The Mystery of Chuanfa's Control

It was truly worthy of being the secret vault preserved by the Xuanshang Celestial Vessel since ancient times; the Baiwen Immortal Record held a great many treasures. As the sole surviving land in the Pitch-Black Star Sea today, the Xuanhuang Realm could be said to harbor the accumulated essence of the entire star sea. Having reincarnated through a hundred lifetimes, Li Fan had turned the Xuanhuang Realm thoroughly upside down, so ordinary hidden caches and treasures naturally struggled to catch his eye. Yet as he strolled through the vault, he still spotted quite a few curiosities that piqued his interest. For instance: a crane that appeared cast from bronze. According to the records in the Baiwen Immortal Record, this bronze crane had actually been forged from numerous fragments of immortal artifacts. Though it possessed none of their miraculous powers, the nature of its materials made it peerlessly durable. No divine ability or art could damage it in the slightest. While one could not quite call it imperishable through myriad tribulations, the catastrophe that obliterated the Pitch-Black Star Sea had at least failed to leave so much as a scratch on it. *Limited by mortal materials, the Tianyang immortal puppets refined in my previous lives failed to break through mortal limits despite the addition of Source Power Essence. That Tianyang could hold off Chuanfa for a time was purely down to his unyielding fighting will. But if this material were incorporated during the smelting process...* The thought flashed through Li Fan's mind. Another example: a streak of seven-colored flowing light. It looked remarkably similar to the Seven-Colored Jade Void Flowing Light Zhong Shentong had fished up from the fishing pond. However, that Seven-Colored Jade Void Flowing Light had been collected and refined by a mighty cultivator from the seven streaks of light illuminating the Chongyan Cultivation Realm; born of the evolution of the Heavenly Dao, it contained the origin of a world. In contrast, the streak recorded in the Baiwen Immortal Record was the remnant of an unnamed cultivation realm after its natural demise—effectively the corpse of a world. Li Fan had personally refined the Seven-Colored Jade Void Flowing Light before. In his perception, though these two types of seven-colored light differed in essence, a faint connection bound them. *Perhaps it touches on how worlds evolve from death to life...* Having already claimed the fishing pond for himself in this life, Li Fan naturally harbored the desire to gather both types of light and compare them in detail. Yet another curiosity: a figurine standing with empty hands and lowered eyelids. The Xuanshang Celestial Vessel had acquired it by chance, yet no amount of study had ever determined its purpose. It was eventually placed in the secret vault, slowly forgotten by the world. When Li Fan passed by this figurine, he distinctly felt a faint stirring from Reversion. While not as intense as the reaction when encountering an Eternal Lingering Thought, prompting any reaction from Reversion was proof enough of the figurine's extraordinary nature. *It should also be related to a Dao Projection.* Showing no outward reaction, Li Fan did not let his gaze linger on the figurine. ... Li Fan browsed and chose patiently in the vessel's secret vault, while three elders from the Celestial Vessel shadowed him every step of the way. They did not disturb him, merely watching his every move in absolute silence. "It seems that thief in the past truly inflicted grievous losses on the Celestial Vessel. Even with the insurance of the Immortal-Severing Arm, you fellow Daoists still cannot set your minds at ease." Li Fan halted abruptly and teased them. Gan Jingda, Nangong Lie, and Lu Yuzhi kept their gazes fixed on their noses and their noses aligned with their hearts, pretending not to hear. "I wonder what exactly the Celestial Vessel lost back then?" Li Fan casually asked as he continued his treasure hunt. "Hmph..." Hearing this, most of the elders showed expressions of resentment. Zhong Daogong's voice carried over from a distance. "The past is too bitter to recall. But so many years have passed; if you are interested, fellow Daoist, there is no harm in telling you." "Among the treasures lost by our Celestial Vessel that year, the most precious was a piece of Ice Crystal Immortal Amber." Zhong Daogong's tone held a touch of reminiscence. Jian Daosheng, the Chief of the Severing Immortal Tower, seemed to have personally experienced the incident. He sighed wistfully. "Even now, the dreamy, hazy sight of the Ice Crystal Immortal Amber surfaces in my mind from time to time. My only regret is that I was not firm enough back then to step forward and stop it, ultimately leading to tragedy." The other elders voiced their sighs in agreement. Li Fan asked out of curiosity, "Ice Crystal Immortal Amber? The name sounds quite beautiful. But what exactly is it?" Zhong Daogong said, "The Ice Crystal Immortal Amber is, in truth, a frozen cultivation realm. As for its origin, it traces back to an exceedingly rare astronomical phenomenon in the star sea during antiquity." Curiosity deepened on Li Fan's face, and he asked humbly, "I would gladly hear the details." "The star sea back then was not dead and silent as it is now. Aside from countless cultivation realms teeming with life and varied wonders, many star sea anomalies appeared from time to time." "Leaping Sky Whales, stampeding