Chapter 559: Great and Formless

Although Li Fan didn't know what the "Profound Heaven Spirit Sealing Array" mentioned by the other party was, it wasn't difficult to guess that he was referring to the Profound Net, which had recently demonstrated its power on the Tianling Prefecture battlefield.

Li Fan remained composed and probed, "According to our predictions, even with the aid of the Profound Heaven Spirit Sealing Array, the Myriad Immortals Alliance shouldn't be able to push the Five Elders Council into such a constant retreat and reveal such a complete decline, should they?"

The other party sighed, "This was indeed our miscalculation. No one expected the Myriad Immortals Alliance to recreate this ancient formation so quickly. Moreover, it seems even more overbearing than what was described in the records."

The Five Elders Council cultivator's tone held a hint of helplessness: "Our countermeasures for the Five Elders Council are not yet fully prepared. As a result, the situation on the Tianling Prefecture battlefield is currently quite difficult."

"Therefore, we urgently need a way to weaken the opponent's formation."

Li Fan didn't answer. Instead, he tapped the table rhythmically with his fingers, appearing to be deep in thought.

"Even with our strength, obtaining the formation blueprint for the Profound Heaven Spirit Sealing Array would require an enormous cost. Some fellow daoists who have already infiltrated the Myriad Immortals Alliance might even have to sacrifice their lives for it."

"And success isn't even guaranteed…"

After a long pause, Li Fan finally spoke, looking very hesitant.

Seeing that there seemed to be a possibility, the Five Elders Council cultivator quickly pressed on: "Fellow Daoist Zhou, rest assured, as long as we can acquire the blueprint, everything else is negotiable!"

Li Fan neither confirmed nor denied.

After a moment of contemplation, he said gravely, "This matter is too important for me to decide on my own. How about this: I'll return here in three days to give you my answer."

Although the Five Elders Council cultivator was anxious, he knew that the other party's words were reasonable and could only nod in resignation.

"Oh, and next time we meet, let's pick a different location. It's a troubled time, so it's better to be careful." With that, he informed Li Fan of another island's location.

Li Fan cupped his hands, flew away, and returned to Congyun Immortal City.

"Heavenly Profound Spirit Lock, Profound Heaven Spirit Sealing."

"Ancient times, Heavenly Profound Mirror…"

"Is it the Profound Heaven Sect?"

In the secret chamber, Li Fan's eyes flickered as he fell into deep thought.

"That scene of thousands of cultivators instantly falling from the sky to the ground seems somewhat familiar…"

"Right, Jiushan Prefecture!"

The nine mountain ranges stretching across Jiushan Prefecture also shared the characteristic that cultivators could not fly over them.

In his previous life, when Li Fan traveled far to the Myriad Laws Chamber of Commerce in Jiushan Prefecture for procurement, he had witnessed the tragic sight of several cultivators who disbelieved the warnings falling to their deaths.

"Could there be some connection here?"

Li Fan then began to recall all the information he had read in the past.

Suddenly, some previously overlooked information caught Li Fan's attention.

Legend has it that the nine great mountains in Jiushan Prefecture were formed from the meridians of a mythical beast after its death in ancient times.

The nine mountains were named: Tianchang, Tianduan, Tianxu, Tiancu, Tianjie, Tiandai, Tianlao, Tiandong, and Tianxi.

The nine mountains were clearly separate but intrinsically linked, subtly forming a grand array. This caused spatial instability in Jiushan Prefecture, making even teleportation arrays unusable.

This was all information Li Fan had known before.

At that time, Li Fan didn't have a concrete concept of what demonic beasts looked like.

He merely thought that a demonic beast's meridians transforming into great mountains after its death perfectly fit the ancient legend's aesthetic, and there was nothing particularly special about it.

However, after personally visiting Nanming Mountain, the holy land of demonic beasts in the Immortal Vanishing Realm, and seeing numerous infamous demonic beasts from ancient times, Li Fan then realized there was something amiss with this myth.

For no other reason than this: if the myth were true, then the size of this mythical beast would be simply too enormous.

Jiushan Prefecture spanned an entire region, and it had taken Li Fan more than half a year to travel back and forth within it.

If its meridians alone could stretch across an entire prefecture, how truly massive must this mythical beast have been in life?

In comparison, what were the Scarlet Nine-Headed, the Purple Headless, or the Azure Divine Dragon… they would all likely be like ants.

While size might not necessarily correlate directly with strength, to claim that this mythical beast, whose body transformed into the nine mountains, was weak… Li Fan would certainly not believe that.

"Perhaps, from this unknown mythical beast, we can trace the origin of this so-called Profound Heaven Spirit Sealing Array."

Even from the name alone, Li Fan was almost certain that this array was inextricably linked to the ancient Profound Heaven Sect.

However, nothing is absolute; it could also simply be a coincidence. It was better to be thorough.

So, Li Fan used "mythical beast that transformed into Jiushan Prefecture" as keywords to search for related information in the Heavenly Profound Mirror.

The time was too distant for any definitive verification. There were many different theories, but no definite answer.

Li Fan went through them one by one, but none seemed reliable.

Just as he was reluctantly about to give up, a painting titled "Dream Encounter with an Ancient Mythical Beast" caught Li Fan's attention.

This painting was not a contemporary work but a casual sketch by a disciple of the Divine Brush Sect from a bygone era.

After the Divine Brush Sect was absorbed by the Dot-Painting Gate, its internal artifacts were scattered everywhere.

This painting was accidentally acquired by a rogue cultivator. The cultivator perished during a great calamity, and the items in his storage ring were plundered.

Only items that appeared to be utterly worthless and took up too much space if carried were left behind, lying quietly where they were.

The useless storage ring was discarded like an old shoe, casually tossed by the roadside.

It remained forgotten for thousands of years until it was discovered by a passing cultivator.

According to this cultivator named Tang Bohu, he learned about the past events precisely by relying on a wisp of resentment that had lingered in the storage ring for a thousand years.

Of course, these claims were likely fabricated by Tang Bohu to inflate the price of "Dream Encounter with an Ancient Mythical Beast."

Regardless, the painting indeed originated from thousands of years ago.

It depicted hundreds of demonic beasts of various forms, many of which Li Fan had seen in the Immortal Vanishing Realm.

What attracted Li Fan to this painting was that, besides the obvious demonic beasts, another mythical beast was subtly hidden within it.

In the outermost parts of the mythical beast illustration, one could faintly discern that these hundreds of demonic beasts seemed to be standing on the body of some colossal entity.

However, due to its immense size, it was impossible to depict it fully. The hundred-plus demonic beasts on its back merely served as a reference to its scale.

"Great and formless, its name is Heaven."

This phrase was also left in the corner.

This technique of using negative space naturally drew many comments from cultivators.

A knowledgeable one immediately revealed the secret.

"I know this one. Isn't it that giant turtle that transformed into Jiushan Prefecture after it died?"

The tone was quite jocular, but it was not baseless speculation.

It indeed involved the characters 'Wang' and 'Ba'. Its name was 'Tian' (兲). Its name was 'Heaven' (天).

"The Tian Beast…"

A sharp glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes.