"The Watchers bear the mission of the Immortal Realm and are quite likely the direct creations of True Immortals. They are beyond anything mortal power can contend with."
"Though the immortal path has long been severed, as long as they endure, they will forever execute their mission with absolute resolve. This, precisely, is where our hope of escape lies..." Zhong Gongdao wrote swiftly in midair.
"This Xuanhuang Realm Watcher does not appear to attack us proactively. As long as we make no sound and avoid drawing its attention, we should remain safe for now. However, staying in this cauldron indefinitely is no long-term solution. I can feel that the longer we linger here, the faster our life force slips away."
"A Watcher cares only about its own mission. We must find out as soon as possible what the mission of the one above truly is. Only then can we devise a method to escape..."
Everyone raised their heads, looking past the hull of the Xuan Celestial Vessel to where a terrifying figure stirred the broth at the edge of the colossal cauldron.
"Do not gaze upon it, lest you provoke unforeseen disaster." Elder Gan Jingda waved his hand, temporarily shielding their vision.
Nangong Lie of the Dao Confirmation Academy wrote with a grave expression: "If we use the power of True Immortal seal characters to create chaos, would there be any hope of breaking free? Strong as a Watcher is, it surely cannot withstand the power of a True Immortal, can it?"
Zhong Gongdao shook his head slightly and explained, "Indeed, it should not be able to completely withstand the influence of a True Immortal seal character. The 'Xuan' seal character I used earlier already proved this. Yet having countless ties to the Immortal Realm, a Watcher possesses a degree of resistance against True Immortal power compared to mortal cultivators like us."
"Even after being struck by the 'Xuan' character, the Watcher before us merely forgot what occurred before, yet never left this cauldron..." Zhong Gongdao's implication was self-evident.
Ai Tianjue nodded in agreement. "Indeed. Using True Immortal seal characters to cause chaos carries far too great a risk. Just a single glance from it earlier extinguished a tenth of our vessel's people. If it can withstand it even for a moment... even if we managed to escape, few on this vessel would survive."
Zhong Gongdao continued, "Furthermore, everyone must consider what comes after escaping this place. If we exhaust all of our accumulated True Immortal seal characters, how will we contend against Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa of the Xuanhuang Realm?"
"Indeed! This burning grievance must be avenged. Even if we cannot secure any immortal spiritual energy, we must plunder some resources from the Xuanhuang Realm!" Master Zhang of the Star Forging Workshop declared with a vicious expression.
...
Following deliberations among the elders of the celestial vessel, a consensus was reached. First, scouts would be sent outside the cauldron to survey the surrounding environment and deduce the terrifying Watcher's potential mission. Meanwhile, the vessel would remain prepared at all times to fight for its life should the Watcher detect them.
Soon, twenty cultivators departed the celestial vessel in succession, flying toward the rim of the cauldron.
Some had yet to clear its expanse before being pulled in by invisible whirlpools within the broth, plunging into the liquid and vanishing completely.
Those who possessed the strength to fly outside were, for the most part, detected by the invisible Watcher, which instantly drained their life force and compressed them into tiny orbs.
Only one miraculously managed to escape beyond the Watcher's reach, but that cultivator never returned.
The Xuan Celestial Vessel then dispatched a hundred more cultivators.
This time, although three managed to complete their reconnaissance, every single one was detected by the Watcher on their return journey as they attempted to re-enter the cauldron.
They were crushed into round beads, perishing in an instant.
"Throwing our lives away like this is futile!"
"We might as well just stake everything on a fight!"
"Those too weak cannot even fly out of the cauldron, while those too strong will inevitably be detected by that Watcher..."
"Especially Dao Entry elders—going out would simply be suicide!"
...
Despair descended upon the celestial vessel once more.
At that moment, Zhao Xian—the physical body possessed by the Sacred Embryo Li Fan—stepped forward.
Li Fan looked toward Ai Tianjue and wrote with resolute conviction: "Master, I would like to try."
The elders of Duanxian Tower were visibly moved.
They held an exceptionally favorable impression of this remarkably gifted junior.
Ai Tianjue raised a hand, refusing Li Fan's request.
Duanxian Tower held supreme authority over the vessel at present, and Li Fan was one of their direct lineage. Naturally, he was afforded some privilege.
