"Three Sage Lords have actually grown so powerful? The only ones across all the worlds..." Li Fan was momentarily lost in thought.

"The Immortal Realm is boundless and immeasurable. From ancient times to the present, it has produced countless extraordinary talents. Yet those worthy of the title of ‘Sage’ number only four. Even someone with Master's heaven-defying abilities is merely honored by the world as a ‘Lord’ and cannot be granted the character ‘Sage’. Junior Brother, how can you underestimate the Sages?" Inherit Dao shook his head.

"It is not that I underestimate them," Li Fan said with a wry smile. "The problem is that my understanding of the Immortal Realm comes entirely from vague records. I have no way to form an accurate picture of it. If not for Senior Brother's guidance..."

"Unique among all worlds, or unique among the Mountains and Seas. That must be the legendary realm of True Transcendence, right? When the two Sage Lords, Lianshan and Guihai, attained the Dao, one did so by creating Mountain Shangfang, while the other succeeded by opening a passage through the Infinite Spring. How, then, did Sage Lord Taiyi reach this stage? Could there really be something in this world capable of rivaling the Mountains and Seas?" Li Fan simply chose to change the subject.

Inherit Dao smiled. "Although your Senior Brother has considerable knowledge and experience, the secrets behind how the Sage Lords attained the Dao are beyond my understanding. Unless the Sage Lords themselves choose to reveal such matters, who could possibly know the truth? That said, it is certainly true that Sage Lord Taiyi possessed strength equal to that of the two Sages, Lianshan and Guihai. Sage Lord Lianshan once acknowledged this in person before Immortal Emperor Louhuang and a group of Nameless True Immortals. As for the last one to attain the Dao, the Great Sage Jingfen..."

"To speak somewhat disrespectfully, in the eyes of the Three Sages, Jingfen was probably nothing more than a junior with a certain degree of strength."

"The Three Sages are the Three Sages of the Mountains and Seas. Jingfen, however, is merely a Sage Lord of our world."

"Of course, this judgment is based on the circumstances when the Immortal Realm was destroyed. So many years have passed since then, and we cannot presume to know how powerful the venerable Great Sage Jingfen has become. Perhaps the Great Sage has already taken that final step toward Transcendence, just like the other three Sages."

...

Afterward, Li Fan asked Inherit Dao about a few more secrets of the Immortal Realm. He then steered the conversation back to the invaders from the Guangwu Star Sea and the Immortal in the Coffin from the Other Shore.

"Benevolent Transmuter has already located that Immortal Coffin with the guidance of Stargazer."

"Just as Senior Brother predicted, the Immortal Coffin truly is an object formed through the compression and condensation of the Great Dao. At their current speed, the Immortal in the Coffin should arrive in our Archaic Immortal Realm in approximately five hours." Li Fan showed Inherit Dao the images transmitted by Benevolent Transmuter.

"Should we choose another place to fight? You and I, as fellow disciples, are about to battle that Other Shore Immortal. This continent might suffer collateral damage." Inherit Dao glanced at the land below and asked.

"We can simply rebuild it if it is destroyed. If it cannot withstand even this degree of tribulation, then there will be little worth lamenting even if it is obliterated. Besides, although the living beings in this world are somewhat weak, they can still serve as useful support." Li Fan politely declined.

Inherit Dao praised him sincerely. "Junior Brother, your state of mind is quite befitting a Sage of the Immortal Realm."

Li Fan smiled faintly without replying.

"Nevertheless, with such a formidable enemy approaching, we should make some preparations."

After pondering for a moment, Inherit Dao said, "If you do not mind, I have a divine ability that I can pass on to you. Although I do not know which Dao the Nameless Being in that coffin has merged with, this divine ability should ensure your safety even if it cannot defeat the enemy."

Li Fan was delighted. "Senior Brother, why would I possibly mind? I could not ask for anything better!"

Inherit Dao did not stand on ceremony. He reached out and tapped Li Fan between the eyebrows.

In an instant, Li Fan's body and soul seemed to have returned to the Infinite Ocean, swept over by countless rapidly changing scenes.

He could see them clearly. The vast majority depicted a solitary figure sitting on a mountain and gazing out at the sea.

