Within the heaven and earth of the Xuanhuang Realm, countless streams of viscous, iridescent liquid coalesced out of thin air in an instant. Like trickling streams, they poured into the wounds.
Like legendary elixirous medicines, the rents torn across the heaven and earth of Xuanhuang healed in the blink of an eye.
Copious amounts of iridescent slurry scattered across the air and flowed over the earth.
The areas touched and illuminated by this iridescent luminescence gradually formed encircling halos of seven colors. Faint wisps of sacred presence emerged from within them, aloof from the world and utterly distinct from the ordinary territories around them.
Li Fan's hands pinched incantations without pause, maintaining the momentum of the Xuanhuang Realm's ascension. His eyes narrowed slightly as his gaze swept across the ringed domains that had abruptly appeared throughout the world.
To concentrate all power to the greatest possible extent and drive Xuanhuang's sublimation, Li Fan had already either destroyed or merged the vast majority of cumbersome grotto-heavens and pocket worlds, returning them entirely to Xuanhuang.
Yet now, just as the Xuanhuang Realm stood on the verge of completing its metamorphosis, new grotto-heavens and blessed lands were being generated. They slightly slowed the pace of Xuanhuang's ascension.
These newly born grotto-heavens and blessed lands differed from those of the past. They were not severed, independent entities formed after blossoming and bearing fruit. Rather, they resembled new "organs" evolved by heaven and earth!
Li Fan's gaze pierced the protective halos of these grotto-heavens and blessed lands, beholding their distinct yet profoundly mystical, unique nomological powers.
For instance, one newly born grotto-heaven gathered and evolved the laws associated with "sight." Li Fan deduced that if any living being were born within this grotto-heaven in the future or cultivated there over the years, the influence of its unique laws would make awakening related divine abilities extremely likely.
There were even a rare few grotto-heavens that, after appearing briefly in the world, transformed into rainbow beams. Once they selected their targets, they plunged directly into the creatures below. These chosen, fortunate beings were not dreamers asleep within the phantasmal array, but new lives born since the mutation of the Xuanhuang Realm began. Thus, the grotto-heavens moved from above to below, walking upon the earth!
These grotto-heavens and blessed lands were not isolated from one another. Instead, faint connections linked them. Some felt naturally close, while others bore innate revulsion.
Yet by sensing their underlying connections, Li Fan perceived that their ultimate destiny was undoubtedly to devour one another until they united into one.
The final grotto-heaven that unified all beneath heaven would gather the strengths of all, gestating to the absolute limit. Then, it would split away from the Xuanhuang Realm.
Under normal circumstances, this self-evolving process might take tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions, of years. Even if it went against the Xuanhuang Realm's own will, it would still come to pass.
"Is this an inevitable step in ascending to an immortal domain? Inscribed into the underlying logic of the Xuanhuang Realm's existence?" Li Fan watched the bizarre grotto-heavens abruptly descend throughout the Xuanhuang Realm, a glimmer of enlightenment dawning in his heart.
This was a transformation that occurred only after the Xuanhuang Realm was pushed to the critical point of sublimation, truly poised to advance into an immortal domain.
It had been written into its very bedrock at the time of the Xuanhuang Realm's creation. Even though Xuanhuang had existed all along merely as a mortal cultivation world within the lower star sea, once it was on the verge of returning to the Immortal Realm, these long-hidden "innate characteristics" finally revealed themselves.
"The Xuanhuang Realm is a unique world forged with techniques meant for crafting an immortal domain, yet fashioned from mundane materials of the lower realm. In other words, it can be viewed as a downgraded immortal domain of sorts..." Li Fan thought of his method of using Source Power essence to replace immortal spiritual energy and drive the immortal formation, his eyes flickering.
"Though the Xuanhuang Realm innately possesses the attributes of the 'immortal,' constrained by a mortal vessel, its actual performance was no different from ordinary cultivation worlds. Only True Immortals could clearly see the clues within."
"No wonder the Heavenly Dao of Xuanhuang has such an odious temperament that alienates everyone. As it turns out, it is an exiled princess cast down into the mortal dust. No matter how well one treats her, the slightest disagreement with her wishes makes her give cold looks—or even turn hostile at any moment. And no matter how well you got along before, the moment a new powerhouse arrives with warm regards, she is very likely to throw herself into their arms instead..."
Recalling every detail of his own interactions with Xuanhuang's Heavenly Dao, as well as those of Mister Bai and the Saint Teacher, Li Fan gradually understood.
