My Longevity Simulation

Chapter 1375: A First Glimpse Beyond the High Wall

"So that is why the Star Sea's consciousness showed so little reaction to the Xuan Immortal Ark's rebellious actions, and even willingly accepted them..."

"Besides the fact that the perspective of mortals is something fresh that the Star Sea is interested in observing, the more important reason is that the Equal Heaven Ritual simply cannot have any effect on the Star Sea itself."

"True infinity!"

As long as something was not infinite, no matter how vast its quantity, even if it were divided among only a single person, the result would still be greatly reduced compared to the original amount. It could never remain completely unaffected by its own loss the way the Star Sea's consciousness had just done.

'How can this be?'

Li Fan was filled with astonishment and disbelief.

The very concept of infinity had completely surpassed the limits of his understanding.

Although the Darkest Star Sea was vast beyond measure, Li Fan could now cross it with ease. That concerned its scale.

The Star Sea had been ravaged by the power of the True Immortal seal script, its order destroyed and its vitality concealed. That concerned its nature.

Whether judged by scale or by nature, nothing about this Star Sea seemed remotely connected to the concept of infinity.

Yet as the ritual ended and the violet-gold vortex closed, the eighteen surviving Elders of the Xuan Immortal Ark transformed into eighteen radiant giants stretching across the starry sky. Feeling the boundless, majestic power emanating from them, a power that was almost identical to the Star Sea itself, Li Fan could not help but believe in the Star Sea's infinite power.

In that instant, he recalled the secret of the Immortal Realm that Mo Rubin had once heard from the Xuantian King.

"It is said that the Immortal Realm is a wondrous sacred land with inexhaustible resources."

Like a clap of thunder, those words echoed continuously through Li Fan's mind.

Previously, Li Fan had believed that the Xuantian King had exaggerated and embellished the truth.

But now, it seemed very likely that everything the Xuantian King had said was true.

If even the Star Sea could be infinite, then how much more so the Immortal Realm standing above it?

Once this fact was accepted, the next question became why.

Setting aside the Immortal Realm for now.

How exactly was this Darkest Star Sea connected to infinity?

The violet-gold vortex closed completely.

Facing the eighteen starlight giants, Li Fan's thoughts raced.

"The High Wall merely seals the living beings within the Star Sea. It does not completely separate the Star Sea itself."

"The Darkest Star Sea inside the High Wall and the Star Sea outside the High Wall are still one unified whole. It is only that the sealed region has now developed a relatively independent consciousness."

"That is one possibility."

"But... if that is truly the case..."

Li Fan gazed at the starlight giants before him, assessing their strength.

Perhaps because they had only just been born, they stood silently in the void, seemingly contemplating what they should do next.

The aura surrounding them gradually became more restrained.

Their indistinct silhouettes steadily grew clearer.

Faces that Li Fan knew all too well quietly emerged.

Their brilliant starlight bodies gradually dimmed.

Eventually, they became translucent and pale blue.

Within their transparent forms, one could vaguely see skeletal structures and meridians woven from countless stars and worlds.

"These starlight giants are to the Star Sea what the Spirits of Heaven and Earth are to the Xuanhuang Realm."

"They have lost the characteristics of cultivators, retaining only a trace of subjective consciousness while becoming completely assimilated by the Star Sea."

"Perhaps they should be called Star Spirits."

Li Fan quietly deployed an immortal formation around himself, concealing his presence as he secretly observed these unusual lifeforms.

"Within the Xuanhuang Realm, the Spirits of Heaven and Earth vary in strength according to their heavenly duties. Most range somewhere between Soul Transformation and Longevity Immortal."

"But these Star Spirits..."

"Simply by wielding the infinite power of the Star Sea, they are sufficient to overwhelm every cultivator beneath the True Immortal Realm. The limit of the Star Sea is the Star Sea itself. They may be called Supreme!" Li Fan recalled the Heavenly Doctor's memories that he had glimpsed within the illusion formation.