It was none other than Lord Hill Guardian!

Li Fan had encountered this very scene more than once in Hill Guardian's Miscellaneous Notes.

However, there was a crucial difference in what Inherit Dao was transmitting to him now. This time, the scene was viewed from a third-person perspective, looking up at Lord Hill Guardian!

It was not an insight experienced by Lord Hill Guardian himself.

Lord Hill Guardian was not merely sitting on a mountain and gazing out at the sea. He was also sheltering a spirit stone beneath him, protecting it from the destructive impact of the Mountains and Seas colliding.

"The Immovable Body of Mountain Sea."

"By circulating this divine ability, you can remain as unmoving as Lord Hill Guardian himself, no matter how drastically the Mountains and Seas change."

"Beyond its defensive properties, the degree to which you can comprehend the visions of the Mountains and Seas also determines how effectively you can imitate and unleash their erosive, overwhelming force through your Dharma Body. Of course, this does not mean that this divine ability truly allows you to replicate the Mountains and Seas. Rather, it draws your opponent into the boundless realm of the Mountains and Seas as you perceive them, making them feel as though they are standing on Hill Guardian Mountain, gazing out at the sea!"

"If your opponent possesses abilities comparable to Lord Hill Guardian's, or has inherited his legacy, they can naturally ignore this intimidation. But ordinary cultivators..."

"Especially those who once experienced boundless despair within the Mountains and Seas, only to escape after countless years of struggling to survive, will probably collapse on the spot when forced to face the Mountains and Seas once again!"

As Li Fan comprehended and learned the Immovable Body of Mountains and Seas, he explained its subtleties in detail.

He was not explaining them for his own benefit, but for Inherit Dao's.

Inherit Dao listened, nodding repeatedly. He was very pleased that Li Fan had managed to comprehend the divine ability so quickly.

"Senior Brother, this technique is truly ingenious."

"It does not risk accidentally harming fellow disciples, and it can also be remarkably effective against True Immortals. The more they fear the Dao Annihilation Calamity and refuse to shoulder responsibility, the more deeply they will be affected by this divine ability." Li Fan continued to praise it.

At the same time, he put the Immovable Body of Mountain Sea into practice.

Li Fan himself remained unchanged.

Yet the phantom images of mountains and seas seemed to surround him.

Inherit Dao's eyes lit up. "Junior Brother, your comprehension of the Mountains and Seas is quite profound."

"That is only because Master and Senior Brother have taught me so well!"

...

Over the following period, Li Fan consolidated his mastery of the Immovable Body divine ability with Inherit Dao's help. Although he already possessed the protection of [Illusion Is Also Truth], one could never have too many defensive divine abilities. Perhaps one of them would save his life at some crucial moment in the future.

Consequently, Li Fan studied with great diligence, promptly asking Inherit Dao whenever he encountered something he did not understand.

Inherit Dao did not find this troublesome. On the contrary, he was quite pleased.

"He is here."

Li Fan suddenly withdrew his Dharma Body and gazed toward the distant horizon.

The phantom mountains and seas surrounding him vanished instantly. However, strange phenomena began occurring throughout the Archaic Immortal Realm.

Creak, creak, creak...

The piercing sound of what seemed like decaying metal scraping against itself rang out across the Archaic Continent. Every living being who heard it felt an uncontrollable irritation welling up from the depths of their hearts.

Then, as the scraping grew louder, that irritation gradually transformed into an irresistible impulse.

Go to the place where the sound is coming from! Find its source!

Once this impulse arose, it became exceedingly difficult to suppress.

In an instant, numerous figures across the continent lost control of themselves and hurtled toward the outer reaches of the sky.

Li Fan's cold snort resounded throughout the Archaic Continent at that very moment.

Under the intimidating might of the Creator Father God, many living beings briefly regained their senses. They forcibly suppressed their impulses and returned to the surface.

Yet some continued charging toward the sound, heedless of everything else.

It was as though that unpleasant scraping sound represented their eternal pursuit, something more important to them than their very lives or their Dao!

