162: Jedi strikes back, a "perfect" death where both sides perish

The endless darkness was torn apart.

Lin Fan's consciousness, in the Chaos, re-converged like billions of stars.

In his ears, an unprecedented roar of the System echoed, as if the entire Universe was celebrating.

【Congratulations, Host!】

【Detected that the Host, in a 'burn everything to the ground' manner, successfully detonated Spirit Transformation Old Monster Xuanji Zi's millennium lair, causing irreversible devastating damage to him!】

【Detected that at the moment of death, the Host endured a furious blow from a Late Stage Soul Transformation Cultivator and fused with a portion of the destructive Dao Profound Truth from the Immortal Cave's self-destruction!】

【Death Process Rating: Perfect!】

【Overall Rating Rank: SSS+!】

【Generating reward list... Generation complete!】

【Congratulations, Host, for obtaining SSS+ Rank death rewards!】

【Reward One: Soul Transformation Rank Top Tier Body Refining Cultivation Technique "Ten Thousand Tribulations Undying Body" * 1!】

【Reward Two: Xuanji Zi's Immortal Cave complete Formation diagram (including Grandmaster Rank analysis and insights) * 1!】

【Reward Three: immortal realm fragment (Giant) * 1!】

【Reward Four: World Luck Point * 3000!】

【Reward Five: Random Divine Ability Dao Profound Truth * 2 (Automatically drawn: Destruction Dao Profound Truth, Space Dao Profound Truth)!】

Lin Fan's consciousness was hit by this overwhelming wave of rewards, causing a dizzying feeling of happiness.

He hit the jackpot!

This was more than hitting the jackpot; this was directly taking Xuanji Zi, person and pot, and even his bone dregs were brewed into soup for him.

This feeling was a million times more exhilarating than personally killing Xuanji Zi.

The next moment, a familiar pulling sensation came.

Consciousness returned.

Lin Fan suddenly opened his eyes, and what came into view was the secret mountain cave near Qingyun Sect, which he had set as the highest authority.

In the air, there was a familiar, slightly damp smell of earth.

He looked down at his hands, perfect and full of power.

The pain of being sealed by Xuanji Zi with the Four Symbols Lock Soul Formation, the excruciating pain of his Divine Soul being torn during Soul-searching, and the sense of destruction from being annihilated by the final palm strike, all vanished without a trace.

Instead, there was an unprecedented sense of power and Perfection.

With a thought, the Cultivation Technique named "Ten Thousand Tribulations Undying Body" slowly unfolded in his Sea of Consciousness like a vast golden scripture.

Every ancient character seemed to contain the supreme Profound Truth of resisting myriad tribulations.

This was far more profound and powerful than all the Body Refining Cultivation Techniques he had obtained before, combined.

And the so-called "Giant" immortal realm fragment was quietly suspended above his Dantian Qi Sea.

It was no longer the ethereal aura it was before, but a palm-sized, crystal-clear crystal, as if it contained a complete world.

The Immortal Dao aura it emitted was hundreds of times stronger than the "glazed key" he had obtained from the Immortal Mansion ruins previously.

Even more strangely, Lin Fan could feel that this fragment was resonating faintly with a place so distant it was unimaginable.

That direction... was the Heavenly Dao Forbidden Zone... At the same time.

Tens of thousands of miles away from this place.

Xuanji Mountain, once filled with Spiritual Qi and the cries of cranes, had now been completely erased from the map.

In its place, only a bottomless giant sinkhole remained, its edges still constantly emitting black smoke and spatial cracks.

In the center of the ruins, a figure knelt there, like a weathered stone statue.

Xuanji Zi.

His hair was withered and white, his Daoist robe tattered, his body covered with hideous wounds, and his aura was extremely weak. His Soul Transformation Late Stage cultivation had now fallen to Soul Transformation Initial Stage, and was still continuously dissipating.

His lair, his Foundation painstakingly managed for over a thousand years, was gone.

His countless Cultivation Technique scrolls, Heaven And Earth Treasure, and Medicinal Pill used to Breakthrough to a higher Realm, all gone.

Everything turned to ashes.

He scanned the scorched earth with his Divine Thought, over and over again, like a madman, but in vain.

Nothing.

Nothing remained.

The huge gap, falling from heaven to Hell, from having everything to having nothing, was like an invisible giant hammer, fiercely shattering his Dao Heart.

"Pfft—"

A mouthful of black blood mixed with his Origin essence spurted out from his mouth.

He clutched his head and let out a desperate wail that sounded inhuman.

"Ah ah ah ah—!"

"Lin Gou... no, Lin Fan!!!"

"Old man... old man and you, will never rest until one of us is dead!!!"

