"The worry is that the True Immortal's remains might come back to life."
As Mo Rubin uttered those words, whether it was Li Ping's illusion or not, the depths of the Sea of Gloom truly seemed to grow even gloomier and colder.
It felt as if some unknown presence had suddenly locked its gaze onto him, sending a sudden chill through his heart.
With a solemn expression, the Sacred Emperor glanced around, yet found no sign of any presence lurking in the dark.
Looking back at the husk of Dadao Sect's Fang Dingge, Li Ping asked, "Reduced to this state, can it still come back to life?"
Li Ping naturally wasn't asking about Fang Dingge, but about the True Immortal whose immortal corpse had turned into the Sea of Gloom and whose consciousness had become the Fallen Immortal Realm.
Mo Rubin also examined the corpse not far away and said softly, "Let me tell you a story.
"Our Nine Refinements Monastery once enshrined a stone statue of our founder. It was said to have been crafted by the founder himself, Venerable Miaofa.
"This stone statue was venerated for thousands of years. Whenever disciples of the monastery harbored doubts along their cultivation path, as long as they prayed to it with sincerity, the vast majority would receive an unseen response from the void. Thus, over all those years, the incense offerings never ceased.
"Then one day, tribulation clouds abruptly enveloped the skies above Nine Refinements Monastery, and bolts of divine lightning struck down—aimed straight at the founder's stone statue! A figure broke through the stone statue and soared straight toward the nine heavens! His strength was truly terrifying; the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder, capable of instantly obliterating Dao Integration experts, could not harm him in the slightest. Amid the flashes of lightning, he laughed without restraint, on the verge of enduring the lightning tribulation and ascending..."
Having reached the crucial juncture, Mo Rubin paused again.
After waiting for a while without getting any urging from the Sacred Emperor, he could only swallow his frustration and carry on: "The fragments of the founder's stone statue, which had scattered all over the ground, actually gathered together again in utter silence! They drew close to the one undergoing the tribulation and, catching him off guard, swallowed him right back into the statue!
"Now, no matter how that figure struggled, he could never escape the encasing stone again. And along with that figure, the stone statue broke through the void and ascended!"
Listening to this rather bizarre tale, Li Ping couldn't help but frown slightly.
Mo Rubin asked, "Guess which of the two who ascended together was our Nine Refinements Monastery's founder?"
Li Ping pondered for a moment and replied, "The figure inside the stone statue had to face the tribulation of ascension. Shouldn't it be him? Unable to ascend in life, he received the offerings of disciples in the form of a stone statue, accumulating power over thousands of years in an attempt to ascend..."
Mo Rubin smiled faintly. "Wrong!
"The founder of Nine Refinements Monastery, Venerable Miaofa, has explicit records showing that he ascended to immortality in full view of the public. However, what only successive Sect Masters of Nine Refinements Monastery knew is that in the second year after entering the Immortal Realm, Venerable Miaofa fell for unknown reasons!"
Hearing this, Li Ping was startled.
Mo Rubin continued with satisfaction, "Yet that stone statue he personally crafted contained a contingency he left behind. Even if his soul was utterly obliterated in the Upper Realm, he could still be reborn through that stone statue!"
Li Ping frowned again. "Then who was that figure inside the stone statue?"
Mo Rubin chuckled. "Our Nine Refinements Monastery's third Sect Master. That man refused to obey the founder's behest and sought to establish new sect rules. After an internal struggle, he was severely wounded in defeat and vanished without a trace. Who would have thought he had been hiding inside the founder's stone statue all along, even managing to cultivate all the way to the realm of ascension in one go?
"Yet he still ended up paving the way for someone else's benefit.
"Venerable Miaofa had only ascended to immortality for a single year and possessed barely any real foundation, yet even he could be reborn through a stone statue. To say nothing of that True Immortal.
"Look upon this Sea of Gloom and you can imagine how immense He was when He lived. To put it bluntly, never use the perspective of us cultivators to fathom the methods of an Immortal. The gulf between us is truly heaven and earth!"
