Heavenly Lotus was a great bargain for Li Gang. However, hadn't Wu Yuan poisoned all the Heavenly Lotuses?
Despite Wu Yuan's efforts to poison all the Heavenly Lotuses, the Heavenly Dao destroyed his scheme.
Even more Heavenly Lotuses were born.
Little Heaven was not targeting Wu Yuan directly. However, the Law of Unpredictability existed.
The moment the Elemental Emperor foresaw a future where no pure Heavenly Lotus remained, that future changed.
The impact of the Law of Unpredictability was far more effective over longer periods of time.
But how could the Elemental Emperor allow himself to lose to mere fate?
He ensured that every time a Heavenly Lotus was born, it would be consumed by someone.
Some of them were obtained by the Celestial Sect. Wu Yuan was aware of these as well.
His control over the Celestial Sect was minimal. However, he was fully informed of the situation. No plan is absolute; only those who can continuously adjust their plans to suit the situation emerge victorious.
He had prepared for this scenario as well. He had to ensure that the Heavenly Lotuses from the Celestial Sect did not fall into the hands of the Creator or his "Chosen One."
He did not interfere with the Immortals' plan to hand the Heavenly Lotus to Li Gang because he knew it was impossible to stop—and because the Heavenly Lotus would be completely consumed by Li Gang, leaving no residue behind.
As a result, the Heavenly Lotus required for refining the Mind-Liberating Sovereign Thought Pill would certainly not be this one.
Now, it must be noted that Wu Yuan deliberately did not reveal the Creator's scheme to the Immortals.
An ordinary person might think: 'Aren't the goals of the Immortals and the Creator conflicting? Once the Immortals realize the Creator wants to refine the Mind-Liberating Sovereign Thought Pill, wouldn't they stop him?'
But why would the Immortals stop the Creator?
The Immortals respected and revered the Creator. They worshipped him.
Their faith in Wang Xueyao was nowhere near their faith in the Creator.
The moment they realized the Creator's involvement, they would simply gather another batch of materials and allow the refinement of both pills—something completely against what Wu Yuan wanted.
At the same time, misleading the Immortals into believing that Li Gang alone wanted to refine this pill—without mentioning the Creator—was also futile, since Li Gang had no knowledge of the pill's existence.
However, there was one thing Wu Yuan could certainly do.
He could make the Immortals realize that Li Gang had made some kind of plan during the Awakening Ceremony.
That half-hour was the only suspicious gap in Li Gang's history.
But how could he make them suspicious?
By forcing Li Gang into a desperate situation.
The moment Li Gang revealed cognition power far stronger than what he had shown on the surface—even accounting for his "growth-type" talent—the Immortals would immediately trace everything back to the Awakening Ceremony.
But why?
Hadn't they read his memories? Was there still a loophole?
Yes. There was a loophole in memory reading as well.
The subconscious.
Subconscious thoughts—also known as passive thoughts—are not stored as memories.
What if Li Gang had made plans using passive thought during the Awakening Ceremony? That would explain why he took half an hour to complete what appeared to be simple reasoning.
Wu Yuan needed the Immortals to realize this.
But wouldn't all his plans be futile if Li Gang had never made any plans at all?
Wu Yuan did not believe that.
There was a simple reason.
He knew the future.
In the future seen by the Timeless Demon God, Li Gang—the last Wanderer of the God Realm—successfully refined the Mind-Liberating Sovereign Thought Pill.
Although that future differed greatly from the current timeline, the only way Li Gang could have succeeded was by making preparations during the Awakening Ceremony.
There was another thing Wu Yuan gave attention to.
How did Li Gang manage to bypass the Law of Unpredictability?
There was indeed a loophole in the Law of Unpredictability, but Wu Yuan refused to believe Li Gang had prepared for it.
The loophole was simple: create uncertainty.
One must prepare variables and scatter them across different continents. When the time is right, connect these variables so they correspond with one another. In doing so, you are not making a fixed plan, nor are you predicting the future—you are creating chess pieces that may become useful over time.
If a chess piece remains useful, you use it.
If not, you discard it.
This was also the method used by He Fan when he left clones scattered across the world. He placed them randomly, and when the time was right, he organized them to gain pseudo-control over the entire world.
However, Li Gang was never taught about this Law. Nor did he ever figure it out through conscious or subconscious thought; otherwise, the Immortals would have seen through his schemes, and he would not have succeeded.
It should be noted that Li Gang was completely incapable of using Abstract Thinking.
Abstract Thinking placed immense strain on both body and soul, and only a few Immortals were capable of using it.
Jin Huang was an exception, due to her special physique. Wu Yuan was well aware that Li Gang could not use Abstract Thinking.
In fact, Wu Yuan did have a few guesses regarding this matter, but he had no way of exploiting it.
