“If the Heavenly Capital truly fell, then what exists now must be a replica created by later generations as a tribute,” said Fang Zaiji.
Although Li Fan nodded in agreement on the surface, he harbored his own thoughts deep within.
Fang Zaiji repeatedly claimed that the phantom in the Heavenly Capital held infinite mysteries and was undoubtedly a True Immortal. However, from beginning to end, this matter exuded an eerie aura.
For many years after the severance of the Immortal Path, a True Immortal unexpectedly passed through the Xuanhuang Realm. Not only that, but this Immortal willingly preached and imparted divine teachings to mere cultivators, who were nothing more than ants in his eyes.
Ask yourself: how many cultivators, after passing by mortal cities, would benevolently descend and teach the mortals the ways of cultivation?
More often than not, wouldn’t they be like Shuo Feng—who, with a single careless sword strike, would massacre all the mortals without a second thought?
For audacious cultivators who dared to intrude, merely being spared was already a mercy. Why, then, would such a being take the trouble to teach them?
Moreover, if Fang Zaiji’s words were true, then there was something clearly wrong with the figure in the Heavenly Capital. His preaching might not have been intentional but rather an automatic occurrence.
If that were the case, then the child standing beside that phantom—the so-called Grandmaster of the Heavenly Capital, the only one who ever took action—would be highly suspicious.
“And allowing cultivators from the Ten Great Immortal Sects to enter the Heavenly Capital might have just been a ploy to cause trouble for the Xuantian Sect. After all, what truly concerns an Immortal should be matters of their own level.”
“Immortal Spiritual Energy?”
Almost instantly, Li Fan, as if he were a conspiracy theorist, constructed an elaborate scheme in his mind.
Though his thoughts were purely speculative, one thing was nearly certain—the abnormalities in Yuandao Prefecture were undoubtedly connected to the Heavenly Capital.
“As a fellow inheritor of the Heavenly Capital’s Purple Qi, sir, are you not interested in visiting Yuandao Prefecture?” Li Fan asked tentatively.
Fang Zaiji shook his head repeatedly. “Haha, I’d rather not. A Dao Integration cultivator who has lived for thousands of years is far stronger than I am. If I go, wouldn’t that be like walking into a tiger’s den? Sect Master, let’s stick to our real mission.”
Li Fan smiled slightly and nodded.
After this brief detour, the two of them traveled for more than half a day before finally arriving at the border of Shilin Prefecture.
However, the sight before them made Li Fan’s pupils constrict.
In the distance, the land had sunken, scorched black. Rivers of black molten lava flowed in all directions, radiating a post-apocalyptic atmosphere.
From time to time, pillars of black flames would erupt from the depths of the earth, spreading through the air and distorting the atmosphere with their blistering heat.
What truly made Li Fan’s heart pound was the unsettling sight of countless pitch-black voids scattered irregularly across the ground and sky of this charred basin.
Like a worm-eaten apple, the land was riddled with scars.
Moreover, Li Fan soon realized that these dark voids were not completely static. Rather, they seemed to possess a life of their own, writhing slowly, or suddenly jumping to a different location—devouring everything within their reach.
Even Fang Zaiji, a Dao Integration cultivator, looked grim in the face of such an eerie scene.
“Sect Master, are you sure we should proceed?” he asked hesitantly.
Li Fan did not respond immediately. Instead, he carefully observed for a long time.
“If we’re careful, there shouldn’t be a big problem. Those void caverns seem to shift unpredictably, but in reality, they follow a set pattern. They only teleport to relatively empty areas and will not appear near existing caverns.”
“So, as long as we maintain a certain distance from the void caverns and keep moving forward, we should be fine.”
“Besides, don’t we still have the True Cauldron of the Medicine King?”
As he spoke, Li Fan tossed the Medicine King Cauldron toward a pitch-black void not far away.
“Sect Master!” Fang Zaiji exclaimed in a low voice.
The Medicine King Cauldron emitted an earthy-yellow glow that enveloped itself. In the midst of the void, though the glow gradually dimmed, it still managed to persist for over ten breaths of time.
“See? Even if we accidentally enter, this amount of time would be more than enough for us to escape.” Retrieving the Medicine King True Cauldron, Li Fan looked at Fang Zaiji and said with a smile.
“Sect Master, you’re far too reckless! What if something happened to the Medicine King True Cauldron? What then?” Fang Zaiji muttered.
“Isn’t that why you’re here? Even if the Medicine King Cauldron were lost, I believe you, sir, could refine a new one for our Medicine King Sect.” Li Fan replied nonchalantly.
Hearing this, Fang Zaiji couldn’t help but smile and stopped nagging. He followed Li Fan, controlling the Medicine King Cauldron as they flew into the scorched basin.
Li Fan carefully oriented himself and cautiously made his way toward the location in his memory.
“This is truly terrifying… How could such a catastrophe befall this once-thriving sea?” Fang Zaiji clicked his tongue in amazement as he observed the surroundings. “Back in our time, nothing like this ever happened. Judging by the situation, it seems the heavens intend to completely erase this place.”
Li Fan remained silent.
Congyun Sea had always been vast, and now, in order to avoid the ever-present void caverns, their flying speed was even more affected. It took them over thirty days before they finally arrived at the entrance of the Small World of Exotic Beasts.
However, the sight before them made Li Fan’s expression darken.
The original entrance had been completely consumed by the void. Naturally, the passageway itself no longer existed.
Li Fan pondered for a moment and recalled that when Han Yi exited the Small World, he had done so from another location.
Thus, he set out for that spot.
Fortunately, luck was on their side this time. The entrance was not within the range of the void caverns but was instead hidden beneath pitch-black lava.
“Sect Master, what if we enter and this exit gets swallowed by the void? Wouldn’t that mean we’d have no way to return?” Fang Zaiji noticed the issue as well. Just as Li Fan was about to step in, he abruptly stopped him and voiced his concern.
“No worries, I’ve made preparations.”
As he spoke, Li Fan cleared away the black lava. Then, he retrieved a thin piece of paper from his storage ring and gently pressed it against the entrance of the Small World.
It was as if a drop of ink had fallen onto the paper—delicate patterns slowly emerged.
“This is…?” Fang Zaiji squinted his eyes, momentarily unable to recognize it.
“This is a Star-Stealing Lodging Talisman. It can replicate and record the spatial node data of this passageway. Once inside the Small World, we will perform the same process on the other end of the passage, allowing us to reconstruct a new pathway.”
Once the patterns on the Stolen Star Lodging Talisman had fully formed, Li Fan took out a gate-shaped talisman seal and tossed it onto the thin paper.
Under the talisman’s influence, a faintly glowing door emerged.
“Young Master, the connection on this side is ready.” From within the door, Liu San’s voice could be faintly heard.
With a gentle flick of his finger, Li Fan sent the Star-Stealing Lodging Talisman into the passage.
“Mister Fang, let’s go. Elder Liu will handle the preparations for the new passage in the Valley of Longevity.”