"If a Tiandu really did crash, then it must have been a replica crafted by later generations in commemoration," Fang Zaiji remarked.
Though Li Fan nodded in agreement on the surface, other thoughts stirred within his mind.
Even though Fang Zaiji repeatedly claimed that the ethereal figure within Tiandu held boundless mysteries and was undoubtedly a True Immortal, this entire affair had reeked of an anomalous, unsettling air from the very beginning.
Countless years after the immortal path was severed, how could a True Immortal happen to pass by the Xuanhuang Realm? And facing cultivators who were mere ants in their eyes, why would such an immortal actively preach the Dao and impart teachings?
Searching one's own heart, how many cultivators, upon passing a mortal city, would kindly descend from the sky and impart the methods of cultivation to them?
It was far more likely that treating mortals as Shuo Feng did—slaughtering them to the last with a casual swing of his sword without caring in the least—was the ordinary state of affairs.
For cultivators who impudently came knocking at the door, escaping without being struck down was already a stroke of fortune. Why would an immortal ever kindly preach to them?
Furthermore, if what Fang Zaiji said was true, something was clearly wrong with that figure in Tiandu. Perhaps the preaching was not done intentionally, but was merely an automatic, spontaneous occurrence.
If so, then the attendant boy standing beside the Tiandu figure—the only one who had ever made a move from start to finish, namely the Tiandu Grand Dharma Master—seemed exceedingly suspicious.
*Perhaps that person was drawn in by the Immortal Ruins and forced to descend into the Xuanhuang Realm. And his true strength might not necessarily qualify as that of a true immortal either. Still, since the Profound Heaven Sect failed to capture Tiandu back then, he was definitely no weakling. At the very least, he had to be at the half-step True Immortal realm, on par with the King of Profound Heaven from the Profound Heaven Sect.*
*Allowing the cultivators of the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao into Tiandu was perhaps merely to stir up trouble for the Profound Heaven Sect. After all, the only things an immortal would care about ought to be on their own level.*
*Immortal spiritual qi?*
Almost in an instant, thinking like a conspiracy theorist, Li Fan envisioned a grand drama in his head.
Though these were all baseless speculations, one point was practically certain now: the anomaly in Yuandao Province had to be inextricably tied to Tiandu.
"Since you are also an inheritor of Tiandu Purple Qi, aren't you going to Yuandao Province to take a look, sir?" Li Fan asked probingly.
Fang Zaiji shook his head repeatedly. "Heh, I think I'll pass. A Dao Integration cultivator who has lived for thousands of years is bound to be far more formidable than me. Wouldn't going there be like walking straight into the tiger's jaws? Sect Master, let us attend to our proper business instead."
Li Fan smiled faintly and nodded.
After this brief interlude, the two traveled for another half-day and finally arrived at the border of Shilin Province.
The scene that came into view made Li Fan's pupils constrict slightly.
Gazing into the distance, the earth had collapsed inward, scorched pitch-black. Flowing black lava ran everywhere, exuding the apocalyptic aura of an impending end.
From time to time, plumes of black molten fire erupted from beneath the ground, scattering into the air and baking it until it warped with scorching heat.
What made Li Fan's heart pound even more was that across both the ground and the sky of this scorched basin, countless pitch-black voids were scattered in an irregular pattern.
Like an apple gnawed by worms, the land was riddled with devastation.
Moreover, Li Fan noticed that these pitch-black regions of nothingness were not completely static. As though possessed of life, they crept slowly outward into their surroundings or suddenly jumped to another location, devouring all matter within their reach in a single swallow.
Faced with this terrifying spectacle, even Fang Zaiji, a Dao Integration cultivator, wore a solemn expression.
"Sect Master, are we truly going in?" he asked hesitantly.
Li Fan did not answer immediately. Instead, he observed carefully for a long while.
"If we are cautious, it shouldn't pose much of a problem. The leaps of those void sinkholes may appear completely random, but in truth, they follow certain rules. They only leap into relatively empty regions and never approach where existing sinkholes already lie.
"So we only need to maintain a set distance from the void sinkholes as we advance.
"Besides, don't we still have the Medicine King Cauldron?"
As he spoke, Li Fan tossed the Medicine King Cauldron toward a pitch-black void not far away.
"Sect Master!" Fang Zaiji gasped in a low voice.
The Medicine King Cauldron released an earthy-yellow glow that enveloped itself. Within that patch of nothingness, though its radiance gradually grew dim, it still endured for more than a dozen breaths of time.
"See? Even if we stray inside by mistake, that much time is plenty for us to escape," Li Fan said with a chuckle as he summoned the Medicine King Cauldron back and looked at Fang Zaiji.
"You are far too reckless, Sect Master! What if something had happened to the Medicine King Cauldron? What would we do then?" Fang Zaiji grumbled.
"Don't I still have you? Even if the Medicine King Cauldron were lost, I am sure you could forge a new one for our Medicine King Sect, sir," Li Fan said nonchalantly.
These words brought a beaming smile to Fang Zaiji's face. Without further grumbling, he followed Li Fan as Li Fan piloted the Medicine King Cauldron, flying into the scorched basin.
Orienting himself, Li Fan carefully navigated toward the location in his memory.
"Truly terrifying and dreadful. I wonder how such a fine sea could suffer such a catastrophe," Fang Zaiji marveled, clicking his tongue at their surroundings. "Back in our era, nothing like this ever happened. From the look of it, heaven and earth intend to wipe this place out completely."
Li Fan remained silent.
The Congyun Sea had been vast to begin with, and having to evade the omnipresent void sinkholes severely hindered their flying speed. As a result, it took Li Fan and Fang Zaiji a full thirty-odd days before they finally arrived at the entrance to the Strange Beast Pocket World.
Yet the scene awaiting them there caused Li Fan's expression to darken.
The location where the entrance had once been was now completely swallowed by the void. Naturally, the passageway no longer existed.
Li Fan pondered for a moment, recalling that when Han Yi had emerged from the pocket world back then, it had been at a different location.
He immediately set off for that place.
Fortunately, their luck held this time. It was not within the range of any void sinkhole, merely buried beneath the pitch-black lava.
"Sect Master, what if this exit gets swallowed by the void after we go in? Wouldn't that leave us unable to return?" Fang Zaiji also noticed the problem here. Just as Li Fan was about to enter, he quickly stopped him and asked.
"No matter. I came prepared."
Saying so, Li Fan cleared away the black lava. He then retrieved a sheet of thin paper from his storage ring and pressed it gently against the entrance to the pocket world.
Like a drop of ink falling onto paper, delicate patterns slowly surfaced.
"This is..." Fang Zaiji narrowed his eyes, unable to recognize its origins for the moment.
"A Star-Stealing Constellation-Shifting Slip. It can duplicate and record the node data of the spatial pathway here. Afterward, once we enter the pocket world and perform the same operation on the pathway entrance on the other side, we can establish a new pathway anew."
Once the patterns on the Star-Stealing Constellation-Shifting Slip had fully formed, Li Fan produced a door-shaped talisman seal and tossed it onto the thin paper.
Under the talisman seal's illumination, a faint doorway materialized.
"Young Master, the connection can be made on this side now," Liu San's voice drifted faintly from within the doorway.
With a gentle point of Li Fan's finger, the Star-Stealing Constellation-Shifting Slip flew inside.
"Mr. Fang, let us go. Elder Liu will prepare everything for the new pathway in the Valley of Longevity."
Chapter 664