Chapter 1452: Refining the Great Furnace with the Dao Net
To forge a body from the Great Daos of all heavens.
Even Li Fan found it difficult to fathom the sheer power of such a realm.
The beings known as Nameless True Immortals had merely achieved their status by mastering a single Dao among the countless that existed between heaven and earth.
If the realm Li Fan theorized truly existed, then compared to such a being, a Nameless True Immortal would be as insignificant as an ant before a colossus.
"For one who achieved the Dao through such overwhelming power, traversing between possibilities would be as effortless as stepping across a brook..."
As this thought crossed Li Fan's mind, an image suddenly surfaced: the scene from his previous life when the Black Heaven Physician had torn through several high walls from beyond the heavens, descending without warning.
"The Black Heaven Physician, Evil Su Bai... they might have reached such a realm."
"However, they likely didn't achieve it by sanctifying their physical forms. Instead, they must have relentlessly hunted down their counterparts in other possibilities, pushing a single Dao beyond its limits to empower themselves."
"It was simply horrifying to imagine just how many versions of themselves they must have slaughtered..."
Li Fan was momentarily stunned, a faint chill creeping into his heart.
The thought, however, was fleeting, quickly receding into the depths of his mind. His focus returned to the [Great Dao Befalling Body Art].
Li Fan's deductions and speculations were sound, but they described an ideal state that existed only in theory.
"To cultivate this art to perfection, one would first need to elevate their Heart-Mind Manifesting Divinity to a point where it could simultaneously reflect every Great Dao in existence. That first step alone was a near-impossibility."
"If one could achieve such a state, they would already be invincible. Why then pursue the sanctification of the flesh?"
"It was, as they say, taking the long way around."
The gap between his current state and the theoretical peak of the art was immense, so it was natural for Li Fan to have many questions.
But just as with Heart-Mind Manifesting Divinity, the body tempering methods of the Great Dao Befalling Body Art offered a tangible boost to his current power.
Therefore, Li Fan had no intention of abandoning it.
Future problems could be dealt with in the future. After all, he possessed the ultimate advantage: the ability to start over at any time.
"When the mind reflects the Great Dao, it's called Heart-Mind Manifesting Divinity. So when the physical body contains the Great Dao... isn't that, in a sense, a Fleshly Body Nascent Soul?"
"It seemed my New Method required more than just reverse cultivation; I had to advance through different realms simultaneously."
"Perhaps by bringing all these realms to their peak in unison, he could finally glimpse the true meaning of [Foundation Establishment Through Oneself]!"
Li Fan shook his head inwardly.
He was certain that none of the contributors to the New Method—not Yin Shangren, not the Saint Emperor, not even Su Bai—had ever conceived of cultivating it in such a way.
This bizarre situation was unique to him, solely because he possessed the [Truth], a supreme treasure of infinite standing.
"[Truth] transcended the very Dao of heaven and earth. In common parlance, it was 'beyond the Three Realms, outside the Five Elements'—completely untethered from the world's laws."
"That's why my own path to Foundation Establishment is even more arduous than achieving Dao Resonance. I have to take the opposite route. As for everyone else..."
The vast difference between his progress and that of others in Shuo Xinghai practicing the [Great Dao Befalling Body Art] was, in a way, proof enough.
While a thousand thoughts raced through his mind, Li Fan's physical body slowly transferred the familiarity gained from tempering within his personal, miniature Dao Net into the greater Dao Net of Shuo Xinghai.
He moved like a fish in water, a bird in the sky.
Li Fan even had the faint sensation of returning to the familiar embrace of the Xuanhuang Realm.
"Marvelous. Simply marvelous."
Furthermore, this familiarity allowed him to disguise himself at will, concealing the true pace of his physical refinement.
"The method I've been using is sheer brute force, the slow and steady approach. But if I were to incorporate the [Creation Forge Art]..."
Within his divine sense, the text of the Creation Forge Art, transmitted from his true self, materialized word by word.
Li Fan took a deep breath, and the vital energy and blood throughout his body instantly began to churn as if boiling.
His body felt as though it had transformed into a colossal furnace spanning heaven and earth, smelting his very essence, flesh, and blood.
With a mere thought, this furnace seemed to settle upon the illusory Dao Net.
A single Dao-string flashed with a blinding white light. The entire net trembled as the string's power coalesced into a giant hammer, which then crashed down upon the massive furnace.
The furnace roared, a deafening, incessant clamor.
While the impact left only a faint mark on its exterior, the immense force was channeled within, accelerating the process of refining his flesh and blood several times over.
"CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!"
