The Immortal from the Other Shore in the Coffin

"Mo Sha's power approaches that of Dao Annihilation because what it emulates in the first place is the force of Mountain and Sea blending together." "And this current dao-transformation..." Li Buren beckoned one of the purple dao-transformed statues into his hand, studying it closely. "...is merely the collision of Mountain and Sea. The process of blending was terminated prematurely." "Mountain and Sea play together..." A line from the Fables of the Mountain and Sea immediately came to Li Buren's mind. "...and the Dao is born therein. So that was how it worked?" Li Buren slowly swallowed all the purple-mist statues into his belly, comprehending the Dao principles contained within these creatures. After feeding the toxic pills to powerful beings and using their lives and intellect to complete a single cycle of transformation, Li Buren was utterly certain that these dao-transformed purple statues no longer belonged to the category of Dao Pills. Thus, they could be consumed directly. Although something extraordinarily vital seemed to have been lost during the dao-transformation, being able to vastly enhance his comprehension efficiency without any risk was undeniably worth it. "Aside from aiding Dao comprehension, this toxic pill is a terrifying lethal divine ability in its own right." "Its essence lies in using the methods of the Medicine King Scripture of Dao Refining to directly merge the power represented by the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha into an enemy. At the very fundamental level of the Great Dao, it delivers a direct, fatal strike..." "Truly impossible to guard against!" Beyond killing silently like a poison, more importantly, it disregarded disparities in cultivation strength. As long as the target could not escape Dao Annihilation and could not entirely avoid the power of the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha, they would be affected by the methods of this toxic pill. The only difference was the degree of poisoning. Li Buren began experimenting on the Nameless True Immortals sealed away in the Primordial Immortal Realm. Although he had promised to release them, that did not prevent him from making use of the waste beforehand. The invisible, formless pill fire of Dao refining encircled a Heavenly Pillar. The power of the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha quietly seeped inside. Depending on their strength, the resulting changes varied. The most wretched was Situ Xing. Not being the true body of a Nameless True Immortal to begin with, he had almost no power to resist beneath the invasion of Mo Sha. From top to bottom, the gray Heavenly Pillar gradually turned purple. Deep inside, an eerie streak of black emerged. Before the purple-black color could completely engulf the pillar, Li Fan withdrew his divine ability in the nick of time. Only then did Situ Xing keep his life, though he was left clinging to survival with merely a wisp of consciousness. Gripping the dao-transformed Heavenly Pillar, Li Fan effortlessly separated it from the normal portion of the pillar and swallowed it straight into his belly. Compared to his own sluggish contemplation, this direct devouring was remarkably efficient. A single moment of pill refinement far surpassed a century of bitter cultivation. *A supreme art indeed!* Li Buren praised inwardly. Yet not all the Nameless True Immortals were as utterly defenseless as Situ Xing. The Hunger Immortal in particular stood out. Even while sealed, she could contend against the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha. Though she was doomed to fail in the long run, holding her ground over this short duration already proved her extraordinary nature. Li Buren scraped off a small fragment of the dao-transformed purple portion from the Hunger Immortal's Heavenly Pillar and swallowed it. Moments later, he narrowed his eyes slightly. "Indeed. The Dao of Hunger comes from beyond the possibilities of the Primordial." "Or rather, it is not purely a Primordial Dao, but the product of a certain Great Dao merging with an outside Dao." Li Fan had not seen the projection of the Dao of Hunger within the complete compendium of Great Daos he had glimpsed through Chengdao. Yet he had seen something specious. That was likely one of the prototypes for the Dao of Hunger. Just like the Dao Sword and Dao Saber, a Great Dao from beyond possibilities possessed a capacity to replenish the Myriad Manifestations Dao Net that far exceeded native Daos. Perhaps because it directly carved out a completely new branch of possibility for the Dao, the Myriad Manifestations Dao Net sprouted an entirely new blank region at a pace visible to the naked eye. Even though it was not yet fully replenished, one could already envision how immense its completed scale would be. Faced with such a supreme restorative tonic, Li Buren was briefly tempted to ignore his explanation to Chengdao and continue refining the Hunger Immortal. Yet after a moment's thought, he held back. "Refining the Hunger Immortal can wait until the next life. She will always remain within the Immortal Ruins anyway." "In this life, there are still matters that require relying on Chengdao." "No rush." Among these sealed Heavenly Pillars, what surprised Li Buren most was the performance of the Bone of Yuanshi. Under the onslaught of Mo Sha's purple-black power, it retreated step by step—faring even worse than Situ Xing, whose true body had perished and left only a clone. It fell completely short of the profound weight carried by the name Yuanshi. After some research, Li Buren discovered the cause behind this bizarre phenomenon. "It is because what lies here is not the complete Bone of Yuanshi. It could even be said to be merely a minuscule fraction of Yuanshi." "The vast majority of the rest is somewhere else." Li Buren could even sense wisps of Mo Sha's power tracing along the connection between parts of Yuanshi and tracking outward. "The Southern Immortal Heavenly Pillar." Recalling the true name of the Bone of Yuanshi, Li Buren shook his head slightly. "One can only wish good luck to the living beings sheltered under that Heavenly Pillar at the other end of the