Under normal circumstances, an ordinary cultivator's divine abilities could never withstand the rapid advancement brought by such swift comprehension of the Dao.
"Hear the Dao in the morning, die content by evening"—that was their fated end.
Yet at this moment, the entire realm of Guixu lay under Li Fan's absolute control.
Life and death were not dictated by Heaven, but by Fan!
A mysterious, unfathomable power descended, sculpting and strengthening the divine soul within Li Fan's palm.
The speck of light grew increasingly translucent and dazzling. The aura emanating from it became ever more astonishing.
Unlike everyone else present, a string of numbers hovered plainly above that glowing speck of soul in Li Fan's field of vision.
It was none other than Xuanji, Myriad Spirits Returning to Numerical Order—one of the Xuanyuan Primordial Spirit Grand Arrays—specifically quantifying the soul's degree of enhancement.
It soared rapidly from 23, and only upon passing 80 did the growth rate finally begin to slow.
"Without the 'infinite' attribute of immortal spiritual force, even though I have numerous phantoms of Xuanhuang Realm power inside me, it is still not enough for me to employ Huangluo, Flowers Blooming in an Empty Chamber without restraint. But applying this Myriad Spirits Returning to Numerical Order poses no problem at all."
"Still, approaching the Longevity realm only yields an intensity of barely 90?"
Li Fan could not help glancing above his own head.
"9999."
A hundred times a Longevity realm cultivator.
Yet this was not Li Fan's true combat strength, but merely the maximum intensity the Grand Array of Myriad Spirits Returning to Numerical Order could quantify.
"If a True Immortal were to enter the array, it would probably just show a line of question marks for now."
By combining the Grand Array of Reaching the Heavens with the Grand Array of Myriad Spirits Returning to Numerical Order, one could measure the strength of cultivators through numerical values within an illusion. It could even quantify comprehension of the Great Dao into 'experience points' and instill them directly into cultivators.
This would facilitate the mass production of Longevity-level combatants within the Dream Paradise.
What set the Dream Paradise apart from ordinary illusions was that an illusion could be fabricated and distorted at will with little cost. But by the same token, bringing things from an illusion into the real world was virtually impossible.
The Dream Paradise, on the other hand, was built upon reality. Everything within the dream could rapidly manifest in reality, provided sufficient energy was supplied.
"Setting the True Immortal level aside for now, if the power of the Boundless Star Sea were forcibly connected, countless combatants at or below the Longevity realm could be summoned into reality overnight."
"It is already extremely close to the Fallen Immortal Realm."
Within the Fallen Immortal Realm lay countless worlds that seemed both profoundly real and illusory. Among them, Longevity realm cultivators were not uncommon.
Since physical objects from the Fallen Immortal Realm could be brought into reality, theoretically speaking, cultivators from the Fallen Immortal Realm could be as well.
Yet throughout history, only the consciousnesses of Xuanhuang Realm cultivators had journeyed to the Fallen Immortal Realm. Never had anyone heard of a cultivator from the Fallen Immortal Realm breaking through the barrier between reality and illusion to descend upon the Xuanhuang Realm.
Li Fan surmised that this was likely a restriction placed by the True Immortal who originally created the Fallen Immortal Realm.
"Perhaps only by achieving True Immortal status within the Fallen Immortal Realm could one transcend this limitation."
"Unfortunately, that is virtually impossible." Having attained half-immortal status through arduous trials, Li Fan naturally understood the immense difficulty. For at least the next several thousand years, no such figure would arise from Xuanhuang's Fallen Immortal Realm.
The Fallen Immortal Realm born of a True Immortal's remnant thoughts, the Sea of Endless Gloom formed from a True Immortal's corpse, and the True Immortal's will to survive slumbering in the depths of that sea—to the present Li Fan, all of these still held immense significance.
After all, the opportunity for further transformation to become a True Immortal might very well lie hidden within them. Even if attaining True Immortal status might draw the pursuit of forces beyond the wall,
Li Fan could not cower and halt his forward march because of that.
What was more, he had the aid of Revert to the True. At worst, he could first achieve True Immortal status and experience firsthand what being a True Immortal was truly like. If the situation proved dire and the circumstances of a True Immortal were precarious, he could simply return to his half-immortal anchor and start over.
While Li Fan pondered, the divine soul in his palm had already become no weaker than Zhao Ruoxi purely in terms of strength.
Faced with such earth-shattering methods, everyone present was naturally awed to the core.
Wuyou, however, asked softly with a hint of worry, "If so many powerful figures suddenly appear in the Dream Paradise, I'm afraid I won't have the strength to maintain it..."
Before she could finish, Li Fan cut in: "No matter. With my assistance, the Dream Paradise will remain safe and sound."
