Inside the Boundary-Splitting Divine Weapon.
Li Fan watched as the furious expression on Ji Wangxian's face abruptly froze. Not just him—the entire Xuanhuang Realm seemed to have fallen into stillness.
An instant later, the images began to play at hundreds, thousands of times normal speed.
Li Fan saw several figures arrive late and clash with Ji Wangxian in a chaotic brawl. In the end, Ji Wangxian retreated in disarray, seemingly heavily wounded.
Inside this body of "Ji Zhaoxuan," a sudden clarity and profound ease washed through mind and body alike.
Then Li Fan saw that, perhaps due to the tearing of the Xuanhuang Realm by the Boundary-Splitting Divine Weapon, Mount Tianjian—which had originally been rich in spiritual energy and ideally suited for cultivators to dwell—turned exceptionally perilous. Wind and thunder flashed, and black fissures tore open space from time to time, identical to the scenes Li Fan had witnessed in the Great Boundary-Splitting Maelstrom in the real world.
And then...
Li Fan faintly caught sight of a solitary figure in white, standing apart from the world before the boundary-splitting ruins, silent and wordless. Then, with a gentle wave of the hand, it was as if a wound were suddenly smoothed over. The anomalies gradually subsided, and space slowly stabilized.
Having done all this, Mr. Bai did not linger, soon vanishing without a trace.
After that, the scenes shifted with ever-increasing speed.
Cultivators from various sects arrived to carve up the Heavenly Sword Sect's territory. With none willing to yield, a massive war broke out.
A catastrophe descended, and countless cultivators slaughtered one another.
The sky turned dim, littered everywhere with the bones of cultivators. For a long time, no living soul was to be seen.
...
"Are these..."
"Scenes of the future?" As the images twisted into a chaotic blur and faded from sight, Li Fan looked toward Situ Yao beside him and asked, dazed.
Situ Yao still stared intently at the images beyond the divine weapon. Only after a while did he pull his gaze away.
He raised his wine gourd and drained it in a single draught. "Not the future. The present."
Li Fan's gaze narrowed.
Outside, the view turned pitch-black, like a lost traveler walking into the dead of night. What awaited the Heavenly Sword Sect was an utterly unknown fate.
"Senior Brother, can we truly succeed in splitting the boundary?" In the darkness, countless ferocious beasts seemed to lurk, poised to devour anyone in sight. Fear and unease welled up unbidden in his chest, prompting Li Fan to ask.
Situ Yao took another deep swig. "Who knows? After all, we're probably the first ones to slip away from the Xuanhuang Realm.
"If it fails, it's just death at worst. If we stayed behind, eight out of ten we wouldn't live long anyway."
As if echoing Situ Yao's words, the interior of the Boundary-Splitting Divine Weapon plunged suddenly into darkness as well.
Then it fell into absolute stillness.
Like a mirror, it shattered into fragments inch by inch.
Returning to the aberration space, Li Fan looked at the three spheres of light before him, which had now grown dim, and sank into deep thought.
"A single breath inside the Boundary-Splitting Divine Weapon, yet decades or even a century passed outside. This is remarkably similar to the Immortal Ruins. Indeed, only a power that similarly warps space-time can break free from the shackles of the Immortal Ruins."
After pondering for a long while, Li Fan finally returned to the real world.
Having fulfilled Ji Zhaoxuan's long-cherished wish, there ought to be some reward.
Yet after inspecting his gains, Li Fan was somewhat surprised.
It was not the Breath-Condensing Sword Technique Ji Zhaoxuan practiced, but a pile of sword embryo prime stones.
A strange look crossed Li Fan's face. Upon counting them, he found three hundred and twenty-six in total.
He picked one up at random and held it in his hand.
In a trance, insights regarding the sword path flooded into his mind in an endless stream. Moreover, Li Fan felt a faint sense of familiarity, as though he had once grasped it before.
