Chapter 1594: 悠悠 Breaks Through the Mist

Huan Zhen was Li Fan's greatest reliance, always regarded by him as his deepest secret. Especially after learning of ancient legends in the immortal realm that seemingly pointed to Huan Zhen as a world-saving treasure, Li Fan, fearing it would be stolen, went to great lengths to conceal its existence within him.

But he never imagined that the moment he met the Sages, Huan Zhen would be exposed!

As if he were a meal being eyed on a plate, Li Fan's eyes turned crimson. He stared with extreme vigilance at the nine figures of the Sages standing outside the radiant light.

Although greatly shaken internally, Li Fan did not lose his composure. He keenly grasped the hidden meaning in the Sages' words.

"It?" Li Fan instinctively pressed for answers. "You already knew of Huan Zhen's existence? What exactly is It?"

The Sages remained silent, then simultaneously pointed a finger at Li Fan's body, which had transformed into countless fragments.

"Ahhh..." Countless brilliant lights simultaneously bloomed from the billions of fragments of his body, as if something was being extracted from within them.

The very foundation of his existence shattered, and Li Fan's consciousness was consumed by immense, indescribable pain. He couldn't even utter curses, only instinctively let out agonizing roars.

The roars echoed throughout the halo.

As the extraction process continued, a phantom image seemed to flicker across Li Fan's countless fragments. With each flicker, the phantom appeared to become clearer, while conversely, Li Fan's fragmented body began to blur, as if melting away like ice and snow.

"Burn... mountains... boil... seas..." As if enduring endless torture in Avici Hell, Li Fan's thoughts came and went. He couldn't even activate his only countermeasure: igniting the true spirit fire seeds scattered across the mountains and seas.

And as if sensing Li Fan's thoughts, the Sages told him in an utterly indifferent voice: "Although the Other Shore is within the mountains and seas, it can be considered an independent existence separate from them. Furthermore, you are currently imprisoned by our divine thoughts... How can your thoughts be transmitted?"

Seemingly to make Li Fan give up struggling and thus better extract Huan Zhen, the Sages paused their torture.

"You despicable dogs, go to hell!" However, Li Fan, in extreme pain, could not understand what the Sages were saying. The moment his thoughts cleared, his heart was consumed by surging rage.

Roaring, he issued the command to ignite the true spirit fire seeds.

But the command, once issued, was like a stone sinking into the sea. Below the halo, the mountains and seas remained eerily quiet. Only the clashes of mountains and seas, representing the annihilation of the Dao, occasionally echoed like crashing waves.

Li Fan, refusing to give in, roared again and again. His voice, like the wail of a trapped beast, echoed within the light under the Sages' gaze.

The Sages remained silent, merely watching Li Fan's frantic behavior.

After an unknown period, as if all his strength had been depleted, Li Fan finally quieted down.

"Heh heh heh..." Li Fan asked with a bitter, extremely weak laugh, "What will happen to me after Huan Zhen is extracted?"

"Rest assured, we will not harm your life. If you wish, there is a place for you among the Other Shore. If you do not, you are free to explore the many possibilities of the mountains and seas. We will not impede you in the slightest."

"Aren't you afraid I'll burn these mountains and seas to ashes once I get out?" Li Fan retorted sharply.

"Even if you burn the mountains and seas to ashes, how could that compare to the true essence of Huan Zhen?"

Only after losing something can one truly understand how precious what they once possessed was. This single sentence from the Sages struck Li Fan's most vulnerable spot.

Throughout the mountains and seas, no one understood Huan Zhen's power better than he did.

Even if countless changes occurred in the mountains and seas, with just a thought from Huan Zhen, everything could be restored.

Li Fan, who had witnessed Huan Zhen's past transformations, was now about to become one of those affected by its restoration.

Without Huan Zhen, how was Li Fan any different from the ants he once regarded as mere NPCs?

Li Fan's expression became dejected and lost, and he said nothing more.

He let the Sages do as they pleased.

The figures outside the halo simultaneously pointed again.

Huan Zhen continued to be forcibly extracted from Li Fan's body.

Immersed in endless pain, his consciousness plunged into eternal oblivion.

When Li Fan regained consciousness, he was already outside the halo, out of the Sages' sight.

The gazes of the nine figures were now simultaneously fixed on a jade tablet in the center of the halo.

