"A thousand souls shift, a hundred spirits turn."
"Without blame."
…
The ethereal child continued its sermon, the words echoing not through the air, but directly within their minds.
Even the Sacred Emperor, Legacy Transmission, and the Healer, their attention focused on the unfolding crisis within the Xuanhuang World, couldn't resist, their minds captivated by the profound teachings, the echoes of a True Immortal's wisdom.
When the sermon ended, the child's form flickered, its voice fading, becoming a distant whisper.
The three Supreme Beings, drenched in a cold sweat, snapped out of their trance.
They exchanged glances, then, as if by unspoken agreement, retreated, distancing themselves from the ethereal figure.
The child didn't stop them, its form dissolving into nothingness, its voice fading into silence, its purpose… seemingly fulfilled.
The three Supreme Beings watched it vanish, their expressions a mixture of awe, confusion, and… a growing unease.
They pondered the child's sudden appearance, its cryptic sermon, its quiet departure.
They replayed the words in their minds, trying to decipher their meaning.
Celestial techniques weren't like mortal cultivation methods. They were complex, abstruse, their true meaning often hidden beneath layers of metaphor and allegory.
And the child, having simply recited the technique without explanation…
Even with their exceptional comprehension, even standing at the pinnacle of mortal cultivation, they could only grasp fragments of its meaning.
"Not a cultivation technique," the Sacred Emperor mused, "but a method of… avoidance. Of protection. And within its verses… hints of… the Celestial Realm…"
His mind raced, but his movements were swift and decisive. He returned to the Xuanhuang World.
Legacy Transmission followed close behind.
The Healer, however, had vanished.
The Sacred Emperor glanced towards the Daoyuan Region, but he didn't sense the presence of the Tiandu Celestial Venerable.
"The Xuanhuang World is on the verge of collapse, and he remains… indifferent. Unmoved."
"But he revealed himself… because of the Tribulation of Annihilation?"
He pushed these questions aside. He had more pressing concerns.
He focused on the unfolding crisis.
The golden needles continued their descent, but their energy, the power they exuded, had changed. It was no longer a harsh, invasive force, but something… gentler. Soothing. Like a physician's gentle touch, mending a fractured bone.
The raging storm had subsided, replaced by a gentle rain, the distant rumble of thunder a calming presence.
The Xuanhuang World, despite its recent turmoil, was… healing.
If it weren't for the lingering presence of that unseen formation, its power growing, its threat looming…
The Healer… the title was well-deserved. He had, in such a short time, using only those golden needles, reversed the fusion of worlds, restored the Xuanhuang World to its previous state, and done so without causing any lasting damage.
Like a skilled physician mending a broken body, he had reversed the damage, his touch gentle, his skill unmatched. Such mastery wasn't just a matter of power or cultivation level. It required a deep understanding of the world's very essence, its fundamental laws.
Even he, the Sacred Emperor, a being who had once been one with the Heavenly Dao, couldn't have achieved such a feat.
"But even he… even the Healer… couldn't find the manipulator…"
A heavy sense of foreboding settled over him.
The Xuanhuang World… it felt… wrong.
Like a pot of water on the verge of boiling over.
Legacy Transmission and the Healer, sensing the escalating danger, abandoned all pretense of restraint.
Above each Celestial City, regardless of whether the Legacy Transmission statue was still standing, massive, illusory figures of Legacy Transmission materialized, their forms radiating power, their gazes fixed on the sky.
Like beacons, they shone across the Alliance's territory.
And from the Council of Five Elders' territories, five points of light, each one a different color, emerged, joining the network of Legacy Transmission's power, forming a web of energy that spanned the Xuanhuang World, its lines pulsing, glowing brightly, as if the world's very meridians were on display.
"Soul Seal!"
"World Substitution!"
The Healer's voice, cold and hard, echoed through the heavens.
Legacy Transmission's massive form, encompassing the sky, descended upon the Xuanhuang World once more.
The Healer appeared above him, a seven-colored needle clutched in their hand.
With a precise, deliberate movement, they inserted the needle into the crown of Legacy Transmission's head.
A blinding flash of seven-colored light erupted, and Legacy Transmission's form dissolved, flowing into the pulsing network of energy that spanned the Xuanhuang World.