Although he regarded these Star Spirits as belonging to the same Supreme Realm as the Heavenly Doctor, Li Fan did not believe they could fight the Heavenly Doctor on equal footing.

"If they truly fought, forget the Heavenly Doctor. Even I have countless methods to deal with them."

"But victory and defeat are completely meaningless."

"The Star Sea is infinite. That means these Star Spirits cannot be killed by ordinary means."

"Even the True Immortal seal script that brought calamity upon this Star Sea merely caused its vitality to wither temporarily. On the Star Sea's own timescale, tens of thousands of years amount to only a fleeting moment. Its vitality will eventually be fully restored."

"Perhaps only the Dao Annihilation Calamity that destroyed the Immortal Realm..."

Li Fan once again thought of the countless strange phenomena that had frequently appeared throughout the Star Sea during ancient times.

"One is all. If the Star Sea's power truly is infinite, then every Star Spirit and every Star Sea phenomenon unleashed at full strength can be regarded as the Star Sea itself."

"Countless Supreme Realm existences. No wonder cultivators throughout history have speculated that even True Immortals would avoid those terrifying phenomena."

True Immortals were extraordinary beings beyond the mundane.

But if infinitely many Heavenly Doctors surrounded and attacked a True Immortal, they might well succeed in severely injuring or even capturing one.

In a single instant, countless thoughts flashed through Li Fan's mind.

While he was thinking, the eighteen Star Spirits finally began to move.

Some turned toward the nearby concealed Xuan Immortal Ark.

Others looked toward the High Wall at the edge of the Star Sea.

The rest slowly swept their gazes across the entire Star Sea.

"If the Star Sea's consciousness previously required cultivators to restore itself, then now it can repair itself through these Star Spirits."

"Although the Star Spirits still retain the obsessions they possessed in life, they must now act according to the will of the Star Sea."

...

Li Fan had not forgotten why he had infiltrated the Xuan Immortal Ark in this life.

Besides coveting the many treasures hidden within the Ark's secret vaults, his more important goal was to use the Ark as a vanguard to explore as far beyond the High Wall as possible.

Now that all of the Ark's Elders had become Star Spirits and possessed power comparable to the Star Sea itself, they were fully capable of carrying out the original plan of imitating the Shang Immortal Ark and crashing into the High Wall.

Seeing that the Star Spirits were about to be dispatched throughout the Star Sea under the Star Sea's will, Li Fan naturally would not waste such a perfect opportunity.

The Taijia Divine Art.

The perfected version deduced by the Xuan Immortal Ark.

Manifest!

Within a short time, this divine ability for communicating with the Star Sea appeared once more.

This time, however, Li Fan's target was not the Star Sea's original true consciousness.

It was the eighteen Star Spirits before him.

Compared to communicating directly with the Star Sea itself, communicating with Star Spirits transformed from cultivators was incomparably easier.

The moment the radiance of the Taijia Divine Art appeared, it immediately attracted the Star Spirits' attention.

Li Fan's consciousness instantly connected with theirs.

Had these Star Spirits remained human, then upon seeing Li Fan, who had participated in the ritual with them yet neither died nor transformed into a Star Spirit, but instead remained alive and well, they would certainly have been filled with fury, suspicion, and countless other emotions.

Forget communication. Drawing their swords immediately would have been perfectly natural.

Yet now, Li Fan sensed no emotional fluctuations whatsoever from any of the eighteen Star Spirits.

"The Immortal Ark. Beyond the High Wall."

"Our close friends. Their sacrifice."

"Do not forget."

Li Fan had already gained a preliminary grasp of the methods of communicating with the Star Sea, and he spoke concisely.

His words seemed to awaken the memories the Star Spirits retained from when they were alive. The human faces upon their bodies instantly became much clearer.

Their movements came to a halt. They all turned to look at Li Fan, their expressions filled with hesitation.

"Giving up halfway will only result in a meaningless sacrifice."

