This method of concealment, where secrets were revealed only to those aware of an object's special nature, was characteristic of Sun Piaomiao's relics. The statue before Li Buren, similar in style to the relics Sun Piaomiao left on the Profound Immortal Ark, reminded him of this.
"Sun Piaomiao's relics almost always have unique uses. The humanoid puppet doubled True Return's energy absorption rate. The three-pronged tree granted an extra simulation opportunity. And the bronze crane, upon destruction, revealed a cryptic message."
"Heavenly Net Era, 213. Beginning with Shang Zhang Da Yuanxian, creating disastrous conjunctions, ending with Yong Chi Fenruo, castrating Mao Xuanhei…"
Thinking this, Li Buren approached the humanoid statue. The objects that had materialized in the hall seemed related to the testing ground's experiments. While granted viewing access, they weren't in the same spacetime as Li Buren. He could observe them, but not interact with them.
Only this humanoid statue, due to the connection between Li Fan and Sun Piaomiao's other relics, allowed Li Buren a faint sense of touch, as if dipping his finger into cold mist rather than solid material.
Even this vague sensation evoked the familiar, inexplicable feeling he experienced with Sun Piaomiao's relics. "If my main body were here, he could absorb this directly with True Return, bypassing the restrictions. Unfortunately, this place seems designed to capture True Return. Until its secrets are fully understood, my main body won't risk entering."
He had to find another way. Although he had established a connection with the statue, he couldn't proceed further. No form of energy or consciousness could affect this quasi-real statue.
After countless failed attempts, Li Buren recalled Sun Piaomiao and the cryptic message.
"Heavenly Net Era, 213…"
Hummm!
As he repeated the phrase, the humanoid statue whirred to life like an ancient machine restarting. It solidified, and its hanging arms slowly rose to its chest. Its right hand extended, pointing to the center of the circular wall.
The myriad square spaces displaying the Star Seas on the cylindrical wall changed dramatically. The circular wall flickered rapidly, like pages turning or a video rewinding. Star Seas that had been extinguished returned to life. Flickering squares stabilized. The few remaining life-filled regions brightened, their faint glows turning into brilliant starlight.
Unknowingly, Li Buren was surrounded by a vast, vibrant Star Sea. The entire Star Sea monitored by the testing ground seemed to have reverted to a time before the Dao Obliteration Calamity. The images of the Star Seas jumped and shifted before abruptly stopping. After a pause, they resumed playing normally.
The images changed too quickly for even Li Buren's powerful divine sense to fully decipher. However, he quickly realized it was a recording being replayed.
"It hasn't reversed time, returning to before the calamity. It's using the statue to access the testing ground's recorded surveillance data."
"Heavenly Net Era, 213…"
"Then the rest of the message must be…" Li Buren silently recited, "Beginning with Shang Zhang Da Yuanxian, creating disastrous conjunctions."
The statue responded to the command. Its left hand rose, not pointing, but mimicking the motion of drawing the Great Void's circle, delineating an area within the replaying images.
Li Buren saw that not only was a portion of the Heavenly Net Era 213 recording removed, but also ninety percent of the square Star Seas on the circular wall vanished. The vibrant Star Sea dimmed considerably.
Li Buren continued, reciting the final part of the message: "Ending with Yong Chi Fenruo, castrating Mao Xuanhei."
The replayed recording's timeframe shrunk further. Originally, the Heavenly Net Era 213 recording showed roughly a thousand years in Xuanhuang World time. Now, after two commands, it was reduced to about fifty years.
Again, it wasn't just a temporal restriction. The statue gestured, dividing the starry sky. This time, only three square spaces remained brightly lit, magnified to occupy the entire circular wall. The events within these three Star Seas during this period replayed rapidly.
Li Buren instantly recognized one of them: the Dark Star Sea, home to the Xuanhuang World!
His consciousness probed the recorded images. This time, there was no resistance. Like traveling through a real Star Sea, he quickly located the Xuanhuang World.
"No Ten Immortal Sects."
"No Profound Heaven Sect."
"Desolate God Sect, Samsara Sect, Divinewood Sect. This is a distant era in the Immortal Realm, with no sign of the impending calamity. Cultivation sects could still contact the Immortal Realm."
Fifty years was too long for Li Buren to scrutinize every detail. He focused on unusual events.
"The Desolate God Sect's ability to summon Desolate Gods peaked in the fifth year, with twelve different Desolate Gods appearing simultaneously, suppressing all dissent. They were at their zenith in the Xuanhuang World. However, in the forty-third year, one Desolate God suddenly lost contact with the sect. This was unprecedented in their history."
"Although they reconnected with a new Desolate God eight years later, the incident worried the sect's leader and elders."
"Compared to the Desolate God Sect, the Samsara Sect was much more low-key. They didn't establish a grand cycle of reincarnation in the Xuanhuang World, but focused on individual, smaller cycles. With their Undying Reincarnation Body, they could repeatedly reincarnate and be reborn. Although cultivation was lost with each cycle, crucial memories were retained."
"Their goal wasn't ascension to immortality, but…" Li Buren narrowed his eyes.
