Chapter 608: A Glimpse Of The Immortal Ruins On The Brink Of Death

Under normal circumstances, the sleeping cultivators within the true Medicine King Cauldron were protected by the Oneiric Seasons Array, and Li Fan would have had to expend considerable effort to achieve his goal.

But breaking away from the Immortal Ruins had damaged the array to some degree.

More importantly, Li Fan knew of a Medicine King Sect cultivator named Linghu Chang who had failed to integrate himself fully into the Oneiric Seasons Array in time. The chamber Linghu Chang occupied was not completely sealed; a narrow gap remained.

If Li Fan could seize the memories within Linghu Chang's mind, the true Medicine King Cauldron would be virtually defenseless against him.

He would leave cultivators at the Nascent Soul realm and above undisturbed, letting them sleep on. Those below the Nascent Soul realm he could subdue and eliminate one by one using the Insect Binding divine ability, if it came to that.

Of course, even if these Medicine King Sect disciples each carried numerous artifacts and elixirs, such external possessions held little real value to Li Fan at this stage.

What he truly wanted was the Medicine King Cauldron itself—a vessel capable of traversing the void—along with the set of Waymarks the Medicine King Sect possessed, leading to other cultivation worlds.

Even with the Immortal Ruins temporarily trapping me within the Xuanhuang World, the day will come when I must leave this place. Securing the Waymarks now is simply preparing for what lies ahead.

Beyond that, Li Fan had another reason for making this journey: he wanted to witness the Immortal Ruins with his own eyes.

He looked up at the sky, steadied his thoughts, and waited for the true Medicine King Cauldron to arrive.

As he waited, he turned his attention to the Immortal-Suppressing Force unique to the Cangwu Abyss and quietly marveled at its workings.

Unlike restrictions or arrays that simply weakened a cultivator's power, this force seemed to rescale one's cultivation realm entirely.

At his current early-stage Nascent Soul cultivation, his strength felt undiminished, yet he could only unleash power equivalent to the Golden Core level.

Truly mysterious. It's like a mortal entering a land of giants. His own height hasn't changed, but measured against everything around him, he becomes undeniably small.

While Li Fan was absorbed in these thoughts, the debris of the floating ruins beside him began to creak and groan as though stirred by a wind, slowly shifting. They drifted straight toward him without warning or cause, moving as if they had a will of their own.

Li Fan frowned, then stepped aside without destroying anything. But as broken walls and shattered pillars brushed past him, his eyes suddenly sharpened.

In a flash, he darted forward and landed atop one of the stone pillars.

Countless ages had passed. The patterns carved into the pillar had long since faded into near-obscurity, and the pillar itself was mostly worn away.

Yet Li Fan, possessing the Unity of Dao Transformation and Mind, could etch every experience indelibly into memory. Even with only a few fragmented lines remaining, the pattern struck him as strangely familiar.

This is...

Curiosity crossed his face. He compared the pattern before him against one he remembered seeing elsewhere.

A perfect match!

Li Fan looked up again, gazing out across the sea of architectural ruins filling the Labyrinth City, a flicker of surprise in his chest.

Could these structures all originate from within the White Mist?

In the Lost Domain where he had obtained "Chaos," he had once seen twelve massive ruins. The patterns carved on those buildings were identical to the ones here.

He recalled the origin of the Cangwu Abyss. On a certain year, month, and day, all the mountains and rivers of Cangwu Province had vanished, leaving behind only this footprint-shaped chasm.

Li Fan found his gaze drawn down into the depths of the abyss. Dark and fathomless, its end was beyond sight.

Does the Cangwu Abyss connect to the depths of the White Mist?

In ancient times, there was no Lifespan-Devouring White Mist in the Xuanhuang World. Yet now the White Mist has carved the entire world apart.

Where did it come from? And who were those cultivators who died so terribly in the Lost Domain I once passed through?

Countless questions surged up in an instant.

Before he could dwell on any of them, a meteor streaked across the night sky, momentarily illuminating the heavens.

It's here.