Overriding the objections of the crowd, Zhong Gongdao dispatched another scouting contingent of three hundred men.
Yet the result remained total annihilation.
Watching those vibrant lives ruthlessly compressed into round beads by the unfeeling Watcher, chilling terror accumulated within the hearts of everyone on the vessel until it reached a breaking point.
When Zhong Gongdao prepared to issue another order, seeing the trembling bodies and the despair in the eyes of the cultivators before him made him hesitate.
It was not that his heart had softened, but that doubt had crept into his own mind as to whether such attempts served any purpose at all.
At this juncture, Li Fan stepped forward once again.
"Elder Zhong, this student is willing to try." Though a flicker of fear had initially passed through Li Fan's eyes, it was swiftly replaced by unwavering resolve.
The elders of Duanxian Tower looked upon the gazes of the cultivators from the vessel's other factions and sighed inwardly.
In the end, they granted Li Fan's request.
After bidding a brief farewell to his elders, Li Fan flew unhurriedly out of the Xuan Celestial Vessel under the watchful eyes of all.
"Brother Tianjue, you have taken in a fine disciple."
Elder Zhong, who rarely initiated conversation with others, spoke to Ai Tianjue.
Ai Tianjue nodded slightly, his expression complex.
Seeing Li Fan successfully clear the giant cauldron, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Next came an agonizing wait.
As time trickled by, Li Fan's returning figure remained nowhere to be seen.
The spark of hope gradually went dark.
Just as Zhong Gongdao believed that Li Fan had met his end in failure and prepared to send out one final scouting team, a figure flew boldly and openly right before the Watcher that was stirring the broth.
Descending from the sky, he returned to the Xuan Celestial Vessel!
It was Li Fan!
Though the Watcher loomed overhead and prevented anyone from making a sound, the expressions on the faces of the vessel's cultivators conveyed the overwhelming excitement raging in their hearts.
After losing nearly five hundred pillars of their strength, they had finally glimpsed the hope of escape.
Like stars revolving around the moon, they ushered Li Fan into the center of the elders.
Without taking a moment to rest, Li Fan used his finger as a brush, swiftly recounting the sights and encounters he had witnessed outside.
"Nine Yin-Yang Beads?"
"And each one seems to contain boundless frozen corpses?"
...
The scenes Li Fan described filled the vessel's cultivators with horror.
Yet several elders of the Immortal Pivot Court furrowed their brows, as if recalling something.
They summoned Zhong Gongdao, and after a brief exchange, Zhong Gongdao gathered the crowd.
"Everyone, we may have found the way to escape this place!"
"The mission of this Watcher..."
"Should be collecting distinct 'specimens.'"
Zhong Gongdao's expression carried none of the joy of finding a path to survival; instead, it was grim.
"Distinct specimens? Elder Zhong, what does that mean?" Confusion showed on everyone's faces.
Zhong Gongdao said, "Court Head Jian, it is best that you explain the situation."
The crowd's attention focused on the gray-haired Court Head of the Immortal Pivot Court, Jian Daosheng.
A look of reminiscence appeared in Jian Daosheng's eyes as he wrote to explain: "During the ancient golden age of cultivation, the star sea flourished, and countless cultivation realms teemed with vibrant life. Yet our Xuanshang Celestial Vessel chose to wander endlessly through the star sea without a fixed abode..."
"The world believed that we of Xuanshang sought only profit, traversing the myriad realms solely to reap great fortunes. But..."
"Would not having a permanent world as a base be far more beneficial to commerce? Every life aboard the Xuan Celestial Vessel is tied to this single ship. Though the star sea of that era was not fraught with perils like it is today, voyaging through it for years on end inevitably invited calamity."
"Yet we still preferred to drift across the star sea rather than settle in any single realm."
"That was solely because the Xuanshang Celestial Vessel was built by a group of cultivators who fled from realms where Watchers existed."
Jian Daosheng sighed with emotion. Looking at the stunned crowd, he continued writing: "Cultivators regard mortals as beasts of burden, penning them like cattle. What the Immortal Realm does to cultivators, however, is perhaps far worse."
