It seemed that with the passage of time, this stone fragment had also lost the power it once possessed.
Li Fan paused for a moment, then held his breath and slowly approached.
Even when he walked right up to the stone fragment, he felt no change within himself.
Yet, the vigilance in Li Fan's heart did not abate.
This Lost Domain was filled with all manner of strange phenomena; he absolutely could not let his guard down.
He did not reach out to touch the stone fragment, instead observing it carefully again from a short distance away.
A small portion of the stone was buried in the earth. Its overall shape was roughly square, about the width of a man's outstretched arms.
The edges of the stone showed clear signs of fracture, as though it had been split from a larger, intact slab.
There should have been other words carved before and after the word “Chaos.” Yet it was precisely this single word that remained visible, while not even the faintest trace of the others could be seen.
Judging by the appearance of this stone fragment, it doesn't look like a natural fracture, but more like it was deliberately cut.
Chaos.
Could the strange phenomena in this area centered around the circular pit, such as disorientation and physical distortions, be related to this word?
If a single word truly can trigger so many anomalies... what connection does this “Chaos” Stone have with the Heavenly Physician?
Li Fan pondered for a moment, then decided to set the matter aside for now and instead search his surroundings for any sign of an exit.
Unfortunately, at the bottom of the circular pit, aside from the sticky, unidentifiable substance covering the ground, there was only this "Chaos" Stone.
The contorted monster now acts purely on instinct; it shouldn't have been deceiving me.
After some thought, Li Fan returned to the side of the stone fragment, channeled his spiritual power, and lifted it from the ground.
Unlike some rare treasure of heaven and earth, it wasn't particularly heavy; its weight was similar to an ordinary stone.
Moreover, after pulling it out, no expected exit was revealed beneath it.
Nothing unusual happened at all.
Strange...
Li Fan set the "Chaos" Stone down and stroked his chin.
Time was running short. After some contemplation, Li Fan did not go looking for other possibilities.
Instead, he fixed his gaze intently on the stone before him, thinking about where the exit might be hidden.
There wasn't much time to waste. A moment later, Li Fan extended a finger and casually shot a beam of black light towards it.
While retreating, he observed the collision between the Annihilation Sword and the "Chaos" Stone.
The black sword light reached the stone fragment in an instant.
Just before it was about to collide, the black light suddenly twisted.
Under Li Fan's watchful eye, three types of energy he was extremely familiar with were parsed out from the black light:
Madness, pitch-black darkness, and a swirling vortex.
They were none other than the three powers that constituted the Great Five Elements Annihilation Sword: Heaven-Scorning, Ink Death, and the power of five elements.
Under the influence of the "Chaos" Stone, the black light gradually faded.
Then, these energies, which should have been under Li Fan's control, turned against each other and began to fight amongst themselves.
Simultaneously, an inexplicable fluctuation suddenly erupted from the "Chaos" Stone, sweeping outward past the circular pit.
Caught off guard, Li Fan had no time to dodge before it passed right through his body.
His expression changed sharply, thinking he had been tricked.
Yet, contrary to his expectations, this ripple was all thunder and no rain.
He only felt a tingling itch, as if ants were crawling all over his body. But after his spiritual qi circulated once through his system, it was quickly suppressed.
Li Fan paused, staring at the "Chaos" Stone, deep in thought.
The power of Chaos has dissipated, leaving only its form without its spirit.
Yet even so, it can still affect my Five Elements Annihilation Sword...
Li Fan glanced toward the spot where the three powers had fought.
In the recent surge, they had annihilated each other in their struggle.
The glow of the final Black Death Talisman he wore was so now dim it was almost imperceptible, on the brink of extinguishing completely.
Anyone else, finding themselves in such a desperate situation, would surely be in turmoil, unable to think clearly.
However, with Return to Truth as his ultimate trump card, Li Fan felt no panic at all.
Setting aside any consideration of his own safety, Li Fan's thoughts raced as he continued to ponder.
After testing many different methods without success, the Black Death Talisman finally shattered completely. Free from its restraints, the omnipresent White Mist began to devour Li Fan's lifespan.
In just a few breaths, Li Fan’s biological age on Return to Truth’s panel jumped from 51 to 52.
While most of his 51st year had already passed, it was enough to lay bare just how terrifyingly fast the Lifespan-Devouring White Mist could eat through a life.
Watching his lifespan visibly ebb away didn’t throw Li Fan into panic; instead, it honed his thoughts and made him even calmer.
When his lifespan rose to a hundred years, inspiration struck. His eyes lit up.
He sprang onto the stone fragment and, using a finger like a brush, began tracing the word “Chaos” across the surface, stroke by stroke.
His movements were quick and flowing, like a dragon coiling and a serpent gliding, and the act was completed in a blink.
A dim golden glimmer flashed and disappeared, and the word “Chaos” on the rubble seemed to recover a trace of its former brilliance.
But what terrified Li Fan was that the instant the word regained its vitality, the spiritual qi inside him was drained completely.
If his Nine-Law Golden Core hadn’t sensed the danger and immediately circulated, converting the power of the five elements into an unbroken stream of spiritual energy to refill his body, he would have been sucked dry on the spot. Even so, his vision swam and he nearly collapsed.
After absorbing Li Fan’s power, the "Chaos" Stone changed in a way he couldn’t explain.
The word seemed to come alive, naturally radiating a daunting presence. The whole stone turned hazy and unreal, shining with a dreamlike glow. Even the Lifespan-Devouring White Mist was pushed back by that light, forming a circular empty zone.
Li Fan hurried into the circle for shelter, preventing any further loss of his lifespan.
Perhaps because the stone’s activation was fueled by the spiritual power it had taken from him, he no longer felt it affecting him once he drew close.
Yet a steady creaking began to echo from all around him.
The sticky matter spread across the ground as if it had gained life, twisting and writhing.
Li Fan also noticed the motionless, mutated corpses in the circular pit trembling faintly, as though they might rise at any moment.
As the cause of it all, Li Fan felt his scalp prickle.
This is no place to linger.
Watching the "Chaos" Stone flicker between reality and illusion, Li Fan vaguely sensed something: it was like a doorway he could step into at any time.
His spiritual sense detected no danger ahead. If anything, it told him the opposite—this was the only route to survive.
Li Fan didn’t hesitate. He lunged forward, hurling himself into the stone.
Just as he expected, it offered no resistance, as though it weren’t truly there, and he passed straight through.
His sight blurred, then cleared to an endless sea of White Mist.
At last, he had escaped the perilous, maze-like Lost Domain and returned to the familiar bounds of the normal White Mist Barrier.