Chapter 1496: Truly the Limit

The resolution of the Chaos Nameless drew a burst of laughter from the immortals of the Shuo Star Sea. However, Chaos had always acted with extreme caution, and the immortals had long since grown accustomed to it.

The white robed man gently stroked the black cat on his shoulder and teased, "Rest assured, Brother Chaos. Once we capture that pretentious Hidden Emperor, there will definitely be a palace for you in the sky of the Archaic Immortal Realm. After all, even if you have no merit, you have certainly put in the effort."

The other immortals chimed in one after another.

Chaos was not annoyed in the slightest.

Although [Benevolent Transmuter] had put it rather unpleasantly, since he had already made the promise publicly, he would certainly not go back on his word. Thus, there could only be benefits and no harm for Chaos.

If he had truly been mistaken and that Hidden Emperor was actually no more than a paper tiger, then relying on his past achievements, he could still secure a place for himself in the Archaic Immortal Realm.

But if they were all gravely mistaken...

Chaos Nameless had already begun making calculations in secret.

"It is just a pity that [Reverse] is not here. Otherwise, there would be no need to hesitate like this." Chaos glanced at the black cat on Benevolent Transmuter's shoulder and secretly snorted.

...

Li Fan was still unaware of everything happening in the Shuo Star Sea.

After conferring the titles of the five Heavenly Emperors of the Archaic Immortal Realm that day, a completely new insight, one he had never experienced before, suddenly surged into his mind.

He decided to play the long game and let Chaos Nameless and the others wait. He instead devoted himself wholeheartedly to studying this change.

The origin of this insight was precisely [Sitting Heaven Art].

After reaching the Half Immortal realm, Li Fan had thought that this technique of enjoying the fruits of others' labor would probably become ineffective from then on. And reality seemed to confirm his assumption. No matter how many cultivators he had helped improve their cultivation, whether directly or indirectly, he had not received even the slightest feedback.

Until this time when he conferred the titles.

Only after the five Heavenly Emperors were established did the Archaic Immortal Realm finally stabilize completely after its creation. It was no longer merely a continent created by imitating the Immortal Realm. It had truly become an immortal domain.

It stood upon [Mountain Shangfang].

And Li Fan, who had brought all of this into being, suddenly felt enlightened at the moment it was accomplished. It was as though another stepping stone had appeared beneath his feet, allowing him to climb slightly higher.

What he saw before his eyes instantly changed, revealing countless new phenomena.

"So that is how it is. It is not that the Sitting Heaven Art has become ineffective. Rather, after proving the Dao and embarking upon the immortal path, ordinary feedback is no longer enough to advance my cultivation. Only the creation of an entire immortal domain from nothing is barely sufficient."

Although his actual strength had not changed in the slightest, precisely because of this tiny increase in elevation, when Li Fan looked at the Lord Hill Guardian phantom within the High Wall, the Hunger Immortal, the Wuji Celestial Pillar, and the others, he instinctively felt different from before.

"Looking down from a higher position, everything becomes effortless."

These eight words could not help but surface in Li Fan's mind.

After carefully experiencing the sensation for a moment, Li Fan quickly understood where this feeling came from.

Whether it was the Lord Hill Guardian phantom or the various Celestial Pillars, he had already spent more than a hundred years in secluded cultivation comprehending them. He could not claim to know them like the back of his hand, but he was already extremely familiar with them.

The feedback from the Sitting Heaven Art was based upon this existing familiarity. Under the feedback generated by the creation of the Archaic Immortal Realm, this foundation of familiarity had directly doubled.

It had saved Li Fan a hundred years of effort.

Li Fan's eyes narrowed.

In an instant, he examined himself thoroughly and discovered that it was not merely his understanding of the Lord Hill Guardian phantom and the Celestial Pillars that had improved. Everything he had learned and understood had nearly doubled along with this slight upward ‘ascent.’

Even the Myriad Aspects Dao Net of Ink Death was included.

The terrifying degree of this progress left even Li Fan somewhat incredulous. Only after confirming it again and again did he have no choice but to accept this fact.

"Ascending one inch higher upon [Mountain Shangfang] can overturn heaven and earth."

"The increase in strength does not rise evenly as one ascends. Rather, the higher one stands, the more one's cultivation increases by thousands upon thousands of times."

"No wonder the gap between True Immortals, and even Nameless True Immortals, and existences such as Lord Hill Guardian and the Four Sage Lords, who stand at the summit of the Immortal Realm, is so enormous."

"It is even greater than the gap between cultivators in the lower realm."

"Give me billions of Dao Integration cultivators. By sheer numbers, I could surround and kill a supreme expert like the Longevity Immortal or the Heavenly Doctor. But..."

"Even if there were billions of True Immortals, perhaps all of them together would still be no match for any one of the Four Sage Lords."

Li Fan looked back at his former self, before this realization.

If external forces were excluded and only the strength he himself could unleash were considered, the current Li Fan could easily suppress his former self from before the creation of the Archaic Immortal Realm.

