Chapter 1031: The Congyun Anomaly Outbreak
Chapter 1031: The Congyun Anomaly Outbreak
Li Fan spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
He knew, however, that upgrading the Xuantian Gloom-Sealing Formation so effortlessly was only possible because of the immense advantage granted by the Dissociation Disc.
To say nothing of the fact that this was a superior version, born from the fusion of two lifetimes.
An ordinary Dao Integration array master would likely struggle to even comprehend the complexities of this ancient grand array.
With this thought, Li Fan pulled his gaze away from the Passage to Gloom.
The frequent eruption of anomalies in the Xuanhuang Realm was supposed to be an event five hundred years in the future.
But in this lifetime, it was clear the Xuanhuang Realm wouldn't last nearly that long.
"Let me test the power of Falsifying the Heavenly Mandate."
Then, with a gentle nudge of his will, he borrowed the might of heaven and earth to transmit a false command.
He commanded Golden Seal to return to the world.
Within the Passage to Gloom, Golden Seal seemed puzzled by the sudden command.
If it were to depart now, there was a clear risk of a massive outbreak of anomalies.
But an Earth's Soul was a manifestation of the world's will; it could not disobey itself.
So, after a moment's hesitation, the Earth's Soul Golden Seal reverted from its form as a golden chain back into a humanoid figure.
It then slowly faded, eventually vanishing back into the world.
The very instant Golden Seal vanished, Li Fan saw a torrent of profound darkness erupt from the murky, unobservable depths below.
It was formless and shapeless, yet moved like a living creature, spreading outward of its own accord.
The world's reaction to this dark substance was swift.
A sudden sense of danger—the feeling of being on the verge of discovery—pricked at Li Fan. He acted instantly, severing his connection to the great web of the world.
At the same time, he teleported far away from the Congyun Sea.
Perhaps preoccupied with the crisis of the anomalies, the world did not notice Li Fan, the one who had falsified its mandate and stirred up trouble from the shadows.
From a great distance, however, Li Fan observed that in the wake of Golden Seal's departure, two new Earth's Souls were already beginning to form over the Congyun Sea.
Having successfully completed this small test of his power, Li Fan was quite satisfied with his divine ability, Falsifying the Heavenly Mandate.
The Earth's Souls were on a higher tier than the World Transformations.
Since he could falsify the heavenly mandate to command an Earth's Soul, commanding the World Transformations within a certain range would surely pose no problem.
"I could even use this method to create chaos across the Xuanhuang Realm first, then guide the unfolding situation to 'manufacture' the very Earth's Souls needed to resolve the problem," Li Fan thought, his mind racing with possibilities.
"But doing so would surely alert the world to the anomaly. It's a trick I can only pull once, which limits its usefulness."
Though he was now far from the Congyun Sea, Li Fan used the Heavenly Profound Mirror to keep a close watch on the aftermath of the leak from the Passage to Gloom.
On the surface, everything seemed peaceful, utterly calm.
There was no sign of any change.
But even before the cultivators could notice, strange incidents had already begun to quietly unfold on Ten Thousand Immortals Island.
At the Thousand Mile Hall.
"What in the world? Why don't this month's accounts add up?"
Jiao Xiuyuan's brow furrowed as he recalculated the month's profits once more.
To his shock, he discovered he had actually taken a loss.
A surge of frustration rose in his chest, so intense he felt he might cough up blood.
Jiao Xiuyuan forced down his rising agitation and meticulously went over the books one more time.
The numbers were correct.
"That can't be right," he muttered. "I could have sworn I made a small profit this month. How could it be a loss?"
Jiao Xiuyuan was baffled.
He stopped receiving customers for the day and bolted the front door.
Then, he carefully pulled up the complete transaction records for Ten Thousand Immortals Island from the past month.
Finally, he found the source of the problem.
"That's it," he realized. "There's an outstanding debt."
"Now, who was the debtor...?"
Jiao Xiuyuan mumbled to himself, his expression growing grimmer as his search continued.
He discovered that the person who owed him the debt had vanished without a trace.
Not only did he have no memory of the individual, but every trace of their existence had also vanished from the Heavenly Profound Mirror's records.
It was as if the person had never existed.
"This..."
Jiao Xiuyuan's first thought was that he had crossed a powerful expert.
"Which one of you is playing games with me?" he called out to the empty room.
A flash of anger crossed his dark-complexioned face.
But his anger quickly gave way to confusion.
"It's only ten thousand contribution points. Was all this really necessary?"
As he calmed down, Jiao Xiuyuan sensed that something was deeply wrong.
After stepping outside to ask around, his suspicions were confirmed.
"Just as I thought. It's not just one person. Others have vanished inexplicably too."
Jiao Xiuyuan's eyes darted about thoughtfully. He immediately took out a jade slip and recorded his discovery.
This was not the only anomaly to erupt in the Congyun Sea.
On one island, the entire population transformed into faceless monsters overnight.
When they looked in a mirror, they saw their normal selves, but when they looked at anyone else, all they saw was a blank, featureless face.
Moreover, they could no longer understand one another's speech.
Gripped by absolute terror, the islanders turned on each other until only a single survivor remained.
Another incident involved a fishing boat that had gone out to sea. It returned to port, but for a long time, no crew members disembarked.
Curious islanders finally went aboard to investigate, only to discover the entire crew had been reduced to skeletons.
The ship's interior was dilapidated, as if centuries had passed in an instant.
...
The reports were all of this nature—bizarre and grotesque.
Even Li Fan, the instigator of it all, couldn't help but marvel at the results.
"Every anomaly must correspond to a specific set of rules. If someone could decipher those rules during an outbreak, not only could they survive, but they might even be able to harness a portion of the new rule's power."
"If cultivators are the avatars of the world's old laws, then these new laws..."
"...could give rise to an entirely new system of power."
Since his fusion with the world, Li Fan's perceptiveness seemed to have sharpened considerably.
In an instant, his mind connected many dots.
"However, these so-called new laws are merely a temporary phenomenon during the fusion process. Once the Xuanhuang Realm completes its assimilation, the old laws will be restored."
"These new laws will be treated as heresies to be purged."
"What's more, neither the Dharma Spreading Heavenly Venerate nor the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance would ever permit such a power to exist."
"But for me... the more of them, the better."
Observing from the shadows, Li Fan saw the potential opportunities hidden within this disaster.
He immediately set out for the Congyun Sea once more, seeking any being that had survived an anomaly and managed to harness its strange power.
From his worldly perspective, the writhing pockets of darkness, like cankerworms, were perfectly clear.
There was no risk of being caught in their influence.
At each location, Li Fan observed from the periphery.
He had to admit, for any ordinary creature to survive one of these anomalies was a monumental challenge.
Li Fan passed more than a dozen anomaly sites without finding a single survivor.
But his persistence paid off. Finally, on an island called Fanyong Island, he found his target.
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