My Simulated Longevity

The strokes of the pen startle the wind and rain, and the words determine the fate of the world!

Li Fan followed suit and successfully engraved the complete seal characters of the transformation from immortal to mortal that appeared on the leg bone of the nameless true immortal on the stone tablet of the key to the Tao.

At this moment, something unspeakable seemed to have descended in the vortex above the sky.

In the turmoil, the Xuanhuang world, and even everything in the world, seemed to be forced to fall into stillness.

Even Li Fan, who was in charge of promoting the sublimation of the Xuanhuang world, was the same.

Thousands of thunders flashed on the sky of the Xuanhuang world at the same time.

Every time a thunderbolt flashed, the Xuanhuang world trembled slightly as if it had been hit by a heavy hammer.

Boom boom boom...

The Xuanhuang world, which was originally stitched together by many worlds, began to merge further under the impact of such a great force.

The Yuan Devouring White Mist, which existed as the boundary line of the state, became thinner and thinner in these blows. Finally, it completely dissipated.

The distance between heaven and earth became closer and closer under these repeated blows.

What is even more terrifying is that every time the lightning flashes, an area in the Xuanhuang Realm is annihilated. It seems that it cannot withstand the huge pressure of the sublimation of the fairyland and turns into dust.

The void caused by the annihilation of the area will soon be squeezed and replaced by other areas.

…

The changes that will only be born after hundreds of millions of years of accumulation in the world are happening in an instant in the Xuanhuang Realm. At this moment, it seems to be calcined in thunder and fire, removing the dross and retaining the essence.

The aura revealed between heaven and earth is becoming more and more sacred. The size of the Xuanhuang Realm is also being reduced step by step.

Although Li Fan's body was fixed by the great power of the world's sublimation, his mind is still active.

He stared at the vortex in the sky, and he really felt the primitive and ancient aura of the immortal and mortal transformation from it.

Compared with the immortal and mortal transformation characters, "He" is more difficult to understand, and it makes people instinctively awed.

It is under the influence of this aura that the Xuanhuang Realm was able to break through the sublimation landing point and qualify to continue climbing towards the fairyland.

It is already difficult for a cultivator to transform from a mortal to an immortal. What about a world?

Even though Xuanhuang World has Li Fan's many preparations and assistance, and its accumulation is extremely rich. In the process of formally ascending to immortality, there are also dangers everywhere, like a small fishing boat swaying in a storm, which seems to be in danger of capsizing at any time.

Thousands of thunders in the vortex are like hammers, constantly hitting, never ending.

The bloated body of Xuanhuang World was cut off inch by inch.

...

"Something is wrong."

"The consumption of the transformation from immortal to mortal in this world is too exaggerated!"

Li Fan vaguely sensed the clues, and his expression became extremely serious.

"Just like my previous personal experiment..."

In a flash, Li Fan thought of the ancient immortal world, where cultivators successfully passed the tribulation and then ascended.

"The thunder tribulation is not obvious, and there is no immortal spirit to infuse the body and assist the transformation. It all depends on one's own foundation to survive the transformation from immortal to mortal. This is simply impossible to accomplish under normal circumstances."

The panicked distress signal from the Xuanhuang Realm came to my ears again. However, under the torture of the immortal tribulation, He is now extremely weak.

Li Fan's interests are temporarily tied to the Xuanhuang Realm. He made a decision quickly.

Using the remaining power of the Xuanhuang Realm, he temporarily recovered his ability to move from the shock of the aura of the transformation from immortal to mortal.

Li Fan's mind moved, and the Taoist boy Qiu Shui turned back to the state of the azure sword. Then the sword light rained down, spreading all over the Xuanhuang Realm. Using the sword body as a carrier, it absorbed the power of the infinite sea of ​​stars.

At the same time, on the land of the Xuanhuang Realm, hundreds of fountains suddenly rose to the sky for no reason. It was Li Fan who stole and extradited the vitality of the crack depression in the dark sea of ​​stars.

Two endless forces, like two tonic pills, held the precarious life of Xuanhuang Realm tightly.

But in the vortex of the sky, the lightning flashed faster and faster. The interval between flashes was too small, so that an uninterrupted purple light was formed, dimly illuminating the Xuanhuang Realm below.

