The only reason he had previously assumed the other party to be a living True Immortal was that, in Xuanyuan Tuo's worldview, the supreme beings of the world were known as "True Immortals." Yet Li Fan had now unveiled for him an even vaster and more magnificent universe.
True Immortals were truly like ants. There were transcendents, those who swam upstream against the current of time, and even those who stood as equals against the Mountains and Seas.
It left Xuanyuan Tuo dazzled and bewildered, his mind reeling.
It was fortunate that Xuanyuan Tuo was no ordinary person. Had anyone else been subjected to such a blunt injection of concepts, learning of the immense chasm separating them from true reality, they might well have collapsed in despair, never to rise again.
Forcing himself to steady his mind and break free from the overwhelming flood of information, Xuanyuan Tuo asked with some restraint, "May I ask what Ancestor Xuanyuan's profound sound message was truly about? For the Ancestor to cross the Mountains and Seas just to convey something to his descendants, it must surely be of vital importance..."
Just a short while ago, Xuanyuan Tuo had still been carefully scheming how to take advantage of the lapse in vigilance by the Xuanhuang Realm's Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao to expand the strength of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals as much as possible. But now, after witnessing the true nature of this universe...
Xuanyuan Tuo suddenly felt that everything in the Xuanhuang Realm had become completely dull and meaningless.
As the saying went, if the skin is gone, to what can the hair adhere? If the entire mortal world were annihilated, then everything he accomplished in the Xuanhuang Realm would be utterly pointless.
Xuanyuan Tuo suddenly began to understand why the Ancestor had vanished so abruptly back then, never to return.
Watching the shifting expressions on Xuanyuan Tuo's face, Li Fan inwardly nodded. "You are correct. The only thing Xuanyuan Hong cared about was the survival of all living beings in the Mountains and Seas. His message calling upon you all was undoubtedly tied to this matter. What he failed to anticipate was how drastically the Xuanhuang Realm would change after his departure, to the point where even his own descendants could only dream of comprehending his message."
Li Fan's words left Xuanyuan Tuo feeling somewhat ashamed. He could not help but add, "Even with Senior's guidance opening my eyes to the truth, my strength is simply too meager. Much as I yearn to follow in the Ancestor's footsteps, I fear the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."
Li Fan waved his hand, arrogantly cutting Xuanyuan Tuo off. "With this old man here, what need have you to worry?"
Hearing this, Xuanyuan Tuo could not help feeling a flicker of pleasant surprise. But Li Fan's next words caused his heart to drop.
"However, you are indeed far too weak right now—not only in cultivation realm, but severely lacking in mental fortitude as well. You need to be properly tempered. Otherwise, even if you could swim against the current and traverse the void, you would never be able to bear significant responsibility or lend Xuanyuan Hong a helping hand."
"Grandpa Ancestor speaks the truth," Xuanyuan Tuo said slowly after his expression flickered and he hesitated, swallowing back whatever else he had meant to say.
Li Fan continued, "The Ten Sects of the Xuanhuang Realm snatched this domain from Xuanyuan Hong's grasp. For now, emulate what Xuanyuan did in the past and sweep them away. If you cannot even pass this trial, any grander ambitions will amount to nothing more than marching to your own grave."
Xuanyuan Tuo's expression grew solemn. "I shall not fail Grandpa Ancestor's command."
"Understand one thing," Li Fan countered. "This is your own task and has nothing to do with me. Of course, you may prove yourself through other means; I will not force you. The ultimate goal is for you to walk the path of a supreme powerhouse, just as Xuanyuan did back then. Right now, you are merely an insignificant Dao Integration cultivator, but where your true focus lies depends entirely on how you walk your path."
Xuanyuan Tuo seemed to grasp his meaning.
Recalling the various legends he had heard about Xuanyuan Hong, a renewed passion and sense of gravity for his work in the Xuanhuang Realm welled up in his chest.
"The Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao..." A glint of cold resolve flashed in his eyes.
"Xuanyuan Hong's profound sound is not a simple message," Li Fan said. "It also possesses the power to intervene in the future from the past, to alter reality from the illusory. Watch closely!"
With Li Fan's words, Xuanyuan Tuo felt a momentary dizziness.
An instant later, he discovered to his horror that the memories in his mind had subtly shifted.
The words Li Fan had just spoken had actually been uttered the very instant Li Fan first appeared before him.
At the time, he had naturally been bewildered by them.
Only now, as time flowed normally to this present moment and closed the loop, did Xuanyuan Tuo suddenly snap to full awareness.
"Is this... the Ancestor's divine ability?"
Xuanyuan Tuo was shaken to his very soul. Compared to this profound sound capable of reversing space-time, the various so-called new cultivation methods he had pioneered were barely distinguishable from child's play.
"The Great Dao values refinement over breadth. If you can master the profound subtleties of this sound, sweeping away the Ten Sects will be a matter of a mere snap of the fingers." Li Fan's figure began to fade, leaving only a thin sliver behind in his place.
