My Simulated Road to Immortality-Chapter 1666 - 1389: Xuan Huang Reborn

However, it also understood who truly held the reins in the current situation.

It began to rub against Li Fan’s palm, trying to curry favor.

"The Tian Beast is a creation of the Immortal World. Judging by its eager demeanor, it seems capable of devouring Immortal Domain Chess Pieces..."

"The stones that the Xuanhuang Realm cannot swallow, let this Little Wangba process them first!"

"Wait until this little thing is well-fed and robust, then slaughter it for sacrificial rites!"

Li Fan’s gaze flickered, and he instantly withdrew the protections around the Immortal Domain Chess Piece.

The Little Tian Beast grew ecstatic, devouring it with wild abandon.

The sound of delicate bones being ground to dust echoed constantly. Li Fan narrowed his eyes, catching the sudden transformation occurring within the Immortal Domain Chess Piece.

From previous observations, Immortal Domain Chess Pieces are, in truth, composed of numerous True Immortal Seal Characters representing the laws of the Immortal World. When a Chess Piece is subjected to external force or otherwise activated, the folded seal characters within unravel once more.

Revealing a fragment of the Immortal Domain.

But an individual Chess Piece contains incomplete True Immortal Seal Characters—mere fragments that have been severed. Thus, when revealed to the world, it doesn’t present the full scenery of the Immortal World of old. Only when all the Chess Pieces are gathered, these fragments pieced together into the complete True Immortal Seal Characters, will the genuine Immortal Domain, bearing the South Immortal Sky Pillar, descend upon the mortal realm.

Still, it remains a part of the Immortal World.

Revealing its form and undergoing transformation demands an enormous energy supply, let alone destruction. It’s far beyond the capability of ordinary beings.

At this moment, under the Little Tian Beast’s chewing, the fragmented True Immortal Seal Characters forming the Immortal Domain Chess Piece further disintegrated, transforming into delicate energy fragments that the Little Tian Beast eagerly swallowed into its belly.

Despite being recently born, the Little Tian Beast quickly grew bloated from feasting. Yet as it looked at the Immortal Domain Chess Piece—barely diminished—it couldn’t bear to let go and persisted in chewing for a while longer.

At long last, finding itself utterly unable to eat anymore, it reluctantly pressed the Chess Piece beneath itself, fearing Li Fan might reclaim it.

Stuffed to satisfaction, the Little Tian Beast drifted into slumber.

The fragments of Immortal World Law it had swallowed silently began reshaping its body.

Its shell became harder; its physique grew sturdier.

The most striking change was in the Little Tian Beast’s eyes.

Although it couldn’t open them just yet, Li Fan could vaguely sense the extraordinary power concealed within.

Even as the Little Tian Beast dreamt, those eyes seemed to remain alert, observing its surroundings. Most of their attention focused on Li Fan—almost as if it had already detected his malicious intentions!

"The Eye of the Tian Beast—quite intriguing."

"The King of Mystic Sky fled the Immortal World, gaining countless treasures. But who fed the Tian Beast better, him or me, remains to be seen. After all, what I provided is authentic fragments of the Immortal World. Even True Immortals might hesitate to sacrifice such treasures."

Li Fan was deeply curious about how the Tian Beast would mature in this lifetime.

It wasn’t due to any need for the Tian Beast’s combat abilities. After all, according to Mo Rubing, a fully matured Tian Beast could only match the Twelve Law Kings in power—something that held little value for Li Fan.

What truly mattered to Li Fan was the Eye of the Tian Beast.

In the previous life, during his journey with Mo Rubing into the Eye of the Tian Beast, Li Fan had witnessed humanoid characters amidst countless layered worlds.

These characters weren’t crafted by the Inscription Dao Immortal but were rather another attempt at "inscription."

Although the completeness and refinement of the inscription couldn’t compare to that of the Inscription Dao Immortal, the characters portrayed an extraordinarily high-ranking Law of Taoist. Hence, the humanoid characters gave Li Fan an impression almost equivalent to the might of the Shift between Immortal and Mortal.

"The Tian Beast is a transformation of the Jade Pendant. Yet its lifelike qualities make it indistinguishable from true living beings—a technique of profound mastery..."

When Li Fan previously explored the Form of Life, he vaguely speculated that the engraved pattern at the deepest layer of the Star Sea originated from these humanoid characters.

Now gently stroking the Little Tian Beast, Li Fan compared the faint aura it emanated with that of Qiu Shui.

His conjecture gained further validation.

"It appears the Form of Life is actually a simplified version of the humanoid characters. The techniques of the Immortal World are beyond mortal reckoning."

"Even its countless simplified derivatives are still astonishingly intricate..."

Li Fan recalled his previous encounters in the crevices of the Earth and furrowed his brows slightly.

"The Gathering Spirit for Immortality Array within the Ocean of Darkness conceals the Shift between Immortal and Mortal."

"The Eye of the Tian Beast hides the complete Form of Life."

"The Floating Star Crossing Formation—do its remaining two array formations also hold corresponding True Immortal Seal Characters?"

A thought suddenly surfaced in Li Fan’s Spirit Consciousness.

"The Golden Lock Across the Sky Array, Root of Heaven and Earth."

The Root of Heaven and Earth’s space—which Li Fan had visited multiple times—revealed no traces of True Immortal Seal Characters. It relied on the powers of Ancient Immortal Formation co-created with Xuan Huang.

As for the Golden Lock Across the Sky, it was already utterly destroyed during the era of the Immortal Dao Ten Clans. Now, it no longer exists in the Xuanhuang Realm.

