"But to use me as the price for your path to eternal life... I refuse!
"I will not let you walk this road alone, Senior Sister!"
Li Fan's laughter rang out, shaking heaven and earth.
"Over these years, you have comprehended Multitude As One. Your junior brother may be slow, but I have not been idle.
"I have one move. Senior Sister, I ask for your instruction!"
From within the boundless, blazing radiance, his voice rang out, sharp enough to cut through metal and stone.
"Heaven and Earth...
"Share the Same Lifespan!"
Li Fan's body was utterly consumed within the erupting brilliance.
For the first time, Senior Sister Zhao's expression changed.
Gone was that look of total composure, of having everything perfectly in the palm of her hand. In its place was something caught between exasperation and amusement.
"No wonder your progress has been so slow these past years, Junior Brother. So this is what you were spending your time on—finding a way to restrain me.
"You and I both cultivate the Heaven and Earth Conjoining Ode. In truth, we have long been bound to one another. This move, Heaven and Earth Share the Same Lifespan, could indeed pose a threat to me.
"If only your cultivation level were a little higher."
The thousands upon thousands of Senior Sister Zhaos watched the myriad streams of light surging from Li Fan's form and, in unison, opened their arms, drawing the white radiance into their embrace.
"Junior Brother, stop resisting. Become one with me!"
Cracks began to appear on the faces of her countless bodies. But they swiftly healed on their own. The white light, meanwhile, grew dimmer and dimmer, slowly fading away.
When Li Fan's presence had completely vanished from the Great Dao Sect, everything fell still.
"Heh. Junior Brother Li Fan.
"Thank you. Truly. For playing such an excellent game with me.
"It has been many years since I last had such an interesting experience."
Senior Sister Zhao's gaze drifted upward, and she murmured to herself, her eyes fixed on the sky.
***
"Guiding Immortal Light! That's the Guiding Immortal Light!"
"Who is it? Has another cultivator from our Canhong Province been chosen by the Heavenly Venerable already?"
"Hahaha! Three disciples for the Immortal Sect in just one month! Our Canhong Province's prestige is about to soar!"
The clamor of voices seemed to come from far away as Li Fan jolted awake.
He looked around, bewildered, his surroundings both familiar and strange. After a moment, memories sealed away for what felt like an eternity came flooding back.
The Five Elders Council. The One Mind Immortal Sect. Canhong Province.
The Guiding Immortal Light.
He was still there, caught in the very moment the Guiding Immortal Light had shone upon him.
Then what had all of that been? Were the centuries he had lived through, every moment utterly real, nothing but an illusion?
Li Fan looked upward.
Through a rift in the sky, he could vaguely make out a sect nestled among rolling mountain ranges. It was one of the Ten Great Immortal Sects of antiquity: the Great Dao Sect.
As though to welcome its new member, the disciples within paused what they were doing and turned in unison to gaze in his direction.
Unlike the illusion, this Great Dao Sect was full of life. The disciples' expressions were no longer stiff and rigid but varied and natural, indistinguishable from real people. They spoke to one another in lively conversation.
It was nothing like the deathly stillness Li Fan had witnessed within the illusion.
As he ascended within the Guiding Immortal Light, his body grew stiff and numb, and he felt his own consciousness slowly dissipating.
So this was a wooden puppet all along.
The thought barely had time to settle before it scattered with the wind, leaving only a desiccated wooden husk drifting toward the Great Dao Sect.
The disciples within the Great Dao Sect reacted in varied ways at the sight.
Some flew into a towering rage. Some fell into deep thought. Some clapped their hands in approval. Some simply smiled.
From beginning to end, Li Fan could not tell who among them was the "One" at the heart of Multitude As One.
Then a beam of white light shot from the fissure and annihilated the puppet's husk entirely. It was unclear who had made the decision.
The Guiding Immortal Light was withdrawn. The fissure slowly closed, and the vista of the One Mind Immortal Sect vanished from the world. The Five Elders Council cultivators below, unaware of the truth, could only sigh.
***
Within the Congyun Sea, at the former site of Myriad Immortals Island, Li Fan's true self stood frozen in place.
He had been overseeing the reconstruction of Congyun Immortal City.
"Is something wrong, Island Master? I'll have them correct it immediately!" Gao Yuan said hurriedly.
A moment later, Li Fan waved his hand.
"It's nothing. You're doing excellent work, keep it up."
He continued the inspection with a normal expression. Only after another half day had passed did he return to his temporary quarters at the construction site.
After sealing the surroundings, Li Fan's expression turned solemn.
"Heh, Junior Brother. I am very much looking forward to meeting you properly."
Senior Sister Zhao's light laughter seemed to echo in his ears even now. Was it the final message transmitted by that wisp of divine sense, or had his true self heard it directly? For a moment, he couldn't tell.
Senior Sister Zhao... what an exquisite illusion.
Li Fan replayed the events he had experienced within the Great Dao Sect across that century. Though some details had already grown fuzzy, the vast majority felt as real as lived experience, indistinguishable from reality.
It had even planted a strange delusion within him—that he truly had once been Senior Sister Zhao's junior brother, a member of the ancient Great Dao Sect. This present life was simply a rebirth, a chance to cultivate anew, and after several decades, he had at last recovered what had always been his memories.
He had even briefly entertained the thought of "reuniting" with Senior Sister Zhao.
Had he possessed the memories of only one lifetime and not had Return to Truth, he might very well have done so.
A chill moved through him.
Even a single wisp of divine sense, immersed in an illusion woven by Senior Sister Zhao, could exert such influence on his true self. No wonder the Five Elders Council cultivators within the One Mind Immortal Sect were so fanatically devoted to her.
He circulated the Xuanhuang Heart Refinement Sutra, using the recurring impulse to "join Senior Sister Zhao" that surfaced in his heart as fuel to inversely refine his Dao Heart.
After three days and three nights, Li Fan finally managed to purge the influence brought by this journey to the One Mind Immortal Sect. At least, it appeared so on the surface.
Having extricated himself mentally, he began to analyze the gains from this venture.
His experiences in the Great Dao Sect were undoubtedly fabrications of Senior Sister Zhao's making. From beginning to end, Li Fan didn't even know her real name, and yet within the illusion, he had felt no sense of incongruity whatsoever.
But within the falsehood lay truth, and within the truth, falsehood was woven.
At the very least, Ji Changxi and Mo Zhiran, cultivators of the Great Dao Sect from within the illusion, had once truly existed. Techniques like the Heaven and Earth Conjoining Ode and the Soul-Severing Divine Reflection Technique might not be fabrications either.
It was a pity that, much like whenever he returned from the Fallen Immortal Realm, the finer details remained frustratingly blurred, impossible to recall clearly.
Then there were the myriad cataclysmic events he had witnessed in those visions through the eyes of a "junior brother."
So the Immortal-Mortal Miasma truly was the handiwork of a certain Heavenly Venerable, not a natural evolution of the world itself.
His thoughts turned to Yin Shangren of Yinyin Island.
Could it be that this man had discovered traces of this hidden Heavenly Venerable and been silenced for it?
Remembering Yin Shangren's inexplicable acts of suicide across previous lifetimes, Li Fan found the thought difficult to dismiss.