Chapter 1439: Heart-Mind Manifesting Divinity
Li Fan faintly sensed an aura from several key nodes of the Dao Net, similar to that of the Celestial Pillars of Nanxian.
Before he had time to ponder it further, the magnificent [Dao Net] before his eyes suddenly faded and vanished from sight.
In the City of Extreme Bliss, the bustling noise seemed to fall silent for a heartbeat before instantly returning to normal. Only Li Fan, the maintenance operator responsible for the [Dao Net], or perhaps the city's lord himself, could have perceived the change that had occurred high above.
If the [Dao Net] was a sheet of white paper laid over the surface of the world's Great Dao, then its maintenance was akin to splashing ink onto that paper and pressing down hard.
"The traces of the Dao Net grow clearer. Whatever is caught in its web will be bound ever tighter, with no hope of escape."
Li Fan narrowed his eyes, almost seeing the grim face of Zhu Xueshi. He did nothing to stop the [Dao Net]'s encroachment upon the City of Extreme Bliss, merely watching in silence as his "toy" sank deeper and deeper into the web.
After the roar of the [Dao Net] faded, Zhu Xueshi cast one last glance in Li Fan's direction.
Li Fan offered a slight bow, his expression a mask of nervous tension.
After a full three breaths, Zhu Xueshi finally looked away, his figure disappearing into the city below.
Ma Tiande, as one of the [Dao Net]'s low-level operators, was not merely a disposable tool. In truth, the ability to connect with and observe the [Dao Net] up close was a supreme opportunity that all cultivators dreamed of.
The Dao is formless and invisible.
Cultivators search high and low, all for the sake of drawing closer to the Dao, the source of all things.
Although Ma Tiande was a so-called [Dao Operator], his actual cultivation was only equivalent to the Nascent Soul stage. At such a level, he couldn't even dream of perceiving the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth. Even a single thread of the countless Daos was far beyond his ability to comprehend.
And yet, precisely because of his special status as a [Dao Operator], he was able to frequently glimpse the [Dao Net]—a direct projection of the Great Dao.
"It's just that Ma Tiande's aptitude is truly mediocre; back in the Darkest Star Sea, he probably couldn't even reach the Qi Refining stage. Add to that the Shuo Xinghai Administrative Council's deliberate policy of not teaching the concepts and knowledge of cultivation, and the result is that despite being so close to the Dao countless times, his cultivation remains utterly unremarkable."
"He's sitting on a mountain of treasure and doesn't even know it!"
Li Fan sighed, slowly digesting the profound insights swirling in his mind.
"The True Immortal Scripts are the [Inscription Immortal]'s interpretation. By studying them, the world can glimpse the Great Dao through the [Inscription Immortal]'s eyes."
"But the Dao Net... it is a direct shadow of the Dao. Or, to be more precise, a replica."
"It is even closer to the [Dao] itself than the True Immortal Scripts."
"Incredible!" Even the well-versed Li Fan couldn't help but offer his sincere praise.
Li Fan's comprehension was, naturally, on a completely different level from Ma Tiande's.
This first viewing unleashed an unprecedented surge of inspiration. Li Fan began to compare and verify the scattered fragments of the "Dao" he had glimpsed through various channels in the past against the real [Dao Net].
His understanding of the [Dao] climbed steadily, like the surging tides of a furious ocean, each wave higher than the last.
In a sense, this was the culmination of long accumulation, a breakthrough that was destined to happen when the time was right.
Though it was only a wisp of his divine sense, once it reached a point of harmony with the Great Dao, it could transform the rotten into the miraculous. His divine sense became like a thin film, upon which countless blurry, intersecting lines—both horizontal and vertical—began to emerge.
It bore a seventy to eighty percent resemblance to the [Dao Net] Li Fan had just witnessed!
Incredibly, Li Fan had used his own divine sense as paper to create another imprint of the [Dao Net], itself a replica of the Great Dao!
Although it was a copy of a copy, the original was, after all, the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth!
Even though the film of Li Fan's divine sense had only managed to copy the most basic shape, it was enough to manifest a power that truly belonged to the Great Dao.
Light flickered across the film, seeming to resonate with the Great Dao from afar.
As if filled with endless vitality and momentum, the shimmering light began to complete Li Fan's "weak" wisp of divine sense.
Slowly, this wisp of divine sense began to hatch, gradually taking on Li Fan's complete appearance!
The details, however, remained somewhat indistinct.
"This is... Heart-Mind Manifesting Divinity?"
The moment this manifestation was born from his divine sense, Li Fan's main body, far away in the Xuanhuang Realm, felt a sudden jolt. He could sense everything that was happening in the City of Extreme Bliss in Shuo Xinghai.
