The elders of the Celestial Vessel were far from being as young as they appeared. Over thousands of years, they had reversed their aging time and again through the Ancient character formula.
Yet rejuvenation and preserving their youth was not equivalent to immortality. Age had continued to accumulate silently within them.
Now, as Lu Yuzhi and the others suffered the assault of Master Yin's deathly aura, the decrepitude accumulated across the past millennia erupted violently alongside it.
As a consequence, the effect of this Death character formula proved far greater than anticipated. The hair of the three Celestial Vessel cultivators frosted over in an instant. Deep wrinkles rapidly claimed their faces, and an aura of rot and decay welled up within them.
"Ancient!" Coming to his senses, Lu Yuzhi forced himself to stay calm. With a slightly trembling hand, he swiftly traced an "Ancient" character in the void.
His target was not the unknown enemy, but themselves!
Under the mantle of the "Ancient" character's power, the rapid aging of their physical bodies was alleviated to an extent. Yet it treated only the symptoms, not the root cause.
The source radiating this retrocausal power was not the genuine True Immortal seal character, but merely a crude imitation.
The degree to which it could reverse them to their past states fell far short of the rate at which they were aging. Meanwhile, the storm of deathly aura raging around them only intensified. If this continued, all four present would soon be reduced to pale bones!
Under the dual impact of the deathly storm and the Ancient seal character, Li Fan and Xu Gongding also suddenly stirred awake, their expressions filled with terror and bewilderment.
"Flee!" Lu Yuzhi roared at Li Fan, struggling with all his might to hold out. Li Fan's long hair, previously streaked with black and white, had now turned completely snow-white.
Yet, staring toward the direction where the sealed sphere had vanished, Li Fan hesitated in conflict. "But the gray Go stones..."
"If our lives are gone, everything is gone!" Lu Yuzhi yelled hoarsely, though reluctance also lingered in his eyes.
"Aaaagh!" With a cathartic roar, the phantom of the wooden sword unsheathed, briefly repelling the onslaught of deathly aura.
Sword light flared, carrying all four away from the horrific deluge of death. As their figures vanished beyond the horizon, Baihua and Master Yin finally revealed their true forms.
Suddenly unleashing and controlling such a massive storm of deathly aura had been no easy feat for Master Yin, who had only recently absorbed the Yin-Yang Beads.
As if spinning out of control, the vortexes in his eyes—one black and one white—turned faster and faster. Master Yin had no choice but to shut his eyes to calm them.
Meanwhile, following Li Fan's instructions, Baihua cast streaks of golden light to seal the newly stolen sphere.
"I wonder who those three traveling with the Saint Teacher were..."
"The characters they conjured seemed identical to the remnant True Immortal power scattered across the star sea..."
"That said, the Saint Teacher's acting is truly remarkable. If he hadn't sent a voice transmission telling us to play along, even I would have been fooled." Baihua wore a subtle expression as her hands continuously worked the sealing formation.
The sealing formation was exceedingly intricate, but with Li Fan's guidance, Baihua was barely able to complete its setup.
...
Beyond the Great Wall of Remnant Worlds.
The Celestial Vessel group, having escaped with their lives, still bore shaken expressions. Even though they had fled the reach of the storm of deathly aura, a sliver of that deathly aura still lingered within their bodies, constantly chipping away at their lifespans.
"Back to... the vessel first," Lu Yuzhi rasped. By now he had withered severely, resembling a mortal elder in his seventies or eighties who was teetering at the edge of his life.
Even uttering those few words took all the strength he could muster. The others were in hardly any better shape.
Li Fan in particular could only shake his head slightly, indicating that he was utterly depleted and lacked the strength to cast any further escape techniques.
Among the four, only Nangong Lie was in relatively better condition. Assisting the others, he flew toward the Celestial Vessel while sending out distress signals.
After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Zhong Daogong arrived in haste with seven Celestial Vessel elders. To guard against a ploy to lure the tiger from the mountain, they had not mobilized in full force despite the life-or-death crisis of four elders.
Seeing the four dying men enshrouded in an aura of rot and decay, Zhong Daogong and his reinforcements looked grave.
Knowing that saving lives took precedence, they did not immediately interrogate them about what had happened, choosing instead to bring the four back for treatment first.
Through the genuine "Ancient" seal character and the aid of numerous life-extending treasures, they finally pulled the four through the immediate crisis.