"With the power of the Star Sea assisting us, allowing the Immortal Ark to leap across the High Wall is no more difficult than raising a hand."

Under Li Fan's persuasion, the obsessions and thoughts the Star Spirits had carried in life gradually began to awaken once more.

Sensing the changes in their thoughts, Li Fan continued to encourage them.

"Even if the Star Sea can eventually recover, that will only happen after hundreds of thousands or even millions of years. By then, all of you Elders will have completely become Star Spirits and will no longer be able to protect the Immortal Ark at all times. What path will the Immortal Ark have left then? Are you truly willing to watch it perish like this?"

The Star Spirit transformed from Zhong Daogong was finally persuaded.

Broken fragments of thought slowly reached Li Fan.

Communicating with a Star Spirit felt completely different from communicating with a cultivator.

Star Spirit Zhong Daogong merely stated facts in an utterly emotionless manner.

As time passed, the consciousness they had possessed in life would inevitably grow weaker and weaker, until they completely became Star Spirits belonging solely to the Star Sea. Although they still retained a measure of self awareness for now, they could no longer defy the will of the Star Sea and were no longer masters of their own actions.

However, borrowing the power of the Star Sea to help the Immortal Ark cross the High Wall might not be something the Star Sea's will opposed.

The True Immortal seal script was hated by the will of the Star Sea. The Star Spirits could no longer use it.

If they wished to successfully cross the High Wall according to the original plan, Li Fan would have to preside over the process.

...

More and more Star Spirits temporarily recovered their own consciousness.

They reached an agreement with Li Fan.

During the brief final remnants of his consciousness, Star Spirit Zhong Daogong entrusted Li Fan with the Immortal Ark's highest secret, the complete plan for crossing the High Wall.

Guarded by the eighteen Star Spirits, the Immortal Ark was dragged to the vicinity of the traces left behind when the Shang Immortal Ark had crossed the High Wall long ago.

"There is very little time remaining. Begin as soon as possible."

Li Fan nodded slightly before looking toward dozens of sheets of white paper that slowly floated out from within the Immortal Ark.

They appeared completely blank, yet faint marks could still be seen upon them, as though they had already been written upon millions of times.

These were the painstaking life's work of the Immortal Ark Elders throughout countless years.

They had copied, studied, and discussed the True Immortal seal script characters endlessly, restoring every known character as close to its original form as possible.

"These old foxes truly cannot be underestimated."

"After receiving only a few pointers from me, they silently pushed their research on the True Immortal seal script this far in such a short time."

"The Immortal Ark of this life is far stronger than the one that was panic stricken and died beneath the immortal formation in my previous life."

"Not only is its foundation unimaginably deep, but its ability to study and improve is equally terrifying."

Looking at those familiar yet unfamiliar characters, Li Fan was inwardly astonished.

The imprints upon the white paper were like molds painstakingly forged by the Immortal Ark Elders through countless refinements. Li Fan no longer needed to familiarize himself with or rewrite them. He only needed to pour energy into the engraved traces, and the True Immortal seal script characters would naturally manifest one after another.

"This is probably the safeguard left behind by the Immortal Ark Elders. As long as these imprints of the True Immortal seal script remain, even if the entire Council of Elders is wiped out, the Immortal Ark's inheritance will never be completely severed. Given enough time, it may one day return to its former peak..."

With that thought, vast spiritual energy surged from Li Fan's body like countless roaming dragons, flowing separately into every engraved template.

Only someone with Li Fan's immense foundation could possibly sustain such a feat.

His Five Elements Great Cave Heaven and Xuanhuang World Destruction Transformation allowed Li Fan alone to rival an entire cultivation world.

If it had been any ordinary cultivator, the instant their spiritual energy entered the engravings, they would have been completely drained by the True Immortal seal script imprints ahead of them. Even a Star Sea Supreme Elder like the Heavenly Doctor might not have been able to sustain such terrifying consumption.

