Taking the Dead as Teachers

The surface of the Azure Nether Pearl, once a uniform expanse of vast cyan, was now carved into numerous distinct zones by crisscrossing lines. Across most of these zones, the boundaries flickered faintly, blurred and indistinct. Only the zone displaying a bright mirror seemed truly "alive," giving off fluctuations distinctly different from the pearl itself. From the aura rising within it, Li Fan could faintly discern a complete Boundless Mirror. *Could these different zones represent the various immortal artifacts the Azure Nether Pearl has swallowed in the past?* *Only, when the pearl shattered long ago, all those functions became unusable. Only this newly opened Boundless Mirror zone is barely operational...* A surge of insight welled up in Li Fan's heart. Compared to the Azure Nether Pearl itself, this zone shaped into the Boundless Mirror was far easier to breach. Patiently using the Boundless Mirror zone as his breakthrough point, Li Fan finally succeeded in sending a wisp of divine sense deep into the pearl's interior—and this time, it was not so easily expelled. Instead, it took root and established a firm foothold within the Boundless Mirror zone. Before long, formations rose with his thoughts, endlessly unfolding. Countless pale-green formation patterns—matching the native hue of the Azure Nether Pearl—took root and multiplied across the Boundless Mirror zone. Li Fan sought to use "formation refining" to thoroughly refine and master this immortal treasure. With the Immortal Array Dissolution Disc at work, the efficiency was extraordinary. In merely a single day, an inexplicable connection formed between Li Fan and the Azure Nether Pearl. Li Fan exhaled a long breath, rolling the Azure Nether Pearl in his right hand. There was no sensation of physical contact. It felt only cool, exceptionally smooth, and refreshing. Reborn from destruction, the Azure Nether Pearl was as if reforged anew. All past shackles and restrictions bound to it seemed to have dissolved into smoke. At the very least, after inspecting it thoroughly from the inside out, Li Fan found no trace of residual, unaccounted-for energy. Even so, he did not lower his guard completely. His formation refining continued unabated. Across the pearl's surface, within the vast azure sky, billions of silver stars gradually emerged—the glowing traces left by the operating formations. Li Fan first turned his attention to the functions of the Boundless Mirror. Having once lurked within that damaged immortal artifact for quite some time, he could be said to know it intimately. *The Boundless Mirror's myriad divine abilities are built upon the foundation of the immortal-grade grand formation, "Boundless, Hongmeng Square." In theory, it can analyze all things in creation. Even for entities beyond its own grade, it can slowly unravel them like the Foolish Old Man moving mountains.* *Yet the Boundless Mirror I encountered in the Xuanhuang Realm was severely compromised in power. Far from analyzing all creation, it could merely steal glances through gaps even when probing a fellow immortal artifact like the Heavenly Profound Mirror.* *And now...* Holding the Azure Nether Pearl, Li Fan returned to the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals. Within the space of the Alliance Headquarters, clear green ripples stirred across the pearl in Li Fan's grasp. In a flash, it shifted into the likeness of the Heavenly Profound Mirror. It radiated a faint, eerie ring of light into its surroundings. Li Fan received no warning of any threat from the Heavenly Profound Mirror's simulated mirror spirit. However, he acutely perceived a new functional zone opening within the Azure Nether Pearl. It, too, was a small mirror, bearing an archaic bronze patina identical to the true form of the Heavenly Profound Mirror! *The Boundless Mirror it swallowed was a weakened, damaged version. Yet the Azure Nether Pearl was able to restore the Boundless Mirror's functions through its own wondrous nature!* *Furthermore, judging by the current situation, after devouring the Boundless Mirror, it can replicate the functions of other immortal artifacts purely through "analysis"?* Delight and astonishment surged through Li Fan. Yet his joy did not last long. Perhaps because it had been generated through the Boundless Mirror's analysis, the Heavenly Profound Mirror zone within the pearl lay directly adjacent to the Boundless Mirror zone, and the boundary between them was far from distinct. The Heavenly Profound Mirror zone had existed independently for barely half the time it took to drink a cup of tea before it was swallowed whole by the Boundless Mirror zone. Moreover, Li Fan had no way to control this merger. Once the fusion took place, the faint image of the small mirror reflected upon the Azure Nether Pearl's surface shifted as well. The bronze patina faded, and its shape turned circular. Deep within the mirror's face, a pair of eyes seemed to lurk, secretly watching everything in the outside world. With a slight stir of Li Fan's thoughts, the Azure Nether Pearl shifted at his will. The illusory mirror solidified into tangible reality right in his hand. The analysis was not yet complete, but it already possessed many of the capabilities of both the Boundless Mirror and the Heavenly Profound Mirror. Aside from standard functions such as opening internal spaces, storage, deduction, and analysis, what Li Fan valued even more was the Heavenly Profound Mirror's ability of "differentiation and secondary generation." Unfortunately, this seemed to be a proficiency the Heavenly Profound Mirror had comprehended later rather than an innate trait, so the Azure Nether Pearl's analytical power could not replicate it directly. *The status of the Boundless Immortal Formation should be sufficient. The data on the Heavenly Profound Mirror analyzed by the Azure Nether Pearl is already nearly identical to what I retrieved from the Heavenly Profound Mirror's simulated mirror spirit.