Faint Revival of the True Immortal

Mo Rubin did not answer Li Fan's proposal immediately. Instead, he fell silent, pondering for a long time. He stared at Li Fan, his gaze lingering on Li Fan's graying hair. Perhaps moved by Li Fan's earnest words and the fact that the man truly did not have much longer to live, Mo Rubin finally nodded in agreement. "Very well." Li Fan beamed and nodded. "Splendid! With Daoist Brother's aid, we are sure to achieve twice the result with half the effort!" "In that case, let us first return to the Xuanhuang Realm!" The phantom wooden sword unsheathed, and Li Fan gestured to invite Mo Rubin within. At first, Mo Rubin did not think much of it. But once he stepped inside the phantom sword's perimeter and felt its incredible speed, his expression changed ever so slightly. The way he looked at Li Fan shifted once more. And when he witnessed firsthand how, shielded by the phantom sword, the two of them could completely ignore the pulling force of the Immortal Ruins and descend smoothly into the Xuanhuang Realm, Mo Rubin could no longer contain himself. "It seems you are unquestionably one of the most paramount figures of this age, my friend." Li Fan shook his head with a bitter smile. "One may stand supreme over an era, yet fail to reign across eternity. Besides, no matter how many spells and arts one masters, does not one's lifespan reach its end all the same? Such divine abilities are simply no match for heavenly destiny." Mo Rubin opened his mouth, but found nothing more to say. By now, the two had already arrived in the Xuanhuang Realm. Mo Rubin's divine sense swept noiselessly across the world. When he saw provinces expanded beyond count and the towering White Mist Barriers stretching between heaven and earth, even this worldly, knowledgeable Dharma King of the Xuantian Sect could not help the flash of astonishment in his eyes. After a long silence, he sighed with emotion. "If I hadn't truly sensed the lingering traces of the Grand Star-Crossing Array, I could never have connected this grand world before me with the Xuanhuang Realm of antiquity." "In a mere ten thousand years, the changes of this world have actually come to this!" Li Fan nodded. "When a world nears destruction, the transformation of all things accelerates hundreds and thousands of times over. Watching these changes, they strike swift as thunder and dart like lightning. This is none other than the Heavenly Dao saving itself..." As Li Fan spoke, he casually conjured an illusory scene. Within the orb of light, the Xuanhuang Realm was turned upside down, yin and yang thrown into chaos. Stars dimmed and mountain ranges shuddered; vegetation withered to ash, and beasts fled in panic—a vivid depiction of an approaching apocalypse. At the brink of life and death, the Xuanhuang Realm indeed brought forth all manner of stress-induced transformations: freezing heat-death, temporal shifts, total heavenly annihilation... Mo Rubin was momentarily spellbound. At the crucial moment, Li Fan gave a light cough and dispersed the orb of light. A sudden pang of loss welled up in Mo Rubin's heart. He vaguely sensed that the vision within that sphere of light truly concealed profound principles behind the evolution of heaven and earth. To any cultivator, it was an unimaginable fortune. Yet Li Fan had displayed it for only a fleeting moment, leaving Mo Rubin unable to comprehend much of it. Still, his pride as a Dharma King of the Xuantian Sect and an awakened senior of antiquity from the Xuanhuang Realm kept him from shamelessly asking Li Fan to show it again. *Perhaps once we successfully find Big Brother Xuanyuan and grow better acquainted...* Mo Rubin could not help thinking. "Of course, the reason the Xuanhuang Realm became what it is today isn't solely due to the shifts in the Heavenly Dao itself," Li Fan continued candidly. "Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa also had a hand in it from the shadows." "Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa is very likely a former Venerable of the Tianfa Realm. When the Tianfa Realm fell, he sought to borrow the only surviving world in the sea of stars—the Xuanhuang Realm—to reincarnate his own..." "This man, Chuanfa, has comprehended the Dao in the sea of stars for thousands of years. His strength is fathomless, perhaps having already reached the absolute limit of mortality. I am no match for him!" "In everything we do, we must remain vigilant against him. Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa will never spare any entity that might pose a threat to his revival of the Tianfa Realm," Li Fan sighed, offering a well-meaning piece of advice. "This Chuanfa is actually not a bad person, but he is destined to stand on the opposite side of the Xuanhuang Realm." Mo Rubin observed several incongruous fragments of foreign worlds embedded deep within the Xuanhuang Realm, and he already believed Li Fan's words to some extent. "A pity..." Truth be told, Mo Rubin had harbored a sliver of goodwill toward this powerhouse who was ostensibly credited with destroying the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao. Yet seeing the scene of the Xuanhuang Realm being butchered and reshaped before his eyes, paired with Li Fan's quiet explanation, that already faint trace of goodwill vanished without a trace. "Rest assured, we will keep a low profile. Before finding Big Brother Xuanyuan, we won't provoke any conflict with this Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa." Mo Rubin's eyes swept across the world repeatedly, seemingly searching for traces of