astral horses, yin-yang vortices..." "When these anomalies erupted, they often spanned an entire stellar domain, affecting dozens of cultivation realms. Some merely manifested bizarre spectacles across the sky, while others brought world-ending catastrophes to the realms!" "The Wind of Sparkling Crystals was one such disaster." "An icy wind of unknown origin would descend without warning, blowing from the starry void down to the earth. Wherever the cold wind passed, whether Soul Formation, Dao Integration, or Longevity cultivators, none had even a moment to react before they were instantly frozen. Every living being in the world, even the realm itself, turned into an ice sculpture under the blowing of the Wind of Sparkling Crystals." Zhong Daogong tapped his finger lightly, and an appalling illusion of a frigid wind encasing a world appeared above the vault. "The ice-sealed cultivation realm was left stranded in the star sea in desolate isolation, never to see the day of thawing. Any creature attempting to approach would be caught by that absolute chill, either fleeing grievously wounded or likewise turning into an eternal ice sculpture." Li Fan looked at the imagery above and frowned slightly. "I understand the 'ice crystal' part. But how do you explain the words 'Immortal Amber'?" It was Jian Daosheng who resolved Li Fan's doubt: "If it were merely an ice-sealed realm, the Xuanshang Celestial Vessel would not have regarded it as a supreme treasure. In truth, though the occurrence of the Wind of Sparkling Crystals was rare, across the vastness of the star sea and tens of millions of years of accumulation..." "The number of frozen world sculptures in existence was not particularly small." "The reason the piece collected by our vessel was so extraordinarily valuable was that within that frozen cultivation realm, an extremely peculiar entity resided." Jian Daosheng's tone grew distant, as if returning to the past. "The Wind of Sparkling Crystals blew down from the starry sky. The world should have turned into an ice sculpture in an instant. Yet, an illusory silhouette actually manifested in that realm, attempting to hold back the icy wind..." "However, how could mortal cultivators resist a phenomenon of the star sea? It is said that when star sea anomalies raged at their fiercest in those days, even True Immortals had to retreat, to say nothing of mortal cultivators like us." "The outcome was self-evident. Attempting to save the world was like a mantis trying to stop a carriage, courting its own destruction. Yet, it did hold it off for a minuscule fraction... The realm was not frozen in an instant, giving the living beings within a fleeting moment to react." Jian Daosheng sighed with emotion. "It was precisely this fleeting instant of change that created an ice sculpture unlike any other. Facing an apocalyptic catastrophe, the living beings wore vastly different expressions. Some panicked, some fell into despair, some saw that silhouette and felt hope bloom, while others were struck with disbelief... It truly captured the myriad facets of sentient life." "If that were all, it would at most be a slightly rarer frozen world, hardly worthy of being dubbed 'Immortal Amber' by our vessel." Jian Daosheng continued, "The reason we named it with the word 'Immortal' was even more so because of that illusory silhouette that attempted to block the Wind of Sparkling Crystals." Hearing this, Li Fan could not help guessing, "Could it be that a True Immortal was truly sealed inside that frozen world?" Jian Daosheng shook his head. "No, nothing like that. If a True Immortal were sealed within, our vessel probably would not have dared keep it aboard. Yet, in terms of sheer value, that silhouette was perhaps more precious than a True Immortal. After all, before the immortal path was severed, every realm had individuals ascending to become immortals." "A materialized inner demon, however, was truly unheard of and rare through the ages!" Li Fan narrowed his eyes slightly. "An inner demon? Materialized?" In his previous life, while cultivating by possessing Zhao Xian, Li Fan had tasted the harassment of inner demons in the star sea. As long as cultivation continued, inner demons shadowed one's entire path without end. Even if forcefully suppressed with external power, they would return before long, growing ever more ferocious. In that life, it was precisely because Zhao Xian could not free himself from inner demons, hindering his advancement, that an impatient Li Fan directly took over his body using the Dao Pill method. And that had been an inner demon under the shattered laws of the star sea. Even after being weakened several times over, it could still exert such an enormous influence on a cultivator. One could well imagine how terrifying inner demons were when the laws of the ancient star sea were intact. No wonder ancient cultivators blanched at the mere mention of inner demons, with everyone avoiding them like the plague. Yet what Li Fan had experienced through Zhao Xian's body was merely various illusions erupting within the mind; he had never seen the true source triggering those illusions. "An inner demon should be a kind of law. How could it have a physical form?" Li Fan wore an expression of utter astonishment and disbelief. "That is precisely why the Ice Crystal Immortal Amber was so peerlessly precious. Had one not witnessed it firsthand, no one could imagine such a wonder existing in this world." "After collecting