Perhaps having conversed for a while, Mo Rubin's emotions had stabilized considerably, and he spoke from the heart.
Li Ping remained silent.
He felt there were still inaccuracies in what the other man had said regarding Venerable Miaofa's rebirth through the stone statue and the feud involving the third Sect Master of Nine Refinements Monastery.
Still, that was an ancient secret, and having ventured deep into a perilous place, now was not the time to probe into it.
"Shall we continue going deeper? The tragic state of Fang Dingge's death doesn't look like the work of an ordinary cultivator," Li Ping changed the subject.
"Let's go in and take a look first. If the True Immortal had already risen from the dead, so many years have passed that He definitely wouldn't still be staying in the same place." Saying this, Mo Rubin bypassed Fang Dingge's remains and continued diving down into the darkness.
They passed three array checkpoints along the way, some originally part of the Spirit-Gathering Ascension Array and others set up by later arrivals.
With Li Ping and Mo Rubin pooling their efforts, after no small amount of toil, they finally reached the control hub of the Spirit-Gathering Ascension Array.
Along the path, they found no trace of the remains of the other four fallen Longevity cultivators.
Though the control hub sat at the deepest point of the gloom, it resembled a transparent observation platform.
Through the tangible array restrictions surrounding the perimeter like panoramic glass, Li Ping and Mo Rubin could see the full expanse of the Sea of Gloom.
Even though it was magnified who knew how many times, one could still clearly discern the Sea of Gloom's humanoid contour.
Clearly not his first time here, Mo Rubin wasn't distracted by the magnificent spectacle before them. Instead, he made his way to the center of the platform.
His expression shifted slightly.
"Good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?" Mo Rubin asked.
After a brief silence, Li Ping replied, "Tell me the good news first."
"The good news is that the fallen True Immortal hasn't used His remains to resurrect," Mo Rubin said in an eerie tone.
"And the bad news?"
Mo Rubin sneered. "Come see for yourself and you'll understand."
Li Ping walked slowly to where Mo Rubin was standing.
The scene before his eyes changed abruptly; in an instant, the high observation platform seemed to plummet at breakneck speed.
The vista of the Sea of Gloom below drew near rapidly, expanding without end.
It surged into his vision in a flash, piercing straight into the depths of his divine soul.
Boom!
His surroundings shifted entirely, as if he had left the Sea of Gloom behind and arrived in a brand-new, unknown place.
"Don't move."
Mo Rubin's voice echoed in his mind. Reassured, Li Ping looked around.
He saw the other four fallen Longevity-realm masters.
They remained frozen in the postures of their final moments. Unlike Fang Dingge, however, their faces were covered as if by a layer of ash, their features no longer distinguishable.
One could only faintly tell that in life, they had tried desperately to resist the terrifying power that consumed them.
Li Ping searched for the culprit responsible for the demise of these five Longevity experts.
A grey, vine-like substance extending from the feet of the four Longevity husks, spreading and tangling together, caught his eye.
To Li Ping's observation, these grey vines were entirely devoid of life aura, mere inanimate objects formed from aggregated energy.
Yet for some reason, facing them gave Li Ping the sensation of being watched by a venomous serpent.
"What is this?" Not understanding, Li Ping asked without hesitation.
"This is the will to survive. The True Immortal remains' will to survive."
Only after quite a while did Mo Rubin slowly answer Li Ping's question.
"The will to survive?" Li Ping carefully pondered the meaning of these words.
"True Immortals cannot be judged by common reason. When Big Brother Xuanyuan modified the True Immortal's remains back then, he had concerns regarding this. To prevent Him from rising from the dead, he made many extra arrangements. Yet who could have foreseen..."
Though Li Ping couldn't see Mo Rubin's figure, he could sense him staring intently at the grey will to survive spread all over the place.
"Logically speaking, having already become the Sea of Gloom, it should have been impossible for the True Immortal's remains to give birth to such a powerful will to survive."
