Chapter 1531: The System of the Great Heavenly Venerate
At this point in time, the Xuanhuang Realm's Heavenly Dao had yet to be warped by the logic-defying New Law of the Dharma Spreader. With its former master, the Immortal Realm, now shattered, this was arguably the era when the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao was at the zenith of its power.
While it might not have perceived that Li Fan was a traveler from the future, the distinct aura of an "outsider" could not escape its notice. As soon as Li Fan attempted to comprehend the Dao of the Xuanhuang Realm, it naturally resisted him.
However, a cultivator of Li Fan's caliber could not be stopped simply by the Heavenly Dao's refusal. Even though the river of time had scoured him clean, leaving him no different from a mortal, he still possessed countless ways to properly deal with the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao.
"Under the Heavenly Dao's rejection, my cultivation is met with resistance at every turn, yielding half the results for twice the effort," Li Fan mused. "But the solution is simple enough. As they say, if the heavens will not grant it, I shall take it for myself!"
With his vast experience cultivating the New Law, Li Fan could forcibly comprehend the Heavenly Dao even in a mortal body. Besides, at this point in time, the Dharma Spreader had likely just begun to spread his teachings and was still only an Immortal Venerable.
If Li Fan could achieve Longevity before him, he could usurp his position and become a different kind of Dharma Spreading Heavenly Venerate.
However, such a path was fraught with immense risk.
The Dharma Spreader was, in fact, the Heavenly Doctor, who had used a celestial demon to possess the body of a Xuanhuang native named Xuanyuan Tuo. When the Ten Great Immortal Sects investigated his identity, this native disguise prevented them from recognizing him as a true enemy at first, buying him precious time to rise.
Until he recovered his cultivation, Li Fan remained wary of the Ten Great Immortal Sects in their prime.
"Besides, the old path of the New Law is riddled with flaws," he considered. "Even if I mastered it, my power would be confined to the Xuanhuang Realm. The moment I stepped outside this world, my strength would diminish significantly."
"It's far inferior to my Myriad Phenomena Dao Net."
"A pity, then..." Li Fan sighed inwardly.
Never mind that the insights forming the Dao Net were lost and would need to be re-established through observation. More critically, the core power of the Ink Death immortal soul had been washed away during the crisis of the Mountain and Sea's convergence.
"However, I might be able to use the power of Fantasy Becomes Truth to manifest it once more, without having to elevate the Xuanhuang Realm into an immortal domain all over again."
And so, after coming full circle, the key once again lay in comprehending the Great Dao of Xuanhuang. Only by first creating the fertile ground for the transformation between truth and illusion could his myriad techniques find purchase.
"To be rejected to this degree... even drawing qi into my body is an arduous task. It's no easier than when I first began my journey of cultivation."
"But traces of the Great Dao of Longevity still linger within me. Perhaps I can use that as a breakthrough."
As Li Fan officially restarted his path of cultivation, he once again felt the Xuanhuang Realm's intense, overwhelming repulsion. Anger flared within him, but it was quickly followed by a sense of confusion.
It was one thing for the world to instinctively reject an outsider, but to suppress him to this degree...
"...it didn't feel like the work of the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao alone."
"It was as if someone was behind it, manipulating and directing its will."
Li Fan's head snapped up, a sudden understanding dawning in his mind.
"Who could it be? Who could possibly hold dominion over the will of the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao at this specific point in time...?"
Several figures flickered through his mind before his thoughts settled on a single image.
It was a scene from a past simulation, when he had propelled the Xuanhuang Realm's ascension into an immortal domain.
Back then, even the endless vitality of the Star Sea had been insufficient to fuel the Xuanhuang Realm's ascension. So, Li Fan had performed a ritual, summoning the ethereal imprints left behind in the world by every Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerate throughout history.
A total of eight phantoms stood between heaven and earth.
The last among them was Wuming, the Great Heavenly Venerate whose rise Li Fan himself had orchestrated.
Before Wuming, there was Su Bai.
And before Su Bai...
...it was not the Xuantian King.
Between the Xuantian King and Su Bai, there had been another—a mysterious Great Heavenly Venerate of unknown identity. Only his form was visible; his face was a complete void.
This Great Heavenly Venerate seemed to have appeared from nowhere and vanished just as mysteriously, leaving no trace behind save for that ethereal imprint. Li Fan had tried to investigate before, but even with his semi-immortal abilities, he had found nothing.
"This point in time, before Su Bai's enlightenment and succession, must be when *he* is in power..." Li Fan mused, his thoughts turning inward.
"Directing the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao to counter an otherworldly invader is the duty of a Great Heavenly Venerate. But if that's the case," Li Fan's heart tightened, "doesn't it mean every attempt I make to forcibly comprehend the Dao is incredibly dangerous?"
He hadn't been exposed yet, but each attempt to comprehend the Dao was like sending a conspicuous signal to the outside world. At lower realms, it might go unnoticed. But once he reached the Nascent Soul or Soul Transformation stages, it would be as glaring as a beacon in the night, inevitably drawing the attention of that mysterious Great Heavenly Venerate.
Of course, that didn't guarantee a dead end. If he explained that he was from the future, shouldering the monumental task of saving the mortal world and the Mountain and Sea, he would likely be spared, given the high moral standards required of a Great Heavenly Venerate.
Still, Li Fan was unwilling to take such a risk.