"Nearly every prosperous cultivation realm bears traces of surveillance from the Immortal Realm. Even in those remote, nameless worlds, no one can guarantee an immortal will not suddenly descend to intervene. What the Xuanshang ancestors discovered all those years ago that drove them to flee their ancestral home is lost to history. Yet what remains certain is that it was out of dread toward the Immortal Realm, and to avoid being penned like cattle, that the ancestors resolved to live aboard the celestial vessel."
"At its peak, the vessel's population numbered no more than a million. Perhaps because the number was truly too insignificant, throughout all that vast expanse of time, no power from the Immortal Realm ever intervened."
Jian Daosheng then steered the topic toward the basis of his deduction: "From what Zhao Xian observed, the bodies frozen within those nine Yin-Yang Beads are likely cultivators who have existed throughout the history of the Xuanhuang Realm."
"Not merely those who died, but those who once existed," Jian Daosheng emphasized.
"That is why the disciples who previously tried to escape by concealing their life force failed."
"To escape before this Xuanhuang Watcher, the safest method is to disguise ourselves as cultivators who already exist within those nine frozen Yin-Yang Beads."
...
Varying expressions crossed the faces of the crowd.
After all, the Immortal Pivot Court had presided over the vessel for thousands of years before Duanxian Tower took power. Placing their trust in the court, the assembly decided to test the method.
Fortunately, during his reconnaissance, Li Fan's divine sense had swept across the boundless frozen ocean, committing the distinct traits of numerous cultivators to memory.
After disguising themselves successfully, the first group of cultivators set out.
Unlike Li Fan's bold stride, they proceeded with painstaking caution, taking measured steps.
And true enough, the invisible Watcher treated them as though they were completely nonexistent.
The entire contingent of thirty cultivators successfully fled the nightmare of that colossal cauldron.
With the viability verified, the entirety of the Xuan Celestial Vessel accelerated their escape.
Once every member of the vessel had fled, the Watcher's stirring of the cauldron's broth finally ceased.
It seemed to extend a palm, striking the cauldron's flank with a thunderous blow.
Amidst deafening reverberations, the cauldron gradually shrank.
The Watcher struck it repeatedly, and the cauldron grew smaller and smaller until it became a crystal-clear, translucent bead.
Within the small bead, the broth transformed into a tranquil ocean.
Having accomplished all of this, the Watcher stood dazed for a moment. Only after a good while did it seem to recall its mission.
Amidst booming footsteps, it departed from this space.
The cultivators of the Xuan Celestial Vessel, having watched the entire spectacle with bated breath, finally let out a long sigh of relief once they confirmed the Watcher was truly gone.
Yet to avoid drawing it back, they continued communicating through gestures.
"Elder Zhong, we have surveyed the area. This is an enclosed space with no exits around it."
"We have yet to ascertain how the Watcher departed."
...
The Xuan Celestial Vessel's heritage had endured unbroken for thousands of years. Working in unison, they soon deduced that the exit from this place lay within the nine Yin-Yang Beads.
Carefully selecting one, the Xuan Celestial Vessel flew inside.
When they witnessed the endless corpses upon the frozen ocean with their own eyes, an irrepressible terror still gripped their hearts.
Within the Yin-Yang Bead, far removed from the Watcher once more, they could finally communicate using divine sense.
"Why did the Xuanhuang Watcher gather so many dead bodies?"
"This place resembles a profound formation."
"It seems the choice made by the Xuanshang ancestors back then was not wrong. In the eyes of True Immortals, cultivators are no different from livestock."
...
The vessel's cultivators conversed.
"Master, can the records of what the Xuanshang ancestors discovered truly not be found?" Li Fan transmitted his voice to Ai Tianjue.
Li Fan had keenly noticed an exchange between Court Head Jian of the Immortal Pivot Court and several elders of Duanxian Tower, prompting his question.
A flicker of hesitation appeared in Ai Tianjue's eyes.
Originally, Li Fan was not qualified to learn this vessel secret. Yet Li Fan had just risked his life to scout the path and successfully brought back the critical intelligence.
Calling him the hero who saved the Xuan Celestial Vessel would be no exaggeration, so there was no longer any need to hide it from him.
After consulting with the other elders and obtaining their consent, Ai Tianjue finally replied, "Court Head Jian did not lie. The ancestral instructions are indeed no longer aboard the Xuan Celestial Vessel..."
