By now, the preliminary preparations for refining Xuanhuang into an elixir of immortal ascension were nearly complete.
All Li Fan needed to do next was wait.
Wait for Wuming to truly inherit the authority of Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang, and wait for the Xuanhuang Realm to absorb the various essences and reach its limit.
"At most three years, or as quickly as one."
Whether it succeeded or failed, not much time remained in this life.
It was time to carry out the plans Li Fan had drawn up earlier.
Flicking his body in a flash, he first arrived in the You pocket world.
Looking entirely out of place, the "Restrain" Formula lingered in a corner of the stone stele. Characters representing the Transformation of Immortal and Mortal were gradually spreading across its surface, though it was unclear just how much had been revealed.
Yet Li Fan had a faint premonition that the moment this profoundly mysterious character was fully unveiled was not far off.
Li Fan swept his divine sense across the pocket world. As expected, during the time he had spent away from supervising them, the physical constitutions of the You people had continued to strengthen.
He carefully examined the body of every member of the You tribe and singled out the strongest among them.
Separating a strand of divine sense, he used the method of the Dao Pill to possess the body.
Li Fan then avoided the other You people, walked slowly through the immortal formation, and stepped before the stele.
Borrowing the body of the You tribesman, Li Fan gazed from a distance at the characters partially revealed on the Nameless True Immortal's thigh bone, sensing the bloodline within his body gradually surging.
It was like a scalding spring was thumping relentlessly, scorching the body as if about to boil every drop of its blood.
Li Fan could not help but look away.
The abnormal stirrings within him persisted, echoing like the ceaseless pounding of war drums.
"It seems peering at that True Immortal seal character touches upon some taboo..."
"And yet, I intend to try regardless!"
Li Fan gave a cold snort, but the gaze of the You body he inhabited grew ever more devout.
Kowtowing, he attuned himself to every subtle nuance inside the body.
With his experience from his previous life in glimpsing the character for the Transformation of Immortal and Mortal, Li Fan succeeded with immense ease this time, latching onto that profoundly abstruse trace.
The You body seemed to suffer heavenly retribution.
Time rushed past it at frightening speed; its hair turned snowy white in an instant, and its life force burned away at an alarming rate.
Li Fan remained utterly unmoved, focusing all his concentration on prying into the traces of the Transformation of Immortal and Mortal.
Using the portion already revealed on the stone stele as a reference, Li Fan filtered it out, needing only to peer into the remaining traces of the character.
Having prepared himself thoroughly, Li Fan's speed in deciphering this endlessly sprawling True Immortal seal character was several degrees faster than in his previous life.
Even so, it was practically fleeting.
That brief window was nowhere near enough for Li Fan to behold the full character.
The possessed You body was reduced to flying ash, as if consumed by fire.
At the same moment, Li Fan's true body flashed before the stone stele and struck it with all his accumulated insights, channeling them fully into it.
Just as the Hunger Immortal of the Immortal Ruins had done in his previous life.
Upon the stele, that mysterious character extended at breakneck speed. In a mere breath, it expanded outward by more than double.
Li Fan sensed that once his insights regarding the Transformation of Immortal and Mortal were thoroughly swallowed,
the stele actually sought to take advantage of the momentum to absorb him as well!
Having witnessed the true might of the Southern Celestial Pillar, how could Li Fan be unprepared?
The illusory wooden sword unsheathed itself, helping Li Fan successfully evade the stele's suction.
Yet in that mere instant of contact, Li Fan was alarmed to find that his cultivation, originally at peak Soul Formation, had plummeted straight to mid Soul Formation.
Had he hesitated even a moment longer, he might have been sucked entirely dry into a mortal!
"Anything connected to the Nameless True Immortal is truly this terrifying. It cannot be underestimated!"
Li Fan took a deep breath and calmed himself.
He carefully observed what was being displayed on the stele.
Besides the character for the Transformation of Immortal and Mortal having doubled its progress, a few mottled shadows had also appeared.
These shadows linked together into a ring, taking the unmistakable form of the Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven.
"The Dao of Five Elements..."
Unfortunately, the traces were far too faint to discern any clear clues.
Only then did Li Fan turn his attention back to his objective.
"Among the True Immortal seal characters I know, Hunger and Chaos belong to one tier."
"Innate and Creation are a tier higher."
"Higher still are this Transformation of Immortal and Mortal, as well as the Living Being Form."
Li Fan compared the two he knew, confirming them against one another, and felt somewhat reassured.
"Eighty percent has been deduced. At the current rate of feeding the life forces of the You people, it should be enough."
"If it still falls slightly short in the end, I can sacrifice the entire You tribe all at once."
Li Fan nodded to himself.
"In contrast, that complete Living Being Form..." Li Fan frowned slightly.
If the two were indeed of the same tier as Li Fan suspected, then the form he currently grasped was likely less than a fifth of the complete entity!
"Just beholding its full appearance is already this arduous, to say nothing of comprehending the Dao it contains."
However, Li Fan did not currently seek to understand the underlying principles. Being able to wield it like King Xuantian did was more than enough!
"The little turtle was transformed from a jade pendant. I wonder if throwing it directly to this stele would manifest its truths?" Li Fan's heart suddenly leaped with anticipation.
Yet his eyes narrowed, and after careful deliberation, Li Fan suppressed the restless thought stirring within him.
"Better to raise the little Tian beast a bit bigger first. If that truly fails, I can rely on the stele."
It was not that Li Fan had grown softhearted; rather, stability was his priority in this life.
Feeding ordinary mundane things to the Nameless True Immortal's thigh bone was harmless enough.
After all, the Tian beast was a creation of the Immortal Realm, containing an unknown wealth of vast energy. If that thigh bone were suddenly stuffed to the brim...
There was no telling what unforeseen changes might occur.
Li Fan had not forgotten the scene at the end of his previous life, when the Wordless Stele exploded and this very thigh bone inexplicably flew straight toward him.
"I truly must stay on guard against it."
"I cannot let momentary greed cloud my judgment."
In truth, there were many things Li Fan wanted the stele to devour and manifest the principles of.
Among them was the Azure Nether Pearl, which remained buried deep at the far end of the fissure basin!
Although in his previous life, according to Xu Ke's account, the moment Xu Ke touched the Azure Nether Pearl, that supreme treasure had crumbled into dust because its energy was exhausted,
Li Fan was certain that at this point in time, the Azure Nether Pearl still maintained its final indestructible form.
Mundane mortals had no way to collect it.
Yet the Nameless True Immortal's thigh bone most likely could!
"This stele is a natural apparatus for aiding comprehension of the Dao."
"Anything dangerous can be fed to it, and its principles can be comprehended second-hand."
"Perhaps..."
Li Fan turned his gaze away from the stele and looked up into the depths of the starry sky.
"Burying the entire Pitch-Black Star Sea, and even the High Wall, is not out of the question."
"Everything within an entire star sea should allow an ample number of laws to manifest upon the stele!"
At the thought of that scene, Li Fan's chest swelled with anticipation.
"That day will come, but not right now."
"At the very least, I must first possess the strength to protect myself before I can pull off such a grand undertaking!"
Chapter 1396