Chapter 1136: The Mystery of the Heavenly Doctor's Dharma Transmission
Chapter 1136: The Mystery of the Heavenly Doctor's Dharma Transmission
If the Dharma Spreader had a clone watching over the Xuanhuang Realm, a full-scale war between the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders Association would be utterly impossible.
Perhaps the Five Elders Association was a tool the Dharma Spreader deliberately allowed to exist, a means to maintain the Xuanhuang Realm's delicate balance. He might not have cared about the conflict between the two powers; he might even have welcomed it.
But the Xuanhuang Realm was rife with hidden threats, and the shadow of the Immortal Ruins loomed ever closer.
In a world that could be shattered at a moment's notice, leaving a clone behind would have been the most prudent course of action.
And yet, the Dharma Spreader, who supposedly treasured the Xuanhuang Realm above all else, had done no such thing.
Li Fan recalled his two experiences destroying the world. In one, the Dharma Spreader had arrived too late from beyond the heavens, his arrival marked only by a roar of impotent fury.
In the other, he hadn't appeared at all. Only the Heavenly Doctor had.
This was all deeply suspicious.
Clone techniques were rare in the Xuanhuang Realm, it was true, but even Li Fan himself had repeatedly used them to sow chaos.
How could the very progenitor of the New Law be incapable of it?
It was a simple matter, something he could have done with ease, yet he had chosen not to...
In truth, the cultivators of the Xuanhuang Realm had long wondered why the Dharma Spreader hadn't left a clone to watch over them. While they dared not discuss it openly, whispers and theories abounded in private.
The most common conclusion was that the Dharma Spreader had transcended mortal concerns and no longer cared for the fate of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Clearly, they understood neither the Xuanhuang Realm nor the Dharma Spreader.
But from Li Fan's perspective, if the Dharma Spreader himself was a clone...
...then everything would fall into place.
It wasn't that he didn't want to—it was that he *couldn't*!
During his 119th life, the power of his clone, Li Qing, had drawn infinitely close to his own, reaching the peak of the Nascent Soul stage.
She was but a single step away from surpassing her creator.
Back then, the question had already formed in Li Fan's mind: could a clone truly become stronger than its original?
Later, using the authority granted by the Heavenly Profound Mirror's origin to peruse countless ancient texts, Li Fan had a faint inkling of the truth.
There were two possibilities: a clone surpassing its original in strength, or a clone creating clones of its own.
Of the two, the latter seemed far more difficult to achieve.
After all, if a clone could create its own clones, the process could extend infinitely. The logical conclusion would be a world with only one being left in existence.
While not absolutely impossible, such a feat would transcend the limits of any mortal technique.
Comparatively, it was far more plausible for a clone to simply surpass its original in power.
"The Heavenly Doctor... the Dharma Spreader..."
The two faces flickered in his mind's eye. He suddenly recalled his first visit to the headquarters of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, when he had seen an illusory statue of the Dharma Spreader.
At that moment, his body had reacted instinctively, a primal warning triggered by a strange sense of familiarity.
Before that day, the only being he had ever encountered in the Xuanhuang Realm at or above the Dao Integration stage was the Heavenly Doctor.
"Though their faces were different, there was a subtle, almost spiritual resemblance between them."
"A trace of the Dharma Spreader's aura lingers at the Alliance headquarters. Cultivators visiting for the first time are often affected by it, experiencing visions. My original body saw a statue of the Dharma Spreader, but my clone, Li Qing, she saw..."
The Transformation Dao Stone emitted a soft white light, faithfully replaying the images recorded at that time.
Within a hazy ball of light, several figures stood tall.
A fragmented conversation drifted from within.
"How certain are you of success on this journey?"
"I can only do my best and leave the rest to fate."
"That doesn't sound like you."
"The disparity in power is too great. This is a desperate gamble, nothing more."
"Fine. Go, then. Whether this brings fortune or disaster, who can say."
...
Li Fan then recalled the scene he had witnessed within Han Hai's chaotic consciousness while treating him during his 119th life.
"The Heavenly Doctor has been gone for a long time. I wonder if the plan will succeed," Taiyi, the turtle-snake beast, no larger than an ordinary tortoise at Han Hai's feet, muttered glumly as they sat in the grand hall of the sect.
"Before he left, the Heavenly Doctor said he was at least ninety percent certain. We should have a little more faith in him." Unlike Taiyi's gloomy expression, Han Hai seemed quite relaxed, offering a reassuring smile.
...
Li Fan stroked his chin.
Under the hypothesis that the Dharma Spreader was a clone of the Heavenly Doctor, all the fragmented clues he had gathered over the years suddenly clicked into place.
He delved back into his memories, searching once more.
As expected, he uncovered even more traces.
...
Yinyin Island.
Master Yin pointed to the two human skeletons he treasured, sidled up to Li Fan, and whispered, "These two people... they're not the same kind of people."
"Not the same kind?" Li Fan asked, startled. "What do you mean?"
Master Yin gestured wildly, deep in thought, but he seemed unable to find the right words to describe it.
