So far, the process of finding and integrating the Immortal Realm pieces had gone far too smoothly.
So smoothly that Li Fan could not help suspecting whether an obstacle might await him at the final moment when the fragments of Immortal Realm laws merged.
If Sun Piaomiao had indeed left behind any restrictive measures, then the Medicine King Sect, as Sun Piaomiao's descendants, ought to be able to bypass such constraints to some extent.
That was merely the first consideration.
Li Fan's gaze swept over the seven Dao Integration cultivators of the Medicine King Sect present.
"In the past, your cultivation might have barely qualified as the pinnacle of cultivators. But ten thousand years have passed, and the world has changed. Now, you are somewhat weak. Even assisting me is a bit of a stretch.
"Therefore, I will boost your strength in a short amount of time."
Hearing this, Liu Ruchen asked cautiously, "When Senior speaks of boosting our strength, do you mean..."
"Cultivators today cultivate by swallowing heaven and devouring earth. Precisely because they convert the power of Heaven and Earth to their own use, wielding the might of Heaven and Earth with every gesture, the scale of spiritual energy they can manipulate far exceeds that of ancient cultivators." As Li Fan spoke, various details concerning cultivation that defied the principles of Heaven and Earth were laid bare before them.
The expressions of the Medicine King Sect's Dao Integration cultivators turned unsightly.
"No wonder Heaven visited the calamity where dharmas cannot be practiced concurrently. Such a method of cultivation is nothing short of demonic heterodoxy..." Liu San muttered under his breath.
Li Fan snorted coldly. "What is unorthodox? What is righteous? In the cultivation world, there is only the distinction between strong and weak! If the strong say the new method is righteous, then the new method is righteous!"
Though the people of the Medicine King Sect bristled at these words, under Li Fan's overbearing presence, none dared to object.
Li Fan shook his head slightly. "Never mind. Only when you experience the wonders of the new method firsthand will your views perhaps change."
With a gentle wave of his hand, detailed information regarding several spirits of Heaven and Earth instantly appeared before them.
"Each of you, pick one. I will help you integrate with the Dao once more under the new method."
The seven cultivators shuddered.
"I choose this one: Chilian," Jiang Yushan was the first to speak.
As a former guard of Wuding Prison, Jiang Yushan had slaughtered countless beings and cared nothing for distinctions between orthodox and heterodox. As long as it increased her strength, she was willing to try anything.
"Good! Discerning eye! The power of Chilian is balanced and serene. It can quell the lingering repercussions wrought by the rampant killing intent within your body." Li Fan nodded in approval.
With someone leading the way, the remaining Dao Integration cultivators of the Medicine King Sect glanced at one another and shed their hesitation, picking and choosing among them.
Soon, the division of the spirits of Heaven and Earth was complete.
"Without further ado, I will now take you on a hunt."
The wooden sword phantom unsheathed, enveloping the cultivators present.
Then, in an instant, they arrived within the Xuanhuang Realm.
Even through the protection of the sword phantom, Liu Ruchen and the others could still sense the faint influence exerted by the principle of Heaven and Earth dictating that dharmas cannot be practiced concurrently.
"I cannot shield you forever. For the Scripture of World-Saving Longevity, it suffices for Liu Ruchen alone to cultivate it. The rest of you may switch to other Dao Integration cultivation methods." As Li Fan spoke, he displayed information on thousands of authentic Dao Integration techniques before them.
The might of each one was not inferior to the Scripture of World-Saving Longevity, leaving them utterly dazzled.
"We will discuss this after your Dao Integration, once we return.
"Now, focus your spirits."
Li Fan's figure floated above their heads.
He looked up toward the firmament and casually cast out a decree.
Dark clouds surged, and wind and thunder roared.
A colossal vortex immediately formed in the sky.
Resembling a rift in the heavens, countless thunderbolts and electric flashes blazed within it.
In a voice audible only to himself, Li Fan murmured, "Falsifying transposition of the principles of Heaven and Earth!"
The five-word incantation resounded in reverse to the ears of Heaven.
Li Fan commandeered Heaven's mandate for his use. Before long, seven blurred figures sped forth together, appearing within the vortex.
They were precisely the spirits of Heaven and Earth the Medicine King Sect members had chosen earlier!
With the emergence of the seven spirits of Heaven and Earth, the eyes of the Medicine King Sect cultivators instantly flushed crimson.
To a cultivator, every single figure held the allure of an elixir of longevity. And now, seven were gathered in one place...
Had Li Fan's power not suppressed them firmly, this group of Medicine King Sect Dao Integration cultivators might have lost their minds on the spot and charged forward heedlessly.
