Chapter 1676: Inducing Sainthood with True Spirit
Chapter 1676: Inducing Sainthood with True Spirit
In his previous life, cloaked in the Dao of [Xuanpin Dao], Li Fan had journeyed to the very end of the Mountain and Sea, a pilgrimage that spanned countless eons.
Through this experience, he had gained a profound understanding of the Xuanpin Dao.
Now, in this life, the inheritance option from [Truth] had imprinted the Xuanpin Dao with his own unique signature.
"I no longer need to rely on the empty-thought constructions of the beings from the Life and Death Realm. I can replicate the process with my own power alone."
"However, the descent of a Mountain and Sea Great Dao will inevitably alert the Saints on the Other Shore. Unless... unless [Truth] can conceal it for me..."
Unfortunately, having fulfilled its inheritance duty, [Truth] seemed to have slipped back into dormancy. It offered no response to Li Fan's plea.
"It seems I'll have to find a way myself," he concluded.
In his previous life, aside from witnessing the true power of [Truth], Li Fan's greatest acquisition had been the [I Birth Infinite] technique—a method for irrigating True Spirit, deduced through the collective efforts of the Saints at the end of the Mountain and Sea.
"My ability to command the accumulated True Spirit in the Eternal Silent Void Realm is not truly dependent on the Xuanpin Dao. Even with my current Transcendent power, I can command it at will!"
With a glint in his eyes, Li Fan leaped out of the Primal Possibility, racing toward the earliest moments of this particular Mountain and Sea segment.
He only began to slow his pace when the Eternal Silent Void Realm, emanating its dreadful aura, came into distant view.
"Even for one who has seen the vast ocean, the sight of the Eternal Silent Void Realm never loses its terror."
Though he had witnessed the Void Realm in its full, terrifying glory—swallowing the Mountain and Sea whole in his past life—a primal fear still coiled in his heart as he faced the encroaching darkness.
It was as if there were no difference between that memory and the reality before him.
The very foundation of his existence still began to unravel the closer he drew.
"It seems that merely having witnessed it before offers no protection. One truly needs the power of a Saint, at the very least, to survive even for a moment within its depths."
Li Fan cautiously edged closer, but the absolute limit of his approach remained unchanged from his previous attempt with the Moral True Immortal.
He had made no progress.
"This is, indeed, the absolute limit for a Transcendent being," he mused.
Suppressing his inner turmoil, Li Fan forced himself no further.
"Fortunately, this is close enough. I can already feel the immense reserves of True Spirit stagnating within the Void Realm."
Li Fan gazed into the distance. Within that deathly silent darkness, he could almost see them: countless battalions of True Spirit, arranged in perfect formation, awaiting his command.
"The reason this accumulated True Spirit is so easily controlled by me," Li Fan reasoned, "must be due to my infinite spirituality."
With a light wave of his hand, just as he had done at the end of the Mountain and Sea in his past life, a formless, shapeless mass of accumulated True Spirit answered his summons.
"Hmm... this segment of the Mountain and Sea is still relatively intact, unlike the Void Realm or the end of days. With the same effort, I can only summon about half the amount of True Spirit."
"No matter. It just means a few more waves of my hand," Li Fan estimated, nodding to himself.
"Now that I have the materials, the next step is to choose a suitable candidate."
To conceal the descent of the Xuanpin Dao, his best option, given his current power, was to create a second disturbance of equal magnitude.
Something to draw the attention of the Saints away first.
"The birth of a new Saint should be more than enough to capture their attention. And as a bonus, I can test my 'Saint-creation' plan."
"As for the perfect candidate..."
The face of the Moral True Immortal instantly surfaced in his mind.
"I once said I would help you achieve Sainthood if the opportunity arose. Now," Li Fan chuckled, a dark amusement in his voice, "it's time to fulfill that promise."
"The Moral True Immortal is already just a step away from Sainthood. He even devised the Moral Separation method to shed the constraints of his Dao and become a Saint of a different kind. With the help of this accumulated True Spirit..."
"Hmm, this probably isn't enough."
Having witnessed Qiu Xinhui's Saint-creation project firsthand in his past life, Li Fan knew the horrifying quantity of True Spirit required. After a moment of deliberation, he expended more effort, capturing an even larger mass of True Spirit from the Void Realm.
He opened his mouth slightly, inhaling it, before gracefully departing.
Within the unchanging, silent Void Realm, the disappearance of this mass of True Spirit seemed to stir a brief, unseen undercurrent.
It was as if a consciousness had swiftly passed through the void.
But Li Fan was long gone, and the surging current, naturally, went unnoticed.
It quickly subsided.
