Chapter 1258: Loss of Immortal Power

It was just like the first time he encountered the 'Hunger' character. The moment the True Immortal Seal Script at the center of the World-Protecting Grand Array appeared in Li Fan's sea of consciousness, he instantly understood its meaning. Unlike curses such as 'Sarcasm' or 'Chaos', this seemed more like an edict!

"A complete True Immortal Seal Script..." While Li Fan's mind was reeling, he had already quietly committed the form of this 'Return' character to memory. "'Return'? Return where? Or return to its original state?" Li Fan narrowed his eyes, meticulously pondering this mysterious power.

Meanwhile, the spirit of the Limitless Mirror had completed its reconnaissance of all areas except the central core of the World-Protecting Grand Array. "Senior, that place..." Sun Luyao gazed blankly at the void. An invisible connection formed in an instant, as if linking the 'Return' character with the Limitless Mirror. The scene unfolding before him left Li Fan utterly bewildered. However, based on the inherent meaning of the 'Return' character and the subsequent changes in the Limitless Mirror, he could hazard a guess or two. Li Fan could distinctly feel the sudden fear and confusion that arose in Sun Luyao's heart.

An unexpected situation had occurred. The "ignited" parts, the components affected by the 'Return' character, had vanished like wisps of smoke to an unknown destination. Li Fan's heart sank, and he tried to prevent the Limitless Mirror's dissolution. However, the power of a True Immortal Seal Script was beyond even his main body's resistance, let alone this mere clone. Just as Li Fan thought this immortal artifact, which had aided him greatly, was about to be completely destroyed, and was watching with a touch of regret as the Limitless Mirror shrunk smaller and smaller amidst Sun Luyao's continuous wails, the mirror began to gradually "disintegrate." Even the Limitless Mirror itself began to tremble slightly without warning. Amidst the increasingly violent tremors, Sun Luyao, as the artifact spirit, seemed on the verge of being "thrown out" of the Limitless Mirror! In Li Fan's perception, the entire Limitless Mirror was like burning paper; the disappearance of its fundamental components caused it to inevitably dematerialize. Without directly confronting the power of the 'Return' character, but merely being affected and locked onto by its overflow, the Limitless and Grandmist Quadrilateral Array within the mirror—which Li Fan had put immense effort into repairing—showed signs of slowly collapsing.

However, the "wisps of smoke" that had been summoned away by the 'Return' character, disappearing to who-knows-where, had surprisingly returned! It was as if time reversal had occurred on the Limitless Mirror; the mirror, which had shrunk to thumb-size, now visibly swelled and became full again before Li Fan's eyes. Sun Luyao, who had been wailing and believing his end was near, grew progressively quieter. He finally stared, dumbfounded, at the Limitless Mirror, now restored to its original state, utterly perplexed. Li Fan was also momentarily stunned, watching the Grandmist Quadrilateral Array spontaneously reconstruct itself from the void.

After a moment of stunned silence, Li Fan came to his senses and looked again at the 'Return' character. "What's going on? Has it 'returned' nowhere?" Sun Luyao cried out instinctively, "Senior, save me!" Perhaps because it had already been subjected to an edict once, the reappearing Limitless Mirror was now able to ignore the 'Return' character. The 'Return' character, in turn, chose to ignore the Limitless Mirror, remaining quietly in the empty core of the grand array. What had just happened felt like an illusion. Both were unaffected.

"The respective World-Protecting Grand Arrays of the lower realms were all created by the Immortal World and are subject to its control. The Limitless Mirror is also an immortal artifact, likewise subject to the Immortal World's constraints," Li Fan mused. "If these arrays are considered the elite soldiers of the Immortal World, then the 'Return' character possesses the authority to command and deploy them. Whether this is the 'Return' character's unique power or a common feature in the Immortal World is yet unknown."

"Originally, anyone summoned by the 'Return' character should lay down their arms and return. But now, with the destruction of the Immortal World, the execution of its decrees has been affected. It seems the 'Return' character is fundamentally different from the other True Immortal Seal Scripts. It might even be a foundational part of the Immortal World's power system in the past."

Li Fan continued thoughtfully, "However, such a conjecture inevitably raises a question. Since the 'Return' character is in a semi-ineffective state, where have these central cores of the World-Protecting Grand Arrays gone?"

Li Fan gazed at the 'Return' character lying quietly in the core region. Several possibilities already emerged in his mind. One: The 'Return' character was penned by some entity and flew towards the cores of arrays across various realms. However, upon reaching its designated location, it found the target had vanished. Thus, it has been circling here, awaiting the target's appearance. Or another: The 'Return' character successfully acted upon the array cores, causing the lower realm cores to successively vanish and return to the Immortal World. With the Immortal World's destruction, the cores would reappear. At this precise moment, however, they were intercepted by an unknown entity and taken away.

"Current conditions are too limited. The truth cannot yet be determined," Li Fan concluded. "If the 'Return' character's scope of effect is limited to the original Immortal World's power, then even as a True Immortal Seal Script, its impact on me is limited." Li Fan couldn't help but shake his head slightly.

"However, since this 'Return' character can shake an immortal artifact... I wonder if it would work on the Heavenly Profound Mirror?" Even if it doesn't cause substantial damage to the Heavenly Profound Mirror, if it could render it inoperable for a period, it would be of immense use at a critical moment. One must know that the current system of the Myriad Immortals Alliance, especially the defensive measures of its headquarters, are without exception closely tied to the Heavenly Profound Mirror. Should the Heavenly Profound Mirror malfunction, the Myriad Immortals Alliance, once thought impenetrable, would instantly become riddled with weaknesses.

Li Fan's main body, possessing the Heavenly Profound Mirror's origin, might find it less significant. But for Saint Emperor Li Ping, it would be entirely different. Instantly turning the tide of battle, its power could be equivalent to dozens of Dao Harmonization cultivators!

After his main body transmitted the content of the 'Return' character to Saint Emperor Li Ping, using a faint, inexplicable sense of connection, the clone in the Ashen Minor World also began its next move. The 'Return' character was an unexpected bonus. His purpose in coming here was still to verify his previous conjecture.

"Extrapolating from this, there should also be a World-Protecting Grand Array in the Xuanhuang Realm," he thought. "Moreover, the World-Protecting Grand Array was left by the Immortal World and only exists within the original Xuanhuang Realm."

He casually set up an array to seal off the Ashen Minor World, preventing anyone from accidentally entering and encountering the 'Return' character. Li Fan's clone then returned to the Xuanhuang Realm with the Limitless Mirror. He arrived at the location of the Myriad Immortals Alliance's Central Four States. A miniature image of the Xuanhuang Realm, specifically the original Xuanhuang projection, appeared in his mind. Intersecting horizontal and vertical lines appeared on the model; these were the World-Protecting Grand Arrays that Li Fan had deduced. Even with slight errors, he could generally pinpoint their locations. Then, by utilizing the Limitless Mirror's authority and spending a little time, he could locate the hidden central core region of the Xuanhuang Realm's World-Protecting Grand Array. The only concern was making too much noise and alerting the Myriad Immortals Alliance.