Chapter 1565: The Supreme Dao Scripture Appears
Chapter 1565: The Supreme Dao Scripture Appears
With Li Fan's current mastery over the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, nothing that transpired in this new world could escape his calculations.
Just as he had anticipated, the Ji family's meteoric rise was brought to an abrupt halt.
The fiends were ferocious. Even Ji Wangxian himself had to dedicate a portion of his energy to deal with them. However, having already transformed into a star of Xuanhuang, he possessed sufficient power to offer protection. The Ji family, therefore, was in no danger of being annihilated under the siege of fiends.
Perhaps the appearance of the first star of Xuanhuang had greatly spurred on the other cultivators.
Barely half a month later, the second star of Xuanhuang manifested in quick succession.
The one who had proven their Dao was none other than the Sect Master of the Taishang Sect, Chen Qiandu!
This was the same old Daoist Li Fan had seen through the eyes of Jiang Yingshan—the one who had remained unmoved even when presented with Li Fan's forged "Supreme Dao Scripture."
Compared to Ji Wangxian's opportunism, Chen Qiandu's attainment of the Dao was solid, authentic, and based entirely on his own enlightenment.
The scene revealed the second star of Xuanhuang: the Star of Heavenly Crossing!
The moment the Star of Heavenly Crossing blazed into existence, all the disciples of the Taishang Sect, scattered across the world by the great upheaval of Xuanhuang, seemed to have found their backbone once more. They all began to journey towards it, guided by its starlight, which allowed them to avoid the vast majority of fiend attacks along the way. With this, the Taishang Sect became the first among the Ten Great Immortal Sects to restore its foundational strength.
"This Chen Qiandu is truly something else."
Li Fan observed the Star of Heavenly Crossing beneath the Four Heavenly Gates, and the entire process of the old Daoist's enlightenment flashed through his mind in an instant.
As the sect master of the Taishang Sect, Chen Qiandu had shown little interest in its affairs. From the moment he took the position, he had entrusted almost everything to his junior brother, Duan Zhiyi, while he himself focused solely on cultivating and comprehending the Dao.
The transformation of Xuanhuang into a new world had not, in truth, affected Chen Qiandu all that much. His Dao of Heavenly Crossing did not waver with external changes but followed the will of his own heart. Even when forced to start anew from the Qi Refining stage, he remained calm and composed, taking it one step at a time.
"No wonder he so adamantly rejected my Supreme Dao Scripture back then. It seems I underestimated him."
"This Dao of Heavenly Crossing already shows the makings of a path toward transcendence," Li Fan nodded in appreciation.
Then, a thought occurred to Li Fan, and he frowned slightly. "I remember that in my previous life, ten thousand years later in the Shuo Xinghai, there was a region called the [Thousand Crossing Dojo]. Like the Sword Domain, it was a gathering place for many surviving factions. It was likely built by him. Chen Qiandu’s potential is remarkable. Before long, his cultivation progress might even surpass Ji Wangxian’s."
With the first and second stars having appeared one after the other, Li Fan couldn't help but turn his attention to Xuanyuan Tuo and Su Bai.
Even with Li Fan's deliberate suppression, Su Bai's cultivation had already reached the peak of the Golden Core stage, just a single step away from attaining the Nascent Soul. And this was achieved without him dedicating all his energy to cultivation. Su Bai spent more than half of each day teaching the orphans at the ruined temple and maintaining order in Ningyuan City. Despite this, he still progressed so swiftly. His immense talent was plain to see.
Compared to Su Bai, Xuanyuan Tuo seemed to be falling far behind.
He hadn't even taken the first step of cultivation, Qi Refining. He simply remained in seclusion, occasionally looking up at the sky as if comprehending something profound.
Li Fan was not disappointed in the Dharma Spreader, however.
He had a faint sense that although Xuanyuan Tuo had yet to cultivate, he was actually brewing something momentous. Just like the New Method of the Xuanhuang Realm, once it was unveiled, it would shake the heavens and the earth.
"A new method for the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, is it? I’m actually looking forward to it," Li Fan mused with a slight smile.
Built upon the Infinite Sea and the Upper Mountain, and infused with the power of the Great Dao of Longevity, the infinite and immortal characteristics of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm perfectly resolved the hidden dangers that came with the new cultivation method.
No matter how much cultivators devoured heaven and earth, the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm could endlessly regenerate itself. The irreconcilable conflict between the world and its cultivators no longer existed. Instead, they now shared a common goal.
To survive the Dao Annihilation Calamity!
"It’s no longer a fight to the death, but a case of prospering together and perishing together."
Cultivators comprehended the laws of the Great Dao within the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, transforming themselves into stars suspended in the sky.
And the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, in turn, underwent many profound changes because of these cultivator-stars.
