"Seeking good fortune and avoiding calamity, turning disaster into auspiciousness."
"If it were only within a certain scope, perhaps it could be explained away as a so-called talent. Yet even when risks escape the notice of Trueness, I can still often sense them in advance and sound an early warning..." Li Fan's expression grew solemn; he could not help harboring suspicions.
"Could it be that this spiritual intuition is intimately linked to my own infinite spirituality? Just what kind of talent is this? Does it have something to do with my status as a 'transmigrator'?"
Inevitably, a barrage of questions surfaced one after another in Li Fan's mind.
The first stage of the new new method was called "Foundation Establishment Using Oneself." Reasonably speaking, as Li Fan's cultivation and knowledge expanded, he should have drawn steadily closer to achieving this goal.
Yet as more and more mysteries surrounding himself came to light, Li Fan found that he seemed to be drifting ever further from Foundation Establishment Using Oneself—even setting aside the factor of Trueness.
He nearly lost himself in this cognitive storm of self-doubt, until deep within his divine soul, an intensely familiar tremor rippled forth. Like sweet rain after a prolonged drought, it helped Li Fan snap awake at once.
It was Trueness, which had been slumbering heavily from severe injury for so long!
Though the tremor lasted only a fleeting instant and was faint in the extreme, it still struck like a sudden clap of thunder, instantly tearing through the confusion in Li Fan's heart.
"I fell into delusion."
"Be it talent or a golden finger, as long as it serves my use, that is enough. While still struggling bitterly to survive within the river of time, what need is there to probe its essence to the bottom? It would only bring unnecessary vexation."
"Perhaps there truly will come a day when I confront this deepest mystery. But by then, I should be capable of complete awareness and a pure self."
The emergence of Trueness acted like a calming pill.
The self-reflection induced in Li Fan by the Heavenly Demon finally subsided completely.
One had to realize that having reincarnated through multiple lifetimes and witnessed the drastic upheavals of Mountains and Seas, Li Fan could hardly be called weak-willed. Yet even so, he had still fallen under the Heavenly Demon's sway.
"So this is the Dao of the Heavenly Demon."
"As long as one has not transcended the Great Dao of the mortal world, one is bound to have inner demons stirred by it. The strength of the inner demon is even intimately tied to oneself. The more secrets one harbors in one's heart, the stronger that inner demon can become..."
The Heavenly Demon was indeed a singular creation, utterly distinct from any beings Li Fan had encountered in the past.
The Nameless and the Transcendent were formidable, true, but in Li Fan's eyes, their might was merely high numbers.
The Heavenly Demon, however, was a creature of mechanics.
One could call it strong, or call it weak.
As long as one's heart was steadfast and purely sincere, even a Foundation Establishment cultivator would be spared its afflictions. But if there were flaws or fractures in one's state of mind, even those in the Nameless realm would find it hard to evade its influence.
"Moreover, the Heavenly Demon in this state..."
It seemed that once one broke free of the inner demon, one would remain immune to its influence for a long time afterward. Li Fan once again studied the transparent tissue extracted and separated from Xuanyuan Tuo's body.
It was like amniotic fluid shielding and nourishing an infant in its mother's womb.
Protecting the still-slumbering Heavenly Physician.
It was precisely Li Fan's act of separating it from the Heavenly Physician that had provoked the Heavenly Demon's instinctive retaliation.
"The Heavenly Demon should also be one of the Venerables of the Tianfa Realm."
"Yet within this cluster of transparent tissue, there is no consciousness belonging to it."
"Furthermore, if I remember correctly, the true Heavenly Demon should currently still be preserved frozen in ice aboard the Xuan Celestial Vessel."
Through the transformation of true and false, he simulated the Heavenly Physician's life aura, then slowly drew closer.
The transparent tissue swiftly enveloped this "Heavenly Physician" once more.
"Interesting."
"It seems the Heavenly Physician's Heavenly Soul Reincarnation could not have succeeded without the Heavenly Demon's aid."
"This hotbed..."
Li Fan shifted his perspective, examining it through his identity as Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang.
The protective shell formed by the transparent tissue was like a mirror. When scrutinized by the powers of the Xuanhuang Realm, all that was reflected were scenes of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Suddenly remembering something, Li Fan inspected the slumbering Heavenly Physician once more.
Just as he had anticipated.
"Incomplete."
"Or rather, merely a part of the Heavenly Physician."
"The Heavenly Soul Reincarnation projected his consciousness, but the Heavenly Physician's original physical body is still hidden away somewhere."
"It should be so. Though the Heavenly Physician possessed Chuanfa, he later still possessed his own body. That was the fundamental reason why, for a very long time, I felt utterly perplexed by the relationship between the two. They seemed to be the same person, yet also like an original self and an avatar—riddled with contradictions."
"Without personally observing it from his memories, how could anyone untangle such a convoluted history?" Li Fan shook his head slightly.
"In the original trajectory of history, the Heavenly Physician sensed the crisis in the Tianfa Realm, forcibly seized control of the body, and upon returning, was greeted by the sight of the Tianfa Realm slaughtered to the last soul."
