The Fisherman and Han Yi stood facing each other.
Suddenly, a violent energy descended upon the scene.
The Fisherman remained calm, standing as immovable as a mountain. Even his straw raincoat seemed to embody the passage of millennia, firmly clinging to him, untouched by the raging storm.
In contrast, Han Yi’s body erupted with an overwhelming aura of black malevolence, surging outward. Under the strange energy’s influence, his expression froze, locked in the moment the Fisherman had last gazed at him.
Yet, his appearance was eerie beyond words. His pupils vanished, and his face fractured like a shattered porcelain mask, revealing a web of cracks. His entire body flickered intermittently, vanishing into the billowing black mist and reappearing seconds later, as though caught between existence and nothingness.
The transformation occurred in an instant.
The Fisherman calmly picked up his fish basket from the ground and slung it over his back, striding purposefully toward the Congyun Sea.
As for Han Yi…
The swirling black mist abruptly retreated into his body after the Fisherman’s departure. Yet, Han Yi did not return to normal. He remained standing motionless, like a statue that had always been there.
Time passed.
A plain white bird flew overhead. Strange events followed.
Without warning, a previously healed wound on the bird’s wing reopened, causing it to lose balance. It spiraled downward, unable to recover, and crashed to the ground, lifeless, right in front of Han Yi’s statue.
More time passed.
A group of ordinary townsfolk, chatting cheerfully, passed by the road where Han Yi stood. Curiously, they seemed oblivious to his presence, failing to notice the statue at all. They walked straight through him, as if he were an illusion.
Strangely, there was no collision.
Moments later, one of the villagers suddenly clutched his chest, his face turning pale. Amid the group’s panicked cries, he collapsed lifelessly to the ground, struck by a sudden heart attack.
The group, originally heading into the nearby mountains to gather herbs, abandoned their plans in sorrow. Carrying the body of their deceased companion, they returned to their village, mourning all the while.
More time elapsed.
A cultivator in a green robe flew over Han Yi’s statue, his face alight with joy.
“Finally! After countless trials, I’ve collected the final ingredient. With my new alchemy cauldron furnace, this time, success is certain! The Mystic Ice Treasure Pill will finally be mine!”
His murmurs were filled with anticipation.
A day later, in the skies above Luoyan Prefecture, a minor celestial phenomenon occurred—a cultivator had perished.
It was reported that during a critical alchemical process, an explosion had destroyed the furnace, taking the alchemist’s life.
Such incidents were rare but not unheard of in this era. As the deceased was an unremarkable Golden Core cultivator, the news caused little stir beyond a few sighs of pity.
Yet, subtle changes began rippling through Luoyan Province, unnoticed by the world.
…
The narrative shifted back to the Fisherman.
He walked steadily on the ground, not soaring through the skies as other cultivators might. Yet his speed was astonishing. With each step, he seemed to traverse thousands of miles, his figure flashing as he advanced toward the Congyun Sea.
When he reached Yuandao Prefecture, just one step away from his destination, a blue-robed figure appeared in his path.
“Fellow Daoist, I advise you to turn back,” the figure said.
The Fisherman frowned, studying the man.
Clad in a blue Daoist robe, the figure had white hair, a deeply wrinkled face, and the frailty of someone nearing their end.
“Have I met you before?” the Fisherman asked uncertainly.
The blue-robed man coughed and replied in a hoarse voice, “You’ve grown forgetful, old friend. Last time we met, you still remembered me. Now, have you truly forgotten who I am?”
He added, “It wasn’t so long ago—just two centuries past.”
The Fisherman lowered his head, lost in thought. After a moment, he shook his head.
“I can’t recall. But it doesn’t matter… you won’t live much longer.”
The Fisherman’s tone was indifferent, as though commenting on the weather.
The blue-robed man froze for a moment.
“Yes,” he said softly, “I won’t live much longer…” His voice carried a trace of melancholy.
“Will you still try to stop me?” the Fisherman asked.
“My duty leaves me no choice,” the blue-robed man replied without hesitation.
Hearing this, the Fisherman wasted no words. He extended his right hand and grasped at the air.
Suddenly, crisscrossing black threads materialized around the blue-robed man, forming a massive web that ensnared him.
The blue-robed man let out a muffled groan as his body vanished, leaving only a single blue feather glowing within the shrinking net.
When the net retracted into the Fisherman’s hand, he examined the feather, his brow furrowing briefly in confusion.
Shaking his head slightly, he placed the feather into his basket and continued toward the Congyun Sea.
Shortly after his departure, a faint, ghostly figure reappeared at the scene.
“After my death, let the floodwaters rise,” the figure muttered with a cold snort.
He cast a deep, lingering gaze at the Fisherman’s retreating form before vanishing.
—
In Qingyun Prefecture, two prefecture away luoyan, another perspective unfolded.
When his spiritual senses were severed, Li Fan immediately knew something was wrong. Reacting swiftly, he retrieved a sacred artifact gifted to him by the Five Elders Association—a statue of the Manifestation of Heavenly Sovereign Statue.
Unlike the five-faced, ten-armed version used for communication with the Five Elders Pavilion, this statue depicted the Heavenly Sovereign of Sorrowless, its serene visage exuding compassion.
The statue served one purpose: to protect the divine sea consciousness from collapse during a fatal attack.
The artifact activated just in time.
It felt as though a heavy blow had struck Li Fan’s head. His mind buzzed, his vision fragmented into countless overlapping images, and his body swayed.
Coughing up blood, he instinctively clutched his head. Even the body protection charging progress of [Truth] dropped by 5%.
Fortunately, he suffered only minor injuries and avoided disaster.
With the power of his heavenly internal law domain and five-elemental energy circulating within him, Li Fan quickly recovered his vitality.