Across the Dao Net, the clamor was ceaseless, and the interval between strikes began to shorten, albeit at an excruciatingly slow pace.
In reality, a faint flush became visible on Li Fan's face, as if he had suffered a grievous injury.
The flush soon turned a sickly green, then a deathly pale, only to surge back as a deep crimson. The cycle repeated itself, a bizarre and unsettling sight.
"The Great Dao Befalling Body Art and the Creation Forge Art. The two were perfectly complementary."
"The Creation Forge Art used the body as a furnace to unlock its every hidden reservoir and potential. It was a step-by-step process; with each refinement, one grew stronger. Its only drawback was its slowness."
"The Great Dao Befalling Body Art, on the other hand, borrowed the power of the heavens' Daos to temper and perfect the self. Once all Daos were integrated, the body would achieve sainthood. Its weaknesses were its difficulty and extreme danger."
"By combining the two, using the immense power of the Dao to strike the Creation Furnace... the efficiency was a hundred times greater than my previous method of simply breaking down and rebuilding my flesh!"
Li Fan visualized the faint imprints emerging on the surface of the Creation Furnace—the very marks left by the Great Dao.
Previously, it would have taken hundreds of thousands of cycles of shattering and reforming his flesh to leave a comparable mark. Yet now, driven by the Creation Forge Art, it took but an instant.
As the Dao Net thundered, thousands of Dao-marks manifested upon the Creation Furnace.
With every breath Li Fan took, the strength of this body increased at a staggering rate, hundreds, even thousands of times over.
And throughout it all, he felt no hunger, as if the human body truly contained an infinite wellspring of power to draw upon.
Li Fan was so immersed in the explosive growth of his physical power that he found it difficult to pull himself away.
He remained that way until Nangong Hongzhao came to visit.
"Brother Ma, how is your cultivation progressing?"
"I've just gotten started. This art is truly extraordinary, but it's also incredibly difficult to practice," Li Fan replied, his face pale. He let out a soft cough, sounding rather weak.
Seeing Li Fan's unstable vital energy, as if he had just been struck by a massive force and sustained a serious injury, Nangong Hongzhao said with concern, "There's no need to rush. The case of the Transcendent World Coffin is still under investigation. Until a final conclusion is reached, our leave won't end."
"Oh? It's been so long, and with the Immortal Hunt's capabilities, they still haven't figured it out?" Li Fan asked, feigning surprise.
Nangong Hongzhao lowered his voice and sneered, "If they put their full effort into it, there would be no problem. Unfortunately, someone is obstructing the process. Before the investigation even began, all of Yan Xuantai's records in the Dao Net were mysteriously erased. The number of people capable of doing that..."
Nangong Hongzhao fell silent for a moment.
He then continued in a whisper, "What's even stranger is the Transcendent World Coffin itself. After analyzing the records from the time of our capture, it's been confirmed that the coffin at the scene was indeed the one designated as bait in the Immortal Hunt's original plan."
"The problem occurred during the forging process of the bait."
"It was supposed to be just a lure, but it somehow became a genuine tool for transcendent world travel. Most crucially, the one responsible for forging this coffin..."
Li Fan's gaze flickered. Seeing Nangong Hongzhao pause, he pressed, "What happened to him?"
"He's dead."
"What?" Li Fan's expression turned to one of shock.
"Not recently. He passed away after forging the nine bait coffins. These nine coffins have helped the Immortal Hunt capture dozens of True Immortals without a single incident. That's why I was so confident before..."
"Moreover, the coffin we used this time had been used as bait several times before, and there was never any real escape..."
Listening to this, Li Fan rubbed his forehead. "The more you say, the more complicated this sounds. Besides the coffin's forger, it seems like high-level powers within the Administrative Council are involved. After all, being able to alter Dao Net information..."
Li Fan shook his head slightly. "No wonder it's taking so long to get to the bottom of this."
"However... I have a thought."
Nangong Hongzhao started, then said, "It's just the two of us here. Brother Ma, feel free to speak your mind."
"Why don't we simplify things and focus on the core of the event? The Transcendent World Coffin is used to escape to other possibilities to avoid disaster. Yan Xuantai has been a resident of our Shuo Xinghai for many years. Why would he suddenly go to such lengths and take such a great risk to escape?"
"Yan Xuantai belongs to the Holy Merchant faction. The Holy Merchants vanished mysteriously back then, and I've heard that before they disappeared, they recalled many of their extraordinary treasures from the outside. Could it be that Yan Xuantai learned something from the Holy Merchants back then? And that his recent escape was an act of desperation?"
