Through the formation lines rooted deep within Zhao Ruoxi's divine soul, Li Fan reviewed all of her memories in an instant.
She truly was Heavenly Venerable Yixin, a single person encompassing ten thousand souls; the spectacles she had witnessed over the years were staggering.
Yet that was not what mattered most.
Li Fan quickly found what he was looking for.
"Usurping Heaven..."
It was a secret technique from the Dadao Sect's secret reservoir, one of the bountiful spoils left behind after the Xuantian Sect had been destroyed in the distant past. It was said to be capable of utterly stripping Xuantian Sect followers of their cultivation methods and power, grafting the realms and might they had achieved through those arts directly onto the caster.
Li Fan remained somewhat skeptical of the secret art's description.
After all, figures of the Twelve Dharma Kings' caliber could hardly have been constrained so easily by such a technique.
Even so, the vast majority of the Xuantian Sect's cultivation methods originated from the Azure Nether Pearl. For the pearl to take them back was by no means outside the realm of reason. What Li Fan needed to do now was test whether there was indeed a connection between the secret art of Usurping Heaven and the Azure Nether Pearl.
By funneling cultivation power back into the Azure Nether Pearl, he could pull it back from the brink of total collapse. Then, aided by the Transformation of Real and Unreal, he could restore it step by step.
As for the cultivation power to be fed into the pearl...
Zhao Ruoxi, who cultivated the Eternal Sole Self Incantation, was naturally the ideal source!
From Zhao Ruoxi's memories, Li Fan had already learned that although she had attained the Dao through the principle of "Ten Thousand Souls into One," the core of her cultivation remained the Eternal Sole Self Incantation.
"Addicted to her games, devoid of ambition.
"Her success in inverting the principle was merely taking advantage of this cultivation method's heaven-defying nature."
Li Fan sneered inwardly, making his assessment. In the blink of an eye, he had already returned to the hollow beneath the high wall where the Azure Nether Pearl lay.
The Dissolution Disc had long since translated the secret art of Usurping Heaven into a formation array.
Specks of light carrying the formation's information silently slipped into Senior Sister Zhao's divine soul.
Tracing along the densely packed formation lines, the specks of light began to circulate, slowly drawing out Senior Sister Zhao's cultivation.
Meanwhile, within Li Fan's hand, droplets gleaming with an eerie green hue began to take shape.
Zhao Ruoxi naturally noticed the sudden drain on her cultivation at once.
To someone in the Longevity realm like her, nothing was more terrifying than being turned back into a mortal overnight.
Her face went deathly pale, wondering how she had offended this mercurial True Immortal.
The rate at which her cultivation drained grew faster and faster. Yet she had no means to resist, able only to watch helplessly as the essence she had painstakingly amassed over thousands of years vanished before her eyes.
Moreover, she soon realized something far more horrific.
Ever since she had inverted the principle and become a Longevity Heavenly Venerable of the Xuanhuang Realm, she had become an integral part of the realm itself.
Though she still nominally occupied the Longevity realm, as vast amounts of her cultivation slipped away, her rapidly weakening body seemed no longer able to uphold the Xuanhuang Principle she had inverted!
As if crushed under an immense weight, her divine soul and physical body began to ache.
"Ngh..." Zhao Ruoxi could not suppress a muffled groan as countless tiny fissures of blood opened across her body.
And it was not just this single body of hers.
Every single one of her incarnations teetered on the verge of collapse.
The agony only mounted.
With the spiritual energy in her body almost entirely drained, leaving her weaker than an ordinary Qi Condensation cultivator, Zhao Ruoxi felt frail beyond measure. The sensation of her body and soul being crushed and torn apart inch by inch was magnified thousands of times over by her declining strength.
Blood erupted from fissures all over her body, drenching her until she looked like a creature made of blood, obscuring the streaming tears and snot upon her face. The torment was so absolute that she could not even scream, able to squeeze only a hoarse rasp from her throat.
The terror of being reduced to a mortal in a single breath, compounded by the ubiquitous and ever-worsening agony wracking her soul and flesh, left Zhao Ruoxi in a daze, as though she had returned to Mount Daqing in her youth.
Back then, bandits had burned, looted, and slaughtered their way through the village, their bloodshed lighting up the sky.
Hiding outside the village and watching the ferocious bandits grinning malevolently as they spotted her and rushed forward, Zhao Ruoxi had been consumed by panic.
Then, she had noticed a figure standing quietly and motionlessly nearby, unaware of when he had arrived.
As though clutching at her sole lifesaver, Zhao Ruoxi had wept and begged, "Immortal Master, save me! Immortal Master, save me!"
The raspy cries from her throat seemed to overlap with the memory of that past.
Only now, the savior in Zhao Ruoxi's eyes was no longer Zhang Rong, the fourth-generation disciple of the Dadao Sect's Yuehua Lineage whom she had long since devoured in vengeance.
It had become Li Fan!