He had clearly severed all direct links with that wisp of divine sense. There was no connection through the power of the Land of Carefree Joy, only a vast distance equivalent to dozens of Darkest Star Seas, with an intangible High Wall standing in between.
And yet, Li Fan could still feel a synchronous connection with this phantom of his divine sense.
Li Fan's expression grew more and more astonished.
"It's not a direct connection between us. Instead, it's using the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth as a relay."
"All things in the world, from top to bottom, are projections of the Great Dao. The part that belongs to me, my projection's position within the Dao, is also unique."
"Though separated by an immense distance and blocked by various means, as long as we both exist under the same Great Dao, nothing can affect this synchronicity."
Li Fan quickly understood the reason behind this seemingly impossible outcome.
Relying on his profound understanding of the Great Dao, he had astonishingly used the [Dao Net] as a template to construct another, miniature [Dao Net] upon himself!
At the same time his divine sense in Shuo Xinghai established its connection, the divine sense of Li Fan's true body underwent a corresponding change.
The pattern that manifested on the film was no clearer, despite the difference between his main body and the wisp of his mind. Everything depended on one's cognition of the Great Dao.
Within his sea of consciousness, after the Heart-Mind Manifesting Divinity was born, a phantom image of Li Fan stood tall.
The [Transformation Dao Stone] abruptly erupted with a brilliant blue light, then dissolved into myriad rays of light that surged into the phantom.
Further completing the pattern of the Great Dao upon it!
Some of the rays from the [Transformation Dao Stone] integrated perfectly into the manifested phantom. Others circled around, unable to find a suitable place to settle. Unable to usurp another's spot, they drifted aimlessly for a few moments before emerging from the phantom once more.
They coalesced again, forming a [Transformation Dao Stone].
However, due to the absence of the Daos that had composed it, the stone's quality had plummeted from the level of a [Stone Mother] to that of a mid-grade stone.
But this was not something Li Fan concerned himself with.
Given a little time, by repeatedly layering the transformation of fantasy into truth, he could restore the [Transformation Dao Stone]'s quality without any effort.
"The behavior of the Transformation Dao Stone confirms my previous judgment."
"The Transformation Dao Stone Mother is indeed formed from a complete Dao of a certain possibility. However, the Dao of that possibility is not the same as the [Primal] one I inhabit. It's even quite a bit weaker. Consequently, only a portion of the Dao within the stone emerged to complete the tapestry of the Great Dao within my manifested mind."
"But even so, with the supplement from the Transformation Dao Stone, this miniature Dao Net I've constructed has gone from being almost unbearable to look at to something quite respectable in an instant."
Li Fan's mind roamed through the web of the Great Dao within his divine sense, completely engrossed.
Because of the significant external assistance, Li Fan found he couldn't control it as easily as an extension of his own body, which had been the case at the very beginning. This had both its pros and cons.
Still, since it was built upon his own divine sense, Li Fan ultimately held absolute control.
After being immersed for a long while, Li Fan finally came to his senses and let out a long breath. "This is already very close to the theoretical Heart-Mind Manifesting Divinity."
"To use one's own mind to bear the shadow of the Great Dao."
"By some stroke of luck, I've managed to skip several steps of the new method and arrive directly at this stage."
"Though it is... somewhat flawed..."
If this were the theoretically perfect state of the next-stage new method, then what appeared on Li Fan's phantom divine sense wouldn't be just a distorted, warped copy. Instead, his divine sense would be like a mirror, reflecting and manifesting the entire Great Dao of Heaven and Earth within it.
"The divine sense would trace its way up from the bottom, all the way to the source of the Great Dao. Every single thought would have the power to invoke the Dao."
"Unfortunately, what I've reflected is merely an incomplete replica."
Li Fan felt a slight twinge of regret.
But he also knew that even at his current demigod-like state, trying to glimpse the true Great Dao of this world was nothing more than a fool's dream.
"Having a counterfeit manifested with the help of a peerless expert isn't a bad temporary substitute."
The benefits of manifesting a miniature Dao Net with his mind were far greater than simply being able to communicate in real-time regardless of distance.
At the very least, Li Fan now possessed the ability to directly invoke the power of the Dao to fight his enemies, just like the Immortal Hunt cultivators of Shuo Xinghai.
"However, the power of my miniature Dao Net cannot be compared to the one constructed by Shuo Xinghai."
"But its efficiency is still more than a hundred times greater than using the True Immortal Scripts."
Now that Li Fan commanded his own personal Dao Net, he naturally understood the operational gap between it and conventional methods.
