"Heh, fellow daoist, do not make such jokes! Beyond the High Wall..." Zhong Daogong's eyes flickered with evasiveness. Confronted by Li Fan's aggressive interrogation, he flatly denied it.
"Do I look like I am joking?" Li Fan cut him off without the slightest courtesy. Ferocity flared in his eyes, and the aura around him surged violently, as if he might erupt into fury at the slightest provocation.
The fluctuation emanating from Li Fan was something the elders of the Celestial Vessel knew all too well. It belonged unmistakably to True Immortal seal characters!
Seeing that Li Fan truly seemed ready to act, the vessel's elders all blanched.
"Fellow daoist, do not be rash! Let us talk this over calmly!" they urged, while backing away from Li Fan and simultaneously activating layer after layer of the Celestial Vessel's protective wards.
Li Fan's expression was grim. "I am exceedingly calm right now! I only want an explanation!
"It was precisely because I attempted to divine the source of what shook the High Wall that I suffered a terrible backlash, leaving me with little time to live... In this Pitch-Black Star Sea, there could never be such a terrifying entity.
"It was plainly the work of an unknown civilization beyond the High Wall, yet your Celestial Vessel claimed it as your own achievement! Stealing credit from heaven—how utterly shameless! It would be one thing if you were merely seeking fame and reputation, but you have ruined me..."
As Li Fan spoke, his agitation mounted, and the fluctuations of the True Immortal seal characters on his person grew increasingly intense. Looking at the people of the Celestial Vessel, he glared at them as if staring down the murderers of his father, ready at any second to drag them all to mutual destruction.
In truth, this rant bordered on sheer unreasonable obstinacy, possessing not a shred of sound logic.
Yet no one could forget that, on the surface, Li Fan had only twenty years of lifespan remaining. To an immortal cultivator, twenty years was nothing more than the blink of an eye.
The elders of the Celestial Vessel naturally had no desire to debate an emotionally volatile man at death's door.
They could only offer helpless placations. "Fellow daoist, you have misjudged us!
"We truly did not lie. The source that caused the upheaval of the High Wall indeed originated from beyond it, yet it also has profound ties to our Celestial Vessel—it shares the same root as us, in fact..."
"You? Beyond the High Wall?" Hearing this, Li Fan calmed down slightly, though deep suspicion still lingered in his eyes.
The elders held a swift private consultation. The Shang Celestial Vessel breaking past the High Wall was an absolute secret, but the man before them was, after all, on the brink of death.
Moreover, they were simply too close to the Xuan Celestial Vessel. If he were to lose his mind and unleash True Immortal seal characters recklessly, it might inflict irreparable damage upon the vessel.
Using the secret to placate him for the moment was by no means out of the question.
"Alas, it is a long story. Fellow daoist, listen as I explain from the beginning..."
Zhong Daogong recounted to Li Fan the split of the Xuanshang Celestial Vessel, as well as the past event where the Shang Celestial Vessel had ultimately smashed through the High Wall to roam free ever since.
Meanwhile, the other elders joined forces to cast spells, quietly isolating the surrounding space. On one hand, this was to prevent this supreme secret of the vessel from leaking; on the other, it was to imprison Li Fan within.
Li Fan seemed oblivious to their covert maneuvers. The hostility clinging to him gradually dissipated, replaced by a bewildered, faintly regretful look. "So... I was too rash? To think the former Xuanshang Celestial Vessel harbored such a bizarre tale."
Seeing Li Fan steadily calm down, Zhong Daogong breathed a sigh of relief. He then asked, "May I ask what attitude Great Qi holds toward cooperation between our two sides? Even if you are unwilling, there is surely no reason to delay responding for so long."
"In truth, we in Great Qi have also been deeply conflicted over this matter. After I suffered a devastating backlash from my reckless advance, Master had no choice but to tell me that Great Qi is naturally interested in leaping across the High Wall. Yet the crucial point is that any matters involving the realm beyond the High Wall likely entail enormous perils..."
After saying this with grave solemnity, Li Fan glanced left and right, appearing to finally notice the confinement methods laid down by the vessel's elders.
A flicker of displeasure crossed his eyes, yet he only let out a cold snort without erupting.
His alternating black-and-white hair drifted erratically without any wind.
Fine silvery-white threads shot forth from among the myriad strands of hair.
Before the elders could even react, these silver threads had already woven an array in the void, likewise trapping and sealing the elders of the Celestial Vessel.
This act of repaying them in kind had not even had time to arouse the elders' full vigilance before their attention was drawn away by Li Fan's voice.
"Everyone, behold! This is the vision of what lies beyond the High Wall, which I divined through our realm-protecting immortal artifact!"
A realm-protecting immortal artifact and the world beyond the High Wall—with these two concepts combined, the elders could not help but feel their minds tremble, and one after another, they turned their gazes toward it.
