Chapter 1430: To Learn from a Corpse
The once uniformly vast, azure surface of the Azure Nether Pearl was now divided into numerous distinct regions by a web of faint lines.
For most of these regions, the boundary lines flickered indistinctly, their edges blurred and unclear.
Only the region displaying a luminous mirror seemed truly "alive," emitting a fluctuation entirely different from that of the Azure Nether Pearl's main body.
Within that rising aura, Li Fan thought he could faintly discern the image of a complete Immeasurable Mirror.
"Are these different sections the various immortal artifacts the Azure Nether Pearl once devoured?"
"It's just that after the pearl shattered, all those functions became unusable. Only this newly formed section for the Immeasurable Mirror is barely functional..." A wave of understanding washed over Li Fan.
Compared to the rest of the Azure Nether Pearl, this region dedicated to the Immeasurable Mirror was far easier to breach.
Patiently, Li Fan used the Immeasurable Mirror's region as his breakthrough point. He finally succeeded in sending a wisp of his divine sense into the pearl's interior, and this time, it was not so easily repelled.
Instead, it took root within the Immeasurable Mirror's domain, establishing a firm foothold.
Countless light green formation runes, nearly identical in color to the pearl itself, took root within the Immeasurable Mirror's region and began to proliferate.
Li Fan attempted to use the art of "Array Refining" to completely refine and master the immortal treasure.
With the immortal-grade Dissociation Disc at his disposal, the efficiency was nothing short of extraordinary.
In just a single day, an inexplicable connection formed between Li Fan and the Azure Nether Pearl.
Li Fan let out a long sigh of relief, idly turning the Azure Nether Pearl over in his right hand.
There was no physical sensation of contact, only a cool, refreshing feeling, exquisitely smooth and pleasant to the touch.
Reborn from its own destruction, the Azure Nether Pearl was like a newly forged artifact. All the shackles and restrictions that had once bound it seemed to have vanished into thin air.
At the very least, after a meticulous inspection from the inside out, Li Fan could find no residual energy from any unknown source.
Even so, Li Fan was not completely at ease. The Array Refining process continued without pause. On the surface of the Azure Nether Pearl, within its vast azure expanse, billions of silver stars gradually materialized—the visible traces of the formations at work.
Li Fan first turned his attention to studying the Immeasurable Mirror's functions.
Having once infiltrated and lurked within the damaged immortal artifact for some time, he was already quite familiar with it.
"The many powers of the Immeasurable Mirror are built upon the foundation of the immortal-grade [Boundless, Primordial Vision Array]. In theory, it can analyze all things in existence. Even for objects far beyond its own level, it can slowly deconstruct them with relentless perseverance."
"But the Immeasurable Mirror I encountered in the Xuanhuang Realm was severely damaged. Forget analyzing all of existence—it could only snatch brief opportunities to peek at the Heavenly Profound Mirror, another immortal artifact."
"But now..."
Li Fan, holding the Azure Nether Pearl, returned to the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
Within the headquarters of the Alliance, the Azure Nether Pearl in Li Fan's hand rippled like jade-green water. In an instant, it transformed, taking on the appearance of the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
It cast a faint, circular glow upon its surroundings.
Li Fan received no warning of any threat from the Heavenly Profound Mirror's fabricated artifact spirit.
He did, however, sharply perceive that a new functional region was materializing within the Azure Nether Pearl.
It was another small mirror, this one an archaic bronze-green, identical in every way to the true Heavenly Profound Mirror!
"The Immeasurable Mirror it devoured was a weakened, damaged version. Yet the Azure Nether Pearl, with its own miraculous power, can restore its functions to their complete state!"
"And now, it seems that after devouring the Immeasurable Mirror, it can replicate the functions of other immortal artifacts simply by[analyzing]them?"
Li Fan's heart filled with a mixture of shock and delight.
But his elation was short-lived.
Perhaps because it had been generated through the Immeasurable Mirror's analysis, the functional section for the Heavenly Profound Mirror was situated right next to the Immeasurable Mirror's section inside the pearl. The boundary between them was not clearly defined.
After existing independently for only a few moments, the Heavenly Profound Mirror's section was abruptly absorbed by the Immeasurable Mirror's.
It was a merger that Li Fan was powerless to control.
After the fusion, the faint image of the small mirror on the Azure Nether Pearl's surface also transformed.
The bronze-green color faded, and its shape became perfectly round.
Within its reflective surface, a pair of eyes seemed to be hidden, secretly observing the outside world.
With a flicker of intent, Li Fan willed the Azure Nether Pearl to change. The illusory mirror solidified, appearing tangible in his hand.
The analysis was not yet complete, but the new mirror already possessed many of the functions of both the Immeasurable Mirror and the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
Beyond the standard functions like creating internal space, storage, deduction, and analysis, what Li Fan valued most was the Heavenly Profound Mirror's ability for "division and replication."
