Chapter 1397: Still Shows Signs of the End

Li Fan carefully observed the Disintegration Disc and the Immortal Array.

In his previous life, Li Fan had already deeply understood the terrifying power of the Disintegration Disc after it officially ascended to become an immortal artifact. An immortal array could be formed in an instant. Once the immortal array was complete, it could slay immortals and gods!

Moshu was among the most powerful of all the Souls of Heaven and Earth. After it transformed with the Xuanhuang Realm from mortal to immortal, the immense power of Moshu in its Heaven and Earth Immortal Soul state became clear.

An ink-like darkness covered Li Fan's eyes. Countless tiny, wriggling black dots emerged from his right fingertips.

Li Fan extended his right hand and gently pressed the wisp of ink-like darkness onto the collection of restrained True Immortal residual power in his left hand.

The True Immortal residual power, which had been wreaking havoc across the star sea, was utterly incapable of resisting the erosion of Moshu's Heaven and Earth Immortal Soul power. It was submerged by the dense ink and completely vanished from the world.

The ink-like darkness surged like a tide. When it receded, Li Fan's hands were completely empty.

"Being able to annihilate True Immortal residual power means that even against a True Immortal, I wouldn't fall too far behind. This is the benefit of advancing with the new method: as long as the absorbed Heaven and Earth Immortal Soul power is strong enough, it can be instantly assimilated for my use."

"With Moshu's power protecting me, even as a Half-Immortal without the means typically possessed by immortals, such as immortal spiritual energy, I am still capable of traversing and dominating the star sea."

"However, my true trump card is still the Immortal Array Disintegration Disc!"

In his mind, thousands of Disintegration Discs simultaneously glowed brightly. Wisps of silver-white starlight emanated from each star, flowing and converging. They appeared in Li Fan's palm.

"The Moshu of the Heaven and Earth Immortal Soul is already so formidable. Yet, before the Disintegration Disc, which can deploy true immortal arrays, it would instantly perish like an ant!"

Li Fan's current Half-Immortal state was achieved by integrating with the Dao of Moshu. This meant that the newly integrated Li Fan, before upgrading other divine abilities to the Half-Immortal rank, was not much stronger than Moshu of the Heaven and Earth Immortal Soul. Similarly, Moshu would be utterly powerless before the immortal array he deployed.

"It's like a child holding an immortal treasure; the offensive and defensive capabilities are completely disproportionate."

"The reason for this absurd situation now..."

Li Fan squinted, attempting to absorb the silver starlight in his palm into his body. However, it remained completely unmoved.

"Immortal spiritual energy. But I can't use it?"

The Disintegration Disc exhibited extraordinary performance because, in his previous life, at a critical moment of merging with the Dao, Li Fan extracted a portion of the immortal spiritual energy that the Xuanhuang Realm had obtained from the Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerate's legacy and gave it to the Disintegration Disc. Only after acquiring this immortal spiritual energy did the Disintegration Disc undergo a true transformation. Moreover, this transformation seemed even more complete than that of the Xuanhuang Realm or Li Fan himself.

To verify the conjecture in his mind, Li Fan's thoughts stirred slightly, and the thousands of stars of the Disintegration Disc shone brightly. Immortal spiritual power flowed, instantly forming a miniature immortal array before Li Fan.

Outwardly, it resembled a palm-sized silver ring. However, its interior was actually centered on the 'Misty, Grand Array of Xuanhuang's Sentient Beings,' with the principles of the 'Sealing' character technique integrated within. A single ring flying out could easily suppress anything below the immortal realm.

The starlight of the Disintegration Disc shone continuously. One silver ring after another appeared with it. They lined up in front of Li Fan. Only after a total of ninety-nine rings had been generated did the Disintegration Disc cease, unable to continue.

The energy contained within each of these silver rings was greater than that of the mundane Misty Grand Array Li Fan had painstakingly deployed to cover the entire Xuanhuang Realm in his previous life. After all, the difference between immortals and mortals was immeasurable. Even having ascended to an immortal artifact, deploying ninety-nine immortal arrays at once seemed to be its limit.

Li Fan stared at the Disintegration Disc, which seemed to have exhausted its immortal spiritual energy. Inside the countless star-like sub-discs, new immortal spiritual energy was slowly regenerating!

Li Fan was certain that during this process of exhaustion and regeneration, the Disintegration Disc did not absorb any energy from external sources.

"In a sense, it's infinite," Li Fan mused, lost in thought. At the same time, a hint of regret and deep puzzlement arose within him.

"After Wuming succeeded as the Great Heavenly Venerate, I once used the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao to peek into and inspect the four remaining immortal artifacts."