heavens." ... Li Fan had not acted ruthlessly to the extreme. Though a large portion of the Heavenly Pillars had been dao-transformed, they still retained the semblance of Heavenly Pillars. The Nameless True Immortals sealed within still survived. They had merely suffered catastrophic harm to their vitality, which would require tens of millions of years of nourishment to restore. Everything Li Buren comprehended was relayed back to the true body, Li Fan. However, Li Fan did not reveal any of it before Chengdao, feigning clumsiness to maintain his image as a diligent, inquisitive junior brother. ... A full three years passed before Shanhua brought news once again. "That Kuixing acts with extreme caution. It was only after I gave him a tour of the pristine Dao Net and confirmed that Senior had not come attacking our door that he finally agreed to cooperate with me." "We also noticed that recently, someone has continuously tried to approach the borders of the Shuo Star Sea to investigate. Fortunately, our Dao Net was repaired swiftly; otherwise, a flaw might have been exposed." Chaos stood nearby, crying out over their lucky escape. "Even so, Kuixing refuses to disclose the complete plan. He merely told us to 'follow orders and adapt to circumstances.' Hmph..." A glint of ferocity flashed through Shanhua's eyes. "Be patient. Reveal no flaws," Li Fan said calmly, and Shanhua instantly reined himself in. "Follow their instructions in everything. Senior Brother and I shall await their arrival right here in the Primordial Immortal Realm." Li Fan looked toward Chengdao and smiled. "Would Senior Brother be willing to relocate?" The emaciated old man stretched his seemingly stiff body. "It just so happens I haven't been out for years, and I've felt stifled. Temporarily changing places to stay isn't a bad idea." As he spoke, blue light surged around Chengdao's body. An illusory clone of Chengdao replaced the true body, sitting cross-legged at the deepest part of the Dao Net. Li Fan examined the surroundings closely and found that the Dao strings across the entire Dao Net had not bent in the slightest from this swap between true body and clone. He could not help exclaiming in admiration, "Senior Brother, your method of creating an illusory Dao-bearing clone is almost indistinguishable from Master's! Liberation must be just around the corner!" Rising to his feet, Chengdao stroked his beard and laughed heartily, unable to conceal his pride. Yet his words remained modest: "You praise me too much, far too much. Compared to Master, I am still far behind. This illusory figure can substitute for bearing the Dao for a hundred years at most. Any longer, and it will fail." "With Senior Brother's talent, eternally bearing the Dao will not take long either," Li Fan said with a genial chuckle. Chaos and Shanhua were already accustomed to Li Fan's nearly blind flattery. Looking from nose to heart, they acted as though they had heard nothing. "Senior Brother, after you." Li Fan led Chengdao to settle down within the Primordial Immortal Realm. All that remained was waiting for the people from the Guangwu Star Sea to take the bait. After another ten days or so of developments, Shanhua finally met with Kuixing again. Kuixing remained attached to that black cat. "Fellow Daoist is being excessively cautious. We lost so many companions, yet we didn't act like you," Shanhua said displeasedly. Kuixing complained in turn, "Brother Shanhua, don't even mention it. It wasn't my choice. After losing the supreme treasure last time, I was almost flayed, deboned, and sealed into a Heavenly Pillar. Fortunately, at the final moment, I recalled the details of when that thief subdued the treasure. Only then did I receive a chance to redeem myself through meritorious service." "However, this is also my final chance. If this fails again, Brother, you will likely never see me again." Shanhua seemed deeply sympathetic, stroking the cat's head. "Brother has truly suffered. If worse comes to worst, flee to our Shuo Star Sea. At the very least..." "Heh heh." Kuixing awkwardly interrupted Shanhua's words. "Alright, let us speak of serious matters. In truth, I am not the one directing this operation. I am only responsible for transmitting messages and communicating." "Oh?" Shanhua's hand caressing the black cat instantly halted. "How do you need us to cooperate?" Kuixing went silent for a while, seemingly listening to orders from the other side. Only after a long pause did a voice slowly come through: "There is a coffin. Inside is sealed a slumbering Nameless True Immortal. You need only receive the coffin, and then use every possible means to place it into that Primordial Immortal Realm." Shanhua waited for further details, but Kuixing seemed to have finished speaking, falling into silence. "That's it?" Shanhua was somewhat dissatisfied. "After going through so much trouble, this was all the preparation you made? What can a slumbering Nameless achieve on their own? It isn't as though you haven't seen that Hidden Emperor's strength." Kuixing consoled him, "Brother, rest completely assured. I have staked my very life on this, so how could I be careless? With this slumbering Nameless taking action, no matter how immense that so-called Hidden Emperor's divine abilities are, he won't be able to turn the tables!" "This time, we will make him repay everything, principal and interest alike." Shanhua pondered for a moment and ultimately nodded in agreement. Severing the connection with Kuixing, before heading to the agreed location to find the slumbering Nameless in the coffin, he reported the detailed situation to Li Fan. "No matter. Just do as he says and deliver the coffin here." Only upon hearing Li Fan's reply did Shanhua breathe a sigh of relief. He set off toward the borders of the Shuo Star Sea to search for the target. Within the Primordial Immortal Realm. Li Fan and Chengdao sat cross-legged facing each other. Between them burned a stick of blue incense, its wisps of smoke drifting upward into formlessness. "Senior Brother, do you have any clues regarding this slumbering Nameless in the coffin?" "Perhaps... it is an immortal from the other shore." After a silence, Chengdao spoke slowly, his tone grave.