At the root of it all was the pride ingrained in the bones of Xuanhuang's Heavenly Dao. To it, no matter how well an ant treated it, an ant was still an ant. Circumstances might temporarily alter its attitude, but its deepest underlying perception remained unchanged.
Only an immortal—or perhaps even a half-immortal—could command genuine respect from the Xuanhuang Realm.
These innate characteristics of the Xuanhuang Realm caused numerous unexpected changes to suddenly crop up at the most crucial juncture of sublimation and ascension.
Li Fan merely snorted softly, looking on with cold detachment: "Lacking the destiny of a princess, yet afflicted with a princess's delusions!"
All manner of anomalous phenomena played out across the heaven and earth of Xuanhuang without ceasing.
Li Fan etched this dreamlike spectacle into his memory. Then, involuntarily, he looked toward a blank, insulated zone where no changes had taken place.
Daoyuan Province!
Although the Blurred Formation and the Xuanhuang Sentient Beings Formation did not blanket the interior of Daoyuan Province, they enveloped its surroundings. The power of the immortal formation diffused outward, isolating it from the outside world. Later, Li Fan had even erected a perimeter of high walls along the border of Daoyuan Province, thoroughly sealing it away.
Naturally, this was to prevent Archmage Tiandu from suddenly springing out to cause trouble at the final, crucial moment of sublimation.
In truth, beyond the two-piece set of the immortal formation and the high wall, Li Fan had meticulously prepared an additional surprise for the Archmage.
Along the borders of Daoyuan Province, eighteen bronze figures stood concealed within the Blurred Immortal Formation. Only Li Fan, the caster of these bronze figures, could see the two terrifying killing intents hidden within them:
The obliterating wind calamity and the decaying green vigor.
The obliterating wind calamity was something Li Fan had gathered from damaged immortal artifacts in the Xuanhuang Realm. So long as an immortal artifact survived in the world, it contained some of it to varying degrees, much like the Boundless Mirror.
As for the decaying green vigor, Li Fan had originally discovered it on the Thousand-Eyed Desolate God. It burned away the foundation sustaining a thing's vitality, possessing a destructive might no less horrifying than that of the obliterating wind calamity.
The obliterating wind calamity was the Dao Annihilation Tribulation's specialized evolution against immortal artifacts, while the decaying green vigor was an attack specifically tailored against immortal servants!
Two years ago, the Xuan Celestial Vessel, caught in relentless factional strife, had gradually descended into madness. Consistently at a disadvantage and approaching the end of its rope, the Immortal Pivot Court had finally gambled everything and released the Thousand-Eyed Desolate God. As the Desolate God ran amok, Li Fan had sensed that bizarre aura originating from a creation of the Immortal Realm and dispatched Tianyang to battle it and gain comprehension.
Tianyang had indeed attained some insight. At the same time, supported by a vast supply of True Immortal flesh and blood provided by Li Fan, he had successfully brought back the clinging, corrosive decaying green vigor.
Using True Immortal flesh and blood as a culture bed, Li Fan had cultivated a substantial amount of the decaying green vigor.
Although the obliterating wind calamity and decaying green vigor were already catastrophic terrors to mortals, their lethality was even more pronounced against beings of the "immortal" realm!
Two lives ago, when facing the obliterating wind calamity, the Saint Sovereign and the Heavenly Physician had felt terror, yet they had still exerted every effort to stop it. The Archmage, however, had fled headlong in panic. The Archmage's behavior laid bare his immense dread of the obliterating wind calamity.
Coupled with the decaying green vigor...
"Let us see what this Archmage is truly made of."
The mutations across the Xuanhuang Realm gradually settled.
Beyond evolving numerous grotto-heavens and blessed lands, four massive mountains rose at the four corners of heaven and earth.
Their highest peaks towered majestically like heavenly pillars, piercing straight into the clouds.
The four grand mountain ranges guarded the Xuanhuang Realm. Once they took shape and stabilized, the heaven and earth that had been trembling incessantly under the threshold of ascension seemed to gain support, naturally regaining stability!
"Do these correspond to the Immortal Realm's Immortal Heavenly Pillars?" Li Fan looked at the four mountain peaks, lost in thought.
The various transformations within the world seemed to stir ancient memories within Xuanhuang's Heavenly Dao. Even without actively probing, Li Fan could faintly sense its intensely agitated excitement.
