"How did it feel?"
Bing Yin's inquiry sounded by his ear. Li Fan nodded slightly.
"The Splendid Era truly lives up to its name."
Part of this reply was meant to avoid suspicion by agreeing with the guide.
The other part was sincere.
Indeed, if it was strictly a matter of "surviving," cultivators living under the rule of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals and the Five Elders Association had it far easier than in the vast majority of historical periods.
Even when it came to acquiring a suitable cultivation method, it was hardly more difficult than it had been for loose cultivators of ancient times.
Granted, once one joined the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, one was a beast of burden for life.
Yet at the very least, as long as these penned beasts did not court death themselves, living a relatively long life posed no problem at all.
In other eras of the Xuanhuang Realm's history, short-lived cultivators might not even have qualified to become beasts of burden.
As for whether life was more precious or the so-called freedom held greater value...
That was another eternal, solemn debate.
Li Fan had no intention of agonizing over it.
What truly occupied his attention was the fact that just as those hundred fragments of divine sense baptized by the [Era] were on the verge of scattering within his sea of consciousness, they had been absorbed by the Dao Transformation Stone crystal condensed from his cultivation of the [Spirit Unity with Dao Transformation] secret art.
Those events he had experienced within the [Era]—whose details had begun to fade rapidly once the trial ended—were slowly growing clear once more.
Within the azure Dao Transformation Stone, individual, isolated scenes could be faintly seen taking shape.
To his astonishment, they bore a striking resemblance to the [Era].
*What is this?*
Li Fan felt a slight jolt in his heart.
*When the [Era] ended, that vague figure I glimpsed was certainly not an illusion.*
*It seemed like a technique designed to plant brainwashing thoughts into the minds of every cultivator who experienced it.*
*However, possessing a Dao Transformation Stone myself, I not only remained immune to the brainwashing, but...*
Following Bing Yin as the tour of the Museum of Divine Archives continued, Li Fan split off a portion of his mind to examine the changes in his Dao Transformation Stone.
Perhaps because all the Dao Transformation Stones under heaven originated from the same [Dao Transformation Mother Stone] and shared an identical source, the crystal in Li Fan's sea of consciousness had spontaneously absorbed all the scattered strands of divine sense.
Moreover, guided by the [Era]'s imprint contained within those memories, it was performing a reverse restoration, attempting to reconstruct the deduced worlds from Li Fan's memories.
Unfortunately, due to the limited quality and computational capacity of Li Fan's stone, when he tried to browse through these worlds in detail, he found that they were currently nothing more than empty shells.
The images were not continuous; they progressed in jerky, stuttering hops.
Their scope was also confined to the tiny corners touched by his memories.
Beyond those boundaries lay only twisted, shattered mirror-like fragments.
Li Fan observed for a while.
He discovered that these worlds were expanding incrementally across both time and space at a sluggish pace.
Constrained by the stone's deduction capabilities, the progress was almost imperceptible.
If the Dao Transformation Stone remained like this, Li Fan might not see any substantial progress even after a hundred reincarnations.
Yet Li Fan had not forgotten that a permanent Dao Transformation Stone existed within Yi Xing's tomb.
In every reincarnation cycle, he could absorb it.
With each cycle, the Dao Transformation Stone crystal in his mind would grow stronger.
*When the time comes, perhaps I can recreate the [Era] on my own?*
*And what purpose would that serve?*
Li Fan's eyes flashed as a thought struck him.
"Senior Bing Yin, a question suddenly occurred to me. Earlier, you mentioned that a million blank souls had once been placed into the [Era] for experimentation.
"Are there still real souls present within the [Era] as it runs today?" he asked the guide.
"Heh, naturally there are." Bing Yin seemed reluctant to elaborate and offered only a brief reply.
Li Fan looked thoughtful, then promptly pressed, "Tell me, with so many souls undergoing continuous baptism within the [Era], has any soul ever realized that the world they inhabited was an illusion rather than reality?
"After all, no matter how much the illusion borders reality, it must ultimately differ from the real world, right?"
Bing Yin suddenly shot Li Fan a look.
Glancing left and right, he lowered his voice. "When I took over from the previous Bing Yin, he told me an anecdote.
"Roughly thirty-nine years ago, the [Era] ceased running for a period of time.
"The entire Museum of Divine Archives was sealed off back then, and no one was permitted in or out.
"People had no idea what was happening at the time, but rumors surfaced later claiming that one of the million souls within the [Era] had inexplicably vanished.
"They searched the entire museum from top to bottom, but never found it.
"Eventually, the matter was dropped.
"As for whether it truly escaped or vanished due to a malfunction..."
Bing Yin stopped there, saying no more.
Li Fan nodded slowly.
As long as an event was possible, given a large enough sample size, it could be treated as an inevitability.
With a million souls cycling through continuous reincarnation, there would always be one lucky individual who discovered the truth of the world they inhabited.
Li Fan was not surprised by this.
He had merely confirmed one thing from Bing Yin.
The true purpose of the [Era] might not be brainwashing at all.
Instead, it was used to select and cultivate true geniuses.
A person's ultimate achievements could not be judged purely by talent.
Fortune, disposition, willpower, and other factors all played a collective role.
All too often, so-called geniuses perished along the way before they could even mature.
Conversely, those who appeared utterly unremarkable might end up walking much farther.
In the real world, nurturing cultivators incurred massive costs.
One also had to bear the risk of cultivators dying prematurely, which would cause all early investments to go down the drain.
Inside the [Era], however, there was no need to worry about such losses at all.
In fact, selection through the [Era] might prove even more effective.