The light pulsed through the world's meridians, completing a full circuit, then settled, its seven colors swirling, flowing, becoming one with the world's essence.
"Soul Seal, World Substitution…" the Sacred Emperor murmured, observing this from afar, his mind reeling. "The Healer has sealed Legacy Transmission's soul, merging it with the Xuanhuang World… temporarily replacing its consciousness?"
Having once been one with the Heavenly Dao, he understood the difficulty of such a feat. Even possessing a single cultivator's body wasn't easy. Let alone an entire world.
The Xuanhuang World possessed its own consciousness, its own will. And its current precarious position, teetering on the brink of destruction at the edge of the Immortal Ruins, made it… volatile. Unpredictable.
And there was the newly chosen Grand Celestial Venerable.
Yet, despite all this, Legacy Transmission and the Healer had managed to suppress the Xuanhuang World's consciousness, replacing it with Legacy Transmission's own.
"Even if the Xuanhuang World's Heavenly Dao is unaware of the threat, Legacy Transmission… he will find it. He will sense it."
This forced fusion, this substitution of wills, would undoubtedly damage the Xuanhuang World. But they had no other choice. Not anymore.
The Sacred Emperor waited, his gaze fixed on the world below, his anticipation mixed with a growing dread.
After three thousand six hundred cycles, the flow of seven-colored light through the Xuanhuang World's meridians… stopped.
At a single point, as if blocked by an unseen obstacle, a surge of black energy erupted, its power corrupting, its aura menacing.
The Healer's eyes snapped open, their usual compassion replaced by a cold fury, a rare display of… anger.
Nine golden needles, thin as threads, shot towards the source of the black energy.
And the Sacred Emperor, reacting instantly, appeared beside them, his form a blur of starlight.
The area around the eruption was… gone. Erased. Revealing a hidden void beneath.
And within that void, two figures – one sitting, the other standing.
The seated figure, no older than seven or eight, their brow furrowed in concentration.
The standing figure's face was obscured by shadows.
But their demeanor, facing the Healer's needles and the Sacred Emperor's wrath, was… calm. Untroubled.
"That feeling again…" A wave of icy dread washed over the Sacred Emperor, a sense of… familiarity that made his heart pound in his chest.
The descending needles seemed to… slow down.
And he heard it, a faint whisper, emanating from the shadowy figure below.
"Immortal Descent…"
"…All Things Return to Void."
BOOM!
An invisible shockwave erupted, scattering the Healer's needles, its power throwing the Sacred Emperor back, his body, his very soul, almost shattering under the pressure. Starlight surged around him, mending his fractured form, but even with the constant influx of Source Power Essence, he could barely maintain his composure, his strength, in this chaotic, turbulent environment.
The void, the hidden realm where the manipulator had been concealed, was gone, swallowed by the expanding chaos.
Even the Xuanhuang World itself had vanished from view, hidden behind a swirling vortex of dust and debris, a cosmic sandstorm that blotted out the stars.
The Healer's needles, scattered by the blast, were lost, their light extinguished.
He couldn't sense Legacy Transmission, or the Healer, their auras masked by the chaotic energy.
He was alone, adrift in a sea of… nothingness.
His mind went blank, then… rage. A burning, all-consuming rage.
He knew, without seeing it, that the Xuanhuang World was being destroyed, its very essence unraveling under the onslaught of this terrifying formation.
And there was nothing he could do to stop it.
"Damn you! Damn you all!" He roared, his voice lost in the howling wind, his composure shattered, his carefully constructed mask of serenity gone.
He lashed out, his attacks wild, desperate, his only desire to find the manipulator, the one responsible for this… catastrophe.
But the storm, uncaring, simply grew stronger, its power consuming him, its chaos engulfing him.
…
The moment the Celestial Spiritual Qi, transformed by the formation, became a storm of pure annihilation…
…the Xuanhuang World's fate was sealed.
The Refuge of the Surviving Worlds, the last bastion of cultivation in the Dark Star Sea, was being consumed.
…
Within the heart of the formation, Sun Tianci, his earlier attempts to appease his mother's vengeful spirit forgotten, stared in horror at the collapsing world, its surface cracking, its essence dissolving.
"Master…?" he whispered, his voice barely audible above the roar of the storm.
But his master, the one who had always been there, the one who had guided him, protected him, prepared him for this very moment… he didn't answer.
