"Understandable. After all, when cultivators practice the new method, the resources of Heaven and Earth merge completely into their bodies, making it impossible to separate one from the other. Forcibly extracting them again is virtually no different from crushing them to pieces and tearing them apart," Li Fan said coldly.
"This Dharma Transmitter Zheng is truly a rare talent. If an opportunity presents itself, I'd really like to meet him properly," Li Fan sneered.
Mo Rubin shook his head. "Because his proposal was rejected, Zheng stormed off in fury back to his pocket world and refuses to see anyone. For the time being, there probably won't be any chance. Perhaps later, before we leave, we can make one final move."
Li Fan nodded in agreement.
Having finished discussing this curious matter, Li Fan returned to the Spirit Wood Realm with the nine Dissociation Discs.
In the underground chamber, Li Fan prudently laid down an extra layer of defensive formations around the perimeter.
Only then did he take out the nine newly born Dissociation Discs and set them before him.
No longer suppressing the surging urge to devour them in a single gulp transmitting from his sea of consciousness, the Terminal Dissociation Disc flew out directly. Like a beast starved for ages, its eyes gleaming red, it stared intently at "itself" from this world.
Had it not been for Li Fan's control, the Terminal Dissociation Disc likely would have succumbed to instinct long ago and swiftly devoured the nine discs.
Yet Li Fan still maintained a clear head.
Should he let the Terminal Dissociation Disc devour the nine unfused discs one by one right now? Or should he wait until the nine discs merged into one to form a complete Dissociation Disc before devouring it?
The answer was obvious.
With immense willpower, Li Fan restrained the Terminal Dissociation Disc.
He then began manipulating and driving the fusion of the nine discs.
The fusion of the nine discs was, in the end, the survival of the strongest and the elimination of the weak.
For Li Fan, who had personally experienced the merging of the nine discs and now possessed knowledge of formations far surpassing this era, it was an effortless task.
Picking one of the nine discs at random as the lucky candidate, he drew it into his palm. Then, with a gentle flick of his finger, the Terminal Dissociation Disc hovering above cast down a beam of white light.
The constantly shifting information within the white light represented countless formations that no Dissociation Disc at this point in time had ever recorded.
Formations that originally would have required a Dissociation Disc to spend vast amounts of time acquiring through self-learning and relentless deductions were now crudely shoved into this newborn Dissociation Disc by Li Fan.
This was pulling up seedlings to help them grow, in the truest sense.
As the newborn Dissociation Disc absorbed more and more formations, the luster on its surface visibly brightened.
Meanwhile, the remaining eight Dissociation Discs seemed to sense the impending danger.
Forced into a corner, they pushed their deduction speeds to their absolute limits.
Yet how could they compare to the lucky candidate that was reaping without sowing?
In merely the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the first Dissociation Disc was eliminated.
After devouring its peer, the lucky candidate grew even stronger.
The speed at which it received the influx of knowledge accelerated as well.
Its pace in devouring the other newborn Dissociation Discs also quickened steadily.
Finally...
After less than half a day, the ultimate victor emerged.
The complete Dissociation Disc of this world manifested before him.
Rather than devouring it immediately in impatience, Li Fan acted like a patient gourmet, following the same method and tempering this newborn complete form with Source Power.
Once everything was prepared, he finally stopped suppressing the Terminal Dissociation Disc.
Thus, the "lucky one" that had just triumphed in the life-or-death contest among siblings fell in an instant into the jaws of the mastermind behind the scenes.
Li Fan seemed to hear faint chewing sounds.
He also seemed to hear the indignant, enraged wails of the newborn Dissociation Disc.
Yet their fusion was already set in stone.
Like returning to simplicity and shedding all worldly veneer, the originally gleaming Terminal Dissociation Disc gradually reined in its light as it ceaselessly absorbed the newborn body.
It took on the appearance of an ancient object polished out of stone, entirely inconspicuous.
Though the process of deducing formations was interrupted by the fusion, as the master of the Terminal Dissociation Disc, Li Fan clearly felt an unimaginable transformation taking place within it.
In the blink of an eye, Heaven and Earth were overturned.
As the Terminal Dissociation Disc ascended, an inexplicable ripple descended alongside it.
Extremely reminiscent of when the Spirit Wood Realm had ascended, the entire world trembled faintly.
The living beings dwelling in the Spirit Wood Realm all sensed something in their hearts, knowing that a momentous event was underway.
Yet under Li Fan's deliberate concealment, none could pinpoint the source of the anomaly.
The change continued.
Across the surface of the stone-like disc, profound patterns formed spontaneously.
Before Li Fan could get a clear look, they sank inward and vanished from sight.
With the addition of these innate patterns, the aura faintly emanating from the Terminal Dissociation Disc became increasingly extraordinary.
In the sky above the Spirit Wood Realm, a void inexplicably tore open.
As if beyond the rift, something was descending.
Li Fan looked up, filled with anticipation.
However, rather unexpectedly...
The void persisted for quite a while, yet the awaited change never arrived.
The Terminal Dissociation Disc seemed to hover perpetually just shy of the pinnacle, only a single step away from attaining the absolute summit.
Yet invisibly, something seemed to be obstructing it, as though an imperceptible barrier stood before it.
The aura of the Terminal Dissociation Disc surged relentlessly, but in the end, it failed to complete that ultimate metamorphosis.
Having reached its peak, it began to wane.
The void at the center of the Spirit Wood Realm's sky gradually shrank over time.
Ultimately, it vanished completely.
And the various anomalies occurring upon the Terminal Dissociation Disc also subsided entirely.
Li Fan held the brand-new Terminal Dissociation Disc in his hand, lost in thought.
"Something was missing."
"It seems the severance of the Immortal Path also affects pure artifacts."
Comforting the indignation that intermittently pulsed from the Terminal Dissociation Disc, Li Fan began testing out the sublimated disc once it finally accepted this helpless reality.
Though it had not completed a metamorphosis to the immortal artifact level, its efficiency in deducing formations could no longer be spoken of in the same breath as before!
Most notably, not only had its speed in analyzing the Myriad Spirits Returning to Numerical Order Great Array increased severalfold,
but it was even performing self-deductions simultaneously with the analysis.
What was more, it still had surplus capacity to carry out the previous deduction task of unraveling the Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable's restrictions!
Even more terrifyingly, Li Fan keenly perceived that this wasn't even the brand-new Terminal Dissociation Disc operating at full throttle!
It still had strength to spare!
Li Fan estimated that after devouring its other self, the overall deduction efficiency of the Terminal Dissociation Disc had swelled by nearly tenfold and then some!
"This..."
It had not advanced to the immortal artifact rank, but Li Fan believed that the Terminal Dissociation Disc of this moment undoubtedly stood at the very pinnacle of mortal objects.
In fact, judging purely by array-deduction capability alone, it was very likely already on par with certain immortal artifacts!
Such stellar results truly exceeded Li Fan's expectations by a wide margin!
"Has merging with oneself produced an effect far greater than one plus one being greater than two...?"
Li Fan immediately sank into deep thought.
Chapter 1017