Two figures streaked across the sky like shooting stars and came to a halt above Xuanjing.
The civil and military officials of the imperial court all paled in fright, and many cried out, "Immortal Master!" ready to drop to their knees on the spot.
Only Li Fan remained composed, his expression unchanged throughout. He gave a cold snort. "What are you panicking for?!"
Having dominated the imperial court for decades, the Grand Preceptor possessed an absolute, indisputable authority that had long been engraved into the hearts of officials great and small.
With this single command, he forcibly suppressed everyone's instinctive dread of immortals, allowing them to temporarily regain their composure.
Yet as they stared up at the two celestial figures overhead, the terror on their faces remained impossible to conceal.
In the imperial capital of Xuanjing, the mortals fell as silent as cicadas in winter. The exchange between the two immortal cultivators continued.
"Kou Hong! Did you think fleeing to this land severed from immortality would make me let you go? Hand over the technique you obtained that day, or we will fight to the death!"
"What a joke! Precisely because I lacked a Core Formation method, I have been trapped at the Foundation Establishment stage for nearly a century, watching my lifespan draw to a close, on the verge of turning into withered bone. Now that I have acquired this Core Formation technique, how could I possibly give it to anyone else?!"
...
"This exchange seems somewhat familiar."
"It seems this isn't my first time experiencing this." As the thunderous dialogue between Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi rolled overhead, a sharp pang of pain suddenly flared in Li Fan's mind.
Immediately afterward, numerous scenes surged forth in quick succession.
"Not good!"
Recalling that the fallout from their impending battle would reduce all of Xuanjing to rubble, Li Fan felt his heart tighten.
And indeed, the ensuing turn of events unfolded exactly as he remembered.
"Kou Hong! What are you trying to do?!"
"Nothing more than fighting for a glimmer of survival!"
Accompanied by Kou Hong's crazed laughter, a massive crimson horned dragon slowly descended.
Its scorching flames threatened to incinerate everything in their path.
Witnessing this sight, every mortal in Xuanjing wore an expression of sheer terror and despair.
Except for Li Fan.
Within him, not a single ripple stirred.
In fact, as Li Fan sensed the crimson flames high in the sky, a strange feeling welled up within him.
"Is this..."
"The spiritual energy required for cultivation?"
Li Fan attempted to sense it in greater detail.
The flow of time seemed to slow to an absolute crawl. Li Fan could clearly see the gigantic fireball frozen motionless in midair.
To Li Fan's surprise, this so-called immortal spiritual energy was not at all difficult to comprehend. In fact, it was rather rudimentary, and...
obedient.
It seemed as though a mere thought from him was all it took to command it with ease.
Thus, Li Fan attempted to channel the violent, scorching spiritual energy from the sky into his own body.
It was as smooth and natural as water carving a channel.
The immense energy capable of incinerating Xuanjing entered Li Fan's body like a river pouring into an abyss. It failed to produce even the slightest ripple.
Had Li Fan not sensed the subtle changes occurring within his body, he might have believed his attempt to draw qi into his body had failed.
"The fiery attribute inherent to this spiritual energy has vanished as well. It seems to have reverted to its original purity."
"Is this also an effect of this body?"
...
The anomaly occurred with utter suddenness.
The ferocious snarl was still frozen on Kou Hong's face, but his ultimate move, [Dao Art: Fire Dragon Roar], had somehow begun to dissipate into nothingness. Kou Hong's expression gradually turned to sheer astonishment.
"You actually poisoned me?!" Kou Hong immediately blamed this bizarre turn of events on his good sworn brother, his voice thick with fury and disbelief.
"...What?" Dao Xuanzi couldn't keep up with Kou Hong's train of thought, looking thoroughly bewildered at first.
Before the two could argue any further, an icy, intensely authoritative voice rang out abruptly from below:
"Insolent!"
"Get down here!"
Suddenly, a colossal force struck them, like countless hands dragging them downward. Caught completely off guard, Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi lost their ability to levitate and plummeted violently from the sky toward the ground.
*Boom!*
They smashed two massive craters into the paved streets of Xuanjing!
The city fell dead silent.
Who among the capital's residents did not recognize that voice?
Without even a moment to celebrate their miraculous survival, the entirety of Xuanjing was plunged into speechlessness and profound shock.
Within the Grand Preceptor Manor, the civil and military officials and bureaucrats looked at Li Fan as though he were a god or demon, every gaze fixed upon him.
One official reacted fastest, stepping forward: "The Grand Preceptor's brilliant might forces even immortals to bow! With the Grand Preceptor watching over us, it is truly Great Xuan's fortune!"
