It was as though a fallen Nameless True Immortal was being reborn from withered bones.
Light leaped and shifted as a hazy human figure emerged from the overlapping True Immortal bones.
Centered on the figure, the scenery of the surrounding immortal domain warped entirely. It was as if this Nameless one was repelling all the Great Dao laws that comprised the immortal domain.
Yet with the aid of the Mound-Guarding Lord's phantom power, Li Fan could faintly discern that what the Nameless figure was doing was not mere rejection. After distinctly separating itself from the Dao of the immortal domain, it was silently transforming everything it touched and assimilating it into itself.
Perhaps describing it as "absorption" was inappropriate; the word "transformation" was far more fitting.
Those parts of the immortal domain that vanished had not been absorbed by the Nameless Immortal's figure. Rather, under the sway of an unfathomable force, they had become existences whose essence was virtually identical to that human figure.
All of this was identical to the scene Li Fan had once witnessed when the immortal domain unfolded for the first time and the Wordless Stele emerged.
All things reverted to the primal origin, returning upon the Wordless Stele; the evolution of the Dao traced back to the Dao's primordial inception!
At this moment, Li Fan clearly saw the Dao that this Nameless Immortal figure had integrated with.
"[Primordial Beginning]."
The immense weight of these two words needed no explanation.
It could re-establish earth, fire, water, and wind, returning a world to its newly opened primal state.
The Immortal Heavenly Pillar, originally meant to withstand Dao Annihilation in a region, had transformed into a swirling vortex devouring the immortal domain once its true form was revealed.
The immortal domain collapsed even faster than Li Fan had anticipated.
What made Li Fan's heart tighten even more was that as the Dao of Primordial Beginning multiplied in this space, the Nameless Immortal's figure blurred once more, as if it might escape this phantom space at any moment.
Even with the vision of the Mound-Guarding Lord's phantom, it began to be difficult to pinpoint Primordial Beginning's exact location.
Knowing delay brought danger, Li Fan hesitated no longer.
Upon the grandmaster's chair, as though quadrillions of supernovas were detonating at once, the Dao Net projected by Li Buren's divine sense instantly flared into an incomparably dazzling white light.
And within the phantom space, a pair of tangible, giant hands abruptly descended.
Crossing from illusion into reality, they fiercely grabbed Primordial Beginning at the center of the crumbling immortal domain.
The deadlock lasted only a few breaths before the victor was decided.
During this confrontation, Li Fan also glimpsed a few clues regarding the two powers.
Primordial Beginning was the very inception of the Dao. Divine and elusive though it was, it remained a manifestation of the Dao's power.
Meanwhile, the aura of the Mound-Guarding Lord's power seemed closer to "the Mountain and the Sea." Even Primordial Beginning, despite its transcendent status among the three thousand Great Daos, was forced to submit obediently.
"Even though this skeleton only represents a portion of Primordial Beginning's power, what opposed it was merely the phantom left behind by the Mound-Guarding Lord."
"From the changes observed just now, it is clear that the Mound-Guarding Lord's strength is superior to Primordial Beginning."
"Guarding the mound, gazing upon the sea..."
To resist on one's own a calamity capable of annihilating even the Great Dao had clearly exceeded the upper limits of an "immortal cultivator who comprehends the Dao."
"Only a mountain can hold back the sea."
"Yet what exactly does this 'Mountain' refer to?"
The earth-shaking descent of Primordial Beginning's phantom was suppressed without a sound.
Under Li Buren's precise control, the tangible giant hands compressed it, along with the remnants of the immortal domain and the fragments of the Wordless Stele, into a lone stone pillar.
Then, it was hurled forcefully toward the starry sky of the testing ground within the Great Wall, directly into the area where the Dao Annihilation black qi appeared most frequently.
The effect was immediate.
That heart-stopping, obscure fluctuation vanished without a trace in an instant, as if it had never existed.
The Dao Annihilation black qi, which previously would never disappear without cause and only grew increasingly fierce, now gradually dissipated like water severed from its source.
"Truly worthy of Primordial Beginning. Among the countless laws of the Great Dao in heaven and earth, it occupies an absolutely crucial position. Its effect in propping up against Dao Annihilation is even better than I imagined."
"No wonder it was chosen as the material to construct the Southern Immortal Heavenly Pillar." Li Fan observed that Dao Pillar.
Merely a few breaths after its initial appearance, it had now dissolved into the Great Dao of heaven and earth like ice melting into water.
Mortal eyes were denied sight of it.
Even Li Fan's true body could only faintly perceive that something seemed unusual in that space, unable to probe to the bottom of it.
Only by borrowing the Mound-Guarding Lord's vision could he see through it.
"Aside from the Southern Immortal Heavenly Pillar, the other immortal pillars might likewise conceal Nameless skeletons of Daos no lesser than Primordial Beginning."
