Chapter 1560: Infiltrating the Merchant Immortal Ship

Angry Squid.

Before the Great Celestial Venerable Immortal Puppet, a sudden ripple appeared. In the shaking phantom, the image of a white cat was vaguely visible.

It only lasted for a moment, then leaped in a certain direction and vanished without a trace.

Li Fan watched the faint, almost imperceptible white line in the starry sky disappear into the depths of the Shuo Star Sea.

"Its appearance is somewhat different from Cat Treasure, but its aura and fluctuations are extremely similar. The direction it disappeared in is..."

Li Fan followed Cat Treasure's trail, stealthily moving deeper.

By the time the white line manifested by the "Manifestation Art" completely vanished, Li Fan had arrived before a peculiar structure in space.

It resembled a planet covered in black metal armor, quietly resting before him.

It was unknown what material this black metal armor was made of, as it managed to evade the Great Celestial Venerable Immortal Puppet's spiritual sense. Previously, when scanning outside the Shuo Star Sea, the Great Celestial Venerable Immortal Puppet had not detected its presence.

Only now, from close proximity, did the planet become visible.

"It's not just the special material..."

After careful observation, Li Fan noticed something.

This peculiar creation before him resembled the current Xuanhuang Immortal Realm in some ways. Its connection to the primal possibilities had become extremely tenuous, as if it could break at any moment, drifting away like a solitary boat.

"Or rather, it was originally an Immortal Ark."

"Merchant Immortal Ark!" A strange light flickered in Li Fan's eyes; he had recognized the origin of this uniquely shaped planet.

"Previously, in Qin Zhuang's memories, I learned that Cat Treasure was a creation of the Merchant Immortal Ark. Although the Merchant Immortal Ark had long since vanished by the time I left the high wall, memories from relevant individuals in the Shuo Star Sea confirmed that the Holy Merchants indeed possessed creations similar to Cat Treasure. Qin Zhuang's memory was not mistaken."

"However, the actual performance of those creations was far less powerful than the Cat Treasure that captured the Hungry Immortal in an instant. They struggled even against ordinary True Immortals. Qin Zhuang's cultivation was low, so he couldn't discern the difference."

"I originally thought it was just a coincidence – that the Holy Merchants created artifacts resembling Cat Treasure. But now it seems..."

Li Fan's interest was piqued.

He sent out a wisp of his will, slowly approaching the Merchant Immortal Ark ahead.

Enveloped by its black metal armor, the Merchant Immortal Ark seemed to exist in a gap between reality and illusion.

Even though his spiritual sense reached its location, he couldn't make contact with it. It was as if this black planet before him was merely an illusion.

However, this method of camouflage and protection posed no difficulty for Li Fan.

"As long as it hasn't completely detached from primal possibilities and leaped into the Mountains and Seas, it must still have connections to the surrounding Great Daos."

Before Li Fan's eyes, the Web of Great Daos suddenly appeared.

All beings in the world were within this web.

Although the Merchant Immortal Ark's contact with the web was extremely faint, like a dragonfly skimming water, Li Fan's profound understanding of the primal Great Daos allowed him to precisely identify the faint, distorted traces of Great Daos that still maintained a connection with the Ark.

Following these clues, Li Fan quickly pinpointed the Merchant Immortal Ark's true location within the primal realm.

It was quite peculiar; it didn't exist solely within the Shuo Star Sea.

Instead, it was like countless scattered starlight, existing simultaneously in dozens of different star fields!

"The Merchant Immortal Ark is tenuously connected to the primal realm, with only dozens of anchor points maintaining contact."

"And this black planet before me is one of the Merchant Immortal Ark's anchor points."

"This structure is even more rational than the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm's ark-like form. At the critical moment of detaching from its original position and leaping into the Mountains and Seas, it can leverage these anchor points to exert force, making it easier to leave the primal realm, enter the Mountains and Seas, and seek other safe havens." Li Fan observed, his eyes lighting up.

He mentally noted this peculiar structure.

Meanwhile, within the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao sensed Li Fan's will and obediently cooperated, undergoing corresponding evolution. In the shadows, the Dao-One Worm also quietly gathered towards the nascent tendrils of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, performing further modifications.

Changes in heaven and earth are often incredibly slow, sometimes requiring tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of years.

However, when a higher will dominates it and sufficient energy supports it, its evolution can be even faster than that of a single life form.

Leaving aside another round of drastic changes in the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm.

After the Great Celestial Venerable Immortal Puppet uncovered the Merchant Immortal Ark's hidden secret, it then attempted to project a wisp of its divided consciousness into the black planet.