Confronted by this overwhelming temptation, Li Fan's expression did not change in the slightest.
Even as the spirits of Heaven and Earth manifested, an immortal formation had silently locked down the area.
The spirits of Heaven and Earth possessed extraordinarily sharp senses.
Sensing their connection to the source origin of Heaven and Earth severed, they snapped awake from their daze at once.
Yet before they could make a move,
a dark cloud formed like five fingers had already blanketed the space above their heads.
Li Fan pressed his palm down with understated ease.
Yet the seven spirits of Heaven and Earth felt as though the weight of an entire world were bearing down upon them!
In an instant, they were rendered utterly unable to move!
Moreover, the invisible shackles and binding force pressing upon them grew ever stronger.
Li Fan curled his five fingers slightly, turning palm to claw.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sounds of the law-bodies of the spirits of Heaven and Earth fracturing inch by inch echoed continuously!
Beneath the terrifying immense force, their figures were forced to stoop.
At the threshold of life and death, the law-power within them attempted a final struggle, boiling and churning as they sought to break free of Li Fan's control.
Yet like waves pounding incessantly, they ultimately could not shake the towering, steadfast dam.
All the struggles of the spirits of Heaven and Earth were doomed to futility.
Their dying outbursts not only failed to shake their shackles, but hastened their demise instead.
Even gripped by the mind-clouding greed, the spectacle of Li Fan suppressing seven spirits of Heaven and Earth with a single palm sent violent shockwaves through the souls of the Medicine King Sect's Dao Integration cultivators.
Only when Li Fan's reprimand reached their ears did they recover from their stupor: "What are you standing around for?"
Feeling the binding force on their bodies vanish, Liu Ruchen and the others no longer suppressed the avarice in their hearts.
One after another, they lunged toward their designated targets.
Against the spirits of Heaven and Earth suppressed by Li Fan, they unleashed their lethal arts.
Only when they truly clashed with the spirits of Heaven and Earth did the Dao Integration cultivators intimately realize just how formidable the supreme might of Heaven and Earth was.
Even with the spirits unable to fight back and left entirely at their mercy,
and even though the spirits had already been severely wounded by Li Fan's single palm strike,
they nearly exhausted all the spiritual energy in their bodies before barely managing to slay them.
"Even among all spirits of Heaven and Earth, the ones Senior selected for us must be among the very finest," a thought could not help surfacing in their minds.
"And yet spirits of Heaven and Earth this powerful had no power to resist before Senior at all..."
Once again, the Medicine King Sect cultivators gained a concrete, vivid appreciation of Li Fan's strength.
As the spirits of Heaven and Earth were slain one after another, Li Fan lifted the lock of the immortal formation.
Inheriting the power of the spirits of Heaven and Earth, the law-source essence of the Xuanhuang Realm poured straight down from that colossal vortex high in the firmament.
Like clouds toppling from the heavens, it descended upon Liu Ruchen and his companions.
The aura upon them climbed multifold.
Seven newly ascended Dao Integration Immortal Venerables descended into the Xuanhuang Realm!
Simultaneously, another anomaly arose between Heaven and Earth.
The fall of a single spirit of Heaven and Earth was enough to shake Heaven and Earth. Seven falling together...
Anomalies identical to those accompanying the death of cultivators illuminated the sky.
The Medicine King Sect cultivators felt the terrifying malice of Heaven and Earth all around them, omnipresent and nearly tangible!
Though Li Fan had not struck the fatal blows himself, he had falsified the transposition of the principles of Heaven and Earth and suppressed the spirits of Heaven and Earth.
He was the true mastermind behind the demise of the spirits of Heaven and Earth!
The malice of Heaven and Earth he faced was hundreds, thousands of times greater than that directed at all the Medicine King Sect Dao Integration cultivators combined!
The previous goodwill was gone, as if the entity before Heaven and Earth bore an irreconcilable blood feud.
To stand as an enemy of Heaven and Earth—malice coiled about him like physical substance, turning into ferocious whispers.
This made the cultivators of the Medicine King Sect, who had always upheld the conviction of saving the world and aiding the common people, feel rather unaccustomed.
Yet were they to surrender the power already in their grasp back to Heaven...
that was utterly impossible.
They would rather do battle with Heaven and Earth!
In this situation, Li Fan showed no panic. Well prepared, he stepped before the Medicine King Sect cultivators.
Looking straight up into the firmament, he voiced the reason for his actions.
During the process of the Xuanhuang Realm's sublimation, there would be assistance from several forces.
For instance, the power of the Sea of Stars' revival, and the remnant forces of other sealed cultivation realms.
And further, the immortal spiritual power of the Great Heavenly Venerable's legacy.
