Chapter 1280: Holy Emperor Suddenly Realizes

"Master, does the Myriad Immortals Alliance truly possess this Eternal Immortal Wall? It seems a bit too horrifying to believe," Sun Tianci asked, still somewhat incredulous, after a long while.

"The Myriad Immortals Alliance's atrocities extend far beyond just this," Li Fan sneered.

Li Fan first learned about the Eternal Immortal Wall in his 114th life, when the Heavenly Profound Spirit Lock and Profound Net enveloped the Xuanhuang World.

He initially thought it was a unique creation of the Immortal Alliance from that specific life.

However, in his 119th life, he impersonated Sun Xingwang, a Dharma King of the Profound Heaven Sect. Using the Three Calamities and Hundred Tribulations Divine Enlightenment Method, he refined countless demonic gods of thought within tens of thousands of cultivators. The Myriad Immortals Alliance's eventual method of dealing with these cultivators was precisely a technique similar to the Eternal Immortal Wall. Information revealed after Mo Rubin seized control of a Dharma Spreader indicated that the Myriad Immortals Alliance had indeed secretly sealed many cultivators to maintain the stability of the Xuanhuang World.

Furthermore, these locations were not limited to just one.

Li Fan transmitted a blurry image to Sun Tianci, and the Sun family's prodigy was instantly shocked by the brutal scene.

"Master, what should we do?"

Soon after, he awoke from his shock and asked with determination.

"Your current casting speed for the Profound Nether Art is still too slow. Even if we successfully infiltrate the Immortal Wall, we won't have much time to act."

"First, become faster!"

The Profound Nether Art was, of course, the mystical and wondrous technique imparted by Li Fan, which dissolves a cultivator's cultivation and returns it to the Xuanhuang world.

Li Fan's divine avatar emerged from Sun Tianci's sea of consciousness, manifesting as an ethereal form.

Li Fan's avatar looked up at the sky and slowly whispered, "Deforming heavenly principles..."

As he softly chanted, a scene that made Sun Tianci's scalp tingle occurred.

An invisible vortex instantly appeared above Li Fan's head.

A very familiar aura, originating from the Soul of Heaven and Earth, seemed to be brewing within the vortex.

Watching the blurry humanoid form with gradually extending arms emerge from it, Sun Tianci became even more certain of his conjecture.

"Summoning the Soul of Heaven and Earth with a single word? What exactly is Master's true identity..."

Just as Sun Tianci was stunned by the sight before him, Li Fan's reprimand echoed in his ear: "What are you dazed for? Do you really want to wait for the Soul of Heaven and Earth to descend completely?"

Sun Tianci instantly snapped back to reality and immediately launched a Profound Nether Art at the vague human figure forming within the vortex.

As if the descent process was obstructed, a gust of wind blew, and the Soul of Heaven and Earth, which Li Fan had summoned through deception, returned to the heavens and earth.

During this process, Sun Tianci did not feel his connection with the Xuanhuang World deepen. This was clearly because the Soul of Heaven and Earth still belonged to the Xuanhuang World and had not been refined and occupied by a cultivator.

Since the "erroneous descent of the Soul of Heaven and Earth" was interrupted just before completion, the alertness from the Xuanhuang World was minimal.

Li Fan squinted, sensing, and launched another "Deforming Heavenly Principles" spell.

This time, Sun Tianci reacted swiftly; as soon as the blurry human form began to solidify, it was sent back again.

This process was repeated hundreds of times until it was on the verge of alerting the Xuanhuang World, at which point Li Fan finally stopped.

Sun Tianci sighed in relief, his face pale as he wiped sweat from his forehead.

Clearly, continuously casting the Profound Nether Art for an extended period, "disintegrating" hundreds of Souls of Heaven and Earth, even in their semi-formed state, was a considerable burden for him.

"Move to another location and continue," Li Fan said coldly.

Ever since he defeated the Martial Fanatic that day and displayed his true combat power, Sun Tianci was no longer restricted by the Sun family. This was despite his actual age being just over five years old.

However, Sun Luyuan constantly reminded him to prioritize safety in all matters and bestowed many magical artifacts upon him for self-defense.

