Under ordinary circumstances, if one were to rashly graft the fragment of another world—even an already destroyed one—into the Tianfa Realm, the intrusion of foreign matter would inevitably incite the Heavenly Dao of the Tianfa Realm to generate resistance and rejection.
This was the so-called rejection reaction.
Now, however, the world remnant stitched in by the Heavenly Physician had first been infused with the pulverized remains of five Dao Integration cultivators. The power of the anima of Heaven and Earth within their bodies had originally come from the Tianfa Realm.
Consequently, the level of rejection during the assimilation was remarkably low.
Smoothly and without incident, the Tianfa Realm devoured the fragment.
Sensing a faint trickle of vitality flowing from this remnant world into the Tianfa Realm, the Heavenly Physician let out a long breath of relief.
"My arduous journey was not in vain after all."
He watched in silence for a time. Perhaps because the Tianfa Realm had been in a state of starvation for so long without feeding, this remnant piece proved exceptionally effective.
Not only did it replenish energy, but it also roused the vitality that the Heavenly Dao had temporarily suppressed within itself due to the endless greed of cultivators.
"When feeding it again in the future, there will be no need for such trouble. I can simply graft the next piece onto the remains of this first fragment.
"Still, before the world completes its digestion, I must head to the border of the star sea again to guide a new world remnant back to keep the sequence going..."
At this thought, the Heavenly Physician frowned slightly.
Although with his cultivation he could fly at extreme speeds across the star sea and largely disregard all perils along the way, the star sea was simply too vast. A single round trip took over a year.
Furthermore, by his estimation, it would take roughly two years for the Tianfa Realm to fully digest this world remnant.
"At this rate, I won't have time to do anything else. My hands are completely tied..."
The Heavenly Physician sighed softly, feeling an overwhelming sense of standing alone without support.
Though he had cultivated promising disciples over the years, they were still far from capable of shouldering major responsibilities.
He could not help but reminisce about the old comrades who had once fought alongside him.
Figures flashed across his mind one after another, until his thoughts abruptly halted upon one of them.
"The Heavenly Demon..." The Heavenly Physician's expression grew somewhat complicated.
Back then, before the great war between the two realms, the Heavenly Demon had already wandered far beyond the celestial sphere. Even through the fiercest and most brutal phases of the war, the Heavenly Demon had never returned.
Yet the Heavenly Physician could vaguely sense that the Heavenly Demon had not fallen.
Instead, it still existed in some corner of the star sea.
Originally, the Heavenly Physician had not intended to make contact with this most peculiar existence among the Venerables of the Tianfa Realm.
The other Venerables were living beings of the Tianfa Realm who had comprehended the Constant Dao of Tianfa and resonated with it to attain their stature.
The Heavenly Demon was the sole exception.
It was like a discordant note within a grand symphony. The Heavenly Demon was the spontaneous manifestation of the Constant Dao of Tianfa related to inner demons.
It was the Heavenly Dao of inner demons itself.
It had interacted with the other Venerables, but rarely.
Though born of the Tianfa Realm, from the moment of its birth it had effectively severed its ties with the mother realm that had nurtured it.
It cared little for the affairs of the Tianfa Realm.
Its only pursuit was to take a step further and seek the illusory, ethereal Supreme realm.
Remaining in the Tianfa Realm meant an inevitable inability to transcend the mundane. Thus, the Heavenly Demon had departed resolutely.
When the Tianfa Realm hovered on the brink of death, the Heavenly Demon had not appeared to offer aid. One could say it had cast aside any lingering sentiment toward the realm.
"I wonder if the Heavenly Demon has touched the threshold of the Supreme realm by now."
The Heavenly Physician's gaze drifted into the distance. After a long period of contemplation, he finally resolved to search for traces of the Heavenly Demon in the star sea.
Looking up toward the sky, his form dissolved into a gust of clear wind, merging into the Heaven and Earth of Tianfa.
The Constant Dao roared, its laws operating day and night like an exquisitely precise machine.
Although the Heavenly Demon had severed its bond with the Constant Dao of Tianfa, it had nonetheless been born from this world.
At this moment, the Heavenly Physician, this Great Venerable of All Dharmas, substituted himself for the Heavenly Dao to project his perception into the distant star sea.
After nearly half a day, he finally detected the general location of the Heavenly Demon.
To his astonishment, it was at the border of the star sea—right where the Great Wall of Remnant Worlds stretched!
The Heavenly Physician's heart shook as he pondered why the Heavenly Demon would be there.
Rather than rushing off immediately, he summoned the six Longevity Heavenly Venerables of the Tianfa Realm before his departure to deliberate on the realm's future.
Although they arrived only as phantoms rather than in their true bodies, it did not hinder their discussion.
"We shall naturally follow the Great Venerable's lead. After all, the Tianfa Realm is our shared home. If it truly falls into the Immortal Ruins... the star sea is vast, yet there will be no place left for us to stand." The first to declare his stance was a middle-aged scholar.