"Once your task is accomplished, hold this Supreme Dao Scripture and call out in your heart; I will naturally appear."
As the voice faded away, Xuanyuan Tuo held the sliver in his hand, and before his eyes unfolded that magnificent, starry cosmos of the Great Dao.
"The Supreme Dao Scripture... this seems..."
Xuanyuan Tuo narrowed his eyes, recalling the various rumors he had heard about the Xuanhuang True Immortal.
"So that's how it is. I was puzzled before by the emergence of that Xuanhuang True Immortal. Looking at it now, with someone like Grandpa Ancestor assisting, attaining True Immortality is hardly a difficult feat."
Filled with confidence about his future, Xuanyuan Tuo was already scheming in his mind how to settle scores with the Ten Sects.
Suddenly, Xuanyuan Tuo realized something. His expression shifted slightly as he looked toward the direction where Li Fan had vanished.
"My Heavenly Profound Mirror..."
Holding the Supreme Dao Scripture, Xuanyuan Tuo's expression shifted repeatedly. In the end, he lacked the courage to summon Li Fan immediately to ask for the mirror back.
"Never mind. It is merely an immortal artifact, after all. True power belongs to oneself; that is the proper path." Xuanyuan Tuo took a deep breath, trying to calm the turmoil in his heart.
What Xuanyuan Tuo did not know was that at this very moment, within the Heavenly Profound Mirror, the artifact spirit Jing Xuan was wailing repeatedly, "Exalted Immortal, have mercy!"
Jing Xuan had initially believed that having all the progress he had accumulated over the ages toward shedding his immortal nature to become mortal wiped out in an instant was already the height of misfortune. But now that he had truly fallen into Li Fan's clutches, he realized that his misfortune was only just beginning.
The man seemed to understand the Heavenly Profound Mirror even better than its own artifact spirit; the restrictions within the mirror might as well have not existed. In virtually an instant, Li Fan invaded its core. Then, a figure that looked nearly identical to Jing Xuan, but lacked a touch of his vivacity, manifested before him.
In an instant, Jing Xuan understood Li Fan's intention: he wanted to forge a new artifact spirit and replace him!
An unprecedented, intense sense of crisis surged in Jing Xuan's heart. He knew that time was running out. Once this new artifact spirit fully formed, the only fate awaiting him was complete destruction.
He had to prove his worth before that happened! A unique value that the newborn artifact spirit could never provide!
Jing Xuan's thoughts raced, and recalling how this Exalted Immortal had sought out Xuanyuan Tuo on his own initiative, an answer flashed in his mind.
"Exalted Immortal, please spare my life! I might be able to help you find King Xuantian's former companion!"
Sensing that the birth of the new artifact spirit had finally ground to a temporary halt, Jing Xuan let out a long breath of relief.
Li Fan's chilly voice came through: "Why Xuanyuan Hong's companion, and not Xuanyuan Hong himself?"
Jing Xuan hurriedly explained, "King Xuantian departed in far too great a hurry back then. I truly know nothing of his whereabouts. But his companion..."
"Before she left, she cast a divine ability and actually split off an identical mirror artifact directly from me. She even named it 'Xuantian' and renamed me 'Tianxuan'!"
Jing Xuan spoke in an indignant tone: "Although they departed and no one knows where they went, through this connection, I can sense their location through the unseen void."
"I can feel that the other me has become far stronger than in the past. If it was once a dim star, it is now like a luminous moon in the sky. It was precisely that immense gulf that struck terror into my heart, which was why I accelerated the process of shedding my immortal nature to become mortal. For I knew that once I completely shed my immortal nature, I would no longer be the same entity as it, and I would lose any chance to compete forever."
Jing Xuan's resentment toward his counterpart seemed to surpass even his fear of Li Fan. As he rambled on, it was as if he had fallen into an obsession, babbling endlessly.
Li Fan had not anticipated that Jing Xuan would be able to track down Xuanyuan Hong's childhood sweetheart.
He temporarily paused the creation of the new spirit and carefully examined the immortal artifact Heavenly Profound Mirror at this point in time.
Though the marks were extremely faint, under Li Fan's meticulous scrutiny, he could still discern faint traces of a "rubbing transfer" upon the immortal artifact.
"Even for me at present, perfectly replicating the Heavenly Profound Mirror and creating another entity virtually identical to the original artifact spirit would be no easy feat."
"Xuanyuan Hong truly possessed profound foundations. His methods were endless."
Xuanyuan Hong's childhood sweetheart, though her name was unknown, likely had no complex background and was merely a mortal. For her to execute such a divine ability had to have been a gift bestowed by Xuanyuan Hong.
"Given Xuanyuan Hong's temperament, even if he were in dire peril, he would never have allowed her to accompany him. Thus, it is very likely that the two of them are not in the same place."
Truth be told, Li Fan had little interest in tracking down someone else's partner. Yet the rubbing divine ability she had employed piqued his curiosity considerably.
