Ever since he had comprehended the wooden sword phantom escape technique, this was the first time Li Fan had encountered a situation where the divine ability was so violently disturbed by external forces. He even had a faint premonition that had Revert to the True not just absorbed the three-pronged tree and deepened his comprehension of the shift between true and false, that sudden plummet alone would have at least shattered his divine ability and left him severely injured.
Fortunately, Li Fan had made that slight bit of progress after all.
It was precisely this sliver of advancement that allowed him to barely keep the wooden sword phantom from dispersing, successfully entering the sunken node within the Great Wall of Remnant Worlds!
Unlike the reservoir depression Li Fan had encountered previously, which was used to store residual True Immortal power, upon stepping into this place, one could distinctly perceive how different it was from the outside world due to the drastic difference in elevation.
It was like a bottomless chasm suddenly cleaving open across the earth. Li Fan and the others were now at the bottom of the abyss, looking up at the continuous sliver of sky exposed above.
Only, the sky here was pitch black, filled with deadly silence.
As for this sunken chasm...
Li Fan did not dispel the wooden sword phantom, continuing to use it to shield Master Yin and Baihua.
He flickered, stepping outside the phantom.
He attuned himself to his surroundings.
The surroundings remained cloaked in darkness.
Yet the "blackness" here was different from the dead silence of the void outside.
It was more like the fall of night in midsummer, harboring a burgeoning, vibrant vitality within!
"A chasm node beneath the High Wall actually gathers such vast vitality?" Li Fan was inwardly astonished.
After examining it more closely, he was certain that none of this was an illusion.
Li Fan observed further.
Within this chasm node, aside from pure vitality, no living beings seemed to have been nurtured yet.
Moreover, its actual extent was not just a small corner as it appeared from an ordinary perspective. Instead, it stretched endlessly outward, seemingly without end.
With no immediate danger, Li Fan finally dismissed his divine ability.
Master Yin and Baihua looked around with astonishment.
The birth of vitality here clearly exceeded their understanding. Tense with apprehension, they feared some unknown creature might suddenly lunge out from the nearby darkness to attack.
Seeing their reactions, Li Fan realized that they were not as calm as he was.
Perhaps it was because they were experiencing this disparity between heights and depths for the first time; having left the region they had inhabited since birth, their minds were uneasy and alarmed.
It was like mortals who had lived on a plateau all their lives suddenly finding themselves standing on the brink of a cliff or in a subterranean abyss without any means to protect themselves. A shift in their state of mind was unavoidable.
Offering a few words of reassurance in a low voice, Li Fan led them slowly into the sunken chasm to explore.
All was silent.
Pure vitality—as though hailing from the dawn of creation—flowed quietly through this place like a subterranean river.
Vitality rose upward, yet could not escape the deep chasm.
It only swirled and gathered here in dense, misty currents.
Li Fan keenly perceived that the vitality here was markedly different from the life-nurturing vitality found in the Xuanhuang Realm.
If such an astronomical amount of vitality existed in the Xuanhuang Realm, it would inevitably induce all kinds of incredible transformations: mountains thrusting up from the earth, towering trees stretching continuously to the heavens, accompanied by the birth of countless new species and living beings.
Yet here, vitality was merely vitality.
It lacked the conditions required for life to emerge and evolve, resembling stagnant water and imparting a deeply eerie sensation.
"Perhaps it is because the potential here is simply too low," Li Fan could not help thinking.
After exploring at a slow pace for the better part of a day, the surrounding scenery showed no noticeable change.
Frowning, Li Fan instructed Master Yin and Baihua to wait in place.
He then steered the wooden sword phantom, speeding forward.
With his current escape speed, he could cross the entire Pitch-Black Star Sea in less than a day.
Yet to his shock, Li Fan discovered that this sunken chasm was far longer and narrower than he had imagined!
As he advanced, he realized the chasm was like a labyrinth, branching off in various directions.
At first, it was manageable, with only a handful of forks.
Later, however, each branch led to dozens or hundreds of different passages.
Before long, each passage branched out into numerous others.
Eventually, despite possessing a heaven-defying escape technique, Li Fan dared not delve deeper without caution.
This chasm labyrinth was simply too vast.
He had explored at top speed for three days, which in theory should have been enough to traverse the entire Pitch-Black Star Sea.
Yet now, he still could not see the end of the labyrinth.
Li Fan could only retrace his steps using his memory of the way he had come.
After explaining the situation to Master Yin and Baihua, both were immensely shaken.
