The miniature Celestial Beast, however, knew who was in charge. It nuzzled Li Fan's palm ingratiatingly.
"The Celestial Beast is a creation of the Immortal Realm. Judging by its eagerness, it can consume the Immortal Realm chess piece…"
"What Xuanhuang can't digest directly, I'll feed to this little turtle as an intermediary!"
"Once it's fattened up, I'll slaughter it and offer it to the heavens!" A glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes as he removed the protection from the chess piece.
The beast excitedly began to gnaw, the sound of crunching bones echoing. Li Fan narrowed his eyes, observing the changes within the chess piece.
He knew that the Immortal Realm chess pieces were composed of countless True Immortal script characters representing the laws of the Immortal Realm. When damaged or activated, these characters would unfold, revealing a fragment of the Immortal Realm. However, a single piece wasn't complete, merely a shard. Only when all the pieces were combined, forming complete characters, would the true Immortal Realm, containing the Southern Immortal Heavenly Pillar, manifest.
But even a fragment was still a part of the Immortal Realm, requiring significant energy to unfold, let alone destroy.
Yet, under the miniature Celestial Beast's relentless chewing, the True Immortal script shards within the chess piece further disintegrated into tiny fragments of energy, which the beast happily consumed. Despite being newly born, it soon became full, but it refused to let go of the barely diminished chess piece, continuing its efforts for a while longer before finally, reluctantly, lying down on top of it, as if guarding it from Li Fan.
Satiated, the beast fell asleep. The consumed fragments of Immortal laws began to transform its body. Its shell hardened, its body grew stronger, and its eyes, though still closed, seemed to hold a hidden power, vigilantly observing its surroundings, mostly focusing on Li Fan, as if aware of his intentions.
"The Celestial Beast's Eye… interesting."
"The Profound Heaven King gained much during his escape from the Immortal Realm. But whether he fed the beast as well as I have is debatable. I'm feeding it genuine Immortal Realm fragments, something even a True Immortal might hesitate to waste."
Li Fan was eager to see the beast's growth, not for its combat power, which, according to Mo Rubin, was only comparable to the Twelve Law Kings, but for its Eye.
He had once entered the Celestial Beast's Eye with Mo Rubin, seeing a hidden humanoid figure formed of characters within its multi-layered world. This figure wasn't the work of the Dao Inscription Immortal, but another attempt at "inscribing the Dao." Though far less refined, the character's depiction of a high-level Dao law made it comparable to the Transformation of Immortal and Mortal.
"The Celestial Beast, formed from a jade pendant, is indistinguishable from a living being. This technique…" While studying the Shape of Life, Li Fan had suspected the pattern inscribed at the bottom of the Star Sea was derived from this humanoid character. Now, comparing the beast's aura to Autumn Water's, his suspicions were confirmed.
"The Shape of Life is a simplified version of that character. Immortal techniques are far beyond mortal comprehension."
"But even a simplified version is so complex…" He recalled his experience in the crevice network, frowning.
"The Gathering Spirit Ascension Formation in the Subterranean World contains the Transformation of Immortal and Mortal."
"The Celestial Beast's Eye contains the complete Shape of Life."
"Do the other two formations within the Star-Crossing Grand Formation also contain corresponding True Immortal script characters?" A thought struck him.
"The Golden Chains Across the Sky Formation, the Roots of Heaven and Earth."
He had visited the Roots of Heaven and Earth multiple times, finding no True Immortal script. It relied on the power of an ancient Immortal Array born alongside Xuanhuang. And the Golden Chains Across the Sky had been destroyed during the Ten Great Sects era.
"I'm overthinking it. The Transformation of Immortal and Mortal and the Shape of Life are high-level True Immortal script. Even with his gains from the Immortal Realm, acquiring these two must have been the Profound Heaven King's limit."
His thoughts returned to the miniature Celestial Beast.
"The Shape of Life inscribed in the Star Sea is too vast, taking too long to explore."
"The one in the Celestial Beast's Eye is poorly inscribed and distorted by the Profound Heaven King's array…"
"This little beast might possess the closest version to the original." He stroked the beast, which, instead of calming down, became even more agitated, as if about to awaken.
As expected of a creation of the Immortal Realm, its senses were sharp. Li Fan didn't press it. He had plenty of time. He had ways of dealing with even sentient beings, let alone a mere tool spirit.
With a flash of blue light, Autumn Water appeared. He immediately noticed the beast. Perhaps recognizing a fellow spirit, the beast's wariness lessened.
"Take care of this little one," Li Fan instructed.
"As you command, Great Master!" Autumn Water carefully picked up the beast, noticing the Immortal Realm chess piece beneath it.
Not a creation of the Immortal Realm, he didn't recognize its significance. Possessing the infinite power of the Star Sea, he wasn't interested in a mere world fragment. He simply followed orders. Seeing the beast's disinterest in his power, he frowned.
"The chess piece is enough. You don't need to feed it anything else."
"Just carry it around Xuanhuang and the Star Sea," Li Fan said.
Autumn Water relaxed, taking the beast and leaving.
"With its sensitivity, it might discover something interesting." With Autumn Water's Supreme Being level power and his connection to the Star Sea, Li Fan wasn't worried about their safety.
His attention returned to the Heavenly Soul. After five trips, it had finally integrated all the Half-Immortal Tools into Xuanhuang. Besides the miniature Celestial Beast, four unique life forms now existed: a mountain with a human face, a thousand-mile-long dragon-like insect, a flowing, multicolored cloud, and a sprinting giant tree.
The most noteworthy was the multicolored cloud. It constantly shifted, mostly displaying scenes from Xuanhuang, but occasionally, for fleeting moments, it showed glimpses of the Immortal Realm. Li Fan, having seen the Immortal Realm in the True Immortal's memories, recognized them.
"It must be the result of absorbing those three Half-Immortal Tools." Each glimpse of the Immortal Realm caused the cloud to boil and churn, its colors flashing, as if about to dissipate. It would shrink slightly afterwards. But instead of avoiding the Immortal Realm images, it displayed them even more frequently, each time at the cost of its own essence. After eight such cycles, it completely vanished. Li Fan saw the laws contained within the Half-Immortal Tools it had absorbed merging with Xuanhuang's Heavenly Dao.
Barely half a month had passed since its birth.
"Half a month might be a long life for a cloud, but for a supernatural creation, it's a premature demise."
He looked at the other three creations.
Under the scorching gaze of the Heavenly Soul Chi Yan, the mountain with a human face was transforming into a volcano. The dragon-like insect was constantly dividing, its numbers reaching billions within half a month. But these tiny insects had no survival instincts other than consuming and dividing. Once they became too small to find food, they would perish. And the sprinting giant tree continued its relentless run, its leaves withering, its branches breaking, its death imminent.
Only the miniature Celestial Beast remained peacefully asleep.
"This is the Heavenly Dao's doing…"
"Perhaps it realized the beast's long lifespan meant it would take too long to absorb the Half-Immortal Tools' essence, so it created these… alternatives." Li Fan saw the pattern.
"It actually found a new method. Xuanhuang's internal cycles will accelerate."
"And correspondingly, more unusual beings will appear." This was a strange change, never before seen, not even during world-ending crises.
Li Fan meticulously recorded it.
One thousand words left for tomorrow. It's too late.
(End of chapter)