The paper figure had appeared suddenly when Li Fan attempted to corrode the Book of Crossing Adversity using the Seven-Colored Jade Void Flowing Light embedded with gray mold.
According to the paper figure himself, this was some kind of early-warning mechanism.
The Crossing Adversity Sect had never intended to disregard the outside world completely after transforming into paper figures.
Paper figures monitored Xuanhuang, and when the sensed threat level from the outside reached a certain threshold, the warning mechanism would activate.
The more severe the crisis, the greater the number of paper figures that would awaken.
The gray mold Li Fan released was still contained within the Seven-Colored Divine Light. Thus, only a faint leak of its aura had awakened a single paper figure.
However, after this paper figure grasped the current state of the Book of Crossing Adversity and the Xuanhuang Realm, whether he had awakened other slumbering paper figures...
Judging by the chaotic fluctuations that had rippled through the Book of Crossing Adversity earlier, the answer was yes.
Yet there seemed to be some constraint; after a brief deliberation among the paper figures of the Crossing Adversity Sect, the vast majority had chosen to return to slumber.
Leaving behind only the paper figure before him, named Dan Xuan, with full authority to communicate with Li Fan.
Bearing the survival of the entire Crossing Adversity Sect on his shoulders, Dan Xuan's status was undoubtedly extraordinary.
Yet no matter how resourceful he was, faced with Li Fan repeatedly threatening world destruction at the drop of a hat, he could only suffer setback after setback and make concession after concession.
For Dan Xuan could tell that every time Li Fan's killing intent surfaced, he was not acting.
Rather, he truly did not care about his own life or the lives of all living beings in the Xuanhuang Realm, fully prepared to drag everything down with him into the grave.
Faced with such an unreasonable "madman," Dan Xuan was utterly helpless.
At this moment, sensing the dangerous thoughts surfacing once again in Li Fan's mind, he hurriedly manifested to persuade him.
"Asking you to help find someone, and you make every excuse to evade it. Seems your Crossing Adversity Sect doesn't truly care about the Xuanhuang Realm after all," Li Fan sneered.
The troubled expression on the paper figure Dan Xuan's face bunched up tightly: "Young friend, I have said it many times. It is not that we are unwilling, but that we truly cannot. We never imagined that during our slumber, the Xuanhuang Realm would expand to such an extent.
"There are far too many blind spots. The overall surveillance system of the Book of Crossing Adversity has been compromised as a result. If it is only to check a specific paper figure, that can still be done. But to take a panoramic survey of the whole picture..."
Dan Xuan swayed his body slightly. "Unless paper figures are dispatched to fill in all those newly emerged domains."
Confronted with Dan Xuan's excuses, Li Fan put on an expression of utter disbelief.
"I can understand your eagerness, young friend, to seek revenge against Dharma King Mo and the Profound Heaven Treasure Mirror.
"However, in this world, there is likely no one who understands the terror of the Profound Heaven Sect better than us veterans of the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao. Back then, without the help of Archmage Tiandu, we wouldn't have stood the slightest chance of victory.
"A legacy inherited from the Immortal Realm is not something the native cultivation methods of our Xuanhuang Realm can compare to."
Dan Xuan seemed to recall the formidable might of the Profound Heaven Sect back then, his paper body trembling faintly.
"To lose at their hands...
"It is no disgrace. You need not take it too hard, young friend. Of course, if you insist on seeking revenge..."
Dan Xuan paused, then offered the advice he had already given several times before: "Why not invite Archmage Tiandu to take action? The Archmage would certainly be very interested in the remnants of the Profound Heaven Sect."
Dan Xuan's tone remained as earnest as ever, as though he were genuinely looking out for Li Fan.
"I can sense that the Archmage is still in secluded cultivation within the Xuanhuang Realm. At his level of attainment, ten thousand years is merely the blink of an eye. Back then, I was fortunate enough to receive immortal arts personally imparted by the Archmage, so I can still put in a word before him. If you are willing, young friend..."
Dan Xuan coaxed patiently.
"If he could treat useless trash like your Crossing Adversity Sect like a treasure, how strong could he possibly be?" With just a single sentence, Li Fan instantly shattered Dan Xuan's composure.
Yet he was a man of great cultivation and restraint after all, quickly recovering himself.
Paying no heed to Li Fan's scorn and disparagement, he continued to persuade him.
"It is only natural that we lacked mastery and failed to inherit the Archmage's divine might. However, that the Archmage could contend with the King of Profound Heaven to a standstill is proof enough of his power."
Li Fan continued mocking: "Then why did the clues I unearthed indicate that Archmage Tiandu was gravely wounded after that battle and has been hiding away licking his wounds ever since? Even now, he has yet to recover.
"Every so often, ten years are swallowed away from Yuandao Province of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals. That is his doing."
Dan Xuan was taken aback at first. "It has already grown to ten years?"
Then he shook his head repeatedly, explaining, "I do not know where you got such information, young friend, but it could not be more mistaken. The Archmage's seclusion is not because of injury. It is for the sake of comprehending the Dao!"
"Comprehending the Dao?" Li Fan's gaze narrowed.
"Indeed. The closer one gets to the Immortal Ruins above, the slower the flow of time becomes. Back then, the Archmage told us that this was an anomaly in time and space caused by an immortal's enlightenment. If one's aptitude is sufficient, one can use this spatio-temporal anomaly to reverse-engineer the immortal's comprehension." Dan Xuan sighed with emotion.
"However, among all the cultivators of our Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao, not a single one could meet the requirements to resonate with that Dao comprehension. Only the Archmage...
"The so-called missing ten years in Yuandao Province is the manifestation of the flow of time being slowed to the absolute extreme. That must be the incidental influence Archmage Tiandu radiates to the outside world during his comprehension of the Dao. Back before we went into slumber, the influence of the Archmage's enlightenment domain lasted less than a year. It seems that over these years, the Archmage has made great gains in his comprehension."
Li Fan took a moment to digest Dan Xuan's words, then sneered, "If the Archmage is so powerful, why didn't you turn to him when catastrophe loomed over the Xuanhuang Realm? Instead, those who could fled, and the rest pulled their heads into their shells like turtles?"
Dan Xuan looked as though someone had seized him by the throat, instantly choked into silence.
Only after a long while did he say softly, "Perhaps the Archmage does not care about our life or death. We did attempt to contact him back then, but received no response whatsoever."
"He gave no answer back then, yet he will now? And you keep urging me to seek him out...
"You truly harbor malicious intent after all." The killing intent that had previously died down in Li Fan's eyes resurfaced once more.
Dan Xuan cried out in grievance, "Times have changed! Having awakened, isn't it only natural to want to contact the Archmage at the first opportunity?"
"Noisy!"
Li Fan's patience had run out. Under the pressure of the 'Mo' Formula, Dan Xuan shrank back into the Book of Crossing Adversity.
"If you change your mind, young friend, call for me anytime! I would never harm you! The Archmage is benevolent at heart—"
Dan Xuan's words were cut short.
Li Fan suppressed the Book of Crossing Adversity once more, then sank into thought.
"Interesting. In the battle between the King of Profound Heaven and Archmage Tiandu back then, the Profound Heaven Sect and the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao each have their own story.
"Each claims the other was gravely wounded, while their own side achieved a breakthrough in that great clash."
Chapter 1050