The Yishi Sect had once been one of the Ten Great Immortal Sects of old, standing alongside the likes of Tianjian and the Dadao Sect.
Yet comparatively speaking, its presence was far fainter.
Not only had Li Fan barely encountered them within the Fallen Immortal Realm, but even in the present era, related records were almost impossible to find.
It was as though they had suddenly evaporated from the world.
Aside from previously learning by chance from Senior Stone Slab that the Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven he had used to achieve his Nascent Soul was the handiwork of the Yishi Sect, Li Fan knew little else about them.
He had never imagined that today, three thousand fathoms beneath this rift, traces of the Yishi Sect would be found.
Yet they were merely traces.
The entire ruins were completely deserted.
Aside from a stone tablet inside a collapsed structure at the center of the ruins, faintly engraved with the characters "Yishi," nothing else could be found that reflected the grandeur of the ancient Ten Great Immortal Sects.
"It seems this Yishi Sect fell on hard times."
After questioning Sun Luyao, Li Fan confirmed that this was indeed the ruins where the brothers had discovered the Boundless Mirror back then.
However, at that time, they had only broken into a small section of it.
Now, for some unknown reason, the formations separating the different areas had vanished, laying bare the full expanse of the Yishi Sect.
"Boundless Primordial, revealed in every quarter!"
Li Fan's divided sense chanted softly.
Silently, the Boundless Mirror once more released an eerie glow imperceptible to ordinary eyes.
In an instant, it enveloped the entire ruins of the Yishi Sect.
Immediately, a complete structural map of the ruins emerged synchronously within the Boundless Mirror.
Even details such as which areas still had fluctuations of spiritual power, where secret chambers were hidden, and the danger levels of various locations were comprehensively displayed.
All of this was accomplished by the Boundless Mirror right beneath Ji Hongdao's nose.
Yet this formation master, who already ranked among the very pinnacle of his craft in the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, noticed nothing at all.
Li Fan could not help recalling his 114th lifetime, when he had traveled from the Congyun Sea to Tianyu to study formations, and Ji Hongdao had personally lectured over a thousand brilliant formation talents of the Alliance.
To him back then, let alone Ji Hongdao, even Huangfu Song's mastery of formations was an unattainable height.
Yet after a mere dozen-odd reincarnations, his own skill in formations had reached a level that Ji Hongdao could not even begin to fathom.
"With every lifetime, I forge constantly ahead, while they remain perpetually in place...
"In the future, the gap will only grow wider."
Watching Sun Luyuan and Ji Hongdao still advancing step by step, cautiously exploring, Li Fan shook his head slightly.
Having no patience to wait any longer, he directly ordered Sun Luyao to guide the pair toward the only place in the Yishi Sect that still held any value.
"Brother Sun, be careful. The formation aura here is at its most intact..." Ji Hongdao cautioned as he paved the way in front.
Sun Luyao felt somewhat speechless in his heart, yet could not give anything away.
The two proceeded with extreme prudence, passing through a wall concealed by formations to enter a secret chamber.
At the very back of the chamber sat two statues, one large and one small.
The larger one sat cross-legged on a prayer mat, holding a horsetail whisk.
The smaller one stood behind it with a smile on its face.
These peculiar statues immediately caught their attention.
Without acting rashly, they observed them closely.
"They seem to be purely ordinary stone statues, with no profound mysteries," Ji Hongdao judged after a long pause.
Hearing this, Sun Luyuan breathed a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, within the Boundless Mirror.
Li Fan glanced at the scene scanned and mapped out earlier by the Primordial Square Formation, then looked at the secret chamber.
His heart sank.
"Can you see those two statues?" Li Fan asked Sun Luyao.
"Statues? What statues?" Sun Luyao froze, completely baffled.
"Tell your brother not to touch them," Li Fan commanded directly without explaining.
Having received Sun Luyao's warning, Sun Luyuan trusted his brother and stopped Ji Hongdao from attempting to inspect them closer.
"Brother, what danger could these things possibly hold?"
Yet even after studying the stone statues over and over for a long while, he could not detect anything extraordinary about them.
"Earlier, I happened to read records in ancient texts describing something similar to these two statues. They seem to be the source of the Ten Sects' legacy—Archmage Tiandu..." Sun Luyao relayed Li Fan's assessment.
"Archmage Tiandu?" Sun Luyuan and Ji Hongdao both stepped back in unison.
They had heard of this legendary figure.
It was said he had reached the half-step True Immortal realm.
And anything that had the slightest connection to a True Immortal could not help but inspire dread.
The higher one's cultivation and the greater one's understanding of the gulf between cultivators and True Immortals, the truer this was.
Within the Boundless Mirror, the thoughts of Li Fan's divided sense spun rapidly.
Previously, he had suffered bitterly at the hands of the Faceless True Immortal stone statue.
It had taken him six reincarnations to purge the Faceless True Immortal's influence upon himself.
Although Archmage Tiandu was not an entity on the same level as the Faceless True Immortal, back then the Archmage had left an imprint on him as well.
He had to be cautious.
"The Yishi Sect's legacy originated from Archmage Tiandu, so keeping statues of the Archmage within the sect seems reasonable.
"However...
"None of the other Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao seem to possess statues of the Archmage.
"Furthermore, even if they wished to worship him, the statues should have been placed in a grand, solemn central hall. Why stow them away in a gloomy underground secret chamber?"
Li Fan's intuition told him that something was amiss here.
"The Yishi Sect was hardly some benevolent group that honored masters and revered the Dao. According to Senior Stone Slab's description, as early as when the Xuanhuang Realm's great tribulation first manifested, they had already prepared a plan to cultivate the Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven, devour Xuanhuang directly, and forge a brand-new cultivation world. It was only stopped by someone later on.
"The one who stopped the Yishi Sect was undoubtedly Mr. Bai.
"Before the world of Xuanhuang became completely hostile toward cultivators, cultivators still revered the Heavenly Dao. Born of heaven and nurtured by earth, it was like a parent to cultivators.
"Yet when harvesting the essence of heaven and earth, the Yishi Sect showed no hesitation whatsoever, no different from new method cultivators.
"Archmage Tiandu..."
Li Fan once more used the Primordial Square Formation to scan the stone statues of Archmage Tiandu.
There was a large statue and a small one.
Rumor had it that the seated figure was the one who had imparted countless techniques and secret arts to the Ten Sects without reservation.
Yet a subtle intuition told Li Fan that the standing boy attendant might be even less simple.
Thus, the Primordial Square Formation focused its scrutiny on the smiling boy statue.
The boundless faint glow swept over the area where the statues stood again and again.
With each probe, faint lines slowly emerged in the image displayed within the Boundless Mirror.
Yet at the same time, those lines slowly vanished as time passed.
Narrowing his eyes, Li Fan increased the scanning speed of the Boundless Mirror.
The lines managed to gradually accumulate once again.
"Brother, help me."
Unable to withstand the strain of such overloaded operation, Sun Luyao called out to his brother for help.
Only after receiving the support of Sun Luyuan's essence blood could the Boundless Mirror finally see through to the true form of the stone statues in the secret chamber.
They were two bones.
As though all the flesh and blood of some creature had been stripped away, leaving behind the only two bones in its entire body.
Chapter 1210