The special training lasted a total of fifteen days, with their footsteps covering all corners of the Myriad Immortals Alliance. Apart from traveling, almost all the remaining time was spent on dissolving the Souls of Heaven and Earth. Sun Tianci's progress was astonishing.

With effortless ease, he could continuously return the "deformed" semi-descended Souls of Heaven and Earth back to the world.

"Hmm, that's enough."

Li Fan observed Sun Tianci's performance and nodded slightly.

"What are you thinking about?" Li Fan asked, seeing Sun Tianci seemingly lost in thought.

"Uh, Master, ten days ago, we came here. The spiritual energy concentration then seemed a bit lower than now?" Sun Tianci asked, uncertain.

Li Fan chuckled, "The spiritual energy of the world ebbs and flows like tides; isn't it normal for it to increase and decrease? How could it be constant, like the immortal cave you grew up in?"

Sun Tianci nodded slightly at Li Fan's explanation. However, a hint of doubt still flickered in the depths of his eyes as he surveyed his surroundings.

"This young fellow has truly keen observational skills."

Li Fan naturally also detected the anomaly in the world. He even sensed a familiar aura within the pervading spiritual energy.

"Dao One Worms. It seems this is a method of the Saint Emperor's avatar. The source should be from the Five Elements Grand Grotto-Heaven. Is it to return the grotto-heaven to the Xuanhuang World to create a suitable combat environment for the Great Qi soldiers? Perhaps they can also use the spiritual energy transformed by the worms to launch a fatal blow..."

The Saint Emperor's avatar's arrangements almost entirely stemmed from his true self's explorations in previous lives. Naturally, with a little thought, Li Fan saw through the mystery.

But Li Fan did not reveal this, merely pretending ignorance.

Returning to Sun Tianci's sea of consciousness, Li Fan set off towards one of the Myriad Immortals Alliance's Eternal Immortal Walls.

Within a cave nestled among the surrounding mountains and sheer cliffs of Tongyan Prefecture.

"Here..."

Sun Tianci gazed from afar, sensing something extraordinary: "If Master hadn't pointed it out, even if I had seen this cave before, I would have unconsciously overlooked it. I wouldn't have even thought of going in to investigate..."

"Hmph, this is the legendary 'blessed land inaccessible to the unchosen.' It's a unique creation of Xuanhuang, almost completely impervious to most people's scrutiny without the need for formation arrays. The Myriad Immortals Alliance hides many such concealed grotto-heavens, almost all of which have been divided among the Dharma Spreaders and used as their own immortal abodes." Li Fan's mind flashed back to the concealed grotto-heaven he encountered in his 119th life when he met Mo Rubin after infiltrating the Myriad Immortals Alliance headquarters.

It was exactly like this place.

"Due to this place's natural characteristics, the stationed cultivators certainly won't be highly vigilant. But we still need to proceed carefully..." Li Fan's divine avatar set up a series of formations around Sun Tianci, and then the two flew into the cave opening together.

After passing through a narrow, downward passage, they arrived before a deep hole only wide enough for one person to fit through at the waist.

It was pitch black, plummeting straight down, seemingly bottomless.

"Don't use your spiritual sense to probe; it will trigger an alert."

Li Fan, however, instantly discerned the mechanism of this underground cave.

They leaped into the deep hole and swiftly flew downwards.

It took a full quarter of an hour, as if they had penetrated the Xuanhuang earth and reached the nether regions of the Nine Nethers.

Only then did the cramped tunnel gradually open up.

After traversing a horizontal passage, a massive, inverted cone-shaped underground cavern, located deep beneath the earth, suddenly appeared before Sun Tianci.

The cliff walls of the cavern were densely covered with square openings.

Upon closer inspection, these openings were clearly filled with amber-colored crystal formations.

And within each of these crystal formations, without exception, a cultivator lay in slumber.

From time to time, patrolling Immortal Alliance guards could be seen in mid-air. Sun Tianci dared not unleash his spiritual sense to investigate, but he roughly estimated that this underground cavern contained and sealed at least one hundred thousand cultivators.

Their complexions were rosy, and smiles even flickered on their faces. They were completely unaware that they were perpetually trapped in slumber.

"According to Master, this is merely a part of the Myriad Immortals Alliance's Eternal Immortal Wall..." A chill secretly spread through Sun Tianci's heart, and he subconsciously clenched his fists.

