After the slash of Revert to the True, dead silence fell.
The Archmage seemed frozen, his expression locked. In the end, he never had the chance to cry out "Save me!" His body looked as if veiled in a layer of gray, turning dim and lusterless.
Li Buren did not let down his guard, for the Archmage's signs of life had not yet faded. But after observing for a long while, he finally confirmed that his opponent would move no more.
His spirituality sheared to the absolute limit, the Archmage had not died, yet he had turned into something akin to a stone statue.
Around the stone statue, it remained a forbidden zone for the myriad Great Daos.
The effect of "Great Daos, disperse" was hardly weaker than when the Archmage was still active. It simply was no longer directed deliberately at anyone, radiating its inherent nature naturally into its surroundings. Because of this, Li Buren was barely able to keep his body from falling apart.
He stared at this stone statue, inspecting it closely. After a long while, he finally discerned some subtle clues.
"It seems the Archmage didn't lie."
"He truly possesses an immense connection to Wuji prior to the Innate. It is even possible that, just like the beast race's Primordial Dao Manifestation, he is a direct manifestation of the Great Dao."
"No..."
Recalling the Archmage's earlier words, as well as how naive he remained despite living for tens of millions of years, Li Buren surmised that the Archmage might not have achieved manifestation purely on his own.
Rather, it had been through someone else's enlightenment.
"After Wuji, heaven and earth were born. The Archmage's Wuji is indeed genuine. Those qualified to enlighten an innate being like him could probably only be the Four Sacred Sovereigns of the Immortal Realm."
"Lianshan, Guihai..."
"The Four Sacred Sovereigns trace back to the inception of the Immortal Realm. Even the entire cultivation system of Immortals was created by them. As a remnant of the Dao of Wuji left behind after heaven and earth were cleaved open, the Archmage was discovered by them and enlightened into human form."
As Li Buren pondered, he had gradually pieced together the Archmage's past.
"Wuji." He contemplated the peculiar power surging from the stone statue before him.
If the Sacred Sovereigns of the Immortal Realm had bestowed life upon the Archmage, then Li Fan had sliced that "life" away stroke by stroke.
And restored him to the state he was originally meant to be.
Void of personal desires or thoughts, just pure Wuji.
Wuji and the world evolved from the Great Daos were destined to be mutually incompatible. In life, the Archmage could still suppress his power, but after his consciousness vanished, the power of Wuji lost its restraint and began gradually diffusing outward.
This was an inevitable trend.
Just like the birth and extinction of Daos, the waxing and waning of Daos, it belonged to the inherent "destiny" of heaven and earth's Great Daos—irresistible and unstoppable.
"If it is left to spread, the Primordial possibility will restart earth, fire, water, and wind, centered around the Xuanhuang Realm."
"However, this kind of destruction is vastly different from the Dao Annihilation Tribulation. This is an evolution born of heaven and earth themselves, a unique cycle of Samsara. Even if it returns to Wuji, after a span of years, heaven and earth will inevitably open anew one day. But if swallowed by the Dao Annihilation Tribulation..."
"That would be eternal extinction."
Li Buren was not driven back by the power of Wuji. Instead, he drew upon more strength from the phantom of the Duke of Shouqiu, suppressing the diffusion rate of Wuji as much as possible.
Although dealing with the Archmage was troublesome, since he had already guessed that Li Fan might possess Revert to the True, there was no reason to let him live.
Moreover, in those final moments, the Archmage had already begun calling for help.
Had he managed to summon that last surviving senior martial uncle Sacred Sovereign, even under the protection of the Duke of Shouqiu's phantom, Li Fan would have been forced into an ignominious return via Revert to the True.
"This turn of events happened entirely because I underestimated the Archmage's origins. But it wasn't that I was careless; who could have imagined that Archmage Tiandu, who fought back and forth with King Xuantian, had such an enormous background? Not only is he linked to the Immortal Realm, he's an innate being..." Li Fan's true body ordered Li Buren to stay on watch by the Archmage's stone statue for now, while he used Li Buren's perspective to simultaneously observe and comprehend Wuji, sighing with emotion.
Even after taking down such an exalted figure whose origin and background surpassed all others in the Primordial possibility, Li Fan felt not the slightest guilt or trepidation.
After truly recognizing the power of Revert to the True and confirming the fact that he was useful to it—and that it would likely step in to save him in critical moments—he was no longer so afraid, even of the Four Sacred Sovereigns of the Immortal Realm.
"The state of Wuji prior to the birth of heaven and earth is still encompassed within possibilities. With a single thought, Revert to the True constructs possibility from nothingness. It can even return to a time before heaven and earth opened..."
