The Mound-Guarding Lord's insights from sitting upon the mountain and gazing at the sea, King Xuantian's profound sound traveling back through time, and even this Dao of paper folding—all could broadly be viewed as stepping stones for Li Fan's path forward.
Comprehend them, study them, and then sense and assimilate them.
Step by step, he would touch that ineffable transformation of true and false.
Having formed a plan, Li Fan flicked a finger against the surface of the Heavenly Profound Mirror. The half-formed nascent artifact spirit crumbled to ash in an instant.
Seeing this, Jing Xuan breathed a long sigh of relief.
Yet a moment later, noticing Li Fan's hand continuing to caress the mirror, an ominous premonition welled up within him for reasons he could not explain.
It was no trick of Jing Xuan's imagination.
From the Dichotomy Immortal Seed beside him, which radiated an inexplicable aura, a gushing power quietly welled forth, wrapping around and binding the Heavenly Profound Mirror like tentacles. After securing the mirror tightly, countless even finer tendrils branched out from their points of contact. Under Li Fan's guidance, they swept brazenly across every inch of the mirror's surface.
A feeling of déjà vu surged into Jing Xuan's mind.
"I am taking Xuantian."
For some reason, the words that King Xuantian's childhood sweetheart had once spoken to him echoed in his ears once more.
*Could it be...*
The Heavenly Profound Mirror began to tremble instinctively, and the power of the Dichotomy Immortal Seed encasing its surface shook even more violently. Like boiling mud, bubbles churned ceaselessly across it.
Jing Xuan resisted with all his might, yet he possessed not a single shred of strength to fight back.
He could only watch helplessly as another version of himself slowly grew out from the "mud"!
Standing alongside the Heavenly Profound Mirror and the Xuantian Mirror, a third mirror had descended upon the world.
Yet after Li Fan took the mirror and inspected it, he shook his head and rejected it.
"It has its form, but lacks its spirit and soul. A useless piece of trash!"
His voice was frigid. Exerting a slight force in his hand, amid a spine-chilling crunch, this newborn Heavenly Profound Mirror instantly disintegrated into powder, returning into the Dichotomy Immortal Seed.
Jing Xuan even seemed to hear the miserable, tragic wails of his other self.
Drenched in a cold sweat of terror, Jing Xuan could no longer care about the bizarre sensation of being used as a test subject for replication. Under Li Fan's scrutinizing gaze, he hurriedly pointed out the differences he had noticed between himself and the replica during the rubbing process, striving to prove his worth.
"I see. Well done," Li Fan said with a nod, unsparing in his praise.
Absorbing the lessons from before, Li Fan soon launched a second experiment.
What he produced was indeed somewhat better than the first, yet it remained a considerable distance from the true Heavenly Profound Mirror.
"It seems this paper-folding rubbing technique is indeed an unfathomable divine ability. It is not something I can master in a short time merely through the traces left behind. It will require repeated study."
Li Fan had anticipated this long ago and did not mind.
With both the Dichotomy Immortal Seed and the Heavenly Profound Mirror in hand, he had plenty of time to practice slowly.
The only thing to be mindful of was that the paper-folding power gathered within the Dichotomy Immortal Seed was continuously depleted. Each use diminished what remained.
Were it pure immortal spiritual energy, Li Fan could easily replenish it. But this Dao of paper folding could only be created out of nothing through his divine ability of false becoming true.
Although the efficiency was somewhat slow—especially with Trueness now asleep and having to rely entirely on his own comprehension—it was still manageable.
"At least it can be replenished, so I won't just sit by and exhaust my reserves. At the same time, it helps deepen my comprehension of the transformation of true and false." Li Fan took an open-minded view of the matter, remaining calm and unhurried.
Only, as he researched and experimented from time to time, the silhouette of Cat Treasure flashed through his mind.
