Nine Mountains Prefecture
"Today is a good day." Zhao Xian wrote his full na on the golden contract in front of him. As a strand of golden light flew into his body and the contract was established, he laughed heartily with joy.
The group from the Five Elders Association in the shop put away the contract and also showed joyful expressions, chiming in agreent.
For the rest of the afternoon, Zhao Xian negotiated more detailed terms on the trade agreent with the Five Elders Association. Only after sending them to the welcoming Cave-Heaven in the city for rest did Zhao Xian finally let out a long sigh of relief.
He did not return to his own Cave-Heaven but instead turned back to the shop and entered the underground secret chamber.
Looking at the Faceless Stone Statue hidden in the darkness, Zhao Xian's expression was complicated, his thoughts swirling endlessly.
Ever since the Federation of All Worlds was exterminated by the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and placed on the permanent kill list, Zhao Xian, as a hidden agent of the Federation in Nine Mountains Prefecture, had lived in constant fear.
Every day, he was restless, often hallucinating that the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance had co knocking and suddenly arrested him.
Without the Federation supplying materials, the shop's stock had been greatly affected. Foot traffic declined daily, and it almost could not hold on. In the end, he begged and pleaded everywhere, using up all the family assets he had accumulated over the years, to barely rebuild the supply chain.
"Good thing everything is over now." Zhao Xian thought to himself.
The storm of the Federation had subsided.
During the days when the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance's search was most intense, they had not discovered Zhao Xian's true identity. There should be no danger in the future either.
After several years of his painstaking managent, the shop's business had returned to normal. Recently, he had even reached a comrcial agreent with a rchant team from the Five Elders Association. Just the fixed trade goods each year were worth over ten million contribution points.
"Although there are no more rewards from the True Immortal, the shop's profits alone are enough to support my cultivation all the way to the Soul Transformation realm."
"With the Federation destroyed, I no longer have to hand over profits; they all go straight into my pocket. I'm living even more comfortably than before..." Zhao Xian thought with so pride.
"Indeed, fortune and misfortune are intertwined; the ways of the world are unpredictable."
Finally glancing once more at the faceless stone statue, Zhao Xian had already decided in his heart to seal this underground secret chamber permanently.
From now on, the secret of his past as a mber of the Federation of All Worlds would never be known to anyone.
"The True Immortal is rciful and surely will not bla ." Zhao Xian respectfully perford one last salute, then sealed the secret chamber shut.
After completing all this, Zhao Xian felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted, reborn anew.
But on the way back to his cave mansion, as he looked up at the azure sky of the Xuanhuang Realm, a sudden wave of unease surged in his heart for no reason.
Zhao Xian had always trusted his instincts highly, so he imdiately stopped in his tracks.
Carefully recalling every detail of his recent life, after pondering for a long ti, Zhao Xian still could not find anything amiss.
"Strange..."
The chaotic feeling in his heart grew stronger. Suddenly sensing sothing, Zhao Xian looked toward the people around him.
At first glance, it made cold sweat break out instantly.
It was not just him.
In the free trade city of Nine Mountains Prefecture, at this mont, every cultivator strolling on the streets seed to vaguely sense sothing wrong. Their hearts were in turmoil, their expressions tense.
So even had cold sweat beading on their foreheads, their steps unsteady.
"This..." An image suddenly flashed in Zhao Xian's mind: ants collectively relocating before a storm hits.
"Could it be that a calamity spanning the heavens is about to occur?"
Zhao Xian suddenly recalled the origin of this Nine Mountains Trade Prefecture.
Originally, this place was a chaotic domain of dragons and snakes, with nine mountains standing in contention. Because of the clash between the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders Association, a glance from a Immortal Ancestor's Dharma Manifestation turned mountains and rivers into plains.
That was how the prosperous Nine Mountains Prefecture of today ca to be.
"Could it be that sothing like that day is about to happen again?" As this thought arose in Zhao Xian, he could not help but shiver.
Although reason told him that, whether it was the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance or the Five Elders Association, for the sake of both sides' interests, neither would start a war again in Nine Mountains Prefecture.
But the abnormality before his eyes made him certain: a disaster was definitely about to happen!
"Run!"
Just a mont later, Zhao Xian made his decision.
Yes, he loved money.
He also wanted to beco a Soul Transformation True Monarch, dominating a region.
But all of that presupposed surviving with his life intact.
With the abilities he had honed in Nine Mountains Prefecture over these years, even if he returned to poverty and started over sowhere else, he could rise again.
Moreover, the most valuable items in the shop were always kept on his person.
Thinking of this, Zhao Xian imdiately turned direction. Ignoring the city ban, he sped toward the border of Nine Mountains Prefecture.
His unusual behavior naturally drew the attention of the cultivators in Nine Mountains City. As if triggering a chain reaction without reason, they too began fleeing together.