Among myriad immortal artifacts, the Heavenly Profound Mirror was of a rather singular class. For it to be copied effortlessly by a mere mortal...
This method bore some resemblance to the "transformation of true and false" that Li Fan had mastered.
Li Fan scrutinized the traces left within the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
Because it had not yet undergone the complete shedding of its immortal nature, the imprints once left upon this immortal artifact were fully preserved. Subtle though they were, they could not escape Li Fan's tracking and reconstruction.
Before Li Fan's eyes, a scene seemed to unfold.
Across heaven and earth, a blank sheet of paper suddenly drifted in, gently settling over the original Xuantian Mirror.
A pair of slender, fair hands lightly pressed down upon the paper.
From the white paper, the rubbed imprint of the Heavenly Profound Mirror slowly descended into the world.
"This is countless times more profound than the first Great Heavenly Venerable's division of immortal and mortal."
"Actually, it bears some resemblance to an immortal artifact the Ten Sects once spoke of—the Dichotomy Immortal Seed?"
Originally, he had not cared about the leftover immortal artifacts held by the Ten Sects. But considering that this might be a technique left behind by King Xuantian, Li Fan's interest was kindled.
With a slight flicker of his form, Li Fan retrieved the Dichotomy Immortal Seed from beneath the tight guard of the Ten Sects mere moments later.
He placed it beside the Heavenly Profound Mirror for comparison.
"Huh? This thing..." Jing Xuan's astonished, uncertain voice rang out, further confirming Li Fan's assessment.
According to the Ten Sects, this Dichotomy Immortal Seed was a prize seized during a war against the Twin Heavens Realm. The Twin Heavens Realm was not particularly large, but its landscape was extraordinary.
It did not follow the usual configuration of sky above and earth below, but rather a "sky-earth-sky" layout. At the center of the world lay what resembled a mirror surface, bisecting the realm into halves. Not only the landscape, but even the living beings within that world existed in matched pairs.
They were aware of each other's existence, and even their fortune and lives were intimately linked.
In moments of mortal peril, they could undergo a brief "fusion" to multiply their strength several times over, thereby surviving catastrophe. Yet the side effect was severe: they would uncontrollably gravitate toward the counterpart of themselves in the other half of the world. Put simply, their individual existence would slowly vanish.
The reason the Twin Heavens Realm had become so unique was precisely the presence of this Dichotomy Immortal Seed. It was said that in ancient times, the Twin Heavens Realm had possessed a normal world structure just like any other cultivation realm. But one day, heaven and earth were suddenly upended, as if forcibly folded over by someone's hands.
Countless inhabitants of the realm perished. And when the survivors recovered their senses, they discovered in terror that beyond the earth, another sky had appeared—and along with it, another self.
From then on, the ultimate fate of all living beings in the Twin Heavens Realm was convergence and fusion, followed by being drawn into the Dichotomy Immortal Seed suspended between heaven and earth.
After being conquered by Xuanhuang, the Twin Heavens Realm had already collapsed into ruin. Yet this Dichotomy Immortal Seed had been captured by the Ten Sects and kept as a trump card.
Being able to create another self drastically reduced the risks of making decisions at critical junctures.
Li Fan gazed at the immortal seed floating quietly before him.
If the marks preserved upon the Heavenly Profound Mirror were from a rubbing transfer, then this immortal seed was covered in the imprints of folding.
"Using the Great Dao of heaven and earth as paper."
"To alter it with a single hand. What magnificent spirit, what extraordinary craft."
Even with a cultivation capable of flowing upstream against time, upon witnessing such a divine ability of "paper folding," Li Fan could not help marveling at its brilliance.
The Dao of paper folding clearly did not exist within the remnants of the Primordial. Throughout Li Fan's past reincarnations, he had never encountered it.
Only by swimming upstream against the current of time all the way to ten thousand years ago had he finally caught a glimpse of its traces.
"In that case, King Xuantian's childhood sweetheart was no mortal either," Li Fan murmured, stroking his chin.
"Still, it is too early to draw conclusions."
For Li Fan at present, advancing further required forging his own pure path above all else.
Yet that path was not something easily attained.
Whether it was transverse transcendence across possibilities, tracing backward up the river of time, or the "transformation of true and false" where the true becomes false and the false becomes true, all seemed like directions in which he could advance.
Yet each and every one was fraught with difficulty.
Like standing at a crossroads, Li Fan was somewhat undecided on where to turn next.
From a rational standpoint, the transformation of true and false was clearly the most fitting and potent Great Dao—after all, it was an existence comparable to the Mountains and Seas.
Yet Trueness had fallen into slumber. Without the insights gained each time Trueness was activated, comprehending the transformation of true and false had become exceptionally arduous.
It was like a castle in the air whose foundations had collapsed.
If Li Fan wished to touch it again, or even continue his ascent, he would inevitably need stepping stones to climb upon.
Chapter 1551