As the distance between heaven and earth was reduced, the sky seemed to overturn and press down.

Of the five pillars, only the leg bone of the nameless true immortal in the center could still support it.

The other four were all crushed from top to bottom under the pressure of the terrifying force.

Thus, a dome shape with a high center and low sides was formed.

Seeing that the "pillar of heaven" derived from Xuanhuang Realm itself was not enough to support the sky that was about to fall.

Li Fan narrowed his eyes and kept pinching his hands.

The little beast, which was nourished by the spirit of the immortal in its sleep, suddenly let out a thunderous roar.

Its body turned over uncontrollably.

Then, in an instant, it expanded tens of millions of times, with four legs facing the sky, like a pillar of heaven, supporting the falling sky.

The huge pressure of the falling sky was borne by the little beast. Even though it had an extraordinary physique and swallowed several fairyland chess pieces. But it was unwilling to be treated as consumables.

A dangerous red light flashed in its eyes, and it kept struggling. It roared and roared, as if to get rid of Li Fan's control.

"Please, wooden sword of heaven!"

Li Fan looked solemn and chanted loudly.

In the ruins of the sword tomb of the Tianjian Sect in the past, the wooden sword guarded by thousands of swords suddenly uttered a soft hum.

The sword light flashed, and after a moment, it flew into Li Fan's hands.

This wooden sword was created by Mr. Bai in the past, and it was the manifestation of the sword art of the Xuanhuang Realm.

In the process of the sublimation of the Xuanhuang Realm, this sword art also changed along the way.

At this moment, it fell into Li Fan's hands, and some supreme sword arts that transcended the mundane world have been integrated.

"Cut!"

The sword moved at will, and in the blink of an eye, the wooden sword Tianzhiqi turned into white light and circled around the four corners of Xuanhuang Realm.

Roar!

The little Tian beast roared in pain, and its limbs fell in response.

"Fast!"

Li Fan controlled the power of the world in Xuanhuang Realm and integrated the limbs of the little Tian beast into the four pillars.

After absorbing part of the laws of the fairyland, the bearing capacity of the limbs of the Tian beast was far beyond that of the ordinary immortal world. The fall of the sky continued for a while. Finally, when the limbs of the Tian beast were completely integrated with the pillars of the Xuanhuang Realm under the extreme pressure of the outside world.

It finally resisted the sky that was about to fall.

Li Fan breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the wooden sword Tianzhiqi in his hand.

Of course, it can rely on its sharp and unstoppable sword characteristics to forcibly cut off the limbs of the Tian beast. But the cutting with the laws of the fairyland contained in the limbs of the Tian beast also caused unimaginable damage to the wooden sword.

The wooden sword crumbled into pieces, turned into streaks of fluorescence, and dissipated between heaven and earth.

The sword no longer existed in the Xuanhuang Realm.

It might take millions of years for it to recover naturally.

With the auxiliary support of the limbs of the Tian beast, the critical situation of the Xuanhuang Realm has greatly improved.

Even though the overall area size is still being reduced. But at least, the distance between heaven and earth will not be reduced anymore.

However, the most fundamental problem has not been solved.

The evolution of the world from immortal to mortal consumes too much. Even with the dual infusion of the vitality of the ground rift and the power of the sea of ​​stars, it is still not enough.

Li Fan also realized that it was not that the energy consumption required for the Xuanhuang Realm to sublimate into the immortal realm exceeded the infinite power of the sea of ​​stars. It was that Qiu Shui's efficiency in absorbing energy was too low.

There was only infinite power, but it could not be fully tapped.

As his thoughts flashed, Li Fan had an idea.

He bowed slightly, and the crown on his head drooped, covering his facial expression. Li Fan's voice resounded throughout the Xuanhuang world: "Please, the Great Heavenly Venerables of all generations!"

The voice was like a decree, and the words were effective.

Amid the violent shock of the change from immortal to mortal, shadows appeared one after another between heaven and earth.

And the current Great Heavenly Venerable Wuming also rose up on his own and went to the last position to fill the position.

From Wuming, the further forward, the shadows of the Great Heavenly Venerable became more and more blurred.

First was the shadow of Mr. Bai, whose eyebrows and eyes were still vaguely visible. Before that, only his figure could be seen, and there was nothingness on his face.

