Though the Derivation Jade currently appeared as a little girl, Li Fan would never truly mistake her for a child.
One had to remember that she had existed ever since Heavenly Venerable Dao Teacher re-established the Myriad Immortals Alliance from the ashes of the Wasteland Era. If his assumptions were correct, she had been working tirelessly for at least five or six thousand years. That was more than enough to earn Li Fan’s profound respect.
The little girl looked up at Li Fan and nodded. "Yes. Deriving techniques is very hard work."
Suddenly, her eyes widened. "You still have forty minutes of usable time left. Would you like to stay a while longer, or leave now?"
Li Fan naturally knew how to read the room.
"I shall wait until my time is fully up before departing. Sharing this space with you is an honor for me, Senior."
A look of immense satisfaction instantly appeared on the little girl's face.
"Excellent! Another forty minutes of rest!" she said, a hint of cheer in her voice.
For the remaining time, Li Fan didn't just stand there foolishly. Under the watchful, almost imperceptible gaze from the surroundings, he began to tentatively ask the Derivation Jade a few questions.
"Might I ask, are you a cultivator?"
"A long time ago, I was. But people need rest, you know? And they die. Later, the Heavenly Venerable merged me with the Derivation Jade," the little girl replied lazily, resting her head on the table, her expression one of utter nonchalance. "Now I can't die. I just get tired sometimes."
"How long have you been deriving techniques? Have you never rested?"
"How long? I don't remember. It's just been like this forever. I can't rest, not until all the techniques have been derived. Though I can get lazy now and then." A trace of helplessness crossed the girl's face. "I really wish I could finish early and go out to relax properly..."
Li Fan and the Derivation Jade conversed smoothly, questions and answers flowing easily between them. For some reason, the hidden presence never intervened to stop Li Fan's questions, which grew increasingly bold as time went on.
And so, Li Fan gained a preliminary, yet relatively detailed, understanding of the Myriad Immortals Alliance's foremost treasure.
Eventually, Li Fan's allotted time finally ran out.
"Alright, alright, time to say goodbye," the little girl waved, bidding Li Fan farewell.
"I hope to have the chance to see you again one day," Li Fan said, bowing respectfully.
Then, he felt the light around him abruptly dim.
After a moment in complete darkness, he opened his eyes to find himself back outside the black stele of the Enforcer Hall.
The black-robed cultivator who had led them there was still waiting.
Ximen Yue stood nearby, eyes closed in deep contemplation, as if studying his newly acquired technique.
Han Yi, however, was still nowhere to be seen. Apparently, he hadn't emerged yet.
Not wishing to disturb the other two, Li Fan stood quietly to the side.
He tried to recall everything he had just witnessed with the Derivation Jade, yet it all came back blank.
As expected... Li Fan understood.
Aside from the contents of the Arcana True Spirit Transformation, which were clearly and indelibly etched into his memory, everything else from the moment he left the waiting room to his reappearance outside the black stele was impossible to retrieve. That entire segment of memory involving the Derivation Jade was gone. He couldn't even recall how he had received the technique, nor what the Derivation Jade looked like.
The foremost treasure of the Myriad Immortals Alliance is indeed guarded extremely thoroughly.
This must be some kind of restriction directly imposed on cultivators, to prevent those with ill intentions from spying on the Derivation Jade.
No wonder, aside from knowing of the Derivation Jade's existence, no other information about it is known to the world.
However, these restrictions are useless against me.
Li Fan closed his eyes, concealing the emotions within them.
All memories were synchronized with my true self long ago.
Within the Tianxuan Mirror of Tianyu City, Li Fan's true self appeared as placid as an ancient well.
In reality, his mind was constantly replaying the scene of his first meeting with the little loli.
Forced labor for millennia. For efficiency, they even fused a cultivator with a Curio of heaven and earth, turning her into an undying, unsleeping laborer.
The Myriad Immortals Alliance is truly heinous and insane.
The Derivation Jade is far too pitiful. It is only right that I save her.
From his conversation with the little loli, Li Fan learned that the Derivation Jade was her congenital Curio.
However, after the Heavenly Venerable Dao Teacher discovered it, he used a secret art to transform her to maximize its utility.
