Li Fan was in no hurry to make his move.
Before launching an assault on the Fallen Immortal Realm, he still needed time to build up his strength and make adequate preparations.
First and foremost was the systematic elimination of the hidden perils surrounding the Xuanhuang Realm.
With his divine sense returning from the Fallen Immortal Realm to reality, the first thing the Great Heavenly Venerable immortal puppet did was seize control of the Grand Star-Crossing Array.
The immortal array laid down by King Xuantian in antiquity had long been reduced to a dilapidated state through the Xuanhuang Realm's countless foreign campaigns.
Golden Lock Traversing the Void, which tightly bound Taiyuan, was already the final great feat it was capable of performing.
Yet, while the Ten Sects were powerless to repair it, that did not mean Li Fan could not.
Amidst the rumbling of heaven and earth across Xuanhuang, the first thing Li Fan did was enlighten and resurrect the fallen Tian beast.
When the Tian beast's colossal frame appeared, the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao were at first thoroughly bewildered, having no idea of the dreadful beast's origins. Only after a moment did someone recall its identity from distant memories ten thousand years old.
At once, an overwhelming terror took root in their hearts.
Why had the guardian sacred beast of the Xuantian Sect suddenly returned to life? Could it be that the mysterious, unfathomable half-immortal, King Xuantian, was about to return?
The Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao sank into profound unease. Casting aside the pioneering efforts in the Taiyuan cosmos, the core cultivators of the Ten Sects hurried back to the Xuanhuang Realm overnight, gathering to deliberate over countermeasures. They also attempted to send inquiries to Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang, but received no reply whatsoever.
The Great Heavenly Venerable had vanished.
Just as their dread deepened by the day, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals abruptly declared war on the Ten Sects. This prompted feelings of both exasperation and absurdity among the Ten Sects' leaders.
It was true they feared King Xuantian, but what right did a puny Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals have to challenge them? The strongest among them, that so-called Immortal Venerable Chuanfa, was merely at the Dao Integration stage. Where did he find the audacity to pick a fight with the Ten Sects?
They were as amused as they were incensed. But just as the Ten Sects decided to suppress these petty scoundrels with thunderous force, a rapid sequence of moves by the Alliance caught them completely off guard.
First, Chuanfa proclaimed his true identity to the entire world: Xuanyuan Tuo, a descendant of the former leader of the Xuantian Sect, King Xuantian Xuanyuan Hong. The Ten Sects had brought chaos and ruin to the foundations laid by Xuantian, and Xuanyuan Hong had founded the Xuantian Sect specifically to overthrow their rule and restore the governance of Xuantian!
Having ruled the Xuanhuang Realm for ten thousand years, the Ten Sects had seen the world's knowledge of the Xuantian Sect almost entirely fade away. Thus, to ordinary cultivators, this declaration by the Alliance seemed little more than a manufactured pretext to claim legitimacy.
In the eyes of the Ten Sects, however, it carried a vastly different meaning.
Chuanfa was actually a descendant of King Xuantian?
A mere Dao Integration cultivator would never have the courage to stand up against the Ten Sects. What if the one backing Chuanfa was King Xuantian himself?
No wonder Chuanfa, a rustic cultivator with no background whatsoever, had been able to rise with such astonishing speed. He had even devised a set of brilliant techniques that were completely distinct from the prevailing cultivation methods.
Coupled with the loss of control over the Grand Star-Crossing Array and the resurrection of the Tian beast, the Ten Sects were finally convinced.
King Xuantian had returned!
Ancient memories surged back into their minds, and with them blossomed immense dread.
Just how terrifying had King Xuantian been?
Even now, the Ten Sects still had Longevity realm cultivators who had witnessed ten thousand years ago how King Xuantian, as a half-immortal, swept across the entire world. They were acutely aware of his power.
Even if all the cultivators of the Ten Sects joined forces, they would never be King Xuantian's match! Taking the initiative to strike would be nothing short of suicide!
Drawing upon their self-assured understanding of King Xuantian's character, the leaders of the Ten Sects reached a consensus: though King Xuantian had returned, with his temperament, even vengeance required a righteous justification.
The reason he had not shown himself and instead sent his descendant to provoke the Ten Sects was to lure them into making the first move. Only then could he launch a counterattack under the banner of justice, wiping out the Ten Sects with thunderous fury!
Believing they had uncovered King Xuantian's scheme, cold sweat broke out across the leaders of the Ten Sects. They immediately issued strict orders forbidding disciples from clashing with the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals for the time being.
Thus, an exceedingly bizarre scene unfolded across the Xuanhuang Realm.
Waving the banner of the Xuantian Sect, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals expanded wildly and aggressively. Meanwhile, the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao, the realm's true overlords, turned a blind eye, pulling their heads into their shells like frightened turtles.
This eerie spectacle bolstered the Alliance's morale tremendously, accelerating their rate of expansion even further.
