The Moral True Immortal

The reason he had been able to suppress the Archmage so easily this time was Li Fan's blade of spirituality-shaving, which was an inherent counter to him. The Archmage's Wuji Dao was utterly vulnerable before True Also False. Yet against the Hunger Immortal, True Also False could never be so effective. Before her spirituality could be shaved to its nadir, the Hunger Immortal's half-step Nameless strength would be more than enough to reduce the First Generation Immortal Puppet to dust and ashes. After all, without Trueness to serve as a safety net now, Li Fan's true body would not step forward lightly when eliminating the hidden perils around Xuanhuang, simply to be safe. As for the Mound-Guarding Lord's phantom... In his previous life, Li Fan had used his avatar Li Buren to gather all the Immortal Territory chess pieces, gaining the weight of a Nameless True Immortal before unlocking the inheritance of the Mound-Guarding Lord. This time, however, the true Mo Sha Immortal Soul within his body had vanished in the catastrophe of the three Daos merging. Relying on the transformation of true and false, he could just barely manage to temporarily simulate the power of the Mo Sha Immortal Soul. Yet weaving a complete, stable Ten Thousand Manifestations Dao Net capable of accommodating the unfolded immortal domains within the chess pieces was beyond his current power. And with the First Generation Immortal Puppet's strength, it could never catch the eye of the Mound-Guarding Lord's phantom in the first place. Thus, this time Li Fan had used the First Generation Immortal Puppet to display the power of "sitting upon the mountain and gazing at the sea," evoking a resonance with the Mound-Guarding Lord's phantom within the Great Wall and directly obtaining partial control over the Lanke Dao Sanctuary. While far more convenient, it naturally carried many drawbacks. The phantom of the Mound-Guarding Lord existed to support and resist the Dao Annihilation Tribulation in the nearby cosmos. To mobilize it, he had to provide a replenishment first. In his previous life, he had possessed the Origin Bone's support. Furthermore, Li Fan had been able to disregard the safety of the starry sky within the Great Wall entirely, ignoring the Dao Annihilation Tribulation to draw upon as much of the Mound-Guarding Lord phantom's power as possible. Now, however, the Origin Bone consisted of merely half a piece inside an intact Immortal Territory chess piece, hardly sufficient for great tasks. Although the Wuji Dao possessed high status, when converted equally in terms of supporting the Dao Annihilation Tribulation, it only amounted to half a Heavenly Pillar. In total, they could only be exchanged for the power of a single Mound-Guarding Lord phantom, and Li Fan also had to consider his own safety. Therefore, when making a move against the Hunger Immortal, meticulous preparations were required. Though in his previous life the Hunger Immortal had been suppressed into a pillar with almost no resistance, when backed into a corner, she had shown no fear even against the power of mountains and seas wielded by the Mound-Guarding Lord's phantom. That momentum of devouring mountains and drinking dry oceans, turning everything in the world into her own sustenance, was by no means a bluff; it was the foundation of the Primordial Dao of "Hunger," hailing from beyond the Primordial timeline. Capable of drifting through the Dao Annihilation Tribulation, surviving into the Primordial timeline, and merging and evolving, the current Dao of Hunger was certainly no weakling. One had to remember that in his previous life, Li Fan had exerted the power of nearly three Primordial Beginning Heavenly Pillars before thoroughly suppressing the Hunger Immortal. And at that time, she had only just attained the Dao as a Nameless! Having once peeled and fed upon the Hunger Immortal's Heavenly Pillar, savoring it in detail, Li Fan understood this intimately. Hence, he dared not be the least bit careless. Fortunately, when considering comprehension of the Dao of Hunger alone, Li Fan's depth of understanding was likely superior even to the current Hunger Immortal! After meticulous preparation, the perfect trap for the Hunger Immortal was complete. Three years later, Xuanhuang Realm time. Upon the land of the Immortal Ruins, the skeletal figure sitting cross-legged