Piloting the Taiyan Boat, Li Fan returned above the Ruins Abyss.
"What on earth was that thing..." His expression turned somewhat grim.
Although he had pulled a little trick to see the monster's true appearance, he remained utterly clueless about how to evade its sight and successfully cross the Darkness layer.
"That whale is so colossal, and the Taiyan Boat is so small. Yet every time I go down, it finds me like a cat spotting a mouse..." At this thought, Li Fan felt a headache coming on.
"I can only try other methods. Fortunately, I still have plenty of chances to experiment." Li Fan sighed helplessly.
...
Another fifteen years passed—Anchor Year 35.
Li Fan lay in wait early within the Thunderstorm layer.
Over the course of these fifteen years, he had attempted to force his way through the Darkness layer several times.
Yet during those attempts, the time it took for the giant whale to discover him after he entered the Darkness layer drastically decreased. Given the Taiyan Boat's flight speed, he had no time to escape at all. As a result, each time he could only scurry back in disgrace after a brief skirmish with the whale.
"Only on the days when the white mist clears does the giant whale seem to be delayed by something, taking a while before noticing me. Relying on that bit of extra time, I might be able to fly to the bottom of the Ruins Abyss."
This time, Li Fan resolved to go all out, crossing the Darkness layer at top speed before the giant whale could react.
A great wind began to rise.
The Taiyan Boat went to full power, erupting with astonishing speed.
The illusory scenery drew closer and closer. Just when it seemed within reach, the giant whale's terrifying call rang out once more.
And it was rapidly approaching.
"About a quarter of the distance remains. I won't make it in time," Li Fan judged.
Narrowing his eyes, Li Fan felt his viciousness flare.
He simply stopped flying toward the bottom of the Ruins Abyss, turned around, and charged fiercely toward the direction of the giant whale's roar.
Unfortunately, acting out of desperation proved useless.
There was no impact. Li Fan merely felt darkness envelop everything around him and knew he had been swallowed by the giant whale once more.
"True Reversion!" Li Fan roared savagely.
...
[This simulation has ended.]
Li Fan let out a somewhat dejected breath.
After taking a long time to calm his emotions, he chose to speed up the charging progress this time.
Name: Li Fan
Realm: Mortal
Physical Age: 20/86
Mental Age: 368/1116
His mental age had completely reached its upper limit and would no longer increase.
"Fortunately, I still have 748 years left to squander," Li Fan could only comfort himself.
Eighth life.
Anchor Year 4.
Li Fan reopened Qian Hong's tomb.
"Chargeable item detected: Step-Halting Broken Stele (Damaged)."
"Initiate charging?"
Seeing the prompt from True Reversion, Li Fan's mood finally improved a little.
By now, the anchor charging progress had reached 51%.
"At least this life wasn't for nothing..." Li Fan muttered with self-deprecating irony.
In Anchor Year 5, on the day the white mist cleared, the reversion charging progress was nearing 90%. But to Li Fan, anything short of 100% made little difference. He could only choose to wait patiently.
In Anchor Year 20, Li Fan tried and failed.
In Anchor Year 35, Li Fan tried again and failed once more.
However, these attempts were not completely useless. At the very least, his control of the Taiyan Boat grew increasingly proficient, and he could hold out for longer under the giant whale's pursuit.
In Anchor Year 50, Li Fan chose not to force his way into the Darkness layer again.
He had grown old; his reflexes and mental faculties had declined substantially. Going there offered no hope of success.
So he chose to visit two old friends to see if he could glean any clues from them.
On Li Fan's seventieth birthday, Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi arrived punctually.
"Dao Xuanzi, do not push people too far!"
...
Listening to them, Li Fan suddenly felt a touch of nostalgia.
As before, he used the pretext of a Golden Core cultivation technique to dupe the two into coming to the Grand Preceptor Manor. After drinking three rounds of wine, Li Fan took out a painted scroll.
The painting looked quite old, depicting a terrifying, colossal whale concealed behind the darkness, revealing only a menacing, gaping maw poised to devour prey.
"Have the two of you ever seen such a monster? On his deathbed, my ancestor stated that if there were ever a chance to escape this death-trap, there would be no need to worry about anything else—with the protection of our sect's Taiyan Boat, one would naturally be safe. Only in the final layer does a giant whale lie in wait, requiring the utmost caution," Li Fan inquired.
"There is actually such a ferocious beast in that pitch-black, empty expanse?" Kou Hong glanced at the painting and knitted his brows, sounding somewhat skeptical. "How come I never saw it?"