As the world crumbled, Sun Tianci felt his power, the power of the Grand Celestial Venerable, fading, draining away.
And the world, sensing his failure, its will twisted by the unleashed Celestial power, turned against him.
A fire, a burning, all-consuming fire, ignited within his heart, his soul.
It wasn't painful. He simply… ceased to be.
Within his mindscape, his mother, her vengeful spirit, her countless demonic thoughts, her rage, her hatred… it all faded, as if she was slowly forgetting… everything.
"Tianci… Tianci…"
"Tianci… who is that?"
Her fragmented consciousness, the shards of her broken soul, dissolved into wisps of smoke, vanishing into nothingness.
Only her original form remained, her eyes wide, vacant, staring at the empty space around her.
A single tear rolled down her cheek.
She and Sun Tianci, consumed by the Grand Celestial Venerable's Heartfire of Failure, ceased to be.
…
Within the heart of the formation, Li Fan's fragmented self materialized, its form flickering.
It frowned, a sense of… something missing… unsettling it.
But after a brief calculation, it dismissed the feeling. They were merely pawns, their purpose fulfilled.
Its attention returned to the few remaining… points of resistance within the formation.
…
Immortal Master Yin and Xu Ke, having escaped the Divine Repository of Wonders, had witnessed the beginning of the Xuanhuang World's collapse.
Their initial shock and awe had quickly turned to terror as the storm engulfed them.
Though powerful cultivators in their own right, they were helpless against this Celestial formation, this force of pure annihilation.
Only Master Bai's skull, clutched tightly in Xu Ke's hands, its aura radiating a faint, protective energy, shielded them from the storm's destructive power.
But even its protection was fading, the storm's power growing stronger with each passing moment.
They wouldn't last long.
As their end neared, however, their expressions weren't those of fear or despair.
Xu Ke, his white hair swirling around him, his gaze fixed on the skull in his hands, murmured, "I should have died long ago. I lived only to fulfill Master Bai's will. To die here, with him… it's… fitting."
Immortal Master Yin, his eyes gleaming with a strange mix of serenity and madness, stared into the storm. "I am but a lingering echo of a shattered world. I've died once already. I wonder… what happens when I die again?"
The only response was the howling wind.
The storm consumed them, their forms dissolving, their voices silenced.
Even Master Bai's skull, its protective aura fading, began to crumble.
But just as it was about to be destroyed, a flash of light, and it was gone.
…
Countless golden needles, their light shimmering, formed a protective barrier around the Healer, shielding them from the storm's destructive power.
The barrier held, for a time, but the storm's relentless assault was slowly eroding its power, its golden light dimming.
The Healer glanced around, their expression… lost. Confused. As if they had lost their purpose.
Then, their eyes hardened, their resolve returning.
They reached out, their hand extending beyond the barrier, touching the storm.
Their hand dissolved, consumed by the chaotic energy.
But within their eyes, a storm raged.
…
Legacy Transmission's massive form, which had encompassed the heavens, shrank, returning to its normal size.
He had been using the Soul Seal, World Substitution technique, his consciousness temporarily merged with the Xuanhuang World, when the Immortal Descent formation had been activated. He had experienced the full force of its power, the destructive energy tearing through him, through the world itself.
Though this storm wasn't as powerful as the Tribulation of Annihilation, it was still… a manifestation of true Celestial power.
While the Tribulation of Annihilation had been a mere… remnant.
The original Tribulation… its power would have dwarfed this… pale imitation.
But this Celestial formation… it was far more potent than the lingering echoes of that ancient disaster.
Even he, Legacy Transmission, a Supreme Being, was helpless against it.
His body, battered and broken, began to dissolve.
The Heavenly Profound Mirror slipped from his grasp, its green light flickering, dimming, as if about to be extinguished.
A translucent figure, resembling Legacy Transmission but… different, somehow, emerged from his dissolving body.
This figure seemed… resistant to the storm's destructive power. Its eyes were closed, its form seemingly asleep, yet it remained unharmed.
…
Within the Council of Five Elders' territory, most living beings had perished the moment the formation was activated.
But a shadowy cloud, unseen, intangible, lingered, protecting the remnants of their consciousness, their memories, their… dreams.
…
Within the White Mist Barrier, the cultivators of the Celestial Barge cheered.
"We're out!"