in comprehension suddenly snapped open its eyes. It gazed toward the "distant" heart of the starry sea. "What... is happening?" "Someone is contesting my ownership of the Dao of Hunger?" Dazed at first, it took the Hunger Immortal quite some time to discern the reason she had inexplicably awoken from her meditation. She found it utterly bewildering. She even found it somewhat laughable. After all, the skeleton of the previous Hunger Immortal lay directly beneath her. It was simply impossible for anyone in the world to understand the Dao of Hunger better than herself. "To stubbornly practice this Dao, they must not have discovered my existence yet. Yet to startle me awake from my meditation means this person's comprehension of the Dao of Hunger is already quite accomplished." The Hunger Immortal found it intriguing. "If I devour this person, perhaps it will spare me some of the hardships of comprehending the Dao." With a shift of thought, the chains coiled around her body clattered loudly and retracted entirely into her form. As the Hunger Immortal took her first step forward, the missing flesh upon her skeleton was already restored. Her silhouette flickered, and she arrived near the location of the other cultivator of the Dao of Hunger whom she had sensed. "Hmm?" For reasons unknown, the Hunger Immortal felt that the wandering Dao principles in the surrounding void seemed somewhat familiar. Yet for the moment, she could not put her finger on where this sense of familiarity originated. Meanwhile, the cultivator who should have been here was nowhere to be seen. Her heart sank, and her gaze swiftly swept over the surroundings. Suddenly, upon spotting a figure standing quietly with its back turned in the starry sky not far away, the Hunger Immortal froze. An instinct rooted deep within her body and soul nearly caused the word "Master" to escape her lips. For both the physique and the aura of this figure were almost identical to her master, Wuwei! And as if sensing the Hunger Immortal's peering gaze, the figure slowly turned around. A gaunt face, a tranquil gaze. When that face met the Hunger Immortal's eyes, it struck like bolts of heavenly thunder, jolting her soul into turmoil and clouding her consciousness. "It really is Master?!" Just as shock, confusion, and countless emotions surged simultaneously within her heart, silent changes unfolded across the surrounding void. Faint, thread-like lines crisscrossed in every direction, forming an invisible net that enveloped the Hunger Immortal. The figure of Wuwei vanished. In its place, scenes around her shifted and transformed. The world teetering on collapse, the Dao Annihilation Tribulation descending! It was precisely the scene buried deep in the Hunger Immortal's heart from long ago... Only this time, her master, Immortal Wuwei, could not withstand the monstrous calamity either, engulfed by Dao Annihilation in the blink of an eye. "Master!" Terrified and trembling, the aura of Dao Annihilation closing in from every side made her instinctively want to flee for her life. Only after a moment did she snap back to her senses. "Wait... this is a trap?" Though the Hunger Immortal had finally realized something was amiss, it was too late. With the grand formation fully formed, everything was irreversible. Her vision dimmed. It felt as though an invisible, colossal hand was pressing down across her entire existence. And the resonance connecting her to the skeleton of the previous Hunger Immortal was inexplicably severed. All resistance proved utterly futile. Within the formation, a Heavenly Pillar slowly took shape. Only now, with the matter settled, did Li Fan emerge, manipulating the First Generation Immortal Puppet. "To attack a city is inferior; to attack the heart is supreme," he recited slowly, a hint of satisfaction on his face. First luring the tiger from the mountain, then shaking her mind with Immortal Wuwei, and finally using his comprehension of the Dao of Hunger to sever her bond with the skeleton beneath the Immortal Ruins—he had reduced the difficulty of capturing the Hunger Immortal by more than half. Had he forcibly waged battle against her upon the land of the Immortal Ruins, it would never have been this effortless. "A pity the Hunger Immortal had not yet proven the Dao as Nameless." "Still only barely half a Heavenly Pillar." Li Fan examined the three