Li Fan remained oblivious to this disturbance in the Void Realm.
After all, in his previous life, whether he was traversing timelines or standing at the end of the Mountain and Sea...
...he had drawn upon the accumulated True Spirit countless times without any incident.
This had created a mental blind spot, leaving him with no reason to be on guard.
He had forgotten, however, that traversing meant rapidly passing through different segments of the Mountain and Sea, and its end was the very end of time itself. Besides the Saints already present, no one else would ever visit.
But in this current era...
...there were beings like Shou Qiu and the other Saints of the Other Shore, who frequented the Void Realm.
But let us set aside this unintentional oversight for now.
Li Fan, for his part, soon found He Gan Xian, the "What Matter" Immortal.
He Gan Xian was naturally wary of this uninvited guest who had appeared out of nowhere.
"Friend, have you ever wished to become a Saint?" Li Fan asked, getting straight to the point.
"Hah?" He Gan Xian's eyes narrowed at Li Fan's bizarre question, his expression turning hostile.
"Have you grown so bored with your cultivation that you've sought me out just for a laugh?"
He Gan Xian scanned his surroundings cautiously, as if searching for a hidden ambush.
Li Fan chuckled. "You're overthinking things. It's not that complicated. It's a simple question."
"Do you want to attain the Dao and become a Saint of the Mountain and Sea?"
He Gan Xian stared at Li Fan for a long moment before letting out a cold laugh. "The way you ask... is there any Transcendent being in all the Mountain and Sea who *doesn't* want to take that step?"
"What's the point of such a strange question? Don't tell me you can actually help me."
"That's right!" Li Fan retorted instantly, his expression radiating confidence. "With my help, your ascension to Sainthood will be as easy as flipping a hand."
"Heh..."
If a Saint of the Mountain and Sea had made such a claim, He Gan Xian might have believed it.
But Li Fan's aura was clearly that of a Transcendent being, same as his own.
He Gan Xian naturally dismissed Li Fan's words as nothing more than a joke.
He decided to ignore him.
"How did I end up running into someone like this..." he muttered to himself.
"Could it be my other self, plotting against me in the shadows?"
With that thought, He Gan Xian was about to vanish and depart.
But then, his eyes caught the scene unfolding before him, and he froze in astonishment.
A hazy, yellow light enveloped the space as two auras, one black and one white, swirled around each other in a constant rotation.
Finally, when the black and white energies dissipated, two figures materialized from thin air.
They hovered before He Gan Xian and bowed with a faint smile.
"Greetings, fellow Daoist!"
He Gan Xian stared at their faces—they were identical to his own!
Or rather, the two figures who had just appeared were perfect likenesses of He Gan Xian and the Faceless Immortal!
It wasn't just their appearance; even the aura of the Dao undulating from them was unmistakably that of [Moral].
A profound sense of shock washed over He Gan Xian. As if he had seen a ghost, he instantly recoiled, putting distance between them.
"Who in the world are you!" he demanded, his gaze fixed on Li Fan.
"Just an old acquaintance," Li Fan replied with an enigmatic smile.
"There's no need for alarm, no need for worry. You didn't believe me when I said I could help you achieve Sainthood..."
"Why don't you watch first, and then we can discuss it further."
A mysterious smile played on Li Fan's lips as he whispered, "I Birth Infinite."
The black and white energies began to generate once more.
They spun rapidly, resembling a Taiji symbol.
A stream of empty-thought figures of He Gan Xian and the Faceless Immortal continuously flowed out from the spinning symbol.
It was like an endless army of phantom soldiers assembling.
Though they were merely ghostly phantoms, not true Transcendent experts...
...the utterly bizarre scene still made He Gan Xian's scalp tingle, a sense of disbelief washing over him.
He stared at the countless overlapping images of himself, recalling Li Fan's earlier words: "an old acquaintance."
His mind reeled, thoughts running wild.
"I don't know what method he's using to create these phantoms of me, but to have such a profound understanding of the Moral Dao..."
"Could he really be someone I knew in the past?"
"But who?"
A series of faces flashed through He Gan Xian's mind, but no matter how hard he wracked his brain, he couldn't deduce Li Fan's true origin.
Meanwhile, once the number of empty-thought phantoms was sufficient, Li Fan uttered another soft command: "Let the Saints be arrayed!"
With a light point of his finger, a massive torrent of accumulated True Spirit poured down from the heavens like a thundering waterfall.
It was received by the countless phantoms of the Moral True Immortal.
Although He Gan Xian couldn't see the immense, surging torrent of accumulated True Spirit, he could keenly sense a wondrous change occurring within the countless phantoms of himself before him.