The blurry figure's appearance gradually grew distinct in Zhao Ruoxi's mind. As if answering her plea, Li Fan offered a faint smile.
From the center of the countless formation lines within Zhao Ruoxi's divine soul, an exquisitely pure energy seeped from the phantom of the Xuanhuang Realm. At first, it was merely a trickling brook, but in an instant, it turned into a roaring, surging river.
In a flash, it flooded Zhao Ruoxi's body to the brim.
This Heavenly Venerable Yixin, who had been on the verge of death just moments ago, instantly sprang back to vibrant life.
Feeling the vast, inexhaustible power coursing through her body from the Xuanhuang Realm's phantom, Zhao Ruoxi felt even stronger than before.
The bloodstains vanished from her pale skin. Zhao Ruoxi bowed in utmost reverence to the figure standing deep within her divine soul, offering her heartfelt gratitude.
...
Paying no heed to Zhao Ruoxi's minor plight, Li Fan focused all his attention on the utterly fragile Azure Nether Pearl before him.
The lifetime cultivation Zhao Ruoxi had amassed from the Eternal Sole Self Incantation had yielded only four drops of green liquid.
Li Fan did not even need to guide them closely. Drawn by their mysterious connection to the Azure Nether Pearl, energy began to steadily diffuse from the green droplets toward the nearby pearl the moment they formed.
The bitter cultivation of a Longevity Heavenly Venerable over nearly ten thousand years finally pulled this immortal artifact back from the brink of total ruin!
Li Fan felt a surge of joy. His divine sense followed in close pursuit, swiftly wrapping around the Azure Nether Pearl in dense layers.
Across the surface of the pearl, the vast color of the azure sky swirled in continuous waves, attempting to ward off Li Fan's prying.
Such a defense might have been effective against mere mortals. Or perhaps, had the Azure Nether Pearl been at the height of its power, it might have kept Li Fan at bay.
Yet it had only just escaped destruction and remained half-dead. How could it stop Li Fan, who possessed a half-immortal physique?
Like a needle, his divine sense pierced through the azure sky, driving straight inward to plunge into the pearl's interior.
Boom!
The vision before Li Fan shook violently, and in the next breath, he seemed to arrive in a wondrous realm.
Twelve solemn palaces towered above the clouds, arranged in a circle that spanned the world's firmament.
Within each palace, a statue was enshrined.
An endless stream of cultivators came from the land below, kneeling and praying.
Upon the statues, living faces would occasionally manifest, seemingly conversing with the kneeling worshippers.
...
The Shenwu Realm!
As the images in his mind dispersed, Li Fan understood what he had just seen.
That wisp of his divine sense had already been forcefully expelled by the Azure Nether Pearl.
Li Fan did not attempt to invade it again. With that contact, relying on the distinct aura of the Azure Nether Pearl, he possessed enough to replicate it within a short span using the Transformation of Real and Unreal!
Even so, Li Fan did not make the attempt immediately.
He had a premonition that using the Transformation of Real and Unreal to conjure another Azure Nether Pearl out of nothing would place a far greater strain on him than anything before. He needed to make preparations in advance.
Since the Azure Nether Pearl could not yet be moved, Li Fan laid down layer upon layer of formations around it.
Only when specks of light representing immortal-grade formations flickered around him did Li Fan feel somewhat at ease.
"False becoming true!"
Li Fan chanted softly in his heart, though the target of his divine ability was not the Azure Nether Pearl. It was himself!
His cultivation, divine soul, and strength across every plane swelled by a factor of two.
Li Fan looked toward the Azure Nether Pearl, still feeling it was not quite enough.
After catching his breath for a moment, he cast the divine ability of false becoming true once more.
Tripling his cultivation could not be sustained for long.
Li Fan waited only until his body adjusted to the intensity it bore before focusing his mind and locking onto the Azure Nether Pearl.
Using the brilliant azure sky's hue as an index, Li Fan recalled that fleeting glimpse of the Shenwu Realm.
He visualized the existence of another Azure Nether Pearl.
"False..."
"... becoming true!"
Li Fan felt dozens of times more strained than he had when reproducing Jinggu Cangyuan.
Presumably, this was because Jinggu Cangyuan was an energy source existing in a single form, whereas the Azure Nether Pearl before him was a convergence of numerous laws.
Veins bulged across his forehead. A moment later, he felt as though his entire body had been drained hollow.
He felt unimaginably weak.
Yet when he saw the luster of the Azure Nether Pearl grow visibly brighter and more vibrant, Li Fan knew his attempt had succeeded.
The stacked cultivation from false becoming true gradually faded away. Exhaustion of body and spirit bore down upon him like a collapsing mountain.
Even so, Li Fan merely closed his eyes to rest for a brief while before resuming the duplication of the Azure Nether Pearl.
With each execution of the Transformation of Real and Unreal, his comprehension deepened slightly. Yet just like the things brought forth out of nothing, most of those insights would slowly disperse with the passage of time, leaving behind only a tiny fraction.
