Chapter 1438: A Single Hand to Overturn the Great Dao
Chapter 1438: A Single Hand to Overturn the Great Dao
However, even with the help of the Dao Transformation Stone, deciphering the method to access the Dao Net in a short time was no easy feat for Li Fan.
Unable to replicate the learning process Ma Tiande had once gone through, Li Fan could only resort to trial and error, starting from the most fundamental patterns of the Dao Net’s instructions.
“Every instructional pattern will react with the Dao Net and fall under the supervision of the Administrative Council. I have only one or two chances for error.”
“But my trials don’t need to connect to the Dao Net. I only need to verify whether an instruction composed of Dao Origin can even be formed.”
In Ma Tiande’s memory, upon successfully writing a Dao Origin instruction, he would feel a strange, chilling energy within his body. This energy connected heaven and earth like a key, unlocking the patterns of the Dao Net.
What Li Fan needed to do now was to continuously write Dao Origin instructions, verifying the permutations and combinations of the Dao Origin. And before any of the instructions could connect to the Dao Net, he had to dissipate them.
The difficulty lay in obstructing the transmission between the Dao Origin instruction and the Dao Net.
However, Li Fan quickly conceived a brilliant idea.
“And yet, there is one thing that the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth avoids at all costs!”
A sharp glint flashed in his eyes. In an instant, a blurry figure emerged from the Xuanhuang phantom enveloped by Li Fan’s divine sense.
It was none other than the Heavenly Spirit, Ink Death!
Initially, Ink Death’s form remained consistent with its original state in the Xuanhuang Realm. But under the catalysis of Li Fan’s divine sense, it began to change rapidly.
It was as if the true Heavenly Spirit, Ink Death, had descended upon this place!
In fact, after Li Fan had merged with the Heavenly Spirit Ink Death, his divine sense alone was enough to manifest it. However, the wisp of divine sense that had infiltrated Shuo Xinghai was too weak. Even if he pushed it to its limits, it would likely be quickly consumed in a confrontation with the Dao Net.
For a prolonged engagement, he would need to draw upon the energy within the Xuanhuang phantom.
“The Ink Death Heavenly Spirit is not the Dao Annihilation Calamity itself, but a fusion of the Dao Annihilation’s dark aura and the Heavenly Dao. It is a part of the Great Dao, yet it also possesses certain characteristics of Dao Annihilation.”
“As long as the fluctuations aren’t too violent, it should be able to block the Dao Net’s perception.”
In the blink of an eye, the Ink Death Heavenly Spirit transformed into vast swaths of black shadow, securely sealing the area around Li Fan.
Li Fan sat within the black void and began his attempts at combining the Dao Origin symbols.
In Shuo Xinghai, the power of heaven and earth was invoked through Dao Origin symbols. In Qin Zhuang’s memories, a combination of several hundred Dao Origin symbols could unleash power comparable to a True Immortal Script.
But now, as Li Fan practiced within the City of Extreme Bliss, he discovered that all the previous combinations had become ineffective.
Or rather, it was as if they had undergone some kind of upgrade.
He tried every possible combination of a few hundred Dao Origin symbols, but none produced the slightest fluctuation of energy. Li Fan gradually increased the scale of his tests.
A thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand...
It was not until a million Dao Origin symbols danced together that it felt as if a key had finally been assembled and inserted into the correct lock.
The moment the combination was complete, Li Fan indeed perceived a thread of energy spreading outwards like lightning.
Even with his current reaction speed, he was too late to stop it.
But as this thread of energy approached the shadow formed by the Ink Death Heavenly Spirit, it seemed to encounter some terrifying predator and instantly halted its advance.
It tried several times but could only linger at the edge, unable to proceed!
Li Fan’s plan had worked.
The birth and transmission of the Dao Origin instruction were incredibly swift, far exceeding the speed of Li Fan’s perception.
But ultimately, it was no match for the Dao Annihilation Calamity.
Unable to break through the Ink Death Heavenly Spirit’s blockade, it was tightly bound within the black spherical shadow surrounding Li Fan.
Li Fan watched the strange energy, which darted about like a startled snake, but did not attempt to capture it directly. Instead, he observed it from a distance.
“Dao Net pattern, basic level instruction...”
This thread of energy seemed like a true living being, possessing a lifespan of its own. Trapped and unable to advance, it went from vigorous to weak, gradually decaying until it completely dissipated within the shadow.
Li Fan then recorded this success.
“According to Ma Tiande’s memory, this is the simplest kind, belonging to the most basic introductory stage.”
“The instructions actually used to access and manipulate the Dao Net are a hundred times more complex than this. Some are even superpositions of multiple instructions...”
