Chapter 1498: The Sudden Discovery of Cat Treasure’s Peculiarity

"In the past, Immortal Emperor Zhaiyang paid a visit to Sage Lord Taiyi. Although his fortune was unfavorable and he failed to meet the Sage Lord in person, he was fortunate enough to receive a scroll of scripture as a gift.

"Later, after I rendered meritorious service in resisting the Dao Annihilation, Immortal Emperor Zhaiyang bestowed that scroll of scripture upon me.

"At the time, the Immortal Emperor told me that this scripture had been personally written by Sage Lord Taiyi and was far too profound. Taking pity on the people of the world, who would struggle to understand it, Sage Lord Taiyi had therefore instructed you, Great Venerable, to provide annotations…"

Benevolent Transmuter spoke extremely quickly because he had keenly noticed that the immortals from the Shuo Star Sea who had accompanied him, along with the reinforcements from the Guangwu Star Sea, were all gradually transforming into miniature Celestial Pillars.

It seemed that the strength of the Great Venerable Wuji was truly terrifying. Among the immortals, there were some whose strength was no weaker than his own, yet they had been left utterly incapable of resisting and were already on the verge of being wiped out completely.

Benevolent Transmuter's fear was plainly written across his face. He hurriedly took out the scripture that he believed could save his life.

The Opening of Mountains and Seas!

Li Fan looked at the scroll of scripture floating above Benevolent Transmuter's head and swept his large hand through the air, drawing it toward himself.

Indeed, from the countless tiny characters written upon it, he could sense the aura of [Wuji].

"So, it turns out that you and I have some connection after all?"

As Li Fan examined the scripture, he casually acknowledged his identity as the Great Venerable Wuji and spoke in an indifferent tone.

"Great Venerable, you truly possess extraordinary insight!" Benevolent Transmuter nodded repeatedly.

Meanwhile, his mind raced as he tried to recall everything he knew about this Great Venerable who served beneath the Sage Lord.

The Four Sage Lords of the Immortal Realm existed almost entirely within legends. Even successive Immortal Emperors found it extraordinarily difficult to meet them in person.

However, apart from Sage Lord Jingfen, the other three Sage Lords each had representatives who spoke on their behalf.

Among them, the Great Venerable Wuji standing before him was the easiest to deal with.

As long as one went along with his wishes, humored him, and preferably established some semblance of a personal connection through their words, it was often possible to put the Venerable in an excellent mood.

"This scroll, The Opening of Mountains and Seas, was inspired by Sage Lord Taiyi's observations of how the two Sage Lords, Lianshan and Guihai, created something from nothing and established the vast Immortal Realm. The words within are so profound and mysterious that they seem to transcend the Dao itself. My aptitude is dull, and without your annotations, Great Venerable, even if I possessed this precious scripture in my hands, I would struggle to comprehend its mysteries."

"Great Venerable, you are truly my teacher!"

"When Immortal Emperor Zhaiyang entrusted this scripture to me, he also told me that your attainments in the Dao and its techniques far surpassed even his own. Truly, you are worthy of being a disciple of the Sage Lord!"

At this point, Benevolent Transmuter had no concern whatsoever for that long-deceased Immortal Emperor from generations past. He simply said whatever came to mind, fabricating praise without hesitation.

Amid Benevolent Transmuter's honeyed words, Li Fan carefully examined the scripture in his hands.

In a certain sense, Benevolent Transmuter had not actually lied.

Although The Opening of Mountains and Seas described how the Immortal Realm was established within the Infinite Ocean and upon the Mountain Shangfang, it also contained a great deal of Sage Lord Taiyi's personal reflections as he witnessed those momentous events unfold.

In this respect, it was remarkably similar to Miscellaneous Notes from Lord Hill Guardian, which Li Fan had obtained earlier.

However, compared with Lord Hill Guardian's straightforward manner of expressing his thoughts, saying whatever came to mind without reservation, Sage Lord Taiyi was considerably more of a literary aesthete. Almost the entire scripture avoided plain, direct descriptions, instead filling its pages with countless words and phrases that appeared meaningless at first glance.

