No war in Xuanhuang

"Soon."

"Wait a little longer."

Amidst Heavenly Doctor's murmurs, all the anomalies within Cloud Water Heavenly Palace, including Hanhai, instantly returned to their original states.

Just as they had appeared during the tens of millions of years when they were left undisturbed.

And those Cultivators adventuring in Cloud Water Heavenly Palace, including Li Fan's Clone, were all turned to dust and vanished into ashes with a gentle press of Heavenly Doctor's hands.

There was not the slightest room for resistance.

In fact, the Clone Zhou Qingang didn't even know how he had died.

Li Fan's true body only felt Heavenly Doctor's giant hand press down, and he instantly lost the connection with his Clone.

Truly destroying you has nothing to do with you.

"Hoo." Having lost his Clone, Li Fan let out a long breath and relaxed his entire body.

"It seems I won the gamble. Even someone as powerful as Heavenly Doctor would never guess that it was the ant he had just crushed underfoot who was plotting against him in secret."

But at this moment, there was no smugness on Li Fan's face at all.

Because the true strength Heavenly Doctor displayed in this battle had reached an unimaginable level.

In Li Fan's original hypothesis, even if Fisherman was deranged and his memories incomplete, and Master's body had transformed into an anomaly with greatly reduced strength—

But with the two of them joining forces, they should have at least caused some trouble for Heavenly Doctor.

As a result…

The gap in strength between the two and Heavenly Doctor was just like the difference between Li Fan and them, seemingly separated by several major Realms!

They were simply not a match for Heavenly Doctor in a single move.

Consequently, Li Fan's so-called plot to cause some trouble for Heavenly Doctor became nothing more than a self-humiliating joke!

Fisherman and Master could definitely be considered top-tier powerhouses below the Longevity Realm. Yet in Heavenly Doctor's hands, they were toyed with arbitrarily like mere bugs.

This kind of strength…

"Could Heavenly Doctor have already advanced to the Longevity Realm?"

Li Fan couldn't help but think this way.

Otherwise, there was simply no way to explain why Heavenly Doctor was so formidable.

"What kind of Dao principles is he defying?"

"Silent and unknown to outsiders. Could he be the one who seized the principles of life and death, causing Blue Feather's Dao attainment to fail?"

"What on earth is the relationship between Heavenly Doctor and the Myriad Immortals Alliance?"

"Come to think of it, it seems I've never seen Heavenly Doctor make a move on behalf of the Myriad Immortals Alliance. Even in the previous life, at the height of the battle between Xuan Net and the rebellious Cultivators…"

Too many doubts surged into Li Fan's mind all at once.

Originally, Li Fan thought he could at least probe Heavenly Doctor's foundation this time.

Who would have thought that the more he learned about him, the more unfathomable this person seemed.

"Before reaching Dao Integration, it's best not to provoke him."

Li Fan sighed, helplessly making up his mind in secret.

Even with the Huan Zhen divine treasure in his possession, in the face of this absolute gap in strength, he had no choice but to temporarily avoid his sharp edge.

Otherwise, if you walk the night path too often, you won't always be so lucky as to avoid being noticed by him.

Suppressing the unwillingness and suspicion in his heart, it took Li Fan a little half-day for his emotions to slowly calm down.

Replaying the Clone's experiences within Cloud Water Heavenly Palace in his mind, new thoughts arose in Li Fan's heart.

"Heavenly Doctor, Heavenly Extinction, Tian Yu…"

"They all start with [Heaven] and are old acquaintances. The people of Cloud Water Heavenly Palace collectively refer to them as Venerables."

"Obviously, they all share a common origin."

"Xuantian Sect?"

Based on the clues and information currently grasped, Li Fan almost subconsciously came to this deduction.

But in his heart, he vaguely felt something was wrong.

In Senior Sister Zhao's illusion, the two had engaged in a relatively deep discussion about the Xuantian Sect, that behemoth that had unified the Xuanhuang World in ancient times.

The Xuantian Sect usurped the Mandate of Heaven and wielded heavenly authority to suppress all living beings under heaven.

The leaders of the sect often styled themselves as Heavenly Kings or Dharma Kings.

But this group led by Heavenly Doctor…

Seemed to revere Heaven above all.

The sounds of reading following beside Master also kept repeating phrases like "Heavenly Law is strict, honor the rules and keep the bounds," and "Heavenly Law cannot be violated."

It didn't seem to share the same origin as the Xuantian Sect Li Fan knew.

"With their level of cultivation, it's impossible for them to have popped out of a stone crevice without leaving a trace."

"Just what…"

Li Fan couldn't help but fall into deep contemplation.

——

A nearly heaven-shaking scene had taken place inside Cloud Water Heavenly Palace.

However, the Congyun Sea outside Cloud Water Heavenly Palace seemed completely unaware of this matter.

Other than the ruins of Cloud Water Heavenly Palace, which had just appeared not long ago, inexplicably vanishing once more.

It produced no other impact on the Congyun Sea.

But the top powerhouses of the Xuanhuang World were not limited to Heavenly Doctor alone.

Ordinary Cultivators might not know or see it, but the several Celestial Venerables of Longevity from the Five Elders Association would definitely have sensed it.

Great winds rise from the tip of duckweed. Recently, by spending a large amount of Contribution Points and continuously gathering information that ordinary people would overlook, Li Fan…

Finally uncovered some clues.

First, after the battle in Tianling Province, within the territories of the Five Elders Association, the border prefectures where some Cultivators were originally stationed…

All Cultivators were recalled within a short span of a few days.

It was as if they had truly completely abandoned any plans for war for a long time to come.

Then, the Five Elders Association actually took the initiative to send envoys, proposing a friendly exchange plan between the two sides.

It was said that because the Five Elders Association and the Myriad Immortals Alliance had been opposed and isolated from each other for too long…

They had become somewhat unfamiliar with one another.

They could take advantage of this rare opportunity after the great war to exchange what they had and engage in friendly communication.

Regarding this proposal, the official Myriad Immortals Alliance had not yet given a definite reply.

However, the attitude of the Five Elders Association was truly thought-provoking.

You must know that, relying on having five Celestial Venerables of Longevity, the Five Elders Association had always been overbearing, and whenever they could avoid reasoning, they absolutely would not reason.

But now, they had unexpectedly taken the unprecedented initiative to propose friendly exchanges and ease the conflict between the two?

Clueless Cultivators thought that the Myriad Immortals Alliance had beaten the Five Elders Association into submission during the battle of Tianling Province.

But Li Fan knew that this must be because Heavenly Doctor's action had been sensed by the Five Celestial Venerables.

"The previous war might have had the purpose of probing whether Celestial Venerable of Dharma Transmission was still around."

"Although the result didn't draw out Celestial Venerable of Dharma Transmission, it forced Heavenly Doctor to show himself."

"With the Five Elders Association being so wary, could Heavenly Doctor really have reached the Longevity Realm?"

Regarding this, Li Fan still had some doubts in his heart.

Because according to his shallow understanding of the Longevity Realm, after defying the principles of heaven and earth, one becomes a part of heaven and earth themselves.

On a Celestial Venerable of Longevity, the aura belonging to the Heavenly Dao should be extremely obvious.

Compared to ordinary Cultivators, it was like two completely different species, making the distinction very easy to tell.

But in the few times Li Fan had seen Heavenly Doctor, there was no sign of the Heavenly Dao.

Instead, the aura of a "human" was still very intense.

In short, Heavenly Doctor didn't look like a powerhouse in the Longevity Realm yet.