"This bizarre chasm is definitely not confined beneath the Great Wall of Remnant Worlds."
"Perhaps, like subterranean conduits, it reaches from all directions into every corner of the Pitch-Black Star Sea!" Master Yin began to understand.
Baihua nodded in agreement. "I can faintly sense the source of the vitality here. Aside from the countless ruined worlds shattered within the Great Wall of Remnant Worlds, it also stems from every corner of the dormant Star Sea!"
"Just like a subterranean river, it siphons every bit of newly sprouted vitality, gathering it like trickling streams."
If the High Wall was the supreme entity penning in the Star Sea, then the sunken chasm hidden beneath its node was the lowest depth of the entire starry sky.
The vast majority of the vitality reviving from the destruction of the Star Sea flowed along the ubiquitous fissures beneath it, eventually gathering here.
It was precisely because it had amassed the vast majority of the entire Star Sea's vitality over tens of millions of years that the sheer volume of vitality stored here could make even Li Fan's heart leap in apprehension.
"This magnificent creation is by no means achievable by mortal power..."
"Could it be the handiwork of a True Immortal once again? Like the High Wall, meant to completely seal off all vitality in the Pitch-Black Star Sea?" Master Yin's expression shifted erratically.
As for Baihua, she had gradually recovered from her earlier fear.
"Saint Teacher, may I harvest some vitality here?" she asked.
Li Fan's eyes flickered slightly. After pondering for a moment, he replied, "If you only take a small amount and do not incite a riot in this subterranean river of vitality, there should be no danger.
"However, remember not to be greedy. Stop while you are ahead. Otherwise..."
Examining the vitality flowing quietly through the place, Li Fan spoke with a grave expression, "The sheer volume is staggering. If its majestic force suddenly erupts, even vitality can kill!"
Baihua nodded. "I naturally understand this. In fact, taking too much would be of no use to me. I only need enough to awaken the ice-sealed Glazed World..."
Baihua's tone was wistful. As she spoke, she manifested her Glazed Golden Body.
Within the core of her brilliant, transparent golden figure, a miniature world sculpted as if from ice and jade was clearly visible.
One could faintly see scenes of countless past cultivators, sects, and mountains and rivers within it.
"Glaze... blossoms..."
Baihua softly chanted, her golden body abruptly transforming into a thirty-two-petaled glazed golden flower.
Sacred and solemn.
The glazed golden flower flew into the river of vitality without splashing or scattering any life force.
It merely drifted in silence.
The thirty-two petals slowly unfurled.
Li Fan watched as strands of vitality were drawn out by the petals, pouring entirely into the miniature world at the center of the blossom.
Yet the vast vitality before them seemed exceptionally viscous, proving far from easy to extract.
Even with all thirty-two golden petals working in unison, only a visible drop or two appeared within the central phantom.
Even so, this tiny amount of vitality was like sweet rain after a long drought to that miniature world.
Like a wilting flower touched by water again, it regained its original freshness.
All manner of incredible changes began occurring within that miniature world—the Wansheng Realm.
Ecstatic joy surged across Baihua's face.
Master Yin was also captivated by the wondrous sight.
Li Fan, however, noticed that due to Baihua's extraction of vitality, the surging vitality slowly converging from the surroundings was faintly forming a miniature vortex around her.
At first, the vortex was tiny, but it soon showed signs of frantic expansion.
It was as if the vitality of the entire chasm was about to come rolling in. That imposing momentum, crashing down as if from the heavens to suppress and sweep away everything, made even Li Fan look on with caution.
"Enough!" Li Fan frowned and called out a warning.
Baihua remained relatively clear-headed, not letting short-term gains cloud her judgment.
Despite her reluctance, she ultimately recalled the thirty-two-petaled glazed golden flower.
Deprived of an outlet, the rumbling subterranean river of vitality gradually subsided into stillness once more.
Yet for the moment, the gathered vitality did not disperse, forming a turbulent torrent where they stood.
Under the scouring force of this vitality, Li Fan and the others could not help feeling as if even their souls were being swept along with it.
Li Fan was forced to reinforce the protection of his wooden sword phantom.
Looking at the scene around them—seemingly calm, yet bizarre and perilous—Master Yin suddenly came to a realization. "I know where that contradictory yet constantly perilous feeling comes from! What flows here is not merely vitality. Flowing over the surface of this vitality is an unknown power that absorbs it!