"Go on, the rest is up to you." Li Fan, seemingly discerning the suppressed anger in Sun Tianci's heart, said indifferently.

Simultaneously, he transmitted the method to break the sealing formation for the cultivators in this place.

"Master, what do you think would happen if we woke up all the cultivators here?" Sun Tianci suddenly asked.

"I advise you, abandon that thought. Since the Myriad Immortals Alliance dares to do this openly, they must have certainly taken precautionary measures. Believe me, your speed of awakening them will absolutely not match the Myriad Immortals Alliance's speed of dealing with them. You should know, the Myriad Immortals Alliance possesses methods to extract and preserve a cultivator's Dao foundation..." Li Fan said coldly.

Sun Tianci's gaze flickered, but in the end, he had no choice but to give up.

Avoiding the patrolling cultivators, he swiftly flew past the slumbering wretches, causing an imperceptible breeze that dissolved all the Dao foundations within their bodies.

"Without their cultivation, they won't live much longer in their sleep... It's like I personally killed them..." Sun Tianci's flying body trembled slightly.

"Kill? Or save? Look at their current state; aren't they better off dead than alive? If they could consciously perceive everything around them, they would surely beg you to act and release them," Li Fan said soothingly.

After another round of persuasion, Sun Tianci's hesitant movements became resolute once more.

For over five years, Li Fan cultivated Sun Tianci according to his ideal image of the Xuanhuang Grand Celestial Venerable.

This made Sun Tianci compassionate but not rigid, and even incredibly decisive once he made up his mind.

The Xuanhuang World's power, formed by the dissolution of thousands of cultivators, was gathered by Li Fan and condensed into a bright pearl of light.

When the act of granting release was one-fifth complete, Li Fan said, "That's enough. If we continue, even I won't be able to conceal these intense energy fluctuations."

Sun Tianci looked at the remaining cultivators, a hint of regret subtly appearing on his face.

Still, he obeyed his Master's command and quietly flew towards the exit.

"Master, is something amiss?" As he reached the top of the massive cavern, Sun Tianci noticed that his Master seemed to be still gazing at a certain spot below and couldn't help but ask.

"It's nothing; just leave."

After a brief silence, Li Fan finally responded.

Sun Tianci asked no further questions and sped upwards. After leaving the horrifying dungeon, Sun Tianci took the pearl of light, which contained the Dao foundations of many cultivators, and gently crushed it.

Countless light and shadows instantly burst forth. In a trance, Sun Tianci seemed to witness wondrous objects of the world, Xuanhuang Grotto-Heavens, and scenes of rivers and mountains changing.

In the sky, the winds and clouds shifted color. A grinding sound, as if from a massive millstone, echoed above the clouds.

The entire Xuanhuang World, moreover, experienced a slight tremor in that instant.

Even though the amplitude was minute, Sun Tianci still sensed it.

"The Myriad Immortals Alliance should be sending people to investigate; let's go!" Li Fan exclaimed.

Without needing a reminder, Sun Tianci had already flown away from the scene the moment he crushed the orb of light.

He was currently immersed in the rapidly growing favor of the Xuanhuang Heavens.

After ensuring no one was tracking them, Li Fan recalled the scene he had just witnessed in the great cavern.

Several faces flashed before his eyes. Although he didn't know their names, Li Fan was certain he had seen them before.

However, it wasn't within the Myriad Immortals Alliance, but rather...

On the territory of the Five Elders' Society.

In the Derivation Jade space, the Dao Transformation Stone within his true self's sea of consciousness glowed faintly, recalling images he had seen before.

That was in his 119th life, when the Myriad Immortals Alliance used the Immortal Chosen and activated the power hidden within the Dharma Spreading Statues to tie down the five Immortal Heavenly Venerables, then launched a fierce attack on the Five Elders' Society.

After the Five Elders' Society seemed to be cornered, their hidden methods finally came to light.

Ancient sects, long thought extinct, reappeared. Furthermore, cultivators from the Carefree Paradise, fearless of death and wielding various strange artifacts, launched desperate counterattacks.

Li Fan compared several faces that had appeared during that subjugation battle with the sleeping cultivators he had just seen in the great cavern.