The low-ranking disciples of the Ten Sects, on the other hand, felt suffocating frustration and total bewilderment.
Relying on their past prestige to temporarily suppress the grievances of their disciples, the core figures of the Ten Sects knew this state of affairs could not last.
They forged a joint plan: quickly invite Archmage Tiandu!
In truth, had King Xuantian not been grievously wounded after his battle with the Archmage back then, they would never have dared to strike against him.
Now that King Xuantian was back, their only recourse was to plead for the Archmage's assistance once more.
After all, the inheritances of the Ten Sects all originated from Tiandu. The Archmage would surely not sit idly by while they perished.
In theory, that was true, but in practice, the Ten Sects had no real confidence. None of them had seen the Archmage for countless years. Even during the several occasions when the Xuanhuang Realm faced mortal peril, the Archmage had never once appeared.
Within a secret chamber of the Great Dao Sect, more than half of the sect leaders of the Ten Sects gathered to deliberate on countermeasures.
Every face was clouded with gloom.
Fang Dingge cleared his throat lightly. "There is no need for everyone to be so downcast. Do not forget our discoveries in the cosmos near Taiyuan. If all else fails, what is the harm in conceding this small corner of the Xuanhuang Realm to King Xuantian? That place is vastly superior to the borders of the Immortal Ruins."
This talk of defeat before even fighting drew no objections. Instead, the crowd nodded in unison, completely agreeing with Fang Dingge's assessment.
"Before we depart, we must strip bare all the accumulations our Ten Sects have gathered over the years, leaving him with an empty Xuanhuang. Hmph..." The speaker was an ancient man of immense age. His hair and beard were stark white, and the skin of his face was puckered and creased together in a terrifying grimace. The light in his murky eyes seemed on the verge of extinguishing entirely, as though even his Longevity realm cultivation was reaching the end of its lifespan.
Hearing the old man's venomous words, the others in the room did not voice agreement, wearing varied expressions instead.
However, out of respect for his status, no one stepped forward to dispute him.
The elder was named Ruan Tianliu, a Supreme Elder of the Yishi Sect. After the sect leader of the Yishi Sect fell on the Taiyuan battlefield and was not resurrected by the Xuanhuang True Immortal, this man had retaken control of the sect.
Ruan Tianliu was also one of the few cultivators among the Ten Sects who had witnessed King Xuantian's terrifying might firsthand. He feared that half-immortal to the core, which was why he had vigorously opposed attacking the Alliance from the very beginning.
"Elder Ruan speaks true. More than half the essence of Xuanhuang has already been harvested by our Ten Sects. Even if we relocate, we will suffer no great loss. In truth, have we not long prepared an evacuation contingency? If there were still dissenting voices wishing to remain in Xuanhuang before, King Xuantian's reappearance has swiftly unified everyone's opinions," Xiahou Yan, Master of Wuding Prison, remarked with a faint smile.
"The only infuriating part is that the Dichotomy Immortal Seed inexplicably disappeared. Otherwise, we could have slipped away without leaving a trace, crossing the ocean under false pretenses. Our true bodies would flee into the Taiyuan cosmos, leaving only weaker avatars behind to fight the Xuantian Sect to the death!" a voice in the room lamented with regret.
"The disappearance of the Dichotomy Immortal Seed was truly bizarre. It did not seem as if its power dissipated, nor does it look like King Xuantian's doing. After all, Xuanyuan Hong always acted with honor; he would never stoop to petty thievery."
"Could it be that he brought back an accomplice with him this time?"
The gathered leaders traded suspicious, paranoid conjectures.
Before long, they returned to the main topic. "Who will go to invite the Archmage this time?"
One had to know that Archmage Tiandu was nowhere near as approachable as they claimed to outsiders. The slightest misstep would result in nothing less than destruction.
"I will lead the party," Fang Dingge said with a cold snort, breaking the hesitation.
After a flurry of shifting expressions, a party of five was finally chosen.
They set out for Tiandu to invite the Archmage into the world.
"Ten thousand years have passed. Though we frequently sent messages and tributes to Tiandu, whether that Archmage still recognizes us remains uncertain. Based on the experiences of our predecessors, we must move Him with matters that pique His interest..."
The Ten Sects had recorded the recent anomalies within the Xuanhuang Realm onto shadow-recording stones, forcibly attributing them all to King Xuantian to serve as bargaining chips to move the Archmage.
"If only the Xuanhuang True Immortal had not fallen on the Taiyuan battlefield..."
As they drew near Tiandu, Cao Yingyue, representing the Great Dao Sect, suddenly looked toward the distant skies and murmured faintly.
The party paused slightly in their flight.
"The Xuanhuang True Immortal..." Everyone fell into a brief daze before shaking their heads, suppressing the swarm of thoughts.
They resumed their flight toward Tiandu.
