“Fellow Daoist Jiao, have you taken on another losing business?” Li Fan teased.
Upon seeing a guest, Jiao Xiuyuan immediately changed his angry expression to a smile. However, when he heard Li Fan’s taunt, his face darkened.
He replied sheepishly, “Fellow Daoist, you’re mistaken. Jiao never engages in losing deals.”
Then, he muttered through gritted teeth, “This brat dared to play me. He thinks I’m an easy target…”
Li Fan seemed to have heard Jiao Xiuyuan say this more than once, so he just smiled without saying anything.
Li Fan looked at the small cauldron on the table and asked, “Fellow Daoist Jiao, what is this small cauldron?”
Jiao Xiuyuan’s eyes lit up, and he immediately gave an enthusiastic introduction, “This small cauldron is quite extraordinary. I obtained it with great difficulty from the remnants of a ruined sect.”
Li Fan became interested and asked, “Oh? What is the use of this small cauldron? Objects that have survived from ancient times are usually not ordinary.”
“Do you know the famous Medicine King Sect?” Jiao Xiuyuan asked mysteriously.
“I’ve never heard of it,” Li Fan shook his head.
Jiao Xiuyuan’s smile froze for a moment, but he was a professional and quickly provided an explanation to Li Fan.
“The Medicine King Sect was one of the renowned sects from ancient times, known for their expertise in alchemy and herbal cultivation.”
“It is said that after the Immortal Ancestor passed down his teachings but before the impending Great Calamity, the Medicine King Sect’s patriarch, Liu Ruchen, had a premonition that a great change was coming to the world.”
“As a result, Liu Ruchen led the entire Medicine King Sect, using his own Medicine King Cauldron as their vessel, to break through the void and leave this world.”
Li Fan heard this story for the first time and inquired, “Break through the void? Where did they go?”
Jiao Xiuyuan shrugged and said, “It’s a story from thousands of years ago. Who can really know for sure? They might have gone to the peripheral independent worlds, or they might have reached an entirely new world. In any case, that’s not the key.”
“The key is this cauldron!”
Li Fan nodded slightly, while his secondary self, Fan Lin, began searching for the keyword “world.”
Relevant information quickly appeared, indicating that long ago, cultivators had already established their basic worldview. The current world of cultivation was not the only existing world. Apart from this world, there were many other attached small worlds and miniature independent realms.
Beyond the boundless void, there were other worlds similar to our own.
Before the Great Calamity, the ancient and prosperous world of cultivation had extensive communication and interaction with these other worlds. Cultivators of that era referred to themselves as “Xuanhuang Realm Cultivators.”
…
Li Fan paused for a moment.
“Xuanhuang…”
His thoughts swirled as he continued reading.
However, for some reason, this connection and communication abruptly ceased at some point. There were cultivators who tried to traverse the void and explore other worlds they had previously communicated with, but none of them ever returned.
Later, the Great Calamity arrived, bringing unprecedented changes. The Xuanhuang Realm seemed to “self-isolate.”
Attempting to break through the void and leave this world became exponentially more challenging.
It wasn’t until hundreds of years had passed after the end of the slaughter and a new order was established that some new cultivators attempted to reestablish contact with other worlds.
However, over these years, they had found nothing.
Nevertheless, it appeared that research in this area had always been ongoing and had not been abandoned.
…
“I see, the Xuanhuang Realm,” Li Fan mused.
“Could it be that the Cleansing Heart Mantra [1] was passed down from ancient times? But back then, the Immortal-Mortal Miasma had not appeared, so the timeline doesn’t seem to match,” Li Fan pondered.
There were no clear written records of what exactly happened during ancient times, even within the Tianxuan Mirror. What was certain was that many cultivators from that era were still alive today, such as the white-haired elder Li Fan had encountered. However, they all seemed to maintain a unanimous silence on this matter, enveloping that period of history in mystery and ambiguity.
Current cultivators could only rely on hearsay and rumors to gain some insight into the events of ancient times, as initially explained by Kou Hong. According to this narrative, the Great Calamity had occurred, and it was followed by the Immortal-Mortal Miasma.
However, later, Li Fan found the tomb of Yi Xing, an outer disciple of the Tai Yan Sect. According to the descriptions on the tomb’s murals, the Immortal-Mortal Miasma had already spread during the time of the Tai Yan Sect, so it seemed to contradict Kou Hong’s account.
Li Fan, on the other hand, had more faith in the archaeological evidence he’d gathered. According to Kou Hong’s explanation, there seemed to have been some time between the prohibition of cultivators practicing the same technique and the complete outbreak of carnage.
Perhaps this period was longer than he had initially thought. In his view, the cultivators at the time had surely realized the consequences of cultivation techniques not being able to be practiced together and had taken various measures to save themselves.
The collapse of order wasn’t an instantaneous event. The ancient world of cultivation might have been more resilient than he had imagined. Moreover, the time scale of cultivators, compared to ordinary people, was much larger.
During ancient times, cultivators had long lifespans. For them, ten or twenty years might have been nothing more than a single period of seclusion.
Real fear, despair, and bloodshed might have erupted only when their cultivation reached a point where they could no longer advance, and their lifespans were running out.
In the beginning, some semblance of order might have been maintained, but as the Immortal-Mortal Miasma broke out…
Li Fan narrowed his eyes.
Of course, these were just speculations based on various known clues. The truth might still have some hidden aspects, but overall, it probably didn’t differ too much from Li Fan’s conjecture.
…
While Li Fan was lost in thought, Jiao Xiuyuan noticed that he hadn’t received a response after explaining all that.
So, he held up the small cauldron in front of Li Fan’s eyes.
“Fellow Daoist, what do you think? Do you want this Medicine King Cauldron?”
Li Fan immediately snapped out of his reverie, his expression unchanged. “What exactly is the use of this small cauldron, fellow Daoist Jiao? Please explain it again. I was thinking about something else just now.”
Jiao Xiuyuan, somewhat helpless, repeated his introduction. “This small Medicine King Cauldron was used by the disciples of the Medicine King Sect to cultivate various spirit plants and herbs.”
“It contains its own space, which continuously generates wood-attribute spiritual energy, accelerating the growth of herbs.”
Li Fan frowned upon hearing this. “With such a treasure, why didn’t that person want it just now?”
Jiao Xiuyuan gave an awkward smile and didn’t lie. He truthfully explained, “Fellow Daoist, you might not know, but they have already put the first batch of spiritual plants and herbs cultivated in the newly discovered wood-attribute spiritual energy subworld of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance on the market.”
“The quantity is enormous, so…”
Jiao Xiuyuan shrugged helplessly.
“The prices have plummeted.”
*****
[1] TL Note: I believe the Cleansing Heart Mantra includes the pinyin for Xuanhuang in its Chinese name, which is why Li Fan makes this connection. I’m not entirely sure though – if anybody here speaks Chinese, here’s the name: 玄黄清心咒.