When all was said and done, this was simply Li Fan's nature.
He was utterly selfish and would never truly trust another living soul.
It was just as he had lived when he was still a mortal struggling for survival in the Great Xuan Dynasty. Whenever a matter concerned his future, let alone his very life, Li Fan handled it personally.
Searching for ore veins deep in the mountains, leading a musket squad to eradicate bandits, and even rescuing the Prince of Langya during the mob uprising before personally ending the prince's life with his own hands—at the root of it all was his refusal to entrust such matters to anyone else.
He had to step forward himself.
Now, hundreds of reincarnations had passed. Though Li Fan's strength was already sufficient to manipulate True Immortals at will, this core aspect of him had never changed in the slightest.
The survival of this mortal realm was bound to his own life.
Therefore, Li Fan would under no circumstances leave its fate entirely in the hands of others.
Even if figures like Shouqiu and the Three Sages appeared superior to the current Li Fan in both moral stature and raw strength,
they could not sway the decisions in his heart by even an iota.
The reason he chose to let them shoulder the burden for now was merely that his own strength was still insufficient.
Withdrawing his gaze from the far end of the River of Time, Li Fan controlled the body of the Great Heavenly Venerable puppet and strolled through the Pitch-Black Star Sea.
Although it had devoured all the immortal domain chess pieces, Li Fan vaguely sensed that the puppet body's strength had not actually made any significant leap.
To say nothing of the Transcendence realm, it was still far from attaining the Nameless Dao.
Fortunately, Li Fan had never counted on the Great Heavenly Venerable immortal puppet to serve as his true combat strength; it was merely a convenient tool for traveling and channeling boundless immortal power.
Immortal formations, the Mound-Guarding phantom, the True Also False divine ability...
These were Li Fan's true trump cards.
Having resolved the latent threat of the Immortal Ruins, Li Fan finally arrived beneath the Pitch-Black Star Sea, in the sunken hollow where countless streams of life force converged.
At this juncture in time, the Cyan Nether Pearl was not yet completely shattered, and Situ Xing had not entirely lost his power.
The progress in opening up the living forms within the hollow's subterranean river was also worlds apart from eight thousand years later.
Li Fan first suppressed and collected the Cyan Nether Pearl, and only then did he leisurely search for traces of Situ Xing—or rather, Xing Wuque. Perhaps the inexplicable disappearance of the Cyan Nether Pearl, which had still been releasing life force, had alerted him.
Dragging his heavily injured body, he was fleeing at top speed through the hollow's underground river.
Unfortunately for him, the entire network of living forms beneath the star sea was already fully under Li Fan's control. Where could he possibly run?
With just a faint sentence, Li Fan brought an end to his flight: "Immortal Chancellor Situ, have you been well since we last met?"
"Which old friend is it?" After a dead silence, an agitated, bewildered, and wary voice came from Situ Xing.
Li Fan manipulated the First Generation immortal puppet to reveal its form.
Situ Xing froze slightly, unable to help saying, "The First Generation? Weren't you long since..."
"No!" As if suddenly realizing something, Situ Xing's expression changed drastically.
Transforming his body into a wisp of black smoke, he tried to continue his escape.
Yet how could there be enough time?
In a mere instant, he had already been seized by Li Fan.
Shocked and infuriated, Situ Xing could no longer make the slightest sound.
Having long since observed his interior thoroughly, Li Fan skipped the interrogation entirely, directly refining him into a Heavenly Pillar.
With this, the four ancient Heavenly Pillars of the Primordial Immortal Realm—Primordial Beginning, the Hunger Immortal, Archmage Tiandu, and Situ Xing—were once again gathered in this lifetime.
"The efficacy of the first three is slightly inferior compared to the previous life. But this Heavenly Pillar of Inscription formed from Situ Xing, having been spared over eight thousand years of wear and tear, is actually far more useful."
"Yet it is still nowhere near enough," Li Fan thought, shaking his head slightly.
The Primordial Immortal Realm he had forged in his previous life had seemed impregnable, suspended above the star sea supported by the four Heavenly Pillars and able to withstand the Dao Annihilation Tribulation to a certain degree.
