Chapter 598: Life and Death Meet the Immortal Ruins

Under normal circumstances, the cultivators slumbering within the True Cauldron of the Medicine King would be protected by the Grand Dream Spring and Autumn Array, and Li Fan would likely need to expend considerable effort to achieve his desired outcome.

However, due to its forceful separation from the Immortal Ruins, the array had been affected to varying degrees. More importantly, Li Fan also knew that a Medicine King Sect cultivator named Linghu Chang had not managed to fully integrate into the Grand Dream Spring and Autumn Array. His room was not completely sealed, still leaving a slight gap. If Li Fan could acquire the memories in Linghu Chang's mind, the True Cauldron of the Medicine King would be virtually undefended to him.

He decided not to disturb the cultivators above the Nascent Soul realm, allowing them to continue their slumber. As for those below the Nascent Soul realm, if necessary, he could use the "Insect Binding" divine ability to suppress and eliminate them one by one. Of course, even if each of these Medicine King Sect disciples possessed numerous magical artifacts and elixirs, these external possessions were in fact of little use to the current Li Fan. What he truly cared about was the Medicine King Cauldron itself, capable of traversing the void, and the set of coordinates within the Medicine King Sect that led to another cultivation world.

"Even with the Immortal Ruins present, I can't escape the Xuanhuang Realm for now," he thought, "but one day, I will leave this place. Having the coordinates in hand is also a form of preparation."

Furthermore, Li Fan had traveled a long distance to come here for another reason: he wanted to witness firsthand the existence of the Immortal Ruins.

Li Fan looked up at the sky, calmed his thoughts, and awaited the arrival of the True Cauldron of the Medicine King. While waiting, he sensed the unique Immortal Suppressing Force of the Cangwu Abyss and couldn't help but marvel at the wonder of creation. Unlike restrictions and arrays that weaken a cultivator's strength, this Immortal Suppressing Force seemed to scale down one's cultivation realm. With his current early Nascent Soul cultivation, although his actual strength seemed unlimited, he could only exert power equivalent to that of the Core Formation stage.

"How mysterious," he mused, "It's like a mortal entering a land of giants. Though their own height hasn't changed, compared to everything around them, they are truly 'small' individuals."

As Li Fan was musing to himself, the floating architectural ruins beside him, as if blown by the wind, slowly moved with creaking sounds. They were about to collide with Li Fan's position. Without any warning, they seemed to have a life of their own, which was extremely eerie.

Li Fan's brows furrowed slightly. Instead of destroying the ruins, he actively chose to evade them. However, as fragments of crumbling walls brushed past him, Li Fan seemed to discover something, and his gaze sharpened. His figure flickered, and he instantly landed on one of the stone pillars. Having endured countless years, the carvings on the stone pillar had long since become indistinct. Even the stone pillar itself had been mostly worn away. However, Li Fan, possessing the secret art of "Dao Transformation, Divine Unity," could firmly remember all past experiences in his mind. Therefore, even though only incomplete lines remained, the patterns on the stone pillar still felt somewhat familiar to Li Fan.

"This is..." Li Fan's eyes showed a strange look. He compared the patterns before him with those he had seen somewhere in his memories. They were identical!

Li Fan looked up again, gazing at the vast, ocean-like architectural ruins of the Lost City around him, his heart filled with surprise. "Could these buildings all be from within the mist?" he wondered. In the chaotic domain where he obtained the "Chaos Character Art," Li Fan had once seen twelve large ruins. And the carved patterns on the buildings in those ruins were exactly identical to those here.

Li Fan then recalled the origin of the Cangwu Abyss. On a certain day, all the mountains and waters of Cangwu Prefecture had disappeared, leaving behind only this foot-shaped abyss. Li Fan couldn't help but gaze towards the bottom of the abyss. It was dark and profound, with no end in sight.

"Is the Cangwu Abyss connected to the depths of the white mist?" he pondered. "In ancient times, the Xuanhuang Realm did not have the Soul-Devouring White Mist, but now, the white mist has cut and separated the entire world... Where did it come from? And who were those tragically killed cultivators I encountered in the white mist labyrinth?"

In an instant, countless questions surged into Li Fan's mind. However, before he could ponder deeply, a shooting star streaked across the night sky, instantly illuminating the firmament.