Urged by it, Great Heavenly Venerable Wuming, who had already released all of his immortal spiritual energy, moved once more.
Wuming extended his left hand, and a small, dazzling golden bell slowly manifested. A fierce wind whipped up between heaven and earth, gently hoisting the golden bell as it ascended into the nine heavens.
As its altitude climbed, the golden bell's radiance grew increasingly bright. When it reached the sky and aligned with the sun above, the brilliant light bursting from the golden bell even engulfed the sun entirely!
*Hum...*
A crisp toll of the bell echoed through heaven and earth. The light abruptly retracted, plunging the Xuanhuang Realm into brief darkness. When the radiance reappeared, only a single sun remained in the sky, and...
It was not the same as before.
"The Great Sun Golden Bell!" Li Fan's pupils contracted abruptly as he recognized the immortal artifact that had replaced the sun in Xuanhuang's sky.
With the golden bell transformed into the sun, an unsettling dread welled up in the hearts of all living beings in the Xuanhuang Realm. It felt as though a sharp sword hung suspended above their heads, liable to fall at any moment.
At the same time, Li Fan felt the burden on his shoulders—borne from the true Great Heavenly Venerable's manifestation—grow heavier by a notch!
Seeing that Great Heavenly Venerable Wuming's movements continued even after turning the golden bell into the sun, Li Fan's expression turned solemn.
The second immortal artifact Great Heavenly Venerable Wuming produced was an ordinary-looking disc.
The moment it left Wuming's hand, it split into five colors—white, green, black, red, and yellow—surging rapidly into heaven and earth like immortal spiritual energy.
The diverse colors of the Xuanhuang Realm grew markedly more vivid, and a distinct vitality began to gestate.
Beyond these five colors, Li Fan inexplicably sensed another formless, intangible power diffusing from the disc and flowing to every corner of the Xuanhuang Realm.
The Blurred Formation he had deployed to firmly shackle the Xuanhuang Realm actually loosened slightly under the impact of this mysterious power.
Correspondingly, the weight on Li Fan's shoulders grew heavier once more.
"The Hunyuan Five Elements Roulette!" Li Fan narrowed his eyes, yet he still made no move to stop Wuming's actions.
When Great Heavenly Venerable Wuming brought forth the third immortal artifact, the hurried wailing of an infant abruptly rang in Li Fan's ears.
Li Fan recognized the source of the sound in an instant.
Heavenly Venerable Wuyou.
With a cold sneer, Li Fan paid it no heed. With a wave of his sleeve, he dispersed the sound.
Li Fan naturally understood why Wuyou, who had previously hidden away like a turtle retracting its head, would appear at this moment.
The power of the Xuanhuang Realm and the power of Xuanhuang's cultivators existed in an inverse relationship.
Previously, because the overall strength of Xuanhuang's cultivators far exceeded that of the realm itself, even the arrival of a true Great Heavenly Venerable had an almost negligible impact on the world's cultivators.
Now, however, as Great Heavenly Venerable Wuming continually fused immortal artifacts into Xuanhuang's heaven and earth, ceaselessly tipping the scales, the cultivators were gradually falling into a disadvantaged position.
Truly, the weight of a single immortal artifact surpassed that of hundreds of millions of living beings!
Even if these were merely immortal artifacts that had been used countless times and whose immortal spiritual energy was nearly depleted, it was still so!
Nevertheless, the integration of immortal artifacts carried only benefits and no drawbacks for the Xuanhuang Realm's formal ascension. Hence, Li Fan continued to let Wuming proceed.
At this moment, the third artifact dissolving into heaven and earth was precisely the Taixu Qingming Lamp.
Ethereal flames flickered erratically. The frequency of their flickering grew faster and faster until they seemed to halt entirely. In that instant, Li Fan saw the heaven and earth of Xuanhuang flicker along with them. Then the flames gradually died out, and the Taixu Qingming Lamp turned into specks of cinder that drifted away with the wind.
"This is..."
Yet another layer of immortal artifact power stacked onto the realm.
The moment this restriction took hold, Li Fan's figure standing in the void sank slightly, despite himself.
Li Fan paid it no mind. Loosening his body, he raised his head to gaze beyond the heavens.
The moment the flames of the Taixu Qingming Lamp were extinguished—or rather, the moment it merged into the Xuanhuang Realm—Li Fan felt with absolute clarity that the gravitational pull from the Immortal Ruins had been weakened to a degree.