"That means this Wuji is likewise included within the authority of the transformation of true and false."
Wuji repelled the Great Daos of the world, but for beings that transcended the mortal world, this repelling property was heavily diminished.
Aided by the phantom of the Duke of Shouqiu, Li Buren was barely able to gain footing and restrict it.
While Li Fan, relying on the power of Revert to the True, could comprehend it—and even harness it for his own use!
This was the conclusion Li Fan arrived at after observing the Archmage's stone statue for a long time.
"Using the transformation of true and false to simulate Wuji."
Likely because he had been steeped in the myriad bygone memories of the mortal world during the storm of Revert to the True's thoughts, Li Fan sensed that his comprehension ability had advanced substantially once again.
Even toward this Wuji, he vaguely felt a sense of familiarity. Naturally, this familiarity did not refer to Archmage Tiandu.
Rather, it was as if Li Fan had also become an innate being, having observed Wuji from an outsider's perspective before heaven and earth were born.
This inherent advantage allowed him, with a terrifying speed that defied all reason, to quickly gain initial mastery over the application of Wuji.
Or rather, "simulation."
A point of gray light flickered to life at Li Fan's fingertip.
The previously stable Great Daos of heaven and earth instantly turned chaotic. Wherever the gray light reached, the Daos yielded and receded, forming an absolute void where only gray light existed.
Lasting a mere three breaths, Li Fan depleted the power of one Xuanhuang Realm phantom within his body. The rapid consumption of energy made circulation difficult for a moment. Moreover, Li Fan did not possess the trait of "infinity."
Thus, having merely tested the waters, he promptly dispersed the gray light at his fingertip.
Accompanying the massive energy drain was an overwhelming mental exhaustion.
Far exceeding his earlier replication of the Dao Transformation Mother Stone via "false becoming true," Li Fan felt as if he had lived through several cycles of reincarnation in those few brief moments.
"It seems that right now, I cannot forcibly simulate and wield it too much."
"Yet to save my life at a critical juncture, nothing could be better."
"As long as an opponent has not transcended to mountains and seas and remains within the system of the Great Daos, I can disregard them to a great extent..."
"No matter how high their cultivation, the result is the same. This is the suppression of the post-natal by the innate."
Observing from a bystander's perspective and personal control were two entirely different experiences.
Though Li Fan had easily severed the Archmage's spirituality, making this attendant boy under the Sacred Sovereign appear pitiably weak...
...only now, having gained some mastery over the power of Wuji, did Li Fan truly understand its terror.
"A strike that almost disregards differences in cultivation."
"No wonder the Archmage always seemed so indifferent to everything. Even having lived for tens of millions of years, he lacked cunning and intrigue. With the power of Wuji shielding him, the vast majority of happenings in the world could not affect him. Naturally, there was no need to scheme against others or overthink. Innate strength... is, ironically, a kind of restraint."
"Perhaps he is still best suited to be an attendant boy before some grand figure."
Thinking of this, Li Fan narrowed his eyes, an idea forming in his mind.
Yet it was only a preliminary notion.
Specific execution would have to wait for future lifetimes.
With the help of his true body, Li Buren finally managed to rein in the Wuji that was on the verge of spreading.
The price, however, was having to divert a portion of his power.
The surplus power gained from suppressing the Hunger Immortal was thus slashed nearly in half.
Yet Li Fan deemed this trade entirely worthwhile.
Putting aside the power of Wuji he had peeked into and learned, the information dropped in the Archmage's words alone held tremendous value for Li Fan.
The matters of the Immortal Realm's Sacred Sovereigns went without saying.
What Li Fan cared about most was that the treasure Revert to the True had seemingly already been known at the inception of the Immortal Realm.
"The more ancient the entity, the more likely they are to know the truth behind Revert to the True. The myriad lies I wove to conceal its existence might be completely meaningless before such powerhouses, seen through at a glance..."
For the moment, Li Fan had not thought of a countermeasure. But now that he knew this, his situation would not be overly passive.
After leaving the Archmage's body, those myriad Dao forms made contact with heaven and earth again, replenishing the parts that had been dispersed.
Countless forms of Dao Annihilation with diverse visages, like sentient multitudes, hid within the vast black mist of the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha.
In the Shuo Star Sea, Li Fan had obtained a body cultivation technique called the Dao Embodiment Technique.
With the body embodying the Great Dao, cultivating it to the theoretical peak meant the person became the mortal realm itself.
Yet for mortal flesh to bear the Great Dao required unimaginable tempering.
"By comparison, it is far easier for the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha to devour and accommodate different Dao principles."
"Perhaps I can have the physical body first adapt to Mo Sha's properties."