*I wonder if Cat Treasure's copying ability is the same thing as this Dao of paper folding.*
*Sure enough, there is nothing in this world that lacks reason or defies logic. Those things that seem unimaginable appear so only because one's experience is limited and one's understanding is shallow.*
*Cat Treasure's triple transformation: object duplication, living being mimicry, and cleansing the marrow and channels. As for the other two abilities...*
Li Fan furrowed his brows in contemplation.
A thought suddenly sprouted in his mind: if he completely mastered this path, he would likewise be able to replicate Cat Treasure itself.
***
While Li Fan's true body focused on comprehending the Dao, his Great Heavenly Venerable immortal puppet was not idle either.
Since a suitable successor to become the next Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang had not yet been born, Li Fan had to shoulder the responsibility of maintaining the order of the Xuanhuang Realm.
This was not out of any shackles from the Immortal Realm, but entirely for himself.
The first thing he did was overhaul the Xuanhuang Realm inside and out. From his current perspective, the Xuanhuang Realm was still far too fragile.
Leaving aside the Great Tribulation of Dao Annihilation, even the Hunger Immortal in the Immortal Ruins simply rolling over could plunge the Xuanhuang Realm into eternal damnation.
Fortunately, Li Fan had abundant experience in realm remodeling.
Moreover, his plan this time went a step further than in the past. His goal was to forge the Xuanhuang Realm into an immortal vessel that, even if the Primordial possibility were swallowed by Dao Annihilation, could drift for a time to seek out a new cradle of life!
Beyond enhancement methods like sublimating the immortal domain and reinforcing the Heavenly Pillars of the Great Dao, Li Fan also set his sights on integrating the Fallen Immortal Realm.
At this point in time, the Fallen Immortal Realm was still a sealed ground that had not yet opened to the living beings of Xuanhuang.
Only with the permission of the Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang could the consciousness of a living being enter.
Li Fan conducted a macroscopic observation of the Fallen Immortal Realm at this era and discovered that, compared to ten thousand years later, its scale now was far smaller.
It was almost purely a projection of the normal Xuanhuang Realm, with only a few diverging worlds formed after years of evolution.
It seemed to still be in its nascent growth stage. Many spacetimes that existed in later generations had not yet come into being.
Yet Li Fan noticed something intriguing.
Recently, a vast swath of spacetime seemed to have newly emerged within the Fallen Immortal Realm. Judging from the timing of its creation, it coincided precisely with the tragic, bloody war between the Xuanhuang Realm and the Taiyuan Realm.
*Could it be...*
With a stir of his mind, Li Fan sent a strand of divine sense to traverse these newborn spacetimes.
Upon returning, his expression was peculiar. "As expected. Once the Taiyuan Realm and the Xuanhuang Realm became fully linked, the Fallen Immortal Realm seemed to invade the Taiyuan Realm as well."
That bloody battlefield between the two realms had quietly materialized within the Fallen Immortal Realm.
The only thing that put Li Fan's mind at ease was that within this newborn spacetime, his identity as the Xuanhuang True Immortal did not exist.
*Otherwise, what I would need to consider right now wouldn't be how to remodel Xuanhuang, but how to flee for my life.*
As he pondered, the Great Heavenly Venerable immortal puppet made another trip to the Taiyuan Realm.
Sure enough, high above that realm, he found an extremely elusive, hazy dream cloud.
*It doesn't merely reflect the world at a single glance. It can also grow on its own with the passage of time.*
*In the original timeline, the Xuanhuang Realm struggled bitterly to survive beside the Immortal Ruins and lacked the conditions to grow. But now, things are different.*
*The Taiyuan Realm, and even...*
Li Fan cast his gaze beyond the Taiyuan Realm.
The Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao were enthusiastically exploring the unknown starry skies nearby.
Li Fan could also sense the presence of life in the distant sea of stars.
At the same time, he seemed to see the shadowy cloud of the Fallen Immortal Realm trailing like a phantom behind the Ten Sects' footsteps.
