My Longevity Simulation - Chapter 1275: Scenes of the Former Immortal Realm
Along with the countless mirrors that appeared, there were also many faces of Mo Rubin, each with different expressions.
They hid behind the dark and blurry mirror surfaces, collectively peering at the Faceless Holy Emperor in the field.
With Li Ping as the center point, the mirrors corresponded to each other in pairs. Points of light shot out from one mirror and projected onto the opposite one.
The resulting lines of light were like tangible shackles, imposed upon Li Ping.
One after another, these lines appeared within the mirror world like heavy chains, accelerating the process of dragging Li Ping into the “real” world.
The Faceless Holy Emperor, now fully revealed and surrounded by layers of mirrors, showed little panic.
He looked at the “lines” on his body, both intangible and tangible, and reached out to touch them.
However, they were like illusory phantoms, passing through his palm before once again tightly binding around his body.
“Utterly foolish!”
For some reason, this action seemed to anger Mo Rubin. With a furious shout, the lines that had originally been like bright light suddenly turned pitch black.
Rustling whispers emanated from these black chains. One could even vaguely see faces resembling Mo Rubin drifting across their surface, wailing.
“Hiss, hiss, hiss…”
The black chains carried a dark corrosive power. In an instant, the clothes on Li Ping’s body were completely dissolved. Just as they were about to touch his skin, a dazzling golden radiance suddenly erupted.
A sharply contoured golden armor descended abruptly, completely enveloping the Holy Emperor’s massive body of three zhang and three chi.
Beneath the surface of the armor, golden light flowed continuously, as if it possessed its own spirit. The golden radiance formed a protective barrier, blocking all corrosion from the black chains.
Li Ping extended his right hand, grabbed the chains wrapped around him, and then pulled fiercely. The sound of mirrors shattering rang out continuously.
At his chest, a vortex suddenly formed.
Li Ping stuffed the torn black chains into the vortex.
Boom, boom!
Like blazing flames, the vortex seemed to be fueled, releasing a soul-shaking brilliance. Meanwhile, from the burning black chains, countless faces of Mo Rubin emitted vicious curses in unison.
“So these are the personalities of the cultivators you devoured.”
As the vortex in his chest continued to consume the black chains, the Holy Emperor gleaned the origin of those resentful faces from the images flooding his mind.
“Instead of properly cultivating the Nine Revolutions Immortal Soul, you chose this crooked path.” Li Ping shook his head with slight regret.
These words seemed to touch Mo Rubin’s sore point. His figure instantly became like it was drenched in thick black ink, dark and heavy.
A fissure appeared between him and Li Ping.
It was a mirror that reflected reality and illusion.
Mo Rubin and Li Ping stood facing each other from opposite sides of the mirror.
The moment this fissure appeared, Li Ping suddenly felt that the Mo Rubin on the other side seemed to have disappeared. What he saw was merely a projection formed on the opposite side of the mirror based on his own existence.
With a thought, Li Ping, protected by golden armor, instantly appeared a hundred li away, leaving the ruins of the Purple Heaven Sect.
However, he soon discovered something extremely strange. The fissure before him had also teleported along with him, maintaining the same relative position.
Mo Rubin continued to grin viciously from the other side of the mirror, staring coldly at him. It was as if some mysterious force had locked Li Ping and Mo Rubin together. No matter how he moved, he could not escape.
Even more terrifying, Li Ping vaguely sensed that Mo Rubin’s appearance and aura on the other side of the mirror were quietly changing. His body was slowly expanding, and his facial features were becoming increasingly blurred.
Mo Rubin was transforming into the Faceless Holy Emperor.
“A crooked path? Truly ignorant and fearless!”
“What is evil? What is righteous? Neither exists. Only immortality is eternal!”
“The Innumerable Calamities Undying Demon Heart Immortal Art is not something you can judge!”
Mo Rubin laughed loudly, full of mockery. “Now become me!”
