Chapter 866: The Shattered Xuanhuang Realm
The scholar’s words sent a jolt of tension through Li Fan, tightening his nerves to their absolute limit.
However, the Grand Preceptor Li of today was not so easily rattled. He now wielded the power of a Dao Integration cultivator, fortified by formidable abilities like the Seven-Colored Jade Void Gilded Light.
He was no longer the man who would be frightened into using [Truth] by just a few words.
Not even if his opponent was a Longevity Celestial Venerable!
Li Fan decided...
...to probe the man’s true intentions!
And so, with a carefully crafted expression of confusion and surprise, Li Fan asked, "Transcending the Xuanhuang Realm? What does that have to do with me?"
The slate-bearing scholar chuckled. "Since you refuse to admit it, let us see what the slate has recorded about you."
An aura of ancient ages, heavy with the weight of time, emanated from the scholar. All around them, images began to flicker into existence, swirling like ghosts of the past.
It was as if they had plunged into the river of time itself, the bygone scenes of the Xuanhuang Realm unfurling before them like a magnificent scroll.
The scholar grunted, his body starting to expand.
For some reason, his face and clothes began to shift and transform at a dizzying pace.
One moment he was a handsome scholar, the next a robust woodcutter.
Then a bewitching young maiden.
At times, he wasn't even human.
He became a tree, a flower.
A soaring bird, a prowling beast.
...
Through it all, only the stone slate on his back remained constant, its azure light eternal and unchanging.
Finally, the swirling images began to stabilize.
A shimmering light coalesced, and upon its surface, the figure of Li Fan himself appeared.
But it did not show his departure from the Great Xuan Kingdom.
It didn't even show his initial arrival in the Xuanhuang Realm through a spatial passage, nor the moment he went straight to Tianyang's grotto-heaven to subdue him.
It only showed him entering Shilin Province with Tianyang.
finding the entrance to the Spirit Wood Realm, entering and exiting, and later capturing Shang Tianci in the Nine Mountains Province.
It showed him finding Mr. Bai's secret chamber deep beneath Taihua Province.
then returning to the Spirit Wood Realm and emerging with Lin Ling, now at the Dao Integration stage.
Next came his transaction with the Five Elders Council, followed by his journey straight to the Five Elements Great Cave-Heaven in Tianling Province.
...
The scenes shifted one after another.
Yet, as he watched, the wariness in Li Fan's heart began to ease considerably.
"Just as I thought."
"The Creation Stone Slab automatically records everything that happens in the Xuanhuang Realm, down to the smallest detail. But," he realized, "it only covers the *original* Xuanhuang Realm!"
"The Xuanhuang Realm of today is a fusion of the original world with countless grotto-heavens, small worlds, and even fragments from other cultivation realms!"
"The Creation Stone Slab can't possibly have records of these external territories!"
It was like a house.
The original Xuanhuang Realm was a single, small room.
But over the years, countless cultivators had added extensions, making the Xuanhuang Realm vastly larger than it once was.
Inside that original room, the Creation Stone Slab, born with the world itself, had absolute authority to record everything.
But in these added extensions, its power to record was lost!
...
The scenes continued to shift.
Just as Li Fan predicted, the footage was intermittent.
Crucially, his frequent haunts—the Cong Yun Sea, the Spirit Wood Realm, the Five Elements Great Cave-Heaven...
...were all beyond the slate's recording range.
As a result, the images mostly showed him traveling, endlessly traveling from one place to another.
"So, when this scholar said he came for me..."
"What gave me away?"
Li Fan's mind raced.
The scenes on the slate were catching up to the present.
Suddenly, his clone, Ji Shaoli, appeared in the image.
The moment he entered Yongyun Province, the scene abruptly cut out.
Then, after Ji Shaoli left Yongyun Province, he headed straight for the Spirit Wood Realm.
The image went dark, then reappeared to show Li Fan, having advanced to the Nascent Soul stage, emerging from the Spirit Wood Realm. He was cloaked in a seven-colored divine light, speeding across the provinces.
"Did the seven-colored divine light attract his attention?" Li Fan wondered.
The scholar's next words confirmed his suspicion.
"I don't particularly care whether your Federation of All Worlds is real or not."
"What interests me more," the scholar declared, his gaze burning into Li Fan, "is where in Yongyun Province you acquired this seven-colored divine light."
"The power level of this object is far beyond what a mere remnant of a province could possibly produce."
"Could it not be a divine ability I comprehended on my own?" Li Fan retorted.
The scholar chuckled, dumbfounded.
"I bear the Creation Stone Slab, so I am intimately familiar with the aura radiating from your seven-colored light. It is the power of a world's Heavenly Dao, nearly fully condensed. If you possessed the ability to create such a thing, then I would not be the one asking the questions here today."
"You would," the scholar stated calmly.
Though his tone held no mockery, the combination of his expression and words made Li Fan snort in disdain.
When Li Fan remained silent, the scholar continued, "Rest assured, I have no intention of taking it from you. This seven-colored light is powerful, to be sure, but to me, it would be nothing but a burden."
"What I truly wish to know," the scholar admitted frankly, "is the place that gave birth to this seven-colored light."
Li Fan's eyes narrowed. "Senior, what are you implying? How can you be so sure the light was *produced* by something? Couldn't it simply be a standalone treasure, hidden somewhere in Yongyun Province?"
The slate-bearing scholar sighed.
The scenery projected on the light screen around them suddenly plunged into darkness.
Then, a single point of seven-colored light appeared.
Against the blackness, it was incredibly dazzling and conspicuous.
The scholar turned to Li Fan. "Do you understand now?"
"A treasure of this magnitude," he explained, "shines like this as long as it exists, whether it has been claimed and refined or not."
"Once..."
"...some people conducted a thorough search of the entire Xuanhuang Realm. They found that aside from the Heavenly Profound Mirror, there are no other treasures in this world that surpass the level of a realm-class artifact."
"Therefore, your seven-colored divine light must have appeared very recently..."
Li Fan's expression soured at his words.
He hadn't expected that for all its power, the seven-colored light would be so glaringly obvious to a true master.
Faced with the scholar's question, Li Fan's mind raced as he scrambled for an answer.
After a moment's thought, he settled on a plan.
He put on an expression of great conflict, and after a show of internal struggle, he finally sighed. "So be it. I knew I couldn't keep this a secret forever."
"Follow me, Senior. You will understand once you see for yourself."
With that, he roused Lin Ling, who had been standing by in a daze, too intimidated to interrupt.
He then dove into the earth, heading straight for Yongyun Province.
Within the earth's veins, the slate-bearing scholar followed at a leisurely pace, as if taking a stroll through a garden, yet effortlessly keeping up.
Li Fan was secretly astonished by this.
"No wonder," he thought. "In my previous life, even with a treasure like the Fishing Pool, Zhong Shentong didn't stay to guard it. Instead, he wandered all over."
"He must have left Yongyun Province, revealed the seven-colored divine light, and this slate-bearing scholar picked up the trail, tracking him down."
"He must have been forced to relinquish his ownership of the supreme treasure."
"How careless of me."
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