The Wordless Stele emerged, anchoring heaven and earth!
The violently trembling Immortal Domain stabilized in an instant.
Time seemed to freeze at this moment.
In the absolute silence, a majestic aura came into being. It was a vast, brilliant force so overwhelming that it nearly froze the thoughts of Li Fan, its closest onlooker.
Had the Wordless Stele not merely stood there in silence without hostile intent, and had it not been situated within the Immortal Domain, Li Fan might well have been torn to shreds by that aura alone.
Though his strength was enough to roam the Pitch-Black Star Sea unhindered, before the Wordless Stele of the Immortal Domain, Li Fan was truly like an ant caught in a tempest, his life and death entirely beyond his control!
Li Fan's expression shifted drastically. He tried to summon the phantom wooden sword to flee, but discovered to his horror that the powers of law composing the wooden sword were entirely disrupted by the Wordless Stele and completely failed to take effect.
Even the Transformation of Real and Unreal was no exception!
The Wordless Stele towered there as though it were the center of all worlds.
Aside from the slowly stabilizing Immortal Domain, everything else surged toward the Wordless Stele and collapsed inward!
It was distinct from the Immortal Ruins swallowing all things of the Star Sea. Objects drawn to the Immortal Ruins were torn to shreds by the immense power of True Immortals.
Yet falling toward the Wordless Stele...
Li Fan saw clearly that outside the Immortal Domain, across the Pitch-Black Star Sea, whether remnant True Immortal power or fragments of worlds, all of them surged furiously toward the Wordless Stele and were dissolved into "nothingness"!
"No, that's not right!"
The protective charging progress of Trueness plummeted wildly, and Li Fan's field of vision gradually warped. Countless arcs encircled the center, and upon the Wordless Stele, which drew in and swallowed everything, mottled shadows distinctly appeared!
"It isn't nothingness! All things are reverting to their primal state, returning to the Wordless Stele! This is the evolution of the Dao, tracing back to the origin of the Dao!" Li Fan's mind was shaken to its core, his thoughts going almost completely blank.
The magnificent spectacle before him, rivaling the creation of the world, shook Li Fan to the marrow.
It was as if he had been graced with a glimpse of the Great Dao itself. Every passing instant sparked boundless insights within Li Fan's mind. When he had once faced the true meaning of the Star Sea's origin, he had experienced something similar. But now, his comprehension exceeded that prior time by thousands, tens of thousands of fold!
Even the Transformation of Real and Unreal, which he could only fathom slightly through each cycle of simulation, seemed faintly within his grasp.
"What is real? What is unreal? They are nothing more than the evolution of the Dao! With a single thought, the Dao gives birth to worlds and unfolds all things! With a single thought, the Dao perishes, all things wither, and everything returns to void..." Li Fan seemed possessed, immersed in observing and comprehending the Wordless Stele, utterly unable to pull himself away.
Just like the myriad things of the Star Sea drawn toward the Wordless Stele, there was no escape!
Even when he sensed several figures drawn here by the appearance of the Immortal Domain's Wordless Stele, Li Fan did not divert the slightest bit of attention.
Those figures kept a courteous distance from one another.
A few consciousnesses seemed to sweep past Li Fan, yet without exception, they all quickly shifted to the center of the tempest.
Before the upheaval stirred by the Wordless Stele, all living beings were equal. True Immortals or Supremes alike were mere ants.
The oppressive might that higher beings previously held over those beneath them was entirely erased by the Wordless Stele.
They looked upon the Wordless Stele, stunned into silence just like Li Fan.
The Wordless Stele of the Immortal Domain was like a small hole that had abruptly opened at the heart of the Star Sea, into which everything in the Star Sea collapsed.
The plunge of all things formed a rushing torrent like a waterfall. Only the absolute strongest standing atop the Star Sea could barely steady themselves outside that aperture.
From the frontier of the Star Sea came faint rumbles of thunder. It was the omen of the vast Sea of Relics and the Great Wall of Shattered Worlds disintegrating. Countless endless ruins came rolling toward the Immortal Domain.
Even the invisible High Wall seemed affected.
Amid the violent tremors, inexplicable changes occurred. Like dark clouds pressing down upon a border, countless images and visions descended upon the edges of the Star Sea.
...
All kinds of terrifying phenomena rose one after another. Suddenly, a crisp female voice rang out, laden with astonishment and dread. It sounded terribly out of place.
Yet for it to pierce the tempest stirred by the Wordless Stele and reach the ears of everyone present was proof enough of her terrifying strength.
"The Southern Immortal Heavenly Pillar? How could it appear here?!"
Before the voice faded, its owner transformed into a streak of light, charging straight for the center of the storm. She seemed intent on entering the Immortal Domain to investigate.
Yet the Immortal Domain bloomed with faint radiance, surprisingly blocking that figure outside.
"This is..."
"Taili Star Domain, Ancient Realm of All Living Beings!"
The somewhat slender figure finally revealed her true appearance.
