The smile on Mr. Bai's face gradually faded.
In its place, a flicker of chilling solemnity crossed his eyes.
Under his gaze, the Di Yi Beast, which had been wildly flailing its tentacles in vicious frenzy, suddenly froze in midair.
Then, as though scorched by an invisible flame, its body began to melt and disappear.
Hollow after hollow opened up across it in succession.
The Di Yi Beast let out sharp, frenzied shrieks of agony, but Mr. Bai showed not the slightest trace of pity on his face.
His gaze grew even more profound, and the blistering, invisible spectral flames tortured the Di Yi Beast relentlessly like an agonizing execution.
In the Valley of Longevity, everyone watching this scene trembled in terror.
Though the vast majority of them had no idea what Mr. Bai's true strength or realm might be, the terrifying pressure radiating from that peerless vicious beast just unleashed from the furnace was something everyone could feel.
Even a Dao Integration cultivator likely could not have gotten the better of it.
Yet such a terrifying strange beast lacked even the slightest power to resist before Mr. Bai, left with no choice but to be slowly tortured into dissipation between heaven and earth.
Having personally forged the Di Yi Beast, Li Fan had a very clear understanding of its strength.
He had never counted on it causing even the slightest hindrance to Mr. Bai.
In truth, just like before, the beast was merely bait.
Because they were not in the Xuanhuang Realm proper but hidden within the secret realm of the Valley of Longevity, Senior Brother Zhang's Grand Vow Dharma Body was somewhat late in arriving.
Only when the Di Yi Beast had been smelted down to a mere tenth of its size did a streak of purple qi finally drift into view.
Purple brilliance blazed outward, resolving into a towering figure standing tall between heaven and earth.
Ignoring everyone present, it stared solely at the Di Yi Beast trapped by Mr. Bai.
Purple Cloud Divine Thunder condensed into a spear and thrust downward violently.
Mr. Bai looked at the dharma manifestation in the sky, yet made no move to stop Senior Brother Zhang from striking.
Yet the moment the purple divine thunder struck the Di Yi Beast, the remainder of the creature detonated of its own accord.
An intensely thick, almost terrifying mist of blood accompanied the explosion, instantly spreading in all directions.
Even the Purple Cloud Divine Thunder, capable of cleansing all demons and evil, had its brilliance veiled by it.
And Mr. Bai, after freezing for a moment, showed anger for the very first time.
All because...
during the process of refining the Di Yi Beast back then, Li Fan had added an extra ingredient.
It was precisely the Essence-Blood of Ten Thousand, collected in a past life and stored within the space of True Reversion ever since.
The power of the immortal-mortal miasma erupted abruptly, forcing even Mr. Bai to temporarily yield to its edge.
At this very moment, in the underground chamber, Li Fan snapped his eyes open.
"It is time!"
With a single thought, Li Fan detonated one-third of the Luan puppets buried across the Xuanhuang Realm.
Shortly thereafter, waves of ominous, dreadful auras erupted violently across various lands.
At this moment, every cultivator in the Xuanhuang Realm felt an overwhelming dread of impending doom rise in their hearts.
Stricken by inexplicable horror, their hearts pounded wildly, yet none could name the cause.
What was more, one colossal divine sense after another swept across the land of Xuanhuang, trying to uncover the source of this turmoil.
The sky also changed color, as though something were leaning ever closer to peer down.
The impact brought about by the Luan Formula exceeded even Li Fan's expectations.
Though scattered in different locations, when they erupted together, they seemed to spontaneously link up.
Defying spatial separation, they faintly coalesced into a unified whole.
Without any deliberate writing, they formed a crooked, gargantuan character for "Chaos" across the vast expanse of the Xuanhuang Realm.
As all manner of anomalies began to unfold across various regions, Li Fan's objective was achieved.
Mr. Bai was the incarnation of the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao.
His power was drawn from the Xuanhuang Realm.
Now that the Xuanhuang Realm had fallen under the sway of the Luan Formula and plunged into momentary chaos, Mr. Bai's movements suffered a brief, fleeting freeze.
And this was precisely the sole chance for survival that Li Fan had waited so long for.
Thus, in that very instant, all his prepared measures erupted at once.
