]
[You may choose one of the following options to retain:
1. An item held by you during this simulation.
2. Your cultivation realm from this simulation.
3. The simulation memory of a person closely related to you. This memory can be inherited by that person.
4. Forgo the above options to accelerate the recharge progress.]
Without a moment's hesitation, he selected the first option. An item named the [Final Dissociation Disc] appeared in the [Truth] storage space.
"Return to Truth!" Li Fan called out again.
"Virtualize the current scene and return to the established anchor point?" the prompt from [Truth] chimed in on cue.
Li Fan decisively chose yes.
In the next instant, the scene on the summit of Jieli Mountain once again dissolved into illusion.
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