My Journey to Immortality Begins with Hunting-Chapter 751 - Ancient Halls Draw Near, Mountain Sea Region, the Dao Fruit May Bloom on the Far Shore - Part 3

Chapter 751 - Ancient Halls Draw Near, Mountain Sea Region, the Dao Fruit May Bloom on the Far Shore - Part 3

A year later, autumn.

Li Yuan completed the forging of a second realm vessel out in the Outer Region.

This time, he dared not infuse it with a full hundred thousand years of lifespan. Instead, using the Yearscribe, he carefully added just ten thousand.

After rounds of tempering and refinement, the result was a branch-like staff.

Dark beads were strung along it in loose, uneven chains. It wasn’t exactly elegant, but it radiated a somber, chilling depth, black and cold.

The staff itself housed a miniature world spanning several dozen kilometers. As for the beads, each contained smaller pockets of space, ranging from a third of a kilometer to just over one.

Li Yuan soon located the soul fragment of Yan Yu and handed the staff to her. Then the two of them got to work gathering up the remaining mountain sea monsters.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Ten more years passed in the blink of an eye.

Working together, Li Yuan and Yan Yu finally managed to collect the vast horde of mutated creatures into the worlds within the gourd and the staff.

Back in the mortal world, those powerful cultivators who had just begun to organize expeditions into the mountain sea borderlands were baffled to discover that the strange monsters had... vanished.

But of course, not every creature had been captured. A few had slipped through the cracks.

Born of the Four Symbols’ corrupting influence, these monsters varied wildly in form and ability. The few that remained scattered became the stuff of legend, seen by ordinary people only briefly before disappearing again.

Even those stragglers, however, lacked the ability to reproduce. So after spawning a handful of supernatural stories, they faded from history altogether.

Generations later, the only trace of them would be found in old tales and scribbled notes. Future readers would look at those records with skepticism, convinced such things could never have existed.

By now, Yan Yu’s soul fragment had settled into a routine, regularly entering the staff and gourd worlds to conduct her experiments.

As for any news of Ping’an...she had told Li Yuan to visit the Underworld and speak with her main body.

When Li Yuan arrived in the Underworld, he found Yan Yu standing behind the Hall of Yama, her gaze fixed grimly on the Mirror of Rebirth. Exhaustion was etched deep into her face.

For the Primordial Earth Mother herself to show signs of weariness, it spoke volumes about the toll this mirror had taken on her.

Beside her sat Sheng'er, worry written all over her face as she stared ahead in silence. The atmosphere was heavy, like the air before a storm.

“Papa!”

Sheng'er was the first to notice him and called out. Then, eyes lighting up slightly, she added, “There’s news about my little brother.”

“Mhmm.” Li Yuan nodded and stepped forward. “Yan Yu, have you found Ping’an?”

Yan Yu nodded solemnly, her expression taut with gravity. She got straight to the point.

“The realm of reincarnation has been pulled over.” She spoke the words flatly, but their weight hit like thunder.

“It’s lost its supply of spirits. All of them are now gathered here in the Underworld. Without that essential flow, the realm drifted...and now, it’s coming closer. And leading the charge are the ancient halls. Three of them are like advance scouts for a fallen king. They’ll arrive soon. If what I’ve seen in the threads of fate is correct, then sometime in the next millennium, these ancient halls will begin to appear in the mortal world. And they’ll bring disaster.”

Her voice tightened. “Ping’an disappeared inside the Hall of Life. That means...that hall must be among them.”

Li Yuan’s expression darkened as he recalled the massive structure of the Hall of Life. He remembered the grotesque blood fiends hidden within, and he shared these memories with Yan Yu.

But she shook her head.

“That wasn’t the Hall of Life. Or rather, not the whole of it.”

“What do you mean?” Li Yuan asked.

“I carry fragments of memory from the starkin,” Yan Yu said slowly. “It’s scattered, but it’s enough to know that the Hall of Life is made up of countless sealed chambers. The one you explored was likely just a single compartment, just one closed-off cell in the greater structure.”

She paused, then added, “That would explain why you never found the hall’s true treasure, the Human Seed Fruit.”

Li Yuan blinked. “You’ve heard of the Human Seed Fruit too? Do you really think...that thing’s real?”

Yan Yu’s expression turned distant, eyes flickering with memories from far beyond this world.

