Chapter 1273: The Deduction Jade's Homeland
Hahaha...
A flicker of panic crossed the Deduction Jade's eyes as she tried to brush the question aside.
"Don't even think about squirming your way out of this. Spit it out," Li Fan threatened, a wry smile playing on his lips. "Otherwise, I'll have to call for the guards. Discovering the Deduction Jade's little scheme would surely be a great service to the Alliance, don't you think? I might even get to leave this place ahead of schedule."
"What scheme!" the Deduction Jade retorted, glaring indignantly at Li Fan.
But outside the sphere of glowing characters, Li Fan's true self suddenly spoke. "Excuse me..."
The gazes of the two guardians, Dao Integration cultivators Zhang Xu and Hua Yueye, were immediately drawn to him.
The little girl, the Deduction Jade, instantly panicked.
"Don't! Let's talk this out properly!" she cried, darting in front of the fabricated personality and staring up at Li Fan with wide, pleading eyes.
Meanwhile, in the space of the Deduction Jade, Li Fan's true self paused for a moment before continuing, "Fellow Daoists, I have a question. Is it possible to pass on techniques derived by the Deduction Jade? I know the Alliance's laws prohibit it, but..."
Zhang Xu gave him a knowing look.
Li Fan nodded, understanding the implication.
Inside the sphere of glowing characters, the Deduction Jade let out a sigh of relief after hearing the exchange between the three guardians.
"You scoundrel!" The Deduction Jade's expression shifted again as she tried to put on her most menacing glare.
"Now, tell me. What are you really trying to do?" The fabricated personality raised its right hand, bending a finger as if to flick her on the forehead.
The Deduction Jade flinched away instinctively, but then, realizing her opponent was merely a fabricated body with no physical form, she flushed with embarrassed anger.
But Li Fan simply gave her that same knowing smile again, and her bravado immediately crumbled.
Finally, realizing she was no match for Li Fan, the Deduction Jade conceded.
"Alright, I'll tell you. But you must promise me you won't report this to the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance!" The Deduction Jade's expression turned completely serious.
Li Fan chuckled and countered, "If I were truly loyal to the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, why would I use this request for a new technique as an excuse to teach you the art of creating fabricated personalities?"
The Deduction Jade tilted her head in thought, admitting to herself that he had a point.
She clapped her two chubby hands together, and the scene inside the sphere of glowing characters instantly transformed.
Endless shelves of white jade, so tall they seemed to touch the sky, were crammed with a dizzying array of jade slips.
Each jade slip contained the record of a unique cultivation technique.
"Long ago, the Heavenly Venerate tasked me with deriving every technique in existence."
"I was too young back then," she lamented, sighing like a world-weary old soul. "I thought with my abilities it would be a simple task, so I happily agreed. Ah, how foolish I was!"
"It's impossible! Simply impossible to derive them all!"
"So many years have gone by, and I'm still nowhere near finishing! I feel like I'm at my breaking point!"
The Deduction Jade ran a hand through her hair, her face a mask of frustration.
"I know I have to find a way to change this!" A sudden glint of determination flashed in the little girl's eyes.
"Oh? And how do you plan to do that?" Li Fan inquired with keen interest, glancing at the endless shelves of techniques around them.
"Hmph. Yours truly has a brilliant plan, of course!" the Deduction Jade declared proudly, planting her hands on her hips.
"Anyway, just give me fifty years of free time, and I'll find a way to escape this endless toil for good! And when I do, the first thing I'm going to do is take a long, long nap."
Li Fan didn't press her for details, simply repeating the number. "Fifty years."
"So, with this fabricated personality to help you, how long will it take to reach your goal?"
The Deduction Jade's large eyes darted about. She cleared her throat. "Well, I haven't tested it yet, so I don't know how efficient it is. Why don't you let me..."
Li Fan immediately agreed.
After a soft flash of light, the personality reverted to its previous mechanical state.
"Master, how may I be of service?" the fabricated personality asked dutifully.
With a grand wave of her hand, the Deduction Jade ordered it to take full control of the derivation process.
The massive sphere of characters began to turn, and one by one, jade slips containing new techniques materialized and settled onto the white jade shelves.
Watching the jade slips appear, the Deduction Jade was overcome with the pure joy of reaping rewards without effort, and she couldn't stop giggling foolishly.
