Immortality Simulator

Chapter 665: The Charred, Ashen Wasteland

"If there truly was a Heavenly Capital that fell, then it must have been a replica crafted by later generations as a monument to memory," Fang Zaiji said.

Li Fan nodded along on the surface, but privately, he held a different opinion entirely.

Fang Zaiji had insisted, time and again, that the shadowy figure within the Heavenly Capital brimmed with profundity and mystery and was undoubtedly a True Immortal. But the whole affair had reeked of strangeness from the very beginning.

Many years after the Immortal Path was severed, a True Immortal had happened to pass through the Xuanhuang World. And faced with cultivators who were no more than ants to him, this being had actively chosen to preach and impart the Dao.

How many cultivators, passing by a mortal city, would kindly descend and teach its people the methods of cultivation?

Li Fan suspected that Shuo Feng's approach, wiping out every mortal in sight with a single sword stroke and feeling not a shred of remorse, was far closer to the norm.

For cultivators who came knocking so rashly, not killing them outright would already count as mercy. Why would that being bother spreading the Dao out of goodwill?

Moreover, if what Fang Zaiji said was true, then something was clearly wrong with that figure in the Heavenly Capital. The preaching might not have been a deliberate act at all, but some automatic, reflexive behavior.

If so, the boy who stood beside the shadowy figure in the Heavenly Capital, the only one who ever made a move, the so-called Heavenly Capital Great Master, seemed deeply suspicious.

Perhaps that person had been drawn here by the Immortal Ruins and forced to descend into the Xuanhuang World. His true strength might not even qualify as an Immortal. Still, back then the Xuantian Sect had failed to subdue the Heavenly Capital, so he couldn't be weak. At the very least, he stood at the level of a half-step True Immortal, comparable to the Xuantian Heavenly King of the Xuantian Sect.

Letting the cultivators of the Ten Immortal Dao Sects into the Heavenly Capital might have simply been a way to cause trouble for the Xuantian Sect. After all, a True Immortal would only concern himself with matters on his own level.

Immortal spiritual qi?

In an instant, Li Fan, ever the conspiracy theorist, had spun an entire grand drama in his mind.

All of it was baseless speculation. But one thing now seemed nearly certain: the anomaly in Yuandao Province was inextricably linked to the Heavenly Capital.

"Since you're both inheritors of the Purple Aura of the Heavenly Capital, won't you go take a look at Yuandao Province, Mister?" Li Fan asked, his tone probing.

Fang Zaiji shook his head repeatedly. "Heh, I'll pass. That fellow who achieved Dao Unity has lived for several thousand years and is definitely far more powerful than me. If I went, I'd be a lamb walking into a tiger's den. Sect Leader, let's just stick to our main business."

Li Fan smiled faintly and nodded.

After this brief interlude, the two traveled for the better part of another day before finally reaching the border of Shilin Province.

The scene that met his eyes made Li Fan's pupils contract.

In the distance, the earth lay deeply sunken and scorched black. Flowing black lava churned everywhere, giving the whole landscape the suffocating aura of an apocalypse.

From time to time, jets of black molten fire erupted from the ground and dispersed into the air, baking the atmosphere until it shimmered with scorching heat.

But what truly set Li Fan's heart pounding with dread were the countless pitch-black patches scattered irregularly across the ground and hanging in the air of this charred basin.

Like an apple riddled with grubs, the whole scene was one of utter devastation.

Li Fan noticed that these black voids were not entirely static. They seemed to have a life of their own, slowly creeping outward, or suddenly leaping to another spot and swallowing everything within reach in a single gulp.

Faced with this truly horrifying scene, even Fang Zaiji, a cultivator at the Dao Unity realm, wore a grave expression.

"Sect Leader, are you sure we have to go there?" he asked, his voice hesitant.

Li Fan didn't answer right away. He studied the scene for a long while first.

"If we're careful, it shouldn't be a problem. Those void sinkholes look like they jump at random, but they actually follow a set of rules. They only leap to relatively empty areas and never approach a spot where another sinkhole already exists.

"So we just need to keep a certain distance from them and push straight ahead.

"Besides, we still have the true Medicine King Cauldron, don't we?"

As he spoke, Li Fan hurled the Medicine King Cauldron toward a nearby pitch-black sinkhole.

"Sect Leader!" Fang Zaiji exclaimed, his voice hushed with alarm.

The Medicine King Cauldron emitted an earthen-yellow light that enveloped it entirely. The radiance dimmed gradually within the sinkhole, but it still persisted for more than ten breaths.

"See? Even if we blunder into one, we'll have enough time to escape." Li Fan recalled the true Medicine King Cauldron, looked at Fang Zaiji, and smiled.

"Sect Leader, you're too relaxed about this. What if the true Medicine King Cauldron suffers some mishap? What would we do then?" Fang Zaiji muttered.

"We'd still have you, wouldn't we? Even if we lost the Medicine King Cauldron, I'm sure you could forge the Medicine King Sect a new one, Mister." Li Fan waved off the concern.

Fang Zaiji's face broke into a wide grin at that. He stopped fussing and followed Li Fan as he guided the Medicine King Cauldron into the scorched black basin.

Li Fan oriented himself and navigated carefully toward the location he remembered.

"What a horrifying sight. How could a sea suffer a calamity like this?" Fang Zaiji murmured, gazing at the scenery around them. "Nothing like this ever happened in our time. Judging by the force behind it, it's as if heaven and earth mean to utterly destroy this place."

Li Fan said nothing.

The Congyun Sea was vast beyond measure, and dodging the void sinkholes slowed their flight considerably. It took them over thirty days just to reach the entrance to the exotic beast minor world.

But the scene there made Li Fan's expression sour.

The original entrance had been completely devoured by the void. Naturally, the passageway itself no longer existed.

Li Fan thought for a moment, then remembered that Han Yi had emerged from the minor world at a different spot. He set off toward it.

Their luck held this time. The spot lay outside the range of any void sinkhole, simply buried beneath a layer of blackened molten rock.

As Li Fan moved to step inside, Fang Zaiji blocked his path. "Sect Leader," he said, eyeing the peculiarities of the site, "if we go in and this exit gets swallowed by the void while we're inside, what then? Would we be unable to return?"

"No matter. I've prepared for that."

With that, Li Fan cleared away the blackened molten rock. Then he drew a thin sheet of paper from his storage ring and pressed it gently against the entrance to the minor world.

Like a drop of ink spreading across paper, patterns slowly emerged.

"What is this...?" Fang Zaiji squinted, unable to place it at first.

"The Stellar Transposition Scroll. It copies and records the spatial node data of this passageway. Once we're inside the minor world, we do the same to the passage entrance on the other side, and we can establish a new passage."

When the patterns on the Stellar Transposition Scroll had fully formed, Li Fan retrieved a seal imprint shaped like a gate and pressed it onto the thin paper.

Beneath the seal's radiance, a pale door took shape.

"Young Master, this side is ready to connect," Liu San's voice came faintly from beyond the door.

Li Fan lightly pointed a finger, and the Stellar Transposition Scroll flew into it.

"Mister Fang, let's go. Old Liu will have the new passage ready in Longevity Valley."