Chapter 1819: Formless

Li Luo, seated before the purple cushion, sat quietly in meditation as starlight descended, dust motes dancing within its beams.

Time slipped away silently in the stillness.

Unknowingly, a year had passed.

Li Luo had become like withered wood or stone sculpture; even his breathing and heartbeat had completely ceased.

Yet within his mind, it was far from peaceful; instead, surging spiritual light, like the violent thunder at the dawn of heaven and earth, clashed endlessly, being born and perishing in cycles.

Countless scenes flowed through Li Luo's heart: his experiences over the past decades, every innate Phantasm he had refined since the Empty Phantasm.

Water Phantasm, Light Phantasm, Wood Phantasm, Earth Phantasm, Dragon Phantasm, Lei Xiang, Crystal Phantasm, Ice Phantasm, Wind Phantasm, Illusion Phantasm, Life Phantasm, Death Phantasm.

For this, he calmed his spirit, as if traveling back to the very instant each of his Phantasms was forged, comprehending the sublimation within his body.

The mysterious sensation accompanying the birth of each Phantasm surged into his heart once more, and Li Luo savored it over and over, a thousand times.

He needed to find the answer to the Ten Thousand Phantasm Seed.

He knew the answer must lie within this.

The answer to the Tenth Grade!

Like an ascetic, he stumbled through his own memories, lingering at each crucial node, trying to find that faint thread of sublimation and comprehension in the mist.

Yet, as time passed, even immersed in the mysterious feelings of each Phantasm's birth, he still failed to find the answer he sought.

He did not know how to break the deadlock.

This path was unimaginably difficult, but that was normal; after all, throughout history, how many Divine Fruit Li Li Tianwang had been lost here, their path cut off.

That road to the World Sovereign of the Tenth Grade, no one had ever reached.

Even that Sect Master had not achieved it.

But Li Luo still did not give up.

He had a bold idea: since the Ten Thousand Phantasm Seed was named for ten thousand Phantasms, perhaps he could create a false memory world in his heart, constantly altering the Phantasms acquired over these years there, ultimately gathering ten thousand kinds of Phantasms.

Although it was a false memory world created in his heart, with his Current State, he could comprehend the true rhyme of a Phantasm at its birth within that falsehood.

Perhaps, when he truly gathered the true rhymes of ten thousand Phantasms, he would find the answer.

With this thought, he began to act.

Thus, a far longer experiment began.

Immersed in the memory world he created, he twisted and altered every Phantasm forged at that original time node.

Phantasms he had never touched before were born from this.

Silver Wolf Phantasm, Jin Xiang, Poison Phantasm, Divine Tiger Phantasm, Jin Chida Great Peng Phantasm... Li Luo tried every Phantasm he had seen but never possessed.

Like a collector's obsession.

As wave after wave of false memories was born, the Phantasm rhymes Li Luo gradually mastered increased.

Such an unfathomable method could only be achieved by one with a realm surpassing the Divine Fruit Li Li Tianwang, yet it still exhausted his spirit.

His physical body outside, at some unknown time, began to wither; gray-white hair had long covered the Wang Zuo.

Unknowingly, three years had passed in the outside world.

Yet for Li Luo, these three years felt like a thousand or ten thousand years.

His heart grew increasingly excited and agitated, for after pouring countless efforts into it, the true rhymes of ten thousand Phantasms were about to be achieved.

Perhaps the secret of the Ten Thousand Phantasm Seed was right before his eyes!

At the moment the first ten-thousandth Phantasm twisted in his memory, Li Luo seemed to hear the whispers of countless Phantasms; he waited with full expectation for the sublimation of the Ten Thousand Phantasm Seed within his body.

But the Ten Thousand Phantasm Seed, though becoming brighter and more dazzling than ever before, did not produce the sublimation and transformation he had awaited.

The light in Li Luo's eyes dimmed at that moment.

He looked blankly and disappointedly at the countless false memory worlds surrounding him, created by him; he had exhausted all his strength to touch the true rhymes of ten thousand Phantasms, yet this still was not the answer.

Li Luo slowly sat upon a reef stone, surrounded by surging memory torrents, within which many deeply imprinted faces flashed by.

Was this path still wrong?

Yet, he no longer had much time.

The ten-year limit had already passed seven or eight years.

Li Luo sighed, his spirit exhausted; the difficulty of this path exceeded his imagination, no wonder even that Sect Master had not reached the end.

Where exactly was the path of the Ten Thousand Phantasm Seed to the Tenth Grade?

The path of ten thousand Phantasms could not be walked.