She looked as though she had just recovered from a severe illness, her face somewhat pale. Her eyes were profound, appearing to contain boundless mysteries that drew in anyone who gazed into them. Her features were not exceptionally beautiful, even bordering on plain.
Yet she carried a distinct charm that made her unforgettable.
"She is..."
The arrival of this figure brought Li Fan slightly back to his senses.
Reflecting on what she had said and gazing at the somewhat familiar silhouette, Li Fan's heart stirred. *The Dao-Comprehending True Immortal of the Immortal Ruins? I had only ever seen her skeletal form and avatar phantom before. Who would have thought she was actually a woman?*
As if sensing thoughts about herself in the surroundings, the True Immortal frowned slightly, her gaze sweeping from side to side.
Li Fan could not help but feel a shock in his heart.
Yet perhaps due to the Wordless Stele's influence, the True Immortal could not pinpoint her target accurately. And once she confirmed that the surroundings were only filled with mortals, her attention returned to the Immortal Domain.
Her form rippled like water as she seemed to attempt to merge into the Immortal Domain.
Yet the Immortal Domain appeared to hold a natural repulsion toward True Immortals.
A fiercer light abruptly erupted, forcing the True Immortal back several paces in an instant.
Her expression promptly soured.
The aura around her suddenly shifted.
Her figure vanished from everyone's sight.
Li Fan could only dimly see a transparent distortion in spacetime moving toward the Immortal Domain.
The radiance along the Immortal Domain's periphery was suddenly propped open in a large bulge.
A few breaths later, the True Immortal successfully made her way into the Immortal Domain.
Her objective was clear: she headed straight for the central Wordless Stele.
Viewed from the outside, the Immortal Domain appeared to be merely a small area.
Yet the True Immortal of the Immortal Ruins flew for a long time, only to advance a tiny distance within it. In fact, the closer she drew to the Wordless Stele, the slower she moved, as though an infinite expanse truly lay between them.
What transpired inside the Immortal Domain did not affect the Pitch-Black Star Sea.
The sweeping Great Wall of Shattered Worlds and Sea of Relics inevitably plummeted toward the Wordless Stele.
Before even nearing the Immortal Domain, they dissolved into streaks of light.
After being absorbed by the Wordless Stele, they merely added a few mottled spots to its surface.
They could not even leave behind the faintest scratch.
The "waterfall torrent" grew increasingly fierce, making it harder and harder for Li Fan to hold his ground.
Whenever a streak of light into which some matter had converted whistled past him, Li Fan felt as though the object originally represented by that light slammed heavily against him, pushing him step by step toward the Immortal Domain.
Nothing in the Star Sea could escape this fate.
The Xuanhuang Realm was no different.
Li Fan saw the figures of Chuanfa and the Heavenly Physician surprisingly break free from the Wordless Stele's temptation of enlightenment, striving with all their might to halt the Xuanhuang Realm's falling demise.
Yet it was merely a drop in the ocean, delaying the inevitable at best.
Apart from them, two figures—one large, one small—standing side by side not far away caught Li Fan's attention.
"The Dao, from antiquity. Bitter hardship, absolute extinction. Cultivate thought and practice, commune with intention, ascend to spirit. In a thousand journeys the soul departs, through a hundred trials the spirit turns."
"...No blame."
A faint, profound sound continuously echoed from the larger figure. Meanwhile, the smaller figure gazed at the nearby Wordless Stele with greed mingled with fear.
"Archmage Tiandu!" Li Fan's heart tightened.
*What that phantom chants seemed to have appeared in my previous life when facing the obliterating wind calamity as well.*
*Could there be some profound mystery behind it?*
Standing so close this time, he could hear what the phantom transmitted completely and clearly.
After memorizing this immortal formula, Li Fan followed along and silently chanted it in his mind.
In an instant, an invisible force seemed to envelope him, like a giant hand pressing down firmly on Li Fan, steadying him amid the storm whipped up by the Wordless Stele.
*This seems capable of warding off calamities?* Uncertainty and astonishment stirred in Li Fan's heart.
The Daoist boy beside the chanting phantom glanced at Li Fan with faint mockery.
Yet he said nothing, not even bothering to engage, and soon refocused his gaze on the Wordless Stele.
Li Fan glanced at the charging progress of Trueness, which could still hold out a while longer. With a thought, he summoned Tianyang and Qiushui.
The two crossed the void and arrived beside Li Fan, standing on his left and right to guard him.
Even the auras of two Supremes failed to make the Daoist boy phantom turn his gaze.
Li Fan had no intention of provoking the Archmage either, merely looking back into the Immortal Domain.
By what means the True Immortal of the Immortal Ruins had employed, no one knew, but without the onlookers realizing it, she was suddenly a vast leap closer to the Wordless Stele.
The hazy scenery within the Immortal Domain grew steadily clearer.
Mountains and rivers began to manifest.
Li Fan keenly sensed that the aura around the Archmage grew somewhat erratic, seemingly restless with reluctance.
Right at this moment...
The billowing black qi from the center of the Star Sea finally arrived like a surging deluge.
