Li Fan had been trapped at the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm for several years now, unable to advance a single step further.
Even after cultivating both techniques to the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm, he still couldn't find a breakthrough opportunity.
Yet as he gazed upon the Deepsea Pearl now, he suddenly sensed that elusive chance to break through. He just needed to merge his own consciousness with that of the pearl’s, just like before.
Li Fan was well aware of how perilous this was; it was essentially no different from courting death.
The Miscellaneous Records of Cultivation contained many accounts of cultivators sensing their opportunities. While there were certain risks involved, opportunities always coexisted with danger. Why hadn't he sensed anything before, only for it to appear suddenly now?
Li Fan immediately understood: it was the Xuanhuang Heart Refinement Sutra. Perhaps operating the Xuanhuang Heart Refinement Sutra could help Li Fan resist the assimilation of the sea's will.
Having made his decision, Li Fan cupped the Deepsea Pearl with both hands, lowering it slightly toward his dantian.
He sat cross-legged, simultaneously operating both the Thousand Mechanisms Jade Cosmos Scripture and the Xuanhuang Heart Refinement Sutra.
Dividing his attention between two techniques felt unfamiliar at first. But since the Heart Refinement Sutra didn't involve spiritual qi circulation, focusing only on mental refinement, the two techniques didn't conflict.
After hundreds of attempts, Li Fan gradually mastered the method of operating both techniques simultaneously.
His consciousness grew hazy, as if he had transformed into a sea once more, watching the world go by around him.
Sunrises and moonsets, shifting constellations, drifting clouds and scattering rain. Such scenes were accelerated by thousands of times, flashing rapidly before Li Fan's eyes. A single thought seemed to span centuries.
An ancient, primordial, weathered presence gradually seeped into Li Fan's consciousness. He began growing accustomed to viewing the world from the sea's perspective. He started slowly forgetting that he was human.
Just then, a cool, refreshing energy emerged, like a mountain spring slowly washing away the mottled marks of time.
Li Fan gradually regained his awareness.
It actually works.
Confirming his hypothesis brought Li Fan neither joy nor sorrow. While the Xuanhuang Heart Refinement Sutra could reduce assimilation by the sea’s will to some extent, he was still far too insignificant compared to that immense consciousness. Some effects remained unavoidable.
The years consumed from his lifespan were still many times greater than during normal cultivation, and human emotions like joy and anger were greatly diluted.
Of course, there were benefits too—he could now mobilize a strand of the Deepsea Pearl's power.
His divine sense had been enhanced thousands of times. With the slightest effort, it easily covered the entire Tai'an Island.
His consciousness didn’t stop there, continuing to spread outward like ripples.
Island after island devoid of life appeared in Li Fan's mind.
Through his divine sense, he saw a previously extinct volcano beneath one particular island. It was stirring back to life under the influence of the disaster.
Not far from Liuli Island, he saw an enormous fish skeleton lying amidst numerous human remains. A massive Liuli Pearl at its midsection shimmered under sunlight.
He spotted several cultivators, whom he'd assumed long dead, still surviving in hidden corners throughout the Congyun Sea.
He witnessed countless secrets throughout the Congyun Sea that were normally concealed, only revealed during the sea’s demise.
Yet none of this concerned him anymore. All greed had vanished from his heart.
His divine sense rapidly retracted. Mobilizing the Deepsea Pearl, he began pulling the remaining water vapour from the air above the Congyun Sea, gathering it above Tai'an Island.
And so, the surviving humans on Tai’an Island witnessed dark clouds gradually forming in the sky.
Rumble!
As the rain began to fall, the people wept with joy. They embraced one another, rolling about in the downpour.
The heavy rain persisted for one hour.
After it ended, a faint wisp of clouds remained above Tai’an Island, yet to disperse completely.
This was Li Fan's doing. Every half a month, it would spontaneously draw moisture from the Deepsea Pearl to bring rainfall upon Tai’an Island, thereby ensuring the survival of the mortals on the island.
Having completed this task, Li Fan gazed quietly at the sky.