* *The only missing piece is the presence of an artifact spirit.* A flicker of hesitation crossed Li Fan's mind. In the end, he did not rush to use the Method of Giving Life to foster sapience within the Azure Nether Pearl. He did not even apply the method of a simulated persona to it. From the fleeting glimpse of the Shenwu Realm, the twelve towering statues he had seen looming against the heavens had left him with a lingering sense of unease. *For now, it is better to use it purely as an implement.* Once the analytical fusion between the Boundless Mirror and the Heavenly Profound Mirror settled, Li Fan proceeded to test the Azure Nether Pearl's ability to manifest cultivation methods. He ordered Di Sanmo to bring over several corpses, then had the Azure Nether Pearl swallow them. As the corpses vanished into the vast azure expanse, several distinct wisps of aura welled up within the treasure pearl. Composed of countless minute characters, manual after manual floated across the azure sky. They corresponded precisely to the cultivation methods these condemned prisoners had practiced in life. Even though their cultivations had long since been forcibly crippled, the Azure Nether Pearl still uncovered their methods! When checked against records, they matched without the slightest discrepancy! Li Fan reached out and beckoned one of the texts over. "Nine Refinements Wandering Spirit Art..." Li Fan drew the characters into himself. It was not merely the technique itself. Even the corpse's lifetime understanding of the art and insights gained during cultivation surfaced in Li Fan's mind! *This way, with the experience of a predecessor, cultivating will be extraordinarily fast!* *The only pity is that it yields only comprehension, not memories.* Though Li Fan felt a touch of regret, he knew that being able to accomplish this already made it undeniably a peerless treasure. *Taking the dead as teachers yields an efficiency beyond anything ordinary instruction could ever match.* *After all, corpses keep no secrets.* Yet in today's Pitch-Black Star Sea, very few remained who could inspire Li Fan to learn from or emulate them. *I wonder if this can still be put to use.* With this thought, Li Fan tentatively tossed the large pile of ashes left behind after Qin Zhuang from beyond the Great Wall had been silenced entirely into the Azure Nether Pearl. The powder was slowly consumed by the azure hue. Even after his soul had dispersed, Qin Zhuang continued to contribute his light and heat. Inside the Azure Nether Pearl, a gale seemed to rise. Li Fan watched intently, wary of missing even the slightest detail. The Azure Nether Pearl was, after all, a supreme treasure prized even by King Xuantian. Ordinary methods of destroying corpses and wiping away traces could not thwart its scrutiny. After brewing for a time, a wisp of uniquely colored aura surfaced within the boundless cyan expanse. It was strikingly conspicuous. From black to white, it shifted in a ceaseless gradient through seemingly every hue in existence. Li Fan drew the wisp toward him. "Thirty Lectures on Daoyuan Fundamentals..." Sensing the name, Li Fan's expression turned somewhat peculiar. Soon, however, he immersed himself in Qin Zhuang's cultivation and comprehension of the Daoyuan symbols. The experience was wholly incomparable to using an immortal formation to forcibly pry into memories. Searching souls to seize memories—especially when numerous restrictions remained inside Qin Zhuang's divine soul—could never achieve such immersive depth. It merely allowed one to sense what Qin Zhuang had learned and how much time he had spent on it. With the Azure Nether Pearl, however, all the thoughts and meditations Qin Zhuang had ever constructed upon these Daoyuan symbols replayed resoundingly inside Li Fan's mind. It was as though Li Fan had relived a portion of his life in Qin Zhuang's shoes! By the time Li Fan's consciousness cleared, he was fully proficient in the Thirty Lectures on Daoyuan Fundamentals. In fact, factoring in Li Fan's own intellect, he was even more adept than Qin Zhuang, an actual member of the Immortal Hunt organization. This sensation of reaping without sowing was truly addictive. Li Fan could not help smacking his lips. *Holding such an extraordinary treasure, I can hardly resist the urge to sweep through the lands beyond the Great Wall right now. It would surely save me centuries of arduous cultivation.