Chapter 1362: Star Sea Ascends to Immortal Domain

Angry Squid

Xu Ke rested for a moment, and surprisingly, his energy quickly became replenished.

The green light from the mask reappeared, and he resumed creating the chasm-like hollows.

"I received Senior Xing's legacy, which significantly extended my lifespan. This is a profound act of recreation. With this broken body, completing the excavation of the hidden river should be enough."

"After all, before his death, Senior Xing had already extended the hidden river through most of the Star Sea. All I need to do is build upon his work..."

Xu Ke muttered on, seemingly explaining to Li Fan and the other person, or perhaps more like convincing himself.

His hands moved continuously, the green light opening a path ahead. He was completely focused and tireless.

Li Fan was not concerned whether Xu Ke's desire to continue excavating the hidden river was his own will or influenced by Xing Wuque's legacy. To him, there was no difference between the two.

What Li Fan cared more about was Xu Ke's method of using the green light to carve out the chasm-like hollows from nothingness.

These chasm-like hollows were still within the Star Sea, but they represented the lowest point of potential.

Li Fan could now continuously elevate his own potential with his Ascension Formation, but he had no good way to make it descend. Li Fan subtly perceived that the so-called height and depth of potential were in fact two sides of the same coin. Understanding only one aspect would definitely be incomplete.

If he could comprehend the method of creating these chasms, he would take another step forward in his understanding of potential.

Xu Ke appeared to be carving forward, but in reality, he was digging, blasting, and creating points of low potential that didn't originally exist within the Star Sea. Essentially, these were the same kind of existence as the natural high platforms within the Great Wall of the Fragmented Realms. Only the potential levels differed.

"It mainly relies on the green light emanating from that mask."

"This mask..." After observing it, it became clear to Li Fan.

When he activated his Ascension Formation, he needed the flesh and blood of a True Immortal as supplementary material. Xing Wuque's mask served a similar purpose to the flesh and blood of a True Immortal.

"It's not just an immortal artifact; it possesses another extremely special power."

Li Fan stared at the faint green glow on Xu Ke's face, and somehow, a vague sense of familiarity arose within him. This familiarity was fleeting; when he tried to trace and confirm it, he found no clues, as if it had been a complete illusion from the start.

But Li Fan wouldn't give up this inspired clue so easily. Scenes of past observations flashed rapidly, constantly surfacing and being compared in his mind. The more cycles of reincarnation he experienced, the richer and more complex his experiences became. The greater the pressure he faced when recalling the past.

As time passed, the sense of familiarity in his heart was rapidly fading. To successfully pinpoint the source, Li Fan pushed the operating efficiency of the Dao Transformation Stone to its absolute limit. Beads of sweat subtly dripped from his forehead, and faint cracks even appeared on the Dao Transformation Stone. Infinite spiritual energy, under Li Fan's spontaneous control, surged into it, filling and repairing the damage, serving even as consumed energy.

Perhaps it was Li Fan's good fortune, or the unconscious aid of pushing the Dao Transformation Stone's efficiency to its maximum. Finally, just before that sudden sense of familiarity completely vanished, Li Fan found its origin among countless past experiences.

"With the vestige left by the First Grand Heavenly Venerate as protection, and by detonating those immortal artifacts for power, it's highly possible for you and me to cross the high wall together!"

"We've been preparing for so long, how can we suddenly change our minds?!"

Even after such a long time, Li Fan could still sense the endless resentment carried by the voice's owner.

It was exactly the scene that appeared during the Fallen Immortal Realm illusion trial to become the Xuanhuang Grand Heavenly Venerate, after making the same choice as Su Bai once did!

The Fallen Immortal Realm: incredibly illusory, yet strikingly real. Everything that happened in the Fallen Immortal Realm was both illusory and real. When the splintered consciousness of the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao roared its questions, in the Fallen Immortal Realm illusion, as "Su Bai," Li Fan also felt a strange sensation emerge at that moment.

The so-called vestiges left by the First Grand Heavenly Venerate did indeed exist. Furthermore, at the time recorded by the illusion, the First Grand Heavenly Venerate's vestige was on Su Bai. Thus, after experiencing it again in the illusion, Li Fan was able to sense its unique aura by using "Su Bai's" body.

When he first sensed it, Li Fan couldn't comprehend it. Therefore, for a long time, he hadn't been aware of its existence. The Dao Transformation Stone had simply recorded everything silently.

Returning to the present, after Li Fan carefully sensed the mask left by Xing Wuque, that familiar aura finally awakened Li Fan's perception.