Hearing Mo Rubin's words, Li Ping fell into thought as well. "Unless someone deliberately triggered it."
"Indeed. This person is far from simple," Mo Rubin evaluated.
"First, unraveling the restrictions left by Big Brother Xuanyuan is no simple feat; second, triggering the consciousness of the True Immortal's remains is no simple feat; third, after triggering the will to survive, managing to retreat unscathed... remarkable." Mo Rubin gave praise without a hint of warmth in his tone.
"Don't underestimate these things. Even the two of us, if targeted by them, would likely find death unavoidable, ending up just like these five empty shells."
Li Ping frowned slightly. He still possessed some confidence in his own strength.
Mo Rubin didn't argue with Li Ping. Instead, he continued to explain in a low voice: "When the will to survive of someone already dead is reignited, it is like grasping at the final life-saving straw—the power that erupts in an instant...
"It instinctively devours all life it can reach in its surroundings, converting them into fuel for its resurrection. Only someone with Big Brother Xuanyuan's strength could barely resist it. Though you and I look powerful, we are still far off."
Li Ping was silent.
Mo Rubin continued, "Fortunately, whoever triggered it back then did not destroy Big Brother Xuanyuan's arrangements. After draining these four Longevity experts dry, this will to survive found no more targets to absorb, and only then did it sink back into dormancy.
"If it were allowed to escape the Sea of Gloom...
"The entire Xuanhuang Realm would likely become a meal on its plate."
Li Ping's demeanor instantly became grave.
"Then again, Big Brother Xuanyuan's methods aren't so easily broken. The one who triggered it—that Chuanfa you mentioned—didn't destroy the restrictions of the Sea of Gloom outright either. He didn't even alter them; he merely added his own measures on top.
"However... possessing the array control artifact, being thoroughly familiar with the restrictions here, coming and going as he pleased..." As if thinking of something, Mo Rubin's gathered aura suddenly grew unstable.
"Let's get to work first." Just as Li Ping grew concerned that Mo Rubin might spiral into madness, Mo Rubin calmed down again in an instant.
He transmitted a vast amount of information into Li Ping's mind.
"This is... the Spirit-Gathering Ascension Array?" Li Ping discerned the intricacies at a glance.
"Strictly speaking, it is the modified version of the Spirit-Gathering Ascension Array created by Big Brother Xuanyuan. The original version of the Ascension Array was devised by a great demonic cultivator. Heh heh, that man was truly an unparalleled fiend. Born of humble origins, he lacked cultivation talent and reached his limit at Golden Core. Yet he stubbornly created this vicious array—wherever the array enveloped, everything within would be refined into the purest energy.
"He started with mortal pocket worlds, advancing from weak to strong, slaughtering the living beings of who knows how many worlds before finally ascending into the Immortal Realm. Upon reaching the Immortal Realm, the very first thing he did was improve the array, scheming to repeat his trick there. Hmph! Even someone like him died like a fly during the calamity in the Immortal Realm—snuffed out in an instant. All the treasures he accumulated over his lifetime fell into Big Brother Xuanyuan's hands. Though Big Brother Xuanyuan was utterly disgusted by his legacy..." Mo Rubin said with a sneer.
"Someone so violently cruel could still attain the Dao and ascend? Was the immortal tribulation of his world different from the Xuanhuang Realm's?" Li Ping asked, frowning.
In Li Ping's memory, in the Xuanhuang Realm, a monster like that would face heavenly tribulations tens of times harder than normal, with virtually zero chance of success. Hence his question.
"No matter how powerful a heavenly tribulation is, there is an upper limit to it in the lower realms. You only need to be stronger than it. Besides, good and evil aren't truly set in stone..."
Li Ping could clearly sense Mo Rubin slipping into a state of bewilderment once again as he spoke.
"What do you need me to do?" Li Ping diverted Mo Rubin's attention in time.
