Chapter 1580: Wind Fills the Sail

The dark green object before Li Fan was the crystallization of the ancient Mountain and Sea artifact, precipitated from countless possibilities. It had long transcended the realm of its original green algal form.

"It possesses no cultivation realm, spiritual power, divine abilities, or spells," Li Fan mused. "Solely relying on the powerful survival instinct honed over countless years, it can invade the transcendent path of a transcendent powerhouse... Truly remarkable!" he exclaimed in admiration.

Yet, such an existence that he lauded so highly was now, under the fearless siege of the Dao-Yi Worms, slowly transforming into the nourishment for the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm's next evolution.

All in all, it took three years to fully charge and solidify sixty-seven Xuanhuang Immortal Realm projections. Only then was the black box completely consumed.

"With these reserves," he thought, "the strength of the Xuanhuang Immortal Boat's hull can reach another level, and my confidence in crossing transcendence will increase further."

All sixty-seven green wooden carvings rested in Li Fan's palm. After a moment of thought, he crushed one of them. He attempted to directly use his own body to absorb the green energy slowly emanating from the carving.

After being absorbed and transformed by the Dao-Yi Worms, the consciousness belonging to the ancient Mountain and Sea artifact had completely vanished, leaving only pure vital energy condensed. Li Fan had already verified this on the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm itself, which was why he dared to absorb it directly with his true body.

"Creation Furnace, Grand Dao Embodiment."

As the green energy was slowly drawn in, a flush of crimson appeared on Li Fan's cheeks. Countless tiny, thunder-like rumbling impacts emanated from all parts of his body. With two body-refining secret arts working in tandem, Li Fan attempted to assimilate the ancient Mountain and Sea artifact's abilities for his own use.

Although Li Fan's path to transcendence was now established as the Xuanhuang Immortal Boat, as the progenitor of Xuanhuang, he possessed absolute control over this transcendent immortal boat he had personally forged. Not to mention, the veneration of countless beings within the Xuanhuang Realm caused this control to increase exponentially daily. The moment he commanded the boat to cross the mountains and seas, the Xuanhuang Immortal Boat would entirely transform into his Dao path.

But just like Huan Zhen, before it truly became his own ability, there was always the risk of "losing" it at any moment. Li Fan had to prepare for contingencies and add another layer of insurance for himself.

"Even if the crossing fails in the future and the immortal boat is utterly destroyed," he contemplated, "I can still calmly survive after jumping off the immortal boat."

Every tiny particle of his body seemed to transform into a towering furnace. The marks engraved on the furnace were left by the Myriad Forms Dao Net, continuously absorbing the green energy of the ancient Mountain and Sea artifact to temper and reshape his own flesh and blood.

As if he had simultaneously consumed numerous powerful elixirs, Li Fan felt his blood surging incessantly, his heart pounding vigorously, as if it might burst from his chest at any moment. Only by personally "tasting" it could he gain a truly concrete understanding of the vital energy contained within this ancient Mountain and Sea artifact.

"This vital energy is different from the vitality of eternal life. It's more like adaptation, evolution, survival."

Li Fan's current body already had a small amount of residual power from the Grand Dao of Eternal Life. Now, after absorbing this new life-force, Li Fan found that there was no conflict between the two.

Even, the residual power of the Grand Dao of Eternal Life, after merging with the survival power of the ancient Mountain and Sea artifact, as if tainted by a green hue, surprisingly showed a unique transformation. Although still within the scope of the Grand Dao of Eternal Life, it seemed to have opened a completely new branch, becoming distinctly different.

"This is..."

Li Fan was someone who had almost fully "attained the Dao of Eternal Life." His understanding of "eternal life" in the Mountains and Seas could be said to be second only to Old Man Shouqiu. After a careful contemplation at this moment, he understood the reason for the mutation of eternal life within his body.

"Old Man Shouqiu shared eternal life, and naturally didn't mind his juniors innovating and creating new branches," Li Fan realized. "He even encouraged it so that under the collective eternal life, a hundred flowers would bloom, and various divine abilities would manifest. When a Dao path matured, it could even break away from the main Dao path of eternal life, establish its own sect, and achieve a brand new Grand Dao..."

"Old Man Shouqiu truly lives up to his name of great virtue," Li Fan sighed with admiration. To consider his disciples so thoroughly, Old Man Shouqiu was likely the greatest renowned master in the Mountains and Seas.

Absorbing the green energy of the ancient Mountain and Sea artifact even helped expel the residual Grand Dao of Eternal Life from his body. After understanding this principle, Li Fan had no more reservations. Pushing his body to its absorption limit, he absorbed and refined the green energy.