Three days later, Li Fan stood in a small courtyard, his expression somewhat dazed.
"I have only about ten years of lifespan left."
"One trip out cost me half of it!"
Hearing this, Lu Yuzhi let out a bitter laugh. "My condition is much the same as yours. Less than fifty years..."
Nangong Lie and Xu Gongding also looked thoroughly grim.
With such a major incident having occurred, the Council of Elders naturally conducted a thorough investigation. The four recounted their ordeal truthfully.
Zhong Daogong comforted them kindly and attempted various methods to extend their lifespans, but to little avail.
"Hmph!" After a brief silence in the courtyard, Nangong Lie suddenly slammed his hand against the stone table. "We suffered a calamity, and on top of that, four gray Go stones were snatched away..."
"What utter humiliation! Zhong Daogong should have immediately led everyone out—if not to seek justice, then at least to investigate the culprit's identity."
"And look at him now! So much time has passed, and he hasn't made a single move. When asked, he spouts pretty words about needing to deliberate carefully... Pah! In my eyes, they're simply terrified after seeing how close to death we were brought!" Nangong Lie vented his frustration.
Lu Yuzhi frowned. "Still, Elder Zhong isn't entirely wrong. That storm of deathly aura was indeed too bizarre and terrifying. Even after pondering it over the past few days once my senses returned, I haven't found a way to confront it head-on. The four of us were heavily wounded; the Celestial Vessel cannot afford another blow of that magnitude in the short term."
Li Fan nodded in agreement as well. "Helpless as it is, that is indeed true. The deathly aura appeared too abruptly, clearly targeting the gray Go stones in our possession."
"Don't forget, there is still one stone on the Celestial Vessel. For all we know, this unknown enemy could strike at our doorstep at any moment..."
Li Fan's words plunged everyone present into silence.
The Celestial Vessel had always prioritized the greater good. They were well able to distinguish between personal grudges and the collective interest of the vessel.
"The enemy comes with menacing momentum!" Lu Yuzhi sighed heavily, eyes full of worry.
To address this unknown menace, the Celestial Vessel soon convened a joint assembly of all elders.
As a firsthand witness, Li Fan attended as well.
Zhong Daogong opened with a summarizing address: "The enemy was undoubtedly after the gray Go stones. Currently, the stone in our possession has lost some of its resonance with the others—most likely with the four captured by the enemy."
"However, there are two points of suspicion."
"First, how did they pinpoint Elder Lu Yuzhi's group so accurately?"
"Second, what method did they use to sever our stone's resonance?"
"As for the storm of deathly aura used in the ambush..."
"After consulting the Celestial Vessel's records, we have identified a few possibilities." Zhong Daogong's words immediately drew everyone's attention.
Jian Daosheng cleared his throat lightly and explained, "Deathly aura and vital life force are mutually opposing and codependent. In the Pitch-Black Star Sea, which has suffered the Great Ruin and where the vast majority of regions have fallen into silence, theoretically, such an immense quantity of deathly aura cannot exist."
"Thus, we infer that the source of this deathly aura must be a cultivation world."
"And for them to expend deathly aura as an offensive weapon means the quantity of deathly aura at their disposal... is utterly unimaginable." Jian Daosheng's tone was heavy.
Hearing this, the Celestial Vessel elders quickly raised their own doubts.
"After the great star sea catastrophe, the various worlds collapsed long ago. Where could they have gathered so much deathly aura?"
"It defies all logic!"
Zhong Daogong sighed. "That is precisely the crux of the matter. Most likely, this deathly aura was accumulated in ancient times, before the star sea suffered its calamity."
"They are very likely a civilization like ours that has survived from antiquity to the present day."
"They preemptively evaded attacks from True Immortal seal characters; they possess profound knowledge of the gray Go stones crafted by True Immortals, catching us completely off guard; and from start to finish, they never once showed their faces..."
"Judging from their actions, this unknown civilization is stronger than our Celestial Vessel, not weaker."
When Zhong Daogong finished speaking, an eerie silence settled over the meeting.
The elders all furrowed their brows, lost in thought.
Li Fan broke the silence, remarking with wonder, "To think that in this seemingly dead star sea, there exists another magnificent civilization beyond the Celestial Vessel and Great Qi."
All eyes among the Celestial Vessel elders gathered on Li Fan.
Jian Daosheng narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, "Fellow Daoist Li, could the unknown enemy that attacked you possibly be your homeland, Great Qi?"
