Chapter 579
"F*ck!"
In a short span of time, Han Yi experienced immense joy, shocking surprise, and devastating despair, narrowly escaping death.
At this moment, all Han Yi could think of was cursing aloud.
"Was it really necessary for fate to backfire so absurdly just because I gained a million contribution points?"
Finally landing on the ground of an uninhabited island, Han Yi gasped for breath, still shaken.
"Fortune and misfortune truly go hand in hand!"
His expression flickered between gloom and light.
His premonition wasn’t wrong; that place indeed held a great opportunity.
There lay the Spirit of Heaven and Earth capable of advancing to the Dao Integration Realm, along with a peculiar broken sword that could rival the essence itself.
Had his strength been sufficient, he could have slain Azure Wind, subdued the broken sword, and not only stepped into the Dao Integration Realm but also gained a divine weapon matching his power....
The thought of such a scenario caused Han Yi's breathing to quicken.
He even contemplated returning to try again.
But fortunately, he retained a shred of reason, quickly shaking his head and dismissing the thought.
"My strength is insufficient!" he lamented inwardly.
"To kill Azure Wind, I would need at least the Soul Transformation Realm. Even with my Heavenly Fortune Sutra, it would take at least a hundred years to achieve that."
"And what if someone else discovers that place during this time?"
"I should’ve known better than to be greedy for small gains. I should’ve used the million contribution points to quickly raise my cultivation level instead."
"Slow and steady—what use is that compared to the thrill of stepping into Dao Integration overnight?"
His mind churned with conflicting thoughts, leaving Han Yi increasingly restless.
---
Meanwhile, Li Fan—the one who had inadvertently guided Han Yi to encounter Azure Wind and the trapped sword through his Cloudwater Illusion-Dream Technique—had quietly departed from the Congyun Sea.
He arrived at the Tianling Prefecture.
The ceasefire was now a certainty, and many cultivators who had been conscripted to the frontlines had returned to their homelands.
The former battlefield had regained its calm, though the thick stench of blood lingered in the air, refusing to dissipate.
Looking into the distance, the land was scarred with deep cracks, crisscrossing everywhere.
The sky was an eerie mix of red and green, forming a surreal and unsettling sight.
Squads of azure-robed cultivators roamed the Tianling Prefecture, purifying the lingering resentment in the air and repairing the fractured earth.
Far off, faint, muffled rumblings could be heard.
From time to time, the distorted images of the heavens revealed some massive entity moving between the skies and earth.
"Damn it! The Five Elements Great Cave-Heaven belongs to our Tianling Prefecture! How could they just take it away like that?"
"Well, it’s better this way. Though it’s a fertile land, it’s no good omen. Too many cultivators have perished in this battle."
"Indeed, our Tianling Prefecture has suffered heavy losses this time. Many old friends can no longer be contacted."
...
On his journey, Li Fan overheard the cultivators around him discussing.
The origin of the Tianling Prefecture war and the existence of the Five Elements Great Cave-Heaven were no longer secrets.
The cultivators of the Tianling State had complex feelings about the immensely prosperous cave-heaven.
Thus, when the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance officially relocated it to the central lands, many cultivators gathered to watch the process.
Hidden among the crowd, Li Fan took only a brief glance before retreating and heading in the opposite direction—toward the original location of the Five Elements Great Cave-Heaven.
Within half a day, Li Fan arrived at his destination.
Amidst the mountains, where two peaks once met, now lay a vast, pitch-black abyss.
The once-scenic mountain range had turned eerie and terrifying.
With the cave-heaven gone, this place held no value for guardianship.
The heavily guarded area had been vacated, leaving only a few Golden Core cultivators for routine surveillance.
Clearly, these cultivators didn’t take their task seriously.
With the war over and the cave-heaven moved, who would bother coming here?
Thus, they were lax, gathered in idle chatter without much vigilance.
Taking advantage of this, Li Fan easily bypassed their defenses and slipped into the black void above.
Pausing before the pitch-black void, Li Fan observed quietly.
Unlike the utterly annihilated abyss he had once seen, this void still carried traces of strange energy.
Spiritual energy lingered faintly within.
"This isn’t a dead zone..."
Receiving no warnings from his spiritual intuition, Li Fan pondered briefly before stepping into the void.
In an instant, the light disappeared.
Li Fan found himself engulfed in darkness, as if he had become blind, with no sense of vision.
His divine sense extended like tendrils, probing the surroundings, yet returned nothing but emptiness.
Looking back, the scenery of the Tianling Prefecture had vanished.
It was as if he had plunged into an endless abyssal sea, utterly lost.
No matter how he moved in any direction, it felt as though he remained in the same spot.
This stark contrast between movement and stillness caused a faint dizziness.
For any other cultivator, such a situation would surely induce panic.
But to Li Fan, a void with only entrapment and no lethal danger was hardly a cause for concern.
With the [Truth] at his disposal, even the most perilous deadlands couldn’t confine him.
With a single thought, he could escape this predicament, so Li Fan felt no anxiety.
He calmed his mind and began to perceive the environment around him.
Although it appeared to be a void, the darkness seemed to conceal something.
At intervals, ripples of an inexplicable force would brush past his body.
But whenever he tried to trace the source of these ripples, the trail would abruptly vanish, as if it had all been an illusion.
Lost in the darkness for an unknown amount of time, nothing changed.
"The Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance must have investigated this place after relocating the cave-heaven."
"If they didn’t uncover anything, it means the secrets here are deeply hidden."
Li Fan thought to himself, not the least bit impatient.
Time and opportunity were in his favor.
Setting aside all external affairs, Li Fan focused entirely on the surroundings.
Abandoning his attempts to track the ripples, he allowed himself to flow along with them instead.
Gradually, he felt his body begin to move within the void.
However, the reprieve was short-lived; before long, it felt as though he collided with an invisible wall, forcing him to stop.
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