Li Fan's words were taken for granted—but he knew the reason he could upgrade the Xuantian Locking Nether Formation so easily was entirely due to the dissociation disk. Not only was it a super version fused from two lives, but ordinary Hedao Formation masters would likely fail to comprehend such an ancient formation.
He looked away from the tunnel's entrance. The mysterious outbreaks in the Xuanhuang Realm were not scheduled to happen for another five hundred years. Clearly, the realm would not survive that long in his lifetime.
"Let me try the power of transfiguring the Way of Heaven."
Concentrating, Li Fan locked onto the thin thread associated with the golden seal of the Soul of Heaven and Earth. With a slight exertion, he conveyed a false order, using the guise of heavenly power to command Jin Yan.
At the entrance of the quiet tunnel, Jin Yan hesitated at the inexplicable order. Leaving now could trigger a dangerous outbreak of anomalies—but the Soul of Heaven and Earth is the will of heaven itself, and it obeyed without resistance.
After a brief pause, Jin Yan transformed from his golden chain form back into a human shape. Slowly, he faded, finally disappearing between heaven and earth.
The moment Jin Yan vanished, darkness erupted violently from the unseen depths below. Intangible yet alive, it spread spontaneously. The heaven and earth reacted immediately.
A sudden crisis flared in Li Fan's heart. He acted without hesitation, severing the connection to the cosmic network. At the same time, Yuan Dun left Congyunhai. Perhaps the heavens were too preoccupied with the anomaly to notice Li Fan's meddling.
Observing from a distance, Li Fan saw two new Souls of Heaven and Earth preparing to form in Congyunhai. He allowed himself a small smile—his "False Way of Heaven" was working perfectly. The Soul of Heaven and Earth is a level above ordinary transformations; being able to mobilize it through the guise of destiny allowed him to trigger localized changes in heaven and earth with minimal risk.
"You could even create chaos first, then use it to generate the Souls of Heaven and Earth needed to resolve it," Li Fan mused. Yet he paused. "If done recklessly, the world will notice. If I don't do it again, the effect is minimal."
From afar, Li Fan monitored the aftermath through the Tianxuan Mirror. At first glance, everything seemed calm. Yet subtle disturbances were already unfolding on Ten Thousand Immortals Island.
Thousand Miles Hall
"What the hell? Why don't this month's accounts match?"
Jiao Xiuyuan frowned, recalculating the month's profits—only to find a loss. Qi and blood surged through him; without control, he might vomit old blood.
He checked again—no mistake.
"No, I should have made a small profit… how did I lose money?"
Further review revealed the culprit: one account had not been collected. But the debtor had vanished completely. No trace in memory, no record in the Tianxuan Mirror—as if they had never existed.
"This…" Jiao Xiuyuan's first reaction was fury. "Which friend is playing a trick on me?"
Then confusion took hold. Ten thousand points of contribution was trivial. Yet his instincts screamed that something was wrong. Venturing outside to investigate confirmed his suspicions: multiple people had disappeared inexplicably.
Stranger incidents emerged elsewhere. On one island, all residents became faceless monsters overnight. To themselves, they seemed normal—but everyone else was faceless. Communication broke down; panic ensued, and they slaughtered one another until a single survivor remained.
A fishing boat returned to the island to no crew. Boarding the vessel, the islanders discovered all crew members had turned to skeletons. The hull appeared centuries old, yet no record existed of its decay.
Li Fan, the orchestrator of these anomalies, observed in awe.
"Every weirdness corresponds to a law. If you can decipher the rule behind it, not only can you survive, but you may also master part of this new power system."
The old laws of heaven and earth had their representatives among the monks; these new laws were heretical—but temporarily potent during the fusion process of realms.
"When the Xuanhuang Realm is fully integrated, the old laws will be restored. The Heavenly Master of Transmission, even the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, will not tolerate such anomalies. But the more existences like this, the better for me."
With renewed focus, Li Fan returned to Congyunhai, hunting for survivors who had mastered the strange power. From his godlike perspective, the creeping darkness was clear—yet harmless to him.
He passed over more than a dozen sites of anomalous outbreaks, stunned to find no survivors. Yet his persistence finally paid off. On an island called [Fan Yong], he found his target.
Fanyong Island—its name said it all. Fan, a fence; Yong, the mediocre are useless.
The island was extremely remote, with no other land for a thousand miles. Perhaps because of this isolation, all the spiritual energy of the surrounding sea concentrated on Fanyong Island, giving it perpetual good weather and extraordinarily fertile lands. Crops grew in abundance without cultivation, warehouses overflowed with food, yet no one cared. This situation had persisted since the birth of Cong Yunhai.
The residents, free from the pressures of survival, devoted their lives to a single obsession: [Wrestling].
The rules were brutal. Two opponents fought naked; the winner assumed the loser's identity and assets for one month. The loser could only watch as the winner spent their wealth, assumed their social position, even seduced their spouse. Dissatisfied? A rematch could be requested—but if the loser lost again, the duration doubled. And so it continued.
Spectators reveled in the chaos: cheering, booing, watching red-eyed combatants fight for dominance. But after one recent match, the unimaginable occurred—the winner became the loser, and the original loser vanished without a trace.
Even stranger, the islanders didn't stop wrestling. On the contrary, their enthusiasm grew. Victory now meant truly taking everything from the opponent. At first, they celebrated, but soon, panic spread. People vanished, identities flipped, and the island descended into uncontrollable chaos.
Half of the residents were involved in matches daily. Victors assumed the bodies of their opponents, gaining not just appearance but strength and ability values. Internally, the winner's consciousness remained dominant, absorbing the memories of the defeated. The psychological strain grew unbearable.
Population dwindled. Some committed suicide. Others continued transforming endlessly, trapped in the island's nightmarish cycle.
Li Fan finally located the sole survivor, the one being who had absorbed the will of more than 100,000 residents—a grotesque cylinder-like figure, its facial features almost drowned in flesh, leaving only a few vertical lines. This entity had originally been the weakest on the island, incapable of even raising its arms. Yet through centuries of forced absorption, it now contained the collective strength and will of the entire island.
The survivor slumped in confusion, on the verge of collapse. The instant Li Fan appeared, the being instinctively initiated a wrestling match. Dark forces, like invisible tentacles, reached for Li Fan—but he merely snorted, disappearing from its grasp.
The grotesque figure remained, seated and blank, its enormous power contained within its faltering body. Li Fan's mind raced: had he been caught, he might have become the next identity absorbed. The consequences for cultivation were unpredictable.
"This ability…" Li Fan thought, recalling Mo Rubin's mirror replacement. Fanyong Island's wrestling was weaker and more restrictive, yet it still represented a tremendous tool. While strong absorbing weak usually led to decline, what if the weak defeated the strong? Step by step, rapid, exponential growth could be achieved.
Excited, Li Fan tested his theory. He casually immobilized a foundation-building monk with an insect binding and threw him in front of the Fat Ball.
Driven by instinct, the grotesque survivor initiated a wrestling match. Though its body could barely move, its soul burned with fierce intelligence. The confused creature's eyes suddenly ignited with survival instinct, and for half a day, it battled relentlessly.
Finally, the match concluded—but the result disappointed it. Though it won, the opponent had not transformed. Fat Ball realized instantly: an external force had interfered.
Li Fan's mind raced. If unknown residents could disrupt matches, then others were hiding on the island. The ability to immobilize people hinted at the presence of a legendary immortal master.
A thrill coursed through him. Fanyong Island was more than a bizarre curiosity—it was a treasure trove of potential power, chaos he could exploit.