My Longevity Simulation

Chapter 1306: Changes Between the Immortal and Mortal Realms

The primary task in this life was to achieve Dao Integration with the Celestial Spirit of the super Xuanhuang Realm.

Before reaching that goal, it would be best to avoid those two.

“The Sealing Soul, Substituting World technique is also mentioned in the Heavenly Doctor’s Mending Heaven Record.”

“A world is like a person. A person can be possessed, and so can a world.”

“However, to successfully replace a world, there are two prerequisites. First, the divine sense acting as the World Soul must be incomparably powerful. At the very least, it cannot be much weaker than the world’s Heavenly Dao origin consciousness. Otherwise, during the brief process of world substitution, the world itself will collapse from the inside out. It would be a catastrophe comparable to world destruction.”

Before Li Fan’s eyes flashed the transparent figure within Immortal Ancestor’s body, and his gaze shifted slightly.

“As for the second, the caster must achieve complete suppression of the world. The world consciousness must be forced into total slumber. If two consciousnesses exist simultaneously, it could very likely lead to the world splitting apart…”

“The Heavenly Doctor, Immortal Ancestor, and the five Heavenly Sovereigns of the Five Elders Association working together could indeed accomplish this.”

Combining the contents of Mending Heaven Record with the Heavenly Doctor’s textbook perfect practical example, a flash of inspiration suddenly crossed Li Fan’s mind.

“Sealing Soul Substituting World, Sealing Soul Substituting World…”

“Right now, the Heavenly Dao consciousness of the Great Xuan small world has only just been born. It is the perfect opportunity for me to use as a test.”

Li Fan raised his head, his eyes piercing through the earth and reaching directly into Great Xuan’s sky.

As if pierced by a sharp arrow, a seven colored vortex appeared in the heavenly dome. Among all living beings in Great Xuan, only Li Fan could perceive it.

And within that seven colored vortex, the sleeping world consciousness resembled an infant.

Fearing that any rough movement might disturb it, Li Fan extremely carefully separated a strand of divine sense, slipping inside and drawing near.

Then he devoted himself to sensing it.

In an instant, the winds and clouds of the Great Xuan world, the rising and falling tides, the blooming and withering flowers, all phenomena of the world appeared one by one before Li Fan’s eyes.

It was as if these changes were happening upon his own body.

As the connection deepened, beyond natural phenomena, the joy, anger, sorrow, fear, birth, aging, sickness, and death of Great Xuan’s living beings also began appearing within Li Fan’s mind.

Feeling everything as the Heavenly Dao.

For the overwhelming majority of cultivators, this would be an exceedingly rare opportunity. If they immersed themselves within it, quietly comprehending, understanding a heaven shaking divine ability would be no difficult matter.

Yet Li Fan deliberately withdrew from this state of enlightenment.

Maintaining a condition of half wakefulness and half Dao comprehension.

“Simulated Creation, Diverse Forms of Sentient Beings!”

With a movement of his mind, a half transparent figure of Li Fan immediately appeared within the starry vortex of Great Xuan’s heavenly dome.

He poured all the comprehension gained from Great Xuan’s Heavenly Dao into it.

The half transparent figure gradually transformed, as if returning to childhood, changing from the appearance of a middle aged man into a wailing infant newly born. Ɍα𐌽ΟBЁŞ

Yet the infant’s actions remained as seasoned as an adult’s.

Approaching the deeply sleeping Great Xuan Heavenly Dao consciousness, it rushed forward and fiercely covered it.

Replacing it entirely.

The Great Xuan small world instantly fell into violent upheaval.

The earth shook and mountains trembled. Scar like cracks spread across the sky from the central starry vortex.

“Final Dissociation Disc, deduce!”

Within Li Fan’s sea of consciousness, the Final Dissociation Disc temporarily halted its deductions regarding immortal formation downgrading and instead devoted its full power to calculating the compatibility of the Great Xuan simulated persona.

After the constant refinement of the Simulated Creation, Diverse Forms of Sentient Beings formation, the flickering transparent infant finally stabilized.

“Substitute the world!”

Deep underground, Li Fan gathered a golden needle in his hand.

Then he shot it toward the simulated Great Xuan Heavenly Dao in the sky.

