Chapter 1631: Spying on the Dao of Virtue
A hazy mist spread out from Li Fan, blanketing the mountains and seas in an instant!
Black and white energies, the very essence of [Morality], swirled around him, forming a massive vortex that struggled to manifest within the mist.
But it was ultimately in vain.
The fog only grew thicker.
Finally, it swallowed everything around Li Fan, including the many streams of light he had observed in his final moments.
Layer upon layer, the watery curtain concealed all, plunging the world into darkness.
Anchor Point: 1 year!
Having successfully used [Truth] to escape [Morality]'s fatal suppression, Li Fan remained motionless for a long time.
His first act was to once again preserve his aunt’s memories from the previous simulation.
“But it’s a slow, grinding process, requiring at least a century. In the last life, only fifty-some years had passed; her consciousness hadn't even fully awakened...”
He meticulously reviewed his aunt’s memories, ensuring there would be no inconsistencies.
Only then did Li Fan choose to let her inherit them.
With [Truth] in hand, everything was under his control.
In this saint-making project, Li Fan held absolute initiative.
The probability of Bai Shuyue discovering the truth behind the scenes was virtually zero.
At least, not before she became a Saint.
...
Bai Shuyue felt as if she had been in a very long dream.
In the dream, she had barely managed to escape the clutches of the Faceless Immortal, only to encounter an unknown, colossal hand in the star sea beyond the High Wall.
To avoid a fate of imprisonment, she had resolutely chosen to end her own life.
“Oh, right. It wasn’t a dream.”
“It was my experience from the last life,” Bai Shuyue murmured, rubbing her faintly throbbing temples.
“I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but it feels like this revival took much longer than the previous ones.”
“Could it be...”
Bai Shuyue’s brow furrowed in an instant, a tremor running through her heart.
“My resurrections... they aren’t truly infinite, are they?”
“This is absolutely not good news for me...” Bai Shuyue was suddenly filled with a deep sense of unease.
Although she was not a pessimistic person, infinite resurrections and a limited number of them were two entirely different matters.
“I wonder what my revivals are tied to. Does each one consume something I’m not yet aware of? And as my strength grows, will the number increase again?”
Bai Shuyue’s mind raced, unable to stop the torrent of thoughts.
For now, the newly revived Bai Shuyue had already made a firm decision. She would no longer listen to the Immeasurable Wall’s provocations about seeking opportunities outside the Xuanhuang Realm. Based on her last life, the dangers of the outside world were a hundred times greater than those within it! She would cultivate honestly and steadily in the Xuanhuang Realm.
Meanwhile, Li Fan played the part of a good nephew while also replaying the final moments of his previous life in his mind.
He had long suspected the true identities of the Faceless Immortal and the He Gan Xian, which was why he had been willing to use the True Spirit Destruction technique to force He Gan Xian’s hand.
However, Li Fan had originally wanted to see them flustered and panicked after being exposed. He never expected that...
The Faceless and He Gan would merge into one and attain Sainthood!
When did becoming a Saint become so simple?
Though Li Fan didn't yet know the exact method of becoming a Saint, he knew that being unique across all worlds and being on par with the Mountain Sea were the most fundamental requirements.
“By merging, Virtue and Morality can achieve Sainthood.”
“Does this mean that the Faceless Immortal and He Gan Xian, after their Moral Separation, were already unique beings across all worlds?”
After some deliberation, Li Fan had a glimmer of understanding.
“That’s right. The original [Moral True Immortal] might have had other versions of himself in different possibilities within the Mountain Sea. But the Faceless Immortal and He Gan Xian were creations that never should have existed in the Mountain Sea. They were products hatched by the Moral True Immortal using the secret technique of [Moral Separation]. From the moment of their birth, they were one of a kind.”
“Others struggle painstakingly to achieve the unification of their myriad selves, yet this Moral True Immortal accomplished it with a single, simple technique...”
“However, to be able to split off a being unique to the Mountain Sea... this [Moral Separation] technique is extraordinary in itself.”
He quickly resolved the first question, but the second one left him completely baffled.
How did He Gan Xian and the Faceless Immortal manage to become on par with the Mountain Sea?
No matter how he thought about it, Li Fan couldn’t come up with a reasonable explanation.
He could only speculate that it had something to do with the peculiar state they were in.
“Virtue and Morality, seemingly separate yet deeply intertwined, should have been inseparable.”
“But I forcefully defined their attributes, leading to their complete division.”
“It was like the collapse and transformation of a Great Dao. That single moment might have unleashed an immense amount of energy, much like the chain reactions I knew of before my transmigration...” Li Fan let his imagination run wild.
After all, imagination was all he had for now.
The principle of attaining Sainthood was one of the greatest secrets of the Mountain Sea. If Li Fan could unravel it just by witnessing it once and giving it some thought, the number of Saints in the entire Mountain Sea wouldn't be so pitifully small.