"I must be overthinking. The Shift between Immortal and Mortal and the Form of Life are of such high rank among the True Immortal Seal Characters. Even if the King of Mystic Sky gained a fortune in the Immortal World, acquiring just these two seal characters might have been his limit..." Li Fan mused inwardly.

Returning his thoughts to the Little Tian Beast before him.

"The Form of Life engraved in the Star Sea is too vast to explore thoroughly—it demands too much time."

"As for the one in the Eye of the Tian Beast, its craftsmanship was already mediocre. Coupled with its placement within the formations laid down by Mystic Sky, it’s too distorted..."

"In contrast, the manifestation on this little fellow might be the closest to its original visage."

Thinking this, Li Fan couldn’t help but stroke the Little Tian Beast again.

Yet the goodwill he extended wasn’t reciprocated by the Eye of the Tian Beast. On the contrary, it became increasingly alert, even showing signs of awakening the sleeping Little Tian Beast.

What could be said? An Immortal World creation truly lived up to its billing. It had an exceptional level of sensitivity.

Li Fan opted not to push too hard—there was plenty of time to "prepare" this little being.

Be it mere artifacts or genuine living beings, Li Fan had countless ways to exert control.

With a thought, blue light flickered, and Qiu Shui appeared by Li Fan’s side.

He immediately noticed the presence of the Little Tian Beast. Perhaps owing to their shared nature, the Little Tian Beast’s wariness of Qiu Shui significantly lessened.

"For now, you’ll take care of this little one. Look after it properly," Li Fan instructed.

"By your command, Master!" Qiu Shui dared not relax, gently embracing the Little Tian Beast.

He also noticed the Immortal Domain Chess Piece beneath the Little Tian Beast.

Since Qiu Shui wasn’t an Immortal World creation, he couldn’t discern the Chess Piece’s unusual traits like the Tian Beast.

Moreover, endowed with Star Sea Infinite Force, Qiu Shui had no interest in a mere slice of a world. He dedicated himself solely to carrying out Li Fan’s orders with diligence.

Upon realizing that the Little Tian Beast showed no interest in his Star Sea Infinite Force, Qiu Shui’s expression soured somewhat.

"That Chess Piece is enough for its nourishment. You don’t need to feed it more."

"Take it along, let it roam freely through the Xuanhuang Realm and the Star Sea," Li Fan said calmly.

Qiu Shui visibly relaxed and dutifully departed with the Little Tian Beast.

"With that little creature’s acute sensitivity, it might uncover unexpected surprises." Considering Qiu Shui’s Supreme Realm strength and his ability to connect with the Star Sea’s foundational truths, Li Fan had no concerns about their safety.

Li Fan turned his attention back to the transparent Essence of Heaven and Earth.

After five rounds of transports, the transparent Essence of Heaven and Earth had successfully fused all the Semi-Immortal Artifacts with the Xuanhuang Realm.

Apart from the Little Tian Beast, several forms of peculiar life emerged across the Xuanyuan Land: the human-faced snow mountain, the thousand-mile dragon worm, the streaming light rainbow cloud, and the galloping giant wood.

Among them, the most noteworthy was the peculiar cloud drifting in the sky, glowing in seven colors.

The cloud emitted self-generated light and shadows, constantly shifting. Most of the images it displayed originated from the Xuanhuang Realm, but in fleeting moments, it would reflect glimpses of the Immortal World’s past scenery!

Because Li Fan had once probed the True Immortal memories and glimpsed the Immortal World’s visage, he promptly recognized it.

"It must have been caused by devouring three Semi-Immortal Artifacts."

Whenever the cloud manifested Immortal World imagery—even briefly—it experienced an upheaval akin to Li Fan’s own. The cloud boiled, churned, and its seven-colored light surged and flickered. The entire cloud seemed on the verge of evaporation and disappearance.

After reverting to normal form, the streaming rainbow cloud shrank by a full tenth.

Yet mysteriously, it didn’t cease reflecting Immortal World imagery. On the contrary, the frequency increased.

Each manifestation consumed its lifespan.

The eighth time it projected Immortal World imagery, the streaming rainbow cloud vanished completely.

Li Fan vaguely glimpsed the Law of Taoist within the Semi-Immortal Artifact, dispersing into the Xuanhuang Realm Celestial Way.

Thus, from its appearance, barely over half a month had passed.

"A cloud dissipating; half a month of existence might be long-lived for a cloud, but for a transcendent creation, it’s midway to collapse."

Li Fan turned his gaze to the three remaining creations.

The Heavenly Earth’s Fiery Red Flame hovered high above, while the human-faced snow mountain transformed into a mountain of fire.

The thousand-mile dragon worm continued to divide, splitting into two, then four. Over half a month, it had multiplied into tens of billions of small worms. Yet these worms possessed no survival ability—they simply consumed and further divided themselves.

As their diminishing size prevented effective food-seeking, the worm swarm’s extinction became inevitable.

And the galloping giant woods persisted in their mad dash forward. Leaves dried up, branches broke during the charge—its demise loomed near.

Among the four creations, only the Little Tian Beast remained in peaceful slumber.

"This appears to be the intentional working of the Xuanhuang Realm Celestial Way..."

"Perhaps it realized that the Little Tian Beast’s lifespan was too long and the process to absorb the Semi-Immortal Artifacts’ Laws of Taoist would take excessive time. Hence, it birthed such unique transformations." Li Fan discerned the underlying pattern.

"Indeed, it’s charted a new course. The inner cycle of the Xuanhuang Realm will likely accelerate significantly in the future."

"Accordingly, strange forms of life in the Xuanhuang Realm will also emerge endlessly."

Even during the world-ending crisis, such peculiar phenomena hadn’t appeared in the Xuanhuang Realm.

Li Fan took great interest in documenting these occurrences.