His voice was full of endless resentment and madness, yet it carried a deep-seated sense of powerlessness.

Revenge?

What did he have to take revenge with?

That monster simply couldn't be killed.

He couldn't even find the other party's Foundation.

He didn't even know when the monster would emerge from which corner next, and in what inconceivable way, bring him a new nightmare.

An unprecedented fear, for the first time, enveloped this once high and mighty Soul Transformation Grandmaster... At the edge of the sinkhole, three stunning figures quietly appeared.

It was Zhao Linger, Li Hanyue, and Su Meier who had arrived immediately.

They looked at the apocalyptic scene before them, feeling the destructive aura lingering in the air, enough to annihilate a Nascent Soul Cultivator's Divine Soul, their pretty faces a little pale.

"Such terrifying energy fluctuations... Was this really the Immortal Cave of an Spirit Transformation Old Monster?"

Su Meier's fluffy fox ears twitched nervously, her eyes filled with shock.

Li Hanyue held the hilt of her sword, silent, but her cold eyes also flickered with solemnity.

This level of destructive power was beyond her imagination.

Only Zhao Linger, after the initial shock, immediately closed her eyes, carefully sensing something.

A moment later, her tightly furrowed brows relaxed, and a relieved smile appeared on her pale face.

"He's still alive."

"I can feel the aura of his Soul imprint, it's very stable."

Hearing this, Li Hanyue and Su Meier also breathed a sigh of relief.

They immediately followed the subtle sensation, transforming into streaks of light, and sped towards the secret mountain cave where Lin Fan was located.

When they pushed open the disguise of the cave entrance and saw the figure sitting cross-legged, whose aura was somewhat weak but whose eyes were astonishingly bright, their three suspended hearts finally completely settled down.

"Brother Lin Fan!"

Zhao Linger rushed over first, her voice filled with suppressed sobs.

She didn't say any words of blame, but just half-knelt in front of Lin Fan, extending her trembling jade hand to rest on his wrist, channeling a warm Spiritual Qi into his body, carefully checking his condition.

"You did it again... Don't you know how worried we were...?"

Her eyes were red, and large tears rolled down her smooth cheeks, falling onto Lin Fan's hand, feeling somewhat hot.

Lin Fan's heart warmed, and he clasped her cold little hand, saying softly.

"I'm fine, Ling'er, look, isn't this all good?"

"If I don't take risks, how can I get rid of that old guy in one go?"

Su Meier walked over with graceful steps, her alluring fox eyes scrutinizing Lin Fan up and down. Her fluffy white fox tail had unconsciously wrapped around Lin Fan's other arm, swaying gently.

"Oh my, our great hero Lin always plays so big, he's really going to scare this sister's heart to pieces."

Her tone carried a hint of reproach, but the concern and lingering fear in her eyes were undeniable.

"This time, what benefits did you gain? You can't have died for nothing, right?"

Li Hanyue stood at the back. She didn't approach, but just quietly looked at Lin Fan, her clear, cold eyes seeming to see through people's hearts.

"Is it worth it?"

She asked the same question as before.

Lin Fan met her gaze and smiled.

That smile was filled with unprecedented confidence and satisfaction.

"It's worth it."

"Very worth it."

He didn't explain much, but with a thought, he used his Divine Thought to project the general outline of the "Ten Thousand Tribulations Undying Body" Cultivation Technique and the star-river-like complex Formation diagram of Xuanji Zi's Immortal Cave as light images before the three women.

When they saw the four characters "Soul Transformation Top Tier," the three women simultaneously gasped.

When they saw the complete Formation diagram, enough to drive any Formation Grandmaster mad, they were already too shocked to speak.

This was no longer just a harvest.

This was directly inheriting the lifelong knowledge and core legacy of a Soul Transformation Grandmaster!

"That old guy wanted to study me, so I let him study me."

Lin Fan's tone was calm, yet he was describing the most insane process.

"I deliberately let him search my Soul, and using his Divine Thought, I reverse-analyzed the core of his entire Immortal Cave's Formation."

"He thought I was a bird in a cage, but he didn't know that I had turned his entire birdcage into my hunting ground."

As the three women listened to Lin Fan's narration, from initial worry, to shock, and finally, only deep, indescribable awe and... fascination remained.

This man could always create the most astonishing miracles in the most unbelievable ways.

They deeply realized that the so-called "Dao Protection Alliance" might not have been them protecting Lin Fan from the beginning.

Instead, it was Lin Fan, using his inconceivable abilities, paving a Heaven-Defying path to a higher Realm for all of them.

"I need to go into seclusion for a while."

Lin Fan looked at them, his eyes becoming extremely serious.

