Reforging the Fa-Deduction Jade

The wonder of Heaven, the Fa-Deduction Jade, had merged almost entirely into her flesh and blood, and ordinary means could never separate it from her. But Li Fan was well versed in the art of medicine, and he also commanded the transformation between real and fake. So he simply took the crudest and most effective approach. Paying no heed to the consequences, he first destructively cut away the flesh that the Fa-Deduction Jade had tainted. In the course of it, he had to use the transformation between real and fake to conjure a matching portion of flesh out of thin air, sustaining the little girl's vital force. Flesh, relatively speaking, was the easier part. The harder and more dangerous part was her soul. She had been one with the Fa-Deduction Jade for far too long; even her soul was riddled with the imprints of its crushing presence. Li Fan's divine sense was like a blade, precisely slicing and separating it inch by inch. As the transformation between real and fake filled in the gaps, he used the Limitless Waxing and Waning Method to transmute strands of purified soul-nourishing essence and infuse it within. Not a single error could be permitted in the whole process. Otherwise, the wonder of Heaven would still come through unharmed—but the little girl's soul would scatter in an instant. Yet Li Fan felt not the slightest tension, even though this was the first time he had ever attempted such "medicine." In any case, no third person in this world had witnessed his conversation with the Fa-Deduction Jade. If he unfortunately failed... Then the little girl could only be counted unlucky. Li Fan, wholly absorbed, single-minded, sank into the work. Gradually, as a blood-red disc of jade was drawn out by Li Fan, the little girl entered a mystic state "between real and fake." She looked no different from before the "surgery," except that she had grown somewhat weak. But in truth, if Li Fan so much as formed the thought of withdrawing the transformation between real and fake that he was sustaining, the cute little creature before him would instantly collapse into a puddle of flesh and blood. "The boundary between real and fake..." Li Fan carefully studied this creation of real and fake born from his own hands. Having now completed one full trial upon a living being, he felt his understanding of the transformation between real and fake quietly rise another level. He could not yet make it permanent. Of the flesh conjured from nothing by the transformation between real and fake, only a tiny fraction remained. But Li Fan could repeat the process without end, making up the shortfall through sheer quantity. Even so, by the time Li Fan finished this exquisitely refined separation procedure—one without peer in the world—the reborn little girl had shrunk considerably. Originally she had looked five or six years old. Now she was only three or four in size. When the little girl awoke and looked at her brand-new body, her eyes went wide. Her face was full of wonder. Though she had lost the blessing of the wonder of Heaven, the Fa-Deduction Jade, Li Fan had left a residue of spiritual power from a phantom of the Xuanhuang Realm within the body he crafted. The little girl now had no cultivation at all, but in terms of the depth of her foundation, she likely surpassed every cultivator at the Longevity realm and below in the Xuanhuang Realm. "Do you remember your original name?" Li Fan asked slowly, his left hand stroking the Fa-Deduction Jade. The flesh that had clung to this wonder of Heaven was gone, revealing its original form. On the round body of jade, a notch as though cleft by a sword took up nearly a tenth of its surface. At a glance, it seemed incomplete. The little girl hesitated for a moment, then answered in a clear, childish voice: "I don't remember." Li Fan's heaven-defying methods had only confirmed what she had thought before. This person before her must surely be a True Immortal descended into the world! No longer daring to show the least mischief, she had become positively stiff with restraint. Such an obvious change in her manner could hardly escape Li Fan. But from the look of her, she seemed to want to bid farewell to her past once and for all, so Li Fan did not trouble himself over it: "Since that is so, from now on you shall be called Li Ningqing." She had been separated from the Fa-Deduction Jade, but thousands of years of shared life and the fragmented memories of the Immortal Realm had marked her deeply. Li Ningqing instinctively bowed, her small face utterly solemn: "Thank you, Master, for bestowing my name." Li Fan nodded slightly and said no more, intently studying the Fa-Deduction Jade in his hand. Li Ningqing stood in attendance beside him, not daring to disturb him. But old habits die hard. She had not stood long before she could not contain herself, and lifting her head, she quietly took Li Fan's measure. As Li Ningqing had said, little of the Immortal Realm's memory remained in the Fa-Deduction Jade. The memory fragment concerning [Creation] had survived only because that True Immortal seal character was so extraordinary: even as it imprinted itself upon the memories, it had imperceptibly influenced the Fa-Deduction Jade itself, and so