Though termed a pyrrhic victory, the Spirit Wood Realm had actually lost little across the three clashes—nothing more than accumulated reserves of energy.
If the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals were to retreat here, or if they were deterred by the strength the Spirit Wood Realm had displayed and delayed their offensive, the realm would soon replenish the expended power.
Yet it was readily apparent that the Alliance would never be scared off so easily.
Deprived of its target, the Yan beast hovered aimlessly in place for a short while. Then, as if sniffing the delectable scent of the Xuanhuang Realm on the other side of the spatial passage, it actually turned its aim around.
The spatial fissure widened once more, and the aura that had filled Li Fan with palpitations vanished in an instant.
Before the cultivators of the Spirit Wood Realm could celebrate, the entire realm began to shudder violently without any warning.
"This is..."
As the master of the Spirit Wood Realm, Li Fan—hidden within the Nether Prison—sensed the anomaly at once.
"The anchored position of the Spirit Wood Realm within the Great Xuanhuang World is changing!"
"Are they pulling the rug out from under us—bypassing a frontal clash to directly obliterate a pocket world?"
In the past, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals had forcibly relocated the Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven from Tianling Province to the central hinterlands. The actual scale of the Spirit Wood Realm was currently not even as large as the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens. Even after Li Fan's reinforcement through formation refinement, it likely could not withstand the Alliance relocating it by brute force.
Moreover, even with his true body far from the battlefield, Li Fan could already discern the exact method the Alliance was using to relocate the world through the tremors sensed by the Sacred Infant and his avatar.
"The Floating Crossing Starry Sky Grand Array!" A sharp gleam flashed through Li Fan's eyes.
For a long time, Li Fan had coveted this colossal array created by the King of Profound Heaven, which the Xuanhuang Realm had once utilized to ensnare other cultivation realms.
Yet even though his Terminal Dissociation Disc had nearly ascended to the level of an immortal artifact, it had remained utterly powerless to deduce or reverse-engineer this grand starry sky array by force.
It seemed there were unknown factors involved beyond ordinary array mechanics.
Whenever Li Fan had questioned the Heavenly Profound Mirror about the secrets behind this array in the past, it had repeatedly evaded the topic, offering perfunctory brush-offs about other formations.
Consequently, Li Fan had never glimpsed the true nature of this array.
Little did he expect to finally encounter it today, amid the siege of the Spirit Wood Realm.
In the true body's sea of consciousness, the Dissociation Disc pulsed with faint, excited white light, flashing and shifting rapidly.
*Looking through a bamboo tube reveals only a single spot on a leopard, yet from this fragment, the Dissociation Disc can deduce the array's full form.*
*Indeed, becoming the Alliance's adversary makes it far easier to witness their hidden trump cards.*
Li Fan was thoroughly pleased with the outcome of this probe.
Even as the Spirit Wood Realm's anchor position gradually drifted, the Dissociation Disc's initial deductions produced results.
"The Heavenly Profound Mirror didn't lie. The array truly is severely damaged."
"What the Alliance has mobilized right now is merely the Floating Crossing Starry Sky Grand Array's ability to span the sea of stars, lock onto worlds, and pull them closer."
"Judging by the speed at which the Spirit Wood Realm is currently being dragged, the array possesses less than a ten-thousandth of its prime power. Still, hauling away the entire Spirit Wood Realm remains child's play."
"No, wait..."
"Something is still missing."
Something unprecedented occurred: the Dissociation Disc's deduction halted of its own accord.
With all the knowledge of formations available to the Dissociation Disc, no matter how it calculated, it could not construct a formation capable of matching the functions of the ancient Floating Crossing Starry Sky Grand Array.
This confirmed Li Fan's previous suspicion once more: the Floating Crossing Starry Sky Grand Array was indeed far more than a mere formation.
"No wonder even someone with Chuanfa's peerless talents couldn't restore this array after all these years, having to painstakingly scour the void for world wreckage in person instead," Li Fan mused.
Although he could not perceive the array in its entirety, what the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals had deployed was also only a defective fraction of its power.
Under Li Fan's instruction, the flustered cultivators of the Spirit Wood Realm quickly sprang into action.
As an array manifested across the lands of the Spirit Wood Realm, an invisible ripple enveloped the pocket world. The realm, which had been dragged forward at breakneck speed, instantly seemed to sever its tether.
The shaking gradually subsided, finally coming to a halt at an unknown location.
Li Fan checked the realm's current position immediately.
It had been shifted from the eastern territories of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals all the way to the south!
It was practically right beside the Great Boundary-Splitting Maelstrom!
"They intend to use the natural boundary-shattering forces to crush this world directly? What a shrewd scheme."
To neutralize the force of the Floating Crossing Starry Sky Array—the Spirit Wood Realm's countermeasure had truly caught the Alliance completely off guard.
Internal discord seemed to arise among them, and they did not press their assault immediately.
However, Li Fan could faintly sense that Alliance cultivators were continually emerging from the surrounding void, surrounding the Spirit Wood Realm from all sides.
Daoist Baihua, the Medicine King Sect, and the others also realized their predicament, their expressions turning grim.
"A cornered beast's desperate fight, so to speak."
"It seems my plans for this cycle still weren't thorough enough. When I build the Spirit Wood Realm base next time, perhaps I should incorporate the ability for the entire pocket world to teleport instantaneously."
"Prior to today, doing so would have been rather difficult. But now that the Alliance has provided a demonstration... heheh," Li Fan sneered inwardly.
Every blade turned against Li Fan would inevitably be repaid a thousandfold.
"Emissary, I believe we cannot simply sit here and await our doom," Liu Ruchen proposed in a heavy voice.
"Though the various defenses of the Spirit Wood Realm can be considered flawless, they definitely cannot withstand endless attrition from the Alliance. Perhaps charging out to fight for our lives will offer a slim chance of survival."
"After years of modification, the Medicine King Cauldron's internal capacity has expanded several times over. It should be able to carry most of our people," Fang Zaiji added.
Liu Ruchen's suggestion met with overwhelming approval.
One after another, their eyes turned toward Sacred Embryo Li Fan.
"Preserve the people and lose the land, and both people and land are preserved; preserve the land and lose the people, and both people and land are lost."
"In that case, prepare for relocation," Li Fan agreed, nodding.
The crowd accepted the order with a thunderous response and dispersed.
One group was assigned to monitor the spatial passage entrance to guard against possible Alliance ambushes.
Another group set to work rapidly transferring the materials and population of the Myriad Realms Association.
In truth, if the Spirit Wood Realm's anchored location had not shifted, Li Fan had prepared a plan to sever their tail to survive: relocate into connected pocket worlds such as the Empire or the Li Realm, and then destroy the spatial passages.
While that would not completely deter pursuit by the Alliance, it could buy several days.
Unfortunately, when the Spirit Wood Realm was dragged just now, its spatial position drifted, severing all connections to its subordinate pocket worlds.
Now, if they wished to retreat, the only possible option was to carve a bloody path straight through the Alliance's encirclement.
Chapter 1116