Senior Sister Zhao's warning jolted Li Fan into action. He immediately attempted to circulate his cultivation technique, the Nine Revolutions Void-Piercing True Art.
The Nine Revolutions Void-Piercing True Art was the technique he had taken up after advancing to the Spirit Transformation realm. It could not match the Heaven-Slaying Great Dao Scripture in raw power, but it was still a profoundly formidable art, one that led directly to the Eternal Life realm and could rightfully be called a supreme method.
Each of its nine revolutions required piercing through the self to awaken a unique divine ability. In any ordinary sect, such a technique would be considered a treasure of the highest order, a foundational legacy passed down through generations.
As a rule, only elders and a select few core disciples were permitted to cultivate it. Li Fan had only been granted the exceptional opportunity to learn it because of the benefits that had flowed to him when Senior Sister Zhao was named Dao Heir.
But now, after circulating his qi according to the technique for several full cycles, his cultivation had not progressed by the slightest fraction. Worse, he began to vaguely sense the locations of fellow disciples who also cultivated the Nine Revolutions Void-Piercing True Art. And the more intently he focused on them, the more an uncontrollable killing intent surged up from within him.
"What in the world is happening?!" Li Fan was both shocked and frightened, his face draining to ash.
"The Exclusivity of Techniques." Senior Sister Zhao lifted her gaze to the sky, murmuring as if to herself. "The backlash of heaven and earth. I never imagined the calamity I foresaw would descend in this form."
The Exclusivity of Techniques.
The words alone made Li Fan's heart seize. His mind filled with visions of the bloody, unstoppable slaughter that was about to sweep through the cultivation world. In all his years on the path of cultivation, he had never felt such bone-deep terror.
And yet he was a Spirit Transformation cultivator now, a figure of no small renown in the external world. Alarmed as he was, he did not panic. He paced the room, brow furrowed, and forced himself to think.
Only the two of us cultivate the Heaven and Earth Conjoining Ode. Its effects have weakened significantly, but it hasn't become completely useless. Does that mean the more people who cultivate the same technique, the stronger the restrictive effect becomes?
This anomaly will devastate every major sect in the world, that much is almost certain. Those sects with tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of disciples... where would they possibly find enough unique techniques for all of them?
The Myriad Immortals Alliance won't fare any better. If anything, they'll suffer more than us. They're a newly established organization without the deep roots of the Ten Immortal Dao Sects. Their library of techniques is shallow. From what I've heard, the vast majority of their lower-ranking members all cultivate the same Heavenly Net Divine Technique.
A shadow moved through Li Fan's eyes. This is a calamity for all cultivators.
He turned to Senior Sister Zhao. After a moment's hesitation, he voiced the concern that had been pressing at him. "If techniques can no longer be shared, choices will have to be made. Senior Sister, the Heaven-Slaying Great Dao Scripture you cultivate... it conflicts with the sect leader's."
A trace of cold light surfaced on Senior Sister Zhao's face.
She was about to speak when a series of sharp, urgent bell chimes rang out from beyond the room.
"The sect leader is calling an emergency council to discuss how to face this calamity. I must go."
Her figure vanished. Only her faint words drifted back to him.
"Don't worry. I know my limits."
Li Fan stood gazing toward the sect's main hall on the mountain peak, his expression unreadable.
The Exclusivity of Techniques...
He withdrew alone into the secret room within his quarters and let his mind settle on the contents of the techniques he had recovered long ago from the ruins of the Xuantian Sect.
Beyond the Heaven and Earth Conjoining Ode, there were three others: Only I Remain Through the Ages, the Soul-Severing Divine Reflection Technique, and the Heaven's Lament, Earth's Anguish Scripture.
He and Senior Sister Zhao had studied these texts together in private. But the Xuantian Sect’s techniques were vastly different from modern methods, both in their cultivation mechanics and in the abilities they produced. And like the dual cultivation technique, they likely carried hidden imprints or restrictions whose nature remained unclear.
For those reasons, over the years, they had committed the texts to memory and destroyed the originals, never once attempting to practice them.
If I'm pushed into a corner, switching to one of these Xuantian Sect techniques may be the only path left. Each one is truly unique, without another practitioner in the world.
Li Fan was acutely aware of his standing within the Great Dao Sect. He could never compare to the core disciples. When sacrifices had to be made, he would be among the first chosen.
Fortunately, the new methodology allows for rapid cultivation. Even starting from scratch, I could climb back up quickly. Every action has its consequence; all things are predestined. Who would have thought that a chance discovery from my youth would prove so important so many years later? With these texts, even in a calamity of this magnitude, I can survive if I am careful.
A flicker passed through Li Fan's eyes as he immersed himself in the contents of the techniques.
The highest-level council of the Great Dao Sect did not run long. Sect Leader Ji Changxi issued his decrees swiftly, working to steady the sect.
He told the disciples not to panic, and announced that the Ten Immortal Dao Sects had already begun researching countermeasures. He ordered all Great Dao Sect disciples stationed outside to return at once, and declared that the sect protection array would soon be activated, sealing the mountain gates. The Medicine Hall was to redirect all efforts toward refining life-extending medicines as a precaution.
As the commands went out one after another, the panic in the disciples' hearts gradually began to ease.
The Ten Immortal Dao Sects had endured for millennia. Surely they would find a way through this.
Most disciples believed that, at least.
Three years passed beneath a weight of unrelenting tension. Despite every attempt, no one had found a way to counter the Exclusivity of Techniques.
What drifted in from the outside world instead were rumors: sects large and small going to war over techniques, countless of them annihilated in the fighting.
The one piece of good news was that the usually elusive Heavenly Venerable Dao Teacher had made a sudden appearance. He had forced his way into the Taishang Sect and seized the Dissolution Chapter from the Taishang Primordial True Scripture, making it available to cultivators everywhere. With this technique, those who had to abandon their current methods would not lose much of their cultivation in the transition.
"I actually feel somewhat grateful to the Dao Teacher," Li Fan remarked, operating the Soul-Severing Divine Reflection Technique. He could feel pure cultivation energy flooding his dantian and rapidly elevating his realm, and couldn't hold back a sigh.
"Grateful to him?" Senior Sister Zhao gave a cold snort. "If he hadn't created the new methodology in the first place, where would any of this heavenly backlash and calamity have come from? His intentions were sinister from the start. He deserves death.
"According to the sect leader, when he first began spreading the new methodology, the Ten Immortal Dao Sects investigated his origins. They found nothing unusual, and at the time, they were too proud to take him seriously. Other matters had their attention, so they let it go. By the time they came to their senses, the new methodology had already spread like wildfire. There was no containing it.
"How infuriating."
Senior Sister Zhao, who had converted to the new methodology herself, said nothing more. Only a flicker of killing intent showed in her eyes.