endured the wear of ages. Yet even these scattered fragments showed Li Fan scenes of value to him. A figure of light and shadow drifted, pacing to and fro. It seemed the Fa-Deduction Jade's original owner had met with something exceedingly difficult. "Foolish. Truly foolish beyond words." "To treat such a calamity as nothing..." "No—perhaps they have other designs, and simply cannot spare any thought for us. It seems we must rely on ourselves. Otherwise, the tragedy of the Qianhuan Starfield is a living example." ... Who knew how long passed. The human-shaped figure of light had long since fled far away. Only the Fa-Deduction Jade remained where it was, all alone. A howling wind rose, as though some great terror were descending. A strange force suddenly wrapped itself around the Fa-Deduction Jade. The Jade soared into the sky and became a shooting star, hurtling uncontrollably in a certain direction. And all around, thousands upon thousands of streaks of radiance tore across the vault of heaven just as it did. Only their positions seemed all different from one another. ... The star sea of the lower realm. After flying for an unknowable length of time, a figure suddenly reached out and caught the Fa-Deduction Jade. After examining it closely, the figure shook its head slightly. Then it cast the Fa-Deduction Jade into the Xuanhuang Realm. ... These memory fragments lay deep within the Fa-Deduction Jade. Even after it became a wonder absorbed by Li Ningqing, without special conditions to trigger and draw them out, she would never perceive them. Only a search as thorough—bordering on destructive—as Li Fan's could awaken these ancient, preserved memories. "It seems the Fa-Deduction Jade came from the Immortal Realm to Xuanhuang long ago, and was devoured and absorbed by heaven and earth." That figure who had intercepted the Fa-Deduction Jade was not unfamiliar to Li Fan. It was precisely the lower-realm True Immortal he had once seen in the memories of True Immortal flesh and blood derived from the Kunqian Bone Hand! "In the Immortal Realm, the coming of the Dao Annihilation Tribulation was foretold long in advance. Even with the 'official' raising of the Immortal Heaven Pillar to keep order, many True Immortals likely still chose their own methods to survive the calamity. Whether they succeeded is another matter." "Before a calamity, each displays their own powers. That is nothing new in the history of the Xuanhuang Realm either," Li Fan mused. What concerned him more was that scene of flight like a meteor shower, each fleeing its own way. "At that point in time, the Xuanhuang Realm was still in its ancient era. Yet in the Immortal Realm starfield where the Fa-Deduction Jade was, the great tribulation had apparently already arrived." "I wonder what else was among those meteoric lights besides immortal artifacts like the Fa-Deduction Jade." "Did some mighty being act to preserve the seeds of the Immortal Realm in this way?" Beyond that, the Fa-Deduction Jade's memories of the past held nothing else unusual. The rest were the cultivation methods it had ceaselessly deduced over the years. Li Fan swept through them with a thought; to him, now a half-immortal, these methods no longer meant much. He had gone to considerable trouble to extract the Fa-Deduction Jade, mainly on account of its former status as an immortal artifact. In his sea of consciousness, the Dissolving Disc gave off scattered motes of immortal spiritual energy. Li Fan first tried to have the Fa-Deduction Jade absorb this immortal spiritual energy. But the Jade, like Li Fan himself, could make no use of this mystic energy at all. It merely circulated once through its interior, then the immortal spiritual energy came back out intact. The Dissolving Disc drew the immortal spiritual energy back in. "Just as I expected. Immortal spiritual energy must carry a unique identity tag." "It can only be used by specific recipients." Li Fan thought back again to how the Dissolving Disc had formally ascended into an immortal artifact. "Left behind by Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang, absorbed and transformed by the Heavenly Dao of the Xuanhuang Realm, and forcibly split off before it could reach the limit point of the immortal domain." He began to understand, faintly. "It seems the key may lie in the transformation through the heaven and earth of Xuanhuang. The mechanism may, like the ancient immortal arrays, have existed since the very creation of the Xuanhuang Realm—something even the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao may not know." "If I want to elevate the Fa-Deduction Jade into an immortal artifact..." Li Fan had no intention of driving the Xuanhuang Realm to sublimation a second time. With prior experience to draw on, the difficulty was not much of a difficulty. And with his current strength, Li Fan had more convenient means at hand. Putting the Fa-Deduction Jade away for the time being, Li Fan looked at Li Ningqing, who had come back to her senses and promptly lowered her head again. "You have not been out in a long while. I will give you some time—go and enjoy yourself." "You have no cultivation, but this body alone is enough for you to roam the Xuanhuang Realm without worry," Li Fan said