Immortality Simulator

Chapter 738: Comprehending The Dao From The Wuliang Wall

Involuntarily, Hong Dao's lecture on the Disassembler Discs from his past life surfaced in Li Fan's mind.

"The more array data a Disassembler Disc absorbs, the more formidable its deciphering abilities become. Its capacity for deduction and iteration grows exponentially. Who knows what heights they might reach in the future?

"Who knows, perhaps in your hands, these Disassembler Discs might evolve into a second Tianxuan Mirror."

To complete its metamorphosis, a Disassembler Disc needed fuel: a wide variety of different arrays.

Li Fan had immersed himself in arrays for several lifetimes. Judging purely by his ability to construct arrays, he might not even rank among the current Myriad Immortals Alliance’s top array masters.

But when it came to the breadth of his knowledge, Li Fan was confident no one could outdo him.

Zhang Zhiliang's Unlimited Art. He Zhenghao's Mountain River Hundred Veins Array Diagram. The Medicine King Sect's Oneiric Seasons Array...

And then there were arrays that had never appeared in this lifetime at all: the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array, and the Life-Death Reversal Grand Array of the Life-Death Reversal Lost Domain.

These were heaven-shaking existences, yet they sat clear and complete in his mind.

If someone actually tasked him with constructing these arrays, his skills might fall short. But simulating them in his mind posed almost no difficulty at all.

While the nine discs competed for supremacy and he worked to obtain the complete Disassembler Disc, Li Fan was also running a test of his own.

He wanted to know whether the Disassembler Disc, a secondary entity of the Tianxuan Mirror, was truly connected to its original body.

For that test, he would use the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array.

The Soul-Locking Array had been the foundation of the Xuan Net in his past life.

If the Disassembler Disc shared some link with the Tianxuan Mirror, and the Tianxuan Mirror could sense events on the secondary entity's side, then feeding the Soul-Locking Array's data into the Disassembler Disc would inevitably draw the attention of the factions within the Myriad Immortals Alliance aligned with the Tianxuan Mirror.

They would track the disc's location and come knocking.

But if everything stayed calm until the Disassembler Disc finished its metamorphosis, that would prove the official claims were true: once a secondary entity was detached from the Tianxuan Mirror, its connection was severed and it became independent. At least, that would hold true for the Disassembler Disc.

There might be some risk, but it's worth a try.

Li Fan's eyes narrowed. Countless arrays flickered across his pupils.

As he worked, the Disassembler Disc in his hand pulsed with a faint, ethereal light.

***

While Li Fan schemed to obtain the complete secondary entity, Xu Bai had run into trouble of his own in Tianliang Province.

Ever since he'd become Liaison Envoy, many elite descendants from other provinces had been placed in non-critical positions throughout Tianliang Province. He'd handled the arrangements well at first, and all parties seemed satisfied.

But not long ago, a cultivator named Guan Changge, from Tianyu Province, had gone missing.

In this day and age, no one feared death. Going missing, though, was the real problem.

After all, death fell under the Rebirth Manor's purview. After eighteen years, a person could be reborn anew. But a disappearance opened up infinite possibilities.

Xu Bai knew Guan Changge's elder: Guan Xingxiu, Commander of the Tianyu Province Garrison Command. A man of his status wouldn't normally handle such matters personally. At most, he'd have sent a subordinate to ask around.

Instead, he'd come to Tianliang Province himself, radiating the air of a man seeking retribution.

That alone signaled the matter was far from ordinary.

Nangong Shirong, the newly appointed City Lord of Tianliang Province, swore a solemn oath to provide an explanation.

After temporarily placating Guan Xingxiu, he turned and handed the task to Xu Bai.

Inside the secret chamber, his expression turned grave. "This is suspicious. We'd barely received the report when Guan Xingxiu arrived. It's as if he knew beforehand.

"He's likely targeting us. Go investigate first. I'm heading to the Alliance headquarters. If you find anything, don't act rashly. Wait until I return." With that, Nangong Shirong left in a hurry.

Xu Bai set aside his other affairs and went to the site where Guan Changge had last been seen: Tianliang Province, Mount Wuliang.