Entrusting his very life to another's moral compass...
...was not the act of a prudent man.
"To think that a simple path of re-cultivation would be so fraught with peril," Li Fan murmured, pressing his fingers to his brow.
"I wonder how the others who traveled back through time dealt with this."
...
After half a day of deep contemplation, Li Fan finally decided on a temporary course for his cultivation. Since he could not actively comprehend the Dao of heaven and earth himself, he would have to borrow the comprehensions of others.
With a storm brewing on the horizon for the Verdant Valley, it was the perfect opportunity to conduct an experiment.
Using the power of Fantasy Becomes Truth, Li Fan "borrowed" a number of materials from the Verdant Valley's storeroom. He then visited the artifact refining workshop, where he coaxed an array master named Wang Yi into painstakingly crafting one hundred thin, palm-sized plates for him.
"Brother, what's the use of these things?" Wang Yi asked, wiping sweat from his brow in confusion. "They're no good for defense, and you can't use them to fight off an enemy."
Li Fan didn't answer the talkative array master. He simply smiled, using Fantasy Becomes Truth to warp the man's memory of him.
"Huh? Who are you? What are you doing here?"
"Get out, get out! Don't distract me from my research on the grand sect array!" Wang Yi snapped, unceremoniously shoving the stranger, Li Fan, out the door.
The Verdant Valley was filled with alchemists; artifact refiners and array masters were a rarity. Wang Yi's status in the sect was quite high, so he was accustomed to ordering around new disciples like Li Fan.
Li Fan slipped away quietly, leaving behind a weak and aching Wang Yi, who was utterly baffled by the whole encounter.
Back in his own quarters, Li Fan arranged the one hundred plates in neat rows before him.
Clutching a spirit stone, he began the process of refining them.
Several hours later, the once-bare plates were utterly transformed.
In the center of each plate, etched in a script that resembled True Immortal Script, were the four grand words: Supreme Dao Scripture.
Surrounding the four characters of immortal script, a myriad of intricate patterns and exotic beasts filled the surface of the plates. If one looked closely at the background, a faint vista of sprawling mountains and seas could be discerned.
This mountain-and-sea vista was extremely subtle, however, hidden within the complex and ornate patterns. An ordinary person would be unlikely to notice it at all.
By the time he finished carving all one hundred plates, Li Fan had completely exhausted his supply of spirit stones.
He himself was utterly drained, teetering on the verge of collapse.
This was partly due to the strain of creation with a mortal body, but the main reason was that these one hundred plates of the Supreme Dao Scripture represented the very pinnacle of his current mastery of array formations.
His knowledge far surpassed that of the current era by countless generations. Though they were built upon mortal arrays, their complexity was comparable to that of immortal formations!
Because his Dao comprehensions had been lost, Li Fan's actual skill in the Dao of arrays had been greatly diminished, leaving him with less than a tenth of his former power.
But the conceptual framework for his arrays remained.
Thus, with the help of the Verdant Valley's array master, Wang Yi, he had created numerous basic arrays. He then re-wove and combined these simple components, transforming the mundane into the miraculous.
The final result was these one hundred plates of the Supreme Dao Scripture.
Though they appeared to be mere plates, their uses were manifold and profound.
Most importantly, they served as a medium through which one could communicate with Li Fan in real-time, even across the Great Wall and the Star Sea!
The name, Supreme Dao Scripture, though perhaps an exaggeration, was not entirely without merit.
Anyone who possessed this scripture and felt lost on their path of cultivation could appeal to it for guidance.
And for every question asked, an answer would surely be given.
With Li Fan's experience—having lived through multiple lifetimes, cultivated to the level of a True Immortal, and personally witnessed the fusion of the three great Daos of Mountain and Sea, Longevity, and Truth...
...it was no exaggeration to say that there was no question in the entire Primal Possibility that he could not answer, let alone one confined to the Xuanhuang Realm.
In other words, to possess the Supreme Dao Scripture was to gain a peerless expert as a personal mentor. The benefit to one's cultivation was self-evident.
If not for his current predicament, Li Fan would never have devised such a mutually beneficial solution.
After a brief rest, Li Fan set his plan in motion.
Of course, he didn't distribute all the scriptures at once. When it came to enlightenment, quality was far more important than quantity.
"Friend, a moment!"
Bai Lishan, the chief disciple of the Verdant Valley, heard the voice and turned around.
She saw a fellow cultivator lead her into a secluded corner before mysteriously pulling out a thin plate.
"You are..." Bai Lishan trailed off. The man looked vaguely familiar, surely someone from the sect, but she couldn't quite place him.
Before she could give it much thought, her attention was captivated by the plate he placed in her hand.
"This is the Supreme Dao Scripture," Li Fan whispered. "It holds infinite mysteries. Though I was fortunate enough to find this treasure, I know I am not worthy of it. Therefore, I wish to present it to you, Chief Disciple..."
Bai Lishan was slightly amused.
Judging by his aura, he was only at the Qi Refining stage, yet here he was, making grand claims about some "supreme treasure."
Still, the name 'Supreme Dao Scripture' was certainly impressive.
As she examined the plate more closely, she found herself drawn into the profound patterns covering its surface. By the time she snapped out of her trance, she realized with a jolt that the person who had given it to her had vanished.
"His name was..."
"What was it again?"
Bai Lishan frowned, realizing she couldn't recall his name no matter how hard she tried.
Comments