"Though his plan of Heavenly Soul Reincarnation was already half-successful, his homeland had been destroyed before anything else. The Heavenly Physician was dealt a crushing blow."
"Yet even so, he did not give up. Instead, he conceived a strategy to borrow a corpse to bring back the soul. However, this was even more difficult than the Heavenly Soul Reincarnation, something impossible for him to achieve alone—to say nothing of the unstable factor of Xuanyuan Tuo's own consciousness."
"Thus, the Heavenly Physician needed an accomplice."
"The Heavenly Demon, having departed far from the Tianfa Realm years earlier, became his sole source of help."
"Fortunately, with this hotbed left behind by the Heavenly Demon, and relying on its faint thread of connection to its true form, the Heavenly Physician was able to pinpoint its location across the boundless sea of stars, locating the elusive, deeply concealed Xuan Celestial Vessel."
"After spending considerable effort, he rescued the Heavenly Demon. Following that, the Heavenly Demon and Heavenly Physician joined hands to thoroughly suppress Xuanyuan Tuo's consciousness. The Heavenly Demon acted as Chuanfa, while the Heavenly Physician returned to his own body."
"Joining forces, the two sought to rescue Tianfa from destruction."
"One could say that the subsequent ten thousand years of the Xuanhuang Realm were nothing more than a two-man play between the two of them. The Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao, the Heavenly Venerables Yixin, Zhenshi, and Wuyou—they were all mere supporting actors in this grand drama."
"Pity that with me here now, this grand drama is destined never to unfold again."
Li Fan looked at the Heavenly Demon hotbed and the slumbering Heavenly Physician before him, his gaze seeming to pierce through ten thousand years of time, beholding the future that had once been set for them.
The sensation when he was influenced by the Heavenly Demon just now, trapped in a storm of thoughts, bore a bizarre resemblance to plunging into the turbulence of the river of time.
Li Fan had a premonition that mastering the Dao of the Heavenly Demon might increase his safety while traveling upstream against the current.
Although he did not know why the so-called Heavenly Demon possessed an inexplicable connection to the dao of counter-current, that did not prevent Li Fan from absorbing and refining it for his own use.
The refining process was not complicated.
One could even say it was exceptionally simple. Li Fan merely exercised a sliver of the power of true becoming false, disguising himself as the Heavenly Physician.
And with immense ease, he digested the Heavenly Demon hotbed.
He encountered not the slightest resistance.
"This Heavenly Demon is rather interesting. While appearing cold and distant as it departed, it nonetheless left behind a portion of its power to help the Tianfa Realm weather disasters when necessary."
"And to think it was willing to sacrifice itself without hesitation to shield another..."
"A classic paragon of being cold on the outside, warm on the inside."
As the transparent Heavenly Demon hotbed was gradually absorbed by Li Fan, the heaven and earth of Xuanhuang also slowly became lively and vibrant in his eyes.
If in the past Li Fan looking upon heaven and earth had merely seen the Great Dao of heaven and earth, then now, he could faintly perceive heaven and earth as though it had come alive, rippling with emotions of its own.
And it was not limited to the Xuanhuang Dao.
Li Fan's sight leapt beyond Xuanhuang, gazing toward the sea of stars, the Great Wall, and even the entirety of the Primordial possibility.
All were the same.
This did not mean the Heavenly Demon's ability could rival a Transcendent powerhouse. Rather, it was like a key opening a doorway for Li Fan.
The reason he could see such magnificent, vibrant sights was still that Li Fan himself was strong enough.
After all, Li Fan had once truly stepped outside the Primordial possibility and confronted Mountains and Seas face-to-face.
"Wielding the Dao of the Heavenly Demon is like gaining an exquisitely discerning heart, allowing me to take in every emotional shift of the cold Heavenly Dao."
"No matter the path of cultivation, this is of immense benefit."
"However..."
Within the mortal world, the emotions of the Great Dao were fully revealed. But what about beyond the mortal world...?
Once reaching the domain of Mountains and Seas, this ability of the Heavenly Demon—formidable as it was—instantly failed.
The Infinite Sea, Mount Shangfang.
These two boundless behemoths radiated a bone-chilling aura that warned off the living. Even straining the Heavenly Demon's capabilities to their utmost, all that could be glimpsed were the mountain and the sea themselves.
Li Fan even sensed something more.
Even merely gazing at Mountains and Seas from afar within the mortal world, the Heavenly Demon Dao still suffered backlash from their frigid aura.
The Heavenly Demon hotbed, originally incomparably warm and radiating the breath of nurturing life, actually began to drop in temperature.
It became equally bone-chilling.
For a moment, Li Fan felt as though his divine soul were about to freeze over.
Fortunately, having anticipated this, he severed his distant gaze in time.
It took quite a while before the Heavenly Demon hotbed gradually recovered from its stiffness.
Li Fan frowned deeply, recalling once again the contents of the fable left behind by Sun Piaomiao.
