If this were before the Revert to the True of the previous lifetime, when it was merely gravel flying out of the Wordless Stele, Li Fan would never have dared to risk himself before Revert to the True had finished recharging.
But now, the Nameless True Immortal's thigh bone had become a bound item of Revert to the True.
Li Fan had seen with his own eyes that once the thigh bone entered the white mist of Revert to the True, it had become completely motionless, as though stripped of all spiritual nature. Li Fan was confident that an adjunct of Revert to the True could never harm him.
He carefully examined the object that had appeared before him.
Had it not been for the prompt from Revert to the True, Li Fan never would have imagined that this fist-sized, rounded piece of rubble was actually the thigh bone of some unknown, formidable existence.
“Unlike the intact Southern Immortal Heavenly Pillar, observing its surface doesn't cause all manner of enlightenments to surge in my mind. It seems to be just an ordinary stone...”
Li Fan did not make close contact, choosing instead to observe it from afar.
“A Nameless True Immortal is an existence above True Immortals, one who has completely mastered a Dao path and achieved transcendence. Unknowable and unseeable to mortals.”
“And yet, there is not the slightest trace of the Great Dao on this thigh bone...”
“Could it be that the Dao path mastered by this Nameless True Immortal was stripped away? That He was slaughtered, and His skeletal remains refined into heavenly pillars to prop up the heavens?” Thoughts raced through Li Fan's mind.
Yet even when facing an unremarkable thigh bone, Li Fan did not let down his guard.
Even the True Immortal skeleton beneath the Sea of Endless Gloom could spawn a Will to Survive. Who knew what sinister thing the remains of a Nameless True Immortal could derive?
However, the reason Li Fan was so eager to take it out and study it was, of course, to verify a certain hypothesis in his mind.
In the previous lifetime, after he threw the white ring Descending into the Mortal Dust toward the Wordless Stele and the stele manifested the two characters “Innate”...
All the details concerning the character “Innate” in Li Fan's mind were magnified countless times, presented in flawless clarity.
One had to understand that True Immortal seal characters were actually an alternative manifestation of the Great Dao, not something easily comprehended. Even a True Immortal like the one in the Immortal Ruins had to sit in meditation for ten thousand years just to comprehend a single character: “Hunger.”
Meanwhile, peerless prodigies among mortals—such as the successive generations of elders on the Celestial Vessel—needed generation after generation to step forward and pass the torch, relying on the wisdom of countless lifetimes just to reproduce the original appearance of a True Immortal seal character.
A natural chasm lay between True Immortal seal characters and mortal existence, barring mortals from probing them.
Even someone with immense fortune like Li Fan, who had seen a considerable number of True Immortal seal characters, had mostly encountered imitations traced from the hand of “Immortal He Gan”—the one who caused the star sea catastrophe back then.
Originally, Li Fan thought that what he had learned possessed eighty to ninety percent of their true spirit. But at the end of the previous lifetime, a single glance at that Wordless Stele densely carved with True Immortal seal characters had jolted him awake.
What he had comprehended was still far too distant from the original form of the laws of the Great Dao!
“Among the True Immortal seal characters I know, the ones I learned later—'Innate' and 'Hunger'—are now closest to the origin. In fact, my understanding of 'Innate' surpasses even 'Hunger'! Because 'Hunger' was something I observed from outside the Immortal Domain as an onlooker. But 'Innate'...”
“...was projected directly into my mind!”
A glimmer flashed in Li Fan's eyes.
“The Wordless Stele is like an analysis machine, breaking everything down into its most primal state and manifesting it in True Immortal seal characters. And throwing an object into it by hand seems to provide an additional boon...”
“Isn't this a perfect, natural magical treasure for learning True Immortal seal characters?” At this thought, Li Fan could not help feeling a surge of excitement. Even though he prided himself on his habitual calm, he found it difficult to suppress at this moment.
“Even if it is just a piece of the Wordless Stele, the deductive power of this thigh bone for True Immortal seal characters should far surpass the entirety of the Xuan Celestial Vessel!”
“It will be of immense help in allowing me to master as many True Immortal seal characters as possible!”
Li Fan stared at the thigh bone not far away, his eyes burning, his heart surging.
True Immortal seal characters were not extraordinary only during mortal cultivation. Even after ascending to True Immortal, the same held true. To take a step further, a True Immortal still had to delve into them, selecting a suitable Dao path in pursuit of the “Nameless” realm.
“Of course, what is manifested on this Wordless Stele might not necessarily be pure True Immortal seal characters representing the primal laws of the Great Dao either.”
“It is more like...”
“...the comprehension that Nameless True Immortal Himself held toward all the Daos of the mortal world.”
“Unless this Nameless True Immortal is the rumored Dao-Inscribing Immortal...”
Li Fan's thoughts came to an abrupt halt.