Yet when the Guangwu Star Sea shifted its troubles eastward by delivering Immortal Giant Rat, drawing the attention of that transcendent powerhouse's remains amidst the surging tide of Dao Annihilation,
the entire Primordial Immortal Realm had instantly been plunged into precarious peril. Even with the Great Wall, it had faced the imminent danger of collapse and ruin at any moment.
It was only later, when Chengdao took the initiative to merge the Dao Net of the Shuo Star Sea into it, forging the Great Wall–Shuo Star Sea Coalition, that they had barely managed to endure.
Now Trueness was slumbering, and the Pitch-Black Star Sea within the Great Wall had become Li Fan's foothold. Even though Chengdao had shown ample goodwill in the previous life, Li Fan would never place his life and fortunes in his hands.
Fortunately, Li Fan had long prepared a contingency plan in his mind.
"To forge an eternal celestial vessel, I can only rely on myself after all."
At Li Fan's command, the First Generation immortal puppet flew to the border of the Pitch-Black Star Sea. Crossing the Great Wall, it entered the Shuo Star Sea.
Under the influence of the Immortal Ruins' gravitational pull, an immense difference existed between the passage of time inside and outside the Great Wall.
In his previous life, Li Fan had determined that the temporal difference between inside and outside was as much as one hundred and twenty times.
Calculating by that ratio, eighty-six hundred years before the Xuanhuang Realm's initial anchor point would mean the Shuo Star Sea was a million years in the past!
However, the pull of the Immortal Ruins had strengthened only gradually as the Hunger Immortal comprehended the Dao. The ratio of time flow had never been fixed, but had increased slowly over time.
Li Fan scanned the surrounding starry sky, comparing what he saw with his memories of the Shuo Star Sea's appearance.
He discovered that although there were changes, it was still barely distinguishable.
"It seems that during this period, the Shuo Star Sea has consistently maintained a relatively safe and stable state."
"Perhaps it is due to its proximity to the Great Wall."
"The Dao Net does not yet exist, and many surviving cultivators—even True Immortals—are gathered here."
Li Fan looked out toward the vibrant light in the distance, carefully distinguishing the auras within.
Yet his purpose in leaping over the Great Wall this time was not the people of the Shuo Star Sea.
Without venturing far, following his memories from his previous life, Li Fan soon arrived at a patch of dead, silent starry sky outside the Great Wall.
Amidst a field of ruins, he fortunately found his objective.
An octagonal, four-sided tower—the Ascension Immortal Platform!
In his previous life, the immortal hunter Qian Ruochang had relied on this very Ascension Immortal Platform to create a True Immortal of flesh and blood.
"With this Ascension Immortal Platform in hand, I can confer immortality upon the masses within the Pitch-Black Star Sea and recreate the Immortal Realm without exposing myself!"
"When that time comes, whether beasts of burden or materials for Heavenly Pillars, I will have all that I need." Li Fan's eyes flickered, every detail already mapped out in his mind.
Although he had once created the so-called Primordial Immortal Realm, Li Fan knew well that that continent had possessed the name of an Immortal Realm in name alone, without its true reality.
What he intended to forge next was a genuine Immortal Realm!
An Immortal Realm standing upon Mount Shangfang and connected to the Sea of Infinity!
"It will even go a step further than the original, primordial Immortal Realm."
"Enduring ten thousand tribulations without decaying; facing Dao Annihilation without perishing."
Having obtained his objective, the Great Heavenly Venerable immortal puppet did not pause for a single moment, returning directly within the Great Wall.
He merely glanced toward the distant Shuo Star Sea and left behind a strand of divine sense, quietly infiltrating it.
On the one hand, it was to gather intelligence on Sacred Commerce.
On the other hand, it was to simultaneously measure the current temporal difference between the inside and outside of the Great Wall.
Though the Hunger Immortal was gone, the Heavenly Pillar remained.
For now, Li Fan had no intention of directly shutting down the gravitational pull of the Hunger Immortal's Heavenly Pillar to eliminate the time disparity between the Great Wall's two sides.
