Deep down, the cultivators of Luoyan Province had already accumulated a reservoir of resentment and despair.
Now, under Li Fan's deliberate incitement, those emotions were like a volcano on the brink of eruption, ready to detonate violently at any moment.
And at this very juncture, Li Fan provided them with an outlet, a glimmer of hope—a supreme secret technique that would allow them to utterly trample those aloof, high-and-mighty scions of prominent clans without even having to cultivate!
"Beyond the myriad worlds, amidst the boundless void, exists the Supreme Compassionate True Immortal of the Mortal Realm, who gazes upon the suffering of all living beings."
"Though dwelling in purgatory to suppress endless gods and demons, his heart remains dedicated to all common life."
"Thus, he has bestowed this secret technique so that all may be equal and everyone may have the chance to fight for their destiny..."
Amidst murmured whispers, the mysterious veil of the secret technique God Descends upon the Body was drawn back before the cultivators.
The cultivators were half-convinced and half-skeptical, but some took the attitude of trying it out—after all, they had nothing to lose. After practicing it for a period, they actually summoned god-demon avatars that could rival Nascent Soul and Soul Formation cultivators!
No matter how unbelievable it seemed, the reality lay right before their eyes.
A leap in strength that might otherwise take an entire lifetime or remain forever out of reach could now be realized in the blink of an eye. How many could resist such temptation?
Even though a few suspected that this might be some sort of trap, they swallowed the poison willingly and resolutely. In their view, once they possessed formidable strength, they could accomplish countless things they had long yearned to do but never could.
What they did not know—and could never have anticipated—was that once they cultivated God Descends upon the Body and summoned the god-demon avatar, their thoughts and desires would no longer be under their own control.
Under Li Fan's subtle suggestions and guidance, these fine cultivators of Luoyan Province, who had each possessed their own goals, cast their personal desires aside for the time being.
They quietly slipped out of Luoyan Province and set off for various remote territories they would never have dreamed of visiting before, as if something were waiting for them there.
With a Dharma Transmitter gracing Luoyan Province with his presence, security had been raised to its peak.
Yet under that Dharma Transmitter's directive not to overly disturb the common populace and to keep a low profile, all defensive measures were targeted and specific. Consequently, Luoyan Province was not completely locked down, and the departure of these cultivators met with no resistance whatsoever.
Granted, having so many cultivators leave together in such a short span of time was indeed suspicious.
Under ordinary circumstances, it would have undoubtedly alerted Luoyan Province's Alliance apparatus.
Yet at this moment, a Dharma Transmitter was here.
What could possibly be more important than seeing to the comfort of this illustrious figure?
If their hospitality were found lacking and the Dharma Transmitter took offense, even Immortal Venerable Jicheng might be unable to shield them and would have to cut his losses to save himself. Centuries of meticulous cultivation in Luoyan Province would vanish into ash in an instant. That was a consequence they simply could not bear.
Therefore, hosting the Dharma Transmitter took precedence over everything else in Luoyan Province.
As a result, any investigation and handling of this large-scale exodus of cultivators was temporarily shelved.
Only after these cultivators had all quietly completed their relocation and dissemination did the Dharma Transmitter, having had his fill of amusement, take his leave at a leisurely pace.
Upon his departure, a group of black-robed cultivators destroyed a portion of the records on the grounds of strictly safeguarding the Dharma Transmitter's itinerary and classified matters.
Once the turmoil settled and everything in Luoyan Province returned to normal, the local cultivators conducted an inspection and found nothing amiss. It seemed no different from Luoyan Province's usual state.
Back on track, the cultivators of the Luoyan Province Alliance began daydreaming about how gaining the Dharma Transmitter's favor would pave their way to soaring success and future advancement.
Little did they know that a terrifying catastrophe had already slipped quietly through their fingers.
"We may begin."
Another thirty days later, through persistent efforts, the cultivators who had fanned out from Luoyan Province had increased the number of beguiled cultivators by an order of magnitude.
Judging the moment ripe, Mo Rubin contacted Li Fan through a god-demon avatar.
Li Fan looked at the map of all the territories in the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals spread out before him, along with the dense swarm of red dots covering it, and smiled faintly.
The sinister, ghostly realm within his sea of consciousness was swept clear in an instant. All the fiendgods vanished without a trace, leaving it hollow and bright.
At this moment, countless ancient gods and demons conceived and fabricated by Li Fan descended upon the Xuanhuang Realm!
The cultivators who practiced God Descends upon the Body had entirely lost the capacity for independent thought, reduced to mere puppets of the mighty gods and demons, acting strictly according to Li Fan's will.
One after another, the gods and demons launched simultaneous assaults on Heavenly Cities across the Alliance.
Even though defensive rotations now occurred every three months, the Heavenly Cities' protective ward formations were as good as non-existent before Li Fan. Countless gods and demons bypassed the formations with effortless ease, penetrating deep into the interiors of every Heavenly City.
Compared to the hinterlands of the Five Elders Association, the Heavenly Cities of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals were the ones that had truly known prolonged peace.
Even when full-scale clashes erupted between the Alliance and the Five Elders Association, the fighting remained confined to a few border provinces. For the vast majority of cultivators, the so-called war was something they caught glimpses of only through the Heavenly Profound Mirror, far removed from their everyday lives.
It had never crossed their minds that being attacked would one day happen to them!
The moment the fiendgods breached the defenses and entered the Heavenly Cities, the overwhelming majority of Alliance cultivators chose to flee rather than confront the enemy head-on.
*The Alliance is your Alliance, not mine.*
Such was the thought running through nearly every fleeing cultivator's mind.
Only a tiny minority who still had fiery blood in their veins, along with the Martial Practice Hall cultivators tasked with security duties, came to their senses and charged forward head-on, engaging the myriad gods and demons in battle.
Yet the mastermind pulling the strings behind these gods and demons was Li Fan.
Although dividing his consciousness so thinly made it impossible to control each fiendgod with perfection, the sheer scale of this vast host of gods and demons—formed by absorbing and fusing the divine senses of countless cultivators—was more than enough to crush these resisters with ease.
After all...
At this moment, Li Fan was truly not fighting alone. He commanded the spirits and minds of several hundred thousand cultivators.
Coupled with combat instincts far surpassing those of ordinary cultivators, the Alliance's standard defenses were swiftly routed, crumbling one after another.
Aware of the Immortal Ruins' existence, Li Fan chose not to slaughter them. Instead, he split into one god-demon after another, forcibly invading the minds of those Alliance cultivators who had lost the ability to resist, turning them into physical sustenance for practicing God Descends upon the Body.
Before long, these bodies stripped of autonomous consciousness would involuntarily summon god-demon avatars once more.
Sustaining war with war, perpetually dividing.
In a mere half a day, the host of god-demon avatars under Li Fan's control had swelled to an utterly terrifying degree.
Chapter 967