Before this empty-faced shadow, there was a figure standing, even if the face could not be seen clearly. Li Fan recognized it at a glance, that should be the mark left by the Xuantian King.

Before the Xuantian King, there were four more.

But they were more blurred than one another, and the first generation of the Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerable even had only a faint outline left.

The eight shadows all represented the former Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerables. Even though they have passed away for various reasons, they still left their own unique marks in the Xuanhuang world.

Tian Daobai once reappeared in the world with the help of Li Fan's holy fetus.

And now, Li Fan, who has almost gained complete control of the Xuanhuang world, took advantage of the life-and-death crisis of the Xuanhuang world and forcibly summoned the eight great celestial masters together.

"Xuanhuang is in trouble now. Please help me, great celestial masters."

Li Fan looked solemn and bowed to the eight figures again.

Then, the Taijia magic was launched.

It seemed that the Xinghai consciousness had sensed the shocking changes happening in the Xuanhuang world, and it deliberately avoided and did not respond to Li Fan for a while.

While Li Fan was persevering, he also instilled the Taijia magic into the great celestial masters of all generations.

The eight figures then joined the ceremony of communicating with the Xinghai one after another.

Those who can become the great celestial masters of the Xuanhuang world are all top talents in the world. And the first generation of great celestial masters is even a true immortal body.

Even though they have passed away, the marks they left behind still retain some of their characteristics. The eight people joined forces to perform the ritual. Even though they were extremely reluctant, the infinite sea of ​​stars was still forced to connect.

"Juntian!"

Under Li Fan's leadership, eight figures jointly cast Juntian magic on the sea of ​​stars.

Infinite and infinite bright starlight instantly shone in the Xuanhuang Realm.

All the stagnation forced by the sublimation of the fairyland was temporarily restored.

"Please ask the great celestial master to offer sacrifices!"

Li Fan's face was solemn, and he saluted one by one.

First was Wuming.

Without the slightest hesitation, Wuming used his body as a channel to absorb and accept the infinite power of the sea of ​​stars into the Xuanhuang Realm.

Then it was Tiandaobai.

One after another, the phantoms of the great celestial masters flew to various places in the Xuanhuang Realm. They led the infinite power of the sea of ​​stars.

Until the first generation of the great celestial master of Xuanhuang.

The blurred outline, under the infusion of infinite star sea power, turned into a glittering blue light. The Starlight Giant did not fly directly to the place where he should go.

Instead, he looked at the stone slab that Li Fan had been holding up in a somewhat inexplicable way.

The shadow of the Great Heavenly Venerable did not stay still for too long.

After a moment, he arrived in an instant and came to Li Fan's side.

He tapped the stone slab with a single finger.

All this happened too fast.

The first generation of the Great Heavenly Venerable moved so quickly that even Li Fan, who was endowed with the power of the Xuanhuang Realm, did not react.

He was startled and had already summoned the True and True Interface to prevent the next change from happening.

But what surprised him was that after the first generation of the shadow poked the stone slab with a single finger, there was no other movement.

There was no change either.

After a few breaths of stalemate, the shadow of the Great Heavenly Venerable spontaneously moved his fingers away. Then, as if he had resolved some obsession, he went to where he should go.

Li Fan was slightly startled at first, and then after a little thought, he understood: "This is not the original stone tablet of the Key of Dao in the past immortal platform. It is just a replica left by the Xuantian King."

"... Fortunately."

"If not, this shadow still has some instincts of the first generation of the Great Heavenly Venerable, which may bring me great trouble."

Li Fan secretly rejoiced in his heart.

In the Xuanhuang Realm, there are the support of the four limbs of the Tian Beast, and the eight Great Heavenly Venerables connect the star sea and provide continuous assistance with infinite power.

The Xuanhuang Realm, which was originally in danger, was finally able to gradually stabilize in the extreme turbulence of the change across the immortal and mortal world.

In the vortex where the Great Dao appeared, the dense and continuous purple thunder began to reduce the frequency of flashing.

The vibration between the Xuanhuang world also slowly slowed down.

With the power of Xuanhuang Heaven and Earth, Li Fan could see it very clearly with his mortal eyes.

The Xuanhuang Realm, which seemed to have no major changes, was being repeatedly painted by an unknown mysterious force. Things themselves seemed to have not changed from the inside to the outside. But they were more solid and vivid. Closer to the origin.

