Chapter 1029: Passing the Calamity Extinction Power

With those mysterious figures leading the way, the two split souls no longer encountered any incidents of being torn apart. Their speed along the mountain path also increased severalfold, and the surrounding scenery quickly sped past them.

The only thing that puzzled Li Fan was that his initial appearance had been at the foot of the Du'e Sect's mountain. He hadn't ascended much at all, yet the path downhill was as long as the ascent, as if without end.

After an unknown period, the vision of both split souls blurred. The indistinct figures that had enveloped them vanished. As silence returned to their ears, they looked around. The scene around them was identical in both places: a small courtyard with white walls and a half-open red wooden door. The walls were mottled with green and red; the red spots looked like blood, while the green was moss growing from cracks in the wall.

Li Fan, observing the perfectly identical scenes in his main body's mind, wore a puzzled expression. “Two Du'e Sects? What's going on?”

Without pondering for too long, he directed the two split souls to push open the red wooden doors and enter the courtyards.

The red doors didn't creak from disrepair; instead, they opened silently, creating a sense of unreality. The moment they stepped into the courtyards, Li Fan felt a pair of hands violently grab his ankles at both locations. However, when he looked down, he saw nothing. Yet, the chilling sensation emanating from the depths of his soul was undeniably real.

“This time, I must demand a hefty sum from the Heavenly Profound Mirror. It had never mentioned how peculiar this Du'e Sect was.” This thought flashed through his mind, and the two split souls, ignoring the peculiar sensation beneath their feet, continued to explore deeper into the courtyards.

The doors to the central grand hall were tightly locked and could not be opened. Only stone doors to the left and right were visible, leading to unknown places. The scenario was identical for both split bodies.

“Interesting,” Li Fan murmured, his eyes glinting. He first tried attacking the central hall, but even when it was destroyed, it instantly restored itself.

Li Fan then had the two split souls enter the left and right stone doors respectively. The scene before his eyes flickered. When Li Fan clearly saw his surroundings, he was somewhat astonished. Beyond the stone doors was precisely the same scene as the previous courtyard: still with left and right stone doors side by side, and the central hall tightly locked!

“This…” The way back had vanished; there was nothing to do but continue forward.

After a moment of thought, Li Fan made a decision. After a brief ripple, the two split souls each divided into two more individuals.

Now four split souls, they each entered different stone doors. The scene continued to change. As expected, what met their eyes was still the same scenery as before.

Frowning, Li Fan continued to divide his soul. Eight split souls slowly drifted into the stone doors. Then sixteen, thirty-two, sixty-four, a hundred and twenty-eight…

Ultimately, Li Fan's exploration of the Du'e Sect was carried out by only a single split soul. After dividing into one thousand and twenty-four individuals, it finally lacked the strength to split further. Gazing at the doors to the left and right of the split souls, Li Fan knew his initial exploration had failed.

“Did I go in the wrong direction and fall into a trap? Or is it… the Du'e Sect's trial?”

Li Fan pondered for a moment, then severed nearly a third of his soul. Even with the replenishment from the Boundless Emptiness Art, Li Fan felt a wave of dizziness. Unlike the simple split souls before, this third of his soul also carried a large amount of extracted Five Elements power, enough to support multiple further divisions of this soul.

“Go,” he commanded, watching the soul vanish into the void. As Li Fan quickly recovered from his injury, he continued to monitor the scenes transmitted by the soul.

Just like before, the soul quickly entered the Du'e Sect. It was once again torn apart by mysterious figures, entering different courtyards, some appearing higher and some lower.

To Li Fan's surprise, he did not find the split souls that had entered previously. It seemed they had entered separate spaces.

A thought struck Li Fan, and he instructed the original one thousand and twenty-four split souls to self-destruct simultaneously. While the sensory images vanished, the soul deeper within the Du'e Sect felt no change. “Is perception being isolated?” he wondered. “Truly worthy of being one of the Ten Great Ancient Immortal Sects.”

Not yet possessing the realm to disregard the arrangements here, Li Fan could only explore according to their rules. This time, with the support of continuously regenerating soul power, Li Fan pressed onward. Each time he entered a courtyard, he split into two individuals to explore different paths. This process continued for a total of seventy-two times.

Outside the Du'e Sect, the Dao Transformation Stone in Li Fan's Sea of Consciousness emitted an unprecedentedly brilliant light. Countless identical scenes were arrayed within the Dao Transformation Stone. “Fortunately, these extremely similar scenes reduced the processing burden. Otherwise…” Li Fan knew this was his limit.

He could still endure one more division of his soul. However, his main body would then be forced to cut off all sensory images; otherwise, there was a risk of his Sea of Consciousness exploding. The current split souls were merely extremely faint wisps, barely visible. Without power attached, even a single blow from a mortal could likely dissipate them. Yet, they still slowly drifted towards their respective entrances, following Li Fan's main body's instructions.

More scenes suddenly emerged simultaneously, causing Li Fan's thoughts to fall into a brief stillness. Then… it was as if all the countless split souls, like converging projections, ultimately gathered into a single point.

After a bout of dizziness and disorientation, they merged back together. It took some time to adapt to the singular vision.

Li Fan squinted, surveying his surroundings. It was still the familiar courtyard he had seen countless times. However, there were no longer stone doors on the left and right walls. Li Fan looked at the central hall, deep in thought.

He slowly walked forward and gently pushed open the door. In the darkness, a black dot seemed to appear, absorbing all surrounding light, then erupting with light at a thousand times the speed.

A rapid succession of scenes played out before Li Fan.

“Calamity is approaching; it is a great tribulation, yet also an opportunity.”“If we can successfully overcome this calamity, we shall endure eternally through countless tribulations…”“Indeed, within infinite possibilities, there exists that sliver of a chance.”“Only by seeking life in death.”“Precisely. If Xuanhuang can survive the great calamity, we can also use its power to achieve transcendence.”“Then, let us begin.”

In the darkness, numerous identical figures seemed to be conversing rapidly. As the scenes continued to unfold, Li Fan was astonished to realize that all these figures had transformed into the appearance he had seen before: the countless paper figures filling the heavens and earth!

Li Fan's mind trembled, wanting to see more. However, the surrounding dark space suddenly shook violently. All the illusory scenes vanished. When Li Fan could see things again…