Within a few breaths, Sacred Embryo Li Fan climbed straight from a mortal to the early Qi Refining stage.
Moreover, completely ignoring the existence of the Heavenly Calamity, he continued advancing toward Qi Refining perfection.
He only ground to a halt when he ran up against the lack of a Foundation Establishment wonder.
This time, Li Fan did not seek out any special wonder.
Instead, Li Fan's true body combined efforts with his avatar, using the Sword Dao to manifest a low-grade wonder of Man out of thin air to serve as the material for the sacred embryo's advancement.
With this Unyielding Sword as his Dao Foundation, the sacred embryo was able to continue receiving the vast cultivation transmitted from Li Fan.
The method of condensing the Sword Dao into a Golden Core was already second nature.
As for the grotto-heaven required for the embryo's breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm, Li Fan simply excised a small piece directly from his own Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven.
In this manner, in less than three days' time, yet another early Nascent Soul avatar was complete.
Compared to Li Qing, however, this sacred embryo was absurdly weak.
It possessed nothing more than the hollow realm itself. If it came down to an actual fight, the sacred embryo might not even be a match for an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator from the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
Still, as an expendable piece dispatched to carry out dangerous missions, it was more than sufficient.
After equipping the sacred embryo with a full set of supplies, Li Fan directed it to fly out of the Spirit Wood Realm in a dazed, unconscious state.
Only after it was half a province away from the entrance did it fully awaken.
With the mission objectives surging into its mind, the sacred embryo set off toward its destination at an unhurried pace.
Li Fan turned his gaze to Li Qing. "I've already cleared the imprint left on you by the new protective grand formation.
"Even so, don't venture outside for now. Concentrate on refining your sword dao.
"I have a premonition that turmoil is about to break out in the Xuanhuang Realm once more."
Li Qing nodded slightly.
Li Fan had not spoken without cause.
Just moments ago, within He Zhenghao's memories, he had spotted a familiar figure:
Gongsun Qixuan, from the Congyun Sea Heavenly Secret Hall.
That man's cultivation was not particularly high, nor did he seem especially versed in formations.
Yet he had shown up at the headquarters of the Formation Planning Hall, of all places.
It was undeniably suspicious.
Thinking back to his 115th life, when the anomaly in the Profound Net occurred, this very man had served as the fuse.
Li Fan could be nearly certain that a subtle connection existed between him and the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
"Go ahead and fight. The fiercer, the better.
"Let me see what hidden cards you truly hold."
Li Fan's gaze seemed to pierce through countless spatial barriers, coming to rest along the border between the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals and the Five Elders Association.
In the Xuanhuang Realm, cultivators like Li Fan—who spent every day hoping for war between the two behemoths—were truly few and far between.
The vast majority wished only to pass their lives in peace and stability.
They had never even entertained the notion of an all-out war between the Alliance and the Five Elders Association.
After all, once war erupted, countless lives would perish.
Without any irreconcilable grievances, why would anyone insist on fighting?
Yet on this very day, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals came forward with an excuse to declare war.
"Let the Five Elders Association return the lost treasures of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals at once. If they are not returned, the Alliance army will claim them in person."
...
Reading this declaration, which seemed entirely out of the blue and lacked context, the cultivators of the Alliance exchanged bewildered glances.
"What lost treasures? And how did they end up with the Five Elders Association?"
"Isn't this excuse... a bit too clumsy?"
Just as the cultivators were lost in confusion, a detailed explanation was swiftly released.
As it turned out, it was not merely an excuse fabricated out of thin air.
Back when the Five Elders Association was still known as the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao, they had launched a ruthless extermination campaign against the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
During that time, not only did many core executives of the fledgling Alliance perish, but numerous secret treasures of the Alliance were also said to have fallen into the hands of the Five Elders Association.
Although the Great Catastrophe arrived later and the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao collapsed without a fight, and although several thousand years had since passed, a feud of blood never faded across a thousand generations!
Even now, the higher-ups of the Alliance had never forgotten that humiliation, quietly gathering strength all this time, vowing to wash away the disgrace!
Naturally, the Alliance was reasonable. They had no intention of driving anyone to complete ruin.
So long as the Five Elders Association apologized for the events of the past and returned the Alliance's secret treasures, the matter could be dropped!
...
The proclamation quickly spread across the world. Most cultivators took an indifferent attitude toward the veracity of its claims.
Anyone with eyes could see that this was merely a pretext for the Alliance to wage war.
Faced with this irregular maneuver from the Alliance, the Five Elders Association failed to react in time.
Internal disputes seemed to have broken out, and no official reply was ever issued.
Thus, exactly one day after the Alliance's proclamation was published, the Alliance launched a brazen assault.
Moreover, seemingly brimful of confidence in their own strength, they did not keep this war concealed as they had in the past.
Instead, it was broadcast to all Alliance cultivators in real time through the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
Of course, calling it "real time" was generous, as there was still a brief delay.
Even so, that did nothing to stop all the cultivators of the Alliance from eagerly accessing the Heavenly Profound Mirror to watch the scenes of battle.
The first to enter the fray was none other than the Heavenly Venerable dharma manifestation, which had not shown itself in quite some time.
Compared to its last appearance, the changes in the dharma manifestation were visible to the naked eye.
It looked down upon the earth below, a flicker of disdain flashing across its eyes.
Then, it extended its right hand and made a pulling motion toward the Alliance's airspace.
In an instant, thousands of Sky-Patrolling Arrows that had been patrolling across the Alliance were dragged before the dharma manifestation in a single grasp.
A silver glow surfaced along the bodies of the Sky-Patrolling Arrows, like fine threads weaving into a colossal net.
The Heavenly Venerable dharma manifestation swept it around lightly before hurling the net toward the Five Elders Association!
Five distinct beams of radiance instantly soared from various locations, attempting to intercept the falling colossal net.
However...
The Heavenly Venerable dharma manifestation let out a soft huff, and its form dispersed into countless streaks of flowing light, charging violently toward the five beams.
Obstructed by these streaks of light, the five beams faltered for a fraction of an instant.
Right at that moment, another Heavenly Venerable dharma manifestation silently appeared, stepping directly in front of one of the purple beams from the Five Elders Association.
Boom!
Amidst violent tremors, the transmission from the Heavenly Profound Mirror cut out for a brief moment.
When the feed was restored, what countless cultivators witnessed was the sight of five Heavenly Venerable dharma manifestations, each with a different expression, standing in confrontation against the five beams of radiance!
The entire Xuanhuang Realm seemed to tremble under the impact of such power.
Meanwhile, within the Spirit Wood Realm, Li Fan had already felt a faint sensation earlier: the life aura of Wei Qizheng, one of the Thirty-Three Heavenly Profound Adepts possessed by a Terminal Dissociation Disc, was draining away at high speed!
By now, his oil had burned dry, his lamp had gone out, and his dao had been extinguished in death!
"This is..."
A sharp light flashed in Li Fan's eyes.
Within his mind, the Terminal Dissociation Disc emitted a faint white glow as it began receiving a massive influx of data.
All of it consisted of the scenes Wei Qizheng had witnessed before his death.
"Whether the Alliance can unify the Xuanhuang Realm—all hope rests on you!"
Chapter 931