Chapter 1315: The Dharma Kings of the Xuantian Sect
Following Ji Yuzhen, the images of the eleven other former Dharma Kings of the Xuantian Sect appeared before Li Fan in succession.
The enigmatic Sun Xingwang, always muttering to himself, forever lurking in the shadows.
Sikong Lin, the giant of boundless passion who never sweated the small stuff.
The silent, ever-loyal Mo Rubin, whose gaze followed only the Xuantian King.
Cui Zhiyuan, the eldest and most senior of all the Dharma Kings.
And Zhou Yangli, the youngest of them all, a youth whose brilliant edge could not be concealed.
Gongye Tianzong, with his thick, coiled beard and powerful physique, a master refiner who had secretly reached the pinnacle of his craft. Even the Xuantian King, upon his return from the Immortal Realm, would occasionally seek his counsel.
Luo Yichen, the peerless beauty of the Xuanhuang Realm, her face perpetually veiled in white cloth. Once a master of the dual cultivation path with a thousand lovers, she later slaughtered every cultivator she had ever known to purify her Dao heart.
Nie Daniang, mistress of the Langhuan Immortal Pavilion—one of the largest merchant guilds in the Xuanhuang Realm—a woman whose network of spies spanned the world and whose methods were as smooth as silk.
Tianxing Ke, the portly, ever-smiling peacemaker.
And Yue Qianjie, the martial pillar of the twelve Dharma Kings, universally acknowledged as the strongest warrior, a man obsessed with battle and a master of every art of combat.
...
Of this formidable group, Li Fan had only glimpsed most of them once within Ji Yuzhen's memories, knowing little else about them.
A few, however, were figures Li Fan knew all too well.
"In the previous life, Mo Rubin had personally told the Sacred Emperor avatar that his strength was the weakest among the twelve Dharma Kings."
"I'd assumed it was false modesty, but now..." Li Fan mused, scrutinizing the scant memories Ji Yuzhen held of her comrades.
Though they were all Dharma Kings, Ji Yuzhen's heart belonged entirely to Xuanyuan Hong. She was never close with the others, viewing them as mere colleagues. Still, she possessed a general understanding of their respective strengths and weaknesses.
They had never formally tested their skills against one another, but Mo Rubin's power was, in fact, among the lowest of the twelve.
This impression, however, was formed before the Dharma Kings began cultivating the immortal arts gifted to them by the Xuantian King.
Those immortal arts were so exquisite and profound that once they made the switch, Ji Yuzhen could no longer gauge anyone's true capabilities.
"The giant's skeleton Senior Sister Zhao discovered in that cave years ago belonged to Sikong Lin. Sun Xingwang's cultivation manual was also left behind, which suggests he met a similarly grim fate."
"Mo Rubin remains in slumber. As for the others..."
After the Xuantian Sect was shattered, the Ten Great Immortal Sects had hunted its remnants relentlessly.
Even so, Li Fan found it hard to believe that all the other Dharma Kings, besides Mo Rubin, had been wiped out.
"Perhaps they're still slumbering in some forgotten corner of the Xuanhuang Realm, nursing their wounds."
Li Fan shook his head slightly, not overly concerned.
Even if they once stood at the absolute pinnacle of the Xuanhuang Realm, if they couldn't survive the world-ending immortal array, they were of little interest to Li Fan.
In the previous life, the Dharma Kings of the Xuantian Sect had not been among the points of light that held out until the very end of the cataclysmic storm.
"Unless," a thought suddenly struck him, "the survivors among them left the Xuanhuang Realm long ago."
After the better part of a month, Li Fan finally finished absorbing all of Ji Yuzhen's memories.
Aside from the intelligence on the twelve Dharma Kings, the most critical discoveries were the Azure Nether Pearl and the control method for the Golden Lock Across the Sky, a sub-array of the Floating Starry Sky Grand Formation.
Xuanyuan Hong had once shown Ji Yuzhen this treasure he had acquired from the Immortal Realm.
True to its name, the pearl's surface rippled with the image of a vast, clear sky in slow, constant motion. Its primary function was to analyze the cultivation techniques from a deceased cultivator's body and store them as an inheritance within the pearl.
The Azure Nether Pearl was also rumored to be capable of devouring other immortal artifacts, replicating their powers and absorbing them.
Unfortunately, since the Azure Nether Pearl was an immortal artifact itself, activating it required a vast amount of immortal spiritual energy. The Xuantian King had only described this function to Ji Yuzhen, never actually demonstrating it.
"This Azure Nether Pearl is an undisputed treasure."
"I've heard the Xuantian Sect possessed a secret art called Take from Heaven and Replace. It could not only strip a person of their techniques and cultivation but could also graft their realm and power onto another. It was likely accomplished using this Azure Nether Pearl. After all, the immortal arts the Dharma Kings cultivated all originated from the pearl's inheritance."
"The Azure Nether Pearl is an immortal treasure; it should have easily withstood the world-ending array. And yet, I never saw a trace of it during the storm in the last life..." A flurry of thoughts raced through Li Fan's mind.