Just like the instinctive struggle of wild beasts sensing a life-or-death crisis.
And facts proved that these cultivators' premonitions were not wrong.
They had not fled far when a terrifying fluctuation descended from behind.
The sky instantly darkened.
Countless cultivators did not even have ti to cry out before they were swallowed by an unknown horrific existence.
Feeling the thousands upon thousands of auras vanishing in an instant behind him, extre terror seized his mind.
In this mont, his thoughts raced at an unprecedented speed.
"There must be so terrible disaster descending on Nine Mountains Prefecture."
"With my strength, it is obvious I cannot survive this disaster."
"Now, there is still a long distance to the border of Nine Mountains Prefecture. There is not enough ti to escape to a safe place."
"The reason Nine Mountains Prefecture has no teleportation formation is because the spatial structure here is extrely unstable. Activating a teleportation rashly would not only fail to reach the target location but instead randomly send one elsewhere. It is even possible to get lost in the void forever..."
"But there is still so hope of survival..."
Zhao Xian's thoughts raced, and his body reacted instinctively.
He directly activated the random teleportation formation diagram in his storage ring.
The surrounding scene twisted and blurred.
After a brief dizziness, Zhao Xian escaped Nine Mountains Prefecture and arrived in an unfamiliar place.
But the scene before his eyes left him with no joy of escaping death.
Instead, it was as if he had fallen into an icy abyss, his mind blank.
It was as if he were floating high in the sky, overlooking the Xuanhuang Realm.
On the earth below, over a thousand black spots had densely appeared.
Like pitch-black abysses, they swallowed everything around them.
The entire world seed about to be torn apart by these black spots, forming curled fragnts of paper.
The cultivators on the earth, no matter how they struggled, could not persist for even a mont in the black dark domains.
They all turned into twisted rays of light and vanished into the black spots.
...
"So the disaster is not just happening in Nine Mountains Prefecture?"
"What is this?"
"Is the apocalypse coming, and the world about to be destroyed?" Zhao Xian stood stunned.
But soon, his attention was drawn to another wondrous sight that contrasted with this apocalyptic scene.
Above the Xuanhuang Realm, which had been torn into over a thousand twisted sheets of paper in an instant, a painting suddenly appeared, as if countless pignts had been splashed randomly.
In the ink-splashed painting, countless scenes changed rapidly with every instant.
And in front of this bizarre painting stood a figure with hands behind their back.
Seeming to sense Zhao Xian's distant gaze, that figure turned their head.
Before he could even see the other's face clearly, Zhao Xian's body and soul, unable to withstand the imnse pressure, exploded into countless fragnts.
Dead without an intact corpse.
"Hmm?"
A mont later, Li Fan already knew why this unlucky fellow had co here.
He shook his head slightly, paying no more attention to him, and instead focused on the countless transformations of heaven and earth surging out from the Xuanhuang Realm before his eyes.
Those countless black spots were naturally the immortal power drawn from the Immortal Ruins by the bait puppets after he activated the world-destroying plan, flying toward the Immortal Ruins.
The power of the immortals in the Immortal Ruins, following the connection sensed through those puppets, was transmitted into the Xuanhuang Realm.
Causing boundless world-extinguishing catastrophe.
And as Li Fan expected, the mont the immortal power from the Immortal Ruins appeared, it triggered a spontaneous reaction from the Faceless True Immortal statues placed by Li Fan beside the bait puppets.
These Faceless True Immortals had no physical forms. They were purely condensed from the source power essence of the Faceless True Immortal by Li Fan.
When the Immortal Ruins' world-destroying power swept toward them.
An indescribable force inexplicably surged from the source power essence.
Like a butterfly erging from its cocoon, or a flower wilting to reveal fruit.
The source power essence lted away like ice and snow, vanishing directly. In its place, a power beyond mortal comprehension collided with the Immortal Ruins' immortal power.
Like two massive waves crashing against each other, splashing forth myriad droplets.
In an instant, the Xuanhuang Realm tore into over a thousand fragnts.
But it seed that precisely because of this clash between the two forces, the already riddled Xuanhuang Realm did not shatter completely in that very mont.
“It seems my worries were unnecessary after all.”
“The faceless True Immortal does not seem to have detected my presence.”
So thought Li Fan.
“Extract the essence of heaven and earth to obtain its spirit.”
Muttering incantations, he drew the bizarre ink-wash painting before him entirely into the phantom of the Five Elents Great Cave-Heaven behind him.
Before Li Fan's eyes, scenes of the Xuanhuang Realm's past, present, and the trajectories of what might have been in the future played out like a lantern show.
Beyond that, Li Fan sensed an intensely strong desire for unwilling survival.
The images spun like a vortex, as if sothing was about to be born from within.
