Chapter 940: A Heart Clouded by Greed
Chapter 940: A Heart Clouded by Greed
The figure, previously a vague silhouette, snapped into perfect clarity.
An old man with a full head of white hair and the character for 'Dharma' etched onto his forehead materialized before the Sacred Embryo Li Fan.
"Do you have any idea what you're saying?"
"Countless Dao Integration cultivators have examined this problem and found themselves utterly helpless. And you, a mere Nascent Soul, dare to make such outrageous claims?"
The old man's face darkened as he glared at Li Fan, a flicker of killing intent in his eyes.
Unafraid, the Sacred Embryo Li Fan simply shrugged. "What if I can? Besides, it's not like you have any better ideas, right?"
This display of utter confidence, far from provoking him further, actually made the old man hesitate.
After a swift investigation into the background of this seemingly arrogant cultivator, his suspicion grew; something was out of the ordinary.
It was as if he had materialized from nothing, his vital information deliberately scrubbed or hidden.
Such a profile could only mean one of two things: he was the avatar of some powerful figure, or a spy from the Five Elders Council.
"Still, the boy's cultivation is undeniably at the Nascent Soul stage. He can't cause any real trouble, no matter what."
"Besides, the situation could hardly get any worse..."
After a moment of deliberation, the white-haired elder gave a cold snort. "Come with me!"
As he spoke, the world blurred before the Sacred Embryo Li Fan's eyes.
He found himself in the space that housed the Deduction Jade.
But it was different from what he had seen before. The massive sphere, composed of innumerable, ever-shifting characters, now seemed to have corroded, its rotations and transformations agonizingly slow.
Beneath the sphere, on a long wooden table, the childlike spirit of the Deduction Jade lay in a deep, listless slumber.
In the distance, three other cultivators stood watching the Deduction Jade, their faces etched with worry.
They noticed the white-haired elder had brought the Sacred Embryo Li Fan with him, but they merely spared him a glance before turning their attention away, asking no questions.
Their focus quickly returned to the luminous sphere of characters, which seemed on the verge of grinding to a complete halt.
A strange, insidious power seemed to be coiled around it. As Li Fan extended his divine sense toward the sphere, he felt the world around him accelerate, as if fast-forwarding at a thousand times normal speed.
It was only after Li Fan decisively retracted his divine sense that he realized what had felt like a fleeting moment had actually been nearly a quarter of an hour in the real world.
Li Fan realized that the flow of time hadn't accelerated. Instead, his own thoughts had been drastically slowed, almost brought to a complete standstill.
"How did this happen?" The Sacred Embryo Li Fan couldn't help but frown, sending a message via divine sense to the white-haired elder. "Was this place breached by an intruder? Is that what caused..."
It was a serious accusation. The elder's expression flickered, and he cut Li Fan off. "Do not speak nonsense."
"Every cultivator who has had contact with the Deduction Jade recently has already been thoroughly investigated. All have been cleared of suspicion. The truth is, this abnormality appeared out of nowhere on the very day our Immortal Alliance declared war on the Five Elders Council."
Hearing this, Li Fan's mind instantly flashed back to the image of the five great manifestations, pulling at a colossal white net, twisting the very laws of heaven and earth over the Five Elders Council's territory.
"The Deduction Jade is one of the great wonders of the Xuanhuang Realm, itself the embodiment of a worldly law."
"Could it have been... collateral damage from that event?"
If Li Fan could arrive at this conclusion so quickly, the Protection Hall had surely considered it long ago.
"The Law of Deduction itself remains unaffected. We have confirmed this repeatedly," the white-haired elder transmitted, observing Li Fan's pensive expression.
"So that's not it..." Li Fan nodded, his gaze returning to the sphere of characters.
The strange power shrouding it formed a sort of barrier around the luminous orb, deflecting any and all attempts to probe it from the outside.
After a moment's contemplation, Li Fan sent another wisp of his divine sense flying toward it.
Under normal circumstances, making direct contact with the Deduction Jade's core was strictly forbidden.
But now, with the artifact malfunctioning, no one moved to stop what could be considered an attempt at "treatment."
As his divine sense drew closer to the massive sphere of light, the world around him seemed to freeze once more.
He pressed on, heedless, continuing his flight toward the sphere.
Through the lens of his divine sense, space itself began to warp and distort.
The sphere of characters unfurled before him, transforming into a flat plane.
It was like a sheet of paper stretching from the heavens to the earth, covered in countless characters that flickered and morphed without end.
From his divine sense's perspective, the Deduction Jade's speed in deriving techniques seemed perfectly normal.
But this was only because the processing speed of his divine sense had also been slowed, bringing both to the same relative level.
"Could it be the distortion itself that's causing this?"
His divine sense swept across the surface of the paper, quickly mapping out the Deduction Jade's current state.
"The *Heaven Mending Record* can cure the ailments of the world."
"The Deduction Jade is the physical manifestation of a worldly law. If I can just identify the corresponding symptoms..."
"First, I need to determine whether this anomaly is caused by an external factor or something inherent to the Deduction Jade itself."
The wisp of divine sense conducted another, more thorough examination.
For the "ailments" of the cultivation world, the *Heaven Mending Record* had its own system of diagnosis, akin to a physician's examination.
Just as a person shows symptoms when ill, so too does a world exhibit signs of sickness through various anomalies.
And as his divine sense scanned the artifact, he found what he was looking for.
"When greed cannot be overcome, the heart gives birth to ignorance..."
His divine sense, now certain, confirmed the diagnosis one last time before dissipating on its own.
Outside the sphere of light, in the vast, dark space.
The Sacred Embryo Li Fan had been standing motionless for seven days and seven nights.
The white-haired elder knew he was observing the inner workings of the luminous sphere and had left him undisturbed.
He and the other three cultivators were busy discussing potential solutions.
"We can hold out for another month at most."
"If it comes to it, we'll have to ask for the Heavenly Doctor."
"Easier said than done," another retorted. "If it were possible to simply summon him, I would have done so already. The Heavenly Doctor's movements are unpredictable; contacting him is next to impossible. Besides, he acts entirely on his own whims and won't give face even to a Transmitter."
...
The three continued their discussion, their brows remaining tightly furrowed.
Just then, the Sacred Embryo Li Fan slowly began to stir.
Processing the information from his divine sense, he nodded inwardly. Then, almost imperceptibly, his gaze fell upon the childlike spirit of the Deduction Jade, who seemed to be sleeping.
"Well? Did you find anything?" the white-haired elder asked casually, not holding out much hope.
To his surprise, the Sacred Embryo Li Fan nodded. "I'm almost certain. I just need to make one final confirmation."
"Well, I didn't expect you to be the real... hmm?" The white-haired elder whipped his head toward the Sacred Embryo, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"What did you just say? Almost certain about what?"
The elder's sudden reaction instantly drew the attention of the other three cultivators from the Protection Hall.
Their figures blurred, and in the blink of an eye, they had surrounded the Sacred Embryo.
"Boy, there's no shame in lacking the ability," one of them warned, "but do not make claims you cannot back up..."
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