"The gains this time are too great, I need time to digest them."

He paused, then continued.

"Moreover, being locked onto by Xuanji Zi this time also gave me a warning."

"I plan to use this set of Formation diagrams to establish a brand new 'resurrection anchor point network' composed of countless sub-anchor points, which can be moved at any time, or even hidden in the Void Realm."

"I want to achieve a state where even a Great Ascension Stage Old Monster can't find my resurrection point, truly realizing that I can die wherever I want and resurrect wherever I want."

His words made the three women once again feel that unique charm of extreme madness and extreme caution perfectly fused together.

This was Lin Fan.

Testing the boundaries of death, yet pursuing absolute, outrageous extremes in terms of safety... In the days that followed, the Cultivation World was swept by monstrous waves due to a rumor.

"Have you heard? The Immortal Cave of Senior Xuanji Zi, the Great Grandmaster of Formations in the Northern Region, was razed to the ground!"

"How is that possible! Senior Xuanji Zi is a Soul Transformation Late Stage existence, who has such great ability?"

"It is said... it is said to be a forbidden name, something like 'Undying Lin Gou'..."

"Shh! Do you want to die! Who dares to mention that name now! I heard that several major Sects discussing this matter were visited by a mysterious person, their Core Disciple had their cultivation crippled, and their Sect's grand Formation was also dismantled!"

The name Lin Fan, overnight, became a legend in the mouths of countless Cultivators, revered, feared, curious, yet dared not speak of in depth.

And as one of the creators of the legend, Xuanji Zi completely disappeared from everyone's sight.

Some said he had suffered Dao Heart collapse and passed away.

Others said he was hiding in some dark corner, like a mad dog, vowing to find Lin Fan and perish with him.

But everyone understood that a Soul Transformation Cultivator who had lost his Foundation and spirit was no longer to be feared.

His era ended in that earth-shattering explosion.

And Lin Fan's era had just begun.

Inside the cave.

Lin Fan was completely immersed in analyzing the "Ten Thousand Tribulations Undying Body" and Xuanji Zi's Formation diagrams.

Under the refinement of the new Cultivation Technique, every particle of his Physical Body seemed to be cheering, transforming, and rapidly advancing towards an undying and imperishable Realm.

His understanding of Formations also broke through the shackles of a Grandmaster, reaching a new height where he could "play" with rules.

Just as he had completely absorbed Xuanji Zi's vast knowledge of Formations and was about to decipher the last encrypted information.

He discovered a... log, hidden by Xuanji Zi using the most core secret methods, deep within the Formation diagram.

It was not a Cultivation Technique, but Xuanji Zi's research notes from several hundred years.

Lin Fan quickly browsed through it.

The log detailed Xuanji Zi's obsession with and research into "undying bodies."

He found that he was not the first "undying one" Xuanji Zi had encountered.

Before him, in the long river of history spanning thousands of years, there had been several other similar existences.

Without exception, those existences had all attracted the attention of Soul Transformation Cultivators, and even the legendary Mahayana Stage Cultivators.

But in the end, those researches all came to nothing, and all the "undying ones" also mysteriously disappeared.

Lin Fan's heart sank slightly.

He turned to the last page of the log.

It was a fragment of ancient text quoted by Xuanji Zi, copied from an unknown ancient ruin.

"Such an anomaly is not tolerated by the Heavenly Dao..."

Lin Fan's pupils suddenly contracted.

He continued to read.

"However... it is also a chess piece of the Heavenly Dao!"

Boom!

This short sentence, like a Divine Rank thunderbolt from the Nine Heavens, fiercely struck deep into Lin Fan's Sea of Consciousness.

Chess piece?

Could his seemingly free, Heaven-Defying ability to resurrect infinitely... just be a chess piece in the hands of a higher-level existence?

Every time he "courted death," every time he "resurrected," every time he stirred up trouble, was he just following a predetermined chess score?

A chill ran from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.

Just then, the long-lost System prompt sounded again.

【Main Quest updated!】

【Warning: Deep within the Heavenly Dao Forbidden Zone, an aura homologous to the "immortal realm fragment" held by the Host has undergone a violent mutation!】

【This aura's energy has reached a critical point and may go out of control at any time, causing unpredictable consequences for the current world!】

【Please, Host, investigate as soon as possible and retrieve or suppress this homologous aura!】

Lin Fan slowly raised his head, his gaze piercing through the mountain wall, looking towards the distant Heavenly Dao Forbidden Zone.

All the answers seemed to be hidden there.

Was he an anomaly that transcended the Three Realms?

Or... was he the most important chess piece on the Heavenly Dao chessboard?

He had to go on this trip.