Their combined efforts, their tireless analysis of the Reverse Life and Death Grand Formation, had finally yielded results. They had found its weakness, its core.
They had escaped.
But their celebration was short-lived.
The Immortal Descent formation had been activated.
Their vessel, the Celestial Barge, their only refuge, was tossed about like a leaf in a storm, its protective formations crumbling, its hull dissolving.
"The True Immortal scripts!" The elders' voices were sharp, urgent. "Use them! Fight fire with fire!"
But their scripts, their imitations, their pale reflections of True Immortal power… they were no match for this… true Celestial formation.
The ripples of power they unleashed were swallowed by the storm, becoming… fuel for its growth.
The Celestial Barge, its inhabitants' cries of regret and despair echoing through the void, was destroyed.
"True Immortal scripts… their destructive potential is undeniable," Zhao Xian mused, his body dissolving, his consciousness fading. "But I've yet to encounter one… designed for protection." He watched as the Celestial Barge, which had once seemed so powerful, so resilient, crumbled, unable to withstand the storm's onslaught.
He didn't resist. He simply… observed.
…
The Xuanhuang World, a melting pot of countless worlds, held many secrets.
And the Immortal Descent, All Things Return to Void formation, like a powerful storm, was stripping away those secrets, revealing the world's hidden truths.
Within the heart of the formation, Li Fan's fragmented self observed the unfolding chaos, his gaze fixed on the points of light, the energy signatures of those still resisting the storm, their struggles a testament to their will to survive.
He was reminded of his first encounter with the Crimson Flame Inferno, in his first life.
The Congyun Sea, evaporated, its countless inhabitants perished.
But the inferno had also revealed the sea's hidden depths, its secrets laid bare.
He, a mere Qi Refinement cultivator at the time, had glimpsed the truth, the hidden currents that flowed beneath the surface.
Now, as he observed the Xuanhuang World, its secrets revealed by the storm, he felt a sense of… déjà vu.
"Some truths… they are universal."
"Secrets… they are often revealed… in destruction."
Lost in thought, he absently stroked the smooth, unblemished surface of a skull he held in his hand.
Master Bai's skull.
"Unfortunately, this fragment… it can't utilize its power. Not without my true self."
"And the Heavenly Profound Mirror… it still has its own consciousness. I can't… control it. Not yet."
As he recorded the events unfolding within the formation, his mind racing, he noticed something… unusual.
The storm, which had been growing stronger, consuming the Xuanhuang World, its power spreading outwards into the void…
…it was… weakening.
"What?!"
This was… impossible.
Unless…
…something, or someone, was… stopping it.
A wave of cold dread, a primal fear, washed over him. Not just this fragment… but his true self as well.
"The All Things Return to Void formation… and the Heavenly Profound Mirror's defenses…"
"Even a True Immortal couldn't stop my return." He had faced a True Immortal before, within the Immortal Ruins, and had… survived. He wouldn't be intimidated. Not this time.
He analyzed the situation, his mind racing, seeking a solution.
There was only one being in this region, in this reality, capable of such a feat.
…
His suspicions were confirmed moments later.
A figure materialized within the heart of the formation, its aura radiating a calm, almost… peaceful power.
The chaotic storm around it subsided, its fury quelled.
The cultivators of the Xuanhuang World, lost in the storm's chaotic embrace, their minds clouded, their senses overwhelmed…
…they looked towards the figure, their eyes drawn to its light, as if it were a beacon in the darkness.
It stood out, its presence a stark contrast to the surrounding chaos.
Li Fan recognized it instantly.
He had seen it before.
The True Immortal, meditating outside the Xuanhuang World.
But unlike its skeletal form within the Immortal Ruins, this… wasn't its true body. It was… a projection. An avatar.
Its form was whole, its power unrestrained, the chains that had bound it… gone.
It surveyed the formation, a slight frown creasing its brow.
It reached out, its hand open, its palm facing the storm.
The chaotic energy of the formation, the destructive power of the Immortal Descent, All Things Return to Void formation, flowed towards it, drawn inwards, like water swirling down a drain.
The formation, sensing this intrusion, this… challenge, reacted, its power surging.
Figures, formed from the storm's energy, materialized, their forms mimicking those of the cultivators who had perished within the formation.
