Among the immortals of the Shuo Star Sea, Divine Thought had been one of the more amiable and well-liked. His voice and smiling countenance still lingered in their memories, yet at this moment, Chaos and Shanhua sensed the Great Dao aura that had belonged to Divine Thought coming from the blood-colored ring in Li Fan's hand.
What this signified went without saying.
A former companion had actually been turned into nourishment for an artifact.
Even these two powerhouses of the Nameless realm could not help but feel sorrow and terror welling up within them.
Yet the instant they caught Li Fan's cold, emotionless gaze, they snapped out of their mourning. The dead were gone; what mattered most now was that they themselves survived!
Shanhua smoothly took up the conversation: "With Divine Thought gone, contact with the Guangwu Star Sea can only rely on me in the short term. Earlier, when I returned to the Shuo Star Sea, I didn't venture deep into the Dao Net; instead, I contacted Chaos and coordinated from a distance."
"Thus, the 'Great Net' is currently unaware that our expedition of True Immortals was almost entirely wiped out."
"Although the prolonged absence of any reply will certainly arouse his suspicions, at most he will guess that we are locked in a bitter struggle or a stalemate. He would never believe that we were routed so swiftly and completely. Otherwise, he would never have agreed to the expedition in the first place..."
Shanhua analyzed methodically, "Under these circumstances, Chaos and I can send a distress signal requesting reinforcements from the 'Great Net.' Whether considering the overall battlefield situation or the costs already sunk into this endeavor, there is a very high probability that the Great Net will come to provide support. And once he arrives here, with Senior's methods, you will surely be able to capture him with ease..."
Chaos added, "It sounds like an extremely rudimentary scheme, but the crux is gaining the Great Net's trust. Over the past period, Shanhua and I have already made thorough preparations, continuously transmitting fabricated battlefield reports to the Great Net. He does not seem to have detected anything amiss and even took the initiative to ask if we needed reinforcements."
"Formidable as the Great Net is, nearly half his strength lies in that Dao Net. If we can lure him out of the Dao Net, capturing him will require half the effort for twice the result," Shanhua chimed in.
...
Once the two Nameless True Immortals finished their brief explanation, Li Fan looked at Chaos and praised him with a smile, "It seems you harbored the intention to submit long ago. Good, very good."
Fingering the blood-colored ring, Li Fan paced over to one of the Heavenly Pillars standing in this space.
"Your plan may be barely feasible. Unfortunately, in my view, it possesses one fatal flaw."
His eyes rested on the Heavenly Pillar, his tone faint and aloof.
The expressions of Chaos and Shanhua tightened. "We humbly beg the Great Venerable's guidance."
"Just as you were once full of confidence that you could capture me, your plan presumes that so long as the Great Net is lured out, he will inevitably be defeated and suppressed."
"Overestimating your own strength while underestimating the opponent."
"Since you know nothing of his origins, background, or Dao path, how can you be so certain that my intervention will guarantee his subjugation?"
"Why couldn't it be that I invite a wolf into my house, and through carelessness and complacency, suffer a crushing defeat at his hands?"
"Or perhaps this is what you truly desire in your hearts? Feigning surrender, while in truth staging a scheme within a scheme—all to turn the tables from a desperate situation?"
Li Fan's voice grew colder and colder.
Chaos and Shanhua trembled violently, both in body and expression.
"Great Venerable, do not misunderstand! How could we dare harbor such treacherous intentions?" Shanhua rushed to clarify.
"This junior considers everything wholeheartedly for Your Venerable's sake; this heart can be witnessed by the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth!" Chaos reiterated his loyalty.
Internally, both secretly groaned in distress.
This legendary Great Venerable seemed to have undergone a drastic change in temperament after surviving the catastrophe of the Immortal Realm's destruction. He was so suspicious, mercurial, and tyrannical.
Compared to the most brutal of the past Immortal Emperors, he was more than their equal.
"I have no interest in knowing what you truly think. Nor does it matter."
"Regardless, you will follow whoever wins."
"Since that is the case, I have a plan of my own."
Li Fan reached out. On the surface, he appeared to merely touch the Wuji Heavenly Pillar. In reality, his Myriad Manifestations Dao Net had abruptly activated, completely enveloping the pillar before him and the stone statue of the Archmage contained within it.
Though he had comprehended the Great Dao of Wuji for a century, he was still undeniably inferior to the Archmage—to Wuji himself.
"Since the enemy is there, we simply need to strike directly at him."
Amid a rumble like thunder, the Wuji Heavenly Pillar was detached by Li Fan. Shrinking continuously, it finally transformed into an ash-gray stone staff.
In the space ahead, a silhouette flickered.
It was Li Buren, answering the summons.
"Catch!"
Li Fan threw the Wuji Heavenly Staff straight toward the avatar.
Considering the possibility that "Saint Emperor Li Fan" might exist in other possibilities, this time he still had no choice but to let his avatar act in his stead once more.