Directly into the point between its brows.

The half transparent infant instinctively let out a faint cry. The first cry of heaven, the silent sound of the Great Dao. No one in the world could hear it, yet in an instant it spread throughout the entire Great Xuan small world.

From weak to strong, growing ever more piercing. Then finally becoming inaudible.

And within the crying of this simulated Great Xuan persona, the strange phenomena of the world slowly faded, returning to their original calm.

The wounds in the sky and the vortex healed, yet Li Fan could sense that the simulated persona had replaced the newly born Great Xuan Heavenly Dao.

Or rather, simulated heavenly nature would be a more accurate term.

The newly born Great Xuan Heavenly Dao consciousness had not been destroyed by Li Fan. It had merely been forcibly suppressed and sealed into slumber.

All of the Heavenly Dao consciousness’s gradual growth would be absorbed and synchronized into the simulated heavenly nature, ensuring the proper operation of Great Xuan’s Heavenly Dao.

Like nourishment used to cultivate and strengthen the simulated heavenly nature, once it became fully capable of handling the Great Xuan small world’s Heavenly Dao operations, it would completely devour the original Heavenly Dao consciousness that had remained asleep since birth.

Completing a true transformation.

Li Fan carefully sensed the operation of Great Xuan’s simulated heavenly nature.

The simulated heavenly nature was his creation, and all information it received could naturally also be sensed by him.

The current situation was as if a Heavenly Dao clone was constantly helping him comprehend the Dao.

Although it was only a small world’s Heavenly Dao, its advantage lay in being endless, accumulating little by little.

And moreover…

“This is my first attempt, so the method was somewhat crude. If the Final Dissociation Disc had not adjusted things in time, Great Xuan might have been destroyed by my own hand.” Li Fan looked toward the Great Xuan surface, where massive rifts had formed due to the upheaval, and slightly shook his head.

“But with this experience, performing Sealing Soul Substituting World on the other small worlds should go much more smoothly.”

Compared to the traditional world substitution method recorded in the Heavenly Doctor’s Mending Heaven Record, Li Fan’s improved version used simulated heavenly nature.

Originating from his insights into False Becomes True and Great Xuan’s ancient world protecting immortal formation Nine Star Red Bead, this simulation technique was likely something only Li Fan in the entire world could perform.

The simulated heavenly nature did not truly possess independent thought. It merely operated mechanically and obeyed its creator absolutely. This made it far easier to control.

More importantly, there were thousands of small worlds within the Xuanhuang Realm. With the original Sealing Soul Substituting World Technique, merely finding cultivator souls capable of matching the Heavenly Dao consciousnesses of all those worlds would already require immense effort. Now, Li Fan alone could solve the issue.

And no matter how many small worlds he controlled, there was no risk of losing control.

“Once all worlds return to Xuanhuang, the Heavenly Dao of the small worlds will also merge with Xuanhuang’s Heavenly Dao. Though their scale is not comparable, enough ants can still bite an elephant to death. And when combined with my other methods at that time…”

An exquisite and sinister plan was born in Li Fan’s heart in an instant.

“For now, my strength only allows me to create simulated heavenly nature at the scale of small worlds. Once I advance further, perhaps in the future I may even create a simulated Xuanhuang, or even a simulated star sea…”

As he gradually tasted the benefits of comprehending False Becomes True, Li Fan increasingly felt that this transformation between falsehood and reality, more than any specific cultivation method, was the true source of his fundamental power.

“It is just unfortunate that this Dao is far too profound. Even after a hundred reincarnations, I have only understood a small portion. And this False Becomes True Dao is limited to me, who possesses [Truth]. Others cannot even use it for reference.”

Li Fan also vaguely sensed that when it came to comprehending False Becomes True, the so called talent and comprehension spoken of in ordinary cultivation worlds were completely useless.

To dig deeper into its true mysteries, the most important thing was actually…

Fortuitous opportunity.

Or, to put it more plainly, it depended on the mood of [Truth].

In the previous life, after [Truth] came into contact with the so called new interference variable, Li Fan discovered that his comprehension of the transformation between False Becomes True had clearly become much easier.

