The projection of the Dao Net within Li Buren's mind seemed to grow clearer. His rapid absorption of knowledge didn't cause any issues. The insights from the fallen True Immortal, combined with Li Buren's unique body's resilience, allowed him to seamlessly assimilate the True Immortal's understanding.
"This space only contains these transparent statues. And the concept of 'forward' no longer exists at the boundary of this space. It's like the Star Sea wall."
Li Buren continued shattering the remaining transparent statues, devouring them. He then prepared to break free from this space. Before leaving, he noticed that the eighteen statues hadn't truly vanished. Although he had seemingly consumed them, the source of the True Immortal insights that formed them still lingered.
"Given time, they should regenerate."
"But it will take at least tens of thousands of years."
Light faded, replaced by darkness. When Li Buren could see again, he was in a square space. In every direction, he saw similar small square spaces, seemingly within reach yet infinitely far away. Most were silent and lifeless. Others flickered erratically. Only a few emitted a faint, steady glow.
Li Buren pondered the scene.
"These square spaces resemble the cages used to imprison True Immortals in the depths of the Shuo Star Sea Dao Net."
"The reason it appears pitch black from the outside…" Li Buren turned to the flickering lights for comparison.
After a moment, he nodded slightly. "Life has been extinguished. A dead zone. No need for further observation."
"And those flickering areas are…" He reached out, attempting to sense them. After a while, even with his suppressed consciousness, he frowned slightly. "The original observation system has been disrupted, presenting a false state. The cause of this disruption is…"
"The Dao Obliteration Calamity!"
Li Buren withdrew his hand. Even a mere touch across the boundary of the square space had blackened his fingertip, turning it into a charred husk. Where darkness reigned, the Dao was obliterated, no longer the Dao.
With a slight exertion, the blackened fingertip crumbled to ash, drifting upwards and vanishing.
"Just being near the Dao Obliteration Calamity turns an Immortal body to ash."
"…"
"However, these square boundaries are like dams, temporarily holding back the Dao Obliteration Calamity's erosion."
As he pondered, his finger regenerated. Li Buren stared intently at the boundary of the square space, trying to decipher its secrets. With little success, he turned to the few faintly glowing areas within the space.
After observing, he concluded, "These are Star Seas with little life, similar to the Dark Star Sea…"
"Some even bear the True Immortal Seal Characters left by He Gan Xian."
Li Buren carefully examined each glowing point.
"None of these are the Dark Star Sea where the Xuanhuang World is located. They are all unfamiliar star systems…"
He looked down at his own location, within a small square identical to the thousands surrounding him.
"I broke through the wall and shattered the eighteen True Immortal statues to pierce the veil of the Dao and arrive here."
"But what I see isn't from an 'observer's' perspective. I'm still trapped in a cage."
"So the Star Sea containing the Xuanhuang World is just one of these countless square cages…"
Looking at the myriad squares that should have been glowing with life, Li Buren was momentarily stunned. However, his weakened consciousness quickly recovered, and he began to think.
"So, the wall isn't just sealing off a single Star Sea."
"All these Star Seas exist in parallel, unable to perceive each other…"
Li Buren recalled Qian Ruochang finding another Ascension Platform in the ruins near the wall.
"That's why there were two Ascension Platform remnants so close together."
"This Star Sea has been segmented and overlapped, confined within the wall!"
"Truly unimaginable methods. Even I would need considerable effort to destroy all these Star Seas, let alone gather them so precisely like this."
Li Buren wasn't intimidated by this seemingly miraculous scene, but calmly analyzed it.
"Such a grand undertaking, using Star Seas as testing grounds."
"…What exactly are they experimenting on?"
"And how do I reach the true core area?"
"I'm not the first to cross the wall. Before me, the Profound Immortal Ark, the Heavenly Sword Sect, and others have escaped. How did they break free from this cage?"
"I haven't found any trace of them."
"Or perhaps they didn't reach this space?"
Li Buren looked down at his Immortal body.
"Perhaps it's because of this unique body that I've entered this area. Different people, different methods of crossing, different destinations…"
Even the Dao Obliteration Calamity could be temporarily resisted. The square boundaries of this testing ground were unbreakable for the current Li Buren. He didn't persist, turning back towards where he came from, the small space with the eighteen statues. He searched carefully once more.
"In the Xuanhuang World, when mortals are infected with the Celestial Mortal Miasma, cultivators relocate them to Small Worlds or Grotto-Heavens, sealing them with Immortal Severing Formations. The trials within these formations are insurmountable for mortals. This testing ground also needs to ensure the confinement of its subjects. It must be something they cannot overcome, ensuring that only the experiment's conductors, the Immortals, can reach the true core."
Although his search yielded no results, Li Buren had a hunch.
"What separates Immortals from mortals is, firstly, their potential, and secondly, their infinity."
"As an Immortal body, I already meet the potential requirement. That's why I could easily pierce the veil of the Dao and see the true nature of the experiment. However, without fulfilling the 'infinity' aspect, I cannot enter the core area…"
"The Infinite Sea."
Having grasped the key, Li Buren didn't waste time. He temporarily returned from beyond the wall to the Xuanhuang World and retrieved the Dao Key stone tablet, a replica of the Immortal Ascension Platform, left by Heavenly King Xuan. He then instantly returned.
"A stone tablet alone isn't enough."
"Connecting to the Infinite Sea requires three conditions."