"The Transformation of Real and Unreal is ethereal and elusive, yet it is the foundation upon which I stand.
"Relying solely on each Revert to the True and the supplementary comprehension from the Avici Samsara is far from enough."
A glimmer of resolve flashed through his eyes. Taking advantage of the lingering comprehension from his previous casting, Li Fan endured the utter exhaustion of his body and mind to invoke the method of false becoming true once more.
Within the subterranean river of the hollow, wondrous, indescribable auras descended and vanished in succession.
Time slipped quietly by. Though Li Fan's outward appearance showed no change, his aura grew inexplicably more elusive and unpredictable.
He truly resembled an ethereal, transcendent True Immortal walking the mortal world!
After the time it took an incense stick to burn, Li Fan finally felt that his body and divine soul had reached their absolute limits.
Letting out a soft sigh, a tidal wave of weariness crashed over him, impossible to hold back.
Ignoring the newly restored, almost reborn Azure Nether Pearl beside him, Li Fan first sat cross-legged with his eyes closed to rest properly.
His mind was empty of thought and perception, as though sunken into deep slumber.
Only faintly did countless specks of light seem to ignite continuously, only to fade back into darkness a short while later.
The cycle repeated endlessly.
By the time Li Fan rejuvenated his spirits, three days had already passed.
Through intense, near-limit applications of false becoming true within such a short window, Li Fan had acquired insights into the Transformation of Real and Unreal equivalent to roughly five activations of Revert to the True.
"This was largely because it was my first time pushing myself to the limit in rapid succession.
"It awakened the insights I had previously forgotten after using the Transformation of Real and Unreal in the past. Attempting this again next time certainly won't yield such remarkable results.
"Yet it remains immensely significant."
Through this trial, Li Fan had noticed something: the comprehension of the Transformation of Real and Unreal gained each time he activated Revert to the True seemed different from what he obtained by imitating it himself.
Undoubtedly, the comprehension born from Revert to the True was far purer and closer to ultimate reality.
Meanwhile, the understanding he attained through his own practice, though slightly inferior, was far easier to control.
"There is still a journey between comprehension and practice.
"Each activation of Revert to the True advances my comprehension, but the practical application must be carried out by my own hands."
An epiphany arose within Li Fan's heart.
At that very moment, Trueness sent forth a faint pulse that carried a sense of approval, as though finding him a worthy pupil.
Li Fan pondered this and tried to communicate further with Trueness.
He was met only with silence.
Shaking his head faintly, Li Fan set the matter aside for the moment and looked toward the Azure Nether Pearl nearby.
He reached out and drew it toward himself.
Perhaps because Li Fan had restored a fair portion of it, the immortal artifact offered no resistance whatsoever, drifting lightly into his palm.
"Though it has barely pulled through from its shattered state, its might has still degraded severely.
"After all, the vitality contained within it was extracted to restore the Pitch-Black Star Sea."
Li Fan thought to himself as he looked at the abundant vitality filling the hollow's subterranean river.
Yet what Li Fan valued was not the Azure Nether Pearl's vitality, but its rumored miraculous capabilities.
"The Azure Nether Pearl can devour other immortal artifacts, assimilating their functions into itself.
"Furthermore, it can extract a cultivator's past cultivation methods directly from their corpse."
After a brief inspection, Li Fan discovered that the Azure Nether Pearl no longer possessed an artifact spirit.
Had Li Fan not repaired it, it would have been nothing more than an empty husk stripped of all function.
Yet now...
"Its functions can still be used."
With a thought, Li Fan returned to the Xuanhuang Realm, taking the Azure Nether Pearl with him.
To prevent the Hungry Immortal of the Immortal Ruins from noticing anything, the surrounding concealment formations were not dispersed, but merely condensed into a layer of white mist.
It lent Li Fan an extraordinarily transcendent, immortal air.
"Devouring immortal artifacts..."
Li Fan glanced toward the underground secret chamber of the Sun Clan, where the Boundless Mirror resided.
Reaching forward, the Boundless Mirror pierced through time and space, arriving directly in Li Fan's palm.
"Who goes there!"
Ignoring the startled cry of the Boundless Mirror's spirit, Sun Luyao, Li Fan fed it directly to the Azure Nether Pearl.
Though both had once been immortal artifacts and both were severely damaged, the Boundless Mirror was clearly not on the same level as the Azure Nether Pearl.
With Li Fan suppressing it from the side, the Boundless Mirror could not muster the slightest bit of resistance.
It sank straight into the vast azure hue of the Azure Nether Pearl.
Across the surface of the Azure Nether Pearl, ripples spread like raindrops falling in a downpour.
Seemingly because it was too weak, suddenly ingesting such nourishment proved too much to digest quickly; it took the Azure Nether Pearl nearly half a day to assimilate it.
When the downpour finally subsided, a distinct and peculiar aura was born from within the Azure Nether Pearl.
Chapter 1429