Chapter 1349: An Anomaly in [Truth]
Chapter 1349: An Anomaly in [Truth]
"Gathering a few more would just be an added precaution."
"The crucial factor remains the number of sacrifices for the Jun Tian Ritual..." Zhong Daogong reiterated, his eyes burning with intensity.
"If you feel the pressure is too great, you can choose some elders to assist you."
Li Fan pondered for a moment before shaking his head. "The Great Qi's world-protecting immortal artifact monitors all creation. Any unauthorized entry would undoubtedly trigger an alarm, which would only hinder our plans."
"I alone am enough. The ideal window of opportunity will open within thirty years..."
"It won't take nearly that long!" Li Fan declared, his voice brimming with confidence. "If all goes smoothly, I will succeed within three to five years."
"However..." Li Fan's brow suddenly furrowed.
"Speak your mind," Zhong Daogong offered generously, reassured by Li Fan's promise. "Whatever you need, just ask. The elders will give you their full support."
Jian Daosheng suddenly interjected, "If you were to bring back more valuable items, would that not be more advantageous for the ritual's preparations?"
Li Fan answered instinctively, "Of course... but to be honest, the benefit would be quite limited. The academic cliques of the Great Qi are far more entrenched than our own council of elders. A few treasures alone won't be nearly enough. It will still come down to time and building up my standing the hard way."
The elders exchanged a look, and finally, Zhong Daogong announced, "Even the slightest increase in our chances is worth it. You may select from the second level of the treasury. The items stored there are of immense value, yet they are not critical to the Immortal Boat's survival."
Li Fan didn't stand on ceremony, simply cupping his hands. "Very well, then."
Escorted by the elders, Li Fan returned to the second level of the Immortal Boat's treasury.
He surveyed the rare and priceless treasures, each one sealed within a radiant sphere that resembled a Heavenly Star Light Lotus.
The council of elders had agreed to let him pick two items from this level, and then three more from the first.
With five treasures in hand, he could both allay any suspicion from the Great Qi and help advance the Jun Tian Ritual.
Li Fan browsed the collection and made his first selection from the second level: a Yin-Yang Jade.
It was a tangible object formed from an immense quantity of yin and yang qi, condensed at a point of perfect, delicate balance.
Li Fan had a hunch that introducing this condensed yin and yang energy into the process of the Xuanhuang Realm's ascension might yield some unforeseen results.
As for the second treasure he chose...
It was, of course, one of the three relics left behind by Sun Piao Miao—the three-pronged divine tree, the very object that had triggered the strange reaction from [Truth]!
The elders of the Immortal Boat had all used the [Manifest] Seal Character to observe Sun Piao Miao's relics.
The broken-winged gray bird and the three-pronged tree, unlike the Medicine King Cauldron, showed no faint connection to the outside world. Having ruled out the possibility of them being gray chess pieces, the elders had deemed them nothing more than misdirection left behind by Sun Piao Miao.
Li Fan explained, "While this item may have no practical value, it was also left by Sun Piao Miao. It comes from the same source as the hanging puppet that saved my life before. My master will certainly be very interested."
The Immortal Boat elders hesitated for a moment, but ultimately agreed to Li Fan's request.
Afterward, Li Fan went to the treasury's first level and retrieved a black starstone, a peculiar bronze mirror, and a longsword made of liquid metal.
With that, he bid farewell to the Mysterious Immortal Boat. A flicker of sword light flashed and then vanished into the pitch-black expanse of the Star Sea.
After Li Fan left, the elders of the Mysterious Immortal Boat gathered together.
"Although he gave us his guarantee, we cannot place all our hopes on him," Zhong Daogong said gravely.
"Indeed. We must prepare other methods to mitigate the Star Sea's backlash."
"Perhaps... it's time to open the third level of the Hundred Rumors Immortal Record..."
A profound silence fell over the elders at his words.
It was as if the third level of the treasury held something they all deeply feared.
The elders' expressions were varied, yet for a long while, no one spoke up in agreement.
"Let's wait. Let's give it five years. In the meantime, everyone think again if there are any better methods."
"If he can successfully return during this period, that would be for the best."
"Otherwise..."
A shadow passed through Zhong Daogong's eyes as his gaze drifted towards the now-closed Hundred Rumors treasury.
...
Far from the Mysterious Immortal Boat, Li Fan did not immediately return to the Xuanhuang Realm.
Instead, he headed for the Realm Fragment Great Wall, to the location of Master Yin and Bai Hua.
