Chapter 1693: The Real Truth

The Void Net instantly enveloped the entire battlefield outside the Mountain and Sea Void Realm. At its center, the black thread, moving rapidly like a swimming dragon, simultaneously drew a perfect circle.

Li Fan…He was right in the middle of it!

The instant Duke Shouqiu perished and the Void Realm mastermind appeared, Li Fan had already silently invoked Huanzhen in his mind. Endless white mist surged forth, attempting to conceal everything. However, this seemed to inadvertently hasten the exposure of Li Fan's hiding place. The Void Net abruptly shifted, trapping Li Fan within.

A scene entirely different from previous Huanzhen activations unfolded.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

It was as if an invisible heavy hammer was continuously pounding and striking the surrounding white mist. Li Fan's vision was plunged into constant vibrations, and the frequency grew faster and faster. Each strike seemed to precisely coincide with a critical point, interrupting the white mist's process of engulfing everything. Strands of black threads darted over like poisonous snakes. Although the white mist was trying to seal them off, the violent pounding seemed to create tiny fissures in the pervasive mist. This allowed the Void Realm mastermind to seize an opportunity! It appeared Huanzhen's activation was being obstructed by the adversary!

Faced with such a critical situation, Li Fan, though surprised, remained composed. Due to the effect of 'Concordance,' he seemed to remain immersed in Duke Shouqiu's transcendent state of severing all ties when he resolutely faced death. Fearless of life and death, he was naturally unafraid of any unforeseen events. Although this state was rapidly fading with Shouqiu's departure, it did not prevent Li Fan's mind from being exceptionally clear at that moment.

He had personally witnessed Huanzhen taking action, reducing things to stardust with a single thought. The Void Realm mastermind was clearly no match for Star. Therefore, it was certainly not the opponent overpowering Huanzhen's manipulation of truth and falsehood.

"Those repeated strikes merely interrupted my spellcasting process," he mused. "Although Huanzhen activates with a single thought from me, the Void Realm mastermind's methods somehow managed to forcibly prolong that fleeting moment of thought as much as possible."

"As for the countless black threads currently invading from outside the white mist…"

In one past life, Primordial White Bones had entered the Huanzhen space, activating Huanzhen alongside Li Fan. What the Void Realm mastermind was doing now was largely similar.

"The Void Realm mastermind knew it couldn't stop Huanzhen, but it wanted to try and usurp my place.""I truly should manifest Shouqiu's enlightenment.""Huanzhen is not something an ordinary person can wield!"

With a cold snort, Li Fan seemed to regard the thousands of invading black threads around him as nothing. He held his breath and concentrated, calming his mind and focusing his thoughts. He slowly began to dispel the disruptive influence of the Void Realm mastermind. The regular knocking sounds coming from outside the white mist seemed to diminish considerably. Simultaneously, using his hand as a brush, he swiftly wrote in the air around him. As his hand moved fluidly, the traces left by his fingertips were precisely identical to the invading black threads.

"When truth is made false, falsehood also becomes true!"

With each stroke Li Fan made, one of the Void Realm mastermind's invasive methods was forcibly erased by him! Under the influence of Concordance, Shouqiu's enlightenment became Li Fan's own. Shouqiu could, with a single thought, erase countless illusory avatars of the Three Saints and neutralize the Void Realm's full-power strike. Li Fan could do the same!

Furthermore, unlike Shouqiu, who would suffer a backlash from "Truth Also Falsehood," Li Fan, having undergone over a hundred Huanzhen baptisms, could completely disregard its negative effects.

Initially, Li Fan's writing was somewhat clumsy; there was still a gap between "comprehension" and true "practice." But the effect of Concordance was utterly profound. It was as if he had done all this before, only now he possessed a better body. After a brief period of adaptation, Li Fan's phantom fingers moved with increasing fluidity.

The thousands of black threads created by the Void Realm mastermind were erased by Li Fan, one by one. What if you possess countless divine abilities? Before the Great Dao of Truth and Falsehood, all are but illusions. The Void Realm mastermind's strength was undoubtedly far beyond Li Fan's. Yet, at this moment, facing Li Fan's "Truth Also Falsehood" divine ability, the mastermind possessed power but was unable to wield it. It was effortlessly neutralized.

"This is the Great Dao of Truth and Falsehood, power that transcends all.""Even a solitary high star must avoid its sharpness! How much less your meager Void Realm!"

After erasing all the black threads, Li Fan suddenly opened his eyes. Full of vigor, his voice like thunder, he declared to the unknown entity beyond the white mist. Unfortunately, he was destined not to hear the Void Realm mastermind's reply.

Having expelled the influence from the Void Realm mastermind, Li Fan's mind returned to normal. The white mist, which had seemed frozen before, now surged forth once more. This time, there were no complications. Engulfing all light, the familiar darkness returned.

