Even with the aid of the Dao Transformation Stone, deciphering how to connect to the Dao Net in a short amount of time was no easy task for Li Fan.
Unable to reproduce the learning process Ma Tiande had once gone through, Li Fan could only rely on relentless trial and error, starting from the most fundamental Dao Net pattern commands.
"Every single pattern command reacts with the Dao Net and is supervised by the Governing Council. There's only room for error once or twice."
"However, my trial and error doesn't need to connect to the Dao Net. I only need to verify whether the commands composed of Daoyuan can actually function."
In Ma Tiande's memory, whenever a Daoyuan command was successfully inscribed, a strange, chilling energy would stir within the body. This energy linked heaven and earth, acting like a key to unlock the Dao Net patterns.
What Li Fan needed to do now was continuously script Daoyuan commands and test the permutations and combinations of Daoyuan. Then, before any command could link with the Dao Net, he had to scatter them apart.
The difficulty lay in intercepting the transmission between the Daoyuan commands and the Dao Net.
Yet Li Fan quickly came up with an ingenious idea.
"The Heaven-and-Earth Dao Net is still, in essence, the Great Dao of heaven and earth. The Great Dao is formless, circulating through all things. People and objects in this world inevitably dwell under the shadow of the Great Dao."
"Yet there is one thing that the Great Dao of heaven and earth avoids like the plague!"
A sharp glint flashed across his eyes. In an instant, a blurry figure emerged from the Xuanhuang projection wrapped within Li Fan's divine sense.
It was none other than the Heaven-and-Earth Essence, Mo Sha!
Initially, Mo Sha's appearance remained identical to its original state in the Xuanhuang Realm. But under the catalytic spur of Li Fan's divine sense, it rapidly transformed.
It was as though the true Heaven-and-Earth Immortal Essence Mo Sha had descended upon this place!
In truth, after Li Fan integrated with the Dao using the Heaven-and-Earth Immortal Essence Mo Sha, his divine sense alone was enough to evolve into the Mo Sha Immortal Essence. However, the strand of divine sense that had infiltrated the Shuoxing Sea was far too weak; even if driven at full power, it would likely be depleted quickly in a standoff against the Dao Net.
To wage a war of attrition, he still needed to draw upon the energy within the Xuanhuang projection.
"The Mo Sha Immortal Essence is not the Dao Annihilation Tribulation itself, but the fused product of Dao Annihilation black qi and the Heavenly Dao's Great Dao. It is both a link in the Great Dao and possessed of certain properties of Dao Annihilation."
"As long as the fluctuations aren't particularly violent, it should be able to block the Dao Net's perception."
In the blink of an eye, the Mo Sha Immortal Essence shifted into vast expanses of black shadow, sealing Li Fan's surroundings tightly.
Sitting upright in the pitch-black void, Li Fan began experimenting with combinations of Daoyuan symbols.
In the Shuoxing Sea, Daoyuan symbols resonated with the power of heaven and earth's Great Dao. In Qin Zhuang's memory, a combination of several hundred Daoyuan symbols could unleash might comparable to True Immortal seal characters.
Yet now, through his own practical attempts in the City of Ultimate Bliss, Li Fan discovered that the original combinations had all become completely ineffective.
Or rather, it was as if they had undergone some form of upgrade.
Testing every possible combination on the scale of hundreds of Daoyuan symbols produced not the slightest fluctuation of energy. Li Fan gradually increased the order of magnitude.
Thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands...
Only when a million Daoyuan symbols danced together did they seem to finally assemble into a key, sliding into the correct keyhole.
The instant the combination was complete, Li Fan indeed sensed a strand of energy rippling outward like lightning.
Even with his current reaction speed, he was too late to stop it.
Yet as this energy approached the shadow formed by the Mo Sha Immortal Essence, it froze in its tracks, as if encountering a terrifying predator.
It tested the boundary several times, but continually hesitated, unable to advance!
Li Fan's plan had worked.
Although the generation and transmission of the Daoyuan command was unimaginably swift, far surpassing Li Fan's speed of perception, it was ultimately no match for the Dao Annihilation Tribulation.
Unable to breach the Mo Sha Immortal Essence's blockade, it remained firmly confined within the sphere of black shadow around Li Fan.
Watching that bizarre strand of energy dart about like a startled snake, Li Fan did not immediately try to capture it. Instead, he observed it from a distance.
"Dao Net pattern, base-level command..."
This strand of energy was like a living creature with its own lifespan. Trapped and pacing fruitlessly, it turned from vigorous to frail, gradually decaying until it fully dissipated within the shadow.
Li Fan made note of this success.
"According to Ma Tiande's memory, this is still the simplest kind, at the most basic introductory stage."