The recorded images on the circular wall contained almost everything that had happened. Through some unknown method, even events within sealed chambers and formations were accessible to Li Buren's divine sense. He could even clearly hear some divine sense transmissions. However, not everything was recorded. When Xuanhuang sects contacted the Immortal Realm, the images distorted. The recordings also failed in certain mysterious areas, becoming blurry or completely blank.
The Samsara Sect leader seemed to sense this omnipresent surveillance. Whenever he imparted the sect's secret techniques to his direct disciple, he would perform rituals and connect to the Upper Realm, interrupting the recording.
"This Samsara Sect leader is called Jiang Lianshi."
"I don't recognize his direct disciple, Chu Zhiyi. However, one of Chu Zhiyi's disciples looks familiar."
This disciple, Zhang Ruyu, was only a child, but his features resembled Zhang Qianmo's.
"The Samsara Sect."
Although the ultimate goal of their cultivation remained unknown due to the recording interruptions, Jiang Lianshi's actions were suspicious. Besides using his connection to the Immortal Realm to evade surveillance, he often meditated in a tall pavilion.
On the top floor, there was a single hall containing tens of thousands of Jiang Lianshi's self-portraits, each depicting him in a different pose, expression, and attire. Besides painting, Jiang Lianshi spent his time in the pavilion facing these portraits.
The entire process showed no spiritual power fluctuations. However, as a later observer, Li Buren sensed something strange about this peculiar cultivation method. He even occasionally felt that the portraits were coming to life.
Within the fifty years, Jiang Lianshi didn't achieve any breakthroughs, and the Samsara Sect remained quiet and inconspicuous. Their only notable action was when a Divinewood Sect elder came seeking to borrow their treasure, the "Myriad Years in a Glance Pearl."
According to the elder, the pearl could accelerate the growth of the Divinewood Sect's sacred trees without side effects. He offered anything in exchange, but Jiang Lianshi refused. Despite repeated pleas, the answer remained the same. Enraged, the elder tried to steal the pearl but was stopped by Jiang Lianshi, who pointed a finger at his forehead.
The sixty-year-old elder regressed to infancy, losing his cultivation and even his sanity. Jiang Lianshi spared his life, sending him back to the Divinewood Sect with a talisman he had drawn: a seemingly ordinary yellow paper with a crudely drawn eye.
The Divinewood Sect apologized and expressed gratitude, offering a gift of equal value. Jiang Lianshi declined and ordered his disciples to minimize contact with the Divinewood Sect.
…
"Jiang Lianshi's cultivation…" Having observed him for fifty years, even with his current insight, Li Buren couldn't fully grasp it. On the surface, he seemed to be at the Dao Integration realm. However, the finger that reversed time spoke volumes.
Considering the Samsara Sect's reincarnation cultivation, Jiang Lianshi's true age was unknown. The tens of thousands of self-portraits in the pavilion reminded Li Buren of "possibilities."
"Could it be that the Samsara Sect's secret involves other versions of oneself from different possibilities? Not crossing over, but establishing a connection?"
Li Buren grew more curious about Jiang Lianshi's fate. However, the recording was limited to these fifty years.
Besides the events within the powerful sects, another incident in the ancient Xuanhuang World caught Li Buren's attention. In the thirtieth year, a True Immortal seemingly descended into the mortal realm in the southeastern corner of the Xuanhuang World. The details of the distorted images were unclear.
This True Immortal wasn't alone. Someone in the Xuanhuang World was assisting him, seemingly an ordinary mortal who had lived as a farmer for thirty years. He suddenly left his family, went into the mountains, and performed a summoning ritual. He then returned home as if nothing had happened and died half a year later.
The summoned True Immortal seemed to have escaped surveillance, vanishing without a trace. What intrigued Li Buren was that the farmer's village was very close to the Fishing Pond. However, the Fishing Pond didn't appear in the recording.
So he couldn't determine if the Fishing Immortal was involved.
"The Medicine King Sect and Sun Piaomiao don't exist in this timeframe."
"What was he trying to reveal with the message in the bronze crane? Or did even he not fully understand, only managing to narrow down the timeframe?"
Li Buren's attention shifted from the Xuanhuang World to the Star Sea beyond. The ancient cultivation world was indeed different from the present, vibrant with life and frequent celestial phenomena.
Li Buren finally understood why even True Immortals avoided these phenomena.
"If my senses are correct, these phenomena interfere with the connection between True Immortals and the Infinite Sea."
"Without their infinite power, even True Immortals might not survive these unpredictable events."
Within the fifty years, seven such phenomena occurred in the Dark Star Sea. The blurry recordings depicted these magnificent yet dangerous events. Li Buren's divine sense explored the Dark Star Sea during this period, noting every anomaly within the cultivation worlds.
"Indeed, the Xuanhuang World is unique."
"Not to mention, its ability to contact the Immortal Realm is something no ordinary cultivation world can achieve."
"And…" Li Buren sensed that the beings in other cultivation worlds possessed far less "spirituality" compared to those in the Xuanhuang World.
(End of chapter)