Chapter 1138: The Thermal Death Ice Seal Transformation
Chapter 1138: The Thermal Death Ice Seal Transformation
Infiltrating the Law Enforcement Hall headquarters as Sun Ang was not primarily about the Deduction Jade.
It was, in truth, about finding a place to hide.
Based on the intelligence he had gathered, the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance imposed exceptionally strict regulations on the cultivators assigned to guard the Deduction Jade.
Not only did their backgrounds have to be spotless, but they were almost exclusively selected from the hereditary families of the Law Enforcement Hall.
Furthermore, they had to pass a stringent screening process before being accepted.
But the most critical condition was this: once a cultivator chose to guard the Deduction Jade, they were forbidden from leaving the Law Enforcement Hall headquarters for three hundred years.
In becoming a guardian, one also became a prisoner.
Consequently, almost no one among the great hereditary families of the Law Enforcement Hall was willing to volunteer for such an arduous and thankless assignment.
After all, once a cultivator reached the Dao Integration realm, the path to true longevity was closed to them.
Their pursuits shifted to little more than power and worldly pleasures.
A three-hundred-year confinement was not something just anyone could tolerate.
Yet these very conditions made it the perfect sanctuary for Li Fan.
The Law Enforcement Hall was situated deep within the headquarters of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
The space housing the Deduction Jade was fortified with an array of additional formations and restrictive spells.
There might even be contingency measures left behind by the Dharma Transmitters.
Even for Li Fan in his current state, there was no absolute guarantee that he could breach its defenses and escape unscathed.
By assuming another's identity and hiding within, when the outside world was thrown into chaos, no one would ever suspect that the true mastermind behind it all had been hiding in such a vital stronghold of the Immortal Alliance for centuries.
"In truth, the Deduction Jade is of little use to me now."
"To advance further, I need an immortal art that is perfectly attuned to my path. Otherwise, progress depends on my own comprehension of the Dao and the fundamental principles of the world."
"These common techniques derived by the Deduction Jade..."
Li Fan shook his head slightly.
After all, it was merely a wonder of the Xuanhuang Realm. From Li Fan's current vantage point, when it came to contending with the likes of the Heavenly Doctor, the Dharma Transmitters, or even True Immortals, the assistance the Deduction Jade could offer was profoundly limited.
And Li Fan, having lived through countless cycles of reincarnation, had surveyed the secrets of ages past and present.
After obtaining the origin essence of the Heavenly Profound Mirror, the myriad secrets of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance were laid bare before him.
Coupled with the guidance from the Heavenly Doctor's legacy...
Li Fan's current insight and level of understanding were, in fact, among the absolute elite in the entire Xuanhuang Realm.
Take the Mysterious True Spirit Transformation, for example. The version originally derived by the Deduction Jade was only applicable up to the Nascent Soul realm.
Yet when Li Fan broke through to the Soul Transformation stage in this life, during the eight years he spent waiting in the small world, he effortlessly advanced the technique to the Soul Transformation level on his own.
In a way, when it came to devising techniques perfectly suited to himself, Li Fan even had a slight edge over the Deduction Jade.
After all, Li Fan possessed the [Truth], a fact that could never, under any circumstances, be known to the Deduction Jade.
"Unless..."
"Like I did with the Final Dissociation Disc, I could help it achieve a higher state of evolution."
A glint appeared in Li Fan's eyes.
Lost in thought, he flew out of the underground caverns of the Luojia Mountain Range.
The Earth's Soul, Zilon, was even weaker than the original Crimson Flame. Li Fan had no interest in devouring it.
As for how he would fake his advancement to the Dao Integration stage without consuming it...
The Xuanhuang World-Ending Transformation he had absorbed contained several aspects whose power was no less than that of an Earth's Soul.
Their outward manifestations of power were so similar to an Earth's Soul as to be nearly indistinguishable.
Ultimately, an Earth's Soul was a materialization of the Xuanhuang Realm's laws.
In the final moments before annihilation, the realm had no time to form a corresponding Earth's Soul, instead manifesting its power directly.
As he flew back toward the Sun family estate, Li Fan's clothes and appearance began to subtly change.
His eyebrows and hair turned a stark, snowy white, and his robes seemed dusted with frost.
The very air he passed through seemed to crystallize, filled with minute ice particles spawned by the intense cold.
"The Thermal Death Ice Seal Transformation. This was one of the transformations the Xuanhuang Realm had developed to face an existential crisis."
"It plunges the world and everything in it into a state of absolute darkness and silence, a theoretical attempt to survive a cataclysm. In principle, it's a sound strategy."
"Unfortunately, the external force was simply too powerful, and it annihilated the entire system in an instant."
"This Thermal Death Ice Seal Transformation is functionally identical to an ice-attribute Earth's Soul. The occasional, deliberate energy fluctuations I'm releasing will simulate the instability of a recent breakthrough."
As Li Fan pondered this, Tianyu Sky City came into view.
Without a moment's hesitation, he flew directly toward the Sun family's estate within the city.
Despite having members in high-ranking positions within the Law Enforcement Hall for generations, and now boasting three Dao Integration cultivators in its ranks, the Sun family maintained an exceptionally low profile.
In Tianyu Sky City, they had only purchased two adjacent, outwardly unremarkable cave manors.
Only upon entering did one discover that these two interconnected manors contained a hidden world within.
"Sun Ang? You finally decided to show your face?"
The moment Li Fan flew inside, an indignant voice cut through the air.
It was Wu Ninglu, the Dao companion of Sun Ang, the man whose body he now inhabited.
Wu Ninglu's cultivation level was comparable to the original Sun Ang's; both were at the late stage of Soul Transformation.
However, their relationship was strained. Their union had been born not of affection, but of pressure from their respective families.
And in all their years together, they had never produced an heir.
"Huh? What's this...?" Wu Ninglu began, her tone aggressive, poised to launch into an interrogation.
But when she got a clear look at Li Fan's current appearance, she gasped in astonishment.
Li Fan merely shot Wu Ninglu a sidelong glance, offering no reply.
"I am weary,"
he stated with profound indifference, then flew off toward Sun Ang's personal dwelling.
The Sun family's estate was built within a circular valley.
Key structures, such as the family's council hall and treasury, were situated in the center of the valley floor.
The dwellings of the clan members were carved into the surrounding mountain walls.
Wu Ninglu had been simmering with rage over Sun Ang's unannounced departure and subsequent, inexplicable disappearance.
Now, seeing him return with that same cold, dismissive demeanor, her fury reached its zenith.
Yet, for some reason, just as she was about to unleash her tirade, she met his icy gaze, and the inferno of her anger was instantly extinguished.
Her mouth fell open, but she found she lacked even the courage to call out to him.
This inexplicable feeling only began to fade after his retreating figure had vanished completely from her sight.
"Did he... did he actually frighten me?!" The realization struck Wu Ninglu with a fresh wave of shock and anger. It was unacceptable.
But as she replayed Sun Ang's behavior in her mind, a daring thought took root.
"Sun Ang... Did he have a breakthrough?"
In that moment, facing Sun Ang, she had felt a sense of profound unease, a feeling of trepidation she usually only experienced in the presence of the family elders.
At this thought, all the anger and resentment in her heart vanished.
Filled with a disbelieving joy, she hastily flew after him toward their shared residence.
"Sun Lang?"
she called out cautiously, her tone reminiscent of when they had first met.
(End of Chapter)
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