Ahead and behind him stood two Heavenly Doctor.
Their appearances and auras were no different from what Li Fan had seen in this lifetime.
However, the one who had previously caused the boundless massacre at Cloudwater Heavenly Palace wore an expression of utter indifference throughout the entire process.
Deep in his eyes, there was even a trace of enjoyment.
His depravity was so extreme that even Li Fan felt ashamed in comparison.
The Heavenly Doctor who appeared afterward, however, could not conceal the rage and grief in his eyes.
The faint trembling of his body also clearly reflected his turmoil.
The Heavenly Doctor slightly opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something.
But the reconstructed scene ended there.
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Li Fan fell into deep thought.
"Someone disguised themselves as the Heavenly Doctor and slaughtered everyone in Cloudwater Heavenly Palace?"
"The true Heavenly Doctor arrived too late and could do nothing to reverse it?"
He recalled what the Heavenly Doctor had told Tian Yu and Tian Jue before: 'What one sees is not necessarily the truth.'
He also remembered the Heavenly Doctor's act of healing Tian Jue and sealing Cloudwater Heavenly Palace.
From this, Li Fan drew a conclusion.
"But if it was merely a simple case of framing and deception, that could have been explained away. Why was the misunderstanding never cleared up? Why did it only deepen over thousands of years of torment for the people of Cloudwater Heavenly Palace?"
Li Fan could not understand.
"Perhaps the answer to that question lies with Hanhai."
After a moment of contemplation, Li Fan made his decision.
When the impostor Heavenly Doctor once again covered Hanhai's senses with darkness within the nightmare cycle, Li Fan, like a ray of light, faintly illuminated the darkness. ŖäŊÓ₿ȧ
At the same time, he repeatedly played back the reconstructed images, attempting to awaken Hanhai's slumbering consciousness.
"Wake up! Wake up!"
"The murderer was not the Heavenly Doctor!"
"It was someone else! Someone impersonated him to sow discord!"
...
Ripples of divine sense echoed endlessly through the darkness.
Gradually, like the rise of a great tide, the surrounding space began to quake and distort.
"Silence! Silence!"
"Do not try to deceive me!"
"The Venerable Ones act on behalf of Heaven itself. How could anyone possibly impersonate them?"
"Their appearance and aura may be falsified, but the divine authority they hold over the Laws of Heaven cannot be forged!"
Li Fan's persistent words seemed only to provoke Hanhai's fury.
A massive blue face emerged within the spherical space surrounding him.
Hanhai glared at Li Fan, the well-intentioned man trying to awaken him—as if looking upon his greatest enemy, his eyes filled with venomous hatred.
"Curse you! Trying to poison my mind!"
"Even if it was not the Heavenly Doctor, it must have been one of the other Venerables!"
"They all deserve death!"
"And so do you!"
A thunderous roar echoed as streams of black light surged from Hanhai's illusory azure face.
Then, tens of thousands of gigantic blue palms struck out at once, crushing Li Fan's divine sense trapped within their midst.
...
"Hmph."
In the real Cloudwater Heavenly Palace, Li Fan, whose divine sense projection had just been severed—let out a muffled groan.
However, such a minor wound was quickly repaired under the natural circulation of the Limitless Fullness and Emptiness Method.
"Authority of the Heavenly Law Realm, held by the Heavenly Venerable…"
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Li Fan narrowed his eyes, recalling what Hanhai had said earlier in his fury.
"No wonder Hanhai and the others, driven mad by their tortured memories, have always believed they did not mistake the murderer."
"So apart from appearance, what truly represents their identity is the authority of the Heavenly Dao."
"Tian Jue should be the Dao of Slaughter."
"Tian Yu should be the Dao of Teaching and Enlightenment."
"Tian Yi, obviously, is the Dao of Healing."
Li Fan could not help but recall the first time he had met Tian Yu.
The green ox pulled the carriage. The two guardians, the Silent Monster and the Chaotic Spirit, stood watch at the door.
Tian Yu, like a venerable teacher, instructed every cultivator who entered the hut in the arts of learning.
That was their true nature, one that even Tian Yu's later transformation into something strange had not altered.
"Heavenly Law is solemn, to be revered and followed."
"I have attained the Law, and now spread it among all beings."
"The Heavenly Law cannot be defied."
…
Li Fan remembered the faint sound of recitation he had once heard outside that hut.
"It seems the Heavenly Law Realm is the name of the small world where Heavenly Doctor and the others once resided."
"Unlike the Xuanhuang Realm, where everyone seeks to overthrow Heaven, in the Heavenly Law Realm, the status of the Heavenly Dao seems supreme."
"Tianjue, Tianyu, Tianyi—they are not merely powerful Longevity Immortal Cultivators, but more like representatives of the Heavenly Dao itself."
"In the Xuanhuang Realm, cultivators stole the power of eternal life from the Ruomu Fruit. But in the Heavenly Law Realm, perhaps because the Ruomu does not exist, the only path to immortality is to become the one who holds authority over the Heavenly Dao."
As the scattered clues connected, Li Fan began to grasp the truth.
Piece by piece, the hidden past of Heavenly Doctor was gradually revealed.
He also remembered the sword handle that Zhang Haobo and Guan Qingfeng had used to comprehend the Dao. After Zhang Haobo's death, during the fall of the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, the message revealed in the collapsing firmament said that his Dao Foundation had been formed through the [Heavenly Calamity Sword Intent].
Yet, when the people of Cloudwater Heavenly Palace encountered Tian Jue, they all referred to the sword he wielded as [Heavenly Slaughter].
Li Fan had long suspected that this might be the same sword, transformed differently in another world.
Now his guess was confirmed.
"Heavenly Slaughter, like Tian Jue and Tian Yu, is likely another form of Heavenly Authority."
"Tian Jue possessed two forms of authority. Perhaps that is why he was able to preserve his life and avoid turning into an aberration, though it left him completely insane."
"Only Heavenly Doctor, who was away for some unknown reason, escaped disaster."
"When he returned, everything was already too late. The Heavenly Law Realm had long become a dead land."
Though several mysteries had been resolved, the unknowns had not decreased. Hidden within the fog, the truth only seemed more elusive.
Who exactly was the person disguised as Heavenly Doctor who committed the massacre?
According to Hanhai's words, it was not merely someone changing their face.
He had truly seized the Heavenly Authority of the Heavenly Law Realm itself, which was why the people of Cloudwater Heavenly Palace regarded him as a Venerable One.
He could even switch freely between the forms of Heavenly Doctor and Tian Jue…
The strength of such a being was beyond imagination.
What puzzled Li Fan even more was why someone of such power bore such a grudge against the Heavenly Law Realm.
Not only had he slaughtered the entire sect, but he had also ensured that after its destruction, the realm itself would fall into endless cycles of mutual slaughter.
…
Outside Hanhai's dwelling, Li Fan frowned deeply.
"So Heavenly Doctor sent me here to guide me toward the truth of what happened back then?"
"The dark resentment clinging to Hanhai has accumulated over thousands of years. With my current level of medical skill, I might not be able to purify it."
"However, I can tell it has already been cleansed more than once. Clearly, over the years, Heavenly Doctor has not abandoned the people of Cloudwater Heavenly Palace."
"Even though they have already become aberrations."
"Hmm…"
As the saying goes, judge by actions, not by intentions. Because of this, Li Fan's sense of wariness toward Heavenly Doctor decreased slightly.
"Well then, since I am already here, I might as well lend a hand. It will also serve as an answer to Heavenly Doctor."