After drifting away from the Xuanhuang Realm toward the depths of the starry sky, the stone puppets lost contact with Li Fan.
Yet the shock Li Fan felt from the facts they had observed was far from over.
"How could it be coming from the depths of the Pitch-Black Star Sea?"
"Could another Hunger Immortal actually exist there?!"
Li Fan was seized by an inexplicable horror.
His true body within the space of the Yanfa Jue even had to actively circulate the Xuanhuang Immortal Heart Incantation to suppress his shock and avoid betraying any anomaly.
For Li Fan, it had been a very long time since something like this had occurred.
The tremors rocking the Xuanhuang Realm continued.
Yet as time passed, one could clearly feel the amplitude of the shaking gradually subsiding.
This inexplicable disaster was drawing to a close.
However, the storm of thoughts in Li Fan's mind had only just begun.
"The Immortal Ruins' suction was produced when that skeletal immortal comprehended the True Immortal seal character for 'Hunger'. Sitting in deep meditation and losing himself in the Dao, his state of oblivion wreaked catastrophic havoc upon this star domain..."
"Yet True Immortal seal characters aren't something only a single person can comprehend. The anomaly in Yuandao Province of the Xuanhuang Realm was suspected to be Archmage Tiandu fathoming the mysteries of the 'Hunger' Formula."
"As for this upheaval in Xuanhuang, looking at it now, there are two possibilities. One is that whatever triggered the catastrophe is unrelated to the 'Hunger' Formula and is merely the consequence of an entity of equivalent tier. After all, only power at the level of a True Immortal could exert such a violent impact upon the Xuanhuang Realm."
"Yet that would mean an unknown entity possessing the might of a True Immortal still lurks within the Pitch-Black Star Sea. This..."
A chill crept into Li Fan's heart.
"The second possibility is that some survivor in the star sea—perhaps even Chuanfa—is also comprehending the 'Hunger' Formula. Having recently made a breakthrough, it stirred up this disturbance. Considering that Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa was able to transmit word in advance, this explanation is highly probable."
"Yet regardless of which conjecture holds true, neither explains the most crucial question: why did this shift happen in this lifetime?"
The Dao Transformation Stone glimmered, repeatedly replaying the experiences of this lifetime in a continuous loop.
Yet he simply could not pinpoint what had caused such a massive deviation.
"Whether a True Immortal or a being capable of fathoming the 'Hunger' Formula, my actions in this lifetime shouldn't have been significant enough to influence them."
"And yet, it happened anyway."
Li Fan fell silent.
This was the reality once strength reached a certain realm: every inadvertent movement rippled outward to affect the external world, even altering the destinies of others. Variables spawned yet more variables without end, ultimately leading to unexpected crises.
"My true body has stayed within the space of the Yanfa Jue, so that can be ruled out. My clone, Li Ping, has only been active in the pocket world of Great Qi; even moving the Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven could never have sparked such a massive variable. The issue must lie in the travels of the Sacred Embryo."
After much deliberation, Li Fan finally narrowed the source of the variable down to the mysterious figure at the bottom of Chizha Abyss and the invisible entity within the Lost Domain of Rebirth.
"Of those two, one gathers world fragments while the other gathers cultivators' corpses. Most of the time, they should be active within the Pitch-Black Star Sea."
"Because the Sacred Embryo disturbed them, their movements shifted compared to past cycles of reincarnation. That must be what triggered this upheaval in Xuanhuang..."
*Just what else is out there in the Pitch-Black Star Sea?*
At this moment, a spark of curiosity flared once more within Li Fan.
Previously, he had thought that only the Xuanhuang Realm survived in the Pitch-Black Star Sea. Beyond it lay nothing but drifting world fragments and dead silence.
Now it seemed that unknown secrets still lay hidden out there.
"Indeed. All along, I've had a doubt: in what form do the fragments of cultivation realms exist within the Pitch-Black Star Sea? Under the pull of the Immortal Ruins' suction, even intact cultivation realms are inevitably dragged toward it. These fragments should be even less capable of resisting and ought to have been swallowed by the Immortal Ruins long ago."
"Yet judging from how the Xuanhuang Realm has been continuously patched and mended, as well as the sights Han Zhong witnessed within the Eye of the Tian Beast, a vast number of world fragments still persist in the Pitch-Black Star Sea. Sustained in some way currently unknown to me..."
Feeling the Xuanhuang Realm's intermittent trembling, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck Li Fan.
"That's it! Previously, because of the Immortal Ruins' suction, I was never able to escape the Xuanhuang Realm and venture into the Pitch-Black Star Sea to investigate. But now, under the influence of this inexplicable suction from the depths of the Pitch-Black Star Sea, perhaps..."
"There's no time to lose. The tremors are about to fade—I don't have much time left."
Within Broken Palm Immortal City.
During the upheaval of the Xuanhuang Realm, even Chizha Abyss had quieted down substantially, not emitting the slightest extraneous noise.
As for the soldiers of the Qingxuan Army, who had suppressed the abyss for a century and held their ground even against terrifying tides of demonic sound, their faces were pale and they trembled uncontrollably upon witnessing this true horror of heaven and earth.
Had Sacred Embryo Li Fan not previously imparted the Xuanhuang Immortal Heart Incantation to them, many among them would likely have succumbed as all their repressed negative emotions erupted at once, causing their minds to collapse and driving them utterly mad on the spot.
Never mind ordinary soldiers of the Qingxuan Army—even their commander, Young Lord Shang of the Dao Integration realm, though forewarned that the tremors would strike Xuanhuang, remained shaken and lost in thought before such a great cataclysm of heaven and earth.
"I never imagined that the vast Xuanhuang Realm could be like a skiff on a river caught in a torrential storm, at risk of capsizing at any moment," Young Lord Shang said, his voice dry and strained.
Sacred Embryo Li Fan had no time to console him.
"Young Lord, lend me a hand, quickly."
"What?" Young Lord Shang failed to follow for a moment, asking blankly.
"Help me prepare these items, as fast as possible." After transmitting a requisition list to Young Lord Shang with a flick of his finger, Sacred Embryo Li Fan looked up solemnly at the sky of the Xuanhuang Realm.
"Gathering these supplies won't be a problem. The Eternal Immortal Bastion already has most of them. But Brother Li, what do you need these things for?" Young Lord Shang followed Sacred Embryo Li Fan's gaze upward.
"Before such boundless, majestic might, an entire world is as fragile as a toy. Aren't you curious, Young Lord?"
Sacred Embryo Li Fan's gaze was resolute, with even a flicker of madness welling up within it.
"I intend to fly out of the Xuanhuang Realm, trace this power to its source, and find out for myself!" he declared forcefully.
"Absolutely not! Beyond the Xuanhuang Realm lies..." Young Lord Shang's face drained of color as he urgently tried to dissuade him, only to halt mid-sentence.
"Hahaha! Young Lord, were you going to say 'Immortal Ruins'?"
Young Lord Shang was thoroughly stunned now, staring at Sacred Embryo Li Fan in disbelief.
Sacred Embryo Li Fan offered no explanation for how he knew this top secret. Instead, he waved his hand and said with gravity, "It is precisely because the Immortal Ruins exists that right now is a once-in-a-millennium opportunity!"
"Brother Li, what on earth are you..." Young Lord Shang was filled with shock and doubt.
"Could it be that you believe the culprit behind this catastrophe is the Immortal Ruins?" Li Fan asked in return.
Chapter 1176