"Soon."
"Just wait a little longer."
Amid the Heavenly Physician's murmurs, all the anomalies within the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace—including Hanhai—instantly reverted to their original states.
Just as they had appeared throughout these past tens of millions of years when undisturbed.
As for the cultivators adventuring within the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace, including Li Fan's clone, all were reduced to dust and obliterated under the gentle press of the Heavenly Physician's hands.
There was not the slightest room for resistance.
In truth, the clone Zhou Qing'ang did not even know how he had died.
Li Fan's true body merely felt the Heavenly Physician's colossal hands pressing down before his connection to the clone was severed.
To truly destroy you had nothing to do with you.
"Phew." Despite losing his clone, Li Fan let out a long breath and relaxed.
"It seems I gambled right. Even as mighty as the Heavenly Physician is, he would never imagine that the ant he just crushed underfoot was secretly plotting against him."
Yet at this moment, there was no trace of smugness on Li Fan's face.
For the true strength the Heavenly Physician had displayed in this battle had reached a baffling, unfathomable level.
In Li Fan's original conception, even if Yufu was half-mad with fragmented memories, and the Master had become an anomaly with greatly diminished power, the two working together should have at least caused the Heavenly Physician some trouble.
Yet the result...
The disparity in strength between them and the Heavenly Physician was like that between Li Fan and them—separated, it seemed, by several entire major realms!
They were not a match for the Heavenly Physician even for a single exchange.
So much so that Li Fan's scheme to cause him trouble had become nothing more than a humiliating joke!
Yufu and the Master were unquestionably top-tier figures beneath Longevity. Yet in the Heavenly Physician's hands, they had been toyed with like insects.
Such power...
"Has the Heavenly Physician already advanced to the Longevity realm?"
Li Fan could not help but wonder.
Otherwise, there was simply no explaining why the Heavenly Physician was so formidable.
"What principle did he defy?"
"Silently, unbeknownst to outsiders. Could it be him who claimed the principle of life and death, causing Heavenly Venerable Blue Feather's failed ascension?"
"And what exactly is the Heavenly Physician's relationship with the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals?"
"Come to think of it, I have never seen the Heavenly Physician take action on behalf of the Alliance. Even in my previous life, during the fiercest clashes between the Profound Net and the rebel cultivators..."
Too many doubts flooded Li Fan's mind at once.
Li Fan had originally thought he could at least test the Heavenly Physician's depths this time.
Who would have guessed that the more he learned about him, the more bottomless the man seemed.
"Before reaching Dao Integration, it is best not to provoke him."
Li Fan sighed, reluctantly making up his mind.
Even with the wondrous treasure True Reversion in his possession, before such absolute disparity in power, he could only bide his time and avoid the spearhead.
After all, if one walked in the dark for too long, one could not expect to be lucky enough to escape his notice every time.
Suppressing all the lingering reluctance, shock, and suspicion, it took nearly half a day for Li Fan's mind to gradually settle.
Replaying in his mind everything his clone had seen and heard in the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace, new thoughts stirred within him.
"Tianyi—the Heavenly Physician—along with Tianjue and Tianyu..."
"All their names begin with 'Tian,' and all are old acquaintances. The people of the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace collectively addressed them as Venerables."
"Clearly, they share a common origin."
"The Profound Heaven Sect?"
Based on the clues and information currently in hand, Li Fan almost instinctively arrived at this deduction.
Yet in his heart, he faintly felt something was amiss.
In Senior Sister Zhao's illusion, the two had discussed at length that ancient colossus that once unified the Xuanhuang Realm—the Profound Heaven Sect.
The Profound Heaven Sect usurped Heaven's mandate and wielded Heaven's authority to suppress all living beings under the sky.
The leaders of the sect often styled themselves as Heavenly Kings or Dharma Kings.
Yet the Heavenly Physician and his cohort...
They seemed to revere Heaven as supreme.
Among the sounds of chanting accompanying the Master, phrases like "Solemn is Heaven's Law, honoring rules and keeping order" and "Heaven's Law cannot be broken" had been repeated continuously.
It did not seem to share the same origin as the Profound Heaven Sect Li Fan knew.
"With cultivation like theirs, they couldn't have just sprung from a crack in a rock without leaving a single trace."
"Just what..."
Li Fan could not help falling into deep thought.
***
Within the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace, an earth-shattering event had unfolded.
Yet outside the palace, the Congyun Sea appeared completely oblivious to it.
Aside from the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace ruins vanishing mysteriously once more shortly after surfacing, it produced no other effect upon the Congyun Sea.
However, the top powerhouses of the Xuanhuang Realm were not limited to the Heavenly Physician alone.
Though ordinary cultivators could neither see nor hear it, the several Longevity Heavenly Venerables of the Five Elders Association would undoubtedly have sensed something.
As a great storm begins with the rustling of duckweed, Li Fan had recently spent a massive amount of contribution points gathering information usually overlooked by ordinary people.
He had finally uncovered some clues.
First, following the great battle of Tianling Province, all the cultivators stationed in the border provinces within the Five Elders Association's territory were recalled within just a few days.
It was as if they had truly abandoned all intention of waging war for a long time to come.
Furthermore, the Five Elders Association had actually taken the initiative to send an envoy proposing a program of friendly exchange between the two sides.
They claimed that because the Five Elders Association and the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals had opposed each other and been isolated for so long, they had grown unfamiliar with one another.
They suggested using this rare post-war opportunity to exchange what each lacked and engage in friendly interaction.
As for this proposal, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals had not yet given a definitive official response.
Nevertheless, the Five Elders Association's attitude was truly thought-provoking.
One had to understand that, relying on their five Longevity Heavenly Venerables, the Five Elders Association had always been utterly unyielding when justified and stubbornly unreasonable when they could get away with it.
Yet now, they had unprecedentedly taken the initiative to propose friendly exchanges and ease tensions between the two factions.
Cultivators in the dark assumed the Alliance had beaten the Five Elders Association into submission during the battle of Tianling Province.
Li Fan, however, knew this was certainly because the Heavenly Physician's actions had been noticed by the five Heavenly Venerables.
"The previous war may have been intended in part to test whether Chuanfa was still around."
"While it didn't draw out Chuanfa, it caused the Heavenly Physician to reveal himself."
"For the Five Elders Association to be so wary, could it be that the Heavenly Physician really has reached the Longevity realm?"
Regarding this, Li Fan still harbored some doubt.
According to his rudimentary understanding of the Longevity realm, after defying the principles of Heaven and Earth, one became part of Heaven and Earth itself.
On a Longevity Heavenly Venerable, the aura of the Heavenly Dao should be extraordinarily prominent.
Compared to cultivators, they were like an entirely different species, their difference unmistakable.
Yet in the few times Li Fan had seen the Heavenly Physician, there was no trace of the Heavenly Dao.
Instead, his human aura remained exceptionally thick.
In short, the Heavenly Physician did not yet look like a powerhouse of the Longevity realm.
Chapter 599