Chapter 1201: The Future of the Transformation Dao
Yi Shu gradually recovered from his shock but still chose not to state his position.
His actions, however, had already changed.
He had originally planned to observe for a short while and then return. But now, he requested permission from Sun Erlang to stay and observe for an extended period.
Sun Erlang looked a bit troubled. "This is not a decision I can make on my own. I must ask my master for instructions."
Yi Shu nodded. "I believe your master will agree."
As expected, the Faceless Sage Emperor approved the Taiyan Sect's request to remain. There was, however, one condition.
"Use your 'simulation' ability to help the cultivators of the Great Qi grow more quickly?"
Yi Shu hesitated for a moment.
After a moment of silence, and following a discussion between the Taiyan Sect and the Transformation Dao Stone Mother, Yi Shu finally agreed.
For the Taiyan Sect, running a few more simulations was merely making use of idle computing power.
In exchange, they secured another potential path for the future. By any measure, it was a worthwhile trade.
It was just like their decision before the great calamity, when a portion of the sect's cultivators had chosen to flee. The Ten Great Immortal Sects never put all their eggs in one basket.
From that day forward, the Great Qi gained a new observer.
Aside from the areas beneath the Sage Emperor's throne, the lands of the You Clan, and the Fishing Pool in the Xuanhuang Realm, Yi Shu could observe everything else without restriction.
Li Ping was not concerned by this.
Clad in the destiny of the Sacred Dynasty, and with the Heaven and Earth Myriad Spirits Array growing ever more perfect, Yi Shu's every move was within his grasp.
Even the life and death of Yi Shu's current body depended on a single thought from him.
Meanwhile, in the distant Xuanhuang Realm, a certain someone was already making plans for the Taiyan Sect.
"I have no desire to actively harm others, but I must have a card up my sleeve."
"The Taiyan Sect has abandoned physical form, existing collectively within the Transformation Dao Stone Mother. Their existence as pure information is truly remarkable. They even managed to escape the world-ending gaze of the Immortal from the Immortal Ruins during that terrifying calamity. But..."
"As they say, every art has its master!"
Within the space of the Deduction Jade, Li Fan appeared to be meditating with his eyes closed.
In truth, his mind was a storm of churning thoughts.
Their informational existence made them immune to physical attacks, and even ordinary immortal techniques would be ineffective. But data corruption... that might prove to be wonderfully effective.
As far as Li Fan knew, no such method existed among the current orthodoxies of the Xuanhuang Realm. His idea stemmed from the unfathomably mysterious Mysterious Origin Primal Spirit Grand Array.
A composite of nine immortal-grade grand arrays, its power was beyond imagination. It could even re-establish earth, fire, water, and wind in the void and forge a new world.
Thanks to the Final Dissociation Disc and a series of fortunate coincidences, Li Fan had already gained a preliminary grasp of three of them.
The Mysterious Jade, Myriad Spirits Return to Number; the Desolate Fall, Void Room Generates Flowers; and the Boundless, Primordial Vision.
Among them, the Mysterious Jade, Myriad Spirits Return to Number array possessed the miraculous ability to digitize everything within its range, allowing for arbitrary manipulation.
"Though it's only theoretical—I lack the materials to actually construct the array—the Taiyan Sect is also without physical form. An existence of pure information is, conversely, more likely to have vulnerabilities."
"The Primordial Vision and the Myriad Spirits Return to Number... if these two arrays are coordinated..."
In his sea of consciousness, the Final Dissociation Disc, supercharged by the computing power of the Dao Transformation Stone, was rapidly deducing a brand-new form of array.
Over the past six months, Li Fan's avatar had largely completed its analysis of the Boundless, Primordial Vision array within the Immeasurable Mirror.
After some repairs by the avatar, the damaged mirror's capabilities had improved significantly.
The price, of course, was that the avatar had become weaker once again.
But Li Fan wasn't worried.
Sun Luyuan had long delayed the task given to him by Mirror Holder Fu, and his perfunctory attempts had not gone unnoticed. The pressure on him was mounting. It wouldn't be long before he would have no choice but to yield and attempt to use the Immeasurable Mirror to spy on the Heavenly Profound Mirror again.
After receiving the intelligence from his clone, Li Ping, Li Fan's thoughts had turned to something else entirely.
He was pondering the origin of the Transformation Dao Stone Mother.
When the Taiyan Sect first received the legacy of the Tiandu Grandmaster, they likely didn't possess the Stone Mother.
It was only later that they somehow found this treasure, which transformed the Taiyan Sect's techniques from something suited for only a select few into a practice anyone could cultivate. This completely solidified the Taiyan Sect's position among the Ten Great Sects.
"There are many treasures in the Xuanhuang Realm capable of deduction. Take the Immeasurable Mirror, for instance. Even though it's damaged, it can still predict glimpses of future events. But the wondrous abilities of the Immeasurable Mirror, and even the Heavenly Profound Mirror, seem to be the result of their refinement with immortal-level power. They are 'artifacts'."
"The Transformation Dao Stone Mother, on the other hand, feels more like a pure, natural 'object'."
"A legendary treasure of heaven and earth... As vast as the Xuanhuang Realm is, it doesn't seem like a place that could naturally birth such a divine object."
Li Fan was suddenly reminded of an obscure tale he had heard from a member of the Salvation Sect.
An alien star fell upon the Xuanhuang Realm, causing all spiritual energy in the world to fail.
"Could it be that this Transformation Dao Stone Mother also came from beyond the stars?"
Li Fan couldn't help but speculate.
But it was only speculation. He would only find the real answer if he could one day infiltrate the Dao Transformation Stone itself.
"The Stone Mother deduces the future purely through its own immense computing power. Even so, it has reached a certain apex, which speaks to the sheer strength of its calculations. If it were supplemented by external tools, if its deduction methods were further optimized... I can't imagine what heights it could reach."
Take the Dao Transformation Stone in Li Fan's sea of consciousness, for example. Although it had been upgraded to high-grade after several fusions, asking it to deduce an array on its own was a struggle. Forget immortal-grade grand arrays; even something like the Life and Death Reversal Grand Array was a great strain.
Similarly, relying on the Final Dissociation Disc alone—a mortal object, after all—to deduce an immortal-grade grand array was also asking too much.
But when the two worked in concert, the result was completely different.
"They complement each other, each enhancing the other's strengths."
This harmonious synergy made Li Fan's imagination run wild. What if the Transformation Dao Stone Mother were paired with something like the Final Dissociation Disc? And what if it wasn't limited to just arrays?
What kind of scene would that create?
The techniques from the Deduction Jade, the future from the Immeasurable Mirror...
If all these were combined with the terrifying computational power of the Transformation Dao Stone Mother, a qualitative leap would surely occur.
He could even use his endless reincarnations to infinitely stack enhancements onto the already supreme Transformation Dao Stone Mother.
Pushing it to an unimaginable state.
The help the Final Dissociation Disc had provided him throughout his reincarnations was already self-evident.
If he added the others to the mix...
The thought made Li Fan's heart pound with excitement.
"Perhaps... the key to breaking this stalemate lies within."
"The treasure is right there. Now, it's just a matter of how to claim it."
A glint flickered in Li Fan's eyes.
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