Chapter 55: Die Before Living

Half a month later, a simple seawater desalination Formation was built.

With a renewed supply of ample drinking water and food, the surviving residents of Taian Island kowtowed and thanked the Great Master for saving their lives.

Li Fan, however, was not so happy; instead, he felt somewhat worried.

After personally constructing a Formation, Li Fan had barely set foot on the path of Formations.

It was then that he discovered the island-protecting grand Formation of Taian Island was deteriorating at an extremely abnormal rate.

Generally speaking, an island-protecting grand Formation could last for over a hundred years.

But at the current rate of damage, in another two or three years, the grand Formation would completely lose its effectiveness.

After careful investigation, combined with the descriptions in 'Introduction to Formations,' Li Fan found the cause of the grand Formation's damage.

The Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth had become extremely violent and scorching.

This scorching Spiritual Qi seemed to have developed its own will. After being absorbed by the island-protecting grand Formation, it began to slowly erode the key nodes within the Formation.

The island-protecting grand Formation was now like a machine whose key parts were slowly rusting; every time it operated, its lifespan decreased.

Having found the cause, Li Fan had no good way to remedy it.

The island-protecting grand Formation was too complex, with over ten thousand key nodes, each often composed of dozens of micro-Formations.

It was said that when it was originally built, it was constructed jointly by several Nascent Soul Realm Formation Great Masters of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.

Now that a problem had arisen, how could Li Fan, a Cultivator who had just set foot on the path of Formations, solve it?

Moreover, the main cause of the problem was the Spiritual Qi absorbed by the grand Formation.

Even if the Formation were temporarily repaired, as long as the nature of the狂暴 Spiritual Qi outside remained unchanged, it would only be a temporary stopgap.

'Staying on Taian Island is just waiting for death; I must find a way to leave here.'

'But who knows what changes have occurred outside? The狂暴 Spiritual Qi rages; rushing out recklessly would also be a dead end.'

Caught in a dilemma, it seemed he was in a deadlock.

'Is this the Heavenly Dao unleashing its killing intent…' Li Fan stared tightly at the sky outside the island-protecting grand Formation, feeling like a flying insect trapped in a spider's web, unable to move and struggling desperately.

But Li Fan did not directly choose [Huan Zhen].

Not only would [Huan Zhen] waste over ten years of charging time, but without figuring out what exactly happened, next time he would likely still be unable to escape death.

Even if he fled far away from the Congyun Sea, could he guarantee he wouldn't encounter new crises?

After all, the Heavenly Dao of this world's malice towards Immortal Cultivators was omnipresent.

Li Fan didn't think changing places would allow him to avoid it.

So, unless absolutely necessary, he would not choose to give up this life.

For the next period, Li Fan continued to Cultivate while searching for a way to break the deadlock.

But the狂暴 Spiritual Qi outside not only showed no signs of calming down, but instead became increasingly violent over time.

Under its ravages, the island-protecting grand Formation became precarious.

It could collapse at any moment.

'Is there no way out?' Li Fan felt somewhat helpless.

Ending this life so inexplicably, he was truly unwilling.

But it seemed there were no other choices.

'Huan Zhen!'

Li Fan reluctantly took one last look at Taian Island, called out [Huan Zhen], and prepared to end this life.

Just then, he stopped.

Because, looking at the Mortals below gradually recovering their vitality, Li Fan suddenly realized that the狂暴 Spiritual Qi outside seemed not to target Mortals.

According to the descriptions of the Mortals on the island, outside the island-protecting grand Formation, it was just a bit hotter; apart from that, there was no particular danger.

'The Heavenly Dao's killing intent only targets Immortal Cultivators; if one becomes a Mortal, they should be safe.'

If he dissolved all his cultivation and Realm, temporarily becoming a Mortal again, wouldn't he be able to survive?

Li Fan thought of the 'Supreme Primordial True Scripture.'

With this extraordinary technique, dissolving his cultivation and re-Cultivating would not lose much cultivation. As long as he found a safe place, he could return to his original Realm in no time.

'Is this what they call dying before living?' Having found a solution, Li Fan couldn't help but feel delighted.

Then, naturally, he had more considerations.

He was currently practicing two Cultivation Techniques.

One was the 'Small衍Water Decisive' exchanged from the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, and the other was the 'Thousand Machines Jade Universe Golden Chapter' of the Ancient Tianji Sect.

One was a New Law, the other an Old Law.

The cultivation method of the New Law was to plunder heaven and earth.

Because of this, it provoked the malice of heaven and earth.

Now, heaven and earth had laid down layers of killing intent, targeting Immortal Cultivators who practiced the New Law.

What if he only dispersed the 'Small衍Water Decisive' while retaining the Realm of the 'Thousand Machines Jade Universe Golden Chapter'?

Would the Heavenly Dao's killing intent diminish slightly?

Li Fan was a decisive person.

The grand Formation could collapse at any moment, so he acted immediately, circulating Spiritual Qi within his body and running the 'Supreme Primordial True Scripture.'

'Supreme Primordial, nameless, return to the beginning…'

As the technique operated, the water-attributed Spiritual Qi obtained from cultivating the 'Small衍Water Decisive' slowly dissipated like ice and snow, transforming into a stream of pure energy that settled in Li Fan's Dantian.

In just half a day, the 'Small衍Water Decisive' had been completely dispersed.

And Li Fan felt no discomfort.

'This 'Supreme Primordial True Scripture' is truly miraculous.' Li Fan sighed with emotion, then flew to the edge of the island-protecting grand Formation.

'Indeed, this method works!'

Sensing that the Heavenly Dao's killing intent permeating the outside had suddenly weakened, Li Fan was overjoyed.

'Unfortunately, the 'Thousand Machines Jade Universe Golden Chapter' is still cultivated by plundering heaven and earth like the New Law. Although, perhaps due to the intent of the technique, the Heavenly Dao's malice is much less than before, it hasn't completely dissipated.'

Realizing that going out now would still be life-threatening, Li Fan steeled himself and chose to continue dispersing his cultivation.

Soon, another stream of pure energy appeared in his Dantian.

The two streams of energy, originally transformed from different techniques, could now merge into one without conflict.

'According to the 'Supreme Primordial True Scripture,' the pure energy obtained from dispersing cultivation can last for about a hundred years in the Dantian.' Li Fan's Realm had now reverted to that of a Mortal.

But he wasn't particularly worried.

'As long as I return to Ten Thousand Immortals Island, I can quickly Cultivate back.'

Without further hesitation, Li Fan piloted the Taiyan Boat and slowly flew out of the island-protecting grand Formation.

The狂暴 scorching Spiritual Qi raged, dyeing the distant sky an orange-red.

But Li Fan was now a Mortal, and the rampant Spiritual Qi merely howled past without launching an attack.

Li Fan breathed a sigh of relief, chose a direction, and accelerated the Taiyan Boat to its maximum speed, flying towards Ten Thousand Immortals Island.

Along the way, Li Fan passed many islands.

All the Mortals on these islands had died, with no trace of life.

Li Fan was secretly alarmed.

He sped up his journey even more.

Three months later.

Li Fan arrived at the location where Ten Thousand Immortals Island used to be.

He opened the map and checked four or five times, but still couldn't believe his eyes.

The once vast Ten Thousand Immortals Island had completely disappeared.

Only a giant black hole remained, empty and spanning across the sea.