Chapter 1324: Blood Reveals Memories of a True Immortal |
The situation was different from when the elders of the Immortal Ark came into contact with the Ancient character.
Ou Shangtian's already youthful body did not undergo any reverse aging phenomenon. Instead, the Kun-Qian Bone Hand hidden within his body emitted faint, nearly imperceptible tremors, absorbing and assimilating all of the power of the Ancient character.
Li Fan was not entirely sure whether "absorbing and assimilating" was the proper way to describe the process.
However, from his perception, the ancient character and the Kun-Qian Bone Hand seemed to have formed a certain resonance.
As a result, the power of the True Immortal seal script character that should have acted upon Ou Shangtian's body was instead completely redirected into the extraordinary object known as the Kun-Qian Bone Hand.
Meanwhile, the other extraordinary object within Ou Shangtian's body, the Book of Ten Thousand Deaths, remained completely motionless.
Stimulated by the resonance of the power of [Ancient], the Kun-Qian Bone Hand quietly underwent a subtle transformation.
Upon the originally bare and ghastly white bones, strands of dark red flesh unexpectedly began to appear.
They were only thin lines, almost impossible to notice.
The birth of flesh made the Kun-Qian Bone Hand appear even more mysterious.
It seemed to become instantly filled with spirituality, as though it had come alive.
Without any control from Ou Shangtian's, the bony fingers actually began to twitch slightly on their own.
"Ugh..."
The sleeping Ou Shangtian's let out a muffled groan.
It was obvious that the disturbance of the extraordinary object within his body was causing him considerable pain.
Li Fan pressed both hands against Ou Shangtian's head, causing him to sink back into unconscious sleep.
A ray of golden light emerged from Li Fan's hand and transformed into a sharp surgical blade.
It slashed toward Ou Shangtian's arm.
The flesh did not tear apart.
Instead, the golden surgical knife directly entered Ou Shangtian's body and arrived beside the Kun-Qian Bone Hand.
As if sensing the approach of an external enemy, the Kun-Qian Bone Hand began to tremble violently without pause.
It even seemed willing to disregard the life of its host and break free in an attempt to escape.
But how could Li Fan possibly allow that?
Numerous fine threads split off from the golden blade, transforming into chains that firmly locked the Kun-Qian Bone Hand in place.
The blade's light shifted and flickered.
With astonishing speed, it scraped away every inch of the newly grown flesh from the bone hand.
A sharp and resentful howl seemed to echo through the air.
Li Fan's expression remained unchanged.
Using source power essence, he wove a golden net and sealed all the flesh inside it.
Without the influence of the newly grown flesh, the Kun-Qian Bone Hand once again became quiet and peaceful.
Ou Shangtian, however, looked as though he had suffered severe internal injuries.
His complexion was frighteningly pale.
Li Fan casually sent a stream of spiritual energy into his body to nourish him.
Then, carrying the clump of flesh that had curled up within the net of source power essence as though it had lost all vitality, he flashed beneath the Dao Lecture Platform.
Above the platform, the Dao Teacher projection continued teaching without interruption.
Within the vast cavity excavated below, Li Fan began researching the flesh.
"The appearance of the Kun-Qian Bone Hand is identical to that of the White Bone Vanguard Realm."
"According to Dao Integration cultivator Zimiao, the master of the White Bone Vanguard Realm, that realm was modeled after illustrations he once saw depicting a True Immortal Remnant Corpse."
"In other words, this is very likely True Immortal flesh?"
Li Fan narrowed his eyes as he looked at the dark red tissue within the golden net.
He had escaped from True Immortals several times.
He had even personally witnessed Cat Treasure swallow a True Immortal in a single bite.
The reverence he once held toward True Immortals had long since disappeared.
Moreover, through a fortunate series of events in this life, the charging progress of [Truth]'s Virtualization had doubled.
He could now activate [Truth] three consecutive times.
With his safety guaranteed, Li Fan began studying the True Immortal flesh.
The first thing he confirmed was that the flesh before him possessed no independent consciousness.
The reason it could move seemed more like a biological instinct.
"However, the current amount of flesh is still very small. If there were more of it, the situation might be different."
Li Fan remained extremely cautious on this point.
This amount of flesh was already sufficient for research.
Once it was mostly consumed, he could simply harvest more from Ou Shangtian later.
He first began a rough analysis of the composition of the True Immortal flesh.
A source power essence blade cut off a tiny piece.
Then golden light spun continuously, transforming into a grinder and reducing the flesh into fragments.
"There is no immortal spiritual power."
Li Fan was not surprised and therefore did not feel disappointed.
"The bodily tissues and blood separate from one another. The vitality of the tissue is clearly inferior to that of the True Immortal blood. This blood seems to contain some kind of special energy..."
Li Fan's eyes brightened.
He separated a strand of divine sense and attempted to enter the isolated blood.
