"Time has changed everything. The Xuanyuan Village of the past is no more."
"Even the [Manifestation] character inscription on Legacy Transmission didn't offer any clues…"
"Perhaps to find the Profound Heaven King, I need to start with his childhood sweetheart."
Countless points of light flickered within Li Fan's sea of consciousness. Within each point, images flashed rapidly, like a miniature Star Sea, simulating countless possible futures.
Yet, this massive deduction didn't hinder his thoughts in the slightest. This was the benefit of upgrading his Dao Transformation Stone.
His computational power seemed limitless. Even simultaneously deducing the evolution of all his past techniques into immortal methods, predicting the future of this life, and analyzing the events within the dream paradise, Li Fan still felt at ease.
He even felt a strange sense of frustration, like a powerful warrior with no battles to fight.
He had tested himself using the Taiyan Sect's "Calamity Reversal" – a small game of transforming chaos into order, disorder into structure.
It was thousands of times more complex than the forty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine pages left by Yi Yin in his tomb.
Yet, Li Fan solved it effortlessly in an instant.
With the computational power of a Dao Transformation Stone Mother, such combinatorial problems, no matter how complex, couldn't stop him.
…
While pondering, Li Fan said to Chen Tianhai, "Hasn't the Taiyan Sect always wanted to see the world beyond the wall? I can create independent bodies for those who wish to explore it."
Chen Tianhai's interest was piqued.
"Exposure to the greater number of variables beyond the wall might also stimulate the Dao Transformation Stone Mother's latent power, perhaps even awakening the consciousness within," Li Fan added, solidifying Chen Tianhai's resolve.
The hidden consciousness within the Dao Transformation Stone Mother had initially gone unnoticed, even by the entire Taiyan Sect. Only after Li Fan pointed it out did they, merged with the Stone Mother, perceive its presence.
Due to their connection with the Stone Mother, they believed this consciousness was benevolent, merely dormant for unknown reasons. Communicating with it might reveal the Stone Mother's origins and even trigger its further evolution.
Li Fan's offer was irresistible.
Chen Tianhai observed the images from beyond the wall, relayed through the dream paradise.
To obtain accurate information, Li Fan had altered the dream generation process beyond the wall, basing it entirely on the real environment, eliminating fabrication and falsehood.
After numerous iterations, the dream paradise was no longer Blissful Ignorance's or even Li Fan's creation, but a collective manifestation of the countless consciousnesses within.
Now, this behemoth had reached beyond the wall, slowly exploring.
The Dark Star Sea within the wall was only a small part of the Obliteration Zone.
The rest had been erased by the Dao Obliteration Calamity, the very concept of "existence" annihilated. The dream's tendrils, extending beyond the wall through narrow passages, encountered only desolation.
Looking back towards the Dark Star Sea, they found nothing, even though a part of them remained connected to the world within the wall. It was as if a part of their body had vanished.
Li Fan directed some of the dream's tendrils to explore the outer regions of the Obliteration Zone, while others attempted to return to the Dark Star Sea.
Unable to perceive the wall, they could only trace their connection back to its vicinity.
But they couldn't enter or even detect the wall itself. Only Li Fan, connected to both sides through his divine sense that traversed the dream and the wall, could return.
"The wall's concealment and profound nature are far greater from the outside."
Li Fan didn't give up.
Countless dream tendrils, spreading like vines along the initial breach, covered the wall.
Though unable to pinpoint its exact location, with countless beings within the dream paradise working together, aided by the Dao Transformation Stone Mother, Li Fan was confident he could eventually unravel its secrets.
He also projected a thread of his divine sense beyond the wall through the dream paradise.
Unsure of what he might encounter, he proceeded cautiously.
Fortunately, there were no complications. As a Half-Immortal, his perception of the wall differed from that of the dream's inhabitants.
Where the dream's tendrils found nothing, Li Fan faintly perceived a dark, sharp protrusion, like a narrow cone or a single line, piercing through space.
It seemed to be both supporting and connecting something.
"Is this the wall?"
Li Fan observed silently, an inexplicable feeling washing over him.
He looked around. This small area near the wall was all that remained after the Dao Obliteration Calamity. Beyond it, existence itself ceased.
He could almost see the calamity's devastation, the collapse of the Dao.
Vast swathes of the Star Sea blinked out of existence.
Darkness consumed everything.
Only the wall remained, protecting this small area.
And after millennia, it still stood, maintaining "existence."
"If the wall collapses…"
Li Fan deduced that even without the Dao Obliteration Calamity's return, the possibility of this area would slowly dissipate, following the fate of the surrounding regions, vanishing into oblivion.
Observing the calamity's remnants, Li Fan gained a clearer understanding of this terrifying force that destroyed the Immortal Realm and even the entirety of all possibilities.
"It wasn't a continuous assault."
"But rather waves, intermittent attacks."
"The Immortal Realm, being at a higher level, was the first to be affected."
"Perhaps the Immortal Realm initially withstood the onslaught. But eventually, an overwhelming wave, catching them off guard, consumed it entirely."
"With the Immortal Realm's collapse, the calamity spread downwards."