"The special nature of [Mountain Shangfang] means that even among True Immortals, and among Nameless True Immortals, there may be unimaginably vast differences despite being within the same major realm."

"After all, theoretically speaking, so-called Transcendent experts also belong to the ranks of Nameless True Immortals."

Only after personally climbing it could one know how high the mountain truly was.

This was the first time Li Fan had experienced an improvement in his own strength since reaching the Half Immortal realm. He could finally glimpse a corner of the magnificent and unfathomable [Mountain Shangfang].

"It is truly difficult to imagine just how powerful the Sage Lord standing above all the immortals must be."

"And the Infinite Ocean and Mountain Shangfang themselves..."

Li Fan could not help but yearn toward them.

After letting his thoughts wander for a while, he returned to reality.

Li Fan looked at the Archaic Immortal Realm he had personally created below. He could faintly sense that, under his continuous day and night irrigation with infinite immortal power, it had already become a part of [Mountain and Sea].

Even if he severed the passage between the Archaic Immortal Realm and the Infinite Ocean, he still could not change this fact.

"So this is the [price]."

"Everything in the mortal world and the Infinite Ocean and Mountain Shangfang were never existences of equal status. One can certainly exploit loopholes and borrow their power, but the result is inevitably to be eroded by the power of the Mountain and Sea and become a part of them."

"The Immortal Realm is like this. True Immortals are the same."

"When the Mountain and Sea merge, the time will come to repay the Dao Calamity debt."

Everything Li Fan had witnessed throughout his past reincarnations now played out before his eyes scene by scene. The so called Dao Calamity and the so called calamities could never escape this fundamental principle.

"This is the insight that surged into my heart after I truly created an immortal domain."

"Although I consider my comprehension ability to be extraordinary, the successive Immortal Emperors of the former Immortal Realm, and even the Four Sage Lords, certainly possessed talents no inferior to mine."

"If I can understand these things, how could they have failed to?"

"They stand higher, so naturally they can see farther."

...

Li Fan could not help but raise his head slightly and look toward ‘above.’

"So they knew long ago that this day would come. That is why they had to climb higher and higher before the Mountain and Sea merged."

"The lifespan displayed on the panel is the lifespan of the entire [Mortal World]. But it may not fully reflect the lifespan of the Infinite Ocean and Mountain Shangfang."

"The merging of the Mountain and Sea is inevitable. However, every trend must eventually come to a halt."

A bolt of lightning seemed to tear through the fog in Li Fan's mind.

In an instant, it was as though he had leaped out of the Mortal World. Before his eyes remained only the endless Mountain and Sea.

When the Mountain and Sea merged, the countless living beings within the Mortal World beneath the mountain would vanish like smoke and disperse as the two merged.

The great tide of Dao Calamity would continue pressing upward toward the mountain.

The peerless experts halfway up the mountain would all scramble upward.

"As long as one climbs high enough, perhaps one can avoid the calamity of the Mountain and Sea merging."

Li Fan seemed to have already arrived at the summit of Mountain Shangfang. Looking down at the turbid waves surging below, his heart trembled violently as this thought uncontrollably surfaced in his mind.

But immediately afterward, another unavoidable thought arose.

"Just how high must one stand to avoid the fate of the Mountain and Sea merging?"

"Lord Hill Guardian, the Four Sage Lords?"

"Or..."

"Even [Truth]?!"

At that moment, an inspiration suddenly struck Li Fan, and he remembered the miraculous treasure that had accompanied him for so long.

Yet this time, the response it gave was truly peculiar.

It neither acknowledged nor denied it.

It merely revealed a somewhat despondent emotion.

And even the slightest negative emotion revealed by [Truth] brought an enormous impact upon Li Fan.

"Perhaps no matter how high one climbs, it is impossible to escape the fate of destruction."

"Ascending Mountain Shangfang, every single step is simply too difficult. Having missed the opportunity when Mountain Shangfang was first established, if I want to catch up now..."

"In the past, when I cultivated within the Xuanhuang Realm, relying on [Truth]'s advantage, I was always filled with absolute confidence. As long as I had enough time through reincarnation, I could always grow stronger step by step. From Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment, then Golden Core and Nascent Soul. In the end, even Longevity Immortal realm experts would all be trampled beneath my feet. But now..."

"Mountain Shangfang has stood for a thousand years. Now that I take a step forward, how am I supposed to surpass it?"

"Even the phantom projection left behind by Lord Hill Guardian is already this powerful. Then what would Lord Hill Guardian's true strength be like? If Lord Hill Guardian is already this powerful, then what about the Four Sages of the Immortal Realm?"

"And what exactly do I have to rely on to surpass them?"

Li Fan's gaze gradually became lost, and he slowly fell into a daze.

Just as Li Fan was gradually sinking into this state, [Truth] fortunately sensed that something was wrong in time and completely restrained its own emotional fluctuations.

Without [Truth]'s influence, Li Fan gradually broke free from this ‘heart demon’.

Even after experiencing a hundred lifetimes of reincarnation, he could not help breaking out in a cold sweat.

Li Fan was absolutely not such a pessimistic person.

