Destruction and creation had always been two entirely different matters.
Powerful cultivators could easily move mountains and boil seas. Yet shaping rivers and mountains out of nothing with one's bare hands was incalculably more difficult.
Many cultivators appeared capable of such feats on the surface, but they were merely relocating earth and water from elsewhere in the world to another place.
What Xu Bai had just done in the Beast Seed Realm, however, was fundamentally different.
It was creating something from nothing with a casual gesture.
Or rather, reshaping heaven and earth.
As Dao Integration experts, Liu San and Fang Zaiji saw this with absolute clarity.
The mountains, rivers, and trees that had abruptly sprung forth in the Beast Seed Realm were not part of this pocket world's natural evolution under its Heavenly Dao.
Yet Xu Bai had forcefully rewritten the underlying laws, compelling the world to undergo corresponding transformations.
It went beyond mere physical matter, directly altering the fundamental laws themselves.
The rumblings echoing across the Beast Seed Realm gradually subsided. Under the complex gazes of Liu San and Fang Zaiji, Xu Bai awoke from his epiphany.
Noticing the eyes fixed upon him, Xu Bai started slightly.
He then acutely perceived the altered landscape of the Beast Seed Realm and came to an understanding.
*To execute it naturally with the body while still in the process of comprehension... Mind aligned with heaven, seamless and entirely organic.*
*Remarkable!*
Naturally, what Li Fan praised from the bottom of his heart was not himself, but this avatar.
Or rather, the wisp of Mr. Bai's divine charm that endowed this avatar with all its extraordinary traits.
With a shift of his thoughts, every scene that had transpired across the Beast Seed Realm during his epiphany flashed through his mind in an instant.
Xu Bai reflected thoughtfully. "Using the hand as a brush to reshape heaven and earth. This divine ability can be called 【Heaven Altering】."
The initial inspiration for Heaven Altering came from the Reverse Five Elements Creation and Annihilation Sword.
Back when Li Fan had gained enlightenment into that divine ability from witnessing celestial wonders—such as the Root of Heaven and Earth weaving the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens and the Great Annihilation from the convergence of the five elements—he had been able to perform rudimentary "creation," condensing stray spiritual energy scattered in the air back into spirit stones.
Yet the moment the things he wished to create out of nothing grew complex, Li Fan found himself helpless.
This time, however, he had achieved the feat of transforming the world at will with a wave of his hand precisely because of the seventeen-petaled Tianling Flower.
Upon the petals of the Tianling Flower, the mountains and rivers of Tianling Province were depicted. As the avatar Xu Bai examined them closely, he felt as though he had entered the petals in person, soaring swiftly through the skies of the ancient Tianling Province. The landscape shifted rapidly before his eyes, laying out the entire process of how mountains and rivers came into being across the mortal realm.
To put it in simpler terms, heaven and earth had acted as a master, demonstrating the process of mountain and river creation firsthand to Xu Bai upon the Tianling Flower.
Thus, caught in his epiphany, Xu Bai had followed along faithfully. Imitating and tracing the teacher that was heaven and earth, he had unconsciously completed an identical "copy" in the Beast Seed Realm.
*The avatar Xu Bai can cast Heaven Altering without the slightest impediment. But for my true body to master it completely, repeated attempts will be necessary.*
Strictly speaking, beyond the confines of the Beast Seed Realm, the current Heaven Altering was far more ornamental than practical.
Because Li Fan was currently only at the Nascent Soul realm, the influence he could exert upon the greater world remained extremely limited.
Yet this was nonetheless a divine ability with limitless potential.
The greatest application Li Fan could envision at present was crafting the "Marrow of Heaven and Earth" himself.
As an indispensable requirement for advancing to Soul Formation, the Marrow of Heaven and Earth was the driving force behind changes in the world.
"Tianling Approaching Thousand Waters," "Taihua Approaching Thousand Mountains"...
If a Nascent Soul cultivator wished to rely on such phenomena to break through to the Soul Formation realm, they first had to observe an impending transformation within a province.
Only then could they extract and absorb this "driving force" to complete their advancement.
In the Congyun Sea, Nascent Soul cultivators numbered in the hundreds, yet Soul Formation cultivators comprised only two: Ziyun and Hongxi.
This chasm in numbers was more than enough to illustrate the sheer difficulty involved.
To predict and observe a transformation of heaven and earth in advance was already an immense hurdle for ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators. To elude the covetous eyes of other Nascent Soul cultivators and absorb the Marrow of Heaven and Earth all alone was as difficult as scaling the heavens.
Yet for Li Fan, who possessed the Heaven Altering divine ability, he could easily trigger a transformation of heaven and earth in some remote, uninhabited corner of the world.
He could then siphon that power and accomplish his breakthrough with ease.
And if he were to be a little bolder...
Mass-producing Soul Formation cultivators was not out of the question either!
Dao Integration cultivators were nearly all rulers of an entire province, while Soul Formation cultivators formed the backbone of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
If an organization boasting dozens or hundreds of Soul Formation cultivators suddenly emerged, neither the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals nor the Five Elders Association would be able to treat them lightly.
Of course, all of this was predicated on the condition that the process of Heaven Altering channeling the transformative forces of the Xuanhuang Realm would not be detected by powerful experts.
Doing it stealthily once or twice might escape notice. But large-scale anomalies would inevitably expose him.
When that time came, drawing the gaze of Dao Integration experts—or even Longevity Heavenly Venerables—would be only natural.
Therefore, at present, how to execute Heaven Altering within the Xuanhuang Realm while ensuring his own safety required Li Fan to test the waters step by step.
"Congratulations, Young Master, on making further strides upon the Great Dao!"
Seeing Li Fan awaken, Liu San flew forward to offer congratulations, a faint look of delight on his face.
As he spoke, he did not forget to casually seal the surrounding space to prevent exposing the fact that Xu Bai was Li Fan's avatar.
The Eye of Shared Sight operated by Fang Zaiji also drifted over. "Taking mountains and rivers as the canvas, the laws of the world as ink, and divine ability as the brush...
"Sect Master, you truly are extraordinary!
"I recall that back in the day, the Divine Brush Sect had a similar divine ability. What a pity that soon after Chu Youhong created that technique, the Divine Brush Sect suffered total extermination..."
"That move..."
Liu San's cheek twitched. Without waiting for Fang Zaiji to finish, he waved his wide sleeve and stowed the golden eyeball away.
Fang Zaiji's voice cut off abruptly, and silence fell upon their surroundings.
Liu San then relayed Jiao Xiuyuan's terms to Xu Bai.
"Daoist Jiao still won't loose his falcon until he sees the hare, as always." His reaction was well within Xu Bai's expectations.
Extending his left hand, Xu Bai summoned the seventeen-petaled Tianling Flower into his palm.
Xu Bai held the flower and smiled.
Though not a single petal was missing from the ice-sealed Tianling Flower, a transparent petal reflecting "the morning sun slanting over the mountain ranges" materialized in Xu Bai's right hand.
"This is a replica I copied from the Primordial Tianling Flower. It possesses less than a tenth of the original's charm, but that will suffice...
"Elder Liu, deliver this to Jiao Xiuyuan. He will understand the value of the Tianling Flower on his own."
Xu Bai spoke calmly.
Liu San solemnly shielded the transparent petal in his palm, nodded, and flew off.
*I need to pick up the pace and finish this before the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals officially proclaims the arrival of the Era of Great Exploration.*
*Otherwise, once everyone runs off to explore the white mist, who will be left to buy my Tianling Flowers?*
Muttering to himself, Xu Bai swung his hand like a brush, painting one replicated "Tianling petal" after another into the air.
Chapter 702