"After the great wave, it seemed to gather strength. The Dao Obliteration Calamity receded, allowing the lower Star Sea, weaker than the Immortal Realm, to partially survive."
…
With his enhanced computational power, Li Fan's ability to deduce and extrapolate increased dramatically. Based on the available clues, even the remnants within the Obliteration Zone could reveal possible truths.
He glimpsed the Dao Obliteration Calamity's pattern.
If his deductions were correct, the complete destruction of the possibility he inhabited was imminent.
"For the Dao Obliteration Calamity, ten thousand years is neither long nor short."
"Perhaps the black qi emanating from the collapse of higher possibilities is a sign of its approach."
"Like ripples spreading across water, only visible after something falls in."
"The manifestation of black qi indicates the rising tide, the encroaching water."
Lost in thought, Li Fan felt a sudden surge of fear. Even True Return seemed affected by this invisible pressure.
He couldn't survive the black qi, let alone the true Dao Obliteration Calamity.
"Perhaps the power of the Heavenly Soul, Ink Kill, can offer some protection."
Li Fan didn't know what had happened in the Xuanhuang World, this testing ground of the immortals. It was as if overnight, everyone involved had either vanished or died, leaving behind only ruins.
"The wall might be a protective measure created during the testing ground's construction."
"But though it activated during the Dao Obliteration Calamity, everyone involved disappeared."
"Leaving only us, the test subjects, filled with questions."
Li Fan glanced at the wall one last time, then withdrew his divine sense.
With his guidance, the dream tendrils, now able to follow a path, spread along the wall.
Despite seeing the wall and deducing its possible origins, Li Fan still knew little about its underlying principles or how to overcome it.
Only time and further analysis would reveal its secrets.
"Immortal Realm testing ground."
"Celestial Realm chess piece."
The images he saw within the Celestial Realm chess piece surfaced in his mind.
Black and white pieces on a board.
The victor remained, the loser was removed.
The Celestial Realm chess piece left by Sun Piaomiao was among the defeated.
Yet, even it contained something as powerful as a Southern Heavenly Pillar.
It was hard to imagine the power contained within the victorious pieces.
"More importantly…"
"Could the Xuanhuang World be the only testing ground of the Immortal Realm?" This question suddenly struck Li Fan.
From the glimpses he had seen, the Immortal Realm was boundless, truly infinite.
Countless Celestial Realms existed.
Even Sun Piaomiao, a non-mainstream power within the Immortal Realm, had numerous backup plans. It was unlikely that the vast Immortal Realm would only have a single plan of action.
"My perspective was too narrow."
"Even having reached the Half-Immortal Realm, lacking the refinement of immortal spiritual energy, my thinking was still limited compared to a True Immortal."
"But with the Dao Transformation Stone Mother, it's as if I've been enlightened. My thoughts are finally expanding."
"There might be more than one testing ground within the lower Star Sea."
"This makes the abandonment of the Xuanhuang World more understandable."
Due to the Dao Obliteration Calamity, most realms had been annihilated, leaving only remnants clinging to existence within the Obliteration Zone, like small sandbars in a river.
"Even the vibrant areas beyond the wall are probably just larger islands."
"The vast starry sky, obscured by countless Obliteration Zones, makes it easy to believe one's own world is the only one."
"But with the Dao Transformation Stone Mother, I can see the bigger picture…"
The complete image of the possibility he inhabited finally formed within Li Fan's mind.
It was truly vast, the Dark Star Sea merely an insignificant speck.
However, most of this image flickered uncertainly due to insufficient data. He couldn't confirm their existence.
Only the Dark Star Sea within the wall, where he resided, shone brightly.
"The starry sky of all possibilities shines because of my existence."
"I'll call the possibility I inhabit the Primordial Possibility."
Li Fan decided. He would eventually be able to traverse to other possibilities. Establishing his own position now wouldn't hurt.
However, his current priority was contacting the civilization within the Obliteration Zone.
Even with the inhabitants of the Xuanhuang World as a base, the dream tendrils' expansion was too slow.
He had enacted laws promoting reproduction ten years ago, but population growth was limited.
"I can't rely on that in the short term. I'll have to find another way."
Sensing the vast untapped computational power within his sea of consciousness, an idea formed.
He had considered it while observing the [Era] device within the Divine Repository of Wonders.
The countless worlds simulated by the Dao Transformation Stone were incredibly realistic.
If the Dao Transformation Stone itself continued to be enhanced, these simulated worlds would eventually become indistinguishable from reality.
"Perhaps it's because the Stone Mother is the manifestation of all Daos within a possibility that this idea occurred to me."
"All the worlds that appeared within the Stone Mother are theoretically possible and real."
"Like pre-made molds, ready to be filled and produce tangible objects."
"If my understanding of the Transformations of Truth and Falsehood deepens, I won't need to create worlds myself. I can simply use the possibilities simulated by the Stone Mother, transforming them from falsehood into truth, saving considerable effort."
Li Fan's eyes gleamed. "But I only need raw materials for the dream paradise. They don't need to exist in the real world."
With a thought, within his Dao Transformation Stone, another Xuanhuang World began to form.
(End of Chapter)