If the effect on his physical body was within expectations, the transformation wrought upon his Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven by this yin power took Li Fan completely by surprise.
The five grotto-heavens, which had originally remained distinctly separate and mutually uninhibited, now showed a faint tendency to blend into one another.
A rumble resembling a dragon's roar resonated within the grotto-heaven, and amidst its ceaseless trembling, the circulation speed of the five elements nearly doubled.
Although overall strength had not increased by much, his endurance and resilience—already astounding to begin with—had achieved yet another breakthrough.
Li Fan locked his divine sense onto the Crescent Yin Jade in his embrace, his expression shifting enigmatically.
"Heaven and earth in prosperous communion, yin and yang harmonized together. The Heavenly Profound Mirror didn't deceive me—this truly was an area where I was lacking before."
"However..."
The stirrings in Li Fan's mind soon settled. "This can only add brilliance to what is already fine; it cannot provide help in desperate need.
"No matter how much stronger the Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven becomes, there is a limit. If I want to face Longevity cultivators head-on, I must achieve a breakthrough in major realm."
Having reaped the benefits, Li Fan wasted no more time with the Heavenly Profound Mirror's avatar and directly asked about the next plan of action.
The Heavenly Profound Mirror's avatar pondered briefly before saying, "Within the Alliance, the Spirit Sealing Plan has been roughly drafted. Judging by past experience, however, moving from drafting to formal implementation will take quite a long time.
"Unless an unexpected accident serves as a catalyst."
With that, the Heavenly Profound Mirror's avatar secretly transmitted a message to him.
Upon hearing it, Li Fan could not help giving the Heavenly Profound Mirror's avatar a thumbs-up.
"I'll have our brothers in the cult get right on it. We'll certainly give the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals a huge surprise."
Eager to set it in motion, Li Fan transformed into a rainbow streak and departed.
All things frozen within the city resumed their flow. Before long, evocative moans echoed from inside the room once more.
After meeting Mo Rubin in the hidden grotto-heaven and conveying the scheme from the Heavenly Profound Mirror's avatar, Li Fan finally returned to the Spirit Wood Realm.
In the underground chamber, his divided soul was solemnly suppressing the Book of Crossing Adversity.
Relying solely on the divided soul's own power was naturally insufficient.
Yet by combining the newly laid Chuanfa restriction with the joint power of the Spirit Wood Realm's grand formation, it was able to keep the book firmly suppressed.
"Crossing Adversity Sect..."
Watching the book before him flickering continuously with silhouettes of Xuanhuang, Li Fan separated another wisp of divine sense and let it drift into the Book of Crossing Adversity.
This time, because the restriction had been repaired and completed, Li Fan no longer ascended through the mountain stone steps into that bizarre courtyard.
Instead, yellowed sheets of paper, like light screens filling the sky, surrounded Li Fan.
Upon these luminous screens, faint and fleeting glimpses of imagery could vaguely be seen.
They were merely general scenes, impossible to make out in detail.
"It seems one needs the true transmission of the Crossing Adversity Sect to do so."
Li Fan shook his head slightly and withdrew from the Book of Crossing Adversity.
In truth, with the Sky-Measuring Ruler in his possession in this lifetime, the surveillance utility of the Book of Crossing Adversity's paper figures was practically negligible to Li Fan.
Yet the Book of Crossing Adversity possessed one advantage that even the Heavenly Profound Mirror could not match.
And that was: the Crossing Adversity Sect's paper figures were genuinely rooted in the Xuanhuang Realm, reaching deep into the world's veins.
Previously, when facing Dharma Transmitter Jiang, Li Fan had tested the "Mo" character formula.
He had thought it would stir up a storm of blood and terror throughout the Xuanhuang Realm, only for Dharma Transmitter Jiang to quell it effortlessly.
Later, he learned this was due to the power of Reversion to Origin from Guixu, which continually retraced time, steadily diluting the effects of the "Mo" character formula until they were extinguished entirely.
From that previous defeat, Li Fan had learned the proper way to wield the "Mo" character formula: he had to first corrupt as much of the Xuanhuang Realm as possible before detonating it all at once. Only then would the sickness sink deep into the marrow, beyond cure.
Spreading the "Mo" character formula covertly through the Xuanhuang Realm carried considerable risk, however. There was no telling what mighty figure might pop out from some corner to put a stop to his madness.
With the Book of Crossing Adversity, however, the dense thicket of paper figures scattered across every corner of the Xuanhuang Realm became the perfect vector for transmission and contagion!
"All I need to do is corrupt the Book of Crossing Adversity, and the gray mold will follow countless paper figures, infecting most of the Xuanhuang Realm in an instant. By then, even a True Immortal would be powerless to reverse it!"
A sharp gleam flashed through Li Fan's eyes.
If the Xuanhuang Realm were viewed as a giant, then the Crossing Adversity Sect's paper figures were like an acquired neural network implanted throughout its entire body.
And the "Mo" character formula was like a lethal toxin that could rapidly diffuse through it into the whole system.
Though Li Fan might not necessarily go through with it, he had nonetheless acquired another means of world annihilation besides provoking the Immortal of the Immortal Ruins.
"Moreover, this method of world destruction isn't instantaneous like a True Immortal's single glance; it involves a slow march toward ruin. In their struggle to save themselves, the hidden trumps of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals and the Five Elders Association—along with all those figures working behind the scenes who care about Xuanhuang—might all be forced into the open."
His thoughts churning, Li Fan's cold, emotionless eyes fell upon the Book of Crossing Adversity. "Crossing Adversity Sect..."
"Well done!"
Having figured out the ultimate utility of the Book of Crossing Adversity, Li Fan did not leave the underground chamber.
Instead, he continued studying this sole surviving legacy of the Crossing Adversity Sect.
As for the sect's method of taking root throughout Xuanhuang, Li Fan was thoroughly intrigued.
...
While Li Fan was in seclusion conducting his research, waves quietly stirred across the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, sending shockwaves through the highest levels of the Alliance leadership.
It all began when a Golden Core cultivator mysteriously died inside the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
This person had been cultivating inside the Heavenly Profound Mirror space under the state of Spirit Enlightenment until his contribution points ran out and the mirror expelled him.
Only then was his corpse revealed before everyone.
Because he had already been dead for some time, no heavenly phenomenon signaling a cultivator's fall appeared to explain the cause of death.
Following an investigation, the matter was hastily concluded as a "cultivation deviation" and dropped.
Who could have guessed this was merely the first incident? Over the next two months, reports poured in from across the Alliance of cultivators suffering various mishaps while cultivating inside the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
Some suffered rampant hallucinations, not only having their cultivation abruptly aborted but also ending up gravely wounded.
Others even dropped dead on the spot.
If losing a cultivator or two was something the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals could barely stomach,
the subsequent anomalies in the Heavenly Profound Mirror threw the entire Alliance into total panic.
For the Heavenly Profound Mirror's transaction functions also seemed to have developed a glitch.
Not only did contribution point settlements have a certain probability of error during transactions, but a cultivator's existing balance of points could even be wiped out completely by an erroneous calculation.
Turmoil spread, and various functions of the Heavenly Profound Mirror seemed to gradually be compromised.
After a rigorous investigation, the Alliance finally confirmed that these anomalies were all caused by the Heavenly Profound Mirror suffering an attack from petty scoundrels.
Still, the Heavenly Profound Mirror was an entity on the level of an immortal artifact, possessing formidable self-repair capabilities.
With the passage of time, these various disruptions would eventually fade on their own.
Chapter 1042