Although his own talent and comprehension had not changed, it was as if the distance had become shorter, making it easier to touch upon it. Its profound mystery truly reached such a level.

“Narrating the Dao, projection...” Li Fan recalled the various remarks from the Holy Emperor’s preaching of Dao in the previous life, as well as various statements made by little girl Derivation Law Jade. His eyes narrowed as countless speculations surged through his mind.

...

The strange changes within the Great Xuan world did not have much impact on the living beings inside it. Very soon, people once again focused their attention on the [Holy Master] who continuously transmitted the Dao.

For five years, the Holy Master never ceased transmitting the Dao.

In the blink of an eye, it was already Anchor Year 8. The Dao Lecture Platform had expanded from its initial scale to a radius of five hundred li. Even so, people from across the world seeking the Dao and a master still arrived in an endless stream.

On this day, the Holy Master’s phantom held a horsetail whisk and gave it a gentle wave.

The Dao Lecture Platform, spanning a hundred li in radius, actually seemed to become the center of the world under the gaze of the masses. The surrounding mountains and plains, rivers and lakes, seas and streams, all revolved and flowed around the Dao Lecture Platform.

The countless living beings within the platform remained seated without moving, yet traveled a thousand li in a single day.

In less than half a day, the Dao Lecture Platform carried millions of disciples and became the center of the Great Xuan world.

At this moment, the highest step of the Dao Lecture Platform already represented the Great Perfection of the Golden Core realm.

Three people sat upon that platform, overlooking the Great Xuan masses below, who were growing ever farther away.

They were Sun Erlang, Wang Xuanba, and Yue Zhenwei.

Yue Zhenwei had risen from behind to catch up, enough to show his extraordinary talent.

All three were disciples under the Holy Master and addressed one another as fellow disciples.

“Senior Brother Sun, the upcoming Nascent Soul realm requires devouring heaven and earth Cave Heavens. It seems we will inevitably have to leave Great Xuan for a trip.” Even though the other party was far younger than himself, Yue Zhenwei still asked with great respect.

The Holy Master did not merely teach Dao techniques and profound principles. He also frequently mentioned general cultivation knowledge and specific intelligence regarding the cultivation world. Thus, Great Xuan cultivators were not entirely ignorant of the world beyond Great Xuan.

Sun Erlang did not put on airs. “Brother Yue, there is no need for such courtesy. You are older than me, I should be the one calling you senior brother.”

Without waiting for any response, Sun Erlang went straight to the main point.

“We are fellow disciples. The Xuanhuang main world is full of dangers. Since we are making this journey, we should naturally travel together and look after one another.”

“As the Holy Master’s first disciples, we have already learned the Cave Heaven locations marked for us by Master. But...”

Sun Erlang’s tone was proud, and a trace of confidence flashed in his eyes.

“Those are merely the most ordinary Cave Heavens. They are enough to barely achieve Nascent Soul, but if one has ambition and wishes to go further to glimpse the Soul Transformation realm, they are far from sufficient.”

“I intend to seek a Cave Heaven suited to myself.” Sun Erlang spoke firmly.

Yue Zhenwei’s face lit up with joy. “Senior Brother Sun, your thoughts perfectly align with mine.”

“In the territory of the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance, most Cave Heavens have already been divided up and monopolized by the Immortal Alliance and the great clans within it. On the contrary, the Five Elders Association offers greater opportunities. Especially the Carefree Paradise. It is said that the cultivators within are all immersed in dreams, while reality is basically left undefended...”

After discussing it together, the three reached a consensus.

They then bid farewell to the Holy Master, left Great Xuan, and headed toward the location of Carefree Paradise.

Li Fan’s phantom upon the Dao Lecture Platform cast a faint glance at them.

Yet the words of Dao transmission from his mouth never ceased.

This Dao Lecture Platform had now become the center of Great Xuan.

Over the past few years, under the manipulation of the simulated heavenly nature, the power of formations had flowed silently without pause. Like a gigantic refining vessel, it reflected and engraved every living being listening to the Dao within it into a silver white orb.

Its principle was based on the Xuanhuang Nine Star Red Pearl Li Fan had previously seen. Although it still could not fully record all information about living beings, it could already synchronously project all of their experiences into the silver white orb, recording and preserving them.

