Chapter 1605: Li Fan Meets His True Self

The Saint Creation Project, the Twenty-First Incarnation!

Foundation Establishment through Myself, Primordial Golden Core, Spirit Mirror Nascent Soul…

Just developing the New-New Method to the Nascent Soul stage seemed to completely drain Bai Shuyue of her spiritual energy. Even after a rebirth, she still felt utterly exhausted, as if she hadn't rested enough.

As a result, Bai Shuyue, uncharacteristically, stayed in bed resting for several days straight.

"Auntie, are you alright?" Li Fan asked, his eyes filled with concern, as he brought her a bowl of hot porridge he had personally cooked.

Bai Shuyue's spirits lifted. She drank the porridge and said, "Don't worry, Fan'er, your auntie is just a little tired. A few days of rest will do me good."

Li Fan paused, a strange expression on his face. "Auntie, why has your way of speaking become so formal and refined...?"

Bai Shuyue's heart skipped a beat. She gave a few dry laughs to cover it up.

"It seems that what's changing along with me isn't just my spirituality. There are many other subtle shifts as well. Fortunately, the continuous cycles of reincarnation and rebirth are utterly unbelievable. My nephew won't think along those lines..."

What Bai Shuyue found both amusing and frustrating was that, while her nephew seemed to be fooled on the surface, he was still very worried behind her back and had even invited the village witch to "treat" her.

She looked at the bowl of talisman water the witch handed her, and at Li Fan's hopeful eyes.

Bai Shuyue felt a bit helpless, but in the end, she drank the talisman water.

After the small commotion, Bai Shuyue settled Li Fan down. Instead of rushing into the Xuanhuang Realm, she went to the nearest spiritual mountain.

She sat down to cultivate enlightenment.

On the summit of Jielishan!

"Perceiving the heart to clarify one's nature, Foundation Establishment through myself. With each new birth, I become different from my past self..."

Bai Shuyue sat cross-legged on the edge of the cliff, gazing at the vast, boundless sea of clouds before her, and inwardly examined herself.

As if a celestial being held a handle, an invisible knife carved extremely profound trajectories in the void. Bai Shuyue's own statue slowly formed in the darkness.

Compared to the end of her previous life, this self-sculpture resembled Bai Shuyue even more closely.

A few breaths later, Bai Shuyue had already reached the complete Foundation Establishment stage!

"This is the superiority of the New-New Method. If I were still cultivating the Heavenly Venerate's method, I would have to arduously search for rare heaven-and-earth treasures. Although the convenience of continuous rebirth allows me to find increasingly higher-quality treasures, earth-level wonders are already the limit. Moreover, most of them are controlled by the Dharma Transmitters. As for heaven-level wonders, they are completely out of the question..."

"Besides, even heaven-level wonders might not compare to Foundation Establishment through myself."

Bai Shuyue looked at the self-sculpture within her body with satisfaction, took a deep breath, and tightly clutched the high-grade spirit stone in her embrace.

Within her sea of consciousness, countless multicolored beams of light shifted and intertwined, quickly forming a Primordial Golden Core.

The high-grade spirit stone instantly shrunk by more than half its volume.

"Although this is a land devoid of immortals, it's not entirely without spiritual energy. It's just too little, negligible, in fact." Bai Shuyue sat on the mountaintop, her gaze sweeping across the entire Great Xuan Minor World.

"Oh? There are still a few places with spiritual energy fluctuations?"

With a flash of her figure, Bai Shuyue investigated these locations.

"The tomb of Yi Xing, a disciple of the Taiyan Sect."

"The tomb of Qian Hong."

"All are burial sites of cultivators who perished here."

"Apart from this item, nothing else has any value." Bai Shuyue shook the Heavenly Lock Treasure Box in her hand.

"I wonder what exactly is hidden inside."

As a former Dao Integration cultivator, Bai Shuyue's standards were already extremely high; ordinary treasures no longer caught her eye. However, after using the Heavenly Profound Mirror to unlock the Heavenly Lock Treasure Box and discovering the Dao Transformation Stone inside, Bai Shuyue still felt a surge of excitement.

"I never imagined my hometown would conceal such a treasure."

She had long heard of the peculiarities of the Dao Transformation Stone. Even as a Dao Integration cultivator in the Immortal Alliance, she had no way to acquire one. "The Dao Transformation Stone can multiply inference and computational power several times. If used to assist in developing the Spirit Mirror Nascent Soul..."

"The effect is outstanding!"

Inside Bai Shuyue's middle Dantian, the Nascent Soul, with its mirror-like body, seemed to have been polished. In an instant, it became several times clearer. Furthermore, the world it reflected revealed even more details.

Clouds in the sky, weeds on the ground. Moving with the wind, everything appeared as real as life.

Bai Shuyue was immersed in it, feeling as if the world had never been so clear and bright before.

"If I had had the blessing of this item in my previous life, I wouldn't have died from mental exhaustion." After a long time, Bai Shuyue exhaled, sighing in her heart.