"Relic of the First Xuanhuang Grand Heavenly Venerate?" This thought immediately sprang into Li Fan's mind.

But soon, he realized something was off.

"The similarity in aura doesn't mean they belong to the same person."

"Instead, their nature is of the same origin."

He felt a slight regret in his heart, but Li Fan quickly began pondering what this shared nature truly was.

Li Fan's unusual state naturally caught Mo Rubin's attention.

"Did fellow Daoist also encounter Xing Wuque?"

"No, I haven't. I'm just amazed that there could be such a person in this world who is so..." Li Fan paused slightly, finally using the word "obstinate" as his assessment.

Mo Rubin gave a wry smile: "More than just obstinate, he was simply foolish, utterly naive. Not to mention you, even I, as a Dharma King of the Profound Heaven Sect, couldn't have imagined he would go to such lengths." Mo Rubin's tone suddenly became somewhat despondent.

"Perhaps that's why Brother Xuanyuan entrusted this matter to him back then. If it were me, or any other of the Twelve Dharma Kings, we certainly couldn't have done what Xing Wuque did. It's not that we are less loyal than Xing Wuque. It's about not choosing to search for Brother Xuanyuan after he disappeared, but instead staying here in this hollow hidden river, carrying out his mission for ten thousand years as if it were a single day..." Mo Rubin shook his head repeatedly.

"Xu Ke's temperament is somewhat similar to Xing Wuque's. Now that he has inherited the mission and chosen to continue developing the unfinished hidden river, I cannot dissuade him. But Fellow Daoist Mo, do you know of any other profound meanings behind these chasm-like hidden rivers?" Li Fan asked, his gaze fixed on Mo Rubin, as he pondered the nature of the shared origin.

"If it's merely meant to accumulate life force for the Star Sea's recovery, then there's no need to cover the entire Star Sea. Even covering just half of it would be enough to achieve the goal."

"However, the scale of work for half versus the entire Star Sea is incomparable. Who is King Xuantian? He would absolutely not make such a mistake. Just as Xing Wuque said, King Xuantian's instructions must have a deeper meaning. What exactly is that meaning?"

Mo Rubin narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the chasm-like hidden river. He was stumped by Li Fan's question and couldn't answer for a moment.

Li Fan chuckled lightly: "It couldn't be that King Xuantian made a mistake when he assigned the mission to Xing Wuque, could it?"

"That's absolutely impossible!" Mo Rubin decisively shook his head, refuting the idea. His brows were tightly furrowed, but he couldn't come up with a reason. When asked Xu Ke, Xu Ke simply said that regarding King Xuantian's instructions, Xing Wuque had always carried them out diligently without ever questioning why in his heart.

Mo Rubin was momentarily speechless.

"It should be... just like a formation that only takes shape when it's fully laid out. Even if nine-tenths are completed, it's useless unless it's fully connected to form the array."

"Hmm, yes, that's definitely it." It took a while before Mo Rubin provided what seemed like a very reasonable explanation.

Li Fan remained noncommittal: "To cover the entire Abyssal Star Sea — what a magnificent feat. If a formation of this scale were to activate, let alone reviving the Star Sea, it might even be capable of overturning the high wall."

Although he said this on the surface, Li Fan did not agree with Mo Rubin's statement in his heart. Li Fan believed that with his current mastery of formations, he was not far behind King Xuantian. There was no trace of a formation in these chasm-like hidden rivers at all. How could he not see that?

"However, it's not a formation, but the principle might be the same."

"Only when completion is achieved can the conditions be met and activation occur."

Li Fan's thoughts momentarily sharpened. Didn't this feeling of "failing at the last step" — like building a mountain nine *ren* high, only to lack one basketful of earth to complete it — closely resemble his experience when activating the Ascension Formation and climbing to the peak of potential? Unless one reached the ultimate point of ascending to become an immortal, no matter how high one had climbed previously, it would all be useless. Only by completely finishing the final ascension process would everything done previously hold meaning.

Ascension. Soaring Ascension.

Li Fan was in the lowest depression of the Star Sea, but his vision seemed to instantly transcend its confines. The entire Abyssal Star Sea, surrounded by high walls, appeared before him as a miniature landscape.

"Could it be that King Xuantian's ultimate ambition was a plan similar to my own in this lifetime? Only, I intend to propel the Xuanhuang Realm to sublimate and evolve into an Immortal Domain. And King Xuantian... is he planning to directly sublimate the entire Star Sea?"