mildly. Li Ningqing was overjoyed and hurried to thank him. "One year." "After one year, answer my summons," Li Fan added. Li Ningqing paid it no mind, already giddy at the thought of a whole year's holiday. Heaven knew, she had never rested so long in her entire life. Compared with that detestable Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa, the Master was truly a benefactor sent from above! Li Ningqing could not help thinking so. In the midst of her excitement, her vision blurred, and she had already been sent outside the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals headquarters by Li Fan. Li Fan's voice still faintly reached her ear: "Walk more. See more. If you come across anything interesting, do not let it slip past." "Don't worry. The Master has your back." Li Ningqing felt greatly reassured, and could not help looking forward to this journey through the Xuanhuang Realm. "The Master is so kind. Jingxuan will surely be very happy to meet him too." Sensing the little girl's cheerful steps along the way, Li Fan nodded slightly. "I hope you discover a few of the secrets still hidden in the Xuanhuang Realm." Having fused with the Fa-Deduction Jade for so long, Li Ningqing had faintly formed a peculiar connection with it. Perhaps the same connection existed with ancient relics of the Immortal Realm. Just now, the very moment Li Fan produced the immortal spiritual energy, she had sensed it. Though he had already ascended to the immortal realm, Li Fan would not grow careless about the Xuanhuang Realm—once the Immortal Realm's testing ground. "But my focus now should be beyond the high wall. The exploration of the Xuanhuang Realm's secrets can be left to others." Having settled the matter of the Fa-Deduction Jade, Li Fan at last came before the lineage of the Mirror Keepers. There he saw the Heavenly Profound Mirror itself. An archaic bronze mirror, green with age. Around the bronze mirror sat three Mirror Keepers cross-legged. Seeing Li Fan appear out of nowhere, and those attending him—Dharma Transmitter Zhou, the representative of the Dharma Transmitters, and Di Sanmo—their expressions changed drastically. Again without a word wasted, Li Fan waved a hand and suppressed them all. Li Fan drifted forward to the Heavenly Profound Mirror. He keenly sensed the restriction laid upon the mirror's body. Plainly the work of the Heavenly Physician. "Jingxuan." A meaningful smile appeared on Li Fan's face, and he rapped the surface of the mirror three times with a bent finger. The restriction upon it crumbled inch by inch. Within the space of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals headquarters, violent tremors broke out in answer. A figure drifted out from the ancient mirror. Staring at Li Fan with an incomparably grave and tense expression. "Greetings, Senior." Knowing everything that happened within the Alliance, how could he not know of the earthshaking upheaval now unfolding at the Alliance headquarters? Even as he quietly established contact with Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa, Jingxuan's human clone ceased living the life of a "human" and began fleeing toward a naturally concealed grotto-heaven he remembered. Jingxuan thought he had done it without a sound. But little did he know, everything was within Li Fan's grasp. Li Fan reached forward slightly, his five fingers seeming to pass through space and time, and exerted a little force. Jingxuan's expression changed sharply; as though gripped by the throat, his face flushed red. A mortal, a hundred million li away, was plucked out of thin air into Li Fan's hand. And tossed aside. Dharma Transmitter Zhou and Di Sanmo were both baffled. Only Jingxuan, and his human clone, were filled with terror. "Dishonest." "You deserve a beating." Li Fan rapped again with a bent finger. This time, with great force. Both of Jingxuan's bodies collapsed to the ground as though struck by lightning. The space of the Alliance headquarters shook as though the world were ending. Most terrifying of all, a crack had appeared in the body of the Heavenly Profound Mirror from that blow. As though Li Fan did not care in the least whether this utterly wondrous immortal artifact lived or died! Jingxuan's courage failed utterly. Just as he was about to open his mouth and beg for mercy, he saw Li Fan reach out, seize him, and stuff him back into the Heavenly Profound Mirror. But this time, Jingxuan did not feel the ease of a fish returned to water. Instead he keenly sensed that, for some reason, a barrier had arisen between himself and the Heavenly Profound Mirror! After searching, Jingxuan found the cause. Beyond the sealing methods that True Immortal had applied, within the Heavenly Profound Mirror there was—another him, taking shape! In that blurred figure, Jingxuan seemed to see himself! "This is..." A chill rose from Jingxuan's heart. Widely learned as he was, Jingxuan could already see that the True Immortal seemed to be forging a new artifact spirit, intending to replace him! "This should not have been so easy. But my human body has fallen into his hands as well." Fear and dread twisted together in Jingxuan's heart; as though he could already see his fate, he cried out again and again: "Spare me, Senior!"