"One's own unique Immortal spiritual power, an Ascension Platform as a conduit to the Immortal Realm, and the secret seal character known to the Guardian Immortal Official."
"This tablet is a replica from the Ascension Platform."
"Qian Ruochang of the Shuo Star Sea used that True Immortal seal character when impersonating the Guardian Immortal Official, and I've already mastered it."
"Now, the only thing missing is unowned Immortal spiritual power."
…
As Li Buren pondered, his main body in the Xuanhuang World made preparations.
"If Scholar Zhu hadn't been so generous, this would have been much more troublesome."
Near the sleeping Immortal Hunters and the World Crossing Profound Coffin beyond the wall, a piece of foreign skin briefly covered the sleeping Ma Tiande's fingertip before vanishing. However, a wisp of Immortal spiritual power, through the invisible Dao Net, traversed space and reached Li Buren.
Simultaneously, the two Immortals trapped within the coffin seemed to sense something. The silent coffin emitted faint fluctuations before falling still. The two Immortals remained silent.
Within the wall, where the eighteen statues once stood, the appearance of Immortal spiritual power seemed to trigger something. The wall-like boundaries rippled like water, hinting at what lay hidden behind. However, perhaps because it was only a wisp of Immortal spiritual power and not a True Immortal's presence, the ripples persisted but couldn't fully unveil the hidden space.
Knowing he had to act, Li Buren seized the opportunity, quickly writing on the Dao Key stone tablet with the remaining Immortal spiritual power. He mimicked Qian Ruochang's movements perfectly, each stroke identical in timing and execution.
Soon, using the Immortal spiritual power as ink, the mysterious symbol appeared on the Dao Key stone tablet. There were no dazzling lights or auspicious beasts, but an immense power emanated from the tablet, or rather, through the tablet, as it had merely opened a path, a path to the Infinite Sea.
Li Buren's soul was suddenly pulled into a massive, swirling vortex. Each drop of water within seemed to contain boundless starry skies. Countless scenes flashed before him, as if he were experiencing eons in an instant.
This immense influx of information, though merely a brief exposure, would be devastating to any ordinary being. Fortunately, it was Li Buren, a divine sense avatar with suppressed consciousness, who connected to the Infinite Sea. If Li Fan's main body had entered rashly, even with the protection of True Return, the immense trauma to his soul would take a long time to heal.
The countless reincarnations Qiao Sidao experienced within the Era device were less than a single droplet in this Infinite Sea.
"Clinging to the Dao Net with my mind, I can barely hold on. But not for long."
"This is completely different from entering the Infinite Sea cloaked in True Immortal skin!"
"After all, this is just a fragment of the Ascension Platform, not the whole thing. These waves are beyond what a newly ascended Immortal could withstand. It's missing the protective components…" Li Buren recalled Qian Ruochang using the Ascension Platform to create an Immortal.
Overwhelmed by the data from the Infinite Sea, Li Buren's miniature Dao Net began to crumble, like being consumed by the Dao Obliteration Calamity, its edges eroded by endless waves. The Dao Net collapsed, and the Infinite Sea was about to engulf him.
However, Li Buren felt no fear. He was created to uncover the secrets within the wall. To do so, he had to connect to the Infinite Sea and achieve a True Immortal body. To achieve this goal, life and death were inconsequential.
"This scene of the Infinite Sea engulfing the Dao Net…"
"Is so similar to the Dao Obliteration Calamity devouring everything."
A question arose in Li Buren's fading consciousness. Just then, the power of the Ink Slaughter Immortal Soul from his main body arrived through the last flickering point of the Dao Net.
Enveloped by the Ink Slaughter Immortal Soul, the raging waves of the Infinite Sea calmed, as if losing their target. The vortex subsided, transforming into a boundless ocean.
Once again, Li Fan saw the legendary Infinite Sea. This time, not through a True Immortal's skin, but through his own avatar, traversing the vortex!
The vast Infinite Sea seemed to have been undisturbed by new Immortals for a long time, eerily calm. Only occasional whirlpools stirred the surface.
Li Buren, or rather, Li Fan, saw countless fleeting images within the splashing droplets, spanning eons longer than what he experienced in the vortex. And these were just insignificant droplets in this vast ocean.
Li Fan looked around at the boundless Infinite Sea, wondering how much history and how many lives it contained. Words couldn't describe its grandeur. Li Fan was lost in its immensity.
Individuals, True Immortals, the Unnamed, even those who transcended possibilities, seemed insignificant before this creation. Time seemed to freeze, and thoughts solidified.
After an unknown period, a pulse from True Return within his main body startled Li Fan awake. It was a strange mix of emotions: joy, nostalgia, sorrow, and resentment, making it difficult to discern True Return's true intent.
The Infinite Sea's calmness was shattered. A terrifying deep-sea behemoth seemed to be awakening below, churning the entire surface into a boiling froth. The power released by the colliding droplets even began to dispel the concealment of the Ink Slaughter Immortal Soul, like a flimsy life vest in a raging storm.
Li Buren's Dao Net was on the verge of collapse. The next moment… he was inexplicably pulled out of the Infinite Sea. Everything he had witnessed felt like an illusion.
Except…
Li Buren extended his right hand. Although he didn't summon any Immortal spiritual power, he knew he could connect to the Infinite Sea and unleash its boundless power at any time.
But he dared not.
(End of chapter)