“To find the answer, I still need to start with the Faceless Immortal and the Moral Immortal.”
“The Faceless Immortal, though weak, has always hidden himself well. It’s difficult enough just to find a trace of him, let alone capture him alive.”
“As for He Gan Xian... I already know he will appear in that one possibility at a fixed point in time. Perhaps I can lay an ambush in advance.”
“Of course, all of this hinges on the assumption that with the activation of [Truth] and the reset of the Mountain Sea...”
“The newly minted Saint, the Moral True Immortal, has been reverted to his original form!”
In fact, Li Fan wasn’t particularly worried about this point.
If [Morality] still existed as a Saint, with the might of that station, he would have been able to lock onto Li Fan’s location instantly, no matter the vastness of the Mountain Sea.
But a considerable amount of time had passed since Li Fan used [Truth], and the Mountain Sea remained perfectly quiet.
That alone was enough proof that, at this stage, there was no Saint named [Morality] in the Mountain Sea!
“The authority of [Truth] is superior to that of the Mountain Sea.”
“Or perhaps...”
“[Truth] doesn’t reset the Mountain Sea. Instead...”
Recalling his discovery about intuition, a new theory formed in Li Fan’s mind.
But just like the secret of Moral Sainthood, it was pure speculation, devoid of any concrete evidence.
Li Fan could only temporarily push it to the back of his mind.
After nearly thirty cycles of reincarnation, his comprehension of the True False Transformation had reached a new level.
The misty water curtain had been able to withstand the suppression of the newly ascended [Morality].
Using transcendence to fight a Saint.
Across the entire Mountain Sea, this was a truly remarkable achievement. Still, Li Fan didn't let it go to his head.
“Although what remains on the Other Shore are mere phantoms of the Saints, the combined might of the Nine Saints is far greater than the [Morality] I witnessed.”
“I may have been able to resist [Morality], but I doubt I could hold out against the phantoms of the Nine Saints. Therefore, the saint-making project must continue.”
“However... I can investigate the Moral True Immortal’s secret to Sainthood at the same time.”
Li Fan left a phantom in the Primal Xuanhuang Realm, then took a step, leaping into the possibility where he had witnessed the ascension of Morality.
“He Gan and Faceless cannot be underestimated. I need to be fully prepared!”
Compared to the desolate ruins Li Fan had previously witnessed, this possibility was still teeming with life.
The most significant difference from the Primal Possibility was the absence of Shou Qiu Gong.
In this timeline, the Immortal Realm had been all but obliterated in the initial tide of the Dao Annihilation.
But precisely because of that, the Immortal Realm here hadn’t been wiped out completely. Instead, it had survived as scattered islands upon the great tide of Dao Annihilation!
Through his past encounters with the Dao Annihilation, Li Fan had long known that it seemed to possess a unique consciousness of its own.
The stronger the resistance it faced, the more ferocious its assault. Conversely, if it encountered almost no resistance, the Dao Annihilation would remain in a relatively calm state for a considerable period.
It would simply erode everything slowly, until the remaining territories were completely consumed.
This was the situation for the many lower-realm star seas that survived in the Primal Possibility.
And in this possibility, the same principle applied to the Immortal Realm.
The Immortal Realm was shattered into tens of thousands of scattered islands. The Three Saints were gone, the Immortal Emperor was no more, and all communication was severed.
Even Nameless True Immortals were exceedingly rare, let alone transcendent experts.
“A possibility like this holds almost no value for He Gan Xian.”
“What is he doing seeking enlightenment here?”
The Faceless Immortal had already explained He Gan Xian's method of enlightenment quite clearly. He used the calamities he personally created to exhaust the last vestiges of conscience within him.
This was to ensure that the fundamental "Virtue" within him would not be affected by his actions.
“He Gan Xian’s choice of location for his enlightenment must have been meticulously selected.”
“If I’m not mistaken, there is a person or matter of extreme importance to He Gan Xian—or rather, to the Moral True Immortal—in this place.”
“And yet, the Moral True Immortal is not a native of this possibility.”
The scattered immortal sea wasn't particularly vast, especially for a transcendent expert like Li Fan.
Since there were no immediate clues, he decided to conduct a general survey.
In any case, he had more than enough time to prepare before He Gan Xian’s arrival.
After a full five years, Li Fan finally discovered something on one of the immortal islands that could be related to the Moral True Immortal.
“That face... it bears a striking resemblance to the ascended [Morality].”
“Could she be a descendant of the Moral True Immortal from this possibility?”
Li Fan mused as he observed a female True Immortal whose territory was a rare sight—it had no immortal servants.
While immortal servants might have been free from restraint under Wu Wei's rule, on this island, beings who were once immortal servants had been stripped of their "servant" status by the will of the island’s master.