"I fear this method is only without risk now, in an age where the Immortal Realm has been destroyed and the immortals are gone."
"If this were ancient times, with numerous Nameless True Immortals merged with the Great Dao, my use of a Dao Net to invoke the Dao's power would inevitably be sensed by Them."
"I would be a public enemy to all Nameless True Immortals... Hunted down and killed by their joint efforts at the very beginning of my path. I truly wouldn't even know how I died."
After integrating the Dao contained within the [Transformation Dao Stone], even though the stone's quality had decreased, the speed of Li Fan's thoughts was not affected in the slightest.
He thought of many things in an instant.
"As for now, who knows how many Nameless True Immortals are left. And there's another, larger Dao Net to act as a cover and draw their fire."
"It's simply impossible for me to attract the attention of the Nameless True Immortals."
"And even..."
A sudden, groundless confidence surged in Li Fan's heart. Now that his mind had manifested divinity and reproduced its own Dao Net...
Even when facing a Nameless True Immortal, he was no longer utterly powerless to fight back.
"A Nameless True Immortal has complete mastery over one of the Great Daos of Heaven and Earth."
"My manifested mind, though only a copy of an incomplete imprint of the Dao, can call upon an extremely limited amount of the Dao's power."
"But its strength lies in its numbers. And ultimately, it is still the power of the Dao. Theoretically, I'm using the same kind of power as the Nameless True Immortals. It's just... I'm not as strong," Li Fan realized.
This was by no means arrogance born from a lucky breakthrough.
It was a logical deduction based on his understanding of the Great Dao.
"And this is just my half-baked version of Heart-Mind Manifesting Divinity."
"If it were the truly ideal state of the next-stage new method, perhaps this manifested mind really could go toe-to-toe with a Nameless True Immortal."
"If the Soul Transformation stage is like this, then what about Star Sea Combined Dao and Resonating Dao Longevity?"
"Could that be the realm where the Black Heaven Physician and Evil Su Bai reside?"
Li Fan could barely suppress his imagination.
After a long time, the tide of his thoughts finally receded.
"The reason I was able to achieve Heart-Mind Manifesting Divinity was truly a matter of coincidence and opportunity."
"In my past hundred lives, I not only saw numerous True Immortal Scripts but also glimpsed a complete Immortal Domain, a True Immortal's leg bone, and even scenes of the black qi descending and the Great Dao's annihilation. Witnessing the birth and death of the Dao has allowed my comprehension to accumulate to a level unimaginable for ordinary people."
"But that alone was far from enough. Only by using Shuo Xinghai's [Dao Net] as a springboard could I transform all my past accumulation into reality. A copy of a copy may be a far cry from the original, but it's the best way for a 'novice' like me to successfully create an imitation."
"Beyond that, the most crucial factor is..."
Li Fan's phantom divine sense thoroughly inspected itself.
For the first time, he truly, faintly perceived the existence of [Truth].
It was as difficult to grasp as the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, merely an indescribably vague shadow in Li Fan's perception. But having been accompanied by [Truth] for so long, Li Fan was certain.
That was [Truth].
"The transformation of real and false contained within [Truth]... it's as if it encompasses all the Great Daos of Heaven and Earth."
"My understanding of this transformation deepens continuously. In a way, that is a continuous deepening of my perception of the Great Dao."
"Now, I can already briefly maintain the existence of objects through [Fantasy Becomes Truth]. This might be the fundamental reason I was able to accept a complete Dao from another possibility with just a phantom of my divine sense."
"If it were anyone else..."
Li Fan pondered for a moment, then shook his head slightly.
"Only a world-shaking genius, with perfect timing, location, and support, might be able to achieve it."
"I originally thought I had truly pioneered the path of the next-stage new method."
"But it turns out I still relied on cheating with [Truth] to skip the earlier stages. This is just a unique case, impossible to replicate."
However, Li Fan had never cared whether others could cultivate it.
As long as it was effective for him, that was all that mattered.
"Though it's only a half-baked Heart-Mind Manifesting Divinity, it has inadvertently pointed out my path forward."
"I need to interact with the [Dao Net] as much as possible to perfect my copy."
"I will pursue both the transformation of fantasy and truth, and the comprehension of the Great Dao. This will allow my reflected Dao Net to slowly approach the very foundation of the Dao..."
Li Fan was overcome with joy.
Though the path to immortality was severed, inspired by the civilization of Shuo Xinghai beyond the High Wall, he had found a new possible road in such a short time.
"This wasn't achieved by a mere mortal in a single lifetime."
"Setting aside the involvement of True Immortals, there's also the difference in the flow of time between inside and outside the wall..."
Li Fan frowned slightly, calculating.
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