On the day of the Giant Hand Catastrophe!
In a certain cave of the Azure Mountain Range, an old man with a large beard was sitting at the entrance.
Not far behind him, Huang and Lei were standing. They hadn't fully healed from their injuries.
It's not that Wu Yuan didn't want to heal them; he would be more than happy to heal them so that they could target Li Gang with their full power.
However, he knew that if he did this, He Fan would involve himself and protect Li Gang. His goal this time was to force Li Gang to show his true abilities. As long as he took action while leaving a way out, it wouldn't involve the Immortals. However, that was only the surface level. He had deeper intentions behind this.
He stood up as he pointed his fingers at both of them. Something strange happened at that moment. Both Huang and Lei felt warmth in their heads as extra information appeared in their minds.
Wu Yuan said lightly, "This gives you all the important knowledge you need for this mission. There is an explanation about Spatial Order and the ability to counter it, and there is a method to use the formation of the Forbidden Land in the Northern Continent and use it to parasitize any Warrior below Rank 6, slowly replacing them!"
He emphasized, "You must make sure to take over Li Gang's body before the 30th of April! Remember, you must succeed before the 30th of April, Year 42058 of the Elemental Era!"
Huang and Lei were puzzled. They did have their own thoughts about taking revenge against Li Gang, but they didn't know why this person was helping them.
Wu Yuan continued, "At the same time, you need to ensure that Li Gang discards Spatial Order, and that he can't get it back by any means!"
It should be noted that this entire conversation was happening under Wu Yuan's use of the Power of Belief to hide everything from the Immortals.
Wu Yuan smiled faintly. "You must erase your memories of what I just said. It must be accomplished without being aware of it!"
Huang and Lei narrowed their eyes. They understood what was going on. The person before them was scheming something against those beings.
A thought appeared in both of their minds at the same time!
'How dare he?'
An infinite chill spread through their bodies as their expressions turned solemn.
Lei asked, "What if Li Gang doesn't appear within the range of the formation's ability? What if we manage to kill Li Gang? We won't need to take over his body then."
Wu Yuan smiled faintly. "If you possess the ability to kill him, you are welcome to try! Even I dare not say I have that ability! Li Gang will definitely appear near the formation range of the Forbidden Land. He will attack the Shu Dynasty. You don't have to worry about it; I will ensure this happens."
Huang scoffed internally at Lei's question. 'Asking such a useless thing! As expected, his obsession with revenge overwhelms his rationality.'
Huang asked lightly, "Why specifically the 30th of April, Year 42058?"
Wu Yuan said lightly, "In my calculations, that day will be the beginning of the next Isolation of the Divine Spirit World!"
He emphasized again, "Remember, you must make sure he doesn't get Spatial Order back at any cost!"
Huang asked, "What is this Isolation?"
Wu Yuan looked at Huang deeply and didn't speak.
Huang understood. There were things he shouldn't know. Lei and Huang immediately erased their memories and placed psychological cues in their minds about what they should know and do!
Wu Yuan left the place after they erased their memories.
He glanced at the sky and thought inwardly, 'The last time an Isolation happened was in the year 42009!'
Wu Yuan's eyes narrowed as he thought inwardly, 'Is there a possibility that someone helped him back then?'
The Heavenly Dao is fair.
It seeks balance, and in order to maintain the balance between smart and stupid beings, it creates lots of anomalies that couldn't be predicted.
But what about the existence of Immortals? They can control the entire world, so if there is nothing to stop them, wouldn't they be invincible?
However, in order to maintain balance, it gives opportunities to the beings of the Divine Spirit World.
Once in a while, it creates an Absolute Isolation in the small world. At that time, no one is able to monitor or control what happens in the world, regardless of their capabilities!
However, Immortals can see when an Absolute Isolation will appear within one year before its appearance!
This Isolation happens at random times for random periods! No one in the Divine Spirit World knows about it besides four people.
He Fan, Kong Xuan, Jin Huang, and Wu Yuan!
He Fan knew about it because he perceived it with his Absolute Perception, but at this point in time, his Spiritual Imprint was in a broken state. If it remained broken until the next Isolation, he wouldn't be able to sense its existence.
