My Longevity Simulation Chapter 1126: Indeed Before the Immortal

Nine Mountains Prefecture

"Today is a good day." Zhao Xian inscribed his complete name onto the golden contract right before him. With a beam of golden radiance entering his frame as the pact took hold, he erupted in exuberant laughter filled with delight.

The Five Elders Association members inside the store tucked away the agreement and displayed pleased looks, echoing his sentiment.

Throughout the remaining hours of the afternoon, Zhao Xian bargained over finer points of the commerce deal alongside the Five Elders Association. It was only after escorting them to the reception Cave-Heaven within the city for relaxation that Zhao Xian released a deep breath of ease.

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

Gazing upon the Faceless Stone Statue concealed amid the shadows, Zhao Xian's face twisted with mixed emotions, his mind churning in endless loops.

Since the Federation of All Worlds got wiped out by the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and slapped onto the eternal hit list, Zhao Xian—as a covert operative for the Federation right in Nine Mountains Prefecture—had dwelled in perpetual dread.

Each passing day left him on edge, frequently imagining the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance bursting in to seize him without warning.

Lacking supplies from the Federation, the store's inventory suffered a massive hit. Customers dwindled by the hour, nearly driving the place under. Ultimately, he groveled and hustled across the board, draining every bit of family wealth he'd built up over time, just to scrape together a new supply network.

"Good thing it's all behind me now." Zhao Xian mused inwardly.

The Federation's turmoil had finally calmed.

In the peak frenzy of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance's hunt, they failed to uncover Zhao Xian's real role. No risks ought to loom ahead.

Thanks to years of his tireless oversight, the store's operations had bounced back to stability. Lately, he'd even forged a business pact with a trading caravan from the Five Elders Association. The annual steady shipments alone tallied more than ten million contribution points.

"Even without True Immortal bounties anymore, the store's earnings should carry my cultivation straight to the Soul Transformation stage."

"With the Federation gone, no need to fork over gains; everything flows right to me. Life's easier than ever..." Zhao Xian pondered, a touch of smugness rising within.

"Truly, blessings and curses entwine; fate twists in unforeseen ways."

After one final look at the faceless stone statue, Zhao Xian resolved deep down to lock away this subterranean hideout for good.

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

"The True Immortal's grace is boundless and won't hold this against me." Zhao Xian bowed in reverence one last time, then sealed the chamber tight.

Having wrapped up these matters, Zhao Xian sensed a massive weight vanishing from his shoulders, as if he'd been granted a fresh start.

Yet while en route to his cave mansion, as he lifted his gaze to the clear blue expanse over the Xuanhuang Realm, an abrupt chill of anxiety flooded his chest without cause.

Zhao Xian placed great faith in his gut feelings, so he halted abruptly on the spot.

Scrutinizing every aspect of his recent days with care, even after deep reflection, Zhao Xian detected no irregularities.

"How odd..."

The turmoil inside him intensified. Abruptly aware of a shift, Zhao Xian scanned the folks nearby.

His initial sweep sent chills racing down his spine in an instant.

He wasn't alone in this.

Across the bustling trade hub of Nine Mountains Prefecture, right then, every wandering cultivator on the avenues appeared to faintly perceive an off vibe. Their inner worlds roiled, faces drawn tight.

A few broke out in forehead sweat, their gaits faltering.

"This..." A vision leaped into Zhao Xian's thoughts: ants swarming to new ground ahead of an impending tempest.

"Is some heaven-spanning catastrophe on the brink?"

Zhao Xian abruptly remembered how Nine Mountains Trade Prefecture first arose.

In the beginning, this area was a wild tangle of powers, nine peaks vying fiercely. Due to the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance clashing with the Five Elders Association, a mere glimpse from an Immortal Ancestor's Dharma Manifestation leveled the peaks and lands into flatlands.

That's what birthed the thriving Nine Mountains Prefecture of the present.

"Is an event like that fateful day set to repeat?" The notion struck Zhao Xian, triggering an involuntary shudder.

Logic assured him that neither the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance nor the Five Elders Association would ignite conflict anew in Nine Mountains Prefecture, given their mutual stakes.

Still, the oddity unfolding around him convinced him: catastrophe loomed without doubt!

"Flee!"

In the next heartbeat, Zhao Xian settled on his choice.

Sure, he cherished wealth.

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

Yet none of it mattered without clinging to life.

Armed with the skills he'd sharpened in Nine Mountains Prefecture through the years, he could drop to rags and rebuild elsewhere if needed.