So many diverse and boundless forces were like dose after dose of potent, aggressive medicine.
With the Xuanhuang Realm's current frail, riddled vessel, it might not be able to withstand them.
Hence, a medicinal catalyst was needed to act as a buffer.
Today, these Medicine King Sect Dao Integration cultivators who had devoured the Xuanhuang Realm's spirits of Heaven and Earth were precisely that catalyst!
Next, Li Fan would first funnel the power meant to revive Xuanhuang into their bodies through various means.
This was not bestowing the power upon them,
but using them as vessels for transfer and buffering.
When the Xuanhuang Realm officially underwent sublimation, the Dao Integration Immortal Venerables would fall, and all manner of power would return to the Dao and Heaven in a single stroke!
Administered internally and applied externally—a two-pronged approach!
The medicine would cure the malady, and sublimation was within sight!
...
Li Fan's plausible, emphatic explanation could roughly be summed up in a few words: "I'm doing this all for your own good!"
Yet these reasons were by no means fabricated out of thin air by Li Fan.
They were based on genuine facts.
Even the Heavenly Dao of Xuanhuang could sense this truth.
The current Xuanhuang Realm was simply too far from its post-sublimation target.
The sum of the forces it sought to devour faintly exceeded the Xuanhuang Realm itself.
It truly ran the risk of being too frail to absorb such overwhelming tonic.
The surging malice of Heaven and Earth abruptly halted. The Heavenly Dao of Xuanhuang appeared to be contemplating.
Then, after a brief standoff, the malice finally receded slowly.
To the eyes of the Medicine King Sect cultivators,
this scene was none other than Li Fan confronting the Xuanhuang Heaven and Earth alone and somehow dispelling all of Heaven and Earth's malice.
Such methods were truly unheard of.
The Medicine King Sect members grew all the more awestruck and fearful of Li Fan.
Having successfully achieved Dao Integration through the new method, their strength soared by a massive margin.
Liu Ruchen in particular had not only fully recovered from his injuries, but had also gained insights during the process of integrating with the Dao.
At this moment, having returned to the Daxuan pocket world, Liu Ruchen was reporting his insights to Li Fan.
"According to what Senior explained before, if one wishes to take a further step after Dao Integration under the new method, it is to defy the principles of Heaven and Earth.
"Yet in our process of integrating with the Dao, we have already devoured spirits of Heaven and Earth. What is a spirit of Heaven and Earth? It is the embodiment of the laws of Heaven and Earth, the continuation of the principles of Heaven and Earth.
"Therefore, if one wishes to defy the principles, the easiest way to begin is to trace the vine to the melon, to seek the source by following the shadow—to find the principle of Heaven and Earth underlying the spirit of Heaven and Earth one has devoured."
Liu Ruchen spoke with eloquent ease: "Take me, for example. I devoured the spirit of Heaven and Earth named Qingsi. In truth, it is the continuation of the principle of vitality.
"With a concrete direction, the principle of Heaven and Earth is no longer nebulous and intangible. Through continuous cultivation and contemplation, one can locate the origin of the principle of Heaven and Earth. Yet attempting to reverse this principle of Heaven and Earth is unimaginably difficult.
"...It is just like gripping one's own hair to lift oneself up. Without relying on external power, it is virtually an impossible feat."
...
Li Fan listened quietly to Liu Ruchen's explanation.
It had to be said that to succeed as sect master, Liu Ruchen's comprehension was indeed extraordinary.
The other newly ascended Dao Integration cultivators of the Medicine King Sect listened intently, thoughtful expressions dawning on their faces.
Finally, when Liu Ruchen had exhausted his points, everyone turned their eyes toward Li Fan.
"To comprehend this much on your very first day entering Dao Integration under the new method—you are quite impressive."
Li Fan's mild praise left Liu Ruchen feeling flattered.
"However, you still think too simply of it. Over the past thousands of years in the Xuanhuang Realm, those who could defy the principles and attain Longevity number merely a few.
"Furthermore, no new Longevity cultivator has emerged for a very long time. Why is that?
"Ponder it well."
Li Fan's guidance came to an abrupt halt, leaving the Medicine King Sect members with shifting expressions, their minds racing with conjecture.
Over the ensuing days, the seven Dao Integration cultivators of the Medicine King Sect led exceedingly fulfilling lives.
They switched to new Dao Integration cultivation arts and stabilized their newly established foundations.
From time to time, they sat beneath the Sermon Platform, listening to the phantom of the Saint Teacher preach the Dao.
They would also spar with a senior of mysterious and unfathomable aura who spoke very little.