Had it not been personally transmitted by Sage Lord Taiyi, Li Fan would almost have mistaken it for the incoherent ramblings of some madman.

This astonishing scripture seemed never to have been intended for ordinary mortals. The immortals of the Immortal Realm were also included within the category of mortals in this context. Perhaps only the other Sage Lords were truly suitable readers for it.

That is, unless one possessed Wuji's annotations.

The Great Venerable Wuji, also known as the Heavenly Capital Grand Mage, had served Sage Lord Taiyi for countless years. Having received the Sage Lord's personal instruction over that long period, he naturally understood the Sage Lord's thoughts and intentions far better than anyone else in the world.

Although his annotations could not be said to correspond perfectly with the Sage Lord's original intentions, they were nevertheless remarkably close, perhaps capturing eight or nine parts out of ten.

Judging the scripture by its original text alone, Li Fan truly could not understand it.

However, with the Grand Mage's annotations, he could just barely catch a glimpse of Sage Lord Taiyi's state of mind.

One passage described the moment Sage Lord Lianshan became the first immortal in the world. At that time, every living being in existence benefited from this achievement to some extent. All living beings were immersed in overwhelming joy. Only Sage Lord Taiyi, even while feeling a faint happiness, experienced an equal measure of apprehension. At the time, Sage Lord Taiyi himself could not understand where this apprehension came from.

Another passage described how, after Sage Lord Guihai opened the Infinite Spring, he invited Sage Lords Lianshan, Taiyi, and the others to witness the occasion.

In a joking tone, Guihai asked Lianshan, "Brother, do you know which is higher, the mountain or the sea? If you do not, then let us wait and see."

Lianshan answered with a smile, "The mountain may be high, and the sea may be deep. Yet an immortal can stand atop the mountain and set foot upon the Infinite Spring. Therefore, the immortal is supreme."

Guihai clapped his hands and laughed.

In a moment of sudden disorientation, Sage Lord Taiyi seemed to glimpse the roaring forms of mountains and seas faintly manifested upon the bodies of the two Sage Lords before him. For a brief moment, he felt an inexplicable unease in his heart.

...

With the aid of The Opening of Mountains and Seas, Li Fan felt as though he had returned to the dawn of the Immortal Realm's creation. From Sage Lord Taiyi's perspective, he personally experienced one ancient event after another.

Apart from the Sage Lords and the birth of the Immortal Realm, the scripture also discussed innate and primordial lifeforms and the First-Origin Immortal Realm.

It was an almost boundless, desolate continent, covered with countless wondrous primordial lifeforms. Some of these beings were manifestations of the Great Dao, some were extraordinary objects that had developed intelligence, while others were what could be called 'humans'.

However, the 'humans' of this First-Origin Immortal Realm were far more powerful than ordinary mortals of the present day. Perhaps because they had been nurtured directly by heaven and earth, these 'humans' could hunt primordial lifeforms that had given birth to the Dao, digest and absorb them, and turn their power to their own use.

Yet as time passed, the 'humans' discovered that this crude and straightforward method of devouring did not allow them to truly master the Dao.

Once they died, the Dao would return to heaven and earth. Nor could they preserve the Dao through 'reproduction'.

Thus, the 'humans' began to contemplate how they might truly master the Dao.

They began studying and imitating the primordial lifeforms on the continent that had given birth to the Dao. Some even went so far as to abandon their human forms entirely in pursuit of mastering their respective paths.

Over the course of countless years, innumerable 'races' began to emerge and evolve. Meanwhile, because the 'humans' coveted their power, the primordial lifeforms gradually withdrew from the world and concealed themselves.

The Opening of Mountains and Seas did not explicitly describe Sage Lord Taiyi's true identity. However, judging from the various details, it might be possible to infer that Sage Lord Taiyi had not originally been a 'human'. Rather, he might have been a primordial lifeform that had transformed into another existence.

...

"However, once a being reaches the level of Sage Lord Taiyi, its original form of life is no longer important."

"As long as it wishes, it can assume ten thousand different forms at any time."