Unexpectedly, the moment his divine sense touched the True Immortal blood, it was as though it had collided with a blazing iron gate.
Violent tremors and dizziness struck immediately.
Furthermore, the scorching heat hidden within the blood instantly evaporated more than half of the divine sense.
"Hm?"
Although it was merely a separated strand of divine sense, the shock and burning it suffered were still transmitted directly to Li Fan's main consciousness.
It felt as though his head had been struck by a heavy club.
Then a raging fire ignited within his soul. The agony was nearly equivalent to complete soul destruction.
Had an ordinary cultivator encountered this unprepared, they would likely have been annihilated on the spot.
But Li Fan was no ordinary cultivator.
Empowered by the Limitless Fullness and Emptiness Technique, his soul constantly circulated and regenerated, becoming nearly indestructible.
Even though it felt as if he were trapped within hell itself, he eventually endured it.
Given Li Fan's current tolerance, even after suffering this counterattack from the True Immortal blood, cold sweat covered his forehead and his muscles spasmed continuously.
The scorching sensation within his soul gradually faded.
After everything finally calmed down, Li Fan let out a long breath and dispelled all discomfort.
"The divide between immortals and mortals..."
"A True Immortal cannot be touched."
That was the feeling the experience had left him with.
Even though it was merely a drop of blood, it still used its own method to demonstrate the immeasurable gulf between immortals and mortals.
However...
Rather than causing Li Fan to restrain himself, the warning only increased his interest.
The more something forbade him from looking, the more determined he became to uncover its secrets.
Ignite the soul?
With the Five Elements united and the Limitless Fullness and Emptiness Technique sustaining his indestructible soul, he could withstand the backlash and forcibly pry into the mysteries hidden within the True Immortal blood.
Endless pain?
Li Fan had long ago learned to treat such things as insignificant.
With a thought, countless divine thoughts split apart.
Like fearless soldiers charging into battle, they all rushed toward the True Immortal blood within the golden net.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The backlash from the True Immortal blood echoed continuously through Li Fan's soul.
It was like a giant hammer striking him again and again.
The thousands of assaults brought thousands of counterattacks.
His soul seemed to ignite instantly, countless sparks spreading into a raging inferno.
The pain was beyond description.
Even with the support of the Immortal Heart Mantra and his extraordinary willpower, he nearly collapsed and lost control.
Li Fan first glanced at the [Truth] panel.
The Virtualization charge remained at four hundred percent.
It had not decreased due to the backlash of the True Immortal blood.
This meant that the retaliation of a single drop of blood was still insufficient to threaten Li Fan at his current level of strength.
With his safety assured, Li Fan maintained the operation of the Limitless Fullness and Emptiness Technique while concentrating entirely upon the True Immortal blood, which resembled a wall of living flame.
Under the assault of countless divine thoughts, cracks gradually began to appear within its defenses.
The stalemate continued for an unknown amount of time.
Finally, Li Fan broke through the blood's protective barrier.
The backlash vanished instantly.
His soul became cool and calm once more.
A ray of light emerged from the True Immortal blood and enveloped his soul.
Then a sequence of images appeared before him.
Everything seemed shrouded in luminous mist.
None of the surrounding scenery could be seen clearly.
An angry voice echoed from a towering figure in the distance.
The words were fragmented and incomplete.
Only portions could be made out:
"...Qionglang Star Region... annihilation... garrison..."
"...target located..."
“The subject accepts the command.”
A deep voice emerged from his own body.
The light and shadows shifted once more.
The next moment, he was already within the Xuanhuang Realm.
Standing high above the heavens, he looked down upon the countless living beings below.
Yet the attention of this body did not seem focused on the Xuanhuang Realm beneath him.
Instead, it was directed beyond the Starry Sky.
As if waiting for something. An unknown amount of time passed before a streak of radiance suddenly arrived from beyond the heavens.
The body's gaze immediately locked onto it.
Yet it did not interfere, allowing that radiance to descend into the Xuanhuang Realm.
Only after the light completely dimmed and settled did the figure descend into the world to investigate personally.
"It is still not the one."
"But it is not bad. In those years, it would have had hope of ascending to immortality. What a pity..."
The body seemed long accustomed to such results. There was neither joy nor sorrow in its tone.
It shook its head slightly, sighed softly, then returned to the skies above the Xuanhuang Realm.
Silently watching and waiting for the arrival of the next target.
...
The scene suddenly froze.
Then, like a faded photograph, it rapidly lost color before dispersing completely.
Li Fan awakened from the illusion and returned to reality.
Although he had only witnessed a few scenes within the memory contained in the True Immortal blood, it felt as though he had lived through more than a dozen lifetimes.
And that sense of age had manifested upon his physical body.
His hair had silently grown to his waist, fluttering in the wind.
It was now streaked with black and white.
