"What difference is there between the stone statue and His true self?"
Hearing these words from Daoist Baihua, Li Fan's heart could not help but skip a beat.
In that instant, the Faceless True Immortal stone statue, which had stood quietly all along, seemed to stir.
With a faint sneer in Its somber, shadowy gaze, It looked toward Li Fan...
Yet when Li Fan looked again, the anomaly vanished in a flash, once more resembling an ordinary stone carving.
The implication revealed in Daoist Baihua's words was so horrifying that Li Fan, seized by a sudden chill of panic, nearly triggered True Reversion right then and there!
But the Grand Preceptor Li of today was no longer that puny Foundation Establishment cultivator of the past, who had been forced into an ignominious True Reversion when the Heavenly Physician traced him through his avatar's connection!
If he were scared into reverting immediately by a single remark whose veracity remained unknown, that would be a true joke!
Li Fan narrowed his eyes as scenes from his experiences in this lifetime flickered across his mind.
Then, his heart settled slightly.
That the Faceless True Immortal stone statue was connected to the Faceless True Immortal who had once saved the King of Profound Heaven, and that it harbored a portion of a True Immortal's might, was something Li Fan had already verified when the prayer visions of believers surfaced in his mind.
Using the statue to connect with believers, granting cultivation out of thin air, and subsequently extracting golden vow power...
If all of this were merely the work of an ordinary statue without the support of the Faceless True Immortal's power, it would indeed be hard to justify.
At that time, however, Li Fan had harbored some wishful thinking.
While he lacked the courage to confront a True Immortal directly, he certainly possessed the gall to reap benefits by borrowing the residual power a True Immortal had left behind.
"I still underestimated the might of a True Immortal. Wherever His power reaches, His true self is present in person..."
Li Fan had fallen into a mental trap after all, attempting to measure the abilities of a True Immortal through the perspective of an ordinary cultivator.
In Li Fan's earlier view, this True Immortal statue was equivalent to a formation array capable of amplifying the resonance of Formless Killing Intent, allowing the True Immortal to sense what occurred around the statue at any time through it.
Now, that conclusion was overturned.
This stone statue was equivalent to the True Immortal being here in person!
Thinking up to this point, resolute and far beyond ordinary men though Li Fan's willpower was, he could not help feeling a heavy, invisible pressure.
After all, deceiving one's superiors from afar and courting death right under their noses were two entirely different concepts.
Yet after mulling it over, Li Fan weathered the pressure and did not rashly trigger True Reversion.
There were three reasons for this.
First, even if the statue was equivalent to the True Immortal being present in person, from the moment Li Fan unearthed it until now, he had never exposed the secret he carried. In the eyes of a True Immortal, he was merely a slightly stronger Nascent Soul cultivator scheming for benefits under the name of the Compassionate Immortal of the Mortal Dust. Even those in the Longevity realm might not catch a True Immortal's eye, let alone Li Fan. Would a mortal ever care why a single flying ant in an ant nest grew slightly stronger than the others? If that Faceless True Immortal truly perceived everything happening here, the fact that Li Fan was still alive and well right now was the best proof that he had not yet attracted the True Immortal's notice.
Second, this was not the first time a faceless stone statue had appeared in the Xuanhuang Realm. During the reign of the Profound Heaven Sect, such statues could be found across almost the entire Xuanhuang Realm. Later, when the Ten Great Immortal Sects rebelled and the Profound Heaven Sect fell, countless statues were destroyed, leaving only the final one collected by Mr. Bai. Throughout that entire process, the Faceless True Immortal had remained utterly indifferent, never displaying even a shred of His power to mete out punishment. This showed that He was truly unconcerned with the affairs of the Xuanhuang Realm. Or rather, so long as no power on the level of an immortal was displayed, it was simply not worthy of being "noticed" by a True Immortal. Thus, lively though Li Fan's antics might seem, to a True Immortal, they amounted to nothing at all.
The final point—and the primary basis for Li Fan's decision to hold off on True Reversion and continue observing—was the existence of the Immortal of the Immortal Ruins, as well as the High Wall.
The Immortal of the Immortal Ruins had sat withered in the ruins, comprehending the Dao for nearly ten thousand years.
In the 115th lifetime, when Li Fan steered the Medicine King Cauldron into the Immortal Ruins, even that had interrupted the immortal's Dao comprehension and caused him to open his eyes.
If there truly existed a being with equal power in the Xuanhuang Realm so close to the Immortal Ruins, how could the Immortal of the Immortal Ruins have meditated in peace for so long?
How could one allow another to sleep peacefully beside one's own bed? Li Fan did not believe that this principle ceased to apply once one reached the level of an immortal!
Furthermore, there was the High Wall.
Whether the High Wall was built by the Immortal of the Immortal Ruins or constructed from outside the wall, its immortal-grade filtering and barrier functions were an established fact.
Divided between the inside and outside of the High Wall, one's perception would inevitably be hindered to a certain degree. It certainly could not be as direct as being present in person.
"If that Faceless True Immortal senses something amiss and crosses the High Wall to come here..."
"He would almost certainly alert the Immortal of the Immortal Ruins immediately."
"When two tigers meet, a clash is inevitable. That will leave me plenty of time to trigger True Reversion."
In a flash, after weighing the stakes, Li Fan had made his decision.
"It seems exceedingly perilous, yet precisely because the gap in our strength is so immense, it is not as dangerous as one might imagine."
"So long as I don't expose myself."
"Then again, if I weren't carrying it myself, I wouldn't have believed there could truly be a treasure in this world capable of turning reality into illusion and reversing everything."
...
Slowly reeling in his thoughts, Li Fan looked at the trembling Daoist Baihua before him and smiled faintly. "Fellow Daoist Baihua, you know only one side of the matter, but not the other."
"Under normal circumstances, why would a True Immortal take an interest in mundane mortal affairs?"
"The myriad matters of the Xuanhuang Realm are naturally mine to manage on the True Immortal's behalf."
As Li Fan spoke calmly, almost as if to prove his point, the calamity body filled with golden vow power drifted slowly out of his body.
Then, it lightly pointed a finger toward Daoist Baihua's forehead.
The instant the golden calamity body appeared, Daoist Baihua's form violently rippled like the surface of a lake struck by a tempest.
From her, Li Fan detected a swirl of emotions—horror, greed, dread, and more.
*As expected...*
With this thought in mind, Li Fan slowly exerted control, infusing a wisp of the golden vow power stored within the calamity body into Daoist Baihua.
As the golden vow power entered her body, Daoist Baihua could not suppress a groan.
Her face, previously obscured, suddenly emerged like the sun breaking through clouds, revealing an astonishingly breathtaking countenance.
Yet her former noble aura had vanished; her gaze was hazy and dazed as she stared blankly at the golden calamity body's finger pressed against her forehead.
Pleading and yearning welled forth in torrents, expressed beyond words.
Even Li Fan's mind stirred with faint ripples.
He seemed to see a peerless peony blooming slowly before him, outshining all the flowers of the world as it lavishly displayed its beauty.
"Hmph."
Faced with Daoist Baihua's entreaty, Li Fan steeled his mind an instant later and withdrew the golden calamity body.
Ignoring Daoist Baihua's hollow, resentful gaze, Li Fan cast her a cold, warning look.
Then he said slowly, "It seems the True Immortal's gift is of great help to you."
Chapter 986