Intermittent, faint wails echoed continuously in Li Fan's ears.
Ever since Li Fan had noticed their presence, they seemed to have found a target to reach.
They swarmed in one after another, tangling around him.
In an instant, it was as if he had plunged into a hell teeming with evil spirits; Li Fan felt completely surrounded on all sides by these terrifying sounds.
And he did not know whether it was merely an illusion.
Amidst these inexplicable whispers, Li Fan seemed always to catch two words: "Heavenly" and "Physician."
And the more he thought so, the louder the words "Heavenly Physician" became.
Like an ever-rising tide, wave after wave crashed over him, threatening to swallow him whole.
Right then, a fiery red glow shone within the Dust-Crossing Boat.
Above the cabin, a twelve-petaled red lotus gracefully materialized.
As each petal of the red lotus bloomed, the sounds in Li Fan's ears abruptly vanished.
Only then did Huangfu Song's voice belatedly drift over: "...careful. It should just be an occasional sound surge erupting from the Chizha Abyss."
"Inside this Dust-Crossing Boat, the protective barrier of the World-Cleansing Red Lotus Formation will keep us safe and sound."
Returning to his senses, Li Fan nodded, but his thoughts lingered on the voice he had just heard.
"Senior Huangfu, do the sounds from the Chizha Abyss sound the same to everyone? Or do they vary from person to person?" Li Fan asked.
This was an important question; Li Fan watched Huangfu Song intently, awaiting his response.
Huangfu Song looked a little surprised, but after pondering for a moment, he still explained, "The demonic sounds of the abyss are indescribable. After emerging from the Chizha Abyss, their essence does not change. However, each cultivator's resistance to demonic sounds differs, so what they hear naturally varies wildly."
"The lord who has garrisoned the Chizha Abyss year after year is even said to have comprehended profound Dao arts from those demonic sounds."
Hearing this, Li Fan breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed the howling of "Heavenly Physician" he had heard earlier was merely a hallucination brought on because the Heavenly Physician had left too deep a psychological shadow on him.
'Evoking the fear buried deep within one's heart?' If even a sound surge sweeping past the abyss's outer layer was this terrifying, it was truly hard to imagine what frightful scene lay at the very bottom.
No wonder the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals took it so seriously.
'It seems this mission won't be easy at all,' Li Fan could not help thinking as he looked up at the red lotus pattern flickering overhead between light and dark.
While he was lost in thought, the Dust-Crossing Boat jolted violently, as if passing through some sort of barrier.
Li Fan looked out the window; the white mist was no longer as dense as when they had first seen it.
"We're almost at the Eternal Immortal Bastion."
"Get ready to disembark."
Seeing this, Huangfu Song rose from his circular seat and headed out.
Li Fan and Xue Mu immediately followed.
Upon reaching the bow deck, their vision opened up completely.
All around was thick Essence-Devouring White Mist. The Dust-Crossing Boat sped through it so fast that one could not perceive any change in the surrounding scenery.
Yet looking back at the path they had traveled, Li Fan could clearly see that the mist's density was steadily diminishing.
From the outside in, distinct concentric rings had formed according to the lightening shades of the mist.
A flickering layer of black light over the Dust-Crossing Boat held the mist's erosion at bay.
The Dust-Crossing Boat sped forward, and just as the white mist thinned enough for visibility—
A colossal bluestone palm suddenly loomed above Li Fan's head.
Its five fingers were like pillars holding up the heavens, the lines of its palm clearly visible.
It blotted out the sky, filling Li Fan's entire vision.
Compared to it, the Dust-Crossing Boat was utterly minuscule.
It seemed poised to come crashing down at any moment, making Li Fan's heart skip a beat.
Xue Mu turned ashen, instinctively raising his hands to ward it off.
Huangfu Song was thoroughly pleased with Xue Mu's reaction.
Only then did he say unhurriedly, "Right, I forgot to mention. That severed palm ahead is the Eternal Immortal Bastion garrisoning the Chizha Abyss."
Hearing this, Xue Mu stiffly lowered his hands.
Yet he still stared at the giant palm overhead in utter shock, too stunned to speak.
Li Fan narrowed his eyes, closely examining the palm's surface.
The severed bluestone palm was simply too enormous; the lines traversing its surface were like undulating mountain ranges, crisscrossing and endlessly intricate.
It did not look man-made in the slightest.
'Fascinating...'
While Li Fan continued observing, the flying boat slowly drew closer to the severed palm.
Eventually, it flew inside through the jagged tear at the wrist.
The intense oppressive aura dissipated, and Xue Mu let out a long sigh of relief.
"Senior Huangfu, why was the Eternal Immortal Bastion built in such a shape? It's really terrifying," Xue Mu asked after regaining his composure.
Before Huangfu Song could answer, Shangguan Shi, who was leading another group over, beat him to it.
"Brat, it's not that the Eternal Immortal Bastion was built to look like a severed palm. Rather, the entire Eternal Immortal Bastion was renovated from this very severed palm."
"How is it that we've already reached our destination and you don't even know such common knowledge?"
"Brother Huangfu, seems your instruction hasn't been quite up to par,"
Shangguan Shi remarked with a hint of mockery.
Huangfu Song didn't get angry, merely smiling in response. "Then I'll trouble Brother Shangguan to explain it to these two brats. I'm glad for the leisure."
"You..." A flash of annoyance crossed Shangguan Shi's eyes.
Yet as if thinking of something, he held back.
With a cold snort, he briefly explained the origin of the severed palm to Li Fan and Xue Mu.
Across the vast Essence-Devouring White Mist, Lost Domains were scattered everywhere.
Aside from the Chizha Abyss they were currently in, there were many other bizarre anomalies.
This severed palm had been discovered by the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals along the periphery of a certain Lost Domain.
It seemed to have drifted here through countless barriers of white mist.
After some study, the Alliance discovered that this severed palm was actually the remains of a fallen almighty figure.
The cultivation method practiced by this unknown almighty figure was extraordinarily peculiar; after his death, his body had not decayed, but instead turned like bluestone.
Not only was it unimaginably hard, disregarding all manner of spell attacks as nothing, it was also naturally capable of resisting the erosion of the Essence-Devouring White Mist.
Operating on the principle of putting everything to full use, after decades of modification, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals finally succeeded in building a fortress upon it that could navigate freely through the white mist.
...
"All right, no need to be surprised. It's just a fallen Ancient Heavenly Venerable. No matter how strong he once was, isn't he still being used by us as a tool today?"
Just as Xue Mu was stunned once more, Ji Hongdao's voice sounded.
"An Ancient Heavenly Venerable?"
"A Longevity... Heavenly Venerable?"
Ji Hongdao's nonchalant words did not dispel Xue Mu's shock; instead, they terrified him even more.
He cried out involuntarily.
Not just him—the other cultivators arriving on deck one after another who were hearing this for the first time were equally shaken.
"Can a Longevity Heavenly Venerable... also fall?"
A cultivator could not help asking in bewilderment.
Chapter 350