Regarding the formation of the High Wall, Li Fan had always held two speculations.
One possibility was that the High Wall was created by the True Immortal contemplating the Dao within the Immortal Ruins—similar to the restrictions cultivators laid down during secluded cultivation to prevent disturbance.
The other possibility was that the High Wall had been erected by unknown entities beyond the wall. The starry sea had been sealed off to isolate the catastrophe of the True Immortal seal characters that was spreading at that time.
Both speculations held some merit.
The High Wall was formless and immaterial, yet capable of completely sealing the entire starry sea. Such a method was utterly incomprehensible to mortal cultivators; only those at the level of an "Immortal" could accomplish it. Although the Pitch-Black Star Sea appeared vast beyond measure to lower realm cultivators, encompassing countless cultivation worlds, a True Immortal could take in its entirety with a single glance. A closed realm demarcated with a casual gesture might be just the right size to serve as an immortal's cultivation ground.
On the other hand, the starry sea was boundless; a mere Pitch-Black Star Sea was certainly not the entirety of the lower realm—it might not even qualify as a corner of it. In the past, after the Great Calamity of the Immortal Realm, at the location where the Xuanhuang Realm lay, King Xuantian had returned after ascending to immortality, and the Faceless Immortal had fled. Beyond the Pitch-Black Star Sea, could there really be no other survivors from the Immortal Realm? Upon noticing unusual movements in the Xuanhuang Realm's astral domain, taking precautionary measures was also exceedingly likely.
"The Immortal Realm collapsed, and the vast lower realm instead became a battlefield where various factions converged. What kind of scene lies beyond the High Wall now?
"Are those surviving immortals still ruling supreme? Or have former cultivators risen in revolt, found ways to contend against True Immortals, or even developed a civilization capable of hunting them?"
Li Fan's thoughts drifted, a yearning welling up within his heart. His emotions surged, refusing to settle for a long time.
"It won't be long. In this life, the Xuan Celestial Vessel is spearheading the charge to leap across the High Wall. Even if they fail in the end, I can help them summarize the lessons and continue in the next life. In at most three to five attempts, there is an excellent chance to cross the High Wall.
"And once I achieve Dao Integration with Heaven and Earth Immortal Souls and ascend to become the strongest in the Pitch-Black Star Sea, I can also unite the power of both Xuanhuang and the Celestial Vessel to the greatest extent and begin exploring beyond the High Wall.
"Just as I took step after step back then, venturing from the Great Xuan pocket world to explore the Congyun Sea and the Xuanhuang Realm!"
In a brief daze, the scenes of enduring untold hardships back then, breaking through the Immortal Severing Formation, and arriving in the cultivation world suddenly surfaced in Li Fan's mind.
"Outside the High Wall is perilous, but I am no longer who I used to be."
Li Fan's eyes flickered. "The difference between height and depth..."
Overlooking the starry sea beneath the High Wall from a higher-dimensional perspective, the insights surging in his heart were dozens of times more active than contemplating the Dao within the starry sea.
Moreover, things naturally comprehended while perched upon the summit were inherently an entire tier higher than under ordinary conditions. It was as if he were truly contemplating the Dao with the bearing of a True Immortal!
"Why are all beneath immortals mere ants?
"With a single glance, a True Immortal can obliterate Xuanhuang. Yet no matter how strong mortal cultivators are, destroying such an enormous world would take considerable effort.
"It is entirely because immortals stand high enough. In the eyes of a True Immortal, a mere world is nothing more than a tiny dot!"
He recalled the scene he had witnessed earlier at the summit of the Great Wall of Remnant Worlds.
The unbroken stretch of remnant world fragments, as height increased, gradually shrank and twisted into a ring, ultimately collapsing into a single point.
Compared to the colossal behemoth of the Great Wall of Remnant Worlds, the present Xuanhuang Realm was merely a negligible sliver.
The Great Wall reduced to a point. And to view the Xuanhuang Realm as a point did not even require climbing to such a height.
Savoring that feeling of continuous climbing, in Li Fan's eyes, the visions of the Great Xuan pocket world and the Xuanhuang Realm slowly shrank amidst distortions.
Although it had not yet reached the point of collapsing into a single dot, it was already like looking down from the void outside the realm, turning into a cloud of yellow mist.
Li Fan instinctively wanted to reach out and touch it, only to find himself as if encased in ice. Boundless resistance surrounded him, rendering him unable to move in the slightest!
'I am still too weak right now! Though by chance I was able to view things from a True Immortal's perspective, vision and actual action are two completely different concepts...' Li Fan made several attempts, but the result was the same every time.
His body felt as if it were not within the world, utterly incapable of effective control. Furthermore, due to these few attempts, the energy within his body was rapidly depleted. Even with Li Fan's current foundation, he was stretched thin and soon pushed to near exhaustion.
