Chapter 805: The Otherworldly Mr. Bai
It was now the fifth year of the anchor point.
Li Fan did not travel to the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
Instead, he first made a quiet trip to the entrance of the Li Realm.
Passing through the spatial passage, Li Fan flew straight toward the volcano at the center of the Li Realm.
The scorching air was thick with the heavy scent of sulfur.
Nearby, traces of a recent lava flow could be seen, not yet fully cooled.
It seemed the volcano had just experienced a violent eruption.
Suspended in mid-air, Li Fan observed the volcano carefully.
The strange feeling in his heart grew ever stronger.
After a long moment, a peculiar light flickered in Li Fan's eyes.
Perhaps it was because he had once reached the Nascent Soul realm and possessed a grotto-heaven within him, or perhaps it was because he had once, in the body of Xu Bai, merged with the Heavenly Dao of a small world. As a result, Li Fan's perception of "grotto-heavens and small worlds" had become significantly sharper.
Upon this inspection, he instantly understood the source of the unease he felt whenever he saw this volcano in the Li Realm.
"This volcano doesn't belong to the Li Realm at all. It's from another small world!"
"No wonder it always felt so out of place, so discordant!"
In truth, the surrounding terrain already spoke volumes.
On an endless plain, a violent volcano rose abruptly from the ground.
This was clearly an anomaly.
Mortals, however, simply attributed it to the awesome power of creation.
But a cultivator like Li Fan could indeed uncover the reason behind it.
Li Fan's interest was immediately piqued.
"What happened here? Why would a volcano from another small world suddenly appear in the Li Realm?"
Li Fan casually set up a protective barrier around himself and then flew into the crater.
The scorching, churning lava could not harm him in the slightest.
Li Fan descended deep into the volcano, trying to find the source of the anomaly from within.
He went all the way to the very bottom, where the volcano met the earth's veins.
There, he finally made a discovery.
"This is..."
Li Fan reached out and drew a wisp of earth fire into his palm.
Even with the defenses of his mid-stage Golden Core cultivation, it still felt scalding to the touch.
"It's not spiritual energy, but it's a form of supernatural power nonetheless."
"The Li Realm is a purely mortal world; the conditions to produce this kind of earth fire don't exist here."
Li Fan released the earth fire and observed the space around him more closely.
Compared to the crater above, the lava here flowed more gently and calmly.
Only an occasional bubble would rise to the surface.
And at the edge of the sea of magma, there was a faint, almost imperceptible dividing line.
Hidden within the orange-red lava, it was utterly inconspicuous.
If one weren't deliberately searching for it, it would be easy to overlook.
From this dividing line, a faint power emanated, one with the same origin as the earth fire.
"Another spatial passage?"
Li Fan mused thoughtfully.
After a moment of contemplation, he set up a protective formation around his body and leaped inside.
Boom!
His vision blurred. The moment he entered, a fireball hurtled toward him.
Its power wasn't great, however, and the protective formation deflected it automatically.
Li Fan had initially thought he was under attack and tensed his mind.
But when he focused his gaze, he relaxed. The scenery of this world instantly captivated him.
This was a world entirely devoid of life, a realm purely of "fire."
A hellish sea of scorching magma churned without end.
From time to time, massive explosions erupted.
Magma shot skyward, only to burst apart in the air.
It streaked across the sky in countless crimson lines of fire, crashing down in every direction.
As it fell back into the magma sea, it triggered a new chain reaction.
Fire was the eternal theme of this world.
Below, the endless sea of magma held countless independent seeds of fire, like blossoms blooming in the depths, while in the sky above, huge, canvas-like flames of various shapes drifted faintly on the wind.
They varied in color and form.
The aura of the most powerful flame was so intense that even Li Fan felt it would be somewhat tricky to handle.
But that was the extent of it.
After spending some time fully exploring this world, Li Fan couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. "The power level here is, at most, at the late Golden Core stage."
"If I were in the Nascent Soul realm, even if all the fires in this world burned me at once, they wouldn't be able to cause the slightest harm."
"It has some value, but not much."
Li Fan shook his head slightly. By his estimation, even a cultivator with a keen interest in fire-attribute powers wouldn't pay more than two thousand contribution points for this world.
Such a small amount of contribution points was, of course, nothing to Li Fan.
"What a letdown!"
Li Fan immediately lost interest.
He was just about to return to the Li Realm through the spatial passage he had come from when he suddenly remembered something and halted.
After a moment of thought, he changed direction and flew high into the sky.
He flew all the way to the edge of the world, near the endless void.
Looking down from above, he could finally make out the full panorama of this world.
It was obvious that near the spatial passage leading to the Li Realm, the terrain of the magma sea was different from other areas.
It was as if it had suffered a violent impact.
A distinct circular outline was visible.
And looking out into the void, farther into the distance, he could faintly see the scenery of the Li Realm.
Li Fan instantly understood. "These are two small worlds in the void that, for some unknown reason, have collided."
"A part of the fire world has become deeply embedded within the Li Realm."
"Two sides of a single whole. And as time passes, they will become inseparable, gradually merging."
Li Fan quickly returned to the magma sea below.
"The energy level of this fire world is clearly far greater than that of the mortal Li Realm."
"One is strong, the other weak. If this continues, the only fate awaiting the Li Realm is to be devoured and assimilated."
Li Fan grew thoughtful.
"Hmm?"
He suddenly thought of the extraordinary talents displayed by Su Xiaomei, Su Heng, Ye Feipeng, and the others from the Li Realm.
In his 115th life, he had first trapped them on Body Incarnation Island.
Then, he had imprisoned them in the Medicine King Sect Valley.
This had continued for many years.
In the end, when they were finally able to truly cultivate again, they discovered that the people from the Li Realm had lost all their spiritual energy.
At that time, Li Fan had even driven them out of the Medicine King Sect Valley.
He had wanted to see if they, like dragons returning to the sea, could display their talents once more.
Unfortunately, until the very end of that world, he never heard any news of them again.
They had, it seemed, faded into obscurity.
"The talent of the people from the Li Realm doesn't come from themselves."
"But rather..."
Li Fan then recalled the birth of Su Xiaomei.
"Born of a mother but no father, conceived through the mandate of heaven."
Li Fan's eyes lit up.
Having found the key to the puzzle, he passed back through the spatial passage beneath the volcano and returned to the Li Realm.
Before long, he found his target in the Grand Scholar's manor in the capital.
It was none other than Su Xiaomei's mother, Su Yujing.
At this time, she was not yet pregnant.
She was a young girl in the bloom of her youth, no older than her early teens, her face a picture of innocence.
She was in her family's rear garden, playfully teasing a butterfly that had landed on a flower.
She was completely engrossed.
The moment he saw her, a familiar feeling surged through Li Fan's heart.
"Mr. Bai?"
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