the Ice Crystal Immortal Amber, our vessel spent decades in debate. Only then did we finally confirm that the illusory figure in that frozen world was an inner demon. We deduced that this inner demon had evolved from the inner demon laws of another cultivation realm. It was simply unknown why it had left its home realm and suffered such an unwarranted disaster." Zhong Daogong chimed in once more: "Regarding this point, our vessel actually formed a reasonable hypothesis. Inner demons are formless and intangible, unbounded by space, and capable of traversing the star sea at will. Unburdened by physical bodies, they can appear directly within a cultivator's mind. Many cultivators have fallen under their sway, losing their wits and seemingly becoming entirely different people. An inner demon's invasion can be seen as the highest form of body possession." "Though this materialized inner demon was extraordinary, it still could not escape the nature of an inner demon. Traversing the star sea to seek a suitable host to parasitize was its instinct. Perhaps that was why it appeared in that frozen world." "Furthermore, given the strength it displayed when the world was frozen, it was not limited to cultivators. Even the Heavenly Dao consciousness of a world was something this materialized inner demon had the power to corrode." "Bewitching the Heavenly Dao of another world to supplant it... Perhaps calling it a Heavenly Demon would be more fitting." ... Zhong Daogong spoke with great eloquence, his words laced with remorse over losing such a treasure. Li Fan's heart, however, stirred slightly. A scene from his previous life surfaced in his mind: beneath the world-ending tempest of the immortal array, Chuanfa's physical shell had gradually dissolved, revealing a transparent figure within. The moment Li Fan had seen that transparent figure, a faint sense of familiarity had welled up in his heart. It was not that Li Fan had seen that transparent figure before. Rather, he had come into contact with the aura of its kind. That familiarity came from Tianjue, Tianyu, Tianyin, and Tianyi—the Heavenly Physician. Or perhaps... It came from the Tianfa Realm. *Heavenly Demon...* Li Fan perhaps understood why Chuanfa had snuck into this place all those years ago. *Was the Heavenly Demon also one of the Venerables of the Tianfa Realm?* *The Venerables of the Tianfa Realm wield the Dao on behalf of Heaven. And the Heavenly Demon is the manifestation of the path of inner demons.* *Yet due to its innate nature, the Heavenly Demon roamed the star sea and spent most of its time away from the Tianfa Realm. It was even unlucky enough to encounter an exceedingly rare star sea anomaly, suffering the fate of eternal freezing.* *If Chuanfa had not rescued it later on, it probably would have remained frozen forever, reduced to a collector's item aboard the Celestial Vessel.* *However, why did Chuanfa rescue the Heavenly Demon? And why was he later corroded by it instead?* The silhouette of the Heavenly Physician abruptly appeared before Li Fan's mind's eye. Judging from the dynamic between the two in his previous life, Chuanfa was clearly under the Heavenly Physician's control. Previously, Li Fan had guessed that Chuanfa was an avatar refined by the Heavenly Physician. Viewing it now, however, their relationship might not be so simple. *Chuanfa, Xuanyuan Goudan. Perhaps the reincarnation of the Dark Heavenly King...* *In the first half of his life, he was a mere mortal. Then he suddenly awakened, as though some consciousness had crossed over and possessed him.* Li Fan's eyes narrowed slightly. ... *In any case, I finally know why Chuanfa was subjected to the Heavenly Physician's control. It was the Heavenly Demon lurking deep within his soul at work.* Li Fan also recalled that inner demons no longer existed in the present Xuanhuang Realm. Perhaps that was not solely due to Chuanfa's new cultivation method. With a materialized inner demon like the Heavenly Demon present, lesser inner demons naturally would not descend to interfere. Thoughts churning, Li Fan finished listening to the elders' account and sighed with genuine feeling. "In that case, it truly was an extraordinary treasure. To have it stolen away just like that is truly infuriating." "What did that thief look like? Is he still alive today?" Li Fan asked. "If there is sufficient information, our Great Qi might be able to help track this thief down." Zhong Daogong raised an eyebrow and asked, "Using True Immortal seal characters?" Li Fan shook his head. "No. Through the combined power of world-protecting immortal artifacts and formations. In short, it is profound and abstruse; I cannot explain it in detail." Though his words were vague, the power of Creation he had displayed earlier had already fully demonstrated the deep heritage of the Great Qi civilization. Thus, Li Fan's words did not arouse the suspicions of the Celestial Vessel's elders. After all, Li Fan had made no absolute promises, merely stating that they "might" be able to help. After a brief discussion among the elders, and to avoid arousing Li Fan's suspicions, they projected the recorded likeness of the thief from that year. Sure enough, it was Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa. However, the recorded image preserved by the Celestial Vessel was subtly different from the Chuanfa Li Fan had seen in his previous life. His expression was far more vivid and animated, almost as if he were an entirely different person.