Chapter 1134: The Next Divine Transformation
The Next Divine Transformation
The young-looking member of the You Clan trembled as he explained, periodically stealing glances at Li Fan's face.
But how could a crude being such as he hope to clearly see the face of the Heavenly Mandate Sage Emperor?
Growing ever more terrified, he revealed everything he had discovered. "Sage Emperor, please understand. This humble one has been utterly loyal since pledging allegiance. However, praying to the Gloom has become as instinctual as breathing. So, during this time, while praying to you, Your Majesty, I have inevitably found myself praying to the Gloom as well."
"And the Gloom... just as it always has... it responded to me..."
At these words, the dozen or so You Clan members in the secret chamber all fell to their knees in unison, their faces masks of terror.
Clearly, this was a phenomenon they had all experienced.
With a gentle wave of his hand, Li Fan lifted them all to their feet.
In this particular life, Li Fan wasn't especially concerned about the You Clan members serving two masters.
Once he activated Truth Realization, everything in the Xuanhuang Realm would be annihilated anyway.
To say nothing of these members of the You Clan.
What intrigued him more was why the "Gloom" would tolerate such duplicity.
If a follower of the Faceless Immortal had dared to serve two masters, they would have been torn to shreds by the True Immortal's power long ago.
"Either the sovereign power behind the Gloom is so outrageously magnanimous that it can tolerate such behavior from its followers..."
"Or..."
A storm of thoughts surged through Li Fan's mind. "It has an ulterior motive. It seeks to use the betrayal of its followers as a vector to infect other beings of its own stature."
At this thought, Li Fan immediately became vigilant.
He had always made a habit of assuming the worst intentions from the powerful entities of the world.
He carefully examined the threads of crimson power within him—few, yet immensely potent.
But after repeated checks, he could find no sign of any connection to the power of the Gloom.
"Am I overthinking this?"
After a brief moment of contemplation, Li Fan made his decision.
He would not allow any variable to interfere with the process of Truth Realization in this lifetime.
First, he verbally praised the You Clan members for their honesty.
But after leaving the underground chamber, Li Fan ordered Wang Xuanba to grant them a peaceful slumber.
This was no euphemism; he meant a true, deep sleep.
Li Fan was unwilling to be tainted by such impure faith, yet he worried that slaughtering the You Clan members outright might attract the attention of the Gloom's sovereign.
So he simply had them placed into a state of living death.
"It seems I'll have to find a way to solve the You Clan's fertility problem. Cultivating new followers must start with the next generation."
Wang Xuanba completed his task swiftly and returned to report to Li Fan.
After years of constantly devouring and integrating the tissues of Strange Beasts, coupled with practicing an enhanced version of the Creation Forge Art, Wang Xuanba had shrunk from a towering ten-meter giant to the size of a normal man.
He merely looked exceptionally burly and well-built.
With the abilities of numerous Strange Beasts concentrated in one body, along with a terrifyingly fast physical regeneration rate, even Sun Erlang at the peak of the Golden Core realm would be no match for Wang Xuanba in a fight to the death.
"Xuanba, have you encountered any confusion or difficulties in your recent cultivation?" Li Fan asked.
He was both helping Wang Xuanba resolve his doubts and assessing his physical condition, with the intention of further improving the Creation Forge Art.
"Master. My body has indeed been getting stronger and stronger. Every moment, I feel like I have an inexhaustible supply of energy. But..."
Wang Xuanba gathered his thoughts, scratching his head. "Two feelings have slowly emerged within me. The first is a sense of danger that comes from nowhere, as if some natural predator exists in the world. This feeling is especially strong when I pass through the main Xuanhuang Realm."
"The second is a whispering voice that I hear from time to time. I can't understand what it's saying, but it gives me a strange sense of familiarity and closeness."
After listening, Li Fan stated calmly, "Though you have forged your body into a furnace, your will has not followed. The stray thoughts of the Strange Beasts you devoured still linger in your mind. Cease your cultivation for now. Go and recuperate."
Li Fan naturally knew the real reason for the anomalies in Wang Xuanba's body, but he didn't say it aloud.
He simply instructed him to rest quietly in the Great Xuan small world.
As the deadline for Truth Realization's recharge drew closer, Li Fan needed to eliminate all unstable factors.
Therefore, by his will, the Great Xuan's campaign to conquer other worlds came to a halt.
It was done under the pretext of "resting and recuperating to prepare for the enemy."
The soldiers and citizens of the Great Xuan praised the great mercy of the Heavenly Mandate Sage Emperor, and time flew by.
At the end of the eighth year since setting the anchor, Li Fan looked at the recharge bar, now at one hundred percent, and rose resolutely from his throne in Xuanjing City.
Without alerting anyone else, he quietly made his way to the underground chamber.
He awoke the slumbering You Clan members and opened the passage to the Gloomy Realm.
Deep within the Gloomy Sea of Darkness.
Li Fan opened the Truth Realization panel.
[You may choose one of the following options to retain:
1. An item you possess in this simulation.
2. Your cultivation realm from this simulation.
3. The simulation memory of a person closely related to you. This person can inherit the memory.
4. Forgo the above choices to accelerate the recharge progress.]
...
The incessantly flashing runes had been there for eight years.
"Inherit cultivation realm."
Li Fan recited the words in his mind, his vigilance at its absolute peak.
At the same moment, across the skies of the small worlds conquered over the years—the Great Xuan, the Li Realm, the Beast Seed Realm—a web of fine, crisscrossing silver lines suddenly lit up.
It was like a colossal net, enveloping all living beings within it.
Few of the beings caught within the net could sense the impending mortal danger; some even looked up at the sky with curiosity.
Only the "powerful ones" with some level of cultivation felt a faint stirring of unease in their hearts.
The eternally unchanging Gloomy Sea of Darkness suddenly seemed to stir with an invisible wave.
A fluctuation like a raging gale descended upon Li Fan, whipping up a violent storm around him.
Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul...
An earth-shattering transformation erupted within Li Fan's body.
Li Fan watched as his misty Dao foundation instantly condensed into a Golden Core.
Then, in an explosion that consumed all light, it evolved into a Five Elements Grotto-Heaven.
In a single instant, the grotto-heaven completed an evolution that would normally take tens of millions of years.
The majestic power of the Five Elements was a breathtaking sight.
Then, the boundaries between the Five Elements began to blur.
A dazzling array of changes unfolded within the grotto-heaven, too swift for the eye to follow.
"The Xuanhuang World-Ending Transformation."
The Five Elements returned to one. Every change within the newly born grotto-heaven was tailored to face a world-ending crisis that did not exist in this reality.
The colossal, sky-piercing tree that had once stood in the wood-attribute region of the grotto-heaven shed its leaves, leaving only bare branches.
The tree itself, however, gradually became as hard as metal.
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