"Because I can't let the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals catch wind of my plan, I could only steal away tiny bits of time each time. Originally, it would have taken me a very long time to hoard enough, but now..."
Yanfa Jue looked at Li Fan. "Your method really helps a ton!"
Li Fan replied, "Forty years is still too long. Besides, to ensure you don't reveal any flaws, you will certainly have to divert a small portion of your power while asleep to deal with the Protector Hall's oversight. Is there any way to shorten the required time even further?"
"Are you really willing to help me?" Yanfa Jue seemed a bit shocked.
Yet seeing Li Fan's utterly serious expression, she pondered for a moment, then flew over to his side and whispered into his ear, "As I said earlier, deducing techniques is cultivation for me. The reason I need to sleep for fifty years to grow is that I have to comb through and assimilate the gains from that cultivation. If there's a way to bypass that step, I'd probably only need to rest for five years... no, ten years should be plenty!"
"I vaguely recall that there exists a treasure in the world called Immortal Sound Jade Dew. If I could just have a bit more of that..."
A hint of drool almost leaked from the corner of Yanfa Jue's mouth.
"Immortal Sound Jade Dew?" Li Fan frowned slightly upon hearing this.
"Are you certain this is something from the Xuanhuang Realm?"
Li Fan had reincarnated for a hundred lifetimes, possessed the origin of the Heavenly Mysterious Mirror, and held the Genesis Stone Slab. One could say there was virtually no heavenly material or earthly treasure within the Xuanhuang Realm that he did not know of.
Yet this Immortal Sound Jade Dew was indeed something he was hearing of for the first time.
"Uh... I don't know." Hearing Li Fan say this, Yanfa Jue was immediately baffled.
"But I'm certain that Immortal Sound Jade Dew truly exists in this world," the little girl vowed solemnly.
After a brief silence, Li Fan answered, "I will find a way."
At his words, Yanfa Jue's eyes widened in an instant, and she couldn't help saying, "You really are a good person!"
Li Fan asked, "Aren't you afraid that I belong to the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, and that everything I said is just a lie to deceive you...?"
Yanfa Jue gave a mischievous chuckle. "This young lady isn't stupid. You aren't like the followers of Chuanfa. Besides, who harbors malice and who is sincere—I can tell at a single glance!"
Li Fan smiled and did not refute her.
"Then take a good rest for now. If I have news, I will contact you again."
With a twist of light and shadow, the simulated persona reverted to its proper form, taking over Yanfa Jue's tasks tirelessly and without pause.
Yanfa Jue watched for a while, making sure nothing would go awry. Thoroughly pleased with herself, she sprawled out like an 'X,' floating in midair and falling into a deep, snoring slumber.
*Even if Yanfa Jue's true body did not originate from the Immortal Realm, she must have come from a special cultivation realm equipped with a realm-protecting array just like the Xuanhuang Realm.*
*With her current abilities, she is no longer of much help to me. But if she takes another step forward and can deduce immortal dharmas...*
Li Fan had already tasted the sweet fruit of crushing generations through the Dao of Formations; if he could achieve the same with cultivation techniques, his future actions would become vastly more convenient.
Yanfa Jue's perception was both right and wrong.
Indeed, the present Li Fan harbored no real malice toward her. He merely planned to help her break free from the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals' control. During that process, he would have Yanfa Jue acknowledge him as her master under the pretext of ensuring her escape.
Once this lifetime ended, he should be able to choose to retain Yanfa Jue.
If so, two identical wonders of Heaven would appear in the Xuanhuang Realm—an unprecedented event.
And with several decades more deduction experience, the Yanfa Jue preserved by Li Fan should be the slightly stronger of the two.
According to the rule Li Fan had discovered before—the weak vanishes while the strong survives—the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals' Yanfa Jue would inexplicably vanish when that time came. The one in Li Fan's hands would then undergo a sublime breakthrough after fusing.
A flawless plan.
The prerequisite was successfully making Yanfa Jue acknowledge him as master.
Before that, humoring her a little did no harm.
Even if he failed to achieve this goal in the current lifetime, with the experience of hundreds of years together day and night and the secrets he had coaxed out of her, getting Yanfa Jue to acknowledge him in the future would not be a difficult task.
*Of course, the Dissociation Disc and Yanfa Jue are merely tools. To truly comprehend the Dao and find the path to transcendence, I must ultimately rely on myself.*
Li Fan's mind was crystal clear.
Before finding a way to break free from the shackles of Chuanfa's cultivation system, there was no harm in continuing along the established path. After all, with the advantage of continuous reincarnation and rebirth, practicing cultivation step by step was far easier than pioneering a new world from scratch.
