Chapter 1499: Coffin-side Immortal

"The Ink-Slay's power of near-Dao Annihilation inherently imitates the force of mountains and seas merging."

"But this current Dao transformation..."

Li Buren beckoned one of the purple Dao-transformed statues before him into his hand and observed it carefully.

"It's merely a collision of mountains and seas. The process of fusion, however, was prematurely halted."

"Mountains and seas playing together..." Li Buren immediately recalled a description from the Fables of Mountains and Seas.

"And from this, the Dao emerges. So this is how it is?"

Li Buren slowly swallowed all the purple-mist statues, experiencing the Dao principles contained within these beings. After feeding the poison pills to powerful creatures and using their lives and intellects to complete a transformation, Li Buren was certain that these Dao-transformed purple statues no longer fell within the category of Dao Pills. Therefore, they could be consumed directly.

Although something incredibly important seemed to be lost during the Dao transformation process, the significant increase in Dao comprehension efficiency without risk was absolutely worthwhile.

"Besides aiding Dao comprehension, these poison pills are inherently formidable offensive divine abilities."

"Their essence is to use the methods of the Scripture of Alchemical Dao Medicine Kings to directly integrate the power represented by the Ink-Slay Immortal Soul with the enemy, delivering a direct, fatal strike at the fundamental level of the Grand Dao..."

"They are truly impossible to guard against!"

Beyond killing invisibly like poison, what's more important is their ability to disregard disparities in power. As long as an opponent cannot escape Dao Annihilation or completely avoid the power of the Ink-Slay Immortal Soul, they will be affected by these poison pills.

The only difference is the severity of the "poisoning."

Li Buren began experimenting with the nameless True Immortals sealed within the Primordial Immortal Realm.

Although he had promised to release them, it didn't prevent him from utilizing them before then.

The formless, invisible Pill Fire of Alchemical Dao enveloped the Heavenly Pillars.

The power of the Ink-Slay Immortal Soul silently permeated them.

The changes varied depending on the level of power.

The worst off was Situ Xing.

Not being a True Immortal himself, he had almost no power to resist under the Ink-Slay's invasion. The grey Heavenly Pillar slowly turned purple from top to bottom, revealing an eerie black tint within.

Before the purplish-black color completely engulfed the Heavenly Pillar, Li Fan promptly withdrew his divine ability. This saved Situ Xing's life, though only a wisp of his consciousness barely survived.

Li Fan held the Dao-transformed Heavenly Pillar and effortlessly separated it from the normal part of the Heavenly Pillar. He then swallowed it directly.

Compared to his own slow comprehension, such direct consumption was indeed extremely efficient.

A moment of refining the pill far surpassed a century of arduous effort.

"This is truly a supreme wondrous method!" Li Buren praised in his heart.

However, not all nameless True Immortals were as powerless as Situ Xing.

Especially the Hunger Immortal.

Even when sealed, she could contend with the Ink-Slay Immortal Soul. Although she was destined to fail in the long run, her ability to hold her own for that short period demonstrated her extraordinary nature.

Li Buren scraped off a small, Dao-transformed purple portion from the Hunger Immortal's Heavenly Pillar and swallowed it.

A moment later, he slightly narrowed his eyes: "Indeed. The Dao of Hunger originates from beyond primordial possibilities."

"Or rather, it's not entirely a primordial Dao, but a product of a certain Grand Dao merging with an external Dao."

Within the complete Grand Dao compendium Li Fan had glimpsed through his inheritance, he hadn't seen a projection of the Dao of Hunger. However, he had seen something similar yet distinct. He supposed this was one of the prototypes of the Dao of Hunger.

Similar to the Dao of Swords and the Dao of Blades, Grand Daos from beyond possibilities have a far greater capacity to fill the Myriad Manifestation Dao Network than native Grand Daos. Perhaps by directly opening new possible branches of the Dao, the Myriad Manifestation Dao Network grew a completely new blank area at a visibly rapid pace. Even though it's not yet fully filled, one can estimate the immense scale of its complete form.

Faced with this potent divine medicine, Li Buren almost couldn't resist disregarding his agreement with the Inheritor and continuing to refine the Hunger Immortal.

But after some thought, he resisted.

"Refining the Hunger Immortal can wait until the next life. She'll be in the Immortal Ruins anyway."

"In this life, there are still aspects where I need to rely on the Inheritor."

"No rush."

Among these sealed Heavenly Pillars, what surprised Li Buren the most was the performance of the Primordial Bone. Under the onslaught of the purplish-black Ink-Slay power, it retreated steadily, performing even worse than Situ Xing, whose main body had perished but whose clone survived.

It simply did not live up to the profound meaning of the word "Primordial."

After some research, Li Buren understood the reason for this strange phenomenon.

"Therefore, what is here is not the complete Primordial Bone. It can even be said to be an extremely small part of the Primordial."

"The vast majority of it is elsewhere."

Li Buren could even sense faint traces of Ink-Slay power, tracing along the connection between their shared Primordial nature.

"Southern Immortal Heavenly Pillar." Li Buren thought of the true name of the Primordial Bone and shook his head slightly.

"I can only wish good luck to the beings protected by the Heavenly Pillar on that side."

Li Fan didn't go to extremes; although a large part of the Heavenly Pillars was Dao-transformed, they still retained the appearance of Heavenly Pillars. The nameless True Immortals sealed within also survived, though their vital energy was severely depleted, requiring tens of millions of years of nourishment to recover.