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

With that in mind, Zhao Xian whipped around sharply. Defying the city's restrictions, he dashed full tilt for Nine Mountains Prefecture's edge.

His erratic moves caught the eyes of fellow cultivators in Nine Mountains City. Like a spark igniting dry tinder, they kicked off their own escapes en masse.

Mirroring the primal frenzy of beasts detecting mortal peril.

And reality confirmed these cultivators' instincts rang true.

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

The heavens plunged into gloom at once.

Myriad cultivators lacked even a second to scream before an enigmatic monstrous force devoured them whole.

Sensing countless presences wink out behind him in a flash, raw horror gripped Zhao Xian's psyche.

Right then, his mind whirled faster than ever before.

"Some horrific calamity must be crashing onto Nine Mountains Prefecture."

"Given my power level, dodging this doom is plainly impossible."

"The frontier of Nine Mountains Prefecture lies far off still. No shot at reaching safety in time."

"Nine Mountains Prefecture skips teleportation arrays because its space fabric wobbles wildly. Triggering one blindly wouldn't land you at the intended spot but hurl you randomly instead. You might even drift lost in the void eternally..."

"Yet a sliver of hope lingers for survival..."

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

He triggered the haphazard teleport array blueprint stored in his ring without delay.

The environs warped and hazed over.

Following a quick spell of vertigo, Zhao Xian broke free from Nine Mountains Prefecture into unknown territory.

However, the vista awaiting him brought no thrill of survival.

Rather, it plunged him into a frozen void, thoughts going blank.

As though hovering far above, surveying the Xuanhuang Realm from on high.

Beneath on the ground, more than a thousand dark blotches had clustered thickly.

Resembling lightless chasms, they engulfed all in proximity.

The whole realm appeared on the verge of ripping asunder under these voids, curling into warped scraps like crumpled sheets.

Cultivators down below, regardless of their desperate fights, lasted mere instants against the ebony voids.

All morphed into warped light streams and dissolved into the darkness.

...

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

"What in the world is this?"

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

But shortly, his focus shifted to a mesmerizing spectacle that clashed against this end-times horror.

Over the Xuanhuang Realm—now shredded into a thousand-plus crumpled parchment layers in a blink—a vast artwork materialized, like pigments flung in wild abandon.

Within the splattered canvas, innumerable visions flickered by in ceaseless flux.

And before this eerie artwork loomed a silhouette with arms clasped behind.

As if catching Zhao Xian's remote stare, the silhouette swiveled its head.

Before Zhao Xian could make out the features, his flesh and spirit crumbled under the crushing force, shattering into myriad shards.

Perished without a whole remains.

"Hmm?"

Seconds later, Li Fan grasped the reason this ill-fated soul had wandered here.

He gave a faint head shake, dismissing the intruder from mind, and turned his gaze to the endless upheavals of sky and land erupting from the Xuanhuang Realm ahead.

Those myriad dark flecks were, of course, the immortal might pulled from the Immortal Ruins by the lure puppets once Li Fan launched the realm-ending scheme, hurtling back to the Immortal Ruins.

The immortals' strength in the Immortal Ruins, tracing the link felt via those puppets, poured into the Xuanhuang Realm.

Unleashing limitless world-ending havoc.

And just as Li Fan foresaw, the instant Immortal Ruins' immortal might emerged, it sparked an automatic response from the Faceless True Immortal effigies Li Fan stationed near the lure puppets.

These Faceless True Immortals lacked solid shapes. They consisted solely of the Faceless True Immortal's origin power core, forged by Li Fan.

As the Immortal Ruins' realm-shattering might barreled toward them.

An unfathomable energy mysteriously welled from the origin power core.

Like a butterfly breaking from its chrysalis, or a bloom fading to birth its seed.

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

As if twin colossal tides colliding, spraying forth endless sprays.

In a flash, the Xuanhuang Realm split into over a thousand pieces.

Yet it appeared that this very collision of powers spared the already battered Xuanhuang Realm from total breakup in that split second.

“Looks like my concerns were for nothing in the end.”

“The Faceless True Immortal hasn't picked up on my whereabouts.”

Li Fan reflected thus.

“Draw out the realm's core to claim its soul.”

Chanting the spell, he pulled the strange ink-splash artwork looming before him fully into the Five Elements Great Cave-Heaven's spectral form at his back.

In Li Fan's sight, vignettes of the Xuanhuang Realm's bygone eras, current state, and potential future paths unfolded like a vivid slide display.

