My Longevity Simulation Chapter 1126: Indeed Before the Immortal

Nine Mountains Prefecture

"What a fine day this is." With careful strokes, Zhao Xian inscribed his complete name onto the gleaming contract before him. As a beam of golden radiance shot into his form and the pact took hold, waves of delight washed over him, prompting a booming laugh.

The members of the Five Elders Association gathered in the store tucked away the document, their faces lighting up with shared happiness as they nodded in unison.

The afternoon wore on with Zhao Xian hashing out finer points of the commerce deal alongside the Five Elders Association. It was only after escorting them to the hospitable Cave-Heaven within the city for repose that Zhao Xian exhaled deeply, tension easing from his shoulders.

Rather than heading to his personal Cave-Heaven, he looped back to the store and descended into the concealed basement room.

Gazing upon the shadowy Faceless Stone Statue lurking in the gloom, a mix of emotions flickered across Zhao Xian's features, his mind a whirlwind of reflections.

Since the Federation of All Worlds fell to the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and earned a spot on the eternal hit list, Zhao Xian had endured life as a covert operative for the Federation right here in Nine Mountains Prefecture, gripped by unending dread.

Daily unease plagued him, with visions haunting him of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance bursting in to seize him without warning.

Cut off from the Federation's resource flows, the store's inventory suffered heavy losses. Customers dwindled by the day, pushing the business to the brink of collapse. Desperate, he scrounged and bartered relentlessly, draining every bit of wealth he'd built up over time, just to patch together a fragile new supply network.

"Thank goodness it's all behind me now." The thought crossed Zhao Xian's mind.

The Federation's turmoil had finally calmed.

In the height of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance's hunt, they'd failed to uncover Zhao Xian's hidden role. No threats loomed ahead, either.

Through years of his tireless efforts, the store's operations had steadied once more. Lately, he'd even forged a business pact with a trading group from the Five Elders Association. The annual steady shipments alone tallied more than ten million contribution points in value.

"True, the True Immortal's gifts have dried up, but the store's earnings should carry me through cultivation up to Soul Transformation all on their own."

"The Federation's gone, so no more skimming off the top for them; every coin stays with me now. Life's even sweeter than in the old days..." A spark of satisfaction lit Zhao Xian's inner musings.

"Fortune and disaster truly twist together; fate's paths twist in ways no one foresees."

With one final look at the faceless stone statue, Zhao Xian resolved deep within to lock this basement vault away for good.

Going forward, no soul would ever learn of his history tied to the Federation of All Worlds.

"The True Immortal's grace runs deep; he won't hold this against me." Zhao Xian offered a final bow of respect, then sealed the chamber tight.

Having wrapped up these steps, Zhao Xian sensed a massive weight lifting, like emerging from a cocoon into fresh life.

Yet en route to his cave mansion, as his eyes lifted to the clear blue expanse over the Xuanhuang Realm, an unexplained chill of foreboding gripped his chest.

Zhao Xian placed great faith in such gut feelings, halting abruptly on the spot.

Sifting through every recent event in his life with scrutiny, he mulled it over endlessly, yet spotted no irregularities.

"How odd..."

The turmoil within swelled fiercer. Then, picking up on a shift, Zhao Xian scanned the crowd nearby.

The sight hit him like ice water, sweat erupting across his skin in an instant.

He wasn't alone in this.

Across the bustling free trade hub of Nine Mountains Prefecture, every wandering cultivator on the avenues right then caught a faint whiff of trouble. Unease churned in their cores, faces drawn tight.

Cold beads formed on some brows, their gaits faltering.

"What's going on..." A vivid picture surged into Zhao Xian's thoughts: ants in mass exodus ahead of an oncoming tempest.

"Is some heaven-spanning catastrophe on the verge of striking?"

Suddenly, Zhao Xian remembered how Nine Mountains Trade Prefecture had come into being.

This land once teemed with chaos, nine peaks vying in turmoil. Amid the strife between the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders Association, a mere glimpse from an Immortal Ancestor's Dharma Manifestation leveled the rugged terrain into flat expanses.

Thus arose the thriving Nine Mountains Prefecture of the present.

"Is an event like that fateful day set to repeat?" The notion sent a shudder through Zhao Xian.

Logic whispered that neither the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance nor the Five Elders Association would ignite conflict anew in Nine Mountains Prefecture, given the mutual gains at stake.

Still, the oddity unfolding around him screamed certainty: calamity loomed inescapably!

"Flee!"

In the next breath, Zhao Xian committed to his choice.

Indeed, wealth held his heart.

He yearned to ascend as a Soul Transformation True Monarch, ruling vast domains.

