Chapter 1387: The Return of the Infinite
In truth, the moment Li Fan saw his own face reflected in the waters of the Fishing Pond, a torrent of thoughts surged through his mind.
"Could this body I took over... actually be the reincarnation of the True Immortal who descended to the mortal realm all those years ago?"
"Did I awaken [Truth] not because I transmigrated, but because I seized it—a treasure belonging to the body's original owner—when I took possession?"
The thought spread through his mind like wildfire, impossible to suppress.
But...
As if sensing his train of thought, [Truth] seemed to emanate a faint, almost imperceptible flicker of mockery.
The sensation startled Li Fan, jolting him back to his senses.
"That's not right. The original owner of this body was utterly unremarkable. He didn't have the slightest air of a True Immortal about him."
"And even myself, if not for [Truth]..."
Li Fan recalled the end of his very first life after arriving in this world.
"Though I was surrounded by children and grandchildren, I ultimately died as a mere mortal, having lived an unremarkable life."
"I was able to use a piece of [Truth] itself for my Foundation Establishment. And considering the connection and interaction I've had with it over countless cycles..."
"There's no way I'm the reincarnation of a True Immortal, nor was [Truth] some prize secured by an immortal's contingency."
"That leaves only one possibility..."
"Could it be that even within the memory, the Fishing Pond reflected my original face from my previous world?"
After dismissing the most hair-raising possibility, Li Fan felt no relief. Instead, a deeper chill settled in his heart.
He snapped his head up, his gaze piercing through space toward the real Fishing Pond.
"He who attained the Dao of the Nameless became one with the Dao itself. Every Fishing Pond, regardless of time or place, is a manifestation of that True Immortal."
"Does this mean that the Nameless True Immortal just saw me, looking back through the water's surface?"
Li Fan's heart leaped into his throat.
The further his thoughts spiraled, the more terrified he became.
Was this a trap, set by the descended True Immortal in league with the Nameless one? Had the secret of [Truth] been exposed?
Worse, [Truth] wasn't fully charged; he couldn't activate it. If the Nameless True Immortal were to attack now, even with his supreme escape arts, he would have no chance of survival.
Li Fan cursed under his breath.
He had thought he'd mapped out the dangers of the Star Sea inside the High Wall, that he'd be safe as long as he didn't provoke a few specific entities.
He never imagined that simply studying the flesh of a True Immortal could lead to such a perilous twist of fate.
True, his previous life suggested that [Truth] could activate on its own, even upon his death.
But...
For one, he had never actually died to test that theory. For another, he had no idea if the auto-activation would even work when [Truth] wasn't fully charged.
A cold sweat beaded on his brow.
Facing what felt like the greatest crisis of his life, Li Fan refused to simply wait for his doom.
In a flash, he devised several desperate countermeasures.
"Flee to the center of the Star Sea. Use the momentum of ascension and descent to trigger the black miasma of the Dao Annihilation Calamity..."
"Head for the fissure in the High Wall. Attack it to draw attention from whatever lies beyond."
"If I'm captured and pulled into the Fishing Pond, find the Cat Treasure."
...
But against a being on the level of a Nameless True Immortal, any of these plans felt like a futile struggle.
"Against a regular True Immortal, these gambits might have stood a chance."
"But the realm of the Nameless..."
Remembering the fear and reverence the descended True Immortal held for the Nameless, Li Fan felt a wave of helplessness wash over him.
"My only hope is [Truth]."
In the end, Li Fan did only one thing. The phantom of his wooden sword emerged, and he streaked toward the Mysterious Immortal Boat at the edge of the Star Sea.
He slipped aboard soundlessly and retrieved the servant effigy hidden on the first level of the secret treasury.
Having helped rebuild the ship's entire defense network in his past life, Li Fan moved through its halls as if they were his own. He retrieved the funerary effigy, one of Sun Piao Miao's relics, without alerting a single soul.
To Li Fan's pleasant surprise, even though [Truth] had consumed the effigy once before, it still radiated a desire to devour it again.
He eagerly fed it to [Truth]. Watching the charge level climb to 150%, Li Fan finally let out a long sigh of relief.
"The effect was diminished, but from what I can feel from [Truth], it can consume it one more time."
"In that case, the same might be true for the Three-Forked Tree."
"An item that [Truth] can consume three times in a row..."
"What is the origin of these relics Sun Piao Miao left behind?"
Li Fan's brow furrowed in thought.
Abruptly, an idea surfaced in his mind.
"The Three-Forked Tree inexplicably grants [Truth] an additional simulation."
"And this funerary effigy... perhaps it's also connected to the power of simulation."
