Chapter 1176: Extinguishing the Soul Invisibly

"Yes, the Tianshu Institute has always opposed research into the World-Destroying Force and fiercely suppressed it for many years. Countless cultivators became nourishment for the Divine Tree because of it. If they hadn't been unable to hold on in recent years, I doubt they would have compromised."

"Considering this, the Immortal Severing Pavilion made such great progress in just over five hundred years. The Tianshu Institute has held power for nearly ten thousand years, achieving nothing. This has caused the Immortal Ark to decline day by day, getting worse with each passing moment. The Tianshu Institute truly deserves to die."

"The Immortal Ark's sky is about to change. We brothers should plan ahead. Perhaps we can use this opportunity to shed our condemned status..."

The three exchanged glances, each recognizing the ambition in the others' hearts.

Their hushed conversation, however, remained confined to the empty void.

When they returned to their original valley, they became quiet again, appearing resentful.

After reporting back to Elder Gou, they settled into the wooden huts in the valley.

A total of a hundred cultivators resided there.

Periodically, some of them would leave the Immortal Ark to collect World-Destroying relics.

The people of the Immortal Ark seemed to greatly fear the Darkest Star Sea outside. Before each mission, they appeared extremely apprehensive.

Indeed, the task of collecting relics had a high casualty rate.

It wasn't that they sustained physical harm in the outer Star Sea beyond the Immortal Ark, but rather that each time they went out, the lifespan of the Immortal Ark's inhabitants seemed to significantly decrease.

This cultivator named Zhao, Zhao Tianjiang, had noticeably deeper wrinkles on his face after two excursions.

"No wonder I haven't seen any young cultivators here; they're all middle-aged or elderly," Li Fan realized.

The hundred or so people in the valley didn't cultivate on ordinary days.

Besides having to undertake missions to collect relics outside, they had no other duties.

From their daily chatter, Li Fan also gathered a lot of information about the Immortal Ark.

This valley was called "Sin Suppression Valley" by them; it was a place of exile for cultivators who had violated the Immortal Ark's laws but whose crimes weren't punishable by death.

Collecting World-Destroying relics was a way to atone for their sins.

Once they had completed their atonement through meritorious service, they could leave this place and resume a normal life.

In their hopeful words, Li Fan glimpsed the daily lives of the Immortal Ark's inhabitants.

All matters, large and small, on the Immortal Ark were managed by the Tianshu Institute.

Ordinary Immortal Ark inhabitants didn't have to worry about survival, as the Tianshu Institute provided a fixed amount of living supplies each year.

However, this was merely enough to sustain life.

On the Immortal Ark, there were strict controls over the total population and the number of cultivators.

Not only did giving birth to the next generation require approval, but even cultivation had a fixed quota.

Besides obtaining cultivation qualifications through a lottery, they could also be acquired by making outstanding contributions to the Immortal Ark.

For instance, by going out to salvage World-Destroying relics.

In Sin Suppression Valley, most people had no cultivation.

This was why they harbored great fear towards going out.

Yet, as mortals, they could move freely in the Darkest Star Sea and remain unharmed; this was because of the Tianshu Institute's specially made Immortal Armor they wore during missions.

Besides ensuring their safety, it also allowed them to identify which relics were valid and could be exchanged for merit.

As for what the Tianshu Institute used these World-Destroying relics for...

Naturally, these lower-class inhabitants of the Immortal Ark had no idea.

"It seems this Immortal Ark is even more stratified than the Xuanhuang Realm," Li Fan thought. "The information I can gather by staying here is limited; I need to find a way to leave this place."

The power of his current partial spirit was too weak; it couldn't withstand any expenditure.

Crossing the Immortal Ark's void on his own was nearly impossible.

The green, invisible paths in the void only appeared after permission was granted. Those who dared to approach the void without permission would only fall apart, becoming nourishment for the Immortal Ark.

So Li Fan's partial spirit remained hidden, waiting for an opportunity.

What he didn't expect, however, was that instead of an opportunity, a calamity awaited him.

It started when Zhao Tianjiang and the two others near whom he had been lurking suddenly fell ill.

At first, Zhao Tianjiang just thought he was tired, and he lay in bed for several days.

Later, he couldn't sleep at all and began to itch all over, unable to sit or stand still.

Zhao Tianjiang seemed to recall something, and endless fear welled up in his eyes.

However, he didn't tell others about it.

He even suppressed his discomfort, showed himself a few times in front of everyone, and even volunteered for another relic collection mission.

It wasn't until he started coughing incessantly and black spots began appearing on his skin that Zhao Tianjiang hid in his room and didn't come out.

Holding a jade tablet-like artifact, he was doing something unknown.

Afterwards, blood constantly flowed from his seven orifices, and the stench of blood began to spread. Only then could the matter no longer be concealed.

"Alas. His time is short. It's better to send him back soon so he can reunite with his family."

"Indeed, fate is unpredictable. Old Zhao was considered the strongest among us physically, yet he couldn't avoid contracting the strange void disease."

"He even concealed his condition for a time, just to accumulate more merit for young Zhao before he died..."

Everyone sighed, displaying expressions of shared sorrow.

Elder Gou, however, showed no emotional fluctuation at all, merely handling it as a routine matter and sending Zhao Tianjiang away.

Soon, the Immortal Ark sent someone else to Sin Suppression Valley to fill Zhao Tianjiang's position.

After Zhao Tianjiang's death, the other two cultivators who had been with him soon also experienced outbreaks of symptoms and died tragically.

In Sin Suppression Valley, everyone lamented that they had bad luck.

Only Li Fan knew, however, that their consecutive deaths from the so-called "void disease" were likely due to his partial spirit lurking nearby for a long time.

"The bodies of these Immortal Ark inhabitants..."

"They're so fragile. They can't even withstand the slightest bit of void energy carried by my partial spirit. If my true body were to enter, wouldn't I become a devastating source of infection?"

Li Fan was somewhat speechless.

Taking the lives of three people was not something he intended.

The truth was, he had traversed most of the Darkest Star Sea and had stayed in the void for too long.

His spirit had probably already been tainted by some mysterious forces in the void.

Although his own spirit was resilient and unafraid of infection by these arcane forces, these fragile Immortal Ark inhabitants, however, might not be so lucky.

In Sin Suppression Valley, it felt as if a decade passed like a single day.

The entire Immortal Ark was also like stagnant water, completely still.

The opportunity Li Fan's partial spirit was waiting for never arrived.

Until this day...

Elder Gou, who was usually unsmiling, suddenly changed his demeanor.

He summoned all the personnel in Sin Suppression Valley.

They were all led outside the valley, seemingly awaiting the arrival of some important figure.

The people in the valley were extremely anxious, while Li Fan's partial spirit sensed a powerful aura rapidly approaching from afar.

"Dao Integration stage?"

"More than that. Yet, it doesn't have the oppressive feeling of the Immortality realm."

"Hmm? And it's mixed with a trace of fluctuations from True Immortal Seal Script power?"