The objects on both sides of the mirror became increasingly similar. The distance between the Holy Emperor and Mo Rubin gradually shrank.
Just as he was about to completely slip to the other side of the mirror, Li Ping suddenly removed his golden armor.
He stared coldly at Mo Rubin in the distance. “Become me?”
“You think you can?”
“I am the Holy Emperor ordained by destiny.”
Purple gold fortune appeared from the void, like a dreamlike veil, instantly weaving into an auspicious cloud dragon robe that draped itself over Li Ping.
The voice of the Faceless Holy Emperor resounded like thunder from the nine heavens on one side of the mirror.
The roaring echoes stirred ripples even in the fissure that separated reality and illusion.
“I am also the Heavenly Dao of Xuanhuang!”
“The fate of billions of living beings rests upon me, the source of revival in the Darkest Star Sea!”
“You wish to become me?”
With each word spoken by the Holy Emperor, it was like a towering wave crashing violently against the mirror fissure.
Creaking sounds of strain could be faintly heard. The world on the other side of the mirror began to show cracks.
It seemed as if it could collapse at any moment.
“Are you worthy?” Li Ping asked coldly.
Like a stone stirring a thousand waves, Mo Rubin’s expression finally changed. He broke free from his imitation of the Faceless Holy Emperor.
Behind Li Ping, he seemed to see a miniature image of the entire Xuanhuang Realm. Beyond that faint Xuanhuang glow, there even seemed to be an even more brilliant starry river hidden.
In an instant, heaven and earth overturned.
The weight of the world pressed down upon him.
Crack!
The fissure mirror shattered. Like a chain reaction, the countless mirrors sealing the space around them exploded into fragments.
Mo Rubin spat out a mouthful of blood, but his reaction was extremely swift. Using the disturbance caused by the shattering mirrors, his figure turned illusory and he appeared a thousand li away in an instant.
“The Heavenly Dao of Xuanhuang?”
“How is that possible?”
Mo Rubin’s face was filled with disbelief.
His expression suddenly changed again. “Damn Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao is indeed unreliable. I must hurry.”
While he was muttering to himself, a tall figure quietly blocked his path ahead.
“You have not answered my question, and you already want to leave?”
A trace of wariness flashed in Mo Rubin’s eyes. He snorted coldly. “What destined Holy Emperor, what incarnation of Heavenly Dao, just a pawn.”
“If you do not want to die, we might as well cooperate. What do you say?”
“You may be strong, but compared to Brother Xuanyuan, you are still inferior. Even he was ambushed and met with misfortune. You certainly will not avoid it either.”
Mo Rubin’s words stirred Li Ping’s thoughts, and he halted his attack. But after Mo Rubin finished speaking, Li Ping’s expression suddenly changed.
He reached out to grab Mo Rubin in front of him, but that figure burst apart like a bubble and scattered in the air.
It was merely a diversion. The real Mo Rubin had already escaped somewhere unknown right under Li Ping’s nose.
The Holy Emperor did not feel anger at being deceived.
“A true immortal art is indeed extraordinary.”
“Innumerable Calamities Undying Demon Heart Immortal Art…”
“No, that is not right.”
After pondering for a moment, Li Ping looked at the sleeping Cat Treasure on his shoulder.
During the brief battle just now, the opponent did not seem to notice Cat Treasure’s existence.
Moreover, that killing move capable of copying and replacing had not reflected Cat Treasure at all.
“It does not attract Cat Treasure’s interest. It seems this so called immortal art is somewhat unworthy of its name.”
Although Mo Rubin had escaped for now, he had not truly escaped Li Ping’s control. While Mo Rubin attempted to replace Li Ping, Li Ping was also gradually pulling him into the net of source power essence.
Even if he temporarily broke free, by following the broken yet still lingering golden threads in the air, Li Ping could trace him back to his location.