Li Fan himself found this sudden thought utterly absurd. Only through personal experience could one truly understand the enormous gap between mortals and immortals. Let's enumerate the preparations Li Fan made in this lifetime to promote the birth of the Xuanhuang Immortal Domain: the nourishing vitality contained in hundreds of fragmented realms, and the explosive, reverberating star power stored in the depressions; the legacy of the Xuanhuang Grand Heavenly Venerate, the Immortal Spirit Qi; the return of numerous minor worlds, uniting all into one; even complete fragments of an Immortal Domain, originating from an unknown True Immortal's creation... With all these various elements stacked together, Li Fan still couldn't guarantee that the Xuanhuang Immortal Domain would be successfully created one hundred percent.

The Star Sea, compared to Xuanhuang, was simply not on the same magnitude. If one were truly to propel the Star Sea to sublimate into an Immortal Realm, the energy required would be utterly unimaginable! Even if Li Fan possessed a supreme treasure like Huanzhen, capable of repeatedly gathering all resources within the current Star Sea, before his psychological lifespan was fully depleted, Li Fan couldn't see any hope of success.

"Ultimately, it's just my inexplicable fantasy."

"Unless..."

"King Xuantian saw something that I cannot see yet." Somehow, this thought suddenly occurred to Li Fan.

"Brother Mo, are you going to stay here with Xu Ke?"

Silence fell again in the chasm-like hollows for a long time. Eventually, Li Fan broke the quiet.

Mo Rubin's gaze retracted from Xu Ke's determined back, and he remained silent for a long time.

"We have already tried every possible method."

"Though I'm reluctant to admit it, it now seems highly probable that King Xuantian vanished into that strange pond. He no longer exists in the current Abyssal Star Sea."

"Although King Xuantian is gone, I will never just sit idly by. However, from now on, saving the Xuanhuang Realm will entirely depend on us." Li Fan sighed faintly.

Mo Rubin, however, remained optimistic: "Since Brother Xuanyuan laid such a contingency, something shouldn't go wrong so easily. I believe the key still lies in that peculiar pond."

"I need to return to Xuanhuang to continue my research."

Li Fan nodded slightly, then looked at Xu Ke again.

"Don't worry about Xu Ke here. I will regularly send people to provide him with healing and ensure he is in good enough condition to continue this endless expansion." Li Fan said in a deep voice.

"As you just heard, Xu Ke addresses me as 'Sage Master'."

"I merely saved some young children and then, while trying to save Xuanhuang, casually taught them a bit. I hardly deserve the title of Sage Master; rather, it must seem amusing to Brother Mo." Li Fan said lightly.

Mo Rubin nodded, not particularly concerned about the matter. At his urging, Li Fan first took him back to the Xuanhuang Realm. Standing by the fishing pond, he began to meticulously ponder and research again. It seemed that although Xing Wuque had died, the traces he left behind greatly encouraged Mo Rubin.

"King Xuantian is truly a person of immense charisma. Some toiled for him for ten thousand years, fighting to their last breath. Others remained blindly confident in him forever."

Li Fan scoffed inwardly, then openly set up an immortal formation to protect the fishing pond. He claimed it was to prevent outsiders from disturbing Mo Rubin's comprehension of the pond's mysteries. In reality, the true purpose of the formation was to suppress Mo Rubin at a crucial moment! For the Xuanhuang's sublimation in this lifetime, nothing could be allowed to be fished out of the pond. Mo Rubin shouldn't discover the secret of the fishing pond anytime soon.

Li Fan continued to ponder the similarity in their nature. An inexplicable intuition told him that this similarity between Xing Wuque's mask and the First Xuanhuang Grand Heavenly Venerate definitely concealed a great secret.

Li Fan returned to the Great Xuan Minor World, observing its myriad beings, and fell into deep thought. He even temporarily set aside the work of integrating the Immortal Realm fragments.

Sun rose and moon set; three months passed in the blink of an eye. Li Fan still had nothing. Just as he shook his head, intending to give up, his gaze suddenly fell upon the rising clouds and mist within the minor world.

"Clouds, mist, rain, ice. They are all just different forms of water."

"This is the so-called similarity in nature."

"And..."

Li Fan's constantly furrowed brow suddenly relaxed.

"I shouldn't be looking for similarities between the bronze mask and the First Grand Heavenly Venerate."

"Instead, I should be looking for similarities between the First Grand Heavenly Venerate and the bronze mask."

"The function of the bronze mask is to create chasm-like hidden rivers where potential lowers. It's the opposite of Ascension: potential descent."

"Therefore..."

Li Fan's thoughts suddenly cleared up in an instant.

"The First Xuanhuang Grand Heavenly Venerate was also like this."

"Potential descent..."

"From immortal, descending potential to mortal!"