Li Fan caught the underlying meaning in Ai Tianjue's words. "Not aboard the Xuan Celestial Vessel. Master means..."
"Aboard the Shang Celestial Vessel?"
Ai Tianjue nodded. "When internal strife tore the celestial vessel in two back then, our Xuan Celestial Vessel secured the Baiwen Xianlu. However, the most vital inheritance of the Xuanshang Celestial Vessel fell into the hands of the Shang Celestial Vessel."
Given Ai Tianjue's temperament, even he felt a faint trace of regret when speaking of this matter.
"The most vital inheritance?" Li Fan's eyes flickered.
"After leaving their ancestral homeland, the Xuanshang ancestors feared being hunted down by Watchers or True Immortals. While drifting through the star sea, they sought by every conceivable means to find a way to sever themselves from True Immortals completely." A look of yearning flashed through Ai Tianjue's eyes.
"As the saying goes, immortals and mortals walk different paths. Even at the Dao Integration realm, one is no different from an ant before a True Immortal. Seeking to shake off a True Immortal through ordinary means is nothing short of a fool's dream..."
"Yet the Xuanshang ancestors truly achieved it."
A gleam of realization lit Li Fan's eyes. "An immortal artifact?"
"Indeed. And more than that," Ai Tianjue said with melancholy.
"As you know, in ancient times, certain cultivation realms were exceptionally close to the upper realm. As the eras passed, some immortal artifacts became scattered across various worlds. The Xuanshang Celestial Vessel traversed the star sea, collecting these immortal artifacts while attempting to analyze their power and convert it for their own use..."
"Back then, they had certainly achieved some results. Unfortunately, before those research fruits could be put to practical application, catastrophe struck the star sea," Ai Tianjue sighed.
"Internal conflict erupted aboard the Xuanshang Celestial Vessel, splitting it into two from then on. Our Xuan Celestial Vessel seized the vast majority of stored resources—the Baiwen Xianlu. The Shang Celestial Vessel, meanwhile, claimed the research insights from those years and an unknown number of immortal artifacts..."
Li Fan was slightly taken aback. "Does that mean that in that internal conflict, our Xuan Celestial Vessel was actually the loser?"
Ai Tianjue nodded. "One could put it that way."
Li Fan fell silent.
He thought to himself, 'No wonder everyone aboard the Xuan Celestial Vessel has always been so secretive regarding information about the Shang Celestial Vessel.'
After a long pause, Li Fan asked in confusion, "The Xuanshang Celestial Vessel drifted through the star sea for so long. Why would internal strife break out just because a calamity descended?"
"Even in the near-hopeless predicament we faced against the Watcher just now, the Xuan Celestial Vessel never fell into chaos. The Xuanshang Celestial Vessel of that era could not have been inferior to us, could it?"
"That is because the helmsmen of the Xuanshang Celestial Vessel back then intended to commit a mad act that would drag everyone on board to their deaths," Ai Tianjue said coldly.
"What?"
"They wanted to pilot the Xuanshang Celestial Vessel to ram into the High Wall, delusionally hoping to break out of this star sea." After a brief silence, Ai Tianjue spoke slowly.
Li Fan could not help but be stunned.
...
While the cultivators of the Xuan Celestial Vessel were still searching for an exit within the Yin-Yang Bead, the transformations of the Xuanhuang Realm had entered a new phase.
The Holy Emperor, currently locked in an even battle with Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa, could not help but divert his attention to gaze upon the extraordinary phenomenon unfolding in the sky.
The fusion of the many remnant realms was initially complete.
The White Mist Barriers that had once spanned heaven and earth shattered completely, crushed under the immense internal forces of the Xuanhuang Realm's sudden growth and decay.
The boundless sky embracing all provinces revealed itself to the cultivators of Xuanhuang for the first time.
The scattered immortal spiritual energy across the world was utterly absorbed by the Xuanhuang heaven and earth.
The cultivators also slowly awoke from their greed and frenzy.
Staring blankly at the pristine sky they had never seen before, they stood frozen in place.
Rumble...
Amidst the faint trembling of heaven and earth, it seemed as if something had been activated.
Streaks of lines flashed across the celestial canopy.
Even with the Holy Emperor's strength, he could not discern their true nature.
Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa's attacks grew increasingly fierce. Li Ping could sense that Chuanfa was gradually holding nothing back.