Within his perception, Mo Rubin was still fleeing rapidly. Li Ping did not rush to catch up. Instead, he intended to cast a long line to catch a big fish.
“What he said just now is hard to distinguish between truth and falsehood. But one thing is certain, he will definitely go to find the Xuantian King.”
“Or something related to the Xuantian Sect of the past.”
“I will just wait.”
Li Ping knew that dealing with an existence like Mo Rubin, who had survived since ancient times, required sufficient patience.
Moreover, the battle just now had given the Holy Emperor a concrete understanding of the strange techniques of the Xuantian Sect.
With preparation, the next encounter would not allow him to escape so easily.
The fluctuations from the recent battle seemed to have attracted the attention of other experts.
People from the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance might arrive soon to investigate, so Li Ping prepared to leave.
“I did not expect Mo Rubin to be hiding within the ruins of the Purple Heaven Sect.”
“According to the records on the Stone Tablet, after the Ten Great Immortal Sects destroyed the Xuantian Sect, they searched almost the entire world to eliminate future trouble. Large and small sects were all investigated. The Purple Heaven Sect was thoroughly examined back then, yet he still managed to evade them.”
“The techniques of the Xuantian Sect, regardless of their power, are indeed strange and difficult to guard against.”
“They are unlike the orthodox immortal path.”
Li Ping evaluated silently.
His divine sense swept across the Purple Heaven Sect ruins a thousand miles away, and the faceless Holy Emperor’s figure gradually disappeared into the air.
But in the next moment, Li Ping appeared again.
“Hmm?”
Because in that brief moment of thought, he noticed something unusual.
His perspective suddenly rose, and a miniature map of the Xuanhuang Realm appeared before his eyes.
“This place is Langlang Prefecture of the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance. A thousand years ago, it was part of the original Xuanhuang Realm.”
“The Xuanhuang Realm was dismantled and transformed. This Langlang Prefecture was formed by merging with other cultivation worlds.”
“But…”
Li Ping’s expression gradually became serious.
“A piece of the original Xuanhuang Realm puzzle is missing.”
With his grasp of the Genesis Stone Tablet’s information and his close connection to the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, while reconstructing the process of the original Xuanhuang Realm being dismantled and reorganized, Li Ping vaguely sensed that a large region once belonging to the Purple Heaven Sect had disappeared from the new map.
Or rather, it had not disappeared.
It still existed somewhere within the current Xuanhuang Realm.
“But I have been affected by some kind of force, causing me to subconsciously ignore its existence.”
After reaching this conclusion, Li Ping’s aura suddenly turned solemn.
The maps of the original and current Xuanhuang Realm continuously separated, reorganized, and compared within his mind.
After a long while, he finally located another region that once belonged to the Purple Heaven Sect.
It was now the area of Taihua Prefecture, Mount Taixu.
“What is there…”
Li Ping did not immediately investigate. Instead, he first considered the force that could influence him.
Scenes from the past flashed through his mind.
The Holy Emperor vaguely realized something.
Yet Li Ping, very rarely, hesitated. He stood still in the air for a long time before finally making a decision.
“No matter what the truth is, if I do not have the courage to face it…”
“How can I save the Xuanhuang Realm?”
The Holy Emperor shook his head slightly, and his figure moved.
Not long after, he arrived at Mount Taixu.
However, the secret he discovered here differed somewhat from his expectations.
In the deep valley beneath Mount Taixu, Li Ping found an underground chamber buried in mud.
The aura emanating from the chamber made even him, an incarnation of Heavenly Dao, feel uneasy.
What concerned him even more was that the Cat Treasure on his shoulder, which had been sleeping, suddenly woke up and looked around.
As if it had found something delicious, Li Ping could feel extreme excitement from it.
But after locking onto the target, Cat Treasure suddenly lost all motivation like a deflated balloon.
It lazily fell back into sleep.
However, Li Ping’s attention never left the target.
“What is this…”
A statue.