Upon careful contemplation, Li Fan actually detected the Xuanhuang Realm's intent to beg for cooperation.
“A world on the verge of death is no different from a person.”
“Having clearly discovered that I was falsely impersonating the Heavenly Dao, yet for the sake of a possible slim chance of survival, it not only does not bla but is even willing to cooperate with ...”
“This is sothing I had not anticipated before.”
Li Fan snorted coldly and did not agree to the Xuanhuang Realm's request.
Nor did he directly refuse.
Instead, he accelerated the speed at which he extracted the essence of heaven and earth.
As countless impending changes and transformation rged into his body, the Five Elents Great Cave-Heaven began to undergo earth-shaking transformations.
In stark contrast to the Xuanhuang Realm, which had reached its end tis, the interior of the Five Elents Great Cave-Heaven presented an unprecedented scene of prosperity.
As the five elents cycled and flowed, they tended toward fusion.
tal, wood, water, fire, and earth united as one; the once starkly evident barriers between the various cave-heavens slowly ceased to exist.
A brand-new world, brimming with boundless vitality, was taking shape.
...
At this mont, Li Fan, on the verge of successfully advancing to the Soul Transformation realm, inexplicably felt a trace of danger.
A beam of light arrived from beyond the void in an instant.
“No!”
After clearly seeing the current state of the Xuanhuang Realm, it let out a roar of fury.
Then, in a flash, it crossed the vast spatial distance and locked onto Li Fan.
Their four eyes t, and both faces showed so astonishnt.
Li Fan was astonished because he had originally thought the one returning would be the Immortal Ancestor.
Yet he had not expected that the figure appearing in this life...
Would be the Heavenly Doctor.
And the Heavenly Doctor was astonished because Li Fan, the nominal last successor of the Heavenly Law Realm, had no idea why he was here.
Moreover, he was rcilessly extracting the essence of heaven and earth from the Xuanhuang Realm.
“You've returned quite quickly.” Li Fan sighed inwardly.
“[Truth].”
Without any hesitation, Li Fan imdiately intoned it in his mind.
Under the influence of the Immortal Ruins' immortal power, Li Fan sensed that the True Immortal Net's restraints on him had loosened.
The Heavenly Doctor had also discovered him.
So he no longer coveted more and directly activated [Truth].
The surrounding scenes abruptly turned illusory.
At that mont, Li Fan clearly saw the shock on the Heavenly Doctor's face, as well as the sudden burst of light in his turbid eyes.
“What has he discovered?” Li Fan's heart tightened abruptly.
But the scenery around him had already nearly co to a standstill.
Even soone as powerful as the Heavenly Doctor appeared to move with excruciating slowness in Li Fan's eyes.
A thick fog enveloped all sights.
All things in the world were about to turn real into false, reality into illusion.
At that very mont...
From the myriad black points of the Xuanhuang Realm, a brilliant radiance suddenly erupted.
The Immortal Ruins' immortal power, capable of easily tearing the Xuanhuang Realm apart, was actually suppressed in this instant.
In the midst of all the frozen scenes, only this splash of brilliance was least affected.
Even in Li Fan's view, it still moved in slow motion.
But it still surged toward Li Fan at an extrely fast speed.
“The Faceless True Immortal!”
Li Fan's heart felt as if it had been viciously gripped by a hand.
The threat from the Heavenly Doctor was instantly cast aside.
“You have finally discovered after all...”
“Heaven and Earth Myriad Spirits, All Beings Refine the Spirits!”
A blood-colored giant net unfurled around Li Fan.
Layer upon layer, dense and intricate.
It was unmistakably composed of countless ferocious human faces.
The red giant net rose from Li Fan and expanded wildly toward the surroundings.
The beings within the net, billions, trillions, all simultaneously emitted deathbed wails.
That brilliant radiance ignored the red giant net and advanced unyieldingly toward Li Fan.
Li Fan had never felt that activating [Truth] took so long.
As the brilliant white light was about to reach right before him.
His body involuntarily stiffened and grew ice-cold.
Even his thoughts began to freeze.
Fortunately...
The red giant net did provide that slight hindering effect after all.
In the instant before the brilliant radiance locked onto Li Fan.
Li Fan successfully activated [Truth].
All scenes beca illusory.
Only that splash of brilliant white light remained dazzling.
...
Anchor: 1 year.
Jieli Mountain Peak.
Having escaped death by a hair's breadth, Li Fan was drenched in sweat from head to toe, gasping for breath in great heaves.
“This is the might of a True Immortal?”
“Even the thoughts of trillions of beings are so pale and powerless before it.”
As Li Fan thought this, he suddenly felt that his body seed sowhat abnormal.
At this mont, he was not viewing things with his eyes, because...
Li Fan reached up to touch his face, and his body trembled slightly.
His face had vanished without a trace.
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