First, avatar Xu Bai flashed into view right before Mr. Bai.
Their gazes met, each beholding a face virtually identical to his own.
Yet neither exchanged words.
Without the slightest hesitation, avatar Xu Bai shattered his own grotto-heaven with a single thought.
Xu Bai had taken his own life!
Although the death of the original body would not drag down the newly born clone after using the Sacred Blood Embryo Transformation Method, they still shared the same origin and possessed a mystical connection.
The demise of the original body was bound to inflict a subtle, indelible shock upon the clone.
This was an inherent limitation of the Sacred Blood Embryo Transformation Method.
Even with Mr. Bai's current cultivation, it could not be avoided.
Consequently, Mr. Bai's freeze was prolonged for another moment.
When avatar Xu Bai vanished, Li Fan instantly felt that his unseen tether to Mr. Bai had been substantially severed.
He gave it a test; though he could open the True Reversion panel, he was still unable to confirm a reversion.
So Li Fan initiated his next move.
With a step, he left the cultivation chamber in a flash.
Upon his departure, the eighty-one Luan puppets concealed within the chamber detonated with a deafening roar.
The power of Chaos enveloped the Valley of Longevity in an instant.
The sky was veiled by a hazy force.
Total disorder descended.
Like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, over a hundred yellow withered branches suddenly sprouted from the earth throughout the Valley of Longevity.
In flashes of light, these withered branches transformed into human figures.
Looking upon their faces, every single one of them was identical to Li Fan!
Together, they offered an eerie grin to everyone present, then promptly sank back into the ground and vanished.
Everyone present, including Mr. Bai, had their attention drawn to this spectacle.
The next moment, an even greater upheaval struck.
It was the shockwave unleashed by the simultaneous detonation of the remaining two-thirds of the Luan puppets.
Mr. Bai's body froze once more.
Meanwhile, when no one was paying attention, a pitch-black little cauldron shot straight into the sky, on the verge of tearing open the secret realm and fleeing toward the heavens of the Xuanhuang Realm.
No matter how discreetly it moved, there were too many eyes and ears present, and someone still noticed the departing Medicine King Cauldron.
A cry of alarm pulled everyone's eyes upward.
Yet very quickly, their expressions changed even more drastically.
Beneath the Medicine King Cauldron, countless figures were suddenly flung with brute force in various directions like pieces of trash.
Liu San shuddered violently, his face draining of color.
For he could already tell that these were the slumbering cultivators of the Medicine King Sect kept inside the cauldron!
They were all old method cultivators, physically frail, and still deep in slumber.
Hurled at such violent speeds, if they were to slam into the ground, likely none save a few formidable individuals would escape death or maiming!
"Save them!" Liu San shouted repeatedly.
The disciples of the Medicine King Sect snapped to their senses one after another.
Yet far too many cultivators had been cast down, hurtling in wildly divergent trajectories.
Worse, the Valley of Longevity was under the influence of Chaos, making even flight difficult for the cultivators, carrying the risk of plummeting from the sky.
Hard-pressed even to look after themselves, rescuing others was out of the question.
Liu San's eyes were nearly torn with fury and anguish; exerting every ounce of his power, he managed to rescue only a dozen or so.
Just as despair was about to overtake him, Mr. Bai, having recovered from his freeze, reached out a hand.
He caught all the plummeting cultivators in his embrace, then gently lowered them to the ground.
With the effects of Chaos yet to disperse, Mr. Bai's right elbow spun an eerie full circle as he finished doing all this, looking as if it had been broken and dislocated.
Though it swiftly returned to normal, it still caused him to knit his brows slightly.
"Thank you for saving them, Senior!" After a swift check confirmed none of his fellow sect members were in mortal danger, Liu San flew forward, cupped his fists, and spoke with heartfelt gratitude.
Mr. Bai said nothing. He merely gazed up at the Medicine King Cauldron, which had already vanished beyond the canopy of the sky, and at the over one hundred puppets that had already fled several provinces away.
Then his eyes fell upon the husk of Li Fan lying on the ground, drained of all breath of life.
He shook his head slightly and let out a wry, helpless smile.
Chapter 792