The immense power within Li Fan's body became the source force that gave form to the True Immortal seal script.

At the same time, the eighteen Star Spirits also began their next actions.

One long cry after another echoed continuously. Each voice rose after the previous one ended, steadily elevating the momentum of the Immortal Ark, one level after another, as though climbing an endless staircase.

These were not true cries, but rather strange waves of fluctuation, resembling boundless tides carrying the power of Infinity.

When Li Fan ascended, he required True Immortal flesh and blood as a medium.

Yet the eighteen Star Spirits relied solely upon the inexhaustible source power of the Star Sea to continuously elevate the Immortal Ark's momentum.

Throughout the entire process, the aura surrounding them never fluctuated in the slightest, as though the cost of ascension meant absolutely nothing to them.

Retaining their memories from life of where the Shang Immortal Ark had struck the High Wall, the Star Spirits stopped ascending after raising the Xuan Immortal Ark to a certain height.

They simply continued their endless cries, maintaining the Immortal Ark's momentum.

Each cry was also like a heavy hammer striking Li Fan's heart, urging him to begin the next step.

For the first time, Li Fan truly experienced the majesty of the Star Sea face to face.

Even he felt a trace of shock as he forcibly suppressed the boiling blood within his body.

"What a pity. Once it crashes into the High Wall, its fate will be completely unknown. All the countless treasures aboard the Immortal Ark will most likely be reduced to ashes along with it."

Even as this thought crossed his mind, his hands never paused.

Looking at the sheets of paper before him that had already been fully infused with power yet remained sealed, Li Fan suddenly clenched his hand.

He compressed every one of them together into a single paper ball.

Then he hurled it fiercely toward the Xuan Immortal Ark surrounded by the eighteen Star Spirits.

Chaotic and terrifying power belonging to the level of True Immortals was wrapped within it as it flew toward the Xuan Immortal Ark.

"Explode!"

Li Fan roared inwardly as his body retreated at maximum speed.

A storm of True Immortal seal script erupted violently beneath the Immortal Ark.

The power, enough to temporarily sweep away all vitality from the Star Sea, caused the blue bodies of the eighteen Star Spirits to flicker unsteadily.

Yet not a single one of their movements slowed.

The infinite power of the Star Sea replenished them endlessly. Even while standing directly within the True Immortal seal script storm, the Star Spirits remained completely indestructible.

Under their control and guidance, the erupting True Immortal power did not destroy the Xuan Immortal Ark.

Instead, it became the final force pushing the Immortal Ark's ascension.

Making possible, for a single instant, what no living being of the Star Sea could ever have achieved.

"A power that truly surpasses mortality, enough to rival a True Immortal. The supreme power capable of crossing the High Wall."

As one of the architects behind the plan, Li Fan watched from afar as the storm exploded violently against the High Wall, while above the storm the Xuan Immortal Ark soared upward.

An excitement he could not suppress welled up within him.

After countless reincarnations.

At last.

The possibility of glimpsing what lay beyond the High Wall had finally arrived.

Long before helping reconstruct the Xuan Immortal Ark's defensive systems, Li Fan had secretly left behind his own arrangements.

Whatever the Immortal Ark saw would also be seen by Li Fan.

Everything had been prepared.

The Immortal Ark was about to collide with the High Wall head on.

Yet at that very moment...

The eighteen Star Spirits transformed from the Immortal Ark Elders suddenly seemed to sense an existence of unimaginable terror.

The very beings least likely to flee at such a crucial moment disappeared without a trace in a single instant.

The Xuan Immortal Ark, however, continued charging toward the invisible High Wall.

Then it too vanished from the Darkest Star Sea.

Leaving only Li Fan behind, staring in complete astonishment.

Although he had witnessed the entire process of the Immortal Ark crashing into the High Wall with his own eyes, he had not sensed even the slightest trace of danger.

And moreover...

The preparations he had secretly left within the Xuan Immortal Ark had never activated at all.