Sensing the Mo Sha within him that seemed to possess a faint glimmer of "vitality," numerous thoughts surfaced in Li Fan's mind.
Naturally, he did not rashly test it on himself.
Instead, he once again dispatched Li Buren.
Li Buren's physical body had been completely destroyed, leaving only a Dao Net projection body. It was the perfect opportunity to test the transformed Immortal Soul of Mo Sha.
A drop of blood essence was flicked by Li Fan toward Li Buren.
After devouring the blood essence, flesh and blood wriggled within the silver-glowing Dao Net.
Li Buren's "physical body" was thus crudely created.
Without adding any heavenly treasures or earthly herbs, this body of flesh and blood was exceptionally frail.
Yet as a wisp of Mo Sha black mist integrated into it, the body immediately became extraordinary.
If it were the pure power of the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha from before, even if Li Fan had integrated his Dao with Mo Sha, he could never have merged such destructive power with mortal flesh.
Now, however, Mo Sha was no longer pure ruin; it had incorporated diverse Dao paths of heaven and earth.
The first to be tested was the most fundamental Dao of Five Elements.
Five wisps of black mist, similar yet distinctly different, ceaselessly swirled and merged.
Li Fan was thoroughly familiar with the process of circulating the Five Elements into oneself, so he smoothly transplanted this black vortex into Li Buren's body.
The frail flesh did indeed slowly dissolve due to Mo Sha's destructive nature, becoming riddled with holes and mangled in the blink of an eye.
It was gruesome to behold.
Yet a small fraction endured, relying on the Five Elements properties within the Mo Sha, using them as a foundation to slowly reconstitute the physical body.
Li Buren moved his limbs slightly and conducted various tests.
After roughly half a day, he reached a conclusion.
This newly forged physical body not only had exceptional capacity to bear Dao laws, but also possessed respectable resistance against Dao Annihilation.
When Li Fan forcefully mobilized all the power of the Duke of Shouqiu's phantom, leaving only the Primordial Bone and the Hunger Immortal Heavenly Pillar to bitterly hold the line alone...
...facing the surging catastrophe of Dao Annihilation, the instinctive terror welling up in Li Buren's heart was far less intense than before.
"Though the floodwaters drown the sky, at least there is now the ability to dive and swim. While it still cannot escape being swallowed in the end, it can hold out for a while," Li Fan thought with delight.
One must realize that surviving the Dao Annihilation Tribulation was something only transcendent powerhouses could accomplish.
Yet Li Fan had achieved virtually the same result through an indirect route via the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha.
More crucially, Li Buren's body had only accommodated the Mo Sha power of the Five Elements nature so far.
In the future, once he gradually incorporated all the Daos of the heavens into himself...
...he might truly be able to face the tides of Dao Annihilation without batting an eye.
However, this was destined to be a long process.
Li Fan temporarily left this grueling task to Li Buren.
He intended to strike while the iron was hot and resolve all the hidden worries of the Xuanhuang Realm in one fell swoop.
Silver light, like a coir raincoat, enveloped his entire body, draping over Li Fan like protective garments.
This silver light was none other than the power of Wuji.
Li Fan's destination this time was the Sea of Endless Gloom located deep within the Xuanhuang Realm.
The darkness capable of swallowing everything shrank back before the silver light representing Wuji.
Like a colossal orb of light, it illuminated this region that had been pitch-black since time immemorial.
Li Fan strolled through it at an unhurried pace.
The various feelings of dread experienced in previous cycles were entirely absent.
Having scoured the shallows of the Sea of Endless Gloom, he found nothing unusual.
Li Fan walked toward the depths where the True Immortal's survival will resided.
The restrictions left behind by King Xuantian and Chuanfa in the past did not require Li Fan to break them himself.
Under the radiance of the silver light, they dispersed of their own accord, posing not the slightest obstruction.
Once again, he saw the vast "Momentum" accumulated over tens of thousands of years in the depths of the Sea of Endless Gloom.
Faced with this conglomeration of energy in myriad shapes like celestial clouds, Li Fan could not help but pause slightly.
Now that he was a half-immortal, looking upon this convergence was no longer looking up in awe.
Instead, it was like standing atop a mountain peak, gazing across on equal terms.
"The reason Immortals were originally Immortals was because of Lianshan."
"Only with mountains was an Immortal born."
"The Momentum of Immortals..."
Looking at the peaks before him, Li Fan seemed to behold the myriad Immortals of the Immortal Realm of old.
"Return, O Immortals!"
He extended his right hand and gently made a grasping motion.
The Sea of Endless Gloom erupted into turmoil in an instant.
The power of gloom accumulated over tens of thousands of years surged toward Li Fan's palm.
Chapter 1483