Having received Li Fan's subtle guidance, Wuming did not leave the Thirteen Peaks World right away. Instead, he simply stood up naturally from where he had been lying and gazing at the sky.
He was now a bit closer to this world's Heavenly Dao. He extended his arms slightly, touching the wind, touching the sky.
The blue sky and white clouds remained unchanged. The living beings of the Thirteen Peaks World noticed nothing. Only Li Fan could see that the entire world had fallen into a gentle tremor because of Wuming's touch.
"It seems sensing Wuming's intention to depart has further accelerated the speed at which this world's Heavenly Dao merges with him...
"In the future, the world's Heavenly Dao will remain, yet a facsimile of it will accompany Wuming beyond into the greater world.
"How remarkably similar!
"If one had the power, who would ever wish to remain a caged bird forever?" Li Fan sighed softly, then said with a solemn expression, "In that case, I will give you another push."
The phantom of the "Creation" True Immortal seal character flashed across the firmament of the Thirteen Peaks World.
This world was far too tiny; even a mere glimpse of the Creation character was enough to cause earth-shattering changes within it.
Spiritual energy began to sprout across the realm. The Thirteen Peaks mountain range slowly ascended. The vegetation throughout the mountains flourished with vigorous life.
Standing atop the peak, Wuming felt a sudden premonition. Jolted awake from his immersed state, he looked around, but in the end found nothing.
Sensing the changes in the world around him, though puzzled, a joyous smile gradually spread across Wuming's face.
***
The transformation of the Thirteen Peaks World continued. Li Fan left behind a wisp of divine sense within the world to monitor Wuming's movements, departing ahead of him.
Returning to the Xuanhuang Realm, he produced a jade talisman from his robes. It was blinking rapidly, flashing with great urgency.
It was precisely the jade talisman Mo Rubin had left with him earlier.
Mo Rubin had remained inside the Eye of the Tian Beast, intending to use its power to search the Xuanhuang Realm and the Pitch-Black Star Sea for traces of King Xuantian. He had said there would be results in three to five months at most. Calculating the time, it was indeed about then.
As Li Fan's divine sense made contact, Mo Rubin's voice instantly surfaced in his mind. Affected by some sort of interference, it was broken and not very clear.
"I found... a bizarre thing..."
"Come quickly."
The transmission contained only this single sentence. The jade talisman's light dimmed, but Li Fan faintly sensed it guiding him toward the Tian beast bone pulse in Jiushan Province.
Taking a single step, Li Fan arrived within the territory of Jiushan Province.
The so-called Tian beast bone pulse was none other than the nine mountain ranges spanning across the land.
Following the talisman's guidance, Li Fan arrived atop Yulao Mountain, the tallest of the nine. Standing at its peak, he took in the entire layout and direction of the nine mountain ranges at a glance.
Presumably aided by the power from the Eye of the Tian Beast imbued in Mo Rubin's talisman, though Li Fan had looked down upon Jiushan Province from high above many times before, he had never seen it with such clarity.
All the mountains and rivers that had evolved from the Tian beast's carcass were stripped away in his vision. Only the most primordial parts of the Tian beast remained.
Just as Mo Rubin had said, though the Tian beast was dead, its bone pulse still endured. Looking through these nine mountain ranges, even after ten thousand years of vicissitudes, Li Fan could still faintly make out the silhouette of that ancient behemoth.
"The nine mountains are Tianchang, Tianduan, Tianxu, Tiancu, Tianjie, Tiandai, Tianlao, Tiandong, and Tianxi.
"These are the Nine Manifestations of Pulses.
"This Tian beast was formed from a jade pendant King Xuantian brought back from the Immortal Realm, yet the meridians within its body are identical to a human's..."
The guiding power from the jade talisman grew stronger and stronger until, suddenly, it was as if a thin membrane enveloped him.
Li Fan did not resist the power wrapping around him, allowing it to lead the way. Moments later, he returned inside the Eye of the Tian Beast.
The dangerous aura he sensed made him involuntarily reinforce his personal defenses with another layer. Compared to before he left, some kind of change seemed to have occurred here.
Mo Rubin's condition also looked rather poor. It was not that he had suffered any obvious injury, but that his entire being had withered drastically, as if his essence and blood had been completely hollowed out. For a cultivator of Mo Rubin's caliber, this was something that almost only happened upon suffering a fatal blow.
"Brother Mo, what happened?" Li Fan was the first to let out a low exclamation.
Mo Rubin waved his hand. "It's fine now. It was caused by that bizarre matter I mentioned to you." Not wasting any time, he got straight to the point. "Daoist friend, look."
The space of the Eye of the Tian Beast suddenly lit up. Across the countless circular bubbles along its curved boundary, the exact same scene was displayed.
