Chapter 865: The Stone Slab that Records the Ages
Chapter 865: The Stone Slab that Records the Ages
The scholar with the stone slab stared at Li Fan for a moment, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
After a short pause, he finally spoke, his tone inscrutable.
"Even if you still harbor some resentment, what's the point of contending with the dead?"
Li Fan was taken aback.
"The Salvation Sect of old has long ceased to exist," the scholar remarked with a hint of melancholy.
"The World-Observing Divine Eyes are merely carrying out the final orders they were given."
"The Salvation Sect is gone?" The news struck Li Fan with the force of a thunderclap.
Seeing the utter disbelief on Li Fan's face, the scholar offered a faint smile and nodded in confirmation. "Without a shadow of a doubt. As dead as dead can be."
His long-standing phantom enemy, the shadowy mastermind lurking behind the curtain.
Had actually been annihilated long ago.
Unable to immediately accept that he had been shadowboxing all this time, Li Fan pressed on, unwilling to let it go.
The scholar chuckled dismissively. "The Dharma Spreader Heavenly Venerate himself took action. There was no possibility of the Salvation Sect surviving. It was a matter acknowledged by all the great sects back then."
"But your Federation of All Worlds is a relatively new power, so it's understandable that you wouldn't know."
Li Fan fell silent at his words.
"After the Dharma Spreader reversed the logic of heaven and earth to become a Longevity Heavenly Venerate, he rarely took action. The annihilation of the Salvation Sect was one of those few occasions. They fled all the way to the outer realms, yet they could not escape their doom," the scholar explained, his voice laced with emotion.
"Though the culprits are dead, the damage they caused is irreversible. We can only let the World-Observing Divine Eyes remain."
"Fortunately, unless you're specifically looking for them, they're not easy to notice. So, everyone just decided to let them be."
"Besides, in a hundred thousand years at most, these paper figures will dissipate on their own due to the passage of time. That's why no one pays them much mind."
The scholar explained with great earnestness.
Li Fan, however, now understood the full picture.
It was like the analogy he had considered before, comparing the Xuanhuang Realm to a house.
After reversing the logic of heaven and earth, the Longevity Heavenly Venerates became part of the house itself.
But due to a moment of carelessness, this house had been filled with surveillance devices.
Cameras were everywhere, and they were far from aesthetically pleasing.
Most critically, when these devices were installed, they were all connected directly to the structural framework of the house.
Any attempt to remove them would inevitably cause irreparable damage to the building.
The realm was already teetering on the brink of life and death, just outside the Immortal Ruins.
This was a consequence the cultivators of the Xuanhuang Realm could not bear.
Thus, no matter how unwilling they were, they could only grit their teeth and accept this reality.
Filled with fury, the Dharma Spreader Heavenly Venerate, who saw himself as the master of the house, took matters into his own hands and wiped out the Salvation Sect that had installed the cameras.
Having pieced it all together, Li Fan was silent for a long moment.
"But why would the Salvation Sect do such a thing?"
A trace of reminiscence flickered in the scholar's eyes.
"Those fellows were always muttering mystical nonsense. Who could possibly know what was really going on inside their heads?"
"However, one thing is certain: they must have foreseen the consequences of their actions."
"And yet, they insisted on doing it anyway."
"To be honest, I'm quite curious myself," the scholar said with a smile.
"Unfortunately, the dead are gone. Perhaps this mystery will never be solved."
Li Fan's expression grew solemn.
From the man's words and his demeanor since his appearance, Li Fan could tell this scholar was an immensely powerful cultivator who had survived since ancient times.
"May I ask for Senior's name?" Li Fan asked, cupping his hands in respect.
The scholar did not hide it. "Among the Ten Great Immortal Sects, I am the one without a name."
The words struck Li Fan like a bolt of lightning.
In all his past research on the Ten Great Immortal Sects, no matter how hard he searched, he could only ever find the names of nine.
The last one had no records whatsoever.
Li Fan had once even assumed that the "Ten Great Immortal Sects" was just a conventional turn of phrase.
Or perhaps, that one of the sects had been destroyed.
He never imagined that today he would meet a member of that most mysterious, nameless final sect!
Moreover, the scholar's phrasing was highly intriguing.
*"Among the Ten Great Immortal Sects, I am the one without a name..."*
*"Is he like Senior Sister Zhao, a single person who constitutes an entire sect?"*
Even though the scholar before him appeared harmless, Li Fan's internal alarms were now screaming at maximum volume.
This was potentially the second Longevity realm expert he had ever truly encountered.
Seeing Li Fan's high-alert posture, as if facing a formidable enemy, the scholar couldn't help but shake his head slightly.
"There's no need to be so tense. I have no interest in the conflict between the Five Elders Council and the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance."
"I'm not even particularly interested in the survival or destruction of the Xuanhuang Realm."
"If, one day, the Xuanhuang Realm is truly destroyed, I will surely be the first to applaud," the scholar said, his words seemingly holding a deeper meaning.
The scholar glanced at the stone slab on his back, his expression complicated.
Seeing that the man didn't seem to be lying and had shown no malice, Li Fan grew a bit bolder.
"Senior, that stone slab..."
"In ancient times, most cultivators used the fruit of the Ruomu Tree to steal the power of longevity from heaven and earth."
"I, however, through a stroke of fortune, obtained this stone slab. It allows me to exist alongside heaven and earth, immortal for millions of years," the scholar's voice was filled with a deep weariness and the weight of ages.
"This is the Creation Stone Slab. Everything that happens within the Xuanhuang Realm, no matter how trivial, automatically appears upon its surface."
"The world considers it a supreme treasure and has tried to take it from me."
"I would be overjoyed if they could, but no one has ever succeeded."
"My friend from the Federation, would you care to try as well?" the scholar asked with genuine sincerity.
Li Fan's heart pounded in his chest.
A record of everything in the Xuanhuang Realm, appearing automatically?
Wasn't this the ultimate, enhanced fusion of the Bloodline History Book and the World-Observing Divine Eyes?
If he could obtain it, all secrets, past and present, would be his to command.
What an unimaginable opportunity!
Li Fan's mouth went dry.
However, he still possessed a shred of reason.
Faced with the scholar's offer, Li Fan didn't dare act rashly and shook his head repeatedly.
The scholar seemed a little disappointed and explained, "I'm not speaking in jest. There's truly no harm in trying."
Despite his earnest tone, Li Fan refused to listen.
The scholar shook his head with a touch of loneliness and didn't press the matter.
"People these days have less and less courage."
Li Fan closed his eyes, pretending he hadn't heard a thing.
After a moment, seeing that the scholar had dropped the subject, he asked another question: "Senior, with your status, why would you suddenly decide to meet with me?"
The scholar stared at Li Fan, a glint of amusement in his eyes.
"I came here specifically for you."
Li Fan's heart tightened. "Senior, please don't frighten me. How could a humble Nascent Soul cultivator like myself possibly catch your esteemed eye?"
"The Creation Stone Slab, while capable of recording everything in this world..."
"...there are some things that exist beyond the world itself," the scholar declared, his voice ringing clearly.
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