Like a gigantic eye, it stared tightly at the living beings within the Dao Lecture Platform. No matter how far they ran, they could not escape its surveillance.

This monitoring acted only upon the living beings themselves. Therefore, it could not be detected by external forces. It was not limited to their experiences in reality. Even their dreams and hallucinations could not escape its reflection.

“The mortal masses, once seen, cannot escape.”

“Teacher of heaven and earth, teacher of all living beings.”

The voice of the transmitting figure echoed throughout the Great Xuan small world, lingering endlessly.

...

Meanwhile.

Li Fan’s true body arrived alone at the small world where the You Clan had gathered.

He did not directly make a move to capture them, but instead hid in the shadows and observed their lives.

Highly regular, and very simple.

Eating, praying, martial training, reproduction, sleeping.

“The bloodline of the first Great Celestial Venerable. Even though the Xuantian Sect has long since perished, the shackles placed upon them have never changed.” Li Fan’s eyes revealed emotion.

Under the constant pursuit of the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance, the number of surviving You Clan members continued to decrease daily. Without outside intervention, they would likely ultimately be unable to escape extinction.

Li Fan’s appearance here this time was not to raise them in a flesh and blood factory as he had in the previous life. He had another plan.

Flesh and blood transformation could indeed provide a large number of You Clan members, allowing the acquisition of vast amounts of source power essence.

But Li Fan was even more curious about the reason for the birth of source power essence.

All were living beings of the Xuanhuang Realm, so why could the prayers of the You Clansmen generate source power essence, a force approaching immortal power, while the prayers of mortals, or even cultivators, could at most condense into forces such as fortune or faith?

What exactly was this so called Great Celestial Venerable bloodline?

In the previous life, Wang Xuanba had failed to refine this supposed special bloodline even from over ten thousand You Clan members. Li Fan then knew he had chosen the wrong method.

Since refinement would not work...

Then he would try ancestral reversion.

Li Fan split off a strand of divine sense and used the Immortal Ark Dao Pill technique to possess the body of the physically strongest man among the current group of You Clansmen.

After briefly adapting to the body and conducting an inspection, he found no abnormalities within it.

But this was within Li Fan’s expectations.

He simply used this You Clan body during daily prayers to perceive the generation and destination of source power essence.

An ordinary You Clansmen would certainly be unable to do this. Even if they could briefly call upon the power of darkness, it was only due to bloodline instinct and the inheritance of ten thousand years.

But Li Fan was different.

After living in the body of a You Clansmen for more than half a year, through over a hundred prayers and patient, meticulous observation, Li Fan finally detected the method by which the power of darkness was generated.

At a certain instant during prayer, part of the body and soul activated something within the body that resembled a formation.

Through its transformation, a metamorphosis was completed.

That trace vanished in an instant. After completing the transformation, it completely concealed itself within the flesh and blood of the You Clansmen. If Li Fan had not possessed a special sensitivity to this subtle energy, he likely would have missed it as well.

The trace that generated the golden source power essence was actually extremely similar to the sensation Li Fan experienced when using divine abilities related to False Becomes True.

"It is not the transformation between falsehood and truth. But it is a remnant of a power with extraordinarily similar fluctuations."

Having discovered this secret, Li Fan was deeply shaken.

Suppressing the shock in his heart, Li Fan conducted repeated verifications.

His intuition had not been wrong.

Within the bodies of the You Clansmen, the force that produced source power essence was indeed a trace of great power similar to the transformation between falsehood and truth of Return to True.

After the initial shock, Li Fan gradually calmed down.

His thoughts moved rapidly as he analyzed point by point.

"When the true becomes false, the false also becomes true. The reason [Truth] can return to [Truth], and no matter how events unfold, always bring me back to the anchored one year point, is because it involves..."

"The Dao of truth and falsehood."

"In the span of a single thought, countless worlds are born and destroyed. This Dao of truth and falsehood is clearly far beyond any Dao path I have encountered thus far."

"And that trace within the bodies of the You Clansmen can transform mortals into immortals..."

"Though it may not necessarily be qualified to contend directly against [Truth], whatever created the uniqueness of the You Clan members... or rather, the first generation Xuanhuang Great Celestial Venerable, is absolutely an extraordinary existence."

