"Regarding this matter, it wasn't just you and me. Throughout the ancient Xuanhuang Realm, everyone who knew that Big Brother Xuanyuan had ascended and later returned from the Immortal Realm was incomparably curious," Mo Rubin said with deep emotion.
"Yet no matter how they tried to probe, Big Brother Xuanyuan never disclosed any details to them. He merely brushed it off vaguely, speaking of a terrifying great calamity in the Immortal Realm.
"He did not reveal it even to us Dharma King brothers, nor to Ji Yuzhen, whom he trusted most.
"It wasn't until he successfully achieved a breakthrough and decided to execute his plan to lure the snake out of its hole that he casually mentioned a few words about the Immortal Realm's great calamity.
"He referred to it as 'Dao Annihilation.' Though he didn't describe the exact scene of the Dao Annihilation Calamity to us, those two words alone were enough to send shivers down our spines. All of us Dharma King brothers caught the fleeting terror in his eyes..."
"Dao Annihilation." Li Fan turned the two words over in his mind, and gradually, an uncontrollable chill rose within him as well.
He recalled the memory he had glimpsed earlier within the True Immortal flesh.
Halting words had echoed from the towering figure above the True Immortal:
"Qionglang Star Domain... annihilation... garrison..."
Li Fan grew pensive. *That word 'annihilation' must refer to the Dao Annihilation Calamity. When the Qionglang Star Domain suffered the disaster, was a True Immortal dispatched to guard it, or were they guarding other star domains as a precaution?*
He speculated silently: *As expected, there were early omens of the catastrophe that caused the destruction of the Immortal Realm. The Immortal Realm must have attempted countless methods of self-preservation, yet in the end, it was powerless to halt the spread of the Dao Annihilation Calamity.*
New questions inevitably surfaced in Li Fan's mind.
Did this Dao Annihilation Calamity only target and appear in the Immortal Realm? Once the Immortal Realm was shattered, did the Dao Annihilation Calamity vanish without a trace? Or would it one day reemerge in the lower realm's star sea? And what connection did the Dao Annihilation Calamity have with the obliterating wind calamity he had witnessed in the Boundless Mirror and the ruins of the Yishi Sect?
The power of the True Immortal seal characters had run amok and swept through the star sea, inflicting catastrophic devastation across vast swathes of space. The starlight had grown dim, turning it into the Pitch-Black Star Sea.
Yet...
Vitality had not been completely wiped out, after all. Not to mention the Xuanhuang Realm, which remained full of life, even in the seemingly dead star sea, the sea's consciousness still lingered. As time flowed onward, its eventual revival was practically a certainty.
*The destructive catastrophe the Pitch-Black Star Sea suffered is likely on an entirely different level from the Dao Annihilation Calamity.*
The word "annihilation" made Li Fan envision a scene where everything was wiped out down to the very last trace beneath the disaster.
*I fear not even remnants of the world were left behind.* Li Fan felt a sudden chill of dread.
Just as Li Fan was lost in thought, Mo Rubin spoke again: "Big Brother Xuanyuan once warned that knowing more about the details of this Immortal Realm calamity would bring us more harm than good.
"He told us to avoid even recalling its name if possible. Because it might seize that very opportunity to transform into a nightmare or inner demon. Even if we have never seen its true form, it could still take advantage of the opening.
"He told us the name 'Dao Annihilation' solely so we would possess a baseline awareness to guard against it."
Mo Rubin's expression grew solemn. "If one does not know its name, one will remain unaware of the calamity's true nature even when facing it directly. But if one knows its name, one will instinctively perceive something amiss at the very first sign.
"In truth, Big Brother Xuanyuan encountered this world-ending calamity as soon as he arrived in the Immortal Realm. The various things he knew about the Dao Annihilation Calamity were learned later through communications with the Faceless Immortal.
"Alright. Let us speak no more of this." Mo Rubin abruptly cut himself off.
While they spoke, the white jade flagpole formation had finished preparing.
With a solemn face, Mo Rubin formed hand seals. The white jade flagpole rose into the air and cast a ring of light that enveloped them both.
"Go!"
It was somewhat similar to Li Fan's phantom wooden sword.
The white jade flagpole aligned toward the vault of heaven, constantly adjusting its heading. Speckles of white radiance emanated from its shaft, and after building power for several breaths, it shot toward the sky, carrying Li Fan and Mo Rubin with it.
Though its speed was somewhat slower than Li Fan's sword-shadow art, the sharp, enterprising intent attached to it—one capable of piercing through everything—was something Li Fan's technique lacked.
