Chapter 1058: Mutated Spiritual Qi
However, based on past experience, unleashing the Chaos Character technique in the Xuanhuang Realm would inevitably draw the attention of the Dharma Spreader, summoning him back from the void.
With the Dharma Spreading Heavenly Venerate personally overseeing it, the Xuanhuang Realm was almost impervious to chaos. All manner of ghouls and fiends would have to steer clear of his might, which was why, under normal circumstances, Li Fan would not consider such a method.
Here in this rainbow-hued space, beyond the two previously mentioned creations, there was a third, relatively more developed plan for world annihilation.
This plan involved launching a small, fortified flying object toward the Immortal Ruins.
The object was designed based on the principles of Tianyang's body-puppet transformation, making it seem almost like a living creature.
In addition to the part that flew toward the Immortal Ruins to attract the attention of the immortals within, another half of the entity remained behind in the Xuanhuang Realm.
Once it entered the Immortal Ruins, its presence, like the prying gaze of a human, would immediately alert the immortals residing there.
They would then follow the connection between the two halves of the flying object, cross the vastness of the void, and lock onto the Xuanhuang Realm.
This would achieve the desired effect of world-annihilation with a single glance.
Beyond these three, all other methods were still in the research and development phase. They were theoretically feasible but had not yet been put to the test.
One such theory involved entering the Root of Heaven and Earth space in Tianling Province and shattering every one of the crisscrossing lines that represented the fundamental laws of the Xuanhuang Realm. By destroying the world's very cornerstone, it would naturally fall into ruin and decay.
Another idea was to mass-produce artifacts imbued with the "False Claiming Heavenly Dao" divine ability and disseminate them throughout the Xuanhuang Realm. This would undoubtedly throw the workings of heaven and earth into disarray. A flood of erroneous Heavenly Dao commands might even override the original mechanisms that governed the world, leading to global upheaval. The Xuanhuang Realm would then likely attempt some form of self-correction, which could potentially trigger another dramatic shift, perhaps something akin to the "Law cannot be cultivated together" phenomenon.
Li Fan still possessed the Heavenly Profound Mirror Origin, and with his supreme authority, he could voraciously comb through the sealed archives of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
The myriad calamities and hardships that had once befallen the lands of Xuanhuang had long been forgotten by its people, thanks to the divine influence of the Wuyou Immortal Venerable. Only Li Fan now gathered these memories, treating them as priceless treasures.
The various world-ending measures within this "Annihilation" space were currently Li Fan's only key to contending with powers at the Longevity stage, and perhaps even beyond.
As the sole surviving sanctuary in the Darkest Star Sea, the existence of the Xuanhuang Realm was the fundamental prerequisite for any cultivator's survival.
And by mastering the methods of its destruction, Li Fan had secured the ultimate bargaining chip against every living being within it.
This was not just useful for the present; as long as he remained in the Xuanhuang Realm, this knowledge would be of paramount importance.
Therefore, Li Fan simply created a sacred embryo clone and used the Faceless Immortal Statue to bestow a cultivation base upon it. Forcibly raising the clone to the Golden Core realm was more than sufficient to support the research work within the "Annihilation" space.
After carefully reinforcing the surrounding seven-colored divine light seal, Li Fan quietly departed.
He arrived in the Empire Small World.
The fusion with the Spirit Wood Realm had brought about subtle yet profound changes to the world itself. A vast number of the Empire's unique beasts had perished, unable to adapt to the drastic shift in their environment.
Even the survivors had spent nearly three years in a state of listlessness before gradually regaining their vitality.
Now, at the heart of the Empire, where the royal castle once stood, there was a new, dome-shaped building.
It was an experimental facility established in the Empire by the Federation of All Worlds.
The "Dao One Worm," capable of synthesizing spiritual qi, had undergone three successive generations of improvement, and its efficiency had nearly doubled.
Furthermore, the probability of random mutations causing the Heaven and Earth Furnaces to fail had been drastically reduced.
A single Heaven and Earth Furnace could now provide a stable, uninterrupted supply of spiritual qi for a hundred years.
This was sufficient to meet the basic needs of the Federation of All Worlds.
Five years had passed, and the overall spiritual qi density of the fused Spirit Wood Realm was now on par with that of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Of course, this was partly due to the sheer vastness of the Xuanhuang Realm.
The focus of Qing, Hong, and the others in the Empire had also shifted to coordinating the integration of the Empire Small World and the Spirit Wood Realm.
As for Di Nv, Li Fan had assigned her a different mission.
Inside the domed laboratory, Di Nv was staring with rapt attention at the space before her, which was filled with a dense swarm of countless Dao One Worms, resembling a cloud of black mist.
She was so engrossed that she didn't even notice Li Fan's silent arrival.
Li Fan glanced at the experiment log.
"Ancestor Dao One Worm Variant, Test Seventy-Six."
"After fusion with fissile fungi, this variant's lifespan has been significantly shortened, but its reproductive efficiency has increased by more than a hundredfold."
"Calculations show that with sufficient resources, a single Dao One Worm can multiply its population to the hundreds of millions within just seven days."
"Key Observation: The spiritual qi produced by this variant can be absorbed by cultivators, and no abnormalities are felt initially. However, if an excessive amount is absorbed—more than half of the cultivator's total spiritual power reserve—it will begin to exert a subtle, imperceptible influence. The cultivator will become more irritable and aggressive."
"More critically, a dependency on this mutated spiritual qi will form. They will begin to feel that normal spiritual qi is not 'potent' enough."
Li Fan nodded in deep satisfaction as he read through the detailed experimental data Di Nv had recorded.
The imperial bloodline was truly worthy of its origin, passed down directly from the sacred embryo blood of Xu Ke. Di Nv had perfectly inherited Xu Ke's talent.
In the past five years, many of the experimental projects she led had achieved significant breakthroughs.
This was especially true for the research on Dao One Worm variants.
The spiritual qi produced by the Dao One Worms underwent numerous subtle changes in these variants. The newest one, which made cultivators more aggressive, was just one example. Previous variants had produced qi that could make cultivators lazy and strip them of their ambition, or qi so dense that absorbing it produced an effect like "spiritual intoxication." Continued absorption of that type could even cause irreversible damage to a cultivator's mind.
The variations were simply too numerous to count.
While this mutated spiritual qi couldn't destroy the Xuanhuang Realm, it could, to a certain extent, be used to remodel its cultivators.
It could make all cultivators within a specific region conform to a single, fixed personality.
Li Fan was genuinely intrigued by this avenue of research.
After sealing the data on this new variant and a hundred sample worms into his personal grotto-heaven, Li Fan roused Di Nv from her research-induced trance.
"Greetings, Emissary!" A flicker of nervousness crossed Di Nv's eyes as she quickly bowed her head in salute.
"What is the progress on the search for the Saint Emperor?" Li Fan inquired.
"We have already eliminated half of the small worlds and have still found no trace of the Saint Emperor. We estimate it will take another five years at most to search the remaining worlds and finally pinpoint his hiding place," Di Nv replied truthfully.
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