In the fable, it was recorded that when Mountains and Seas communicated, they too had all manner of emotions similar to mortals.
Joy, anger, sorrow, fear—every kind was present.
"A fable is, in the end, only a fable."
"What a bystander sees does not necessarily represent the true Mountains and Seas."
Li Fan warned himself, staying vigilant.
After spending nearly half a day fully absorbing the Heavenly Demon hotbed and transforming it into his own power, Li Fan confirmed his judgment once more.
As a newly birthed "line creature" within the river of time, his adaptability seemed to have virtually doubled without adding a single new anchor.
If before he had been struggling for every step, now he could barely manage to pace slowly.
As for the underlying principle, Li Fan could not yet fathom it.
The hotbed left by the Heavenly Demon had been completely absorbed. If he wanted to resolve this puzzle further, he would likely have to make a trip to the Xuan Celestial Vessel.
There was no rush.
The Xuan Celestial Vessel's trajectory over the next ten thousand years was already mapped out in Li Fan's mind. The upheavals within the Xuanhuang Realm would not affect them.
Having finished these matters, Li Fan finally looked toward Xuanyuan Tuo, who had been waiting at his side the entire time.
After witnessing with his own eyes the foreign entity extracted from his divine soul, Xuanyuan Tuo had been thoroughly humbled. Knowing he was by no means a match for this mysterious True Immortal, he made no futile attempts at resistance.
After all, judging from the man's actions, there seemed to be no malice. Xuanyuan Tuo pondered quietly to himself.
Thus, when Li Fan was struck by the Heavenly Demon storm and shaken within, Xuanyuan Tuo had remained quietly standing nearby the entire time, making no attempt to flee.
"Do you know who the ancestor of your Xuanyuan clan was?" Li Fan asked.
Xuanyuan Tuo hesitated for a moment before answering slowly, "King Xuantian."
Originally, he had not known the answer to this question.
Only later, through a chance encounter with the Heavenly Profound Mirror, had he learned of the Xuanyuan clan's origins.
Li Fan nodded. "In the past, Xuanyuan Hong and I were the closest of friends. Otherwise, I would not have stepped in to save you."
Hearing Li Fan's calm words, Xuanyuan Tuo felt a tremor in his heart.
King Xuantian was an ancestor from countless generations back. Yet the person before him had been close friends with King Xuanyuan. Then this seniority...
Xuanyuan Tuo felt somewhat ill at ease. "Then... may I ask how I should address you?"
"Just call me Grandpa Ancestor," Li Fan smiled.
"Grandpa... Ancestor..." Xuanyuan Tuo hesitated, words caught in his throat.
Yet looking at Li Fan's expression, he hesitated for a brief moment before obediently calling out the title.
"Xuanyuan Hong departed in haste, leaving many matters unaddressed. What was originally meant to be an opportunity turned into a calamity for your Xuanyuan clan," Li Fan sighed, shaking his head.
Xuanyuan Tuo was shaken to his core.
Almost instantly, he thought of the mad uncle from the village of his youth, Xuanyuan Sheng.
Xuanyuan Tuo adopted a solemn expression. "I beg Grandpa Ancestor to enlighten me."
Judged by appearances alone, Li Fan looked far younger than Xuanyuan Tuo.
For Xuanyuan Tuo to address him as an ancestor felt rather bizarre.
Yet Xuanyuan Tuo did not mind at all, addressing him quite naturally. He seemed to have accepted his role as a junior remarkably quickly.
And what followed next—the murmuring chants that escaped Li Fan's lips—convinced him even further of his choice.
For this ethereal, profound sound was identical to the one that had echoed intermittently in his ears in the past!
"Lad, do you know what this profound sound is?"
Li Fan chanted only a passage before pausing to ask.
Xuanyuan Tuo naturally did not know.
"This is your Ancestor Xuanyuan transmitting a message to you, guiding you to make your way to him!" Li Fan reached out, pointing toward the realm beyond heaven.
Xuanyuan Tuo looked in the direction Li Fan pointed, feeling dazed and confused for a moment.
Merely a transmission? Yet it had nearly brought about the extermination of the Xuanyuan clan. Xuanyuan Tuo found it difficult to accept.
If Ancestor Xuanyuan was still alive, why was a mere transmission so fraught with disaster?
Xuanyuan Tuo looked toward Li Fan.
After a brief silence, Li Fan began recounting the tales of the Eternal Silent Void Realm, the river of time, and saving the world with sparks of fire.
To prove that his words were not false, Li Fan even brought Xuanyuan Tuo along to take a shallow step into the river of time.
Possessing only Dao Integration cultivation, Xuanyuan Tuo had never witnessed such a bizarre spectacle, even in dreams.
Even a tiny splash of water around him gave him a spine-chilling sense of annihilation.
The surging waves that rose from time to time threatened to drown him completely at any moment.
By the time they returned to reality from the river of time, Xuanyuan Tuo's face had turned deathly pale.
"Grandpa Ancestor, you..."
In his heart, he already understood: the person before him was by no means merely a True Immortal!
Chapter 1550