Wanderer of the Tianfa Realm

One after another, the appearance and aura of both Heavenly Physicians were identical to what Li Fan had seen in this life. Yet the former Heavenly Physician, who had orchestrated the boundless tragedy of the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace with his own hands, maintained a chillingly indifferent expression throughout the entire ordeal. Deep within his eyes, there was even a sense of enjoyment. It was a level of perversity that made even Li Fan feel outdone. As for the arriving Heavenly Physician, the fury and grief in his eyes could not be concealed no matter what. The slight trembling of his body also testified clearly to his state of mind at that moment. The Heavenly Physician parted his lips slightly, seemingly saying something. Yet the reconstructed scene ended there. ... Li Fan sank into deep thought. "Someone disguised themselves as the Heavenly Physician and slaughtered the entire Cloud Water Heavenly Palace?" "The Heavenly Physician arrived late, powerless to reverse the tragedy?" He recalled what the Heavenly Physician had previously told Tianyu and Tianjue: "What you see with your eyes may not be the truth." Along with the Heavenly Physician's actions in treating Tianjue and sealing the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace. Li Fan could not help reaching this conclusion. "Yet a simple frame-up is not something that cannot be explained. Why was the misunderstanding never dispelled? Why instead did the people of the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace grow deeper in their delusion over thousands of years of torment?" Li Fan was still somewhat puzzled. "Perhaps the answer to this question can be found in Hanhai." After pondering for a moment, Li Fan made up his mind. Having endured the nightmare loop once more, at the moment when the counterfeit Heavenly Physician veiled Hanhai's senses in darkness, Li Fan shone like a beam of light, faintly illuminating the gloom. At the same time, he repeatedly projected the scene he had reconstructed earlier, attempting to rouse Hanhai's slumbering consciousness. "Wake up! Wake up!" "The killer wasn't the Heavenly Physician!" "The murderer is someone else! An impostor framed the Heavenly Physician to sow discord!" ... Waves of divine sense continuously echoed through the darkness. Gradually, as if giant waves were churning, the surrounding space and images began to vibrate and destabilize. "Shut up! Shut up!" "Don't try to deceive me!" "The Venerables enforce the law on behalf of Heaven—how could an outsider ever impersonate them?" "Appearances and auras can be faked, but how could anyone forge the authority over the Tianfa Realm that They wield!" It seemed Li Fan's relentless prodding had ignited Hanhai's fury. An azure face materialized across the surrounding spherical space. Glaring as if at a mortal enemy, Hanhai stared venomously at Li Fan, the well-intentioned intruder who had tried to wake him. "Vile dog! You dare try to bewitch me?!" "Even if it wasn't the Heavenly Physician, it was another Venerable!" "They all deserve to die!" "And you deserve to die too!" The voice boomed, and streams of black light surged forth from Hanhai's illusory face. Then, tens of thousands of gigantic azure palms slammed down together, instantly crushing Li Fan's wisp of divine sense caught in the center! ... "Hmph." Back in the real Cloud Water Heavenly Palace, Li Fan let out a muffled grunt as his connection severed with his detached divine sense. Yet this trivial injury was swiftly mended under the natural circulation of the Limitless Waxing and Waning Method. "Authority over the Tianfa Realm, Heaven-Enforcing Venerables..." Li Fan narrowed his eyes, mulling over the words Hanhai had spoken in his rage. "No wonder Hanhai and the others, driven mad by the torment of their memories, remained utterly convinced that they hadn't mistaken the culprit. "It turns out that beyond appearance, what truly defined their identity was the authority of the Heavenly Dao. "Tianjue should embody the Dao of Slaughter. "Tianyu should embody the Dao of Enlightenment. "The Heavenly Physician, quite clearly, is the Dao of Healing." Li Fan could not help recalling the scene when he had first encountered Tianyu. A green ox pulled a cart, with Buyuguai and Liluanshen guarding the entrance. Tianyu, like a master scholar, taught lessons to whichever cultivator entered the small hut. This could be considered their fundamental nature—something that had not changed even after Tianyu turned into an anomaly. "The Heavenly Law is stern, observing rules and boundaries." "Having obtained the Dharma today, I spread it to all living beings." "The Heavenly Law cannot be defied." ... Li Fan recalled the faint chanting and recitation he had heard outside the hut back then. "It seems the Tianfa Realm is the name of the pocket world where the Heavenly Physician and the others originated. "Unlike the Xuanhuang Realm, where everyone wants to usurp Heaven, in the Tianfa Realm, the Heavenly Dao seems to hold supreme status. "Tianjue, Tianyu, and the Heavenly Physician—rather than being powerful Longevity cultivators—are more like representatives of the Heavenly Dao. "Cultivators of the Xuanhuang Realm stole the power of longevity from the fruit of Ruomu. In the Tianfa Realm, perhaps due to the absence of Ruomu, the only path for cultivators to attain Longevity was to become wielders of the Heavenly Dao." Past clues suddenly linked together, leaving Li Fan in contemplative thought. As the pieces fell into place, the secrets surrounding the Heavenly Physician's past gradually came into focus. Li Fan also remembered how Zhang Haobo had once gained enlightenment from observing the sword hilt trapped by Azure Wind. After Zhang Haobo's death, the information displayed in the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao's falling canopy revealed that he had achieved his Dao Foundation with Heaven Fiend Sword Intent. Yet when the members of the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace encountered Tianjue, they all referred to the sword Tianjue wielded as Heaven Killing. Originally, Li Fan had vaguely guessed that this might simply be different manifestations of the same sword in different worlds. Now it had indeed been confirmed. "Heaven Killing, like Tianjue and Tianyu, might also be a form of heavenly authority. "Tianjue bore two authorities. Perhaps that is why he could keep his life without turning into an anomaly, merely being driven mad. "Only the Heavenly Physician, who had gone out for some reason, escaped the disaster. "By the time he returned, it was already too late; the Tianfa Realm had long become a dead wasteland..." Though some mysteries had been unraveled, the unknown had not diminished in the slightest. Instead, shrouded in fog, it appeared all the more baffling and complex. Just who was the person who disguised themselves as the Heavenly Physician to commit the atrocities? According to Hanhai, it was certainly not as simple as merely altering his appearance. Rather, he had genuinely grasped the heavenly authority of the Tianfa Realm, which was why the people of the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace regarded him as a Venerable. He could even shift freely between the personas of the Heavenly Physician and Tianjue... The sheer power of this person was truly unimaginable. What was even more baffling was what kind of grudge someone of such power could harbor against the Tianfa Realm. Not only did they slaughter the entire sect, but even after the destruction of the Tianfa Realm, they forced it into an endless cycle of fratricidal slaughter. ... Outside Hanhai's residence, Li Fan furrowed his brow. "Did the Heavenly Physician send me here to guide me toward the truth of what happened back then? "The dark resentment entangling Hanhai has accumulated over thousands of years; with my current medical attainment, I may not be able to dispel it. "However, I can tell that this appears to be the result after having been purified more than once. Evidently, over these years, the Heavenly Physician did not abandon the people of the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace. "Even though they have already turned into anomalies. "Mhm..." As the saying goes, judge a person by their deeds, not their motives. Acting in this manner caused Li Fan's internal threat assessment of the Heavenly Physician to drop slightly. "So be it. Since I am already here, I might as well help out along the way. That way, I can also report back to the Heavenly Physician."