Chapter 968: The Dharma Transmitters' Meeting
Chapter 968: The Dharma Transmitters' Meeting
"Such immense power..."
Li Fan savored the authority now at his command. Even with his vast experience and steady mind, he felt a fleeting moment of vertigo, a dizzying rush of power.
It was true that the gulf between a Longevity Immortal and an ordinary cultivator was as wide as the heavens.
But when the number of ants reached a critical mass, their sheer quantity could bridge that gap!
Li Fan was certain of it. Having clashed with the divine sense of Mo Rubin, a Longevity cultivator of the old ways, he knew that with the combined divine senses of over a million cultivators at his command, he could now effortlessly crush the Law King of the Xuan Tian Cult.
He even had a sense that if he continued this expansion, devouring the consciousness of nearly every cultivator in the Xuanhuang Realm...
He might even be able to challenge a Dharma Transmitter head-on and remain undefeated.
A desire, once kindled in the heart, is nearly impossible to extinguish.
They sought to ensnare him, to bewitch him with the promise of power.
Under ordinary circumstances, few cultivators could resist such a temptation—the promise of ascending to the heavens in a single step.
The inevitable result would be the loss of their true self, an endless spiral into the abyss of perpetual expansion.
Until every last cultivator had perished.
At that point, would the architect of it all truly ascend to immortality, or would they simply fade into silent extinction along with the world itself...?
No one could say for sure.
But Li Fan was different.
For one, he was protected by the Xuanhuang Heart Refining Mantra. For another, beyond these million demonic gods, he wielded several other powers of an equivalent magnitude.
And above all, he possessed [Truth], an anchor that transcended all else.
How could he ever trade the fundamental for the trivial, to have his mind clouded by a mere million phantasms?
A million was nothing. Even the power of ten million phantasms, or that of a True Immortal, would be a fool's dream if it sought to tempt him into abandoning [Truth].
In a way, [Truth] was his ultimate spiritual anchor, ensuring he would never be swayed by external forces or lose sight of his true purpose.
Unless, one day, he encountered something even more powerful than [Truth] itself...
His expression was now like ancient frost. Pushing the Transformation Dao Stone to its absolute limit, he strove to control every last one of the demonic gods.
Splitting his consciousness into a million avatars was already placing an immense strain on the medium-grade Transformation Dao Stone.
However, with the aid of his own formidable divine sense, he could just barely maintain control.
"If there were any more, I'd have to let them act on instinct. Without my direct control, they're just mindless beasts; their combat effectiveness would plummet. Still... more than enough to sow chaos."
Within half a day, the fires of war blazed across the territories of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
Its foundational power structure was almost completely paralyzed.
Each of his divine sense avatars, after all, possessed the combat strength of a cultivator at the lowest rungs of the Soul Transformation realm.
Even in the Alliance's Central Four Prefectures, cultivators of that realm were far from common.
Faced with a tide of thousands of phantasms that blotted out the sky, even they had no choice but to retreat and weather the storm.
If the Soul Transformation cultivators behaved this way, those at the Dao Integration realm were no different.
Their lives were their own, after all, and the path to the Dao Integration realm was an arduous one.
With the enemy's offensive so overwhelming, whoever dared to be the first to stand against them would surely be swarmed and torn apart.
And if they were to fall in battle?
...
The very culture of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance had fostered this nearly unanimous mindset among its cultivators.
This, in turn, allowed Li Fan's million demonic gods to sweep through the land unopposed, creating the illusion that they were utterly invincible.
It felt as if the mighty Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, once at the zenith of its power, was on the verge of collapse.
Meanwhile.
At the headquarters of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
A boundless space, bleached of all color, stretched out as far as the eye could see.
A bolt of lightning cracked through the center of the void, and in its wake, projections of entire worlds bloomed into existence, illuminating the corners of the vast emptiness.
Each scene was unique: one showed rolling mountain ranges veiled by a sea of clouds; another, a boundless bamboo forest, vibrant and green; a third, a grand and solemn imperial palace. There was even a fantastical cityscape, with towering skyscrapers submerged in an ocean of neon light.
Within each projected world, a hazy, indistinct face could be discerned.
Appearing in this pale white space.
"Jiang, give us the report. What's the situation?" a voice, tinged with a hint of flippancy, called out.
The voice emanated from the world of the boundless bamboo sea.
In response, a series of images flickered into view at the center of the projected worlds.
They all depicted scenes of the demonic gods rampaging, and the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance reeling from the assault.
"This is the situation. These consciousness-constructs appeared under highly unusual circumstances. There was no warning whatsoever before their sudden eruption."
"Every prefecture has effectively fallen, save for the core administrative zones of the sky-cities."
The solemn voice continued its slow report, outlining the current plight of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance for all the Dharma Transmitters present.
This voice originated from the world of the imperial palace.
"Interesting. So many of these consciousness-constructs... Could they be the lingering resentments of all the cultivators who've perished in the Xuanhuang Realm over the years?"
"Useless fools. They can't even mount a proper counterattack!"
"I'd say it's not a matter of 'can't,' but 'won't.' A pack of ungrateful curs..."
The Dharma Transmitters chimed in one by one, their tones universally casual, betraying not a hint of concern for the Alliance's fate.
"Jiang, what are your thoughts?"
A sudden silence fell over the gathered Dharma Transmitters. All eyes turned in unison toward a single, unremarkable world.
It contained no magnificent structures, no breathtaking landscapes.
Only a vast, empty void.
And within that void, a solitary figure sat in quiet contemplation.
Jiang's gaze remained fixed on the myriad images displayed at the center of the space, ignoring the question from the other Transmitters.
Yet, the others seemed to hold this Dharma Transmitter Jiang in high regard, for they all waited patiently, none showing the slightest hint of impatience.
After what felt like a long time, Dharma Transmitter Jiang finally spoke. "Behind these consciousness-constructs," he stated, "is a single individual."
"Find him, and this matter can be resolved."
His words sent a ripple of surprise through the assembly; looks of astonishment appeared on the faces of the other Dharma Transmitters.
"To command such power... even an ordinary Longevity Immortal would be incapable of this, surely? Which one of our peers has stooped so low as to engage in such clandestine trickery?"
"Wait a moment... now that you mention it, I believe I recall something. Years ago, in the Xuanhuang Realm, there was a technique whose effects were remarkably similar to this."
"Hmm?"
...
Ignoring the others' reactions, Dharma Transmitter Jiang continued his analysis. "As you've all pointed out, a being of such power would not act without purpose. Unleashing these million phantasms..."
"...is likely just a diversion. A smokescreen to conceal their true objective."
"Their true objective?" Jiang's deduction resonated with most of the Dharma Transmitters, and they began to ponder its implications.
It was unclear what conclusions they reached, but subtle, knowing expressions appeared on the faces of several Dharma Transmitters.
Their eyes darted around, scanning the other figures in the assembly.
Dharma Transmitter Jiang's gaze never wavered. "There is no need for suspicion among us," he said.
"For someone of this caliber, there are only a handful of prizes worth coveting."
"Whether their plan is to fish in troubled waters or to seize their prize by force, the solution is the same. We simply need to deal with the problem at its source."
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