The black metal covering the Merchant Immortal Ark seemed to have a powerful suppressive effect on spiritual sense. Even the wisp of spiritual sense Li Fan had projected, which was close to True Immortal strength, was still weakened to the point of being almost unable to sustain its existence.

Fortunately, the core of his spiritual sense was special, using the Myriad Manifestation Dao Web as its foundation. This allowed it to ultimately break through the Merchant Immortal Ark's outermost defense.

"It's not just the suppression of spiritual sense."

"Its physical defensive capabilities are also quite formidable. At the very least, anything below a True Immortal's power cannot cause it any damage."

"Using True Immortals as the boundary..."

Li Fan now understood that all the defensive measures set up by the Merchant Immortal Ark before him were designed with Immortals as the hypothetical enemy.

"This black metal, capable of resisting Immortals to some extent, doesn't seem to originate from the primal realm."

"At the very least, in the only remaining star fields of the primal realm, this material should only be found here, on the Merchant Immortal Ark."

Although Li Fan had not traveled throughout the primal realm, with the *Daoist Scripture of the Supreme Being* left by Immortal Mingdao, he had a relatively precise understanding of the remaining Great Daos in the primal realm.

The Dao principles involved in this peculiar black metal were not recorded in the *Daoist Scripture of the Supreme Being*!

"From other possibilities, then."

Recalling that the Cat Treasure that appeared earlier had ultimately vanished within the Merchant Immortal Ark, Li Fan's mind already harbored a vague guess.

However, he needed to confirm it.

After the Great Celestial Venerable Immortal Puppet's divided consciousness passed through the black metal defense, its vision suddenly brightened.

Countless brilliant stars continuously shifted and flowed, as if lost in an endless starry sky, making it difficult to discern direction.

Seeing this, Li Fan couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle softly, "This formation is like showing off a broadsword before Guan Yu."

Almost instantly, amidst the immeasurable stars, Li Fan discerned the correct path and broke through the defensive formation.

However, the final layer of defense that appeared next somewhat surprised Li Fan.

A narrow, gloomy corridor stretched straight into the distance.

At the end of the corridor, a hunched figure seemed to stand.

Li Fan looked around: "Either destroy this corridor and charge directly into the Merchant Immortal Ark, or follow the corridor..."

If his main body were here, he might easily destroy the Merchant Immortal Ark.

But the wisp of consciousness he had projected at this moment did not possess such power.

So, he concealed himself as much as possible and quietly moved through the corridor.

The corridor held no other mysteries, and Li Fan soon reached its end.

He also clearly saw the figure guarding the end of the corridor.

Devoid of hair and beard, the figure seemed extremely ancient. The wrinkles on its face resembled deep ravines, appearing somewhat terrifying. The old man sat on an earthy yellow wooden chair, hunched over, his expression calm as he stared down the corridor.

Only its eyes seemed to retain vitality, vigilantly monitoring the surroundings.

Li Fan wasn't sure if the other party had noticed him.

Because the old man's eyes had clearly paused several times at his location.

But for some reason, they only paused for a brief moment. There were no aggressive actions, and then, as if he hadn't seen anything, his gaze shifted to other spots.

After Li Fan's wisp of consciousness drifted past the old man, he distinctly sensed that the other party seemed to let out a sigh of relief.

"This person is quite interesting."

Thinking this, he passed through three layers of defense and finally truly entered the Merchant Immortal Ark.

What he saw made him slightly stunned.

He was in a vast white space, where a large number of humanoid puppets were suspended in the air.

These puppets were all crafted from a certain metal; although they had no spiritual energy fluctuations, Li Fan could vaguely sense their "density."

"In terms of combat power alone, they are no weaker than ordinary Dao Integration cultivators."

"Moreover..."

Li Fan could perceive that these humanoid puppets were continuously scanning this vast white space. Besides the passage Li Fan came through, there were eighty other passages, seemingly connected to other star fields.

"These humanoid puppets likely share a collective consciousness, and their material is special. Individually weak, their sheer numbers could pose some trouble even for an ordinary True Immortal."

But Li Fan was incomparable to an ordinary True Immortal.

Thus, openly and directly, under the very 'eyes' of countless humanoid puppets, he broke through the blockade.

After leaving the white space, he formally entered the interior of the Merchant Immortal Ark.

Unlike the desolate scene of the Xuan Immortal Ark Li Fan had witnessed,

the Merchant Immortal Ark presented a vibrant, bustling picture.

However, this so-called vitality appeared somewhat peculiar to Li Fan.