Likewise cultivating the Myriad Manifestations Dao Net, Li Buren experienced not the slightest strain in wielding the Wuji Heavenly Pillar.
With the protection and empowerment of the Great Dao of Wuji, no Dao technique native to the "Primordial" possibility could even approach Li Buren's body.
*Unless this 'Great Net' is also a visitor from another possibility, as long as he holds this Wuji stone staff, my avatar is already in an invincible position.*
*Ample in defense, but slightly lacking in offense.*
Pondering this, Li Fan spat out a pair of aqua-green blades—a sword and a saber—from his mouth.
"I bestow this treasure upon you as well."
"If you still cannot triumph, then flee immediately. If even fleeing fails..."
"Then perish by your own hand."
These instructions passed strictly within their shared consciousness.
The present Shanhua and Chaos were completely unaware of them.
From their perspective, all they saw was Li Fan dispensing two supreme treasures without the slightest hesitation or reluctance.
After sensing them, joy and shock warred in their hearts.
Their joy naturally stemmed from recognizing the origins of these two treasures. That pair of blades had originally belonged to Nameless Kuixing. They had witnessed the might of that treasure with their own eyes; otherwise, they would never have cooperated with her so readily and been persuaded by her. As for that gray stone staff, though they did not know its precise mystery, judging by how it completely bypassed all their immortal perceptions, it was unquestionably an extraordinary treasure.
Aided by these two treasures, the Great Net was bound to become a prisoner.
What shocked them was that the Dao Sword and Dao Saber were so extraordinary, yet this Great Venerable, Li Fan, had managed to subdue them in such a short time. More crucially, he was entirely generous with such treasures, handing them over without a second thought. If the roles were reversed and they had obtained such treasures, they would surely seek out a secluded, safe place to enter closed-door seclusion and carefully comprehend them.
Chaos mused inwardly, *He didn't care at all about the ancient scripture passed down from Sacred Lord Taiyi either. Truly worthy of someone who served beneath a Sacred Lord for so long; his vision naturally far surpasses vulgar beings like us.*
"Just follow along. Whether you contribute strength or not is entirely up to you," Li Fan instructed casually.
Then, with a wave of his broad sleeve, he sent Li Buren and the two Nameless immortals outside the Great Wall.
*Although there is a ninety-percent chance of victory, I must still prepare for defeat,* Li Fan thought silently as he looked into the distance.
The blessing of Illusion as Truth was already upon him.
He stood ready to Revert to the True at the first sign of trouble.
If that Great Net could truly prevail against the pincer attack of the Wuji stone staff and the Dao Sword and Dao Saber, then he was definitely not an opponent the current Li Fan could defeat. Reverting to the True directly would unquestionably be the right choice.
...
In the murky starry sky, Li Buren rested the Wuji stone staff against his shoulder and, mimicking his true self, swallowed the green sword and saber into his abdomen. Then, transforming his body into a path, he swept along Shanhua and Chaos, hurtling straight toward the Dao Net of the Shuo Star Sea.
As if the assault route had been rehearsed ten thousand times, he navigated with consummate ease, aiming squarely for the core region of the Shuo Star Sea Governing Council.
Turning his body into a path, he crossed the starry sky, spanning hundreds of millions of li in a single instant.
Before the two Nameless immortals could even react, Li Buren had already charged directly into the coverage of the Dao Net.
Under normal circumstances, if a foreign intruder invaded the Dao Net, it would instantly trigger a stress response from the entire net.
One would not only face the pressure stemming from all the Great Daos within the Dao Net, but also be besieged by countless Immortal Hunts.
Even for someone in the realm of a Nameless True Immortal, sinking deep into the net like this would result in death or grievous injury.
Over their years of dealing with the Shuo Star Sea, Shanhua and Chaos had long treated this as fundamental common sense. Thus, whenever the two sides clashed, the True Immortal faction had always relied on infiltration or ambushes along the periphery of the Dao Net.
Yet now...
Li Buren's brazen charge straight into the dragon's lair completely shattered their understanding.
Wherever he howled past, the Dao Net failed to mount any reaction whatsoever.
The densely woven Dao strings collapsed as though shattered in a single strike.
Wherever the gray stone staff tore through, it was like a blazing fire burning holes straight through the Dao Net!
Dao strings snapped one after another. The Dao Net was a net no longer!
Such a bizarre sight left both Nameless immortals, Chaos and Shanhua, dumbfounded.
Even in their wildest, most unrealistic fantasies of the past, they had never envisioned the Dao Net being routed so effortlessly.
While they were still dazed, Li Buren had already penetrated directly into the central region of the Dao Net.
The Immortal Hunt headquarters and the Shuo Star Sea Governing Council were both situated here.
Looking at the crowd of the Shuo Star Sea, who seemed as if waking from a dream and threw themselves into disarray, the two True Immortals looked at the gray stone staff in Li Buren's hand.
An unbelievable yet most fitting thought involuntarily surfaced in their minds.