Only this time, Li Fan's consciousness did not immediately fall into slumber. Instead, he forced his eyes open, attempting to maintain his conscious will. He annihilated thousands of Saintly illusory figures and repelled the invading enemy from the Void Realm. As all the turmoil gradually subsided, complete silence settled around him. The entire world seemed to contain nothing but Li Fan.

Yet, Li Fan could faintly discern countless rapidly flashing phantoms within the darkness. Those were all the experiences the Mountain and Sea were meant to undergo.

"At this moment, under Huanzhen's guidance, I am traversing the Mountain and Sea, heading towards its very end. I am awaiting the manifestation of Star.""To put it plainly, nothing between the Mountain and Sea and the Void Realm is truly worth Huanzhen's intervention. Not even the so-called Void Realm mastermind. With my current understanding of the Great Dao of Truth and Falsehood, which I've barely scratched the surface of, I can easily repel it...""Only Star! When it devours the Mountain and Sea and the Void Realm completely vanishes. Only at that moment will Huanzhen truly intervene.""This is the true 'unrelated to the finale.'"

During the traversal, Li Fan could initially barely remain conscious. But slowly, it felt as though he had been working for hundreds of millions of years without a single moment's rest. Waves of exhaustion relentlessly assailed him. Overwhelmed like a collapsing mountain, Li Fan felt his eyelids growing heavier and heavier, unable to resist the pervasive drowsiness.

"It's not just the illusion of sleepiness. It's...""Weariness arising from being consumed.""Am I... being consumed?"

Under extreme fatigue, Li Fan finally realized that as he traversed the Mountain and Sea, something within his body seemed to be consumed synchronously. This left Li Fan with no time to pay attention to the overlapping images displayed by the Mountain and Sea; instead, he concentrated his dwindling attention on his own body. The sensation of his body being drained grew increasingly intense. He even felt the illusion of being at the end of his rope, close to death, and Li Fan gradually felt an unprecedented terror.

The transcendent mindset brought by Duke Shouqiu had already dissipated with Huanzhen's activation. At this moment, Li Fan reverted to his original disposition.

"What exactly is Huanzhen?""Why is my infinite spirituality draining away so quickly?""What is it being used for? Where is it going?"

Fear, dread, and doubt intertwined, even momentarily overpowering the boundless weariness. This allowed Li Fan to maintain a sliver of consciousness. However, it was like being trapped in a dream, dazed and confused, with only instinctive thoughts flickering, without natural thought.

After an unknown period, the changes outside the darkness seemed to cease. It was as if they had reached the very end of the Mountain and Sea, where the aura of deathly silence grew even denser. A wisp of starlight seemed poised to pierce the darkness, but it was suppressed once more. In the realm of absolute nothingness, where the lone star once hung and then departed, countless light and shadow rippled anew. The Mountain and Sea Void Realm reappeared accordingly!

Li Fan realized that the consumption within his body had finally ceased, and the taut string in his heart suddenly snapped. Unable to suppress his exhaustion any longer, he fell into a deep slumber.

Anchored for 1 year.

When Li Fan awakened once more, his eyes initially held a blank stare. Then Duke Shouqiu, the Void Realm mastermind, and the subsequent endless extraction of true spirits... Scene after scene flooded his mind like a tide. The sensation of his body being emptied, even after Huanzhen, remained as vivid as reality. Li Fan's pupils sharply constricted.

"Huanzhen!" Li Fan cried out in his heart.

But it was not to activate Huanzhen again. Instead, he wanted to confront Huanzhen and demand an explanation. As expected, Huanzhen remained silent. Li Fan was furious, but fortunately, he calmed down after a moment.

"Upon careful thought, the countless previous Huanzhen activations were probably no different from this one.""It's just that before, I always fell into a deep sleep, and only this time, while fully conscious, did I witness the entire process of Huanzhen's activation.""Huanzhen is attached to me and refuses to leave. As expected, there's a reason for it.""It's just that the reason..." Li Fan's mouth twitched slightly.

But having experienced so much, he was no longer a hot-blooded youth who acted purely on impulse. Huanzhen seemed inseparable from him, but similarly, he too was inseparable from Huanzhen.

"Moreover, even if I chose to waste my days doing nothing, Huanzhen would still activate after my death. I would then needlessly suffer the torment of being extracted..."

After careful consideration, Li Fan had no choice but to temporarily accept this fact. The resistance in his heart slowly faded.

"This time, prompted by Shouqiu, I maintained clear consciousness and glimpsed the truth of Huanzhen's activation. But this only gave rise to more doubts...""The Great Dao of Truth and Falseood, theoretically, possesses the power to conjure mountains and seas from nothingness. So what is the purpose of extracting my infinite true spirit?""Is it to recreate the Mountain and Sea?""My true spirit is infinite, but where does it truly originate?"