With that, he fell to his knees in homage.
Hearing this, the rest of the officials instantly came to their senses.
Whatever they might have thought inside, they all echoed the praise and kowtowed in succession.
Li Fan paid them no mind.
He walked slowly toward where the two cultivators had fallen.
When he took his first step, faint traces of spiritual energy still lingered in Xuanjing. But by the time Li Fan reached the disheveled pair, every scrap of spiritual energy had been entirely devoured by him.
"Why is there so little..." Li Fan was somewhat dissatisfied.
He turned his gaze toward these cultivators who had barged in uninvited.
By now, the two "immortal masters" were completely surrounded by the Xuanjing Guards. Though possessing an innate fear of legendary immortals, the guards dutifully held their spears leveled at the intruders.
When Li Fan approached, they parted without waiting for an order, opening a path for him.
Having attempted every possible method to break free from the crushing force bearing down upon them to no avail, Dao Xuanzi and Kou Hong felt despair setting in.
"This land severed from immortality is perilous beyond measure..." A wave of regret surged through their hearts.
Right then, Li Fan arrived before them.
Though not the slightest fluctuation of spiritual energy emanated from him, the tangible aura of majesty he projected exerted such pressure that the two cultivators couldn't stop trembling.
"Where do you two come from?"
Drawing close, Li Fan sensed the spiritual energy within their bodies even more clearly.
However, he did not rush to act. Suppressing the urge stirring within him, he asked in a cold voice.
"Replying to Senior... We two hail from the Xuanhuang Realm, from Congyun Heavenly Mountain... We stumbled into this place by accident and have offended your presence; we beg for your forgiveness," Dao Xuanzi said haltingly, cold sweat dripping down his face.
Through the ensuing questions and answers, Li Fan gained a general understanding of the situation regarding the Great Xuan pocket world and the Xuanhuang Realm.
At the same time, with every sentence Dao Xuanzi spoke, a flood of corresponding images surfaced in Li Fan's mind.
The Immortal Severing Formation in the Eastern Abyss that sealed off the Great Xuan pocket world; the tomb of the Taiyan Sect disciple Yi Yin, with the Dao Assimilation Stone and Taiyan Boat hidden within; and the Step-Halting Broken Stele inside Qian Hong's tomb...
What surprised Li Fan even more was that upon hearing the word "Congyun," an image flashed before his eyes: a crimson figure standing high in the heavens, holding an illusory flame, burning the vast sea to cinders.
"Could it be that I was severely wounded and lost my memories because of such a catastrophe?"
Li Fan carefully examined the instinctive emotions that accompanied the emergence of those memories.
"Wait... no."
"Was I previously this strong? Capable of disregarding such a calamity?"
Upon realizing this, Li Fan felt no joy. Instead, a sense of foreboding crept in.
The further he had walked before losing his memory, the more it proved that the crisis that had inflicted such severe injuries upon him was unimaginably difficult to confront.
"I must proceed step by step and exercise extreme caution."
...
"Lend me your spiritual energy."
Once he had questioned them sufficiently, Li Fan held his hands out, making a grasping motion toward Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi.
What followed made the two sworn brothers pale in horror.
A void seemed to open within their bodies, and all their spiritual energy uncontrollably flooded into it. In merely a few breaths, the two were completely drained.
With their spiritual energy gone, they were no different from mortals!
Curiously, under normal circumstances, when an ordinary cultivator lost all their spiritual energy, they would inevitably suffer severe backlash—if not dying on the spot, then suffering crippling internal injuries. Yet neither of them felt the least bit wounded or weakened. In fact, they felt more invigorated than ever before, as if they had broken through several major realms in succession!
To their shock, they even discovered that under the influence of this vitality, their Foundation Establishment wonders had mysteriously begun to crystallize, showing signs of sublimation and transformation!
"Just... what is this?" The two brothers were shaken to the core, completely baffled.
Yet in unison, they discarded every lingering scheme in their minds.
Though reckless, they were by no means stupid.
Given the abilities this elderly man displayed, he was at least a mighty figure of the Nascent Soul stage!
"Yet after the Nascent Soul stage, one's body forms an inner paradise of its own. How could he lack spiritual energy?"
"Could it be that before the great calamity..." Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi exchanged a glance, believing they had deduced the truth.
"Whatever commands Senior has, please instruct us. We shall not shrink even from death!" Kou Hong said in a muffled, earnest voice.
...