In any case, just one Xuanhuang wooden carving was enough to satisfy his body-refining needs and wouldn't affect the strengthening of the Xuanhuang Immortal Boat. With sufficient raw materials, the body refining of the Creation Furnace Art and Grand Dao Embodiment Art could operate instinctively on their own. Li Fan merely activated them and then no longer paid excessive attention. Instead, he focused his attention on the remaining target of this harvest: the transcendent remnant.

After removing the ancient Mountain and Sea artifact clinging to its head, this fallen transcendent powerhouse finally revealed its true appearance. Its face was as it had been in life, appearing as if merely in a deep slumber. It was quite handsome, with an indescribable sense of freedom between its brows. Only a small bloody hole chewed out by the ancient Mountain and Sea artifact in the center of its forehead was extremely discordant.

At this moment, with no Dao Annihilation activated, the transcendent true intent within the transcendent remnant did not manifest. Li Fan was not reckless in directly forcing out the lone sail of mountains and seas with Ink Kill.

"The Dao-Yi Worms still need some time to adapt and evolve." Li Fan was very patient. This was both for himself and an appeasement for Huan Zhen.

After clearing the threat of the ancient Mountain and Sea artifact, the lone sail of mountains and seas was fully exposed. Huan Zhen's desire for it surged like tides, wave after wave, far more intense than when he had glimpsed it from afar previously.

"Most likely because Zi Yi was present in the previous life, Huan Zhen had some reservations," Li Fan mused. "But now, this transcendent true intent belongs only to me. Moreover, Huan Zhen is still in a state of severe injury and deep slumber. He desperately needs this transcendent true intent to repair his injuries."

Li Fan understood this, but he did not lose his composure because of it. Unhurriedly, he slowly waited for the Dao-Yi Worms to completely digest and adapt to the ancient Mountain and Sea artifact.

While waiting, the Xuanhuang Immortals, while cleaning up the battlefield of the Bright Self Star Sea, also had unexpected gains. Besides finding the Dao Sword and Dao Saber seen in the previous life, they also discovered three other powerful Dao treasures that had not been used in time. These were a broken stone hand, a bloodstained, hole-ridden green robe, and a withered yellow branch. All of them originated from possibilities beyond Xuanhuang, the last remnants of other possibilities annihilated in the Dao Annihilation.

From these three items, Li Fan glimpsed the extinction processes of three possibilities. However, in his previous life, when he glimpsed the Rat Emperor's memories, he had still sighed with emotion. Now, having seen more, he was no longer surprised. Although these items were powerful, they were no longer useful to the current Li Fan. He cast them towards the Xuanhuang Outer Heaven as reserves.

With all preparations complete, Li Fan officially began the process of "stealing" the lone sail of mountains and seas. This transcendent true intent, which Zi Yi had personally made a trip to retrieve in the previous life, indicated that it held some value even for transcendent powerhouses. Li Fan naturally treated it with utmost caution.

He dismissed all the Xuanhuang Immortals, sending them back into the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm. Li Fan, alone, faced the transcendent remnant directly.

"Ink Kill!"

Li Fan's mind stirred, and the Ink Kill dark clouds surged forth. With an aura akin to Dao Annihilation, it instantly forced out the solitary suspended sail from within the remnant.

As the lone sail appeared, the wind and waves calmed. As if an invisible giant hand had pressed heavily upon the Ink Kill dark clouds, the boundless dark clouds, which had been churning incessantly, completely settled down. Ink Kill naturally tried to resist, but no matter how it churned and stretched, it could not harm the lone sail in the slightest. At most, it caused the lone sail to slightly sway.

From Ink Kill's perspective, Li Fan slowly observed the power of this lone sail of mountains and seas.

"Though mountains and seas are far, I shall cross with a single sail." Li Fan mused. "Anyone with such ambition and perseverance is truly a world-shaking prodigy. It's a pity that they died silently between the mountains and seas."

Unlike Zi Yi's Heaven-Reaching Grand Dao, this lone sail of mountains and seas before him was not so overbearing or exclusive. The Heaven-Reaching Grand Dao displayed by Zi Yi, if without her personal permission, others could not even dream of entering. But from this lone sail of mountains and seas, Li Fan felt a hint of a "shared journey" intention.

"If we meet by chance in the mountains and seas, and my light boat does not capsize," a voice seemed to whisper, "what harm is there in giving you a ride...?"

As if a faint chuckle echoed in his ear, Li Fan paused slightly.

"This person is quite magnanimous. Even I wouldn't mind befriending him. What a pity... I wonder how this person actually died." A hint of doubt couldn't help but arise in Li Fan's mind. The lone sail was not yet completely damaged. It had enough remaining power to resist Dao Annihilation. It shouldn't have led to death.

"Dao-Yi..." To uncover this secret, it was time for the Dao-Yi Worms to make their appearance.

