Chapter 12: Second Anchor Point Emerges
"Jade Cosmos Thousand Variations Sutra, Nascent Soul technique, current number of cultivators: 0."
Li Fan picked up the jade slip and a message naturally appeared in his mind.
"Nascent Soul realm, huh..." Li Fan's heart was filled with longing, but it was a pity that right now, he was still just a mortal without a hint of divine sense. Although he could use the storage ring, he could not do anything with this Nascent Soul technique, and could only look on with bated breath, unable to learn its content.
Owning a treasure but being unable to access it, Li Fan could only look at it greedily for a few more moments before finally putting it down with reluctance.
Li Fan then looked at a rusty iron sword beside it.
It was none other than Dao Xuanzi's Foundation Establishment Treasure, [Rust Sword Dao Xuan].
According to Kou Hong, if a Qi Refining Cultivator wanted to break through, he needed to use a treasure of heaven and earth as the basis to establish their foundation.
These treasures were unique, and only those with destiny could find them.
Furthermore, once a cultivator establishes their foundation through the treasure, the treasure will become inextricably tied to the cultivator.
If the cultivator falls, then the natural treasure will fall with them, losing their extraordinary properties and becoming an ordinary object.
Li Fan stroked the unusual iron sword in front of him with his hand, but his attention was focused on the information that suddenly emerged from [Truth].
"Charging item found: Rust Sword Dao Xuan (remnant)."
"Consume to recharge?"
Li Fan pondered for a moment and chose yes.
The rusty sword in his hand silently disappeared, and with that, a line of small words appeared in Li Fan's mind.
"Current anchor recharging progress: 1%"
"Current number of anchor points: 1"
Li Fan's heart stirred; according to the feedback from [Truth], when the anchor charging progress reached 100%, a second anchor point will be opened.
In the future, everything will be virtualized, and when choosing to return, one could choose to restart from any one of the anchor points.
"If the second anchor point can really be opened, it would be incredibly convenient," Li Fan thought, looking forward to it.
For example, he kept repeating his reincarnation in these lifetimes in an attempt to get the cultivation method from Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi. The previous fifty years had been a repetitive ordeal for him. Moreover, uncontrollable variables sometimes arose.
If he could start his reincarnation directly from the time he became the Imperial Advisor and took control of the world, then each attempt would be much more efficient.
Thinking further, he was only a mortal, and each reincarnation would last only fifty years. Although it was long, Li Fan was able to accept it. However, once he embarked on the path of cultivation, where progress could take hundreds or thousands of years, starting over would be devastating. The thought made concerns rise in his heart.
However, if more anchor points could be opened, then Li Fan would have many more opportunities for trial and error. It was not impossible to keep trying step by step to find the perfect path to immortality.
As for the initial anchor point, it could also be used as a last resort.
"Although heaven and earth treasures are hard to come by, the cultivation world is incomparably vast, and treasures will be abundant. As long as I can leave this Land of Immortal Extinction and escape my shackles... " With these thoughts in mind, Li Fan's desire to leave this place grew more passionate.
After absorbing the Rust Sword Dao Xuan, Li Fan didn't pay too much attention to the other things in the storage ring.
It was nothing more than some standard spirit stones, low-grade spiritual weapons, and other such things.
Standard spirit stones, which were jointly manufactured by the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and Five Elders Association, had different grades and were the recognized currency of the world of cultivation. Each spirit stone had a unique anti-counterfeiting seal that could not be imitated by others.
In fact, the reason why a standard spirit stone was valuable was because it was recognized by the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders Association, and could be exchanged for cultivation techniques. On the other hand, privately made inferior spirit stones and natural spirit stones dug out from various spirit mines were all worthless.
This was because in today's cultivation world, what bottlenecked most cultivators were not resources such as spiritual qi and spiritual stones, but instead cultivation techniques of each realm.
It was because the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders Association controlled the vast majority of the world's cultivation techniques that they could become behemoths spanning the entire cultivation world.
As for those low-grade spiritual weapons, they were mostly used as consumables in fights. Kou Hong and Dao Xuan Zi were not particularly wealthy, so the spiritual weapons on their bodies were common goods that had little value.
After storing away the items in front of him, including the Nascent Soul technique, one by one into his storage ring, Li Fan had become exhausted.
His body was already so frail, like a candle in the wind, and it would completely fall apart at any time.
Taking a deep breath, Li Fan closed his eyes, as if he wanted to engrave his weakness at this moment firmly in his heart.
Afterwards, Li Fan no longer hesitated and called out [Truth], ending this life.
...
In the darkness, scenes of his previous life flashed by rapidly, and eventually, a few familiar lines appeared in the field of vision.
[The simulation ends.]
[You can choose one of the following options to keep:
1. An item possessed by you during this simulation.
2. Your cultivation level in this simulation.
3. The simulated memories of a person close to you in this simulation. These memories can be inherited by that person.
4. Abandon the above choices to accelerate the recharging progress.]
Li Fan chose the first item this time.
Unfortunately, his attempt to be clever by placing all of his items in the storage ring in his last life failed.
Items such as the storage ring, Nascent Soul technique, spiritual stones, spiritual weapons, and so on appeared in Li Fan's mind in turn.
Li Fan naturally chose the Nascent Soul technique.
What surprised him was that after he chose the cultivation technique, he could take it out and put it back into [Truth] at any time. Moreover, the technique was already bound to himself, in a sense.
This technique already completely belonged to him, and even if he did not choose to bring it back in the next life simulation, it would still exist in [Truth], ready to be brought out at any time.
"With this, many more plans have become available..." Li Fan took out the golden jade slip and played with it in his hands while pondering over his course of action in this lifetime.
"Thousands of years have passed since the Great Migration Era, and the relevant clues have long been buried deep underground. Mass excavation of ancient tombs is too sensational, and despite the strong control I had over the court in the previous life, this matter sparked significant opposition. With such little preparation, such a matter would undoubtedly be difficult to sustain."
"However, if I start laying out the groundwork from the beginning and spend twenty years, it may not be impossible to transform the mindsets of people in the world..."
Name: Li Fan
Cultivation Realm: Mortal
Physical Age: 20/86
Mental Age: 282/1109↑
Recharge progress: 0%
Anchoring Charge Progress: 1%
Current number of anchor points: 1
Bound Items: Jade Cosmos Thousand Variations Sutra
...
As time passed, Li Fan's sixth life began.
Everything progressed according to the established trajectory, but under Li Fan's discreet influence, many subtle changes occurred in the world.
After three years, rumors that immortals were descending into the world spread out one after another all over the Grand Xuan Kingdom.
In the fifth year, the School of Ancient Wisdom suddenly emerged. This school brought with it several volumes of ancient texts, which were so extraordinarily rare that they shook the entire world.
The names of the ancient scrolls were: "Yi Jing", "Dao De Jing", "Nan Hua", "Lunyu", and "Daxue. [1]
*****
[1] Famous literature from China. You might recognize Lunyu (The Analects) as one of the core writings of Confucianism and Dao De Jing as foundational to Daoism.