“Thud! Thud! Thud!”

It seemed that the mention of the words “Heavenly Doctor” from Li Fan’s mouth thoroughly triggered the emotions of the Twisted Monster. It forcefully banged its head against the ground repeatedly, creating cracks in the hard, desolate earth.

At the same time, it continuously emitted intermittent sobbing sounds, with blood tears streaming down its face.

Despite the monster’s repulsive appearance, this scene unexpectedly made Li Fan feel a strange sense of pity for it. “Did the Heavenly Doctor really commit the massacre here?”

In an instant, an image of a kind, neighborly old man surfaced in Li Fan’s mind. On the surface, he appeared benevolent and kind, with a smiling face, but his actions were horrifying.

Li Fan felt a shiver of fear. He recalled the scene in the Cloud Water Celestial Palace when the Qin Hall members howled in anger upon seeing the statue of the Heavenly Doctor. It seemed that the fall of the Cloud Water Celestial Palace was indeed related to the Heavenly Doctor.

“But where is this place? Why did it become a spatial fragment within the white mist barrier? And why did the Heavenly Doctor indiscriminately slaughter these cultivators?”

Li Fan calmed his shock and looked at the Twisted Monster, still kowtowing incessantly. It had survived the Heavenly Doctor’s massacre and lived alone in this lost domain for so long. Li Fan’s proud Great Five Elements Annihilation Sword couldn’t even scratch its surface, indicating its immense strength.

Yet now, it seemed like a commoner suffering a great injustice, kneeling before Li Fan, who seemed like a just official.

As an official for many years, Li Fan was quite familiar with such scenes. Why was this happening? It was not because Li Fan was stronger than the Twisted Monster. Instead…

“Did it mistake me for someone else?”

“Yes, that must be it. As for why the Twisted Monster mistook me…”

In Li Fan’s limited reincarnations, this kind of mistake had happened once before. To verify his suspicion, Li Fan circulated his Golden Core and summoned a strand of Heavenly Annihilation Energy, condensing it into a sword. Sure enough, the Twisted Monster became even more agitated, its cries echoing louder, as if it would break the ground.

“Heavenly Annihilation Sword, Fisherman Elder.” Li Fan’s eyes flashed as he looked at the monster kneeling before him. “It is begging me because it sensed the Heavenly Annihilation Energy in my Great Five Elements Annihilation Sword and mistook me for the master of the Heavenly Annihilation Sword.”

“Even the Fisherman Elder almost mistook me; this monster has been trapped here for who knows how many years, relying only on instinct. Such a mistake is understandable.”

“From this, it seems that the Fisherman Elder was likely a leader among the fallen cultivators in this lost domain. The Heavenly Doctor’s massacre must have involved a confrontation with him.”

“The Heavenly Annihilation Sword is incomplete, and the Fisherman Elder became amnesiac and insane, possibly due to the Heavenly Doctor’s actions.”

But soon, Li Fan felt something was off. If the Heavenly Doctor was truly responsible, having lived for so long and becoming much stronger, he would have known about the Fisherman Elder’s existence. Why not eliminate him completely instead of letting him survive? Or was it, as Li Fan previously speculated, that the Fisherman Elder had become a strange entity that couldn’t be eradicated?

“Heavenly Doctor…” Li Fan squinted his eyes. He was not a forgiving person. The Heavenly Doctor had once discovered his true form through the art of “observing, listening, questioning, and feeling,” broke the Tianxuan Mirror’s protection, and attempted to capture him alive. That terror still lingered in Li Fan’s mind. However, due to the vast difference in their power, Li Fan had to bury his desire for revenge deep within.

Now, realizing that the Fisherman Elder might be the Heavenly Doctor’s nemesis, Li Fan felt a stir of excitement. “Perhaps in my next life, I can cause him some trouble.”

“If the Fisherman Elder retrieves the Heavenly Annihilation Sword and seeks him out during the battle between the Heavenly Doctor and the Ancient Master…” Li Fan’s eyes gleamed as he quickly devised a rough plan, drawing from his experiences in several lifetimes.

With a cold laugh, he temporarily set the matter aside and turned his attention back to the Twisted Monster. “The Black Death Talisman can last another day; perhaps the hope of escape lies with it.”

Retracting the Heavenly Annihilation Engery, Li Fan tried to calm and communicate with the monster, expressing that he had been deceived and trapped here by the Heavenly Doctor and was searching for an exit to seek revenge outside. It took nearly half a day for the monster, with its lost intellect, to understand Li Fan’s meaning. It stopped kowtowing, became quiet, and its head rotated continuously as if pondering something. Soon after, it crawled away, occasionally turning its head to indicate for Li Fan to follow.

In the chaotic domain near the Twelfth Relic, disorienting forces still prevailed. In Li Fan’s perception, the leading Twisted Monster occasionally appeared behind him or suddenly flashed forward, continuously changing positions unpredictably. Li Fan closely followed, adjusting his direction according to the monster’s movements.

After half a day, the Black Death Talisman’s black light had grown increasingly faint, as if it might extinguish at any moment. Following the Twisted Monster deeper, Li Fan seemed to reach the center of the lost domain. In a round pit, as if struck by a meteor, many figures stood. They were lifeless corpses, but unlike those Li Fan had seen before, these bodies had undergone eerie transformations.

Some had turned to stone, resembling statues. Others had turned to jade, glowing brightly. Some had become like trees, covered in cracked bark. The most horrifying were those that had undergone insect transformation. Though appearing normal at first glance, a closer look revealed they were hollow, composed of countless tiny black maggots, still wriggling after many years.

The closer Li Fan got to the center, the more pronounced the transformations became. No longer were there standing corpses but instead, strange substances adhered to the ground.

The Twisted Monster’s pace slowed, its body trembling subtly, indicating its fear of something ahead. It stopped at a certain point, refusing to move forward. After calming it, Li Fan ventured alone, his guard up.

Contrary to his expectations, there was no fearsome monster in the pit’s center, only a broken stone lying quietly. The stone once bore inscriptions, now barely visible. However, Li Fan could make out traces, hinting at the character “Chaos.”