Countless thoughts flashed through Li Fan's mind in an instant.

"[Truth] is within my body, fused as one with me."

"As for that treasure, it has likely long disappeared along with the vanishing of the Immortal Realm." Having vaguely glimpsed traces of a supreme treasure yet only being able to imagine it, Li Fan could not help but feel endless regret.

"Looking at it this way, the birth of the first Xuanhuang Great Celestial Venerable likely involved some kind of mission, or perhaps a conspiracy."

Now that he understood the origin of source power essence, Li Fan next attempted to reproduce it.

Naturally, a trace of a supreme treasure that transcended all current mortal methods was absolutely not something that could be reproduced through ordinary means.

Otherwise, the Xuantian King back then, and the current Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance, would not have remained dependent on these You Clansmen for obtaining the power of darkness.

The Xuantian King was astonishingly talented, and the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance had inherited ten thousand years of the Xuanhuang Realm's legacy.

Yet both had been helpless before this...

But Li Fan was different.

He possessed a method that surpassed even that mysterious trace.

False Becomes True.

The top-down overriding authority made reproducing it possible.

Even though in his initial attempts, Li Fan failed every single time without exception.

But Li Fan could still distinguish between a truly impossible path and merely lacking sufficient power.

Not only was he not discouraged, he instead became more excited with every failure.

If he could realize his conjecture, then the applications of the False Becomes True divine ability could be expanded infinitely.

Reproducing the trace of that unknown supreme treasure was vastly more difficult than fabricating the Heavenly Dao consciousness of a small world.

The only comforting thing, and the reason Li Fan persisted without giving up, was that the trace was fixed and unchanging.

Unlike the Heavenly Dao of a world, which was constantly changing and flowing.

Every failure brought him one step closer to success.

To gain more chances at success, the body Li Fan had possessed also spent far more time in prayer than the other You Clansmen.

Naturally, this was noticed by the You Clan chief, whose eyes revealed satisfaction.

On this day, Li Fan had already failed more than five million times.

After continuously using the power of False Becomes True, Li Fan discovered that the charging progress of [Truth] had unprecedentedly dropped from one hundred percent back down to eighty percent.

Slightly alarmed, Li Fan decided to temporarily stop his attempts and wait until [Truth] finished recharging before continuing.

Fortunately, the small world inhabited by the You Clan would not encounter any danger at this point in time.

Just as Li Fan was pondering, the You Clan chief summoned him.

Among the You Clansmen, they did not address one another by name. Instead, they distinguished each other according to their ranking order during prayer, using numerical designations.

Li Fan arrived at the cave where the clan chief resided.

After offering some encouragement, the clan chief said that the great Dark Sea had witnessed Li Fan's efforts during this period and had decided to bestow a blessing.

Li Fan put on an appearance of fanatical excitement as he waited for the so-called blessing to descend.

Secretly, he had already prepared to sever the connection with his divine sense clone at any moment.

The danger he had anticipated did not occur.

When the blessing ritual conducted by the You Clan chief reached halfway, in Li Fan's perception, the Dark Sea suddenly descended.

It descended from the heavens, pouring endless power of darkness into his body.

The body infusion process lasted only for an instant.

A moment later, "light" reappeared, and the Dark Sea vanished.

Even the power of darkness that had been infused into his body seemed like nothing more than an illusion, disappearing without a trace.

But the You Clan chief appeared utterly exhausted, as though he had aged greatly. With extreme solemnity, he instructed:

"From this day onward, you bear the mission of the You Clan. Continue maintaining a devout heart, and do not betray the trust of the great Dark Sea."

Speaking in guttural sounds and using gestures, he conveyed these words.

Li Fan nodded to indicate understanding, then waited until the next day, after his body had adapted to the blessing. During the process of praying to the Dark Sea, he once again began careful observation.

Buzz...

The power of darkness was born from nothing. It tore through space and flew toward the Dark Sea.

This time, Li Fan discovered that the life force and divine sense power disappearing from within his body had increased by a small amount.

Moreover, that trace became slightly deeper because of it.

After millions of observations, Li Fan immediately locked onto that change.

"There is hope!"