"Could it be..." Dao Xuanzi seemed to recall something.
"Oh? Daoist friend, do you know of this beast?" Li Fan asked expectantly.
Dao Xuanzi shook his head. "I only saw relevant records in an ancient text. It is said that in ancient times, there was a sect called the Beast Taming Sect. The Beast Taming Sect possessed no profound cultivation techniques, but relying on a single Beast Taming Art, they could command exotic beasts between heaven and earth to battle for them. In its heyday, the Beast Taming Sect was reportedly on par with top sects like Taishang and Dadao.
"Unfortunately, when the Great Cataclysm arrived, the Beast Taming Sect—having cultivated only that single art—perished the fastest.
"Among the most famous exotic beasts controlled by that Beast Taming Sect, there seemed to be this kind of giant whale."
"Now that you mention it, I remember too. Wasn't it called something like a Realm-Rifting Whale?" Kou Hong clapped his hands and chimed in at once.
Li Fan's heart stirred, and he quickly asked, "Do the two of you know how one might avoid this Realm-Rifting Whale?"
Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi both gave awkward smiles. "We have only heard scraps and fragments. Such exotic beasts vanished from the cultivation world thousands of years ago. How could we know its habits?"
Li Fan could not help feeling disappointed.
In the end, did he still have to rely on himself?
After handing the Golden Chapter of Thousand Mechanisms and the Jade Cosmos to Dao Xuanzi and sending the two away, Li Fan chose to end this life.
...
Name: Li Fan
Realm: Mortal
Physical Age: 20/86
Mental Age: 418/1116
Ninth life!
In this life, Li Fan reopened Qian Hong's tomb again, wanting to absorb the Step-Halting Broken Stele to charge True Reversion.
Unfortunately, True Reversion showed no response.
Though disappointed, Li Fan had long been mentally prepared for this.
Thus, True Reversion's anchor charging progress froze at 51%.
In Anchor Year 20, Anchor Year 35, and Anchor Year 50, Li Fan tried various methods, but under the giant whale's watchful glare, none allowed him to rush through the Darkness layer.
By Anchor Year 65, Li Fan was eighty-five years old, his lamp nearly out of oil.
This time, he did not choose to end it early, because he did not know how many more attempts it would take to breach this Immortal Severing Formation.
Being able to try once more was always better than not.
Unfortunately, he was too old this time; his thinking had turned sluggish, and his reflexes had dulled.
Unable to match wits and brawn against the giant whale, Li Fan did not force the matter. He simply gave up steering the Taiyan Boat entirely, letting it drift slowly downward toward the bottom of the Ruins Abyss right from the start.
The Astral Wind layer, Illusory Light layer, Inversion layer, Flowing Fire layer, Mysterious Ice layer, Thunderstorm layer, Darkness layer...
Li Fan dozed off in a daze. When he awoke, he was astounded to find that the Taiyan Boat was already about to reach the very bottom of the Ruins Abyss!
"What happened? Why didn't the Realm-Rifting Whale appear this time?" Li Fan was thoroughly bewildered, but that did not stop him from increasing power and driving at full speed toward the place where specks of light flickered.
Yet as Li Fan accelerated, the giant whale's roar suddenly rang out!
"Why did it suddenly notice me now?" Li Fan frowned deeply.
Then, like a bolt of lightning illuminating the night sky, Li Fan instantly saw the truth.
"So that's how it is! This Realm-Rifting Whale cannot see—or rather, ignores—objects moving at a constant speed! As long as one maintains the exact same speed, one can pass through this Immortal Severing Formation safely!"
Having grasped the crucial principle, Li Fan could not help laughing aloud.
With that, the final shackle holding him back from leaving this land severed from immortality was thoroughly shattered!
Amidst Li Fan's wild laughter and the giant whale's roars, the Taiyan Boat breached the fissure between the two realms, about to return to the cultivation world.
The surrounding scenery blurred as if traversing the distance of several worlds in an instant. Buffeted by immense pressure, Li Fan grunted, blood streaming from his nose and eyes.
Yet he did not care in the slightest.
Looking back from afar at the land severed from immortality where he had come from, the vast distance lifted his vantage point endlessly higher, revealing a sight Li Fan would never forget for the rest of his life:
Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of Realm-Rifting Whales, moving in vast pods day and night, were carving out expanses of pitch-black space within the void.
And that land severed from immortality where Li Fan had come from was drifting farther and farther away
from the cultivation world here.
Chapter 20