"It's a pity it's only a low-grade one. If it were high-grade, or even the legendary Mother of Dao Transformation Stones, I wonder how much more it could help me."

"But it does remind me that in the Xuanhuang Realm, there are many other treasures like the Dao Transformation Stone that can enhance comprehension, such as the Grand Purity Sect's Enlightenment Pill and Heavenly Profound Enlightenment. Appropriately utilizing external aid could yield twice the results with half the effort."

Bai Shuyue lingered in the Great Xuan Minor World, illuminating every corner of this land. Only after gaining no further insights did she leisurely proceed to the Xuanhuang Realm.

Not long after Bai Shuyue departed, very close to where she had cultivated enlightenment on the mountaintop,

a figure suddenly appeared!

It was Li Fan.

"Spirit Mirror Nascent Soul..."

"Twenty incarnations of spiritual energy superimposed, truly extraordinary. She has walked a path entirely different from what Su Bai and the Saint Emperor deduced."

"Su Bai merely put forth a vague framework, so let's set that aside for now. The Saint Emperor's deductions were largely influenced by the Taiwei Saint Emperor. The entire weight of the Saint Dynasty rested solely on the Taiwei Saint Emperor. Therefore, the new methods he deduced would not consider their 'transmissibility' at all. But Auntie, for my sake, has truly exhausted herself..."

Li Fan chuckled lightly and pointed a finger into the void before him.

A phantom of Li Fan then mimicked Bai Shuyue's earlier posture, facing the sea of clouds and sitting cross-legged.

Although it was a phantom, the flickering light and shadow made it indistinguishable from a real flesh-and-blood body.

The phantom closed its eyes, its chest rising and falling with its breath, as if it were another Li Fan!

"Truth and falsehood in a single thought, transformations born from the mind."

Li Fan murmured softly, quite pleased with his display.

Through twenty cycles of reincarnation, Auntie has transformed from a mortal into a great Dao Integration cultivator. She has also deduced and comprehended three layers of the New-New Method.

Naturally, Li Fan couldn't have gained nothing himself.

The seemingly real, yet ephemeral body before him was his creation, using the transformation of truth and falsehood.

"My body in its mortal state."

"I had overlooked that it truly existed."

Li Fan walked a few circles around the semi-real, semi-illusory body, nodding continuously.

"Aside from the effects related to infinite spiritual energy, it's almost indistinguishable from my true self."

"Even if I placed it before Auntie, she wouldn't recognize that it's merely my creation."

"My understanding of spirituality is still too superficial. I'll set that aside for now."

"Using this body as an experiment, everything that happens within it can be reproduced perfectly and without damage within my own body."

"Foundation Establishment through Myself..."

A faint light flashed in Li Fan's eyes, and an invisible blade swiftly began to carve within the illusory Li Fan's body.

He was sculpting his own image within his illusory self.

It seemed somewhat awkward, but with each stroke of carving, Li Fan's self-perception seemed to deepen slightly.

"The one who laughs and scolds is me; the one who fears death is also me."

"The one who worries about the world is me; the one who disregards all beings is also me."

"The one who indulges in extravagance is me; the one who obsesses over eternal life is also me."

"Truly, in essence, it's merely an amplifier, infinitely magnifying certain traits of my personality after focusing them. But it doesn't fundamentally transform me."

Scenes from his past reincarnations flashed before Li Fan's eyes.

His statue also became increasingly defined and complex.

Bai Shuyue could complete Foundation Establishment through herself in a single thought, but Li Fan's first step would require at least a hundred years.

But Li Fan was very patient.

After returning to the Xuanhuang Realm, Bai Shuyue, as usual, first sought out Reverend Yin.

Although she didn't mention her rebirth, she generously imparted the newly comprehended cultivation method. Reverend Yin, in turn, was so excited he gesticulated wildly.

Having delved into the New-New Method for many years, he was only a hair's breadth away from a breakthrough. Now, with Bai Shuyue's guidance, Reverend Yin achieved enlightenment on the spot.

In just a few days, he advanced to the Nascent Soul stage, just like Bai Shuyue. The hidden injuries from his Foundation Establishment were also healed, and his voice no longer had a stutter.

"As for this Dao Transformation Stone you mentioned, I do have some leads."

"I vaguely remember that the Taiyan Sect of old is still hidden within this realm. But its exact location..." Reverend Yin scratched his head, unable to recall it.

Bai Shuyue comforted him, "No matter. It's good that they are still alive. As long as they exist, with a little time, we'll find them. It's said that the Mother of Dao Transformation Stones has billions of times the inference power of an ordinary Dao Transformation Stone. If we can get its help, perhaps completing the New-New Method will be effortless."

Reverend Yin profoundly agreed.

"Besides the Mother of Dao Transformation Stones, we might as well try other possible methods."

"For example, the Enlightenment Limitless Wall, and the Mortal Transcending Deity Wall..." Reverend Yin offered various suggestions.