"Such a childish trick to manipulate people's minds. Could this Immortal in the Coffin really have no other abilities?" Li Fan stopped intervening, allowing the living beings on the continent to rush to their deaths one after another.

In his field of vision, the lid of the Immortal Coffin had indeed opened slightly at one corner.

Yet the opening resembled an abyss, dark, unfathomable, and seemingly bottomless. It devoured everything that entered it.

Every existence that approached within a certain distance of the Immortal Coffin was swallowed by that unfathomable darkness in an instant.

The sounds coming from within the Immortal Coffin grew increasingly loud.

Moreover, a new kind of noise began to emerge, unlike anything heard before.

If the initial sound had resembled the slow opening of the coffin lid, the noise now sounded as though some unknown and indescribable entity was repeatedly scraping its fingernails against the inner walls of the coffin. It seemed to be struggling to rise, attempting to climb out and burst free from its confinement!

The Immortal Coffin's target was clearly the Archaic Immortal Realm where Li Fan resided.

It continued accelerating as it approached.

The changes in the sound did nothing to diminish its power to beguile and attract. Living beings throughout the Darkest Star Sea flocked toward the Immortal Coffin like moths rushing into a flame.

With every being it devoured, its speed increased slightly.

By the time Li Fan's expression had turned grave, the Immortal Coffin had already reached the skies above the Archaic Immortal Realm!

"Allow your Senior Brother to face him first."

Inherit Dao abruptly rose to his feet and stepped forward. In the next instant, he had already appeared beside the Immortal Coffin.

"How dare you make such a racket in my presence!"

The seemingly frail body appeared to contain an inexhaustible supply of energy. He reached out and struck the Immortal Coffin with a fierce palm strike.

Every movement of his hands and feet was faintly accompanied by the roaring of mountains and seas, suppressing all the strange noises coming from the Immortal Coffin.

In that instant, Li Fan seemed to witness a spectacular sight of mountains and seas colliding, with towering waves crashing against one another.

'Is this Inherit Dao's true strength when he is no longer holding back?' Li Fan's pupils contracted sharply.

Under the relentless surging of the mountains and seas, the Immortal Coffin began to tremble violently.

It had already been battered beyond recognition. Now, subjected to the baptism of the mountains and seas, it finally reached its limit.

It seemed on the verge of falling apart.

However, what the Guangwu Star Sea had placed its hopes upon was never merely an Immortal Coffin. It was the Other Shore Immortal inside the coffin.

Boom!

A tremendous, muffled impact resounded from within the Immortal Coffin.

It was as though some existence inside were responding to the roaring of the mountains and seas outside by pounding violently against the coffin from within.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The pounding grew increasingly frantic.

It resembled thunderclaps piercing the night sky, or a beacon illuminating the mist.

Even with the roaring of the mountains and seas reverberating all around, they could gradually no longer suppress the pounding sounds.

Just as the situation reached its limit, the pounding abruptly ceased.

In that instant, the Immortal Coffin shattered into countless pieces. A black shadow surged out from within and charged straight toward Inherit Dao, who was standing nearby.

"Senior Brother, be careful!" Li Fan shouted in warning.

Yet before he could utter those words, the black shadow had already collided with Inherit Dao.

Water droplets whipped up by the raging storm spread as far as Li Fan, who was watching the battle from a great distance.

The Archaic Continent, a world of the same scale as the Immortal Realm, swayed incessantly like a solitary boat floating upon the sea on a stormy night.

As the violent gusts swept through the surroundings, Li Fan sensed that the stable Dao principles of the Archaic Continent were actually being gradually thrown into disarray.

He had no time to concern himself with this Archaic Immortal Realm. He merely summoned the Five Heavenly Emperors and the Thirteen Heavenly Scars to maintain its stability.

Li Fan turned his gaze toward the place where Inherit Dao and the black shadow were fighting.

The black shadow, the Immortal inside the Coffin, had finally revealed its true appearance.

Yet it was not a human being.

It was an enormous rat!

Calling it simply a rat might not have been entirely accurate. As it launched its fierce attacks, striking with its claws and biting at its opponent, its movements were remarkably similar to those of a human.

Its fur was even more extraordinary, shimmering with a multitude of colors, as though it were wearing a garment embroidered with brilliant brocade.