The beam of light formed during the flagpole's transit was exceedingly thin. Moreover, it leaked not the slightest trace of energy, and thus drew no notice from the cultivators of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Standing inside the flagpole's perimeter, Li Fan watched the sights of the Xuanhuang Realm rush backward in rapid retreat. Even the pull of the Immortal Ruins only managed to slow their speed slightly.
Mo Rubin, meanwhile, steered the flagpole with rapt attention, dodging areas where residual True Immortal power had gathered along the way from time to time.
Calculating that the white jade flagpole would not crash into that depression brimming with residual True Immortal power, Li Fan patiently waited for them to arrive.
After hurtling through the starry void for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the white jade flagpole abruptly ground to a halt.
The light dispersed and formed a bubble-like enclosure around the two of them.
Then, it slammed into an invisible barrier in the void with a boom.
The bubble of white light served as an immaculate cushion, absorbing and neutralizing the force of the collision.
Li Fan and Mo Rubin arrived inside the Eye of the Tian Beast.
"Ah!"
A shrill shriek instantly rang out within this relatively small area.
It came neither from Li Fan nor from Mo Rubin, but from Han Zhong—the cultivator Li Fan had encountered before, who had mistakenly strayed into the Eye of the Tian Beast through a teleportation array in Jiushan Province!
Trapped for so long, Han Zhong had originally lost all hope of escape. Only his instinct for survival had kept him scraping by. Now, seeing other living people, he first let out an excited roar.
Just as he was about to say something more...
Mo Rubin's expression flickered slightly. He directly released a streak of black light that struck Han Zhong dead on!
Poor Han Zhong's eyes filled with disbelief, and just like that, he was reduced to ashes, never understanding why!
"Daoist Brother, you..." Li Fan feigned an expression of utter astonishment.
Mo Rubin first conducted an extremely cautious inspection to ensure Han Zhong had left behind no fragments whatsoever before explaining, "I do not know why this cultivator appeared here, but he had already been contaminated.
"Recklessly coming into contact with him carries a strong risk of becoming infected. It is better to nip the danger in the bud."
Li Fan's expression softened slightly, though confusion remained. "Contaminated?"
Surveying their surroundings, Mo Rubin said, "It is a very troublesome affliction. Even for Big Brother Xuanyuan, resolving it was rather difficult.
"It should be related to the calamity of the Immortal Realm back then...
"Under normal circumstances, encountering it in the starry sky is exceedingly rare. This is the Eye of the Tian Beast, so the likelihood of contamination is somewhat higher.
"The concentration of this affliction in the lower realm's star sea is extremely low. It was like that ten thousand years ago, and ten thousand years later, during our journey through the star sea just now, I checked as well. There seems to be no change. However, the Eye of the Tian Beast peers across vast star domains. When the scale is stretched to a certain extreme, no matter how low the concentration is, it will truly manifest." As Mo Rubin spoke, he laid down several restrictions around them, seemingly designed specifically against this void affliction.
Li Fan mulled over the meaning behind Mo Rubin's words.
*The probability of infection from this affliction increases because the observed region expands... Doesn't that mean merely observing it can cause it to spread?* Li Fan was inwardly alarmed.
Mo Rubin nodded. "Indeed. That is why I killed him on the spot without a word. Fortunately, the likelihood of this affliction spreading through ordinary means is low as well. I checked just now, and it has not spread. It is temporarily safe here."
"Such a bizarre method of transmission, and tied to the upper realm's immortal calamity..." Li Fan looked somewhat worried.
"What happens after contracting this condition? That trapped cultivator didn't seem to show any abnormalities just now."
Mo Rubin cast several more restrictions.
The transparent bubble that had tightly enveloped them, barely leaving room for two or three people, slowly expanded like an inflating balloon.
"The reason he showed no abnormalities was that the disease was still dormant within him and hadn't flared up. If you made contact, you would know just how terrifying it is. The upper limit of one's divine soul and even one's life essence will be shaved away by it. The extent of the reduction deepens alongside the severity of the infection. In the end, though one hasn't died, one becomes as fragile as a paper figure.
"Even an ordinary gust of wind could blow one's soul apart. Of course, before reaching that point, one must endure the myriad agonies brought about by the shaving of their life essence limit."
Mo Rubin sighed with emotion. "Imagine: another person's gentle whisper sounds like thunder in your ears, rattling your divine soul with tearing pain. An inadvertent touch from someone feels like a violent collision, leaving your flesh mangled...
"The normal world turns in your eyes into an apocalypse where terrifying disasters play out every single second. By then, death might be a relief.
"Yet because this affliction plagues the body, before one is whittled away to the absolute limit, it actually preserves the host's life in order to maintain its own transmission. One can neither live nor die..." Mo Rubin shook his head slightly.