*It seems necessary to place some restrictions on it.*
A mysterious premonition told Li Fan that standing by and watching it proliferate was by no means a wise course of action.
"Though illusory, it is real. It does not require a foundation in reality. Like a wooden skiff, it can float atop Dao Annihilation."
The first Great Heavenly Venerable's evaluation of the Fallen Immortal Realm remained vivid in his memory, and Li Fan dared not be careless.
Using the transformation of true and false, he mimicked the power of Mo Sha's immortal soul. Like an iron chain stretched across a river, he temporarily blockaded the star paths surrounding the Taiyuan Realm.
Naturally, this blockade was directed solely at the hazy cloud of the Fallen Immortal Realm, not ordinary travelers.
The expanding Fallen Immortal Realm naturally sensed the anomaly around it immediately.
It did not display any emotion like a living creature.
Instead, it made mechanical, immediate adjustments.
Under Li Fan's gaze, the cloud of the Fallen Immortal Realm seemed to abandon its drive to conquer new territory. It merely hovered quietly above the Taiyuan Realm, strengthening itself.
Almost visible to the naked eye, the number of shifting spacetimes within the Taiyuan Fallen Immortal Realm began to multiply.
The source of the Fallen Immortal Realm was not just the Xuanhuang cultivators currently active within the Taiyuan Realm—it even included the native beings of the Taiyuan Realm whom Li Fan had sealed and suppressed!
Even the two immortal servants guarding the Taiyuan Rebirth Grand Formation were mirrored within the Taiyuan Fallen Immortal Realm!
This was the first time the Fallen Immortal Realm had taken the initiative to "mirror" on its own. The beings mirrored were entirely unaware, yet Li Fan, observing from the sidelines, could not help feeling a chill in his heart.
After a moment of deliberation, Li Fan detached a strand of his will and entered the newly born Taiyuan Fallen Immortal Realm.
His objective was to check whether the immortal formation and immortal servants here were connected to the Sea of Infinity and possessed the property of infinity.
Trueness's Boundless Samsara function could also create spacetimes out of nothing just like the Fallen Immortal Realm.
Yet Boundless Samsara was completely enclosed, without any link to the Mountains and Seas.
Whereas this Fallen Immortal Illusion...
With a solemn expression, Li Fan felt the oppressive weight emanating from the Sea of Infinity. A flicker of wariness crossed his face.
*It is actually connected to the Mountains and Seas?*
Alongside his shock, an inexplicable puzzle arose in Li Fan's mind.
Connecting to the Mountains and Seas practically fulfilled the prerequisite conditions for creating immortals. That meant that within the Fallen Immortal Realm, it was genuinely possible for True Immortals to emerge from those seemingly illusory spacetimes.
*This...*
Theoretically, that was true.
Yet Li Fan consistently sensed that the Taiyuan immortal formation and the two immortal servants in the Fallen Immortal Realm still had some subtle differences compared to reality.
And this difference was especially critical.
*Only the Sea of Infinity, but no Mount Shangfang?*
Gazing at the illusory Taiyuan Realm for a long time, Li Fan was struck by an epiphany, finally arriving at the answer.
To verify his hypothesis, Li Fan flashed forward and arrived before the two immortal servants within the Fallen Immortal Realm.
Furthermore, he deliberately unleashed the aura of momentum that belonged to a True Immortal.
In reality, whenever immortal servants encountered a True Immortal, they were bound to perform rites of homage. This was an ironclad rule carved into the very core of every immortal servant. But in this Fallen Immortal Realm, the two immortal servants completely ignored the aura Li Fan released.
They even launched a simultaneous attack against this uninvited intruder.
"Sure enough," Li Fan thought, easily parrying their assault as understanding dawned on him.
*They possess only infinite power, but lack the momentum of Mount Shangfang.*
*Without ascending the mountain's height, one cannot know the height of heaven. Without standing upon Mount Shangfang, one cannot know what truly makes an immortal.*
Possessing the attribute of infinity in power without the support of momentum at the energetic tier, their effectiveness was greatly diminished.
