Sharing the Celestial Vessel's Fate

The timing of these fragmented laws of the Immortal Realm was simply too coincidental. Just as he was preparing to guide the Xuanhuang Realm toward sublimating and transforming into an Immortal Realm, they had been discovered. Given Li Fan's nature, it was impossible for suspicion not to arise. He carefully began to untangle the logical threads. "The concealment of these Go stones is terrifyingly thorough. The entire Celestial Vessel and even Chuanfa and the Heavenly Physician never detected anything amiss about them, despite coming into direct contact with them more than once over tens of thousands of years. "The only reason I discerned their anomaly so easily was entirely due to the guidance of Revert to the True. Without Revert to the True, I would have treated them as ordinary objects as well..." At this thought, Li Fan felt a stir within him. "Viewed solely from this angle, the Go stones could indeed be bait tailored specifically against Revert to the True. "And yet... there are many things that only Revert to the True can perceive, such as the Eternal Lingering Thought. It is simply that the tier of Revert to the True is too high, leaving all these anomalies nowhere to hide before it. "I cannot jump to a crude conclusion. But remaining vigilant is only natural." Li Fan observed the iridescent Go stone resting quietly within his body. It seemed completely independent of him. Spiritual energy, divine consciousness, and other powers flowed right through where it sat without the slightest obstruction. It was as though it did not exist at all. Aside from the crushing burden of the fused Immortal Realm domain fragment, it brought no other influence upon him. "Sun Piaomiao hid thirteen gray Go stones across the thirteen cultivation worlds he once traversed. He recorded their spatial coordinates in his travel logs to pass down to future generations. "Yet clearly, these Go stones were not forged by Sun Piaomiao, but crafted by True Immortals of the upper realm. Perhaps, amid the outbreak of the Tribulation of the Dao Annihilation, they were preparations made by certain pessimists—a contingency intended to revive the Immortal Realm. "For reasons unknown, they ended up in Sun Piaomiao's hands." Li Fan pondered, his thoughts churning. "In Sun Piaomiao's era, the Immortal Realm had not yet collapsed, and the immortal path had not been severed. The vast majority of True Immortals were still actively fighting against the Tribulation of the Dao Annihilation. Under such historical circumstances, defeatist True Immortals forging these Go stones would certainly not have been accepted by the mainstream and could only act in secret. Was that why they quietly sent them down to the lower realms? "Yet for whatever reason, these contingencies were never activated. Most likely, the True Immortals who forged them perished in the Tribulation of the Dao Annihilation that shattered the Immortal Realm. "Or perhaps..." Li Fan narrowed his eyes, recalling the structure of the Celestial Vessel's Myriad Manifestations Yin-Yang Diagram. "In the entire Pitch-Black Star Sea, not a single black or white Go stone remains upon the board—only these 'abandoned' gray stones. Could it be that somewhere unknown, beyond this High Wall, those black and white stones have already fulfilled their mission of reshaping the Immortal Realm?" This was merely Li Fan's conjecture, unsupported by any evidence. "Sun Piaomiao ought to know more about these gray Go stones. Sun Piaomiao himself has vanished without a trace, but if any clues linger in the Star Sea, they are most likely within the Medicine King Cauldron he left behind at the Medicine King Sect. "Anchor Year 15: the star descends and returns to Xuanhuang. Soon..." Even if some danger lay hidden behind these Go stones, Li Fan would certainly not abandon his plan to sublimate the Xuanhuang Realm through fused immortal domains over a mere hypothetical concern. With domain fragments serving as a cornerstone, the chances of the Xuanhuang Realm's successful sublimation were far greater. Li Fan settled his thoughts and turned to look at Master Yin and Baihua. They had witnessed the entire fusion process of the gray Go stones. Not daring to speak out of turn, they had merely watched in silence. Li Fan had not explained to them that the fusion created a fragment of the Immortal Realm, but they had already guessed that these Go stones forged from dead worlds would likely play a critical role in the Xuanhuang sublimation plan. "Did you discover anything when I sent you to investigate that location deep in the Star Sea earlier?" Having rushed about collecting Go stones ever since returning to Great Qi, Li Fan had only now found a moment of respite. He fixed his gaze on Baihua and asked. By his estimate, exploring that unknown "high ground" should have taken Baihua considerable effort. Yet before long, she had returned to the borders of the Star Sea and rendezvoused with Master Yin. Baihua gathered her thoughts before explaining, "Perhaps it was due to my own incompetence. I searched the coordinates indicated by Saint Teacher for a long time, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Seeing that lingering there was only a waste of time, I