Chapter 1346: Everyone Realizes the Truth of Immortality

Angry Squid

Mo Rubin looked back at the boundary of the high wall, a hint of unwillingness on his face. However, as a peerless prodigy from the ancient cultivation world, his emotions quickly settled down.

Exhaling a turbid breath, Mo Rubin slowly said, "Once, I was only a step away from ascending to immortality."

"Brother Xuanyuan, a half-immortal, rarely showed his true strength in front of us; our interactions were more like companions. This gave me a misconception that the chasm between immortals and mortals was not that profound. At least for me, it was certainly not an insurmountable chasm. But now, hehehe..." Mo Rubin's tone was filled with sighs of regret.

"One cannot know the height of a mountain without climbing its peak; nor the depth of water without approaching its abyss. Even having approached the Immortal Ruins closely and genuinely felt the power of a True Immortal, how does that compare to truly reaching out and touching it now? To be honest, the might of a True Immortal truly exceeds my imagination," Li Fan also sighed.

"Friend, what do you plan to do next?" Li Fan changed the subject after his reflection. "Will you continue to stay here and investigate the secrets of the high wall, or will you leave for now and continue searching for King Xuantian?"

After a moment of hesitation, Mo Rubin looked back at the high wall's boundary again: "To leave directly like this, I feel a bit unwilling. I plan to... look a bit longer."

"I'll give it thirty days. If I gain nothing at all within these thirty days, I'll turn around and leave immediately, never to face the high wall again in this life." Mo Rubin sounded conflicted and somewhat lost.

Li Fan, on the other hand, understood Mo Rubin's feelings perfectly. One can die content after understanding the Dao. The secret of a True Immortal is right before them, even if it's invisible and intangible; who could simply glance at it and decisively walk away? Especially since the high wall's secret also involves the hope of escaping the Star Sea of Ultimate Darkness.

Li Fan said gravely, "If that's the case, then I'll leave behind a wooden sword phantom to lend you a hand!" With that, Li Fan separated a small sword phantom, enveloping Mo Rubin within it.

"You're actually choosing to leave and not continue researching?" Mo Rubin was instantly taken aback.

"Heh heh, I'm different from you, friend. You, back then, were someone with the potential to ascend." Li Fan subtly flattered him first, then sighed lightly, "And I deeply know that with my aptitude, even if I looked at it ten million more times, there wouldn't be any substantial change. I simply cannot unravel the secret of the high wall."

Mo Rubin was speechless at these words. But after looking at the wooden sword phantom surrounding him, he was about to speak again.

Yet, he heard Li Fan's tone suddenly become fervent: "However, my temporary departure does not mean I will give up! Since I, a humble person, cannot achieve it, why not let everyone in the world give it a try!"

"Hmm?" Mo Rubin's eyes widened suddenly, thinking he had misheard.

"You want to bring everyone in the world here to comprehend the Dao at the foot of the high wall?" He felt a touch of absurdity. "With our strength, surviving near the high wall is already so difficult. If we bring those with lower cultivation, they will surely be directly crushed by the high wall's power. How could they comprehend anything then?"

Li Fan smiled freely: "My eyes, like the eyes of all people; my hands, like the hands of all people. My arrival, like all people arriving in person... Using my body, I invite all living beings to jointly comprehend the truth of the high wall."

As if chanting scriptures, another phantom flew out from Li Fan's body. Its aura was nine-tenths similar to the wooden sword phantom, but it vaguely resembled Li Fan himself. It was Li Fan's own wisp of soul, merged with the escape technique phantom. Then, with the assistance of formations, he amplified the soul's perception hundreds and thousands of times.

"Let this phantom of mine remain here to comprehend the Dao with you, friend. As for me, I will return to the Xuanhuang Realm and share the phantom's perceptions with everyone in the world," Li Fan smiled.

Mo Rubin looked like he wanted to speak but stopped.

Li Fan continued, "Don't worry, I won't directly announce the high wall's existence to the world, nor will I explain to them that what they perceive is the flaw in the high wall. Instead, I will simply synchronize the perceptions of my Dao-comprehending phantom to them."

"Millions of people, millions of thoughts. Each person's answer will be different. And even if there's no correct answer among them, it will at least give us some inspiration," Li Fan said with an air of knowing it all.

"...Indeed, that's a method," Mo Rubin said after a long silence, only able to respond in this way.

