Unlike Chengdao, who boldly confronted the enemy by summoning the great gale from the Mountains and Seas with immense, righteous momentum, Li Fan merely concealed himself in the shadows. Using the techniques of the Medicine King Scripture of Dao Refining, he captured every fleeting phantom shadow of the beast race that scattered across the battlefield.
He acted in absolute silence, without stirring even the slightest ripple of energy.
The alien fusion could only watch as what appeared to be a bottomless abyss loomed before it, ruthlessly swallowing every fragment of its body that attempted to flee.
As the gale from the Mountains and Seas grew increasingly fierce, the countless tentacles writhing across the creature's surface steadily thinned. Amid agonized roars of rage, the alien fusion was swept away and obliterated inch by inch, from the outside inward.
Outmatched in direct combat and unable to flee, it was truly backed into a corner.
The amber eyeball deep within the sphere suddenly flashed with vicious resolve.
A moment later, accompanied by a deafening boom, the mangled, gargantuan ball of flesh abruptly detonated.
Countless chunks of flesh and blood scattered through the starry sky. An immense bloody, baleful aura surged into existence, practically condensing into tangible substance. It formed a crimson torrent that crashed head-on against the gale from the Mountains and Seas.
Under normal circumstances, even a desperate, all-out strike from this alien fusion would never have rivaled the mighty power of the Mountains and Seas.
"Hmm?"
Yet the moment Chengdao noticed the countless overlapping silhouettes within the baleful blood aura, he let out a gasp of surprise and actively reined in the gale's fury.
Shielded by those billions of silhouettes, the alien fusion's true self temporarily vanished from this expanse of the starry sky.
Chengdao was in no rush to pursue it. Instead, he stared grimly at the myriad ghostly blood shadows before him. Every single one spat forth by the alien fusion bore a human shape!
From their naked bodies and beast-like posture, their tragic plight was painfully clear. They did not even possess normal, intact sanity, having been treated like mere livestock.
"Though I already knew the place this beast hailed from was a golden age for aliens dominated by the Thirteen Dao Forms—a living hell for our human race—and I had prepared myself mentally..."
"Witnessing such a scene with my own eyes still makes it impossible to suppress the fury in my heart," Chengdao's calm voice echoed through the starry sky.
For a moment, it drowned out the howling wind from the Mountains and Seas.
Having grown quite familiar with Chengdao, Li Fan naturally heard the deep rage masked beneath his senior martial brother's tranquil tone. In truth, even he felt a surge of fury upon seeing the billions of human blood shadows released by the alien fusion.
*Before fleeing here, they were likely slaughtered and absorbed wholesale by the aliens.*
*Still, for them, death might actually be a form of release.*
Li Fan could hardly imagine what fate would have awaited him had he transmigrated as a human into that sort of possibility. Even with the divine power of Revert to the True's boundless reincarnation, he might not have been able to escape or alter that destiny.
"This creature must die!"
"Did you truly believe slipping into the starry sky would hide you from our sight?"
"Do you not realize this place is merely an isolated island? Without the means to cross the boundless ocean, your arrival here means there is nowhere left to run!"
Li Fan gave full vent to what little indignation he felt.
His voice reverberated like thunder across the Shuo Star Sea and the starry sky of the Great Wall for a long time.
With a broad sweep of his sleeve, Li Fan temporarily gathered up the billions of human blood shadows. While discerning whether the alien fusion was hiding among them, he conveniently guided these wrongfully slain, resentful souls toward peace.
This was not the kind of salvation from his past that scattered souls into oblivion.
Instead, after inspecting each blood shadow, he transformed them into streaks of light and cast them into the Primordial Immortal Realm within the Great Wall.
There, after cycling through the world's natural order for several decades, these resentful souls would be granted new life.
Although there was no guarantee they would all be reborn as humans, even becoming a mountain spirit in the Primordial Immortal Realm was ten million times better than living as a human in an alien-ruled possibility.
"I am grateful for your trouble, Junior Brother."
Seeing Li Fan's benevolent deed, Chengdao spoke up to express gratitude on behalf of the countless human blood shadows. Every art had its specialization. Though Chengdao had accompanied the Mound-Guarding Lord for years, guarding the mound and gazing upon the sea to obtain countless great divine powers and supreme fortunes, most of his abilities pertained to the macro, transcendent powers of the Mountains and Seas. When it came to techniques for guiding mortal living beings, he was truly unfamiliar. Li Fan's display of guiding souls toward reincarnation was something Chengdao would likely need to study meticulously to achieve.
Yet, furious though he was, it was impossible for Chengdao to squander his time searching for a way to deliver these human blood shadows.
Thus, having his junior brother take care of it was the best possible outcome.