As if possessed of sentience, it swept past Li Fan and hurtled straight toward the Immortal Domain.
The Archmage's phantom awoke as if from a dream, looking as though he had seen a ghost, his face filled with sheer terror. In an instant, he fled and vanished without a trace.
The radiance of the Immortal Domain could not impede the black qi in the slightest.
Instead, drawn by the Wordless Stele, the majestic black qi condensed even further.
What had originally been a boundless sea of black qi transformed into a descending ribbon of darkness once it poured into the Immortal Domain!
Within the Immortal Domain, dark clouds pressed down like a fortress on the verge of ruin!
The True Immortal of the Immortal Ruins, who was nearing the Wordless Stele, suddenly looked up.
Her specific expression could not be seen, but her next move was somewhat unexpected to Li Fan.
Rather than fleeing like the Archmage's phantom, she accelerated and charged toward the Wordless Stele.
The images around the True Immortal grew somewhat warped; she was now right in front of the Wordless Stele.
Under the influence of the sweeping dark clouds, a terrible calamity descended upon the newly emerged Immortal Domain.
The sky seemed to collapse an entire layer for no reason at all.
Beneath the sky, the recently manifested mountains, rivers, and earth disintegrated inch by inch, turning instantly to nothingness.
Moments later, endless black qi gushed forth from within.
A black avalanche swept from the perimeter toward the center of the Immortal Domain, engulfing everything.
The sky of the Immortal Domain collapsed continuously, and the domain's expanse shrank smaller and smaller.
At the critical juncture, the True Immortal finally reached the front of the Wordless Stele.
She struck out a dazzling beam of brilliance against the stele.
A few strokes of characters seemed to suddenly appear upon it.
Moments later, a sky-piercing pillar of light erupted from the top of the Wordless Stele, struggling to hold back the rolling tide of black qi and the continuous onslaught of the collapsing heavens.
Like a celestial pillar, it held up the crumbling sky!
"The Dao Annihilation Tribulation..."
"The Southern Immortal Heavenly Pillar..."
Witnessing all this, Li Fan faintly understood the meaning behind the True Immortal's words.
Yet a single pillar could not support a falling building.
The power of the Wordless Stele activated by the True Immortal alone seemed unable to halt the descent of the Dao Annihilation Tribulation.
The tide of black qi, though slowed, steadily and relentlessly bore down.
Waves of despair welled up across the True Immortal's face.
After devouring parts of the Immortal Domain, the black qi was no longer the same as before.
Hazy silhouettes seemed to loom within it.
The sense of crisis in Li Fan's heart skyrocketed.
Turning back, he saw that in the surviving regions of the Pitch-Black Star Sea, countless wisps of black qi were simultaneously bursting forth from every corner.
In an instant, they permeated the entire Star Sea.
Moreover, none of this black qi was the original version from the Star Sea—it was an elevated form that had swallowed the Immortal Domain.
Across the Star Sea, shadowy clusters moved like a nightly parade of a hundred ghosts.
The bizarre figures in the black qi seemed to harbor some immense terror, causing Li Fan's heart to race without cause and his scalp to tingle with dread.
Even Trueness sent an exceedingly rare warning, relentlessly urging him to flee immediately.
*It's time to Revert to the True.*
Looking at the horrific spectacle of the black qi running rampant, this thought could not help but rise in Li Fan's heart.
Yet just before the light curtain of Trueness enveloped him, a sudden flash of inspiration struck Li Fan.
A white ring slipped from his hand, flying instantaneously toward the Wordless Stele in the Immortal Domain.
It was none other than the white ring, Descending into the Mortal Dust!
Unlike the True Immortal, it encountered no resistance.
Instead, it flew straight in, piercing through the surrounding tide of surging black qi to collide with the Wordless Stele.
There was no earth-shattering explosion.
Dazzling light merely surged from the white ring before it vanished from sight.
At the same time, a complete character surfaced upon the Wordless Stele!
It was none other than a True Immortal seal character, embodying the principles of the worldly Great Dao!
The appearance of this True Immortal seal character seemed to inject formidable power into the Southern Immortal Heavenly Pillar.
Its erupting pillar of light swelled abruptly, forcing back the tightly encircling dark tide in an instant.
The True Immortal of the Immortal Ruins, previously engulfed in despair, reacted at this moment.
Without holding back, she poured all her energy into the Wordless Stele before her.
Flesh, blood, and hair vanished from her body.
She reverted once more to the skeletal form Li Fan had seen in the Immortal Ruins.
Upon the Wordless Stele, a second True Immortal seal character slowly appeared.
The erupting pillar of light grew even mightier, finally piercing through the dark tide and forming an enormous halo in the sky.
Carrying the Wordless Stele with her, the True Immortal burst out of the black qi's blockade.
Seeming to recognize Li Fan's earlier rescue and intending to bring him along, she flew toward Li Fan's position.
Yet to her utter astonishment, Li Fan retreated violently.
At the same time, Tianyang and Qiushui surged forward to intercept her.
"Revert to the True!"
Li Fan chanted silently in his heart.
Chapter 1383