283: Crossing borders, reuniting with old friends

The Netherworld Meteorite Field was as deathly silent as ever.

The sword-shaped starship floated quietly in the shadow of a massive meteorite, like a lurking deep-space hunter.

On the main control light screen, the light dots representing Si Kongya's fleet had completely disappeared into the depths of the Star Domain marked as "Extremely Dangerous."

Lin Fan withdrew his gaze, his expression calm.

The bait had been cast; now, it was just a matter of seeing when the fish would bite and what kind of surprise they would bring him.

He stood up, and with a thought,

The realm beacon he had just acquired, still carrying the luxurious scent of the auction, floated quietly in his palm.

On the simple bronze token, the profound patterns seemed to come alive, exuding a vast, ancient aura that transcended time and space.

It was time.

In the next moment, Lin Fan's figure appeared in a massive, modified chamber at the lowest level of the starship.

This place had already been arranged by him into an extremely complex, ultra-large Formation using a massive amount of Materials scavenged from the Black Sail treasury.

The foundation, paved with "Ten-Thousand-Year Stellar Iron," shimmered with faint starlight.

He had violently dismantled over a dozen complete "Void Dragon Bones" and wedged them into the Formation's nodes according to specific positions, forming the supporting skeleton of the grand Formation.

At the central eye of the Formation, a pool built from "Nine Heavens Living Soil" was filled with spiritual liquid that shimmered with a liquid brilliance.

Every single drop of this spiritual liquid was compressed and purified from ten thousand Top-Grade Spirit Stones through the Formation.

The number of Top-Grade Spirit Stones consumed by the entire pool was already an incalculable, astronomical figure.

Extravagant.

Squandering to the extreme.

If any Sect from the outside world were to see this scene, their Dao Hearts would likely shatter on the spot, and they would point at Lin Fan's nose and curse him for being a spendthrift.

But there wasn't a hint of heartache on Lin Fan's face.

Money was meant to be spent.

His Divine Sense, like an invisible net, covered the entire grand Formation, performing a final check on the connection of every rune and the flow of energy at every point.

Confirmed correct.

He walked to the center of the grand Formation and gently pressed the realm beacon in his hand into the groove of the Formation's eye.

Hum—!!!

It was as if a giant beast that had slept for eons was awakening at this moment.

The entire grand Formation was instantly lit up!

On the foundation cast from Ten-Thousand-Year Stellar Iron, countless lines lit up in sequence, forming a vast and boundless star map.

The Void Dragon Bones let out low roars as streams of pure spatial power were continuously extracted and injected into the Formation's eye.

The spiritual liquid in the Nine Heavens Living Soil pool began to churn and boil violently, turning into a visible torrent of energy that surged toward the ceiling!

An incredibly thick yet extremely unstable spatial pillar of light slowly took shape in the center of the Formation.

Inside the light pillar was a bizarre and chaotic turbulence of Chaos, looking as if it might collapse at any moment.

"Still not enough..."

Lin Fan frowned slightly.

The consumption of this cross-realm Formation was even more terrifying than described in the blueprints.

Blood Crow's collection had been nearly one-third emptied by him just to barely start it.

And as the core, the realm beacon was already starting to show fine cracks on its surface under the impact of this enormous energy.

This beacon was a one-time use item.

It might not even hold out for a single complete guidance.

Lin Fan did not hesitate; he took a step forward and stood directly before that violent spatial light pillar.

He took a deep breath, and the Overlord Saint Body within him roared into action.

A surge of golden blood-qi, far purer and more domineering than Spiritual Qi, erupted from his body and was forcibly poured into the nearly collapsing spatial tunnel.

Using his own power to suppress the world tunnel!

Hum!

With the injection of this new power, the violent tunnel miraculously and slowly stabilized.

At the other end of the tunnel, a blurry scene began to emerge.

Lin Fan's gaze pierced through the endless spatial turbulence and the thick world barriers, precisely locking onto a coordinate he was incredibly familiar with.

The Lower Realm.

Tianyuan Continent... Tianyuan Continent, Southern Region.

The former mountain gate of the Qingyun Sect was now a field of ruins.

Amidst the broken walls and debris, hundreds of Cultivators stood back-to-back, forming a precarious defensive Formation. Their expressions were tragic, and their spiritual power was exhausted.

Leading them were none other than Zhao Linger, Fatty Zhang, and Li Hanyue, who was dressed in white with a cold Sword Intent.

Surrounding them were crowds of Cultivators wearing ancient clothing and exuding a cold aura.

The leader was an old man with an aquiline nose and eyes like a poisonous snake, his entire body radiating the terrifying aura of the Great Perfection of Soul Transformation.

"Hehe... You didn't expect this, did you? My Sacred Demon Sect has been dormant for ten thousand years, and finally, the day has come to see the light of day again!"

The old man's voice was hoarse and triumphant.

"Zhao Linger, hand over the Alchemy Legacy of your Qingyun Sect. And you, Li Hanyue, your sword talent is decent; you can be a sword servant for my grandson. As for the others... you shall all become nourishment for my Sacred Demon Sect's 'Blood Soul Banner'!"

Since the revival of Spiritual Qi and the great change of heaven and earth, many Sects that had been sealed since ancient times had broken their Seals one after another.

This Sacred Demon Sect was one of them.

They acted ruthlessly and without restraint, quickly unifying the Demonic Path forces of the entire Southern Region and stretching their claws toward the struggling Righteous Path Alliance.

And the Qingyun Sect, a place where "miracles" had once been born, naturally became their primary target.

Zhao Linger's pretty face was pale, and she bit her lip hard.

Beside her, Fatty Zhang was so scared his legs were shaking, yet he still puffed out his round belly and roared with false bravado, "You... don't be so arrogant! When... when my Brother Fan comes back, he'll twist all your heads off and kick them like balls!"