Yet survival formed the bedrock of all such dreams.

Thanks to the skills sharpened in Nine Mountains Prefecture across these years, even if stripped to rags and forced to rebuild afar, he could climb back to prominence.

Besides, the shop's prime treasures stayed secured on him at all times.

This realization spurred Zhao Xian to pivot sharply. Defying the city's restrictions, he bolted toward Nine Mountains Prefecture's edge.

His frantic dash caught the eyes of fellow cultivators in Nine Mountains City. Like a spark igniting dry tinder, they joined the exodus without a second thought.

Mirroring the primal dash of beasts fleeing mortal peril.

And reality soon validated these cultivators' instincts as spot-on.

They hadn't gone far when a dreadful ripple crashed down from the rear.

Darkness swallowed the heavens in a blink.

Innumerable cultivators barely managed a gasp before an enigmatic horror devoured them whole.

Sensing myriad presences wink out behind him in a flash, raw horror clawed at Zhao Xian's psyche.

His mind whirled at breakneck pace in that instant.

"A monstrous calamity must be crashing onto Nine Mountains Prefecture."

"My power won't let me weather this storm."

"The boundary of Nine Mountains Prefecture lies far off yet; no chance to reach safety in time."

"Nine Mountains Prefecture lacks teleportation arrays due to its wildly unstable space. Triggering one blindly wouldn't land you at the intended spot but hurl you randomly, perhaps stranding you in the void eternally..."

"Survival's thread hangs thin, but it exists..."

Zhao Xian's mind spun wildly as his form moved on reflex.

He triggered the haphazard teleport array blueprint stored in his ring.

The world around warped and smeared.

Dizziness gripped him briefly before Zhao Xian broke free from Nine Mountains Prefecture, materializing in unknown territory.

But the vista awaiting him brought no rush of relief from doom's grasp.

Rather, it plunged him into frozen despair, thoughts stilled.

He hovered as if in the firmament, surveying the Xuanhuang Realm from on high.

Below on the ground, more than a thousand dark blotches had sprouted thickly.

Acting as lightless chasms, they engulfed all in proximity.

The whole realm appeared on the cusp of rending under these voids, curling into shattered scraps like crumpled parchment.

Cultivators below fought futilely, lasting mere heartbeats against the ebony voids.

They warped into streaked lights and funneled into the darkness.

...

"So this ruin isn't confined to Nine Mountains Prefecture?"

"What in the world is this?"

"Has doomsday arrived, dooming the realm to ruin?" Zhao Xian froze in place, dazed.

Yet his focus soon shifted to a mesmerizing spectacle clashing against this end-of-days horror.

Over the Xuanhuang Realm, now ripped into a thousand-plus warped paper layers in a heartbeat, a canvas unfurled as though splashed with wild inks.

Within the mottled artwork, scenes flickered through ceaseless shifts every second.

And before this eerie canvas loomed a silhouette, arms clasped behind.

As if catching Zhao Xian's far-off stare, the figure swiveled.

Before Zhao Xian could make out the face, his flesh and spirit buckled under crushing force, bursting into scattered shards.

Perished, body sundered beyond repair.

"Hmm?"

Seconds later, Li Fan grasped the reason for this ill-fated intruder's arrival.

A faint head shake from him dismissed the matter, his gaze locking instead on the torrent of realm-altering upheavals pouring from the Xuanhuang Realm.

Those myriad dark flecks stemmed from the immortal might siphoned by bait puppets from the Immortal Ruins once Li Fan unleashed the realm-ending scheme, hurtling back to the Immortal Ruins.

The Immortal Ruins' immortal essence, tracing the puppets' links, flooded into the Xuanhuang Realm.

Unleashing apocalypse without bounds.

True to Li Fan's foresight, the instant Immortal Ruins power emerged, it sparked an automatic response from the Faceless True Immortal effigies Li Fan had stationed near the bait puppets.

Devoid of corporeal shells, these Faceless True Immortals consisted solely of essence drawn from the Faceless True Immortal's core by Li Fan.

As the Immortal Ruins' cataclysmic force barreled toward them.

An unfathomable energy welled inexplicably from the core essence.

Resembling a butterfly breaking free or a bloom fading to birth seed.

The core essence dissolved like melting frost, fading outright. In its stead, a force defying mortal grasp slammed against the Immortal Ruins' immortal might.

As colossal surges colliding, spraying countless sparks.

In a flash, the Xuanhuang Realm splintered into thousands of pieces.

Yet it appeared this very collision of powers spared the battered Xuanhuang Realm from total disintegration right then.

"Looks like my concerns were groundless in the end."

"The Faceless True Immortal hasn't sniffed out my hand in this."

