Alerted by Senior Sister Zhao's remark, Li Fan's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly attempted to circulate his own cultivated method, the Nine Revolutions Void-Piercing True Incantation.
The Nine Revolutions Void-Piercing True Incantation was the method he had switched to cultivating after advancing to the Soul Formation realm.
While its might fell short of the Heaven-Slaying Dao Scripture, it was still exceptionally formidable.
It pointed straight toward the Longevity realm and could well be called a supreme great dharma.
In the Nine Revolutions of Void-Piercing, each revolution pierced into one's own nature to comprehend a divine power unique to oneself. In any other sect, it would have been a foundational treasure.
Generally speaking, only sect elders and a select few core disciples were qualified to cultivate it.
Li Fan had only gained the exceptional privilege of cultivating this method by riding the coattails of Senior Sister Zhao's elevation to Dao Child.
Yet at this very moment...
After circulating the method for a few heavenly cycles, not only did his cultivation fail to increase in the slightest, but he could even faintly sense within his heart the locations of several fellow disciples who shared cultivation of the Nine Revolutions Void-Piercing True Incantation.
What was more, the harder he concentrated on that perception, the more an involuntary killing intent surged within his chest.
"What on earth is going on?!" Li Fan was both shocked and terrified, his face instantly turning deathly pale.
"Dharmas cannot be cultivated concurrently... This is the heavens' backlash..." Senior Sister Zhao murmured, gazing up toward the sky. "To think the calamity I foresaw back then would descend in such a manner."
*Dharmas cannot be cultivated concurrently.*
Hearing those words, Li Fan felt a wave of trepidation. With only a moment's reflection, his mind's eye seemed to conjure the inevitable, bloody slaughter about to engulf the cultivation world.
Never since stepping onto the cultivation path had he felt such bone-deep terror.
Yet he was now a Soul Formation cultivator after all, a prominent figure in the wider world.
Though alarmed, he did not panic. Pacing back and forth within the room, Li Fan knitted his brows and sank into thought.
"Only the two of us cultivate the Heaven and Earth Mutual Conquest Rhapsody. Although its efficacy has waned considerably, it hasn't reached the point of complete failure."
"In other words, the more people who cultivate the same method, the stronger the restrictive backlash?"
"It is all but foreseeable that this upheaval will bring catastrophic consequences to virtually every sect beneath the heavens. Disciples number in the tens or even hundreds of thousands—where could any sect find so many different cultivation methods for them all!"
"The Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals won't have it easy either, and their plight might even be far worse than ours! They are, after all, a newly risen organization that lacks the profound foundation of our Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao. With a limited pool of cultivation methods, it is said that the vast majority of their low-ranking members cultivate that Heavenly Net Divine Art." A dark shadow flickered across Li Fan's eyes.
"This is a catastrophe for all cultivators alike."
Li Fan turned to look at Senior Sister Zhao. After hesitating for a moment, he spoke up to remind her, "If dharmas cannot be cultivated concurrently, choices must inevitably be made. Senior Sister, the Heaven-Slaying Dao Scripture you cultivate conflicts with the Sect Master's..."
A chill surfaced on Senior Sister Zhao's face.
Just as she was about to speak, the urgent, crisp chime of bells suddenly echoed from outside the chamber.
"The Sect Master has called an emergency assembly, presumably to discuss how to face this calamity. I'll head over first."
Only after her figure had vanished did her calm voice reach Li Fan's ears.
"Rest assured, I know what I'm doing."
Li Fan looked toward the main sect hall atop the mountain peak with an inscrutable expression.
"Cannot be cultivated concurrently..."
Left alone, he entered the room's secret chamber. Within his mind, Li Fan recalled the contents of several cultivation methods he had obtained back in the ruins of the Profound Heaven Sect.
Aside from the Heaven and Earth Mutual Conquest Rhapsody, there were three other methods: the Eternal Sole Self Incantation, the Soul-Severing Spirit-Illuminating Art, and the Heaven-Grieving Earth-Lamenting Scripture.
Li Fan and Senior Sister Zhao had studied these methods together in private.
However, both the cultivation practices of the Profound Heaven Sect and the phenomena that manifested after cultivating them diverged vastly from contemporary methods. Furthermore, much like the dual-cultivation method, they very likely contained some unknown imprint or restriction.
Hence, over the years, the two had merely committed the texts to memory and destroyed the originals, never actually practicing them.
"If pushed to the brink, my only choice will be to switch to these unique copies from the Profound Heaven Sect." Li Fan was well aware that his standing within the Dadao Sect could never compare to those core disciples; he would certainly be among the first to be discarded. "Fortunately, the new method allows for exceedingly fast cultivation. Even if I start over from scratch, I can swiftly regain my former realm."
"Every sip and bite is predestined by fate. Who would have guessed an encounter from my younger days would play such a decisive role all these years later? With these unique copies in hand, even amid such a Great Cataclysm, as long as I proceed with caution, I should be able to weather it safely." Li Fan's eyes gleamed as he immersed his mind in the methods' contents.
The Dadao Sect's high-level council did not last long. Soon, Sect Master Ji Changxi issued decrees to steady the disciples' hearts.
He bade the disciples not to panic, announcing that the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao had already begun formulating countermeasures.
He then ordered the recall of all Dadao Sect disciples roaming abroad, intending to activate the grand protective array and seal the mountain gate shortly thereafter.
At the same time, the alchemy chambers were ordered to expend all efforts refining longevity-extending pills to prepare for the unexpected.
...
As order after order was promulgated, the disciples' panicked hearts gradually settled.
The Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao had been passed down for millennia. Surely they would find a way to deal with this.
Such was the thought held by the vast majority of disciples.
Three years passed in an intensely suffocating atmosphere.
Three years went by, and despite every attempt made by cultivators across the realm, none had found an answer to the rule that dharmas could not be cultivated concurrently.
Instead, word kept arriving from the outside world of sects large and small warring against one another over cultivation methods, leading to the destruction of countless factions.
The sole piece of good news was that the Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable, who had always been elusive, abruptly showed himself.
He forcefully breached the Taishang Sect and secured the Cultivation Dissolution Chapter from the Taishang Primordial Scripture for the world's cultivators.
With this wondrous technique, even if one were forced to abandon their cultivation method, they would not lose much of their cultivation base.
"I actually feel a bit grateful to Chuanfa," Li Fan remarked with a sigh as he circulated the Soul-Severing Spirit-Illuminating Art, feeling the pure cultivation base in his dantian swiftly elevating his realm.
"Hmph, grateful to him? If he hadn't concocted some new method in the first place, how could there be a heavenly backlash, let alone this descending calamity? He harbors sinister intentions; his heart deserves death!" Senior Sister Zhao sneered coldly.
"According to the Sect Master, back when he first began spreading the new method, the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao investigated the man's background."
"Unfortunately, it seems they failed to uncover anything unusual."
"At the time, they were too arrogant to take Chuanfa seriously. And then..."
"And then there were other matters demanding attention, so they actually ended up overlooking him."
"By the time they came to their senses, the new method had already spread like a raging prairie fire, grown too powerful to be restrained!"
"Utterly abominable!"
Senior Sister Zhao, who had likewise switched cultivation methods, spoke with a frigid voice, a flash of killing intent surfacing in her eyes.
Chapter 515