Li Fan worked with extreme efficiency. In barely half a day, he finished the screening. The human blood shadows were sent off to reincarnate, while the alien fusion's remnants were directly refined into Dao Pills.
Soon, the starry sky fouled by the fusion's self-detonation was restored to its original state.
"Senior Brother, where do you think that foul beast ran off to?" Li Fan asked with a smile.
Even as he spoke, Li Fan's attention remained on replaying the gale of the Mountains and Seas that Chengdao had just unleashed. Having entered the Mountains and Seas himself, he could appreciate the move's subtlety all the more.
"That beast certainly could not have slipped past the protection of Master's phantom shadow."
"Nor is it within my Dao Net..."
Chengdao withdrew his divine power and swept his gaze across the starry sky, making no attempt to conceal the killing intent in his eyes.
After a thorough search, however, he found no trace of the alien fusion.
"It certainly knows how to hide," Chengdao grunted coldly.
"I actually have an idea. Senior Brother, come with me." Smiling pleasantly, Li Fan led the way.
Chengdao followed closely behind. Before long, they arrived at the border of the present Shuo Star Sea.
Due to Guangwu Star Sea's scheme of redirecting the disaster eastward, part of the original Shuo Star Sea had already been swallowed by Dao Annihilation. What had once been the heart of the star sea had now become its frontier.
The place Li Fan brought them to was precisely where Di Sanmo had crossed possibilities alone and vanished.
After explaining the backstory to Chengdao, Li Fan added, "It dragged its entire household on a desperate gamble, only to end in total annihilation. In the end, it could only slink back here, hoping to use this method to flee."
"Yet if it thinks it can escape right before our eyes..."
Li Fan looked ahead and called out coldly, "Foul beast! Show yourself at once!"
A hush fell over the starry sky.
A few breaths later, a figure abruptly emerged.
Unlike its previous grotesque form as a thousand-handed ball of flesh, what now appeared before Li Fan and Chengdao was a Dao form radiating dignity and sanctity.
A dragon's body, a qilin's horns, a Xuanwu's tail, divine eyes, and Vermilion Bird feathers...
It was like a fusion of numerous Dao forms, spanning across the starry sky. Though its scale fell far short of its prime, its ancient, primordial aura had not diminished in the slightest.
Its near-perfect contour seemed to embody the ultimate truths of the Great Dao.
Even Chengdao, accustomed to the Mountains and Seas, could not help but be momentarily stunned upon witnessing the true appearance of this Thirteen Dao Forms Fusion.
"Calling me a foul beast at every turn..."
"How laughable!"
"In my eyes, you are the beasts!"
"Today's defeat is merely a matter of inferior skill. But the Mountains and Seas are infinite—how do you know my kind does not possess powerhouses capable of easily suppressing you?"
"Hahahaha! I eagerly await that day!"
The Thirteen Dao Forms Fusion's voice sounded like a decrepit old man. Having been discovered in its final hiding place with no way out, its tone was remarkably calm. It simply laughed aloud, venting the despair and unwillingness buried in its heart.
Chengdao shook his head slightly, too disinclined to waste words with the entity before him.
Just as he prepared to strike, seal it, and turn it into a Heavenly Pillar, an ethereal, chilling voice echoed from afar.
"Unfortunately, there are no more."
The moment the voice arrived, the figure appeared.
The newcomer wore splendid purple robes and possessed a face like polished jade. A shock of red hair cascaded casually down to his waist, and between his brows sat a crimson cinnabar mark resembling a third eye.
The instant this figure materialized, every hair on Li Fan's body stood on end by sheer instinct. It was as if he had encountered a peerless, primordial beast; his entire body shivered in warning.
Yet to Li Fan's relief, his spiritual perception gave no alarm.
Evidently, the terrifying killing intent that inadvertently radiated from this purple-clad figure was not aimed at him, but at the Thirteen Dao Forms Fusion.
Three breaths after the purple-clad figure appeared—
*Rumble, rumble, rumble...*
The starry sky of the Shuo Star Sea and the Great Wall suddenly convulsed violently, swaying like a lone skiff abruptly tossed into a violent tempest.
In the nearby void of Dao Annihilation, Li Fan watched in shock as a celestial grand path was forged out of nothingness, cutting a straight line directly to this place.
The mere ripples stirred by this passage had nearly overturned the Shuo Star Sea and the Great Wall.
And in Li Fan's mind, the passage before him perfectly mirrored the one used by the Black Heavenly Physician when he had appeared!
When the alien fusion arrived, it had merely forced open a hairline fracture through Dao Annihilation. Yet this purple-clad powerhouse had forged a grand celestial road with a single step.
The difference between them was beyond measure!
*Crossing possibilities...*
*A transcendent powerhouse?!*
Once he grasped this, Li Fan's mind shook violently.