Compared to immortal servants in reality, their strength was barely a tenth as much.
This discovery allowed Li Fan to breathe a sigh of relief.
After suppressing the two hollow immortal servants and casually destroying this pocket of Fallen Immortal spacetime, Li Fan quietly withdrew from the Taiyuan Fallen Immortal Realm.
To the Fallen Immortal Realm itself, the existence or destruction of an individual spacetime had no major impact.
In barely the blink of an eye, the spacetime Li Fan had destroyed regenerated once again.
Li Fan watched this scene in silence. *Though the Fallen Immortal Realm is an illusion, it is built upon reality. Unless reality is swallowed by Dao Annihilation and living beings cease to exist, the Fallen Immortal Realm will always regenerate.*
*And even if reality is devoured by Dao Annihilation, the Fallen Immortal Realm can still linger on for a time.*
Thinking to this point, Li Fan could not tell for a moment which was truly the "higher" existence between reality and the Fallen Immortal Realm.
*Since the Fallen Immortal Realm can connect to the Sea of Infinity, theoretically speaking, it should also be able to connect to Mount Shangfang. Yet it doesn't...*
*Was this done intentionally?*
In the Parable of the Mountains and Seas, the calamity of worldly beings began when the sea connected to the mountain. For the Fallen Immortal Realm to abandon the mountain and return to the sea might well be a way to avoid disaster.
*Following that reasoning, could there also be one that returns entirely to the mountain?* Li Fan thought naturally.
*Possessing only the momentum of an immortal without the attribute of infinity. Which is superior and which is inferior is truly hard to say.*
*Yet perhaps that was the original form of an immortal.*
The blockaded Taiyuan Fallen Immortal Realm showed no signs of continuing to spread outward or colliding with the restrictions Li Fan had laid.
It merely hovered silently over the Taiyuan and Xuanhuang realms, continuously evolving and expanding.
For the Fallen Immortal Realm, physical space in reality was not the key constraint on its growth. As long as living beings survived within its coverage, the Fallen Immortal Realm could multiply ceaselessly.
Earlier, it had proliferated toward the stars beyond the Taiyuan Realm out of an instinctive mechanism to strengthen itself.
Now, having been thwarted by Li Fan's restrictions, it instinctively retreated.
It continued to multiply and expand across its original territory.
Looking upon this peculiar creation, Li Fan fell into hesitation for a time.
The Fallen Immortal Realm as a whole did not seem to possess a subjective consciousness like the Heavenly Dao of Xuanhuang. It acted only on mechanical, instinctual calculations.
Yet it was, after all, the remnant of a fallen powerhouse from the Immortal Realm.
There was no guarantee it would not turn into a hotbed for their resurrection.
In particular, the Fallen Immortal Realm's ability to drift atop Dao Annihilation reminded Li Fan of the immortal coffins he had seen before.
Except the Fallen Immortal Realm was clearly far more ingenious than an immortal coffin that relied purely on rigid Dao principles to resist Dao Annihilation.
Li Fan cursed softly under his breath.
Choosing to establish his anchor in the Xuanhuang Realm indeed had its advantages and disadvantages.
With his knowledge of the Xuanhuang Realm's past, he could certainly establish a foundation at great speed. But the Xuanhuang Realm held countless secrets; even with Li Fan's current realm and strength, he still had to tread carefully at every step.
Otherwise, a single lapse in vigilance could very well result in disaster.
*Regardless, how can I allow another to sleep peacefully beside my bed?* A cold glint flashed through Li Fan's eyes.
In the past, protected by Trueness, Li Fan could choose to restart at any time.
Avoiding trouble was an easy choice.
Yet now, Li Fan had nowhere left to retreat.
Bizarre though the Fallen Immortal Realm was, if it wanted Li Fan to hand over his anchor and foundation on a silver platter...
They would have to fight it out first!
Chapter 1552