It was as if he had glimpsed the presence of a higher-dimensional being, one that exuded an inherent oppressive aura.
The moment the figure appeared, Li Fan’s heart began to pound violently.
The hairs on his body stood on end, and beads of cold sweat dripped from his forehead.
Even the recording of the scene by the Medicine King True Cauldron seemed to have been affected, becoming distorted and blurry.
Subconsciously taking a step back, Li Fan finally regained his composure, his face slightly pale.
“Even just the recorded image carries such overwhelming power.”
“Could it be… a True Immortal?”
Before Liu Ruchen’s fall, he had explained many things.
Among them was the terrifying existence that loomed over the Xuanhuang Realm, as if it could devour everything.
But one day, everything changed.
A cultivator who successfully transcended the tribulation and ascended to the Immortal Realm unexpectedly returned shortly afterward, looking grim.
It was then that people realized the path to the Immortal Realm had been severed.
The original Immortal Realm passage had become nothing but ruins.
At the time, most cultivators were only aware of the existence of the “Immortal Ruins.”
What exactly the ruins were like, and their true state, remained unknown.
With the path to immortality broken, more and more Dao Integration cultivators lingered in the human realm.
However, the lifespan of a Dao Integration cultivator—at most a few millennia—was limited.
For those who reached this level, extraordinary talents all, the prospect of sitting idly by and awaiting death was unthinkable.
Thus, the Longevity Immortal Realm emerged.
There existed miraculous treasures in heaven and earth, capable of granting longevity.
Certain rare objects, imbued with the essence of heaven and earth, held special dominion.
When a cultivator’s lifespan neared its end, defying fate meant seizing these dominions—this was the origin of the Longevity Attainment Position.
The earliest Longevity Immortal Realm cultivators achieved their state in precisely this manner.
However, the Longevity Attainment Positions were limited, while the number of Dao Integration cultivators was far too vast.
Conflict was inevitable.
In the midst of such chaos, a faction known as the Xuantian Sect rose rapidly to power.
The leader of the Xuantian Sect was none other than the cultivator who had ascended to the Immortal Realm and returned.
At the time, he was the only individual in the Xuanhuang Realm infused with immortal energy, standing just half a step away from becoming a True Immortal.
A True Immortal represented a qualitative transformation compared to ordinary cultivators.
As a result, his power far exceeded that of other Dao Integration and Longevity Immortal Realm cultivators.
Under his leadership, the Xuantian Sect swept across the Xuanhuang Realm with an almost crushing momentum.
Apart from his overwhelming strength, he was also a master strategist.
He used the Longevity Attainment Position as bait to recruit over a dozen of the most powerful Dao Integration cultivators in the cultivation world.
With these allies, the Xuantian Sect became unstoppable.
From that point onward, the Xuantian Sect dominated the world, with few daring to oppose them.
This half-step immortal called himself the Xuantian King.
The sect’s twelve strongest warriors were known as the Mysterious Law Kings.
After nearly unifying the cultivation world, the Xuantian Sect sought to consolidate its rule, inspired by the idea of seizing the dominion of longevity.
They began to covet the dominions of other aspects of heaven and earth.
In ancient times, cultivators revered the heavens and earth.
Although they could move mountains, fill seas, and split rivers, they believed their mighty powers ultimately stemmed from heaven and earth.
But after the rise of the Xuantian Sect…
The rules were broken.
The Xuantian Sect replaced heaven, granting ordinary mortals powers rivaling those of cultivators through the decrees of their heavenly king.
Not all cultivators accepted this domination without resistance…
The ‘Xuantian King’ obtained a rare treasure from an unknown source, called the Xuantian Mirror, capable of observing all things in the world.
After several secret gatherings, before any significant threat could form, the Xuantian Sect wiped them out entirely.
Countless cultivators were implicated, and a sea of blood turned the heavens upside down.
The sects of the world, already weak, lost any remaining will to resist after this incident.
But no kingdom lasts forever.
In the later years of the Xuantian Sect’s rule, they became increasingly arrogant. The sect’s members began wantonly oppressing and humiliating other cultivators.
Eventually, when the people of the world could no longer endure, the Ten Great Immortal Sects rallied everyone, uniting the cultivators to overthrow the rule of the Xuantian Sect.
“Hmph, now that I look back, the Ten Great Immortal Sects and the Xuantian Sect are no different—just two sides of the same coin.”
“The Immortal Ruins forcibly absorb all material and energy from the outside world.”
“The so-called Ten Great Immortal Sects, the proclaimed leaders of the world’s sects, have never informed us about such critical matters concerning the survival of the world.”
In his dying words, Liu Ruchen spoke these bitter words, filled with resentment.
Liu Ruchen speculated that some unimaginable upheaval must have occurred in the Immortal Realm in the past.
This was the only explanation for the complete severance of the path to immortality.
And that corpse atop the Immortal Ruins—it was likely an immortal who fled from the Immortal Realm.
Even a true immortal could not escape the terrifying pull of the Immortal Ruins. One could only imagine the catastrophic consequences if the Xuanhuang Realm were to fall into the Immortal Ruins.
There would likely be no living beings capable of surviving such a calamity.
The Ten Great Immortal Sects of the Immortal Dao, who led the overthrow of the Xuantian Sect and inherited their legacy, could not have been unaware of this matter.
Yet they kept it secret.
Even when the Medicine King Sect attempted to breach the boundaries of the Xuanhuang World, they issued no warnings, coldly watching as the entire sect marched to their deaths.
It was utterly detestable.
The scene continued playing, showing the Medicine King Cauldron violently trembling. Ultimately, it narrowly avoided disaster.
It circled the terrifying entrance of the Immortal Ruins and returned to the Xuanhuang World.
The vision faded, reverting to the scenery at the bottom of the Cangwu Abyss.
Yet, Li Fan remained dazed for a long time.
In truth, Liu Ruchen’s decision to use the Medicine King Cauldron to escape the Xuanhuang World was not an impractical plan.
After all, the lives of every cultivator in the sect were at stake, and Liu Ruchen was not a reckless man.
The elders of the Medicine King Sect ultimately agreed to his plan.
There were fundamental reasons behind this.
The Medicine King Sect’s ancestor, Sun Piaomiao, during the initial severance of the path to immortality, ventured into other cultivation realms nearby in search of a way to ascend.
But to his shock, he discovered that these worlds, like the Xuanhuang World, had also lost their connection to the Immortal Realm.
Further exploration into the void was beyond his capabilities.
Thus, he had no choice but to return.
The Dao Compass of the Medicine King Sect pointed toward a cultivation realm called [Xiaoyao], which Sun Piaomiao had visited in the past.
To Liu Ruchen, since the ancestor had traveled through the void without encountering danger, he believed that with enough caution, he could replicate this journey safely.
Who could have foreseen that disaster would strike before they even left the Xuanhuang World?
“At first, Sun Piaomiao could ignore the pull of the Immortal Ruins and freely travel to and from the Xuanhuang World.”
“But now, escaping has become almost impossible.”
“The Xuantian Sect and the Ten Great Immortal Sects have been continuously capturing nearby small worlds and dimensional realms in an attempt to resist the pull of the Immortal Ruins.”
“To this day, even the ‘weight’ of cultivators has become crucial to the survival of the Xuanhuang World.”
“So, the pull of the Immortal Ruins has been continuously strengthening over time?”
Li Fan was slightly startled. Piecing together the information, he reached this conclusion.