Not only the pull of the Immortal Ruins, but the efficacy of the Blurred Formation acting upon the Xuanhuang Realm was also diminished further.
The ascending Xuanhuang Realm resembled a ferocious beast slowly breaking free from Li Fan's control.
When Great Heavenly Venerable Wuming took out the final immortal artifact, the Purple Qi Dream-Weaving Shuttle, Heavenly Venerable Wuyou's wails sounded in Li Fan's ears once more. This time, however, the cries were far weaker than before. It seemed the cultivators of the reverse-principle longevity path suffered far greater impacts than Li Fan.
Not only in reality, but within the Carefree Dreamland Paradise, every cultivator Li Fan had secretly dispatched to investigate the dreamscapes also heard the same sound. Only Hou Mingwu, who had ventured deep into the Level 8 dream world, was spared.
Li Fan's expression stirred slightly. After pondering for a moment, he slowly began communicating with Xuanhuang's Heavenly Dao.
"Too much is as bad as too little. The nourishment of three immortal artifacts is already sufficient."
"It would be better to leave the last one to protect the Great Heavenly Venerable."
"Ascension is imminent; there is no time left to digest it."
...
Li Fan appealed with both reason and sentiment.
Having already swallowed three immortal artifacts and currently gripped by insatiable craving, the Xuanhuang Realm fell into hesitation before Li Fan's advice.
Yet the journey to immortality was like rowing against the current—to fail to advance was to fall back. In the brief span of its hesitation, the Xuanhuang Realm's rainbow-like momentum actually showed signs of slowly sagging.
Xuanhuang's Heavenly Dao was instantly startled awake.
It ordered Great Heavenly Venerable Wuming to halt the sacrifice of immortal artifacts.
At the same time, the clamorous wailing of the infant in Li Fan's ears ceased.
With Wuming's task finished, it was now Li Fan's turn to take the stage.
Having rehearsed the sublimation procedures in advance with Xuanhuang's Heavenly Dao, Li Fan bowed slightly toward the Xuanhuang sky.
An Imperial Edict Jade Plaque promptly appeared in his hand.
This jade plaque represented the will of Xuanhuang's Heavenly Dao.
Holding the jade plaque, he could mobilize all the power within the world as freely as the Heavenly Dao itself,
rather than needing to act by feigning the Mandate of Heaven.
Li Fan took a step forward. His body grew with the wind, transforming within a few breaths into a colossus that propped up the sky and touched the earth.
A mysterious robe patterned in black and gold draped over him, while a starlight-gleaming crown concealed the expressions on his face.
Gripping the Imperial Edict Jade Plaque with both hands, Li Fan lightly traced it across the Xuanhuang earth below.
Earth veins rumbled, and mountains shook.
Across the swath of land Li Fan swept over, the spiritual energy instantly boiled away into nothingness, forming a colossal power vacuum.
Then, with the cooperation of Xuanhuang's Heavenly Dao, the last remnants of immortal spiritual energy within heaven and earth were swept up by the surrounding spiritual power and channeled into this vacuum basin.
Employing the Phenomenon of Heaven and Earth, Li Fan used the Imperial Edict Jade Plaque as a brush to write across the Xuanhuang Realm: "Creation"!
Although his current cultivation realm was insufficient to mobilize immortal spiritual energy directly, he could use this method to artificially create a specialized zone, drawing the immortal spiritual energy in of its own accord.
This was the most colossal True Immortal seal character Li Fan had ever inscribed to date.
It could only be barely traced by borrowing the power of a super Xuanhuang Realm pushed to the threshold of sublimation.
Had he relied solely on his own power, even with the Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven and the Xuanhuang World-Extinguishing Transformation as his foundation, he would have been drained dry in an instant.
Yet now, vitality from the basins and trenches of the star sea was continuously extracted.
Taishang Qiushui transformed into a blue sword shadow, shuttling across Xuanhuang to evenly infuse the boundless power of the star sea.
Coupled with all manner of power previously absorbed by the Xuanhuang Realm that had not yet been fully digested—such as remnant realm fragments—
these forces converged like fuel, detonating the "Creation" character in a blaze of glory.
Creation played out across the Xuanhuang Realm.
The four Immortal Pillars surged upward once more, connecting directly with heaven. The grotto-heavens and blessed lands overflowed with light, the laws contained within them growing ever more sacred. The living beings across the land reaped without sowing, their souls and physical constitutions advancing by leaps and bounds without effort...
