Of course, the resemblance is merely in appearance.
On the surface of the spirit stone, the restrictions jointly inscribed by the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance and the Five Elders Association were something Li Fan could not replicate for the time being.
“At the moment, my creations are limited to simple objects like spirit stones, which are purely composed of spiritual energy.”
“Anything with a slightly more complex structure is beyond my capability.”
Even so, Li Fan was extremely delighted in his heart.
Because this signified a promising start.
In the future, as his cultivation level continued to rise and his skills became increasingly refined, it wouldn’t be impossible for him to create objects out of thin air.
Breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm was a significant leap in power.
However, a pressing issue now confronted Li Fan and demanded his immediate attention.
The Mountain Sitting Technique he had secretly learned from He Zhenghao was merely a Golden Core Realm cultivation method.
After stepping into the Nascent Soul Realm, the feedback to his cultivation that once flowed like a gentle stream had nearly disappeared.
It was evident that the technique no longer provided him with any benefit.
Although he had accumulated substantial cultivation from previous efforts, which helped solidify his newly attained realm, he could not delay resolving this issue for too long. The sooner, the better.
Fortunately, Li Fan had already devised countermeasures.
The Three Strategies
1. The Middle Strategy Naturally, the middle option involved using the reward offered by Immortal Sage Jicheng to gain access to the Law Derivation Jade enabling him to deduce the subsequent parts of the Mountain Sitting Technique.
In his previous life, Immortal Sage Jicheng had been ambushed by the Five Elders Association’s Dao Integration cultivators during the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance’s plan to uncover hidden spies using the “The Plan of the Heavenly Sovereign of Reality and Illusion.” This betrayal ultimately led to the sage’s demise. 𝔯օβĚŚ
In this lifetime, Li Fan couldn’t guarantee the same events would unfold.
2. The Lower Strategy
The ‘Audience Law Jade Plaque’, though exceedingly rare and typically awarded only to cultivators who rendered great service to the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance, wasn’t a unique or priceless treasure.
Given Li Fan’s current resources, he could potentially acquire one by spending a significant amount of contribution points.
However, doing so would be conspicuous and might expose his identity, attracting the attention of interested parties. He feared that once he obtained the technique, he might have to “escape for real” by using [Truth]
Thus, this was only a last resort.
3. The Upper Strategy
This entirely depended on opportunity.
That is, Li Fan comprehending it on his own.
After several lifetimes practicing the Mountain Sitting Technique, Li Fan considered himself second to none in understanding this technique. His cultivation process had provided fleeting moments of insight that he had carefully accumulated over time.
With his profound foundation, devoting some time might allow him to deduce the subsequent portions of the Mountain Sitting Technique independently.
Ultimately, the Law Derivation Jade could deduce techniques because of its ability to explore infinite possibilities. While it could analyze and create techniques with unmatched depth and insight, it could not fully comprehend Li Fan himself.
Furthermore, Li Fan would never expose all his secrets to a mystical artifact that still seemed bound by the restraints of the Immortal Ancestor and had to work tirelessly to maintain its own survival.
“Everything depends on how things unfold next.”
“During this process, I might even steer events a bit further. The Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance is searching for an internal spy. Why not take advantage of this opportunity…”
Li Fan narrowed his eyes, calculating in his heart.
After a long time, he finally stood up.
Having broken through to a new realm, he had examined the changes in his body for now.
As for the doubling of his biological and psychological age limits displayed on the “[Truth] Panel,” such details no longer mattered to Li Fan. To him, it was a triviality.
As long as his cultivation continues to progress, these things will naturally grow alongside it, so Li Fan doesn’t need to worry about them.
Perhaps only when he faces the chasm between the Dao Integration and Longevity Immortal realms in the future will he turn his attention to them again.
Compared to the numerical limit on lifespan, Li Fan found the two words marked afterward—“Heaven’s Scorn”—to be more intriguing.
After some reflection, and according to the explanation of [Truth], Li Fan learned that although the theoretical maximum biological lifespan was 999 years, due to the hatred of this world’s will, the actual lifespan that cultivators could achieve was far less than this figure.
This matched the current state of cultivators in the Xuanhuang Realm, as far as Li Fan knew.
However, he wasn’t worried about this matter.
Given his storm-stirring style of behavior, no matter the lifetime, it was unlikely that he would live to the average lifespan of a cultivator.
His true lifespan was, in essence, his psychological age.
Therefore, for Li Fan, making the most efficient use of each lifetime’s time was the most appropriate approach.
“Heaven’s Scorn…”
Li Fan sneered internally.
Without thinking further, he slightly opened his mouth.
He transferred all the items from his storage ring into his own Cave Heaven, leaving only some ordinary objects in the ring to avoid suspicion. Then, he quietly left the underground chamber.
Instead of hurrying back to Congyun, he lingered in Tianling Prefecture to investigate the Zhang Debiao he had heard about earlier.
That’s right—Li Fan had his sights set on the remains of fallen cultivators on the Tianling Prefecture battlefield.
It wasn’t due to any particular eccentricity but to unlock new [Truth] Anchors points.
Previously, Li Fan had used fragments of a Golden Core to charge the last anchor point.
However, despite all his efforts afterward, [Truth] seemed to disdain the quality of the Golden Core fragments purchased from the Tianxuan Mirror, showing no reaction to them.
Li Fan speculated that the next anchor point might require a complete Golden Core to unlock.
But where would one find a Golden Core cultivator willing to sell their own core?
Neither the Tianxuan Mirror Mirror nor the civilian markets had such items for sale.
As a result, Li Fan had never had the opportunity to unlock a new anchor point.
But now, perhaps, the opportunity had come.
The war in Tianling Prefecture had claimed countless cultivators.
Even though they were not the main forces in the battle, the number of fallen Golden Core cultivators was undoubtedly significant.
Golden Core cultivators, unlike Nascent Soul cultivators, did not possess a Cave Heaven Dharma Domain to support them or reconstruct their bodies.
If vital areas such as the head or heart were suddenly injured and they failed to react in time to sustain themselves with spiritual energy or receive timely treatment, they would die.
Thus, it was quite likely that some of those corpses contained intact Golden Cores.
This Zhang Debiao profited from the dead, and one could tell just by hearing his name that he was a greedy, unscrupulous individual.
It shouldn’t be difficult to purchase some Golden Cores from him.
Li Fan calculated his plans with precision, but he encountered difficulties right from the first step.
After searching all over Tianling Prefecture, he couldn’t find Zhang Debiao’s whereabouts.
It was said that he had been in Tianling City just a few days ago, but recently, no one had seen him.
According to rumors, Zhang Debiao had previously boasted to his confidants that he had taken on a huge deal.
It was unclear if he had gone off to complete this big transaction.