Their eyes blazing with a cold, ethereal light, they attacked the True Immortal's avatar, a wave of pure annihilation.
The avatar didn't flinch. It didn't even move.
The attacks, the storm's destructive energy, simply… vanished, absorbed into its outstretched hand, their power seemingly… fueling it, its form becoming more solid, more… real.
The formation's power, the Celestial Spiritual Qi that fueled it, drained away, flowing into the avatar's hand.
The storm within the formation weakened, its chaos subsiding.
The survivors – the Healer, the Sacred Emperor, and the others – their initial confusion quickly turned to… recognition. Their gazes fixed on the True Immortal avatar, unable to look away.
The survivors trembled, their bodies wracked with a primal fear.
Though no words were spoken, they knew.
A True Immortal. Returned to the Xuanhuang World after millennia of absence.
They bowed their heads in subservience, in awe.
The True Immortal's avatar, its gaze sweeping across the desolate landscape, seemed to be… searching for something.
The Sacred Emperor, snapping out of his stupor, his rage overriding his fear, his earlier despair replaced by a burning fury, pointed towards the heart of the formation, towards Li Fan's hiding place.
The True Immortal's gaze followed, its attention fixed on the hidden void.
The last vestiges of the formation's power dissipated, revealing Li Fan's fragmented self, its form flickering, its mind… almost dormant.
Under his true self's command, it stirred, its consciousness returning.
It was about to self-destruct, to initiate the merging process, when…
…it saw something that made it pause.
Something… impossible.
"How…?"
"How can this be?"
The True Immortal avatar was staring at him, its gaze intense.
But there was another presence, another… being, also observing the avatar.
And it was… approaching.
By the time Li Fan's fragmented self, its vision encompassing the entire formation, registered its presence, it was already… there.
Behind the True Immortal avatar.
"Meow." A sound, soft yet filled with a predatory excitement, echoed through the void.
Mao Bao, the Sacred Emperor's feline companion, usually so lazy, so indifferent to the world around him, had found his prey.
He jumped, landing gracefully on the True Immortal avatar's shoulder.
The avatar, startled, looked at the creature, its large, innocent eyes fixed on its face.
Its expression shifted from surprise… to fear.
"Meow." Mao Bao purred, then, opening its mouth, consumed the avatar in a single gulp.
Then it looked up, its gaze fixed on the true form of the True Immortal, meditating within the Immortal Ruins.
It leaped, its form a blur, disappearing from view.
It reappeared beside the True Immortal, within the Immortal Ruins.
BOOM!
The Dark Star Sea trembled.
A sound, distant yet distinct, like something… breaking, reached their ears.
The Sacred Emperor stared, his mind reeling, unable to reconcile the image of Mao Bao, the creature that had just devoured a True Immortal avatar, with the lazy, indifferent cat that usually slept on his shoulder.
Mao Bao, a treasure fished from the Fishing Pond by one of his citizens, a creature with strange and seemingly useless abilities…
…its true purpose… its true prey…
…True Immortals?!
The realization sent a shiver of shock through him.
And the other survivors, those who had witnessed this impossible feat, their expressions mirrored his own – disbelief, awe, and a growing… fear.
"Did the Fishing Pond… choose Mao Bao?"
"Or did Mao Bao, sensing the True Immortal's presence, choose the Fishing Pond?"
"The fisherman… caught by his own bait…"
A cold dread settled over the Sacred Emperor.
"Even a True Immortal… is not immune…"
"What… what awaits us… beyond the Wall?"
It wasn't just the Sacred Emperor. All the survivors, their initial shock fading, were now gripped by a terror far greater than anything they had experienced before, a fear that transcended even the threat of annihilation.
…
Li Fan, too, was shaken.
But having lived countless lives, having witnessed Mao Bao's… unique abilities, he recovered quickly, his attention focused on the Immortal Ruins, where Mao Bao had vanished.
The area was… shielded. He couldn't see what was happening.
But he could feel it.
The Immortal Ruins' pull… it was weakening.
BOOM!
The Dark Star Sea trembled once more.
Another wave of sound, even more powerful than before, washed over them, and more survivors, those who had miraculously survived the Immortal Descent formation, perished, their bodies and souls dissolving into nothingness.
"Return!" Li Fan's true self, within the Law Derivation Jade's chamber, didn't hesitate.
(End of Chapter)