Chapter 637: Heaven Rains, and I Rain Again

At that moment, Liu San interjected from the side.

"Is that so? An array of such fearsome power, and I've never even heard of it?" He sized up Fang Zaiji, his gaze thick with disbelief.

Fang Zaiji let out a cold snort. "You're nothing but a servant. You've never strayed far from the Medicine King Sect's territory your whole life. How could you possibly compare to someone who's roamed the world like me?

"Besides, think of the caliber of people I once associated with. Nearly every one of them was a hereditary disciple of the Ten Immortal Dao Sects. It's hardly strange that I'd know such secrets." Fang Zaiji's tone dripped with arrogance.

Liu San took no offense at being called a servant. Instead, he shot back with a mocking edge. "If you're so formidable, then why didn't anyone lend you a hand when you were being hunted? Isn't it only thanks to the old Sect Leader that you're still alive?"

Fang Zaiji's expression flickered. Indignant, he retorted, "The Heavenly Sword Sect had issued a kill-on-sight order. What was I supposed to do? Just surviving was already a stroke of luck. If it had been you, you'd have been a pile of bleached bones long ago!"

Seeing the two on the verge of another quarrel, Li Fan quickly spoke up to cut them off.

"Mister Fang, do you know the name of that array?" he asked.

"That, I don't know." Fang Zaiji shook his head. "It was mentioned offhandedly by a direct disciple of the Taishang Sect back then, during a moment of lament.

"He said that if the grand array hadn't been damaged, things wouldn't have deteriorated to such a state."

Li Fan listened and nodded slowly.

A blade hanging over the heads of all living things, capable of stripping cultivators of their lives in an instant. This seems remarkably similar to the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array I saw in my past life.

Using the power of the masses to lock onto other cultivation worlds... My previous speculation, that the Xuanhuang World is using some sort of “rope” to anchor itself in the void seems to be confirmed by the existence of this array as well.

As it stands now, it appears the Myriad Immortals Alliance has restored some functions of the grand array, but not fully. And this array was definitely not built by the Ten Immortal Dao Sects. Its origins lie in the much older era of the Xuantian Sect.

Li Fan mused to himself, faintly connecting all the existing clues into a single thread.

With the aid of an additional Dao Unity cultivator, Li Fan began the relocation plan.

The people of the Li World on Embodiment Island, as well as all the awakened cultivators of the Medicine King Sect, were escorted by Liu San and Fang Zaiji aboard the Samantabhadra True Boat, departing first for Longevity Valley.

"There are still a few unfinished matters in the Congyun Sea. I'll come along later," Li Fan said.

Though Liu San and Fang Zaiji were worried, they could not defy Li Fan's will.

So they only offered a few concerned words before reluctantly taking their leave.

Around this time, within the ruins of the Chaoyuan Sect, many strange phenomena had already begun to manifest. The place seemed to shift between reality and illusion, and one could seemingly step into the ancient era and bring back techniques, elixirs, and artifacts from the sect. The news shook the world, and cultivators rushed there in an endless stream. Amid the throng, the Medicine King Sect's party drew little notice.

After sending everyone off, Li Fan first went to check on Tian Yang.

Inside the enhanced Earthfire Elevation Array, the numerous treasures of heaven and earth had been completely absorbed by Tian Yang.

His puppet body was encased in a thick, black, solidified substance, and appeared to be undergoing a transformation.

Not long now. I hope you can make it in time for this feast, Little Junior Brother.

After bidding farewell to Tian Yang, Li Fan did not return to Congyun City. Instead, he traveled to Yinyin Island.

Not long before, under the watch of Formless Killing Mechanism, Yin Shangren seemed to have completed another verification of the secret behind the Immortal-Mortal Miasma.

The result was consistent with the last.

He looked utterly despondent, slumped blankly on the ground, unmoving for a long while.

Li Fan quietly approached him. From Yin Shangren's body, he detected a thick, profound aura of death.

Yin Shangren showed no surprise at this sudden arrival, acting as if he hadn't seen Li Fan at all. He only glanced over, then averted his gaze.

"Fellow Daoist Yin, what exactly did you discover from the Immortal-Mortal Miasma?"

After a long silence between them, Li Fan finally couldn't hold back the question.

From his perception, Yin Shangren's cultivation was indeed unmistakably at the Foundation Establishment realm. Even with his true self standing right before him now, he felt no danger whatsoever.

"So it was you watching me all along." Yin Shangren didn't answer the question, but spoke these words instead. "I thought it was that damned heaven."

He stood up abruptly, dusting the dirt from his clothes.

Ignoring Li Fan, he walked straight toward the underground chamber at the center of the island.

As he walked, he spoke. "Back then, I was just an unremarkable Qi Refinement cultivator.

“Then one day, rain fell on my hometown.

"'Every cultivator around me, every familiar face, disappeared in that rain. Gone. Can you even imagine what that's like? One moment someone's talking to you. The next moment, they're just... not there. Right in front of your eyes. And then silence. Complete silence.

"I searched like a madman, but never found those who had disappeared.

"I was the only one left in heaven and earth. I didn't even know why I was still alive. Why I was the only one.

"And then..."

Yin Shangren arrived at the passage filled with his collection.

His tone turned inexplicably agitated. With a wave of his hand, he sent out a flame, setting the pieces of his collection ablaze one by one.

Li Fan watched but did not stop him. He only observed as, amid the leaping flames, Yin Shangren's expression shifted again and again while he continued his tale.

"The rain didn't stop. It rose from the rivers, as if it meant to drown all the land. And then, along with the raindrops, countless corpses began to fall from the sky.

"Most were incomplete fragments, nothing more than debris. But some were still intact bones.

"I was nearly scared senseless by this utterly horrifying scene. Yet it was only when a relatively well-preserved corpse landed before me that I learned what true terror was."

By the time he finished speaking, Yin Shangren had already reached the deepest part of the underground chamber.

Light flared, and countless corpses appeared before the two of them, all bearing faces identical to Yin Shangren's.

Li Fan had now advanced to Nascent Soul, and his perception was sharper than ever. In his senses, these corpses seemed to be alive.

Fleshy tissues twitched faintly, squirming at a degree imperceptible to the naked eye.

Yin Shangren pointed toward the ground littered with corpses, a look of madness gradually spreading across his face.

"Yes, that body that fell before me was my own corpse!

"What's more, I saw that every corpse falling from the sky bore a face exactly like mine!

"And they were all... smiling at me!"

Yin Shangren's doubled voice echoed ceaselessly through the chamber, overlapping. The sheer strangeness of what he described was enough to send a chill down anyone's spine.

"How could such a terrible thing happen in this world? Can you explain it?" He turned his head, staring blankly at Li Fan.

Li Fan could only remain silent.

"This world... is broken." Yin Shangren lifted his gaze, staring at the sky.

TL Note: Yes this is the same chapter title as Chap 442

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