The perspective soared limitlessly, bringing the entire Pitch-Black Star Sea right before their eyes.
The cold, dead star sea seemed, for reasons unknown, to begin boiling. An ominous, chilling aura reverberated without end.
Before long, a tremendous roar echoed from the horizon.
And then, as if a colossal boulder had crashed into the Pitch-Black Star Sea, towering waves surged up!
...
The vision came to an abrupt halt.
Though it was merely a brief glimpse, the elders had already recognized the scene depicted within it.
The High Wall collapsed, and an inexplicable entity descended upon the star sea!
This imagery was exceedingly illusory yet breathtakingly real.
It was almost like an authentic visual recording of an event that had genuinely transpired!
Dazed and overwhelmed, the elders remained stunned for a long time, unable to recover from the shock brought by that cataclysmic upheaval of the star sea.
"This..."
Zhong Daogong was also lost in a trance, turning his gaze toward Li Fan.
"Now do you understand why I suffered such a backlash?" Li Fan said with profound calm.
"The High Wall collapses, and the star sea falls into upheaval. If things truly reach that stage, I fear that even with Great Qi's current strength, we would be unable to preserve ourselves in safety. That is why no decision has been reached.
"Freedom is wonderful, but it must be predicated upon safety..." Li Fan let out a long sigh.
Silence fell over the area.
While the elders appeared speechless on the outside, a fierce internal debate raged among them.
"Is this... truly genuine or false?"
"Such a scene is beyond the ability of cultivators like us to fabricate. Even in our most terrifying nightmares, it would be difficult to conceive such a spectacle."
"To my eye, it does not look fake. Those fluctuations were simply too authentic. Truth be told, I almost could not resist fleeing just now. It's just that the opponent seems to have laid an array around us, and I actually failed to escape."
"Then what becomes of our plan? To gather the power of True Immortal seal characters, stir the residual immortal might of the star sea, form a tsunami, strike a weak point, and ultimately leap over the High Wall. We planned for so long, hoping to replicate the Shang Celestial Vessel's magnificent feat. Who could have anticipated the final outcome would be this? In that divination, could that High Wall have been brought down by our own collision?"
"Wait, I just tried it—the array this kid set up is truly something formidable. I can't get out either."
"Don't let yourselves be frightened by this brat. A divined vision might not necessarily be the true future. We must not abandon the plan over this..."
"I say, this seems a bit bad. Even with three of us joining forces, we failed to break this array."
...
A subtle tension gradually spread among the elders.
Partly it was because of the profound shock induced by the vision of the star sea's great upheaval; partly it was because they discovered with horror that, without making a sound, Li Fan had imprisoned them here with an array.
"Fellow daoist, what is the meaning of this?" Zhong Daogong narrowed his eyes and demanded.
Li Fan avoided answering, instead muttering to himself as if possessed. "For the sake of Great Qi's safety, Master and the elders chose to abandon cooperation with you and forgo probing the weak points of the High Wall. In truth, I can understand that...
"Yet if that is the case, won't I have died in vain after twenty years?
"Great Qi intends to give up. What about your Celestial Vessel?"
Li Fan stared fixedly at the elders and asked.
For a moment, Zhong Daogong could not gauge Li Fan's state of mind and hesitated, offering no reply.
Seeing that he received no answer, Li Fan's temper flared once more. "What about you!
"If you give up as well, pretending none of this ever happened, wouldn't my actions—recklessly using an immortal artifact, divining the future, and ultimately having my lifespan slashed away—have lost all meaning?
"I once possessed a bright future! Among all the young disciples of Great Qi, my talent surpassed all others! In the future, even if I did not become a grand literary master whose name echoed through eternity, I could at least have become a renowned teacher like Master, passing down the Dao, imparting knowledge, and resolving doubts...
"All of that vanished into smoke because of a single word from your Celestial Vessel!" Li Fan's tone grew increasingly deranged. An inexplicable darkness even crept across his face, hair-raising to behold.
"Death is just death.
"Yet if I become a laughingstock after death...
"I will not accept it!"
Li Fan pointed a finger at Zhong Daogong.
"Give me an answer!
"Does your Celestial Vessel plan to continue, or not!
"If you are frightened and cancel the plan...
"Then turn to ash and smoke along with me!"
Accompanying Li Fan's words, countless silver lines suddenly flared to life within the surrounding void.
It was as if tens of thousands of suns had simultaneously risen above the horizon, illuminating the space where the vessel's cultivators stood.
Every expression on their faces was exposed down to the finest detail.
A silver wind began to blow through the void.
Merely brushing past their faces, it left trails of lacerations.
This forced the elders to employ their various methods to erect defenses.
Yet as the formless wind in the void grew increasingly ferocious, their expressions all changed drastically.
"What... what kind of array is this?!"