"These things ought to be the sloughed remains left behind by the Nameless after their transcendence."
From the memories of Qian Ruochang and Immortal Wu, Li Fan had gleaned many secrets.
Once a True Immortal achieved transcendence and broke free from the shackles of heaven and earth's Great Dao, the Dao they had integrated with ceased to exist in this possibility.
This was also one of the causes Li Fan had previously conjectured for the onset of the Dao Annihilation Tribulation.
Yet clearly, not all of these seniors who had cultivated to the pinnacle of True Immortals completely disregarded the lives and deaths of their peers.
"According to Qian Ruochang, before transcending and departing, they would leave behind sloughed remains, phantoms, or precious treasures to shoulder a portion of the duties of the missing Great Dao."
"What is inside these Immortal Heavenly Pillars should be what the transcended True Immortals of the past left behind."
"However, compared to the Mound-Guarding Lord's method of 'Phantom Bearing the Dao,' this method of leaving behind sloughed remains seems..."
Li Fan studied the stone pillar, recalling how the Primordial Beginning skeleton had previously seemed conscious and tried to follow him through Revert to the True. He also recalled how, after the two identical bones overlapped, signs of Primordial Beginning's figure had actually manifested.
"It is not an existence completely independent of oneself like the phantom bearing the Dao. Even if it can be cast aside for a time..."
Li Fan pondered. "After the minor transcendence of leaping out of a single possibility comes the major transcendence of uniting the countless possibilities into one. That is to say, true transcendence."
"To take that step, one likely still has to reclaim the things one once left behind."
A realization dawned upon Li Fan.
That was probably why certain transcended True Immortals had been unwilling to leave behind objects to stabilize the Dao.
As Li Fan reflected, the repercussions caused by invoking the Mound-Guarding Lord's phantom power had completely cleared up.
With the two Primordial Beginning bones serving as an immortal pillar, just as Li Fan had suspected, they shared a portion of the burden of the phantom bearing the Dao.
Li Fan sensed slightly: "Quantified, it is approximately equivalent to the power of one and one-third Primordial Beginning bones that I can invoke at will."
"I only need to consider the trend-based changes Li Buren suffers, without worrying about the sky suddenly collapsing or the Dao Annihilation Tribulation falling upon the world."
"Of course, as time passes, the pressure of Dao Annihilation borne by it will surely grow greater and greater. The power I can tap into will gradually weaken."
Yet Li Fan was already very satisfied with the current outcome.
"In other words, if I can capture another Nameless True Immortal to serve as an immortal pillar, I will be able to free up another portion of power."
"Until I completely liberate the power of the Mound-Guarding Lord's phantom."
Li Fan was daydreaming when the dire state of Li Buren's divine sense instantly dragged him back to reality.
Invoking the Mound-Guarding Lord's phantom repeatedly had subjected Li Buren to power erosion far exceeding his limits.
Li Fan focused his mind on his clone's Dao Net projection. In a sudden daze, he seemed to glimpse that figure with its back turned, guarding the mound and gazing upon the sea.
Only after breaking into an inexplicable cold sweat did he snap out of the hallucination.
"Even if the Mound-Guarding phantom holds no malice, invoking it so frequently is like injection-molding under tremendous external force. The clone has uncontrollably deformed from the inside out."
"By analogy, when Heavenly Dao Bai descended into the world using my clone back then, it was the exact same principle."
Knowing he could not rush things, Li Fan put an end to the idea of continuing to invoke the Mound-Guarding phantom in the short term.
"Unless I encounter an uncontrollable situation."
"Right now, I must trace things back to the source and first restore the clone to its original form."
This was not a difficult task for Li Fan.
With his true body serving as an anchor, he could compare the two and shave away the Mound-Guarding Lord's influence step by step like scraping bone and cutting away flesh. It was merely troublesome and time-consuming.
"Once the restoration is complete, I must also find a way to enhance the clone's endurance."
"Otherwise, even with Nameless power in hand, the time I can invoke it will remain limited."
Regarding this, Li Fan already had a faint idea.
The Mound-Guarding Lord's power seemed to stem from the mountains and the sea.
Only the mountain and the sea could control the mountain and the sea.
And inside Li Fan's body, there happened to be something that could be tenuously linked to the "sea."
"The power of the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha."
Although he had integrated with the Dao by devouring the Heaven and Earth Immortal Soul Mo Sha, allowing him to wield this mystical power freely, Li Fan had not previously possessed a complete insight into the essence of the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha's power.
Yet now, having obtained the Mound-Guarding Lord's sea-gazing insights spanning over a hundred tribulations, Li Fan hazily grasped something.
The Dao Net projection within Li Buren's divine sense was twisted and warped, as if roughly burst open. It had even temporarily fallen somewhat out of sync with his connection to the true body.
Li Fan was in no rush to make the trip in person. Instead, he sat firmly in the command tent without moving.