Unfortunately, this appeared to be an acquired skill of the Heavenly Profound Mirror, not an innate one, so the Azure Nether Pearl's analysis function could not directly replicate it.
"The rank of the Immeasurable Immortal Array should be high enough. The data on the Heavenly Profound Mirror that the pearl has analyzed is almost identical to what I read from the mirror's own fabricated spirit."
"The only thing missing is an artifact spirit."
A flicker of hesitation crossed Li Fan's mind, but in the end, he decided against rushing to use any method to birth intelligence within the Azure Nether Pearl. He didn't even apply the technique for creating a fabricated personality.
The fleeting glimpse he'd had of the twelve towering statues in the Divine Witch Realm had left him with a lingering sense of unease.
"For now, it's best to use it simply as a tool."
After the analysis and fusion of the Immeasurable Mirror and Heavenly Profound Mirror sections concluded, Li Fan moved on to test the Azure Nether Pearl's ability to manifest cultivation techniques.
After Emperor Sanmo brought him several corpses, Li Fan fed them to the Azure Nether Pearl.
As the bodies vanished into the vast azure depths of the pearl, several wisps of a peculiar aura emerged from within.
These auras were composed of countless tiny characters, forming distinct texts that floated above the pearl's inner azure sky.
They corresponded exactly to the cultivation techniques practiced by the condemned prisoners when they were alive.
Even though their cultivation had long been forcefully crippled, the Azure Nether Pearl had still managed to extract the techniques!
A quick comparison confirmed it: they were a perfect match, without the slightest error.
Li Fan reached out and beckoned one of the texts toward him.
"Nine Refinements Spirit Roaming Art..."
Li Fan absorbed the characters into his body.
It wasn't just the technique itself.
Even the corpse's own understanding of the technique, the insights and epiphanies gained during a lifetime of cultivation, surfaced in Li Fan's mind!
"With the experience of the original practitioner, cultivating this will be incredibly fast!"
"The only drawback is that it provides insights, but not memories."
Though Li Fan felt a slight sense of regret, he knew that a treasure capable of such a feat was unquestionably a peerless artifact.
"Learning from a corpse... the efficiency is far beyond what any living teacher could provide."
"After all, a corpse has no reason to hold anything back."
But in the current Dark Star Sea, there were few individuals left whom Li Fan felt compelled to learn from or emulate.
"I wonder if this will still be useful."
With this in mind, Li Fan tentatively fed the large quantity of ashen powder—all that remained of Qin Zhuang after he was silenced beyond the High Wall—into the Azure Nether Pearl.
The powder was slowly consumed by the azure light. Even after his very soul had been scattered, Qin Zhuang continued to offer up his last bit of value.
Within the Azure Nether Pearl, a great wind seemed to stir.
Li Fan watched intently, afraid of missing a single detail.
The Azure Nether Pearl was, after all, a supreme treasure highly valued by the Xuantian King. It seemed that ordinary methods of destroying a body to eliminate all traces were not enough to thwart its probing power.
After a period of gestation, a wisp of uniquely colored aura materialized within the boundless azure expanse.
It was utterly striking.
It was a ceaseless gradient that shifted from black to white, passing through what seemed to be every color in the spectrum of time.
Li Fan drew the wisp of aura toward himself.
"[Thirty Basic Lectures on the Dao Origin]..."
The name struck Li Fan as rather odd, but he quickly immersed himself in Qin Zhuang's understanding and cultivation of the Dao Origin symbols.
The experience was on a completely different level from forcefully prying into memories with an immortal array.
Soul-searching, especially with the numerous restrictions still lingering in Qin Zhuang's soul, could never provide such an immersive experience.
He could only perceive *what* Qin Zhuang had learned and how long it had taken him.
But with the Azure Nether Pearl, all of Qin Zhuang's thoughts and comprehensions regarding the Dao Origin symbols came flooding back into Li Fan's mind with startling clarity.
It was as if Li Fan were reliving a part of Qin Zhuang's life from his own perspective!
By the time Li Fan's consciousness cleared, he had already mastered the [Thirty Basic Lectures on the Dao Origin].
In fact, by combining it with his own understanding, his proficiency now surpassed that of Qin Zhuang, the Immortal Hunt member himself.
The feeling of gaining so much for no effort was truly intoxicating. Li Fan couldn't help but smack his lips in satisfaction.
"With such a potent treasure in hand, I'm tempted to go on a rampage beyond the High Wall right now. The gains would surely be worth centuries of my own painstaking cultivation."
A dangerous glint flickered in Li Fan's eyes.
But in the end, he firmly suppressed the urge.
The risk was one factor.