Due to the isolating effect of the Great Wall, even if heaven and earth were overturned within the Pitch-Black Star Sea, it would not exert the slightest influence on the Shuo Star Sea or the surrounding star domains.
Even the absence of the fleeing people from the Ten Sects would not alter the overall course of events.
Thus, in all likelihood, history would continue to unfold according to the trajectory Li Fan was familiar with.
And that was precisely the outcome Li Fan desired.
"The struggle between the Dao Net and the surviving True Immortal factions, the Reverse Immortals taking action time and again to turn the tide..."
Li Fan recalled Chengdao's account, a sharp gleam flashing in his eyes.
Carrying the Ascension Immortal Platform, he returned to the Xuanhuang Realm. The Great Heavenly Venerable immortal puppet then retrieved a stone slab.
It was none other than the Key of Dao left behind by Heavenly King Xuan, which had likewise been copied from the Immortal Realm's Ascension Immortal Platform.
Li Fan placed the two before him and compared them carefully.
"Heavenly King Xuan truly cannot be underestimated. As a newly ascended True Immortal who had not yet connected to the Sea of Infinity, he was actually able to flawlessly replicate the immortal seal characters in the Ascension Immortal Platform under such hurried circumstances."
After a moment, Li Fan could not help but marvel in admiration.
Following his meticulous comparison, this stone slab left by Heavenly King Xuan had flawlessly replicated nearly all the useful True Immortal seal characters inscribed across the entire Ascension Immortal Platform.
"Though it lacks the core restriction of the Ascension Immortal Platform: connecting to the Sea of Infinity."
"And it was precisely the absence of this portion that prevented him from attaining True Immortality for so long."
Li Fan gently caressed the Key of Dao stone slab. Innumerable points of light surged toward it from all directions, as if emerging from the void.
Before long, another identical octagonal, four-sided Ascension Immortal Platform appeared before him.
While creating it out of the void, Li Fan also smoothly completed the missing content from the stone slab.
With his experience of personally entering the Sea of Infinity multiple times and even merging with mountain and sea, the immortal seal characters he completed to connect to the Sea of Infinity were actually more efficient than those left in the original Ascension Immortal Platform.
Next, Li Fan followed the same method.
He created two more octagonal, four-sided towers out of nothing.
A total of four Ascension Immortal Platforms now floated quietly, standing tall above the Xuanhuang Realm.
"For a mortal being to connect to the Sea of Infinity, besides reaching the posture of a True Immortal through their own power, they also require a presiding immortal official to use immortal spirit power and specific True Immortal seal characters to activate the Ascension Immortal Platform in assistance."
"Only then can they formally connect to the Sea of Infinity and Mount Shangfang, treading upon mountain and sea to attain True Immortality."
"The Great Heavenly Venerable immortal puppet can serve as the presiding immortal official of Xuanhuang. With these four Ascension Immortal Platforms, I can confer immortality upon countless True Immortals."
With a proud look on his face, Li Fan inscribed four different characters onto the four Ascension Immortal Platforms.
Upon the Ascension Immortal Platform formed from the Xuanhuang Key of Dao stone slab, the character shining brightly was precisely the familiar character for the Transformation of Immortal and Mortal. The True Immortal seal characters carved onto the other three Ascension Immortal Platforms were also extremely similar to the Transformation of Immortal and Mortal, differing only in minor details.
"They are merely techniques to connect to the Sea of Infinity, nothing more."
"Were it not for my desire to avoid exposing myself to the sight of the Sea of Infinity, there would be no need for such trouble. With a single thought, I could send all living beings in the Xuanhuang Realm into the Sea of Infinity."
"It is just that the outcome would no longer be under my control."
Now that the Ascension Immortal Platforms were ready, Li Fan was in no hurry to confer immortality.
The current foundation of the Xuanhuang Realm was still far too weak.
The tremors caused by the emergence of a single True Immortal would likely tear it apart with ease.
While an enhancement plan like the one used previously to drive the Xuanhuang Realm's elevation was feasible, to the current Li Fan, it was far too troublesome and inefficient.
He had a better way.
"Life and death as one, uniting with the Dao to realize truth. Wandering free beyond physical form, my pill is accomplished..."
