Chapter 1113: 万灵御真仙

The Abyssal Prison, after such a massive escape, existed in name only. Once the remaining prisoners were transferred, its entrance was left uncovered, and it fell into disuse. As time slowly passed, no one visited the prison again; it was as if the world had forgotten it.

After an unknown period, Li Fan slowly materialized. "Imprisoned in the deepest part of the Abyssal Prison, so deep that even I couldn't discern their face," he mused. "And their transfer required three Dharma Transmitters to attend personally… Interesting." Instead of immediately fleeing with the other escaped cultivators, Li Fan had hidden near the entrance. His purpose was to investigate the identity of the prisoner held in the deepest section of the Abyssal Prison, a place he hadn't been able to approach for the past three years. It wasn't that the formation at the deepest level was beyond Li Fan's ability to decipher; rather, the guards stationed there were a formidable team of three Dao Integration cultivators. They appeared to be solely focused on suppressing that one prisoner, remaining unconcerned and making no move to intervene even when the upper levels of the Abyssal Prison were breached and countless felons escaped.

When the Myriad Immortals Alliance's escort team arrived, Li Fan managed to catch a glimpse of the prisoner during the transfer. He felt a faint sense of familiarity, but a secret technique obscured the prisoner, preventing him from being certain. "It's best not to stir up any more trouble before the Myriad Spirits Grand Formation is complete," he decided. "I'll investigate the truth in my next life. For now, all I need to do is patiently await the opportune moment and watch the world be turned upside down!"

Li Fan gazed at the distant horizon, as if witnessing the Myriad Spirits Grand Formation illuminating thousands of mortal worlds. The Heaven and Earth Myriad Spirits Grand Formation, as demonstrated to the multitude of criminals, was not its full name. This formation was the result of three years of deductions by the Final Disintegration Disk, representing the pinnacle of its current deductive capabilities. It was an astonishing formation, created by further refining the prototype of the Heaven and Earth Myriad Spirits Grand Formation that once enveloped the Spiritwood Realm, the Empire, and the Beastkin Realm. Its complete name was the 'Heaven and Earth Myriad Spirits, Refining Gods of All Beings' Formation. Its primary function, and the ultimate goal that drove Li Fan to meticulously free the prisoners from the Abyssal Prison to serve him, was encapsulated in the four characters: 'Refining Gods of All Beings.' It bore a striking resemblance to the Refining Gods of All Beings Formation that Song Hesong of Ningyuan City had employed against Senior Brother Zhang in the Fallen Immortals Illusion. Both formations harnessed the collective will of all beings and the myriad spirits of heaven and earth for their destructive power. However, Li Fan's modified version was... hundreds of billions of times more potent, requiring a correspondingly colossal amount of materials.

Back then, Song Hesong, leveraging the collective power of a single city's mortals, had nearly pushed Senior Brother Zhang to the brink, forcing him to reveal the secret of his indestructible Violet Core. Li Fan, on the other hand, was using thousands of small worlds and trillions of living beings within the Xuanhuang Realm, solely to obstruct the Faceless True Immortal for a fleeting moment. After the Spiritwood Realm was annihilated by the Myriad Immortals Alliance, Li Fan spent the past three years in the Abyssal Prison, meticulously reviewing and refining his ultimate world-ending plan.

After all, this would be his first encounter with the power of a True Immortal. Even if he planned to leverage their power against each other and merely observe the clash of immortals from afar, it still entailed infinite risks. These two were genuine immortals, truly transcendent beings, not single-minded Foundation Establishment cultivators. If they were so easily outmaneuvered, how could they possibly deserve the title of True Immortal? A single failure would lead to an irreversible, dire situation. Especially after witnessing the Myriad Immortals Alliance's siege, which unveiled unforeseen trump cards and swiftly decimated the Spiritwood Realm, Li Fan had become unprecedentedly cautious about his world-ending scheme.

He meticulously accounted for every possibility. Consequently, he uncovered an issue he had previously dismissed and overlooked. Li Fan's initial plan involved first drawing out the power of the Immortals from the Immortal Ruins, then leveraging this transcendent force to provoke a reaction from the Faceless True Immortal. It was true that living beings instinctively react to threats. In his simulations and predictions, the Faceless True Immortal and the Immortals from the Immortal Ruins should first perceive each other and engage in combat, thereby overlooking Li Fan, the orchestrator of the entire affair. However, this was only under ideal circumstances. What if, after ascending to immortality, their thought patterns were no longer akin to mortals? Or what if they sensed the 'Returning to Truth' within Li Fan? What if, instead of immediately targeting a worthy opponent, they locked onto Li Fan first?

If he made no preparations and was targeted by a True Immortal, he might not even have enough time to escape to the Netherworld or forcibly activate 'Returning to Truth.' The more he pondered this, the more restless he became. Ultimately, he decided that he must, at the very least, find a method to buy himself that crucial sliver of time. The 'Heaven and Earth Myriad Spirits, Refining Gods of All Beings' Grand Formation was the final solution provided by the Disintegration Disk.

While the disparity between cultivators and mortals, and between True Immortals and cultivators, was as vast as heaven and earth, a terrifying qualitative transformation could occur when quantity reached a certain threshold. "Engulfed in the boundless ocean of trillions of sentient thoughts, even a True Immortal is bound to waver for a fleeting moment," he mused. "That momentary lapse in their focus will be almost my only chance to escape." While a True Immortal's power could indeed annihilate the Xuanhuang Realm in an instant, if events unfolded as Li Fan predicted, a True Immortal, once they located him, would not immediately destroy the Xuanhuang Realm just to capture the 'ant' who dared to scheme against them. This presented Li Fan with his crucial opportunity.

"Heh, thousands of mortal worlds, countless sentient thoughts," he mused. "What an immense power this is. Yet, no matter how much I deduce, it can only impede them for a mere fraction of time." He sighed, "This absolute disparity in power… it truly inspires awe."

Li Fan stood with his hands clasped behind his back, silently contemplating. Under the constraint of the Faceless True Immortal's power, those notoriously heinous prisoners would undoubtedly diligently complete the construction of the Grand Formation. This was one thing Li Fan did not have to worry about. Moreover, once the formation was complete, it would no longer be within their control.

"The day the Refining Gods of All Beings Formation is complete will be the day Xuanhuang is annihilated," he declared. "It's coming soon, within a year." During this period, Li Fan simply needed to wait patiently. However, even at this late stage of his current life, Li Fan still had some final tasks to complete.

He first journeyed to Tianling State, to the former site of the Grand Five Elements Grotto-Heaven. Ever since Li Fan had absorbed the Five Elements Grotto-Heaven, which had been gestating for an untold number of years, a new Five Elements Grotto-Heaven had begun to form within the invisible void known as the Root of Heaven and Earth. This process, however, was exceptionally protracted. Only now was a faint prototype of the grotto-heaven beginning to manifest. Li Fan strolled through the void, activating the 'Evasion Heavenly Dao' divine ability to observe the principles of heaven and earth. Feeling a rhythm akin to a heartbeat, he narrowed his eyes, meticulously awaiting a prompt from 'Returning to Truth.'

From this innate wondrous artifact, Li Fan faintly sensed subtle emotions of dissatisfaction.