"Your attainment in array arts shouldn't be much weaker than Big Brother Xuanyuan's. The control hub of the Spirit-Gathering Ascension Array cannot be moved rashly. If possible, reinforce it with another layer of formations, suppressing this place further into the interior of the Sea of Gloom. Then, sever the connection between the array control artifact held by the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals and the great array," Mo Rubin said after recovering his wits.
Li Ping nodded, observing the details of the surrounding array while comparing them with the Ascension Array diagram that surfaced in his mind.
'Worthy of King Xuantian—truly the foremost prodigy of the Xuanhuang Realm across ten thousand years.'
As a fellow array master, perceiving the brilliance of this formation gave Li Ping a mutual appreciation for him.
The Source Power Essence born of the You people's prayers, absorbed and transformed by the Sea of Gloom—the remains of the True Immortal—condensed deep within the array.
It appeared to be mere random accumulation, yet Li Ping could vaguely see that, through certain means, all of this power capable of contending with a True Immortal could be detonated in an instant.
Propelling the Xuanhuang Realm to escape the grasp of the True Immortal in the Immortal Ruins.
'Harnessing the power of a True Immortal with a mortal array—truly magnificent.'
Within the array inside the Sea of Gloom, Li Ping found no traces of the Xuanhuang Realm's Primordial Array. The array here had clearly been crafted by King Xuantian alone. Even dealing with a fallen True Immortal, it was enough to showcase Xuanyuan Hong's transcendent mastery of arrays.
"Reinforcing the array will require some materials..." After observing for a time, Li Ping said thoughtfully.
"I have them here," Mo Rubin said immediately.
Seemingly prepared well in advance, once the two returned from the hiding place of the will to survive back to the array hub, he produced a pile of materials.
Li Ping checked through them; every single one was precisely what was needed to reinforce the array.
"Don't look at me like that. That face of yours is still borrowed from me.
"As a Dharma King of the Xuantian Sect, even if I was fleeing in panic, isn't it perfectly normal to carry materials to stage a comeback?
"Speaking of which, why are you faceless too? Could you have some connection to the True Immortal who saved Big Brother Xuanyuan back then? I scare easily, don't frighten me..."
Li Ping ignored Mo Rubin's raving and focused entirely on laying out the formation.
With King Xuantian's precedent as a reference, Li Ping merely needed to follow the pattern. For him, this was no difficult feat.
As the array gradually took shape, the "observation platform" they were on seemed to rise higher and higher.
Mo Rubin nodded with immense satisfaction. Once Li Ping finished, he produced another pile of materials.
"Deepen it a bit more. Suppress the True Immortal's will to survive completely into the depths of the Sea of Gloom."
Li Ping agreed. Without complaint, he continued working.
When the materials were exhausted, the panorama of the Sea of Gloom in their vision was only half the size it had originally appeared.
"Like this, it should be secure enough. Provided no one maliciously disturbs it," Mo Rubin stood beside Li Ping and said softly, looking at the Sea of Gloom below.
"With the safety of Xuanhuang at stake, it is better to be prudent. I will set up an additional defensive array here." This was not asking for Mo Rubin's consent, but a declaration of his decision.
Mo Rubin shrugged. "Suit yourself. So many years have passed, and aside from us, no one else has come to this damn place. Who are you even guarding against? If that will to survive truly breaks free of its cage, this little array of yours won't stand a chance."
Li Ping ignored Mo Rubin's mocking and, with utter seriousness, added the strongest sealing array he could currently deploy.
"Alright, next is severing the hand extended by the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals," Mo Rubin urged once Li Ping finished.
"The gloom power being siphoned right now is limited. If the Sea of Gloom shrinks to a certain point, the will to survive might sense the vibrant Xuanhuang Realm outside. What would happen then is unthinkable."
While reinforcing the array here, Li Ping had already noticed two thread-like lines within the array hub that extended outward, intermittent and flickering.
He didn't know where they led.
"Both array control artifacts—sever their connection with the hub completely?" Li Ping looked at Mo Rubin.
