Chapter 1429: Xuan Yin Envelopes Ghost City

What's more, it's not just an ordinary True Immortal. It's highly probable that they were once an Unnamed True Immortal!

Li Fan lowered his head, concealing the thoughts in his eyes. He quickened his pace, heading towards his residence.

"Guest, come play!""Brother Ma, long time no see. Come have a drink!""You rascal, I finally caught you again! Don't run!"

As he walked through the City of Ultimate Bliss, various calls and shouts continuously reached his ears. Along with these incessant sounds, segments of memories related to the voices emerged. The owners of these voices were either old acquaintances from taverns where he spent his days listening to music, sworn brothers with whom he had shared life-or-death experiences, or even enemies he had provoked. Scenes rapidly surfaced, as if he had personally lived through them.

However, Li Fan simply ignored them, steadily heading towards his destination with his head down. He had only recently "possessed" Ma Tiande. Li Fan was certain that these memories had not existed in Ma Tiande's mind before. They were merely imprinted as he heard the words.

"This isn't simple illusionary magic.""It's as if these events truly happened in the City of Ultimate Bliss."

Even as Li Fan moved away, the voices faded. But the imprinted memories didn't vanish; instead, they became even more profound. All the way, "Ma Tiande" had many experiences forcibly imposed upon him. Each experience spanned several years. Wrinkles subtly appeared at the corners of his eyes. Ma Tiande's face subtly grew more weathered.

These physical changes naturally didn't escape Li Fan's notice. He deliberately controlled his pace, slowing down from a brisk walk. Each step seemed to become incredibly difficult.

After traversing a district of the City of Ultimate Bliss, "Ma Tiande" finally returned to his dwelling. The moment the dark gate closed, all the clamor from outside instantly vanished, fading into the darkness. Following Ma Tiande's past habits, he handled various affairs. Then he sat cross-legged, closing his eyes in meditation, seemingly studying the "Dao Net patterns."

However, Li Fan was actually still contemplating the changes that had occurred in this body during his journey.

"A false past influencing the real present.""Is this method the Mystic Sky King's scripture-chanting demonic sound?"

The supreme Dao-Transforming Stone in his spiritual consciousness began to operate, assisting Li Fan in his analysis.

"If Ma Tiande hadn't resisted the temptation, and had been drawn in by any of the voices, participating in their activities...""Then the 'past events' mentioned in their conversations would have fully manifested on his body..."

In the extrapolated scene, Li Fan faintly saw Ma Tiande aging at a terrifying speed during the banquet. In an instant, he turned into withered bones, yet he was still laughing and chatting animatedly with those around him. Until the joy ended, the decayed bones turned to dust. Ma Tiande's consciousness, too, remained forever in the City of Ultimate Bliss, just like the countless other consciousnesses in the city.

"Lad, when you go to the City of Ultimate Bliss, do nothing but what Scholar Zhu instructs. Stay there honestly for three full years, and you might have a chance to return."

The scene of an elder from the Stellar Sea Governance Council earnestly instructing Ma Tiande before his departure for the City of Ultimate Bliss instantly surfaced.

"The Stellar Sea is able to hunt Immortals with mortals, thanks to the help of beings like Scholar Zhu, who have transformed from Immortals to mortals.""Although they have fallen to the mortal realm, the power of these former True Immortals should still not be underestimated.""Either to appease them, or to allow their twisted minds to vent, the Governance Council has prepared special 'playgrounds' for them. The City of Ultimate Bliss is one such place, exclusively for Scholar Zhu.""The countless beings seen within the city have all long since died. It is a true ghost city. They maintain their physical forms merely through a strange energy. Even with three years of cyclical day and night transformations and endless mutual slaughter, no one truly dies; they merely await rebirth when the next cycle begins.""However, the ultimate victor in the slaughter..."

Li Fan smacked his lips, savoring the taste of the bowl of red soup he had just drunk. All were ghost-like remnant thoughts, naturally lacking the taste of real flesh and blood. What Li Fan had consumed at Scholar Zhu's mansion was the taste of myriad consciousnesses, refined through countless trials and meticulously cooked!

"Like an Eternal Remnant!""No wonder it was so delicious."

With a bowl of red soup in his stomach, he didn't need to experience the countless trials the beings in the bowl had gone through. He could directly gain the benefits of their experiences. The entire City of Ultimate Bliss could be seen as a larger bowl of red soup. However, the methods used to 'cook' the beings in the City of Ultimate Bliss were even more exquisite.

Li Fan's thoughts raced, and the supreme Dao-Transforming Stone operated at full capacity. He peered into the grim reality beneath the seemingly prosperous and chilling spectacle he had just witnessed.

