Li Buren felt that the projection of the Dao Net within his mind seemed to be becoming increasingly clear.

Although he had hastily absorbed and comprehended everything in a short period of time, there were no signs of indigestion. The insights of the fallen True Immortal, combined with the extraordinary ability of Li Buren's unique body to withstand them, allowed him to accept almost the entirety of the True Immortal's enlightenment here without loss.

“This space contains nothing but these transparent statues. Moreover, at the boundary of this space, the concept of ‘front’ no longer exists. There is no road ahead, much like the High Wall of the Star Sea.”

Using the same method as before, Li Buren shattered all the remaining transparent statues one by one and swallowed them completely. He then prepared to break free from the restraints of this space once more.

Before crossing through and leaving, Li Buren sensed that the eighteen statues here had not truly disappeared.

Although they appeared to have all been eaten by him, the source of the True Immortal's enlightenment that had caused the statues to form still remained.

“Given enough time, they should be able to recover.”

“But it will probably take at least ten thousand years.”

The light vanished, and darkness once again enveloped his vision. By the time Li Buren could see again, he was already inside a square-shaped space.

Looking around, in every direction, front and back, left and right, above and below, there were countless spaces resembling small cubes.

They seemed within reach, yet also seemed as distant as the ends of the earth. In the vast majority of these cubic spaces, there was nothing but absolute silence and death. The rest flickered between light and darkness, appearing exceedingly strange. Only a very small number of these cubic spaces emitted a faint but stable glow.

Looking at everything before him, Li Buren fell into deep thought.

“These cubic spaces bear some resemblance to the cages deep within the Shuo Star Sea Dao Net, which are used to imprison True Immortals.”

“The reason they appear completely dark when observed from the outside is simply because...”

Li Buren turned his attention toward the places where light flickered, using them for comparison.

After a moment, he gave a slight nod.

“The vitality has already completely vanished. It is an entirely dead domain. There is no need to observe it any further.”

“As for those regions where the light flickers between brightness and darkness, they are...”

He reached out and attempted to touch and sense them. After a long while, even though his self-awareness had already been suppressed to an extremely low level, Li Buren still frowned slightly.

“The original observation system has already been destroyed. What is being presented is an erroneous state. And the culprit responsible for the failure of observation...”

“The Dao Annihilation Calamity!”

Li Buren withdrew his hand. Even though there was still the boundary of the cubic space between them, and he had merely touched it from afar, his finger had already taken on a strange, charred appearance, as if it had been scorched black.

Within the darkness, the laws were annihilated, and the Dao ceased to be the Dao.

Li Buren exerted the slightest force, and the blackened tip of his finger immediately crumbled into ashes, drifting upward before disappearing into the surrounding space.

“Simply approaching the Dao Annihilation Calamity causes even an Immortal Domain Body to turn into ashes uncontrollably.”

“...”

“Yet those square boundaries can temporarily suppress the erosion of the Dao Annihilation Calamity as firmly as a dam.”

As he pondered, the severed portion of his finger regenerated. Li Buren stared intently at the boundary of the square space, attempting to discern its secrets.

But he gained very little.

He therefore turned his attention first toward the more than ten regions within this space where faint light was shining.

After observing them for a while, Li Buren reached a conclusion.

“A Star Sea where vitality is no longer abundant. Its circumstances are probably similar to those of the Darkest Star Sea...”

“There are even True Immortal seal script characters left behind by certain True Immortals still running rampant.”

Li Buren carefully examined every single point of light.

“None of them are the Darkest Star Sea where the Xuanhuang Realm is located. They are all unfamiliar starry skies...”

Li Buren could not help looking down at the place beneath his feet.

Or rather, at the small square he occupied, which was completely identical to the thousands upon thousands of spaces surrounding it.

“I broke through the High Wall and shattered eighteen True Immortal statues. Only then was I able to break through the Veil of Dao and arrive here.”

“But what I see before me is not from the perspective of some so-called ‘observer’. I am still inside a cage.”

“So the Star Sea where the Xuanhuang Realm is located is merely one of these countless cubic cages...”

Looking at the countless cubic spaces around him that should originally have been simultaneously shining with the radiance of life, Li Buren experienced a brief moment of distraction.

However, his self-awareness was exceedingly weak, and he quickly recovered from the disturbance in his mind and began thinking again.

“If that is the case, then what the High Wall seals away is not merely a single stretch of starry sky.”

“It is simply that all these Star Seas exist in parallel, arranged side by side, unable to see one another...”

A scene suddenly flashed through Li Buren's mind.

It was the scene of Qian Ruochang discovering another Ascension Platform amid the ruins not far outside the High Wall.

“No wonder there are clearly two Ascension Platform ruins despite them being relatively close to each other.”

“It is because this stretch of starry sky has already been divided and overlapped, completely confined within the High Wall!”

“These are indeed methods beyond the imagination of mortals. Even I would have to expend tremendous effort to completely destroy all these starry skies, let alone gather them together so precisely into cubes.”

