Hearing Ji Yuzhen say this, Xuanyuan Hong's expression darkened. "Nonsense!"
"Could I not understand the art you cultivate? Though it can divide your soul into tens of millions, what can heal my injuries must also be the purest, primordial soul among them. Once you lose it, your cultivation will be gravely damaged as well!"
"How could I ever do such a thing!"
Yet seeing the faint smile still lingering on Ji Yuzhen's face, Xuanyuan Hong could not bring himself to scold her any further.
Instead, he consoled her, "Rest assured, Zhen'er, it is merely a minor injury. After I spend some time in secluded cultivation, it will heal on its own."
Ji Yuzhen nodded silently, her gaze resting upon Xuanyuan Hong, lingering for a long time without looking away.
...
Inside a great hall.
Xuanyuan Hong, the King of Profound Heaven, sat at the head of the hall, while the Twelve Dharma Kings stood below.
"In my last battle with the Tiandu Grand Dharma Master, though I suffered a slight injury, I also gained much from him."
"I will enter secluded cultivation for a period. During this time, I must trouble you all with the sect's affairs, both great and small!" Xuanyuan Hong said solemnly.
"Rest assured, King of Profound Heaven. Nothing will go awry!" the Dharma King named Elder Cui stroked his beard and replied.
Xuanyuan Hong nodded. "If this endeavor succeeds, I may very well be able to reshape the body of a True Immortal in the lower realm. When that time comes, our plan to break free from the Pitch-Black Star Sea will be significantly moved forward!"
As soon as these words were spoken, varied expressions appeared across the twelve cultivators' faces.
Some looked delighted and offered congratulations; some appeared detached and indifferent.
There were also those with solemn countenances, their inner thoughts unreadable.
...
Inside a dim, secret chamber.
"Zhen'er, I have sensed that someone seems to be stirring up trouble lately. The person who secretly contacted you before..."
"Go seek him out." Beneath Xuanyuan Hong's calm tone lurked a sliver of killing intent.
Ji Yuzhen was slightly taken aback, then understood. "Big Brother Xuanyuan, you mean... draw the snake from its hole?"
Xuanyuan Hong's face turned grim. "Precisely! This time, we can deal with the Tiandu Grand Dharma Master as well!"
Ji Yuzhen's eyes brightened with pleasant surprise. "Big Brother Xuanyuan, you've already broken through?"
Xuanyuan Hong smiled and nodded.
Ji Yuzhen took a deep breath, suppressing the excitement in her heart.
"Alright. I have been feigning compliance with him all along. As soon as I return, I will contact him."
"Mm. Be careful in everything."
...
Blood-red light soared into the sky.
The death throes of countless cultivators echoed through the air.
"Zhen'er, run..."
After that single message arrived, Xuanyuan Hong's aura vanished without a trace.
Ji Yuzhen sped toward the place where she had last sensed Xuanyuan Hong's aura.
Yet something unusual seemed to have caught the attention of many other cultivators over there.
Not only her, but the remaining Dharma Kings as well as the numerous cultivators bewitched by the Tiandu Grand Dharma Master were all rushing there in unison.
They fought as they sped forward.
"Little Sister, there are too many enemies! Let's find Big Brother Xuanyuan first, then plan our next move!" Among the Twelve Dharma Kings, a young cultivator named Zhou Yangli sent a divine sense transmission with a grim expression.
The unease in Ji Yuzhen's heart grew heavier and heavier.
Indeed, the number of treacherous cultivators had somewhat exceeded her expectations. But so long as Xuanyuan Hong was there, none of this would be an issue.
Yet...
Transforming countless soul fragments into beams of azure light to sweep away the dense throng of enemies ahead, Ji Yuzhen accelerated once more.
...
The vision came to an abrupt halt here.
Li Fan sorted through it carefully once more, confirming that nothing had been missed.
"I never expected that the sudden attack by the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao back then was actually orchestrated intentionally by the King of Profound Heaven. He wanted to lure out the unstable elements within the Xuanhuang Realm and finish them once and for all in a single battle."
"Yet for some reason, at that critical juncture, an unexpected mishap befell the King of Profound Heaven himself."
"Intriguing..."
Li Fan narrowed his eyes. "If the information obtained from Ji Yuzhen's memories is true, then at that time, the King of Profound Heaven had already advanced beyond his half-immortal physique. He was already invincible in the Xuanhuang Realm, so after another breakthrough, who could possibly have been his match?"
"The Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao? The Tiandu Grand Dharma Master? Or could it be..."
The image of that faceless stone statue suddenly flashed across Li Fan's mind.
For reasons unknown, a faint chill of horror welled up within his heart.
"This faceless idol was carved by Xuanyuan Hong to express gratitude to the Faceless True Immortal for saving his life in the Ascension Channel."
"From all appearances so far, the King of Profound Heaven, Xuanyuan Hong, was indeed a person of noble character."
"As for this Faceless True Immortal, however..."
"...that is hard to say."
Li Fan analyzed in secret, "Casually saving Xuanyuan Hong's life back then doesn't prove anything."
"Perhaps in the eyes of a True Immortal, Xuanyuan Hong with his half-immortal physique was no different from an ordinary mortal. He held no value worth exploiting."
"But once Xuanyuan Hong condensed a True Immortal body, everything changed."
Li Fan harbored dark speculations about what might have transpired back then.
The more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.
Just as when he was in Great Xuan, he had been genial and approachable toward ordinary folk.
Yet when dealing with the court officials, he had watched them like a tiger stalking its prey, practically an entirely different person.
Judging others by himself, that Faceless True Immortal likely showed different faces to different groups of people as well.
Moreover, this reasoning also explained why the power behind the faceless idol did not seem to care much about prayers from the Xuanhuang Realm, merely deflecting them onto Li Fan instead.
"It seems that even if I utilize the faceless idol's functions, it is still safe for now—as long as I do not manifest the power of an 'Immortal'..."
Though he had reasoned his way to this hypothesis, Li Fan did not lower his guard against the faceless idol in the slightest.
After all, even someone like the King of Profound Heaven might have fallen to this statue.
How could Li Fan not harbor deep apprehension?
"Ji Yuzhen's memories are incomplete. The memories from the most critical moments, including when she cultivated her technique, are nowhere to be found here."
"Or rather, they are hidden away."
Li Fan looked around at the blossoms drifting all across the sky.
"The King of Profound Heaven mentioned that after cultivating the Boundless Tianshu Soul Detachment Art, there is a distinction between the tens of millions of divided souls and the primordial soul."
"Judging by this now, what drifts through this crater mountain are Ji Yuzhen's divided souls. What I obtained were merely the memories diffusing from those divided soul fragments."
"As for the primordial soul that harbors the truly vital information..."
Li Fan searched through the crater mountain once more, then frowned slightly. "Could it truly not be here?"
"Either that, or it is hidden too deeply for the current me to discover."
After a long time, an unwilling Li Fan finally gave up in resignation.
Even so, this provided Li Fan with some inspiration.
"With the information obtained from here, combined with everything I pried from Mo Rubin's mind, it is sufficient to impersonate a member of the ancient Profound Heaven Sect."
"If confronted and pressed on minor details I am unfamiliar with, I can easily explain it away as damage to my divine soul and missing memories."
"The only flaw is that I cannot replicate the cultivation arts of the Profound Heaven Sect."
Li Fan was reminded again of the few Profound Heaven Sect cultivation arts Senior Sister Zhao had once acquired in the illusory realm.
Chapter 904