He who obtains the Supreme Dao Scripture may attain True Immortality!
This was no empty, illusory claim, but one with a firm foundation.
That foundation was precisely the [Xuanhuang True Immortal] who now held unmatched prestige in the Xuanhuang Realm.
One must know, the Xuanhuang True Immortal had not appeared out of thin air. He had risen from a lowly Foundation Establishment cultivator, fighting and growing all the way to the True Immortal realm, his growth trajectory leaving traces at every step.
Thus, when people discovered this truth, they felt an indescribable shock all the more.
Because the Xuanhuang True Immortal had completed the journey from mortal to immortal in just a few short years!
Although the Ten Sects had already concluded that this was due to his extremely special constitution, constantly transforming and being reborn in slaughter and battle, it was still inevitable that some harbored doubts.
Even within the Ten Sects, they began secretly launching an exceedingly detailed investigation into the True Immortal's rise to prominence.
Even if the chief disciple of Changqing Valley was as cunning as could be, he could not hide himself before the methods of the Ten Sects. Thus his past dealings with the True Immortal were exposed before all.
"Supreme Dao Scripture..."
Jiang Yinyue of the Taishang Sect, sent to secretly investigate this matter, looked at the familiar thin slice in her hand, her expression inexplicable.
"Identical to the one in my mind."
"According to Baili Shan, he also once possessed a similar slice while alive. No wonder I always felt there was something strange about him that I could not put into words. So it is..."
"A special constitution, plus the guidance of the Supreme Dao Scripture. Thus he was able to complete this unprecedented feat of ascending to immortality." Jiang Yinyue gripped the slice tightly, a flash of determination in her eyes.
Since that one could achieve ascension to the immortal realm, then she could do the same.
Perhaps not so swiftly...
She would ruthlessly slay Baili Shan, in hopes of keeping the secret as best as possible. Jiang Yinyue had just brought the slice back to the sect when she received a message from the sect leader.
"The Supreme Dao Scripture concerns the future path of Xuanhuang. It must be shared among the Ten Sects."
The old Daoist who had originally declined that brilliant expanse of the Great Dao starry sky, hoping to walk his own path, after witnessing Li Ping's deeds of ascending to immortality over the past few years, could no longer hold to his original intention.
Jiang Yinyue felt a nameless sense of loss, yet also a sense of relief.
Carrying the seized Supreme Dao Scripture slices, she departed slowly.
From then on, the Supreme Dao Scripture became a shared treasure of the Ten Sects. And combined with the experiences of Jiang Yinyue and others, the Ten Sects concluded that perhaps there were other slices scattered in the world.
For whatever reason, the Ten Sects could not stand by and let such a supreme treasure as the Supreme Dao Scripture be controlled by others. Thus the Ten Sects internally organized a secret group to search in the dark.
Within three years after the great war ended, the Xuanhuang Realm remained calm and peaceful.
Even though the Xuanhuang True Immortal had resurrected the vast majority of cultivators who died on the Taiyuan battlefield, the overall losses suffered by the Xuanhuang Realm were not particularly severe. But that great war undoubtedly left extremely deep psychological scars on the cultivators, needing time to gradually heal.
The Ten Sects and the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, whose atmosphere had gradually grown tense, were temporarily eased because of their experience fighting side by side on the Taiyuan battlefield.
More importantly, after successfully occupying the Taiyuan Realm, they opened a port in another starry sky. The Xuanhuang Realm was no longer a dead land trapped in dire straits. The starry sky outside held infinite possibilities.
The contradictions between the two sides were no longer irreconcilable.
The river of history, after making a sharp turn at this node, rushed toward an entirely different course.
And in the towering waves caused by the river's change of course, there was a figure desperately struggling to support himself.
If not for the fine lines appearing in the river, tightly entwining him, he would have long been drowned by the surging power of time.
"What is the Dao of Reverse Travel? How are before and after, positive and negative, order and reverse defined? Is the end of this river long predestined? Or is there still a different ending?..."
In the surging wild waves, Li Fan struggled to maintain his form while also finding joy in bitterness, contemplating the Dao.
Although he had performed the grand deception of attaining True Immortality before countless living beings of the two realms quite satisfactorily, the price was also painful.
After the River of Time completely flowed toward a different future, every moment was drifting further from the original track.
Thus the backlash never ceased.
Even a hundred times more intense than the storms Li Fan had encountered when swimming upstream in the river before.
Because previously he was roughly in the same watershed, but now his actions had pushed him horizontally to the other end of the River of Time.
If before was swimming upstream, then now it was "crossing the river."