Li Fan chanted softly, and in coordination, the Great Heavenly Venerable immortal puppet exhaled a cloud of misty vapor from its mouth.
It was precisely the pure energetic form converted from the Immortal Ruins and various immortal domain chess pieces he had previously devoured and absorbed.
Li Fan sat cross-legged high in the sky, overlooking the chaotic world below.
An alchemy furnace appeared faintly in his eyes.
With a flicker of his thoughts, the misty vapor exhaled by the Great Heavenly Venerable immortal puppet was silently implanted into every corner of the Xuanhuang Realm.
"When the elixir is being refined, even as the furnace fire blazes fiercely, the living beings within remain completely unaware."
"Until..."
Li Fan's hands continually formed seals, using his authority as the Great Heavenly Venerable of Xuanhuang to urge the Xuanhuang heaven and earth into compliance, quietly instigating a dramatic transformation.
The Xuanhuang Realm was, after all, one of the core testing grounds of the Immortal Realm's Lanke Dao Arena, possessing an instinctual familiarity with all things pertaining to the Immortal Realm.
Like a puppy catching the scent of dog food, the Heavenly Dao of Xuanhuang could hardly suppress its inner excitement. It eagerly displayed goodwill to Li Fan time and again, swiftly executing every instruction.
Nourished externally by the misty vapor of the Immortal Realm and actively embracing the upheaval from within the world itself,
in Li Fan's eyes, the furnace fire blazed furiously within the Xuanhuang Realm!
To forge an eternal celestial vessel and replicate the Immortal Realm, fragments of the Immortal Ruins and a few immortal domain chess pieces were naturally not enough.
"An inch higher upon Mount Shangfang brings upheaval to earth and heaven..."
Within Li Fan's mind, countless lines from the Chapter of the Initial Opening of Mountain and Sea written by Holy Sovereign Taiyi flashed past like shooting stars.
Admittedly, with his current strength, he was far from capable of creating an Immortal Realm out of nothing upon Mount Shangfang.
Yet to borrow a corpse to resurrect the soul, transplanting the Xuanhuang Realm onto the remnants of the former Immortal Realm's ruins upon Mount Shangfang, was something he could just barely manage.
Not long ago, after the Great Heavenly Venerable immortal puppet devoured the Immortal Ruins and the immortal domain chess pieces, he had caught a fleeting glimpse of their original appearance upon Mount Shangfang.
Scattered points of light, distributed across endless undulating mountain ranges like a canopy of stars in the dark.
At that moment, Li Fan had already understood.
Since they had not yet been swallowed by Dao Annihilation, the foundations they had left behind on Mount Shangfang still existed.
What Li Fan needed to do now was to gather all these remaining foundations together.
And then, upon the ruins, erect towering pavilions once more!
As the furnace flames of Dao refining leaped continuously, the points of light scattered across the mountains within Li Fan's vision were slowly drawn together into one place by this unfathomable power.
The entire process proceeded at an exceedingly slow pace.
Li Fan was also immensely patient.
After all, he currently lacked Trueness as a safety net. If he were careless in the slightest during this pill refining and the Xuanhuang Realm blew into smithereens, the anchor foundation he had painstakingly established would vanish into ash and smoke in an instant.
Even if he did not die, he would be forced once again to struggle for survival in the River of Time.
Yet strangely, even though his own life and safety were at stake, Li Fan felt not the slightest hesitation or fear in his heart as he refined the pill.
Instead, he was entirely confident, firmly assured that he would succeed.
From the very beginning of the refining, Li Fan had noticed this curious change within his heart.
As the refining progressed, this confidence grew with each passing moment.
"This confidence does not stem from my mastery over the Medicine King Scripture of Dao Refining, nor does it come from my understanding of Mount Shangfang and the Sea of Infinity."
"Rather..."
"The heaven and earth of Xuanhuang was already a half-formed pill to begin with."
"I need only follow the established steps without adding unnecessary embellishments, and this pill is certain to succeed!"
"Sun Piaomiao!"
Realization dawned in Li Fan's mind, but the refining motions of his hands did not pause for a single moment.
Chapter 1556