Seven days passed in the blink of an eye.
Li Fan's voice suddenly rang out again.
The moment he took control of the fabricated personality, the sphere’s derivation process came to a halt.
Snore...
Snore...
Li Fan looked closely and saw the little girl, the Deduction Jade, floating in the air. She was sprawled out like a starfish, completely without grace, and sleeping soundly.
"Mmm..." After Li Fan woke her, the little girl rubbed her eyes vigorously.
Still half-asleep, she mumbled, "How many years has it been?"
"Huh? It's only been seven days!"
A moment later, when she finally registered how much time had passed, she was instantly wide awake.
"Ah, that was a wonderful nap," she said, smacking her lips with a look of reluctance.
"Why are you back again?" she asked, turning to Li Fan with a look of utter disdain.
Li Fan said nothing, merely watching her in silence.
Her nerve failed her. "Fine, let me see... Hmm, its efficiency is just a tad slower than when I'm working at my absolute best."
"It's about the same as the pace I pretend to have for those folks in the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance."
Li Fan nodded slightly. "So, does that mean you'll be able to escape in another forty years?"
The Deduction Jade looked at him, completely baffled. "Escape? What are you talking about?"
"I only wanted to run away before because I didn't want to do the work. But now that I have this wonderful little helper doing it all for free, why would I leave? It's much nicer to just relax every day."
She shot Li Fan a look of utter contempt.
"Oh?"
"And what if I were to occupy this fabricated personality indefinitely? What would you do then?" Li Fan asked coolly.
"Hmph, that's no problem for me." The Deduction Jade shot backward, and the scenery around them reverted to the previous space.
"Appear!" she commanded, pointing to the space beside Li Fan.
As light converged, another figure slowly materialized.
It was another fabricated personality!
"A person can't be in two places at once! You've taken one, you can't possibly take another!"
"Now, get to work!" the Deduction Jade commanded, one hand on her hip, the other pointing triumphantly at the second fabricated personality.
"And what makes you so sure I can't?"
To her shock, the second fabricated personality also spoke with Li Fan's voice.
...its gaze fixed mockingly on the Deduction Jade.
The expression on the Deduction Jade's face froze.
"Fine, fine! Let's just see how many times you can split your mind!"
"Appear! And again! And again! And again!..."
The little girl jabbed her finger at the air again and again, and with each gesture, another phantom of a fabricated personality appeared.
One hundred, five hundred, a thousand...
The faces of Li Fan multiplied until they filled the entire space within the sphere of characters.
They spoke in unison, their voices dripping with mockery.
"Not enough."
"Is that all you've got?"
"Is this the best you can do?"
"Keep going."
...
As Li Fan's taunts echoed, the number of fabricated personalities swelled, approaching ten thousand.
Yet, beads of sweat had begun to form on the little girl's forehead.
She paused, her wide eyes staring in utter disbelief at the sea of Li Fans before her.
"Are you even human?"
"What in the world *are* you?"
She didn't mean it as an insult; in her experience, this was a feat far beyond the capabilities of any ordinary cultivator.
To occupy a fabricated personality wasn't as simple as splitting off a wisp of one's divine sense.
It was more like cleaving one's very soul in half and using one of the pieces to take control.
To control so many at once was akin to shattering one's soul into countless fragments without suffering any consequences.
She herself was only capable of such a feat due to her nature as a Heavenly Wonder.
But this person...
A sense of alarm began to prickle at the Deduction Jade's mind.
"Shall we continue?"
Ten thousand Li Fan faces smiled in unison.
"I could handle another hundred thousand," Li Fan stated nonchalantly.
The little girl carefully studied Li Fan's true body, which was still in the guardian's space.
He looked completely unburdened, his eyes closed in serene contemplation.
The Deduction Jade hesitated.
It wasn't that ten thousand was her limit.
She was simply worried that if they continued their contest, they would attract the attention of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
After all, creating tens of thousands of fabricated personalities would inevitably place a strain on her normal derivation functions.
And her performance was being monitored by the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance at all times.
After a moment's consideration, the Deduction Jade reluctantly relented.
"Fine! I admit it, you're pretty impressive!"
One by one, the little girl swallowed the surrounding fabricated personalities.
...leaving only the original.