"Brother Fan?"

The Sacred Demon Sect Elder acted as if he had heard a joke and sneered disdainfully.

"That trash who ascended long ago? Perhaps the moment he reached the Spirit Realm, he was already swallowed whole by some minor demon! You're counting on him?"

"Attack! Kill the men, and the women..."

A trace of lewdness flashed in the old man's eyes as he was about to give the final order.

Just then.

Boom!

The sky split open without any warning.

An incredibly thick golden light pillar, exuding a divine aura, pierced through the firmament, tore through the clouds, and precisely enveloped the heads of Zhao Linger and the hundreds of Cultivators.

A warm and vast power, the likes of which they had never felt before, completely isolated them from the outside world.

Everyone was stunned.

The Cultivators of the Sacred Demon Sect looked at this scene, which was like the descent of a Heavenly God, in terror, each one dumbfounded.

Zhao Linger, Fatty Zhang, and Li Hanyue all subconsciously raised their heads and looked toward the source of the light pillar.

A gentle yet undeniably majestic voice drifted down from the light pillar, clearly echoing in everyone's ears.

"I've come to get you."

This voice... Fatty Zhang's eyes instantly bulged.

Zhao Linger's body trembled violently, and her eyes turned red in an instant.

It was him!

Lin Fan!

"Playing tricks!"

After the initial shock, the Sacred Demon Sect Elder was instantly overtaken by boundless rage and greed.

A cross-realm tunnel!

This was the legendary cross-realm tunnel!

"Break for me!"

He roared, and his cultivation at the Great Perfection of Soul Transformation erupted fully. A pitch-black giant hand condensed from billowing Devilish Qi blotted out the sun and slammed fiercely toward that golden light pillar!

He wanted to destroy this tunnel and drag the person on the other side into the spatial turbulence along with it!

However,

Faced with this world-destroying strike,

Only an understated cold snort came from within the light pillar.

"Hmph."

In the next moment,

A golden aura, so faint it was almost imperceptible, flashed out from the light pillar.

Poof!

That giant hand of Devilish Qi that blotted out the sun instantly melted like snow under a scorching sun, without even stirring a single ripple.

And that Sacred Demon Sect Elder's body suddenly stiffened, and extreme terror and disbelief appeared on his wrinkled face.

Crack... crack... faint sounds of shattering came from within his body.

His Dao foundation, his Primordial Spirit, everything he was proud of was completely crushed at its source by an invincible, domineering power in that single instant.

"No..."

He opened his mouth, spat out a mouthful of black blood, and his whole person fell from the sky like a kite with a broken string. His aura instantly withered to the extreme, becoming even weaker than a Mortal.

In a single thought, he had crippled a Great Perfection Soul Transformation Cultivator!

The entire field was deathly silent.

All the Sacred Demon Sect Cultivators were like they had been hit by a freezing spell, frozen in place, even forgetting to breathe.

A soft power radiated from the light pillar, slowly lifting core members like Zhao Linger, Fatty Zhang, and Li Hanyue, and flying them toward the depths of the light pillar.

"Brother Fan! Brother Fan, wait for me!"

Fatty Zhang shouted while flailing his arms and legs in mid-air.

Zhao Linger stared blankly at the fellow disciples in the Formation below who could not be guided for the time being, a trace of worry flashing in her eyes.

"Don't worry."

Lin Fan's voice rang out again, carrying a reassuring power.

"Once I have settled you all, I will open the tunnel again. Not a single one will be left behind."

As his voice fell, their figures completely disappeared into the light pillar... After a brief moment of weightlessness and dizziness, a solid sensation came from beneath their feet.

Zhao Linger slowly opened her eyes.

They were standing in a massive, empty metal hall.

Directly in front of the hall, a figure stood quietly with his back to them.

A black robe, a familiar silhouette.

"Brother Fan!"

Fatty Zhang was the first to call out, scrambling and rushing over.

Lin Fan slowly turned around, a faint smile on his face.

However, his face looked a bit pale, and his aura was slightly weak.

Forcibly using his own blood-qi to stabilize the world tunnel was also a huge consumption for him.

Especially that realm beacon; the moment the guidance was completed, it had completely turned to ash.

This time, it was a big loss.

Zhao Linger and Li Hanyue also walked up. They looked at the Lin Fan before them, having too much they wanted to say but not knowing where to start.

The Lin Fan before them was still the same Lin Fan.

But they could clearly feel that there was something more on him, something they could not understand or fathom.

It was a kind of... vastness and depth like an abyss, like a sea of stars.

Zhao Linger's gaze went past Lin Fan's shoulder, looking at the impossibly large transparent porthole behind him.

In the next moment, her eyes, which were as gentle as water, suddenly contracted.

Outside the window.

It was not blue sky and white clouds, nor was it familiar mountains and rivers.

It was a boundless, deathly silent, deep, and dark Universe.

On this dark curtain floated countless unimaginable, massive iron and steel remains.

Some of those remains were like mountain ranges, some like giant beasts; every single ship was ten thousand times larger than the largest city they knew.

This was a boundless starry graveyard composed of the corpses of warships.

And in the center of that graveyard, an even more massive biological skeleton, which simply could not be described in words, floated quietly.

It was like a mountain range stretching across the Universe; just looking at it made one feel a sense of insignificance and trembling from the depths of the Soul.

Fatty Zhang followed her gaze, and the silly smile that had just been on his face instantly froze, his mouth hanging open wide enough to fit an egg.

Li Hanyue's hand gripping the sword hilt turned her knuckles white because she was using too much force.

Their minds were a complete blank.

They could not understand what they were seeing.

Even more so, they could not understand what Lin Fan... had actually experienced in the years since his Ascension.