"Influenced by the omnipresent scripture-chanting demonic sound, the experiences of the remnant thoughts in the city are growing almost constantly. The experiences of any inhabitant in the city are probably hundreds or thousands of times richer than those of ordinary beings!""Firstly, the consciousnesses that can still exist after being forcibly fed these complex experiences have already undergone a qualitative transformation; they are not comparable to ordinary ones.""Secondly, just as when brewing medicine, the efficacy of a hundred-year-old ginseng compared to a ten-thousand-year-old ginseng is naturally vastly different.""Under the shroud of Mystic Sound, the efficiency of 'cooking' in this City of Ultimate Bliss has increased immeasurably."

Although he didn't know if the City Lord of Ultimate Bliss was ultimately seeking Eternal Remnants, what he witnessed in the City of Ultimate Bliss made Li Fan, who once had similar intentions, keenly aware of the crudeness of his own methods.

"I had thought that cultivating Eternal Remnants in a fabricated dream paradise was already the pinnacle of achievement.""Yet, I've been given a lesson by this former True Immortal.""As expected of someone who survived the Cataclysm of the Immortal Realm, their methods of torment are truly unheard of. They are worth studying.""Three years to bloom, three years to bear fruit. This cycle repeats...""The so-called grand ceremony is naturally the moment to enjoy these fruits."

These beings indulged freely and recklessly in the City of Ultimate Bliss for three years. Their desires continuously surged and escalated, until the moment they reached the peak, like oil boiling over a fierce fire, they exploded.

"The daytime slaughter certainly isn't as simple as it appears on the surface.""If the demonic sound still shrouds the City of Ultimate Bliss, then what the survivors endure is likely far greater than imagined. And to still be alive at the end under such circumstances..."

Even Li Fan was momentarily tempted by the vividness of these "fruits."

"Perhaps I'll get to see it firsthand in thirty days."

"It's conceivable that these remnant fruits would greatly benefit cultivators. Yet, Scholar Zhu only invited the Blade Island faction?" Although Ma Tiande was new, he had previously heard about the City of Ultimate Bliss hosting banquets for all factions.

"I wonder what anomaly has occurred this time."

In the Stellar Sea, Blade Island and Sword Domain are two colossal, pillar-like forces. Sword Domain, centered around the former Heavenly Sword Sect of the Xuanhuang Realm, has gathered a multitude of sword cultivators, numbering millions, with immense prestige. Blade Island, however, has always had only eighteen cultivators. Anyone wishing to ascend the island must first challenge a cultivator on the island. The loser dies, and the winner joins Blade Island. It is said that this rule was established by the first cultivator to found and set foot on Blade Island. The number eighteen was even an increase; originally, only five peerless blade cultivators resided on the island.

In the past, when the Stellar Sea was teeming with vitality and blade cultivators were everywhere, a continuous stream of cultivators sought to challenge those on Blade Island. Although none ever returned, newcomers kept coming. The reason was that the Dao of Blades stood on Blade Island. It was not some mystical phenomenon, but genuinely the very Dao of Blades between heaven and and earth. By observing it, one could directly face the Great Dao. A single moment of enlightenment, and even death would bring no regrets.

The Great Dao is formless, yet it manifests on Blade Island, which has its own reasons. However, there is no definitive conclusion, with various theories abounding. Even the Stellar Sea Governance Council has never offered a direct response. Among all the related rumors, the most convincing one is that the leader of Blade Island was also an Unnamed True Immortal, and the Great Dao they were one with was precisely that of blades. When he returned to his mortal form, the Great Dao returned to heaven and earth. But it's unknown what method he used to solidify and reveal it. The formless, profound Great Dao could thus be perceived by mortal eyes.

"The one on Blade Island might even be an old acquaintance of Scholar Zhu from the City of Ultimate Bliss."

Unnamed True Immortals were previously only legends in the Deep Dark Stellar Sea. Yet upon his arrival in the Stellar Sea, he immediately encountered two potential Unnamed True Immortals.

"Rather than calling this luck," Li Fan sneered inwardly, "it's more accurate to say that with the Cataclysm of the Immortal Realm having progressed to this point, even the former Immortals can only barely survive alongside mortals under the same starry sky."

Li Fan was not interested in the mentality of these Immortals-turned-mortals. What truly interested him was how Unnamed True Immortals transformed into mortals and yet managed to preserve their lives. True Immortals transforming into mortals was not surprising; Li Fan had seen it happen in the Xuanhuang Realm. But in the Unnamed Realm, one's body merges with the Dao. Becoming one with the Great Dao, returning to heaven and earth—how could one easily escape such a state?

