It was not that Su Yuqing was Mr. Bai.
Rather, the aura she exuded was strikingly similar to Mr. Bai's.
So much so that when Li Fan caught sight of her, he nearly suffered an illusion.
Every move she made seemed completely natural and unforced. Her every frown and smile tugged at the heartstrings.
Even more crucial was the pure benevolence she radiated.
When she extended her palm, a butterfly naturally alighted upon it without sensing the slightest hint of danger.
Even when Su Yuqing curiously poked at its wings with a finger, the butterfly did not take flight. Instead, it fluttered its wings rapidly as if playing with her.
Su Yuqing let out a cheerful giggle. As a gentle breeze brushed past, the flowers in the garden competed to burst into bloom.
Hiding high above and peering down at this scene, Li Fan could not help narrowing his eyes.
“Favored by the Heavenly Dao...
“No, you could say an incarnation of the Heavenly Dao has been born.
“The only difference from Mr. Bai is that this world lacks spiritual energy and has a low energy tier.
“Therefore, what Su Yuqing, this vessel of the Heavenly Dao, can accomplish is extremely limited.
“Unlike Mr. Bai, she doesn't possess earth-shattering might.
“At most, she can call upon the wind and rain or influence weather phenomena.”
Li Fan carefully attuned his senses to Su Yuqing's connection with the Great Li Realm.
“Mm, the Great Li Realm is being suppressed by the Fire Realm. If she herself remains unaware of this and makes no deliberate effort to guide it,
“then all that happens is minor anomalies like this manifesting in her everyday life.
“Who knows what criteria the Heavenly Dao uses to pick its vessels...”
With a light tap of Li Fan's finger, the playing Su Yuqing froze in place, rendered motionless.
A strand of spiritual energy drifted from Li Fan's fingertip, circled once through Su Yuqing's body, and returned.
Li Fan could not help clicking his tongue in praise. “Truly worthy of a soul born of the Heavenly Dao. Even if it is only a pocket world, the natural talent it brings can still be considered somewhat terrifying.
“Only...” A moment later, Li Fan frowned slightly.
“I actually sensed a faint wisp of the Fire Realm's aura. It clashes completely with the Great Li Realm...”
Recalling that not long from now, Su Yuqing would experience a celestial resonance and become pregnant with Su Xiaomei,
and that Su Xiaomei's talent—growing stronger the angrier she became—was clearly far more attuned to the Fire Realm,
Li Fan instantly deduced the probable reason behind all this.
The Great Li Realm and the Fire Realm had collided in the void. With its energy tier one level lower, the Great Li Realm had been pushed to the brink of collapse under the relentless pressure of the Fire Realm.
Its imminent, irreversible demise was practically foreseeable.
Thus, the Heavenly Dao of the Great Li Realm selected a suitable individual to inhabit,
attempting to turn the tide...
No!
A flash of inspiration suddenly crossed Li Fan's mind.
“Even the Heavenly Dao of the world itself cannot contend against the Fire Realm. Even if it possesses a mortal, the outcome won't be any better.
“Yet for the Great Li Heavenly Dao to take such a desperate gamble, it certainly wouldn't do something meaningless.”
The blue light of the Dao Transformation Stone in his mind flickered faintly, and a figure instantly materialized before Li Fan's eyes.
It was none other than He Zhenghao!
“To earn a bit of extra cash, Daoist He comes to Great Li at regular intervals to help mortals smuggle themselves into the Xuanhuang Realm.
“That is the one and only glimmer of survival!
“Was the Great Li Heavenly Dao preparing to flee?
“If no unforeseen accidents occurred, it might really have succeeded.
“Except...”
Li Fan shook his head slightly. “The Great Li Realm and the Fire Realm have already merged very closely. Even the realm's interior has a volcano thrust into it. Thus, the actions of the Great Li Heavenly Dao were detected by the Fire Realm's Heavenly Dao as well.
“Following the trail, it stepped in to meddle.
“And so, shortly thereafter, Su Xiaomei was born.
“The possession escape plan was stillborn! In the end, it still couldn't escape the fate of being annexed.
“Well, assuming I don't intervene.”
A world's Heavenly Dao might not possess a consciousness as intricate as a human's. However, its operation certainly followed an extremely complex mechanism—one that was not necessarily inferior to what humans called sentience.
Making such a move to seek benefit and avoid harm was entirely understandable.
After untangling what was taking place in the Great Li Realm, Li Fan felt a faint stir in his heart.
“If that's how it is for Great Li, what about the Xuanhuang Realm?
“The moment Mr. Bai went from a mortal to reaching Soul Formation overnight was precisely when the new method had begun to spread on a massive scale.
“Sensing this, the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao descended upon Mr. Bai.
“Was it to turn the tide? Or was it...”
Li Fan could not help stroking his chin subconsciously.
He had deduced a conclusion that appeared rather comical.
“Perhaps the purpose of the Heavenly Dao possessing Mr. Bai was the same as the Great Li Realm's—or even like the Vast Sea Pearl before the Crimson Flame Burning Sea.
“They just wanted to pack up and leave.”
Li Fan pondered for a long time. “That truly is a possibility.
“Of course, it might also have hedged its bets on multiple fronts.
“As for what truly happened, perhaps the answer can be found in the Fallen Immortal Realm.”
After contemplating for a long while, Li Fan set the matter aside for the moment.
He looked once more at Su Yuqing, who stood petrified and still.
“Lending you a hand isn't out of the question. It's the perfect chance to test the efficacy of the Immortal-Sitting Art!”
As an advanced version of the Mountain-Sitting Art, the greatest characteristic and distinction of the Immortal-Sitting Art was that the conditions for receiving cultivation feedback were no longer so stringent.
There was no need for the other party to break through a cultivation realm to reap rewards.
Rather, a drop of kindness was repaid with a drop of reward!
It was an instantaneous qualitative transformation.
Even for practitioners who lacked Li Fan's foresight, as long as they were generous and forged wide-ranging connections, they could advance their cultivation at astonishing speed.
“The Xuanhuang Realm is under the watchful eyes of all sorts of old monsters; I cannot act with reckless abandon there.
“On the other hand, the various pocket worlds are far safer.
“The Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals' campaign to conquer myriad pocket worlds in my previous life happened to weed out the more dangerous worlds for me...
“There is enormous potential here!
“The only trouble is that most pocket worlds lack spiritual energy.
“However, I already have an idea of how to solve that.”
Li Fan's eyes flickered with anticipation as he mapped out his plans for this lifetime.
Seven days later.
Without any warning, the Great Li volcano, which had only recently finished erupting, erupted once more.
Rolling black clouds blotted out the sky and sun, making it seem as though the end of days had truly arrived.
This volcanic upheaval was far too violent. Countless volcanic rocks were blasted high into the sky.
Tracing blazing crimson lines, they crossed more than half the world's expanse and rained down toward the capital.
The mortals in the city shivered in terror.
They could do nothing but pray to the heavens for protection.
Yet heaven did not grant their wishes.
After escaping the initial barrage of smaller stones, a massive volcanic boulder, nearly half the size of the capital, came screaming through the air.
If it struck, likely not a single soul in the Great Li capital would survive!
Despair gripped the populace.
Right at that moment...
A sigh suddenly resonated throughout the entire capital.
Immediately following it, an immortal elder of otherworldly bearing appeared high above the Great Li capital in the blink of an eye!
Chapter 804