Chapter 1444: Dao Network Refining Furnace

To embody all the Great Daos of the heavens as one's physical form.

Even Li Fan found it incredibly difficult to imagine how powerful such a state could be. In the current era, those known as Nameless True Immortals merely achieve enlightenment through one of the countless Great Daos between heaven and earth. If the realm Li Fan hypothesized truly existed, then a Nameless True Immortal would be as different from it as an ant is from an embodiment.

"For someone who proves their Dao through force, traversing possibilities would be as easy as stepping over a stream..."

As Li Fan pondered this, a scene suddenly flashed in his mind: the Black Heavenly Physician from his previous life, abruptly arriving from beyond the heavens, breaking through several high walls and suddenly descending.

"The Black Heavenly Physician and Xie Subai might be at this level."

"However, they probably didn't achieve it through physical sainthood. Instead, they constantly hunted down versions of themselves from other possibilities, pushing a single Dao to its limits to enhance their own being."

"Making a single Dao comparable to the sum of all other Great Daos. This is fundamentally the same as all methods converging into one physical body, though the paths differ."

"It's just hard to imagine how many versions of themselves they must have slaughtered..."

Li Fan paused slightly, a faint chill creeping into his heart.

However, this thought quickly passed, receding deep into his mind. His attention returned to the Great Dao Incarnation Technique. While Li Fan's deductions and conjectures were correct, they only represented an ideal state purely in theory.

"If one wishes to cultivate this method to perfection, one must first continuously elevate their Spirit Transformation of the Mind until they can simultaneously reflect all Great Daos between heaven and earth. This step alone is almost impossible."

"If one could truly reach such a realm, they would already be invincible in the mortal world. Why would they still pursue physical sainthood?"

"It's still the same saying: taking the long way around."

As the realm in his deductions was still too distant, Li Fan inevitably had many doubts in his heart. But just like the Spirit Transformation of the Mind, the body-tempering method of the Great Dao Incarnation Technique provided a tangible improvement to Li Fan's current strength. Therefore, Li Fan would not abandon it. If problems arose later, he would deal with them then. After all, he had the advantage of being able to start over at any time.

"Reflecting the Great Dao with the mind is called Spirit Transformation of the Mind. Wouldn't the body containing the Great Dao be a kind of Physical Nascent Soul in some sense?"

"It seems my new-new method not only requires reverse cultivation but also simultaneous cultivation of various different realms."

"Perhaps only when all realms are perfectly complete simultaneously can one truly glimpse 'Founding the Dao with Myself!'"

Li Fan secretly shook his head.

He was certain that none of those who contributed to perfecting the new-new method—be it Venerable Yin, the Saint Emperor, or Subai—had ever imagined such a cultivation method for it. The reason for Li Fan's peculiar situation was solely because he possessed the True-Returning Treasure, which held an infinitely high status.

"The True-Returning Treasure transcends the Great Daos of heaven and earth. To use a common saying, it's 'beyond the three realms and outside the five elements'."

"Therefore, the difficulty of my Foundation Establishment is even greater than Resonating with the Dao. That's why I must do the opposite. As for others..."

The difference between Li Fan and others in the Shuoxing Sea simultaneously cultivating the Great Dao Incarnation Technique could, to some extent, explain why.

As countless thoughts swirled in his mind, Li Fan's body slowly transferred the familiarity forged through continuous tempering within his own miniature Dao Net into the Shuoxing Sea Dao Net. He felt completely at home, like a fish in water or a bird soaring in the sky. Li Fan even faintly felt as if he had returned to his incredibly familiar Xuanhuang Realm.

"Wonderful. Truly wonderful."

Moreover, this familiarity allowed Li Fan to disguise himself as he pleased, preventing him from revealing his true body-refinement progress.

"What I'm using is purely a dead-end, clumsy method. If I were to reference the Creation Furnace Technique again..."

In his spiritual sense, the Creation Technique transmitted by his true form appeared word by word. Li Fan took a deep breath, and his entire body's vital energy and blood instantly surged, as if boiling. His body seemed to transform into a gigantic furnace, reaching to the heavens and standing firm on the earth, melting down his essence and flesh. With a slight thought, this furnace seemed to settle upon the illusory Great Dao Net.

One of the Dao strings suddenly flashed with a blinding white light. Then the Dao Net vibrated, and the power of the Dao string transformed into a massive hammer, smashing down onto the huge furnace. The furnace roared and thundered incessantly. Faint indentations were left on its surface from the impact, but inside, with the aid of this immense force, the process of refining flesh and blood rapidly accelerated several times over.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The clamor on the Dao Net never ceased, and the intervals between the sounds shortened at an extremely slow pace. In reality, a faint flush visibly appeared on Li Fan's face. It was as if he had suffered severe injuries. This flush then quickly turned bluish, then pale white, and subsequently blood red. This cycle repeated continuously, even strangely.