Contemplating the implications if that were truly the case, the truth was still far too distant for him. He simply buried those thoughts deep within his heart for now.
“The vision of a Nameless True Immortal naturally exceeds ours by far. What He inscribed, even if not the Great Dao itself, is virtually indistinguishable from it. It is more than enough to serve as my teacher for a very long time to come.”
“My idea is sound, but manifesting True Immortal seal characters on the Wordless Stele is no easy task. After all, this is not the Nameless True Immortal in person, merely a thigh bone. I need to gather enough material...”
Li Fan pondered, recalling the scenes he had witnessed in the previous lifetime.
“The white ring Descending into the Mortal Dust is mysterious and profound, so manifesting a character on its own was within expectations.”
“The key was that Hunger Immortal. He exhausted all his strength just to barely manifest the character 'Hunger' on the stone stele...”
Li Fan could not help but frown slightly. “Through ordinary methods, even sacrificing the entire Pitch-Black Star Sea might not manifest many valid characters.”
“No matter. I took out this thigh bone precisely to deal with those bizarre anomalies.”
A cold light flashed in Li Fan's eyes.
Over the past two lifetimes, Li Fan had experienced two great upheavals in the star sea: one caused by Maobao drawing factions beyond the high wall, and another when the Immortal Domain descended carrying the immortal heavenly pillar. Under the monstrous crisis of world-ending calamity, every hidden existence in the star sea had nowhere to hide, deploying every trick to ensure their survival. As a result, Li Fan had seen them all clearly.
“Now, in the entire Pitch-Black Star Sea, only a handful of beings can still pose a threat to me.”
“Before reaching Dao Integration, exploring and studying them again would probably yield the same results as in the previous lifetime. But now that I have the Nameless True Immortal's thigh bone, things are different.”
“No matter how strong or mysterious they are, can they surpass a Nameless True Immortal?!”
Scenes from his previous lifetime flashed continuously before Li Fan's eyes.
“Then I will take them on one by one!”
The Nameless True Immortal's thigh bone had been brought out into the world, and after a long while, no anomaly occurred.
Only then did Li Fan feel at ease. With a thought, he returned it to the bound space of Revert to the True.
He then returned to the Xuanhuang Realm and arrived in the pocket world where the You people lived.
In the previous lifetime, Li Fan had discovered that the You people, as descendants of the first-generation Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang, seemed to have True Immortal seal characters related to the power of the Transformation of Immortal and Mortal sealed within their bloodline.
However, with his own strength, he was completely unable to peer into them fully.
In this lifetime, with the Wordless Stele present, Li Fan would not need to act directly at all.
“As long as enough You people are sacrificed, the True Immortal seal character behind the Transformation of Immortal and Mortal can truly be reproduced!”
Looking down at the You population—neither numerous nor physically robust—Li Fan's expression was indifferent.
“Their current numbers are far from enough. A portion must also be set aside to provide me with Source Power essence.”
“As the saying goes, to take something, one must first give...”
Li Fan waved his hand lightly, doing exactly as he had done in the previous lifetime. Revelatory visions of the Transformation of Immortal and Mortal appeared in the minds of several You people below.
Because they touched upon the taboo, they crumbled into ashes. Yet the physical constitution of the entire You race gradually grew stronger due to a degree of atavism.
“Governing a great nation is like cooking a delicate fish. One cannot rush.”
Li Fan murmured inwardly, leaving behind a strand of divine sense to oversee them.
His true body returned to the Daxuan pocket world.
Descending into the Mortal Dust emerged, turning Mount Jieli into a void. The Sermon Platform stood between heaven and earth, drawing mortals from all across Daxuan like moths to a flame.
“For this lifetime, the provisional plan remains unchanged: continue pushing for the sublimation of the Xuanhuang Realm and achieve Dao Integration using Mo Sha's Heavenly Immortal soul.”
“Only a few details need refinement and modification.”
“I still need to play the role of the Teacher of Heaven and Earth, letting all living beings comprehend the flaws in the high wall for me and scout the way to Carefree Paradise.”
“Wuyou...”
Li Fan turned his gaze toward the territory of the Five Elders Association, his expression inscrutable.
In the previous lifetime, when the Wordless Stele emerged, none of the Longevity realm cultivators of the Five Elders Association—including Carefree Heavenly Venerable—showed themselves.
It was as if they had not noticed at all.
Yet later, when the white mist of Revert to the True enveloped everything and only the Wordless Stele shone brightly, it had illuminated a few anomalies.
“Apart from the Hunger Immortal, there were other onlookers at that time. They had no physical form, only an imperceptible strand of will reaching out. Within the star sea, only a select few could achieve such a feat.”
“Still, to elude the notice of both the Hunger Immortal and that host of Supremes—putting aside his actual combat power for the moment—his life-preserving methods are truly eerie.”