Her physical body vanished, and her consciousness completely fused with the Derivation Jade.
She became a strange existence, both human and Curio.
From then on, she would neither age nor die. But she also could not sleep or cultivate, forced to ceaselessly derive techniques until there were no more techniques left to derive.
The Heavenly Venerable had promised her that the day the techniques were all derived would be the day she could finally rest.
The Derivation Jade naively believed that the "rest" in the Heavenly Venerable's words meant actual rest.
But in Li Fan's view, this "rest" was absolutely not a benevolent term.
For both public and private reasons, Li Fan felt that it was his duty to save the Derivation Jade.
For any other cultivator, stealing the Derivation Jade from the heart of the Myriad Immortals Alliance headquarters, which was under such heavy guard, would be an utterly impossible task.
But for Li Fan, it might not be impossible now that he possessed this information.
In fact, Li Fan had already formulated a preliminary plan.
The Derivation Jade was guarded by cultivators, and based on his deduction, these guards were at least at the Dao Unity realm.
Therefore, the first step of Li Fan's plan was to cultivate within the Myriad Immortals Alliance until he reached the Dao Unity realm. Then, he would become one of the Derivation Jade's guards.
Second step: During his frequent interactions with the Derivation Jade, he would foster a bond with her.
Third step: When the time was ripe, he would activate Return to Truth, returning to Anchor Year 1. Then, he would choose the third option: retain the simulated memories of one closely associated individual.
Fourth step: Repeat the actions of the previous life, returning to the Derivation Jade's side. Then, have her inherit the memories of the previous life.
These memories spanning decades or even centuries would naturally include the entire processes and results of the techniques the Derivation Jade had derived.
With these memories, the Derivation Jade would no longer need to laboriously derive these same techniques anew.
When needing to deliver results, she could simply present the techniques she already derived from her previous life.
Using this great gift, he would continue to deepen his bond with the Derivation Jade.
Fifth step: Activate Return to Truth again. Repeat the third and fourth steps.
Cycle after cycle of memories would undoubtedly push the intimacy between Li Fan and the Derivation Jade to its peak.
Then, Li Fan would make the Derivation Jade acknowledge him as her master.
Final step: Li Fan would activate Return to Truth, choosing to retain one of his own items.
He chooses the Derivation Jade.
And based on past experience, Curios of heaven and earth did not appear in duplicate. When something brought back by Return to Truth created a conflict, the weaker ceased to be, and the stronger remained.
With memories spanning who knew how many more lifetimes, Li Fan’s Derivation Jade would undoubtedly be far more powerful than the one in Anchor Year 1. Therefore, the final result would be the disappearance of the Myriad Immortals Alliance’s Derivation Jade and the preservation of Li Fan’s own.
This was the preliminary plan for Li Fan’s abduction of the Derivation Jade.
It had to be said, it was a deeply tempting idea. Although he would certainly encounter all manner of problems when executing his plan.
For instance, the first step of becoming a Dao Unity cultivator of the Myriad Immortals Alliance and getting close to the Derivation Jade was an almost impossibly distant goal for the current Li Fan.
Furthermore, Heavenly Venerable likely had countermeasures in place, making it impossible for the Derivation Jade to easily acknowledge another person as her master.
But in the face of cycle after simulation cycle, these were nothing. As long as there was a sliver of theoretical possibility, for Li Fan, it was an inevitability already set in stone.
The Derivation Jade was the foundation upon which the Myriad Immortals Alliance stood. And the Myriad Immortals Alliance was, in turn, the foundation of the Heavenly Venerable Dao Teacher’s path to attaining the Dao.
Although the Heavenly Venerable Dao Teacher now roamed free beyond the world, unconcerned with mortal affairs, the principle that the number of cultivators must not be too many, nor too few, indicated that the Alliance was, at the very least, an important tool for the Heavenly Venerable Dao Teacher to maintain a stable population of cultivators.
Li Fan was deeply curious: if the very roots of the Myriad Immortals Alliance were dug up, how would this elusive Heavenly Venerable Dao Teacher, whom one could only catch glimpses of, react?