Like him, it had no face.
Although it appeared like an ordinary object with no spiritual fluctuation, Li Ping felt unprecedented pressure from it.
Even when facing the lingering calamities in the Darkest Star Sea before, he had not felt like this.
The faceless statue seemed to possess a mysterious power.
Li Ping slowly approached it. Two void like faces confronted each other across space.
For some reason, a sudden impulse arose in Li Ping’s heart.
He wanted to communicate with this statue.
Within the Derivation Law Jade space.
Li Fan’s aura suddenly stalled slightly.
The images he could originally sense from the Holy Emperor clone had already become extremely blurry.
However, after the Holy Emperor, by a twist of fate, once again discovered the stone statue of the Faceless True Immortal buried beneath Mount Taixu, this connection became clear once more, influenced by an instinctive perception of a fatal crisis.
Li Fan closed his eyes and concentrated, attempting to alter the intentions of his clone.
Although he could escape from the True Immortal Net once, he could escape a second time as well.
But needing multiple lifetimes of reincarnation to completely break free was ultimately troublesome. It was best to avoid it if possible.
However, the Holy Emperor’s will was unexpectedly resolute.
Perhaps he had sensed something from that equally void like face.
He still walked step by step toward the stone statue of the Faceless True Immortal.
Standing before the statue, he remained motionless.
At this moment, even though the Holy Emperor was his clone, Li Fan could not determine what he was thinking.
“So this is the Xuantian Immortal.”
After a long time, Li Ping found the origin of this statue within the records of the Genesis Stone Tablet.
The Faceless True Immortal worshipped by the Xuantian Sect.
Li Ping touched his own void like face, his aura fluctuating continuously.
“Interesting.”
Li Ping could not determine whether he truly had any connection with this Faceless True Immortal.
However, he could vaguely sense the extraordinary nature of this statue.
Being extremely cautious, he did not choose to touch it himself.
Li Ping mobilized an ordinary Holy Army puppet and moved the statue into the dark void outside the Great Qi small world.
He set up layer upon layer of formations, sealing the statue.
Only after the sense of crisis in his heart gradually faded did he stop.
The reason he acted so cautiously was because, during this period of contact with the statue, he had already confirmed a sense of familiarity.
And the source of this familiarity was not merely because the statue was eerily also faceless like him.
More importantly, it came from a certain image.
An image he had sensed from the immense will at the origin of the star sea while he was at the center of the Darkest Star Sea.
“What does it have to do with me. What does it have to do with me.”
Within that unrestrained, mad laughter, the gradually fading figure. It was strikingly similar to the feeling given by this statue and himself.
“Is it the same person, or not.”
It was merely a fleeting glimpse, and Li Ping could not confirm it.
“If I have the chance, I will go to the center of the star sea again.”
“If that vast star sea will personally identifies it, I should be able to clarify everything.”
This thought flashed through Li Ping’s mind.
“Perhaps I can try again. However, the reserves of Voidbright Flow Crystals have already been mostly consumed in the previous operation. And…”
Li Fan once again looked toward the faceless stone statue in the void, sealed by layers of formations.
Though it had no eyes, it seemed to be staring at him.
“If the culprit back then was truly this Faceless True Immortal, and if I am implicated by the enraged will of the star sea, then even if only a puppet body goes there, my main body here would likely also be affected.”
“Compared to the entire Darkest Star Sea, the Xuanhuang Realm is truly like a drop in the ocean.”
Before Li Ping’s eyes, an image suddenly flashed of the Xuanhuang Realm being torn apart in an instant by violent energy.
He could not help but suppress his earlier thoughts.
After a long silence, the Holy Emperor’s figure disappeared. When he appeared again, he placed another object beside the statue of the Faceless True Immortal.
It was the relic of the First Origin Sect that he had previously retrieved and sealed from beneath the Great Rift Valley in Fuguang Prefecture.