The most significant change was that the addition of these stars made the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm far more stable. It was like building a house; although Li Fan had used the Upper Mountain, the Infinite Sea, and the Great Dao of Longevity as materials to lay the foundation, it was his first time truly creating an Immortal Realm, so flaws were inevitable. Within the grand framework, there existed countless tiny "cracks."
But as cultivators comprehended the Dao, these invisible, minuscule gaps would gradually be filled.
"This is what they call supplementing the Heavenly Dao with the Human Dao."
"The more prosperous the cultivation scene in this realm becomes, the more stable my Xuanhuang Immortal Realm will be."
Li Fan sat enthroned upon the Ninth Heaven, quietly observing the changes in the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm.
Time flew, and in the blink of an eye, twenty years had passed.
The number of shining stars on the Xuanhuang canopy had grown to thirty-eight. However, the first Soul Transformation cultivator had yet to appear.
But after all these years of waiting, the day of Li Fan's harvest had finally arrived.
The countless strands of his divine consciousness had completely infiltrated and taken root in the minds of every living being in Xuanhuang. It was safe to say that every thought of every creature in this realm was now under his complete control.
On the Ninth Heaven, just slightly below Li Fan's position and above the cultivator-stars and the Four Heavenly Gates, a distorted mass of light and shadow swirled and circled.
This was an illusory world Li Fan had crafted by emulating the Fallen Immortal Realm, built from the thoughts of cultivators he had perceived. Li Fan called it the [Great Void Illusionary Realm]. Here, cultivators could not only understand their own thoughts, desires, and the deepest, most subtle notions of their hearts, but they could also peer into the minds of others.
They could even bring certain fantastical creations from their imagination into the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm!
"Only the stars in the heavens may enter this Great Void Illusionary Realm."
"Below the stars, mortals cannot see it, nor can they know of it."
Li Fan's will was the law of the Xuanhuang Realm.
As the Heavenly Dao flowed, the Great Void Illusionary Realm quietly began to change. The light and shadow dimmed, becoming even more ethereal. Only the cultivator-stars that were close enough could detect a trace of its existence.
Before long, some Nascent Soul cultivators noticed the existence of this mass of light and shadow and began to explore it with caution.
Their every entry also served to strengthen the Great Void Illusionary Realm.
Of course, Li Fan hadn't created the Great Void Illusionary Realm out of the kindness of his heart for the sake of the Xuanhuang cultivators.
He did it for the [Supreme Dao Scripture]!
The Supreme Dao Scripture was hidden far too deeply. Moreover, it shifted and changed along with the thoughts of living beings.
Over the past twenty years, Li Fan had tried all sorts of methods to find it.
He had seen some results, but the versions of the scripture he managed to decipher were all incomplete.
They were even worse than the fake version he had created himself.
So, Li Fan changed his approach. Instead of digging for it directly...
He installed a mirror in the mind of every living being.
It would project the inner thoughts of every creature, all at once.
This conglomerate of projected consciousness was the Great Void Illusionary Realm.
Though the human mind is in constant flux, at any given instant, their thoughts and feelings are fixed.
By observing the thoughts of all living beings at a single, fixed moment in time, he could piece together the complete, hidden Supreme Dao Scripture.
Under the control of Li Fan's will, a storm seemed to churn endlessly within the Great Void Illusionary Realm. Light and shadow roiled, changing without cease. In a single instant, it felt as if quadrillions of transformations had taken place.
After constant adjustments by Li Fan, a magnificent, vast scroll finally appeared before him, floating amidst the starry sky.
Unlike the scroll he had seen in the Fallen Immortal Realm, where all the True Immortal Scripts were distorted and illegible, every single True Immortal Script recorded on this Supreme Dao Scripture, reflected by the Great Void Illusionary Realm, was perfectly clear!
A painted scroll stretched across the cosmos. The scripts glittered, truly like three thousand Great Daos illuminating the world.
Li Fan recognized some of the characters within it.
Hunger, Ancient, Manifest, Return, Detain...
Primal, Creation, Congenital, Non-Action...
Some of the characters' light was solid and dense, while others seemed to have been hollowed out, appearing only as faint, transparent outlines.
"This is the difference between whether a True Immortal has proven the Dao for a character or not."
"I never expected that so few would have achieved the Dao as Nameless True Immortals."
Li Fan swept his gaze over it. Among all the True Immortal Scripts recorded in the Supreme Dao Scripture, those corresponding to Nameless True Immortals were less than one in a hundred thousand.
"And then there are those who transcended and left, and those whose Daos were stolen."
Upon closer inspection, Li Fan discovered faint traces remaining in other spots on the scripture where no characters shone.
Based on what he had seen in the Fallen Immortal Realm, Li Fan first located the positions of the thirty-odd characters that had been stolen.