But now that he had found a method for experimentation, no matter how complex it was, it could no longer stump Li Fan.
Within the sphere of shadow, Dao Origin symbols rapidly converged and dispersed, transforming into countless different forms.
From time to time, an electrical energy signal would be born from within, only to be intercepted by the Ink Death Heavenly Spirit.
Before each one faded away, it was recorded by Li Fan.
Slowly but surely, Li Fan finally gained a preliminary grasp of the so-called Dao Net pattern instructions.
Just as he was preparing to attempt more advanced instructions, Li Fan felt a baseless sense of crisis stir in his heart.
He abruptly halted his impending action.
“The blockade from Ink Death should be flawless.”
“Could it be that those energy signals, which seemed to have dissipated, didn’t truly vanish? Do they still exist within this space?”
Li Fan quickly identified the possible cause.
His gaze was like a torch, scanning the area again and again.
Yet he could not detect anything amiss.
After a moment of contemplation, Li Fan changed his approach.
“The one who tied the bell must be the one to untie it. This should be related to the Dao Net’s power system, so I’ll use a corresponding method to solve it.”
With a thought, countless Dao Origin symbols were generated. Under Li Fan’s deliberate control, they did not form any meaningful instructional patterns.
They simply floated and drifted, as if trying to attract something.
After a full sweep, there were no results.
Yet the sense of crisis in Li Fan’s heart did not fade. So he changed the arrangement again.
With patient experimentation, he finally made a breakthrough.
Within the space sealed by the Ink Death shadow, a dark fluctuation suddenly appeared. The Dao Origin symbols Li Fan had generated acted like a magnet, pulling the hidden instruction out from the shadows!
Li Fan’s eyes narrowed slightly. The Ink Death shadow transformed into chains, swiftly coiling around and locking onto the instruction.
“This is... when the previous instructions naturally fade, a part of them remains. If too much residue accumulates in the same period, it will spontaneously combine into a new warning instruction. And...”
This warning message, formed from the remnants of Dao Origin instructions, was not like the others, which were completely suppressed by the Ink Death Heavenly Spirit.
Even under the shadow’s suppression, it struggled and resisted violently. The chains shook intensely, and it seemed the warning message could break free at any moment.
“This pattern of instruction is not in Ma Tiande’s memory. It must only circulate within the Dao Net. Used to...”
“Warn against the Dao Annihilation Calamity!” In an instant, Li Fan had analyzed the combination of Dao Origin symbols before him, which looked somewhat “vicious”.
This instruction was a little different from the ones Li Fan had replicated before.
It did not dissipate with the passage of time; it seemed to be sustained by some invisible force.
Furthermore, Li Fan faintly sensed that this instruction would continuously replicate and strengthen itself based on the duration of its existence.
Flickering lights began to appear around the warning instruction.
It was a new warning, spontaneously assembling itself, summoned by some unseen power.
“It seems I can’t just leave it be.”
“A single warning cannot break through Ink Death’s blockade. But if their numbers increase...”
Li Fan’s heart tensed. The Ink Death shadow began to charge towards the bound warning signal at its center.
Under the relentless gnawing of countless shadows, the warning signal’s life force proved to be remarkably tenacious.
It took Li Fan nearly three full days and nights to finally consume it completely.
If not for the energy supply equivalent to an entire ascended Xuanhuang Realm, he might not have been able to outlast it!
“This... is likely the underlying logic of the Dao Net. One of the fundamental reasons the civilization beyond the wall was able to barely survive the Dao Annihilation Calamity!” Li Fan was deeply shaken.
The power of Ink Death was him, and he was Ink Death.
In the process of devouring the warning signal, Li Fan had faintly perceived its essence.
If Ink Death was an attempt to lean towards the Dao Annihilation side, a strategy of “using the enemy’s tactics to control the enemy,” then this underlying warning signal was the epitome of “resistance.”
Li Fan seemed to see an unyielding figure, standing firm against the surging tides of the Dao Annihilation Calamity, round after round.
He seemed to see a will that stood tall even as the Great Dao collapsed and all things crumbled, propping up the falling heavens.
Almost instantly, the image of the Southern Immortal Heavenly Pillar he had once seen appeared in Li Fan’s mind. And from the Dao Net’s warning signal just now, he had truly sensed an extremely similar aura!
“It’s not my imagination!”
Li Fan savored the feeling repeatedly, confirming his suspicion. His heart was filled with astonishment and doubt.
“The Southern Immortal Heavenly Pillar became a heavenly pillar because of the Nameless True Immortal’s leg bone within the stele. Heaven and earth are like a net, the Great Dao a pillar. Though the Nameless True Immortal merged with the Dao and escaped, after death, he could still return to heaven and earth, once again becoming a support.”
