Chapter 55: Death and Rebirth
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Half a month later, a rudimentary Seawater Desalination Array was built.
With a new supply of drinking water and food, the surviving residents of Taian Island all knelt down, expressing their gratitude to Immortal Master for saving their lives.
Li Fan, however, was not as happy. Instead, he was somewhat worried.
After personally constructing an array, Li Fan had barely stepped onto the Path of Array Formation.
It was then that he discovered the Island Protection Array on Taian Island was deteriorating at an extremely abnormal rate.
Generally speaking, an Island Protection Array could typically operate for over a hundred years.
But at the current rate of damage, the array would completely lose its effectiveness in just two or three years.
After a thorough investigation and combining the information from the Introduction to Array Techniques, Li Fan found the cause of the array's damage.
The Spiritual Qi in the world had become extremely violent and intense.
This intense Spiritual Qi seemed to have developed its own will. Once absorbed by the Island Protection Array, it began to slowly erode the key nodes of the array.
The Island Protection Array was now like a machine with all its critical parts slowly rusting. Each time it operated, its lifespan decreased.
The cause was found, but Li Fan had no good solution to save it.
The Island Protection Array was too complex, with over ten thousand key nodes, each often composed of dozens of miniature arrays.
It was said that when it was initially built, it was constructed by multiple Array Formation Masters from the Nascent Soul Realm of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
Given the current problem, it was far beyond what a beginner like Li Fan could solve.
Moreover, the main issue was still the intense Spiritual Qi absorbed by the array.
Even if the array was temporarily repaired, as long as the violent nature of the external Spiritual Qi remained unchanged, it would only be a temporary fix, like drinking poison to quench thirst.
"Staying on Taian Island is just waiting to die. We must find a way to leave here."
"But the outside world has undergone some unknown change, with violent Spiritual Qi rampant. Venturing out recklessly would also lead to certain death."
Caught between a rock and a hard place, it seemed they were in a deadlock.
"Is this the will of heaven to bring destruction..." Li Fan stared intently at the sky outside the Island Protection Array, feeling like a fly caught in a spider's web, unable to move, struggling to the death.
But Li Fan did not immediately choose the [True Illusion].
The [True Illusion] would waste over a decade of charging time, and without understanding what had truly happened, he would likely face the same fate again.
Even if he fled far from the Congyun Sea, could he guarantee he wouldn't encounter new dangers?
After all, the world's Heavenly Dao harbored malice toward cultivators everywhere.
Li Fan did not believe he could avoid it by changing his location.
So unless absolutely necessary, he would not choose to abandon this world.
In the following days, Li Fan continued to cultivate while searching for a way to break the deadlock.
However, the violent Spiritual Qi outside showed no signs of subsiding and instead became even more brutal over time.
Under its assault, the Island Protection Array was on the brink of collapse.
It could collapse at any moment.
"Is there no way out?" Li Fan felt somewhat helpless.
Ending this life so ambiguously left him feeling very unwilling.
But it seemed there were no other choices.
"True Illusion!"
Li Fan took one last, reluctant look at Taian Island, invoking the [True Illusion], preparing to end this life.
Just then, he paused.
Because, looking at the gradually recovering mortals below, Li Fan suddenly realized that the violent Spiritual Qi outside seemed to not target mortals.
According to the descriptions of the island's mortals, outside the Island Protection Array, the weather was just hotter, with no other particular dangers.
"The heavenly destruction is only aimed at cultivators. Mortals should be safe."
If he dispelled his cultivation and temporarily returned to being a mortal, he could survive, right?
Li Fan thought of the Supreme Original True Scripture.
With this extraordinary technique, he wouldn't lose much cultivation when dispelling and re-cultivating. As long as he found a safe place, it wouldn't take long to return to his original level.
"Is this what they call 'death and rebirth'?" Thinking of a solution, Li Fan couldn't help but feel a bit elated.
Subsequently, he naturally had more considerations.
He was currently cultivating two techniques.
One was the Lesser Derivation Water Technique exchanged from the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, and the other was the Thousand Mechanisms Jade Ring Golden Chapter from the Ancient Heavenly Mechanism Sect.
One was a new technique, and the other was an old technique.
The cultivation method of the new technique was Plundering Heaven and Earth.
This was precisely why it provoked the malice of heaven.
Now that heaven had set up numerous traps, the target was cultivators practicing the new technique.
If he simply dispelled the Lesser Derivation Water Technique and retained the realm of the Thousand Mechanisms Jade Ring Golden Chapter, would the heavenly malice be less?
Li Fan was a decisive person.
The array could collapse at any moment, so he made a decision. His Spiritual Qi circulated, and he began to run the Supreme Original True Scripture.
"Supreme and nameless, return to the origin..."
As the technique ran, the water attribute Spiritual Qi gained from cultivating the Lesser Derivation Water Technique slowly dissipated like melting snow, transforming into a pure energy that settled in Li Fan's Dantian.
In just half a day, the Lesser Derivation Water Technique was completely dispelled.
And Li Fan felt no discomfort at all.
"The Supreme Original True Scripture is indeed miraculous," Li Fan sighed, flying to the edge of the Island Protection Array.
"Sure enough, this method works!"
Sensing the sudden decrease in the heavenly malice outside, Li Fan felt a surge of joy.
"Unfortunately, the Thousand Mechanisms Jade Ring Golden Chapter is still cultivated using the modern method of Plundering Heaven and Earth. Although the malice of heaven has decreased somewhat due to the technique's principles, it hasn't completely disappeared."
Realizing that he would still face life-threatening danger if he went out, Li Fan steeled his resolve and chose to continue dispelling his cultivation.
Soon, another pure energy emerged in his Dantian.
The two energies, derived from different techniques, now fused seamlessly without conflict.
"According to the Supreme Original True Scripture, the pure energy obtained from dispelling cultivation can last in the Dantian for about a hundred years," Li Fan's realm had now returned to that of a mortal.
But he wasn't particularly worried.
"As long as I return to Myriad Immortals Island, I can quickly cultivate back to my original level."
Li Fan no longer hesitated, piloting the Great Derivation Boat and slowly flying out of the Island Protection Array.
The violent, scorching Spiritual Qi raged, dyeing the distant sky an orange-red.
But Li Fan was now just a mortal. The rampant Spiritual Qi merely rushed past him without attacking.
Li Fan breathed a sigh of relief, chose a direction, and increased the speed of the Great Derivation Boat to the maximum, heading towards Myriad Immortals Island.
On the way, Li Fan passed by many islands.
All the mortals on these islands had died, leaving no trace of life.
Li Fan was secretly alarmed.
His speed increased even more.
Three months later.
Li Fan arrived at the location where Myriad Immortals Island once stood.
He opened the map and compared it several times but still couldn't believe his eyes.
The once vast Myriad Immortals Island had completely disappeared.
All that remained was a massive black hole, empty and desolate, stretching across the sea.
(End of Chapter)