"Danger! Everyone, be careful—the sheer sharpness of this array is unprecedented!"
"Quick, use the seal character [Release] to break the array!"
The elders reacted swiftly. Before the words had even faded, Jian Daosheng, the Grand Elder of the Immortal Pivot Court, traced out the seal character [Release].
Under the influence of the True Immortal seal character's might, the silvery-white lines of the array collapsed in an instant.
Yet before the elders could rejoice, a scene that left them utterly dumbfounded occurred.
From the surrounding darkness, as if countless more suns were rising, even more silver lines sprang forth than before. Endlessly regenerating, they wove into a new array.
Under the character [Release], the array melted away like ice into water, yet at the same time, even more water froze into ice!
Consequently, the array trapping them not only failed to collapse, but instead grew increasingly massive and intricate.
"Quick! Who else knows the character [Release]? Follow up!"
"Stay calm! The Celestial Vessel has not moved away, and we are all gathered here! If too much power from True Immortal seal characters erupts at once, the consequences will be unimaginable!"
"This kid is mad! What on earth does he want?!"
Amidst the ceaseless flashing of countless silver threads, Li Fan's voice rang out once more.
"Fellow Daoist Zhong! Answer me!
"What is your Celestial Vessel's answer?!"
Zhong Daogong's face darkened.
In all his years, being coerced in this manner by a junior was a first.
And yet...
Looking at the True Immortal seal characters that were already beginning to drift continuously from Li Fan's body, Zhong Daogong felt a throbbing headache.
If those True Immortal seal characters were unleashed simultaneously within the array, even after steeping themselves in the study of True Immortal seal characters for the better part of their lives, these elders would hardly escape severe injury.
Zhong Daogong finally realized just how troublesome a cultivator could be who possessed the power of True Immortal seal characters and had no fear of death.
"Answer me!"
Li Fan's near-deranged roar echoed throughout the grand array.
Seeing that Li Fan was on the verge of total collapse, and that the True Immortal seal characters drifting from his body had reached a density that made one's heart tremble, Zhong Daogong had no choice but to reply helplessly, "Rest assured, fellow daoist, our Celestial Vessel will absolutely not abandon the plan to explore beyond the High Wall."
"Words alone are no proof!"
"Then what does fellow daoist desire?" Circumstances being what they were, Zhong Daogong forced himself to ask with patience.
"First, take me to that weak point of the High Wall to investigate! If you abandon it, then even if I am all alone, I will slam my head against it, even at the cost of my life!" Li Fan said resolutely.
The elders exchanged glances.
"How is it? Can this array be broken?"
"You know our proficiency in arrays. Even if we sat down to study it, we wouldn't be able to decipher it in less than a century or two. Don't even think about breaking it in the short term."
"I said long ago that we must not rely excessively on True Immortal seal characters, and that we must emphasize the development of other arts and divine abilities. None of you would listen. Now someone has caught us right by the throat, haven't they?" an elder of the Immortal Pivot Court named Meng Xiaomeng remarked with a gloating expression.
"What plan should we adopt now? Must we truly take him to that weak point of the High Wall?"
"That might not be out of the question."
"This person's end is near, and his mind has gone mad; he cannot be judged by ordinary logic. He truly might do something like smashing himself to death against the High Wall."
"Moreover, do not forget that his attainments in True Immortal seal characters are exceptionally profound. Perhaps we can make use of him to carry out a preliminary experimental plan."
"Indeed. Placate him first. As long as we ensure he does not leak the secret to the outside world, that will suffice."
...
Partly coerced by Li Fan's life-threatening blackmail, and partly motivated by certain scheming considerations, the elders ultimately agreed to Li Fan's demand.
They would first take him to witness that so-called weak point of the High Wall.
The Celestial Vessel, along with the elders and the Guixu Great Array, moved through the void together.
Passing through the Sea of Relics, they drew closer and closer to the foot of the High Wall.
"Ahead lies the continuous expanse of world remnants."
"Beyond that is where the invisible High Wall stands," Zhong Daogong said.
Li Fan let out a cold snort. "I have been there. How do we proceed from here?"
"The Great Wall of Remnant Worlds is connected as one. If the Celestial Vessel were to cross over, it would likely be ensnared by that mighty force, unable to escape. Moreover, as you have noticed, the closer one gets to the High Wall, the stronger the reverberating astral power becomes. With our cultivation, we can naturally hold our ground with some effort, but a vessel of this immense size cannot..." Zhong Daogong explained patiently.
"Rest assured, now that we have arrived here, we will naturally not renege on what we promised you."
Li Fan swept his gaze over the group, pondered for a moment, and ultimately nodded in agreement.
Thus, six elders were left behind to watch over the Celestial Vessel.
The remaining elders accompanied Li Fan as they ventured deeper.
Chapter 1326