"Profound Heaven Sect..."
Li Fan gazed at the faceless divine statue before him, his expression flickering between dark and light.
No matter what method he used to test it, the result was always the same: the stone statue appeared utterly ordinary, devoid of even the slightest supernatural power.
Yet an existence so indistinguishable from an ordinary object could somehow block divine sense.
One could only see it with "eyes."
Clearly, the faceless Profound Heaven statue was by no means as simple as it looked.
Furthermore...
In this lifetime, Li Fan had referred to it as the "Compassionate True Immortal of the Mortal Realm" and used it as an intermediary relay for the Immortal Sitting Technique's feedback. Afterward, without exception, an inexplicable sense of "constraint" had welled up in the hearts of all the Mutual Aid Association members who swore oaths before it.
Through indirect inquiries from his clone, Ji Shaoli, it was basically confirmed that this was not an isolated, incidental phenomenon, but a universal one.
One had to know that the oath of admission Li Fan designed was merely a plain passage of text, imbued with no additional mysterious power.
*And it isn't any psychological effect either.*
*Faced with the oaths of cultivators, the Profound Heaven Divine Statue truly produced a peculiar reaction.*
Li Fan narrowed his eyes, his gaze resting upon the statue's blank, featureless face.
Placing this divine statue in the entrance hall of the Myriad Realms Association to be beheld by myriad visitors in the future...
Li Fan was almost certain that unexpected changes would inevitably occur!
*Will the statue awaken a consciousness of its own? Or will it lure the remnants of the Profound Heaven Sect?*
With that in mind, Li Fan nevertheless set the Profound Heaven Divine Statue down decisively.
With a deep rumble, the faceless stone statue settled firmly upon the ground.
Immediately afterward, countless white threads surfaced around it. That was Child Shard No. 2 of the Dissociation Disc—the core of the Spirit Wood Realm's grand formation—swiftly warding and protecting the stone statue with the array.
*With my current strength, I can already crush ordinary Dao Integration cultivators. Add to that this grand array spanning the entire pocket world...*
*Longevity experts cannot enter pocket worlds; within this Spirit Wood Realm, I am invincible.*
A glint of sharpness flashed in Li Fan's eyes. *If they don't come, so be it.*
*If someone truly dares track their way here, I'll let them taste my methods!*
Li Fan had not the slightest doubt that members of the former Profound Heaven Sect still lingered within the Xuanhuang Realm.
After all, as far as he knew, a Dharma King of the Profound Heaven Sect lay slumbering within the ruins of the Purple Cloud Sect in Linlang Province.
In other places, there were bound to be other remnants as well.
Yet Li Fan felt little fear in his heart at this point.
*According to all the information gathered previously, apart from that King of Profound Heaven at the Half-Immortal realm, the other Twelve Dharma Kings of the Profound Heaven Sect possess only the combat power of old method Longevity.*
*...*
With a cold snort in his heart, Li Fan's figure blurred into translucence, and in the next instant, he appeared in the space directly beneath the spirit tree.
This was the absolute core of the entire Spirit Wood Realm, even more important than the spirit tree itself.
It was an isolated space that could be severed from the Spirit Wood Realm at any moment, like casting off a tail to survive.
Outside this chamber, layers upon layers of the Spirit Wood Grand Array enveloped it. The child shard of the Terminal Dissociation Disc had been installed right here.
This was also the secluded cultivation sanctum Li Fan had prepared for himself.
*If I am fully prepared, even fighting an old method Longevity expert isn't necessarily out of the question.*
With that thought, Li Fan retrieved a sphere of light enveloped in seven-colored rainbow radiance from his grotto-heaven.
The moment the sphere of light appeared, the spirit tree above seemed to sense some fatal crisis.
Its branches and foliage rustled despite the lack of wind, and its towering trunk, propping up heaven and earth, shuddered ceaselessly.
This instantly drew the alarmed gazes of the living beings across the Spirit Wood Realm.
Li Fan had not expected the spirit tree's instinctive sense of mortal peril to be so intense.
Frowning slightly, he released layers of Seven-Colored Divine Light around himself to form another barrier.
Only then did the spirit tree's terror subside.
It had not been long since he returned from the Yin Soul Realm, yet the gray mold inside the three-eyed skull had already nearly eroded the storage space housing it.
The storage ring could shatter at any moment.
The Seven-Colored Divine Light originally used to envelop it had also grown dim, shifting from seven brilliant colors into a dull grayish-white.
Its connection to Li Fan had been severed; even if he wanted to replenish its energy, he could not.
Witnessing the destructive power of this mysterious gray mold with his own eyes, Li Fan was secretly astounded.
*Theoretically speaking, this three-eyed skull counts as my possession as well. So when I start over next time, could I choose to retain it?*
*If so, I should be able to figure out its secrets.*
With this in mind, Li Fan took out a frozen strange beast ransacked from the Imperial Treasury.
Carefully wrapping it in rainbow light, he merged it into the seven-colored sphere of light ahead.
As if sensing the aura of life, the gray mold residing inside the three-eyed skull suddenly grew restless.
When Li Fan withdrew the Seven-Colored Divine Light around the frozen beast, he clearly observed the gray mold squirming like a living creature.
Yet the skull itself seemed to serve as a set of shackles for it.
Just as the mold was about to spread beyond the skull, it suddenly snapped back inside.
During this process, Li Fan closely watched the dark gold patterns on the skull's surface for any changes.
To his slight disappointment, however, the mysterious patterns did not stir in the slightest.
*Could my conjecture be wrong? Is this three-eyed skull truly dead?*
Exercising extreme caution, Li Fan maneuvered the frozen beast closer to the skull.
The gray mold became increasingly frenzied.
It drifted erratically within the skull, seemingly ready to pounce viciously at any moment.
Yet it also seemed reluctant to part with something, always pulling back at the critical juncture.
Watching this scene, Li Fan fell into deep thought.
Under his mental control, the frozen beast gradually regained vitality.
Its aura of life surged abruptly.
The gray mold ultimately seemed unable to resist the temptation. From the large mass, a portion suddenly vanished.
There were no traces of movement.
Rather, as if space itself had been corroded, a jaundiced, macula-like void formed.
An instant later, the beast that had just regained its vigor faded completely, like a bleached photograph.
It then turned to ashes, drifting down slowly.
Amidst those drifting flakes of gray, Li Fan sharply spotted a fresh, small patch of gray mold!
Having waited for so long, he naturally would not let such an opportunity slip by.
Surging out like a bolt of silk, a brilliant rainbow swarmed forward, enveloping and sealing the newly emerged gray mold in layer upon layer within a fraction of an instant.
Having finally gained freedom, only to see itself sealed once more, the gray mold flew into a violent rage and slammed against the Seven-Colored Divine Light, seemingly attempting to corrode the radiance away.
Yet with his keen discernment, how could Li Fan be deceived by its petty tricks?
While keeping the feinting main body locked down, he simultaneously released boundless radiance, sealing another nearly imperceptible speck of gray tucked away in a corner of the space nearby.
*Playing petty mind games in front of me—how ridiculous.*
Gazing at the three spheres of seven-colored light before him, Li Fan thought to himself.
Chapter 884