Knowing he could not force it, Li Fan quickly descended from the heights. Only when his perspective lowered did his movements become effortless once more.
Li Fan let out a long breath, recovering from the recent exertion. A moment later, his eyes narrowed slightly, having noticed something peculiar.
According to his usual recovery speed, he should have returned to peak condition in just a few breaths. After all, he had the Five Elements Great Grotto Heaven as his foundation, supplemented by absorbing the Xuanhuang World-Extinguishing Transformation. When facing an apocalyptic crisis, the energy unleashed by the Xuanhuang Realm after the merging of worlds was immense beyond measure; for an individual cultivator, it was practically inexhaustible.
Yet now, merely attempting to act in the "heights" had drained this energy reserve in a short span of time.
"Not only does height change, but the consumption required to act and move normally also increases almost exponentially.
"This is also one of the fundamental reasons for the gulf between mortals and immortals. Spiritual energy—even the spiritual energy of an entire world—cannot support the consumption needed to act at the 'heights.'
"The energy tier is too low. A higher-grade substitute must be found.
"Immortal spiritual qi..."
Various insights flashed through Li Fan's mind.
Stepping forward, Li Fan left the Great Xuan pocket world and arrived at another savage pocket world devoid of human habitation, covered only in endless primeval forest.
Quietly waiting until he was fully rested, Li Fan attempted to ascend once again.
Only this time, Li Fan controlled the rate of increasing height. When the primeval forest before him shrank to the size of a glass marble, he halted.
For Li Fan, who was originally at the lowest vantage, merely maintaining this "height" demanded an immense amount of energy.
This time, however, he chose not to replenish it with his own spiritual energy. Instead, he chose to use Source Power Essence, which was remarkably close to immortal spiritual power.
As golden light enveloped his body, the sense of restriction loosened slightly. Compared to the previous state of being completely frozen in ice, it was far easier.
Li Fan looked at the marble-sized pocket world before him and slowly extended his right index finger.
Buzz...
As if sensing mortal peril, an elegy resembling mournful weeping suddenly echoed across the sky of this savage pocket world.
Yet nothing could stop what was destined to occur. Li Fan's finger gently descended. Concurrently, a finger manifested high above the firmament of the savage pocket world.
With a slight exertion of force, Li Fan felt a subtle resistance.
The golden Source Power Essence surged and roared. Like paper, the resistance was instantly torn asunder.
The finger phantom in the heavens, like sky-spanning dark clouds, cast its shadow over the entire pocket world.
There was no earth-shattering explosion. Only the faint, crisp snap of glass being crushed.
In an instant, the savage pocket world was reduced to ash and dust!
A violent tempest spread through the void due to the world's destruction. Yet no matter how fiercely it blew, Li Fan remained standing tall within it. Protected by the golden light, the storm could not harm him in the least.
He narrowed his eyes, gazing at his finger, still immersed in the world-destroying might of that single press.
The massive expenditure of Source Power Essence had already caused him to tumble from the "heights" and return to a normal perspective. But wiping away a pocket world with such effortless ease truly gave Li Fan an illusion akin to being a supreme deity.
Li Fan closed his eyes, taking a long time to dispel this sensation of dissonance.
"Back then, the True Immortal of the Immortal Ruins destroyed Xuanhuang with a single glance. At its root, that was no different from what I did just now. It is merely that He stood higher and could mobilize far greater power...
"Given sufficient time, given enough days, I too can achieve that."
Li Fan lightly stroked the tip of his right index finger, as though brushing away nonexistent dust.
"This move strikes from above, descending like the finger of a True Immortal...
"Let it be called the Nine Heavens Dust-Descending Finger!
"It signifies both a True Immortal descending to the mortal dust and the power of a True Immortal subjugating the mortal realm.
"Not bad!"
Li Fan was quite pleased with the name he had chosen.
Noticing divine senses approaching to investigate the inexplicable destruction of this pocket world, Li Fan transformed into a sword shadow and departed directly. The savage pocket world was too small; even if it vanished, it would not affect the overall stability of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Returning to Great Xuan, Li Fan savored the sensation of executing the Nine Heavens Dust-Descending Finger while pondering how to unleash this divine ability more easily in the future.
Though the Nine Heavens Dust-Descending Finger possessed the power to destroy worlds, its drawbacks were equally evident. It took too long to execute. Merely climbing to a certain height required Li Fan to build momentum for a prolonged period. Furthermore, he had to gather Source Power Essence before he could move freely at that specific height...
If the target was a world, it was fine—after all, a world had no legs and its exact location would not change. But if the target was a cultivator, they would hardly give Li Fan so much time to prepare.
"First, I could use an array to ambush and trap them in advance, buying myself sufficient time. As for the other way..."
