Shuo Feng was truly swift and efficient.
He summoned a female cultivator in a pale purple gown and gave a few instructions. Soon after, Li Fan learned that he had officially become an intermediate guest elder of the Xuan Clan.
His starting merit level within the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals had been elevated to Yan Thirty-Five.
At the same time, an entirely new privilege was unlocked: once every century, he could freely call upon the Heavenly Profound Mirror to deduce and advance one of his divine abilities.
"Privileges go to waste if you don't use them. Brother Li, you can seize this chance to push the might of that Silk Pulling Life Reduction technique a step further. Though experiencing it firsthand proved it's already formidable, it certainly hasn't reached perfection yet. There is still room for improvement." Shuo Feng stretched, his bones popping in a rapid clatter. Seeing Li Fan appear slightly lost in thought, he offered a reminder.
"Once you take that step forward, let's fight our fill again!" Among his peers, very few cultivators could keep pace with his cultivation progress. More often than not, it took little time for him to leave them far behind, until they no longer had the strength to stand against him. Qualified opponents like Li Fan were scarce to begin with.
Moreover, Li Fan could even surprise him from time to time. This left Shuo Feng thoroughly satisfied with him.
"May I ask what difference there is between this deduction function and the one provided in the Heavenly Profound Treasure Mirror?" Li Fan asked, looking at the prompt sent by the Lesser Heavenly Profound Mirror in the arena. "Earlier, in Sit and Debate the Dao, I tried using the power of the Heavenly Profound Mirror to deduce the continuation of a divine ability. But the expense was outrageous—a bottomless pit. I had no choice but to abandon it halfway."
"The Heavenly Profound Treasure Mirror is merely a branch of the Heavenly Profound Mirror. While its various functions are already wondrous beyond words to ordinary cultivators, they still fall quite short compared to the true might of the Heavenly Profound Mirror itself," Shuo Feng said with a smile.
"For the same divine ability, the continuation deduced by the Heavenly Profound Treasure Mirror versus the original Heavenly Profound Mirror might not be an insurmountable chasm, but there is definitely a qualitative gap."
"However..." The smile on Shuo Feng's face abruptly faded.
"That is only the difference between the Heavenly Profound Treasure Mirror and the original Heavenly Profound Mirror for now. Give it a little more time..."
"And that will be hard to say."
"Perhaps, when the time comes, every branch mirror in the world will be no different from its true body." Shuo Feng's expression turned inscrutable. Thinking of something unknown, his countenance grew somewhat solemn.
Li Fan, however, caught the underlying meaning in Shuo Feng's words.
His heart instantly pounded.
So the privilege of merit level Yan Thirty-Five was actually to borrow the true body of the Heavenly Profound Mirror to deduce the continuation of a divine ability!
Did that not mean he would finally have another chance to lay eyes on the real Heavenly Profound Mirror?
The last time he had seen it was during the training for constructing the Heavenly Profound Spirit Lock.
In that vast expanse filled with black and white lines, the trainees, including Li Fan, had observed up close the birth and encapsulation of a Heavenly Profound newborn mirror.
*In this life, the Heavenly Profound Mirror has already completed its preliminary transformation. I wonder what changes have taken place within it,* Li Fan thought, his mind racing.
By this point, Shuo Feng had recovered from his contemplation. He added a reminder: "As for that divine ability deduction function in the Sit and Debate the Dao section..."
"You had best not try it again in the future."
"Even I only dared to try my luck back when I was young and headstrong. Now that I have sobered up considerably, I'm unwilling to throw things away for nothing," Shuo Feng said, sounding uncharacteristically wistful.
Hearing this, Li Fan was slightly taken aback. "Why is that? Could there really be something in this world that even Brother Shuo cannot afford?"
Shuo Feng waved his hand and explained, "There is a difference between theory and reality when it comes to divine abilities."
"When the Heavenly Profound Treasure Mirror and the original Heavenly Profound Mirror deduce a divine ability, they establish a plausible ceiling. For instance, your Silk Pulling Life Reduction, when cast at the Nascent Soul stage, can at most inflict harm upon Soul Formation cultivators, and perhaps exert a slight effect on Dao Integration cultivators."
"However, before a Longevity Heavenly Venerable, it is guaranteed to lose all efficacy. This is the boundary of the vast majority of divine abilities in this world."
"No matter how brilliant or transcendent a genius may be, no one in the Xuanhuang Realm can create a divine ability capable of endangering a Longevity Heavenly Venerable while possessing cultivation weaker than the Longevity realm."
"That is the actual, practical truth."
Shuo Feng paused, looking up toward the sky.
After a moment of silence, he suddenly asked, "Then, theoretically speaking, does a divine ability below the Longevity realm that can affect a Longevity Heavenly Venerable truly exist?"
"There surely must be one in this world." A flicker of yearning crossed Shuo Feng's eyes.
"Yet that is perhaps already close to the level of legendary immortal arts. Forget about the likes of us—even for the Heavenly Profound Mirror, deducing an existence of that caliber is extraordinarily difficult. Beyond consuming most of its own computational power, achieving success would probably require a sliver of sheer luck."
"The deduction function in Sit and Debate the Dao simply has no ceiling set. As long as it could theoretically exist, there is a chance it can be deduced. That is why the contribution points required for every deduction are unimaginably astronomical figures. And the further along it goes, the more absurd it becomes."
"As for the outcome..."
Shuo Feng offered a mildly mocking smile. "In all the years since the Sit and Debate the Dao section was created, it has lured countless gamblers who threw themselves in recklessly, not even hesitating to bankrupt themselves. The total number of deductions performed by the Heavenly Profound Mirror has long exceeded counting."
"Yet I have never heard of anyone who succeeded."
Li Fan listened with a stunned expression, shaking his head repeatedly. "I had no idea there was such a catch to it. Had I known earlier, I definitely wouldn't have gambled on it."
"Back then, when you nearly killed me with a single sword slash, Brother Shuo, I knew I was hardly a person blessed with great fortune," Li Fan remarked with a sigh.
Recalling their first encounter, Shuo Feng found it amusing as well and burst into hearty laughter.
"By the way, Brother Shuo, do you carry a Heavenly Profound Treasure Mirror on you?" Li Fan suddenly asked. "Rumors have been circulating recently that the Alliance seems to be pushing for every cultivator to generate their own treasure mirror?"
A shadow fell across Shuo Feng's face.
"Heavenly Profound Treasure Mirror..."
"Heh, I might very well have been the first person in the entire Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals to wear one."
"Best not to mention it! Just thinking about it makes me irritable!"
"Brother Li, fight me one more round!"
As he spoke, rays of sword light burst forth from Shuo Feng's body, slashing toward Li Fan with piercing sharpness.
Among them, there was distinctly a trace of lingering resentment.
Li Fan's heart tightened. Not daring to be careless, he immediately focused his mind to face the onslaught.
***
Within the Valley of Longevity.
Fang Zaiji, who had been ordered to recruit disciples from the outside world, had now accomplished his task completely.
Upon the plaza before the sect's main hall stood a crowd of children around five or six years old.
They glanced around timidly, their faces stricken with terror.
Quite a few even broke out into wailing tears on the spot, triggering a chain reaction.
The entire courtyard fell into utter chaos.
"Mr. Fang, are these the 'good seedlings' you brought back?"
Xu Bai looked at Fang Zaiji and asked.
Chapter 761