"They indeed contained immortal spiritual energy, but it was a 'use a bit, lose a bit' situation. They absolutely could not achieve the inexhaustible supply of immortal spiritual energy like the Immortal Array Disintegration Disc!"

"What exactly is this?" Li Fan's gaze flickered, his thoughts tumultuous.

After a long deliberation, he temporarily concluded, "Perhaps it was a deliberate restriction set by the Immortal Realm when bestowing immortal artifacts upon Xuanhuang."

"However, now that the Immortal Realm is destroyed, newly created immortal artifacts are free from upper realm constraints. They have thus regained the properties immortal artifacts should originally possess."

"But..." Li Fan vaguely felt something was amiss. If merely by relying on immortal spiritual energy, one could mass-produce immortal artifacts in their peak state, then the successive Great Heavenly Venerates of the Xuanhuang Realm would have long ago destroyed the old immortal artifacts and forged new ones.

"Perhaps it has something to do with the Ultimate Disintegration Disc itself."

After a long time, Li Fan suddenly understood something.

"The Ultimate Disintegration Disc was formed by the fusion of the Ultimate Disc and the Disintegration Disc. Both of these are secondary forms of the Heaven Profound Mirror."

"The Heaven Profound Mirror was one of the immortal artifacts that King Xuantian brought back from the Immortal Realm."

"In a sense, the Ultimate Disintegration Disc itself is a descendant of an immortal artifact."

Furthermore, Li Fan recalled the process of obtaining the Ultimate Disintegration Disc. Gu Xinghan, a disciple of the Medicine King Sect who possessed the Disintegration Disc (which Li Fan had transformed into), coincidentally acquired the Ultimate Disc. The two approached each other and gradually merged into one. After Gu Xinghan's death, this item was buried deep underground with him, enduring thousands of years. It could be said that the birth of the Ultimate Disintegration Disc was originally an extremely low-probability and difficult event.

"Perhaps the simple fusion of two secondary forms is still not enough. It might also require the tempering of time, and even the destruction and rebirth of a realm, to qualify for ascension into an immortal artifact..." At this moment, Li Fan finally understood, realizing how fortunate it was to have obtained the Ultimate Disintegration Disc.

Although he couldn't comprehend its principle, Li Fan had nonetheless mastered this immortal artifact. Li Fan was naturally very satisfied with the power of the Disintegration Disc. His only frustration was that he couldn't absorb or utilize the self-generated immortal spiritual energy contained within the artifact.

Li Fan made another attempt to infuse the immortal spiritual energy from the Disintegration Disc into other items. These included the Ten Thousand Beasts Condensate and the Dao Transformation Stone, among others. However, without exception, the silver starlight passed straight through them, not lingering for an instant. The items being infused seemed completely unaware of the presence of immortal spiritual energy.

"It seems this infinite immortal spiritual energy can only be used by the Disintegration Disc itself."

"It's not that I can't do it. It's that no one else can."

Li Fan shook his head slightly, pondering to himself, "No wonder King Xuantian, despite plundering so many treasures from the Immortal Realm, still found it so difficult to ascend from the Half-Immortal realm."

"The connection between artifact and artifact, and artifact and immortal, is not the same."

"Perhaps even the immortal spiritual energy within Faceless Immortal, that True Immortal, could not be transferred for King Xuantian's use. Otherwise, given their friendship and the infinite nature of the immortal spiritual energy, Faceless Immortal wouldn't have been stingy in helping him."

Suddenly, Li Fan recalled a past event about King Xuantian, learned from Ji Yuzhen's memories: "But it's said that King Xuantian could extract, refine, and absorb immortal spiritual energy from the Grand Master of Heavenly Capital? What does that mean?"

"Although the fragmented memories of the Heavenly Profound Sect's Dharma King cannot be fully trusted,"

"they have given me a warning. This time, upon returning to Xuanhuang, I need to be wary of that enigmatic Grand Master..."

Li Fan stood in the star sea, his thoughts taking a long time to settle. It was then that he reopened the True Return Panel to check the specific changes after his ascension to the Dao Integration, reaching the Half-Immortal realm.

Name: Li FanRealm: ImmortalPhysical Age: ...Mental Age: ...Void Transformation Charge Progress: 50%Anchor Setting Charge Progress: 0%Current Anchor Points: 3Current Available Anchor Points: 1Bound Items: ...Leg Bone, Fallen Mortal, Disintegration Disc, Immortal Array, Dao Transformation Stone, Heaven Profound Mirror Origin (fragment), Taiyan Boat, Ten Thousand Beasts Condensate, Ten Thousand People's Blood Essence.

