"Ever since the Heavenly Venerable created the new method, no new Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang has ever emerged. So as for what will actually happen..."
"No one knows,"
Dharma Transmitter Zhou said with a solemn expression.
Li Fan did not answer.
In his mind, Mr. Bai's words surfaced once more: "The immortal path ahead cannot be trodden, for the Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable stands above."
If his conjecture was correct, the reason Mr. Bai had ascended to heaven in a single bound from mortal flesh was precisely because he had attained the status of Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang.
Yet, at the cost of his own life, he had reversed the principle that "mortals cannot slay immortals."
And created the immortal-mortal miasma.
This indirectly demonstrated that even Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang had no good solution for those principles of Heaven and Earth that had already been reversed.
"If the Xuanhuang Realm is viewed as an intricate creation, Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang originally possessed full authority over this mechanism."
"However, Chuanfa found a flaw in this creation. Defying the principles of Heaven and Earth, he fabricated a brand-new authority out of thin air. Furthermore, he could continuously erode the existing authority of the Xuanhuang Realm."
"This has virtually led to the Xuanhuang Realm changing masters today."
It was still that metaphor comparing the Xuanhuang Realm to a prison house.
The entity who originally built the Xuanhuang Realm had left a master control room in the prison.
Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang was the code name for the person who could enter this master control room.
Inside the master control room, one had everything in the Xuanhuang Realm at their fingertips.
Even creating a wonder of Heaven embodying a certain law with bare hands was an effortless task.
Except that one day, a highly skilled uninvited guest suddenly arrived in the prison.
Through certain means, he actually severed the master control room's control over a section of the prison, and subsequently claimed that control for himself.
Moreover, he cultivated a large following of believers inside the prison.
By directly altering the walls, he remodeled the prison, encroaching upon it step by step.
Naturally, the master control room lost control over the remodeled and newly constructed sections.
...
"Judging by the present situation, the current Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang's might is vastly diminished compared to the past."
"At the very least, he might not be a match for Chuanfa."
"However..."
Li Fan's eyes flickered.
He was well aware of his own circumstances; he likely could not satisfy the conditions to become Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang.
However, he could find someone who met the criteria—someone of utmost sincerity and supreme benevolence, like King of Profound Heaven or Mr. Bai.
Once that person became the contemporary Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang, Li Fan could push them into battle against Chuanfa.
And test the depths of the Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable.
Thinking this through, Li Fan asked with a furrowed brow, "So with the situation so urgent, are we just going to do nothing right now?"
"If Mo Rubin truly becomes Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang, things will become difficult to handle."
Dharma Transmitter Zhou also wore a helpless expression. "It isn't that we don't want to do anything, but that there really is no good way."
"Many of us have already tried, but we couldn't even pass the very first trial to become Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang."
"Of course, if you are interested, you can try it yourself."
Li Fan's eyes narrowed slightly. "Oh?"
"It's still the ritual for entering the Fallen Immortal Realm. You just need to perform it in reverse," Dharma Transmitter Zhou said.
"Hm?" Li Fan was somewhat surprised.
"All right, I will give it a try." Having gathered all the latest news regarding Mo Rubin, immortal puppet Li Fan took his leave.
In a secret chamber within the Spirit Wood Realm.
Li Fan took out the four necessary items and placed them in the surrounding corners.
Then, he took four steps backward, chanting under his breath.
Dharma Transmitter Zhou had said that the Alliance had dispatched nearly ten thousand cultivators to attempt it one after another, yet not a single person had succeeded.
Originally, Li Fan had not held much hope for himself either.
Yet to his surprise, after completing the reversed ritual, a familiar sensation of vertigo instantly struck.
*I actually succeeded?*
Li Fan was thoroughly astonished.
This thought had only just surfaced in his mind when darkness fell before his eyes, and he gradually lost consciousness.
"Junior Brother, Junior Brother?"
A somewhat familiar voice called out.
"What are you daydreaming about? Why have you spaced out for so long?"
Li Fan slowly regained his senses and looked around.
What met his eyes left him slightly stunned.
A young cultivator dressed in a purple-and-white Daoist robe, with a purple lightning mark etched between his brows, was looking over at him.
*This scene...*
He was all too familiar with it!
Wasn't this precisely "Retrieving Longevity Fruits in Ningyuan," the scene he encountered every single time he entered the Fallen Immortal Realm!
*Did I just return to the Fallen Immortal Realm again? With no difference at all?*
*No!*
Li Fan realized in an instant.
*This is the trial to become Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang?*
*And it's completely identical to what I encounter when entering the ordinary Fallen Immortal Realm?*
*What in the world...*
Even with Li Fan's present composure, encountering such a bizarre turn of events still shook his mind, filling him with disbelief.
If the trial to become Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang was a once-in-a-lifetime, momentous examination,
then the exam questions were completely identical to the mock tests he had practiced all along!
How could such an astonishing discovery not shock him?
Ever since his first time entering the Fallen Immortal Realm, Li Fan had known that what he experienced was different from all other cultivators.
Yet he had never known why such an eerie anomaly occurred.
Now, however, a faint answer had formed in his heart.
*Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang...*
*The Xuanhuang Mind-Clearing Incantation, the Xuanhuang Heart-Refining Incantation, the Xuanhuang Immortal Heart Incantation...*
*The Xuanhuang Mind-Clearing Incantation is the method passed down among mortals to purge the immortal-mortal miasma from mortal bodies.*
*And the immortal-mortal miasma was left behind by Mr. Bai by defying the principles of Heaven and Earth!*
Li Fan's thoughts raced. Mr. Bai's smiling, gentle face instantly floated before his eyes.
*That's right. Mr. Bai was compassionate, after all.*
*Though he reversed the principles of Heaven and Earth to create the immortal-mortal miasma, from the big picture, it was to protect future mortals from being slaughtered by cultivators. It might even have been part of some world-saving plan.*
*Yet it ultimately severed the path for mortals who wished to cultivate immortality.*
*Therefore, while creating the immortal-mortal miasma, he also left behind a way for people to dispel it.*
*If one is determined to seek immortality, it is not impossible.*
*Furthermore, for someone like me, whose will is exceptionally unyielding...*
Li Fan frowned.
*Someone like me...*
*My heart for seeking the Dao is so sincere and pure that it disregards everything else. In Mr. Bai's eyes, I'm afraid I am by no means a good person.*
*Therefore...*
Li Fan thought of the reverse cultivation of the Dao heart required to temper the Immortal Heart Incantation.
He also thought of the various scenes he had encountered in the Fallen Immortal Realm after cultivating the Xuanhuang Heart-Refining Incantation.
They seemed more like a form of guidance.
*Retrieving Longevity Fruits in Ningyuan. To achieve the perfect condition, one must find a way to save all the mortals in the city.*
*And Act Two, Disaster of the Beast Taming Sect, as well as Act Three, Heavenly Sword Sect Sword Refinement...*
*To achieve perfection in them, one likely has to align with the conduct of the Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang.*
*To guide me toward goodness? Or even if that fails, to make my actions appear good through the reverse cultivation of the Dao heart?*
Li Fan narrowed his eyes, connecting everything in an instant.
Chapter 1075