With those mysterious figures leading the way, neither of the two soul clones suffered any further tearing.
Moreover, their pace along the mountain paths accelerated several times over, the surrounding scenery streaking backward in a blur.
The only thing that puzzled Li Fan was that the place where he had originally appeared was right at the foot of the Crossing Adversity Sect's mountain. He had barely climbed any distance up, yet the road down was just as long as the way up, seemingly without end.
After an indeterminate time, vision blurred before both soul clones, and the indistinct figures escorting them vanished.
As quiet returned to their ears, they looked around.
The scenery surrounding each of them was identical: a small courtyard bounded by white walls, with a red wooden door standing half-ajar. The walls were mottled with flecks of green and red. The red looked like blood, while the green was moss sprouting from cracks in the stonework.
At Li Fan's true body, looking at the two identical images transmitted to his mind, his expression turned enigmatic.
"Two Crossing Adversity Sects? What is going on?"
Without dwelling on it for long, he directed both soul clones to push open the red wooden doors and step inside the courtyards.
The red doors did not creak with age and disrepair; instead, they swung open in utter silence, bringing a faint sense of unreality.
The moment they stepped into the courtyards, Li Fan felt a pair of hands violently seize his ankles. Both locations were exactly the same.
Yet when he looked down, there was nothing to be seen. Still, the sinister chill rising from the depths of his divine soul could not be faked.
"I'm definitely going to extort a heavy price from the Heavenly Profound Mirror this time. He never mentioned that the Crossing Adversity Sect was this bizarre."
The thought flashed through his mind and vanished. Ignoring the strange sensation clutching at their feet, the two soul clones pressed on deeper into their respective courtyards.
The central hall's doors were tightly locked and could not be opened. There were only stone doors to the left and right, leading who knew where. Both clones faced the exact same setup.
"Interesting." Li Fan's eyes flickered.
He first attempted to attack the central halls, but even when destroyed, the halls restored themselves to their original state in the blink of an eye.
Li Fan then had each soul clone enter one of the stone doors—one going left, the other right.
The scenes before his eyes flickered.
When Li Fan clearly took in his new surroundings, he was taken aback. Behind the stone doors lay courtyards identical to the previous ones! Once again, stone doors flanked the sides, and the central hall's doors remained tightly locked!
"This..."
The way back had already vanished; there was nothing to do but continue exploring forward.
After pondering for a moment, Li Fan made a decision. Following a brief writhing, the two soul clones each split into two separate entities. A total of four soul clones walked into different stone doors.
The scenes shifted again. As expected, everything in sight was still identical to what had come before.
Li Fan frowned and continued dividing his divine soul. Eight soul clones drifted slowly into the stone doors.
Sixteen, thirty-two, sixty-four, one hundred and twenty-eight...
After all, what had entered the Crossing Adversity Sect was merely a single soul clone of Li Fan's; after splitting into 1,024 individuals, it finally lacked the strength to divide any further.
Looking at the left and right doors beside each soul clone, Li Fan knew the initial exploration had failed.
"Did I take a wrong turn and wander into a trap? Or is it... a trial of the Crossing Adversity Sect?"
Li Fan pondered for a moment, then severed nearly one-third of his divine soul.
Even with the Limitless Waxing and Waning Method to replenish it, Li Fan felt a wave of dizziness.
Unlike the simple soul clone from earlier, this one-third of his soul was packed with a vast reservoir of five elements power drawn from his body, enough to sustain repeated divisions.
"Go."
Watching the soul fragment disappear into the rift of the void, Li Fan worked quickly to recover from his injuries while monitoring the visions sent back by his soul.
Just like before, the soul soon entered the Crossing Adversity Sect. Once again, it was torn apart by mysterious figures and brought to different courtyards above and below.
To Li Fan's surprise, it did not encounter any of the soul clones that had entered earlier. It seemed each batch had entered entirely separate spaces.
With a thought, Li Fan commanded the earlier 1,024 soul clones to detonate simultaneously. At the same time the sensory feeds vanished, the soul deep inside the Crossing Adversity Sect felt not the slightest change.
"Cut off from sensing one another? As expected of one of the ancient Ten Great Immortal Sects."
Not yet possessing the cultivation level to disregard the sect's arrangements, Li Fan could only play by their rules as he explored.
This time, backed by an inexhaustible supply of soul power, Li Fan forged ahead. Each time a soul clone entered a courtyard, it split into two individuals to explore in parallel. This continued for a total of seventy-two iterations.
Outside the Crossing Adversity Sect, the Dao Transformation Stone in Li Fan's sea of consciousness radiated unprecedented brilliance. Countless identical scenes were arrayed across the Dao Transformation Stone.
"Fortunately, these near-identical scenes lessen the processing burden. Otherwise..."
Li Fan knew this was already his limit. If they split one more time, the divine soul could still endure it, but his true body would be forced to cut off all sensory feeds. Otherwise, his sea of consciousness risked bursting from the strain.
Now, those soul fragments were reduced to the faintest wisps, insubstantial and nearly invisible. Devoid of imbued power, even a mortal's strike would likely disperse them.
Yet, following the true body's instructions, they drifted slowly toward their respective entrances.
Still more visions surged in all at once, plunging Li Fan's thoughts into a brief standstill.
Then...
Like the projected rays of countless soul clones cast downward, all converging at last into a single point.
After a dizzying whirl, they fused back together into one.
Taking a moment to adjust to a single line of sight, Li Fan narrowed his eyes and surveyed his surroundings. It was still the same courtyard he had seen countless times, but there were no longer any stone doors on the left or right walls.
Li Fan looked toward the central hall, deep in thought. Walking forward with measured steps, he gently pushed open the doors.
In the darkness, a black speck seemed to appear, swallowing all surrounding light before spewing it back out at thousands of times its original speed. Scene after scene unfolded rapidly before Li Fan.
"The tribulation approaches. It is a catastrophe, yet also an opportunity."
"If we can successfully cross this tribulation, we shall endure through ten thousand kalpas..."
"Among endless possibilities, that single sliver of chance does indeed exist."
"We can only seek life through death."
"Indeed. If Xuanhuang can survive the Great Tribulation, we too can harness the tribulation's power to achieve transcendence."
"Then, let us begin."
...
In the darkness, countless identical figures seemed to converse in rapid succession.
And as the scenes progressed, Li Fan discovered to his shock that these figures had all turned into forms he had seen before:
Dense swarms of paper men filling heaven and earth!
Li Fan's mind was shaken, and he wanted to observe further. Yet the pitch-black space-time around him jolted violently, and all the phantom scenes vanished without a trace.
When Li Fan was able to see once more...
Chapter 1039