Amidst the unfolding of these numerous auspicious omens, the momentum of Xuanhuang's ascension continued to surge upward at breakneck speed.
The so-called Creation was unfolding right before his eyes.
Watching the dramatic transformation of the Xuanhuang Realm that he had orchestrated with his own hands, and reflecting upon the differences before and after the change,
as well as the myriad details of his communications with the consciousness of Xuanhuang's Heavenly Dao at every stage,
Li Fan's expression froze slightly.
"Is it Heaven, or is it Man?"
"Heaven and Man are no different."
"If Heaven can attain Creation, so too can Man."
"Sitting upon a mountain allows one to ascend to Heaven; sitting upon Heaven..."
"Allows one to ascend to Immortality!"
Countless luminescent characters arranged and rearranged themselves in Li Fan's mind, shifting continuously.
Ultimately, they coalesced into a dazzling cultivation method.
The Heaven-Sitting Formula!
Ever since deducing the Mountain-Sitting Formula into the Immortal-Sitting Formula, Li Fan's primary cultivation technique had fallen into an awkward, near-useless state.
This was because what held Li Fan back was no longer his cultivation base, but the bottlenecks of major realms.
No matter how vast one's cultivation grew, if one could not cross that hurdle, it was all for naught!
As a result, Li Fan had almost forgotten his primary cultivation method—a rare spectacle in cultivation, to say the least.
Yet at this moment, observing the Xuanhuang Realm continuously soaring and metamorphosing under the drive of the power of Creation, inspiration struck naturally.
Like water carving a channel, he deduced and perfected the Mountain-Sitting Formula to its next stage.
The Heaven-Sitting Formula had long been within Li Fan's conceptualizations. Beholding the sacred spectacle and grasping the divine technique now stirred only slight ripples in his heart.
After all, to him, elevating his realm was far more important than increasing his cultivation base. Having witnessed the infinite power of the star sea and mastered the Divine Art of Juntian, so long as his realm advanced, raising his cultivation base was effortless.
Li Fan's heart remained devoid of joy and sorrow.
The Heaven-Sitting Formula was a technique Li Fan had deduced himself, familiar to him in every detail. Sharing the same root and origin as the Mountain-Sitting Formula, he cultivated it to perfection with a mere thought.
At this moment, as the Xuanhuang Realm charged ahead on the path of ascending to an immortal domain, the feedback power from the Heaven-Sitting Formula surged forth like a torrential river.
Already at the peak of Soul Formation with the bottleneck not yet broken, the excess cultivation could only be stored away for the time being.
Phantoms of Tribulation Bodies from the Taishang Sect manifested within Li Fan's form.
Now, however, Li Fan could faintly sense that these Tribulation Bodies bore an indistinct connection to a certain being in the Carefree Dreamland Paradise.
"Even if I am willing to let dogs and chickens ascend to heaven..."
"You are not among them."
Li Fan shook his head slightly, his expression detached.
The Tribulation Bodies in his dantian shattered inch by inch. Then, poured over by the seemingly endless feedback power, they abruptly morphed from phantoms of Li Fan into the likeness of the Xuanhuang Realm!
Across multiple cycles of Samsara, Li Fan had practically stripped the Xuanhuang Realm down to its bones, digging three feet into the earth.
With every world-ending destruction, everything within the Xuanhuang Realm had been laid bare before Li Fan without reservation.
In this world, none understood the Xuanhuang Realm better than Li Fan.
Even Xuanhuang's Heavenly Dao itself remained unaware of the numerous means Li Fan had deeply implanted into Xuanhuang's flesh.
When understanding became concrete enough to form a complete concept,
under the replication of his will, the Xuanhuang Realm phantom formed within Li Fan's dantian proved identical to the real Xuanhuang Realm!
Apart from the absence of living creatures, every other detail corresponded perfectly.
What astonished Li Fan even more was that the energy level of the world phantom formed by this feedback power was almost entirely identical to that of the present Xuanhuang Realm!
In other words, the world phantom poured into existence within Li Fan's dantian through the feedback power of Xuanhuang's ascension could be regarded entirely as a second Xuanhuang Realm.
The only difference was that this Xuanhuang Realm existed purely as pure energy!
"How... can this be?"
"How could there be so much feedback power?"
Even as the creator of the technique, Li Fan was stunned by the sight before him.
Yet, having witnessed grand spectacles before, he quickly regained his clarity. His expression held no delight, turning solemn instead.