Li Fan disregarded the toll the prayers were taking on this body.

He devoted himself entirely to the process of praying, observing, and attempting to reproduce it.

Another half year passed. He had already changed from a robust young man into a frail, trembling old man.

The rate at which his life was draining was several times faster than that of the other You Clansmen.

The You Clansmen were not frightened by the strange transformation happening to Li Fan. Instead, they all displayed incomparable reverence.

Li Fan paid no attention to these You Clansmen.

He no longer even cared much about the words of the You Clan chief.

He vaguely sensed in his heart that the mission for which he had possessed this You Clansman body was about to be completed.

With his life nearing its end, Li Fan took trembling steps and walked into the prayer cave for the final time.

He knelt down with utmost sincerity and prayed from the depths of his heart.

Perhaps because it sensed that the flame of life in this body was about to be extinguished.

This time, when that mysterious trace drew away life force, it did not proceed according to the fixed amount it had always taken before.

Instead, it swept away all the remaining energy within the shell, transforming it into dark power.

However...

It was precisely because of this extra sliver that when the trace appeared, it became heavier than before.

From Li Fan's withered body, which had completely burned itself out, a soaring aura suddenly erupted.

It was like a raging fire that had abruptly ignited, radiating an incomparably intense presence.

"I found you!"

His eyes shone brightly. Even though his body soon melted like a candle, that brightness did not diminish in the slightest.

"This trace..."

This strand of Li Fan's divine sense dissipated together with the You Clansman body.

Its mission had also been completed.

Not far away, Li Fan, who had been secretly lying in wait the entire time, used his hand as a pen and moved rapidly through the air.

Wherever his fingertip passed, it seemed as though no traces were left behind.

Yet it also seemed like a sharp blade had sliced through, cutting faint marks into space itself.

His strokes flowed like dragons and serpents, continuously circling.

The symbol Li Fan was drawing became increasingly complex.

Its scale was even greater than the immortal formation currently being deduced by the Final Dissociation Disc.

Sweat faintly dripped from Li Fan's forehead.

A trace of shock flashed through his eyes.

He had merely seized that fleeting moment of inspiration and continued writing.

Yet this unknown symbol seemed endless, as though it contained within it the great principles of the entire world's Dao.

It simply could not be fully written.

Li Fan vaguely felt the illusion of chasing a mountain until the horse died from exhaustion.

What he was doing at this moment was like making a rubbing of an unknown existence based on the trace he had observed.

Even if he could not restore the object's original form, he could at least glimpse its reflected imprint.

However...

The level of this unknown supreme treasure had clearly exceeded Li Fan's capabilities.

Feeling the faint trembling within his true body's form, Li Fan ultimately let out a long sigh and abruptly released his hand.

The symbol that had nearly taken shape completely dissipated between heaven and earth.

When Li Fan tried to raise his hand and write it once more, he discovered that the remnants of that trace had also vanished from his mind.

"Opportunity cannot be missed. Opportunity cannot be missed."

Li Fan vaguely understood in his heart that in this life, he would only have this one chance.

Once lost, it would be lost forever.

Even if he possessed other You Clansmen again and repeated the process of prayer, observation, and reproduction, he would never again see any clue of that mysterious character.

"Fortunately, I can start over in my next life."

"I just wonder whether this forgotten memory can be recovered through [Truth]."

Li Fan looked at the already fully charged progress of [Truth], pondered slightly, then gently shook his head.

Even if he could preserve the memory of the mysterious symbol, without sufficient strength, he still would not be able to reproduce even its imprint.

"Dao Integration. After achieving Dao Integration with the Celestial Spirit of Heaven and Earth of this super Xuanhuang Realm in this life, that should be enough to succeed."

Recalling the earlier situation where he had been just one step away from success, Li Fan silently thought to himself.

Although this attempt had failed, Li Fan had not gained nothing.

He had failed to retain the complete symbol, but he still had some impression of its fine structure.

"Whether applied to Immortal Formations or True Immortal seal script characters, it seems capable of bringing a certain degree of improvement."

"What exactly is this mysterious symbol?"

Li Fan's expression was somewhat dazed.

This contact with a power beyond immortals had given him a much deeper understanding of [Truth].