Jin Huang knew about it because she also possessed extremely high perception. Although it was inferior to He Fan's and she could only vaguely sense it, the way she came to understand its existence was different. At first, she didn't know that what she felt was some kind of isolation. She only sensed that something had happened but didn't know what.
She tried to initiate a conversation with the Immortals, but it failed during that period. Due to this experiment, she realized what it was. She guessed that something blocked the connection between the higher dimension and this world, isolating it completely. She also verified it through Spiritual Essence using her perception. Air disappears into the other dimension, seeping through the Fourth Wall, but Spiritual Essence does not. There is also another unique effect.
Light doesn't pass through the Fourth Wall. It enters from the higher dimension, causing day and night, but the process is one-way. It enters but doesn't leave. No information from inside the Divine Spirit World leaves the outside. The air that leaves passes through the Fourth Wall and contains no traces at all.
Now, how did she figure out that light doesn't leave through the Fourth Wall? It was through reflection. Normally, when you light a candle in an enclosed room, its reflection is present outside as well. This happens because light leaves through the extra dimension via the Fourth Wall, and then, in that dimension, it is reflected back after hitting an obstacle and passes through the Fourth Wall once again to enter the world through a different entry point outside the enclosed room, causing a faint light to exist there. However, this phenomenon disappears during Isolation since light can no longer leave through the Fourth Wall.
Kong Xuan figured this out after observing the same phenomenon. A few Rank 8 Warriors who have lived for many eras are also aware of this phenomenon, but most of them don't know whether it happens because of unusual behavior of the Light Element or something else. After all, besides the Emperors, no one has a deeper understanding of the Laws of the World. However, there are indeed some who have seen through it.
Even though Huang and Lei didn't fully understand, after hearing the term 'Isolation' and recalling the phenomenon of light, they could make the connection. Unfortunately, they needed to erase their memories now!
Wu Yuan knew about it in the greatest depth. He had the memories of the Timeless Demon God, and he even knew the time period in which each Isolation would appear!
This Isolation doesn't follow the Law of Unpredictability, and as a result, Wu Yuan can accurately know how long each Isolation will last and when it will appear.
Now the question is, was Li Gang aware of this phenomenon?
Yes and no!
Back during the Awakening Ceremony, this phenomenon was another factor he figured out based on some clues.
However, it is no longer present in his memories. As a result, he doesn't know about it. In order to hide to deceive Immortals and Wu Yuan, he has to do it in a way that he himself isn't aware. A perfect deception is only possible when even you yourself are unaware!
Why had Li Gang delayed the battle against the Shu Dynasty for so long?
It was also related to this idea!
The Immortals would never allow Li Gang to fall into danger. If there was a lurking threat and an Absolute Isolation was about to arrive, they would resolve the danger first.
This was the first counter Li Gang used against the Elemental Emperor's trap of revealing his full capabilities.
However, Huang and Lei weren't stupid. They helped Li Gang spread his influence so that they could force him to take action early. However, Li Gang still delayed it deliberately. So, they killed the Ren Ying Trading merchants and workers and destroyed all of its branches in the Wu and Shu Dynasties to show him that their patience was running out. It was a message that if he didn't take action now, they would take action themselves! Here, Huang and Lei were still assuming that Li Gang was unaware of their existence. They used the Wu and Shu Dynasties to target Ren Ying Trading and didn't do it personally.
But how did Li Gang know that an Absolute Isolation was about to appear?
He didn't know!
He only knew from He Fan's inserted memories roughly how often Absolute Isolation appeared. Even though it was random, there had to be a certain range within which it appeared. For example, at most once every forty years? At most five times every two hundred years?
Li Gang didn't know exactly when it would appear. He was simply trying to delay things as much as possible, hoping for it to appear sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, he failed. He wasn't lucky enough!
Li Gang put the psychological cue to delay it at the same time when Wu Yuan was explaining things to Huang and Lei. It was the time gap created by Li Gang through the death of Immortal Zhu. However, he didn't just think things through; he also planted some seeds during that time.
It should be noted that Wu Yuan had long guessed that Li Gang likely possessed the ability to use his Special Ability all along. He deliberately played along with Li Gang's plans to force Immortal Zhu into action in order to get Wang Xueyao out of the situation. Her existence would create too great a variable to handle.