Chapter 1392: Cause is from those years

In this extra simulation, I didn't seem to possess the exotic treasure, Huanzhen. Otherwise, everything was identical to my personal experience.

Recalling the countless images that suddenly flashed through his mind, Li Fan's expression was grave.

When the Dao Annihilation Black Mist engulfed the falling Xuanhuang Realm, Li Fan, with nowhere to run, did not attempt to activate Huanzhen; he simply resigned himself to waiting for death.

"But in the simulation, I didn't feel anything unusual about Huanzhen's disappearance. It was as if the simulated me had never possessed this exotic treasure. The moment I initiated the extra simulation, a branch was created that excluded Huanzhen..."

"Interesting. Even Huanzhen's own simulation, if it's an additional one created when a primary simulation already exists, cannot simulate *itself* in a branch simulation?" A thought sparked in Li Fan's mind, and a sudden flash of insight made him feel as if he understood something.

However, this inspiration was like a candle flame in the dark, instantly swallowed by the boundless darkness around it. When Li Fan tried to recall it, he couldn't, no matter how hard he tried.

Realizing he might have missed a crucial secret about Huanzhen, Li Fan's expression faltered slightly, feeling a moment of wistfulness.

But he quickly recovered.

Li Fan believed that as his comprehension of the transformation of truth and falsehood continued to improve, and his synergy with Huanzhen increased, he would one day truly and completely unravel Huanzhen's secret.

Taking a deep breath, Li Fan composed himself and meticulously pondered the events of the branch simulation.

"The plan for Xuanhuang's sublimation was almost entirely within my expectations. There were no major oversights in the preparations, nor did any unexpected enemies appear."

"The only obstacle to Xuanhuang's ascension was that it consistently fell short of the final qualitative transformation by just a fraction. This is the starting point of the vast chasm between immortals and mortals."

"How exactly can this qualitative transformation be achieved?"

In an instant, countless solutions flashed through Li Fan's mind.

"The Immortal-Mortal Transformation characters? Or still using the Immortal Realm chess pieces? Alternatively, could I attempt to repair the Floating Star Sea Grand Formation, based on the surviving ancient immortal arrays?"

Each attempt involved infinite possibilities. Most existences related to "immortals" were entirely unknown, beyond Li Fan's current ability to deduce. Li Fan racked his brain until it ached, yet he couldn't choose the most suitable plan.

It seemed as if every method could work. And yet, it also seemed as if every method would fail.

"Could it be that I will still be unable to merge with the Dao and ascend to the immortal realm in this lifetime?"

"'If all else fails, I'll just try every method. I'm bound to find the right path to world ascension eventually.' Such a disheartened thought quietly emerged in Li Fan's mind.

Once this thought appeared, it was like a great river bursting its banks, collapsing completely. It utterly shattered Li Fan's psychological defenses.

His mind was like a storm-ravaged landscape, chaotic and ceaseless.

Li Fan stopped contemplating the conditions that could facilitate Xuanhuang's sublimation and ascension. Instead, he began to consider how to end this lifetime and the plans for starting the next.

The plan was well-conceived.

But for some reason, Li Fan remained uneasy.

Theoretically, everything in the simulation could be reproduced through subsequent simulations. For Li Fan, there was no true "loss" in the world.

Except for changes to Li Fan himself.

Each time Huanzhen initiated a simulation and returned to a predefined anchor point, everything in the world was reset.

Even Li Fan's physical strength and cultivation base were reset. He needed to rely on Huanzhen's cultivation inheritance function to return to his state from the previous simulation.

However, with each reset, there was always a variable that continued to advance.

That was Li Fan's spiritual will!

Specifically, this manifested on Huanzhen's panel as Li Fan's maximum psychological age and the default Huanzhen charging progress.

Yet, these two had not changed for a long time...

At this moment, Li Fan felt an unprecedented hesitation in his heart.

Time passed minute by minute, but Li Fan still couldn't make a final decision.

Only ten hours remained until he initiated Xuanhuang's ascension in the branch simulation of the Triple Fork Technique. With an inexplicable expression, Li Fan stepped out, arriving at the very beginning of everything.

Daxuan, the house where this mortal body had lived during its life.

Even though "Li Fan" had inexplicably disappeared, the study remained spotless, just as it had always been. Clearly, his "aunt" still harbored some hope for "Li Fan's" return.

Li Fan lay on the bed and closed his eyes.

It felt as if he had returned to the moment he first transmigrated.

Time seemed to halt. Then, like breaking ice, it quietly flowed.

A hundred reincarnations, all their myriad experiences, flashed through Li Fan's mind in an instant.