Fortunately, his carefully prepared grand performance was wonderful enough, deeply imprinted in the minds of all living beings of the Xuanhuang Realm. With so many sufficient and weighty anchors, no matter how great the storms, as long as this branch of time still existed, as long as the Xuanhuang Realm was not completely destroyed, it was temporarily enough to ensure Li Fan's safety in this stretch of the River of Time.
"This is called unchanging through ten thousand ages, the true name enduring forever!"
Next, no matter what choice he made—whether to continue swimming upstream or to remain still and stable—he first had a secure position to establish himself.
Just as the Great Xuan was to the Xuanhuang Realm, the Xuanhuang Realm to the Pitch-Black Star Sea, the inside of the Great Wall to primordial possibility.
Of course, given the general moral level of Xuanhuang Realm cultivators, and the possibility of future calamities and anomalies of heaven and earth, Li Fan did not expect this solid anchor to remain firm forever.
Thus, besides the name [Xuanhuang True Immortal], he also left a backup of the Supreme Dao Scripture, to serve as an emergency reserve anchor.
And, apart from the living beings of the Xuanhuang Realm, there was also the Taiyuan Realm.
In that earth-shattering white sword light, Li Fan had not destroyed the Taiyuan cultivators and the resurrection furnace entirely.
Instead, he temporarily sealed them all in the depths of that extremely deep rift.
Admiration from myriad people is an anchor. Despairing fear is also an anchor.
Li Fan would naturally not waste this.
Rather, slaughtering them all would be of no benefit to Li Fan.
With the Taiyuan Resurrection Furnace present, Taiyuan cultivators who could constantly resurrect and inherit their memories from life were destined to be more suitable anchor vessels than Xuanhuang cultivators.
Perhaps a number of years later, as time passed, the prestige of the Xuanhuang True Immortal would gradually be forgotten by the beings of Xuanhuang. The sculptures standing everywhere, worshipped by the people, would be ignored by all.
But his figure of one person, one sword, leading the multitude to counterattack in dire straits, and destroying Taiyuan in one stroke, would forever be engraved in the hearts of those Taiyuan cultivators. Even if body and soul perished, it could not be erased.
After another two years, a total of five years, Li Fan barely stabilized himself from the turmoil of the river's change of course.
Returning once more to solid ground in reality, Li Fan had a feeling completely different from the past.
No longer like rootless duckweed, connected only by a few anchor ties. But deeply rooted in the river, becoming a member of this stretch of spacetime.
"As long as enough anchors are set, one can shed the identity of a stowaway and become one of their own." Li Fan felt a sense of realization in his heart.
The benefits of completely integrating into this spacetime were obvious.
His cultivation level had almost completely returned to the level before swimming upstream, and even his understanding of the Great Dao was being completely calibrated by the constant washing of the time waves of this period.
Li Fan had a premonition in his heart.
The Mo Sha Immortal Soul, the transformation of true and false... these things he could completely reproduce in this spacetime were not far off.
Li Fan, in very good spirits, did not return to the Xuanhuang Realm immediately.
Instead, he looked down at the rift he had slashed with his own sword.
Within five years, the Ten Sects had completely blockaded this place, and had attempted multiple times to enter the depths of the rift to investigate.
But the sealing methods Li Fan had laid before falling into the river waves—how could they be penetrated by the people of the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao?
The people of the Ten Sects were all destined to return empty-handed.
"Besides the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao..."
Li Fan narrowed his eyes, flipping through the images recorded in the array.
The images flashed quickly, and when a figure appeared, he suddenly stopped.
"I found you, Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang!" A flash of excitement crossed Li Fan's eyes.
As Li Fan had expected.
After the immortal path was severed, a True Immortal mysteriously descended into the world. For any cultivator, this was an unbelievable thing. Especially those with higher cultivation, closer to the True Immortal realm, would definitely feel immense curiosity.
The Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang, who held the office of the Immortal Realm, was even more so.
Thus she was willing to risk great danger to personally come to the Taiyuan Realm. She hoped to glimpse and comprehend something from the traces left by the True Immortal.
But unexpectedly, she was captured by the methods Li Fan had left behind.
Even though this mysterious Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang instinctively hid herself, she could not escape the investigation of the array Li Fan had set up.
She wore a plain, elegant pink long skirt, with a thin veil still covering her face; at her temples was a small red plum-blossom-shaped scar.
Li Fan was certain that this was the Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang who had mysteriously disappeared in Xuanhuang history.
Similarly, Li Fan felt an inexplicable familiarity with her.
"Not someone I truly faced. But in someone's memory..."
After some backtracking, Li Fan finally remembered.