"The commands actually needed in practice to connect to and manipulate the Dao Net are a hundred times more complex than this. Some are even overlays of multiple layers of commands..."
However, now that he had found a method to experiment, no matter how complex it was, it would no longer stump Li Fan.
Within the shadowy sphere, Daoyuan symbols clustered and dispersed rapidly, evolving into countless different forms.
From time to time, lightning-like energy signals burst forth, only to be intercepted by the Mo Sha Immortal Essence.
Before each vanished, Li Fan recorded it.
Gradually, Li Fan finally gained an initial grasp of how to command the Dao Net patterns.
Just as he prepared to attempt more advanced commands, Li Fan felt an inexplicable twinge of danger in his heart.
He abruptly halted his intended movement.
"There shouldn't be any issue with Mo Sha's blockade."
"Could it be that the energy signals that appeared to have dissipated didn't actually vanish completely, but still linger in this space?"
Li Fan quickly deduced the likely cause.
His gaze turned razor-sharp, staring intently and sweeping across the area repeatedly.
Yet he still failed to spot any clues.
After pondering for a moment, Li Fan took a different approach.
"To untie the bell, one needs the person who tied it. This should be tied to the Dao Net's power system, so I should resolve it using the corresponding method."
With a thought, countless Daoyuan symbols manifested. Under Li Fan's deliberate manipulation, they did not form any meaningful pattern command.
They simply drifted and wandered incessantly, seemingly trying to attract something.
After circling around, there was no result.
The sense of danger in Li Fan's heart never faded, so he switched to another arrangement.
Through patient experimentation, he finally met with success.
Within the space sealed by Mo Sha's shadow, a murky fluctuation suddenly appeared. The Daoyuan symbols Li Fan produced acted like a magnet, dragging out the hidden command lurking in the shadows!
Li Fan narrowed his eyes. The Mo Sha shadow formed chains that rapidly coiled around and bound the command.
"So each time a previous command naturally decayed, a remnant was left behind. If too many remnants accumulated in the same timeframe, they would spontaneously assemble into an entirely new early-warning command. What's more..."
This warning signal composed of Daoyuan command debris was unlike the other commands, which had been thoroughly suppressed by the Mo Sha Immortal Essence.
Even under the shadow's suppression, it thrashed and resisted incessantly. The chains rattled violently, and the warning signal seemed ready to break free at any moment.
"This pattern command wasn't in Ma Tiande's memories. It must circulate solely within the Dao Net itself. Used to..."
"Sound the alarm against the Dao Annihilation Tribulation!" In an instant, Li Fan analyzed this fierce-looking cluster of Daoyuan symbols before him.
This command was slightly different from the ones Li Fan had reproduced earlier.
It did not dissipate over time; an invisible force seemed to sustain its existence.
Moreover, Li Fan faintly perceived that the command continuously replicated and reinforced itself based on how long it existed.
Around the warning command, light and shadow began to flicker.
Drawn by some underlying power, a new warning signal was spontaneously assembling.
"It seems leaving it be won't do either."
"A single warning signal can't break through Mo Sha's blockade. But if their numbers grow..."
Li Fan's focus hardened, and the Mo Sha shadow surged toward the bound warning signal at the center.
Under the gnawing of countless shadows, the warning signal's vitality proved exceptionally tenacious.
It took Li Fan nearly three days and three nights to completely engulf it.
Had he not possessed an energy supply equivalent to an entire Xuanhuang Realm in its ascended state, he might not have outlasted it!
"This is likely the Dao Net's underlying logic—one of the fundamental reasons civilizations beyond the wall could barely survive the Dao Annihilation Tribulation!" Li Fan felt deeply shaken.
Mo Sha's power was his, and he was Mo Sha.
During the process of devouring the warning signal, Li Fan also vaguely sensed its true essence.
If Mo Sha was an attempt leaning toward the side of Dao Annihilation to "learn from the barbarian's strengths to counter the barbarian," then this underlying warning signal took "resistance" to the absolute extreme.
Li Fan seemed to see an unyielding figure standing resolute amidst wave after surging wave of the Dao Annihilation Tribulation.
He seemed to see a will that still stood tall, propping up the collapsing sky even as the Great Dao ground everything down and all creation collapsed.
Almost instantly, the image of the Southern Immortal Heavenly Pillar he had once seen surfaced in Li Fan's mind. And from that Dao Net warning signal just now, he truly felt an intensely similar aura!
"It's not an illusion!"
After savoring and confirming it repeatedly, inexplicable astonishment filled his heart.
"The Southern Immortal Heavenly Pillar could serve as a heavenly pillar because of the Nameless True Immortal thigh bone inside the stone monument. Heaven and earth are like a net; the Great Dao is like a pillar. Though the Nameless True Immortal integrated with the Dao and escaped from it, even after death, he could return to heaven and earth to once again become a support."