"It is precisely this power that continuously siphons vitality from every corner of the Star Sea and seals it here!"
Having returned to her normal form, Baihua nodded in agreement. "It was separating this power from pure vitality that made my absorption so difficult. Strictly speaking, the rank of this power that strips vitality does not appear very high. Even I can separate it from vitality.
"However..." A flicker of dread crossed Baihua's face. "Its quantity is simply immense. As much vitality as there is in this chasm, there is just as much vitality-stripping power. We might withstand the assault of a few waves, but we could never survive the ceaseless scouring."
At this point, Baihua could not help glancing at Li Fan.
She paused. "Perhaps with your extraordinary escape technique, Saint Teacher, you could get away."
Li Fan did not reply.
Instead, he reached out his hand to touch and sense the turbulent torrent of vitality around them.
The erosion of the vitality-stripping power was unmistakable.
The hand exposed to the current turned pale in an instant.
Flesh and blood seemed hollowed out, leaving the skeleton faintly visible beneath.
Moreover, the draining of vitality began slowly spreading toward the rest of his body.
Li Fan decisively severed his arm, halting the continued erosion of the vitality-stripping force.
The severed limb fell into the river of vitality.
Deprived of the protection of its host, it quickly dissolved like wax under intense heat and vanished, becoming part of the river of vitality.
"This power..."
Regrowing his arm, Li Fan flexed it slightly, recalling the nuances he had just perceived.
It was not an ordinary extraction of vitality.
Rather, it instantly washed away the very foundation upon which vitality depended.
Without the skin, where can the hair adhere? Once the foundation was gone, vitality had nothing to cling to and could only drift with the flow.
It was an esoteric, profound sensation.
Li Fan could not yet comprehend what this foundation of vitality truly was.
Yet he could distinctly perceive its loss.
"Truly bizarre.
"Yet...
"Does it not share something in common with the High Wall?"
Lost in thought, Li Fan murmured, "The High Wall is in truth a restriction of supreme rules. There is no path ahead—or rather, there is no 'ahead'!
"Whereas this vitality-stripping force within the chasm makes the foundation that sustains life vanish.
"..."
The sunken chasm lay hidden beneath the normal Star Sea.
Like subterranean conduits, it spanned every part of the starry sky.
Its scale was so colossal that only the existence that erected the High Wall could have crafted it.
"Could it truly be as Master Yin speculated—meant to siphon and seal away the birth of vitality in the Star Sea?"
Yet doubt soon arose in Li Fan's mind.
It had indeed siphoned vitality, but not completely.
After all, the immense vitality gathered in this chasm over tens of millions of years still lay quietly here!
Admittedly, entering the chasm was extraordinarily difficult. Li Fan had traveled back and forth along the Great Wall of Remnant Worlds countless times without noticing that infinitesimal node entrance.
Yet it was not an absolute impossibility.
One could still enter by sheer coincidence.
Just as this time, Xu Ke had been caught in the rioting reverberating astral power and accidentally tumbled into this chasm.
"If the goal was truly to sever all vitality in the Star Sea, with the means to erect the High Wall and excavate these chasms, That entity could easily have siphoned this vitality beyond the High Wall altogether.
"Yet it was deliberately kept within the Star Sea..."
Li Fan pondered, an enigmatic look on his face. "Either the creator of the chasm and the creator of the High Wall are two different beings.
"Or this was done by design."
Before Li Fan's mind's eye, the full picture of the Pitch-Black Star Sea suddenly emerged in visualization.
All around the Star Sea stood the towering High Wall, sealing it off.
At the base of the Star Sea lay dense networks of chasms, interconnected channels seizing and preserving the Star Sea's vitality.
And at the fringes of the Star Sea:
The supreme High Wall and the abyssal chasms converged in one place.
"A spectacle of the Star Sea.
"To the living beings within it, both are sights of utter despair. However...
"Perhaps this chasm is not."
The vision before Li Fan shifted once more.
"The Star Sea is recovering from devastation. Yet nurturing life anew cannot be accomplished overnight.
"In particular, over tens of millions of years, the residual True Immortal power has lingered without dispersing. Even if vitality were to rekindle, it would only end up swiftly tainted by that residual power. It is like a scorching desert: even if rain falls during the day, it quickly evaporates.
"The trickling vitality emerging across the Star Sea is purely wasted; it cannot truly allow the Star Sea to nurture living beings.
"But if all of it were gathered together..."
Li Fan narrowed his eyes.
Chapter 1350