The figure before him gradually overlapped with the mortal lover of Mr. Bai in Ningyuan City.
Precisely because this lover of his had died tragically in the battle between Zhang Qianmo and Song Hesong, the rebellious disciple of Zixiao Sect, Mr. Bai later embarked on the path of cultivation.
"Judging from now, perhaps there were guiding factors from this Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang behind Song Hesong's inexplicable rebellion. What a Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang, to use such despicable methods." Li Fan snorted coldly in his heart.
But he could understand it.
Roughly, with the position of Great Heavenly Venerable, even if she wanted to run, she could not casually break free. At the very least, she needed to find a suitable "successor."
And she could not designate one casually; she had to find someone who met all the requirements for succeeding the Great Heavenly Venerable.
And Su Bai might be the one she secretly selected as the most suitable.
"Indeed, there are no coincidences without cause. Even if Su Bai had peerless talent, able to instantly reach Soul Formation with a mortal body and achieve Dao Integration morning and evening, the Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang could not be assumed on aptitude and cultivation alone."
Just like the unnamed succession.
Su Bai's succession was also full of shadows of being manipulated by others.
"Perhaps Su Bai also vaguely sensed something. But precisely because the guide was his mortal white moonlight lover, he willingly endured all this silently." Recalling the fragments of memory he had glimpsed in the Xuanhuang malice and Su Bai's Eternal Lingering Thought, Li Fan couldn't help but think this.
Shaking his head, Li Fan destroyed all the recorded images.
He took a step and came to the bottom of the rift.
That was where the Taiyuan Realm cultivators were imprisoned.
For Taiyuan cultivators, death was not a terrifying thing. To be unable to live and unable to die was the torment.
The torture they suffered in these five years was a hundred times worse than before. Even dying time and again on the battlefield was far less painful than now.
Trapped within a small space, unable to leave even half a step.
A dark place without sunlight, full of deathly silence.
They exhausted all methods, but could not break the prohibition here. Even if they committed suicide in despair, they would immediately be resurrected by the Taiyuan Resurrection Furnace above their heads.
Compared to that battlefield, this seemed to be the true eternal hell.
Li Fan's arrival did not alarm anyone.
Looking at the overall state of the Taiyuan cultivators below, he frowned slightly.
Li Fan's fundamental purpose was to use their fear to forge anchors.
But Li Fan discovered that, in such a situation, the fear these Taiyuan cultivators felt toward him was gradually decreasing.
"This is not a good thing."
"They need to be reminded from time to time."
Li Fan lightly pointed at the Taiyuan Resurrection Furnace in the sky.
Radiance suddenly burst forth, then illuminated this deep and dark place within.
Like the shining light of a great sun, the Taiyuan cultivators seemed to once again see Li Fan's figure standing like a war god with sword raised.
As if they had returned to the battlefield of old, this originally deathly silent small space suddenly burst into waves of fear and desperate screams.
Li Fan nodded in satisfaction.
He flashed into the Taiyuan Resurrection Furnace in the sky.
Watcher, Maintenance Official.
These two Immortal Servants responsible for the Taiyuan Realm's protective array, upon seeing Li Fan, did not launch an attack.
Instead, they respectfully knelt and kowtowed in salute.
Admittedly, purely in terms of strength, Li Fan at the previous Dao Integration stage was no match for these two Immortal Servants.
But no matter how powerful an Immortal Servant was, they were still just an Immortal Servant.
As a Shouqiu Disciple and the successor of Tai Tian Emperor's mantle, Li Fan had too many methods to directly take control of them.
This was also the reason why, from beginning to end, even when Taiyuan Realm was driven to a desperate strait, even when Taiyuan cultivators begged bitterly, they never appeared.
Without paying attention to the two Immortal Servants, Li Fan directly entered the core center of the Ancient Immortal Array.
As expected, he saw the Indefinite Ring, and the Nine-Star Red Pearl shining at the center.
Standing at the center of the immortal array, Li Fan truly felt the inexplicable pressure from the mountain above and the Sea of Infinity.
A glint of strange color flashed in his eyes. His purpose in coming here was not the pearl that recorded the information of all living beings and cultivators of the Taiyuan Realm.
But the complete immortal array itself.
"I myself cannot connect to the Sea of Infinity."
"But through this immortal array, I can indirectly steal the infinite immortal power in the Sea of Infinity."
"Just like I did before through my avatar."
"Now the Mo Sha Immortal Soul is gone, the Myriad Phenomena Dao Net does not exist. Only by first using this method can I temporarily recover my True Immortal cultivation."
Chapter 1542