They matched perfectly.

"Interesting," Li Fan murmured, looking towards the location of the Five Elders' Society's Carefree Paradise.

"It seems that this paradise doesn't only contain cultivators from the Five Elders' Society. I wonder if the appearance of these sleeping cultivators in the paradise is due to cooperation between the Myriad Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders' Society, or if it's the Carefree Heavenly Venerable's unilateral capture?"

"If it's the latter, then this Heavenly Venerable's strength might be even greater than I imagined."

The image of the Carefree Heavenly Venerable as an infant couldn't help but surface in Li Fan's mind.

He also recalled Zhou, the Dharma Spreader he met during his examination by the Dharma Spreading Council in his 119th life.

Zhou had transformed into a modern city, a neon-lit rainy night scene, and had claimed it was a direct reproduction of something he saw while on vacation in the Carefree Paradise.

"The possibility of cooperation between the Myriad Immortals Alliance and the Carefree Paradise is not zero."

"The Carefree Paradise might not entirely represent the Five Elders' Society. They might only intervene if the Five Elders' Society falls into absolute crisis."

"Dream Paradise..."

A question suddenly flickered in Li Fan's mind: "I wonder if these cultivators can still exist in the paradise if they die in reality. And if the Xuanhuang World ceases to exist, can this Carefree Paradise still endure?"

As Li Fan's thoughts surged, Sun Tianci fully absorbed the gains from this experience.

With Li Fan as his excellent mentor and strategist, Sun Tianci became arguably the fastest person to accumulate the favor of the Xuanhuang Heavens.

His progress was even much faster than that of the Saint Emperor's avatar back then.

It was a pity, however, perhaps because there was already a Fated Saint Emperor who could communicate with the Heavenly Dao's consciousness at any time.

Even though he clearly felt the affinity of the Xuanhuang World, Sun Tianci still couldn't directly converse with the Heavenly Dao.

He merely felt an omnipresent "convenience."

Sun Tianci cast a spell on the spot, and with the omnipresent blessings of the heavens and earth, its power indeed significantly increased.

But he remained deeply frustrated.

"It's fine; this point is already sufficient."

Li Fan's voice echoed in Sun Tianci's ear.

Sun Tianci saw that his extremely mysterious Master, who had never revealed his true appearance before him, now showed his real face.

Sun Tianci couldn't help but be slightly stunned.

He had not expected his Master to be so handsome.

Dressed in white robes, with a face of breathtaking beauty that seemed to gather all the spiritual energy between heaven and earth, and eyes that occasionally flickered with profound compassion...

For a moment, Sun Tianci was utterly mesmerized.

"Come with me."

The Master and disciple descended deep underground.

After creating a secret chamber, Li Fan instructed Sun Tianci to retrieve the four items that had been prepared for a long time.

An ordinary hemp robe.

A plump ear of rice.

A small, exquisite model of a house.

A lifelike miniature donkey cart.

Li Fan then placed the four items in each of the four corners and looked at Sun Tianci.

With a benevolent expression, he said, "You may begin. Don't forget the stories I've told you since the day you were born."

Sun Tianci seemed to understand and said solemnly, "Understood, Master. I will not betray your trust."

Li Fan nodded with satisfaction, then reverted to his blurry appearance and withdrew from the formation.

Sun Tianci took a deep breath and began.

Taking the first step, he faced the direction of the cart and chanted softly:

"Fortuitous Birth Xuanhuang Immortal Venerable."

The second step, he turned towards the house, representing the abode of mortals, and sincerely murmured:

"Fortuitous Birth Xuanhuang Heavenly Monarch."

The third step, gazing at the plump ear of rice, he held his breath and whispered:

"Fortuitous Birth Xuanhuang High Emperor."

The fourth step, looking at the hemp robe, he finally murmured: "Fortuitous Birth Xuanhuang Heavenly Venerable."

This was a reverse ritual from the common path into the Fallen Immortal Realm, leading into the special illusionary realm for succeeding as the Xuanhuang Grand Celestial Venerable!

The moment the ritual was completed, an consciousness from the high heavens instantly descended, locking onto Sun Tianci.