When Li Fan saw the True Return Panel displaying only the single character 'Immortal' for his realm, his eyebrows involuntarily rose.

"It seems that in the eyes of True Return, there's no substantial difference between a so-called Half-Immortal and an Immortal."

Li Fan gazed at the character 'Immortal,' savoring it for a long time before continuing to look further down.

Once he stepped from mortal to immortal, his so-called physical age was no longer a limitation for Li Fan. And the mental age restriction, which had long been Li Fan's sole concern, also vanished. Li Fan's expression became momentarily dazed.

"It could be said that, temporarily, I have achieved conventional immortality."

The phased goal had been achieved. However, the true immortality he desired and sought still seemed quite distant. But it was definitely not ephemeral or unattainable.

What struck Li Fan as odd was that the physical and mental ages displayed on the True Return Panel did not signify infinity. Nor was it a fixed number. Instead, like the prefix of the unnamed True Immortal's leg bone, or the immortal realm copper coin he had once seen, it showed a constantly shifting scene.

Li Fan squinted, trying to discern the specific meaning it intended to convey.

It must be said that after ascending to an immortal and having his status elevated, things that previously required almost all his might and brought repercussions upon achievement, Li Fan could now accomplish with almost no effort at all.

"Seven million, three hundred sixty-five thousand, eight hundred sixty-four years, thirteen days, and seven hours..."

After discerning his age, or rather, his age limit, displayed by True Return, Li Fan's brows furrowed involuntarily.

Only seven million, three hundred sixty thousand years—this was far less than he had imagined! How could this befit a legendary immortal?

Moreover, according to Li Fan's observation, this constantly fluctuating number did not change at a steady rate. In most cases, it would plummet and decrease after a period of time. Only in very rare instances would it increase.

Li Fan stared intently at this profound sequence of numbers. Suddenly, an inexplicable realization surged into his mind.

"The lifespan of an immortal surely cannot be merely a few million years."

"Yet, according to True Return's judgment, I can only survive for this long at most..."

A golden light suddenly flashed in his eyes, and Li Fan realized in an instant: "It's because this is the lifespan of the mortal world, not mine!"

As if he had discovered a world-shattering secret, even Li Fan, now a Half-Immortal, felt his heart pound violently: "When that constantly jumping number reaches zero, the entire mortal world will simultaneously meet its end."

"All living beings within it will perish irrevocably!"

"If I were to be among them, without activating True Return, I would suffer the same fate!"

"Wait?!" Li Fan pondered, and his heart suddenly began to pound even faster.

"Previously, my mental age did not change with the variations of True Return."

"It was only related to my own experiences."

"So, when my mental age has merged with this sequence of numbers and vanished..."

Li Fan's expression turned somewhat grim. "Even if I continuously activate True Return, this countdown to the mortal world's demise won't change?"

"The arrival of this true cataclysm cannot be reversed by me through True Return?"

Having just ascended to immortality, he hadn't had much time to revel in the excitement. Li Fan was immediately confronted with the terrifying omen revealed by True Return. Even with Li Fan's incredibly resilient spirit, he found it somewhat unbearable at that moment.

The only good news was that there was still a sufficiently long time until the true apocalypse arrived. Moreover, the number displayed by True Return was not unchangeable.

Taking a deep breath, Li Fan gradually calmed down. "It seems now that what True Return displays is actually its deduction and prediction of the mortal world's lifespan."

"There must be a major problem. Even the destruction of the Immortal Realm might be inextricably linked to this doomsday!"

"It's not that I can't live that long, but that the world itself simply cannot exist for that long!"

A heavy cloud seemed to settle over Li Fan's heart. The joy of ascending to immortality vanished in an instant.

Regardless of the mortal world's inhabitants, solely for the sake of his obsession with immortality, Li Fan would have to try and resolve this apocalyptic crisis.

"Perhaps, in True Return's view, only an Immortal can introduce variables to change the apocalyptic crisis."

"Anything below an Immortal, no matter how much it struggles, cannot alter its fate in the slightest."

"Even if displayed, it would be useless and only cause more distress."

Li Fan looked at the profoundly dark star sea before him. "Perhaps to uncover the truth of the apocalypse, I must start with the Calamity of Dao Annihilation."

Li Fan continued to look at the remaining sections of the True Return Panel. After ascending to an Immortal, True Return's Void Transformation Charge progress also underwent a qualitative change. It seemed True Return's own abilities had been strengthened; after activating True Return to revert, there was no longer a need to accumulate charge progress from scratch. Instead, it directly completed 50% of its charge.