Finally, his thoughts settled, and his gaze focused on the transparent figure before him, ensnared in a golden web of Source Power Essence.
The figure was exceedingly faint, looking as if it might dissipate entirely at any moment. More importantly, it was horribly incomplete, tattered and torn like shredded cloth.
This hazy figure was, of course, Ji Yuzhen's primordial soul.
"Even after all that, I can still feel its unending life force. Truly worthy of an immortal art."
"And even with the most essential part of this primordial soul missing, I can still feel its tempting allure..." Li Fan praised it inwardly.
Faced with such a delectable spiritual feast, Li Fan chose not to indulge. Instead, he did the opposite, channeling a gentle stream of pure soul power toward the fragmented primordial soul.
Like a binding agent, it slowly pieced Ji Yuzhen's shattered primordial soul back together, allowing it to stabilize.
This soul power was not his own, of course.
It was the essence he had just harvested from destroying Ji Yuzhen's countless soul fragments. Since it originated from the same source, her primordial soul accepted it without any resistance.
The golden light continued its work, completely sealing the slumbering primordial soul of Ji Yuzhen.
With a wave of his hand, Li Fan recalled the golden light.
He then reappeared at the ruins of the Purple Cloud Sect, his gaze falling on Mo Rubin below.
With a cold snort, Li Fan chose not to disturb Mo Rubin.
Instead, he silently began weaving a giant golden net outside the pocket dimension where Mo Rubin was concealed.
His work on downgrading and deducing immortal arrays with the Final Dissociation Disc was already showing promise.
While an array powered by Source Power Essence instead of immortal spiritual energy was inevitably weaker than its true counterpart, it could still be considered the pinnacle of mortal creations, unbreakable by all but the most supreme powers.
Mo Rubin never stirred. Before he knew it, the space he occupied was enveloped by the immortal array and relocated.
Having brought the two last surviving Dharma Kings of the Xuantian Sect together, Li Fan left them to their slumber.
Learning of the Azure Nether Pearl from Ji Yuzhen's memories, Li Fan had begun to form a tentative plan.
"Both Mo Rubin and Ji Yuzhen's cultivation arts originated from the Azure Nether Pearl's inheritance."
"This must mean there's a subtle, almost imperceptible connection between them and the pearl. Faint, but real."
"It's the same principle as the divine tree on the Mysterious Immortal Boat—which grew from the Transformation Seed—still maintaining a connection to the great tree that devoured the otherworldly Divine Wood of the Xuanhuang's Divine Wood Sect."
"In the previous life, the Mysterious Immortal Boat used the power of the True Immortal Script to amplify that metaphysical link, allowing it to cross the Star Sea and pinpoint the Xuanhuang Realm's location beneath the Immortal Ruins."
"If I replicate their method," Li Fan's eyes gleamed, "I might be able to follow the trail right to the Azure Nether Pearl... or perhaps even to the Xuantian King himself."
The only obstacle was that the True Immortal Scripts he had learned while possessing Zhao Xian on the Mysterious Immortal Boat in his past life didn't include the specific script for amplifying such connections.
For Li Fan, however, this was hardly an insurmountable problem.
He would soon be leading Yin Shangren and the others to the Realm Fragment Great Wall, below the High Wall itself. Their journey would take them right past the Mysterious Immortal Boat.
Having gained a thorough understanding of the personalities of the elders in charge of the boat, Li Fan was confident that 'borrowing' the necessary True Immortal Script wouldn't be too difficult.
After setting up the pseudo-immortal array and sealing the two Dharma Kings, the Source Power Essence he had accumulated over the past days was completely depleted. Maintaining the array would require a constant, ongoing supply.
"Without the Cat Treasure's life-simulation and body-refining functions, replicating the bloodline of a Great Heavenly Venerate is still beyond my current capabilities."
"I'll have to rely on the beast-flesh factory method to produce as many members of the You Clan as possible."
In this life, Li Fan had delegated the task of cultivating the You Clan to the Empire Small World.
With Xu Ke taking charge, the Empire Small World offered no resistance. After receiving an inheritance of experience and memories from one of Li Fan's instructional projections, Xiao Qing, Hong, and the Emperor's Daughter immediately began putting the plan into practice.
They were now dedicating the entire strength of the Empire Small World to cultivating the You Clan.
"Compared to the direct replication of the flesh factories, this method requires a full growth cycle, making it significantly less efficient. Still, it's the best option available at the moment."
Of course, Li Fan could still generate vast quantities of Source Power Essence through the surviving statue of the Faceless Immortal. If he could escape the True Immortal's net once, he could do it countless times.
In a way, he could almost completely ignore the threat posed by the Faceless Immortal.
This was especially true now that he knew of the Cat Treasure's existence.
"I just wonder... if the Faceless Immortal were drawn here and happened to run into the Cat Treasure, what kind of reaction would that provoke?" The image played out in Li Fan's mind.
Of course, it was just a fleeting thought.
Both the Faceless Immortal and the Cat Treasure...
...were beings far beyond his control.
Even his greatest trump card, the immortal-grade grand array, would likely be utterly useless against them.