* A faint, perilous gleam stirred in Li Fan's eyes. Yet in the end, he firmly suppressed it. The inherent risks were one consideration. More critically, Li Fan could not yet determine whether acquiring insights through this heaven-defying method of the Azure Nether Pearl carried adverse side effects. Changes within Li Fan's divine soul could, to a certain degree, survive Revert to the True and persist. If minor, they might be negligible. However, if they accumulated to the point where one or two resets of Revert to the True could not cleanse them, the danger would far outweigh any gain. *Better to conduct safety verifications with a large batch of test subjects first.* *Furthermore, in theory, capturing the thoughts of a corpse during life should by no means be limited to cultivation arts alone.* *Could there be a way to reconstruct all the memories and thoughts a corpse possessed in life?* *If that were truly possible, creating and replicating a cultivator out of thin air would make them resemble the original self far more closely.* Li Fan turned the Azure Nether Pearl—now restored to its original appearance—over in his hands, his mind churning with thoughts. ... The four remaining Longevity Heavenly Venerables of the Five Elders Association arrived punctually. Without disturbing anyone else, they were received personally by Di Sanmo and Qiao Sidao and brought into the Guixu world where Dharma Transmitter Jiang was held. Because of the blockade created by the Heaven-Connecting Grand Formation, they naturally could not sense the presence of Dharma Transmitter Jiang at the formation's core. However, Li Fan deliberately released a portion of Dharma Transmitter Jiang's insights and synchronized them with their minds. Thus, the moment they stepped into this pocket world, they became immersed in the wondrous revelation of "Great Dao Like Me." Zhao Ruoxi, in particular, was captivated. In their core philosophy, Eternal Sole Self and Great Dao Like Me were fundamentally aligned. Eternal Sole Self sought to achieve ultimate harmony with the Dao through endless devouring. Great Dao Like Me, however, bypassed the countless intermediate steps altogether, leaping straight to the destination: *I am the Dao, and the Dao is me.* Even though she had undergone a harsh discipline at Li Fan's hands and her temperament had transformed, Zhao Ruoxi could not help feeling a surge of imbalance and jealousy. Zhao Ruoxi reacted this way, and the other three Longevity Heavenly Venerables—and even Di Sanmo, Qiao Sidao, and the rest—fared no better. "I once thought Senior's Taijia Divine Technique—used as an incentive within the Alliance to commune with the Star Sea—was already the pinnacle of miraculous craft. Little did I expect that facing the Great Dao directly would be..." Overwhelmed with shock, Qiao Sidao fell silent for a long time. "Great Dao Like Me" gave one the feeling of conversing directly with the Great Dao and comprehending vast truths. Yet once one left that state and returned to reality, it was as if nothing had ever happened. Not a single trace of the Dao's comprehension remained. When Li Fan withdrew his merciful boon, the disappointment within their hearts was plain to see on their faces. "How was it?" Li Fan appeared at that moment and asked. Their expressions turned solemn. After bowing respectfully, they spoke up one after another, their praises effusive and heartfelt. "I intend to connect this comprehension of the Great Dao into your Dream Paradise," Li Fan said flatly once everyone had finished speaking. His words made their eyelids twitch in shock. Especially Wuyou. After the initial uncontrollable surge of pleasant surprise, an overwhelming dread rushed through Wuyou's heart. For such a windfall to fall into his lap... Could this be another novel way for this True Immortal to torment someone? Over the past few days, Wuyou had heard quite a bit from Zhao Ruoxi. Just as Wuyou hesitated over how to respond, Li Fan spoke again. "In dreams, there is neither life nor death." "Cultivators fear no death there, making them the most fitting pawns to scout beyond the Great Wall." "Yet there is a drawback: they are too weak, and their cultivation grows far too slowly." Li Fan smiled faintly. "If they are too frail, no number of ants can accomplish anything." "However, if those ants turn into hyenas, that changes everything." "Strength manifested within Wuyou's dream exists purely on the level of consciousness. Through this method of directly confronting the Great Dao—akin to an empowerment of divine wisdom—mortal cultivators can be elevated directly to the Longevity realm in a short span." "Moreover, it can be quantitatively controlled." Li Fan spoke softly, yet to the ears of the few present, his words hit like thunderclaps. Faint doubts still lingered in their hearts, but the myriad feats Li Fan had demonstrated recently compelled their belief. "Take this divine soul as an example." Li Fan opened his palm, where a mote of light hovered. It was a prime seed he had personally chosen from Era. With a shift of his thought, the converted insights of "Heaven-Connecting, Great Dao Like Me" were poured entirely into this divine soul. Though still exceptionally frail, the divine soul's theoretical cognition swelled at an unimaginably terrifying pace. It held not only the insights of Dharma Transmitter Jiang himself, but also Li Fan's own contemplations gathered over the years. Everything—save for the transformation of true and false—had been recorded by him into the Heaven-Connecting Grand Formation.