"Is that... Huan Zhen?" This was Li Fan's first time seeing Huan Zhen's true form, and he stared in a daze.

Both sides of the jade tablet seemed perfectly smooth, with no symbols or patterns carved upon them. Yet, in a trance, Li Fan vaguely saw countless figures simultaneously shifting and transforming.

Some were difficult to discern in appearance, but he could feel their extremely powerful aura. Others, however, faintly felt familiar to Li Fan.

Countless figures condensed and gathered upon this small jade tablet.

For some reason, all the Sages displayed extremely complex expressions.

Li Fan had originally thought that he would next have his infinite spiritual essence extracted to power Huan Zhen. But to his surprise, the Sages simply said, nonchalantly, "You may leave." And then expelled him from the halo space.

Seeing Li Fan suddenly appear, the Hunger Immortal of the Other Shore paused slightly. "So soon?" he murmured. Then he continued with a smile, "See? I told you not to worry..."

Before he could finish speaking, his gaze met Li Fan's crimson eyes. Even though the Hunger Immortal's power surpassed Li Fan's, his spirit froze for a moment, and his words were abruptly cut off.

However, the Hunger Immortal didn't mind. Transcenders who had just undergone the Sages' trials were mostly emotionally unstable, and the Hunger Immortal was already accustomed to this.

After Xiao Wangsheng, equally dejected, emerged, the Hunger Immortal sent them to All-Phenomena Heaven, the dwelling area for transcenders in the Other Shore, and then departed.

Li Fan was immersed in the pain of losing Huan Zhen, dazed and disoriented, completely oblivious to his current location. Although he yearned to immediately reclaim Huan Zhen from the Sages, it was clear that the combined will of the nine Sages was far too powerful.

The current Li Fan was simply no match.

"Even if I revealed Huan Zhen's existence to the public, the Nine Sages' power would allow them to ignore it. Moreover, with Huan Zhen in their hands, no matter how much chaos I stirred up, they could instantly restore everything."

He had always been Huan Zhen's master. Now he had become one of those affected by Huan Zhen. Only now did Li Fan deeply feel the helplessness of being an enemy of Huan Zhen.

His heart shrouded in despair, Li Fan spent hundreds of years in All-Phenomena Heaven. Even as time flowed, his thoughts remained stuck on the day he lost Huan Zhen. He replayed the scene of meeting the Sages over and over again, savoring his helplessness.

"I transmigrated here," Li Fan laughed bitterly in his heart, "presuming that with the help of the unique treasure Huan Zhen, I could attain eternal life and freedom. But I never imagined..."

Suddenly, Li Fan froze.

"Since transmigrating... since transmigrating..." As his thoughts replayed the scene of being questioned by the Sages, Li Fan murmured, "Something seems wrong."

"The Sages saw my infinite spiritual essence; they saw me carrying Huan Zhen. Why did they specifically not see that I am a transmigrator?"

His identity as a transmigrator was a secret Li Fan considered as important as Huan Zhen's existence. Yet the Sages seemed to overlook it.

"My homeland is vastly different from these mountains and seas. Even if the Xuanhuang Immortal Boat traversed all mountains and seas, it found no similar possibilities. If the Sages had seen it, they absolutely couldn't have just ignored it... But it was clearly in my memories, so why couldn't the Sages, who could perceive everything, discover it?"

Li Fan's brows furrowed deeply. Once doubt arose, it was difficult to dispel. And in constant, repeated contemplation, Li Fan discovered more suspicious points.

"My infinite spiritual essence is absolutely an astonishing thing. Even if the Sages obtained Huan Zhen, they would need spiritual essence to activate it. Even if their spiritual essence was as pure as mine, there's no reason to simply let me go, a free and convenient activator for Huan Zhen. Given the methods the Sages displayed, it wouldn't be difficult for them to turn me into a machine specifically for extracting spiritual essence. Yet the Sages merely mentioned my plan to burn the mountains and seas."

Li Fan suddenly looked up and again looked towards where the Sages resided in the Other Shore. After gazing for a long time, he then looked around at the space and time he was in.

"There are too many contradictions. They tried to display the Sages' power, but there was a discrepancy between the actual and the theoretical. It's like..." Li Fan stretched out his palm: "A deductive simulation, reaching its limit of support."