The reason he felt no avarice for the many hidden treasures and secrets within the Congyun Sea was not because he, Li Fan, had suddenly become transcendent or saintly.
It was because he had found something far more worthy of pursuit: an opportunity to make contact with the will of heaven and earth.
According to the Thousand Mechanisms Jade Cosmos Scripture, the most ideal way to practice the technique in theory was to sense and refine the energy mechanisms of heaven and earth.
These energy mechanisms, being the external manifestation of heaven and earth's will, were vast and immeasurable.
For an ordinary cultivator, coming into contact with them carried great risk. The slightest misstep could result in a rapid depletion of lifespan, just as it had for Li Fan before.
Losing one's sense of self and becoming a puppet of the Heavenly Dao was a highly likely outcome.
But Li Fan now possessed this once-in-a-millennium opportunity to interact with the will of heaven and earth while still retaining his own consciousness.
This was because he was no longer an ordinary Qi Refinement cultivator. A part of his consciousness had already merged with the Deepsea Pearl.
Attempting to comprehend heaven and earth as a cultivator might be a path to certain death. But attempting to comprehend heaven and earth as the sea itself might just offer a chance of survival.
A faint thrill of excitement stirred within Li Fan.
This was the true meaning of hearing the Dao in the morning and dying content at night!
He became the sea, quietly observing this world. He sensed the myriad currents of aura flowing through heaven and earth and felt its will.
One year, two years...
The passage of time had ceased to hold importance for Li Fan.
The more he gazed upon the sky, the more insights he gained.
One by one, his previous conceptions were overturned.
He had believed the killing mechanisms that once permeated heaven and earth throughout the Congyun Sea had gradually faded.
But now he realized the killing intent of heaven and earth had never diminished; it remained present even now.
The violent, murderous aura Li Fan had sensed before did not originate from the Heavenly Dao itself.
Heaven and earth would never allow its killing mechanisms to be detected by mortal cultivators.
It was not violent. It was not angry. It did not have such emotions.
It was pure will, pure law.
It was the impartial, treating the myriad creatures as straw dogs. [1]
It was destruction—and what concern was it of yours? [2]
Beneath the Heavenly Dao, all were ants.
Mortals, cultivators, the vast sea itself... In Its eyes, there was no difference.
Cultivators plundered the heavens and seized the earth; the Heavenly Dao naturally unleashed killing mechanisms.
Yet the Heavenly Dao did not act directly, for cultivators themselves were also a part of the Heavenly Dao.
Appropriate laws naturally evolved in response, corresponding to the killing mechanisms of heaven and earth.
Such as the law of the Exclusivity of Immortal Techniques, or the scene Li Fan now witnessed.
Above the Congyun Sea, a crimson, translucent figure gazed down with cold indifference.
In its hand, a small flame danced and flickered relentlessly, scorching and drying the Congyun Sea.
Sensing Li Fan’s gaze, the crimson figure turned its head.
Their eyes met.
In that instant, the waters within the Deepsea Pearl boiled violently.
Fortunately, it only glanced his way before withdrawing its attention.
Only then was Li Fan’s consciousness spared.
And because it had looked at him, Li Fan understood exactly what it was in that moment.
An Arbiter of heaven and earth’s soul: Flame!
1. 以万物为刍狗 (yǐ wànwù wéi chúgǒu) is a line from the Tao Te Ching. In ancient Chinese rituals, chúgǒu were figurines of dogs woven from straw. They were carefully crafted and treated with utmost respect and ceremony before the ritual. But once the ceremony was over, they were trampled on, burned, or thrown away without a second thought.
The line describes the utter impartiality and non-attachment of the Dao. The Dao does not love or hate anything. It does not favor or disfavor anything. It provides for all things equally, without emotional attachment, just as the straw dog is used for its purpose and then discarded without malice. ☜
2. 毁灭你，与你何干 (huǐmiè nǐ, yǔ nǐ hé gān) A quote from a famous Chinese internet novel (Zhu Xian). It means the destruction is so insignificant to the Dao that it doesn't even warrant an explanation or consideration of your perspective. ☜