Sun Tianci closed his eyes slightly, sat in the center of the four ritual items, and seemed to fall into a deep slumber.

The four objects, representing clothing, food, shelter, and transportation, flickered with shifting light and shadow, as if they had fallen into the gap between illusion and reality.

"The Fallen Immortal's Memory; no matter how many times I see it, it still feels incredibly astonishing."

Li Fan's divine avatar thought silently to himself.

Just now, during the brief moment he transformed into Master Bai's appearance to deceive Sun Tianci, even with the concealment of numerous underground formations, he still sensed the Xuanhuang World stirring, as if it had perceived something.

Fortunately, he was no longer the naive man of yesteryear; he had already reverted before the Heavenly Dao of Xuanhuang could locate him. Otherwise, another episode of 'truth revealed but unwilling to accept' might have unfolded.

"Such a close connection, even the Saint Emperor's avatar in this life cannot achieve it."

"It seems it must be the effect of the Xuanhuang Grand Celestial Venerable..."

"Let's see if this boy has this fortune."

Li Fan stared at Sun Tianci, who had his eyes closed, thinking this.

The flow of time in the Xuanhuang Grand Celestial Venerable's Fallen Immortal Realm trial was almost identical to that in reality.

When he had gone through it, knowing all the correct answers and using the optimal solutions to quickly pass, it still took him nearly half a year.

As for Sun Tianci, Li Fan did not directly tell him the correct solutions.

This was to avoid any potential "anti-cheat" mechanisms within the trial.

Instead, he subtly implanted the solutions into Sun Tianci's subconscious through stories told since childhood.

With Sun Tianci's talent, it should not be difficult for him to successfully break through the illusionary trial, at most requiring some effort.

"It should coincide perfectly with the beginning of the war between the Sacred Dynasty and the Immortal Alliance."

As for whether Sun Tianci might lose control...

Li Fan looked at the residual soul of Sun Tianci's birth mother, encased within the core of his divine avatar.

After a period of conditioning, all traces of hostility had seemingly vanished from her surface. She now appeared entirely as a benevolent mother.

"They say he was born to merge with the Dao, but in reality, it was by devouring his birth mother's life. This is his greatest weakness!"

"Soon. Let me see what kind of might the current Xuanhuang Grand Celestial Venerable will possess."

Beneath the continuously flickering lights of the trial ritual, Li Fan's divine avatar shimmered in and out of existence, like a phantom.

The Great Qi Sacred Dynasty.

Xixi Village, Dujiang County, Lingzhou Prefecture.

The grim atmosphere of an impending war had already drifted into this peaceful village.

Most of the able-bodied young men in the village had already joined the Sacred Army, ready to depart for battle at any moment.

Only the elderly, weak, women, and children remained in each household, maintaining their livelihoods while daily visiting the Sacred Heart Temple to pray for their families and the great Saint Emperor.

A woman in her forties had just returned from the Sacred Heart Temple when she saw a young man standing at her doorstep.

An inexplicable sense of familiarity arose within her, and just as she was about to speak, her heart suddenly tightened.

As if by some strange impulse, she swallowed the words she was about to utter.

"This... sir..."

"Madam, may I ask if you've seen me before?"

In the end, it was the young man who spoke.

His words, however, were somewhat strange.

The woman was puzzled.

Nevertheless, the young man's kind expression gradually put her at ease, and she slowly began to open up.

"Young man, I understand what you mean."

"You're looking for relatives, aren't you?"

"Speaking of which, you do bear some resemblance to my younger brother-in-law. It's just that he suddenly left home a few years ago, and I haven't seen him since," the woman said slowly, a hint of tears in her eyes.

The young man nodded.

"Besides him, are there any other family members?" he asked again.

"My husband died early, so it was just him and me, depending on each other since childhood. Although I was called his aunt, I was actually his birth mother," the woman said with a touch of self-deprecation.

"But these past few years, I've come to terms with it. How does that saying go? 'The deceased are gone.' I've adopted two orphans, a boy and a girl. They're both very well-behaved, and our Old Li family finally has successors."

"However, the Sacred Dynasty seems to be going to war recently, and both youngsters volunteered to join the army. Alas... I don't know if they'll come back alive. Why fight a war when things are perfectly fine?" The woman chattered on, speaking with some worry.