Li Fan attempted to use this method to find a way to break the deadlock.

Day turned into night, and Li Fan just lay quietly on the wooden bed.

As if he had fallen completely asleep.

Indeed, Li Fan could use repeated Huanzhen simulations, employing a process of elimination, to pinpoint the key to achieving the qualitative transformation, one element at a time.

This was also the safest approach.

Theoretically, there was no problem.

However, whenever Li Fan decided to do so, certain images inexplicably flashed through his mind.

Those were Mo Ruchen's persistence in investigating the high wall's flaw, even at the cost of his life; and in the illusion array, Heavenly Doctor's ultimate abandonment of comprehension of the high wall for the sake of the Heavenly Law Realm.

"Lost forever."

In the darkness, Li Fan's eyes suddenly opened.

He kept softly muttering these two words.

With Huanzhen's existence, there truly shouldn't be anything "lost forever" in the world for him. Unless that item's rank was even higher than Huanzhen's.

Clearly, a mere mortal-to-immortal transformation was nowhere near enough to achieve this.

"The true 'lost forever' exists within my heart."

"Huanzhen can influence everything in the world, but it alone cannot reverse my changes."

As if understanding something, Li Fan's eyes seemed to pierce through the darkness, gradually brightening.

"The loss of this unknown trait might not affect my entry into the True Immortal realm. But for the path after True Immortality, it might have profound implications!"

After prolonged contemplation, as a sliver of sunlight appeared over the land, expelling the darkness, Li Fan finally understood completely.

He understood where his inner apprehension had truly come from.

"Why is it like this?"

"Is it due to over-reliance on Huanzhen?"

"Or something else?"

"The path after True Immortality is far too distant for me. Moreover, from what I understand, the nameless True Immortal realm only requires completely mastering and refining a certain Great Dao. There seems to be no connection whatsoever..." Li Fan's brows furrowed, his heart filled with bewilderment.

"But it seems I have no better option than exhaustive trial and error."

Li Fan stepped outside, looking at the rising sun on the horizon.

While continuing to ponder, he stepped out of the Great Xuan small world.

He began pacing within the Xuanhuang Realm.

The surrounding scenery constantly shifted as if flickering. Li Fan imprinted everything around him into his mind.

He set off from the Eastern Sea of Clouds, heading west.

As his thoughts continued, the frequency of the surrounding scenery's changes seemed to accelerate.

Li Fan himself was in a meditative state akin to an epiphany and was not actively changing his external manifestations.

The reason he "moved" faster and faster,

Was precisely because of Li Fan's special relationship with the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao. It was as if he were its reborn parent, and its favorability was extremely high.

Therefore, without Li Fan needing to prompt it, the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, as if currying favor, actively helped Li Fan reduce the burden of travel.

Even though the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao didn't know why Li Fan was aimlessly roaming the world.

Perhaps it even mistakenly thought Li Fan was preparing for the final tasks before his sublimation and ascension.

Li Fan naturally noticed the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao's eager solicitousness.

But he paid it no mind.

Previously, when Great Heavenly Venerate Wuming traveled between heaven and earth to repair the various damages to the Xuanhuang Realm, the Xuanhuang Realm had also provided such convenience.

With a single step, the distance in heaven and earth actively changed, as if shrinking land into inches.

However, now that the anomalies in various places had been resolved, the Xuanhuang Realm hadn't acted proactively in a long time.

"What a sly entity!" Having seen the true nature of the Xuanhuang Realm in the branch simulation, Li Fan cursed silently in his heart.

"I possess supreme escape techniques, so why would I need your crude convenience?"

With a thought, the spectral wooden sword instantly unsheathed, guarding Li Fan's side.

He was about to fly away, to escape the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao's entanglement and use the remaining time to calmly ponder.

But Li Fan's movement suddenly stopped.

He looked at the spectral wooden sword beside him.

His mind recalled how the Xuanhuang Realm had manifested its conveniences.

A subtle expression gradually appeared on Li Fan's face.

"My supreme escape technique is a fusion of my understanding of the sword path's unstoppable momentum, the transformation of truth and falsehood. And..."

"...the teachings of Xuan Tianwang, from the soul memories of Ji Yuzhen, the Dharma King of the Profound Heaven Sect."

"The core of the Golden Lock Across the Sky Grand Formation, the Horizon's Edge Grand Formation!"

"The Horizon's Edge Grand Formation was something Xuan Tianwang obtained from the Immortal Realm..."

Li Fan swiftly recalled his past experiences.