En route, Li Fan retrieved the three-pronged tree.
[Truth]'s peculiar stirrings began right on cue.
Li Fan temporarily suppressed the desire welling up inside him and first examined the creation before him.
This three-pronged tree was made of some unknown material, seeming like both metal and wood, yet neither. It possessed the hard, cool texture of metal, but also the vitality and ancient aura of a primeval tree.
Each fork didn't sprout branches.
But rather, another, entirely new tree.
And on these secondary branches, new three-pronged forks still emerged.
It was an infinite fractal, seemingly without end.
Even with his current divine sense, Li Fan found that after a period of continuous observation, he still couldn't determine the total number of branches on the tree.
"Truly exquisite."
Li Fan nodded slightly and then stopped suppressing the desire from [Truth].
An inexplicable force enveloped the three-pronged tree, and the ancient creation was then shrouded in a faint light. It gradually dematerialized, then completely vanished into the air.
Li Fan stared intently at the [Truth] panel, watching for any changes.
But after a long wait, the good fortune of last time—where the dematerialization charge had jumped straight to four hundred percent—did not occur.
In fact...
Li Fan found no tangible changes at all.
"Could it be that [Truth] just swallowed it for nothing?"
The thought flashed through Li Fan's mind.
But he quickly dismissed this guess. From what he knew of [Truth], it was extremely picky.
Every time it consumed something, it inevitably brought about a substantial change.
This time would be no exception.
Li Fan gave up observing the [Truth] panel and instead focused all his attention on [Truth] itself.
He even halted his wooden sword escape technique that traversed the void.
Standing silently in the void, Li Fan calmed his mind to perceive.
After a good while, Li Fan's eyes snapped open. "Just as I thought. This time, the change in [Truth] didn't manifest directly on the panel."
"But..."
Li Fan once again cast a wooden sword phantom.
An outsider wouldn't have noticed a difference, but Li Fan, the caster of the technique, could clearly tell that this phantom escape art was a cut above what it had been before.
To achieve such significant progress in so short a time was entirely because his comprehension of the [True False Transformation] had advanced another step.
"It can actually help me comprehend the [True False Transformation], the very essence of [Truth]?"
Li Fan was quite shaken.
The True False Transformation was the highest level of power Li Fan had encountered in his endless cycles of reincarnation.
Bar none.
It was also extremely difficult for Li Fan to comprehend and utilize.
He relied entirely on his connection with [Truth], using the scenes of the world dematerializing and reappearing each time he activated it, slowly grasping its nature through his own insight.
There were no other shortcuts.
But now, this three-pronged tree, one of Sun Piao Miao's relics, could actually aid in his comprehension of the Dao!
Li Fan narrowed his eyes, carefully pondering how this incredible event had occurred.
After a long time, a faint realization dawned on him. "The Dao of True and False is like the supreme principle of heaven, high and remote."
"Only when I activate [Truth] can my spirit soar to the heavens and observe its changes up close."
"But absorbing this three-pronged tree was..."
Li Fan fell silent for a moment.
Then, a sharp light erupted in his eyes. "[Truth] initiated a [Simulation] without my involvement?"
"The creation and dematerialization of the true-false world happened in an instant. It didn't even affect the current world. It existed solely within [Truth]!"
"Without anyone in the world noticing, another true-false transformation occurred. And only I, through the inexplicable increase in my comprehension of the True False Transformation, was fortunate enough to discover it..."
Becoming the only person in the world aware of this, Li Fan felt not a trace of excitement.
Instead, he felt an unprecedented weight.
So much so that he temporarily shelved his plan to meet with Master Yin.
"[Truth]..."
Li Fan silently invoked the name in his mind.
The surroundings instantly grew dim.
It was a gloom even more pronounced than the already pitch-black, dead silence of the darkest Star Sea.
"Truth to lies, reality to dream," seven bright characters then appeared.
Just like always.
[Truth]'s ability was unaffected and could still be activated at any time.
But for some reason, Li Fan's heart was filled with a persistent unease that wouldn't subside.
In Li Fan's view, all things in the world were divided into two categories.
One category consisted of things that could be encompassed by the power of [Truth].
The other was [Truth] itself, and anything that could affect it.
Everything in the Star Sea, even the High Wall, True Immortals, and Cat Treasures, all belonged to the first category. As long as he had [Truth], Li Fan believed he would one day be able to trample them all underfoot.
But the other category...