They had seen with their own eyes that this stone staff had been transformed from a Heavenly Pillar.
Previously, they had been unable to ascertain which Dao path was sealed and suppressed inside that pillar, but now, as the stone staff displayed supreme might within the Dao Net, they could finally confirm it.
And so, the two Nameless immortals, who had lived for unknowable ages, could not stop their bodies from trembling faintly.
"Wuji..."
"Great Venerable?"
The reason they had previously mistaken Li Fan for Venerable Wuji, who once served under Sacred Lord Taiyi, was because Li Fan had displayed the power of Wuji capable of dissolving all Great Daos.
And now, when the gray stone staff displayed that very same capability, they finally understood.
The power of Wuji did not originate from that Hidden Emperor.
It came from Wuji himself, who had been sealed and suppressed by the Hidden Emperor!
"That was a disciple of a Sacred Lord, an innate being of immeasurable nobility!"
"Though the Immortal Realm was destroyed, the Sacred Lord may not have fallen. If he incurs the wrath of a Sacred Lord..."
"Even Venerable Wuji has ended up in such a state..."
"How does he dare..."
In an instant, countless thoughts surged through the minds of the two Nameless immortals.
Ultimately, they crystallized into profound terror toward Li Fan, this mysterious Hidden Emperor.
Chaos, meanwhile, grew even more certain of his deduction:
*It seems he truly has walked his own path to becoming a Sacred Lord.*
*Only a peer of the Sacred Lords would show so little regard for another Sacred Lord's face.*
While the two immortals were reeling in shock, Li Buren had already begun a slaughter in the depths of the Dao Net.
After uttering a cold "Resist and die," when the Shuo Star Sea faction still swarmed to besiege him, Li Buren showed no mercy, unleashing the Dao Sword and Dao Saber directly.
Hundreds of millions of green rays danced like willow branches in the wind.
Wherever they passed, not a single cry of alarm was left behind. Living beings vanished into thin air, leaving only emptiness behind.
Only the swirling green light grew slightly richer and more concentrated.
The Wuji Heavenly Staff cleared the path, while the Dao Sword and Dao Saber eliminated the enemies.
Li Buren rampaged forward, tearing through layer after layer of the dense Dao Net.
He did not search the Dao Net for that mysterious Nameless immortal, the "Great Net"; instead, he headed straight for the four main pillars of the Dao Net:
The cages sealing the Nameless True Immortals.
As the most structurally stable constructs in the entire Dao Net, these formidable cages were like paper mache before the power of Wuji.
They were utterly incapable of offering the slightest defense.
Before long, Li Buren locked onto the location of one of the imprisoned Nameless True Immortals.
The stone staff twirled, shattering the cage with a single blow.
The imprisoned Nameless was impaled with Dao strings of various colors all over his body, seemingly still locked in a deep slumber.
Li Buren waved his hand, clearing away all the Dao strings on his body.
Only then did the imprisoned Nameless show signs of slowly stirring awake.
"This one... seems to be the Duke of Wealth and Honor?"
Following behind Li Buren, Chaos seemed to recognize the immortal's identity and gasped involuntarily.
Like the Duke of Shouqiu, he was respectfully addressed as "Duke."
Yet their strengths were obviously not in the same league.
Perhaps it was merely because he was tainted with the Dao of "Wealth and Honor."
Li Buren did not care much about this. Without waiting for the Duke of Wealth and Honor to fully awaken, the power of the Myriad Manifestations Dao Net erupted, enveloping him in an instant.
Then, he sent him straight within the Great Wall to where his true self resided.
Seeing Li Buren's actions, Nameless Chaos opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated.
Seeing Shanhua shake his head slightly, he forced himself to hold back.
One of the four main pillars had suddenly been lost.
The Dao Net, already riddled with holes from the destruction, suffered an even greater plummet in suppressive power.
Both Chaos and Shanhua could feel the surrounding pressure lighten considerably.
"Strange. When matters have reached such a state, why has the Great Net still not appeared?"
"Be careful. The Great Net is not someone who readily concedes defeat. Knowing him, he should be gathering power, preparing a lethal strike."
Having participated alongside Li Buren in the destruction of the Dao Net, the two Nameless immortals were now completely bound to Li Fan, this Hidden Emperor.
Their feud with the Shuo Star Sea had become an irreconcilable fight to the death with no possibility of easing.
For the sake of their own future, they had no choice but to speak up and warn him.
Li Buren, however, seemed entirely oblivious, continuing toward the next cage.
This time, he came to rescue the Nameless whose Dao path was "Firm Rock."
The condition of this Nameless was far better than that of the Duke of Wealth and Honor.
Though imprisoned for who knew how many years, he still appeared energetic and spirited.
Staring at the intruders who had suddenly barged in, this Nameless of Firm Rock was somewhat bewildered.
Just as he was about to say something, Li Buren's Myriad Manifestations Dao Net had already arrived.
Chapter 1500