True, the Great Dark Era, the Wasteland Era, and other darkest chapters of the Xuanhuang Realm's history were perilous beyond measure, with astronomically high mortality rates.
Yet viewed from another angle, if a soul could establish notable achievements during such times, accomplish great deeds, or alter history, that alone proved their extraordinary nature.
Li Fan believed that throughout the long years the [Era] had been running, such beings could not have been few in number.
Selecting them, granting them physical bodies once more, and branding them with brainwashing techniques and absolute loyalty restrictions to forge them into devoted hounds and enforcers for the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals...
Just thinking about the strength of such cultivators was enough to send a chill down one's spine.
At the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals headquarters and during the construction of the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation, Li Fan had frequently seen black-robed cultivators whose departmental allegiance within the Alliance remained unknown.
They almost always wore expressionless faces.
Yet the dangerous aura that slipped from them inadvertently and the uncontainable scent of slaughter never failed to leave Li Fan with a faint chill.
Li Fan suspected that these individuals were very likely nurtured through the [Era].
*A truly marvelous method.*
*As for me, once the quality of my Dao Transformation Stone is sufficient, perhaps I can use those historical periods to temper myself.*
As the saying went, heroes made the times, but the times also made heroes.
Li Fan did not consider himself particularly exceptional.
He was merely an ordinary person relying on the unique ability of [True Reversion] to struggle for survival in this perilous Xuanhuang Realm.
With his experience from several lifetimes serving as Grand Preceptor in Great Xuan and the lessons he had drawn from them, he could manage dealing with cultivators at the Nascent Soul realm and below with relative ease.
However, when facing those old monsters who had survived all the way from ancient catastrophes to the present day, he would likely find himself falling short and appearing rather green.
More importantly, before those truly formidable beings, he might not even be granted the chance to activate [True Reversion].
In competing against them, intellect and experience were just as vital as cultivation base.
By repeatedly experiencing those historical fragments created within his mind to emulate the [Era], he might be able to compensate for his shortcomings in these areas.
***
The Museum of Divine Archives held countless treasures.
Guided by Bing Yin, Li Fan browsed leisurely through the collection of relics from across the Xuanhuang Realm.
Aside from the [Splendid Era] exhibition, several other areas were arranged within the museum.
[Proud Heroes] primarily featured items associated with cultivators who had left their mark on the Xuanhuang Realm's history.
*Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood*: Originally an ordinary iron blade. Following the arrival of the great upheaval, its master carried this weapon and slaughtered an untold number of cultivators. Blood had stained the blade dark red, and even after thousands of years, the baleful aura lingered without dissipating. After endless slaughter, its master managed to survive. Yet in an ironic twist, this murderous weapon was later discovered inside the belly of a subterranean beast. Its master had been digested until only hand bones remained, clutching *Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood* in an unyielding grip of lingering regret.
*Ten Thousand Heads Banner*: A foul-smelling dharma artifact refined from over ten thousand severed heads. All of these heads originated from a single sect: the Soul Sealing Sect. And the banner's refiner had also hailed from the Soul Sealing Sect. When the great catastrophe struck, he slaughtered every one of his sect brethren to forge the artifact—a display of extreme savagery. Regrettably, even such a ruthless figure failed to survive the Great Dark Era. The artifact became another's trophy of war, handed down through millennia before finally coming into the possession of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
***
The [Vicissitudes of Seas and Lands] area showcased the various topographical shifts across the Xuanhuang Realm over several millennia, leaving Li Fan dumbfounded. Changes like those of the Congyun Sea were exceedingly common by comparison. Heavenly rivers crashing down upon the earth, towering mountains cleaving into abyssal valleys, and even two entire provinces fusing into one overnight—it all made Li Fan marvel at his own lack of experience.
***
The [Contending Dharmas] area exhibited all manner of cultivation methods that had once appeared throughout the Xuanhuang Realm's history. Naturally, only descriptions were provided, without the actual contents of the methods. Even so, Li Fan found himself thoroughly captivated, barely able to pull his feet away.
***
Li Fan became utterly engrossed, losing all track of time.
As these astronomical numbers of artifacts spanning thousands of years appeared before him across space and time, the Xuanhuang Realm's image gradually grew vivid in his mind.
It was no longer an empty concept; it took on the substantial weight of history.
Gradually, he reached the central area of the Museum of Divine Archives.
Most prominent was a massive open space cleared at the very center.
Aside from a human skull, nothing else was present.
Bing Yin pointed at the skull and said, "This is the skull of the legendary first cultivator infected by the immortal-mortal miasma. I have no idea what makes it so precious that the curator specifically insisted on placing it in..."
"Hm? What is wrong with you?"
Bing Yin looked at Li Fan beside him in surprise.
Li Fan's eyes had suddenly shut. As though enduring excruciating agony, his entire body trembled violently, beads of sweat pouring from him without end.
"Are you all right?"
Seeing Li Fan's condition worsening, Bing Yin could not help feeling uneasy.
Li Fan forced a strained smile and shook his head slightly to signal that he was fine, yet he did not dare open his blood-red eyes.
*Absorbable item detected: [Eternal Lingering Thought].*
*Absorb?*
*Absorbable item detected: [Eternal Lingering Thought].*
*Absorb?*
*Absorb?*
*Absorb?*
...
The prompt from [True Reversion] echoed through Li Fan's mind as if spiraling out of control.
The voice grew louder and louder, threatening to seize his consciousness entirely.
At the same time, an indescribable hunger tore at his sanity.
Back when he encountered Master Tianyang's Eternal Lingering Thought, this hunger had appeared before.
Yet now, the intensity of this desire was hundreds, thousands of times greater than what he had felt before Tianyang's lingering thought!
Chapter 410