These characters were all located towards the beginning of the Supreme Dao Scripture.
They were not transparent, but had been reduced to faint imprints. The original forms of these True Immortal Scripts were no longer visible.
"As for those Nameless True Immortals who proved their Dao and then departed..."
Li Fan turned his gaze to this section of characters.
Their forms varied. Some had also left only faint traces. Others had vanished completely. And some left behind much clearer marks.
Li Fan compared them carefully, musing, "These must represent the different states of those who transcended and departed."
"Some severed all ties with the Xuanhuang Realm completely. Others, like Shou Qiu, left behind something akin to Cheng Dao's shadow projection, a remnant to withstand the Dao Annihilation."
He believed these remnant characters still held countless connections to those transcendent, nameless ones. Li Fan did not attempt to comprehend them in detail, merely observing from a distance.
The Supreme Dao Scripture stretched across the dark, starry sky, its volumes vast, boundless, and infinite.
Just a cursory browse took Li Fan three years.
"My previous guess was correct."
"With the destruction of the Immortal Realm, most of the True Immortal Scripts recorded in this scripture are now just that—scripts. The Great Daos they were connected to are either fragmented or have been swallowed by the Dao Annihilation."
"Therefore, the vast majority of True Immortal Scripts in this scroll are inert. Only those connected to Great Daos that still exist in the lower realms are worth comprehending."
Li Fan's divine consciousness swept across the Supreme Dao Scripture, marking each of these valuable characters.
"I can faintly sense the subtle connections these characters have with the outside world. Some point beyond the Primal Possibility, while others are still within it. Some aren't even connected to Nameless True Immortals, but simply to True Immortals who have gained some enlightenment on the corresponding path," Li Fan’s eyes flickered.
"With this Supreme Dao Scripture, I might be able to capture them one by one."
In Li Fan's vision, every character in the Supreme Dao Scripture had a thin thread extending from it, connecting to a True Immortal in the outside world.
There were countless threads, scattered everywhere.
Li Fan examined them closely. His gaze seemed to pierce through infinite space and time, focusing on the other end of each thread.
"There are far more surviving lower realm star seas in the Primal Possibility than I originally imagined."
"It’s just that some are simply too distant."
"In comparison, the Guangwu Xinghai is practically a neighbor."
"But even just considering the ones in the vicinity of the High Wall, it will take me quite some time to digest them all."
Following the connections presented in the Supreme Dao Scripture, Li Fan preemptively categorized the True Immortals behind them by their relative strength.
"Once Dao Integration cultivators are born in batches within the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, I can command them to do the capturing for me."
After meticulously making his marks, which took a good while, Li Fan finally refocused on the Supreme Dao Scripture itself.
Serving as a hunting guide was merely a secondary use for the Supreme Dao Scripture.
Its true, original purpose was, of course, to comprehend the Dao.
"Worthy of being composed by the Inscription Immortal. These are far more profound than the True Immortal Scripts I saw in the cycle of reincarnation."
"They even seem closer to the Great Dao itself than the True Immortal Scripts manifested after the fall of a Nameless True Immortal," Li Fan marveled, staring at the character for ‘Hunger’ in the scripture.
"However..."
"This scripture doesn’t contain the characters for [Inscription Dao]?"
Doubt suddenly arose in Li Fan’s mind.
"Logically, the Dao of Inscription is one of the Great Daos of the world. If this Supreme Dao Scripture were truly complete, then that character should be in it."
"But it’s nowhere to be found..."
Li Fan snorted. "It seems that Inscription Immortal hid it away."
"I wonder how many other True Immortal Scripts like the Dao of Inscription are missing."
Li Fan stared at the thirty-odd stolen characters in the Supreme Dao Scripture.
The thin threads behind them pointed beyond the Primal Possibility, to a place called the [Life and Death Realm].
Countless years had passed, yet this connection had not been severed.
"With this guidance, I could reach the Life and Death Realm directly. If I had the power to traverse the Mountain and Sea, that is."
"But even the Inscription Immortal never returned from there, so there’s no need for me to join the excitement," Li Fan shook his head slightly.
Then, he opened his mouth wide and swallowed the image of the Supreme Dao Scripture presented by the Great Void Illusionary Realm.
The Great Void Illusionary Realm reverted to its original form, so as not to arouse the suspicion of the Xuanhuang cultivators.
Li Fan, meanwhile, began to comprehend the countless True Immortal Scripts alone, within his own mind.
If comprehending the Dao was an exam, then Li Fan now held the answer key.
He only needed to copy the answers to reach the Great Dao itself.
Another ten years passed. Inside Li Fan, a Myriad Phenomena Dao Net, a hundred times larger than the one from his previous life, quietly took shape.
(End of this chapter)
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