Following the accounts of those who had visited in the past, they smoothly entered that city suspended in the sky.
Though called a city, Tiandu was more akin to a Daoist monastery, consisting of merely a few scattered buildings.
Holding an ancient token of passage, Fang Dingge led the group into Tiandu without encountering any resistance.
"That counts as the first step completed."
"It is said that even with the token granted by the Archmage in the past, whether one can enter safely depends entirely on His mood. If one offends Him, even someone at the pinnacle of Dao Integration would vanish without a sound." The cultivators exchanged glances, breathing a slight sigh of relief.
They pressed deeper toward the spot where, according to records, the Archmage sat in meditation.
Pushing open the vermilion wooden doors, two figures abruptly came into view.
The hearts of the Ten Sects' envoys leaped. Hurriedly dropping to their knees, they called out in unison, "We pay our respects to the Archmage!"
A deathly silence filled the pavilion.
Beads of cold sweat trickled down the brows of the envoys.
The Archmage did not respond for a long time.
Just as the delegation began to feel at a loss, one of the figures suddenly spoke.
"The Archmage..."
"Do you mean this pillar?"
The envoys were stunned and snapped their heads up.
Ahead of them, the scene indeed appeared identical to the depictions in ancient texts.
Two figures stood there.
One of them sat cross-legged, chanting.
Yet the other...
Was not a young boy.
It was a middle-aged man possessed of majestic authority without needing to display anger, resembling a transcendent being from the heavens above.
The moment Fang Dingge saw him, he felt a sense of familiarity.
Yet the words spoken were so shocking that he had no room to ponder that feeling.
"The Archmage... a pillar...?"
"What does that mean?"
Only then did the envoys focus their gaze on the celestial pillar beside the middle-aged man, which he was gently caressing.
An almost impossible thought surfaced in their minds.
Their bodies began to tremble uncontrollably from sheer terror.
A moment later, when the middle-aged man's gaze fell upon them, their shivering was forcibly arrested, yet their hearts remained frozen with dread.
And what the middle-aged man said next confirmed their worst fears.
"From this day forth, there is no longer any Archmage in the Xuanhuang Realm."
"Whatever you wish to do, you must rely on yourselves."
"Now, begone."
Seeming disinclined to waste words on them, the middle-aged man waved his sleeve.
The envoys felt the world spin wildly, and the next moment, they found themselves cast out of Tiandu. When they looked back, the architecture that had hung suspended above the Xuanhuang Realm for ten thousand years had vanished without a trace!
"B-Brother Dingge..."
After a long, hollow silence, the group finally regained their senses.
In their eyes, Archmage Tiandu, who hailed from the Immortal Realm and seemed nearly omnipotent, had actually been turned into a pillar.
The sheer shock of it was so overwhelming that they stammered even when trying to speak.
Yet they were, after all, leaders of the Ten Sects; no matter how appalled they were, they slowly began to force themselves to accept the reality.
Fang Dingge steadied his mind and took a deep breath. "Let us return first before discussing this."
Halfway back, Fang Dingge's flight suddenly halted, and he blurted out, "I remember who that was! The First Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang!"
His words left the others staring at each other in utter shock.
***
"A bunch of clowns!" Inside Tiandu, Li Fan shook his head slightly.
He paid no further attention to the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao.
Instead, he shifted his focus back to the sealed Archmage.
Even though this was his second time carrying out this sealing operation, Li Fan had still endured a fierce battle.
Even prior to this, Li Fan had mobilized the power of the Grand Star-Crossing Array to shift the Xuanhuang Realm to the edge of the Pitch-Black Star Sea, far away from the Immortal Ruins in a secure domain.
He had then tapped into the power of the legacy phantom left by the Mound-Guarding Lord within the Great Wall.
When dealing with the Archmage, ordinary Daoist arts were entirely useless. Only the blade of "Real Turned Fake," which sheared away spirituality, was capable of taking effect.
Even with the experience of a prior battle, it could not be said to have been completely without risk.
Fortunately, Li Fan's mastery of the transformation of true and false held far too great a counter over the Archmage's Wuji Dao.
In the end, it concluded with Him being sealed.
"With one celestial pillar anchoring the foundation, the Eternal Immortal Vessel can be considered preliminarily formed."
Filled with deep satisfaction, Li Fan stroked the Wuji Heavenly Pillar once more.
In this plan to fortify the Xuanhuang Realm, Li Fan had excluded the Mound-Guarding phantom.
After all, to the current Li Fan, the Mound-Guarding Lord was still an unstable factor. Though the world praised the Mound-Guarding Lord's noble character, Li Fan would never entrust his own survival to the moral integrity of others.
"With Wuji in place, next comes the Hunger Immortal."
Although the Hunger Immortal had yet to attain the realm of Nameless, in terms of sheer peril, He was even more dangerous than the Archmage.
Chapter 1553