A sense of joy arose in Li Fan's heart.

Knowing that he had persisted through the critical stage, now was the time for transformation and eclosion.

"However, now is not the time to hold a celebration banquet in advance."

Li Fan stood quietly and continued to wait for the opportunity.

Until the vortex in the sky began to shrink in scope. The great evolution of the transformation from immortal to mortal was about to end.

Li Fan moved again: "Please, all great celestial masters, mend the sky!"

His expression was sincere, and at the same time conveyed his thoughts.

When the power of the sea of ​​stars was used to help the Xuanhuang Realm overcome difficulties, the phantoms of the great celestial masters of all generations had become similar to the existence of star spirits.

In the past, the Xuanhuang Realm was in the sea of ​​stars. The great celestial masters might be able to do both.

But now, even if Xuanhuang Realm is sublimated and transformed into Xuanhuang Immortal Realm.

How can the Great Celestial Venerable of Immortal Realm be relegated to the sea of ​​stars?

…

The meaning conveyed by Li Fan is very clear.

It is also truly in line with the interests of Xuanhuang Realm.

Xuanhuang Realm Tiandao, who has recovered from his dying breath and is looking forward to proving the Immortal Realm, also cooperated with Li Fan and issued an order.

Except for Wuming, the other eight Great Celestial Venerables were originally transformed by the world mark.

Therefore, there was not much resistance, and the unclear figures slowly dissolved.

Disappeared in the infinite power of the sea of ​​stars.

Even if the star spirits are immortal, when the carriers they depend on no longer exist, they can only disappear between heaven and earth.

It is not as simple as simply canceling the summons. Instead, Xuanhuang Realm's move completely erased the original marks left by several Great Celestial Venerables in the past between heaven and earth.

This means that from now on, Xuanhuang Realm will no longer be able to summon the shadows of the Great Celestial Venerables.

The star spirits collapsed, and the channel connecting the infinite sea of ​​​​stars gradually closed.

But the consumption of the immortal-mortal transformation is also decreasing sharply.

With Qiu Shui's support, it is enough.

After sending away the seven most threatening Great Heavenly Venerable phantoms, Li Fan looked at the last Wuming.

Wuming Great Heavenly Venerable was ignorant and just responded to the natural operation of the Heavenly Dao.

Now it was time for him to make the right choice. Wuming first created the succession test for the next Great Heavenly Venerable.

Then the Wuming fire suddenly burned in his body.

It turned out to be the same as the previous generation of Great Heavenly Venerable Su Bai, who chose to commit suicide.

When the flames on the Great Heavenly Venerable Wuming completely engulfed him and then dissipated.

With the eight Great Heavenly Venerables as sacrifices, the sublimation and ascension of the Xuanhuang Realm finally ushered in the last moment.

It was about to cross the line between immortals and mortals.

Li Fan suddenly realized something in his heart.

When the Xuanhuang Realm was promoted to the Immortal Realm, all the treaties signed between Him and Li Fan in the past would become waste paper!

No longer count!

There are still agreements and contracts between ordinary people.

How could immortals and ordinary people be bound by this?

Fu Linxin came to his heart. Relying on the last moment of controlling the power of Xuanhuang Heaven and Earth, Li Fan summoned the Soul of Heaven and Earth, Mo Sha.

The next moment...

The vortex in the sky was completely healed.

Amidst the loud bang, Xuanhuang Heaven and Earth fell into operation again.

Stripes of colorful light appeared in every corner of the world, constantly jumping in the world.

The Xuanhuang Realm, which was originally compressed to the extreme, began to bottom out and rebound and transform.

Growing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In an instant, the Xuanhuang Realm became high and far again.

Billions of miles in an instant, with Li Fan's vision, a few breaths later, he could not see the pillars supporting the sky in the four corners of the world clearly.

…

Li Fan took in the amazing changes in the Xuanhuang Realm.

With the help of the last bit of the power of the Xuanhuang Realm, he vaguely realized that it was already far away from the sky.

The hungry fairy in the Immortal Ruins seemed to have awakened.

However, she looked at the fairyland that appeared in front of her inexplicably, and chose not to appear rashly. She just observed from afar.