A familiar scene unfolded once again. Only this time, what eroded the transcendent remnant was no longer the ancient Mountain and Sea artifact, but boundless swarms of insects! The erosion by the Dao-Yi Worms was even more efficient than that of the ancient Mountain and Sea artifact.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

As gusts of whistling wind swept through, Li Fan's vision blurred, as if he had fallen onto a vast, boundless ocean. Besides this ocean and a lone boat, there was nothing else. Around him, strong winds sometimes raged, at other times, the sea was calm, and sometimes, torrential rain fell continuously. Yet the lone boat remained incredibly steady, sailing forward.

"This is... the transcendent remnant's memories from when it crossed the mountains and seas in its lifetime." Li Fan's heart stirred, and he began to examine it carefully.

The ocean before him seemed to have no end. The scenes in the memories almost completely repeated themselves. All were views of a boundless ocean. The original owner of the lone sail maintained a consistently calm state of mind. It was Li Fan, the observer, who gradually became a little impatient. Because this crossing journey was somewhat too long.

"This shouldn't be," he thought. "How could crossing to other possibilities take so long?"

Li Fan gazed into the distance, trying to glimpse traces of other possibilities within the mountains and seas. After an unknown amount of time, Li Fan finally saw some faint, blurry images in the distant sky. They should have been other possibilities. But the lone sail seemed to have completely ignored them, passing them by. Continuing forward, it sailed steadily.

"I observed them," Li Fan thought. "The owner of the remnant couldn't have failed to see them. So..." A moment later, Li Fan understood. Ordinary possibilities were not what it sought.

Transcendence, what is transcendence? Leaving the mundane world and heading to the legendary other shore. Li Fan stared blankly at the boundless ocean before him. Where was the other shore then?

Zi Yi, Black Celestial Doctor, Xie Subai, and others he had encountered all arrived in an instant and left in a flash. Li Fan naturally assumed that the other shore was not far away. As long as one had the strength to cross the mountains and seas, one could naturally reach the other shore.

However, now it seemed that was not the case. By this point, Li Fan already had a faint guess regarding the lone sail's cause of death. But he still needed the complete memories to confirm it.

As the Dao-Yi Worms relentlessly invaded, the lone sail's memories surged forth like a tide. The owner of the lone sail might truly have been an extremely peaceful person in their lifetime. Li Fan did not feel the slightest hostility from it. Instead, he felt refreshed and joyful, as if bathed in a spring breeze. Even when facing the endless ocean, this feeling persisted.

It simply sailed alone in the infinite sea, its open-mindedness not diminishing in the slightest despite the seemingly hopeless situation. Even if this ocean was unimaginably vast, Li Fan, observing from an outsider's perspective, gradually felt despair growing within him. Yet the lone sail remained optimistic.

"At the very least, I have seen and personally traversed this ocean." The faint chuckle echoed in his ear once more.

The lone sail continued its journey, with no end in sight. Li Fan, however, voluntarily withdrew from the lone sail's memories. Not everyone possessed such an open-minded temperament; at least the current Li Fan did not. Especially after knowing the lone sail's ultimate fate and that there would definitively be no end ahead. Prolonged immersion in the lone sail's memories even caused a faint sense of irritation and hostility to arise in Li Fan's heart. His mood became imbalanced, and killing intent flared. It reminded him of his previous experience swimming against the current in the River of Time, where he almost lost himself.

"However," Li Fan reflected, "at least I had many familiar things at past time nodes, like guiding lighthouses. But the lone sail, sailing on the infinite sea, had nothing. Only a vague direction..."

Re-entering the lone sail's memories, Li Fan did not choose an immersive experience, but rather skimmed through, focusing only on the key points. The result: there were no key points. Or rather, the solitary sail that always remained high was everything.

Not until the Dao-Yi Worms completely breached the defenses of this transcendent true intent did Li Fan gain mastery over all its memories. The scenes did not change much. Until the lone sail, grew old and died on the infinite sea.

Li Fan found it hard to estimate just how long this period of time had been. It must have been exceedingly long. It was a duration so immense that even powerhouses capable of calmly facing Mountain and Sea Dao Annihilation could not overcome it.

"Even transcendent powerhouses have an end?" Li Fan's first reaction was disbelief. At the same time, he once again truly understood the true value of Old Man Shouqiu's Grand Dao of Eternal Life.

"However, the lifespan of a transcendent powerhouse must be extremely long. So..." Li Fan vaguely understood. The era in which the lone sail powerhouse lived might have been the ancient period when the other shore was first established. At that time, there were very few transcendent beings, and few knew where the other shore was. They could only rely on a vague directional sense in their hearts and proceed on their own. As pioneers, there was naturally no one to guide them. Thus, in the mountains and seas, they wandered, lost, until now.