The relic itself was ordinary, but the remains of the Grand Mage within it, as well as the hidden obliterating wind calamity, forced even the Holy Emperor to treat it with caution.
The First Origin Sect relic and the statue of the Faceless True Immortal faced each other across the void.
A faint premonition arose in Li Ping’s heart.
If there were no formation seals separating them…
A terrifying catastrophe would likely erupt on the spot.
“Immortal…”
The arrogant laughter of “what does it have to do with me” seemed to echo faintly in Li Ping’s ears.
He snorted coldly and once again cast thousands of formation seals. Reinforcing the prison that confined the two.
These unstable factors buried within the Xuanhuang Realm would make him uneasy no matter where they were placed. Only by personally guarding them could he feel secure.
With this thought, Li Ping continued tirelessly strengthening the formation seals.
On his shoulder, Cat Treasure had awakened at some unknown time.
Its clear eyes stared into the void ahead. It raised its paw to its mouth and licked it.
…
On Li Fan’s main body’s side, he could not help but let out a sigh of relief.
As the faceless True Immortal statue was sealed, the connection between him and his clone once again became blurred.
It was even weaker than before.
“Has the Holy Emperor clone become more vigilant?”
Li Fan shook his head inwardly, not particularly concerned.
“However, this matter is also a reminder to me.”
“Although I myself am hiding here and can calmly observe the great changes of the Xuanhuang world, the Holy Emperor, as the protagonist of this era, is bound to confront those transcendent existences.”
“It is not impossible that, like the True Immortal of the Immortal Ruins before, they might trace the connection between the clone and the main body and find me.”
“Yes… I still need to make some preparations.”
However, being in a core region of the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance, his actions were not entirely free, and he needed to plan carefully over the long term.
“You big idiot!” While he was thinking, he vaguely sensed the little girl spirit of the Derivation Law Jade calling out continuously to the simulated personality.
With a thought, he replaced it once again and appeared inside the sphere of character light.
“Seriously, I called you for so long before you responded.” The little girl pouted, clearly displeased.
“Are you already done sleeping?” Li Fan did not answer directly, instead asking with some surprise.
The little girl put her hands on her hips. “It has not been that long, how could it be enough!”
“But while I was dreaming, I remembered some things from before.”
“See if it is helpful to you!”
The little girl clapped her hands, and the scene within the light sphere suddenly changed.
On a boundless grassland, a lone stone stood by itself.
Suddenly, the earth began to tremble.
Large patches of green grass, as if stimulated by something, began to grow wildly.
In an instant, they became taller than a person.
They even lifted the lone stone off the ground.
An arc of light suddenly appeared in the sky.
The arc was seven colored, and within it one could vaguely see lightning flashing and storms gathering.
Around the seven colored arc, space occasionally showed strange distortions, as if some invisible transparent object had appeared there.
More and more of these unseen things gathered, surrounding the arc, as if waiting for something.
The wind and thunder grew increasingly violent. The rolling black clouds even showed signs of penetrating the arc of light.
Although from outside the arc the storm already seemed terrifying, when it spread beyond the arc, its true horror was revealed.
A pitch black bolt of lightning suddenly struck down from the arc toward the ground.
Boom, boom, boom.
The world was split into two, space was torn into deep fissures that could not heal for a long time, and on the grassland, the endless green grass was ignited. A raging fire spread rapidly.
But immediately after, an even more bizarre scene appeared.
The ashes from the burning fell one after another, turning into nourishment for the green leaves. The grass began to grow wildly again, its growth speed actually offsetting the speed at which it was being burned.
The grassland trembled. Beneath the blazing fire, it seemed that something was awakening.
Meanwhile, high in the sky, the unseen beings around the arc of light paid no attention to what was happening below.
They only gathered more tightly toward the inside of the arc.
They even began to clash over positions.
Massive rumbling and collision sounds rang out continuously.
