NOVPUB"Gnawing on your ability?"
Li Fan heard this and couldn’t help but startle.
The ability Tianyang spoke of naturally originated from the Essence of Heaven and Earth [Ink Stone]—the Power of Space.
Transformed by the Xuanhuang Law, once absorbed by a cultivator through the New Method,
even the current Xuanhuang World had no means to strip it away.
Yet in this strange and remote Small World, it could actually be nibbled on?
"Senior brother need not worry. To me, those nameless entities are just like ants, crawling over my body."
"It may hurt, itch, but they can’t threaten my life."
Tianyang transmitted a sequence of images, succinctly conveying his thoughts.
But Li Fan didn’t take it lightly.
This Yin Soul Realm evidently differed from what the 115th Immortal Alliance expedition team had detected upon arrival.
On high alert, Li Fan and Tianyang began to explore within the Yin Soul Realm.
This Small World was not very vast, its area was even smaller than that of the Spirit Tree Realm.
Oddly, Li Fan found none of the spirit entities described by the Immortal Alliance’s expedition team.
The vast land was dim and somber, without the slightest geographical undulation.
All made of gray soil.
Let alone animals and plants, there wasn’t even a single intact stone.
Sweeping the Yin Soul Realm with his divine consciousness, other than Li Fan and Tianyang—the two outsiders—there seemed to be no other existence.
Li Fan’s expression turned grave as he picked up some of the gray soil from the ground, examining it closely in his hand.
It seemed to be just ordinary dirt.
But seeing the scorched-like traces on his hand, having only been in contact for a moment, Li Fan knew this was definitely not something ordinary.
"No pain. The erosion is silent." Li Fan’s gaze flickered.
A surge of vitality emerged from within his body, attempting to heal the injury in his hand.
But to Li Fan’s surprise, this vitality seemed to become nourishment for the parched land!
The black spots on his palm quickly expanded, showing a trend that it would soon spread across his entire body.
Without hesitation, Li Fan decisively severed his palm.
What happened next caused Li Fan’s pupils to constrict sharply.
He saw that the flesh and blood of his palm, upon falling on the gray soil,
faded and turned to ash like the remains of something burnt by flames.
Then it merged indistinguishably with the soil.
"What in the world…"
Li Fan looked at the gray soil that filled the world, his heart filled with dread.
The bizarreness of this place somewhat exceeded Li Fan’s imagination.
Just as he contemplated leaving, Tianyang suddenly transmitted a message.
"Senior brother, the strength of the gnawing around us seems to vary from place to place."
"Perhaps we can discern where the anomaly is by the degree of its intensity."
Li Fan hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement.
With Li Fan’s approval, Tianyang sensed around while quickly soaring through the skies of the Yin Soul Realm.
Soon, they pinpointed a location.
There, the "gnawing power" seemed extremely robust.
Li Fan even faintly felt mysterious fluctuations emanating from Tianyang’s body,
as if Tianyang was engaged in a fierce battle with an opponent of equal strength.
After just a short time, Tianyang was forced to leave.
"It feels like a myriad of ants are biting into me. Can’t you feel it, senior brother?" Tianyang asked through spiritual transmission.
Li Fan shook his head and simply continued to fly towards that place, utilizing the Seven-color Divine Light.
Indeed, he felt no unusual sensations at all.
But Li Fan had an ominous premonition in his heart that if he used the fire attribute Spiritual Power as he had before,
the consequences would be far more severe than merely having his physical body frozen into a statue.
Therefore, Li Fan completely subdued the Spiritual Energy within him.
```
He acted solely with his physical body and the power of the Seven-color Divine Light.
Arriving above the target location, Li Fan carefully observed, trying to find useful clues.
Even True, he noticed something amiss.
The earlier area had been explored; the entire Yin Soul Realm was absolutely flat.
But that location...
Seemed to be somewhat raised.
As if something was buried under the grey soil.
This time, Li Fan had experience. Shielding his right hand with the Seven-color Divine Light, he began to dig through the soil.
Continuing to dig down, suddenly, Li Fan touched something hard.
His expression serious, he lifted it from the deep grey soil.
The grey dust that had settled on the surface began to disappear on its own shortly after leaving the ground.
The true appearance of the hard object was thereby revealed.
"What is this?"
Li Fan was somewhat stunned.
In his hand was a human skull.
Unlike a normal person, this skull had a third eye at the brow. There was a hollow the size of an eye socket.
Furthermore, naturally occurring black and gold patterns adorned the skull cap.
Li Fan turned the skull over and to his shock, discovered the inside looked as if it were moldy.
Grey Mold Spots, striking terror at the sight.
And these Grey Mold Spots seemed to possess their own consciousness.
After lying dormant for who knows how many years, upon sensing the presence of living people nearby, they immediately began to move in a strange manner.
They behaved as if they were exploring their surroundings.
An indescribable sense of crisis suddenly emerged from within Li Fan.
He emitted strands of Seven-color Divine Light, forming a perfect seal.
It isolated Li Fan’s aura.
Only then did the Grey Mold Spots calm down again.
Looking at the strange skull enclosed in the Seven-color Light Sphere, Li Fan’s brow furrowed slightly.
"A head with a tri-eye, similar to humans, but different. Clearly not a person from the Xuanhuang World."
"It seems that it was the Grey Mold that caused the catastrophe in the Yin Soul Realm."
"Could it be that this outsider brought the Grey Mold here, leading to this place turning into the Gray Zone?"
"And this initiator, due to the erosion of the Grey Mold, did not even leave a complete corpse behind."
"Only because the Black and Gold Runes marked on the skull have preserved it."
...
A possible answer appeared in Li Fan’s mind.
"This place is the farthest from the Xuanhuang World, and it’s very likely that it has reached the scope of other Immortal Cultivation Worlds."
"This Tri-eye must be a person from those Immortal Cultivation Worlds."
"Came here to escape?"
"But brought over the terrifying Grey Mold."
One scene after another appeared before Li Fan.
Li Fan found that the Seven-color Divine Light was not enough to fully withstand the power of the Grey Mold Spots.
Even just sealing it, Li Fan still felt the Seven-color Divine Light being constantly consumed.
If it weren’t for the continuous supply of power from the Five Elements Cave Heaven, the seal would have been broken long ago.
After pondering for a moment, Li Fan did not put the skull back in its original place.
Instead, he attempted to store it in his Storage Ring.
Surprisingly, it was exceptionally smooth.
Without the slightest hindrance, it was taken in.
And through the Storage Ring’s observation, Li Fan found that the Grey Mold Spots were still not at rest.
Not only were they consuming the power of the Seven-color Divine Light.
Even the space of the Storage Ring had begun to become unstable.
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