Li Fan merely waved his hand, and the Xuanjing Guards swarmed forward, carting the defenseless pair off to the dungeon to be placed under strict surveillance.
Li Fan did not return to his residence, choosing instead to stand watch directly above the dungeon.
The instant he had finished absorbing the spiritual energy from the two, a murderous impulse had surfaced. However, upon faintly sensing that they might serve another purpose, he had changed his mind.
Seated in meditation, Li Fan followed that lingering sensation to reminisce.
"Eternal Lingering Thought."
"Only I serve as the boat... the method of crossing?"
When these sporadic fragments surfaced one after another in his mind, countless majestic figures suddenly forced their way in all at once.
*Pfft!*
Li Fan violently spewed a mouthful of blood. His brain felt as though it were being struck repeatedly by a heavy hammer, sending the world spinning uncontrollably.
This was no illusion—his brain had genuinely sustained devastating trauma.
Beyond crimson blood, a thick white slurry erupted from his seven facial orifices.
In an instant, Li Fan was drenched in blood.
Normally, not to mention a mortal, even an immortal cultivator suffering such catastrophic trauma would have perished on the spot.
Yet the moment Li Fan forcibly severed those memories, he snapped out of his near-death state, not even feeling the slightest hint of weakness.
He reached up and wiped the blood from his face as if it did not even belong to him.
With a single thought, the blood covering his body transformed into wisps of green light and flowed back inside.
Not only was he fully restored, but Li Fan also faintly felt that having hovered at the brink of death, he had drawn upon even more of the vitality stored within his body.
Because of this, he had grown even stronger.
"The vitality of this body is truly far too monstrous."
"Still, it is ultimately a good thing."
Pondering the Xuanhuang Realm beyond the Great Xuan pocket world, Li Fan already had a faint plan forming in mind.
Less than half a day later.
A body identical to Li Fan's abruptly appeared.
It was not some clone divine ability.
Rather, Li Fan had relied on his absurdly powerful vitality to forcefully generate an extra set of limbs, a torso, and even a head, before piecing them together into a human form.
Strictly speaking, this body was merely a part of Li Fan.
After acclimating for a brief moment, he grew used to the simultaneous perspective of two bodies.
Looking at his other self, even Li Fan, the creator of this masterpiece, felt a twinge of incredulity.
"..."
"Let him scout ahead. If he encounters danger, I can always sever the limb to preserve the whole."
Seven days later, Li Fan flew out of Xuanjing, bringing Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi with him.
They headed straight for the Eastern Abyss.
He had not asked the pair how to fly; once he had drawn qi into his body, his physical form naturally remembered.
Even with two burdens in tow, it required no effort whatsoever.
In mere moments, they arrived outside the Eastern Abyss.
"Senior, ahead lies the Immortal Severing Formation that seals off this mortal pocket world. It is fraught with danger, and back then we also..."
Before Kou Hong could finish, Li Fan frowned slightly after observing it for a moment, then led them plunging straight down.
The two brothers' hearts leaped into their throats.
Fortunately, what they feared did not come to pass.
The restrictions within the Immortal Severing Formation seemed to have all malfunctioned for some reason.
Even as their breakthrough was nearly complete, nothing stirred.
The two were left utterly speechless.
Having pierced through the darkness, light returned once more.
The rolling Congyun Mountain Range came into view.
Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi hungrily absorbed the spiritual energy between heaven and earth.
When their strength was finally restored, they let out a long breath of relief.
Looking at Li Fan, they noticed that from beginning to end, not a single fluctuation of spiritual energy absorption surrounded this Senior. He merely kept his head raised toward the sky, watching who knew what.
Neither dared disturb him, obediently waiting by his side.
"How many years has it been since this place transformed from mountains into a sea?"
After a long silence, Li Fan spoke.
Both were startled, but Dao Xuanzi was first to respond: "It has been about twenty-odd years. How did Senior know?"
Li Fan narrowed his eyes without answering.
He simply sensed the crimson figure within his body.
The instant he had stepped into the Xuanhuang Realm, Li Fan had detected that figure hovering high in the sky.
It was identical to the culprit in his memories that had incinerated mountains and boiled the seas.
Yet facing such a terrifying presence, Li Fan had felt no fear. Instead, a peculiar sensation had welled up within him.
With a single thought, that crimson figure was seized and sealed inside his body.
From it, Li Fan sensed numerous principles regarding "Flame."
Yet they seemed exceedingly shallow.
Like an infant babbling its first words—childish, almost comical.
"It seems my original achievements were even greater than I imagined," Li Fan mused, gradually realizing the truth.
Chapter 1523