"Me, causing the anomaly in the fishing pond? Fellow Daoist thinks a bit too highly of me."
The golden figure gave a self-deprecating chuckle before introducing herself. "My name is Daoist Baihua, formerly Sect Master of the Heavenly Lotus Sect in the Wansheng Realm..."
"Though that was already several thousand years ago."
Daoist Baihua's tone turned somewhat somber. "Back then, the 'Sink' Formula erupted without warning, sweeping through realms. Though our Wansheng Realm resisted with all its might, we still could not halt its spread. Left with no choice, we had to abandon our realm and flee. We originally hoped to find a safe refuge, but never expected..."
"Everywhere we passed was an apocalyptic wasteland."
Her golden-glowing figure flickered slightly, as if stirred by a gentle breeze, betraying the turmoil in her heart. Even after so much time had passed, whenever she recalled those scenes, waves of emotion would surge within her.
"The disaster each realm suffered was not identical. In the star sea surrounding our Wansheng Realm, that gray mold surged like a raging sea, swallowing everything in the world. Yet in other worlds, twisted monstrosities manifested, slaughtering one another relentlessly until utter destruction, like a blood-drenched purgatory."
"If that were all, then so long as we fled far enough, we might still have found a glimmer of hope. But..."
"Inside the Immortal Ruins, there is a True Immortal," Li Fan said in a low, faint tone.
Daoist Baihua glanced at Li Fan and nodded slightly.
"Beyond the Sunken Star Sea lies an invisible barrier preventing our departure. And within the Sunken Star Sea, there is a True Immortal comprehending the Dao using the 'Hunger' Formula, utterly indifferent to the lives of all living beings..."
"Hm? Wait. You just said a True Immortal is using the 'Hunger' Formula to comprehend the Dao? What do you mean by that?" Li Fan's eyes flashed, and he asked aloud.
"Isn't the True Immortal suppressed by the Hunger Formula?" Li Fan voiced the question in his heart.
Daoist Baihua was taken aback at first, then dawned with understanding. "It seems you, Fellow Daoist of the Xuanhuang Realm, know little of True Immortals and have harbored some misunderstandings."
"According to the studies conducted by the surviving cultivators of our various cultivation worlds back then, the immortal seal characters that caused the calamities across this star sea—'Hunger', 'Chaos', 'Sink', and so forth—ought to have come from the hand of a single True Immortal."
"This True Immortal possesses the supreme might to reify the world's laws into characters. With just a few strokes, he can effortlessly destroy an entire domain, countless cultivation worlds."
"In other words, all the tribulations we have suffered were wrought by this True Immortal?" Li Fan's eyes flickered as he asked in a deep voice.
Unexpectedly, Daoist Baihua shook her head slightly in denial. "Did I not just say? Had that True Immortal truly acted, our star sea would have been wiped out in an instant. Though the Hunger and Chaos Formulas unleashed in the catastrophe brought boundless apocalyptic ruin, they are still not worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as a True Immortal's true methods."
"Then that is..." Li Fan started, and then instantly thought of something.
"An imitation?"
"Correct. Back then, after compiling the records concerning True Immortals handed down across various worlds, the surviving cultivators uniformly reached this conclusion: the immortal seal characters that sparked the catastrophes across the lower realms all originated from the same person—or rather, the same immortal," Daoist Baihua spoke slowly, her voice carrying no hatred, only a profound helplessness.
Hearing this, Li Fan could not help feeling perplexed. "Our Xuanhuang Realm has endured all manner of catastrophes, and we know very little about True Immortals. But without rhyme or reason, why would that immortal create such boundless slaughter?"
"Immortals do not do meaningless things. Just like that immortal in the Immortal Ruins who has sat withered for ten thousand years, comprehending the Dao of 'Hunger' to the utmost—all to take another step forward and attain the realm of a Nameless True Immortal," Daoist Baihua sighed with endless melancholy.
"Nameless True Immortal? I have indeed heard of this. One cannot know their name, and all records concerning them vanish..."
"Could it be that even immortals have tiers? Not all immortals are like that?" Li Fan asked humbly.
"Indeed. Before the immortal path was severed, we cultivators could also ascend and become immortals. Baptized by immortal spiritual qi, shedding mortal flesh, one could formally become an immortal. In that instant, one's strength would undergo an earth-shattering transformation, swelling by more than a hundredfold."
"Yet compared to a Nameless True Immortal, the difference is still as vast as heaven and earth. Every immortal is an ultimate seeker of the Dao. Only when one can thoroughly master a path of the world does one become an existence transcending all things. Everything in their past is erased; the world can never know their name, and they can only be addressed by the Dao path they command."
"That Nameless True Immortal who carved the Dao with characters—we revere him as the Dao-Inscribing Immortal."
***
Listening to Daoist Baihua's explanation of the realms beyond immortals, Li Fan could not help feeling captivated.
Information regarding immortals in the Xuanhuang Realm had long vanished into the river of history; even the Dharma Transmitters knew very little.
Perhaps only the Five Elders Association, remnants of the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao, still preserved some scattered records.
To meet a survivor of the ancient immortal catastrophe by chance today and learn the secrets of True Immortals was undoubtedly a significant opportunity.
Of course, Li Fan did not place absolute trust in Daoist Baihua.
He was merely listening for now.
***
Daoist Baihua continued, "The Dao-Inscribing Immortal had already transcended, yet he may have left behind several Dao-inscribing authentic traces."
"Back then, some unknown upheaval occurred in the Immortal Realm. The immortal path collapsed, and the immortals scattered and fled. Perhaps one of those immortals obtained these authentic traces."
"He copied and inscribed characters such as Hunger, Chaos, and Sink, bringing turmoil to the mortal world. This must have been connected to the Dao path he cultivated."
"Chaos and Sink destroyed countless cultivation worlds, while the character Hunger was acquired by yet another immortal. Perhaps because the character Hunger aligned with that immortal's Dao path, he sat cross-legged at the site of the former Immortal Realm passage, comprehending it right where he was."
"You must understand that ten thousand years may seem unimaginably long to us, but to an immortal, it is merely the span of a single seclusion."
"As for what consequences would arise while he comprehended the character Hunger..."
"In his eyes, we lower realm cultivators are mere ants. Why would he care?"
Only when Daoist Baihua reached this point did a hint of resentment color her voice.
Having absorbed all her words, Li Fan pondered slowly.
"All of this is your conjecture, is it not? Do you have any substantive evidence?"
Daoist Baihua shook her head, yet remained utterly certain. "Those of us survivors who could endure that calamity were all at the absolute pinnacle of our respective worlds' strength. What we deduced using the surviving records from each realm..."
"Even if not the absolute truth, cannot be far off."
"In particular, both the one who copied the True Immortal seal characters and the one comprehending the Dao of Hunger were merely at the immortal realm. Though their strength absolutely crushed us cultivators, they had not reached that unfathomable state of a Nameless True Immortal." A trace of pride naturally lingered in Daoist Baihua's tone.
Li Fan, however, recalled his 115th lifetime, when the figure inside the Immortal Ruins suddenly opened his eyes upon sensing Li Fan's gaze, and through an avatar's resonance, transmitted the character Hunger into the Xuanhuang Realm, bringing about its destruction.
Chapter 982