"Guan Changge vanished right here, in front of you?" Xu Bai asked, his divine sense sweeping the mountain range below.

The three cultivators behind him nodded repeatedly, their expressions tense.

One of them said, "We'd heard that the Wuliang Wall of Mount Wuliang, like the Mortal to Spirit Transformation Wall, sometimes displays strange phenomena. So we agreed to come here and observe. But just as we flew in and tried to pinpoint the wall's exact location, Brother Guan vanished."

Another added, "At first we thought he'd gone off to handle something, so we didn't worry. But when we finished observing the Wuliang Wall's wonders and returned to Tianliang City still unable to reach him, we knew something was wrong."

"It wasn't just that the communication spirit talismans failed," said the last of the three, a cultivator named Fu Xingchi. "I even tried to locate him using an item he'd left with me, but it failed."

Xu Bai circled above Mount Wuliang, sensing no abnormal reaction.

Given how the Heavenly Dao favored him, he would have surely perceived it if Mount Wuliang itself were the problem.

The location itself didn't seem to be the issue.

Wait.

Something occurred to Xu Bai. "Where exactly is this Wuliang Wall you mentioned?"

Fu Xingchi hesitated, then pointed to a canyon below. "At the bottom of the mountain."

"Take me there," Xu Bai said solemnly.

The three didn't understand why, but they sensed the gravity of the situation and didn't dare refuse.

They led Xu Bai to the face of the Wuliang Wall.

The mountain slope covered in rubble and vegetation higher up turned as smooth as a mirror near the bottom.

Even the mountain stream was reflected on its surface.

Xu Bai studied the mirror-like wall. It was roughly three hundred zhang long and over fifty zhang high, and he could see his own reflection in it.

He reached out and touched it. It felt as cool as jade.

"Back then, did you see the phenomenon yourselves?" Xu Bai asked.

Fu Xingchi nodded. "The strange sights on the Wuliang Wall appear at irregular times. Sometimes several times in a day, sometimes not for years. It depends on one's fortune.

"We got lucky and saw a cultivator practicing swordsmanship inside the wall. The movements were slow, but they were executed with a formless, supreme swordsmanship. We couldn't look away."

"Can you recreate what you saw?"

"I can."

Fu Xingchi took out a brush and began painting in the air.

Moments later, a lifelike scene of a cultivator practicing sword arts appeared before them, as if recorded by the Water Mirror Art.

"Brother Fu, your mastery of brush and ink is truly extraordinary. It's exactly as I remember it," the other two cultivators said, unable to hide their admiration.

Xu Bai studied the moving image for a long moment, then asked, "Does Guan Changge know sword arts?"

Fu Xingchi went blank for a moment.

Then he recovered. "You suspect the figure in the Wuliang Wall that day was Brother Guan?"

"Impossible. Brother Guan cultivates the path of music. He has no skill with the sword." Fu Xingchi shook his head.

Just then, another cultivator remembered something. "I've heard that Brother Changge deeply admires Senior Guan Xingxiu. He often laments that he can't master a sword art that startles heaven and moves gods and ghosts to tears, the way his elder can."

At these words, everyone fell silent.

Without speaking, they all turned to look at the Wuliang Wall, a chill creeping into their hearts.

Xu Bai finally broke the silence. "This is still just speculation, with no real evidence. For now, help me seal off Mount Wuliang. Don't let anyone else get close. I'll go back and check whether anything similar has happened before."

Fu Xingchi and the other two wore grim expressions but nodded in acknowledgment.

Xu Bai hurried back to Tianliang City and requested to review past archives.

Sure enough, he found something suspicious.

Over the past century, reports of cultivators vanishing without explanation had surfaced from time to time.

But they were all rogue cultivators with no real backing.

Only a handful of cultivators who were close to these people had ever reported their disappearances to the Immortal Alliance.

The path of cultivation was inherently fraught with peril, and life and death were uncertain.

After investigations ruled out the Five Elders Council's spies and no useful clues turned up, the cases were usually dropped.

So the Wuliang Wall continued to devour countless nameless rogue cultivators in silence, and no one had ever noticed.

Only now had this missing persons case finally come to light.