Chapter 1070: True Immortal's Realm-Shattering Power

Seeing Lu Ya, who was utterly convinced of his conclusion, Xu Ke hesitated for a moment before slowly remarking, "I've heard it said that sometimes, even what you see with your own eyes isn't necessarily the truth of the matter."

"And when judging a person's character, don't look at what they say, but rather what they do."

"Although I don't know the exact situation in that basement, Mr. Bai has always been exceptionally kind to us. Without his help, we might have starved to death long ago. Therefore, I will always choose to believe that Mr. Bai truly is a very good person."

Xu Ke spoke slowly, carefully choosing his words. It took him quite a while to finish this rather formal speech.

Lu Ya chuckled, patting Xu Ke's head. "You rascal, reading a few books and now you're lecturing me? And with such well-reasoned arguments, no less."

"Don't worry, I'm not an unreasonable person. I know what's what. However..." Lu Ya's mind seemed to conjure the image of the eerily strange faceless statue once more, and his heart couldn't help but feel a little heavier.

Lu Ya then chatted with Xu Ke for a bit longer. After seemingly receiving a telepathic message, he departed in a hurry.

"Lord Xuan Niao, how did I perform?" Xu Ke mentally asked Li Fan, seeking commendation.

"Mediocre, at best. You still need to work harder in the future," Li Fan replied flatly, which immediately disheartened Xu Ke.

"It seems that in this era, the residual power of the Faceless True Immortal is far stronger than it will be thousands of years from now. Lu Ya merely saw it once, and he was already tainted by its aura, falling into the True Immortal's net, making escape nearly impossible."

As the Xuanhuang agent of the present-day Faceless True Immortal, it's likely that no one in the world today understands its power better than Li Fan.

In the previous illusions he experienced, Li Fan wasn't yet capable of perceiving such things. But now, he could immediately discern that the fundamental reason for Lu Ya's drastic change in attitude towards Mr. Bai was the influence of the Faceless True Immortal statue.

All living beings possess an instinctive fear of unknown powerful entities.

Like a butterfly caught in a spiderweb, unable to break free, even though it hasn't seen the predator arrive, it already senses its impending fate and is filled with dread.

Lu Ya is currently in this very state.

However, he had subconsciously linked the Faceless True Immortal statue with Mr. Bai. It wasn't so much about escaping or distancing himself from Mr. Bai, but rather about evading the Faceless True Immortal's control.

Unfortunately, just like Li Fan in his true form, ordinary methods are simply insufficient to break free.

As for whether Mr. Bai truly had any connection to the Faceless True Immortal...

Li Fan, however, hadn't detected any aura of the Faceless True Immortal on Mr. Bai during their brief encounter. Of course, it was also possible that Mr. Bai's power was simply too immense, allowing him to conceal it perfectly.

While deep in thought, Li Fan noticed the still-discouraged Xu Ke and ruffled his hair. "Your mental resilience still needs work. If you can't even handle this small setback, how will you follow me to save the world later?"

"Lord Xuan Niao, I'm not even ten years old yet! Does saving the world really depend on me?" Xu Ke said, his small face scrunched up in a pout.

"It's because you are fated to be with me," Li Fan replied meaningfully.

"Alright, get ready. Next, the Beast Taming Sect should have a task for you," Li Fan predicted again.

Having displayed his foresight multiple times, Li Fan had already earned Xu Ke's absolute trust.

As expected, Li Fan's prediction proved correct once again.

Three days later, Lu Ya brought Xu Ke to a small wooden cabin located outside the Beast Taming Sect's Demon Suppression Tower.

On the table inside the cabin, there was a wooden carving and a wooden box.

"This wooden carving is a gift Mr. Bai left for you," Lu Ya said, his expression somewhat complex.

Something seemed to have happened to him over those three days. While his words towards Mr. Bai were far more polite, Li Fan keenly sensed that the influence of the Faceless True Immortal seemed to have deepened on him instead.

"Wow!" Xu Ke, not yet capable of realizing this, excitedly rushed to the table and snatched up the wooden carving.

"Huh? This looks like me?!" Xu Ke exclaimed with a mix of surprise and delight, carefully examining the carving from all angles.

Xu Ke didn't care what the wooden carving's purpose was; he was simply content that it was a gift from Mr. Bai. He initially planned to carefully put it away, but after hearing Li Fan's telepathic message, he instead tucked it away inside his shirt, close to his chest.

"This wooden carving is quite a good item," Li Fan remarked, his eyes fixed on it as he sensed the power of laws condensed within.

Given Mr. Bai's involvement, it was naturally no ordinary object.

This wooden carving of Xu Ke represented retaliation.

Any attack that did not exceed the carving's endurance limit would be absorbed and then reflected back.

This was quite similar to the divine ability displayed by Shuofeng after he comprehended the marvel of the Heavenly Wooden Sword.

"Even a full-power strike from a Dao Integration realm cultivator can be perfectly reflected by this wooden carving," Li Fan mused, "Though its uses are limited, it's absolutely a life-saving artifact." As he studied the principles of heaven and earth contained within the carving, he couldn't help but marvel at Mr. Bai's generosity.

And just as predicted, Xu Ke received a task: to travel to the Southern Underworld Sacred Beast Mountain and deliver the red wooden box to Beast Emperor Yi.

"This wooden box contains the head of Emperor Er Li. If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Bai personally slew him. Emperor Er Li had been roaming freely, stirring up trouble, and refusing to return to the demon race. Although Mr. Bai appeared to have killed him, he was, in fact, returning him to Emperor Yi."

"This favor is being used to exchange for the method by which demon beasts can reproduce by devouring the void, specifically for cultivating World-Splitting Whales."

Li Fan mentally reviewed the whole situation.

"Mr. Bai is an incarnation of the Heavenly Dao, yet he still can't grasp the specific evolutionary path of demon beasts; he still needs to consult Beast Emperor Yi."

"It appears that the demon beasts of the Xuanhuang Realm might not be native creatures, but rather extraterrestrial."

"Emperor Yi has sensed that a great calamity is approaching the Xuanhuang Realm, and there seems to be no possibility of escaping it. So, he wishes to split the world and depart..."

Before Li Fan's eyes, the towering white mountain, seemingly at the very edge of the world, appeared.

"According to Emperor Yi, Southern Underworld Mountain is the edge of the sky, the corner of the sea, the very end of the world."

"The countless scattered energies of the Xuanhuang Realm converge here. If detonated by some special method, they could instantly unleash an incredibly terrifying power, nearing that of a True Immortal."

"Thereby crossing the great barrier and departing the Dark Star Sea."

A thousand years later, in the present era, Southern Underworld Mountain had become a massive world-splitting vortex. The world's wound hadn't healed in millennia, which clearly illustrated just how terrifying the energy fluctuations were when Southern Underworld Mountain originally ripped through the world.

"The principle is identical to the Heaven Sword Sect's disintegrating divine weapons. However, these are merely theories. Whether they succeeded or failed, whether they managed to escape the Dark Star Sea, or simply vanished into nothingness..."

"No one knows."