"Times have changed. The Xuanyuan Village of the past has long ceased to exist."
"Even with the 'Manifest' formula, no clues were obtained from Chuanfa..."
"Perhaps tracing King Xuantian's current situation must begin with his childhood sweetheart."
Thousands of specks of light suddenly flashed across Li Fan's sea of consciousness.
Within each speck of light, countless shadows flickered past in rapid succession. Like a sea of stars, myriad points of light rehearsed different possible futures.
Yet a deduction of such immense magnitude did not hinder the operation of Li Fan's thoughts in the slightest.
This was the benefit brought by upgrading the Dao Assimilation Stone within his sea of consciousness.
Its computational power felt virtually limitless. Even when dedicating all his past learnings toward deductions in the direction of immortal arts, deducing the future trajectory of this lifetime, and synchronizing and analyzing everything occurring in the Dream Paradise for overarching summaries...
With all of this combined, Li Fan still felt entirely at ease, with ample energy to spare.
He even developed a stifled sensation of possessing godlike strength yet having nowhere to exert it.
He had once tested himself using the Taiyan Sect's "Reverse Calamity"—a little game of restoring chaos to order and randomness to regularity.
The volume was ten thousand times greater than the 49,999 sheets of paper left by Yi Yin in his tomb.
The gulf in difficulty was like heaven and earth.
Yet in merely the span of a breath, Li Fan had cracked it without any pressure.
Under the computational power of the Dao Transformation Mother Stone level, combinatorial problems of this sort, no matter how immense their base magnitude, could no longer impede him.
...
While pondering these matters, Li Fan said to Chen Tianhai, "Hasn't the Taiyan Sect always wanted to see what lies beyond the Great Wall? I can craft independent bodies for those willing, allowing them to explore beyond the wall."
Hearing this, Chen Tianhai was visibly tempted.
"Coming into contact with more variables beyond the Great Wall also helps stimulate the latent power of the Dao Transformation Mother Stone. Perhaps it could even awaken that wisp of consciousness deep within the Mother Stone," Li Fan added. This prompted Chen Tianhai to make up his mind promptly.
Originally, not a single person in the Taiyan Sect had noticed the wisp of consciousness concealed inside the Dao Transformation Mother Stone. Only after Li Fan pointed it out to them were those fused with the Mother Stone able to "see" that hidden presence clearly.
Relying on their inexplicable connection with the Mother Stone, the members of the Taiyan Sect believed this consciousness was beneficial and harmless to the Mother Stone. It had merely fallen into slumber for reasons unknown. If they could find a way to communicate with it, they might uncover the mystery of the Mother Stone's origin—and perhaps even propel the Mother Stone into further metamorphosis.
Li Fan's proposal was utterly impossible for the Taiyan Sect to refuse.
Chen Tianhai looked at the scenes coming from the Dream Paradise beyond the Great Wall.
To obtain the most accurate information possible about what lay beyond the wall, Li Fan had changed the way dreams were generated out there, basing them entirely on real environments and eliminating any fabricated or spurious elements.
And after dozens of iterations, the Dream Paradise had long ceased to be the creation solely of Wuyou or Li Fan; it was now a collective derivative of the minds of countless living beings within the dream.
At present, this colossus had already crossed the Great Wall and was slowly exploring the expanse beyond.
The Pitch-Black Star Sea within the wall was merely a small fragment of the Annihilation Lands.
However, under the baptism of the Dao Annihilation Tribulation, the very concept of "existence" had vanished from most of the remaining areas. The tentacles of the dream extended outward along the narrow passage outside the wall.
Wherever they passed, only desolation met the eye.
And looking back toward where the Pitch-Black Star Sea was located, nothing could be found at all. Even though a portion of the tentacles remained connected to the interior of the wall, it simply could not be sensed.
This eerie situation was as if part of one's own body had inexplicably disappeared.
Li Fan steered a portion of the dream tentacles to continue exploring toward the periphery of the Annihilation Lands, while having the remainder attempt to cross the Great Wall and return to the Pitch-Black Star Sea.
Because the Great Wall could not be perceived, they could only retrace the threads of their own existence to successfully grope their way back near the wall.
Yet at every other point, it was impossible to enter or even detect the Great Wall. Only through their own anchors that pierced the dream and the Great Wall—still bridging inside and outside—could they return within.
"The properties of the wall's outer face, in their concealment and subtlety, truly far surpass what we see from the inside."
Li Fan did not abandon his exploration of the Great Wall.
Boundless dream tentacles spread outward along the passage originally opened.
Like ivy, they densely blanketed and occupied the wall's location.