"These must be the sword embryo prime stones that Ji Zhaoxuan absorbed in actual history. They hold the true intent of the sword path derived from [Sword]. To a sword cultivator, they might be invaluable. But to me, they are of little use.
"With a humanoid enlightenment machine like Xu Bai around, give him an ordinary wooden sword and he can comprehend it himself. It will just take a bit of time at most.
"On the other hand, the material of the prime stones themselves is quite good. Being forging material for the Boundary-Splitting Divine Weapon, they might also be used to reinforce the True Xuanhuang Cauldron, helping it hold out a little longer when charging into the Immortal Ruins in the future."
Li Fan put away half and tossed the remaining hundred-plus stones to Fang Zaiji.
Fang Zaiji was fully engrossed in his research on the [End Stone Platter] at the moment, directing Jiang Yushan and Liu San as they cautiously carved into the stone platter. He put the sword embryo prime stones away offhandedly without taking much of a look.
Li Fan observed from the side for a while, not disturbing them.
He then returned to his secret chamber.
"In the Fallen Immortal Realm, the size of the harvest is closely tied to resolving the lingering obsession. These sword embryo prime stones are utterly ordinary in terms of value within the [Heavenly Sword Sect Sword Forging] scenario. It seems the owner of the obsession sustaining that space-time was not Ji Zhaoxuan."
Still, having gained a few clues, Li Fan turned it over in his mind for a bit before setting it aside for now.
He took out Huangfu Song's two relics: the [Dissociation Disc] and the [Heaven-Measuring Mirror].
First, he scrutinized the Heaven-Measuring Mirror.
It had already turned into an ordinary mirror; no matter how his divine consciousness probed it, there was not the slightest reaction.
"No wonder, even though Huangfu Song borrowed it from Ji Hongdao, Ji Hongdao made no mention of taking it back when we went to the Cosmos Courtyard to report Huangfu Song's death. It must be just like the Heavenly Profound sub-mirrors of the various provinces—once the Empowerment is revoked, it loses all its wondrous properties."
Li Fan turned it over in his hands, feeling a slight touch of regret.
Then he focused his attention on the [Dissociation Disc].
Compared to when it was first redeemed, the light of the Dissociation Disc in Li Fan's hand seemed slightly dimmer.
The difference was minuscule; without careful observation, one could easily overlook it.
Yet Li Fan knew this was because the other eight Dissociation Discs had already begun to iterate and evolve.
His own...
No, Huangfu Song's disc remained in its initial state, which meant its abilities were gradually being absorbed by the other discs.
"Oh, Huangfu, Huangfu. It's not that I didn't want to preserve it for you—it's fading on its own. You can't blame me."
Murmuring to himself, Li Fan clasped the Dissociation Disc in his palm.
In an instant, the Dao Transformation Stone crystal in his mind radiated a brilliant blue glow, pouring countless basic standard formations into the Dissociation Disc.
According to the standard nurturing process, a cultivator had to first sketch out the basic framework of a formation in their mind before infusing it with divine thought. Basic formations were a matter of a single thought for a formation master, taking virtually no effort.
However, as formations grew increasingly complex, the expenditure of mental energy and time would escalate accordingly.
Yet Li Fan, possessing the secret art [Spirit Unity with Dao Transformation], had no such trouble.
Ever since he had studied array formations under Zhang Zhiliang, the myriad different formations he had encountered were all preserved with absolute clarity in the Dao Transformation Stone. He could call upon them at will without needing to recall or sketch them out himself.
At first, this advantage would not be particularly noticeable.
The further along it went, the more complex the formations required for the Dissociation Disc's evolution would become, and the disparity would slowly reveal itself.
Of course, those capable of redeeming a Dissociation Disc in this lifetime were all dragons and phoenixes among men.
The remaining eight individuals surely had their own secret arts.
Li Fan would not underestimate any of them.
Besides Spirit Unity with Dao Transformation, he possessed other assets as well.
Chapter 736