Even if this senior stood motionless, the Medicine King Sect Dao Integration cultivators could not harm him in the least despite exerting their full strength.
Thus, they could unleash their arts to their hearts' content and test what they had learned.
As for the other Medicine King Sect disciples...
Li Fan looked at the pink eye, a size smaller, that branched off beside the silver eye before him.
Tens of thousands of threads converged into a stout bridge, connecting the silver and pink eyes to one another.
"The power of Carefree spans all of Xuanhuang; it is not confined to the territory of the Five Elders Association.
"Hence, one does not need to travel to the Five Elders Association's domain to enter the Carefree Paradise. It was simply that previously, no method could be found.
"Yet now, I have dispatched a total of 9,632 pawns...
"The simulated Heavenly disposition completely synchronizes with their senses, which is sufficient to lock onto the Carefree Paradise through their thoughts."
Those thousands of threads acting as a bridge were precisely the cultivators Li Fan had dispatched who had entered the Carefree Paradise first.
And sleeping within the pink eye were vast numbers of Medicine King Sect disciples below the Dao Integration realm!
With their physical bodies under Li Fan's control and backed by their sect master's orders, these Medicine King Sect disciples were able to obey commands strictly even within Paradise.
Moreover, belonging to the same Medicine King Sect, they inherently shared extraordinary rapport and bonds.
Their actions and explorations in Paradise were therefore much more efficient.
In addition to the Medicine King Sect disciples, the pink eye also contained a great number of Daxuan cultivators.
Densely arrayed, they charged in one after another to explore Paradise.
The pink eye had not unraveled the mystery of Paradise.
It had merely constructed an entrance to Paradise within the Daxuan pocket world by relying on those cultivators who had entered first.
The moment the pink eye was generated, Li Fan had even anticipated the personal descent of the Carefree Heavenly Venerable's power.
Pity that Carefree did not seem to care about such trifles.
Failing to draw out Carefree left Li Fan somewhat disappointed.
"I hope these people can bring me some pleasant surprises."
Li Fan always held a premonition in his heart.
The secrets hidden within the Carefree Paradise might be even more crucial than he had imagined.
...
Only the final Go piece remained to recreate the Immortal Realm.
Li Fan first sealed those he had already collected within the Daxuan pocket world using an immortal formation.
Then he had the Medicine King Sect Dao Integration cultivators arrange the Juntian Ceremony in a mortal pocket world, creating the false impression that he was still far away in Great Qi, laboring for the ceremony.
His true body remained stationed in Daxuan, unmoving.
He cast out a wooden sword phantom, quietly sending Tianyang outside the Xuan Celestial Vessel.
A wisp of divine sense attached itself to the Tianyang immortal puppet, directing its actions.
The reason Li Fan's true body did not personally move to steal it was that he had previously undergone the Juntian Ceremony with the elders of the celestial vessel.
Though the celestial vessel's side had not gone into detail, Li Fan could still vaguely deduce that all elders who participated in the Juntian Ceremony could constantly sense his approximate location.
This perception was not particularly strong; it ceased to work once outside the vessel.
Yet if they came into close contact, he would inevitably be exposed in an instant.
The people of the celestial vessel were still useful to Li Fan, and the time had not yet come to fall out with them.
Therefore, Li Fan decided to send Tianyang.
With a thought, the Tianyang immortal puppet's body expanded hundreds of times in an instant.
Lying quietly, it drifted in the dark void.
Then, accelerating violently, it hurtled toward the position of the celestial vessel.
Not the slightest trace of aura leaked from the Tianyang immortal puppet.
It flew toward the celestial vessel like a colossal meteorite.
With such a massive entity crashing forward brazenly, the celestial vessel naturally detected it immediately.
Because the Tianyang immortal puppet's speed was not overly fast, they initially assumed it was merely ordinary cosmic debris.
They casually shot out a beam of light to shatter the rock.
Yet when the beam struck Tianyang, it failed to raise even the slightest ripple; the collision continued unabated. Only then did the celestial vessel suddenly realize something was wrong.
Several figures flashed into view one after another, led by the celestial vessel elder Jian Daosheng.
Combining their strength, they finally slowed the Tianyang immortal puppet's momentum,
intercepting it outside the vessel.
"What is this?" Jian Daosheng said with a strange expression.
Without instructions from Li Fan, Tianyang kept his eyes shut and remained still, allowing the celestial vessel cultivators to inspect him.
Li Fan's wisp of divine sense hid at the puppet's core within the Eternal Lingering Thought, concealed by an immortal formation.
"It seems to be... the corpse of some giant?"
"No, this aura is anything but ordinary. And its skeleton..."