Li Buren was not intimidated by the scene before him, which could practically be called a miracle. Instead, he analyzed it with extreme calmness.

“With such an enormous undertaking, using entire starry skies as experimental grounds...”

“...what exactly are they experimenting with?”

“And how can I reach the true core region?”

“I am not the first person to cross the High Wall. Before me, the Xuan Immortal Ark, the Heavenly Sword Sect, and others had already successfully escaped beyond the wall. How did they escape from this cage?”

“I have not discovered any traces they left behind.”

“Or perhaps they never arrived in this space?”

Li Buren lowered his head and looked at his Immortal Domain body.

“Perhaps it is precisely because of this special body that I was able to enter this region. Different people may have different methods of crossing through, and the destinations they reach may also be different...”

Even the Dao Annihilation Calamity could be temporarily resisted. The square boundaries within this experimental ground were certainly not something Li Buren could break through at his current level.

He did not stubbornly continue trying. Instead, he turned around and returned to where he had come from.

Back in the narrow space where the eighteen statues had stood, he began searching carefully once more.

“In the Xuanhuang Realm, when mortals become afflicted with the Immortal Mortal Miasma, cultivators move those mortals into small worlds or Cave Heavens and seal them off with the Immortal Severing Grand Formation. The various trials within the formation are impossible for mortals to overcome.”

“And this experimental site must likewise ensure that the experimental subjects remain sealed within it. It must do something that is absolutely impossible for them to accomplish, ensuring that only the master of the experiment, or rather, the Immortals, can reach the true core.”

Although he still found nothing after searching, Li Buren gradually formed a vague conjecture.

“The difference between an Immortal and a mortal lies in two things. The first is power. The second is infinity.”

“I possess an Immortal Domain Body, so I already satisfy the requirement of power. This is also why I was able to easily break through the Veil of Dao and witness the truth of the experiment.”

“But without satisfying the property of infinity, I ultimately cannot enter the core region...”

“The Infinite Ocean.”

After understanding this crucial point, Li Buren wasted no time. He temporarily rushed back through the High Wall.

Returning to the Xuanhuang Realm, he brought along the Dao Key stone slab that the Xuantian King had left behind in the past, which had been copied from the Ascension Platform of the Immortal Realm.

Then, he returned in an instant.

“Simply having one stone slab is not enough.”

“To connect to the Infinite Ocean, three conditions must be satisfied.”

“Unique immortal spiritual power belonging to a True Immortal. The Ascension Platform, which provides the means of connection from the Immortal Realm. And the secret seal script mastered by the Immortal Official on duty.”

“The stone slab was copied by the Xuantian King from the Ascension Platform.”

“In the Shuo Star Sea, Qian Ruochang disguised himself as an Immortal Official on duty in order to lure Devoid Immortal. I have already obtained that True Immortal seal script as well.”

“The only thing missing now is immortal spiritual power. Unclaimed immortal spiritual power.”

...

Li Buren's thoughts churned. Meanwhile, his true body in the Xuanhuang Realm had already made preparations.

“If Scholar Zhu had not been so generous before, I am afraid this time would have brought quite a few more complications.”

Not far outside the High Wall, at the place where the Mystic Coffin and a group of Immortal Hunters were sleeping.

Ma Tiande, who was sleeping soundly as well, suddenly found his fingertip covered by a piece of skin that did not belong to him.

It lasted for only a brief instant before disappearing without a trace.

Yet a strand of immortal spiritual energy had already traveled through the invisible Dao Net, traversed space, and arrived upon Li Buren's body.

Meanwhile, the two immortals trapped within the Mystic Coffin seemed to sense something as well. The coffin, which had remained silent for a long time, emitted faint and obscure fluctuations. But in the end, they gradually faded away. The two immortals did not speak again.

Within the High Wall, at the place where the eighteen sculptures had originally stood.

The appearance of immortal spiritual energy seemed to have triggered something.

The surrounding boundaries, which had originally resembled a towering wall, began to ripple like shimmering water. Something hidden behind them was about to reveal its true form.

But perhaps because there was only a wisp of immortal spiritual power and not the true body of a True Immortal personally present, the continuous ripples and fluctuations were still unable to completely tear it open.

Li Buren knew that he still needed to act personally. Thus, without hesitation, he seized the remaining opportunity while the immortal spiritual energy still existed and began writing rapidly on the Dao Key stone slab.

It was exactly like when Qian Ruochang had possessed him before.

Even the completion of every stroke and the time required were exactly the same.

Very soon, using immortal spiritual power as ink, that mysterious symbol shone brightly upon the Dao Key stone slab.

There was no spectacular vision of boundless rosy light or auspicious beasts appearing.

But an indescribable power suddenly burst forth from the stone slab. It would be somewhat inaccurate to say that this power came from the Dao Key stone slab itself, because the stone slab had merely opened a passage.

A path leading toward the Infinite Ocean.

Caught completely off guard, his soul seemed to be sucked into a gigantic, surging vortex. Every droplet of water splashing around him seemed to contain an endless and resplendent starry sky.