"And this Dao Net can achieve this as well..."
With his alarm dispelled, Li Fan harbored these speculations and resumed testing the Dao Net pattern commands.
All Dao Net commands were built upon the most basic operations.
Once he mastered the basic commands, supplemented by Ma Tiande's memories, Li Fan's progress snowballed.
Three days before the opening of the Grand Rite in the City of Ultimate Bliss, Li Fan's proficiency in operating the Dao Net finally matched—and even surpassed—Ma Tiande's.
However, he had yet to officially connect to the Dao Net; Li Fan was merely judging by comparing the speed and fluidity with which he generated Dao Net commands.
"What does the Dao Net truly look like? Let me have a look."
All around him, the Mo Sha shadow quietly receded, lifting the blockade.
From this moment on, every command Li Fan composed would link directly with the Dao Net. Li Fan had already prepared himself for the possibility that his body possession might be exposed, ready to sever an arm to save his life at any time.
With a solemn expression and a shift of thought, a pattern materialized before Li Fan.
This was something that had never appeared while under the blockade.
Li Fan sensed an enigmatic power quietly descend from heaven and earth. Disregarding even the blockade set by Scholar Zhu, the City Lord of Ultimate Bliss, it enveloped him.
His field of vision soared infinitely in an instant. The City of Ultimate Bliss shrank rapidly, turning into a speck of black before vanishing from his perception entirely.
A vast, multicolored net stood stretched across heaven and earth.
Yet this net did not fill every corner of his vision; rather, it was tattered and incomplete!
To say nothing of the countless gaping holes riddling it, the mere sight of several massive missing sections was shocking to behold.
Beneath this multicolored net, Li Fan faintly glimpsed the true Great Dao of heaven and earth.
The Dao Net was like a sheet of white paper imprinted and draped over the crisscrossing Great Dao of heaven and earth.
Serving as an interface, it rendered the Dao controllable by mortal cultivators.
Li Fan also saw countless multicolored halos congregating in the damaged areas of the Dao Net, seemingly attempting to repair the breaches.
And beyond the vast blank regions of the Dao Net, an invisible, colossal hand loomed faintly, continuing to press the paper-like Dao Net down toward the Great Dao of heaven and earth, forcing the aspects that had not yet been "rubbed" onto the paper to gradually emerge across the Dao Net.
Even if, at first glance, it appeared so grotesque and crude, at first sight, Li Fan was still deeply captivated by this magnificent spectacle.
"This is a spectacle of humanity prevailing over the heavens."
"The myriad Daos are formless, shadowless, ethereal, and unreachable. Yet through such an unbelievable method, they can be forged into a creation that mortals can manipulate..."
Even while marveling in his heart, Li Fan did not forget the operations required upon connecting to the Dao Net.
With the Grand Rite in the City of Ultimate Bliss approaching, routine required an inspection of the Dao Net's connection and coverage over the city's domain.
Naturally, Ma Tiande was not responsible for the maintenance work itself.
He only needed to send out a notification signal and cooperate with the relevant cultivators' work afterward.
Li Fan saw multicolored streams of light streaking from the depths of the Dao Net. Guided by the signal he transmitted, they initially headed toward the tiny speck that was the City of Ultimate Bliss.
After circling once, they quickly returned.
Next, another stream of light flashed, though this one flew in from another direction of the Dao Net.
It continued scanning the location of the City of Ultimate Bliss.
The cycle repeated again and again.
Watching all this in silence, Li Fan suddenly felt a strange sensation: it seemed "both advanced and primitive."
"Calling it a Dao Net, yet it still requires manual human coordination..."
"Hm?"
Li Fan's eyes suddenly flashed as he looked toward the Dao Net.
Whether it was a trick of his perception or not, during the Dao Net's operation and inspection of the City of Ultimate Bliss, this entire sheet of "white paper" draped over the Great Dao of heaven and earth seemed to ripple continuously, as if ruffled by a gentle breeze.
Perhaps even...
...at risk of being peeled away at any moment!
Yet beyond the Dao Net, that palm-like shadow kept pressing down firmly, preventing it from truly detaching from the Great Dao of heaven and earth.
"So precarious and unstable..."
"It seems this Dao Net isn't in a stable state either."
Li Fan was lost in thought.
Apart from that unseen giant hand, Li Fan also sensed that other forces existed within the Dao Net, maintaining its stability.
Li Fan observed carefully, but gained nothing further.
The inspection of the City of Ultimate Bliss was drawing to a close.
Before disconnecting from the Dao Net, inspiration struck Li Fan: "The Nameless True Immortal?"
He snapped his gaze toward several key nodes within the Dao Net.
Chapter 1438