This was a question harbored in the hearts of all the elders. Now that Jian Daosheng had voiced it, everyone stared fixedly at Li Fan, awaiting his response.
"Great Qi?" Li Fan had clearly not expected Jian Daosheng to ask this.
"How could that..." He began with an instinctive denial. Soon, however, as if realizing something, he frowned and sank into deep contemplation, his words abruptly cutting off.
After a long pause, Li Fan spoke again in a subdued voice, "First of all, one thing I can be certain of is that there are absolutely no monitoring measures from Great Qi placed upon me. Nor could I ever be an inside agent for Great Qi..."
"I cannot produce concrete proof. But having spent so much time together, you must know my character." Li Fan paused, then said with proud conviction, "Pardon my bluntness, but if I were truly a spy for Great Qi and my goal were the gray Go stones, then back when I helped rebuild the Celestial Vessel's protective array, I could have used my peerless escape technique to steal the stone and flee right then and there."
"There would have been no need for such convoluted trouble."
The council chamber grew even quieter. No one refuted him. The vast majority tacitly accepted his reasoning, though a few still looked at Li Fan with lingering suspicion.
Li Fan continued his defense: "Furthermore, when we were ambushed, we were about to head deeper into the Great Wall of Remnant Worlds to collect more. If I were truly an inside agent, why wouldn't I wait until we found more before sending word to strike and capture them all in one fell swoop?"
"And once it was done, why would I bother returning to the Celestial Vessel?"
"At that time, the other three elders were thoroughly debilitated. Without the aid of my escape technique, they likely would have perished on the spot. Wouldn't letting them vanish from the world without a trace have made things far cleaner? Why go through such elaborate trouble?" As Li Fan spoke, anger seemed to well up within him.
He let out a cold scoff. "Were it not that in the twilight of my life, through my interactions with the Celestial Vessel, I had come to view it as my home, I wouldn't bother wasting so many words on you all."
"If I wished to leave, who among you could stop me?"
Not a single Celestial Vessel elder could voice a rebuttal. After all, that wooden sword phantom could ignore virtually all restraining forces—it was truly inconceivable.
Zhong Daogong hurried to smooth things over with a chuckle, placating, "Fellow Daoist Li, there is no need to be so worked up. We trust you wholeheartedly, but we know so little about the Great Qi behind you that some suspicion naturally arose."
Li Fan's anger subsided slightly.
After pondering for a moment, he replied with gravity, "Factions abound within Great Qi. I am only familiar with my revered master's lineage..."
"However, I have never heard of anyone in Great Qi possessing such a vast amount of deathly aura."
"Besides, my face is rather well-known in Great Qi. If the assailants truly hailed from Great Qi, they would never dare strike against me! Otherwise, even if I died, my master would never let them off!" Li Fan stated with utter conviction.
Zhong Daogong nodded slightly and ceased his questioning for the time being.
"Regarding the circumstances of this ambush, I have a few conjectures to put forward for discussion."
"For countless years, the gray Go stone lay peacefully in the Celestial Vessel's secret reservoir without incident. Yet now an attack suddenly befell us..."
"Excluding the possibility of an intentional leak, perhaps gathering too many stones in one place drew their attention." Zhong Daogong spoke in a resonant voice, "Perhaps over all these years, this unknown civilization has been searching for the gray Go stones, but unable to sense them due to having none in hand."
"Yet during our collection, the concentration of so many stones allowed them to pick up the trail, exposing our location and prompting the ambush..."
Hearing this, the assembled elders sank into somber silence.
Though it sounded somewhat improbable, it was currently the only plausible explanation.
"If my conjecture holds true, then what we must worry about now is an assault on the Celestial Vessel by this unknown civilization," Zhong Daogong's tone shifted abruptly.
"The gray Go stones resonate with one another. The stone integrated into the Celestial Vessel's outer carapace armor will undoubtedly continue to provide the enemy with our approximate location..."
"For us, that is clearly unacceptable."
The elders' faces changed one after another.
"Our top priority is resolving this issue."
"We must either strip away the carapace armor, separate it from the Celestial Vessel, and discard the gray Go stone entirely..."
"Or find a method to sever the resonance between the gray Go stones," Zhong Daogong concluded.
The Celestial Vessel elders looked at one another.
Before long, they were engulfed in heated debate.
Chapter 1344