"Simulation..." This keyword triggered a memory buried deep in Li Fan's mind. At that time, he had just woken from a deep slumber. Amnesiac as he was, his attention was drawn to the flashing lines of characters on the screen before him. Faced with several different options, he hesitated for a long time. He finally decided to initiate another simulation. And then, he returned to a month earlier.

Step by step, he went from a mortal to the Grand Tutor of Da Xuan, then traveled to the Xuanhuang Realm. He met Emperor Tai Tian and was sent into the past. Ten thousand years ago, he regained his memories. He explored methods to transcend and finally reached the Other Shore.

The scenes of this life rapidly replayed in Li Fan's mind. Because such a long time had passed, Li Fan's head felt groggy. But he always grasped one crucial core point: "No, no, no..."

"Clearly before, Huan Zhen could be activated. But after I re-entered the simulation, fell into the River of Time, and tried to activate Huan Zhen to save myself, It failed. What exactly..."

Like a bolt of lightning, it cleared the fog. And remembering that the Sages couldn't perceive his memories from before his transmigration, Li Fan vaguely had an answer in his heart.

"Could it be like this?" Li Fan stared, a little lost in thought.

Once, he had trapped Heavenly Doctor with an immortal-grade illusion array. But eventually, when Heavenly Doctor faced the Hunger Immortal of Immortal Ruins, the illusion array couldn't truly simulate the might of a true immortal, so it was ultimately seen through by Heavenly Doctor.

"The current situation is exactly the same. Except what I'm encountering isn't an illusion array. It's Huan Zhen's simulation! It's not that the real Nine Sages couldn't perceive my memories from before transmigration. It's that the Nine Sages *within this world* created by Huan Zhen cannot! Or rather, Huan Zhen itself cannot," a glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes.

"The upper limit of the time point Huan Zhen can trace back to is only the moment I first transmigrated to the mountains and seas. Before that, my existence was a blank slate to Huan Zhen! My identity as a transmigrator, and even my infinite spiritual essence, are variables outside the scope of this simulation. So when it involves the level of the mountains and seas and reaches the simulation's limits, it can only be vaguely glossed over..."

His heart, which had been dead silent from losing Huan Zhen, began to beat again.

Li Fan stared intently in the direction of the Sages.

"No wonder the process of Huan Zhen's awakening was a bit too difficult. Even though I traversed the mountains and seas, I couldn't complete it. For a long time, I felt it was just a tiny bit away... yet it remained so until I came to the Other Shore. And facing the Nine Sages' deprivation, Huan Zhen showed no resistance whatsoever."

Thoughts continuously surged forth like gushing spring water. Li Fan's eyes regained their vitality, full of color: "To verify this, it's simple. I just need to meet the Sages again. These mountains and seas are almost indistinguishable from reality. The Sages are the only flaw. Even if it's just my delusion, it doesn't matter. The Sages are benevolent; I don't think they'd blame me!"

Thinking this, Li Fan headed straight for the Sage-Meeting Platform. But unexpectedly, halfway there, he was stopped by the Hunger Immortal.

"Everyone in the Other Shore only gets one chance to meet the Sages upon first entering. To meet the Sages again, one must make significant contributions to the Other Shore."

Li Fan stared at the Hunger Immortal, sensing the fluctuating aura around him, and ultimately chose to back down.

After returning, Li Fan forced himself to calm down and ponder carefully: "This simulation is very different from those I've experienced in the past. Perhaps it's the changes brought by the fusion of the three paths. There's no Huan Zhen here, and it doesn't seem to be truly happening in reality. But in this life, I often feel my spiritual senses warning me. For example, when I went against the flow in the River of Time... It seems that if I were to perish in this space-time, I would truly die. No different from reality. Even if I realize that what I'm experiencing now is a simulation, it's not easy to wake up from it. The Nine Sages are the only breakthrough point."

Li Fan chose to temporarily lie low. He began to inquire about the changes that had occurred in the Other Shore and the mountains and seas over the past century.

He didn't know if the addition of the Huan Zhen factor had exceeded the upper limit of what this simulation could handle, thus blurring its effects once more. The Sages obtained this unique treasure, yet astonishingly, there were no changes. This made Li Fan even more certain of his judgment.

"But how exactly can I exit this simulation?"

Li Fan frowned slightly.