Countless scenes flashed before his eyes, as if he had experienced tens of millions of billions of years in an instant.

Such an enormous amount of information, although he had only been forced to experience it superficially, was still a devastating disaster for any living being immersed within it.

Fortunately, the one connecting to the Infinite Ocean this time was a clone puppet whose fluctuations of self consciousness had been completely suppressed. If Li Fan's true body had recklessly fallen into it and endured the baptism of these droplets of Infinite Ocean water, then even with the power of [Truth], the enormous damage inflicted upon his soul would have been difficult to repair in a short period of time.

Qiao Sidao had been trapped within the [Era] device and experienced hundreds of thousands, millions, and billions of cycles of reincarnation.

Yet everything he had experienced combined would not even be enough to form a single droplet within this Infinite Ocean.

“My thoughts are attached to the Dao Net, so I can barely hold on. But I will not be able to endure for much longer.”

“This is completely different from the previous time when I entered the Infinite Ocean while wearing the skin of a True Immortal!”

“After all, this is merely one stone slab from the Ascension Platform, rather than the entire Ascension Platform. Waves of this magnitude are absolutely not something a newly ascended immortal could withstand. There should be some corresponding component of protection missing...”

The scene of Qian Ruochang borrowing the Ascension Platform to seal an immortal flashed before Li Buren's eyes.

Having been contaminated by the light and shadow data of the Infinite Ocean, the miniature Dao Net upon which Li Buren's divine sense relied was also beginning to buckle under the strain.

As if it had encountered the Dao Annihilation Calamity, the fringes of the Dao Net were submerged by endless waves and ceased to exist.

The Dao Net gradually collapsed.

The Infinite Ocean was about to engulf him.

Yet Li Buren showed no intention of retreating.

He had been created precisely to explore the secrets within the High Wall. And to investigate the secrets of the High Wall, he first had to connect to the Infinite Ocean and achieve a True Immortal body.

To accomplish this goal, life and death could both be cast aside.

“This scene of the Infinite Ocean swallowing the Dao Net...”

“Why does it resemble the sudden arrival of the Dao Annihilation Calamity, swallowing everything, so closely?”

As his consciousness gradually blurred, a question suddenly arose in Li Buren's heart.

At the precise moment inspiration struck, the power of the Ink Death Celestial Spirit from his true body, relying upon the Dao Net that had been reduced to a single faint point of light, finally arrived.

After the last remaining light of the Dao Net was enveloped by the power of the Ink Death Celestial Spirit, the monstrous waves of the Infinite Ocean suddenly calmed.

It seemed to have lost its target.

The vortex subsided, transforming into an endless ocean.

Once again, Li Fan saw the legendary Infinite Ocean.

Only this time, he was not relying on the skin of a True Immortal. Instead, he was using his own clone puppet to personally cross the vortex and descend into it!

Across the boundless Infinite Ocean, it seemed that no new True Immortal had visited for a very long time.

It was frighteningly peaceful.

Only from time to time, whirlpools would appear on the surface of the ocean for no apparent reason, stirring up a few splashes.

Li Buren, or rather, Li Fan.

Within the droplets thrown into the air by these splashes, he vaguely saw countless scenes of light and shadow.

They represented the accumulation of ages even longer than the tens of millions of billions of years he had experienced within the vortex earlier.

And these were merely a few insignificant droplets within the vast ocean.

Li Fan looked around.

The Infinite Ocean was limitless.

He truly could not imagine how many histories and living beings had gathered here.

Words could not describe even one ten-thousandth of its magnificence. Li Fan wandered through it, staring blankly in a daze.

Individuals, True Immortals, the Nameless, and even existences that had transcended possibility itself.

Before such a creation, even their very existence seemed to have lost its meaning.

Time seemed to fall into stillness, while his thoughts appeared to freeze completely.

No one knew how much time had passed.

A fluctuation from [Truth] within Li Fan's true body startled him awake.

It was an extremely strange emotion.

It seemed to be joy.

It seemed to be remembrance.

There was also sorrow.

And resentment.

Countless emotions intertwined, making it impossible for Li Fan to distinguish whether [Truth] was experiencing joy, anger, sorrow, or fear.

Yet the tranquility of the Infinite Ocean was quietly shattered.

Beneath the water, it seemed that a terrifying deep sea leviathan was slowly awakening.

The entire surface of the sea was stirred.

Like boiling water, wave after wave began to rise.

The terrifying power produced when the droplets collided even caused the concealment of the Ink Death Celestial Spirit to gradually lose its effectiveness.

It was like a thin life jacket in the midst of a raging storm and monstrous waves. It could no longer provide any protection against death.

The Dao Net carrying his divine sense was in grave danger.

It was about to completely dissipate.

The next moment...

Li Buren inexplicably emerged from the Infinite Ocean.

Everything he had witnessed before seemed to have been nothing more than an illusion.

Only...

Li Buren extended his right hand.

Although he did not summon immortal spiritual power, Li Buren knew that as long as he wished, he could communicate with the Infinite Ocean at any time and summon an inexhaustible amount of power.

But he did not dare.

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