*After the transformations of Xuanhuang's imminent birth, it will be the souls of heaven and earth.*
*With my current strength, even devouring hundreds of Heavenly Dao souls might not yield a qualitative leap in power. After all, during the transformations of Xuanhuang's extinction, not a single one of those survival transformations was necessarily inferior to the Heavenly Dao souls of the Xuanhuang Realm during peaceful times.*
*In this lifetime, I will use the Sacred Emperor to test the true strength of Chuanfa and the Heavenly Physician. In the next lifetime, by taking this step, I will strive to narrow the gap between us—or even stand on equal footing!*
*Relying merely on ordinary souls of heaven and earth definitely won't suffice.*
Thanks to the Sacred Emperor's close bond with the Heavenly Dao of Xuanhuang in this lifetime, Li Fan had learned even more secrets of the Heavenly Dao. Souls of heaven and earth were born to govern heavenly mandates; they were the concrete manifestations of Xuanhuang's laws.
Those like Chi Yan and Mo Sha were merely single-attribute souls of heaven and earth.
Under extremely exceptional circumstances, the Xuanhuang Realm would spontaneously evolve "composite-attribute" souls of heaven and earth.
Heavenly Dao Bai, whom Li Fan had once brought forth through a Sacred Fetus by a twist of fate, was among them.
Though Mr. Bai, who had been Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang, had fallen, he still left an indelible imprint between heaven and earth. Heavenly Dao Bai was a composite Xuanhuang soul of heaven and earth that had used this imprint as a vessel to descend into the mortal realm.
Heavenly Dao Bai not only inherited the characteristics of the Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang imprint, but also possessed the traits of a soul of heaven and earth. As a result, he could casually merge the authorities of numerous souls of heaven and earth, achieving the "unity of heaven and humanity."
In this state, Heavenly Dao Bai was remarkably powerful.
A single glance from Chuanfa could instantly flatten an entire province, yet Heavenly Dao Bai was able to hold Chuanfa at bay outside for a brief moment; that alone demonstrated his sheer strength.
If one used him as material during breakthrough to Dao Integration, it would inevitably bolster one's combat prowess by an immense margin.
Yet...
Just this one was not enough.
Li Fan vaguely understood that identical souls of heaven and earth might not yield the same effect under the new method's cultivation. However, the Xuanhuang Realm had seen more than one Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang.
Nor was there merely a single Heavenly Venerable imprint.
It was only that Mr. Bai was the final generation's Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang, closest to the modern era, and therefore the easiest to "summon."
*If I can summon all the successive Great Heavenly Venerables Xuanhuang in the form of souls of heaven and earth, materializing them as resources for my breakthrough to Dao Integration...*
A dark glint flickered in Li Fan's eyes.
*Under normal circumstances, supporting the soul of heaven and earth of even a single Great Heavenly Venerable is already the Xuanhuang Realm's limit. The scenario I envision is theoretically impossible to achieve.*
*Yet I possess Trueness. In each lifetime of reincarnation, I can summon the soul of heaven and earth of one Great Heavenly Venerable and find a way to seal and preserve it. Once they are all gathered, I will refine and swallow them all at once.*
The light within the Dao Transformation Stone shifted, continuously simulating potential future scenes in Li Fan's mind.
*Feasible.*
*Yet it must be planned step by step.*
*Compared to seeking a breakthrough in the center of the dark sea of stars, this method wins out in being far more secure. The two can be pursued in parallel.*
*Speaking of which, the Sacred Emperor of this lifetime can, in a certain sense, be viewed as half a Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang. I wonder if he will be able to leave an imprint between heaven and earth after he falls?*
...
While Li Fan's true body was plotting the future inside the Yanfa Jue chamber, the Faceless Sacred Emperor of Great Qi finally uncovered traces of a potentially hidden Dharma King of the Xuantian Sect from clues recorded in the Genesis Stone Slab.
"When King Xuantian was around, a mysterious power cloaked the members of the Xuantian Sect, influencing and distorting the records of the Genesis Stone Slab. Yet after King Xuantian vanished, that obscuration did not disperse immediately. That was one of the reasons why the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao maintained strict vigilance against the Xuantian Sect back then, terrified that it might rise from the ashes."
"However, as time passed, especially after the arrival of the great catastrophe where dharmas cannot be practiced concurrently, this obscuring power seemed to suffer some disruption. In the end, it faded away."
Li Ping arrived outside the ruins of the Zixiao Sect.
His gaze pierced through layers of barriers down into the earth below.
There, he saw a sleeping figure.
"Dharma King of the Xuantian Sect, Mo Rubin."
The Faceless Sacred Emperor recalled Mo Rubin's deeds before he was persuaded by King Xuantian to join the Xuantian Sect.
Mo Rubin had been hailed as the most extraordinarily gifted disciple in a millennium within the ancient immortal sect, the Nine Refinements Monastery.
A peerless genius with the greatest likelihood of ascending to immortality.
The Nine Refinements Monastery was famous across the ancient Xuanhuang Realm for its unique and bizarre techniques.