Like Hill Guardian's Miscellaneous Notes, The Opening of Mountains and Seas was vast and profound. It required a tremendous investment of time and careful study before its mysteries could be understood.

Although Benevolent Transmuter had presented him with such a generous gift, Li Fan had absolutely no intention of sparing his life.

Benevolent Transmuter's Dao possessed a certain quality of making illusions seem real. He would be highly suitable for strengthening the Myriad Aspects Dao Net.

Moreover, Benevolent Transmuter's nameless intuition was exceptionally keen.

He could actually sense Li Fan's hostile intentions. Looking at the countless Celestial Pillars standing all around him, he broke out in a cold sweat and blurted out, "Great Venerable, do you need True Immortals to serve as Celestial Pillars?"

"There are still quite a few True Immortals alive in the Shuo Star Sea. The Guangwu Star Sea has an even greater concentration of True Immortals. I am willing to serve as your vanguard, Great Venerable!"

Upon hearing these words, a flicker of light passed through Li Fan's eyes. Only then did he temporarily withdraw the hand that had been about to strike.

Although he had suppressed quite a few True Immortals this time, their overall quality had been somewhat disappointing.

Most were ordinary True Immortals, and only two had reached the Nameless realm.

The first possessed the Dao of [Shared Prosperity].

The controller of this Dao could enjoy the various benefits brought about by the prosperity of the faction to which they belonged. They could also enhance the strength of their companions within that faction to a certain degree.

However, they themselves were immune to the negative effects of their faction's decline. Even if the faction they relied upon was destroyed, they could withdraw unscathed.

Their guiding principle was simple: share the blessings, but never share the misfortunes.

Although the ability of this Great Dao appeared somewhat underwhelming, its enhancement effect was actually terrifying. As a faction continued to prosper, the benefits could accumulate like a snowball, growing greater and greater.

The Nameless Immortal who possessed Shared Prosperity had once been a favored guest of several successive ruling Immortal Emperors.

If not for the uncontrollable Dao Annihilation Calamity, perhaps the Immortal Realm truly could have continued to flourish indefinitely.

The other Nameless True Immortal suppressed by Li Fan this time possessed the Dao of [Divine Thought].

Even after the Star Seas had been disconnected from one another by the Dao Annihilation Calamity, this Dao still allowed its user to locate surviving civilizations hidden within various isolated corners of existence.

The Guangwu Star Sea and the Nameless True Immortal known as [Stargazer] had been connected through Divine Thought.

...

"To say that these Great Daos are useless would be going too far."

"But..."

"Their overall strength is genuinely somewhat disappointing. Perhaps the truly powerful Nameless True Immortals have already fled toward other possibilities."

Thinking of this, Li Fan became somewhat more interested in the remaining Nameless Ones among the forces of the Shuo Star Sea.

"Besides Benevolent Transmuter, there are Chaos and Reverse."

"And then there is the blue hand that constructed the Dao Net."

Having already begun extracting memories from the suppressed True Immortals, Li Fan had gained a preliminary understanding of this mysterious powerhouse.

Unlike the other Nameless Ones, who openly revealed the Dao they had proven, this Nameless One, who had single-handedly constructed the Dao Net of the Shuo Star Sea, had never truly revealed their identity. Whenever they appeared, they used a body of blue light in their place. Even the gathered immortals could not determine which Dao this being had mastered.

The several True Immortals suppressed within the Dao Net of the Shuo Star Sea should have known their true identity. Yet even when the True Immortals later joined forces with the Immortal Hunters, these prisoners had not been released. They remained firmly suppressed in the depths of the Dao Net.

...

Li Fan could not help but think of the City Lord of Blissful City.

He had almost forgotten that he still had an agreement with this True Immortal.

"Soon. Just wait a little longer, and I will help you find release."

"Benevolent Transmuter is indeed still somewhat useful at present, so there is no need to seal him inside the Celestial Pillar just yet. After all, the return of the Thirteen Primeval Dao Forms mentioned by Emperor Sanmo is still a long way off."

Thinking this, Li Fan snorted coldly.

