"The more frequently one begs for gloomy dark power, the more cracks are created, and the stronger the possibility of the gloomy darkness invading becomes."
Li Fan calmly analyzed the nature of the gloomy dark power.
It was easy to imagine that if not for the mysterious force anchoring the sea of gloomy darkness in place, the Xuanhuang Realm would probably have long since been riddled with holes, thoroughly eroded by this gloomy dark tide.
"The existence of the Immortal Ruins gave rise to the sea of gloomy darkness. But what is it that quietly dissolved this crisis into nothing without the world ever realizing?"
Connecting this to Mo Rubin's desperate bid to enter the You Realm at all costs, Li Fan was almost certain that something connected to the King of Profound Heaven must exist there.
Perhaps his lingering power.
Or perhaps...
The man himself.
He selected three young juniors from the You race and had each of them teach the ritual for communing with the gloomy dark power separately.
Li Fan then took the You patriarch and over a dozen robust clansmen out of the Spirit Wood Realm.
Since the gloomy dark tide led to the invasion of gloomy dark power, Li Fan naturally would not perform the ritual in his own home.
Fortunately, he knew of quite a few unclaimed pocket worlds.
After half a day, Li Fan selected a suitable one and slipped inside.
This pocket world had no surface ground.
There were only endless subterranean caverns. The sole source of light was the luminous moss that occasionally grew along the cavern walls.
It was rather well suited for the You people to live in.
Urged on by Fang Zaiji, the You leader began the ritual to open the passage to the You Realm.
Afterward, Li Fan ordered him to lead the way.
Li Fan himself, along with Tianyang, Layman Qiaogong, Liu Ruchen, and Fang Zaiji—the five of them—held hands and followed closely behind.
Stepping into the boundless world of gloomy darkness once again, Li Fan had grown much more accustomed to it.
From Qiaogong and the others, however, palpable feelings of tension and dread radiated outward.
Even though they had heard about it beforehand and were fully prepared mentally, actually experiencing it in person made it difficult to shake off such emotions.
Linked together as one, they communicated through divine sense.
"Can you sense the presence of anyone from the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals here?" Li Fan asked the You leader.
The leader gave a negative reply.
"The gloomy dark power is too profound. Even long-time dwellers like us struggle to see our surroundings clearly. Besides, I haven't been home for a long time. Please allow me to adapt a bit longer, Envoy..."
Hearing this, Li Fan instantly glared at him warily.
Fortunately, he had just been overthinking.
After a while, the You leader finally got a rough bearing on their direction.
"Follow me. Our former settlement is not far ahead. If people from the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals are stationed here, they would definitely choose that place."
They moved through the darkness for an unknown length of time.
The You leader suddenly halted.
"There really are people, and quite a few of them. The sea of gloomy darkness has been affected by them, sending out chaotic ripples," he explained to Li Fan and the others, his voice brimming with hatred.
Only then did Li Fan notice something.
The inexplicable rhythm he had sensed from Mo Rubin's corpse the last time he entered seemed to have vanished.
And amidst the gloomy darkness, it was simply impossible to determine locations.
*It seems the only way to find clues is from this Alliance outpost,* Li Fan thought to himself.
"Can you figure out how many people are in there?"
The You leader sensed for a moment.
"There should be around five. As for their strength, roughly on par with this one..."
He was referring to Liu Ruchen among the group.
"You can actually tell our cultivation strength?" Fang Zaiji asked with some curiosity.
"Out in the open, naturally not. But in this sea of gloomy darkness, for us You people, it's child's play," the You leader said with a touch of pride.
"Just as objects of different weights cause different ripples when placed in water, he probably tells by that," Layman Qiaogong explained, looking out into the surrounding endless gloomy darkness.
Fang Zaiji came to an understanding.
"Can you see what the Alliance people are doing there?" Li Fan asked with a frown.
"I need to get a bit closer."
After thinking for a moment, Li Fan granted his request: "Don't force it. Now is not the time to clash directly with the Alliance."
Having fought the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals before, the You leader naturally understood how terrifying their strength was.
Signaling his understanding, he moved forward step by step.
"This is..."
"How dare they!"
The You leader's emotions suddenly fluctuated violently.
Fortunately, being inside the sea of gloomy darkness prevented the Alliance people from detecting him.
The You leader shared the image he sensed.
Several white figures stood in a circle.
In their center appeared to be a small vortex formed from gloomy dark power.
The vortex was extremely small, barely the size of a palm.
Its appearance was rather strange as well: the center of the vortex spiraled upward, the exact opposite of what one commonly saw.
Yet the several Alliance Dao Integration cultivators watching over it seemed exceedingly tense.
"What is that?" Fang Zaiji asked, somewhat puzzled.
"They are stealing the magnificent gloomy dark power!" the You leader hissed through gritted teeth.
Li Fan and the others were all startled by the revelation.
"Even with the restrictions of the sea of gloomy darkness itself, it still couldn't stop these shameless thieves!" The You leader wished he could charge straight over to stop the Alliance's actions.
Fortunately, he retained some measure of reason, only venting with words rather than actually acting on it.
"What do you all think?"
Looking at the mental image, Li Fan asked the group.
"The gloomy dark power runs counter to the Immortal Ruins. Clearly, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals isn't satisfied with merely having the trickle that seeps out during the tides—they want to extract gloomy dark power on a massive scale."
"It seems they couldn't resist the temptation of escaping the Immortal Ruins after all," Liu Ruchen sighed softly after receiving the information shared by Li Fan.
"I just wonder what method they used to create this vortex. Surely they didn't sacrifice an entire pocket world just to draw in gloomy dark power..." Fang Zaiji remarked casually.
As soon as he spoke, he froze.
"That... isn't impossible. It's merely a pocket world of no particular value anyway. If it can siphon in such an immense amount of gloomy dark power, it would be well worth it even if destroyed," Layman Qiaogong said with conviction.
"Envoy, perhaps we could follow the Alliance's example." He even went so far as to suggest Li Fan do the same.
"I have a premonition that combining this gloomy dark power with Source Power Essence and applying it to immortal puppets might take things a step further, allowing us to forge a genuine True Immortal puppet." There was a faint trace of fanaticism in Layman Qiaogong's voice.
Though Li Fan entertained similar thoughts, he did not immediately agree.
Instead, he asked the You leader whether he could sense the presence of any corpses left behind by fallen cultivators in the vicinity.
"Eh? If you hadn't mentioned it, Envoy, I almost wouldn't have noticed."
"However, this doesn't seem to be a corpse."
"It looks more like an empty shell."
Chapter 1099