At first, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals still held some sway over these increasingly irrational cultivators, and the immortal cities across each province remained relatively safe.
However, as both sides grew blood-crazed, even the Alliance's bans ceased to have much effect.
At the slightest disagreement, cultivators would engage in life-or-death battles right inside the cities.
In the beginning, the disciplinary arrays within the cities were still effective. The towering stone statues of the Dharma Transmitter cast down beams of white light, executing any cultivator who violated the decrees.
Later on, however, as more and more cultivators engaged in death matches, even the Alliance inevitably developed deep hesitations.
They began activating the cities' grand arrays only selectively.
This idea that the law could not punish the masses undoubtedly fueled the cultivators' frenzied fighting.
In such a feverish atmosphere, even the few remaining peaceful-minded cultivators in the Xuanhuang Realm gradually changed, being drawn into the mutual slaughter.
The slaughter among cultivators was not limited to the physical world.
Even a grudge formed within the Heavenly Profound Mirror could spark a bloody murder.
At some point, a mysterious figure known as the Heavenly Divine Eye began to make a name for himself among the cultivators.
His origins were unknown, but his abilities were vast. As long as one shared a personal secret with him, he could provide the true identity of the cultivator behind any Heavenly Profound Mirror account one wished to track down!
At first, the cultivators were skeptical.
Yet practice yielded truth.
The tragic deaths of hundreds of cultivators suddenly ambushed by their enemies served as the best proof of his power!
In the past, verbal spats over trivial matters leading to lingering grudges were common occurrences within the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
Yet because all information in the mirror was kept strictly confidential, there was no way to settle scores in person. One could only vent through empty words from afar.
Now, the emergence of the Heavenly Divine Eye changed everything!
Had you ever offended someone in the past because of a reckless tongue? Did you want to avoid being caught unprepared and suddenly struck down by vengeance?
Then why not strike first?!
With the Heavenly Divine Eye fanning the flames from the shadows, vendettas within the Alliance erupted with increasing frequency.
The atmospheric anomalies signaling the fall of cultivators had become a daily sight.
The world-destruction plan was progressing smoothly, but Li Fan's mood was not quite as bright.
***
Within Baishi Grotto-Heaven in Shilin Province.
Two figures with identical appearances stood before a Lesser Heavenly Profound Mirror.
One was Li Fan himself.
The other was a pseudo-immortal puppet body that Li Fan had recently ordered Layman Qiaogong to forge for him.
Without using Source Power Essence, the puppet's physical resilience could not match Tianyang's, which rivaled the Longevity realm.
However, Li Fan cared little about the puppet's actual combat prowess; what drew him was its ability to integrate seamlessly with a cultivator.
At this moment, the Mirror Origin bestowed by the Heavenly Profound Mirror had already been transferred into this pseudo-immortal puppet.
Furthermore, to deal with the imminent arrival of Dharma Transmitter Jiang, the consciousness Li Fan implanted into the puppet had also been modified.
In its mind, it genuinely believed it was a member of the vast Myriad Realms Association, tasked with hunting down remnants of the Profound Heaven Sect.
Any memories regarding Return to Truth or other secrets of Li Fan's true self were completely absent.
Puppet Li Fan was naturally this suddenly risen, widely famed Heavenly Divine Eye.
Relying on the authority granted by the Mirror Origin, he had not only greatly accelerated the mutual slaughter among cultivators, but had also gleaned countless deeply confidential secrets from their minds.
Though some seemed utterly worthless, once collected, they might prove useful in some future cycle of reincarnation.
At that moment, Puppet Li Fan was diligently performing the role of the Heavenly Divine Eye.
Standing nearby, Li Fan's true self furrowed his brows slightly.
"Even at this point, neither Mo Rubin nor the Heavenly Profound Mirror has made a move?"
"Only someone who possesses the Mirror Origin can read encrypted data from the Heavenly Profound Mirror. Mo Rubin should have realized long ago that I am the one pulling the strings behind this recent series of apocalyptic events."
"Yet I haven't noticed anyone tracing this thread to investigate..."
"This is true of Mo Rubin and the mirror, and even of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals. Mo Rubin hasn't shared information with the Alliance."
"Are they ignoring me completely?"
"Or are they busy with something more pressing?"
Even though he had deduced countless possible scenarios in his mind, by now, too many external factors were entangled.
Expecting everything to unfold smoothly according to the script was simply unrealistic.
Li Fan could only adapt as events unfolded.
Yet what he had not expected was that before the third phase of his plan could even begin, an unforeseen development caught him off guard.
***
On this day, following the conclusion of a death match involving over a hundred cultivators, a bizarre crimson vortex inexplicably appeared, swallowing up all the brewing phenomena of their deaths!
These crimson vortexes appeared wherever cultivators fell across the Xuanhuang Realm.
People buzzed with speculation regarding the origins of the whirlpools, yet it did not dampen the mounting killing intent in their hearts in the slightest.
The slaughter continued unabated.
Li Fan looked up at the growing number of blood-colored holes in the sky, faintly sensing a familiar aura emanating from them.
"Reversing life and death?"
"At such a critical juncture, is Heavenly Venerable Rebirth about to achieve his Dao?"
As if to validate Li Fan's suspicion, before long, endless crimson light erupted from the voids in the heavens.
Beyond dyeing the world in a swath of blood-red, the sky revealed illusions of continuous, majestic palaces.
The cultivators on the ground could not discern the palace details clearly; only the central-most structure, the Manor of Rebirth, was visible to everyone!
The moment those three words surfaced in their minds, information regarding it naturally emerged as well.
*Death is not true death, but reincarnation through rebirth?*
In that instant, the cultivators stopped fighting in unison, utterly stunned by this massive upheaval of heaven and earth.
Unlike the Manor of Rebirth Li Fan had encountered in previous lives, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals could not manipulate its operation in this lifetime. It had become part of the Xuanhuang Realm's principles of Heaven and Earth; aside from defying those principles once more, nothing could influence it.
Accordingly, no cultivator currently knew the specific mechanics of reincarnation.
All they knew was that from then on, the Manor of Rebirth existed in this world, and it would thoroughly alter the future landscape of the Xuanhuang Realm.
How one would reincarnate, and whether one's memories and cultivation would remain intact afterwards—these questions could only be answered once someone completed a full cycle of reincarnation.
Nevertheless, the reality that death was not an end but a reincarnation directly altered cultivators' choices.
The psychological burden of killing someone dropped drastically once more.
The cultivators of the Xuanhuang Realm all became vicious, ruthless figures; at the slightest displeasure, they would fight to the death.
For Li Fan, however, if the deaths of cultivators caused no harm to the Xuanhuang Realm, they lost all meaning.
"What is going on with this Manor of Rebirth?"
Li Fan took the initiative to confront Dharma Transmitter Zhou and the others.
Chapter 1068