"Since you still know how to behave, I will spare you the crime of showing disrespect for now."

The Nameless Benevolent Transmuter felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders. He hurriedly thanked the Great Venerable for his benevolence.

Just then, another incident that nearly scared the soul out of him suddenly occurred.

The black cat on his shoulder, which had temporarily fallen unconscious because the Nameless One Stargazer had borrowed its body, had now leisurely awakened.

When it saw the figure not far away brazenly speaking to its master with such insolence, its fur immediately stood on end. It began glaring viciously at Li Fan and yowling furiously.

"Meow! Meow! Meow! Meow!"

"You insolent little beast!" Benevolent Transmuter could no longer bear to coddle his precious pet. He slapped the black cat on the head.

The black cat yelped in pain but showed no sign of restraining itself. Instead, it lowered its head and growled at its own master.

"What an ungrateful beast! Great Heavenly Venerable, please do not take offense!"

Benevolent Transmuter smiled bitterly and hurriedly apologized to Li Fan, his expression tense.

"Do you think I would actually stoop to quarreling with a beast that has yet to develop its intelligence?" Li Fan sneered.

He beckoned with his hand, and the black cat was lifted into the air and drawn directly into his grasp.

He examined the little creature carefully.

Now that he looked at it, the black cat did indeed bear some resemblance to Cat Treasure. It was no wonder that Li Fan had nearly mistaken one for the other when he had first caught sight of it.

At that moment, the black cat was held in Li Fan's hand, its life entirely at someone else's mercy. Yet it remained completely oblivious to its predicament.

It continued to bare its claws and fangs at Li Fan, growling incessantly as though it had no regard for its own life.

"Quite the ferocious little thing," Li Fan remarked with a tut.

Benevolent Transmuter wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and explained, "I usually nourish this little beast with infinite immortal power. Perhaps it has consumed too much and become increasingly unruly. It behaves the same way even when it encounters other True Immortals."

"It is not deliberately targeting you, Great Venerable."

"Ah, and it was so adorable when it was little."

Hearing this, Li Fan caused streams of infinite immortal power to well up from his fingertips and held them before the black cat's mouth.

Sure enough, the black cat immediately settled down and began greedily devouring the energy from the Infinite Ocean.

The little creature certainly had quite an appetite.

Only after a long while did it finally eat its fill.

However, Li Fan was somewhat surprised. He had assumed that once he had fed the black cat, it would become a little more obedient.

Unexpectedly, the ungrateful beast turned hostile again in an instant and resumed growling at him.

Seeing Li Fan's expression gradually darken, Benevolent Transmuter inwardly groaned. Trembling with apprehension, he hurriedly explained, "This beast has the same temperament as cats everywhere. It only recognizes those it knows well."

"No matter what methods an outsider employs, they can never make it truly obedient."

...

Li Fan immediately lost interest. With little enthusiasm remaining, he tossed the black cat back to Benevolent Transmuter.

However, just then, his movements suddenly paused.

Benevolent Transmuter's heart tightened again, and he feared that Li Fan had changed his mind.

Instead, he heard Li Fan ask in a distant, contemplative voice, "What was it you just said?"

Benevolent Transmuter did not understand what he meant, but he could only repeat his words.

"... It has the same temperament as cats everywhere. It only recognizes those it knows well."

...

As those words echoed in his mind, Cat Treasure gradually appeared before Li Fan's eyes.

He also saw its familiar figure lying quietly on the Holy Emperor's shoulder.

One cat and one person seemed to stand right before him.

Crossing the boundaries of time and space, they silently met the gaze of Li Fan's true self.

A detail that Li Fan had overlooked for a long time suddenly surfaced in his mind.

How could a divine creature like Cat Treasure possibly be subdued by the Holy Emperor with nothing more than a little source power essence?

Whatever the Holy Emperor wanted, Cat Treasure could cooperate with him almost without hesitation.

Even when asked to do something that consumed an enormous amount of energy, the Holy Emperor only needed to feed it a little source power essence to soothe it.

But what about someone else?

Could anyone else do the same?

Li Fan had never considered this question before.

But now…