The scene of the Immortal Realm he had glimpsed moments ago reappeared in his mind's eye.
"Before I came to this world, I heard a theory: stretch the timescale to an immeasurable length, and the fundamental particles that constitute all things, after undergoing countless permutations, will inevitably recreate everything that has ever been. It is a return, a recurrence. It is destiny."
"Reality becomes illusion, illusion becomes reality. Each of [Truth]'s simulations can be seen as another one of these grand returns."
"An infinite timescale implies infinite energy..."
Li Fan's thoughts drifted back to the floating ocean in the Immortal Realm, and to the unfathomable depths that lay beneath it.
"Perhaps this effigy is the key to tapping into that infinite power."
"Or perhaps, it's a projection of a Great Dao related to the infinite."
At that moment, Li Fan was completely lost in his own contemplations, unable to pull himself away.
It wasn't that he had forgotten the mortal danger of being pursued by a Nameless True Immortal.
Rather, if the Nameless True Immortal hadn't appeared by the time Li Fan had frantically flown to the Mysterious Immortal Boat...
...then He wasn't coming at all.
It had been a false alarm. Nothing had happened.
As Li Fan slowly emerged from his deep contemplation, he felt little of the relief that comes with surviving a close call.
"Wherever a True Immortal's power reaches, it is as if they are there in person."
"The realm of the Nameless is surely no different, and likely even more profound."
"In the descended True Immortal's memory, it met my gaze but showed no reaction."
"Either even a Nameless True Immortal cannot perceive the [Truth] I carry, or..."
"...that Nameless Angler Immortal is in a rather precarious situation."
At the end of the life before last, when the Cat Treasure appeared out of thin air and effortlessly captured the Hunger Immortal, Li Fan had formed two hypotheses.
One, the Cat Treasure was a creation of the Nameless Angler Immortal, designed to capture True Immortals on the verge of attaining the Dao of the Nameless, effectively 'feeding' on them.
Two, the angler was also the angled. The Cat Treasure was bait, cast into the Fishing Pond by some unknown power from beyond the High Wall. Its purpose was to wait for the Nameless Angler Immortal to reveal the slightest clue, then follow that trail straight to its source.
Considering recent events, it seemed things were leaning toward his second theory.
Even though Li Fan had revealed such a glaring opening, the Nameless Angler Immortal still hadn't appeared. A clear sign of someone treading carefully, seeing enemies in every shadow.
Li Fan took a deep breath.
In such a short time, the True Immortal's blood had triggered far too many unforeseen events.
Events that were far beyond his current ability to control.
Whether it was a True Immortal or a Nameless True Immortal, he was no match for either.
Li Fan's desire to reach the Dao Integration realm burned brighter than ever.
"Once I reach Dao Integration, I'll at least go from a helpless ant to a fierce wolf that can bite back."
"Besides," a glint of determination flashed in Li Fan's eyes, "I have a feeling that once I touch the realm of the Immortals, [Truth] itself will undergo an unprecedented transformation."
This premonition felt like a flicker of reassurance from [Truth] itself, a response to his frantic thoughts—a kind of encouragement, or even a promise.
It was enough to put his mind at ease.
"It seems I should avoid any more complications in this life."
"The sooner I reach Dao Integration, the better!"
With his mind made up, Li Fan set his course.
"The second level of the secret treasury is protected by the Heavenly Star Radiant Lotus. I haven't found a way to bypass it yet, so I won't force it."
"I'll start by looting the first level."
As the saying goes, a thief never leaves empty-handed.
Since he was already inside the secret treasury of the Hundred Rumors Immortal Record, how could Li Fan possibly leave with nothing?
He carefully selected his prizes once more, taking everything of use.
Then, long before the crew of the immortal boat discovered their loss, he departed as quietly as he had arrived.
Never mind the Mysterious Immortal Boat, which would soon be thrown into turmoil upon discovering the inexplicable theft, nearly splintering for a second time.
Li Fan, laden with spoils, first set about recreating his two Supreme guardians.
Arriving at the edge of the Star Sea, he wielded his liquid longsword and performed the Taijia Divine Art, which had been improved by the elders of the immortal boat.
In this life, since no cultivator had made contact with the Star Sea's consciousness for ten thousand years, and with the goodwill accumulated from the Taijia Realm, Li Fan's communication with the Star Sea was far smoother than in his previous life.
It felt no anger at having its power siphoned away. Instead, it was amazed that a mere ant like Li Fan could execute such a divine technique.
Consequently, the infinite power of the Star Sea infused this time was subtly different from the last.
Under the dual might of the Jun Tian Divine Art and the living form, a new Qiushui was slowly born.
"Thank you, Great Master, for granting me life!"