Wuyou's heart skipped a beat, knowing that from this day forth, control over the Dream Paradise would no longer be in her hands.
Yet she also understood that this might likewise be a tremendous opportunity for her.
Her strength was closely tied to the scale of the Dream Paradise. Even if leadership was forcibly transferred, a paradise overseen by a True Immortal was bound to expand by the day, inevitably bestowing substantial feedback and benefits upon her.
Her thoughts racing, Wuyou had no choice but to thank the Senior True Immortal for his grace.
...
The modification of Wuyou's Dream Paradise was truly a massive undertaking.
The most critical part was ensuring the safety of the billions of living beings currently residing within the paradise.
Under Li Fan's orders, Di Sanmo and several other Longevity Heavenly Venerables of the Five Elders Association entered different regions of the Dream Paradise to oversee the integration of the formations.
Wuyou, for her part, relaxed her mind, allowing Li Fan to manipulate it as he saw fit.
Tracing along the images of Mo Sha's Dao Annihilation that had long since been planted and silently permeated every corner of the Dream Paradise, Li Fan channeled the fused power of the Tongtian, Great Dao Like Me and Xuanji, Myriad Spirits Returning to Numerical Order grand arrays into the dream.
Using several Longevity cultivators as nodes, the formation's power soon took firm root within the paradise.
The gradual permeation of the Dissolution Disc's immortal spiritual force began reforming the Dream Paradise through the parasitic arrays.
With every bit of modification, Li Fan's administrative control over the Dream Paradise increased.
Though Heavenly Venerable Wuyou was the creator of the paradise, she could only watch helplessly as her creation changed hands. She could even vaguely sense that the reason she could still derive feedback and benefits through her faint bond with the paradise was solely because the Senior True Immortal had shown mercy and not severed the connection completely.
Little did Wuyou know that the reason Li Fan maintained her connection with the paradise was simply to use her as a scapegoat at a critical moment.
After all, exploring beyond the Great Wall in this lifetime might well attract the attention of peerless powerhouses, who could trace their way back through the Dream Paradise.
With Wuyou as the nominal master to provide a brief buffer, Li Fan could calmly slip away without being caught in a frantic escape.
The process of taking over the Dream Paradise went exceedingly smoothly.
Through the Dissolution Disc's perception, Li Fan saw an illusory ribbon of light like gossamer floating within the Pitch-Black Star Sea.
Intertwined with reality, yet never overlapping.
From time to time, wisps of light were drawn from reality and flew toward the Dream Paradise. Within the ribbon of light, a new thread would then be born—a new dream taking shape.
Sitting cross-legged in Xuanhuang, Li Fan's consciousness sped forward by virtue of the Dream Paradise.
It was several times faster even than the escape technique of the wooden sword's phantom.
In an instant, he arrived at the borders of the Star Sea, beneath the Great Wall.
It was vastly different from the formless, shapeless sight visible to ordinary perception.
What Li Fan saw now was distinctly a murky, curved boundary line, separating the inside and outside of the Great Wall.
As an obstruction, the boundary line still conveyed a sense of being insurmountable.
Yet now that it possessed a tangible manifestation, crossing the Great Wall no longer seemed impossible.
"So the Great Wall's blockade is weaker against pure consciousness."
"No wonder the people from the Five Elders Association were bent on using the Carefree Paradise to escape beyond the Great Wall."
Observing it up close for a long time, Li Fan suddenly felt something was amiss.
Previously, whenever he peered at the Great Wall in reality, he was subjected to its crushing pressure. More crucially, comprehending the principles of the Great Wall came with the trait of 'once lost, lost forever.'
Yet within the Dream Paradise, this trait did not exist.
Li Fan pondered in silence, motionless for a long time.
Looking at the murky line not far away, an inexplicable thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
"Perhaps it is because only thoughts and intentions exist within the Dream Paradise, leaving it incomplete."
"The Great Wall is like a mirror, reflecting oneself."
"Whatever state one is in when facing the Great Wall determines what one sees and feels."
Li Fan then remembered how a mere Great Wall could block the probing of mighty figures like Black Heavenly Physician and Wicked Su Bai.
"This Great Wall mirror is also a one-way mirror."
Gazing at it, Li Fan suppressed the restless urge to cross the Great Wall from within the Dream Paradise.
Based on Mo Rubin's and the Heavenly Physician's prior insights into the Great Wall in reality, Li Fan had already faintly guessed that this Great Wall was perhaps like a Dragon Gate.
Although an impassable chasm to the myriad beings inside the wall, for those capable of leaping across, it also promised tremendous benefits.
With a shift of thought, he traversed myriad mountains and rivers in an instant, returning to the Xuanhuang Realm.
The modification of the Dream Paradise was preliminarily complete.
Next was opening up more access points.
