In the past, when Li Fan was traveling through the Five Elders Association and the illusionary realm shattered, he briefly confronted Senior Sister Zhao. In that fleeting moment, he felt a chilling sense of facing the vast heavens and earth.
The Heavenly Doctor was indeed powerful, but he did not evoke the same feeling in Li Fan.
Even the giant hand that instantly suppressed the Fisherman and the Sage merely made Li Fan sense its overwhelming strength, but not a fundamental transformation.
This was an instinctive feeling in the heart of a cultivator—profound and indescribable.
But deep down, Li Fan believed it was likely true.
“No matter if the Heavenly Doctor has reached the Longevity Immortal Realm or not, he has displayed actual combat strength that could intimidate someone of that level.”
“In front of such a cultivator, no matter how many expendable troops are sent, it would be meaningless.”
“The five Heavenly Sovereigns definitely won’t act personally, which is why the war was halted.”
Li Fan mused thoughtfully.
Suddenly, a formless killing intent that had been monitoring for a long time without results finally responded.
“Hmm?”
Li Fan’s attention shifted instantly across millions of miles, landing on Master Yin of Yin Yin Island in the Congyun Sea.
After studying the barrier between mortals and immortals for a long time, it seemed he had finally discovered something.
At this moment, Master Yin had collapsed to the ground, bewildered and helpless.
“No, no, no! I must be mistaken.”
“This is absolutely impossible!”
Master Yin’s face was full of unconcealable terror.
It was as if he had uncovered a truth he could not accept, frantically pulling at his hair in a desperate attempt to calm himself.
“No, no, no!”
But he couldn’t control himself.
Whatever he had discovered had deeply shaken his worldview, driving him to the brink of madness.
He repeatedly banged his head on the ground, ignoring the blood streaming from his forehead.
After an indeterminate time, his face was bloodied and unrecognizable, making it impossible to discern his expression.
“It must be a mistake. There’s no way someone like this exists in the world.”
“And he couldn’t possibly be such a person!”
“Let’s try again!”
As if clinging to a sliver of hope, Master Yin quickly stood up, not even bothering to wipe the blood from his face.
He once again released several mortal test subjects, extracting the barrier from their bodies for further research.
…
“This Master Yin, erratic and deranged—what exactly did he discover?”
Li Fan frowned.
“Another enigmatic person.”
“Why not directly search his soul to find out?”
A flash of malice appeared in Li Fan’s eyes but was quickly suppressed.
Although Master Yin seemed to possess only Foundation Establishment cultivation on the surface, there was something unusual about him.
Li Fan couldn’t entirely rule out the possibility that he was feigning weakness. Forcibly searching his soul might even backfire.
“Patience!”
The Xuanhuang Realm was fraught with danger, with too many hidden powerhouses.
Recently battered by both Ruomu and the Heavenly Doctor, Li Fan took a deep breath to calm his restless heart.
“Continue monitoring. Hopefully, before he self-destructs, we can glimpse the truth.”
In the following days, Li Fan focused on re-refining his clone.
For this, he even returned to the seabed of Congyun Sea to retrieve the coffin where Zhou Qingang was buried.
Looking at Zhou Qingang, still trapped in a dreamlike slumber with a faint smile on his face, Li Fan snorted coldly.
“Knowing nothing might be a form of happiness.”
This time, Li Fan extracted more essence blood and replenished the stone coffin with spiritual stones to sustain Zhou Qingang’s vitality.
Only then did he bury the coffin again.
With practiced ease, he crafted a new clone.
However, the items the previous clone had carried were all reduced to ashes.
Returning to Congyun City would inevitably bring some minor troubles, but they were trivial and wouldn’t affect the overall plan.
As the clone returned to Congyun City, Li Fan’s main body stood above the sea, gazing at the sky.
The Heaven and Earth Divination Dice floated in his hand, its light and shadows shifting.
Before long, Li Fan gained clarity.
“Just as predicted, the date for the Crimson Flame’s descent seems to be moving up significantly.”
“…”
“The Heavenly-ranked beings?”
Li Fan pondered for a long while before shaking his head with a sigh.
“Coming sooner might be better—to burn all traces clean.”
“As for whether to release Ink Death again…”
He recalled his earlier plans regarding Tianyang Zhenren.
“I’ll ask him when the time comes.”
“Whether he remains at Soul Transformation forever or takes a gamble at Dao Integration, let him choose.”
“However, given his temperament of ‘never being weaker than others,’ he’ll likely choose the latter.”
After a while, Li Fan’s thoughts paused.
“I once believed that after refining the Crimson Flame and succeeding in Dao Integration, facing Ink Death would still be a hopeless situation.”
“But Tianyang is somewhat unique. He has already died once.”
“His current form is more like a puppet infused with a trace of Tianyang’s will than a true living being.”
“He might have a chance to escape with his life.”
“Ink Death’s previous world-ending attacks were confined to the Congyun Sea region. If he flees far enough…”
The thought of having a Dao Integration-level ally greatly tempted Li Fan.
Previously, he viewed Ink Death as an almost invincible force.
But after witnessing the true strength of the Heavenly Doctor, this belief began to waver.
The Heavenly Calamity Remnant Sword had been able to battle Ink Death for a long time during the latter’s apocalyptic rampages.
This suggested that Ink Death was not entirely unbeatable.
“It’s worth a try.”
“Even failure wouldn’t cost much.”
Having made his decision, Li Fan calculated the timeline—it had already been 15 years since anchoring.
The Crimson Flame would soon descend, and preparations needed to be made.
“15 years anchored…”
A sudden thought struck Li Fan. After a moment of contemplation, he took out a communication talisman to contact Jiao Xiuyuan.
Unexpectedly, Jiao Xiuyuan refused the call.
After a moment, Li Fan tried again.
Jiao Xiuyuan refused once more.
Li Fan was not annoyed and persisted.
After six attempts, Jiao Xiuyuan finally accepted the transmission.
“Hmph, Daoist Jiao have you risen so high lately that you no longer recognize old friends?” Li Fan snorted coldly.
“Not at all! Not at all! I was just busy with something important and couldn’t step away!” Jiao Xiuyuan replied with grievance.
“Daoist Jiao, your excuse is rather clumsy. Who doesn’t know that you have thousands of incarnations? One is busy—are all of them?”
“You’re truly insightful, Daoist! How did you know I was about to break through?” Jiao Xiuyuan asked in surprise.
Li Fan fell silent.
“Haha, but this advancement is proving to be much harder than expected. Without additional opportunities, I fear it will be delayed for a long time,” Jiao Xiuyuan said regretfully.
“Oh? Why is that?” Li Fan asked casually.