Chapter 1524: Burning Dao Furnace and Burning Dao

Baili Shan quickly forgot about the treasure bearer, his attention completely absorbed by the thin tablet in his hand. Though common sense told him this mysterious object could not possibly be the true *Taishang Daojing*, Baili Shan found his gaze inexplicably fixed upon it.

After studying it for most of the day, he still couldn't find anything unusual about the tablet. With a wry smile, he temporarily gave up, dismissing it as his own baseless delusion.

Three days later.

Baili Shan returned from his master's place, his mind still replaying his master's teachings, when, almost unconsciously, he took out the thin tablet named *Taishang Daojing* to fiddle with it.

"The third level of the Evergreen Scripture says, 'Heaven has four seasons; follow them for eternal green, defy them for eternal life.' What does that even mean? Isn't eternal green the same as eternal life...?"

As he pondered these questions, a mysterious green light quietly emanated from the tablet in his hand, engulfing Baili Shan's thoughts.

When Baili Shan regained consciousness, he found himself in a vast, boundless starry sky. Faintly, he could discern the indistinct silhouettes of continuous mountains and seas standing against the celestial backdrop.

Above him, countless mysterious characters floated, shimmering brilliantly like stars, as if the Grand Dao itself had descended, revealing its true form!

Baili Shan's mind instantly roared, his thoughts plunging into a momentary blank.

"The... *Taishang Daojing*? It's real?" As he stood dumbfounded, a streak of light shot down from the myriad stars above, entering his body.

"Green is the order of heaven and earth. Eternal life transcends heaven and earth. Heaven and earth have an end, but eternal life is boundless..." An authoritative and sacred voice simultaneously resonated in Baili Shan's mind.

It echoed long and ceaselessly.

In an instant, Baili Shan felt enlightened and overjoyed. "So that's it!" he exclaimed.

As the *Taishang Daojing*'s first user finally established a connection with Li Fan, its creator, Li Fan, successfully peered into the Grand Dao of this space-time through Baili Shan's mind.

Though it was like seeing flowers in a mirror or the moon in water, Li Fan already had a profound understanding of flowers and the moon; he merely needed a fixed entity to assist with the anchoring.

With the veil covering the Grand Dao of Xuanhuang now lifted, Li Fan followed the clues, thoroughly verifying the Grand Dao of this space-time against the Dao he had once comprehended.

In the blink of an eye, all the manifestations of the Grand Dao that Baili Shan had glimpsed throughout his cultivation were known to Li Fan.

Deducing the true Grand Dao in reality from the incomplete Dao comprehended by other cultivators—this was Li Fan's ability as a former semi-transcendent powerhouse.

Naturally, Li Fan's cultivation realm instantly leaped from mortal to Qi Condensation and then to Foundation Establishment.

He synchronized with Baili Shan's late Foundation Establishment stage.

However, Li Fan's late Foundation Establishment stage was vastly superior to Baili Shan's.

"Even against a Nascent Soul cultivator, I could easily dispatch them. This is barely enough to protect myself," Li Fan murmured, checking his physical condition and nodding slightly.

"But this so-called realm isn't very important. The key lies in the degree of comprehension of the Grand Dao. Baili Shan is just a disciple of the Evergreen Sect, after all, with limited horizons. I need to distribute more copies of the *Taishang Daojing* as quickly as possible..."

Li Fan first checked the progress of his Reality-Illusion Transformation.

The insights into the Dao that Baili Shan had glimpsed were a drop in the bucket for advancing the Reality-Illusion Transformation. However, it did prove the feasibility of Li Fan's plan.

The re-actualized Dao insights obtained through Baili Shan did not attract the attention of the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, nor that of the Great Heavenly Venerate hidden behind the scenes.

"Next, I need to go where all the heroes of the world gather..."

Li Fan gazed into the distance, then drifted away.

A month later, the Grand Dao Sect was faintly visible in the distance.

Along the way, Li Fan did not hold back with the *Taishang Daojing* in his possession. Whenever he encountered someone with even a slight talent, he would proactively offer them a copy. His own strength also ascended from the Foundation Establishment stage to the late Core Formation stage.

However, this seemed to be the limit for ordinary disciples outside the Ten Sects.

During this period, Li Fan encountered many cultivators. Those below Core Formation were abundant, but Nascent Soul cultivators and above were extremely rare. Even when he did find them, most were already advanced in age, not meeting Li Fan's requirements.

"The ancient Xuanhuang Realm could barely be considered a flourishing era for cultivation. Such a desolate scene with dwindling talent shouldn't exist. Could it be...?"

Recalling Elder Song of Evergreen Valley's earlier mention of impending chaos, Li Fan speculated that perhaps the Ten Sects were currently launching wars against other cultivation worlds.

The elite disciples of the Ten Sects had all been mobilized.

"No wonder the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao's rejection is so intense."

"I wonder if they are currently fighting the Heavenly Law Realm, where the Heavenly Physician resides."

After several calamities, the history of the Xuanhuang Realm had long been fragmented and distorted, seemingly hidden within a mist. Even with the records on stone tablets, its original true appearance could not be restored.

Only by returning to the past and experiencing it firsthand could its true form be witnessed.

Li Fan's main purpose in coming to the Grand Dao Sect this time was to find Zhao Ruoxi within the sect. Given her eventual achievement as the Immortal Heavenly Venerate, Zhao Ruoxi's talent could absolutely be considered top-tier in Xuanhuang. Although he was already familiar with Zhao Ruoxi's memories, he couldn't pinpoint the exact timeline of her existence.