Li Fan looked up to see a thin stream of light falling straight toward him. At the same moment, a strange foreboding welled up in his chest—the instinct of prey sensing a predator, or a man staring down a catastrophe he cannot avoid. His heart clenched with dread, and his body trembled faintly, beyond his control.

He recognized it: the lingering aura of the Immortal Ruins, still clinging to the true Medicine King Cauldron after its narrow escape.

Keeping a slight distance from the impact point, he kept his gaze fixed on the fiery meteor above.

The Medicine King Cauldron fell with incredible speed, descending from sky to earth in just a few breaths and plunging straight into the Cangwu Abyss.

Once inside, its speed gradually slowed, and the flames coating its surface died away. The creatures of the Abyss, sensing the aura of the Immortal Ruins, scattered in instinctive panic, clearing a path before it.

The true Medicine King Cauldron came to rest in the exact same spot as it had in his previous life and grew still. After emitting a mysterious distress signal to the world outside, it gradually turned transparent and vanished into the air.

Li Fan did not act hastily. He waited until the aura of the Immortal Ruins had completely dissipated from the cauldron before piloting his Mini Medicine King Cauldron inside.

Drawing on his memories of what Xiao Heng and the others had experienced in his past life, he moved through the interior unimpeded, arriving at last at the slightly ajar door of Linghu Chang's room.

Linghu Chang lay prone on the ground, sunken in deep slumber.

Also at the early-stage Nascent Soul realm. And yet...

Li Fan narrowed his eyes slightly. The phantom of his Five Elements Grotto-Heavens manifested behind him, and the power of the grotto-heaven law domain descended like a set of shackles, pinning Linghu Chang in place. Li Fan confiscated everything on his person, then channeled his power.

A moment later, before Linghu Chang could so much as cry out, his body was ground to fine dust beneath the immense force of the grotto-heaven. His Nascent Soul within the dantian, however, remained completely unharmed under Li Fan's precise control.

With his body destroyed, the slumbering Linghu Chang woke instantly. He stared at his own infant-like, diminutive purple form and understood perfectly what had happened.

"Who... who are you?"

His voice held equal parts hatred and terror.

His only answer was a flash of purple lightning.

"The Purple Firmament Sect..." Linghu Chang's words were filled with utter disbelief.

In the next moment, he lost consciousness and fell back into deep slumber.

A short while later, having fully absorbed Linghu Chang's memories, Li Fan waved his sleeve and temporarily sealed the other's Nascent Soul within his own grotto-heaven. Then he pressed deeper into the cauldron, arriving at its innermost chamber. He stood before the Gate of Life and Death and considered carefully.

Once the Gate of Life and Death is sealed, not even a Dao Unity cultivator can easily breach it. Only the Longevity Verdant Force, manifested by cultivating the Medicine King Sect's inheritance, the Salvation Longevity Scripture, can unlock it instantly and allow entry.

The Salvation Longevity Scripture. A Dao Unity technique.

An ordinary cultivator who suddenly came into possession of a Dao Unity technique would likely be too excited to sleep. Yet Li Fan's mind was utterly calm.

The Salvation Longevity Scripture was indeed a Dao Unity technique, but its cultivation principles were built around the purpose of aiding the world, healing the sick, and saving lives.

Saving others was saving oneself; the more lives one saved, the faster one's cultivation advanced. Even breaking through bottlenecks required fulfilling specific quotas of lives saved. Its compatibility with Li Fan was very low, and there was no reason to switch to cultivating it.

Still, a Dao Unity technique was undeniably valuable. If he slaughtered every last member of the Medicine King Sect, this technique would become a unique copy known only to Li Fan.

But there was no need for that. These people of the Medicine King Sect had more important uses.

The immediate problem was that 462 cultivators were currently practicing the Salvation Longevity Scripture.

When Li Fan attempted to practice the technique himself, the spiritual qi within his body seemed completely blocked, showing not the slightest movement. Even taking the first step appeared nearly impossible.

After a moment's thought, he arrived at a solution.

