Chapter 1068: Rebirth Averts the Crisis
Chapter 1068: Rebirth Averts the Crisis
At first, the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance could still exert some control over the cultivators who were slowly losing their sanity. Within the immortal cities of the various provinces, a relative sense of safety prevailed.
But as the conflict escalated and both sides grew consumed by bloodlust, the Alliance's decrees became increasingly ineffective.
At the slightest provocation, cultivators would engage in battles to the death right within the city walls.
Initially, the disciplinary arrays within the cities still served their purpose. Towering statues of the Dharma Transmitters would cast down beams of white light, annihilating any cultivator who dared to violate the law.
However, as the number of cultivators fighting to the death surged, even the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance began to show immense hesitation.
They began to activate the city's grand arrays only selectively.
This leniency—a tacit admission that the law cannot punish the masses—only fueled the cultivators' frenzied violence.
In this feverish atmosphere, even the few remaining cultivators in the Xuanhuang Realm who had maintained a more peaceful disposition began to change, slowly drawn into the mutual slaughter.
Even a bitter exchange within the Tianxuan Mirror could trigger a bloody incident.
A mysterious figure known as [The Divine Eye] began to rise to prominence among the cultivator community, though no one knew when they first appeared.
This individual's origins were a mystery, but their powers were immense. All one had to do was share a personal secret, and in return, The Divine Eye would reveal the true identity of any cultivator behind a Tianxuan Mirror account they wished to track.
Initially, cultivators were skeptical.
But experience proved to be the ultimate test of truth.
The tragic deaths of over a hundred cultivators, suddenly hunted down and slain by their enemies, served as the ultimate proof of The Divine Eye's power!
After all, arguments over trivial matters that spiraled into lasting grudges were a common occurrence within the Tianxuan Mirror.
However, the strict confidentiality of all information on the Tianxuan Mirror meant that there was no way to act on these enmities. One could only trade verbal barbs from afar, satisfying themselves with empty threats.
But now, the arrival of The Divine Eye had changed everything!
Ever run your mouth and offended someone? Worried about being caught unprepared by a sudden, vengeful attack?
Then what are you waiting for? Strike first and seize the advantage!
Spurred on by The Divine Eye's clandestine influence, the frequency of vendettas within the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance surged once more.
The celestial omens marking the fall of cultivators became a common sight in the sky.
Though his plan for the world's destruction was proceeding smoothly, Li Fan's mood was far from celebratory.
Within the Hundred Stones Grotto-Heaven in Shilin Province.
Two strikingly similar figures stood before a Tianxuan Minor Mirror.
One was Li Fan himself.
The other was a pseudo-immortal puppet body that Li Fan had recently ordered the Master Artificer to forge.
He hadn't used any Source Power Essence, so the puppet's body wasn't nearly as strong as Tianyang's, which was comparable to the Longevity realm.
But Li Fan wasn't concerned with the puppet's actual combat prowess; he valued it for its unique ability to merge perfectly with a cultivator's consciousness.
Now, the Origin of the Mirror, a gift from the Tianxuan Mirror itself, had been transferred by Li Fan into this pseudo-immortal puppet.
To prepare for the inevitable arrival of Dharma Transmitter Jiang, Li Fan had also modified the consciousness he implanted into the puppet.
In the puppet's altered perception, it truly believed itself to be a member of the vast Federation of All Worlds, tasked with hunting down the remnants of the Xuantian Sect.
It possessed no memories whatsoever of [Truth] or any of Li Fan's other secrets.
This immortal puppet, "Li Fan," was, of course, none other than the sensational, suddenly prominent figure known as [The Divine Eye].
Using the authority granted by the Origin of the Mirror, it had not only greatly accelerated the process of mutual slaughter among cultivators but had also acquired a trove of their most confidential secrets.
Although some of these secrets seemed utterly worthless, Li Fan collected them all, knowing they might prove useful in a future cycle of reincarnation.
Currently, the immortal puppet was diligently playing its role as The Divine Eye.
Meanwhile, the real Li Fan stood to the side, his brow furrowed in thought.
"We're this far along, and still no move from Mo Rubin or the Tianxuan Mirror?"
"Only the holder of the Origin of the Mirror can read its encrypted information. Mo Rubin should have realized long ago that I am the one pulling the strings behind this recent series of world-ending events."
"Yet I've detected no one investigating this lead..."
"It's the same with Mo Rubin and the Tianxuan Mirror, and even with the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance. Mo Rubin hasn't shared this information with them."
"Are they simply ignoring me?"
"Or... are they preoccupied with something more pressing?"
He had simulated countless possible scenarios in his mind, but at this stage, the number of intersecting factors was simply too great.
Expecting everything to unfold exactly as planned was unrealistic from the start.
Li Fan could only adapt, countering each move as it came.
But what he hadn't anticipated was that before the third phase of his plan could even begin, another unexpected development caught him completely by surprise.
One day, after a battle to the death involving over a hundred cultivators had concluded...
A bizarre, blood-red vortex materialized out of nowhere, devouring the celestial omens that were forming to mark the cultivators' demise!
These blood-red vortexes appeared across the Xuanhuang Realm, wherever a cultivator had fallen.
Speculation about the origin of these vortexes ran rampant.
Yet it did nothing to quell the killing intent that grew ever stronger in their hearts.
The slaughter continued unabated.
Li Fan, however, gazed up at the multiplying blood-red chasms in the sky, sensing a faint, familiar aura emanating from within them.
"Reversing life and death?"
"At this critical juncture, is the Rebirth Heavenly Sovereign about to successfully attain the Dao?"
As if to confirm Li Fan's suspicions...
Before long, endless rays of crimson light erupted from the chasms in the heavens.
Bathing the world in a sanguine glow, the light also revealed the illusory silhouettes of vast, majestic palaces floating across the sky.
The cultivators below could not discern the details of the palaces, but the one at the very center—the [Rebirth Palace]—was clear to all!
As the name [Rebirth Palace] materialized in their minds, information about its purpose surfaced along with it, unbidden.
Death is not the end, but a cycle of rebirth?
For a moment, all cultivators, as if by unspoken agreement, ceased their fighting.
They stood frozen, utterly stunned by this world-altering event.
Unlike the Rebirth Palace Li Fan had encountered in the past, In this timeline, the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance had no control over the Rebirth Palace's operations. It had become a fundamental principle of the Xuanhuang Realm, as immutable as the [Law of Incompatible Cultivation]. Short of reversing the logic of heaven and earth once more, nothing could influence it.
Consequently, no cultivator yet knew the specific details of this rebirth process.
All they knew was that the world now had a [Rebirth Palace], an existence that would fundamentally alter the future of the Xuanhuang Realm.
The process of rebirth, whether one's memories and cultivation would remain intact afterward—
—all these questions could only be answered once a cultivator had gone through a complete cycle.
Nevertheless, the very fact that death was no longer an end but a new beginning directly influenced the cultivators' decisions.
The psychological burden of delivering a fatal blow diminished even further.
Cultivators across the Xuanhuang Realm transformed into vicious fiends, ready to fight to the death over the slightest offense.
For Li Fan, however, this development rendered his plan meaningless. If the deaths of cultivators no longer harmed the Xuanhuang Realm, then the slaughter had lost its purpose.
"This Rebirth Palace... what is the meaning of this?"
Li Fan seized the initiative, directing his challenge toward Dharma Transmitter Zhou and the others.
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