Among all of Li Fan's cultivation attainments, his Dao of Formations was the highest. Having comprehended a near-immortal divine ability yet being unable to execute it freely, he naturally and habitually sought a breakthrough through arrays.
"All Grand Daos under heaven share the same origin. A divine ability can certainly be transformed into an array, just as an array can be transformed into a divine ability..."
Ever since reaching the peak, Li Fan felt his thoughts were more active than ever before. A high, overarching perspective allowed him to contemplate problems from an angle that transcended the mortal realm.
"Terminal Dissociation Disc, deduce!"
Temporarily halting all other tasks, Li Fan poured everything into it in one breath—his experiences at the foot of the High Wall, as well as his insights from casting the Nine Heavens Dust-Descending Finger.
Because the demand to directly convert this divine ability into an array clearly exceeded the scope of what the Dissociation Disc could process, the disc's simulated persona immediately froze into a lag.
Seeing this, Li Fan pondered briefly before shifting his strategy. He no longer aimed to convert the Nine Heavens Dust-Descending Finger directly into a corresponding array. Instead, he broke down the steps of executing the divine ability, transforming them sequentially into tiered sub-arrays. Just as several ancient immortal formations ultimately constituted the Xuanhuang Realm's Grand Star-Crossing Array, Li Fan planned to use an interlocking series of arrays to achieve the rapid casting of the Nine Heavens Dust-Descending Finger.
"The very first step is naturally 'Ascent.'"
Having climbed in person several times, Li Fan already had a preliminary understanding of this process. The so-called ascent was, in essence, stimulating energy to elevate one's momentum within this starry sky.
"To find a way to accomplish this, one might have to do what the Xuan Celestial Vessel planned—gather enough power from True Immortal seal characters and then, leaning on the High Wall, unleash it in a concentrated burst.
"On one hand, however, I do not expect to topple the High Wall with a single finger right now, so the required activation energy is not as terrifying as imagined. On the other hand..."
In Li Fan's mind, the peaks gathered deep within the Sea of Endless Gloom flashed once more.
"Perhaps I can draw inspiration from the Spirit-Gathering Ascension Array," Li Fan thought to himself.
"The reason the Spirit-Gathering Ascension Array can so easily produce energy peaks rarely seen in the Pitch-Black Star Sea is that it is built directly upon the remains of a True Immortal.
"If True Immortal remains were likewise used as array materials..."
Li Fan's train of thought instantly opened up.
A red flash crossed his hand. Constantly writhing, it emanated an ominous, eerie aura. It was the True Immortal flesh and blood left over from before, which had been activated by the ancient character on the Kunqian Bone Hand inside Ou Shangtian's body.
"There is no immortal spiritual power, but it belongs to a True Immortal after all. It ought to be of some help, right?"
Muttering to himself, Li Fan used the clump of True Immortal flesh and blood in his hand as raw material and began his first experiment.
With the Spirit-Gathering Ascension Array as a blueprint, the Terminal Dissociation Disc's deduction progressed smoothly. Before long, an array prototype was born.
Li Fan laid out the array with Source Power Essence, interweaving the constantly writhing True Immortal flesh and blood into it. After a long while, the preparations were complete. Narrowing his eyes to observe, Li Fan activated the array.
A moment of silence.
Then, a dazzling pillar of light surged from within the array. Fueled by True Immortal flesh and blood, the light was blindingly brilliant. What delighted Li Fan even more was that, in his perspective, this pillar of light was far more than merely bright. It slowly ascended, continuously climbing, leaping above all living beings!
"So smooth?"
Just as this thought surfaced in his mind, the pillar of light before him—which seemed capable of illuminating the entire horizon—suddenly went out.
Li Fan was momentarily taken aback. After inspecting it, he realized that nothing had gone wrong with the array; rather, the True Immortal flesh and blood serving as fuel had been completely exhausted.
Li Fan frowned slightly. "The utilization efficiency is still a bit low. I can still find ways to improve it. Furthermore, it's not limited to just the Kunqian Bone Hand. There should be other True Immortal remains in the Xuanhuang Realm; perhaps I can gather them all..."
The purpose of the Ascent Array was far more than simply enabling the rapid execution of the Nine Heavens Dust-Descending Finger. Being able to elevate one's standing momentum meant that in the future, whether leaping across the High Wall or even attaining True Immortality, it might play an indispensable role.
Li Fan attached great importance to this. Setting aside all outside matters for the moment, he focused his full concentration on studying it.
Under the deductions of the Terminal Dissociation Disc and Li Fan's personal guidance and revisions, the Ascent Array underwent thousands of iterations in just seven days. At last, the utilization efficiency of the True Immortal flesh and blood was raised to a degree that barely satisfied Li Fan.
Chapter 1329