Because every resident of the Merchant Immortal Ark he saw had, to varying degrees, lost some characteristics of a "living being." A part of their body had been replaced by a strange blue substance.

This blue substance was neither metal nor wood. It seemed purely composed of light, pulsating regularly as if it had its own breath.

All residents of the Merchant Immortal Ark no longer communicated verbally.

Communication was accomplished through flashes of blue light, with incredible efficiency, seemingly eliminating deception and lies.

Every resident of the Merchant Immortal Ark seemed to carry an important responsibility. They hurried along, their expressions solemn.

Li Fan followed one of the most thoroughly 'bluified' residents of the Merchant Immortal Ark into a crystalline building.

After passing through multiple verifications, this person seemed to arrive at a space unique to himself.

The blue light pulsed continuously.

With no outsiders present, the blue light's fluctuations were several times more intense than in public.

Li Fan could thus roughly sense what he was thinking.

"In ten days, the Chen Yi-model component must be submitted."

"But it's still quite far from meeting the requirements."

As this person's thoughts turned, hundreds of thousands of distinct components appeared out of thin air before him.

While their shapes varied slightly, they shared a common general form.

Li Fan observed them for a long time but couldn't guess their specific purpose.

The 'bluified' Immortal Ark resident, with a focused expression, individually experimented with these hundreds of thousands of components.

Then, with a slight shake of his head and a sigh,

he waved his hand, generating hundreds of thousands of components of other shapes again.

Another round of testing commenced.

Li Fan didn't know how time was measured within the Merchant Immortal Ark. However, it was evident that this 'bluified' Immortal Ark resident was becoming increasingly anxious.

"Never mind, I'll just give it a try."

He suddenly let out a long breath, dispersed all other components, and kept only one.

"Third-level Immortal Researcher, Sun Xingshen, requesting test for Chen Yi, component 18762." Blue light pulsed on his head.

Shortly after, it seemed Sun Xingshen's request was accepted.

Before him, a phantom appeared out of thin air.

Its image was that of a lifelike cat!

Sun Xingshen implanted the component he had created into the Cat Treasure before him.

The Cat Treasure image continuously magnified.

Magnifying countless times in an instant, within moments, the Cat Treasure's full macroscopic view was no longer visible.

Instead, it was a scene of innumerable stacked components.

And within it, there was an empty space shining with blue light.

Sun Xingshen placed the component he had created into it.

The magnified view instantly zoomed back to normal from its extremely detailed state.

The Cat Treasure seemed to instantly come alive.

"Testing the first function: replication ability."

In the void, where the garment artifact had appeared before, a tattered garment appeared.

Though ragged, Li Fan keenly noticed residual formation traces on the garment. It must have once been a magical artifact.

From the experimental Cat Treasure's eyes, a blue light beam shot out, locking onto the tattered garment.

Three breaths later, the light beam turned to another blank area.

An identical creation slowly formed within it.

Sun Xingshen watched nervously as the two garments floated up, then were instantly decomposed into countless invisible particles.

Both magical artifacts vanished, leaving only a symbol.

Below the symbol, there was a downward arrow.

Although Li Fan had never encountered such a symbol before, just like True Immortal script, he instantly understood its meaning upon seeing it.

It represented the number 0.0028.

The moment the symbol appeared, Sun Xingshen's face turned ashen, as if struck by lightning.

The blue light on his head also became extremely faint, as if it could extinguish at any moment.

It was a long time before Sun Xingshen recovered.

Gritting his teeth, he began the second test.

"Evolution."

In the void, where the garment artifact had appeared before, this time a white snake emerged.

From the Cat Treasure's eyes, light was released once more, locking onto the white snake.

Within the light beam, the white snake was as if frozen motionless.

And when the light beam receded, the white snake emitted a sharp sound, its body twisting continuously. It seemed to be in immense pain.

A horn seemed to be drilling out of its forehead, and its scales shimmered with newfound mystical brilliance.

The white snake's transformation into a dragon lasted for thirty breaths.

After thirty breaths, the white dragon once again entered a state of frozen stillness.

Like the previous garment, it was disintegrated into countless tiny particles of light.

A moment later, a symbol appeared before Sun Xingshen.

This time, beside the symbol, the arrow pointed upwards.

Sun Xingshen couldn't help but sigh in relief.

Li Fan clearly saw that this symbol represented the number 0.003.

"Next is the final test."

"Spirit Transformation."

The Cat Treasure's eyes once again emitted blue light.

Only this time, the light locked onto Sun Xingshen himself!