But she quickly realized her words were taboo and immediately fell silent.

Seeing no change in the young man's expression, the woman finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don't worry, they will return home safely," the young man said kindly.

The woman also smiled, "Then I'll take your auspicious words, young man. By the way, have you eaten? Why don't you eat at my place?"

"Seeing as you haven't been conscripted, you shouldn't be a cultivator, so you must still need to eat, right?"

"Oh, it's all my fault; seeing you reminded me of my missing brother-in-law again..."

The woman hastily explained.

The young man, however, nodded and readily agreed.

He quietly ate a meal at the woman's house before bidding farewell and leaving.

For some reason, even though the woman had only watched him eat and not partaken herself, she still felt as full as if she had eaten a hearty meal, her whole body warm, as if she had boundless energy.

When she looked into the mirror in her room again, the woman was startled to realize that the wrinkles on her face had disappeared without her noticing.

By this point, the woman certainly understood that she had encountered a benevolent benefactor.

But no matter how hard she racked her brain, she couldn't figure out the benefactor's origin.

If their appearances hadn't been different, the woman would have almost believed that it was her missing brother-in-law who had returned.

"Fan'er, are you truly dead?"

The woman stood lost in thought in her room.

After leaving Lingzhou Prefecture, the young man successively visited several other places in Great Qi.

This included the foot of Mount Jie Li Die.

Finally, he ascended to the peak of Mount Jie Li, slowly sitting down inside a thatched hut on the summit.

This young man was, of course, the Saint Emperor of Great Qi.

Ever since he achieved enlightenment in the Star Sea and developed a physical form, something had always bothered him.

However, for some reason, he had never chosen to investigate further.

Until the eve of the decisive battle...

The faces of the Great Qi people were all within his single thought.

Based on his current appearance, finding possible blood relations was not difficult.

However, the sources seemed complex and not from a single family.

This led the Saint Emperor to have the illusion that he might have been mistaken.

However, it was only when he faced those with genuine blood ties, and his heart instinctively rippled, that the Sacred Emperor finally confirmed something.

Upon reaching the peak of Mount Jie Li, some of his inner conjectures were finally confirmed.

Yet the truth seemed deeply hidden in mist, impossible to discern.

"Is it an ancestor, or that mysteriously missing person?"

"His disappearance happened to be the day my consciousness was born."

"Possession? Or an awakening of consciousness?"

The Saint Emperor's emotions, uncharacteristically, became chaotic.

It wasn't until a movement on his shoulder startled the Saint Emperor awake.

He saw Cat Treasure, who had been sleeping, wake up and affectionately rub against the Saint Emperor's cheek.

The Saint Emperor walked out of the small wooden hut and gazed at the distant sea of clouds.

In the sky, clouds rolled and unrolled, and a gentle breeze blew.

The clouds transformed into various shapes, only to vanish instantly.

The Saint Emperor's mood returned to calmness.

"Regardless of my origin, I am always myself."

"The incarnation of the Heavenly Dao, the Saint Emperor of Great Qi."

"When truth is taken for falsehood..."

"Falsehood is also truth."

The Saint Emperor's eyes were exceptionally calm.

His aura surged like a sea of clouds.

It merged with the Heavenly Dao of the Great Qi world.

"Meow."

Cat Treasure let out a purr of satisfaction and then settled back into a peaceful sleep.

"My mission as Emperor will not change because of my identity."

The clothes on his body slowly transformed from simple white robes into a starlit sacred robe.

His body also expanded from that of a normal person to a height of three zhang and three chi (approximately 11 meters).

The Saint Emperor, Li Ping, stepped off the peak of Mount Jie Li, his foot landing in the void beyond the cliff.

The next moment, his figure vanished.

He had returned to the Saint Emperor's throne.

The brief confusion had passed; from now on, he was thoroughly and completely the Saint Emperor of Great Qi.

What he carried on his shoulders was not just himself.

It also included the lives of countless Great Qi soldiers and the future of the Xuanhuang World.

As the Saint Emperor pondered for a moment, his heart suddenly stirred.

This was because he felt a thought transmitted from the Heavenly Dao of Xuanhuang.

It was somewhat urgent, yet also somewhat bewildered.