Soon, several of them noticed the extraordinary nature of the Tianyang immortal puppet.
Not daring to be negligent, Jian Daosheng hurriedly sent a transmission.
Before long, the other elders of the vessel arrived in succession upon receiving word.
Having persisted from ancient times to this day, the civilization of the celestial vessel truly possessed extraordinary breadth of knowledge.
They soon deduced the rough origins of the Tianyang immortal puppet.
"Bones of immortal artifact wreckage, skin of True Immortal flesh and blood. Hiss..."
"Is this an immortal puppet?"
The elders were bewildered and suspicious, frozen on the spot.
"How could it happen to drift here of all places?"
"There is definitely something strange going on. Caution is paramount!"
All of them smelled the scent of a conspiracy.
"What should we do?" The elders turned to Zhong Daogong.
Zhong Daogong pondered for a moment before casting a character for "Manifest" toward the Tianyang immortal puppet before them.
He intended to use the power of the True Immortal seal character to peer into the origins behind this puppet.
Unexpectedly, though the immortal puppet slept without waking, a wondrous protective force field enveloped its body.
The True Immortal seal character, possessing immense might, could not affect the slumbering puppet in the slightest!
This discovery made the faces of the celestial vessel elders change.
"This..."
One had to know that the greatest reliance of the vessel lay in various True Immortal seal characters.
Now that an entity had fallen from the sky that was innately immune to the power of True Immortal seal characters, how could they not feel alarmed?
Zhong Daogong raised a hand to soothe the crowd.
He stared at the Tianyang immortal puppet, his expression grave.
Zhong Daogong first returned to the celestial vessel. When he came back, an additional dagger, green as flowing water, rested in his hand.
Surrounding lights flickered unceasingly as Zhong Daogong deployed numerous protections, cautiously approaching the Tianyang immortal puppet.
He attempted to carve off a piece of flesh with the green dagger.
Li Fan had previously toured the first and second tiers of the vessel's secret repository, but he had never seen this dagger.
And endowed with some unknown power, it actually managed to slowly pierce the force field around the Tianyang immortal puppet!
However...
Clang!
The dagger struck the True Immortal flesh, yet produced the ring of metal meeting iron.
It could not pierce it in the slightest.
Green ripples surged over the dagger as though it had suffered a heavy shock. A flicker of distress crossed Zhong Daogong's eyes; knowing the matter was unfeasible, he hurriedly stowed the dagger and retreated swiftly.
Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, he said to the crowd present, "It is indeed an immortal puppet beyond doubt. The pressure radiating from True Immortal flesh and blood, and the defense capable of ignoring the power of True Immortal seal characters..."
The elders' expressions shifted once more.
After some discussion, they tried all manner of methods, yet failed from beginning to end to breach the Tianyang immortal puppet's defense or slice off even a shred of True Immortal flesh.
Looking at the puppet before them, the elders were filled with unwillingness.
Afterward, having reached some unknown resolution, most of the elders unexpectedly withdrew together.
Only three elders remained behind to watch over the puppet from a distance.
One day, two days...
Days passed one by one, and the Tianyang immortal puppet remained quietly lying in the dark void without the slightest movement.
The elders tasked with guarding rotated round after round.
From smooth handovers at the beginning, quarrels gradually broke out later on.
In this manner, half a year passed.
Near the Tianyang immortal puppet, the vessel elders gathered once again.
"Leaving this immortal puppet here like this is no solution either."
"Indeed. Someone must always guard it. It came inexplicably from the starry void, and if we do not restrain it, who knows when it might drift back out into the cosmos."
"We can only watch it like this. What else, bring it back onto the celestial vessel? The risk is far too great."
"True. The arrival of this immortal puppet is simply too bizarre..."
The elders argued ceaselessly.
Yet as they conversed, their eyes remained fixed on the nearby Tianyang immortal puppet throughout.
Ultimately, it was Zhong Daogong who interrupted their exchange. "Over the past half-year, our research into the force field cloaking this immortal puppet has yielded modest gains.
"Yet obviously, if we could completely deconstruct this immortal puppet..."
A glint of greed flashed through the eyes of the celestial vessel elders.
"Bringing the immortal puppet back onto the celestial vessel certainly carries tremendous risk. But in my view, perhaps it is worth an attempt. After all, judging by our current circumstances, only that thing can breach this immortal puppet's defense."
Once those words fell, silence instantly gripped the area.
Shortly after, the elders nodded one by one.
Through their exchanged glances, their opinions gradually converged into agreement.
Uniting their strength, the elders seemed to weave a great net.
Dragging the Tianyang immortal puppet, they pulled it into the celestial vessel.
Chapter 1361