had no choice but to give up and search for Xu Ke's whereabouts alongside Daoist Yin. "Perhaps that opportunity simply was not meant for me." Baihua sighed. Li Fan nodded, then asked, "And what of Xu Ke's trail? Did you find anything?" Master Yin answered, "We made some progress. We discovered that Xu Ke may have been swept into a peculiar zone within the Great Wall of Remnant Worlds. The Great Wall of Remnant Worlds is the accumulation of countless destroyed worlds at the foot of the High Wall. Though comprised of myriad trillions of fragments, they are faintly joined into a single entity. "We do not yet understand how it formed, but it can perhaps be seen as a long rope woven from countless fine threads. The place where Xu Ke went missing is a 'knot' formed by the rope to maintain its own stability. "However, just as we were about to explore that knot further, we received your transmission, Saint Teacher," Master Yin said regretfully. "A knot..." Li Fan mused for a moment, then continued, "The situation arose suddenly. To obtain the Go stones, I had no choice but to enlist your help in putting on a show. "The people you saw that day all hailed from the Celestial Vessel civilization at the border of the Star Sea. "To avoid revealing the existence of the Xuanhuang Realm, I previously posed as a member of the nonexistent 'Great Qi' civilization to make contact with them. The Xuan Celestial Vessel is remarkably adept at deconstructing the lingering power of True Immortal seal characters in the Star Sea, and I made several exchanges with them using the True Immortal seal characters in my possession, yielding benefits for both sides. "During this recent transaction, however, I happened to discover the presence of a gray Go stone within the Celestial Vessel's vault. "This stone was too critical to the sublimation of Xuanhuang to pass up, so I employed a small trick..." Li Fan casually explained the background of the incident to the two of them. "The Xuan Celestial Vessel still has some use to the Xuanhuang Realm, so avoid contact with them to prevent the matter from being exposed. In particular, the aura of life and death upon you is too distinct; one look and they would know you were the one who seized the gray stone," Li Fan instructed Master Yin. Master Yin and Baihua naturally had no loyalty to the Xuan Celestial Vessel. They merely smiled and paid little heed to Li Fan's scheme to acquire the gray Go stone. "There are still a few stones left to collect at the Celestial Vessel and the Great Wall of Remnant Worlds; leave them to me. You two should continue searching for Xu Ke's trail. "Once I have gathered all the stones, the final completion of the Xuanhuang Realm will not be far off," Li Fan instructed. Master Yin adopted a solemn expression and nodded in agreement. With instructions delivered, Li Fan first used the Close Horizons Array to reach the edge of the Great Wall of Remnant Worlds. The wooden sword phantom darted back and forth continuously, taking considerable effort before he managed to secure all four remaining gray Go stones from this region. Even with a heaven-defying movement technique, deep within the Great Wall of Remnant Worlds at the foot of the High Wall, peril lurked at every turn. The shifting astral power surged like raging waves, and Li Fan's wooden sword phantom could barely neutralize a substantial portion of it. He still had to contend with the omnipresent suction. Coupled with constantly bearing the weight of the immortal domain, executing the wooden sword phantom movement technique consumed nearly two to three times as much energy as before. Consequently, by the time he finished collecting the four stones here, Li Fan was thoroughly exhausted in mind and body. Yet the harvest was immense. Li Fan peered into his body. Four gray Go stones and one larger iridescent stone floated quietly, facing each other from afar. Perhaps because their numbers were too few, these newly acquired four stones merely orbited one another and failed to react with the iridescent stone that had already completed its fusion. "Only two remain: the Xuan Celestial Vessel and the Medicine King Sect. "Once all thirteen stones are fully in place, if nothing unexpected happens, a corner of the past Immortal Realm should be restored." Li Fan narrowed his eyes. He then raised his hand and struck his own chest violently with a palm. With a muffled grunt, his already weary face turned even paler. Without mobilizing his spiritual energy to mend his injuries, Li Fan maintained his battered appearance and slowly made his way toward the Celestial Vessel. As he drew near the Celestial Vessel without concealing his aura, the elders immediately reacted. Led by Zhong Daogong, they came out together to welcome him. "I have fulfilled my mission," Li Fan said in a faint voice, giving a slight cough and cupping his hands. "You have labored hard, fellow Daoist!" Zhong Daogong's expression turned solemn, and he actually bowed low to Li Fan. Li Fan frowned and dodged aside. He scoffed, "Spare me the empty pleasantries. Though the ritual was not complicated, hiding it from the eyes and ears of my master and the Saint Teachers took every ounce of my effort. "I do not know the precise population