Then what exactly were the Ten Thousand Phantasms?

What were the Ten Thousand Phantasms?

Li Luo's eyes were blank, his gaze scattered as he stared at his own memory torrent; after sitting motionless for an unknown duration, a memory scene flashed across his pupils, and in an instant, it seemed a beam of spiritual light tore through the mist.

Li Luo suddenly rose from the memory reef stone.

Within this memory torrent, he had repeatedly immersed himself in the nodes where Phantasms were forged, trying to comprehend the rhyme of the Ten Thousand Phantasm Seed at the moment of a Phantasm's birth, seeking the final answer.

But it seemed he had ignored a node from the very beginning.

That node was a place his own consciousness always refused to revisit, so he naturally forgot it; even though he scrutinized his memories countless times, he never paid attention there.

It was a natural avoidance.

But sometimes, the answer might lie within the avoidance.

Li Luo took a deep breath, stepped forward, and walked into the memory torrent.

In the next instant, space and time seemed to shift, and Li Luo's vision suddenly changed.

There was a boiling vitality filled with youth, cheers rushing in from all directions, invigorating the spirit.

Li Luo looked down at his hands; those hands appeared exceptionally youthful, yet also radiated an extremely weak sensation, a feeling he had long, long forgotten.

He slowly raised his head, and what came into view were the very young faces of many boys and girls.

On their bodies, they all wore identical attire—that was... the academy uniform of the South Wind Academy.

This place is... the South Wind Academy!

Li Luo's heart rippled; his gaze involuntarily turned toward the crowd. At the very front stood a slender, graceful figure. She wore a well-fitted academy uniform that hugged her curvaceous, fully-formed, exquisite body. Beneath the academy skirt, her long, straight legs were tightly encased, and most eye-catching of all, outside those already slender legs, she wore pristine, snow-white silk stockings. Warm sunlight shone upon them, flowing with a heart-pounding luminescence.

This further showcased her perfect leg advantage, making people's gazes linger unwillingly.

That was... Lu Qing'er.

Yet now, she was that clear and spirited girl of the South Wind Academy, her eyes always carrying a bright, wise smile. As her gaze shifted, it would occasionally rest upon the young man on the stage.

At such moments, a faint, delicate flush would appear on the girl's flower-like tender face, before she would pretend not to care and quietly look away.

But this time, Lu Qing'er noticed Li Luo staring straight at her, which made her heart skip a beat. She wondered in confusion: Was she discovered?

Her tender earlobes turned slightly warm, yet she bravely stared back.

However, she saw Li Luo seem to smile for no apparent reason.

How strange and odd, this fellow.

The girl felt somewhat puzzled in her heart.

Li Luo then turned his gaze away, looking at another familiar figure. That was Seeing Yu Lang, except now he exuded an exaggerated aura, laughing and joking among the crowd, putting on a show everywhere.

An aura of utter roguery all over him.

And Zhao Kuo, along with other faces.

These people once familiar from their youth had gradually blurred in memory.

"Li Luo, it is your turn for the test."

At this moment, a hoarse voice came, carrying a hint of anticipation.

Li Luo turned his head and saw that he was standing on a stone platform. In the center of the stone platform was a golden bronze mirror about a zhang tall. Light and brilliance flowed within the bronze mirror, quite dazzling.

Beside the bronze mirror stood three figures.

Those were... the South Wind Academy's old Dean, Wei Sha.

The two beside him were the two instructors from that time: Instructor Lin Feng of the First Academy and Instructor Xu Xu Shanyue of the Second Academy.

At this moment, they were all looking at him with full anticipation.

This was... the affinity test!

Li Luo gazed at that golden bronze mirror. This was the South Wind Academy's first affinity test; all students would manifest their affinities at this moment, officially beginning their cultivation path of Affinity Power.

And at this time, Li Luo, due to his extraordinary talent displayed in Affinity Arts, was the number one student of this year's grade at the South Wind Academy.

However, Li Luo knew that after today's affinity test, he, the number one, would plummet into the depths.

Moreover, Instructor Lin Feng of the First Academy, who had previously been extremely kind to him, would even kick him over to the Second Academy.

A strange hue flowed across Li Luo's youthful face. His gaze swept across the platform below; at this moment, many South Wind Academy students were also looking at him with curiosity and anticipation.

Clearly, everyone wanted to know what grade of affinity this number one of the South Wind Academy and young master of the Luo Lan Manor would awaken.

"Li Luo, come forward and touch the mirror surface," Dean Wei Sha said gently.