"This is not a real-time observation by the Eye of the Tian Beast, but a recorded scene from before," Mo Rubin reminded him.
Countless bubbles overlapped, thousands of images merging together. In an instant, it made Li Fan feel as though he were personally present.
It was a star sea harboring hidden vitality amidst silence. A miniature black vortex was spinning slowly and ceaselessly.
It was a black that represented the destruction of all things, expanding outward slowly yet resolutely. Residual True Immortal power, the star sea's revitalizing force... no matter what it was, beneath the sweeping advance of this black vortex, everything was devoured and assimilated.
The perspective suddenly zoomed out, expanding from a single corner of the star sea to encompass nearly the entire Pitch-Black Star Sea. Within the already pitch-black Star Sea, that black vortex was utterly inconspicuous.
Yet after beholding the full view of the Star Sea, Li Fan's gaze remained firmly locked onto that vortex. The sense of crisis in his heart was completely uncontrollable. In a rare occurrence, his heart thudded several times in succession.
Only then did Li Fan realize that the location of the black vortex was precisely the center of the Star Sea, where he had previously visited and come into contact with the Star Sea's primordial true intent!
Moreover, the black qi constituting this black vortex... was remarkably similar to what he had obtained previously from decomposing True Immortal flesh with the white ring, as well as what was contained inside Han Zhong, who was trapped within the Eye of the Tian Beast.
However, the impressions the three gave Li Fan were clearly distinct, with pronounced tiers. The substance within that black vortex was far more dangerous.
Li Fan could not help but frown slightly. "What is this?" he asked.
"I am not certain. But what is definite is that it is related to the Dao Annihilation Tribulation of the Immortal Realm of the past," Mo Rubin said with utter gravity, his words shocking.
Li Fan was startled inwardly. "The Dao Annihilation Tribulation?"
Mo Rubin waved his hand, and the black vortex across the countless bubbles vanished, restoring the normal observation of the Star Sea.
"I discovered this black vortex by chance when using the Eye of the Tian Beast to search the Star Sea for Big Brother Xuanyuan.
"At first, I didn't pay much attention, thinking it was merely a normal anomalous phenomenon that had developed in the Star Sea over these years. But later..." Mo Rubin coughed, then reached out all ten fingers toward the bubbles of the Eye of the Tian Beast.
In the blink of an eye, ten million streams of ink shot from Mo Rubin's fingertips, each flying toward a different bubble. Li Fan saw clearly that at the end of each ink stream was a miniature figure of Mo Rubin.
However, the expressions on their faces varied—some ferocious, some terrified, some maddened.
When the thousands of miniature Mo Rubins surged toward the bubbles of the Eye of the Tian Beast and made contact, they let out piercing shrieks in unison, as if suddenly subjected to severe torture.
Yet their bodies did not stop moving. Plunging their hands firmly into the bubbles, they yanked violently. As if tearing away a layer of rotting, foul skin, they peeled a layer of viscous, black unknown substance from the Eye of the Tian Beast.
*Aaargh!*
The little Mo Rubins wailed even more bitterly. Their figures were corroded by the blackness until they became blurred and indistinct, appearing as though they might disperse at any moment. Yet under the control of Mo Rubin's true self, they never let go, thoroughly tearing the rotting black skin away from the Eye of the Tian Beast.
*Gulp, gulp...*
Afterward, instead of stowing the black substance away, they opened their indistinct mouths and swallowed it down in huge gulps.
As the thick, decaying blackness entered their bellies, the faces of each miniature Mo Rubin could no longer be seen clearly.
"The Demonic Heart is imperishable; the Immortal Body never ends," Mo Rubin's cold voice suddenly rang out. A wondrous power instantly enveloped and descended upon those blurred figures, keeping them from dissipating completely—just like pouches that had not burst, holding that black, viscous matter.
With an expression of utmost gravity, Mo Rubin cautiously summoned his demonic hearts back to him. Naturally, they did not return into his own body; instead, he produced a jade box and sealed them all inside.
Only after completing all this did Mo Rubin exhale a long breath of relief.
Li Fan could see that Mo Rubin had weakened another notch. He stared intently at him, waiting for an explanation.
After resting for a moment, Mo Rubin said weakly, "This is already my fourth cleaning.
"Originally, I thought this black qi was just a normal phenomenon of the Star Sea and harmless. Never did I imagine that merely observing it a few times would result in the Eye of the Tian Beast being corroded by it.
"Fortunately, the Eye of the Tian Beast originally came from the Immortal Realm, so its essence is higher than that of the lower star sea. Moreover, it was not in direct contact. Therefore, there was still room for remedy, allowing the black qi clinging to it to be cleansed completely through my previous method."