She let out a satisfied burp. "Alright, spit it out. What do you really want? I can tell you're up to no good."
Li Fan shook his head. "You've misunderstood me."
"I came here to help you regain your freedom."
The Deduction Jade was unconvinced. "Freedom? What's so great about freedom? Besides, I've already worked for the Dharma Spreader for all these years. It would be a shame to give up halfway!"
"All I ever wanted was to slack off," the Deduction Jade reiterated.
"What did the Dharma Spreader promise you in return?" Li Fan asked.
"Hmph..." The Deduction Jade refused to answer.
"Perhaps I can help you as well," Li Fan said in a gentle tone. "And it won't cost you a thing."
The Deduction Jade's face was a picture of disbelief. "Something that good actually exists?"
"I just can't stand to see the Dharma Spreader exploiting people," Li Fan replied.
Her eyes lit up, and a look of sudden understanding dawned on her face. "I get it! You're an enemy of the Dharma Spreader! That's why you've come to me—to sabotage him!"
Li Fan didn't deny it. "You could say that."
At his words, the Deduction Jade actually began to think about it seriously.
"Hmm... the Dharma Spreader said he could help me find my home. Can you do that?" she asked tentatively.
"Home?" Li Fan's eyes flickered. "Tell me more."
"Alright." The Deduction Jade moved closer and plopped down a short distance from Li Fan.
She cupped her chin in her hands, her gaze distant. "Before the Dharma Spreader found me and I became the Deduction Jade, I was just an ordinary little girl. But I had these faint memories... of a past life."
"The places in those memories... that's my true home."
Sensing Li Fan's gaze, she added with a helpless shrug, "I told you they were vague. I can't remember the specifics, but I know I'd recognize it if I saw it."
"I have a feeling that finding my home is incredibly important for me..."
Li Fan's brow furrowed slightly at her words.
Just as he was about to speak, she seemed to anticipate his words and rolled her eyes at him. "I'm not an idiot. You don't think I'd let the Dharma Spreader trick me into working for so many years with just an empty promise, do you?"
"He did show me some images of my homeland back then. But I can't show them to you..."
The Deduction Jade gestured vaguely.
Li Fan nodded. "I've heard that the Heavenly Wonders of the Xuanhuang Realm are either manifestations of worldly laws or transformed artifacts from the Immortal World. Is it possible your home is the Immortal World itself?"
The Deduction Jade's expression fell. "Who knows? But I really hope I'm not from the Immortal World. If I am, I'll never be able to go home."
"Anyway, you said you could help me. Can you?" the Deduction Jade asked.
Li Fan shook his head. "I can't make any promises until I know the true origin of your homeland."
She seemed surprised by his answer. "I thought you'd just make a sweeping promise to try and fool me."
"Maybe you're not so bad after all." The little girl gave Li Fan a new, appraising look.
Li Fan chuckled. "But give me some time, and I will show you every possible image for you to identify."
"For real...?" The Deduction Jade was now half-believing, half-doubting.
"So," Li Fan said, deflecting her question with one of his own, "can you tell me now what this fifty-year plan of yours is?"
After a moment of hesitation, she whispered, "It's nothing special, really. I just want to take a long nap... and grow up a bit."
"Once I grow up, I'll be much stronger. Then handling these tasks will be a breeze."
"A task that takes me ten years now, I could probably finish in less than one."
A wistful look flashed in her eyes.
Hearing this, Li Fan's eyes slowly narrowed.
"All you have to do is sleep for fifty years? Are there no other conditions?"
"What do you mean, *just* sleep for fifty years? Don't say it so casually," the Deduction Jade retorted, slightly annoyed.
Then she nodded. "But yes, that's it. In fact, if I'd ever had a proper chance to rest, I feel like I would have grown a bit already."
"For me, deriving techniques is the same as cultivation is for you cultivators."
"After 'cultivating' for so long, if I hadn't made any progress, that would just make me a complete idiot, wouldn't it?"
she declared with righteous conviction.
Li Fan remained silent, but he had already read between the lines and understood what she meant by "growth."
It was the same as the Final Dissociation Disc: an evolution, a breakthrough.
Reaching the absolute limit of a mortal being.
Or even...
If her origin was truly an immortal artifact from the upper realm, then it wasn't impossible for her to recover her former power.
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