...
“However, with the experience of the masses exploring in the previous lifetime, the speed of exploring dreams this time will surely accelerate again.”
“No matter how deep the dream is, it cannot withstand my cyclical prying across reincarnations.”
“Hmph... Wuyou!”
Strands of divine sense flew into the various pocket worlds of Xuanhuang, manifesting towering, magnificent Sermon Platforms that connected heaven and earth.
Under Li Fan's control, they slowly gave rise to simulated Heavenly dispositions.
Where a pocket world already possessed a Heavenly Dao consciousness, it was replaced.
Where there was none, it acted as its Heavenly Dao.
In Li Fan's sea of consciousness, points of starlight gradually lit up.
Every point of light represented a pocket world of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Li Fan stood high above like a deity,
looking down upon hundreds of millions of living beings.
At the same time, Li Fan did not forget Wuming in the Thirteen Peaks world.
Under Li Fan's guidance, he too developed the desire to step outside and explore a larger world.
Only, after experiencing the previous upheaval, Li Fan needed more time to make preparations in this lifetime.
For now, Wuming remained in the Thirteen Peaks world, comprehending the pocket world's Heavenly Dao.
Yet Li Fan had already quietly linked this pocket world to the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao.
What Wuming comprehended would soon become the Heavenly Dao of Xuanhuang.
Before Revert to the True had finished recharging, Li Fan did not act rashly. Everything progressed in an orderly fashion, proceeding along a path almost entirely identical to that of the previous lifetime.
In the blink of an eye, it was Anchored Year 3.
During these three years, Li Fan focused his attention primarily on the You people.
Almost every few days, he would bestow divine revelations.
The You people's overall comprehension of the Transformation of Immortal and Mortal was even nearing Li Fan's level.
With the seal further undone and their original bloodline awakening, the You people displayed a terrifying rate of reproduction.
From birth to adulthood took merely twenty to thirty days.
Moreover, nearly every member of the You was robust and physically strong, impervious to all illnesses.
Within a short three years, their presence had completely filled every corner of the pocket world.
Looking at the overburdened ecosystem of the world, Li Fan felt it was time to harvest.
In the sky, dark clouds suddenly gathered.
From the churning vortex of rolling clouds carrying an overwhelming aura, a stone stele crashed down to the earth.
Its vast might instantly crushed tens of thousands of You people to death.
Blood flowed copiously, surging toward the stone stele.
The corpses also turned into streaks of flowing light, flying into the stone stele.
Just as Li Fan had anticipated, faint, blurry silhouettes indeed began to manifest upon the stone stele.
However, the material absorbed so far was still far too meager; it was still a long way from revealing the full form of the True Immortal seal character.
The emergence of the stone stele shook the entire You race.
After several attempts confirmed its lethal danger, all the You people chose to flee beyond the area covered by the stone stele.
Yet how could Li Fan allow them to have their way?
With a single breath of the formation, more than half of the You people were sucked into the stone stele,
turning into fuel to power the deduction of the True Immortal seal character.
The range of the formation continued to expand, nearly swallowing the You people whole.
Soon, only a corner of the pocket world remained where the You people survived, numbering around eight thousand.
The inexplicable arrival of this catastrophic doom filled these You people with terror.
And right at this moment, Li Fan sent out a dark shadow, blocking the path of the expanding formation.
Strands of darkness erupted from the dark shadow,
forcing back the man-devouring formation.
The surviving You people wept tears of joy, spontaneously kneeling in prayer.
As if sensing their piety, the shadow pushed the formation back once more,
securing enough living space for the You people.
Then, as if exhausted of strength, it transformed into a stone statue and plunged down into the You tribe.
The You people hurriedly gathered around, protecting the stone statue.
High above the pocket world, Li Fan saw this and nodded slightly.
“Whenever the You people have multiplied enough, the formation will reap a wave.”
“In this way, it will satisfy my consumption of Source Power essence while providing sufficient material for the Nameless True Immortal's thigh bone to deduce the Transformation of Immortal and Mortal.”
At this thought, Li Fan could not help looking toward the stone stele standing in the center of the pocket world.
The Nameless Immortal's thigh bone was naturally not that massive; he had merely arranged an outer formation to conceal it.
After absorbing ninety percent of the You people, the change on the thigh bone was quite noticeable.
Continuous golden patterns had emerged upon it.
“This character seems even more complex than 'Creation' and 'Innate'.”
“And beyond being complex...”
Li Fan pondered, his expression inscrutable.
“There is also a trace of a sacred, resplendent aura within it.”
Comparing it to what he had glimpsed in the previous lifetime, Li Fan estimated that at the current rate of progress, it would still take about a hundred years to manifest the complete True Immortal seal character.
“Too slow.”
“Must I unlock even more of the You people's bloodline seals?”
Chapter 1385