This man had attained the Dao at the end of the cultivation wasteland era. Moved by how cultivators, after years of mutual slaughter, had grown paranoid and refused to trust anyone, he had reversed the principles of Heaven and Earth so that falsehoods no longer existed in the world. People venerated him as Heavenly Venerable Zhenyu.
"Khehehe..." Before Heavenly Venerable Zhenyu could finish, a sinister laugh rang out.
"What does the survival of the Tianfa Realm have to do with me? I can't wait for it to plunge into the Immortal Ruins!"
The Heavenly Physician looked at the figure cloaked in a black hood before him, an undisguised flash of killing intent surfacing in his eyes.
If there was anyone among the Venerables the Heavenly Physician wished to eliminate above all others, it was undoubtedly this person—Heavenly Venerable Nirong.
This man had originally been a cultivator who attained great success in the Dao of Medicine. He had observed the Tianfa Realm devouring the Xuanhuang Realm and used that process to reverse the mechanics, causing the Great Dao of the Tianfa Realm to spontaneously generate resistance whenever it swallowed other worlds.
Through this, Heavenly Venerable Nirong had attained the Longevity fruit status.
Had it not been for his obstruction through defying principles, the Tianfa Realm would have devoured and digested the Xuanhuang Realm long ago.
Nor would grafting world remnants into the Tianfa Realm today require so much effort.
Heavenly Venerable Nirong showed no fear of the Heavenly Physician, continuing in a mocking tone, "Once Tianfa falls into the Immortal Ruins, it will inevitably be torn to shreds. When that happens, my Dao will reach grand completion! Of course I can hardly wait!"
The other Heavenly Venerables looked on with furrowed brows.
Only Heavenly Venerable Yixin, Zhao Ruoxi, spoke with a mixture of melancholy and infatuation. "It seems Big Brother Li dislikes this humble one after all, wishing only to flee from my side."
As she spoke, glistening teardrops seemed to trickle down her cheeks.
Heavenly Venerable Nirong's voice cut off abruptly. He instinctively retreated a short distance from Heavenly Venerable Yixin, his posture laden with wariness.
The Heavenly Physician snorted coldly and declared sternly, "I will not force any of you to exert yourselves. But if anyone dares to cause trouble...
"Even at the risk of damaging the Constant Dao of the Tianfa Realm, I will eradicate them roots and all!
"Do not say you were not forewarned!"
The words of the Great Venerable of All Dharmas carried tremendous weight.
Under this warning, even the previously arrogant Heavenly Venerable Nirong dared not object to his face, lowering his head in assent.
When a Heavenly Venerable who defied heavenly principles inverted the laws of Heaven and Earth, they also became part of the Constant Dao of Tianfa.
So long as Heaven and Earth endured, the Heavenly Venerables would not perish.
Hence their title of Longevity.
Yet longevity did not mean they could never be destroyed.
One simply needed to forcibly extract the principle represented by that Heavenly Venerable from the Tianfa Realm and crush it to slay them.
However, doing so required two things. First, only a grand cultivator with an ultimate mastery over the principles of Heaven and Earth, such as the Great Venerable of All Dharmas, could accomplish it.
Second...
Even if successful, extracting a principle of Heaven and Earth would inevitably disrupt other constant principles.
The Tianfa Realm would suffer devastating damage as a result.
Already severely weakened, the Tianfa Realm could no longer bear such turmoil.
This was the reason the Heavenly Physician had stayed his hand for so long.
*Once I complete a few more feedings and allow the Tianfa Realm to recover some of its vitality, I can move to pluck out these parasites,* the Heavenly Physician thought, looking at Heavenly Venerable Nirong as he suppressed his murderous intent for the time being.
"The other day, I left Tianfa and traveled to the Immortal Ruins to investigate. Vaguely, I caught sight of a figure seated cross-legged on the ground..."
Amidst the quiet standoff, a voice suddenly rang out, causing a stir among the assembly.
The Heavenly Physician turned his gaze toward the speaker.
It was Heavenly Venerable Dedao, Su Bai.
Su Bai had felt compassion for mortals who suffered under the immortal-mortal miasma, unable to cultivate or attain the Dao with ease. Thus, he had reversed this principle, taking upon himself the agony of the miasma on behalf of all living beings in the world. So long as mortals chanted the name of Heavenly Venerable Dedao day and night with sincere devotion, the immortal-mortal miasma would disperse on its own.
Su Bai smiled faintly and continued, "From those Immortal Ruins, I also caught a glimpse of a character."
Using his finger as a brush, Su Bai swiftly drew the "Hunger" Formula in the air.
"My view was hazy, so this is the closest I could restore it to," Su Bai said, shaking his head with regret.
Despite his modesty, the waves of terrifying power rippling from the character clearly demonstrated the dreadfulness of the True Immortal seal character.
"I believe this character is the root cause behind all things falling into the Immortal Ruins.
"The power of a True Immortal naturally requires the power of a True Immortal to counter it.