Bai Shuyue sighed, "To think there are so many incredible wonders in this single Xuanhuang Realm. It's truly hard to imagine how magnificent the vast star sea beyond Xuanhuang must be..."

Reverend Yin shook his head. "I'm afraid the entire star sea combined wouldn't compare to a single corner of Xuanhuang."

Hearing this, Bai Shuyue was instantly stunned.

Immediately, Reverend Yin recounted to Bai Shuyue the catastrophe of the Tribulation's descent and the destruction of the star sea.

Bai Shuyue's mind reeled. "Before, although I'd heard of ancient tribulations, I always thought that after so many years, life outside Xuanhuang should have revived. I never imagined..."

"And also, the Dharma Transmission Heavenly Venerate, collecting shattered realms and mending Xuanhuang."

The true face of the Xuanhuang Realm had, at last, reluctantly revealed a corner to Bai Shuyue.

Bai Shuyue knew that the Xuanhuang Realm held too many secrets. Yet, she firmly believed that with her ability to infinitely reincarnate, these secrets would instead aid her in breaking through the shackles of Dharma transmission.

"One step at a time."

In the eyes of her Spirit Mirror Nascent Soul, a miniature, fog-shrouded depiction of the Xuanhuang Realm appeared.

The first place Bai Shuyue visited was the Enlightenment Limitless Wall in Tianliang Prefecture.

"It's said that cultivating enlightenment before this wall carries a certain probability of being absorbed into it. Although the flow of time within is different from the outside, there's a risk of dying of old age inside. However, the enlightenment-enhancing effect within is several times greater than Heavenly Profound Enlightenment..."

"It's perfect for me!"

Bai Shuyue stared intently at the smooth stone wall before her, and in a trance, she actually perceived the heartbeat of the wall.

"It's not my imagination."

Bai Shuyue reached out and gently touched it.

The next moment, the scene before her eyes changed, and she entered the Limitless Wall.

Just as rumored outside, upon entering, she seemed to receive some kind of blessing. Her mind became millions of times more active.

All the knowledge and learning she had accumulated in the past were re-sorted and organized, converging towards the primordial grand dao of heaven and earth.

But the cost was a rapid depletion of life force.

As the saying goes, "If one learns the Dao in the morning, one can die in the evening without regret." Clearly, the cultivators immersed in enlightenment here didn't care about this at all. They allowed their vitality to ebb away, lost in their enlightenment.

This place was, naturally, useful to Bai Shuyue as well.

But she saw something that others could not.

Above the head of each cultivator, there seemed to be an invisible tentacle, extending from the void. It was deeply inserted into the cultivators' heads, occasionally swaying ceaselessly.

Accompanied by the enraptured expressions of the absorbed cultivators, this scene appeared particularly eerie.

It seemed these very tentacles helped the cultivators within the Limitless Wall achieve enlightenment.

"Hmm? You can see me?"

A soft whisper sounded beside Bai Shuyue.

Bai Shuyue wasn't startled; she simply nodded.

"Then, in your eyes, what do I look like?"

Bai Shuyue answered truthfully.

"A tentacle..."

The voice sounded somewhat disappointed, then said, "That's already quite good."

Hearing what seemed to be a self-consoling remark, Bai Shuyue grew curious: "Is that not your original appearance?"

The voice chuckled. "A frog in a well sees but a small square of sky above its head and believes that is all there is to the sky, that is its size. A bird flying high sees the boundless firmament, yet it too believes that is the true face of the sky."

"But what is the truth?"

"Beyond the heavens are more heavens, mountains and seas are limitless, not something ordinary mortals can glimpse..."

Although ridiculed as a frog in a well, Bai Shuyue wasn't angered. "Listening to your words, Senior, your knowledge seems vast. You can see things we cannot. But why are you trapped here?"

"Trapped? What do you mean? I'm simply feeding. Ever since I was thrown here many years ago, cultivators have continuously entered my belly. I just sit still, and food descends from the heavens. With such a good thing going, why should I bother exerting myself?" The voice sounded smug.

"Feeding?" Bai Shuyue mused, deep in thought.

"Precisely, just like you. Do you think your enlightenment is stimulated by me? In truth, I merely accelerate the depletion of your life force, concentrating all the thoughts that would arise over an entire lifetime into this very moment!"

"An entire lifetime, hundreds or even thousands of years' worth of what should have been, advanced ahead of time. This is the truth of this place."

"You cultivators are mostly a short-sighted and impatient lot. You'd always achieve it yourselves eventually, yet you constantly seek external aid. It just makes things easy for me!"

It seemed it hadn't spoken to anyone in a long time, as the voice ceaselessly lectured Bai Shuyue.

At the same time, the tentacle inserted into Bai Shuyue's head continuously drained her life force.

"Hmm? Why, after hearing so much from me, is your mind completely undisturbed?" The voice sounded somewhat surprised.

Bai Shuyue stared at the tentacle above her head, which seemed to be changing shape again, and suddenly smiled.

"It seems your knowledge is nothing more than that."