If before they were mere soulless imitations...
...now, for some unknown reason, these empty shadows were slowly coming to life!
He Gan Xian's sense of dread grew, yet he remained rooted to the spot, as if his feet were nailed to the ground.
A premonition was growing in his heart—the impending transformation of these phantoms represented a monumental opportunity for him!
"Could it be... what that man said just now..."
Once the thought took root, it blazed like a forest fire, impossible to suppress.
Countless versions of the Moral True Immortal came to life, each with a different expression.
But with another gentle point from Li Fan, they were once again drawn into the spinning Taiji symbol of black and white energy.
When the symbol finally came to a halt, only a single, solid figure remained, seated in meditation.
The solid figure's eyes snapped open.
Its gaze met He Gan Xian's.
For a moment, He Gan Xian was struck by the illusion that he was looking at himself!
"The opportunity for Sainthood is right before you. Why do you still hesitate?" Li Fan's voice drifted over.
He Gan Xian was so stunned by Li Fan's unfathomable methods that, for a moment, he stopped his questioning.
His body trembled slightly as he fought to suppress the desire raging within him.
He Gan Xian couldn't remember the last time he had felt such an intense craving, such a powerful "want."
The figure before him seemed to possess an infinite, demonic allure.
The composure he had cultivated over countless eons was effortlessly shattered.
Even when he first comprehended and captured the Moral Dao, he had never lost his composure like this.
"What is..."
He Gan Xian wanted to close his eyes, to look away from the figure.
He wanted to flee this trap immediately.
But the phantom before him seemed to sense his thoughts and began to slowly float toward him.
"It seems you still harbor deep misunderstandings about me."
"This empty-thought figure, condenses the fantasy figure of the silted true spirit, cannot linger in the mountain and sea for long. If you continue to hesitate, all this effort will be wasted. Allow me to lend you a hand," Li Fan's faint sigh echoed.
The words struck He Gan Xian's ears like claps of thunder.
The phrase "accumulated True Spirit" in particular instantly made him understand the source of the fatal temptation he felt!
He knew his own situation best.
A typical Transcendent expert might feel a lesser craving for this True Spirit figure.
But he had undergone Moral Separation; his own True Spirit had been split in two.
He was, in a sense, innately incomplete.
This nourishing infusion of True Spirit was therefore all the more tempting.
As the empty-thought figure slowly approached, any shred of caution in He Gan Xian's mind was swiftly suppressed by instinct.
He remained motionless, accepting it completely.
In that instant, it was as if he saw himself across countless different possibilities.
Their life experiences were blank slates.
And yet, they felt as if they had truly existed.
They had even comprehended the same Moral Dao he commanded. Though they were weaker, they acted as a lubricant, facilitating a seamless fusion.
With almost no resistance, He Gan Xian completely devoured the countless figures that existed solely for his consumption.
The damage caused by the Moral Separation was, in that moment, seemingly repaired.
Like a feast after a long famine, an indescribable sense of satisfaction filled He Gan Xian's heart.
Most importantly, he could feel that his aptitude and abilities had clearly taken a step forward.
"True Spirit..."
"What this man said... was not a lie!"
A tempestuous storm erupted in He Gan Xian's mind. He didn't have time to digest the gradually dispersing True Spirit from the empty-thought figures.
He immediately bowed deeply to Li Fan. "Your grace is akin to giving me a new life! I am overwhelmed with gratitude and do not know how to repay you!"
At the same time, a look of guilt appeared on his face. "To think I misunderstood your kind intentions earlier..."
Li Fan chuckled. "Such a world-shaking claim would naturally be met with disbelief. But facts speak louder than any argument. Once the True Spirit is upon you, you will know the truth of my words. So I saw no need to waste any more."
"How do you feel?"
He Gan Xian closed his eyes to feel the changes within him. After a long while, he let out a long breath and replied, "It is as if I have been reborn. The realm of the Saints is indeed within my grasp!"
Saying this, He Gan Xian once again bowed to Li Fan in immense gratitude.
Though he didn't know the other's identity or purpose, the benefits he had received were tangible. His thanks were completely sincere.
"My assistance today is not without a price. When you attain the Dao in the future, I have a matter to entrust to you."
When Li Fan said this, a sense of relief washed over He Gan Xian.
His greatest fear was that Li Fan would say nothing and simply disappear.
If that happened, he feared this matter would weigh on his mind, even after he became a Saint.
Now that Li Fan had a request, he could use it to repay this karmic debt.
"Please speak, my friend. I will not fail to fulfill my duty," He Gan Xian declared with the utmost solemnity.
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