“And this Dao Net can achieve the same...”
The sense of alarm in his heart vanished.
With this speculation in mind, Li Fan continued testing the Dao Net’s instructional patterns.
All Dao Net instructions were built upon the most basic operations.
Having mastered the basic instructions, and with the aid of Ma Tiande’s memories, Li Fan’s progress snowballed.
Three days before the grand ceremony of the City of Extreme Bliss was to begin, Li Fan’s proficiency with the Dao Net finally matched, and even surpassed, Ma Tiande’s.
However, he had yet to formally connect to the Dao Net. This was merely a judgment based on his speed and familiarity in generating the instructional patterns.
“The Dao Net... what does it truly look like? Let me have a glimpse.”
The surrounding Ink Death shadow silently receded, lifting the blockade.
From this moment on, every instruction Li Fan formed would connect to the Dao Net. He was already prepared for the possibility of his possession being exposed, ready to sever the limb to save the body at a moment’s notice.
With a solemn expression, his thoughts turned, and a pattern materialized before him.
This was something that had never appeared while under the blockade.
Li Fan sensed an inexplicable power quietly descend from the heavens and the earth. It even ignored the blockade set by the lord of the City of Extreme Bliss, Zhu Xueshi, and enveloped his body.
In an instant, his vision soared to infinite heights. The City of Extreme Bliss rapidly shrank, becoming like a black dot before vanishing from his perception.
A colossal web, woven from seven colors, stood tall, spanning the space between heaven and earth.
Except this web did not fill every corner of his vision. It was tattered and frayed, incomplete!
Not to mention the countless large holes scattered throughout.
Just the several vast, gaping regions of absence were enough to be shocking.
Beneath this seven-colored web, Li Fan faintly glimpsed the true Great Dao of heaven and earth.
The [Dao Net] was like a sheet of white paper, imprinted upon and covering the crisscrossing Great Dao of heaven and earth.
It served as an interface, making the Dao controllable by mortal cultivators.
Li Fan also saw that in the broken regions of the Dao Net, countless seven-colored halos were converging, seemingly attempting to repair the breaches.
And beyond the vast empty areas of the Dao Net, an invisible giant hand seemed to exist. It was pressing the paper-like [Dao Net] further down, onto the plane where the Great Dao resided.
This forced the existence that had not yet been “imprinted” to gradually reveal itself on the Dao Net.
Even if, at first glance, it appeared so ugly and crude.
Yet, upon seeing it, Li Fan was still deeply captivated by this magnificent sight.
“This is a spectacle of humanity conquering the heavens.”
“The myriad Great Daos, formless and shadowless, ethereal and unreachable. Yet, through such an incredible method, they can be forged into a creation that can be manipulated by people...”
As Li Fan marveled inwardly, he did not forget the operations he needed to perform upon connecting to the Dao Net.
The grand ceremony of the City of Extreme Bliss was imminent. As was customary, a check of the Dao Net connection and coverage in the area of the city was required.
Naturally, Ma Tiande was not responsible for the maintenance work.
He only needed to send out a notification signal and then cooperate with the work of the relevant cultivators.
Li Fan watched as a stream of seven-colored light flew from the depths of the Dao Net. Following the signal he had transmitted, it first headed towards the small dots representing the City of Extreme Bliss.
After making a round, it quickly returned.
Next, another stream of light flashed, but this time it came from a different direction in the Dao Net.
It continued to probe the location of the City of Extreme Bliss.
This process repeated itself.
Li Fan watched all of this silently, a strange feeling suddenly arising in his heart—a sense of being both advanced and primitive at the same time.
“To call it a Dao Net, yet it still requires manual coordination...”
“Hmm?”
Suddenly, Li Fan’s gaze flickered as he looked at the Dao Net.
He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but as the Dao Net operated and inspected the City of Extreme Bliss, this entire “sheet of paper” covering the Great Dao of heaven and earth...
...seemed to ripple constantly, as if being blown by a gentle breeze.
It even felt as though...
...it could be peeled off at any moment!
But beyond the [Dao Net], that hand-like shadow held it down firmly.
Preventing it from truly detaching from the Great Dao of heaven and earth.
“So precarious...”
“This Dao Net doesn’t seem to be in a stable state either.”
Li Fan was lost in thought.
Besides that invisible great hand, Li Fan also sensed that there were other forces within the Dao Net maintaining its stability.
Li Fan observed carefully, but he found nothing.
The inspection of the City of Extreme Bliss was about to end.
Just before disconnecting from the Dao Net, a thought suddenly struck Li Fan like a stroke of inspiration: “The Nameless True Immortals?”
He shot a sharp glance towards several crucial nodes within the Dao Net.
(End of Chapter)
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