After a long, frustrated pause, he clenched his fists, his face a mask of consternation. "It's a feeling, you get me? They're both human, obviously, but they lived in different eras, different places. They might look similar, and I dug them both up from the bottom of the Cong Yun Sea, but there's this incredibly fine line, a distinction that marks these two skeletons as different..."
Master Yin's explanation was esoteric, and after a great deal of talk, he still couldn't articulate the specific details.
...
During the second simulation of Tianyang's eternal remnant will.
To escape Tianyang's frail body and awaken from his coma as quickly as possible, Li Fan had studied the *Heavenly Doctor's Immortal Sutra*, prescribed himself a remedy, and instructed his senior brother to concoct it.
It was effective, but after he awoke, his second senior brother, Ling Xiao, told him something peculiar.
"You know, Junior Brother, you were quite lucky. Several of the herbs in the prescription you gave us were completely unheard of. We asked around every market nearby, and no one sold them. Some even claimed that those herbs simply don't exist in the cultivation world."
"Heh, I didn't believe them. How could a prescription have all the other ingredients, but a few just don't exist?"
"I argued with them right then and there."
"Luckily, a disciple from the Medicine King Sect happened to pass by and overheard our dispute. Out of curiosity, he asked for the specific prescription."
"Then, based on the medicinal principles, he selected a few common herbs as substitutes for us."
"That's the only reason you were able to drink that medicine, Junior Brother!"
...
Back when he met Immortal Sage Jicheng to receive the reward of the Audience Jade Token.
Immortal Sage Jicheng had pointed to a Qingyun Willow in his courtyard and asked him, Han Yi, and Ximen Yue if they knew the specifics of the tree.
Both Han Yi and Ximen Yue were clueless, but Li Fan, who had thoroughly read the *Heavenly Doctor's Immortal Sutra*, identified it in a single sentence.
Because of this, Immortal Sage Jicheng had given Li Fan a great deal of guidance.
Li Fan hadn't understood at the time, but after further investigation, he finally realized.
The Ink Ancient Bamboo, Green Wilderness Wood, Imperceptible Flower, Hundred-Spirit Eagle, Nine-Refinement Deer—hundreds of species of flora and fauna recorded in the *Heavenly Doctor's Immortal Sutra*. These plants and animals, which should have been quite common, had somehow become scarce in the present-day Xuanhuang Realm.
The Qingyun Willow, for instance, now only grew in small numbers in certain parts of Luoyan Province. Coincidentally, Luoyan Province was Immortal Sage Jicheng's homeland. Jicheng had mistaken Li Fan for a fellow countryman, which was why he had shown him extra favor.
...
"The Heavenly Doctor is a cultivator from the Tianfa Realm. Different cultivation worlds will have subtle biological differences. That's why so many of the spiritual medicines I read about in the *Heavenly Doctor's Immortal Sutra* were completely unknown in the ancient Xuanhuang Realm. It's no wonder the master and disciples of the Body Transformation Dao asked every cultivator they could find and were always told those herbs didn't exist."
"But the Qingyun Willow, originally found only in the Tianfa Realm, has now appeared in certain provinces after all these years. This is a clear sign of the Tianfa Realm merging with the Xuanhuang Realm."
"The fusion of two worlds."
"The two human skeletons at the bottom of the Cong Yun Sea—one was a native of the Xuanhuang Realm, and the other must have been the remains of a human from the Tianfa Realm. Though both were human, their different worlds of origin created subtle distinctions. The differences were so minuscule that even someone with Master Yin's skills couldn't decipher them."
"It's not just the Cong Yun Sea that came from the Tianfa Realm. There are many other provinces in the Xuanhuang Realm that also came from the Heavenly Doctor's home."
"Ximen Yu's *An Examination of Mountains and Rivers, Past and Present* deduced the geographical transformations over time. The Xuanhuang Realm didn't simply expand outwards by devouring smaller worlds and grotto-heavens. Instead, it was as if it had been dismembered and partitioned, with fragments of other worlds inserted to fill the gaps."
Li Fan's thoughts raced.
"In the Fallen Immortal Realm, Ningyuan City and the Purple Heaven Sect weren't too far apart. But in the real world, the underground chamber of Mr. Bai in Ningyuan City is buried deep beneath Taixu Mountain. The ruins of the Purple Heaven Sect, however, are far away in Langhuan Province, in the central region of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance. Once part of the same province, thousands of years later, they are worlds apart."
"Fusion, transformation."
"It's like a precise surgical procedure was performed..."
"The Heavenly Doctor..."
"The Xuanhuang Realm has undergone such earth-shattering changes over thousands of years, yet ordinary cultivators remain completely unaware. Even for someone like Ximen Yu, who possessed the extraordinary talent to perceive the truth through the fog of history, his writings were suppressed by the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, preventing them from ever spreading."
Piecing all the clues together, Li Fan began to reconstruct a plausible, if blurry, truth.
After the disappearance of the Xuantian King and the fall of the Xuantian Sect, the Xuanhuang Realm entered an era ruled by the Ten Great Immortal Sects.
