Chapter 413: Return to Origin Toad Swallows the Land

In the dark void, several Realm-Rifting Whales were chasing and playing with each other. A closer look would reveal a black-feathered, red-tailed bird perched on one of them. The bird was leisurely strolling across the whale's broad back. The Realm-Rifting Whales remained completely oblivious.

This black-feathered, red-tailed bird was, of course, Li Fan. He effortlessly passed through the Immortal Severing Array. Upon seeing the cluster of Realm-Rifting Whales, a sudden idea occurred to him. He wanted to test the actual deceptive capabilities of the Myriad Forms Smelting Art. This was the reason for his current charade.

"Realm-Rifting Whales are extremely sensitive to external auras; they can track even a mortal from thousands of miles away," he mused. "I'm this close, yet they show no reaction. It seems they truly perceive me as no different from a real bird."

Li Fan was very pleased with the test results. Flapping his wings, he swiftly flew away from the whale pod, heading towards the entrance of the Profound Yellow World at the bottom of the Ruin Abyss.

"If Great Xuan truly detached itself from the Profound Yellow World through the efforts of the Realm-Rifting Whales, would it then be directly captured by the Immortal Ruins? Like the True King of Medicine Cauldron?"

"Whose handiwork were these Realm-Rifting Whales back then?"

"It shouldn't have been the work of the Ten Immortal Sects. They know of the Immortal Ruins' existence; letting the Realm-Rifting Whales carve out a minor world would be digging their own graves, wouldn't it?"

The light of the cultivation world was not far ahead. As Li Fan looked back at the seemingly tireless Realm-Rifting Whales, a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind. It was merely a fleeting thought, and his form did not pause in the slightest.

The next moment, Li Fan reappeared above the vast ocean. The sea and sky merged into one, and a salty, damp breeze gently swept past. Li Fan took a deep breath, sighing. "The blue sky still looks better."

After spending several centuries in the oppressive world under the Xuan Net, Li Fan, now back in his original form, truly understood the preciousness of such freedom. Instead of first joining the Myriad Immortals Alliance, Li Fan oriented himself and flew towards the border between the Congyun Sea and Shilin Province. His destination was the ruins of the Heavenly Secret Sect within the White Stone Grotto-Heaven. This was the very place where Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi had found the Jade Sphere Golden Scroll of a Thousand Mechanisms.

In his previous life, Xiao Heng, with Linghu Chang's help, had unearthed several other cultivation techniques from the ruins, in addition to the Golden Scroll. These included the secret art "Hand Covering the Sky." Naturally, Li Fan could not miss out on this.

Although outwardly just an ordinary bird, Li Fan's flying speed was by no means slow. More than twenty days later, Li Fan arrived outside the Hundred Stone Grotto-Heaven. The so-called Hundred Stone Grotto-Heaven was a vast underground cavern on the frontier of Shilin Province. Inside the cavern, countless branched paths intertwined. At regular intervals, the paths opened up into spacious underground halls. These halls were filled with bizarre rock formations, growing wildly downwards from the ceiling and outwards from the walls. Their varied shapes, resembling both humans and beasts, were unsettling. Many cultivators had lost their way inside, never to return. How vast this Hundred Stone Grotto-Heaven truly was remained unknown to anyone.

As one of Shilin Province's infamous dangerous areas, despite knowing it might conceal secrets, very few cultivators were willing to venture inside. Li Fan continued to delve deeper into the cavern, yet he didn't encounter a single person. The deeper he went, the more complex the paths became. Often, a single intersection would have as many as seven or eight branching paths. Furthermore, it wasn't just divine sense that would be affected to some extent. The cavern itself would occasionally shift. Paths that were perfectly fine on the way in would mysteriously vanish when one tried to return. Compounding this, the geological formations within this cavern were incredibly hard, making it impossible to forcibly carve out a new path. This was why the Hundred Stone Grotto-Heaven was so perilous.

"According to Linghu Chang, this Hundred Stone Grotto-Heaven was likely formed from the remains of an ancient exotic beast, the Primordial Toad, after its death," Li Fan recalled the information Han Wuyou had heard. "The Primordial Toad lived deep underground, feeding on mountain ranges and earth veins. It was a notorious landscape destroyer, capable of hollowing out the entire underground of a province."

"However, every creature has its nemesis," he continued. "Within its body, there often coexisted a type of Stone Spirit Worm. The Primordial Toad was naturally greedy, consuming earth veins without restraint, sometimes even eating itself to death. In most cases, they couldn't digest and absorb the earth vein power within their bodies quickly enough. This led to the formation of large geological stone deposits within them. The Stone Spirit Worm, in turn, loved to feed on these geological stones. While helping the Primordial Toad alleviate digestive pressure, it completely solved its own food problem."

"A perfect symbiotic relationship."

"It's likely that the intricate underground passages within this Hundred Stone Grotto-Heaven were dug by these Stone Spirit Worms."

As Li Fan flew, he carefully searched for Stone Spirit Worms in the shadows.

After a short while. "You're the one!"

Li Fan revealed his true form, and the Five Elements Nirvana Sword silently left its sheath. A deep hole appeared in the stone wall of the underground passage. A greenish-gray figure flashed, attempting to escape deeper into the wall.

"Bind Worm!" Li Fan suddenly activated a divine ability, capturing it. A plump, entirely greenish-gray giant worm, about the size of a baby, instantly appeared before Li Fan. Unable to move, it instinctively let out a series of frantic chirps. Li Fan lightly tapped its body, producing a dull thud. The Stone Spirit Worm's entire body quivered, and under Li Fan's warning, it immediately became docile.

Infusing spiritual energy into its body, Li Fan closed his eyes and began to comprehend the Stone Spirit Worm's physiological structure. Although it could consume geological stones, its physiological structure was less complex than even the ordinary bird Li Fan had transformed into earlier.

Not long after, Li Fan released the restraint. The next moment, enveloped in golden light, he transformed into the appearance of a Stone Spirit Worm. The original plump worm plopped onto the ground. Ignoring Li Fan, its new companion, it frantically dug its way to escape. The hole it had dug appeared briefly, but under Li Fan's gaze, it slowly healed shut not long after.

"This place is indeed bizarre. The Primordial Toad, though dead, seems alive. Without special methods, exploring it would be quite troublesome."

"But now..."

Li Fan shook his worm body and burrowed headfirst into the stone wall. He felt as if these incredibly hard stones had transformed into delightfully crunchy delicacies. Li Fan effortlessly carved out a path. With the rough location of the Heavenly Secret Sect ruins in mind, Li Fan proceeded directly in that direction.

Seven days later.

A subterranean cavern, sealed on all sides. Suddenly, a faint rumbling sound echoed from within the stone wall. Soon, the Stone Spirit Worm that Li Fan had transformed into roughly burst forth from it. It landed on the ground with a thud. Lying on its back, it remained motionless. Only after the geological stones within its body were fully digested into energy did Li Fan transform back into his human form.

"I actually ate too much." Li Fan shook his head, speechless inwardly.