"The other one... he is probably already dead. Sever it then," Mo Rubin was silent for a moment before nodding.
Li Ping then modified the array hub.
It went very smoothly. The Spirit-Gathering Ascension Array emitted a soft hum, as if restarting.
It dimmed slightly at first, then grew bright once more.
Standing in the array hub, Li Ping sensed the rift in the Sea of Gloom that the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals had carved open.
Boom! Boom!
Clouds rolled, kicking up waves of invisible surge. They swept up the roaming "clouds" within the Sea of Gloom, amassing larger and larger. By the time they reached that open fissure, they had become earth-shattering tidal waves.
They crashed violently into the apparatus of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
Dozens of Immortal Alliance cultivators diligently supervising the extraction of gloom power were swallowed up without a sound.
Evaporated from the world.
Amid the violent tremors, that fissure began to close.
Faced with this sudden upheaval, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals was unwilling to give up. Within the closing gap, the eyeball array control artifact surfaced once again.
A golden abacus clicked rapidly, trying to turn the tide.
Yet this time, it produced no effect whatsoever. It could only watch helplessly as the rift in the Sea of Gloom sealed shut.
The dust settled.
Li Ping and Mo Rubin both watched this scene, gazing at each other in silence.
Though it had taken quite some effort, the goal of severing the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals' siphoning of gloom power had finally been achieved. Moreover, he had learned many ancient secrets of the Xuantian Sect.
Li Ping's heart was filled with tranquility; he felt his connection to the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao grow ever closer.
Yet he also knew very well that being able to mobilize the power of the Spirit-Gathering Ascension Array so easily was thanks not only to his own formidable array attainment, but even more to Mo Rubin's aid.
Without the array diagrams transmitted by Mo Rubin, unraveling the restrictions left behind by King Xuantian was not something that could be done in a day or two.
More critically, it was thanks to the demonic face Mo Rubin had manifested and attached to his own face.
It was precisely because of this face that he could traverse the deepest depths of the Sea of Gloom unimpeded, and even alter key structures of the array without suffering attacks or backlash from it.
In a sense, this face of Mo Rubin granted higher authority than those two eyeball array control artifacts.
"Back then among the Twelve Dharma Kings of the Xuantian Sect, where did your strength rank?" Li Ping suddenly asked.
Mo Rubin paused.
Then he sneered, "Truth be told, among the twelve, my strength was the weakest. Though you barely managed to overcome me, you wouldn't defeat the others."
Li Ping naturally didn't believe him.
Mo Rubin snorted coldly. "In our era, talents emerged in legions. Peerless prodigies were as numerous as carp crossing a river, countless to behold. It was undeniably a golden age of cultivation!
"If the path to immortality hadn't abruptly severed, a dense influx of ascendants emerging in a short span would have been entirely possible."
Li Ping remained silent.
In the records of the Genesis Stone Slab, all information regarding those who ascended to immortality had been erased, so he had no way of judging the veracity of Mo Rubin's claims.
However, judging by the various deeds of the Twelve Dharma Kings prior to joining the Xuantian Sect, Mo Rubin's words might have been somewhat exaggerated, but they aligned with a certain truth.
"If all of you were so powerful, how did the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao win back then?"
"Even without King Xuantian, if the twelve of you joined hands, the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao would hardly have defeated you, right?" Li Ping voiced the question that had weighed on his mind for so long.
"Hmph." Mo Rubin let out a cold snort.
After a long silence, he spoke vaguely: "In short, a loss is a loss; I won't deny it. Those folks from the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao weren't useless either.
"Moreover..."
Mo Rubin's tone suddenly turned chillingly cold.
"Someone took their undercover act too far and suddenly betrayed us. Without knowing who the traitor was, none of us dared trust anyone else. Add to that Big Brother Xuanyuan's inexplicable disappearance...
"Every one of them fancied their talent no lesser than Xuanyuan Hong's, merely down on their luck and failing to ascend at the right time. When push came to shove, they realized that without Big Brother Xuanyuan leading them, they were nothing more than a rabble.