Knowing the most critical moment had arrived, the Holy Emperor fought with all his might to restrain Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa.
The thunderous roar of heaven and earth grew louder.
Yet a sudden surge of unease welled within the Holy Emperor's heart.
Looking up at this sky, Li Ping felt as though he were standing within a grand formation.
It was just like the entire world of Great Qi being enveloped beneath the Grand Formation of Heaven and Earth Myriad Spirits.
The instant this thought surfaced, an exceedingly faint ripple of consciousness flashed through his mind.
It came directly from the Xuanhuang Realm!
Though it vanished in an instant, Li Ping could discern the meaning conveyed by the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao:
*Danger! Flee!*
Li Ping could not comprehend the meaning. At this very moment, the Xuanhuang Realm was stronger than ever before.
Where could the danger come from?
While Li Ping was caught in a daze, a beam of golden light suddenly arrived from beyond the heavens.
Like a golden needle, it hurtled downward at blistering speed and plunged savagely into the Xuanhuang earth!
The rumbling of the Xuanhuang Realm halted abruptly.
It was as if this single needle had forcefully interrupted the metamorphosis of the Xuanhuang Realm!
A surge of rage erupted in the Holy Emperor's heart.
Starlight surged across his body, and in a flash, he bypassed Chuanfa.
He arrived before that golden needle.
Origin force essence enveloped his palm as he tried to wrench the golden light from the Xuanhuang earth.
Yet to the Holy Emperor's boundless astonishment, this golden needle, clearly cast from beyond the heavens, felt as though it were the Xuanhuang Realm's very own meridians and blood vessels, fully fused with the world itself.
As he applied slight force, the Xuanhuang earth beneath his feet convulsed violently.
Mountain ranges buckled, and the power of earth veins erupted outward.
Seeing this, the Holy Emperor loosened his grip, abandoning the attempt to pull it out by brute force.
Even as he attempted to extract it, countless golden needles rained down from beyond the heavens like a meteor shower.
One after another, arranged in an exceedingly profound pattern, they embedded themselves into the Xuanhuang earth.
Not only was the metamorphosis of the Xuanhuang Realm halted, but vortexes formed across the sky, and the immortal spiritual energy that had already been absorbed by the Xuanhuang heaven and earth was actually forced back out.
From the sites where the golden needles struck, wisps of white mist began to emerge once more.
Like sharp scalpels, they began to carve up the Xuanhuang earth anew.
A bizarre power was slowly enveloping the Xuanhuang Realm.
The living beings of the Xuanhuang Realm, upon witnessing the re-released immortal spiritual energy, did not rush to scramble for it.
Instead, their minds turned dazed and blurred.
Many collapsed directly to the ground, slipping into deep slumber.
None remained able to witness this peerlessly bizarre transformation of heaven and earth with their own eyes.
"The Heavenly Physician!" The Holy Emperor had already deduced the instigator behind this event.
He looked up into the sky, attempting to locate his opponent's position.
However...
Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa's attack arrived in an instant.
This time, he held nothing back.
The absolute limit of power that the Xuanhuang Realm could barely endure erupted with a deafening crash.
"Now that the Heavenly Venerable has arrived, why do you not bow?!"
Chuanfa's freezing voice rang out at the same time.
It seemed to emanate simultaneously from every corner of heaven and earth.
The Holy Emperor's body froze instantly.
It felt as though he were facing the direct gaze and interrogation of every cultivator across heaven and earth who practiced the new methods.
Those countless eyes of mortal beings felt like heavy shackles binding him tightly.
'So the Xuanhuang Realm is Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa's home ground after all...' A flash of realization crossed the Holy Emperor's heart.
'Yet within this Xuanhuang Realm, I too have aid!' The starlight robe on the Holy Emperor billowed.
He roared furiously, "Mo Rubin, how much longer do you intend to just watch the show?!"
Though he did not know where this Dharma King of the Xuantian Sect was hiding, Li Ping was certain that when the upheaval of the Xuanhuang Realm occurred, he would undoubtedly be lurking in some corner, watching everything in silence.
From their brief exchange earlier, Li Ping had discerned that this Dharma King of the Xuantian Sect did not care deeply about Xuanhuang orthodoxy.