Everything Li Buren comprehended was relayed back to his main body, Li Fan.

However, he didn't reveal this in front of the Inheritor. He hid his true abilities, maintaining the image of a diligent and inquisitive junior disciple.

It was a full three years before Shanhua brought news again.

"That Star-Gazer is extremely cautious. I had to show him the perfectly restored Dao Network and assure him that you hadn't come knocking before he finally agreed to cooperate with me."

"We also noticed that recently, someone seemed to be continuously trying to approach and investigate the fringes of the North Star Sea. Fortunately, our Dao Network was repaired quickly, otherwise, we might have exposed ourselves," Chaos said, standing by, expressing his relief.

"Even so, Star-Gazer refuses to reveal the full plan. He only tells us to 'obey orders and adapt as needed.' Hmph..." A fierce glint flashed in Shanhua's eyes.

"Be patient. Don't reveal any flaws," Li Fan said calmly. Shanhua immediately reined himself in.

"You all proceed exactly as they instruct. My Senior Brother and I will remain in the Primordial Immortal Realm, awaiting their arrival," Li Fan said, looking at the Inheritor with a smile.

"Senior Brother, would you care to move?"

The gaunt old man stretched his seemingly stiff body: "It's true, I haven't been out for quite some years, and I feel stifled. It wouldn't be bad to temporarily stay somewhere else."

As he spoke, blue light surged from around the Inheritor's body. The Inheritor's illusory clone, replacing his main body, sat cross-legged in the deepest part of the Dao Network.

Li Fan carefully observed his surroundings and found that the Dao strings of the entire Dao Network had not bent at all due to this switch between the main body and the clone.

He couldn't help but exclaim: "Senior Brother, your method of the Inheritor's illusory clone is almost identical to our Venerable Master's! It seems your transcendence is just around the corner!"

The Inheritor, having stood up, stroked his beard and laughed heartily, unable to hide his satisfaction. Yet, he still spoke modestly: "You flatter me too much. I'm still far behind the Master. This illusory clone can only replace me as the Inheritor for at most a hundred years. Any longer, and it won't work."

"With Senior Brother's talent, even eternal inheritance of the Dao won't be too long," Li Fan said, chuckling.

Chaos and Shanhua were already used to Li Fan's almost blind flattery. They kept their eyes downcast and minds to themselves, pretending not to hear anything.

"Senior Brother, please," Li Fan said, leading the Inheritor to settle in the Primordial Immortal Realm.

They just waited for the people from the Glorious Star Sea to take the bait.

After more than ten days of progress, Shanhua finally met with Star-Gazer again.

Still possessing the black cat.

"Fellow Daoist, you are too cautious. We've lost so many companions, yet we're not like you," Shanhua said, displeased.

Star-Gazer also complained: "Brother Shanhua, please don't mention it. I didn't want this either. Last time I lost the supreme treasure, I was almost skinned alive, had my bones extracted, and was sealed into a Heavenly Pillar. Thankfully, at the last moment, I recalled the details of how that rogue subjugated the treasure. Only then did I get a chance to atone for my sins with meritorious service."

"But this is also my last chance. If things don't succeed again, I'm afraid you won't see me anymore, Brother Dao."

Shanhua seemed extremely sympathetic, stroking the cat's head: "You've truly suffered, Brother Dao. If it really doesn't work out, just flee to our North Star Sea. At the very least..."

"Hehe." Star-Gazer awkwardly interrupted Shanhua.

"Alright, let's get to business. This operation isn't actually led by me. I'm just responsible for transmitting messages and coordinating."

"Oh?" Shanhua's hand, stroking the black cat, instantly froze. "How do you want us to cooperate?"

Star-Gazer was silent for a moment, seemingly listening to orders from his end.

After a long pause, a voice slowly came through: "There's a coffin. Sealed inside is a sleeping nameless True Immortal. You just need to retrieve the coffin and then find every possible way to place it inside that Primordial Immortal Realm."

Shanhua was waiting for more details, but Star-Gazer seemed to have finished. He fell silent.

"That's it?" Shanhua was somewhat dissatisfied.

"After all this trouble, this is all the preparation you've made? What can a mere sleeping nameless True Immortal do? You've seen the power of that Hidden Emperor."

Star-Gazer reassured him: "Brother Dao, please rest assured. I've even risked my life, so how could I be perfunctory? With this sleeping nameless one taking action, even if that Hidden Emperor has even greater divine abilities, he won't be able to turn the tables!"

"This time, he will return everything, principal and interest."

Shanhua pondered for a moment, then finally nodded in agreement.

Before breaking off contact with Star-Gazer and heading to the agreed location to find the nameless sleeping in the coffin, he informed Li Fan of the detailed situation.

"No problem, just as he said, send the coffin over."

Only after hearing Li Fan's reply did Shanhua relax.

He then went to the fringes of the North Star Sea to search for the target.

Within the Primordial Immortal Realm.

Li Fan and the Inheritor sat facing each other, with a wisp of green smoke burning in the center. The smoke curled faintly, rising formlessly.

"Senior Brother, do you have any idea about this nameless one sleeping in the coffin?"

"Perhaps, it's an immortal from the Other Shore."

After a moment of silence, the Inheritor slowly spoke, his tone somewhat grave.