Chapter 828: The Magnificent Five Great Cave-Heavens
The Magnificent Five Great Cave-Heavens
The faint but undeniable pressure radiating from her confirmed Yu Dayi’s suspicion—she was, without a doubt, a Dao Integration cultivator!
If he had made a move just moments ago, his entire party would have been wiped out.
The thought of their narrow escape from death sent a shiver down his spine, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
“This Federation of All Worlds... truly treacherous,” Yu Dayi cursed under his breath. “Sending a mere Golden Core cultivator to trade, but with a Dao Integration expert lurking in the shadows.”
“Thank goodness I was cautious,” he thought, a wave of relief washing over him.
He was about to offer a respectful bow to Lin Ling when a soft green light enveloped her and her companion.
A moment later, they vanished without a trace.
Leaving the members of the Five Elders Council standing there, shaken and unnerved by the close call.
“There were no spatial fluctuations,” one of them replied. “Even the fastest escape technique would leave some kind of trail. But to vanish in an instant...”
Their eyes, as one, drifted downwards to the ground.
“The earth veins...” Yu Dayi murmured, his expression turning grave after a moment of thought.
Traveling once more through the surging power of the earth veins, Lin Ling didn't immediately return to the Spirit Wood Realm.
Instead, following Li Fan's instructions, she sped toward Tianling Province.
A short while ago, Tianyang had sent word that he had reached the vicinity of the Five Elements Great Cave-Heaven.
He reported no sign of any guards from the Myriad Immortals Alliance.
Li Fan instructed him to wait nearby and not to enter prematurely.
A few hours later, Lin Ling brought Li Fan to rendezvous with Tianyang.
Lin Ling regarded the vacant-looking Tianyang with intense curiosity.
Tianyang, however, seemed completely oblivious to her presence, standing silently at Li Fan's side like a statue.
Li Fan began by surveying their surroundings.
The entrance to the Five Elements Great Cave-Heaven was located in a remote area, one that cultivators rarely traversed.
“I wonder what stroke of fate led to its discovery in the other timeline,” Li Fan mused.
Even as the thought crossed his mind, his hands were already moving with practiced speed.
Within his sea of consciousness, the Dissociation Disc pulsed with a soft, white light.
First, he cast the Sky-Shrouding Hand technique around the perimeter to mask their presence. Then, he swiftly deployed the Infinite Formation—a design derived from the Dissociation Disc—to completely seal off the entrance.
In a way, this was a gamble. Trying to conceal something so thoroughly could, paradoxically, draw attention and lead other cultivators to discover the anomaly here...
“But if I do nothing, its discovery is inevitable,” he reasoned. “With these measures in place, I can at least buy some time.”
“Besides, the combination of the Infinite Formation and the Sky-Shrouding Hand is formidable. I doubt even a typical Dao Integration cultivator would spot it unless they were meticulously searching this specific area.”
“All I need is enough time to perfect my Golden Core. Then, I can devour it.”
With this resolve, Li Fan completed his work, completely cloaking the entrance to the Five Elements Great Cave-Heaven from view.
He then led Lin Ling and Tianyang through the veiled portal and into the domain.
“Oh?” The moment they stepped inside, Lin Ling let out a gasp of surprise.
Her gaze was fixed on the Wood-attribute region of the cave-heaven.
There, a colossal tree stood, its canopy so vast it seemed to hold up the very sky.
In sheer size, it dwarfed even Lin Ling’s true form back in the Spirit Wood Realm.
“Is that one of your ancestors?” Li Fan asked.
Lin Ling studied it for a long moment before shaking her head, a hint of disappointment in her eyes.
Her expression was puzzled. “According to the wisdom of the earth veins, a tree of this magnitude should have awakened its own consciousness. It’s strange... It feels like something is missing here.”
Her words sent Li Fan into a contemplative silence.
“The distinction between a cave-heaven and a small world isn’t merely one of scale,” he mused. “This Five Elements Great Cave-Heaven is vastly larger than the Spirit Wood Realm, or even the mortal worlds of Great Xuan and the Li Realm.”
“And yet, it is still classified as a cave-heaven.”
Li Fan’s mind drifted back to his 115th life, recalling the moment Mr. Bai had created a miniature Xuanhuang Realm with his bare hands. He tried to grasp the fundamental principle, the precise boundary that separated a cave-heaven from a true small world.
After a period of fruitless contemplation, Li Fan pushed the question aside for now.
Instead of immediately exploring the Wood-attribute domain, he began searching for the passages to the others.
“At this point in time, only the Wood-attribute cave-heaven is manifest,” he recalled. “The Metal, Water, Fire, and Earth domains are all concealed.”
“But the five elements are interconnected, part of a single, flowing whole. And since I’ve witnessed the entire layout before, finding them won’t be difficult.”
Li Fan closed his eyes, his spiritual sense expanding to sweep across the Wood-attribute domain. He followed the flow of wood spiritual energy, tracing its transformations throughout this self-contained world.
Before long, he located the passages leading to the Fire and Water domains.
He didn’t enter them, however.
Instead, he sought a path leading to the void where all five cave-heavens converged.
Unlike the vast, well-traveled channels he had navigated in a future life, this place was still untouched by the Myriad Immortals Alliance.
The passages were narrow and difficult to locate, and even the surrounding void was merely a thin, fragile layer.
Li Fan decided to use the Furnace of Ten Thousand Forms, transforming himself into a massive Splitting Boundary Whale.
His immense form pushed back the boundaries, creating a more stable pocket of void for them to occupy.
After considerable effort, Li Fan was once again able to behold the entirety of the Five Elements Great Cave-Heaven.
The five domains resembled interconnected rings, their essences swirling together like a palette of cosmic paint.
Untouched by the excessive mining and exploitation of the Myriad Immortals Alliance, the cave-heavens pulsed with vigorous, untamed life.
Gazing down upon them from the void, he could faintly sense their powerful, unified aura, as if they were a single, breathing entity.
“Incredible,” he murmured. “This sight is a world away from the ravaged ruins I saw in the future, after the Myriad Immortals Alliance was done with it.”
“I still don’t know what their purpose was in that other life—to mobilize such forces and strip these five cave-heavens bare.”
“But if I am pushed to the brink in this lifetime, perhaps I’ll get to find out.”
Li Fan remained there, admiring the view for a long while before flying back into the Wood-attribute domain.
On his way, he took the opportunity to widen the passages further.
Only then did the three of them finally get a chance to properly observe the Wood-attribute cave-heaven in its entirety.
An immense tree, its canopy blotting out a third of the sky, instantly filled their vision.
The sheer presence it exuded was overwhelming.
Even Lin Ling seemed to feel a hint of unease in its shadow.
Strangely, despite occupying the vast majority of the space, the spirit tree didn't stifle the life around it. On the contrary, it radiated a rich, potent life force that nourished the entire domain.
The closer one drew to its trunk, the thicker this vitality became, coalescing into a faint, green mist.
Countless species of plants flourished here, vying for space in a riot of growth.
Even with his encyclopedic knowledge from the *Heavenly Doctor's Immortal Sutra*, a single glance told Li Fan he couldn't identify the vast majority of them.
It was then that Li Fan truly understood the meaning behind the Tianxuan Mirror’s announcement from his past life: “The domain is immense, its wood-attribute spiritual energy exceptionally high. It is exceedingly rich in a wide variety of spiritual plants and herbs.”
And now, this entire domain belonged to him.
“The resources here are far more abundant than in the nascent five-element cave-heaven I created in my previous life,” he thought. “I can only imagine how many ages the Xuanhuang Realm spent nurturing this place.”
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