Although there was still no way to fully pinpoint the Great Wall's presence, with myriad beings in the Dream Paradise comprehending it together and the Dao Transformation Mother Stone aiding the research, Li Fan believed that step by step, they would ultimately unravel the mystery of the Great Wall.
With the aid of the Dream Paradise, Li Fan dispatched a strand of his own divine sense beyond the Great Wall as well.
Uncertain of what he might encounter, he proceeded with utmost caution throughout the process.
Fortunately, no mishap occurred. A half-immortal's divine sense gazing upon the Great Wall saw something different from what the dream's living beings perceived.
Where the dream's tentacles perceived nothingness, Li Fan faintly caught sight of a dim, sharp protrusion.
It looked like a slender cone, or perhaps a mere line segment.
Silently spanning the void, it pierced through space.
As if propping something up, or perhaps linking something together.
"Is this the Great Wall?"
Li Fan observed quietly, an indescribable feeling suddenly welling up in his heart.
He looked around. A narrow area near the wall was the sole survival ground spared under the Dao Annihilation Tribulation.
Beyond this sanctuary, existence itself had vanished.
In a trance, Li Fan seemed to behold the terrifying scene from ancient times when calamity descended and the Great Daos crushed against each other.
Across the vast, boundless sea of stars, massive expanses of light went dark one after another without warning.
Darkness swallowed the world.
The end of days arrived.
Only this Great Wall acted as a pillar of support, allowing this adjacent area to barely survive under the Dao Annihilation Tribulation.
Moreover, ten thousand years had elapsed, yet the Great Wall still stood immovable, sustaining its "existence."
"If the Great Wall were to collapse..."
In Li Fan's deductions, even if the Dao Annihilation Tribulation did not return, the possibilities of this area would slowly dissipate. Eventually, it would follow the footsteps of the surrounding regions and be annihilated into nothingness.
Observing the ruined remnants wrought by the Dao Annihilation Tribulation gave Li Fan an even clearer understanding of this terrifying catastrophe capable of destroying the Immortal Realm and even all the mortal worlds encompassing every possibility.
"It didn't descend in a continuous flood."
"Rather, it attacked intermittently, like wave upon surging wave."
"The Immortal Realm held high momentum; when the Dao Annihilation Tribulation arrived, it was the first to be struck."
"Back then, perhaps at the initial outbreak of the Dao Annihilation Tribulation, the Immortal Realm could still barely hold out. But ultimately, a most colossal wave caught it unawares, thoroughly submerging the entire Immortal Realm."
"The Immortal Realm collapsed, and the disaster began spreading toward the lower realms."
"After that great wave, it seemed to gather strength. The Dao Annihilation Tribulation entered a lull; thus, the lower realm's sea of stars, whose power was far inferior to the Immortal Realm, only had a portion of its regions destroyed, with vast vitality still surviving."
...
With sufficient computational power to back him, Li Fan's deductive capacity had undergone a qualitative leap. Integrating past clues, he could reconstruct various plausible truths from mere broken walls and ruins within the Annihilation Lands.
Li Fan faintly glimpsed the rhythm of the Dao Annihilation Tribulation.
If this conjecture was close to the truth, then perhaps the moment when the possibility he inhabited would be utterly destroyed was not far away.
"To the Dao Annihilation Tribulation, ten thousand years is certainly not long, but by no means is it short."
"Perhaps the black mist provoked when plummeting from a peak of momentum is an omen that the Dao Annihilation Tribulation is approaching."
"Just like ripples spreading across water, visible only when something falls into it."
"The manifestation of black mist indicates that the tide has already begun to rise and the water is spreading over."
Lost in thought, Li Fan felt a sudden tremor in his heart.
That invisible oppression seemed to inevitably affect even Revert to the True.
Setting aside the true Dao Annihilation Tribulation, Li Fan could not even survive within the Dao Annihilation black mist at present.
"Perhaps the power of the Heaven and Earth Immortal Soul Mo Sha can mediate somewhat."
Li Fan did not know what exactly happened back then to the testing ground known as the Xuanhuang Realm, causing all relevant personnel to either vanish or perish seemingly overnight.
Leaving behind only an empty expanse of ruins.
"The existence of the Great Wall was perhaps an emergency safeguard created in passing when this testing ground was designed."
"Only, with the shifting of time, when the Dao Annihilation Tribulation truly descended, the measures were indeed triggered, yet not a single relevant personnel was to be seen."
"Leaving behind only test subjects like us, full of doubts and bewilderment."
Li Fan cast another profound look at the Great Wall, and in the next instant, his divine sense returned to his body.
With Li Fan's guidance, the dream tentacles had a path to follow and began spreading and growing recklessly along the Great Wall.
