Chapter 589: Although Dead, the Reverse Fate Remains

Fisher and Han Yi stood facing each other. A brutal energy suddenly descended.

Fisher's face was calm, his figure as unmoving as a mountain. Even his straw cape seemed to have weathered millennia, clinging tightly to him through the storm, completely unaffected by external forces. Meanwhile, from within Han Yi, a torrent of dark, malevolent energy surged and churned. Under the shroud of this strange energy, the expression on Han Yi's face remained frozen from the moment Fisher had looked at him. He looked unsettlingly sinister and terrifying. His pupils vanished, and cracks, like those on shattered porcelain, appeared on his face. His entire body occasionally flickered, disappearing into the swirling black mist. In the blink of an eye, he silently reappeared.

The transformation occurred in mere moments. After a single glance, Fisher re-shouldered the fishing creel he had placed on the ground and strode purposefully towards the direction of Congyun Sea.

As for Han Yi… the constantly churning black mist abruptly receded back into his body after Fisher departed. But he did not return to normal. He simply stood motionless, performing no other actions, like a stone statue that had been there all along. His empty eyes stared blankly ahead.

After an unknown period, as an ordinary white bird flew over the Han Yi statue, something strange occurred. Without any warning, the previously healed wound on the bird's wing suddenly split open again. This caused it to abruptly lose balance, spiraling downwards while repeatedly falling. It couldn't recover before hitting the ground. It crashed directly in front of the Han Yi statue and died.

An unknown amount of time passed again. A group of ordinary people from a nearby small town passed by, chatting and laughing. As if they couldn't see the Han Yi statue, they paid no attention to him standing in the middle of the road. They didn't move aside but walked straight into him. Even more bizarrely, the Han Yi statue seemed illusory. No collision occurred. The ordinary people simply passed through him. They remained calm, noticing nothing amiss. However, after walking a short distance further, one person in the group suddenly clutched their chest, their face pale. Amidst the exclamations of the others, they collapsed weakly to the ground. Not long after, they died. These ordinary people had originally intended to gather herbs in the nearby mountains. With such an unexpected event occurring, they naturally lost all desire to collect herbs. Amidst sobs, they carried the deceased, who had unfortunately suffered a heart attack, back home.

Another period of time passed. A cultivator in a cyan Daoist robe soared excitedly over the Han Yi statue. "After countless difficulties, I've finally gathered the last main ingredient this time. And with the alchemy cauldron I acquired earlier… this Profound Ice Treasure Pill is almost guaranteed to succeed!" He muttered softly, his eyes full of anticipation.

A day later, an inconspicuous sign of a cultivator's demise appeared above Luoyan Prefecture. The general implication was that a certain cultivator had made a mistake during alchemy, leading to an explosion of their cauldron. The elixir wasn't refined, and instead, the cultivator lost their life. In this era, while deaths from alchemy cauldron explosions were extremely rare, they were not entirely impossible. Since the deceased was merely an unremarkable Core Formation cultivator, people only sighed a few times. It caused no further ripples. However, certain changes were quietly occurring in Luoyan Prefecture, for now remaining unknown to outsiders.

The perspective returns to Fisher. Although he did not fly through the air, he walked steadily on the ground. But his speed was extraordinary. With one step, his next was already thousands of miles away. His figure continuously flickered, advancing towards Congyun Sea.

When he reached Yuandao Prefecture, just a step away from his destination, suddenly, a blue figure blocked his path. "Perhaps you should turn back, fellow Daoist…"

Fisher frowned, appraising the figure. Dressed in a blue Daoist robe, with white hair and a face full of wrinkles, he looked ancient and frail, as if his time was drawing near.

"Have I… met you before?" Fisher asked, a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

The blue-robed cultivator coughed a few times, his voice ancient, "Fellow Daoist is truly becoming more forgetful. Last time we met, you could still remember me. Now, you can't even recall who I am? Let me see, that was only two hundred years ago."

Fisher lowered his head and fell silent for a moment, appearing to ponder the meaning of the old blue-robed man's words. Soon after, he shook his head. "Indeed, I don't remember. But it doesn't matter… You're going to die soon anyway."

The old blue-robed man was stunned. "Yes, I am dying…" The old man's voice held a touch of sadness.

"Are you still going to stop me?" Fisher asked.

"It is my duty; I must," Blue Feather replied without hesitation.

Hearing this, Fisher wasted no words. He extended his right hand and grabbed forward. Instantly, crisscrossing black lines appeared around the blue-robed old man, like a giant net, completely enveloping him from all directions. The blue-robed old man let out a muffled grunt, and his figure suddenly vanished. Only a blue feather remained, emitting flashes of light within the rapidly shrinking net.

The next moment, the net contracted and disappeared, returning to Fisher's hand. Looking at the blue feather in his hand, Fisher's brow lifted, seemingly a little surprised. Immediately, he shook his head slightly, not dwelling on it. He placed the blue feather in the fishing creel on his back and continued towards Congyun Sea.

Not long after Fisher departed, a faint, almost transparent figure reappeared at the scene. "After I die, let the floodwaters rage." "Hmph!" He cast a deep glance at Fisher's receding back before vanishing from the spot.

In Qingyun Prefecture, two prefectures away from Luoyan Prefecture, the moment his scrying vision disappeared, Li Fan knew something was wrong. He reacted very quickly, immediately taking out a Manifested Heavenly Venerate statue from his cave-heaven, one previously gifted by the Five Elders' Society. It was not the Five-Faced, Ten-Armed statue that could connect with the Five Pivot Court, but instead, a statue with downcast eyes and a compassionate expression, representing the Carefree Heavenly Venerate.

The divine statue had only one purpose: to protect one's Sea of Consciousness from dissipating after suffering a fatal blow. Its effect was remarkably significant. As if struck hard on the head with a club, Li Fan instantly felt a deafening roar in his mind. Thousands of overlapping images appeared before his eyes, flickering incessantly. He violently spat out a mouthful of blood, instinctively clutching his head tightly. Even the charging progress of his True Body Protection dropped by 5%. Fortunately, it was only a minor injury, and ultimately, there was no danger to his life. Within his inner cave-heaven domain, the Five Elements circulated, and Li Fan recovered his vitality in an instant.