Darkest void sea

"It is very likely, and also quite reasonable." Li Fan pondered for a long time and slowly nodded.

This conclusion also explained a long-standing doubt of Li Fan's.

When the Immortal Ruins appeared, why didn't it directly devour the Xuanhuang World?

Instead, the Cultivators within had enough time to continuously capture the surrounding grotto-heavens and Small Worlds to resist it?

Judging from the terrifying suction force of the Immortal Ruins today, if it were only the initial Xuanhuang World, it would surely have been exceedingly difficult to withstand.

Moreover, capturing Small Worlds was by no means a task accomplished in a single day. The countless worlds of the cosmos were likely the unremitting results of the Xuantian Sect and the Ten Immortal Sects over thousands of years.

All of these pointed to the fact that the suction force of the Immortal Ruins was growing stronger day by day, increasing continuously.

As for why the suction force was getting stronger and stronger…

It was very likely because the Xuanhuang World was getting closer and closer to the Immortal Ruins.

In Li Fan's mind, such a scene instantly appeared.

On the endless Void Realm Sea, numerous Cultivation Worlds floated like ships.

Suddenly one day, above the Void Realm Sea, a black hole named [Immortal Ruins] appeared.

Its powerful suction force continuously devoured everything around it, forming a vortex.

Affected by the Immortal Ruins, the Cultivation Worlds of the Void Realm Sea were uncontrollably and continuously pulled closer by [Immortal Ruins].

At first, due to the extremely small changes, the people in the various Cultivation Worlds did not notice anything.

It was not until the speed of falling toward [Immortal Ruins] grew faster and faster that they discovered something was amiss.

Thus, just like drowning people desperately grabbing onto everything they could out of a survival instinct, the Cultivators in the Xuanhuang World began using "ropes" to tie down the "reefs" located far away in the Void Realm Sea whose positions were still relatively fixed—namely, the various grotto-heavens and Small Worlds—trying to delay their fate of falling to their deaths.

Admittedly, during this process, there were no lack of Cultivators who wanted to jump ship and escape alone to search for a new "vessel".

But if everyone acted like that, the Xuanhuang World would likely sink even faster.

Therefore, the helmsmen of the Xuanhuang World—whether the Xuantian Sect, the Ten Immortal Sects, or even the current Myriad Immortals Alliance and Five Elders Association—all tacitly chose to keep the true plight of the Xuanhuang World a strict secret to prevent such a situation from happening.

They originally thought that by relying on the pulling of these ropes, they could slowly drag the Xuanhuang World out of the vortex.

But facts proved that they were wrong.

"The 'weight' of Cultivators is probably related to these 'ropes'. Originally, the world was directly connected to the grotto-heaven worlds, but after Cultivators plundered the heavens and earth, they themselves became part of the tie."

"If they suddenly die, it is equivalent to a few thin threads in a rope suddenly disappearing."

"Although Cultivators return their Dao to the heavens after death, and grotto-heavens return to heaven and earth, it still takes a certain amount of time for heaven and earth to automatically repair the rope."

"If the rate at which Cultivators perish is normal, it is still harmless. Once it exceeds a certain threshold…"

Li Fan recalled his past life when Ji Hongdao faced Senior Sister Zhao directly in Tianling Province, using the [Tianxuan Locking Spirit Array] to instantly kill the Cultivators of an entire province, using mutual destruction as a deterrent.

At the very instant that numerous Cultivators lost their lives, even the entire Xuanhuang World trembled slightly.

"Those subordinate grotto-heaven Small Worlds concern the life and death of the Xuanhuang World. The so-called 'ropes' are probably not so easy to cut."

"Otherwise, there would definitely be Cultivators escaping along the Immortal-Severing Passage into the Small Worlds, and then severing their connection with the Xuanhuang World."

"It is not that they do not want to, but that they are unable to do so."

"As for the Empire Small World opening up paths in the Void Realm through one hundred thousand Rift Whales, rather than cutting the ropes, it is more like lengthening them."