It also wore an ochre-yellow straw hat on its head. However, one corner of the hat's brim was missing, as though something had bitten a piece off.

The expression on the rat's face was as vivid and expressive as a human's.

Greed, solemnity, urgency, and all manner of other emotions appeared in turn.

"An Exotic Beast?"

Looking at the monster, Li Fan could not help thinking of Emperor Sanmo's race.

However, he quickly dismissed this speculation.

It was not merely because the Myriad Beasts Revolving Wheel showed no reaction to this bizarre rat. More importantly, Inherit Dao, who was engaged in fierce combat with it, sent him a warning through voice transmission.

"Junior Brother, be careful. This is the [Giant Rat Immortal]!"

Inherit Dao then explained to Li Fan exactly what a Giant Rat Immortal was.

It was not a Nameless True Immortal who had attained the Dao of the [Giant Rat]. Rather, it was the product of a True Immortal undergoing mutation after greedily and endlessly devouring the Great Daos.

Under ordinary circumstances, with countless immortals gathered in the Immortal Realm, Giant Rat Immortals would never come into existence.

They generally appeared only in certain possibilities where the apocalypse had descended.

To maximize their chances of surviving the drifting journey inside an Immortal Coffin, the Immortals within the coffins would do everything in their power to collect the remnants of the Great Daos and use them to construct their coffins.

However, if they drifted among the mountains and seas for too long, they would not only face decay and eventual death. They could also be devoured in turn by the Immortal Coffins, which were themselves formed from the Great Daos.

The realm of a Nameless True Immortal was one in which the cultivator merged with the Dao.

The Three Thousand Great Daos were inherently incompatible with one another. Once someone merged with a single Great Dao, they could no longer accommodate other Great Daos within themselves.

Yet under the special circumstances of drifting among the mountains and seas while confined within a sealed Immortal Coffin, a miracle might occur. A Nameless True Immortal could potentially incorporate multiple Great Daos into their being.

But the price was...

The Nameless True Immortal would undergo mutation, transforming into all manner of bizarre forms.

The Giant Rat Immortal was the most typical example of such a creature.

It retained a certain degree of intelligence, but was controlled by its instinctive desire to merge with the Dao. It sought to devour everything around it that might prove useful.

"When Master encounters a fallen True Immortal inside a coffin, he might lend a hand and help bury them. But these mutated True Immortals must be killed without exception!"

"Leaving them alive would only bring disaster!"

"Once I suppress this wicked creature, I will settle accounts with the Guangwu Star Sea!" Inherit Dao's voice carried a trace of anger.

As Li Fan watched the Giant Rat Immortal dart about, each swipe of its claws causing the surrounding Great Daos to tremble, a strange feeling suddenly welled up within him.

"The Guangwu Star Sea came here for the methods I used to suppress the Dao Sword and Dao Saber. There is no way they would entrust such a mission to a mindless Giant Rat Immortal..."

Just then, Li Fan noticed a flash of intelligence in the Giant Rat Immortal's eyes.

He hurriedly sent a warning through voice transmission.

"Senior Brother, be careful! This is not an ordinary Giant Rat Immortal in the conventional sense."

"Someone may have seized its body and deliberately merged with it!"

Upon hearing this, Inherit Dao's movements stiffened for an instant.

At that very moment, fine strands of black light suddenly emerged from the Giant Rat Immortal's foreclaws.

The light erupted violently, enveloping Inherit Dao completely.

The Giant Rat Immortal itself immediately retreated at high speed, putting a considerable distance between them. Like a human, it stroked its whiskers with its forepaws, an expression of smug satisfaction on its face.

"This black light..."

Li Fan actually sensed an aura from it that was remarkably similar to Ink Death's.

"It seems the [Lanke] Dao Field is not the only one researching the power of merging Mountains and Seas."

Li Fan pondered this thoughtfully.

Although the black light was terrifying, he was not worried about Inherit Dao.

After all, Inherit Dao had accompanied Lord Hill Guardian at the boundary of the mountains and seas, surviving there for hundreds of millions of years. How could someone like him be so easily killed?

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.