The profound secret of its sect-guarding art, the Nine Revolutions Immortal Soul, was said to refine a total of nine reincarnated immortal souls through different experiences in the mortal dust. Once the art reached completion, one would swallow all nine immortal souls together to condense a supreme immortal soul, shatter the shackles of immortal dharmas, and attain the Dao to ascend to immortality.
At that time, Mo Rubin had already completed the refinement of the first eight immortal souls, standing merely a single step away from success with the final soul.
Yet at this crucial juncture, he beheld the scene of Xuanyuan Hong shattering the heavenly tribulation and ascending.
His Dao heart was violently shaken, and the ninth immortal soul was damaged.
After great difficulty, he steadied his emotions and repaired the immortal soul, only to receive the news that King Xuantian—who had clearly succeeded in ascending—had returned to the lower realm.
The Immortal Realm had suffered a great catastrophe; the immortal path was hidden, and ascension was no longer possible.
Mo Rubin could no longer sustain his Dao heart. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, his ninth immortal soul collapsed on the spot.
The previous eight immortal souls were all damaged to varying degrees as well.
Moreover, the injuries to Mo Rubin's immortal souls tended to worsen as time went on.
Because the immortal path was severed, Mo Rubin, who had always taken ascension to immortality as his goal, was left with no drive to cultivate whatsoever.
The former genius fell into utter despair. Even the exhortations of his sect elders proved entirely useless.
Mo Rubin became despondent, withering day by day.
Until King Xuantian, Xuanyuan Hong, stood before him.
...
The image gradually blurred, and thoughts returned to reality.
The Faceless Sacred Emperor did not awaken Mo Rubin right away, but observed him carefully first.
"The aura of his technique no longer seems to be the Nine Revolutions Immortal Soul. It should be a method brought down from the Immortal Realm by King Xuantian."
"I don't sense severe injuries on him. Rather than recuperating, it feels more like..."
"Waiting?"
Li Ping grew thoughtful. With a gentle flick of his sleeve, a faint ripple of energy devoid of any hostility penetrated space like a light breeze, traveling straight to where Mo Rubin lay sheltered.
Mo Rubin's eyelids twitched, on the verge of being roused from slumber.
"Hm?" Right then, Li Ping seemed to sense something, and the arm he was about to wave again abruptly froze.
The surrounding calm caused Mo Rubin to sink back into slumber.
Yet unlike before, Mo Rubin inadvertently shifted his posture. Along with it, his expression and demeanor changed as well.
The Faceless Sacred Emperor stared intently for a moment, faintly catching a hint of the truth.
"This is the effect of the Nine Revolutions Immortal Soul. Even if he no longer cultivated this technique later on, as the foundation of his path, it unavoidably left its mark on him. While it doesn't go so far as splitting into distinct personas, it causes him to act according to starkly different principles at times..."
The Nine Revolutions Immortal Soul of the Nine Refinements Monastery had been dreaded by the cultivators of the Xuanhuang Realm back then precisely because each immortal soul was cultivated from scratch with a brand-new consciousness. Furthermore, an immortal soul could only be successfully refined if its experiences differed to a sufficient degree from the souls already condensed.
Evidently, the further one progressed, the harder the cultivation became. Some disciples of the Nine Refinements Monastery had even resorted to actively committing extreme atrocities just to create the necessary conditions to forge their souls.
"In comparison, Mo Rubin nearly succeeded in condensing nine immortal souls purely through his own comprehension. He truly deserved the title of an extraordinary genius. What a pity..." The Faceless Sacred Emperor shook his head with a sigh.
Now that he understood Mo Rubin's nature, the Sacred Emperor naturally grew far more vigilant.
A madman of this sort might appear completely calm on the surface, but in the next instant, he could very well make a decision diametrically opposed to before.
The Sacred Emperor continued to release faint ripples of energy, slowly waking Mo Rubin.
After a long while.
"Who are you?"
One could not tell when Mo Rubin had opened his eyes.
Yet Li Ping was certain that by the time Mo Rubin spoke those words, he had already been observing him for some time.
"The aura on you is somewhat familiar. That's why I didn't attack you immediately," Mo Rubin continued.
Li Ping, however, keenly perceived a fissure resembling a mirror quietly forming between the two of them without making a sound.
At this moment, Li Ping's figure vanished into thin air.
Only his voice remained echoing in the void.
"In the battle where the Xuantian Sect fell back then, what exactly happened?"
"And did King Xuantian really die or not?"
Mo Rubin put away his little trick, his expression turning into one of keen interest. "I do know a thing or two. But why should I tell you?!"
The moment he finished speaking, his face darkened instantly. "You want to scheme against Big Brother Xuanyuan? Courting death!"
The sky above the Zixiao Sect seemed to plunge into gloom in an instant.
Sheets of mirror surfaces appeared, sealing the space.
"Face your inner heart! Let me see what makes you resemble Big Brother Xuanyuan!"
Mo Rubin uttered seemingly disjointed words.
And amidst the reflections of countless mirrors, the hidden figure of the Faceless Sacred Emperor slowly emerged.
Chapter 1274