Chapter 899: The Faceless Xuantian Immortal
Chapter 899: The Faceless Xuantian Immortal
Though his confidence sometimes wavered, Grand Preceptor Li had a redeeming quality: he wasn't a slave to his pride and could admit when he was wrong.
Since the true power of the Xuan Tian Cult was proving to be beyond his expectations, he decided to alter his plans and avoid provoking them for the time being.
With this in mind, Li Fan prepared to use the Seven-Colored Divine Light to seal the faceless statue once more.
However...
Just as he was about to act, Li Fan froze.
In that fleeting moment, the statue seemed to come alive.
Though the stone effigy had no eyes, Li Fan felt with absolute clarity that it had "looked" at him.
He instinctively shot backward, retreating a considerable distance, his mind already poised to activate Truth Realization.
The faceless statue was exactly where he had placed it before.
It seemed that glance had been nothing more than a figment of his imagination.
Li Fan even reviewed the scene recorded by the Transformation Dao Stone in his mind.
In the recording, the stone statue stood silently, like an ordinary object.
There was nothing unusual about it.
"Could it be that I really saw things?" Li Fan wondered, a flicker of doubt in his mind.
After a moment of contemplation, he decided not to leave this potential threat unchecked.
He cast out streams of Seven-Colored Divine Light, intending to seal the faceless statue and store it away.
But what happened next made his expression change dramatically.
The statue was right before his eyes, yet it was as if it didn't exist at all!
The Seven-Colored Divine Light sealed nothing but empty air, returning to him having accomplished nothing.
Li Fan was momentarily stunned.
He tried to touch the statue with his hand.
The cold, hard sensation was undeniably real.
But when Li Fan willed his spiritual sense to lock onto it and move it into his storage space, he found nothing there.
In the perception of his spiritual sense, the space where the statue stood was empty.
It was impossible to target.
This bizarre scene was beginning to exceed Li Fan's comprehension.
"Could it be the lingering spirit of the Xuantian King?" Li Fan's face clouded over with uncertainty.
Li Fan was certain that before this moment, the statue had not exhibited this strange property.
But with that single, fleeting glance, some profound change had occurred within it.
It had transformed the statue into its current state of being—both present and absent.
"So it wasn't my imagination. Even the Transformation Dao Stone couldn't record it..."
Li Fan's expression darkened.
He finally understood the saying, "It's easier to invite a god than to send one away."
The statue was now rooted to this spot, refusing to leave.
It was as if it had decided to make a new home here in the Spirit Wood Realm, the headquarters of the Federation of All Worlds.
He had painstakingly built this base, only to plant an irremovable time bomb within it. And to make matters worse, he had placed the bomb here himself on a whim...
Li Fan's face twitched.
Just as he was contemplating whether he should abandon the Spirit Wood Realm and start over elsewhere, a voice drifted into the hall.
"May the Red Dust Compassionate True Immortal watch over us. May the Great Li's expedition into the Fire World proceed smoothly and without incident..."
The pleasant, female voice suddenly echoed through the grand hall.
Li Fan's heart skipped a beat.
He glanced around but couldn't find the source of the sound.
Yet the prayer didn't fade; instead, it continued in a soft, incessant murmur.
It began with the voice of Su Yuqing from the Li Realm, but was soon joined by others—He Zhenghao, Kou Hong, Dao Xuanzi, and more.
The voices came one after another, a cascade of prayers.
After a moment of careful study, Li Fan realized the sounds weren't in the hall at all—they were appearing directly inside his mind!
Moreover, whenever he focused his attention on a particular voice, a corresponding image would materialize in his mind's eye.
As if he were there in person, Li Fan could sense the state of the one who prayed.
And even more...
Li Fan had a faint inkling that, should he choose to, he could respond to these prayers.
"What is happening?"
He had never known he possessed an ability so perfectly aligned with the gods of legend.
Li Fan was utterly astonished.
He turned his gaze sharply toward the faceless statue standing silently in the hall, knowing with certainty that this was its doing.
"I fabricated the story of the Red Dust Compassionate True Immortal, using the faceless statue as a conduit to link myself with the members of the Federation of All Worlds."
"This allowed me to receive feedback cultivation as they progressed..."
"But that was a function of the Sitting Immortal Technique, and it was limited to that alone."
"Now..."
Li Fan's eyes narrowed, his expression incredibly grave.
Although there seemed to be no immediate danger, he was already considering whether to use Truth Realization.
He didn't understand the principles behind this, but it was clear that the faceless statue concealed a power far beyond his current understanding.
Li Fan silently called upon Truth Realization in his mind.
A prompt instantly appeared.
"Virtualize the current scene and return to the anchor point?"
The world around him began to blur and turn ethereal.
"Truth Realization isn't affected..."
"I can restart at any time if I wish."
Li Fan paused, but ultimately chose "No."
It wasn't because some mysterious force was preventing him from making the choice.
Rather, no danger had manifested yet, and he hadn't even identified the source of these strange occurrences...
To be so frightened that he immediately reset would be, frankly, a bit too humiliating.
"I have faced a True Immortal from the Immortal Ruins head-on."
"This is just a statue..."
Li Fan scoffed inwardly, forcing himself to calm down.
He focused his mind on the statue and the multitude of voices echoing in his head.
Li Fan discovered that the owners of these voices were, without exception, all members of the Federation who had sworn an oath to the "Red Dust Compassionate True Immortal" while facing this very statue.
It had nothing to do with the actual Red Dust Compassionate True Immortal.
It was simply that they had seen the faceless statue and associated it with the so-called deity.
Thus, whether they intended to or not, the image of the faceless statue would occasionally surface in their minds.
The more they visualized it, the deeper their connection to the statue grew.
Eventually, once a certain threshold was crossed, their prayers would reach Li Fan's mind.
"No wonder the Xuan Tian Cult was called what it was."
"Back when their followers were spread across the world, could the Xuantian King sense and know the state of every believer, just as I can now?"
"That would truly be no different from a god."
"A god..."
A thought stirred in Li Fan's mind, and he focused on the believer with the deepest connection.
It was Su Yuqing from the Li Realm.
Though her innate talent was extraordinary, being the incarnation of the Li Realm's Heavenly Dao, she was constrained by her environment and limited resources. Her current cultivation was barely at the early Golden Core stage.
In the resource-starved Great Li, all spiritual energy was generated by the Immortal Spirit Tower.
For her to reach this stage in such a short time was a testament to her being a true prodigy.
Through his connection with the faceless statue, Li Fan could sense Su Yuqing's physical condition.
It was as if he were observing her personally with his own spiritual sense.
Every detail was laid bare; nothing could be hidden.
"And even..."
Li Fan felt another possibility stirring within him.
A moment later, a sliver of power—minuscule to him, but a vast and potent surge of refined spiritual energy for Su Yuqing—vanished from his body.
It then descended upon Su Yuqing.
(End of Chapter)
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