For now, avoiding them was his only option.
"But not for long," Li Fan's eyes glinted.
Once he reached Dao Integration in this life, he might just get the chance to test that theory.
...
Time passed in a flash.
There were still ten days until Yin Shangren and his companions had to make their final decision.
During this period, aside from dispatching an instructional projection to continue his work in the Great Xuan's small world, Li Fan also summoned the father and son, Ou Daozi and Ou Shangtian.
Ou Daozi himself was of little consequence; it was Ou Shangtian who truly mattered.
At this point, the powers of the Heaven and Earth Bone Hand and the Ten Thousand Death Book within the young man's body had yet to truly awaken.
As Heaven and Earth Marvels that had fused with immortal artifacts, both possessed unbelievable power.
Especially in this life, as the Xuanhuang Realm transformed and ascended, the two marvels within Ou Shangtian's body were changing along with it.
Li Fan carefully observed the situation within Ou Shangtian.
The Heaven and Earth Bone Hand had fused seamlessly with Ou Shangtian's arm, making it nearly indistinguishable from his own flesh and bone.
The Ten Thousand Death Book, meanwhile, lay hidden within Ou Shangtian's sea of consciousness.
For now, it was merely a faint, transparent imprint, its true form not yet revealed.
"So this is what they call a Child of Destiny, isn't it?"
Sensing the persistent connection between the marvels in Ou Shangtian's body and the Heavenly Dao of the Xuanhuang Realm, Li Fan couldn't help but wonder.
He tried to discern a pattern from Ou Shangtian's case, to understand how immortal artifacts circulated throughout the world after being devoured by the Xuanhuang Realm. He hoped it might lead him to more ancient immortal artifacts.
Yet, the process seemed to be entirely random.
Ou Shangtian's own constitution held nothing special.
He had simply been chosen by the Heavenly Dao at birth to serve as a vessel for these immortal artifacts.
Knowing the Xuanhuang Realm's Heavenly Dao as he did, Li Fan was certain it had some ulterior motive for doing so.
After all, cultivators of the Xuanhuang Realm devoured heaven and earth; the Heavenly Dao held an immense hatred for them.
There was no reason it would ever bestow a blessing upon a cultivator.
"The only plausible explanation," he reasoned, "is that the Xuanhuang Realm's Heavenly Dao lacks the ability to digest these immortal artifacts on its own."
"Therefore, it needs a cultivator to act as an intermediary."
"The immortal artifact is first processed by the cultivator's body. Then, when the cultivator dies, the artifact's power is absorbed by the Heavenly Dao through the process of Returning Dao to Heaven..."
Li Fan looked up at the sky of the Xuanhuang Realm. "A brilliant scheme, indeed."
Placing a hand on the unconscious Ou Shangtian's head, Li Fan felt the process of the two marvels fusing with his body and slowly confirmed his suspicions.
"This method, however, is well worth learning."
In his other hand, an ancient, unadorned mirror appeared.
It was none other than the Sun family's ultimate treasure: the Immeasurable Mirror.
Its internal spirit had already been wiped out by Li Fan.
He had replaced it with a Fabricated Personality.
Meanwhile, the Sun family remained completely oblivious to the loss of their precious heirloom.
Due to his shortage of Source Power Essence, the corrosive Wind of Obliteration hidden within the Immeasurable Mirror had not yet been fully purged.
Therefore, Li Fan had no intention of using the Immeasurable Mirror for the time being.
Though the Immeasurable Mirror was an immortal artifact, its primary function—deduction—was useless to Li Fan. Furthermore, due to the lingering effects of the Wind of Obliteration, it contained no immortal spiritual energy.
For Li Fan, the mirror was of little value.
Previously, Li Fan had even tried to use the white ring, Falling into the Mortal Dust, to break down the Immeasurable Mirror, hoping to convert it into immortal spiritual energy.
Unfortunately, it seemed that Falling into the Mortal Dust had some inherent limitation when it came to immortal artifacts. The ring's decomposition power simply failed to activate.
"'Not unable to decompose, just subject to a special restriction.' Li Fan's mind raced with speculation about the ring's origins."
He had thought the Immeasurable Mirror would become a useless burden he was forced to carry.
The Xuanhuang Realm's approach, however, had given him an idea.
"If I were to convert the Immeasurable Mirror into a marvel of law, and then integrate it into the Heavenly Dao through the death of a cultivator..."
"Expanding that line of thought... it wouldn't have to be limited to immortal artifacts like the Immeasurable Mirror."
"Any foreign object from the Star Sea could potentially be processed in this way."
"This would be another way to strengthen the Xuanhuang Realm, in addition to the Star Sea's revival, immortal spiritual energy, and the residual power of realm fragments."
Li Fan gripped the Immeasurable Mirror tightly.
Xuanhuang World-Ending Transformation: Flow of Ages activated in an instant.
This transformation was the Xuanhuang Realm's method of accelerating its own evolution, a desperate search for a way to counter the world-ending calamity.
In an instant, the fabric of spacetime around the Immeasurable Mirror seemed to accelerate by an infinite degree.
(End of Chapter)
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