The "Enlightenment Points" within the dream paradise were essentially Dao comprehension gained by Legacy Transmitter Jiang through his "The Great Dao As I Am" characteristic.
Despite being separated by only a wall, Legacy Transmitter Jiang's comprehension efficiency hadn't changed. What had changed was the environment itself. Simply put, cultivation beyond the wall was far easier.
Just as Li Fan suspected, even ordinary cultivators who embarked on the path of cultivation beyond the wall could be considered geniuses!
And this was only the beginning.
Li Fan sensed that after contacting the environment beyond the wall, Legacy Transmitter Jiang's comprehension efficiency within the Heaven Connecting Formation was steadily increasing.
His prolonged communion with the Dao was finally nourishing him in return.
Sharing his insights, Li Fan saw the path to the heavens he was gazing at shift from gray to a vibrant spectrum of colors.
"So this is the difference between the so-called Dao Obliteration Zone and a normal environment?" This magnificent sight momentarily captivated Li Fan.
"The world beyond the wall is both beautiful and terrifying, both alluring and repellent."
A voice interrupted Li Fan's reverie. He turned to see a blue figure beside him.
It was Chen Tianhai of the Taiyan Sect!
"I sense the demonic voice's influence intensifying. Past memories are becoming clearer. Even though I've seen Legacy Transmission Celestial Venerable suppressed, even though I know those memories are fabricated…"
"That glimpse from the past still haunts me like a nightmare." Chen Tianhai's form flickered uncontrollably.
Li Fan didn't respond, instead silently reciting the chanting demonic voice in his mind.
An unseen force seemed to pierce through the dream paradise, connecting him to the world beyond the wall.
The mysterious melody became clearer.
Li Fan's heart pounded. As a countermeasure, he recited the protective immortal scripture from the Grand Magus.
"Dao arises, passed down from ancient times. Sorrow and hardship, the Dao extinguished."
…
The combined recitation weakened the demonic voice's influence. But compared to within the wall, the protective scripture's neutralizing effect was significantly diminished.
It could no longer fully counter the insidious demonic voice.
"Xuanyuan Hong…" A strange expression crossed Li Fan's face.
Legacy Transmission Celestial Venerable had survived his near-death experience by using the whispering voice, a seemingly innate ability of the Xuanyuan Clan, to alter Chen Tianhai's memories, even though they had only met briefly.
Using the Dao Transformation Stone Mother's deductions, he found a way to kill the Eternal Life cultivators of the Ten Immortal Dao Sects.
Though Legacy Transmission was now suppressed, the imprint of the whispering voice on Chen Tianhai remained.
As he reached the world beyond the wall through the dream paradise, its influence resurfaced. Even transformed into information and merged with the Dao Transformation Stone Mother, he couldn't escape it.
"Partly, it's because the Dao is more distinct here. The Profound Melody, using sound to depict the Dao, is naturally amplified. Writing True Immortal inscriptions would likely experience a similar enhancement."
"But there's more to it than that."
"The amplification is excessive. The Protective Immortal Scripture, also using the Dao of sound, isn't affected to this degree…"
The faint whispers continued intermittently.
Li Fan could only attribute it to the missing Profound Heaven King.
Five years ago, when Li Fan visited the Taiyan Sect and met Chen Tianhai, he immediately revealed the truth about the demonic voice's influence.
Initially, Chen Tianhai refused to believe his memories were fabricated. Only after Li Fan imparted the Protective Immortal Scripture, neutralizing the tampering, did the truth, like a thunderbolt, strike him speechless.
"It's not your weakness. How can a mortal withstand immortal methods?"
Li Fan's words finally freed Chen Tianhai from his torment.
Li Fan's visit to the Taiyan Sect was, of course, for the Dao Transformation Stone Mother.
After freeing Chen Tianhai from his millennia-long nightmare, he used a combination of threats and promises to bring the Taiyan Sect under his control.
The Dao Transformation Stone Mother now resided within Li Fan's sea of consciousness.
However, after some study, he decided against merging it with his own High-Grade Dao Transformation Stone.
After the entire Taiyan Sect merged their consciousness with the Dao Transformation Stone Mother, their thoughts became inseparable from it, forming its core characteristics.
Li Fan wasn't confident he could erase these thoughts without damaging the Stone Mother.
Directly devouring it was also risky…
The Stone Mother was far stronger than a High-Grade Dao Transformation Stone.
The Taiyan Sect's thoughts within it might taint Li Fan's own Dao Transformation Stone.
While he could purge these thoughts later, a peculiar consciousness slumbered deep within the Stone Mother, one that even a Half-Immortal found troublesome.
Moreover, with the Transformations of Truth and Falsehood, Li Fan no longer needed to crudely devour things to enhance his power.
Within his sea of consciousness, countless threads extended from the void, analyzing and comprehending the Dao Transformation Stone Mother's essence.
Deep within his sea of consciousness, isolated from the rest, another identical crystal floated, shimmering like mist.
This was the Dao Transformation Stone Mother Li Fan had "replicated" using the Transformations of Truth and Falsehood.
Having successfully replicated the Primordial Essence of Time, his own cultivation, and even the Azure Underworld Pearl, he had assumed replicating the Dao Transformation Stone Mother would be easy.
But he was wrong. It was far more difficult, even dozens of times more so than the Azure Underworld Pearl.
He had only needed a threefold increase in cultivation to replicate the pearl, albeit with some effort.
But brute force seemed ineffective against the Dao Transformation Stone Mother.
After several failures, Li Fan realized it wasn't a lack of power but a lack of understanding. He hadn't reached the minimum level of comprehension required for replication.