"The Great Dao Incarnation Technique and the Creation Furnace Technique. These two can be said to complement each other."

"The Creation Furnace uses one's own body as a furnace to unlock all hidden treasures and potential within the human body. Step by step, each refinement makes one's strength a little greater. Its drawback is its slowness."

"The Great Dao Incarnation Technique, on the other hand, utilizes the Great Daos of the heavens to temper and perfect oneself. With all Daos returning to one's own body, the physical form can achieve sainthood. Its drawbacks are its difficulty and extreme danger."

"When these two are combined, using the immense power of the Great Dao to strike the Creation Furnace, the efficiency is more than a hundred times greater than my previous method of simply shattering and replenishing flesh and blood!"

Li Fan observed the faint indentations appearing on the surface of the Creation Furnace in his mind. These were precisely the marks left by the Great Dao. Previously, his flesh and blood needed to be shattered and reassembled hundreds of thousands of times under immense pressure to leave similar marks. Now, under the activation of the Creation Technique, it happened in mere instants.

The Dao Net roared, and myriad Dao marks appeared on the Creation Furnace. With every breath Li Fan took, the physical strength of his body continuously grew stronger at a rate of thousands of times. Moreover, from beginning to end, Li Fan felt no hunger. It seemed as if the human body truly possessed an inexhaustible source of power for replenishment.

Li Fan was immersed in the rapid surge of his physical strength, almost unable to extricate himself.

Until Nangong Hongzhao came to visit him.

"Brother Ma, how is your cultivation progressing?"

"I've just begun. This technique is indeed extraordinary, but it's truly difficult to cultivate," Li Fan said weakly, his face pale, as he lightly coughed.

Nangong Hongzhao saw that Li Fan's vital energy and blood were unstable, as if he had just been hit by an immense force and suffered a serious injury. He quickly said with concern, "There's no need to rush. The Profound Coffin case is still under investigation. Our holiday won't end until a definitive conclusion is reached."

"Oh? So much time has passed, and even with the Immortal Hunters' abilities, no definitive conclusion has been reached?" Li Fan was somewhat surprised.

Nangong Hongzhao lowered his voice and sneered, "If we exerted our full strength, there would naturally be no problem. However, someone is interfering. Before the investigation even began, all of Yan Xuantai's records in the Dao Net had been inexplicably erased. Only someone with the ability to do that..."

Nangong Hongzhao suddenly fell silent for a moment.

Then he whispered, "What's even stranger is the World-Crossing Profound Coffin. Analyzing the records left during our capture attempt, it's said that the profound coffin at the scene of the incident was indeed the one previously planned by the Immortal Hunters to be used as immortal bait."

"The problem arose during the process of forging the immortal bait."

"It was supposed to be just bait, but it truly became a tool for crossing worlds. The most crucial point is, the one responsible for forging this coffin..."

Li Fan's gaze flickered. Seeing Nangong Hongzhao suddenly stop speaking, he pressed, "What happened?"

"They died."

"Huh?" Li Fan immediately showed a startled expression.

"They didn't die recently. After forging the nine bait profound coffins, that person no longer existed in this world. These nine profound coffins had helped the Immortal Hunters split immortals dozens of times without ever encountering an accident. That's why I was so confident back then..."

"Furthermore, the profound coffin we used this time had also been used as bait several times before, but it never led to a true world-crossing escape..."

Listening, Li Fan rubbed his forehead: "The more I hear, the more convoluted this matter seems. Besides the profound coffin's forger, it probably also involves high-level forces within the Council of Governance. After all, being able to modify Dao Net information..."

Li Fan slightly shook his head: "No wonder it took so long, and they still haven't found a general idea."

"However... I do have an idea."

Nangong Hongzhao paused, then said, "It's just the two of us here, Brother Ma. Feel free to speak your mind."

"Why don't we simplify things and focus on the core of the incident? The World-Crossing Profound Coffin is for escaping to other possibilities to avoid disaster. Yan Xuantai has resided in our Shuoxing Sea for many years; why would he suddenly expend so much effort and take such a great risk to escape?"

"Yan Xuantai belongs to the Sacred Merchants. The Sacred Merchants mysteriously disappeared back then, and I once heard that before their disappearance, they had recovered many exotic treasures that were previously scattered. Did Yan Xuantai learn something from the Sacred Merchants back then? Was his recent escape an act of last resort?"