“The Human Seed Fruit, Earth Yin Grass, and Heavenly Yang Blossom. These are the three great treasures tied to the Hall of Life, Hall of Lunar Yin, and Hall of Solar Yang. All three were born with the dawn of this world’s very first epoch.”

She continued, her voice quiet but certain.

“The Hall of Life was built from the discarded remnants of the Six Paths, the abandoned lower three paths The Hall of Lunar Yin is what remains of the Starkin Path. And the Hall of Solar Yang...comes from the cast-off Chaos Path.”

Li Yuan fell silent.

Yan Yu closed her eyes briefly in thought before continuing, “From the jumbled memories left behind by the starkin, I’ve gleaned that the Human Seed Fruit is incredibly beneficial for cultivating the Human Soul. The Lunar Yin Grass and Solar Yang Blossom, meanwhile, nurture the Earth Soul and Heaven Soul, respectively. But beyond those three, there is something else.”

She paused, as if weighing the words. Then, she exhaled softly.

“The ultimate treasure of this world is the Dao Fruit. One epoch. One fruit. Borne of an entire era, nourished by the Heavens, Moon and Sun themselves. But the Dao Fruit only ripens when a world approaches extinction. It is the final culmination, the last truth a dying world can offer.

“Even the ancient starkin, even the chaosborn themselves...could never grasp its full nature. Because the Dao Fruit doesn’t belong to the present...or the past. It lies in the future.”

In Li Yuan’s mind, an image surfaced. It was of that starry graveyard he had wandered through, a dead, silent realm. Almost instinctively, he asked, “Has the Dao Fruit...already emerged?”

Yan Yu shook her head. But then she said, “Among the starkin, there’s an old rumor. They say that on the far shore of life, a fruit will grow. That fruit is the Dao Fruit. And the far shore of life...is the place beyond reincarnation. A place utterly removed from the cycle of samsara. That place lies at the very edge, where the three ancient halls intersect. Whether the fruit has ripened or not, we’ll only know once we go there. It’s dangerous, full of uncertainty. But if even you don’t dare to go...then no one in this world ever will.”

Li Yuan fell into thought.

Yan Yu continued, “The reincarnation realm was pulled here. It was once a fundamental pillar of the world’s order. In theory, after arriving in this plane, it should merge with my Underworld and resume its function as the cycle of rebirth.

“How that merger happens...depends entirely on my strength. But all of this is only what I can deduce from memory fragments and personal insight. If things go wrong...”

She didn’t finish the sentence.

But Li Yuan understood.

There were two worst-case scenarios.

First, the reincarnation realm could devour her. That wasn’t far-fetched. After all, as powerful as the Underworld was, it still paled in comparison to that ancient cosmic furnace. Especially when that furnace housed both the Sun and Moon.

Second, the reincarnation realm might not follow any order at all. It could arrive unbound and chaotic, crashing into this world like a rogue meteor, destroying both the Underworld and Ancestral Land in one fell swoop. A premature end-of-the-world event, just like that.

As things stood, it wasn’t arriving quickly. The most imminent threat came from the three ancient halls, which would arrive first.

If Li Yuan could reach them in time, explore them fully, and retrieve the Human Fruit, Lunar Yin Grass, Solar Yang Blossom, and if he could then find the Dao Fruit at the edge, such an immense opportunity might dissolve the looming crisis entirely.

It wasn’t certain.

But it was the only path left to walk.

Then Li Yuan suddenly asked, “Yan Yu, can the Mirror of Rebirth show the ending?”

Yan Yu, looking utterly worn out, shook her head. “The threads of fate are shrouded in chaos. I can’t see a thing.”

Li Yuan hesitated, then joked, “What if...you loosen the seal on the Underworld a little? Let some souls trickle back into the reincarnation realm?”

She blinked, then burst into a tired laugh. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

“My husband,” she said, smiling wryly, “how much time do you think we have left?

“Isn’t a great crisis also a great opportunity?

“Even if I were to loosen the seal, we should wait until after we’ve seen the three ancient halls, after we’ve explored them. Otherwise...”

She looked at him seriously.

“You’ve spent centuries roaming the stars. Did you ever once come across even a shadow of those three halls?” She exhaled slowly. “I can’t go to the mortal world myself. But when the time comes, my soul fragment will go with you. Her experiments are well past their initial stages. If you’re willing...you can even marry her.”