"On the other hand, the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao fought with their lives on the line, because they knew that if they failed, death was the only thing awaiting them.
"..."
Mo Rubin suddenly laughed. "Still, I've made peace with it now. As they say, heaven's retribution is just—weren't the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao subsequently wiped out by this Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals? Hahahaha! Good riddance!
"Nicely done, Xuanhuang Realm!"
Mo Rubin patted Li Ping's shoulder and praised.
"Actually, the core figures of the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao are likely alive and well," Li Ping suddenly remarked.
"They've merely secluded themselves from the world and no longer show themselves."
Mo Rubin's hand gripping Li Ping's shoulder tightened abruptly.
"Hmph, heheh..." Upon learning this sudden news, Mo Rubin didn't erupt in fury; instead, he burst into increasingly unrestrained laughter.
"Not dead after all? Even better that they're alive.
"That way, I can take revenge with my own hands. So many years have passed; they shouldn't be as united as they were back then."
Mo Rubin flashed away from Li Ping's side, his figure abruptly darkening considerably.
"Time to go.
"I originally set out to look for Big Brother Xuanyuan, but through a twist of fate, I never expected to come here first. Still, it's fine; at least one wrong answer has been eliminated."
Li Ping felt the demonic face on his blank face showing signs of detaching.
The surrounding darkness swept in uncontrollably.
Whispers from deep within the soul echoed, corroding Li Ping's consciousness.
Knowing this was no place to linger, Li Ping followed Mo Rubin back from the deepest reaches of the Sea of Gloom.
"Speaking of which, what was your original destination? That it actually required using that immortal artifact command flag?" Li Ping asked.
Mo Rubin met him with silence.
As they passed the hollow husk of Dadao Sect Master Fang Dingge, he suddenly said to Li Ping, "Why don't you search his body? You might pick up some treasures."
Li Ping stared at Mo Rubin.
Mo Rubin rolled his eyes at Li Ping. "This man was able to resist the devouring of the will to survive and fled all the way here before dying, which proves his strength. An expert is bound to carry good things. That was taught to me by Big Brother Xuanyuan.
"Besides, if there really are relics on him that managed to survive the erosion of a True Immortal's will to survive, they are definitely extraordinary treasures. You really don't want to try?" Mo Rubin enticed.
Li Ping looked at the body once more and ultimately shook his head slightly.
"The departed are gone; let him rest in peace here. There are so many treasures in the world—must one plunder them all? When greed overcomes restraint, the mind is clouded, inviting disaster."
"Call you a fool, and you really are a fool," Mo Rubin scoffed.
Even so, he didn't search Fang Dingge's corpse either, simply leaving him lying peacefully where he was.
After traveling for a while, the two returned to where they had started.
The white jade flagpole was still planted where they had left it.
However, eroded by the gloom power, the perimeter illuminated by its radiance had shrunk by an entire ring compared to before.
"As expected of second-hand goods re-forged by someone else—utterly useless," Mo Rubin criticized bluntly.
"With you meddling like this, I have to go look for the other arrangements left behind back then. Who knows if they're still there after all these years? If they aren't, I'll be back to cause trouble for you!" Mo Rubin said coldly, looking at Li Ping.
Li Ping summoned the You people and reopened the portal leading to the outside world.
"I can help you search for King Xuantian.
"I need his help," Li Ping said with great sincerity.
Mo Rubin was the first to fly into the passage, laughing boisterously as he went: "You didn't think that just taking a stroll through the Sea of Gloom with me would make me trust you completely, did you?
"Back then, didn't every single one of those other eleven brothers and sisters share life and death with me?
"Experience has taught me: trust no one!"
Mo Rubin's chilling voice gradually grew faint.
By the time Li Ping returned to Jiushan Province, no trace of Mo Rubin remained.
Yet the Sacred Emperor made no move to pursue him further.
This Dharma King of the Xuantian Sect was not his enemy.
Chapter 1278