Through his curiosity, Li Fan soon discovered that aside from The Secret History of Ancient Cultivation , Senior Sister Zhao had also appeared in numerous other novels and tales.
Most of these were derivative stories from The Secret History of Ancient Cultivation .
The main narrative threads of these stories largely revolved around this very Senior Sister Zhao.
Many of the plotlines were rather... provocative. It was best not to delve into details.
Female protagonists were already rare in the Xuanhuang World. And a female lead like Senior Sister Zhao, who was peerlessly elegant, breathtakingly beautiful, immensely powerful, and of exalted status, was even more exceptional.
It was only natural that she had garnered a group of die-hard fans.
Beyond her character design, Senior Sister Zhao’s immense popularity was also tied to the fact that her character template was absurdly strong.
The win rate of the Discourse Practitioner modeled after her was staggeringly high.
In Seated Dao Discourse, one had to spend contribution points to participate in battles. However, the victor would have half of their contribution points refunded. Thus, aside from having deep pockets, selecting a powerful Discourse Practitioner template was crucial for those wishing to engage in multiple discourse battles.
Li Fan randomly selected a match featuring Senior Sister Zhao to observe.
The surrounding scenery, along with his own body, vanished. In an instant, Li Fan felt as though he had been transported into the cosmic void.
A female cultivator stood quietly in the distance, her Daoist robes unable to conceal her tall, curvaceous figure.
Her eyes were like deep pools of water, her skin as pale as fresh snow.
Her cold, stern face resembled an eternal, unmelting iceberg, exuding an aura that kept others at a distance.
Yet the subtle, unintentional hints of allure in her gaze stirred restless thoughts and tantalizing fantasies.
Soon after, her opponent appeared in the same space. It was a gaunt, withered-looking elder dressed in tattered robes.
Irreverent Daoist? I wonder what his origins are. Li Fan focused on the elder, and a stream of information instantly surfaced in his mind.
“Greetings!”
Both parties spoke in unison, and the battle commenced.
The discourse battle was merely a simulation within the Tianxuan Mirror. It couldn’t possibly replicate the profound resonance of the Great Dao present in every move of a real Dao Unity powerhouse, the kind that could grant sudden epiphanies to observers.
Yet within this boundless virtual space, the visual effects—flashes of light, destruction, tremors—were pushed to their absolute limit. Apart from the absence of actual aura, it was nearly indistinguishable from reality.
To ensure spectators weren’t left bewildered, the Tianxuan Mirror also provided helpful explanations of the combatants’ techniques.
Irreverent Daoist brandished a bamboo staff, striking the empty air.
In an instant, countless spatial fissures appeared around Senior Sister Zhao. Pitch-black divine lightning erupted from the cracks, converging to strike her.
Yet, the moment the thunderbolts approached Senior Sister Zhao, they immediately lost their aggressive nature, like the fiercest of tigers transforming into utterly docile kittens.
The lightning coiled around her, motionless and obedient, like concubines awaiting favor.
Senior Sister Zhao pointed a slender finger, and the black light moved in reverse, hurtling back toward Irreverent Daoist.
Irreverent Daoist snorted coldly, scratched his body, and opened his mouth to swallow the divine lightning.
Through the Tianxuan Mirror’s commentary, Li Fan understood what had just occurred.
Irreverent Daoist had attacked using Space-Annihilating Divine Lightning.
It was effortlessly neutralized by Senior Sister Zhao’s The Great Dao Is Mine Alone.
The Great Dao Is Mine Alone was a divine ability innate to the Heaven-Slaying Great Dao Scripture, a technique Senior Sister Zhao had cultivated to a large degree of mastery.
It formed a unique field around her body that assimilated all forms of enemy attacks, converting them into part of her own combat power.
The Great Dao Is Mine Alone... This ability is basically a cheat. How do you even fight against that? Li Fan couldn't help thinking this.
Sure enough, although this Irreverent Daoist from unknown origins possessed considerable strength, and every move and technique of his carried enough destructive power to tear space, he simply couldn't harm Senior Sister Zhao no matter what he tried.
Instead, each of his attacks was perfectly copied and reflected back.
Senior Sister Zhao stood firm as a mountain, while Irreverent Daoist grew weaker with each exchange.
Before long, Senior Sister Zhao seized an opening and effortlessly eliminated him with a single strike of Heaven-Slaying Sword Qi.
The surrounding scene vanished, and Li Fan returned to the Tianxuan Mirror.
Senior Sister Zhao's move, The Great Dao Is Mine Alone, is a bit too overpowered. However, when Jiang Zhengji explained the rules earlier, he mentioned something important.
The Tianxuan Mirror makes practical adjustments to character templates; combat power that exceeds reality won't be displayed in battles.
But Senior Sister Zhao was completely unaffected. Does that mean there really are techniques in reality with effects similar to The Great Dao Is Mine Alone?
Or perhaps... A strange expression flickered across Li Fan's face.
Great Dao Sect, Senior Sister Zhao.
Five Elders Council, Dao Comprehension Pill, Great Dao Sect's secret transmissions.
The first-person narrative of The Secret History of Ancient Cultivation .
And the many risqué spin-off tales circulating within the Myriad Immortals Alliance...
Li Fan's eyelids twitched several times as a vague suspicion began to form in his mind.
However, this matter involved higher-ups from both sides, real top-tier powerhouses.
After silently pondering for a while, Li Fan buried the thought deep in his mind. He then turned his attention to the task at hand.
Using Zhang Qianmo of the Purple Firmament Sect as a prototype, he began creating a Discourse Practitioner.
“Foundation Establishment cultivation.
"Purple Firmament Divine Lightning, uses a halberd as his weapon.
"Upon death, he is reborn through nirvana from the Purple Core within his body, gaining a dramatic surge in strength. After rebirth, he can easily slaughter early-stage Golden Core cultivators..."
Li Fan faithfully reproduced the combat data of Zhang Qianmo, whom he had fought several times.
At the same time, he gained a certain insight:
In Seated Dao Discourse, it was possible to create identical Discourse Practitioners. However, if one had only superficially read about a character in a book and had only a conceptual understanding of their techniques and strength without knowing their specific power level, the created Discourse Practitioner would inevitably fall far short of the character's true potential.
Conversely, the more one understood the original character, the closer the created Discourse Practitioner would be to their actual strength.
Having fought Zhang Qianmo to the death several times, Li Fan believed that the Discourse Practitioner created based on his description would be quite close to the real deal. At the very least, it would be largely consistent with the combat prowess Zhang Qianmo had displayed so far.
Next, Li Fan used himself as a blueprint and spent one thousand contribution points to create another character.
He then set the One Congyun Sword Strike and Heaven-Overturning Palm to his current maximum power under different move names.
The character creation was successful.
Thus, Li Fan initiated the first duel between these two Discourse Practitioners of his.
Unexpectedly, he received a prompt from the Tianxuan Mirror.
"After calculation, the probability of victory for Discourse Practitioner Fan Li is approximately zero.”
"Do you still wish to proceed with the duel?"
Li Fan's face darkened at the words, but he had no choice but to abandon the attempt.
After some thought, he posted an extremely arrogant message.
"Li Qianmo of the Azure Sky Sect stands unmatched within the Foundation Establishment realm, yearning for defeat in solitude! If you disagree, come and fight me!"
Within Seated Dao Discourse, Foundation Establishment Discourse Practitioners were relatively scarce. Li Fan could only post his challenge notice there, waiting for others to take him on.
Hopefully, someone will provide a method I can emulate to defeat Zhang Qianmo. Li Fan thought to himself as he temporarily withdrew from the Seated Dao Discourse sector.