However, the threat of the Immortal Ruins did not change with the shift in power.
The Ten Great Immortal Sects still had to solve the crisis of falling into the Immortal Ruins.
The Xuantian Sect's Floating Starry Sky Grand Formation was clearly the most effective method available.
So, the Ten Great Immortal Sects continued to operate the grand formation, capturing other worlds in the void.
Then, one day, they encountered the Tianfa Realm.
Judging from the combat prowess of Tian Jue, Tian Yu, and others, the overall strength of the Tianfa Realm at that time couldn't have been much weaker than the Xuanhuang Realm's.
This was especially true given that the Xuanhuang Realm had just endured a civil war, and its strongest figures—the Xuantian King and his twelve Law Kings—were all missing and presumed dead.
Naturally, the Tianfa Realm did not surrender without a fight.
A massive, bloody war erupted between the two sides.
Sects like the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace in the Tianfa Realm and the Body Transformation Dao in the Xuanhuang Realm were not particularly powerful factions, yet they fought until nearly every last one of their disciples was annihilated in the conflict.
"It's even possible that the Floating Starry Sky Grand Formation was damaged during that time."
"In the later stages of the war, both sides were in a stalemate, unable to advance or retreat."
"It was then that the Heavenly Doctor devised a plan to create the 'Dharma Spreader' as a clone, to infiltrate the Xuanhuang Realm and use the New Law to destabilize it from within."
"But something must have gone wrong. By the time the Dharma Spreader appeared on Xuanhuang soil, a significant amount of time had already passed."
"And by the time the Ten Great Immortal Sects were overthrown and the Xuanhuang Realm's strength was greatly diminished..."
"When the Heavenly Doctor finally returned to the Tianfa Realm, he found nothing but ruins and devastation."
...
Li Fan did his best to reconstruct the history hidden in the mists of time.
A moment later, he frowned slightly.
Although most of the pieces seemed to fit, he still felt that something was amiss.
"First, there's the timing of the Dharma Spreader and the Heavenly Doctor's appearances in the Xuanhuang Realm. Or rather, there's a time discrepancy in the Heavenly Doctor's journey between the two worlds."
Thinking of the Medicine King Sect's strange journey, Li Fan's gaze drifted toward the Immortal Ruins beyond the Xuanhuang Realm.
"Could it have been influenced by the immortal power of the Immortal Ruins?"
"Beyond that, there's another puzzle. The Heavenly Dao of the Xuanhuang Realm should have naturally produced some level of rejection towards an outsider, an foreign entity. It's like how merging worlds gives birth to weirdness because of the clash of laws."
"If the 'Dharma Spreader' was truly an outsider, then when he began to spread his teachings far and wide in an attempt to subvert the world's foundations, it should have triggered the world's killing intent. Besides, I remember the Ten Great Immortal Sects investigated the Dharma Spreader's background..."
"While they might not have been able to uncover his true identity, it's unlikely they couldn't even determine whether he was a native of the Xuanhuang Realm."
"There's still something strange about the Dharma Spreader's identity."
...
Atop Jieli Mountain, Li Fan stood for a long time, his thoughts a swirling tempest.
Half a month passed before he finally emerged from his deep contemplation.
He began to prepare the plans for this lifetime.
"Since I'm staying behind the scenes, my true self will not appear under any circumstances."
"Creating a clone to serve as a target and attract attention would be for the best."
"Hmph, the Faceless Sage Emperor who united tens of thousands of small worlds..."
Li Fan drifted down the mountain. Using the blood essence of the youths Sun Erlang and Wang Xuanba, he refined a clone.
"The Heavenly Emperor Qi Canon has no requirements for aptitude. Besides, these two don't have terrible cultivation talent."
"I'll sever all memories related to [Truth] and myself..."
As a faceless figure slowly took shape before him, Li Fan observed it for a long while before nodding in satisfaction.
"Heavenly Mandate Sage Emperor, pacify the heavens, and make the myriad realms submit."
"Your name shall be Li Ping!"
With that thought, Li Fan's form gradually faded away.
When the clone, Li Ping, awoke, he first scanned his surroundings.
He seemed to ponder something for a moment, then headed straight for the capital of Great Xuan.
A short while later, Li Fan's true form slowly reappeared.
"Although he only has the cultivation level of a Nascent Soul without the corresponding combat power, it's more than enough to deal with the mortals of Great Xuan."
"The trajectory of Great Xuan in this life should be the same as before."
"But I will make some minor adjustments."
...
Li Fan gazed into the distance, toward the Ruins Abyss east of Great Xuan.
With his current strength at the peak of Soul Transformation, invincible below the Longevity stage and able to hold his own against an ordinary Longevity cultivator, he could probably venture into the Xuanhuang Realm before [Truth] finished recharging without facing any fatal danger, as long as he didn't actively seek death.
But after some thought...
Li Fan shook his head, resisting the impulse.
"There's no rush."
He turned and returned to the thatched hut on the mountain peak, seating himself in quiet meditation.
(End of Chapter)
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