Heavenly Pillars he had gathered so far and shook his head slightly. Origin, Wuji, Hunger. Every one of them was fragmented and incomplete, far from the magnificent spectacle of them towering across the starry sea at his peak in the previous life. "Still, one cannot force it." "A Nameless Heavenly Venerable is wonderful, but the risk is simply too great. At the slightest misstep, my Eternal Immortal Vessel might capsize before it is even built. These three will have to do for now." "If the quality is lacking, I shall make up for it with quantity," Li Fan consoled himself. Without Trueness to rely on, Li Fan had also learned to compromise. No longer chasing perfection, he prioritized safety above all. After carefully storing away the Hunger Immortal's Heavenly Pillar, Li Fan made his way to the land of the Immortal Ruins. Although the meditating Hunger Immortal was gone, the skeleton of the previous Hunger Immortal remained, so the Immortal Ruins' outward gravitational pull had not entirely dissipated. In his previous life, Li Fan had chosen to help the Hunger Immortal succeed. Once she proved the Dao as Nameless, this skeleton had disappeared. Now, however, that massive character "Hunger" remained quietly inscribed upon the earth of the Immortal Ruins! Li Fan did not attempt to move the skeleton away. For he keenly perceived the aura of the Dao Annihilation Tribulation supported by the skeleton. Past experience told him that if this skeleton were removed, the surrounding cosmos would immediately be engulfed by Dao Annihilation. "Tied hand and foot—truly frustrating," Li Fan murmured. Though he could not easily touch it, that did not prevent him from sitting down in meditation to comprehend the Dao, just as the Hunger Immortal had. Naturally, Li Fan had no desire to become the next Hunger Immortal. What he sought to comprehend was the original Dao path of the skeleton's master before traversing Dao Annihilation and arriving at Primordial. Li Fan had a faint intuition. Compared to the Dao of Hunger, that original path seemed far better suited to expanding his Ten Thousand Manifestations Dao Net. He sat cross-legged upon the land of the Immortal Ruins, right at the center of the massive True Immortal seal character. Yet Li Fan did not bind himself with chains. He possessed the confidence that his sheer willpower was enough to resist the influence of the Dao of Hunger. As his comprehension gradually resonated with the skeleton beneath him, fragmented memories from the skeleton surfaced in his mind, stretching from the recent past into antiquity. "Again! It's happening again! Last time the heavens collapsed, I was lucky enough to escape. This time, I fear I won't be so fortunate! Damn it, why did the Disaster-Crossing Immortal Coffin have to go missing? I've searched exhaustively all these years and still haven't found it!" In the distance, the boundless firmament vanished without warning. The tide of Dao Annihilation, veiled in darkness, pressed in from every direction. Faintly audible from within the darkness was the thunderous collision of mountains and seas clashing together. The sound was all too familiar. Like a death knell, it had played continuously during the fall of his homeland. Ordinary people could hardly perceive it; only cultivators who possessed insight into mountains and seas could hear it. Now, as this movement of mountains and seas echoed once more, it awakened the instinctive terror buried deep within the Hunger Immortal. Without the slightest thought of resisting, he wanted only to flee. "The fall of the Immortal Realm is already a foregone conclusion. I can only flee to the lower realm to lay low for now, then look for other ways." "Damn it, who on earth took my Disaster-Crossing Immortal Coffin?!" Having apparently prepared to flee long before, light and shadows flickered as the Hunger Immortal reached the vicinity of the Ascension Passage ahead of the vast majority of immortals. As the nexus connecting immortal and mortal realms, passing through it meant temporary safety. "The collapse of the Immortal Realm will still take some time. I hope I can find a way to escape before Dao Annihilation spreads to the lower realms." His heart trembling with dread, the Hunger Immortal prepared to descend. Suddenly, a voice called out, stopping him in his tracks. "Fellow Daoist, hold your steps!" An instinctive alert