In the Xuanhuang Realm Yuandaozhou, the great magician and the phantom were still in a sleeping state.

It was just that the phantom, which had not heard the voice of preaching for a long time, began to chant spontaneously again.

The sleeping great magician frowned. His mouth opened and closed unsteadily, and he also spoke the voice of preaching.

The two met, but they did not overlap. Instead, they canceled each other out.

Finally, it turned into silence.

Outside the Xuanhuang Realm, Tianyi and Chuanfa had just broken through the high wall set up by Li Fan.

Looking at the inexplicably appearing, familiar yet unfamiliar Xuanhuang Realm, he stood there in a daze.

What surprised Li Fan a little was that Chuanfa Tianzun's face began to flicker and change. It seemed that something was about to break out of its shell.

…

In the Xuanhuang Realm, with the official promotion to the Immortal Realm, countless changes occurred one after another.

But in fact, most of Li Fan's attention was focused on the Soul of Heaven and Earth in front of him, or the Immortal Soul of Heaven and Earth, Mo Sha.

Xuanhuang Realm turned mortal into immortal.

Mo Sha also completed the transformation from mortal to immortal in front of Li Fan.

Originally, it was just a vague human body composed of thick ink.

After turning into the Immortal Soul of Heaven and Earth, the appearance details became richer and more specific.

There was even a robe fluttering in the wind.

Mo Sha's face was not like the facial features of ordinary people. Instead, it was a constantly floating, changing, ink-colored symbol.

The eyes of the immortal soul of heaven and earth, Mo Sha, met.

Li Fan instinctively warned frantically.

Perhaps it was because Li Fan was the absolute hero who pushed the Xuanhuang Realm to sublimate and transform.

Mo Sha, who was purely the incarnation of the law of destruction, did not choose to take action at the first time.

But this does not mean that Li Fan would hesitate.

"Xuanhuang..."

"Destroying the world."

Li Fan muttered in his heart.

The bomb that was quietly implanted in the Xuanhuang Realm in the past was detonated in an instant.

When it was an ordinary immortal realm in the past, the destruction of the world was already terrifying.

When the Xuanhuang Realm was sublimated into the immortal realm, the destruction of the world that broke out in it was even more terrifying.

The world turned into the immortal realm, and the creatures in it had not yet enjoyed the blessings brought by the ascension of chickens and dogs.

The terrible disaster had already come.

The cold wind whistled, freezing the heaven and earth, time and space in an instant. All the creatures in it had no time to react and turned into part of the ice crystal.

Horrible thunders fell from the sky. Wherever the lightning swept, everything turned into pure nothingness. The lightning born between heaven and earth vowed to destroy heaven and earth itself.

…

The Xuanxian Realm, which was sublimated into the Immortal Realm, had just been stable for a short time. It ushered in the terrifying change of the coming of the Ten Thousand Tribulations.

The Heavenly Dao of the Xuanhuang Realm was shocked and angry, but he didn't know why.

And the immortal soul of heaven and earth, Mo Sha, was also stunned at this moment.

Because he keenly realized that most of these world-destroying disasters were all coming towards him!

No longer caring about the cultivators in front of him, Mo Sha wanted to unite with other immortal souls of heaven and earth in the Xuanhuang Realm to calm down these kinds of world-destroying changes.

"The immortals descend, and all things return to the ruins."

An extremely indifferent voice interrupted Mo Sha's actions.

As if he was suddenly in a completely unfamiliar area, the scene of the Xuanhuang Realm in front of Mo Sha suddenly changed.

Instead, there was an endless storm of destruction!

Li Fan, who was hiding in the shadow of a wooden sword, had billions of bright stars shining in his mind at the same time.

Each star was deducing a part of a magnificent immortal formation.

These billions of stars united and deduced together.

They brought the real immortal formation to the world!

[Dissociation Disc, Immortal Array]!

With the help of the immortal spirit, the final dissociation disc, which had been broken into countless particles, was officially reborn from the ashes.

Under the mysterious effect of the immortal spirit. Each particle was transformed into a brand new dissociation disc again.

Billions of stars shone, and the new dissociation disc was like countless real immortals standing in a forest, shining brightly!

The deduction ability of the Immortal Array Dissociation Disc has already exceeded Li Fan's cognition.