Hearing this, Li Fan also breathed a sigh of relief. "Then that is a blessing amidst misfortune." Soon, however, he was struck by realization and asked in horror, "The Dao Annihilation Tribulation... Daoist friend, you said earlier that it was the catastrophe that destroyed the Immortal Realm. Has it already appeared in the Star Sea now? Even the True Immortals could not withstand it. Are we not doomed?"
"There is no need to be so nervous, Daoist friend. The situation is not quite that dire," Mo Rubin shook his head. Pausing to weigh his words, he said slowly, "Back then, Big Brother Xuanyuan harbored concerns that the Immortal Realm's Dao Annihilation Tribulation would spread to the lower realm. Although he never stated it explicitly, I could tell.
"I also told you before: with the Dao Annihilation Tribulation, if one does not know its name, one will not recognize the catastrophe's nature even when facing it. But if one knows its name, even glimpsing a trace of it will evoke an intuitive sense. Daoist friend, you already know the name 'Dao Annihilation'. When beholding this black qi, did you feel any such intuition?"
Li Fan recalled what he had just seen. "I did not."
"That explains it," Mo Rubin said in a deep voice. "I suspect this black qi is not the Dao Annihilation Tribulation itself, but an omen of its arrival!
"Just as heavy rain is preceded by gathering clouds, and landslides by the trembling of earth veins, catastrophes in this world are often accompanied by certain omens. This black qi may well be the sign that the Dao Annihilation Tribulation is about to descend.
"Moreover..." Mo Rubin's expression grew increasingly grim. "It is not merely an omen. As you saw before, the black qi seems capable of devouring everything in the Star Sea that approaches it. If left unchecked and allowed to spread, the growth of the black qi's scale might cause the Dao Annihilation Tribulation to arrive even faster."
Hearing this, Li Fan knitted his brows tightly, his expression equally solemn. As if digesting the information in Mo Rubin's words, he remained silent for a long time.
"How could this be?" After a long while, Li Fan managed only this single sentence, his tone carrying a faint trace of panic.
Mo Rubin could only respond with silence.
"The affairs of the world are fickle. Or perhaps all of this was already fated from the day the Immortal Realm fell," Mo Rubin sighed after a long silence.
"Is there truly no method capable of halting the spread of this black vortex?" Li Fan asked, somewhat unwilling to accept this fate.
"Even if there is, it is not something we could know. Big Brother Xuanyuan might have a way."
Li Fan's eyes lit up, as if grasping at a lifesaver. He asked hurriedly, "Right, Daoist friend, when searching Xuanhuang and the Star Sea with the Eye of the Tian Beast, did you find any trace of King Xuantian?"
Mo Rubin laughed with self-deprecation. "If I had found him, I wouldn't need to laboriously clean away this Dao Annihilation black qi myself.
"However...
"It wasn't entirely in vain."
Li Fan immediately fixed his gaze on Mo Rubin.
"Back when Big Brother Xuanyuan mysteriously vanished, in his final moments, he sent out several warnings.
"Among them, our fellow Dharma King brothers should have all received one.
"There was also one sent outside the Xuanhuang Realm, even beyond the starry sky.
"That transmission was exceedingly secretive. Originally, it would have been impossible for me to notice. But because it utilized the Eye of the Tian Beast, a trace was left behind, which was how I detected it," Mo Rubin said quietly.
Hearing this, Li Fan narrowed his eyes. "Beyond the starry sky? Could it be..." An inward shock ran through him.
"There is only one possibility. The intended recipient of Big Brother Xuanyuan's transmission should be the Faceless Immortal," Mo Rubin stated plainly.
"I remember you mentioned that when King Xuantian vanished back then, for some reason, the head of the Faceless Immortal's stone statue snapped off..."
Mo Rubin nodded. "So I speculate that Big Brother Xuanyuan fell into peril, and the Faceless Immortal offered protection. Yet he still could not be saved, and the medium for transmitting power—the stone statue—was severed.
"At the final moment, Big Brother Xuanyuan discovered something, so through the Eye of the Tian Beast of the Grand Star-Crossing Array, he sent a transmission beyond the Star Sea toward the location of the Faceless Immortal.
"He wanted to tell that Faceless True Immortal what he had discovered."
Li Fan listened intently and could not help but ask, "Is it possible, through the traces in the Eye of the Tian Beast, to find out what message King Xuantian sent back then?"
"That cannot be done," Mo Rubin said with deep regret. "Setting aside the fact that Big Brother Xuanyuan would have certainly encrypted it back then, the secret hidden within that message was not shared with us Dharma Kings, and he chose instead to notify that Faceless Immortal. Clearly, even if he had told us, we would have been utterly powerless to deal with it. Just like the true face of the Dao Annihilation Tribulation—knowing it would only add to our distress."
Chapter 1352