While slowly restoring the Dao Net projection, he injected wisps of the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha's power into the clone's repaired divine sense.
"The black qi is an omen of the imminent arrival of Dao Annihilation."
"Like spray formed by seawater crashing against the mountain body."
"Or rather, the manifestation of mountain and sea blending together." Li Fan's eyes flashed.
With the infusion of wisps of ink color, the originally pure, dazzling Dao Net projection seemed draped in a shadowy black border.
Although it still mirrored the Great Daos of the heavens, it possessed something different compared to before.
In Li Fan's instinctive perception, this projected net had become slightly more "sturdy."
Yet Li Fan was in no hurry to test it.
Instead, over and over, as if constantly outlining with broad strokes of a brush, he repeated the process until the clone Li Buren's divine sense completely transitioned from illusory to solid.
His entire body seemed composed of the manifested Dao Net projection, while the power of the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha served as the flesh and blood that filled it out.
Under Li Fan's meticulous crafting, a brand-new body was finally born.
Li Buren clenched his fists. Without an immortal domain body, his strength seemed to have weakened.
Yet he could also very clearly feel that he had become far more resilient.
Looking toward the starry sky of the testing ground, where remnants of the Dao Annihilation black qi lingered, Li Buren remained expressionless. Opening his mouth wide, he swallowed those dissipating clouds of black qi straight into his belly.
The billowing black qi, potent enough to annihilate everything in the world, churned within Li Buren's belly.
Yet Li Buren felt only a bout of severe pain.
His body itself did not dissipate.
If it had been his previous body made of immortal domain fragments, it certainly would not have achieved such formidable resilience.
"Just as I thought."
The deduction in his heart was verified. Li Fan experienced the churning inside the clone's belly.
"The collision of the Mountain and the Sea."
His thoughts seemed to return to those long years spanning over a hundred tribulations recorded in the *Mound-Guarding Jottings*.
Watching the waters of the vast, boundless ocean incessantly wash against and batter the mountain beneath him.
Every collision between the two brought about some transformation in the mortal realm.
"A pity. The Mound-Guarding heritage was shared among the other immortal domain chess pieces; otherwise, I should have been able to fathom the true essence of the Mountain and the Sea." After watching and comprehending for a long time to no avail, Li Fan had no choice but to regrettably withdraw from that profound state on his own initiative.
The Mountain and the Sea were clearly not things of the mortal realm.
Even an immersive visualization had brought corresponding changes to Li Fan.
The most direct was his lifespan.
After entering the Half-Immortal realm, Li Fan's lifespan had become infinite—equivalent to that of this mortal realm: 7,360,000 years.
Though not a fixed constant and subject to fluctuations based on Li Fan's actions and movements, those variations had been confined below the magnitude of ten thousands, only shifting in the thousands, hundreds, tens, or single digits.
Now, however, this lifespan had abruptly plummeted.
It had been slashed by a full third!
Li Fan stared at the number, his expression turning rather subtle.
"Logically speaking, the stronger I am, the higher the likelihood of saving the entire mortal realm."
"Theoretically, this lifespan number should have skyrocketed."
"How is it that my glimpse into the mysteries of the Mountain and the Sea actually caused the future survival of the entire mortal realm to plummet as well?"
Li Fan was completely baffled.
Yet evidently, this was not a good omen.
Li Fan did not stubbornly persist.
"It seems the secret of the Mountain and the Sea is not something I can touch right now."
"Better to first perfect my clone's body and increase its endurance."
"If the full power of the Mound-Guarding Lord's phantom can be unlocked, it should be enough for me to run rampant across this shattered possibility."
Presently, to Li Fan, the phantom power in the testing ground was like a balance scale. To invoke the Mound-Guarding power, he first had to place an equivalent weight onto the scale.
"Right now, what I can tap into without pressure is only the power of one and one-third Primordial Beginning bones. The path of Primordial Beginning is the immortal of ten thousand Daos; even if it is merely left-behind skeletal remains, it shouldn't be much weaker than an ordinary Nameless True Immortal."
"If all else fails, I can liberate even more Mound-Guarding power."
Li Fan pondered his next hunting target.
Currently, there were not many Nameless True Immortals whose identities were known.
Li Fan first turned his gaze toward the Immortal Ruins outside the Xuanhuang Realm.
Aside from the Hunger Immortal, who faintly approached the realm of a Nameless True Immortal, there was also the power beneath her—likely left by the previous Hunger Immortal to hold back Dao Annihilation.
Although the Hunger Immortal was being trampled underfoot at will by Sinister Su Bai without even realizing it, with Li Fan's current strength, scheming against her still required careful planning.
Moreover, Li Fan did not merely want to capture a True Immortal at her current strength.
He greedily wanted even more: to capture the genuine Hunger Immortal who had attained the Nameless realm.
Chapter 1473