Chapter 1037: Hiding the Salvation Sect in a Mustard Seed
Chapter 1037: Hiding the Salvation Sect in a Mustard Seed
After another half a month spent ensuring there were no major flaws in the seal-breaking plan for the Dissociation Disk, Li Fan decided not to delay any longer.
He contacted Mo Rubin and the Heavenly Profound Mirror's clone and informed them of the situation.
Mo Rubin studied the incredibly complex formation recorded in the jade slip for a long time.
When he finished, he rubbed his temples and frowned. "I can't make heads or tails of it. You'd better ask the Heavenly Profound Mirror's clone for a second opinion."
"After all," he added, "once we commit, it'll be difficult to make any changes."
The Heavenly Profound Mirror's human avatar, however, read the contents of the jade slip with eyes that gradually lit up.
"Marvelous. Simply marvelous."
"True mastery appears effortless. Deceptively simple, yet profoundly complex, it strikes at the very heart of the Great Dao..."
A deep-seated suspicion colored his gaze.
It was clear the clone didn't believe for a second that Li Fan possessed such ability.
Li Fan smiled, his eyes glinting. Recalling his previous speculations about the forms of immortal artifacts, he replied, "Me? I could never deduce a formation this complex."
"But everyone has their specialty. Just because we can't do something doesn't mean no one can."
"Do you really think your Heavenly Profound Mirror is the most powerful thing in the Xuanhuang Realm?"
"Back in its day, my Xuantian Sect had immortal treasures—"
Li Fan let out a cold snort, his words stopping abruptly.
The Heavenly Profound Mirror stared at Li Fan, as if trying to see right through him.
Unfortunately for the mirror, it could glean nothing from that inscrutable face.
After a moment of silence, the clone was the first to speak. "Fine. It doesn't matter how you obtained this seal-breaking method. Based on my judgment, it should be able to break through the Dharma Spreader's prohibitions."
"However," the clone's tone shifted, "to be absolutely certain, we must verify it first."
Li Fan's eyes narrowed. "Verify it? How?"
The clone answered languidly, "The prohibitions left by the Dharma Spreader weren't all used on me..."
"Oh?"
The clone paced back and forth, seemingly lost in thought.
After a long pause, he continued slowly, "To maintain the stability of the Xuanhuang Realm, the Dharma Spreader once carried out a purge of nearly all its unstable elements."
"I call it the Scouring of Xuanhuang."
"Those that could be destroyed were utterly annihilated. Those that could not be..."
"...were sealed away forever with prohibitions."
A look of interest appeared on Li Fan's face. "I've never heard of such a thing..."
The clone spoke dismissively. "Why else do you think the Xuanhuang Realm has been so peaceful? It has integrated countless worlds, yet for most of its history, it has remained at peace..."
"That in itself is unbelievable."
Li Fan nodded slowly, acknowledging the validity of the clone's point.
He knew that even in the mortal Great Xuan Kingdom, empires were destined to unite after long periods of division and to divide after long periods of unity.
Yet, since the rebirth of the Xuanhuang Realm after the great calamity, it had been locked in a two-sided struggle between the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders Council.
Though there were occasional wars and skirmishes, they often felt more like a means of regulating the total number of cultivators.
Behind it all, the Dharma Spreader's covert influence must have been at play.
"So, which prohibition will we use for our experiment? Won't it alert the Dharma Spreader?" Li Fan was immensely curious about these "unstable elements" that the Dharma Spreader had sealed away, and he pressed the matter immediately.
"I'm considering that as well." The Heavenly Profound Mirror's clone's brow was tightly furrowed, as if he, too, was facing a difficult decision.
After a long while, he finally gave his answer.
"The sealed object cannot be too dangerous. When the Dharma Spreader sealed such things, he often left a sliver of his attention on them. Thousands of years have passed, but we can't be sure that attention has faded."
"The best target would be something he sealed in a fit of anger. Something that posed no real threat to the Xuanhuang Realm but was sealed away simply because it provoked him. To the Dharma Spreader, it would have been like swatting a mouse. After all these years, he's probably forgotten all about it."
The more the clone spoke, the brighter his eyes became.
Finally, he looked at Li Fan. "Have you, by any chance, heard of the Salvation Sect?"
"The Salvation Sect?" Li Fan's heart jolted.
His expression changed dramatically, a flicker of fury in his eyes. "Isn't that one of the ten sects that betrayed us back then? Don't tell me you want me to break their seal?"
Li Fan immediately waved his hand in refusal. "Impossible! Traitors like them... I should be hunting them down, not saving them!"
"Hmph, it seems the Dharma Spreader had his merits after all. Sealing away this trash for so long..."
"Well done, Dharma Spreader! Well done indeed!"
It was as if the very name "Salvation Sect" had struck a nerve, and his entire demeanor suddenly grew unstable.
One moment he was sneering, the next he was seething with agitation.
The clone observed Li Fan for a moment before explaining, "Heh, you don't need to worry about that. The members of the Salvation Sect were likely all killed by the Dharma Spreader long ago. What he sealed were merely the arrangements they left behind."
"Those things had become deeply embedded in the Xuanhuang Realm, too difficult to remove. Even the Dharma Spreader couldn't completely destroy them, so he had no choice but to seal them away."
"They're just inanimate objects. If you test the seal-breaking method and succeed, as long as you don't disturb what's inside, nothing unusual will happen. After careful consideration, this is the most suitable place I could find for a preliminary test."
Hearing the clone's words, an image of the countless paper figures that monitored everything in the Xuanhuang Realm flashed in Li Fan's mind.
"The Salvation Sect..."
Countless thoughts raced through his mind. At last, his expression steadied. "If that's the case, where is the Salvation Sect's seal located?"
"I'll take your word for it and give it a try."
"However..."
"This trip sounds quite dangerous. Do you have any compensation to offer?" Li Fan's gaze was sharp.
The clone looked helpless. "I haven't fully recovered yet. We can discuss it after you return successfully."
"As for the location of the Salvation Sect's seal..."
The clone's expression turned serious.
He once again broke off a segment of his finger and handed it over.
"It's just a set of coordinates, why all the trouble? You could have just told me..." Li Fan grumbled, perplexed, but his words trailed off as he inspected the contents of the finger.
"Hiding a mustard seed within Mount Sumeru... The Dharma Spreader actually possessed such a method?" Li Fan's face was a mask of astonishment.
The clone warned him, "You must follow the size and position coordinates exactly. Otherwise, you won't just fail to find the Salvation Sect—you might become lost in the void forever."
Li Fan committed the information from the finger to memory, then crushed it in his hand.
According to the records, the Dharma Spreader had shrunk the Salvation Sect by a hundred thousand times and permanently hidden it within the endless void of the Xuanhuang Realm.
(End of Chapter)
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