This was a first for him. Previously, using the Transformations of Truth and Falsehood hadn't required such deep understanding.
But after careful reflection and difficult communication with True Return, he finally understood.
Simply put, he could replicate anything he could fully comprehend at a glance.
This principle applied to the Dao Transformation Stone Mother as well.
His failures were because he couldn't fully "see" it.
That was why he kept it within his sea of consciousness, constantly observing it.
He had isolated it within a separate region to prevent it from accessing his memories.
And the members of the Taiyan Sect could still emerge from this region and enter reality.
Now, having successfully replicated the Dao Transformation Stone Mother and enhanced his own Dao Transformation Stone through repeated layering, Li Fan could fully "see" it.
Through his interactions with the Stone Mother, he understood why, as a Half-Immortal, he couldn't initially grasp its complete form.
"Dao Transformation Stone Mother, Stone Mother of Dao Transformation."
With a thought, the phantom Stone Mother he created transformed into a halo, merging with his Dao Transformation Stone.
Using the modified Dao Transformation Divine Technique, he rapidly absorbed its pure energy.
The phantom Stone Mother, devoid of the Taiyan Sect's thoughts and even the hidden consciousness within the real Stone Mother, was pure essence, allowing for unrestricted absorption.
Though the Transformations of Truth and Falsehood only left a small residue each time, the Dao Transformation Stone Mother was so extraordinary that each replication doubled the quality of Li Fan's Dao Transformation Stone.
Within ten years, he had replicated and layered it nearly a hundred times.
His Dao Transformation Stone now almost rivaled the real Stone Mother.
This led him to a theory about the Stone Mother's true nature.
This otherworldly treasure might be a direct manifestation of the Dao!
Similar to the Primordial Dao Forms of the demonic beast race.
But while the Primordial Dao Forms represented a single Dao, the Dao Transformation Stone Mother…
Li Fan suspected it might be the embodiment of all Daos combined!
However, the possibility from which the Stone Mother originated was far weaker than the one Li Fan was familiar with.
Having endured the Dao Obliteration Calamity and traversed possibilities, the Stone Mother was significantly weakened.
Therefore, even as the embodiment of the complete Dao, its power was inferior to an ordinary Nameless True Immortal.
Of course, these were merely Li Fan's deductions based on his replication process.
The Stone Mother's remaining memories only showed it frantically escaping some calamity, arriving in the Xuanhuang World by chance and being discovered by the Taiyan Sect.
Li Fan suspected it had severed its connection to its past to evade the Dao Obliteration Calamity.
Though the Stone Mother had lost its memories, Li Fan sensed the ominous aura of the Dao Obliteration Calamity through its residual fear.
He was confident in his deductions. After all, what else could force the embodiment of the complete Dao to flee?
And the Stone Mother's "coincidental" arrival in the Xuanhuang World…
It reminded Li Fan of a scene from a True Immortal's memories.
"There must be something extraordinary about the Xuanhuang World that I haven't discovered yet."
"Something that draws these unique entities across time and even possibilities."
"Even my own traversal…"
The discovery that the Dao Transformation Stone Mother originated from another possibility made him question his own.
Though he didn't yearn for his previous life, what concerned him was whether True Return's awakening occurred within this body, making him an intruder, or within his original self.
His continuous exploration of the Transformations of Truth and Falsehood had subtly altered his perspective.
Previously, upon encountering treasures, he would feel a possessive urge, driven by greed or the desire for self-preservation.
But now, this desire to "possess" had faded.
He only sought to "analyze and understand."
With the Transformations of Truth and Falsehood, he could create infinite copies of any treasure.
The only thing he truly desired now…
Was True Return itself.
…
His thoughts were interrupted by the fusion of another phantom Dao Transformation Stone Mother.
Li Fan felt his mind become even sharper.
His attention returned to the mysterious demonic voice.
Following Li Fan's guidance and based on Legacy Transmission Celestial Venerable's memories, the Stone Mother, after countless deductions, reached a conclusion.
The persistent whispering voice was likely the work of the Profound Heaven King.
But not as a means of resurrection.
Rather, it was a natural consequence of his bloodline's connection to him after he entered an inconceivable realm.
One piece of evidence was the increasing influence of the demonic voice on the Xuanyuan Clan, reaching its peak with Xuanyuan Sheng.
Unable to bear it, Xuanyuan Sheng tried to sever the connection, but it still manifested in Xuanyuan Hong.
And beyond the wall, the voice intensified.
The Dao Transformation Stone Mother's theory seemed to be corroborated.
"The Profound Heaven King didn't die after his disappearance, but instead ascended to a higher level?"
This conjecture sparked Li Fan's imagination.
Since encountering Black Healer and Evil Su Bai, a thought had been brewing within him, but he couldn't grasp it.
Now, with the Stone Mother's theory, it finally took shape.
Black Healer and Evil Su Bai both originated from a unique possibility.
Could this possibility have also given rise to such a being, capable of traversing possibilities?
If so, the most likely candidate, based on Li Fan's knowledge of history, was the Profound Heaven King.
After all, being the last ascendant before the Immortal Realm's destruction was incredibly significant.
"Perhaps there are even more extraordinary individuals beyond the wall."
"But regardless, anyone capable of traversing the wall and time itself must be considered a threat."
The more powerful they were, the more likely they were to be aware of True Return's existence.
Li Fan had to be even more cautious in concealing himself.
"I wonder if the Profound Heaven King has any other living descendants in the Xuanhuang World?"
(End of Chapter)