Li Fan pondered thus.

"Draw forth heaven and earth's core to claim its soul."

Chanting the spell, he pulled the strange ink painting into the looming Five Elements Great Cave-Heaven phantom at his back.

Before Li Fan stretched visions of the Xuanhuang Realm's history, now, and potential futures, unfolding like lantern slides.

Beyond that, Li Fan picked up a fierce urge to cling to existence against the odds.

Images swirled in a maelstrom, hinting at some birth from the chaos.

Delving deeper, Li Fan caught the Xuanhuang Realm's plea for alliance.

"A dying realm mirrors a soul on the brink."

"It's seen through my guise as Heavenly Dao, yet for a faint shot at life, it harbors no grudge and offers partnership..."

"This twist caught me off guard."

A cold huff escaped Li Fan as he spurned the Xuanhuang Realm's overture.

He held back from outright denial.

Instead, he ramped up the pull on heaven and earth's essence.

With endless shifts and metamorphoses streaming into him, the Five Elements Great Cave-Heaven quaked with profound change.

While the Xuanhuang Realm hurtled toward oblivion, the Five Elements Great Cave-Heaven's depths bloomed in rare splendor.

The five elements whirled in harmony, inching toward unity.

Metal, wood, water, fire, earth blending seamless; the sharp divides among cave-heavens faded away.

A fresh realm, pulsing with endless life force, began to form.

...

Here, as Li Fan teetered on the cusp of Soul Transformation breakthrough, a flicker of peril stirred unbidden.

A light ray pierced from the void's depths in a twinkling.

"No!"

Beholding the Xuanhuang Realm's dire state, it bellowed in rage.

Then, streaking across immense voids, it zeroed in on Li Fan.

Their gazes clashed, both visages registering surprise.

Li Fan's shock stemmed from expecting the Immortal Ancestor's return.

But the one manifesting this time...

Turned out to be the Heavenly Doctor.

The Heavenly Doctor's astonishment arose from Li Fan, the supposed final heir of the Heavenly Law Realm, appearing inexplicably here.

Worse, he ruthlessly drained the Xuanhuang Realm's heaven and earth essence.

"You've made it back sooner than I figured." Li Fan mused silently.

"[Truth]."

No delay—he invoked it mentally at once.

Bolstered by the Immortal Ruins' immortal power, Li Fan felt the True Immortal Net's hold slacken on him.

The Heavenly Doctor had locked onto him too.

Greed for more yielded to action; he unleashed [Truth] outright.

The environs blurred into phantoms abruptly.

That split second, Li Fan caught the Heavenly Doctor's stunned look, plus a flare in his clouded gaze.

"What's he piecing together?" Li Fan's core clenched.

But the world nearby had all but halted.

Even the mighty Heavenly Doctor crawled in motion through Li Fan's sight.

Mists shrouded every view.

All existence teetered on flipping truth to lie, real to dream.

Right then...

From the Xuanhuang Realm's countless dark specks, a searing glow burst forth.

The Immortal Ruins' immortal force, which rent the Xuanhuang Realm with ease, found itself quelled in that heartbeat.

Amid the stalled tableau, solely this glow pressed on with least hindrance.

Though sluggish in Li Fan's perception, it raced toward him at fearsome velocity.

"The Faceless True Immortal!"

Li Fan's heart seized like in an iron vise.

The Heavenly Doctor's menace faded to nothing.

"You've finally caught my scent..."

"Heaven and Earth Myriad Spirits, All Beings Refine the Spirits!"

A crimson vast web bloomed around Li Fan.

Layered thick, woven fine and fierce.

Crafted plainly from endless snarling human visages.

The scarlet web lifted from Li Fan and ballooned outward savagely.

Trillions of souls ensnared wailed in final agony as one.

The radiant gleam brushed past the crimson web, pressing relentlessly on Li Fan.

Never had [Truth]'s activation dragged so.

As the white blaze neared his face.

His frame locked rigid, chill seeping through.

Even cognition started to ice over.

By fortune...

The crimson web offered that barest snag.

In the breath before the radiance fixed on Li Fan.

[Truth] fired true for Li Fan.

All visions dissolved to mirage.

Save for that piercing white blaze, unyielding.

...

Anchor: 1 year.

Jieli Mountain Peak.

Snatched from death's jaws by a thread, Li Fan soaked in perspiration, heaving ragged breaths.

"Such is a True Immortal's power?"

"Even the collective minds of endless beings crumble feeble against it."

As the reflection hit Li Fan, he noted an oddity in his form.

Just now, sight evaded his eyes, for...

Li Fan's hand rose to his features, a shiver running through him.

His face had erased itself clean.