The sword spirit, still utterly unclothed, knelt in graceful obeisance.
But this time, Qiushui's eyes were alive with intelligence. She seemed more like a true living being.
Li Fan nodded slightly, bestowed upon her the name he had long prepared, and then hurried back to the Xuanhuang Realm without delay.
Eternal Remnant Thought, True Immortal's flesh, black starstone, a bronze-cast crane...
And the combat memories of the Ancestor.
The key materials were all assembled.
During the process of forging Tianyang, Li Fan had Qiushui continuously channel the infinite power of the Star Sea into the vessel.
The puppet's form roiled with a chaotic aura. If not for the immortal array Li Fan used for concealment, it would have surely alerted the many powerful entities within the Xuanhuang Realm.
After much arduous work, the Supreme Tianyang was born anew.
This time, though he lacked the combat insights gained from fighting the ancient desolate god, he was infused with the endless power of the Star Sea.
Like Qiushui, Tianyang's body shimmered with starlight, giving him a supremely divine appearance.
With his two Supreme guardians now in place, Li Fan could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Even if a True Immortal descends again, I will have nothing to fear."
He concluded after watching a sparring match between Tianyang and Qiushui.
Li Fan sat upon his Lecture Stage in the Great Xuan Kingdom.
The treasures he had taken from the immortal boat's secret treasury arranged themselves before him like a sky full of stars.
"Some of these treasures can nourish worlds; I can integrate them into the small worlds."
"When those small worlds return to the Xuanhuang Realm, they will serve as tonics for its sublimation."
"As for these divine weapons, I can distribute them to the beings exploring the Land of Carefree Joy. They are nearly all realm-level artifacts and will greatly accelerate their exploration."
...
At Li Fan's will, streams of starlight flew toward the various small worlds.
He felt the countless points of light in his sea of consciousness growing ever brighter.
Waves of enlightenment washed over him.
"The Pill is the change of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth; Medicine is that which cures the maladies of all things in the world. The Great Dao is formless, standing alone and unchanging, cycling without cease. It is unified by the Pill, and manifested by Medicine. Is not Heaven and Earth itself a single pill formula...?"
"The Medicine King Scripture of Dao Refining is truly extraordinary!"
If, in his previous life, Li Fan's efforts to sublimate the Xuanhuang Realm felt like following a set of instructions, now, he felt as if he were using Heaven and Earth itself to refine a supreme, peerless pill.
"First, a low flame to slowly bake it."
"The supplementary ingredients are still a bit lacking."
As his eyes flickered, Li Fan repeated some of the preparations he had made in his last life.
In addition, he secretly diverted a small portion of the life force that permeated the crevices and hollows of the Star Sea.
By controlling the infusion speed of this immense vitality, the Xuanhuang Realm's inexplicably rapid transformation was noticed by only a few, and even they could never have found Li Fan, the true culprit behind it all.
Of course, Li Fan didn't forget to plant some seeds before the Xuanhuang Realm's sublimation.
For instance, the ancient Immortal-Mortal Miasma.
It lay hidden in the underground caverns of Qiling Prefecture.
Li Fan had already confirmed in his previous life that this miasma, as part of the Xuanhuang Realm's laws, would grow stronger as the realm itself grew stronger.
However, his last life had ended abruptly, and he hadn't had the chance to see the true Immortal-Mortal Miasma at an immortal level.
He would rectify that regret this time.
Besides the miasma, Li Fan also drew other lessons and collected various objects from within the Xuanhuang Realm that could cause great harm to cultivators, or even to the Heavenly Dao of Xuanhuang itself.
For example, the World Destruction Arrow, forged with the power of the weirdness.
It first appeared in the life where the Heavenly Net sought to replace Heaven, and it was capable of distorting the consciousness of the Heavenly Dao over a large area.
And also, the myriad Xuanhuang World-Ending Transformations.
Li Fan had already proven in his last life that the World-Ending Transformations were remarkably effective against Ink Death.
To hunt Ink Death as thoroughly as possible this time, he had to plan ahead.
A multitude of heaven and earth transformation powers were mixed into a ball of light. Li Fan secretly integrated it into the Xuanhuang Realm, just like the other remnants of cultivation worlds transplanted by the Heavenly Doctor.
Normally, grafting and suturing such foreign objects would inevitably provoke a rejection from the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao.
It would send down all sorts of calamities, slowly fusing them together through a cycle of destruction and rebirth.
But the beauty of it was that the Xuanhuang world-ending power Li Fan had implanted originated from the Xuanhuang Realm itself.
Therefore, the Xuanhuang Realm would not even notice this sudden lump of "fat" that had appeared on its body.
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