Wrinkles had appeared on his face, hands, and even across his entire body.
Li Fan looked at his age displayed on the [Truth] panel.
His mental age had not changed.
But the upper limit of his biological lifespan had been directly reduced to fifty years.
Though he still possessed the body of a thirty-year-old, he was already approaching the end of his lifespan.
"So this is the price of peering into a True Immortal?"
After several attempts confirmed that none of the lifespan-extending heavenly treasures of the Xuanhuang Realm could restore the lost lifespan limit, Li Fan felt a chill run through him.
"For an ordinary cultivator, this alone would likely force them into complete despair."
"Fortunately, I have [Truth]. A lifespan limit of fifty years makes little difference to me."
"There are still twenty years left in this life. That is more than enough time to complete my arrangements."
After calming himself, Li Fan could not help recalling the scenes he had witnessed within the True Immortal blood.
"The True Immortal who owned this blood was likely sent to the Xuanhuang Realm to search for a certain target..."
"The use of the word 'subject' is quite interesting."
"And that radiance descending from beyond the heavens..."
Li Fan narrowed his eyes.
Combining it with the information he had previously obtained from the ancient immortal formation of the Xuanhuang Realm and the Nine-Star Red Bead, a speculation surfaced in his mind.
"The ancient Xuanhuang Realm was also capturing things."
"Unlike the later captures of other cultivation worlds, the targets at that time were..."
"People?"
A strange light flickered in Li Fan's eyes.
"'But it is not bad. In those years, it would have had hope of ascending to immortality...'"
Li Fan repeated the True Immortal's words several times.
"Even someone with the potential to ascend to immortality was not the target it was waiting for. Just what exactly..."
Suddenly, for reasons he could not explain, Li Fan connected the matter to himself.
Although the True Immortal's memories were vague and originated from an era countless years ago, Li Fan unexpectedly felt a sense of having narrowly escaped a catastrophe.
By the time he came back to his senses, his back was already drenched in cold sweat.
This was not because Li Fan was timid.
Rather, after finally realizing the implications, he instinctively felt fear and relief.
"This..."
His pounding heart gradually calmed.
Li Fan temporarily left the underground space beneath the Dao Lecture Platform and flashed to the skies above the Great Xuan Small World.
Miles of clouds obscured the vision of all living beings below.
Li Fan reflected upon the premonition he had just experienced.
"Although it sounds difficult to believe..."
"My intuition is telling me that the target of that True Immortal in the Xuanhuang Realm all those years ago may truly have been me."
"Or rather, not me."
"But [Truth]!"
Li Fan closed his eyes to conceal the turmoil and shock within.
"[Truth]. [Truth]..."
As he spoke, the surrounding scenery once again became illusory and indistinct.
Only after separating himself from reality did Li Fan feel somewhat reassured.
"[Truth] concerns the Great Dao of truth and falsehood, reality and illusion."
"Whether heavenly treasures, True Immortal seal script characters, or even the mysterious symbol that created the Xuanhuang Great Celestial Venerable, all are merely projections of the Great Dao."
"But only [Truth] stands above all of them."
"It is almost the embodiment of the Dao of Truth and Falsehood itself."
Li Fan's thoughts surged as he calmly analyzed the situation.
"The one capable of making a True Immortal refer to itself as 'subject' must naturally possess extraordinary status."
"The Qionglang Star Region... Annihilation... Garrison..."
Li Fan attempted to infer the truth from those fragmented clues.
"It seems that the Immortal Realm had already encountered a crisis at that time."
"Annihilation..."
"With the power of a True Immortal, perhaps one of the methods they deduced for resolving the Immortal Realm's crisis was [Truth]."
"Was that why they waited in the Xuanhuang Realm, patiently awaiting its arrival?"
"Yet for some unknown reason, when I finally arrived here, I was tens of thousands of years late."
...
A long time after leaving the True Immortal's memories, the lingering feeling of having narrowly escaped disaster gradually faded away.
Without those inexplicable emotions clouding his judgment, Li Fan found his earlier speculation almost absurdly ridiculous.
"What on earth is the truth, exactly?"
Having regained his composure, Li Fan descended from the sky back underground.
Looking at the remaining True Immortal blood within the golden net, he pondered for a long while.
"I cannot probe it again in this life."
"I will wait until the next life and see whether I can uncover more clues."
"Even if the speculation proves true, it does not really matter."
"After all, the Immortal Realm suffered a great catastrophe. Those True Immortals who wished to hunt me have already vanished before me."
A sharp light flashed through Li Fan's eyes, and his state of mind became steady once more.
Although he could no longer explore the memories within the True Immortal blood during this lifetime, that did not prevent him from continuing his research into True Immortal flesh and blood.
"Next, let me see how resistant True Immortal flesh and blood is to the power of True Immortal seal script characters."
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