"It's here!" Li Fan exclaimed. He looked up and saw that thin line falling directly towards his location. At the same time, an inexplicable tremor surged within his heart. It was like encountering a natural predator, or facing a terrible catastrophe head-on. He felt a pang of apprehension, and his body trembled slightly, uncontrollably. Li Fan knew this was the residual aura from the Immortal Ruins, affecting the True Cauldron of the Medicine King that had only just escaped its clutches.

Staying slightly away from the estimated landing spot, Li Fan's gaze never left the fiery meteor in the sky. The Medicine King Cauldron fell at an extremely fast speed. In just a few breaths, it descended from the firmament to the ground, continuing its fall towards the Cangwu Abyss. After entering the abyss, its speed gradually slowed, and the external flames gradually extinguished. The creatures within the abyss, upon sensing the aura of the Immortal Ruins, instinctively panicked and fled, actively making way for it. At the same location as in his previous life, the True Cauldron of the Medicine King came to a steady halt. After emitting an inexplicable distress signal to the outside world, the Medicine King Cauldron gradually became transparent and vanished into thin air.

Li Fan did not rush to act. He waited until the Immortal Ruins' aura attached to the True Cauldron of the Medicine King had completely dissipated before maneuvering the small Medicine King Cauldron and entering. Armed with the exploration experience of Xiao Heng and others from his previous life, Li Fan proceeded unimpeded, arriving before Linghu Chang's slightly ajar door. At this moment, Linghu Chang was sprawled on the ground, deeply asleep.

"Also early Nascent Soul," Li Fan murmured, "but then again..."

Li Fan's eyes narrowed slightly, and the ethereal image of the Five Elements Grotto-Heaven instantly appeared behind him. The power of the Grotto-Heaven domain, like numerous shackles, bound Linghu Chang in place. After collecting all the items from his person, Li Fan circulated his power. A moment later, before he could even let out a shriek, Linghu Chang's body was pulverized into dust by the immense force of the Grotto-Heaven. However, the Nascent Soul within his dantian suffered not the slightest harm under Li Fan's precise control of power.

With his body destroyed, the sleeping Linghu Chang instantly awakened. Seeing his tiny, infant-like purple body, he instantly understood what had happened.

"Who exactly are you?" Linghu Chang stared at Li Fan, uttering the words with a mixture of hatred and fear.

His only answer was a flash of purple lightning before his eyes.

"Purple Cloud Sect..." There was utter disbelief in Linghu Chang's words. The next moment, he lost consciousness and fainted.

After a while, Li Fan, who had fully absorbed Linghu Chang's memories, waved his sleeve and temporarily collected and suppressed the opponent's Nascent Soul within his own Grotto-Heaven. Continuing deeper, he reached the deepest part of the True Cauldron of the Medicine King. Standing outside the Gate of Life and Death, he began to ponder carefully.

"Once the Gate of Life and Death is sealed," he recalled, "even those who have achieved Dao Integration would find it difficult to breach. Only the Evergreen Azure Force manifested by cultivating the Medicine King Sect's true heritage, the 'Scripture of Healing and Longevity,' can instantly reverse the Gate of Life and Death and allow entry."

"'The Scripture of Healing and Longevity,' a Dao Integration cultivation method," he noted.

If an ordinary cultivator suddenly obtained a Dao Integration cultivation method, they would likely be too excited to sleep through the night. However, Li Fan's heart at this moment was completely calm. Although this "Scripture of Healing and Longevity" was a Dao Integration method, its cultivation focused on saving the world, healing the sick, and rescuing people. Saving others was saving oneself; the more people saved, the faster one's cultivation would progress. Even breaking through cultivation bottlenecks required fulfilling a certain number of rescue conditions. Its compatibility with Li Fan was very low, so there was no need for him to switch cultivation methods. Nevertheless, as a Dao Integration cultivation method, its value was certainly not low. If all the Medicine King Sect members were slaughtered, this cultivation method would become a unique copy known only to Li Fan. However, there was no need to do so; this group of Medicine King Sect members had a more important use.

The main problem now was that too many people cultivated the "Scripture of Healing and Longevity," a total of four hundred and sixty-two individuals. Li Fan tried to activate this cultivation method, but the spiritual energy in his body seemed completely blocked, with no movement whatsoever. Even achieving an initial grasp was almost impossible. After pondering for a moment, he came up with an idea.