"Are you saying..." Nangong Hongzhao stared intently at Li Fan.

"Precisely. I suspect that a great catastrophe will soon befall Shuoxing Sea..." Li Fan whispered.

"Brother Ma, do not speak recklessly!" Before he could finish, Nangong Hongzhao sternly interrupted him.

However, Li Fan's reasoning was not without merit.

The more Nangong Hongzhao thought about it, the more it seemed like the truth hidden behind all the complexity. As if something else had occurred to him, Nangong Hongzhao's expression changed several times within a few breaths.

"Brother Ma, what you've said is fine for us, but never speak of it outside. Otherwise, if something happens, I won't be able to help you." After giving this instruction, Nangong Hongzhao hurried away.

Before leaving, he also left a scroll containing the Nangong family's accumulated experience and insights into cultivating the Great Dao Incarnation Technique across generations. However, it only covered the initial stages of how to comprehend the Great Dao and reflect it upon oneself. It seemed Nangong Hongzhao intended to use this as bait to continuously gain favor with "Ma Tiande." Li Fan merely glanced at it before setting the insights aside.

"A profound coffin escaped, and there's an insider in Shuoxing Sea? Interesting."

From all the information currently known, the true ruling power in Shuoxing Sea should be those True Immortals who have taken on mortal forms. As for the mortals in the forefront, they were merely puppets controlled by them.

"However, for True Immortals to be willing to let mortals serve as their front, it indicates that mortals must possess something they fear..."

Li Fan suddenly thought of the invisible giant hand behind the Dao Net, as well as the four Nameless True Immortals who were used as living piles.

"The struggle between the transformed immortals, the former immortals, and the group who are still True Immortals."

"Yet now, a defector has suddenly appeared on this battlefield."

"The escapee did not flee to either of the existing factions, but to other worlds beyond possibility."

According to Nangong Hongzhao, the immortals who survived the Calamity of Dao Annihilation were greatly fearful of that past catastrophe. The strongest among them had long since fled. Li Fan believed that this fear must still exist in the hearts of the remaining people, or immortals. It was just that for tens of thousands of years, they had been misled by the illusion of false prosperity created by the Dao Net. It seemed as if they could truly resist the Calamity of Dao Annihilation with the so-called Dao Net. However, the Sacred Merchants, and even Yan Xuantai's reckless escape this time, might suddenly awaken them from their dream.

"Interesting."

"There are never eternal enemies in the world. Perhaps Shuoxing Sea and those True Immortals might genuinely cooperate again."

"After all, among the nine profound coffins, one was able to cross worlds and escape. Who's to say the others couldn't do the same?"

Another month later.

The new Immortal Hunters' holiday finally ended. Li Fan and the others were summoned again. The one addressing them was the muscular man who had carried the giant pillar before. This man reprimanded the new Immortal Hunters, stating that regardless of the reason, such a major error in their first mission indicated incompetence. Therefore, everyone now had to "make amends for their mistakes by performing meritorious deeds."

They were to hunt immortals again!

"I will join you in this true immortal hunt."

"Our target is an old adversary of the Immortal Hunters. He has narrowly escaped us several times before. But this time..."

"Hmph." The muscular man sneered, a flicker of killing intent in his eyes.

"Senior Qian, may I ask who our target is this time..." Daoyuan was still the first to speak. Daoyuan clearly already knew the muscular man, calling him by his surname even before he introduced himself.

"This immortal's Dao method can sever all connections with the outside world. They are extremely difficult to find and track. Even when traversing and roaming within the Dao Net, they leave no trace. We do not know their true background, so we simply refer to them as 'The Nameless One'."

"This immortal, relying on the unique nature of their Dao, frequently infiltrates our Shuoxing Sea. Several of our Immortal Hunter operations have been disrupted by them. Therefore, this time, we are determined to apprehend this immortal!" the muscular man said in a deep, grave tone.

"Such a daunting task, entrusted to us?" Daoyuan was somewhat taken aback upon hearing this.

It wasn't just Daoyuan; the other new Immortal Hunters also reacted similarly.

"Don't worry," the muscular man said with extreme confidence, "precisely because you are newly recruited and unknown to this immortal, you have a greater chance of success. You only need to follow my orders and cooperate by issuing Dao Net commands. That Nameless Immortal will surely be like a turtle in a jar!"

Li Fan nodded along with the others. His gaze casually drifted to Nangong Hongzhao, noticing that he seemed somewhat distracted.

However, Li Fan was more concerned about the target of this immortal hunt.

"Sever all connections with the outside world?"

For some reason, a wild laugh suddenly echoed in Li Fan's ears.

"What does it have to do with me! What does it have to do with me!"