The storm brewed to its peak, then suddenly fell into stillness. The rolling black clouds vanished in an instant.
Within the seven colored arc, under a clear sky stretching for thousands of miles, an extremely profound character suddenly appeared.
At the moment the character appeared, it was as if the supreme sound of the Great Dao echoed between heaven and earth.
Colorful auspicious clouds continuously came from the horizon, converging toward the character.
A gentle drizzle began to fall from the sky. The raindrops, like the clouds above, shone in captivating seven colored hues.
The rift in the heavens and earth was repaired.
The flames on the grassland were also extinguished as the raindrops fell.
The continuous green grass greedily absorbed the heavenly sweet rain, yet their bodies kept shrinking.
A seven colored radiance lit up, and figures of various shapes were born within it.
But the roaring sounds of battle high in the sky seemed to grow even louder.
However, the memories of the Derivation Law Jade were nearing their end.
The surrounding scenes gradually became blurred and indistinct. Only the lone stone on the grassland could be seen, slowly dissolving under the rain.
…
As the scene faded, Li Fan returned once more to the character light sphere of the Derivation Law Jade.
Yet he remained immersed in the scene he had just witnessed, unable to pull himself away.
“Well, how was it? Did you find any clues?” the Derivation Law Jade asked expectantly.
After savoring the scene for a long while, Li Fan finally asked, “Those raindrops, could they be what you called Immortal Melody Jade Dew?”
The Derivation Law Jade raised her head and placed her hands on her hips, speaking with full confidence, “It should be that. Ever since I was born, this memory has been in my mind. But as I slowly grew up, I forgot it.”
“Luckily I had a good long sleep before, otherwise who knows when I would have remembered it again.”
“I have a feeling that if I can get a bit more of that thing…”
Li Fan interrupted her wandering thoughts.
“What about the characters within that seven colored light arc?”
“Why can they not be seen clearly at all?”
The Derivation Law Jade pouted. “I already said it was something from a dream. It is already very difficult for me to recall this much. How could I still remember the characters clearly?”
Li Fan stared at her, trying to determine whether her words were true or false.
“You actually do not believe me?” the Derivation Law Jade said, feeling extremely wronged.
Li Fan let out a light laugh. “You are not foolish. I do not believe you failed to realize that the scene you just showed is very likely a legendary scene of the Immortal Realm.”
“Characters that even immortals compete to obtain…”
“It is only natural that you would conceal something.”
Hearing this, the Derivation Law Jade felt even more aggrieved. “I really cannot remember. You also said they are immortal characters. How could something like that be easily memorized? Besides, I was so young at the time…”
The Derivation Law Jade gestured with her hands, her eyes brimming with tears.
“How can you recall it?” Li Fan did not believe the little girl at all and directly asked for conditions.
Her tears immediately stopped.
Her large eyes turned as if she were thinking.
After a moment, she said softly, “Well, perhaps if I eat my fill, I might remember a bit more.”
She licked her lips and stared at Li Fan.
“Eat?”
Li Fan looked down. “You can eat too?”
The Derivation Law Jade puffed up her cheeks. “What kind of question is that. I am actually a person too.”
“It has already been several thousand years since I tasted delicious food.”
“This time I tasted it again in a dream, so I woke up craving it…”
A fragrant roasted pigeon appeared in Li Fan’s hand. “Will this do?”
The Derivation Law Jade rolled her eyes. “I want real food, not fake. I can have as much of this as I want.”
As she spoke, she waved her hand, and countless delicacies instantly filled the surroundings.
“No matter how similar, fake is still fake. It can never become real…”
She shook her head, full of regret.
“Oh?”
For some reason, she suddenly felt that Li Fan’s expression had changed slightly in that instant.
“Then take a look at this dish.”
What appeared in Li Fan’s hand was a simple plate of fried rice.
The Derivation Law Jade was initially dismissive, but under Li Fan’s gaze, she still took it and tasted it.