"The principle of the Heaven-Sitting Formula is similar to that of the Mountain-Sitting Formula. Reaping without sowing: as you advance, I advance alongside you."
"Now I have exhausted all my means, and Xuanhuang's ascension is short by only a single sliver. It has been sublimating for so long, yet it still hasn't achieved that qualitative transformation..."
"Previously, I could not quantify the evolution of the Xuanhuang Realm's energy levels during ascension. But now, based on the world phantoms generated in my dantian, I can roughly deduce the changes in Xuanhuang's process of ascending to immortality."
Li Fan stared into his dantian.
Shortly after the first world phantom was completely filled,
a second one abruptly appeared.
Within a few breaths, thirteen Xuanhuang Realm projections had emerged.
Moreover, judging by the momentum, it showed no sign of stopping.
"Thirteen times the total energy of the Xuanhuang Realm at its critical threshold of sublimation."
"That must be hundreds or thousands of times the energy of the original, ordinary Xuanhuang Realm."
"Even such terrifically monstrous energy is still insufficient to propel the Xuanhuang Realm through its immortal ascension metamorphosis..."
"Could it be that one truly must deploy all the chess pieces left by Sun Piaomiao and rely on his hidden contingencies to recreate an immortal domain in the mortal realm?"
"Is the disparity between immortal methods truly this vast?"
An ominous premonition suddenly welled in Li Fan's heart.
And Li Fan's premonitions were invariably accurate.
When the immortal spiritual energy from the Great Heavenly Venerable's legacy was completely consumed,
and when the "Creation" character, starved of its driving force, slowly faded away,
the dramatic transformation occurring within the Xuanhuang Realm came to an abrupt halt.
A sudden silence fell over heaven and earth.
Then, a horrifying catastrophe occurred.
As the old saying went, the higher one climbed, the harder one fell. Now Li Fan watched as the Xuanhuang Realm verified this firsthand.
Thoughts of panicked fury, terror, and despair from Xuanhuang's Heavenly Dao assailed Li Fan madly,
pleading for him to intervene.
Yet very quickly, the thoughts of Xuanhuang's Heavenly Dao were drowned out by an unspeakable, colossal roar that reverberated through the world.
The Pseudo-Immortal Heavenly Pillars at the four corners of the world collapsed like toys.
The celestial canopy seemed easily sliced open by a razor-sharp blade, vast black chasms instantly spreading across it.
Mountains caved in, and the earth fractured.
Even under the shelter of the Blurred Immortal Formation, the living beings of the Xuanhuang Realm perished soundlessly one after another under the concussions of this descending roar.
Countless remedies flashed through Li Fan's mind in an instant,
yet none seemed capable of reversing this apocalyptic collapse.
If Li Fan might have retained a sliver of life from the world's plunge alone,
the billows of black qi that surged en masse from the wounds of heaven and earth as the world broke apart extinguished all hope of survival.
Like a tsunami, it swept over everything in an instant, enveloping the Xuanhuang Realm.
Li Fan vaguely caught sight of the True Immortal pursuing enlightenment in the Immortal Ruins fleeing outside the Xuanhuang Realm in sheer horror.
Within Daoyuan Province, the Archmage's phantom morphed into an eerie, blurred brilliance, attempting to flee, only to be effortlessly swallowed by a single crest of the black qi tide, unable to put up the slightest struggle.
The boundless Carefree Dreamland Paradise was also collapsing layer by layer.
All the living beings eking out an existence within the dreams perished alongside it.
...
The speed of the fall grew faster and faster.
The fury of the black qi tide became ever more terrifying.
And beyond these billowing black mists, something even more indescribable seemed to be closing in.
Li Fan let out a soft sigh, forced to admit that this attempt at ascending to immortality had ended in failure.
"I miscalculated after all."
As that thought flashed through his mind, the Dao Annihilation black qi descended abruptly,
swallowing Li Fan whole.
...
...
...
The scene shifted abruptly.
Li Fan stood once more, completely unharmed, his expression grave beyond measure.
Current point in time: twelve double-hours before Li Fan's Dao Integration and ascension.
"It actually failed?"
"Every preparation was in place, yet it still fell short at the final step."
"Relying solely on the accumulation of quantity can apparently only bring one infinitely close to the 'immortal.'"
"To truly metamorphose into an immortal, another crucial element is required..."
"Just what could it be?"
Having used Trueness's advance simulation, the time Li Fan had left in this life was growing short.
Chapter 1399