"I'm off!" Before Li Fan's words finished, his figure, following the wooden sword piercing through the Star Sea, had already vanished from Mo Rubin's sight.

Mo Rubin shook his head slightly, temporarily putting Li Fan out of his mind. After resting his mind for a moment, he once again manipulated the wooden sword phantom, approaching to explore the flaws in the high wall.

***

Meanwhile, even though Li Fan had not yet returned to the Xuanhuang Realm in person, dramatic changes had already occurred on the preaching altars standing in various small worlds of the Xuanhuang Realm.

The phantom of the Holy Master, who had preached day and night without stopping, suddenly ceased its lecturing. It gazed at the sky, appearing to be deep in thought. Then, a tremendous roar emanated from the preaching altar. The beings in the small worlds didn't understand what was happening; they were filled with shock and doubt, discussing amongst themselves.

Suddenly, streaks of dark light descended from beyond the firmament. Along the sky curtain, they eroded and stained, turning the originally azure sky completely inky black in less than a quarter of an hour. The world thus plunged into complete darkness. No matter how much the great sun in the high heavens shone its light, it ultimately could not illuminate this murky world. The space between heaven and earth in the small worlds was now shrouded in darkness, much like the Star Sea of Ultimate Darkness. Only the Dao-comprehending phantom, standing firm on the preaching altar, emitted a faint light, bringing the world its only remaining light.

How could the mortals of the small worlds have ever witnessed such a terrifying sight of light being devoured? They all believed the end of the world was nigh, instantly falling into terror and despair. If not for the light emanating from the preaching phantom, which prevented the small worlds from plunging into complete darkness, many beings would likely have committed suicide out of despair in that short time.

Thus, the preaching phantom, radiating salvific light, became their only straw to grasp. Originally, only mortals aspiring to cultivate would go to the preaching altar to listen. But now, in order to survive, almost all beings, driven by instinct, swarmed towards the preaching altar in the center of the small worlds, like moths to a flame.

More and more beings gathered beneath the preaching altar. The preaching altar expanded accordingly, expanding tens of millions of times its original size, almost encompassing the entire small world. People knelt, begging the Holy Master's phantom above for salvation. The Holy Master's phantom remained standing silently. The people pleaded desperately, and since the Holy Master gave no response, they dared not rise.

Finally, a compassionate sigh, filled with sorrow for the world, echoed throughout heaven and earth. The inky black firmament also changed with this sigh.

The Holy Master's phantom flew towards the sky. Its body erupted with incredibly brilliant light, briefly illuminating the dark heavens and earth. The Holy Master's figure transformed into a long rainbow, filling the sky curtain. It covered the entire sky, slightly blocking the invading darkness. As if a veil of light had been cast, the world became a bit brighter.

This gave the world's beings hope for survival. They cheered, loudly praising the Holy Master's great name.

However, their celebration quickly came to an abrupt halt. It seemed that surging darkness was again coming from beyond the heavens, pressing down on the firmament like a high wall. The already scarce light brought by the Holy Master was extinguished by more than half again. People once again fell into panic, and desperate wails echoed across mountains and plains.

On the glowing sky-veil, the Holy Master's resolute face appeared. He seemed to gather his last shred of strength, charging towards the dark wall outside the world, attempting to shatter this darkness that threatened to destroy the world.

The collision between the Holy Master and the darkness was silent. In the end, the Holy Master vanished completely without a trace. And that surging dark wall outside the world... seemed to have changed slightly.

The people stared intently at the point where the Holy Master's face had ultimately struck the dark wall. In their ears, they seemed to hear the Holy Master's final message to them: "The path to salvation lies within."

The people wept uncontrollably. With the world-ending crisis upon them, some people gave up on themselves, completely abandoning hope for life. But the vast majority were doing their utmost to ponder the Holy Master's last words. It was clear that the method to break through the dark wall and save the world lay within that invisible but real small point created by the Holy Master's desperate strike.

Just as the beings on the ground wanted to sense the precise nature of that small point, something incredible happened. The preaching altar left by the Holy Master emitted a faint glow, which drifted onto them. In an instant, they seemed to cross the distance between earth and sky, personally arriving above the firmament, as if experiencing it firsthand, they felt the existence of that small point. Thus, the people understood that this was the Holy Master's final method for them to save the world and themselves.

To save themselves, the beings on the ground erupted with astonishing potential. One by one, they quickly established a connection with the preaching altar, and as mortals, began to comprehend the small point within the dark wall. Such a scene unfolded in all the small worlds where preaching altars stood. And the cause of all this was, naturally, Li Fan.

