"Could he be..."
"Longevity?"
This thought involuntarily surfaced in Young Lord Shang's mind.
From what he knew, among the survivors from other cultivation worlds, there were indeed some who existed in the Longevity realm.
Although they were not invincible like the Longevity Heavenly Venerables of the Xuanhuang Realm, they were certainly not beings an ordinary Dao Integration cultivator could handle.
*That must be it.* Young Lord Shang's heart shivered, and he grew even more cautious and deferential in his conduct toward Li Fan.
The two ventured deeper into the Chizha Abyss as the fusion of laws from different worlds reached its peak.
New anomalies began to manifest in the darkness.
A faint crimson glimmer illuminated the path ahead.
Shattered landmasses hung suspended upside down, floating above their heads.
Looking from afar, one could faintly make out ruins blanketing the land, as well as dense jumbles of white bones scattered among the debris.
Every single floating world fragment was utterly dead and silent.
Thick, root-like red tendrils sprouted from these fractured continents, spreading through the Chizha Abyss and vanishing into the darkness.
Chilling sounds echoed through the space from time to time.
Some sounded like a metal blade scraping across the surface of a bone; others like the labored, heavy gasps of a dying man.
The eerie atmosphere brought both Li Fan and Young Lord Shang to an abrupt halt.
Seeing Li Fan carefully observing the bizarre scenery ahead, Young Lord Shang pondered for a moment before sending a transmission to share his thought: "These ruined worlds... do they still seem alive?" He sounded somewhat uncertain.
Sacred Embryo Li Fan did not answer.
He merely slashed out a ray of sword light, sending it flying straight toward one of the broken worlds.
At the sight, Young Lord Shang tensed, instantly putting his guard up.
Though he had witnessed how extraordinary Li Fan's swordsmanship was, the backlash of a world—even a dying one—was never something to be taken lightly.
The silver-white sword light crossed space in a flash and arrived upon that ruined continent.
To Young Lord Shang's surprise, Li Fan's strike did not seem intended for destruction.
After piercing through the world's membrane and descending upon it, it remained completely motionless.
Moreover, the trail it left in the air on its way there did not fade either.
The sword light condensed, appearing to form a slender silver thread.
It linked Li Fan directly to that shattered world.
Li Fan drifted forward and stood atop the silver thread, eyes closed, seemingly perceiving something.
*What is he doing...?*
At first, Young Lord Shang could not make sense of Li Fan's actions.
Yet as he watched, the scene of a mortal physician taking a pulse to diagnose an illness somehow rose in his mind.
*Using a sword as a conduit to probe life and death.*
*Could it be that this figure is not only consummate in swordsmanship, but also possesses profound attainment in the Dao of Healing?*
Young Lord Shang was deeply shaken.
What Li Fan did next made his heart pound even harder.
Li Fan gently tapped his foot against the silver thread, sending a ripple along the fine strand and straight into the broken world.
At first, it was an imperceptible, faint tremor.
Then, as if struck by resonance, the shaking grew increasingly violent. The land, which had been steeped in dead silence, abruptly jolted awake.
A roar rumbled from deep underground as countless torrents of magma erupted with the world's anguished howl.
...
At that exact moment, Li Fan flicked his fingers and severed the sword light beneath his feet.
Then he retreated swiftly in the direction they had come.
"Get back."
Before Li Fan's voice had even faded, Young Lord Shang felt struck by a titanic force, hurtling backward through the air beyond his control.
The blood within him churned violently; he had clearly sustained a light injury.
Young Lord Shang looked back in terror, only to find that the world "diagnosed" by Li Fan had already plunged into complete annihilation through violent internal collapse.
It was merely a fragment to begin with, terribly fragile.
It could not endure such violent surges of its own energy.
The land completely disintegrated, turning into boundless crimson flames.
As it blazed with its final brilliance in the darkness, it marked the passing of an entire world.
Young Lord Shang was momentarily dazed by the sight.
Beside him, Li Fan spoke up to explain: "Destroying this world with external force would trigger its backlash, not to mention potentially alerting whoever is behind all this."
"However, if we forcefully stimulate the world's final remnants of power, causing it to die naturally..."
Even as Li Fan spoke, phantom silhouettes of a thousand swords materialized behind him.
Sword lights crossed, flashing brilliantly before merging into the void.
"Get inside the array."
Hearing Li Fan's transmission, Young Lord Shang's heart skipped another beat.
Yet he was already numb from shock and simply complied on instinct.
The moment he entered the array's space, Young Lord Shang saw sword shadows rapidly circling around them once more.
A thousand swords flew together, opening up an exceptionally concealed hiding spot.
Before taking cover inside the sword array, Young Lord Shang had watched Li Fan repeat the same method, successively destroying several more ruined worlds ahead.
The terrifying shockwaves unleashed by the collapse of these worlds turned the deepest reaches of the Chizha Abyss into a literal purgatory in an instant.
Propelled by the rampaging energy, countless dark red cinders erupted outward, surging toward the abyss's exterior.
It was like a nighttime march of myriad ghosts, a stampede of ravenous beasts.
The array of a thousand swords seemed to strain under the pressure.
It contracted continuously.
The countless sword lights spun faster and faster, almost blurring into concentric rings of light.
Yet Li Fan did not seem the least bit worried that the formation would fail.
He stood upright with his eyes closed, engaged in something unknown.
"Wait."
Seeming to sense Young Lord Shang's bewilderment, Li Fan sent a brief transmission and said no more.
Young Lord Shang took a deep breath. Under the cooling influence of the mystic art, his mind quickly regained serenity.
The dancing sword lights around them not only blocked out the external scenery,
but even obstructed his divine sense, rendering him unable to see what was happening outside.
However, judging from the thudding impacts that struck the sword array from time to time, the shockwaves produced by the successive destruction of several world fragments were undoubtedly catastrophic.
*If not for him, I probably would have been forced to retreat in utter disgrace from this shockwave alone.*
*Swordsmanship, medicine, formations... Could there really be someone in this world who has mastered every art?*
Young Lord Shang's thoughts churned. Even with the aid of the Immortal Heart Incantation, he could not entirely suppress the endless speculations in his mind regarding Li Fan's true identity.
After an unknown amount of time had passed,
the tempest outside the sword array finally began to subside.
Yet Li Fan still showed no intention of dispersing the formation.
Judging by his increasingly grim expression, it seemed something even more terrifying than the ruin of multiple worlds was present outside.
*The mastermind behind the scenes?*
Young Lord Shang recalled the frightening spectacle of countless world fragments hanging inverted above their heads.
That could never have formed naturally.
The thought that a formidable entity capable of treating worlds as playthings might be standing just nearby made Young Lord Shang's scalp prickle with dread.
*Can this sword array really keep us hidden?*
*If it notices us, death is certain!*
Chapter 1151