Li Fan quietly suppressed his aura back to the Foundation Establishment realm. Within the Cosmos Branch Academy, his breakthrough had gone largely unnoticed. Aside from Ji Hongdao casting a brief, surprised glance his way during a lecture, almost no one knew Li Fan had already stepped into the Golden Core realm.
But then, even if the other disciples had known, they likely wouldn't have given it much thought. After all, the Golden Core cultivators were utterly commonplace among this group. Compared to cultivation levels, what they truly valued was one’s mastery of arrays.
The intensive training for the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array was nearing its conclusion.
Ever since witnessing the encapsulation of the Tianxuan Mirror surfaces firsthand, many disciples seemed to have grasped some profound insights, and their skills advanced by leaps and bounds, remarkably allowing them to catch up in the final test—the hub device affinity assessment.
Li Fan, on the other hand, had been somewhat distracted, his mind divided between the major events unfolding in the Congyun Sea and his own core formation.
Compounding this was his genuinely mediocre talent for the array path, resulting in a complete lack of any such epiphany.
The combination of these two factors meant his performance had essentially stagnated.
As the saying goes, to not advance is to fall behind. Consequently, Li Fan's ranking slipped significantly.
Fortunately, his previous scores in the array structure and Soul Contract recognition segments had been near the top. Taken together, he didn’t fall to the very bottom, remaining in the upper-middle tier of the rankings.
On this day, Ji Hongdao announced that the final assessment would commence in a month and a half: the practical deployment of the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array.
They would be provided with sufficient array materials but no assistance of any kind. Each person would construct the array alone.
The final evaluation would be based on the actual quality of the constructed array, with rankings assigned accordingly.
Top performers would naturally receive rewards. As for the exact nature of the prizes, Ji Hongdao kept them a secret, only saying they were extremely precious, so much so that even he wished he could participate himself.
Hearing this, the disciples were inwardly stirred. They hurried back to their respective abodes to make thorough preparations for the final test.
Just as Li Fan was about to leave, Ji Hongdao called out to stop him.
"Though the final assessment approaches soon, and reason dictates I should keep this matter hidden for now.... this event is simply too momentous. I believe you have the right to know." Ji Hongdao began, his expression grave.
Li Fan understood instantly what Ji Hongdao was referring to. But it was necessary to put on a performance. He feigned a moment of confusion, wearing a look of polite bewilderment. "Senior, please speak freely. I can bear it."
Ji Hongdao gave a slight nod. "Very well, listen carefully. Your homeland, the Congyun Sea... is gone."
Li Fan's reaction was perfectly measured. He showed no particular outburst, only utter bewilderment. "Gone? What do you mean?"
A flicker of sorrow passed through Ji Hongdao's eyes. "Gone. In the literal sense. The entire Congyun Sea... has vanished."
Li Fan let out a disbelieving chuckle. "Senior, you must be joking. The Congyun Sea is vast beyond measure. How could such an immense region simply vani—"
His words cut off abruptly, strangled into dead silence. He stared blankly at Ji Hongdao, seeing no trace of jest in the man's expression.
It was as if he'd been struck by lightning. A tremor began to course through his body. His eyes widened like copper bells. Disregarding the vast gap in their cultivation and status, Li Fan lunged forward and seized Ji Hongdao's arm.
"It's true? How is that possible? What exactly happened?"
Ji Hongdao looked at Li Fan's desperate expression and let out a long sigh. With a single finger, he sent Li Fan back to his courtyard. "Go back and calm down first. As for what specifically happened, you can look it up yourself in the Tianxuan Mirror. The relevant information should still be searchable now."
As his vision blurred, Li Fan was already back in his own small courtyard.
Maintaining the same expression, Li Fan searched for the Congyun Sea in the Tianxuan Mirror.
It seems the Heaven-Scorning Sword was ultimately no match for Ink Death. The Congyun Sea has now become a void.
Cloudwater Palace has also vanished without a trace.
This outcome was to be expected. Perhaps Heaven-Scorning was originally an existence on the same level as Ink Death, but currently, it is just a broken fragment of a sword. It doesn't even have a hilt anymore.
Despite being such a major event, the discussion around it is so subdued. It seems that Heavenly Venerable is at work again.
With something this big happening, trying to hide it was definitely impossible.
The Myriad Immortals Alliance didn't choose to block or suppress the news, but rather handled it with cold indifference.
The initial discussions were extremely heated. The recordings of Ink Death's world-ending destruction shared by Jiao Xiuyuan left many cultivators both terrified and filled with greed.
Apart from sympathy for the unfortunate cultivators of the Congyun Sea and discussions about why Ink Death would employ such a brutal method to eradicate the region, the most highly-discussed topic was actually the feasibility of achieving Dao Unity with Ink Death.
As time passed, the number of people discussing the first two topics dwindled. Only the power-gamers persisted.
"What level of combat power would one need to achieve Dao Unity with Ink Death? In my opinion, though the cultivation world is vast, no cultivator has that qualification."
"I'll nominate someone: Lord Jinglun. Legend has it that he reached the peak of Spirit Transformation decades ago. His strength is unfathomable. Once, he resolutely gave up the chance for Dao Unity, simply because that Soul Arbiter was too weak!"
"Lord Jinglun is strong, but compared to Ink Death, he still falls a bit short."
"Those black particles annihilated everything. Resisting them would be extremely difficult. I think if Zhong Shentong advanced to Spirit Transformation, his endless multicolored divine lights might be able to contend with them."
"Zhong Shentong? That Foundation Establishment fossil? Do you really think any piece of trash can come out and step on Lord Jinglun? I could crush him myself without the Lord needing to lift a finger!"
"Oh? You sure speak with great bravado, Fellow Daoist. Dare you leave your name and address? I will personally pay you a visit to seek instruction!"
"......" Li Fan's face was a mask of profound grief as he browsed through the information.
Yet in his heart, he thought: Having suffered such misfortune, it would be perfectly reasonable if my final assessment score ended up being a bit lower, wouldn't it?
For the next few days, Li Fan did not leave his residence and refused all visitors, perfectly playing the part of a cultivator who had suddenly been dealt a great blow.
As time slowly passed, Li Fan clearly noticed his memories of the Congyun Sea beginning to fade from his mind.
His thoughts were obstructed, and he almost never actively recalled anything related to it.
If not for Li Fan deliberately carving out a dedicated section within the Dao Transformation Stone in his mind for specific records and reviewing them every few days, he too would have almost forgotten about the Congyun Sea's annihilation.
It had only been a little over a month since then.
The powers of the Eternal Heavenly Venerables are truly terrifying to behold. Li Fan mused inwardly, having once more personally experienced the influence of such a being.
And so, all returned to calm.
Another ten-odd days passed, and the final test of the closed-door training finally arrived.