My Longevity Simulation Chapter 1134: Following the Soul Transformation
Previously on My Longevity Simulation...
A member of the You Clan, looking rather youthful, shook while detailing matters to Li Fan, from time to time raising his eyes to read Li Fan's face.
Yet how was a rough sort like him able to interpret the look on the Heavenly Mandate Holy Emperor's visage?
His fear mounting inside, he shared every finding from recent times: "Holy Emperor, kindly judge the facts. Since yielding to you, this humble servant has held no rebellious ideas. But calling upon the Darkness feels as natural as drawing breath. Thus, over this stretch, as I offered devotions to you, Holy Emperor, I couldn't avoid instinctively turning to the Dark as well."
"The Dark... answered my call, same as always..."
Right then, all the over ten You Clan members in the hidden room dropped to their knees in sheer panic.
Clearly, this same event had befallen each of them.
With a soft gesture from his hand, Li Fan raised them back up.
Truth be told, Li Fan in this existence paid scant heed to these You Clan folks worshiping dual lords.
To him, they served only as instruments for his short probe into the "power of faith" prior to triggering .
The moment he promptly launched ., the entire Xuanhuang Realm faced total obliteration.
These You Clan people included.
His real curiosity lay in why the "Darkness" permitted this double-dealing from its devotees.
Should a devotee of the Faceless True Immortal try splitting loyalty, the True Immortal's might would have ripped them apart ages ago.
"Perhaps the force ruling the Dark holds such lofty disdain that it endures this from even its own adherents."
"Or perhaps..."
A sudden tide of realization crashed through Li Fan's mind: "It harbors hidden schemes. It aims to exploit its followers' disloyalty to corrupt beings on par with itself."
This insight made Li Fan instantly alert.
He'd long preferred assuming the worst malice from the mighty beings of this realm.
He scrutinized closely the threads of that scarlet force inside him, sparse yet immensely powerful.
But after thorough checks, he spotted no ties to the Dark's energy.
"Am I reading too much into it?"
After a short spell of thought, Li Fan settled on his course.
He refused to let any uncertainties disrupt the process in this lifetime.
To start, he spoke words of approval to these You Clan members for their honesty.
Once out of the buried hidden room, though, Li Fan directed Wang Xuanba to send them into endless repose.
No mere figure of speech, but genuine, deep unconsciousness.
Li Fan didn't wish to soil himself more with this tainted faith power, nor did he want outright killing the You Clan to possibly alert the Dark's overlord.
So he opted to render them as animated cadavers instead.
"Looks like I must devise a fix for the You Clan's reproduction woes. Building a faithful base begins with fresh blood."
Wang Xuanba finished the job quickly and came back to update Li Fan.
Through years of steadily consuming and merging strange beast materials, alongside training the upgraded Creation Furnace Technique, Wang Xuanba had shifted from his former three-zhang colossal build to ordinary human proportions.
He just seemed a bit sturdy and imposing.
With powers from countless strange beasts melded into his frame, coupled with a horrifyingly swift bodily recovery rate, not even Sun Erlang at peak Golden Core could best Wang Xuanba in a fight to the death.
"Xuanba, during your latest training, have you run into any puzzles or uncertainties?" Li Fan inquired.
This was both to clear Wang Xuanba's confusions and to gauge his bodily state, aiming to refine the Creation Furnace Technique further.
"Master, my frame has surely grown tougher of late. Each instant brings a surge of boundless vigor. However..."
Wang Xuanba gathered his ideas, rubbing his scalp. "I've come to sense two odd things. One is a vague threat, like some predator lurks amid heaven and earth. It hits hardest when crossing the Xuanhuang Realm."
"The other involves faint murmurs at times. I can't catch their words clearly, yet they stir a warm, known sensation."
Upon hearing this, Li Fan replied steadily, "Your form may mimic a forge now, but your spirit remains unchanged. Lingering impulses from the strange beasts you've absorbed still echo in your mind. Halt your practice for the moment and prioritize recovery."
Li Fan well understood the cause of Wang Xuanba's strange state but chose not to explain.
He merely bade him to rest still in the Great Xuan Small World.
As the accumulation neared completion, Li Fan sought to purge every shaky element.
Hence, by his command, Great Xuan's expansion into further domains paused.
They termed it "repose and regrouping against foes."
The realm's folk and troops lauded the Heavenly Mandate Holy Emperor's vast mercy, and days flew by.
By Anchor Year 8's close, Li Fan eyed the filled progress gauge and firmly stood from the Heavenly Mandate Holy Emperor's seat.
Stealthily, without notice to others, he slipped into a subsurface vault.
He roused the dormant You Clan figure and unsealed the gateway to the Dark Realm.
Far within the Dark Sea.
Li Fan invoked the Truth panel.
[You can choose one of the following options to retain:
An item you held during this simulation.,
Your cultivation realm from this simulation.,
The simulation memory of one person closely related to you. This memory can be inherited by that person.,
Forfeit the above choices to accelerate the recharge progress.],
…
Eight years the pulsing glow had lingered.
"Inherit cultivation."
Li Fan murmured inwardly, his guard at maximum.
In that instant, silver filaments wove across the firmaments of Great Xuan, Great Li Realm, Beast Realm, and the subjugated minor worlds, weaving a colossal web that shrouded every soul.
Scarce few in the snare detected the looming fatal peril; some merely gazed skyward in curiosity.
Just the cultivators, the "mighty," sensed a dim disquiet within.
In the ever-stagnant Dark Sea, a hidden ripple abruptly swelled.
A gale-force tremor slammed into Li Fan, whipping up a fierce gale about him.
Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul…
Cataclysmic shifts exploded inside Li Fan's form.
Li Fan watched his hazy Foundation shift in a flash to a Golden Core.
Next, amid a blast that swallowed every gleam, it advanced to a Five Elements Cave-Heaven.
In a blink, the Cave-Heaven underwent a metamorphosis spanning eons.
The splendor of the Five Elements, an awe-inspiring display.
Then, lines between the Five Elements faded.
Myriad shifts cascaded in the Cave-Heaven, too swift to track.
"The Xuanhuang World Destruction Transformation."
The Five Elements merged as one, all alterations in the fresh Cave-Heaven reacting to a realm-razing peril absent here.
In the primal wood-natured Cave-Heaven, foliage rained from the immense tree, baring its limbs.
Its shape slowly hardened, akin to gold and steel.