Chapter 18: The Abyssal Depths Where Fish Leap

Li Fan did not care how Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi would react upon returning to the cultivation world and discovering they practiced the same technique.

At this moment, he had already settled all his affairs. Steering the Taiyan Boat, he arrived above the Abyssal Chasm.

By all logic, he should have waited for the white fog to dissipate before exploring the Abyssal Chasm.

But Li Fan was already seventy-one years old. The next time the fog lifted was still fourteen years away. By then, at eighty-five, his lifespan would be nearing its end, and he would barely be able to walk, let alone pilot the Taiyan Boat.

So it was better to investigate the Immortal-Slaying Grand Array sooner rather than later. After all, there was nothing left in this life worth clinging to. He could begin his next life at any time.

Guiding the Taiyan Boat, Li Fan slowly descended into the depths of the Abyssal Chasm. Without divine sense to scout the path, he could only rely on his vision to navigate.

Thick fog enveloped everything, painting the world in an endless white, giving Li Fan an eerie sense of unreality.

The silence was absolute. Only the sound of his own breathing reached his ears.

He continued downward, his focus razor-sharp.

Suddenly, the Taiyan Boat shuddered violently, as if it had struck something invisible.

Li Fan instantly tensed.

An unseen, crushing force seemed to press against the vessel. Metallic screeches came from outside, like steel scraping against steel.

Fortunately, the defensive arrays activated in time. A faint golden barrier enveloped the Taiyan Boat.

The vessel gradually stabilized, and the unsettling noise faded away. Only the shimmering, warping barrier bore witness to the terrifying pressure outside.

Past the Gale Layer now. Next comes the Mirage Light Layer.

Li Fan recalled Kou Hong’s earlier introduction to the Immortal-Slaying Grand Array.

The Immortal-Slaying Grand Array existed primarily to prevent exiled mortals from returning to the cultivation world.

The Gale Layer was filled with violent winds.

The windblades in this layer could effortlessly slice through mortal flesh. Even Foundation Establishment cultivators had to shield themselves with spiritual power and proceed with caution.

Beneath the Gale Layer lay the Mirage Light Layer.

Here, ribbons of iridescent radiance flowed through the abyss like silk. Any mortal who glimpsed them would be plunged into endless illusions.

Below the Mirage Light Layer was the Inversion Layer.

Entering this layer, one would feel as though the positions of heaven and earth had reversed, becoming unable to distinguish up from down, or left from right.

Coupled with the all-encompassing white mist and the absence of divine sense to orient oneself, losing one’s way was inevitable.

Beyond the Inversion Layer lay the Meteor Fire Layer.

Countless blazing meteors hurtled through this space at erratic, breakneck speeds, smashing anything in their path to dust.

Furthermore, thick white mist concealed their approach, making them nearly impossible to evade.

Beneath the Meteor Fire Layer was the Arcane Ice Layer.

Here, the fog began to thin.

The Arcane Ice Layer held nothing, but its temperature was bone-chillingly cold. Without proper protection, one would freeze solid the moment one entered this layer.

Below the Arcane Ice Layer was the Thunderstorm Layer.

Countless bolts of lightning roared ceaselessly through this abyssal stratum.

Finally, there was an empty expanse several times larger than all six previous layers combined.

According to Kou Hong, this layer held no overt dangers, only darkness. Yet it instilled an inexplicable sense of dread.

Passing through the Darkness Layer would take one beyond the Immortal-Slaying Grand Array into the cultivation world.

Li Fan carefully guided the Taiyan Boat, and after half a day, finally traversed the Gale Layer.

The moment he entered the Mirage Light Layer, he was bathed in cascading radiance and ensnared by layers upon layers of illusion.

In the illusion, he successfully escaped the Immortal-Slaying Grand Array and, upon reaching the cultivation world, fortuitously obtained a rare and peerless technique. Within a century, he forged his Golden Core.

From then on, his cultivation journey was smooth sailing. A thousand years later, he attained the Dao and ascended to the immortal realm.

In the immortal realm, Li Fan started as a lowly immortal official, cultivating step by step until he eventually became an Immortal Emperor who stood supreme over all.

Then, Li Fan shattered the spatial barriers of the immortal realm and ascended to the divine realm.

Starting as a mere miner in the divine realm, Li Fan cultivated to the Divine King realm after ten thousand years, becoming the most formidable existence in the divine realm.

Afterward, Li Fan endured countless hardships to ascend to the Primordial Divine Realm, only to become a lowly gatekeeper there.

Once again, he had to toil from the very beginning.

This cycle repeated endlessly, until finally, all layers of the illusion collapsed.

As Li Fan awoke, the myriad dreams from before receded like a tide in his mind, leaving only faint traces behind.

Feeling somewhat speechless about his ordeal in the illusion, Li Fan steadied his mind and pressed onward.

A wave of sudden dizziness struck him, and he instantly lost all sense of direction. With that, Li Fan knew he had now entered the Inversion Layer.

Surrounded by endless white mist, the Taiyan Boat was like a drop of water in an ocean, unable to discern up from down or where to go.

Just as he thought his journey through the array would end here, Li Fan was pleasantly surprised to sense an inexplicable form of guidance from the Taiyan Boat, allowing him to know which direction to take intuitively.

Following the boat’s guidance, Li Fan soon escaped the Inversion Layer.

After this stroke of luck, Li Fan no longer actively steered the boat. Instead, he passively powered it, allowing the Taiyan Boat to navigate the Immortal-Slaying Grand Array on its own.

The Meteor Fire Layer, the Arcane Ice Layer, the Thunderstorm Layer...

Though these places appeared perilous, the Taiyan Boat moved unhurriedly, narrowly avoiding one danger after another.

The journey was thrilling but ultimately safe, and Li Fan smoothly arrived at the final layer, the Darkness Layer.

Of course.

Li Fan realized in sudden understanding.

This Taiyan Boat was specifically designed a thousand years ago to transport mortals. The Great Migration Era lasted centuries; this flying boat couldn’t have made only a single trip. Judging by its wear and tear, it should have worked non-stop for a hundred years. The cultivators overseeing the task must have found it tedious to operate it manually, so they placed a hidden mechanism in the Taiyan Boat, allowing it to traverse the Immortal-Slaying Grand Array automatically...

Overjoyed, Li Fan finally grasped why his journey had been unexpectedly smooth.

The Taiyan Boat advanced silently through the darkness.

With the cultivation world he had long yearned for finally within reach, even Li Fan’s steady composure wavered with excitement.

Then, in the all-consuming darkness, an inexplicable cry echoed. It was primeval, ancient, and unfathomably far, as if summoned from the abyss itself.

The eerie sound instantly filled the entire Darkness Layer, reverberating endlessly.

Li Fan’s heart thumped, and he felt as if he had encountered a natural predator. His blood turned to ice in an instant.

The cry grew closer, surrounding the tiny Taiyan Boat from all directions in the blink of an eye.

Then, the sound vanished, and silence reclaimed the world.

His surroundings remained pitch-black, yet it felt different now.

Li Fan’s skin prickled with instinctive dread. He knew the Taiyan Boat had been swallowed by

something

.

Crack!

The protective barrier around the Taiyan Boat shattered in an instant, and the vessel itself began to break apart.

His charging progress plummeted violently.

Taking one last, deep look into the abyss beyond, Li Fan whispered, “Return to Truth!”