More importantly, Li Fan couldn't yet be certain if there were any side effects to gaining insights through the Azure Nether Pearl's heaven-defying method.
Changes to his soul could, to some extent, persist even after using[Truth].
Minor changes might be negligible.
But if they were to accumulate to the point that even one or two uses of [Truth] couldn't wash them away, the risk would be immense, far outweighing the reward.
"I'll need to run safety verifications on a large number of test subjects first."
"Besides, theoretically, the ability to capture a corpse's pre-mortem thoughts shouldn't be limited to just cultivation techniques."
"I wonder if there's a way to restore all of a corpse's memories and thoughts from when it was alive?"
"If that's possible, the cultivators I create out of thin air will be even more convincing copies of the originals."
Li Fan toyed with the Azure Nether Pearl, which had reverted to its original form, as a storm of thoughts brewed in his mind.
...
The four remaining Longevity Celestial Venerables of the Five Elders Council answered the summons, arriving on schedule.
Without alerting anyone else, they were received personally by Emperor Sanmo and Qiao Sidao and brought to the Return to Ruins Realm, where Dharma Transmitter Jiang was located.
Due to the sealing effect of the grand array, they were naturally unable to sense the presence of Dharma Transmitter Jiang at its core.
However, Li Fan deliberately released a sliver of Dharma Transmitter Jiang's insights and synchronized them with the visitors.
Thus, the moment they entered the small world, they were immersed in the profound and mystical insights of "Its Dao as Me."
This was especially true for Zhao Ruoxi.
The core philosophies of her own "Eternal Sole Dominance Art" and "Its Dao as Me" were, in fact, interconnected.
However, the Eternal Sole Dominance Art achieved its final union with the Dao through endless consumption.
"Its Dao as Me," on the other hand, skipped all the intermediate steps and went straight to the final destination: *I am the Dao, the Dao is me*.
Even though she had already undergone Li Fan's rigorous tutelage and her temperament had been transformed, Zhao Ruoxi couldn't help but feel a surge of imbalance and jealousy.
If Zhao Ruoxi reacted this way, the other three Longevity Celestial Venerables, as well as Emperor Sanmo and Qiao Sidao, fared no better.
"I once thought that Senior's [Taijia Divine Art], which he uses to inspire the Alliance and communicate with the Star Sea, was already a technique of divine proportions. I never imagined that this... this direct communion with the Great Dao..." Qiao Sidao was so stunned he trailed off, remaining silent for a long time.
The state of [Its Dao as Me] felt like conversing with the Great Dao itself and gaining immense understanding. But once they left that state and returned to reality, it was as if nothing had happened at all. Not a single trace of those profound insights remained.
When Li Fan withdrew his merciful boon, the disappointment on their faces was palpable.
"Well?"
Li Fan appeared and asked.
Their expressions turned solemn as they first bowed respectfully. Only then did they begin to speak, their words overflowing with praise.
"I intend to integrate these Dao insights into your Land of Carefree Joy."
After they had finished, Li Fan added calmly.
His words made everyone's eyelids twitch in shock.
Wuyou, especially.
After the initial, irrepressible surge of joy, Wuyou's heart was flooded with immense dread.
For such an incredible stroke of fortune to fall upon him...
Could it be just another one of the True Immortal's elaborate methods of torture?
Wuyou had heard many stories from Zhao Ruoxi in recent days.
Just as Wuyou was struggling with how to respond, Li Fan spoke again.
"In a dream, there is neither life nor death," Li Fan began. "Cultivators who have no fear of death are the perfect vanguards for exploring the world beyond the High Wall."
"But there is one drawback: their strength is too low, and their cultivation progresses too slowly." Li Fan smiled. "If they are too weak, no number of ants can ever become a significant force. But if those ants become hyenas, that is another matter entirely."
"Strength in Wuyou's dreamscape is manifested purely on a conscious level. Through this method of directly confronting the Dao, which is almost like a direct impartation of power, we can elevate mortal cultivators to the Longevity realm in a very short time. Furthermore, the process can be quantitatively controlled."
He spoke softly, but his words struck the others like a clap of thunder.
Though they still harbored faint doubts, the various methods Li Fan had recently demonstrated left them with no choice but to be convinced.
"Take this soul, for example."
Li Fan opened his palm, upon which a point of light floated.
It was a promising candidate he had personally selected from [Era].
With a single thought, the converted insights of [Its Dao as Me] were fully instilled into the soul.
Although the soul remained incredibly weak, its theoretical understanding began to expand at an unimaginably terrifying rate.
It wasn't just Dharma Transmitter Jiang's own insights.
It also included Li Fan's own thoughts and reflections from over the years.
Everything he knew, aside from the secrets of the True-False Transformation, had been recorded into the Heaven-Connecting Grand Array.
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