According to Linghu Chang's memories, Li Fan found the rooms of some Core Formation stage Medicine King Sect disciples. Breaking into their rooms, he forcibly extracted a portion of Evergreen Azure Force from their bodies. Then, he merged these Evergreen Azure Forces together, condensing them into an energy body. Sending a wisp of his divine sense into the green energy body, Li Fan stretched his limbs and adapted for a moment.

"The Evergreen Azure Force is constantly leaking; it won't last long," he thought. "But it should be enough."

With a thought, the energy body condensed into the form of a green Nascent Soul. Li Fan plunged into the Wall of Life and Death. As if passing through a thin gray membrane, the next moment, Li Fan saw the surrounding scenery and thought he had flown out of the Medicine King Cauldron and returned to the Cangwu Abyss. This was because the scenery displayed around him looked exactly the same as that outside the True Cauldron of the Medicine King. It turned out this was because the inner wall of the Medicine King Cauldron had become completely transparent.

In the scene, there were only two skeletons. One was standing, the other lay on the ground.

"The one standing should be Liu Ruchen," he deduced. "The one on the ground should be Elder Huang. To escape the Immortal Ruins, Liu Ruchen was forced to sacrifice the life essence of some cultivators within the sect." Li Fan recalled what he had learned in his previous life and thought to himself, "Only bones are left. They shouldn't still be alive, right?"

Li Fan slowly approached Liu Ruchen. As he approached Liu Ruchen's remains, an ethereal figure suddenly appeared beside Li Fan. He was startled, but then Li Fan quickly realized that the figure had no life aura and was merely a projection. The continuously radiating Evergreen Azure Force from Li Fan's body was absorbed by the ethereal figure. As if a certain verification had been passed, after a while, the ethereal figure then spoke: "Medicine King Sect disciples, heed my command. By the time you see this image, I should have already perished. I was wrong. I predicted the arrival of the great tribulation of heaven and earth, but I never expected that something even more terrifying existed above our Xuanhuang Realm. The Ten Immortal Sects, clearly knowing everything, stood by and watched us wait for death. This grudge is irreconcilable! But remember, the Ten Sects are powerful; do not resist them directly. After returning to the Xuanhuang Realm, seek refuge in Longevity Valley for now and try your best to preserve your strength. After the great tribulation has completely passed, then act according to the circumstances. After my death, my son Liu Yihang shall temporarily assume the position of Sect Master, assisted by all elders. Once he breaks through to the Soul Transformation stage, he can formally succeed as Sect Leader. In this difficult time, at this moment of life and death, there must be no more internal strife!"

The ethereal figure recited Liu Ruchen's last words mechanically, while Li Fan stood in place, listening quietly. After a long while, when the last words were fully delivered, the ethereal figure transformed into specks of starlight and vanished. Only a glowing rhombus-shaped crystal remained in its place. Li Fan knew that was the control core of the Medicine King Cauldron. It was originally intended by Liu Ruchen to be given to Liu Yihang, but now the foreknowledgeable Li Fan had taken it first.

The energy body used the control core to open the Wall of Life and Death, and Li Fan then walked into the main control room. It took him seven days to refine it, and Li Fan gained control over the True Cauldron of the Medicine King. Although many functions could not be used temporarily due to the lack of Evergreen Azure Force, most basic functions were usable.

Li Fan retrieved the images recorded by the True Cauldron of the Medicine King. They were consistent with what Xiao Heng and others had seen in his previous life. In the endless void, the cluster of light representing the Xuanhuang Realm appeared so tiny, while the Immortal Ruins above, seemingly ready to devour everything, were so terrifying. The footage continued to play. The Medicine King Cauldron, having flown out of the Xuanhuang Realm, was uncontrollably falling continuously towards the Immortal Ruins. Even as countless rays of light emerged from its body, attempting to break free from the Immortal Ruins' suction, it could not escape. It got closer and closer to the Immortal Ruins. It seemed on the verge of being completely consumed.

Just then, suddenly countless differing light points emerged from within the cauldron, as if instantly gaining boundless power. The Medicine King Cauldron, amid continuous rumbling, changed its direction of movement. But Li Fan's entire attention at this moment was focused on the image of the Immortal Ruins recorded by the Medicine King Cauldron. Perhaps because it was close enough, Li Fan was able to see the indistinct appearance of the Immortal Ruins. On the desolate land, there were only crumbling walls and broken ruins. Among them, a tall human figure seemed to stand, silently gazing downwards.