Drawing on Linghu Chang's memories, Li Fan located the rooms of several Golden Core realm Medicine King Sect disciples and barged in, forcibly extracting a portion of their Verdant Force. He then merged these strands together, weaving them into an energy body and splitting off a wisp of his divine sense to inhabit it. He flexed its limbs, taking a moment to adjust.

The Verdant Force is constantly leaking out. It won't last long. But it should be enough.

With a thought, the energy body took the form of a green Nascent Soul. Li Fan plunged headfirst into the Gate of Life and Death.

It was like passing through a gray membrane. In the next instant, the scene before him made him feel as though he had flown out of the Medicine King Cauldron and returned to the Cangwu Abyss. The surroundings appeared identical to the world outside.

It turned out the inner walls of the Medicine King Cauldron had become completely transparent.

Within the space, only two skeletons remained: one standing, one collapsed on the ground.

The one standing must be Liu Ruchen. The one on the ground should be Elder Huang.

In his desperation to escape the Immortal Ruins, Liu Ruchen was forced to sacrifice the vital essence of some sect members.

Li Fan recalled the knowledge from his past life.

Only bones remain. Surely they can't still be alive.

He approached Liu Ruchen's skeletal remains slowly. When he reached them, a phantom appeared at his side without warning. His heart jolted, but he immediately recognized that the figure carried no vital aura. It was only a projection.

The Longevity Verdant Force continuously leaking from Li Fan's energy body was absorbed by the phantom. As if it had passed some sort of verification, the phantom finally spoke.

"Disciples of the Medicine King Sect, heed my command.

"When you see this image, I should already have perished.

"I was wrong.

"I foresaw the descent of a great calamity upon heaven and earth, but I never imagined that above our Xuanhuang World, there exists something even more terrifying. The Ten Immortal Dao Sects knew everything, yet they sat by and watched us die.

"This enmity is irreconcilable.

"But remember, the Ten Sects are powerful. Do not confront them directly. After returning to the Xuanhuang World, seek refuge in the Eternal Life Valley for the time being. Preserve your strength. Wait until the great calamity has completely passed, then act according to the circumstances.

"After my death, my son, Liu Yihang, shall temporarily assume the position of sect leader, assisted by the elders. Once he breaks through to the Spirit Transformation realm, he may formally succeed as sect leader.

"In this time of crisis, at this moment of life and death, internal strife must cease."

The phantom recited Liu Ruchen's last words in a mechanical tone. Li Fan stood and listened in silence.

When the final words had been delivered, the phantom dissolved into starlight and vanished. In its place, a glowing rhombus-shaped crystal floated where it had stood.

Li Fan recognized it as the control core of the Medicine King Cauldron. Originally intended by Liu Ruchen for Liu Yihang, it was now claimed ahead of time by Li Fan.

Using the control core through his energy body, he opened the Gate of Life and Death and let his true body into the main control chamber.

After seven days of refining it, he gained full control over the true Medicine King Cauldron. Many of its functions were temporarily unavailable without Verdant Force, but many of its basic functions were operational.

Li Fan accessed the images recorded by the cauldron.

They matched what Xiao Heng and the others had witnessed in his previous life. In the endless void, the luminous mass representing the Xuanhuang World appeared insignificant. And above it, the Immortal Ruins loomed as if poised to devour everything.

The playback continued.

The Medicine King Cauldron, having flown out of the Xuanhuang World, plummeted uncontrollably toward the Immortal Ruins. Countless rays of light erupted from the cauldron's surface in an attempt to break free from the pull, but escape was impossible. The cauldron drew closer and closer, on the verge of being swallowed entirely.

Then, in a sudden surge, countless points of multicolored light poured forth from within the cauldron as though it had drawn on some hidden reserve of power. Amidst deafening roars, it altered its course.

But Li Fan's attention had fixed entirely on the images of the Immortal Ruins the cauldron had captured.

Perhaps because the cauldron had gotten close enough, he could make out the vague shape of the Ruins at last.

It was a desolate land, covered in ruins and broken walls.

Among them, a tall, humanoid figure seemed to stand, silently gazing downward.

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