Li Fan raised his hand, feeling his mortal body, which had not yet inherited any cultivation.

"The sensation of my body being drained has vanished.""It has returned to its normal state.""The infinite true spirit truly seems infinite."

But the feeling of near-total depletion from excessive extraction during Huanzhen's activation remained vividly clear. Li Fan's eyelids twitched; his mind remained unsettled for a long time.

"No wonder you've been skipping so fast, what's the rush!"

Feeling annoyed, he directly ignored the constantly flashing inheritance options before his eyes. Li Fan quickly walked to the peak of Mount Jieli, attempting to dispel the irritation in his heart.

"It's laughable that I've always bitterly pursued immortality and freedom," he mused. "Huanzhen, while being the key to eternal life, is also a shackle.""Only on the day I completely cast it aside can I truly achieve freedom."

Li Fan suddenly remembered his past hundred-life foundation building. He suddenly realized he had been ludicrously mistaken.

"My true foundation building shouldn't involve including Huanzhen and shaping my own Dao foundation.""Instead, it should be to completely exclude Huanzhen and forge my Dao foundation with my pure self.""However, it leads to the same destination. Both paths are equally difficult, difficult, difficult!"

Li Fan frowned deeply, sitting on the peak of Mount Jieli for several years. Spending his days watching the clouds roll and unfurl, he eventually slowly accepted the current situation.

"The transformation of truth and falsehood..."

Li Fan stood up and lightly pointed a finger at an empty spot on the mountaintop. A wooden house appeared out of thin air. It was born from nothingness, both illusory and truly real. Li Fan then lightly pointed again, employing the divine ability of "Truth Also Falsehood," erasing it once more. Savoring the difference between these two actions, Li Fan wore a thoughtful expression.

Afterward, Li Fan continuously repeated the processes of "Falsehood Also True" and "Truth Also Falsehood" on Mount Jieli's peak. Slowly, a realization welled up in his mind.

"My level of comprehension for 'Truth Also Falsehood' and 'Falsehood Also True' is not on the same level.""Especially after experiencing the previous life, and Shouqiu erasing all Saints with a single thought.""The level of 'Truth Also Falsehood' is far above 'Falsehood Also True'.""I can exert my full power to erase the effects created by the Void Realm mastermind. But conversely, to conjure disasters of such power out of thin air..."

Li Fan narrowed his eyes, reaching out to try and lightly draw on the distant sky. Several times he raised his hand as if to write, only to gently lower it again. Finally, with a sigh, he concluded: "I cannot do it."

He then pondered again: "Though they are two sides of the same coin, the Great Dao of Truth and Falsehood is unlike Dao and Virtue. Even if there are slight differences in the comprehension of Dao and Virtue, they remain within certain limits, maintaining their overall completeness.""But now, my comprehension of the Great Dao of Truth and Falsehood can actually exhibit such a vast disparity...""It's as if the Great Dao of Truth and Falsehood is pieced together from two distinct Great Daos.""'Truth Also Falsehood, Falsehood Also True. When truth is made false... falsehood also becomes true.'""Huanzhen."

Li Fan seemed to have glimpsed something. But it was all mere speculation on his part, without any concrete evidence.

"Perhaps, venturing further to the end of time and meeting that Last Saint again might resolve many doubts. But...""There's no real point.""To grasp the true answer and unravel all mysteries, one must stand at the corresponding height.""God,""Star."

A sharp glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes. Desire surged anew. If what had previously driven Li Fan to continuously simulate and advance through cycles of reincarnation was the ethereal ambition of pursuing immortality and freedom, then now, the instinct to break free from all shackles had joined it. With the experience of the previous life and having learned the "truth" of Huanzhen, Li Fan's way of thinking and acting immediately changed.

"Even the Void Realm mastermind cannot stop me. Furthermore, even if I am no match, Huanzhen will intervene.""As Shouqiu said, the profound mysteries of truth and falsehood have never concerned themselves with concealment or exposure.""I must act as my heart desires!"

At this thought, Li Fan no longer hesitated and directly chose to inherit Duke Shouqiu's memories! He swept his sleeve and sat on the ground, quietly awaiting the drastic changes within the Other Shore Xuanji Ring.

Within the Void Realm, Duke Shouqiu, who was diligently attempting to restore the Mountain and Sea, showed several changes in expression. Afterward, the phantom within the Xuanji Ring quietly departed, arriving at the Xuanhuang Realm, the Great Profound Small World, and the peak of Mount Jieli.

"How does it feel to be alive again?" Li Fan asked with a light laugh.

"Perhaps... how does it feel to have died once?" Shouqiu pondered for a moment before giving a serious answer.

"...Not bad."

"What a 'not bad'! Shouqiu is truly magnanimous; I am not his equal!" Li Fan clapped his hands and exclaimed in praise.