He had always firmly believed that as long as [Truth] remained in his hands, there would eventually come a day when he could completely transcend everything and attain true freedom.

But [Truth]'s emotional influence was merely the trigger. The true root of the problem was that Li Fan had finally witnessed the scenery atop [Mountain Shangfang], and as a result, he had fallen into a daze and developed a trace of despair.

The gap between him and those experts standing at the pinnacle of the mountain and sea was simply too enormous. It was so vast that even with the power of infinite reincarnation, Li Fan no longer had absolute confidence that he could bridge it.

Especially as Li Fan's strength continued to advance and he drew closer and closer to these experts, the risks he would have to bear were destined to become greater and greater. At the same time, the external forces he could rely upon would become increasingly scarce.

There were only so many experts standing at the summit of the mountain and sea. Around them were nothing but bare cliffs, leaving no place from which to borrow strength.

Then what could he possibly rely on to cross that chasm, catch up to them, and even surpass them?

In the past, as long as his greatest trump card, the [Transformation Between Truth and Falsehood], remained in his possession and continued to sustain his confidence, he would never have been affected by such negative emotions.

But the situation was extremely unusual now.

Because even [Truth] itself had been affected by these pessimistic emotions, and it had consequently implicated Li Fan as well.

After [Truth] suppressed its own emotions, it fell completely silent. Everything that had happened before seemed almost like an illusion.

But Li Fan's slightly trembling body proved that his experience just now had not been a figment of his imagination.

It took a long time, and only through tremendous willpower did Li Fan temporarily free himself from those emotions. Yet Li Fan himself knew very well that the shadow had not been completely erased.

It still existed in some corner of his heart, and could erupt at any moment in the future.

Li Fan closed his eyes. Only after wiping away the gloom within his heart did he open them again.

What truly concerned him was not his temporary loss of control. After all, this was hardly the first or second time something like this had happened.

What truly exceeded his expectations was the emotional fluctuation displayed by [Truth].

"After seeing the entirety of the mountain and sea, have I finally glimpsed the limit of [Truth]?"

Li Fan was slightly dazed, and countless emotions surged within his heart.

Once upon a time, he had always believed that [Truth] was omnipotent. As long as he possessed this miraculous treasure, he could continue advancing fearlessly all the way.

Now, it seemed that the time when he would have to rely on himself to walk his own path was finally approaching.

Li Fan's expression was as deep and solemn as still water.

He knew that this so-called "approaching" still meant a very long stretch of time. But in the end, it had already entered the range of his 'sight".

It was no longer distant.

In response to Li Fan's many thoughts, [Truth] seemed to have returned to the state it had been in when Li Fan first began cultivating. Not another trace of emotional fluctuation emerged.

Li Fan stood there motionlessly, like a clay statue.

Until faint fluctuations coming from beyond the High Wall disturbed him.

The commotion was immense, even stirring the path constructed by Li Buren to the point that it could barely be maintained.

Li Fan looked over coldly.

The visitors were none other than the immortals of the Shuo Star Sea.

Devoid Immortal stood at the forefront, accompanied by numerous True Immortals and Nameless True Immortals, all arriving outside the High Wall.

"We heard that Senior has used great divine abilities to rebuild the Immortal Court of the Immortal Realm. We have long yearned to witness it, so we came here without invitation, hoping to behold its wonders."

The white-robed figure spoke loudly.

His voice seemed to possess boundless magic. The moment it reached Li Fan's ears, all the emotions that had arisen from [Truth]'s unexpected disturbance instantly transformed into nothingness.

Li Fan even inexplicably felt a surge of joy.

It was as if an old friend whom he had not seen for many years had come to pay him a visit.

Filled with delight, Li Fan was just about to wave his hand and allow the immortals of the Shuo Star Sea to enter.

Suddenly, his heart trembled, and he broke free from the illusion he had just experienced.

"Hmm?"

"What was that just now..."

"Benevolent Transmuter?"

Li Fan narrowed his eyes, a dangerous look flashing within them.

"As expected of a Nameless who has attained the Dao long ago. I almost fell into his trap as well."

"Fortunately, I have [Wuji] protecting me. No matter what divine ability the Great Dao of the Heavens possesses, it can all be ignored."

After regaining consciousness, Li Fan did not change his movements.

As if he were still bewitched by the power of [Benevolent Transmuter], he showed no anger toward their uninvited arrival. Instead, he laughed loudly and directly guided all the immortals of the Shuo Star Sea inside.

Li Fan keenly noticed that there seemed to be several unfamiliar faces among these visitors.

Moreover, that Nameless [Chaos] was not among them.

Li Fan immediately understood their intentions.

"Just in time. My newly established Archaic Immortal Realm is still rather empty."

After the incident with [Truth], Li Fan's mood was truly far from good.

And coincidentally, the people of the Shuo Star Sea had come knocking on his door themselves.

In the unseen workings of fate, their miserable fate that awaited them had already been determined.

Of course, the group of True Immortals did not realize this at all.

They were still immersed in the shock of having arrived in the Immortal Domain for the first time.