...was beyond Li Fan's control.
Anything that could affect [Truth] meant that Li Fan's greatest trump card was not absolute.
Although this time it seemed to be entirely beneficial to him...
...this loss of control was an undeniable warning.
In the future, when [Truth]'s strange impulse arose, with its desire to devour...
Should he satisfy it every time?
And what did this devouring by [Truth] truly represent?
These were questions laid before Li Fan that he had to consider with the utmost gravity.
[Truth], as a supreme and unique treasure that Li Fan had inexplicably awakened after transmigrating, seemed to be fused with his very being.
To say he wasn't afraid of one day losing it would be an absolute lie.
But his smooth sailing in the previous cycles—and even successfully using a part of [Truth] to establish his foundation within the Xuanhuang Realm after a hundred lifetimes—
had made Li Fan gradually forget his past anxieties about possessing such a power.
Now, with the changes after [Truth] swallowed the three-pronged divine tree, Li Fan was once again jolted awake.
Only after a long time did Li Fan completely calm down.
"From the current look of things, this isn't a bad thing for me."
"But I must figure out as soon as possible what this three-pronged tree is. Why would it cause [Truth] to initiate a cycle of a world's birth and death without my involvement?"
"What exactly happened in that world that was born and died in an instant?"
"And what was so special about it that it would cause [Truth] to change in such a way?"
Numerous questions flooded Li Fan's mind all at once.
"Sun Piao Miao..."
Li Fan was now certain that this three-pronged tree must have also come from the Immortal World.
"Its value might even be higher than that of the gray chess pieces."
"But perhaps even Sun Piao Miao didn't understand the secret behind it."
Li Fan pondered ways to study the three-pronged tree.
He couldn't be sure if, in the next life, [Truth] would still feel the desire to devour the three-pronged tree upon seeing it.
Based on past experience, [Truth] would not consume something it had already devoured once.
But perhaps this incredibly strange three-pronged tree would be an exception.
Then the question arose: if [Truth]'s strange impulse occurred again in the next life, should Li Fan let it continue to devour?
For the first time, the usually decisive Li Fan found himself mired in prolonged hesitation.
This indecision lingered even after he found Master Yin and Bai Hua at the Realm Fragment Great Wall.
While continuing to think cautiously, Li Fan cast his wooden sword phantom escape technique, shielding the two who were struggling under the influence of the Echoing Star Power.
Their current location was the [Node] that Master Yin had mentioned before—a point generated by the Realm Fragment Great Wall to maintain its own stability. Here, the Echoing Star Power was like giant waves crashing against a reef, and the violent fluctuations of energy were the most intense on the fringes of the Star Sea.
It was even comparable to the foot of the High Wall.
With their strength, exploring here was still quite difficult.
"How is it? Any leads on Xu Ke?" Li Fan asked.
Master Yin regulated the somewhat chaotic aura of life and death within his body before replying, "We're almost certain now that Xu Ke was swept into this place. We found the last mark he left. It's extremely faint, but it's identical to the one we agreed upon beforehand."
Hearing this, Li Fan finally spared some attention to look around.
His perspective suddenly shifted from a normal angle to a higher-dimensional view.
Li Fan was startled to discover that this node was not a high platform on the Realm Fragment Great Wall.
But a depression!
The towering, continuous Great Wall suddenly fractured here. But this fracture did not actually affect the continuity of the Realm Fragment Great Wall.
It was as if...
...within this depression, an inexplicable, invisible force was maintaining the continuous Realm Fragment Great Wall!
"Interesting."
Li Fan finally roused himself.
The area of this depression, in the actual Star Sea, was just a tiny region.
Barely enough for one person to stand.
To happen to drift into it amidst the violent energy fluctuations was truly difficult.
"I'm afraid only someone with Xu Ke's destiny would have such luck."
With this thought, Li Fan's wooden sword phantom, like a small boat on a river, surged towards the depression.
The closer it got to the fracture zone of the Realm Fragment Great Wall, the stronger the external interference the wooden sword phantom experienced.
The light and shadow of the phantom flickered erratically, as if it could burst like a bubble at any moment.
Li Fan frowned slightly, focusing his mind to keep the escape technique from dissipating.
CRACK!
The moment the phantom left the normal area of the Realm Fragment Great Wall and plunged completely into the fractured depression, it was like plummeting from a cliff thousands of feet high.
Under the intense impact, the wooden sword phantom almost disintegrated on the spot!
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