Recalling Scholar Zhu's neither-human-nor-ghost appearance, Li Fan was certain that for an Unnamed True Immortal to transform into a mortal, an extremely heavy price must be paid.

"Those who can achieve the Unnamed state must be ancient prodigies. Yet, even such beings have had to abandon their own Dao paths...""Was it a desperate measure to preserve their lives during the Dao Annihilation Tribulation, or a noble ideal to return the Dao to heaven and save the world?" Li Fan's expression showed amusement.

Just like in the Xuanhuang Realm after the birth of the new Dao-imparting method: Cultivators practice by devouring the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth; when a cultivator dies, everything within them returns to heaven and earth. The Unnamed are one with the Dao. If an Unnamed perishes, but the Great Dao does not, then naturally, the Dao returns to heaven and earth.

However, a contradiction naturally arises. Since Unnamed True Immortals are already one with the Dao, how can a situation occur where an Unnamed perishes but the Great Dao does not?

"Perhaps it's analogous to events in the Xuanhuang Realm.""Those Dao-merging cultivators, although merged with the souls of heaven and earth, with my current methods and understanding of the Xuanhuang Realm's Heavenly Dao, forcibly separating them from the souls of heaven and earth after capturing them...""It's not difficult!""Although the power of an Unnamed True Immortal is far beyond what Xuanhuang Dao-merging cultivators can achieve, the underlying principle is similar.""Perhaps the answer lies within the Dao Net."

Li Fan's eyes flickered. As the ultimate means for the Stellar Sea to contend with and hunt True Immortals, the Dao Net naturally needed to cover former True Immortals like Scholar Zhu. And Ma Tiande was just such a person, responsible for maintaining and connecting to the Dao Net.

In fact, Ma Tiande's life or death was inconsequential. Even if he angered Scholar Zhu and was transformed into an eternally fallen remnant thought within the endless cycle of purgatory in the City of Ultimate Bliss, the very next day, the Governance Council would quickly dispatch new personnel. In Ma Tiande's eyes, he was a high-end, vital force of the Stellar Sea. Running errands for Immortals-turned-mortals like Scholar Zhu was an insult to himself, a waste of talent. But Li Fan, as an outsider, saw the truth clearly. He was merely expendable material. And expendable material was inexhaustible.

Unfazed by honor or disgrace, Li Fan delved into the Dao Net related information in Ma Tiande's mind.

"Just as I expected, the key to utilizing the Dao Net is the Dao Origin Symbols!""I've already mastered the initial Dao Origin Symbols, so connecting to the Dao Net using Ma Tiande's body shouldn't be an issue..."

But Li Fan soon realized he was gravely mistaken. Compared to Qin Zhuang's era, the complexity of the Dao Origin had increased tens of thousands of times over! Every single command required the collaborative operation of hundreds of thousands of Dao Origin Symbols. Even a slight error would be recorded and transmitted to the Governance Council.

"Everyone who passes the assessment has already mastered the use of Dao Origin.""The Governance Council allows one or two errors, but too many mistakes would certainly raise suspicion."

The Dao Pill's possession technique only allowed for observation and memory inheritance. For complex and intricate operations like the application of Dao Origin Symbols, a perfect replication was quite difficult. Especially since Li Fan was not his main body's full consciousness but merely a wisp of a divided spirit, he was even more lacking in capability.

"If only the Azure Nether Pearl were here now.""I could inherit Ma Tiande's knowledge without any loss."

Li Fan shook his head slightly, suppressing the unrealistic fantasy. Having infiltrated the Stellar Sea alone, he couldn't possibly get assistance from the Azure Nether Pearl.

"In thirty days, the grand ceremony will require coordination with the Dao Net.""It seems learning it myself is the best strategy.""Fortunately, with the help of the supreme Dao-Transforming Stone, replicating what Ma Tiande can do should be as easy as turning over my hand."

Li Fan began to study the Dao Origin Symbol knowledge in Ma Tiande's mind from scratch. The basic thirty lectures on Dao Origin, known from Qin Zhuang's memories, were now completely outdated. Even the meanings of many symbols had changed entirely. Li Fan had no choice but to abandon his previous understanding and start anew.

However, the path to mastering Dao Origin Symbols was not as easy as Li Fan had imagined. The main reason was that Ma Tiande's learning process for these symbols had vanished from his mind. Ma Tiande had no recollection of how he had mastered the Dao Origin. He only knew that he had finally acquired this skill after a period of arduous study. There was only the outcome, but no cause. Li Fan could only work backward from the outcome. Without the Dao-Transforming Stone, he wouldn't even be able to take this first step.