Beyond that, Li Fan felt a fierce urge to endure against the odds.

The visions swirled in a maelstrom, hinting at some entity stirring to life inside.

With focused scrutiny, Li Fan even caught the Xuanhuang Realm's plea for alliance.

“A realm facing oblivion mirrors a mortal soul.”

“It knows full well I posed as the Heavenly Dao deceptively, but chasing that faint hope of endurance, it holds no grudge and offers partnership...”

“This twist caught me off guard.”

Li Fan let out a cold huff and rejected the Xuanhuang Realm's overture.

He didn't flat-out deny it either.

Rather, he ramped up the pace of siphoning the realm's core essence.

As innumerous looming shifts and evolutions blended into his being, the Five Elements Great Cave-Heaven kicked off seismic changes.

Set against the Xuanhuang Realm's terminal apocalypse, the Five Elements Great Cave-Heaven's depths unveiled a never-before-seen bloom of abundance.

With the five elements whirling and merging, they edged toward unity.

Metal, wood, water, fire, earth blending seamlessly; the once-sharp divides among the cave-heavens gradually dissolved.

A fresh realm, pulsing with infinite life force, began to emerge.

...

Right then, Li Fan—poised to breakthrough to Soul Transformation—sensed an odd undercurrent of peril without warning.

A streak of luminescence pierced from the void's far reaches in a twinkling.

“No!”

Upon beholding the Xuanhuang Realm's dire straits, it bellowed in rage.

Then, in a surge, it bridged the immense void gap and zeroed in on Li Fan.

Their gazes clashed, both visages registering surprise.

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

But the one manifesting this time...

Turned out to be the Heavenly Doctor.

The Heavenly Doctor's astonishment arose because Li Fan, the supposed final heir of the Heavenly Law Realm, baffled him as to his purpose here.

Worse, he was ruthlessly draining the realm's vital essence.

“You've made it back sooner than I figured.” Li Fan noted silently.

“[Truth].”

Without pause, Li Fan invoked it mentally.

Under the Immortal Ruins' immortal might's sway, Li Fan noticed the True Immortal Net's hold on him slackening.

The Heavenly Doctor had spotted him too.

Thus, he quit grasping for extras and triggered [Truth] straightaway.

The nearby vistas flickered into phantoms.

At that juncture, Li Fan caught the Heavenly Doctor's stunned look, plus the abrupt gleam in his cloudy gaze.

“What did he just figure out?” Li Fan's core clenched tight.

But the world around had all but halted.

Even a titan like the Heavenly Doctor seemed to crawl in sluggish motion through Li Fan's perception.

A dense mist cloaked every view.

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

In that precise instant...

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

The Immortal Ruins' immortal might, which could shred the Xuanhuang Realm with ease, found itself quelled in this heartbeat.

Amid the stalled spectacles, solely this blaze of light resisted the freeze most.

Even to Li Fan, it crawled in delayed motion.

Yet it still barreled toward Li Fan at breakneck pace.

“The Faceless True Immortal!”

Li Fan's heart twisted as if clutched by iron fingers.

The Heavenly Doctor's menace faded to the back burner instantly.

“You've finally sensed me after all...”

“Heaven and Earth Myriad Spirits, All Beings Refine the Spirits!”

A crimson colossal web bloomed around Li Fan.

Layer after layer, thick and woven fine.

It clearly wove from myriad savage human visages.

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

The souls trapped inside—billions, trillions—unleashed dying shrieks in unison.

That searing glow brushed past the crimson web undeterred, pressing onward to Li Fan.

Li Fan had never known [Truth]'s activation to drag on so.

As the pure white blaze neared his front.

His form locked rigid and chilled to the bone.

Even his cognition started to stiffen.

Thankfully...

The crimson web did offer that tiny delay in the end.

In the split second before the searing glow fixed on Li Fan.

Li Fan pulled off [Truth]'s launch.

Every vista turned to mirage.

Save for that streak of pure white blaze, still glaring bright.

...

Anchor: 1 year.

Jieli Mountain Peak.

Having dodged doom by the slimmest margin, Li Fan dripped sweat everywhere, heaving ragged breaths.

“Is this the force of a True Immortal?”

“Even the collective will of trillions falls so feeble and empty against it.”

As Li Fan mulled this, he abruptly noticed his body felt off somehow.

At present, he wasn't seeing through his eyes, since...

Li Fan lifted a hand to his face, and his frame quivered faintly.

His face had disappeared entirely.