Though his mindset was sometimes erratic, Grand Preceptor Li possessed a great virtue: he never clung obstinately to his pride and was always willing to correct his mistakes.
Since the Profound Heaven Sect's foundations were somewhat beyond imagination, he would simply alter his plans and refrain from provoking them for now.
With this thought, Li Fan intended to use the Seven-Colored Divine Light to seal this faceless divine statue once again.
However...
Just as he was about to do so, Li Fan's movements suddenly froze.
For at that very moment, the statue seemed to come alive.
Even though the stone statue possessed no eyes, Li Fan felt with absolute clarity that it had cast a glance at him.
Li Fan could not help but flee backward a considerable distance in an instant, preparing to invoke True Reversion in his mind.
Only after several full breaths, seeing that everything remained tranquil and no anomalies occurred, did Li Fan slowly approach once more.
The faceless stone statue was just as it had been when he placed it.
It seemed as though that fleeting glance just now had been nothing more than his own hallucination.
Li Fan even reviewed the scenes recorded by the Dao Transformation Stone in his mind.
The stone statue within stood quietly, just like an ordinary mortal object.
There was nothing unusual about it.
"Could it be that I truly saw wrong?" Li Fan was somewhat suspicious.
After a moment of deliberation, he ultimately decided not to keep this hidden danger around.
Unleashing streaks of Seven-Colored Divine Light, he moved to seal and stow away the faceless divine statue.
Yet immediately afterward, Li Fan's expression changed drastically.
For though the stone statue stood right before his eyes, it seemed as if it did not exist at all!
The Seven-Colored Divine Light sealed only empty air, returning completely empty-handed.
Li Fan was slightly stunned.
He reached out to touch the stone statue with his hand.
The icy touch was incomparably real.
Yet when Li Fan's thoughts stirred, intending to lock onto it with his divine sense and store it into his storage space, the space occupied by the statue was completely empty within the perception of his divine sense.
It was simply impossible to do.
This bizarre scene had already exceeded Li Fan's comprehension.
"Could it be that the King of Profound Heaven's lingering spirit refuses to disperse?" Li Fan's expression shifted unpredictably.
Li Fan could be certain that prior to this, no such mutation had occurred with the statue.
Yet following that glance just now, some mysterious transformation seemed to have taken place upon the statue, causing it to enter this peculiar state of existing and yet not existing.
"It truly wasn't my imagination. Even the Dao Transformation Stone couldn't record it..."
Li Fan's face darkened instantly.
At this moment, he finally understood what it meant to invite a deity easily but find it hard to send them away.
This stone statue actually remained rooted here, refusing to leave.
It was truly as if it had made itself at home here in the Spirit Wood Realm, the headquarters of the Myriad Realms Association.
In the base he had painstakingly built, a bomb had been planted that could not be dismantled—and worst of all, this bomb was one that Li Fan had personally placed on a passing whim...
Li Fan's face twitched at once.
Just as he was considering whether to abandon the Spirit Wood Realm and start afresh elsewhere—
"May the Compassionate True Immortal of the Mortal Realm bless us, so that our Great Li's expedition into the Fire Realm will proceed smoothly without incident..."
A melodious woman's voice suddenly echoed within the grand hall.
Li Fan's heart could not help but skip a beat.
Looking around, he found no source for the sound.
Yet the praying voice did not vanish; instead, it continued in a ceaseless murmur.
From Su Yuqing of the Li Realm at first, to He Zhenghao, Kou Hong, Dao Xuanzi, and others later on, the voices came in swift succession, emerging one after another.
Only after careful inspection did Li Fan discover that these voices were actually appearing directly inside his own mind!
Moreover, whenever he focused his attention on a particular voice, scenes corresponding to that voice would soon manifest as well.
As if present on the scene himself, Li Fan could sense the petitioner's condition.
He could even...
Li Fan faintly sensed that if he wished, he could even respond to these petitioners.
"What is going on?"
Never had he known that he possessed an ability almost identical to that of legendary deities.
Li Fan was thoroughly astonished.
He abruptly looked toward the faceless divine statue standing silently in the hall, knowing full well that this had to be its doing.
"Back then, I fabricated the persona of the Compassionate True Immortal of the Mortal Realm and used the faceless stone statue as an intermediary to establish a link between myself and the members of the Myriad Realms Association.
"Because of that, I could receive the feedback of cultivation whenever their cultivation progressed...
"Yet that was purely the effect of the Immortal Sitting Technique, and limited only to that.
"Now..."
Li Fan narrowed his eyes, his expression grave.
Although there seemed to be no immediate crisis for now, he was already contemplating in his mind whether to invoke True Reversion.
Though he did not understand the underlying principle, it was abundantly clear that behind this faceless divine statue lay a power far beyond his comprehension.
Li Fan silently chanted "True Reversion" in his mind.
The prompt for True Reversion popped up in an instant:
"Virtually simulate the current scene and return to the anchor?"
The surrounding scene blurred and turned ethereal in response.
"The use of True Reversion has not been affected...
"As long as I wish, I can restart at any time."
Li Fan pondered and ultimately chose no.
It was not that he had been influenced by some mysterious power and could not make the decision to revert.
Rather, no danger had actually occurred yet, and he had not even uncovered the source behind all these anomalies...
If he were scared into reverting directly like this, it would simply be far too humiliating!
"Even the True Immortal within the Immortal Ruins is someone I have looked upon face-to-face.
"What is a mere stone statue compared to that..."
Li Fan snorted coldly in his mind and forced himself to calm down.
He focused his mind on the divine statue and the numerous voices echoing within his head.
Li Fan discovered that the owners of these voices were, without exception, those within the Association who had taken oaths before the faceless divine statue in the name of the Compassionate True Immortal of the Mortal Realm.
It had nothing to do with the Compassionate True Immortal of the Mortal Realm itself.
It was merely that they had seen the faceless divine statue back then and associated it with the so-called Compassionate True Immortal of the Mortal Realm.
Consequently, whether they wished to or not, the image of the faceless divine statue would surface in their minds from time to time.
And the more often they visualized it, the deeper their connection with the statue grew.
Thus, once it crossed a certain threshold, they would appear within Li Fan's mind.
"No wonder the Profound Heaven Sect was called the Profound Heaven Sect.
"Back then, when followers of the Profound Heaven Sect were spread across the world, was the King of Profound Heaven also able, like me right now, to sense and know the condition of his believers at any moment?
"That truly would be no different from a deity.
"A deity..."
Li Fan's heart stirred as he sensed the believer with the deepest connection in his mind.
It was none other than Su Yuqing of the Li Realm.
Although she possessed superlative talent and was the incarnation of the Li Realm's Heavenly Dao, constrained by the environment and resources, her cultivation was currently only at the early Golden Core stage.
In resource-starved Great Li, all spiritual energy was generated by the Immortal Spirit Tower.
For her to reach this realm in such a short time already proved her a heaven-sent prodigy.
Through the connection of the faceless stone statue, Li Fan sensed the condition of Su Yuqing's body.
It was practically like inspecting her in person with his divine sense.
Every detail was laid bare; nothing could remain hidden.
"Even..."
An intuition arose in Li Fan's heart.
Moments later, a wisp of pure spiritual energy—a mere trivial amount to him, yet incomparably massive to Su Yuqing—vanished from within Li Fan's body and descended upon Su Yuqing.
Chapter 897