"However, I didn't see any mention of external wars in her memories back then. Could she not have been born yet at this time?" Li Fan felt a touch of regret.

The Grand Dao Sect's mountain gate was already familiar territory to Li Fan.

As for the great formation guarding the mountain gate, Li Fan simply ignored it after a brief observation.

He stealthily infiltrated the sect.

Compared to what he had seen in Senior Sister Zhao's memories, the Grand Dao Sect's mountain gate was significantly different at this moment.

The most obvious difference was that signs of a chaotic battle seemed to have erupted all over the mountain gate area.

A faint, lingering scent of blood hung in the air, and numerous shocking battle scars were visible on the ground and buildings.

"They've already reached the Grand Dao Sect itself?" Li Fan grew increasingly surprised and suspicious.

This period of history seemed entirely unfamiliar to him from the future.

Sensing the area where vital energy was most concentrated, Li Fan changed into a Grand Dao Sect disciple's attire and stealthily made his way there.

"This is an utter disgrace! To think they almost breached our mountain gate..."

"If the other Ten Sects found out, we might be removed from their ranks!" Even before getting close, Li Fan could faintly hear the enraged roar of an old man.

"There's no need to be angry, Uncle-Master. After the war ends, I will personally invite the Dao Incineration Cauldron to erase this matter. For now, the most important thing is to ascertain the enemy's movements." The calm, reassuring voice that followed sounded somewhat familiar to Li Fan.

It was none other than Fang Dingge, the Sect Master of the Grand Dao Sect.

Around him, approximately five hundred cultivators had gathered.

Their cultivation levels ranged from Qi Condensation to Dao Integration.

All of them wore solemn expressions.

"I must say, we underestimated our opponents a bit. After all, they are..." Only Fang Dingge spoke unhurriedly, a faint smile on his face.

However, he was cut short by the old man.

"I never agreed with your plan in the first place. Xuanhuang is the foundation upon which the Ten Sects were built; how can it simply be abandoned? Instead of clashing with others, it's better to unite and seek a strategy to deal with the great tribulation..."

"Uncle-Master, you've said too much." Fang Dingge cast a slight sidelong glance.

Though dissatisfaction still simmered in the old man's heart, he merely snorted and said no more.

Fang Dingge looked at the surrounding crowd, pondered for a moment, and then a peculiar three-legged cauldron floated from his palm.

Invisible flames rose from the cauldron's base.

The image of the three-legged cauldron suddenly expanded, enveloping everyone present.

"Immortal spiritual energy?"

Li Fan's heart jolted in surprise, and caught off guard, he too was enveloped by the three-legged cauldron.

Yet, the fierce cauldron flames posed no threat to Li Fan's life.

However, Li Fan vaguely noticed that his memory of the previous conversation had become somewhat blurry.

But Li Fan was no ordinary cultivator, after all.

He had even survived the tribulation of the three Dao merging.

Although the three-legged cauldron immortal artifact was somewhat profound, it couldn't affect him. The invisible inferno, before it could seemingly ignite within Li Fan's mind, suddenly extinguished without reason.

"The Dao Incineration Cauldron?" Li Fan mused.

He had never heard of this immortal artifact before.

Judging from the recent conversation between Fang Dingge and the old man, this point in time should be when internal disagreements arose within the Ten Sects.

Li Fan was not surprised that the Ten Sects possessed immortal artifacts.

However, the power displayed by the Dao Incineration Cauldron was slightly unexpected.

"Fang Dingge said he would bring out the Dao Incineration Cauldron to erase this matter. And indeed, there were no records of this battle in later generations..."

"If it truly possesses such an ability, this Dao Incineration Cauldron wouldn't be an ordinary item even in the Immortal Realm of old. I wonder where this item ended up later." As Li Fan was pondering, Fang Dingge spoke again.

He omitted any concluding remarks and directly issued orders.

From the five hundred cultivators, one hundred, those at Core Formation and below, were to be dispatched for support. The remaining cultivators were to stay in the sect, responsible for repairs and defense.

"Core Formation and below?" Li Fan almost thought he had misheard.

However, seeing that the other Grand Dao Sect disciples didn't seem particularly surprised, it was clear that there was some hidden mystery behind this.

Thus, he did not make a fuss.

Yet, his luck seemed somewhat poor; he was precisely chosen by Fang Dingge to be among the one hundred sent for support.

Li Fan noticed that when selecting the support personnel, Fang Dingge's gaze lingered on him longer than others.

"It seems Reality-Illusion Transformation still cannot fully affect powerful cultivators at the realm of Ten Sect Masters."

Li Fan had no choice but to follow for now, intending to seek a better opportunity later.

A golden chain inexplicably appeared above the Grand Dao Sect.

Then, Fang Dingge enveloped the selected Grand Dao Sect cultivators and traversed along the chain.

They seemed to cross an incredibly vast expanse of stars. By the time Li Fan realized it, they had arrived in an extremely peculiar space.

The maximum power level in this world was extremely low.

It was only at the level of a peak Core Formation cultivator in the Xuanhuang Realm.

However, the suppressive force of the Grand Dao here, for some unknown reason, was no weaker than that in the Xuanhuang Realm.

Therefore, all cultivators who came to this place found their strength restricted to the Core Formation realm.