something. After a long while, he frowned. "It seems the Grand Star-Crossing Array is indeed severely damaged. I can only sense a faint lingering aura; operating it is out of the question." "Part of it was due to the passage of time and shifting landscapes, and part was because back when the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao manipulated the array to capture other cultivation realms, continuous battles erupted. The grand array suffered damage day by day, yet the cultivators of the Ten Sects lacked the skill to repair it. In the end, it fell into complete ruin..." Li Fan explained slowly. "At least, that is what my investigations indicate." Seeing the sharp gleam that flickered in Mo Rubin's eyes, Li Fan shrugged, speaking with utter candor. "How could those useless wretches from the Ten Sects possibly know how to operate the Grand Star-Crossing Array?! Unless..." A violently turbulent, dangerous aura suddenly radiated from Mo Rubin. Li Fan stepped aside slightly and chimed in, "Surely it was the traitorous Dharma Kings from back then who leaked the operational methods to the Ten Sects." Mo Rubin furrowed his brows deeply, offering no reply. Only after a long silence did he shake his head. "Not necessarily. Perhaps they were captured by the Ten Sects and subjected to torture." Hearing this, Li Fan felt somewhat surprised by Mo Rubin's attitude. He knew that back then, King Xuantian had divided the operational techniques of the Grand Star-Crossing Array's subsidiary formations among different Dharma Kings as a precaution. Mo Rubin was responsible for the Spirit-Gathering Immortal Ascension Array—the Sea of Endless Gloom. Meanwhile, Ji Yuzhen was in charge of the traversing golden chains. Perhaps noticing Li Fan's reaction, Mo Rubin took the initiative to explain why he was making excuses for them: "Back then, Big Brother Xuanyuan revealed to me that the ones controlling the Star-Locking Golden Chains were Ji Yuzhen and Luo Yichen..." "Out of the twelve of us, anyone else might have betrayed him, but never those two," Mo Rubin declared with absolute certainty. Li Fan mused upon this. "From Dharma King Ji's memories, she deeply adored King Xuantian. As for Luo Yichen..." Mo Rubin nodded. "Indeed. It was precisely after giving her heart to Big Brother Xuanyuan that Luo slaughtered all thousands of her male paramours, devoting herself solely to him from then on." Li Fan shook his head even more vigorously. "King Xuantian actually entrusted the same duty to both of those women? That was truly unwise!" "You overthink it, my friend. The two of them were very close," Mo Rubin said with a faint scoff. Li Fan did not press the matter further. As they conversed, the two decided on the first location to search for traces of King Xuantian. It was none other than the Sea of Endless Gloom. Their journey was barely different from his exploration in his previous life. After navigating a few twists and turns—with Li Fan feigning utter astonishment all the while—the two finally arrived at the central core of the Spirit-Gathering Immortal Ascension Array. At first, Mo Rubin was horrified by the True Immortal's corpse in the depths of the Sea of Endless Gloom and the faintly activated, stirred urge to survive belonging to the True Immortal. Once he came to his senses, however, he paused in slight surprise. "Hmm? It seems someone was here not long ago!" Li Fan felt a twinge of alarm. He had gone to great lengths to conceal his tracks when he came here previously, yet Mo Rubin could still detect them now. Though alarmed, he kept his composure. Instead, a flash of pleasant surprise appeared on his face, and he hurriedly asked, "Could it be King Xuantian?" Mo Rubin had no suspicion toward the man beside him. After all, the restrictive seals here were based upon the immortal array, the Spirit-Gathering Immortal Ascension Array, which was hardly something ordinary mortals could breach. "Still, there are indeed traces of a predecessor entering this place. Although they failed to reach the innermost core where the True Immortal's corpse lies..." "People from the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao died here. They were likely lured in by someone and subsequently killed by the True Immortal's will to survive." "Could it be Elder Cui?" Cui Zhiyuan was the other Dharma King who had co-managed the Spirit-Gathering Immortal Ascension Array alongside him. Even as he guessed this, Mo Rubin inspected the residual traces of the array's activation and once again sensed something amiss. "It doesn't look like they simply unlocked the seals. Rather, it looks like they breached it by force without damaging the immortal array itself. Overcoming finesse with sheer might..." "Furthermore, they even modified the array afterward to lock down the True Immortal's will and prevent outsiders from barging in." Mo Rubin pondered for a long time, unable to make sense of this intruder's identity. Li Fan naturally noticed his bewilderment, but he felt no urge to kindly reveal the truth about Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa's deeds back then. After agonizing over it for a while, Mo Rubin finally decided to shelve the matter for now. First, he began searching for King Xuantian's traces within the Sea of Endless Gloom. The central hub of the Spirit-Gathering Immortal Ascension Array, resembling a spherical observation capsule, suddenly lit up within the Sea of Endless Gloom. Barely perceptible ripples emanated from it, spreading rapidly across the dark waters. Only after a considerable time did Li Fan sense those