"Remnants of True Immortal power in the star sea are by no means scarce. My proposal is that we study these remnants and reverse-engineer their original True Immortal seal characters, using True Immortal seal characters to contend against True Immortal seal characters," Su Bai said in all seriousness.
This suggestion immediately plunged the Heavenly Venerables into deep thought.
Even the Heavenly Physician frowned, contemplating its feasibility.
Seeing this, Su Bai added another enticing revelation: "To be frank with you all, my secret research over the years has already yielded modest results. Your talents surpass mine. If we pool our efforts and delve into this together...
"Using True Immortal seal characters to master the Immortal Ruins will be just around the corner!"
As he spoke, Su Bai traced another character in the air.
Yet compared to the one he had witnessed in the Immortal Ruins, this character born of his own comprehension was noticeably weaker.
Watching the unmistakable interest on the faces of the other Venerables, the Heavenly Physician could not help but feel uneasy.
He understood the power of True Immortal seal characters all too well.
These people were already difficult enough to handle. If they were allowed to master True Immortal seal characters...
When conflict arose, the Tianfa Realm would be caught in the crossfire and reduced to ruins!
At this realization, the Heavenly Physician felt an even greater sense of urgency.
In the subsequent discussion, the assembly arrived at a rough consensus.
Their actions were divided into three camps.
The first was to assist the Heavenly Physician in nourishing and feeding the Tianfa Realm to bolster its strength.
The second was to comprehend True Immortal seal characters and rely on external power to resist the Immortal Ruins.
The third was to remain indifferent and stay entirely out of it.
After dismissing the group, the Heavenly Physician, Great Venerable of the Tianfa Realm, could not help but feel mentally exhausted.
With six Longevity Heavenly Venerables holding down the fort, the Tianfa Realm would not face any immediate crises.
Reinvigorating his spirits, the Heavenly Physician sped relentlessly toward the location where he had sensed the Heavenly Demon.
*If I can secure the Heavenly Demon's aid, I can possess these Longevity Heavenly Venerables without anyone noticing.*
*That would minimize needless casualties...*
The thought only intensified his desire to find the Heavenly Demon.
He traversed the star sea day after day.
At last, he arrived at the borders of the star sea once more.
After searching across the sensed region for a long time, the Heavenly Physician finally located the Heavenly Demon.
It was alive, indeed.
However, it was frozen inside an extraordinary crystal!
"The Wind of Resplendent Crystals?"
The Heavenly Physician did not approach to pull the Heavenly Demon out immediately, choosing instead to observe from a distance.
He recognized the bizarre force that had encased the Heavenly Demon in ice.
"Phenomena of the star sea have rarely appeared for ages.
"It seems that not long after leaving the Tianfa Realm, the Heavenly Demon met with misfortune...
"Perhaps I misjudged him. It was not that he stood by and watched our realm die; he simply could not return."
Seeing his old friend frozen in this miserable state for ten thousand years, pity welled in the Heavenly Physician's heart.
"Legends say that when the Wind of Resplendent Crystals blows, it can freeze vast swathes of starfields. It is one of the most terrifying phenomena in the star sea.
"Even an existence of the Heavenly Demon's strength was entirely powerless before such vast might."
The Heavenly Physician's expression turned grave. "After so much time, the freezing power hasn't weakened in the slightest.
"That piercing cold would freeze even the power of a True Immortal if it drew near..."
Yet the Heavenly Physician was not called such for nothing.
After pondering on the spot for a long while, he finally devised a solution.
Summoning thousands of golden threads, he bound the ice crystal securely.
He then dragged it along, accelerating toward the invisible High Wall.
As he neared the wall, he hurled it forward with sudden violence.
The high-speed ice crystal came to an abrupt halt in midair.
As though it had suffered a tremendous impact, it shuddered violently.
The Heavenly Physician's eyes lit up. He keenly sensed that a portion of the freezing power had been chipped away by the collision.
"Only the High Wall, perhaps, can shake this deathly freezing power."
Marveling at the realization, the Heavenly Physician cast out his golden threads again.
He hauled the ice crystal a distance away from the High Wall, then repeated the maneuver.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Under the relentless impacts, the ice crystal grew smaller and smaller.
When only a thin layer remained, the Heavenly Physician eased the intensity of the slamming.
After all, although the Heavenly Demon was theoretically immortal and indestructible, the High Wall remained an unfathomable existence.
He had to proceed with caution.
Otherwise, if this old friend survived a calamity of the star sea only to perish by his hand, the Heavenly Physician would feel deeply guilty.
More importantly, he would lose a crucial ally.
The Heavenly Physician's control over his strength was precise down to the finest detail.
Through this somewhat bizarre method, he ultimately awakened the Heavenly Demon.
A translucent, indistinct figure stared fixedly at the Heavenly Physician.
It uttered not a word.
"Heavenly Demon..." Knowing that the entity had possessed some awareness of the outside world even while frozen, the Heavenly Physician broke the silence with a hint of awkwardness.
The Heavenly Demon's figure vanished in an instant.
A moment later, it materialized directly within the Heavenly Physician's mind!
Chapter 1365