Li Fan shadowed Gongsun Qixuan for a little longer, watching from hiding before quietly slipping away without alerting him.
As he passed Wanxian Island, Li Fan cast another glance down into the dark abyss.
Jinjian, the anima of Heaven and Earth that he had previously dismissed with a forged heavenly command, had reappeared at some point to once again suppress the Nether-Passage Tunnel Mouth.
The anomalies, large and small, had been dealt with, and their source was sealed.
It seemed as though the Congyun Sea had returned to the peaceful, untroubled days of the past.
Yet from Li Fan's Heaven and Earth perspective, the aftermath of the anomaly outbreak was clearly visible.
Crimson Flame, the anima of Heaven and Earth tasked with boiling the sea, had grown distinctly more formidable than before.
The faint, creeping heat radiating from it sent a quiet chill through Li Fan.
A sudden realization dawned in his mind. *A severe illness demands potent medicine. It seems the Xuanhuang Realm's Heavenly Dao has truly turned ruthless this time. It probably won't take long before the Congyun Sea disappears completely.*
Before his eyes, a purgatorial scene seemed to emerge: the seawater burned away to nothing, exposing stretches of bare seabed.
Li Fan shook his head slightly and lingered in the Congyun Sea no longer.
*The divine ability to feign and hoodwink the Heavenly Dao has been fully tested. Once the time is ripe, I can instantly siphon a massive amount of the world's about-to-be-born change to serve as my own nourishment.*
*What I need to do next is push those two colossal figures into a clash.*
Li Fan could not help looking up toward the unseen Immortal Ruins high in the sky.
Plotting against immortals with a mortal mind was naturally perilous in the extreme.
To say nothing of immortals, even Li Fan himself could faintly sense hostile schemes brewing in secret.
*All the arrangements must erupt at the exact same moment, so that when the two immortals cast their gazes down, the first thing they see is each other.*
*That should cause them to overlook me. Hmm...*
Li Fan paused in thought. *Then again, they might casually spare a sliver of power to crush me like a bug while they're at it.*
...
No matter how he considered it, he could not rule out that possibility.
His mood grew somewhat heavier.
A True Immortal was an existence capable of annihilating the Xuanhuang Realm with a single glance.
With his current strength, withstanding the might of a True Immortal was still far too difficult.
*I still need more accumulation.*
*Getting dragged into this during this lifetime was an act of necessity.*
*If I want to survive the lingering fallout of a True Immortal, my only hope might be to pit their power against each other.*
His thoughts surged as he traveled, and before he realized it, he had already returned to the Spirit Wood Realm.
"Hm?"
Only then did he notice a group of newcomers had arrived in the Spirit Wood Realm.
Sweeping out his divine sense, he immediately understood that Shang Tianci and Yan Fangzhou, after painstaking persuasion, had finally brought their companions from Shanhe Pavilion over for a visit.
These people were almost all under fifty years of age, yet their lowest cultivation was at the Nascent Soul realm. They truly deserved to be called the darlings of heaven.
Hailing mostly from prominent, distinguished clans, they possessed extraordinary discernment.
When they took in the scenery of the Spirit Wood Realm, faint curiosity flickered across their eyes, but there was hardly any shock.
"Brother Shang, Brother Yan, is this the ultimate scenery across myriad realms you spoke of? Haha, isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?"
"Indeed. My clan's grotto-heaven might not match this place in grand scale, but purely in terms of beauty, it certainly wouldn't lose to this."
A total of thirteen young cultivators chimed in playfully.
They wore smiles, speaking in normal conversation without any real malice.
Just as Shang Tianci was about to explain, Li Fan's voice transmission suddenly reached his ears.
"Lead them before the True Immortal stone statue."
Shang Tianci's expression shifted slightly, and the words on the tip of his tongue changed at once. "Haha, in truth, there is one more sight in the Spirit Wood Realm that you have yet to behold. If the wonders of the Spirit Wood Realm were measured as a dan of grain, that sight alone would claim nine dou."
Hearing this, the group immediately grew intrigued.
"Brother Shang, don't hold back and keep us in suspense! Hurry up and take us there!"
"Exactly, exactly! Since we're already here, how could we miss it?"
Amid their clamor, Shang Tianci offered a faint smile. "Very well, please follow me, everyone."
Before long, the party arrived at the circular hall near the entrance of the Spirit Wood Realm.
Seeing Shang Tianci halt his steps, the others grew suspicious. "Brother Shang, what trick are you playing? What's there to see in this rundown circular hall?"
"Indeed. Wasn't this the very first building we laid eyes on when we arrived?"
"Could it be... there is a separate world inside?"
The crowd murmured in discussion.
Shang Tianci cupped his hands. "Come inside, and you will see."
With that, he took the lead and strode into the circular hall.
The others exchanged glances, but being bold and confident in their skill, they followed him inside without much hesitation.
The bright sunlight vanished the moment they entered the hall.
Their vision plunged into gloom.
Yet within that darkness, a single stone statue stood out with piercing clarity.
As if imbued with some strange enchantment, it firmly seized their gazes.
...
Less than half a day later.
A party of twelve walked slowly out of the circular hall.
They appeared no different than when they had entered, yet they were now devout believers of the Compassionate Immortal of the Mortal Dust.
Watching the backs of these youths, Li Fan nodded slowly.
*Though their natural talent isn't much different from the group from the Li Realm, the good thing is that their strength is already established. I won't have to spend any effort cultivating them.*
Li Fan assigned them their first—and only—task upon joining:
Deduce the Hunyuan Golden Core method following establishing the foundation with oneself.
As a possibility for completely breaking free of the Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable's cultivation system, Li Fan had never forgotten it.
Even though each lifetime was destined to yield only meager gains, grains of sand would eventually build a tower, and one day, he would find the solution.
*Or perhaps, if I can meet the King of Profound Heaven in this lifetime, it might drastically advance the deduction progress,*
Li Fan thought quietly to himself.
...
Another peaceful month passed by.
A ripple from the Terminal Dissociation Disc caused Li Fan's eyes to narrow. *A result at last?*
It was the deduction of the Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable's restrictions—a breakthrough had finally arrived.
The time it had consumed far exceeded Li Fan's expectations.
Squinting, Li Fan took in the solution continuously transmitted by the Dissociation Disc.
The Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable's restrictions on the Heavenly Profound Mirror could be summed up in a few words: *gnarled and intertwined, penetrating into the very marrow, rooted into the heaven and earth of Xuanhuang to become one with it.*
Thus, the solution offered by the Dissociation Disc was to shave the flesh, scrape the bones, drain the blood, and pull the sinews.
Though it sounded gruesome, in practice it meant following the pathways the Heavenly Profound Mirror had left across heaven and earth, tracing each vine to its root to dismantle the restrictions one by one.
It relied on no clever tricks, but brute, direct unraveling.
Moreover, according to the Terminal Dissociation Disc's deductions, this seemed to be the only way to break the Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable's restrictions.
This was precisely why it had taken so long, even with the Dissociation Disc's current capabilities.
*When the Dharma Transmitter laid down these restrictions back then, he probably never imagined anyone would break them this way.*
*Because anyone capable of doing so would already possess power nearing that of an immortal. They could simply obliterate the restrictions outright, rather than resorting to this crudest, most direct method.*
Chapter 1036