***

At this moment, Li Fan's true body had already returned to the Xuanhuang Realm. After using the power of formations to derive infinite darkness and seal the sky curtains of numerous small worlds, he felt the resistance from the Heavenly Daos of these small worlds. Although the power of a single realm was negligible to Li Fan now, dealing with the combined force of multiple realms was somewhat strenuous for him.

However... it was merely strenuous.

After some effort, Li Fan suppressed them all. Anyway, in his plan, these small worlds would eventually return to Xuanhuang and serve as nourishment for the super-Xuanhuang Realm's sublimation. The Heavenly Dao consciousnesses of these small worlds would also eventually be devoured.

He used formations to connect these nourishment small worlds. Li Fan observed the situations within these worlds. "In my experience, people only unleash their greatest potential when facing a deadly crisis. If I merely asked them to help comprehend without such a sense of urgency, the efficiency would undoubtedly be much lower."

"This way, now... is quite good."

Feeling the synchronized thoughts of comprehension from countless beings through the preaching altar, Li Fan nodded with considerable satisfaction. The gap between mortals and cultivators was already like a chasm, let alone between mortals and True Immortals. But precisely because True Immortals were so lofty, in their eyes, there was actually no difference between mortals and ordinary cultivators. Therefore, when it came to comprehending the flaw in the high wall, there was essentially no difference between cultivators and mortals.

"The advantage is that there are enough mortals. The sample size is sufficiently detailed. Moreover, during this period, under the subtle influence, the small worlds covered by the preaching altars have already been evolving towards cultivation worlds. Quite a few cultivators have emerged among these people as well."

After analyzing the collective comprehension of the beings for a while, Li Fan found almost all of it useless. However, he wasn't discouraged; this was just the beginning. He created a personality simulated by formations specifically to categorize and process these thoughts of comprehension from the masses. It would filter out most invalid information, only retaining and transmitting what was worth Li Fan's personal review.

"This is merely a setup. I don't truly expect the vast multitude of beings to unravel the secret of the high wall. Ultimately, I might still have to rely on myself."

Li Fan sensed the perceptions synchronized from the Dao-comprehending phantom at the distant edge of the Star Sea. "The high wall, a creation of a True Immortal. It's truly difficult for me to study it alone. Besides the living beings, I can also ask those immortal artifacts for help. It's a pity, I already fed the Boundless Mirror to the Xuanhuang Realm previously. If I gain nothing this lifetime, I might consider trying it next lifetime."

In fact, discovering the flaw in the high wall through Mo Rubin was an unexpected pleasant surprise. Li Fan's current primary goal was still to first integrate with the Heavenly and Earthly Immortal Souls and achieve Dao-integration. As for crossing the high wall, it wasn't so urgent for now.

"Even if I truly uncover the secret of the high wall, I will absolutely not put myself in danger! Beyond the high wall, it is simply too perilous!" The scenes of Cat Treasure devouring immortals and the high wall collapsing in his previous life reappeared before his eyes. Without fear in his heart, he merely let out a cold snort, suppressing all these distracting thoughts.

He took a step, arriving in the Xuanhuang Prime Realm. He looked up, gazing at the firmament. Li Fan, having received the Star Sea's promise, now almost effortlessly gained connection with the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao. Moreover, the Heavenly Dao was no longer as indifferent as before. Instead, it clearly showed a hint of fawning.

"This Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao..." Li Fan let out a cold snort, feeling somewhat amused and exasperated.

Putting these matters aside for the moment, Li Fan, through communication with heaven and earth, began to understand the various changes occurring within the Xuanhuang Realm more deeply and specifically. It was like a severely ill patient undergoing a detailed examination before a major surgery. Although Li Fan could investigate on his own, it was never as convenient or accurate as directly asking the Xuanhuang Realm's Heavenly Dao consciousness.

While communicating, Li Fan also continuously imparted to the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao some of the insights he had gained this lifetime from the true essence of the Star Sea and at the foot of the high wall. It was a completely proactive contribution, without any desire for reciprocation. This step, however, was to increase intimacy and bond with the Xuanhuang Realm. Just as it's easiest to cultivate favorability during childhood, Li Fan also needed to strengthen their mutual connection before the Xuanhuang Realm completed its sublimation, so that it would be easier when he swallowed the Heavenly and Earthly Immortal Souls in the future.