My Simulated Road to Immortality - Chapter 448
Chapter 448: Chapter 420: The Returning Origin Toad Devours the Land
In the dark void, a few Rift Realm Whales were frolicking in a chase.
If one looked carefully, they could notice that one of them was actually carrying a black-feathered red-tailed bird on its back.
The bird was leisurely strolling on the vast body of the whale.
And the Rift Realm Whale did not notice its presence at all.
Naturally, this black-feathered red-tailed bird was Li Fan.
He passed through the Immortal Forbiddance Formation with ease and upon seeing the Rift Realm Whale Swarm, he suddenly had a novel idea.
He wanted to test how effective the “The Ten Thousand Forms Technique of the Crucible” was at deception in practice.
That’s how this situation came to be.
“Rift Realm Whales are extremely sensitive to external auras, even capable of tracking a mortal from miles away.”
“Following so close behind them without triggering any reaction is very likely because in their eyes, there’s no difference between a real bird and me.”
Li Fan was quite satisfied with the test results.
He flapped his wings and quickly flew away from the Rift Realm Whale Swarm, heading towards the entrance of the Xuanhuang World at the bottom of the ruins.
“If Da Xuan has truly escaped from the Xuanhuang World with the help of the Rift Realm Whale, then would it be directly captured by the [Immortal Ruins], exactly like the True Cauldron of the Medicine King?”
“Who was behind the Rift Realm Whales all those years ago?”
“It must not have been the doing of the Immortal Dao Ten Clans; they are aware of the existence of [Immortal Ruins]. Allowing the Rift Realm Whales to burrow away the Small World would be digging their own graves.”
The light from the Immortal Cultivation World was not far ahead. Glancing back at the Rift Realm Whales that seemed to never tire, a thought suddenly crossed Li Fan’s mind.
It was merely a fleeting thought, he did not pause for a moment.
The next moment, Li Fan reappeared above the vast ocean.
The sea and sky were of the same color, the cool, salty wind gently brushed against him.
Li Fan took a deep breath and exclaimed.
“The blue sky is still the most beautiful.”
After spending hundreds of years in a world shrouded in oppressive darkness, now returning to being the original Li Fan, he finally understood the value of unfettered freedom.
Without going to join the Alliance of Thousands of Immortals immediately, Li Fan determined his direction and flew towards the border of Misthaven Ocean and Shilin State.
His destination was the Remains of Mechanism Sect in the Hundred Stone Cave Heaven.
This was the very place where Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi found “The Golden Seal of the Jade Realm of a Thousand Mechanisms”.
In his previous life, with the help of Ling Huchang, Xiao Heng excavated many other techniques from these ruins, in addition to the Golden Chapter.
One such technique was the Secret Technique [Blocking the sky with one hand].
Naturally, Li Fan could not afford to miss this.
Although on the outside he appeared as an ordinary bird, Li Fan was not slow in flight at all.
More than twenty days later, Li Fan arrived outside the Hundred Stone Cave Heaven.
The so-called Hundred Stone Cave Heaven, was a vast underground cavern on the outskirts of Shilin State.
Countless roads intertwined and crossed each other within the cavern.
Every once in a while, they opened up into spacious underground halls.
In these halls stand grotesque rocks, growing wildly down from the ceiling and out from the walls.
They took on various shapes, resembling both man and beast, causing one’s heart to throb with fear.
More than a few cultivators have lost their direction in this place and never returned.
As for how vast the Hundred Stone Cave Heaven actually is, no one knows.
As one of the most dangerous places in Shilin State, even if it’s known that secrets may be hidden here, the number of cultivators willing to explore is very few.
Li Fan continued to delve deeper into the cavern, not meeting a single person.
The further he went, the more complex the roads became.
Often at one intersection, there would be as many as seven or eight forked roads.
Moreover, not only would the spirit consciousness be affected to a certain extent.
The cavern itself would periodically undergo changes.
If one wished to return, they would find that the original path had disappeared mysteriously.
To make matters worse, the geology of the cavern is extremely hard. Trying to forcibly create a new path was out of question.
This is also why the Hundred Stone Cave Heaven is so dangerous.
“According to Ling Huchang, this Hundred Stone Cave Heaven could very well be the result of an ancient Exotic Beast [Returning Origin Toad] dying from the Antiquity Era,” remembers Li Fan.
“The Returning Origin Toad burrows deep underground, feeds on the leylines of the mountains and rivers, and is notoriously a terrain destroyer. It is even capable of hollowing out an entire state’s underground.”
Li Fan recalled the information Han Wuyou had relayed to him.
“However, every creature has a nemesis.”
“Often accompanying it within its body, exists a creature [the Stone Spirit Worm].”
“The Returning Origin Toad is naturally greedy, unrestrainedly devouring the leylines, to the point where it could potentially overfeed itself to death.”
“In a majority of cases, they are unable to digest and absorb the power of the leylines within their bodies in time.”
“As a result, stones of the leylines condense within their bodies.”
“This Stone Spirit Worm, it feeds on these stones of the Leylines. While it helps the Returning Origin Toad alleviate some of the digestive pressure, it doesn’t have to worry about food.”
“A perfect symbiotic relationship.”
“It is quite likely that the complex network of tunnels within the Hundred Stone Cave Heaven were dug out by the Stone Spirit Worms.”
Li Fan, while flying, carefully searched for the Stone Spirit Worm in the darkness.
A half day later.
“You’re the one!”
Li Fan revealed his true form, his Five Elements Annihilation Sword silently drawn from its sheath.
A deep hole appeared on the stone wall of the tunnel.
A grayish-green figure flashed past, about to escape deeper into the wall.
“Binding Worm!”
Li Fan suddenly activated a divine technique, capturing it.
In front of Li Fan appeared a chubby, grey-green worm the size of a small baby that could not move at all, emitting high-pitched screeching sounds in protest.
Li Fan gently hit its body, making a dull sound.
The entire body of the Stone Spirit Worm started to shake. Under Li Fan’s warning, it immediately started behaving.
Injecting spiritual energy into its body, Li Fan closed his eyes and began to understand the structure of the Stone Spirit Worm’s body.
Despite its ability to devour leylines, the complexity of its biological structure was arguably less than the common birds Li Fan had previously transformed into.
It wasn’t long before Li Fan released the binding.
The next moment, his body was enveloped in golden light, transforming him into the likeness of the Stone Spirit Worm.
The original worm dropped to the ground with a thud. Without paying any mind to Li Fan, who now looked like a companion, it furiously dug into the ground in an attempt to escape.
The hole it had dug out slowly healed under Li Fan’s gaze.
“This place is indeed eerie. The Returning Origin Toad being seemingly alive after death. Exploring without special means is indeed a bit troublesome.”
“But now…”
Li Fan shaked his worm body, and dove straight into the stone wall.
The hard stones felt like brittle delicacies under his bite.
Thus, a tunnel was effortlessly dug out by Li Fan.
The general location of the Remains of Mechanism Sect surfaced in his spirit consciousness, and Li Fan headed straight there.
Seven days later.
The walls of a sealed underground space began to rumble ominously.
Not long after, Li Fan, in his Stone Spirit Worm form, busted through from the center.
He fell to the ground with a thud.
He lay on his belly. He did not move.
It wasn’t until the leyline stones in his body were fully digested and converted to energy that Li Fan transformed back into his human form.
“I’m actually overfed.”
Li Fan shook his head, speechless.