Xuan Tianwang gently told Ji Yuzhen: "The Golden Lock Across the Sky spans the myriad heavens. Even if a target is at the far end of the distant starry sea, once locked, the chains can arrive instantly and capture it. I told you before that this effect is achieved because it incorporates the Horizon's Edge Grand Formation. This formation was originally inscribed on the Immortal Realm's Ascension Platform, and when I escaped, I brought the entire immortal array down..."

Xuan Tianwang's voice was like rolling thunder, piercing through eternities and dispersing the mists, illuminating Li Fan's mind.

"Wait! Could it be..."

A sharp glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes.

He waved his hand, dismissing the spectral wooden sword beside him.

He continued to slowly pace within the Xuanhuang Realm.

As expected, soon, the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, sensing Li Fan's actions, began its solicitous movements.

Li Fan exerted no effort himself; it moved on its own.

The surrounding scenery rapidly changed again.

Li Fan closed his eyes, sensing the changes occurring in the Xuanhuang land around him.

"This feeling..."

"It can't be wrong!"

"It's precisely Horizon's Edge!"

Li Fan's figure abruptly halted.

His excitement was uncontrollable.

Thoughts raced through his mind: "As part of the Floating Star Sea Grand Formation, the Golden Lock Across the Sky Grand Formation has been damaged."

"But this formation consumes a vast amount of energy every time it's used. The farsighted Xuan Tianwang had long ago replicated three copies, in case of unforeseen trouble."

"The Horizon's Edge Grand Formation isn't the key at all. The key is..."

A sharp gleam erupted in Li Fan's eyes as he intensely scanned the Xuanhuang land.

"Ascension Platform! Inscription! Complete!"

Li Fan's body trembled slightly with excitement because of this conjecture.

"The Ascension Platform must have been where the Immortal Realm received cultivators from the lower realms."

"Named 'Ascension to Immortality', it must contain other inscribed powers mixed in, besides the Horizon's Edge array."

"At that time, Xuan Tianwang was also fleeing for his life, and he had only just entered the Immortal Realm. He fundamentally did not have the conditions to quickly isolate the Horizon's Edge Grand Formation on its own."

"Therefore, it's highly probable that the three replicated inscriptions Xuan Tianwang left behind were the complete inscriptions from the Immortal Realm's Ascension Platform!"

"This, perhaps, is the key!"

Even without absolute certainty, Li Fan had undoubtedly found the most likely candidate to provide that final push.

With so many years of experience, Li Fan never dared to underestimate anything from the Immortal Realm.

"Now, the most crucial question is, where are the three sets of imprinted copies that Xuan Tianwang left behind back then?"

Li Fan had destroyed the Xuanhuang Realm more than once, and the items that remained at the end of the World-Ending Grand Formation did not include these inscriptions.

It seemed these inscriptions should not be within the Xuanhuang Realm.

If the Xuanhuang Realm hadn't actively shown solicitousness, leading to Li Fan's subtle perception,

Then Li Fan might have gone outside the Xuanhuang Realm, into the eyes of the Tiang Beasts, or even inside the remnants of the Great Wall beneath the high wall, to search for clues.

But now, the Xuanhuang Realm's inadvertent action had revealed a certain possibility to Li Fan.

"The Ascension Platform inscription might be within the Xuanhuang Realm itself!"

"Due to the influence of the inscription, the Xuanhuang land, imperceptibly, learned the Horizon's Edge array."

"Furthermore, as I speculated in the branch illusion, some of Xuanhuang Realm's innate characteristics from the Immortal Realm were also influenced by this Ascension Platform!"

Li Fan suppressed the urge to instantly dig three feet deep into the Xuanhuang Realm.

Calming his mind, he communicated with the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, seemingly intentionally yet unintentionally.

He brought up its unsolicited solicitousness.

The Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao seemed quite pleased with its actions.

It quickly fell into Li Fan's linguistic trap,

And revealed everything in full detail.

"Just as I suspected!"

"It was something it spontaneously learned, somehow!"

Li Fan reined in his impatience and continued to inquire about the details.

The Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, continually strengthened by Li Fan, had reached an unprecedented peak in its self-mastery.

Therefore, under Li Fan's guidance, it gradually discovered the source of its "mysterious knowledge."

Following the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao's hints, Li Fan flashed and arrived at his destination.

It seemed to be millions of miles beneath the Xuanhuang land.

Even the flowing earth veins were absent here; the surroundings were purely an accumulation of Xuanhuang power.

Li Fan looked at the somewhat familiar architectural style around him, resembling an ancient magical array.

A stone slab was embedded in the center of the array.