Li Gang frowned at his Soul. "My Soul foundation is really trash. I have to refine it properly."
He planned his future ahead—how to deal with the Sword Sect, how to earn Spirit Stones, and how to feed Arcane Stormrider.
"Everything aside, first I have to cultivate my Soul."
He took out the Arcane Soul Fusion method, which was given to him by Wang Xueyao, and started cultivating.
The Arcane Soul Fusion Technique is a unique soul cultivation technique. It tears apart the Soul itself and reconstructs it by healing. Thus, it not only consolidates the Soul but also improves it every time the torn Soul is merged back together.
This is also the reason why this technique is one of the strongest Soul Cultivation techniques in the world. It not only improves Soul Cultivation but also solidifies the foundation.
Li Gang frowned. "It's too big of a coincidence."
'When I was worried about my Soul Cultivation, I got the Soul Spring. When I was worried about sensing my Soul, I easily obtained the Heavenly Lotus. And when I was worried about my foundation, this Arcane Soul Fusion method worked just as well. Is it my luck, or is someone controlling everything behind the scenes?'
As Li Gang thought of this, he felt a chill run down his spine. He immediately discarded all such thoughts.
'Forget it. If it is luck, thinking about it is useless. And if someone is controlling everything behind the scenes, then with my strength, I am powerless to interfere. No need to bother with such things. It's better to focus on what lies ahead and the possible challenges I have to face in the near future.'
These thoughts were deliberately framed by Li Gang in order to deceive the Hidden Enemy.
Think from Li Gang's perspective.
He knows his thoughts are being read, but he doesn't know whether his memories can also be read. He doesn't know his thoughts are being altered.
At the same time, he believes his Hidden Enemy is unaware of the fact that he knows he is being monitored, since everything he figured out was during the Awakening Ceremony, when they couldn't monitor him.
In such a situation, with his ability, what would this "Hidden Enemy" think of Li Gang, given that they are even smarter?
This "Hidden Enemy" would surely think: "With Li Gang's ability, he should be able to suspect the coincidences happening around him, even if he is not sure about them."
Li Gang was merely putting on an act so that he would not reveal that he had already seen through them back during the Awakening Ceremony.
All this pretense was under the condition that his "Hidden Enemy" was incapable of reading Li Gang's memories and thus wasn't aware of the fact that Li Gang had figured out their existence.
There was a special reason why the Immortals had been trying to stop Li Gang from thinking that his memories could be read.
The moment he came to this conclusion—and his perception and thought process weren't altered—this conclusion would be saved in his memory.
At that time, due to Li Gang's bottom line, his resistance against their actions would immensely increase. Li Gang would never want to be a puppet to someone else.
Li Gang would start questioning every single decision he made, and if he felt it involved the Immortals' interference, he would resist fiercely.
Soon, he was invited by Jiang Fugui, the leader of the Sword Gate.
Jiang Fugui asked lightly, "Why didn't you come here immediately?"
Li Gang was prepared. He said, "I had something to do in Verdant Forest. I was marked by a strong Warrior, and I heard there was a way to remove the mark there. I don't know if senior can help me remove it. I can't even sense the mark, and if possible, I would also like to see how deeply it has been engraved. Even though I searched hard, I failed to find any clues, so I returned, preparing to go again."
Jiang Fugui frowned and said, "Come closer."
Li Gang nodded and walked over.
Jiang Fugui placed one hand on Li Gang's eyebrow and began searching. He was surprised to find a deeply hidden mark.
He said gravely, "Who marked you?"
Li Gang lied without changing expression. "It was a Rank 7 Warrior. I entered an inheritance and found a Heavenly Lotus there. Many Rank 7 Warriors were fighting for it, and amidst the commotion, I grabbed it and ran away. Unfortunately, I was marked by one of them."
Jiang Fugui looked at Li Gang and asked in a deep voice, "Why did you steal the Heavenly Lotus?"
Li Gang replied, "I don't possess a Spiritual Imprint, so I wanted to use it to sense my Soul and continue cultivating it. Long ago, my Soul was injured, and even my Spiritual Imprint was damaged. That is why I risked my life to obtain that Rank 7 Heavenly Lotus."
Jiang Fugui carefully observed Li Gang's expressions and found no flaws. He nodded and activated his spell, causing the mark to surface.
Li Gang was surprised. 'That old fox. I knew he wouldn't let me go so easily. He had already marked me before I teleported.'
Liang Shuiyun had marked him before Li Gang teleported away with the Heavenly Lotus.
Jiang Fugui was a Rank 8 mid-stage Warrior, and handling such marks was easy for him. He pinched his fingers and cast a spell, which entered Li Gang's body and erased all the marks.
Then he looked at Li Gang and said, "Our ancestor must have left something to you."
Li Gang nodded and immediately took out the sword. "He told me to return this to you."