flared in the Hunger Immortal's heart. He paid it no heed, feigning deafness as he continued flying forward. Yet the distance that should have taken only an instant to cross inexplicably stretched endlessly far. No matter what he did, he could not reach the end! "Turning a deaf ear, Fellow Daoist—it seems you have no intention of showing me courtesy." "I had intended to discuss this with you, but now it seems there is no need!" The voice drew ever closer, clinging like a shadow. In mere moments, it had arrived right beside him. "The Immortal Realm suffers catastrophe, and the lower realms surely cannot hold out for long either. Someone must step forward to hold back Dao Annihilation for everyone. Why can't it be you?!" "Sacrifice the smaller self to fulfill the greater good. We survivors shall remember you in the days to come." The figure spoke with earnest gravity, and immediately the Hunger Immortal felt a hand press down upon his shoulder. Then, he could move no more! First came a surge of terror, followed by a blaze of nameless rage. "You court death!" Boundless suction erupted from the Hunger Immortal in an instant, madly devouring everything around him. Even the Ascension Passage grew precarious and swayed. Many fleeing True Immortals were devoured by him before they could even cry for help. Yet at the center of the vortex churning all creation, that other figure remained completely unaffected, looking upon the Hunger Immortal with a face full of pity. "It seems your awareness is truly somewhat lacking." "There is not even a need to mourn you. That saves some trouble." In a few casual words, he had seemingly decided the Hunger Immortal's fate, completely disregarding what the Hunger Immortal himself thought. Shocked and enraged, the Hunger Immortal seethed. "Had I not altered my identity to quickly assimilate into the Great Dao of this world, how could I ever be humiliated like this?!" "Damn you!" The weight pressing upon his shoulder grew heavier and heavier. The Hunger Immortal felt himself gradually detaching from the entire world. An omnipresent, titanic force seemed bent on crushing and flattening him inch by inch. At the final moment before his consciousness faded, the Hunger Immortal strained with all his might to see the figure's face clearly. "It's you?! The Moral True Immortal?!" This was the final thought echoing within the Hunger Immortal's skeleton. Imbued with boundless resentment, it lingered without dispersing. ... "Finally alive again." "All of them died, while I alone survived. Facts prove that I was the one who was right. Hmph, Master, Junior Brother, rest in peace in the Netherworld." Having traversed Dao Annihilation and endured countless hardships to arrive at a new timeline, the Hunger Immortal looked upon the long-lost scenery of the Immortal Realm in high spirits. Soon, however, his good mood was disrupted. "Strange. Shouldn't the Disaster-Crossing Immortal Coffin have descended into reality alongside me? Where did it go?" "Moreover, the Great Dao here seems somewhat hostile to me." "Looks like I must find a way." ... "What Holy Lord Lianshan, what Guihai—they are nothing more than hypocrites plotting to monopolize the mountains and seas!" "The Dao of Mountains and Seas belongs to everyone. Today, I insist on devouring mountains and swallowing seas!" Amidst a shattered apocalypse rumbling with streaks of lightning, the Hunger Immortal roared at the heavens like a madman. "You wretched creature..." Beside him, an elder who had only half a head left murmured reprovingly. "Old bastard! Watching your disciples and descendants, and even the worldly Great Dao you protected, devoured by me one by one—how does it feel? Hahaha!" "You wretched creature..." The half-head gave no real response, merely repeating its curse. "Boring!" The Hunger Immortal crushed the head to pieces with a stomp. Shattered bone fragments, accompanied by flesh and brain matter, splattered instantly into the air. Yet midway through their flight, they were pulled back by suction, clinging to the Hunger Immortal's leg. Then, squirming continuously, they sank and vanished into his leg. "I refuse to believe it!" "If I can devour even the Great Dao, why should I fear these mountains and seas?!" Looking toward the movement of mountain and sea resonance playing quietly in the darkness afar, the Hunger Immortal's eyes turned crimson.