encompassed by the ritual, but I imagine it should be sufficient." Zhong Daogong nodded with a smile. "Roughly one hundred million souls. It is more than enough to shoulder the backlash of executing the Equalize Heaven Divine Technique." "In that case, there is no need to keep anything from me any longer, is there?" Li Fan's gaze swept over the gathered elders. "This is not the place to speak. Let us enter the Celestial Vessel before discussing the details." The elders of the Celestial Vessel remained as cautious as ever. The group arrived at the top of the divine tree, inside the innermost pavilion of the Severing Immortal Tower. The black xuan jade floor was completely inscribed with profound patterns. Li Fan was no stranger to these symbols; they were precisely part of the Equalize Heaven Divine Technique's ritual. It appeared the elders of the Celestial Vessel were already growing impatient. The elders took their respective seats, and Li Fan was allocated a position of his own. With one hundred million souls as his pledge of allegiance—a staggering number inconceivable within the Xuan Celestial Vessel, where survival resources were tight and life was withered—and combined with his previous demonstrations, Li Fan had finally won the absolute trust of the entire Celestial Vessel. "Do not be impatient, fellow Daoist. "Please take your seat first, and test the effects of the Equalize Heaven Divine Technique." Zhong Daogong pointed toward Li Fan's position. Without the slightest hesitation, Li Fan drifted over and sat down. Instantly, the pattern beneath him emitted bursts of faint light. Once seated, the scene in Li Fan's vision began to shift under the illumination. The positions of the surrounding Celestial Vessel elders underwent bizarre spatial displacements. Originally, they had all been seated on the same horizontal plane, but now in Li Fan's eyes, they were distributed across a three-dimensional cubic space. They were arranged in an orderly fashion, occupying every corner of the cube, while Li Fan was situated at its center—the focal point of everyone's gaze. Li Fan's expression remained unchanged. "Nebulous heaven and earth, serene through eternal ages. All return to unity, all living things made equal..." The chanting of the Celestial Vessel elders rang out. Ancient and desolately vast, carrying a trace of eerie strangeness. As the chant continued, the elders raised their arms one after another. Using their fingers as brushes, they began writing in the void before them. None of them wrote a complete True Immortal seal character; each traced only a single structural component of an immensely intricate character. From Li Fan's perspective, it was as if countless living lines suddenly rose around him, encircling him at the center. As they were continuously refined, the character "Equalize" slowly took form. Boom! In an instant, Li Fan's body shuddered slightly. His perspective drifted upward uncontrollably, coming to a halt at a fixed vantage point. Looking down from this height, the structural fragments inscribed by the elders across different planes combined together upon a single plane to form the character "Equalize"! And Li Fan's physical body was pinned down right in the center by this "Equalize"! The character "Equalize" was more intricate than the characters "Hunger" and "Chaos" Li Fan had seen before. Though it could not compare to "Creation," it possessed its own distinct, mysterious marvel. Under the mantle of the Equalize Heaven Divine Technique's power, Li Fan gradually felt the changes occurring within his body. Li Fan checked the panel of Revert to the True. His remaining lifespan, which had dwindled to merely ten years, was now slowly increasing! Strands of black appeared within his head of white hair. Waves of vitality emerged out of nowhere, nourishing Li Fan's near-decaying physical vessel. Li Fan felt no joy over this suddenly granted longevity, remaining exceedingly cautious as he observed Revert to the True. Only when the incoming vitality gradually tapered off and the Equalize Heaven Divine Technique concluded, with Revert to the True showing no reaction other than the change in his physiological age on the panel, did Li Fan finally relax. "As expected, a mere character 'Equalize' is not enough to affect Revert to the True. "It only affects whatever target the Equalize Heaven Divine Technique locks onto—such as the lifespan applied to me this time. "Other aspects, like divine consciousness and cultivation, remain unchanged." After thoroughly examining his internal condition, Li Fan reached his conclusion. He then looked at the members of the Celestial Vessel's council of elders. Compared to before the technique was performed, they all looked noticeably older. However, because the lifespan deduction was divided evenly among everyone, it was not particularly pronounced. "How do you feel?" Zhong Daogong asked on behalf of the elders. Hearing this, Li Fan pretended to wake from a dream, looking down at his rejuvenated body. He then bowed deeply toward the elders, expressing his gratitude for saving his life. The elders of the Celestial Vessel returned the bow in unison. "From this day forward, we are all of one family," Zhong Daogong said with solemn gravity.