Chapter 720: The Heavenly Venerable Reverses The Principle Once More

No records of them survived into the present age. Even the Medicine King Sect, whose members had crossed the river of time from the ancient cultivation world, knew nothing of the Heavenly Physician.

That was deeply abnormal, enough to make anyone question their origins. Powerhouses of such caliber would never be unknown figures.

If that's the case, many things make sense.

When I tried to form my Golden Core using Heaven-Scorning's Law and Hanhai's Law, I sensed a fatal crisis. Had I formed the core with only those two, I would surely have faced a backlash from heaven and earth. Only by weaving in other laws, like Blue Flame and Ink Death, could I stabilize the core.

Heaven-Scorning's Law and Hanhai's Law, the ones I observed and emulated, were never native to the Xuanhuang World.

Had I ignored the warning and continued forming my core with just those two laws, the world itself might have marked me a pure outsider. The outcome...

Images of the Congyun Sea's destruction flashed through Li Fan's mind.

This might be why the Congyun Sea had to die.

It’s something that didn't belong to the Xuanhuang World, yet grew ever more powerful by feeding on it. Like a foreign object lodged in a body, it had to be cut out.

But Zhang Haobo established his Foundation using Heaven-Scorning Sword Intent, which proves something: these former outsiders are gradually being absorbed into the Xuanhuang World itself.

Take the Congyun Sea. Crimson Flame and Ink Death had wiped it out once, yet it regained its vitality. After that, the world's hostility toward it seemed to have eased a great deal.

Contact. Integration?

Li Fan was lost in thought.

Back at the Cloudwater Palace, when Hanhai had accused Old Man Fisher of slaughtering the entire palace, he'd said, "No one other than Venerable Heavenly Severer can wield Heaven-Slaughtering."

Li Fan had originally thought he meant Heaven-Scorning.[1] After all, when Zhang Haobo fell, the Dao Foundation revealed by his death phenomena was the Heaven-Scorning Sword Intent, and Heaven-Scorning's Law was one of Li Fan's nine laws.

Now it seemed that in the Heavenly Physician's original world, Heaven-Scorning might once have been Heaven-Slaughtering.

But once these laws entered the Xuanhuang World, they converged with the world's own laws through a kind of parallel evolution.

That was how the small differences came to be.

Li Fan also considered how much the Xuanhuang World had expanded. It was now nearly a full circle larger than in ancient times.

While plundering other grotto-heavens and worlds to escape being devoured by the Immortal Ruins, conflicts between different worlds' laws would arise. That might be the true source of the world's Oddities.

Could Heavenly Severer's amnesia, and the transformation of Heavenly Decree and the Cloudwater Palace crowd into Oddities, all trace back to this fusion of worlds?

If so, the Heavenly Physician, who went through this process unscathed, is even more terrifying than I'd thought.

And the Heavenly Physician has lived for thousands of years. The bizarre Lost Domains scattered through the White Mist clearly bear his fingerprints. What is he scheming?

Stranger still is how the Eternal Heavenly Venerables of the Xuanhuang World have reacted. If they claimed ignorance of the Heavenly Physician's schemes, I wouldn't believe a word of it. Yet they remain utterly unmoved. Have they struck some kind of bargain, or...

The Heavenly Physician's face surfaced in Xu Bai's mind.

After a long moment, he shook his head, pushing the thoughts aside for now.

Back in Tianliang Province, the moment Xu Bai reconnected his communication spirit talisman, messages poured in like snowflakes.

Xu Bai worked through them one at a time, unhurried.

He'd long since mastered the art of keeping the scales balanced, a skill honed during his years as Grand Preceptor of Great Xuan.

Tianliang Province still had 640 posts unfilled.

Of those, Nangong Shirong had approved a little over two hundred for trade or negotiation with other factions, yet more than a thousand people hoped to claim a share of the feast.

Satisfying the majority while offending as few people as possible would take careful deliberation.

As he replied to each message, Xu Bai investigated the sender's background and probed their temperament.

While Xu Bai buried himself in the chaos of his new position, a major event seized the attention of the entire world.

Immortal Venerable Lan Yu, ruler of Yuandao Province, issued a summons to every cultivator in the realm. His lifespan was running out, and he sought any treasure capable of extending it.[2]

Alongside the summons, he released a list of every life-extending treasure he had already consumed.

He declared that anyone who brought him a treasure that actually worked could choose freely from his collection in return.

Immortal Venerable Lan Yu had ruled Yuandao Province for millennia.

His collection was immense, even richer than the rewards the Myriad Immortals Alliance offered for exploring the White Mist.

The news shook the world.

Cultivators abandoned the White Mist in droves, rushing instead to hunt lifespan-extending treasures at great personal risk.

Li Fan stared at the announcement, stunned.

Has Lan Yu given up on reversing life and death?

Word of a Heavenly Venerable's successful Dao attainment must have leaked. Did it come from inside the Myriad Immortals Alliance? Or the Five Elders Council?

While Li Fan considered this, Huangfu Song studied Lan Yu's message carefully, then sighed and shook his head.

"Immortal Venerable Lan Yu has ruled a province for millennia. What lifespan-extending treasure hasn't he already tried? This list alone could practically serve as the ‘Complete Illustrated Guide to Lifespan-Extending Treasures of the Xuanhuang World.’ Claiming a reward from him..." He paused. "Well, I certainly don't have that kind of luck." He said it with wry self-deprecation.

"Damn, I haven't even heard of half the things on that list, and he's eaten every one," Dongfang Yao said, clicking his tongue. "If you ask me, those meant to die will die. Why struggle and drag it out? Better to let go and find release."

Listening to his companions complain, Li Fan suddenly saw it clearly.

A plan long in the making has been thrown into chaos. What Lan Yu needs most now is time. Broadcasting this bounty to the whole world is an act of desperation.

What will he do next?

Truth be told, Lan Yu had little choice left.

His first option was to switch to a different principle to reverse, and gamble everything on a sliver of hope for Dao attainment and eternal life.

But mastering the conditions to reverse a principle took far longer than that. Doing it on short notice was next to impossible. Otherwise Lan Yu wouldn't have waited until the brink of death to set up his array and stake everything on a single throw.

That left only one path.

Reverse the Principle of Life and Death again, and contend directly with that unknown Eternal Heavenly Venerable!

Realization flooded through Li Fan.

It will still be extremely difficult, but Lan Yu knows the Principle of Life and Death far better than any other. Compared to switching principles, his odds here are actually better.

Perhaps the Five Elders Council will even lend their support.

Li Fan's thoughts raced.

Interesting. Let's see what choice the Myriad Immortals Alliance makes now.

Will they support that unknown Eternal Heavenly Venerable, or will they back Lan Yu?

1. me too…

2. Just wanted to let you guys know that I made a translation mistake with Lan Yu’s name. Based on the naming convention of Immortal Venerables, Immortal Venerable Lan Yu should have been called “the Blue Feather Immortal Venerable” instead. Lan Yu is not his real name. After getting opinions from some of you, I’ve decided not to change Immortal Venerable Lan Yu’s name for now. Thanks, and sorry about that.