Upon hearing the prompt from the Tianxuan Mirror, Li Fan’s eyes narrowed instantly.
“Heart-Desire Ascension Pill… and its danger level is only ranked a little over three thousand? What kind of things have the cultivators of the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance been tinkering with all these years?”
Though a certain plan had just fallen apart, Li Fan wasn’t particularly surprised.
After all, the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance prioritized stability above all else.
Any item capable of disrupting the balance of power would inevitably be subjected to strict control.
Just imagine: if a Dao Integration cultivator addicted to the Heart-Desire Ascension Pill were to suffer withdrawal, how much destruction would they unleash?
The fact that it was banned wasn’t surprising—it would have been odd if it weren’t.
“Just my luck! Turns out this damn thing is contraband!”
Inside the Tianxuan Mirror, Li Fan feigned an expression of frustration.
He pretended to flash a ruthless look in his eyes.
“I might as well take it myself!”
With that, he made a show of swallowing the pill right in front of the Tianxuan Mirror.
“Warning: Consumption of the Heart-Desire Ascension Pill will result in imprisonment for a duration proportional to the cultivator’s potential danger level, along with forced withdrawal treatment. This will cause irreversible damage to both body and mind.”
“Warning…”
Li Fan’s body stiffened slightly, stopping just before he could actually consume the pill.
Cursing under his breath, he crushed the Heart-Desire Ascension Pill into powder with a single squeeze.
“Satisfied now?!”
“No! I can’t let this go! That bastard dared to deceive me—I have to settle this score!”
As if growing angrier by the second, Li Fan stormed out of the Tianxuan Mirror, left Luoyan City, and flew deep into the wilderness.
Only when he reached a desolate, uninhabited place and ensured that no one had followed him did he finally stop.
Turning into a streak of light, he descended underground and skillfully excavated a secret chamber.
From within his palm, he carefully retrieved and recondensed a small amount of the Heart-Desire Ascension Pill’s powder, which he had deliberately preserved.
Moments later, a miniature version of the Heart-Desire Ascension Pill, shrunken by dozens of times, appeared in his hand.
Splitting it in two, Li Fan gazed at one half before consuming it.
He wasn’t taking it due to addiction but to verify a certain suspicion he had.
The micro-dose melted the moment it touched his tongue, transforming into a warm current that surged through his entire body.
A slight dizziness washed over his mind.
For a fleeting moment, Li Fan felt as if he was once again witnessing the interwoven celestial network—the vast and intricate net of Heaven and Earth’s truths that he had previously glimpsed while comprehending the Human Dao Stardust.
However, this time, it was a hundred times clearer than before!
It felt within reach, as if he could grasp it at any moment.
The fundamental truths of Heaven and Earth were laid bare before his eyes!
His eyes widened involuntarily, eager to see more.
But just then, the pill’s effects wore off.
Like an illusion dissolving into mist, the profound scene before him shattered and vanished.
An indescribable emptiness surged into his heart.
“Damn it! I was so close!”
“The truths of Heaven and Earth… they were right there within my grasp…”
“Quick, I need to have Liu San refine more of it!”
Thoughts like these, fierce and overwhelming, stormed through Li Fan’s mind like a raging hurricane.
He shot to his feet—
But he did not leave the chamber.
Instead, his expression twisted with determination.
“I seek immortality—why should I rely on mere pills?”
“To ordinary people, missing a chance at immortality might mean eternal regret. But for me…”
“A single fleeting opportunity is meaningless. My chances are infinite—limitless, inexhaustible! If I miss it in this life, then I’ll seize it in the next. If I miss it again in the next, then I will try once more in the life after that!”
Li Fan, driven by his own will, began to resist the effects of the Heart-Desire Ascension Pill.
His face contorted, his entire body trembling uncontrollably.
Exerting all his strength, he fought against the wild, unrestrained desires surging within him.
Thus, half a day passed.
After all, it was merely some powdered residue rather than a complete Heart-Desire Ascension Pill. Yet, Li Fan managed to endure the addiction.
All sorts of distracting thoughts receded like a tide, and when he recalled the pill, he no longer felt the slightest craving.
“This thing is truly terrifying. If it had been a complete Ascension Pill, relying solely on my current willpower, I fear I still wouldn’t have been able to resist its temptation.”
“However, if I use the Xuanhuang Immortal Heart Mantra to assist me, it will be a different story.”
Li Fan let out a deep breath, steadied his mind, and then swallowed the remaining half of the Ascension Pill.
The moment the desire surged again, he activated the Xuanhuang Immortal Heart Mantra.
Just as before, Li Fan once again saw the immense net woven from the principles of heaven and earth.
But under the influence of the Immortal Heart Mantra, his mind was as calm as still water, completely devoid of impulsive urges.
And so, he waited in silence for the effects to subside.
When the hallucinations before his eyes abruptly vanished and the emptiness and longing resurfaced in his heart, the Xuanhuang Immortal Heart Mantra began to operate slowly. Before these desires could affect his mind, they were instantly absorbed, transformed into nourishment for the mantra itself.
“Claiming to be an immortal before true immortals—what an utter joke.” Li Fan felt not even the slightest ripple in his heart.
“No matter what, at least one thing is confirmed. Taking this Heart-Desire Ascension Pill can indeed assist in cultivating the Xuanhuang Immortal Heart Mantra, and I don’t even have to worry about side effects.”
Once the desires faded, Li Fan ceased operating the Immortal Heart Mantra.
At present, he was still unable to keep the mantra running instinctively, like breathing. Perhaps only when he fully completed the mantra would he achieve such an effect.
As he left the underground chamber and set off toward Tianling Prefecture, a sudden thought surfaced in his mind.
“The heaven and earth principles seen under the effects of the Heart-Desire Ascension Pill are nothing more than illusions that are nearly real. No matter how many I take, they will never lead to true enlightenment. But on the other hand, if I could witness the real laws of heaven and earth—the kind that cultivators are inherently incapable of comprehending—wouldn’t the effect be even better?”
“After all, no matter how real an illusion may seem, it can never compare to true existence.”
“A pill that can genuinely help cultivators attain enlightenment wouldn’t be something the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance would ban. But what if, among a batch of ineffective pseudo-law pills, there were one or two that actually contained a trace of heaven and earth’s true principles…”
Lost in thought, a strange smile crept onto Li Fan’s lips.
When he arrived at Tianling City, he temporarily set his thoughts aside.
He headed straight for a shop that sold Heavenly Spirit Flowers.
“Shopkeeper, give me a pot of Heavenly Spirit Flowers,” Li Fan said.
“Right away, sir! Please take a look over here. We have top-quality ones with sixteen to twenty petals—our shop has them all!” the shopkeeper responded enthusiastically.
However, after scanning the dozens of Heavenly Spirit Flowers displayed in the shop, Li Fan’s expression darkened immediately.
“You scoundrel! Are you trying to take advantage of me just because I’m an outsider? These pathetic things dare to bear the name ‘Heavenly Spirit’?”
“Why do all these flowers have a strange, eerie blood-like flow within them? What an absolute eyesore!”
Li Fan cursed loudly, his voice booming like thunder, instantly drawing the attention of many cultivators nearby.
“Ah, sir, you may not know this,” the shopkeeper sighed bitterly, “but ever since a few years ago, all the Heavenly Spirit Flowers that have grown in this region have been like this!”