Prior to this, constrained by Wuyou's personal strength and the deterrent presence of Heavenly Venerable Chuanfa, only living beings residing in a small portion of the Five Elders Association's territories could enter the Carefree Paradise.
Now, however, under Li Fan's instructions,
the illusory ribbon of light floating above the Xuanhuang Realm shot out tens of thousands of luminous tentacles.
They radiated across the entire Xuanhuang Realm as well as several subsidiary pocket worlds and grotto-heavens.
Illusory silhouettes of light hovered tantalizingly near and far. At that moment, countless living beings were drawn into the dreamscape.
Falling into slumber, their physical bodies in reality were engulfed by the Dream Paradise, kept safely in storage for the time being.
What moved within the paradise were brand-new bodies of pure thought fabricated and created based on their divine souls.
Cultivators were by no means few, yet compared to the staggering multitude of mortals, their numbers seemed insignificant.
Compared to before, the biggest change in the updated Dream Paradise was that every region gained an enormous floating city in the sky. These were enhanced versions of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals' Heavenly Cities. Martial practice, rest, trade, and many other functions were fully provided. One could even actively choose dream regions.
Newcomers, looking upon everything before their eyes, were instantly dazzled.
For veteran dwellers of the Dream Paradise, the greatest surprise of this update was the complete removal of the death penalty. No matter how many times one died in the dream worlds, one would respawn in the "main city."
Furthermore, unlike the past where cultivation methods mirrored those of reality, the dream now featured "comprehension points."
By completing dream quests and various other means, one could earn comprehension points. Using these points, one could directly increase one's cultivation and realm.
Now, the speed at which cultivators grew could no longer be spoken of in the same breath as before.
Moreover, according to announcements, a batch of brand-new dream worlds was about to open. Those who achieved first harvests would also receive additional rewards.
...
With the infusion of so many new elements, the Dream Paradise presented a flourishing scene of vibrant prosperity.
In reality, however, Heavenly Venerable Wuyou was not faring nearly as well.
Even with Li Fan's modifications, expanding the capacity nearly a hundredfold at once placed an unbearable burden upon Wuyou.
Had it not been for the protection of the Xuanhuang Realm phantom Li Fan bestowed, Wuyou would likely have been crushed by her own creation in an instant.
Now, in order to keep her mind from dispersing, Wuyou had reverted to an infant state, falling into deep slumber.
Yet her tightly furrowed brows and the occasional cries that broke out displayed her torment.
Everything had its advantages and disadvantages.
If Wuyou bore the vast majority of the pain of expanding the dreamscape, Li Fan enjoyed nearly all the benefits.
In his role as the de facto master of the dream, Li Fan was able to observe so many living beings up close.
Every move they made, their joy, anger, sorrow, and delight, and even every ripple of emotion—
all of it was perceived by Li Fan with absolute clarity.
Li Fan gradually developed a much deeper understanding of the beings known as "mortals" and "humans."
If previously, because a single thought of Revert to the True brought a new cycle of reincarnation, all living beings in the world had gradually turned into meaningless symbols and code names in Li Fan's eyes,
then now, through his close observation within the Dream Paradise, those "symbols" in Li Fan's eyes
became vivid and lifelike once more.
Though they remained symbols, they were far more vibrant.
Li Fan noticed that this more concrete and tangible understanding was of tremendous help to his comprehension of the transformation of true and false.
In the final analysis, whether turning false into true or reducing true to false,
one had to possess, at the very least, a complete understanding of the essence of things.
Although Li Fan could wield the transformation of true and false with the mighty power of Revert to the True without meeting this prerequisite,
if he could comprehend the essence of things himself, the effort "saved" by Revert to the True might enable him to accomplish far more.
With this thought in mind, Li Fan divided his consciousness into myriad thoughts, immersing his mind within the Dream Paradise.
Exploring beyond the Great Wall was not the work of a single day. Given the Xuanhuang Realm's current strength, it still needed to accumulate power for a time.
The countdown to the advent of the World-Ending Calamity steadily wound down.
In the blink of an eye, ten years passed.
The absence of death and the presence of comprehension points enabled cultivators in the Dream Paradise to elevate their strength at a terrifying speed.
In just ten short years, the paradise teetered on the brink of collapse more than thirty times.
Li Fan had to intervene personally multiple times just to maintain the stability of the dreamscape.
After dozens of iterations, the Dream Paradise now thoroughly saturated everything within the Great Wall.
A portion of its vanguard tendrils had even breached the Great Wall!
Though it was merely on the level of consciousness,
the striking difference between the inside and outside of the Great Wall still took Li Fan by surprise.
Simply put, in the dream worlds outside the Great Wall, the "comprehension points" that the Grand Array of Reaching the Heavens could channel were generally five to six times greater—or even more—than those within the Great Wall!
Chapter 1431