Chapter 411: Quietly Proving Immortality

Anchored to Year 1, Da Xuan, atop Jieli Mountain.

Twenty-year-old Li Fan stood alone on the mountaintop, hands clasped behind his back, gazing at the distant sea of clouds.

The morning sun slowly rose from the east, radiating myriad rays of light that dyed the clouds crimson.

A hint of weariness showed in Li Fan's young face and eyes.

"After three thousand years, it seems the passage of time wasn't without its effects on me either."

Li Fan sighed softly.

The moment he automatically reverted to his true form and returned to the peak of Jieli Mountain, all the experiences from his time as an embodiment of an object surged into him like a tide.

It was a period of time far longer than the combined hundreds of lives he had experienced as a human since his transmigration.

Even though, as an object embodiment, he couldn't recall everything in detail as he would in human form, and even though for most of those three thousand years he was just a solitary object lying on the ruined earth, suddenly receiving all the memories of the Array-Breaking Jade Disc still made Li Fan feel the terrifying, eroding power of time.

Fortunately, after about a day, he had completely dispelled the negative effects and, at the same time, reviewed the over three-thousand-year history of the Xuanhuang Realm since his demise.

Some events, such as the conflict between the Xuan Net and the cultivators, were predictable even before he became an object embodiment.

However, Li Fan had not anticipated the destruction of the Xuanhuang Realm within a mere millennium.

"What exactly happened after the people of the Heaven-Overturning Society obtained the blueprint for the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Array?"

"Logically, no matter how fierce the battle, one side should have achieved a pyrrhic victory. Why does it seem like they annihilated each other?"

A sense of helplessness arose in Li Fan as he considered this.

At the most crucial moment, that boy Han Wuyou "turned off the lights" on him. This resulted in a gap of several centuries of information.

"But I can't blame him."

"With the decisive battle between the Heaven-Overturning Society and the Xuan Net imminent, the Array-Breaking Jade Disc I, as an old acquaintance's descendant, sent him was undeniably suspicious. It even knew absolute secrets like the blueprint for the Spirit-Locking Array."

"He couldn't afford not to be wary."

"By then, he had become a Spirit Transformation cultivator, no longer the naive boy he once was. The final battle concerned the very survival of many cultivators in the Heaven-Overturning Society."

"His choice to seal me away was entirely reasonable."

"For the sake of the 'Hundred Forms of the Melting Pot Art,' I won't hold it against you."

Li Fan smiled faintly, reaching out to capture a black-feathered, red-tailed bird from a tree on the mountaintop.

Spiritual energy flowed through the bird's body as he closed his eyes in contemplation.

A few hours later, Li Fan suddenly opened his eyes.

Releasing the bird, he took a deep breath.

A golden glow instantly enveloped his entire body. Within the shimmering light, Li Fan's physique continuously shrank.

In just a moment, a bird that looked identical to the previous one appeared on Jieli Mountain.

It emitted no cultivator's aura whatsoever.

The original black-feathered, red-tailed bird even mistook Li Fan for one of its kind, curiously flying closer to inspect.

"That boy Han Wuyou truly has extraordinary talent. To have independently comprehended such a divine art from the 'Celestial Physician's Immortal Scripture' while still at the Golden Core stage is remarkable."

Li Fan sighed with admiration, then reverted to his original appearance.

This immediately startled and sent the black-feathered, red-tailed bird flying away.

After becoming an object embodiment and being refined by Han Wuyou's vital essence, Li Fan developed a mysterious connection with Han Wuyou.

This allowed Li Fan, even with only a shred of his true spirit remaining, to observe and experience the world through Han Wuyou's eyes.

Therefore, when Han Wuyou comprehended and cultivated the "Hundred Forms of the Melting Pot Art," Li Fan, who was also very familiar with the "Celestial Physician's Immortal Scripture," likewise mastered this miraculous art.

"Unfortunately, as he grew older and his cultivation increased, especially after the tragic deaths of Xiao Heng and others, his personality changed. He even developed a hint of wariness towards the Array-Breaking Jade Disc he had carried since childhood."

"I couldn't, however, perceive his Spirit Transformation cultivation methods after that."

"But even if I had known, it would likely be useless, as the 'World-Traversing Tribulation Art' is most probably still controlled by the Myriad Immortal Alliance."

Li Fan shook his head, his thoughts returning to the future historical trajectory of the Xuanhuang Realm.

"Until Anchor Year 711, before I was sealed, although seemingly many things happened, they can actually be divided into two main categories."

"One category comprises events destined to occur in the Xuanhuang Realm according to its predetermined historical trajectory."

"For instance, in Anchor Year 51, Immortal Venerable Lanyu failed in his bid for eternal life..."

Recalling Lanyu's world-shaking cry of "Who is it?" just before he completely vanished, Li Fan couldn't help but slightly frown.

"Another example is the increasing proliferation of anomalies in the Xuanhuang Realm over several centuries. Later, they even reached a point where they could be mass-produced into Heaven-Piercing Arrows."

"I just don't know if the ultimate destruction of the Xuanhuang Realm is connected to these anomalies."

"Oh, and there was also that group of Myriad Immortal Alliance cultivators who emerged from the Primordial Devouring White Mist, seemingly alive despite being dead..."

"Hmm?"

Li Fan suddenly paused, slightly stunned.

"Lanyu's failed enlightenment, and the cultivators in the white mist who were unaware of their own deaths."

"Could it be..."

A flicker of insight gleamed in Li Fan's eyes.

"During the twelfth cycle, I learned from that black-robed Dao-harmonizing expert that before his demise, Immortal Venerable Lanyu had set up the 'Primordial Devouring Rebirth Array,' attempting to reverse the laws of life and death to attain eternal life."

"From the subsequent outcome, he ultimately failed."

"As for that cry of 'Who is it?', there are two explanations. One is that Lanyu's process of defying the laws of heaven and earth was disrupted by someone."

"The other is..."

Li Fan's eyes narrowed. "The laws of life and death had already been reversed by someone. The path to enlightenment was already occupied, and he had been completely unaware until then, which is why Lanyu was so unwilling."

"There are only a few Heaven Venerables of Longevity in this world. As a veteran Dao-harmonizing expert, Lanyu wouldn't be unaware of how they achieved enlightenment."

"So, it means there's a powerful individual in this world who secretly attained the status of Heaven Venerable of Longevity without anyone realizing it?"

This conjecture struck Li Fan as somewhat incredible.

He then felt a pang of emotion: "To activate the Primordial Devouring Rebirth Array, Lanyu didn't hesitate to sacrifice the lives of numerous cultivators within Yuandao Continent."

"Yet, he himself couldn't escape the fate of being toyed with by a supreme expert."

"Heaven Venerable of Longevity..."

"The thoughts and intentions of experts at such a realm are truly unfathomable and unpredictable."

"In the previous life, the battle between the Xuan Net and the cultivators was so brutal, yet these Heaven Venerables of Longevity seemed to have collectively vanished, never appearing from beginning to end."

"Even when cultivators were on the verge of extinction, they remained indifferent."

In fact, Li Fan had his own conjectures as to why this was the case.

The key lay in the towering golden obelisks, erected by the Xuan Net across the Xuanhuang Realm after it established its rule.

These obelisks had, in total, sprayed pillars of light into the sky four times.

Li Fan guessed that the Heavenly Alliance might have intended to use the thrust from the golden obelisks to propel the entire Xuanhuang Realm out of the influence of the Immortal Ruins.