Even though he had truly laid eyes on the Great Wall and deduced its likely origin, Li Fan still understood very little about its underlying principles and how to unravel it.
He could only take the time ahead to slowly decipher and analyze it.
"An Immortal Realm testing ground."
"An Immortal Domain chess piece."
The scene he had once witnessed within the Immortal Domain chess piece surfaced in Li Fan's mind.
On the board, black and white pieces stood side by side.
The victor survived, while the loser exited.
And the Immortal Domain chess piece left by Sun Piaomiao was merely one among those that had suffered dismal defeat.
Yet even so, it harbored an entity like the Southern Sky Immortal Pillar.
It was truly hard to imagine what kind of foundation was possessed by those pieces that ultimately remained on the board.
"More crucially..."
"How could the Immortal Realm have only this one testing ground, the Xuanhuang Realm?" This question suddenly sprang into Li Fan's mind.
From the glimpse of the Immortal Realm he had once seen, the Immortal Realm was boundless.
Truly worthy of the word "infinite."
The so-called immortal domains were beyond counting.
Even unorthodox powers in the Immortal Realm like Sun Piaomiao had kept numerous backup pieces. It was hard to imagine that the vast Immortal Realm, if it truly intended to plot something, would only execute a single operation.
"In the past, my horizons were too narrow."
"Even having ascended to half-immortal, I merely possess the realm and status. Without the baptism of immortal spiritual energy, my level of thinking inevitably cannot compare to a True Immortal."
"Yet with the Dao Transformation Mother Stone filling the void, it is like an enlightenment, allowing my thoughts to branch out."
"In the lower realm's sea of stars, there may not be only one testing ground."
"Thinking about it this way, the abandonment of the Xuanhuang Realm makes complete sense."
Due to the ravages of the Dao Annihilation Tribulation, most of the realms had been annihilated. Only scattered remnants upheld survival within the Annihilation Lands.
Like shallow sandbars floating on river waters.
"Even that vibrant place outside the Great Wall is probably just a slightly larger island."
"The starry sky is vast, shrouded by countless Annihilation Lands, obscuring its original appearance. Hence, believing one's own domain to be the only one in the world is quite natural."
"Yet possessing the Dao Transformation Mother Stone, I can glimpse the whole world from a single corner..."
In Li Fan's mind, the panoramic chart of the possibility he occupied was finally pieced together bit by bit.
The scene depicted by this chart was truly unfathomable. The vast Pitch-Black Star Sea was merely a negligible speck within it.
However, the vast majority of regions in this panoramic chart were in a state of fluctuating brilliance, flickering between light and dark. Because data was currently scarce, it was impossible to verify whether they truly existed.
Only the Pitch-Black Star Sea within the Great Wall, where Li Fan was situated, remained bright and unextinguished amidst the shifting play of light and shadow.
"The starry sky of all possibilities shines only because of my existence."
"The possibility I inhabit—let it be called Primordial."
Li Fan mused calmly to himself.
Sooner or later, Li Fan's strength would allow him to leap to other possibilities.
Settling his own origin early was perfectly fine.
However, the most pressing task at hand was still to initiate contact with the civilizations of the Annihilation Lands.
Even with all living beings of the Xuanhuang Realm as a foundation, Li Fan still felt the expansion of the dream tentacles was too slow.
A decade ago, Li Fan had already enacted laws promoting childbirth.
Yet over ten years, population growth was inevitably limited.
"In the short term, I can't count on it. It seems I must find a way myself."
Feeling the vast amount of idle computational power in his sea of consciousness, an idea could not help but surface in Li Fan's mind.
Back when visiting the "Era" apparatus in the Museum of Divine Treasures, an idea had already occurred to him.
The countless worlds deduced by the Dao Assimilation Stone were extremely illusory yet seemingly real.
If the Dao Assimilation Stone itself continued to be enhanced, those deduced worlds would sooner or later become indistinguishable from real worlds.
"Perhaps precisely because the Mother Stone is the manifestation of all Great Daos of a possibility, it gives rise to such an idea in me."
"All worlds that have ever appeared in the Mother Stone are, theoretically speaking, entirely rational and real."
"It is just like a mold that has already been cast; all it takes is pouring, and tangible goods can be produced."
"If my comprehension of the Transformation of Real and Unreal advances another tier, I won't even need to fabricate worlds myself. I can simply take the possibilities once deduced by the Mother Stone and turn them from false into real, saving a great deal of effort."
Li Fan's eyes shone brightly. "Yet what I need are merely consumables to contribute brick and tile to the Dream Paradise. It matters not if they do not exist in the real world."
With a single thought, within the Dao Assimilation Stone in Li Fan's sea of consciousness, another Xuanhuang Realm began to evolve.
Chapter 1433