"Put that way, this illness is truly formidable." Li Fan spoke while picturing the scene from the past where the Heavenly Physician collected the black vapor rising from the deceased Han Zhong with a jade bottle.
"If it spreads through the Xuanhuang Realm, that would be disastrous," Li Fan remarked with an inscrutable tone.
"Ten thousand years have passed, and this disease has barely spread at all. Even if it has a tendency to spread in the lower realm, the time required will surely be exceedingly long," Mo Rubin consoled offhandedly.
His attention shifted to the Eye of the Tian Beast before them.
"This transparent space is the Eye of the Tian Beast? It seems Xuantian is not here either." Li Fan sounded somewhat disappointed.
Mo Rubin shook his head. "This is merely one observation point of the Eye of the Tian Beast. Do you know that tiny insects in the mortal world possess compound eyes formed of thousands of tiny facets to create a true eye? The Tian beast is the same."
Li Fan nodded in understanding.
As Mo Rubin continuously cast his arts, the transparent bubble shook violently and shrank, as though about to expel the two of them.
*Pop!*
The bubble burst, and Li Fan felt his vision blur. The next moment, they were standing within a peculiar space.
It was like being inside one of countless bubbles floating upon an ocean.
Across the curved boundary flashed scenes of countless identical bubbles.
Li Fan even faintly spotted himself and Mo Rubin in those exterior bubbles.
However, the appearance, clothing, expressions, and movements of those other "selves" differed from his true self.
Yet there was an undeniable, inexplicable sense of familiarity.
Innumerable versions of himself met one another's gazes, evoking an extraordinarily strange sensation in Li Fan's heart.
"It is merely an aberration that occurs under the shared observation of countless eyes of the Tian beast.
"As long as you stay true to your inner self, you will not be deluded."
Mo Rubin seemed long accustomed to this bizarre sight. He scanned his surroundings, apparently searching for something among these myriads of bubbles.
"Big Brother Xuanyuan never passed the method of operating the Eye of the Tian Beast array to me. Fortunately, I visited several times in the past. We can only rely on this clumsy method to search slowly." Mo Rubin sounded a little helpless.
The number of Tian beast eyes in this space seemed endless.
They appeared both extremely close and vastly distant from one another. Divine sense could not lock onto them; they could only be observed with the naked eye.
Moreover, the countless bubbles were not static.
From time to time, as if lapped by surging currents, innumerable bubbles undertook irregular diffusive movements simultaneously, altering their positions.
When that occurred, the majority of the previous observations were rendered almost completely useless.
Faced with such difficulty, Mo Rubin displayed no frustration and concentrated wholly on observing.
At the same time, he did not forget to remind Li Fan, "Inside the Eye of the Tian Beast, the laws almost form their own domain. You need not worry about your lifespan expiring. Even if you stayed here for ten thousand years, you would not die of old age.
"When the day comes that your limit approaches and you truly do not wish to die, you can hide in here. Though it cannot guarantee eternal endurance against myriad tribulations, scraping by for another few thousand years should pose little problem."
Li Fan nodded.
"This Tian beast is extraordinarily unique.
"It is said that its body size rivaled an entire province of Xuanhuang. Could King Xuantian have brought it back from the Immortal Realm?" Li Fan asked.
Unsurprisingly, Mo Rubin nodded.
"Yes, and no. Back then, Big Brother Xuanyuan thought it was merely an inanimate object—an ordinary jade pendant. Who could have guessed that upon coming into contact with water, it would give off the aura of a living creature?
"After careful nourishment, it grew larger and larger. Its combat prowess even increased day by day.
"Ashamed as I am to say it, if it came down to a life-or-death struggle, I might not have been this Tian beast's match."
A trace of nostalgia flashed across Mo Rubin's eyes.
Then, perhaps remembering that the Tian beast of the past had long perished, its bones transformed into mountains and rivers, a heavy murderous aura surged in his gaze.
Li Fan did not pick up the conversation.
A dead silence descended once again.
Li Fan followed Mo Rubin's example, searching for potential clues among the countless bubbles.
Although the bubbles here were as numerous as the stars in the sky and kept shifting continuously, Li Fan had the Dao Transformation Stone to assist him.
After all, each bubble differed from the rest.
With every observation, once an image was deeply imprinted into his mind, Li Fan effectively placed a unique mark upon it.
No matter how the bubbles drifted, he could distinguish them with pristine clarity.
As time slowly passed, Li Fan marked more and more bubbles.
With option after option ruled out, Li Fan's gaze grew sharp.
He had noticed something rather peculiar.
Compared to his original body, in the aberrant scenes displayed upon those strange bubbles, his body appeared to be missing a small piece.
The missing piece varied from bubble to bubble.
Yet if one were to piece them all together...
Chapter 1335