"You're saying..." Nangong Hongzhao's eyes locked onto Li Fan's.
"That's right. I suspect that a great calamity is about to bef..." Li Fan whispered.
"Brother Ma, do not speak recklessly!" Nangong Hongzhao cut him off sharply before he could finish.
However, Li Fan's reasoning was not without merit.
The more Nangong Hongzhao thought about it, the more it seemed to be the truth hidden beneath all the complexity. As if something else occurred to him, his expression shifted several times in a matter of seconds.
"Keep what you just said between us, Brother Ma. Do not, under any circumstances, repeat it outside. If word gets out, even I won't be able to help you." After leaving this one instruction, Nangong Hongzhao departed in a hurry.
Before leaving, he also left a scroll detailing the Nangong family's accumulated experience and insights on cultivating the [Great Dao Befalling Body Art] through the generations.
However, it only covered the initial stages of how to perceive the Great Dao and reflect it upon oneself.
It seemed Nangong Hongzhao intended to use this as bait to continuously increase "Ma Tiande's" favorability.
Li Fan merely glanced at it before tossing the scroll aside.
"The coffin escaped. Is there an insider in Shuo Xinghai? Interesting."
From all the information known so far, the true powers in control of Shuo Xinghai were likely those True Immortals who had reverted to a mortal state.
As for the mortals on the front stage, they were probably just puppets under their control.
"However, for True Immortals to be willing to let mortals be their public face, there must be something about mortals that they fear..."
Li Fan suddenly thought of the invisible giant hand behind the Dao Net.
And the four Nameless True Immortals being used as living foundations.
"The struggle between the reverted immortals, the former immortals, and the group that are still True Immortals."
"And now, a defector has suddenly appeared on this battlefield."
"Escaping not to any of the other sides, but to another world outside of this possibility."
According to Nangong Hongzhao, the immortals who survived the Dao Annihilation Calamity were terrified of that great catastrophe.
The strongest among them had long since fled.
Li Fan believed that for those who remained, immortal or otherwise, this fear must still exist.
It had just been lulled over tens of thousands of years by the false prosperity created by the Dao Net.
They seemed to truly believe they could rely on the so-called Dao Net to resist the Dao Annihilation Calamity.
However, the Holy Merchants, and now Yan Xuantai's reckless escape, might be the jolt that wakes them from their dream.
"Interesting."
"There are no eternal enemies in this world. Perhaps Shuo Xinghai and those True Immortals might actually cooperate again."
"After all, of the nine Transcendent World Coffins, one was able to escape to another world. Who's to say the others can't?"
Another month passed.
The new recruits of the Immortal Hunt finally saw their leave come to an end.
Li Fan and the others were summoned once more. The one addressing them was the same burly man who carried a giant pillar on his shoulder.
He berated the new recruits, declaring that regardless of the reason, such a massive failure on their first mission was a sign of incompetence.
Therefore, they would all have to "atone for their mistakes."
By hunting another immortal!
"For this hunt, I will be with you."
"The target is an old adversary of our Immortal Hunt. He has managed to escape us several times. But this time..."
"Hmph." The burly man let out a cold laugh, a flash of murderous intent in his eyes.
"Senior Qian, I wonder, who is our target this time?" It was Dao Yuan who spoke up first, as usual.
Dao Yuan was clearly acquainted with the burly man, addressing him by his surname even though he hadn't introduced himself.
"This immortal's Dao allows him to sever all connections with the outside world. He is extremely difficult to find and track. Even when he roams the Dao Net, he leaves no trace. We don't know his background, so we simply refer to him by the character for [Nothingness]."
"Relying on the unique nature of his Dao, this immortal often infiltrates our Shuo Xinghai. He has sabotaged several of the Immortal Hunt's operations. Therefore, we have finally resolved to apprehend him this time!" the burly man announced, his expression grave.
"Such a difficult mission... is being entrusted to us?" Dao Yuan asked, taken aback.
It wasn't just Dao Yuan; the other new recruits shared his sentiment.
"Rest assured. It's precisely because you are new recruits, unknown to this immortal, that you have a higher chance of success. You simply need to follow my commands and cooperate in issuing the Dao Net directives. That [Nothingness] Immortal will be a turtle in a jar!" the burly man declared with extreme confidence.
Li Fan nodded in assent along with the others.
His gaze casually swept over to Nangong Hongzhao, noticing that he seemed somewhat distracted.
However, Li Fan was more concerned with this mission's target.
"Sever all connections with the outside world?"
For some reason, an insolent laugh echoed in Li Fan's ears.
"What does it matter to me! What does it matter to me!"
(End of Chapter)
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