"When the extended length—that is, the distance between them and the Xuanhuang World—is sufficient, and after the Xuanhuang World crashes into the Immortal Ruins and turns into dust, the thing pulled by the other end of the rope will suddenly disappear. Perhaps they really can escape with their lives."

"It is a pity that this process takes too much time, and the Xuanhuang World may not be able to hold on for that long."

Li Fan suddenly thought again: since the Xuanhuang World could capture grotto-heavens and Small Worlds through ropes, why didn't it tie the ropes to other Cultivation Worlds in the distance that were of the same scale as the Xuanhuang World?

Logically speaking, a complete world would definitely be far more useful than a grotto-heaven.

"Perhaps they tried it before, but failed."

"Or perhaps…"

"They simply could not lock onto the other party's location."

Li Fan's heart suddenly stirred.

As ships on the same Void Realm Sea, other Cultivation Worlds certainly did not want to be dragged into the water by those already trapped within the influence range of the Immortal Ruins.

When they understood the current situation on the Void Realm Sea, to prevent themselves from being used as a life-saving straw,

they were extremely likely to take the initiative to hide their own worlds.

Grotto-heavens and Small Worlds might not be able to do this.

But highly developed Cultivation Worlds should be able to.

In other words, anyone unable to achieve this had probably long been affected by the many worlds falling to their deaths and had likewise plummeted toward the Immortal Ruins.

Coupled with the existence of the Immortal Ruins, the entire Void Realm Sea was more or less affected by it. The positions of all Cultivation Worlds shifted relatively.

The [beacons] that originally determined directions all became useless.

Wanting to find other hidden Cultivation Worlds again would likely be extremely difficult.

This perhaps explained why the Xuanhuang World suddenly lost all contact with other Cultivation Worlds back then.

"The originally brilliant Void Realm Sea instantly turned dark. Every world not only had to worry about being devoured by the Immortal Ruins, but also had to hide itself to prevent being detected by other Cultivation Worlds."

"What a despairing scene just to think about."

Although Li Fan thought this way, there was clearly not much fear in his heart.

On his face, a faint, imperceptible trace of a strange smile even appeared.

With the existence of [Huan Zhen], wanting to find a path to survival among hundreds of millions of possibilities was by no means a difficult task for him.

Furthermore, since the True Immortal remains could still maintain a complete body within the Immortal Ruins,

that meant falling into the Immortal Ruins did not necessarily mean a dead end with no way out.

Being unable to survive was simply because one's strength was not powerful enough yet.

…

After a long silence, Li Fan raised his head, his gaze passing through the transparent wall of the Medicine King Cauldron straight up to the firmament.

"Whether my guess is correct or not is actually very easy to verify."

"One simply needs to fly out of the Xuanhuang World once more and face the [Immortal Ruins] personally."

"Thousands of years ago, Liu Ruchen piloted the Medicine King Cauldron to fly in the Void Realm for a period of time before being pulled by the [Immortal Ruins]."

"So much time has passed since then; I'm afraid that once one leaves the Xuanhuang World and loses the protection of the world, one will immediately fall toward the Immortal Ruins. There won't even be much time to react."

"Even, as we get closer and closer to the Immortal Ruins, perhaps one day we will be able to clearly see the ruins of the Immortal Ruins in the firmament, as well as the quietly standing True Immortal remains."

Li Fan extended his left hand and summoned out the control core of the Medicine King Cauldron.

"In this lifetime, before my Huan Zhen resets, I can probably put this waste to some use."

"To investigate thoroughly."

Thoughts churned, and after a long while, Li Fan put away the rhombus crystal.

"Now that I grasp all the permissions of the Medicine King True Cauldron, the life and death of everyone slumbering in the Medicine King Sect are merely within a single thought of mine."

"Among those still alive at this time, there are six Dao Integration Cultivators, twenty-three Soul Transformation Cultivators."

"And a number of Nascent Soul Cultivators and below."

"The greatest harvest this time, aside from these Cultivators, is also knowing about that hidden Secret Realm."

"Longevity Valley."

"I just don't know if it's still there after thousands of years have passed."