Li Luo gazed at the smooth golden bronze mirror; his youthful figure was reflected in the mirror surface. He knew this was his most painful memory, the place where he fell into the abyss in his life.

But ultimately, he did not retreat. Instead, he stepped forward slowly, calmly extended his palm, and touched the mirror surface.

In the next instant, light flowed across the mirror surface, and everyone held their breath in expectation.

Yet after a few breaths, the expectation in their eyes turned to shock.

Because within that mirror surface, no affinity was revealed at all.

The mirror surface gradually dimmed.

The original noise and clamor of the square also gradually weakened. In the next moment, it was replaced by countless malicious whispers and giggles.

Dean Wei Sha also stared at the bronze mirror in utter shock. After a long while, he finally spoke to Li Luo with a complex expression: "Li Luo, no affinity has been born in your Affinity Palace. You are... an Empty Affinity."

When Dean Wei Sha's words of judgment fell, the whispers below the platform could no longer be concealed; they spread out.

Those gazes that had previously shown admiration due to Li Luo's Affinity Arts talent quietly dispersed at this moment, replaced by some condescending mockery.

Everyone understood what having no affinity meant.

Regardless of Li Luo's background, being unable to cultivate Affinity Power destined him to be a waste who could never rise.

The sounds of laughter and mockery surged into Li Luo's ears in waves.

He remembered again how severe a blow the boy who had once been proud suffered at that very moment.

Li Luo looked down at the platform. He could see that only a few people were not laughing. He even saw Lu Qing'er, who was now angrily scolding the people beside her like a little lion. And Seeing Yu Lang and Zhao Kuo were over there, cursing and shoving some of the loudest-laughing students under the pretext that the noise hurt their ears, which then triggered a disturbance.

However, back then, he himself seemed to have no mood to witness this scene.

Li Luo suddenly laughed.

Empty Affinity.

So, in his entire life, he had actually been closest to that answer right from the beginning.

Empty Affinity means no affinity.

"No" is not nothingness; "No" is omnipresent, "No" is everything, "No" is all.

So, the path of the Ten Thousand Affinities leading to the Tenth Grade is not the Ten Thousand Affinities.

It is...

No Affinity.

At this moment, Li Luo finally understood why it was the No Affinity Holy Sect, and not the Ten Thousand Affinities Holy Sect.

The memory images began to shatter.

Li Luo's consciousness fell into the super Affinity Palace within his body.

He gazed at the magnificent temple seated in the center of the Affinity Palace; that was the manifestation of the pseudo-Tenth Grade "Empty Mist Affinity."

Since one must seek "No Affinity," then naturally, no tangible affinity could exist within the body.

Li Luo chuckled softly, his laughter carrying an unrestrained and decisive air, and he cupped his hands in a bow toward the "Empty Mist Visage," saying, "I ask that you offer it to nothingness."

The divine hall trembled slightly, as if a sentient voice emerged, asking whether he was certain.

Because once the "Empty Mist Visage" returned to nothingness, there would be no possibility of it ever returning.

Li Luo would forever lose this pseudo-Tenth Grade "Empty Mist Visage."

Abandoning a "pseudo-Tenth Grade" visage—even someone like Divine Fruit Heavenly King would find it hard to make such a decision; it required tremendous boldness.

But Li Luo, with extreme resolve, cupped his hands and bowed once more.

Because a pseudo-Tenth Grade cannot change the outcome, so whether it exists or not, there isn't much difference anymore.

With Li Luo's bow, the divine hall began to rumble, silver-white radiance spilling forth, endless spirituality dissipating; the next moment, the divine tower began to collapse, the Empty Mist Visage returning to nothingness.

After a long while, when the last wisp of silver-white radiance vanished within the Visage Palace.

The divine hall disappeared, and that supreme, mighty power vanished completely as well.

An indescribable sense of weakness pervaded every corner of his body.

Li Luo gazed at the Visage Palace, empty as the place where the world was born; with the Empty Mist Visage's offering to nothingness, he faintly felt as though he had touched upon something special.

No Visage.

At this moment, Li Luo opened the eyes he had kept shut for several years.

His gaze looked forward, and on that purple meditation cushion, a figure sat quietly in lotus position, no one knew when she had arrived.

It was a woman, as if she had existed there since primordial times, simply unseen by anyone.

Li Luo looked at her, a smile surfacing on his face.

The woman wore a mask on her cheek, and the eyes beneath the mask quietly gazed at Li Luo, a trace of approval flowing within them.

She seemed to chuckle softly, her laughter ethereal, arriving from primordial times.

"Li Luo, you did it."