As long as he had a slight thought, the dissociation disc would iterate the formation according to Li Fan's needs, seemingly endlessly.

Li Fan didn't even need to set up the formation himself.

Bits and pieces of immortal spirit power diffused from the billions of cores of the Immortal Array Dissociation Disc.

Spontaneously evolved into a formation!

Thus, a truly immortal-level formation was born.

Compared to what Li Fan had arranged before, the power was completely different.

Even at the moment of its creation, the Immortal Array Dissociation Disc was iterating and improving it.

From the beginning of the formation to the completion.

It has evolved for dozens of generations!

It seems to have the power to turn everything into nothingness.

Once, this [Immortal Descends, All Things Return to Nothingness] formation, a shadow of the hungry immortal could be calmed by waving his hand.

But at this moment...

Mo Sha was hit and reduced at a speed visible to the naked eye in this immortal-level formation!

"Hmm?"

"Is this immortal soul of heaven and earth weaker than I thought?"

Seeing this scene, Li Fan did not have much joy, but was a little surprised.

While manipulating the immortal formation, he observed the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm.

At this time, Li Fan was able to discover some abnormal situations.

Although the immortal realm has arrived, the black energy of the Dao Annihilation in the center of the star sea does not seem to have much reaction.

It is not the same as the reaction when the real immortal realm was unfolded in the previous life.

There is no new immortal spirit energy generated in the newly born Xuanhuang Immortal Realm.

He has only crossed the shackles of the change from immortal to mortal.

But there is no effect of qualitative transformation to immortal.

All this made Li Fan think of the former Xuantian King for some reason.

"He has obviously ascended to immortality, but there is no immortal spirit energy."

"Half-immortal, half-immortal..."

"Could it be that I have devoted everything, but I can only convert to the half-immortal realm?"

Li Fan was a little annoyed.

But soon, he calmed down.

Half-immortal is also immortal.

From the Xuantian King ten thousand years ago to the Xuanhuang Realm today, it all looks like this.

Perhaps it wasn't that his attempt went wrong.

But after the destruction of the Immortal Realm, the entire set of paths in the past had big problems.

Sensing, the cautious Hungry Immortal seemed to have finally decided to find out.

Li Fan didn't hesitate any more.

The Immortal Column Dissociation Disc was running at full power.

Under the formation of all things returning to the void, Mo Sha, the immortal soul of heaven and earth, was blown away by the endless wind.

Inch by inch.

As Mo Sha dissipated between heaven and earth.

An extremely powerful force also descended on Li Fan.

Li Fan, after all, stepped into the realm of harmony.

But it was somewhat different from the ideal state in the plan.

Before he had time to think, Xuanhuang Tiandao, who sensed that Mo Sha had disappeared and that the murderer was actually Li Fan, went crazy in an instant.

In his view, Li Fan had accompanied him all the way from the mortal to the present, and he was both a teacher and a friend.

Now, when the Xuanhuang Realm was facing a world-destroying crisis, he chose to draw his sword and fight.

This was a complete betrayal.

The Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, which was angered to the extreme, ignored the world-destroying crisis happening in various parts of itself.

Countless immortal souls of heaven and earth descended on Li Fan.

They vowed to kill Li Fan.

Being in the great formation of the return of all things to emptiness, Li Fan did not have much fear in his heart.

He took advantage of the last time of this life to observe the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm that was half promoted successfully.

The sun in the sky, the five elements of power flowing in the world, and the Qingming lights protecting the Xuanhuang Realm.

There are also four sky-supporting immortal pillars.

In the so-called Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, there are only these few places where traces of immortal spirit exist.

"Perhaps, as time goes by, these immortal spirits will slowly spread and penetrate."

"Evolve it into the real Xuanhuang Immortal Realm."

"But..."

"It still can't be compared with the immortal world that I have seen in the past."

Li Fan sighed in his heart.

"Yes."

"Since the immortal world is destroyed, how can one become an immortal?"

Li Fan suddenly felt bored.

The formation of returning all things to emptiness was gradually broken by the fearless immortal souls of heaven and earth.

Li Fan no longer lingered, silently chanting Huanzhen in his heart.

When [Huanzhen] was activated again, the frustration in Li Fan's heart disappeared without a trace.

Because the activation form of [Huanzhen] was obviously different from the past.