So long as the world beneath their feet remained intact, he would be satisfied.
What he cared about far more was finding the vanished King Xuantian and departing from this Pitch-Black Star Sea.
Thus, regardless of whether Mo Rubin responded, the Holy Emperor gave a low shout in his heart: "Dao-One!"
The spiritual energy throughout heaven and earth instantly came alive.
Having been released through the Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven, the Dao-One Worms had spread across the entire world along with the previous wild growth of the Xuanhuang Realm. Upon receiving the Holy Emperor's summons, they shifted from death to life, surging toward the Holy Emperor's body in a torrential flood.
Like an abyss swallowing the great sea, the Holy Emperor's body expanded as the insectified spiritual energy poured in continuously.
Ten fathoms, a hundred fathoms, a thousand fathoms...
The Chuanfa chains wrapped around him crumbled to ash in an instant.
In the span of a breath, the Holy Emperor transformed into a colossal titan that truly bridged heaven and earth.
He reigned supreme over the Xuanhuang land.
Yet the influx of insectified spiritual energy did not halt.
It was as though he truly intended to devour all the spiritual energy of the Xuanhuang Realm in a short span of time!
As his body continued to expand, the vast, merged Xuanhuang Realm gradually seemed no larger than a single room in his eyes.
Chuanfa's attacks ceased to be so difficult to withstand.
The Holy Emperor found the leeway to look beyond Xuanhuang and search for the Heavenly Physician's position.
"I will hold him off!"
Just then, Tianyang's voice suddenly rang out.
He stepped between Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa and the Holy Emperor, addressing the latter.
"Go with an easy mind."
"Even Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa will not find it easy to kill me in short order."
Tianyang was no longer in the guise of a young child; he had transformed into a puppet intertwining dark gold and crimson.
He stood the size of an ordinary human.
"Take this!" The Holy Emperor handed the white hoop to Tianyang, then flew out of the Xuanhuang Realm, tracing the path of the relentless golden needles to hunt for traces of the Heavenly Physician.
He also attempted to intercept the golden lights midway.
Yet the golden needles descending from beyond the heavens were far too swift and dense.
There was simply no time to intercept them all.
Only by finding and resolving the source of the needles could this be stopped.
Glancing back at Tianyang, who was already locked in battle with Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa, the Holy Emperor detected no sign of Mo Rubin appearing.
Unable to dwell on it, he surged toward the starry sky.
Once the insectified spiritual energy entered the void, it dissipated rapidly.
Had the Dao-One Worms not shared in the benefits when the Xuanhuang Realm previously absorbed immortal spiritual energy to elevate itself, their rate of death would have been even swifter.
The Holy Emperor understood that he had to locate the Heavenly Physician as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately...
This powerhouse, who likewise seemed to dwell at the Taishang realm, appeared to have no intention of showing himself to fight.
His traces remained entirely concealed.
Furthermore, the Holy Emperor realized that these golden needles seemed to have been positioned long in advance.
They did not originate from a single location in the starry sky;
rather, countless golden needles rained down from every direction,
plunging into the Xuanhuang Realm with exquisite precision.
The Holy Emperor felt the stifling frustration of possessing immense martial might with nowhere to direct it.
In his mind, an image suddenly surfaced: the grinding immortal calamity and the Archmage's remains sealed outside the pocket world of Great Qi.
A faint impulse even arose within him to undo the seal and detonate it.
'What?'
The Holy Emperor was quickly shocked by his own thoughts and forcefully suppressed them.
'How could such a thought even occur to me?'
The thought vanished in a flash, and the Holy Emperor had no choice but to resume his search for the Heavenly Physician's tracks.
As the golden needles fell without pause, the Xuanhuang Realm slowly reverted to its previous appearance.
Between heaven and earth, the White Mist Barriers rose anew, dividing the provinces once more.
The restless Xuanhuang Realm seemed to be sealed by the golden needles, sinking into a deep slumber.
The frustration in the Holy Emperor's heart reached its absolute peak.
He inadvertently cast another glance at the Xuanhuang Realm below...
His heart jolted violently.
For he suddenly realized that the Xuanhuang Realm had not completely reverted to its original state.
Rather...
That sensation of standing within a formation had not faded at all!
Instead, with the passage of time, it was growing ever more pronounced!
Chapter 1300