While his thoughts spun rapidly, trying to determine how to respond, the purple-clad figure had already reached out and lightly grasped toward the Thirteen Dao Forms Fusion.
The fusion, which had still wanted to say something, suddenly choked. Even its sacred, primordial aura was instantly suppressed.
Its body stretched and flattened uncontrollably. The Thirteen Dao Forms Fusion showed terror, writhing violently, but it could do nothing to alter its fate.
After five breaths, the alien fusion was crushed into a completely flat plane, turned into a single sheet of paper.
A sheet of paper bearing an intricate, exquisite pattern.
"A gift for you."
The purple-clad cultivator held the pattern in hand, studying it closely for a moment. Then, without lingering, he spoke casually to Li Fan and Chengdao.
With a gentle flick of his finger, the paper formed by the Thirteen Dao Forms Fusion drifted before Chengdao.
Only up close did Li Fan and Chengdao sense the Great Dao aura emanating from the paper. It was truly the fusion of the thirteen strongest Great Daos from an entire possibility; both its quality and substance far surpassed the many Heavenly Pillars currently within the Great Wall.
With the Dao paper in hand, Chengdao and Li Fan finally snapped back to their senses. Forcibly suppressing their shock, both bowed deeply in unison. "We thank Senior."
Given the methods the other had displayed in the blink of an eye, addressing him as Senior was by no means beneath them. Even Chengdao, whose heart had always belonged solely to his master, was utterly convinced and reverent.
At the same time, Li Fan recalled what Di Sanmo had mentioned before: a nameless human True Immortal had suddenly appeared and slaughtered the alien Dao forms almost to extinction.
*Could this purple-clad man be that very nameless True Immortal from back then?*
Li Fan's heart stirred.
During his time with Chengdao, he had kept the divine power of Illusion as Reality draped over himself at all times. Formidable though this purple-clad figure was, Li Fan was not afraid of him seeing through it. Furthermore, the goodwill apparent in his words and actions put Li Fan at ease.
Thus, he directly asked, "Senior, were you the one who..."
Li Fan quickly recounted the matter.
The purple-clad figure smiled faintly. "Indeed, it was me. But that was a very, very long time ago."
His tone was calm and detached, yet his words carried a profound sense of antiquity—older even than the aura radiated by the Thirteen Dao Forms Fusion.
Perhaps Li Fan's topic touched upon fond memories, for the purple-clad figure uncharacteristically said a few more words: "Shouqiu sensed your message."
"However, he is not currently between the Mountains and Seas and cannot pull himself away. Thus, he entrusted us to help."
"Originally, I was unwilling to run this errand, but..."
The purple-clad man glanced at the Dao paper in Chengdao's hand.
He smiled softly. "It has been a long time since I killed their kind. My hands were itching."
"They are rarely seen across the entire Mountains and Seas now. I truly missed it a little."
The amount of information packed into these few simple remarks was staggering.
Both Chengdao and Li Fan went blank for a moment before finally reacting.
"Senior was asked by Master to help?" Chengdao was overjoyed.
His ecstatic expression was not at all that of an old man who had lived through countless eras, but rather that of a delighted child who had received favor from a parent.
Yet compared to the Mound-Guarding Lord, what caught Li Fan's attention were a few specific phrases:
*Not between the Mountains and Seas.*
*Us.*
...
Like claps of thunder, the words left Li Fan thoroughly dazed.
Forcibly masking the shock on his face, Li Fan lowered his head and listened to the conversation between the purple-clad cultivator and Chengdao.
"Under normal circumstances, we do not interfere in mortal affairs."
"However, the situation you reported is indeed rather peculiar..."
Without needing Li Fan or Chengdao to explain what had happened, the purple-clad cultivator's gaze locked unerringly onto the Guangwu Star Sea beyond the void of Dao Annihilation.
"Indeed, quite interesting," the purple-clad man said with an amused look. "This trip was not in vain."
Chengdao remained silent, pondering his words.
Amid the silence, Li Fan suddenly spoke up again: "Senior just mentioned that Master is currently not between the Mountains and Seas. Could you tell us...?"
The purple-clad cultivator had not expected another of Shouqiu's disciples to be here. Seeing that Chengdao did not contradict him, he did not pry.
"It means exactly what it sounds like."
"You will learn in time; telling you now would do you no good."
Out of respect for the Mound-Guarding Lord, the purple-clad man offered a brief reply. Though it explained little, Li Fan did not dare press further.
"My time is tight, so I cannot linger."
"If you wish to watch the excitement, you may follow along."
The purple-clad figure waved a hand lightly toward the direction of the Guangwu Star Sea.
Another celestial grand path suddenly materialized from the Dao Annihilation, leading straight toward the Guangwu Star Sea!
Chapter 1515