Anchor Year 1, Great Xuan, atop Jieli Mountain.
Li Fan, twenty years old, stood alone on the mountain peak, hands clasped behind his back, gazing at the sea of clouds in the distance.
The morning sun rose slowly from the east, releasing a myriad rays of light that dyed the clouds a deep crimson.
On Li Fan's youthful face, a trace of vicissitude flickered in his eyes.
The passage of three thousand years has not left me entirely unaffected, it seems.
Li Fan let out a soft sigh.
The moment Return to Truth activated and brought him back to the peak of Jieli Mountain, the accumulated experiences of his time embodied within the object came crashing over him like a tidal wave.
It was a span of time longer than the hundred-plus lifetimes he had experienced in human form since his transmigration, all combined.
His memories from that period were neither as detailed nor as vivid as those formed in human form, and the vast majority of those three thousand years had passed in solitary silence, lying upon the ruined earth as an inert object.
Yet receiving them all at once, the full weight of his time as an Array Breaker Jade Disc, still confronted Li Fan with the erosive power of time that wore down all things without exception.
Fortunately, after roughly a day, he had fully dispelled its effects.
Simultaneously, he had sorted through the history of the Xuanhuang World over the three thousand years following his “demise.”
Some things, like the struggle between the Xuan Net and the cultivators, were predictable before he had even activated the Embodiment function.
But the Xuanhuang World being destroyed within a mere few thousand years was something Li Fan had not anticipated.
What exactly happened after the members of the Heaven-Toppling Society obtained the blueprints for the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array?
Logically speaking, no matter how fiercely the two sides fought, one side should have ultimately achieved a pyrrhic victory. How did it end up in mutual annihilation?
Thinking of this, Li Fan couldn't help but feel a twinge of helplessness.
At the most critical moment, that kid Han Wuyou had pulled the plug, cutting the power and costing him several centuries' worth of information.
Still, I can't blame him.
The final battle between the Heaven-Toppling Society and the Xuan Net was imminent.
The Array Breaker Jade Disc, delivered by someone claiming to be an old acquaintance, is undeniably dubious. Furthermore, it even knew of an absolute secret like the Soul-Locking Array blueprints...
It is indeed something that should be guarded against.
By then, he had already become a Spirit Transformation cultivator, no longer that simple, naive youth. The final battle concerned the life and death of the many cultivators within the Heaven-Toppling Society.
Choosing to seal me away was within reason.
I won't hold it against you. Consider it a favor for the Furnace of Myriad Forms.
Li Fan smiled faintly, reaching out to draw a black-feathered, red-tailed bird from a tree on the mountain peak into his hand.
Spiritual qi circulated through its entire body as he closed his eyes in deep concentration.
A good while later, Li Fan's eyes snapped open.
He released the bird and took a deep breath. A golden light instantly enveloped his entire form.
Within the glow, Li Fan's body began to shrink.
In moments, a bird that looked identical to the previous one appeared atop Jieli Mountain. And not a single trace of a cultivator's aura leaked out.
Even the black-feathered, red-tailed bird mistook Li Fan for one of its own, curiously flying closer to investigate.
That kid Han Wuyou truly possesses extraordinary talent. To comprehend such an art from the Heavenly Physician’s Immortal Scripture on his own while only at the Golden Core realm...
Li Fan marveled, reverting to his original appearance and startling the black-feathered, red-tailed bird into flight.
After embodying an object and undergoing constant refinement by Han Wuyou, a mystical connection had been forged between the two.
It allowed Li Fan, with only a wisp of his true spirit remaining, to observe and experience the world through Han Wuyou's eyes.
Therefore, after Han Wuyou comprehended and began cultivating the Furnace of Myriad Forms, Li Fan, who was also deeply familiar with the Heavenly Physician’s Immortal Scripture , simultaneously mastered this strange art as well.
Unfortunately, as he grew older and his cultivation advanced, his personality changed. This was especially so after the tragic deaths of Xiao Heng and the others. He even grew wary of the Array Breaker Jade Disc he had carried around since childhood.
I was unable to synchronously perceive the subsequent Spirit Transformation version of the technique. Though even if I had known, it likely would have been useless. After all, that Calamity Survival Art is, in all probability, still under the control of the Myriad Immortals Alliance.
Li Fan shook his head, redirecting his thoughts back to the historical trajectory of the Xuanhuang World in his past life.
Up until Anchor Year 711, when I was sealed away, all that transpired, however varied it may have seemed, can in truth be divided into two broad categories.
The first category consists of events destined to happen in the Xuanhuang World according to the established course of history.
For example, in Anchor Year 51, Immortal Venerable Lan Yu failed in his attempt to achieve eternal life...
Recalling the world-shaking cry of "Who is it?!" before Lan Yu vanished completely, Li Fan couldn't help but frown slightly.
Another example: over the centuries, Oddities in the Xuanhuang World grew increasingly rampant. To the point where, later on, they could be used for the large-scale production of Heaven-Rending Arrows.
It's just unknown whether the ultimate destruction of the Xuanhuang World was connected to these Oddities.
Right, and that squad of Myriad Immortal Alliance cultivators who emerged from the Lifespan-Devouring White Mist, dead yet still walking...
Hmm?
Li Fan suddenly paused, a slight jolt running through him.
Lan Yu's failure to attain the Dao... and the cultivators in the White Mist who were dead yet unaware... Could it be...
A sharp glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes.
In the twelfth simulation cycle, from that black-robed Dao Unity cultivator’s words, Immortal Venerable Lan Yu had laid down the Lifespan-Devouring Rebirth Array, attempting to defy the principles of life and death to achieve eternal life.
Judging by the later outcome, he ultimately failed.
And that cry of “Who is it?” has two possible explanations.
One, Lan Yu's process of defying the principles of heaven and earth was sabotaged by someone.
The other is... that this principle of life and death had already been defied by someone.
Li Fan narrowed his eyes.
The path to attaining this Dao had already been occupied, and he, Lan Yu, had been completely unaware of it beforehand. That's why he was so filled with resentment.
There are only a few Eternal Heavenly Venerables in this world. As an old-school Dao Unity powerhouse, Lan Yu shouldn't have been ignorant of how they attained their Dao.
If that's the case, does it mean there exists a powerhouse in this world who concealed his actions from everyone and silently ascended to become an Eternal Heavenly Venerable?
Even Li Fan found this speculation somewhat unbelievable.
He then felt a pang of emotion. To activate the Lifespan-Devouring Rebirth Array, Lan Yu did not hesitate to use the lives of all the cultivators in Yuandao Province as sacrificial offerings.
Yet, he himself could not escape the fate of being toyed with by a supreme powerhouse.
Eternal Heavenly Venerables... the thoughts and motives of beings at such a level are truly difficult to fathom, impossible to guess.
In the previous life, the battle between the Xuan Net and the cultivators was exceedingly brutal, yet these Eternal Heavenly Venerables seemed to have collectively vanished, not appearing from beginning to end.
Even when the cultivators were nearly extinct, they remained unmoved.
Li Fan had his own theories about why that might be. The key, he suspected, lay in the towering golden obelisks erected across the Xuanhuang World after the Xuan Net established its rule.
These obelisks had fired beams of light into the sky four separate times.
Li Fan guessed that the Celestial Alliance might be trying to use the thrust generated by the golden obelisks to wrench the entire Xuanhuang World free from the influence of the Immortal Ruins.