ripples returning. Mo Rubin waited expressionlessly for the complete search results. Evidently, King Xuantian was not present in this Sea of Endless Gloom. Seeing Mo Rubin's brow furrow deeply once more, Li Fan consoled him, "We can simply set off for the next location." Mo Rubin shook his head. "I never expected it to be so easy to find Big Brother Xuanyuan in the first place." "It's just that I feel something isn't right with this Sea of Endless Gloom." Li Fan's heart stirred. "What do you mean by that?" "The Sea of Endless Gloom was founded upon the corpse of a True Immortal. Although the True Immortal has completely perished, a True Immortal is still a True Immortal; their methods far exceed anything we mortal cultivators can imagine." "Take, for instance, that 'will to survive' that spontaneously arises upon sensing living beings entering. The power of gloom accumulated here also seems to have undergone a subtle change compared to back then." Mo Rubin's expression turned rather grave. Following Mo Rubin's gaze, Li Fan looked out into the boundless darkness. Mo Rubin continued in a deep voice, "With the True Immortal dead, the power of gloom is masterless. Yet this power was generated from the True Immortal's corpse after all. It was fine when everything remained dormant. But a thread of the True Immortal's will to survive happened to be stirred... "Perhaps under the influence of this will to survive, the power of gloom has begun to change." Li Fan feigned profound shock. "The might of a True Immortal is truly this terrifying? What exactly do you mean by this change in the power of gloom, Daoist Brother?" "It's hard to tell clearly right now," Mo Rubin answered. "But one thing is certain: it will inevitably evolve in a direction that favors the True Immortal's revival. Even if full resurrection proves impossible, that tendency will certainly persist. "Do you remember the corpses we saw along the way? Their life essence was drained dry, reduced to nourishment for reviving the True Immortal... Perhaps when this Sea of Endless Gloom senses living beings useful for the True Immortal's revival, it will launch similar attacks. "Fortunately, after being converted by the Spirit-Gathering Immortal Ascension Array, the power of gloom is far less influenced by the True Immortal's remains than the True Immortal's will is. Things have not yet reached my worst fears." Li Fan nodded deeply in agreement. "The energy accumulated in this Sea of Endless Gloom is already so immense. If it were to run riot, wouldn't it swallow the Xuanhuang Realm in an instant, turning it into nourishment for the True Immortal's revival...?" Mo Rubin cast a profound glance over the Sea of Endless Gloom and agreed. "If left unchecked, I fear such a day might truly come." Li Fan asked curiously, "If—and I only mean if—the entire Xuanhuang Realm were used as nourishment, could it truly bring the immortal corpse back to life?" Mo Rubin turned his head to look at Li Fan, remaining silent for a long while. There was not a shred of malice in Li Fan's eyes, only pure curiosity toward the unknown. Mo Rubin deliberated for a long time before saying, "Judging purely by energy levels, today's Xuanhuang Realm should be sufficient. After all, it has stitched together so many cultivation realms, even if they were merely broken remnants left after world annihilation... "Though the living beings of those worlds were destroyed, their origins remain intact. "Yet even if it revives, it should only be an empty shell, a walking corpse. It wouldn't possess a true consciousness of its own..." Li Fan nodded slowly. "A True Immortal's physical shell is already an extraordinary existence in itself. If someone could possess it, wouldn't they, in a certain sense, attain True Immortality in this current era?" Mo Rubin merely chuckled at Li Fan's fanciful musing, not taking it seriously. Having searched the Sea of Endless Gloom to no avail, the two intended to head to their second destination: the Eye of the Tian Beast. "The Eye of the Tian Beast can not only probe the sea of stars, but also oversee Xuanhuang. It exists independently outside the Xuanhuang Realm, connected only by an unfathomably profound link. If the Tian Beast were still alive, we could go there directly. But now that the Tian Beast has fallen in battle, reaching it will take some effort," Mo Rubin explained. Afterward, he accompanied Li Fan to Jiushan Province. Looking at the nine continuous mountain ranges towering between heaven and earth, a touch of sorrow flickered in Mo Rubin's eyes. Then, just as in Li Fan's previous life, they found the white jade flagpole—an immortal artifact—within the underground ruins. "This is..." "An immortal artifact?" Li Fan pretended to be utterly astonished. Mo Rubin dismissed it casually. "Its immortal spiritual power is exhausted; it is merely an empty shell of an immortal artifact. "Still, using it to reach the Eye of the Tian Beast won't be difficult." Taking the white jade flagpole as the central core, Mo Rubin began setting up an array. "In my search for King Xuantian, I also came across some fragments of immortal artifacts. But all of them were like this white jade flagpole, their immortal spiritual power completely dissipated. Some had even suffered great catastrophes, shattered into pieces." "Just what kind of catastrophic scene did King Xuantian witness in the Immortal Realm back then, that even the Immortal Realm could not be spared?" Li Fan inquired as he sighed with emotion. Mo Rubin's hands paused slightly in their preparations, and he too seemed to slip into memory.