Though they were not True Immortals, they enjoyed all the same rights and privileges.
This even included access to the Infinite Sea and the Upper Mountain!
However, none of them had attained their immortal status through their own efforts; it was all a gift from that female True Immortal.
In the complete Immortal Realm, the Immortal Emperor and his celestial court controlled the access rights for ordinary True Immortals to connect to the Infinite Sea.
Yet in this remnant possibility, this female True Immortal held the authority of the former Immortal Emperor.
And she bestowed it freely upon all beings under her rule.
Anyone could become an immortal!
These beings held her in extremely high regard, but it wasn't the reverence of a slave for a master.
It was a pure, heartfelt respect born from the grace she had shown them.
The female True Immortal, the suspected descendant of Morality, was also extremely pleased with the attitude of the island's inhabitants. They mingled as one, living in perfect harmony.
It was much like a carefree, ideal paradise.
“She has truly inherited the name of Morality.”
“But it’s nothing more than a child’s game,” Li Fan sneered dismissively.
His merciless gaze locked onto every single True Immortal on the island.
In an instant, it was as if ten thousand miles had been sealed in ice.
The inhabitants of the island, including the female True Immortal, were all instantly frozen in time.
Plucking the knowledge from her mind, Li Fan confirmed her identity.
She was not a descendant of the Moral True Immortal.
But she was connected to him by a thousand threads.
In this possibility, when the world-ending Dao Annihilation had descended, the Moral True Immortal had tried to turn the tide and save all living beings from the calamity, just as Shou Qiu Gong had in the Primal Possibility.
But unfortunately, the Moral True Immortal's strength was simply not enough to contend with a Dao Annihilation of that scale.
He died a tragic death amidst the tide of annihilation.
Yet, the Moral True Immortal’s death was not entirely in vain. He had indeed managed to save quite a few lives.
The female True Immortal on the island was one of them.
Although a long time had passed since that catastrophe, and most of the beings in the scattered immortal sea had forgotten the Moral True Immortal, she had not.
She even took it upon herself to become the new Moral True Immortal, deliberately altering her appearance to resemble her benefactor of old.
She acted with [Morality]!
Saving, and enlightening!
“But this is limited to this possibility. How could it be related to He Gan Xian’s enlightenment...?”
For a moment, Li Fan found it difficult to grasp the cultivation method of [Morality].
He decided not to alert the enemy for now, choosing instead to hide and observe.
He withdrew his gaze, and the frozen True Immortals on the island returned to normal.
They were completely oblivious to Li Fan’s arrival.
Life and business continued as usual.
Li Fan concealed himself in the shadows, quietly made his preparations, and waited patiently.
Until...
Rolling black qi descended from the sky without any warning.
It swept over and spread throughout the entire world.
This black qi possessed no tangible destructive power. Even if a living being came into direct contact with it, they would suffer no harm.
However...
Their actions, their very thoughts, would be altered by it.
Without any warning, they raised their blades against those beside them, repaying kindness with malice, and turning on their benefactor as one!
“Great kindness becomes great enmity; losing virtue gives rise to the Dao...”
In this possibility, there was naturally no such thing as karmic retribution. After committing acts of betrayal, not only did these people suffer no consequences...
Instead, as if they had consumed an immortal pill, their strength began to surge dramatically!
The virtueless grew ever stronger.
Their actions unleashed a boundless slaughter that spread throughout the entire possibility.
Meanwhile, He Gan Xian remained hidden above the scattered immortal sea, positioned at the very core of the swirling black qi of morality.
Li Fan could sense that the majority of He Gan Xian's attention was fixed upon that female True Immortal.
Even as the island descended into a state of moral inversion and chaos, she still did not give up trying to save everyone.
But in the end, a lack of power is the original sin.
Her struggles were nothing more than a futile drop in the ocean.
He Gan Xian, however, had no intention of letting her go.
Nor did he harm her directly.
Instead, he manipulated the black qi of morality, transforming the once-ideal paradise into a terrifying purgatory.
The female True Immortal could not perceive the existence of the black qi that ravaged her world.
In her eyes, the people she had once lived with in such harmony had, for some unknown reason, turned on one another.
It was as if they had become mortal enemies.
And she, the master of the island, had become the target of their collective assault.
No matter how much she tried to embody morality, she would not allow herself to be senselessly killed by these people.
And so, she fought back.
Her strength was far greater than that of the other True Immortals on the island.
In the chaos of battle, it was inevitable that some of her blows would be too severe.
With every drop of blood that stained her hands, the face she wore in imitation of the Moral True Immortal faded a little more.
Slowly, the facade of morality peeled away, revealing her original appearance.
“How could you ever bear the weight of the word ‘Morality’?”
He Gan Xian’s expression was desolate as the black aura raged around him like smoke.
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