"The Grand Formation of Heaven and Earth Myriad Spirits connects the myriad heavens and realms. Why would such a bizarre anomaly occur once the formation was completed? Something must have gone wrong."
Surging with extreme unease, the cultivator prepared to shut down the array.
But...
Everything was already too late.
For some unknown reason, the formation suddenly began operating on its own.
A colossal crimson eye slowly opened, revealing a bizarre vertical pupil.
Boom!
The entire mortal realm violently shuddered.
Countless beams of blood-red light rose from the earth like towering pillars of brilliance, converging into the colossal crimson eye in the heavens.
After a momentary daze, once he realized what had just occurred, boundless despair and terror instantly flooded the cultivator's face.
For in the instant that crimson vertical pupil appeared, every single living being in this mortal realm had been slaughtered in a breath.
Reduced to blood light, they were absorbed by the crimson pupil.
The cultivator's body trembled uncontrollably, an endless chill engulfing his heart.
Although he had committed no small share of atrocities in the past, compared to this act of instantly annihilating every living being in an entire realm, they were not even on the same scale.
"We've all been tricked and deceived! What 'Compassionate True Immortal'...
"This is clearly an incomparably horrifying evil god!"
Scenes from the past four years surged into his mind, and unspeakable dread gradually swallowed the cultivator whole.
Yet at this moment, the last lingering vestige of conscience within him suddenly roused him from despair.
A burst of hopeful light flared in the cultivator's eyes as he suddenly remembered something. "No, I can't let the others follow the same path and repeat my mistake. I have to go warn them at once..."
The cultivator was just about to flee in disarray.
Yet he discovered that the crimson vertical pupil in the sky had locked onto him at some point.
Just as the cultivator froze, thinking he was about to perish beneath the giant crimson eye—
It seemed as though a gentle breeze drifted across heaven and earth, and a phantom silhouette manifested out of nowhere.
It instantly drew the gaze of the crimson vertical pupil in the sky.
Meanwhile, far away in the Xuanhuang Realm, Li Fan narrowed his eyes slightly.
He was no stranger to that phantom silhouette.
"Mr. Bai?"
"Did annihilating too many living beings at once cause the immortal-mortal miasma to erupt violently in a short time, triggering a backlash?"
The phantom stood tall between heaven and earth. Though its facial features were indistinguishable, a boundless fury could be felt radiating from it.
The phantom's gaze swept across this realm, then locked onto the sole survivor here.
Namely, onto the cultivator who had laid the formation.
The cultivator instantly realized he could not move; an impending crisis of death surged through his mind. He struggled, wanting to say something.
The phantom paid no heed to his explanations.
A ripple instantly crossed thousands of miles, descending from the phantom onto the cultivator's body.
The cultivator's body jerked rigid.
Then, strand by strand, his hair turned from black to white, his skin wrinkling like withered wood...
In the blink of an eye, the cultivator transformed from a middle-aged man into a decrepit elder whose lamp was about to run out of oil.
Then, he was completely reduced to a skeleton.
And plummeted from the sky.
Having exacted this vengeance, the phantom silhouette of Mr. Bai looked out upon the blank, barren world where no living being remained.
A trace of sorrow surfaced on its face.
With one last reluctant glance, it dispersed with the wind.
...
In the Xuanhuang Realm, Li Fan shook his head slightly.
"To think the immortal-mortal miasma still has a form like this."
"No wonder the Xuanhuang Realm cultivators agreed so readily back then to the mortal migration proposal. They must have discovered this secret as well."
"Every grievance has its head, every debt its debtor. Go find whoever laid the formation; this has nothing to do with me," Li Fan said with a cold sneer.
"And it conveniently saves me the trouble of cleaning up after them."
The demise of a single villain did not draw the attention of the others.
As one grand formation after another was erected and linked into the spirit-refining network, Li Fan drew ever closer to the final objective of this life.
He looked at the countless consciousnesses of all living souls within the spirit-refining formation. Even as the mastermind behind this, believing that after obtaining True Reversion he had every right to disregard all worldly things, a chill still ran down his spine, and he did not dare stare at it for too long.
"The power of boundless living souls is truly horrifying and awe-inspiring."
"I imagine that even a True Immortal would pale in comparison within this sea of living souls."
Li Fan's heart, cold as ten-thousand-year ice, wavered ever so slightly in this moment.
Soon, however, his gaze turned resolute once more.
"All of this is necessary."
"The immortal path is severed. Even figures like Chuanfa, the King of Profound Heaven, and Mr. Bai remain trapped here for eternity."
"Only by finding the method of true liberation can everything finally be resolved."
"Otherwise, even if I don't act, what the entire Xuanhuang Realm ultimately faces is still complete doom."
...
Li Fan's eyes became utterly indifferent once more.
Under his instructions, the construction speed of the Myriad Spirits Formation accelerated yet again.
At last, this supreme formation spanning numerous mortal worlds was completely established.
Just at that moment, five paper figures from the Crossing Adversity Sect reappeared beside Li Fan at an opportune time.
This time, however, they did not nag Li Fan.
Instead, they all turned their gazes toward the sky of the Xuanhuang Realm.
"How strange. We only took a quick nap—how does it look like the Xuanhuang Realm has lost control and accelerated somewhat?"
"Could it be that the pull of the Immortal Ruins has grown stronger again?"
"In all these years, no such bizarre thing has ever happened. The degree of change was limited, so we didn't notice it immediately..."
The five tiny figures chattered among themselves, completely ignoring Li Fan's presence.
After observing them carefully, Li Fan realized they were not the ones who had popped out from time to time before to admonish him.
They were figures who had never appeared before.
They seemed to hold a rather high status in the Crossing Adversity Sect, in overall charge of monitoring crises facing the Xuanhuang Realm.
Li Fan had no intention of communicating with them.
Instead, he directly activated the formation, forcibly drawing them back into the Book of Crossing Adversity.
"Hm?"
Such an anomaly quickly alerted the five tiny figures.
They stared at Li Fan, the expressions on their faces slowly turning to terror.
"So all this time, you were—"
"Not good!"
The Book of Crossing Adversity trembled violently, its pages rustling and flipping frantically without wind.
It seemed as if an immense horde of paper figures was about to pour out from within.
However, before their efforts could bear fruit, under the restraint of an invisible force, the five tiny figures were forcibly dragged into the Book of Crossing Adversity.
The book slowly snapped shut along with them.
Yet it continued to throb and thrash in resistance.
Li Fan's expression remained unchanged as he reinforced the sealing formations over and over.
He did not stop until the Book of Crossing Adversity fell completely still.
"Since you chose to pull your heads into your shells like turtles, you might as well stay that way forever."
"The Xuanhuang Realm has no need for you to save it."
Li Fan spoke indifferently, suppressing the Book of Crossing Adversity in the deepest reaches of the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens.
The Grand Formation of Heaven and Earth Myriad Spirits, All Living Souls Refining Spirit was fully arranged.
With Li Fan's final safety latch in place, next, he was ready to launch his ultimate plan.
"From my observations over this past year, I've confirmed that Chuanfa shouldn't be in the Xuanhuang Realm."
"Just like in the past."
Chapter 1125