“Oh?” Li Fan showed a hint of surprise—he hadn’t expected Fang Zaiji and the others to have progressed so quickly.
Guided by the Eyes of Shared Vision, Li Fan arrived at the experimental site.
What he saw was the Endstone Plate, originally indistinguishable from an ordinary rock, now floating above the heads of Fang Zaiji and his two companions. Around it, space seemed to be separated into distinct layers following different rules, forming concentric rings of various colors, frozen in place. The sight was truly peculiar.
A wisp of black baleful energy, under Jiang Yushan’s control, was slicing through the circular rings surrounding the Endstone Plate.
Li Fan did not interrupt; instead, he stood by and observed.
Before long, he began to grasp the process. Jiang Yushan’s method of cutting was not simply removing a portion from the disc—it was more like “peeling off a layer of rice paper,” slicing out a flat plane from the plate instead.
She seemed quite experienced, performing the operation with skilled precision.
Soon, a thin Endstone Fragment was separated from the main plate.
The moment it left the main body, the originally plate-sized fragment began to rapidly shrink.
“Quick! Feed it, now!” Fang Zaiji shouted urgently.
As he spoke, he tossed several stones toward Jiang Yushan.
Li Fan focused his gaze—it was none other than the Sword Embryo Primal Stones he had casually given to Fang Zaiji earlier!
The primal stones, upon approaching the Endstone Fragment, melted into it like snowflakes falling into water.
Meanwhile, the fragment’s rate of shrinkage slowed down and gradually stabilized.
After a total of six primal stones had been fed to it, the surrounding circular space contracted inward, merging back into the fragment itself.
And just like that, a miniature version of the Endstone Plate formed before Li Fan’s eyes.
“Damn, this was harder than delivering a baby! Don’t you think so, Yushan?” Fang Zaiji exhaled deeply, beaming as he held the plate in his hands.
“You really have no filter! How can you even compare the two?” Liu San scolded with furrowed brows.
At that moment, Li Fan spoke up. “Mr. Fang, have you discovered the specific use of the Endstone Plate?”
Fang Zaiji waved the disc in his hand with a smug expression. “Indeed. All thanks to those strange stones you gave me earlier, Sect Master…”
He then proceeded to explain.
For a long time, Fang Zaiji had been unable to make sense of the Endstone Plate. Frustrated, he eventually followed Li Fan’s suggestion and attempted to cut it apart.
However, he discovered that any piece cut from the stone plate immediately dissolved into thin air. No matter what method they tried, nothing could prevent this from happening.
Enraged, Fang Zaiji decided to take a desperate gamble—he dumped every potentially useful item from his storage ring onto the plate.
By sheer luck, he stumbled upon the key to stabilizing the plate.
That key was to feed it objects infused with the comprehension of the Dao and the principles of heaven and earth.
Not only did the Sword Embryo Primal Stones work, but any treasure that condensed Dao insights could achieve the same effect.
The reason Fang Zaiji had just used primal stones was simply that he had plenty of them left. Treasures containing profound Dao insights were incredibly rare, after all.
“This thing is just like a cultivator,” Fang Zaiji mused, stroking the disc in his hand. “When it’s newly ‘born,’ it knows nothing. So at first, it doesn’t exhibit any strange properties. But if you ‘nurture’ it with Dao comprehension, allowing it to ‘grow,’ then its true potential will emerge!”
He continued, “Just as you said, Sect Master—this thing doesn’t have many uses, but it does have one unique ability: it can, to some extent, block the perception of the Tianxuan Mirror!”
Just as he finished speaking, a disciple from the Medicine King Sect entered the room.
He held a Tianxuan Mini-Mirror in his hand, his expression tense.
“Greetings, Sect Master!” He first saluted Li Fan, then greeted Elder Liu San and the others in turn.
Li Fan recognized this person. His name was Meng Wushi, one of the first Medicine King Sect cultivators to awaken. He had already obtained the status of a Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance cultivator, and after switching to the New Method, he had successfully broken through to the Golden Core Realm.
“Demonstrate it for the Sect Master,” Fang Zaiji instructed.
Meng Wushi nodded, first taking out a pile of top-grade spirit stones and placing them around the Endstone Plate.
Then, he activated the exchange function of the Tianxuan Mini-Mirror.
A beam of dim light shot out from the mirror’s surface, first illuminating the spirit stones.
“Would you like to exchange?” The Tianxuan Mirror’s prompt appeared.
After Meng Wushi confirmed, the spirit stones instantly vanished.
Then, Meng Wushi placed the Endstone Plate within the range of the dim light.
However, this time…
The Tianxuan Mirror showed no reaction at all.
It was as if it could not even perceive the existence of the disk!
“Clearly, this was born from the Tianxuan Mirror, yet its only function upon maturity is to counteract the mirror itself. What a rebellious creation!” Fang Zaiji remarked, though his eyes gleamed with admiration.
“So far, we have only tested it with the Tianxuan Mini-Mirror. We are uncertain whether it will still maintain its shielding effect when facing the regional Tianxuan Sub-Mirrors or even the Tianxuan Mirror’s true body,” Liu San added cautiously.
Li Fan took the disk into his palm and examined it carefully. He found it remarkably similar to the Calamity Stone created by the Heaven-Suppressing Society in his previous life.
“How many Endstone can be cut from this Endstone Plate?” This was a critical question. If only a limited number could be produced, they would have to be reserved for key figures. But if it could be endlessly replicated…
In response to Li Fan’s question, Fang Zaiji gave a precise answer:
“From what we have observed so far, the Endstone Plate does not appear to diminish when we cut pieces from it. However, this might be because we have only cut a small number so far. We need further testing to confirm.”
Li Fan nodded, handing over more than a hundred Sword Embryo Primal Stones to him. Then, he instructed Liu San:
“You can work through Jiao Xiuyuan to acquire treasures that condense and embody the principles of Heaven and Earth. With the contribution points we have accumulated over the years, we should be able to sustain the Endstone Plate’s production for a while. The more, the better. This will be of great use to us in the future…”
As if validating Li Fan’s words, a line of golden text suddenly appeared on the Tianxuan Mini-Mirror in front of them:
“Due to special circumstances, the functions of the Tianxuan Mirror are temporarily unavailable. Please try again later. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
Liu San and the others were stunned.
They knew very well that the Tianxuan Mirror was a supreme immortal artifact. And now, it was experiencing a malfunction…
Unconsciously, all eyes turned toward Li Fan.
“The final transformation of the Tianxuan Mirror… is it finally happening?”
A sharp light flashed in Li Fan’s gaze.
Suddenly, a sense of danger surged within his heart.