Chapter 278: Chaoyuan Sect Mutations
Just as Li Fan managed to see the excited children surrounding a slender figure in green clothes, he was forced to leave the Fallen Immortal Realm.
After a moment of dizziness, Li Fan returned to the real world.
"Mr. Bai..."
"Are you the owner of this space-time?"
Although this expedition yielded no practical results, Li Fan at least confirmed one thing.
This Mr. Bai was peculiar.
In the remnant space-time, if there was no interference from Li Fan, events should unfold in a fixed manner each time.
Based on previous experiences, Mr. Bai should have visited the small temple shortly after the end of the great battle to see the children.
But this time...
"He coincidentally arrived just as I was about to leave?"
Li Fan didn't believe this was a simple coincidence.
This Mr. Bai was deliberately avoiding him.
Or perhaps, for some special reason, Li Fan couldn't see him.
Just like how Li Fan couldn't leave Ningyuan City.
It seemed to be a specific rule of the entire space-time of Ningyuan City.
Setting aside the reasons for such rules, based on this analysis, there was a high probability that Mr. Bai was the owner of the space-time.
So, the question arose: what was Mr. Bai's obsession?
Li Fan thought of the children's praise for him as the best person in the world.
Furthermore, he actively organized rescues and treated the wounded.
...
After the great battle, the scene of Ningyuan City, which resembled a post-apocalyptic world with corpses everywhere, involuntarily appeared before Li Fan's eyes.
"His homeland was almost turned into a dead zone due to the cultivators' battle."
"If this cruel scene had never occurred, it would have been much better."
"Is this your obsession?"
Li Fan pondered.
Although there might be other possibilities, based on the character profile of Mr. Bai established from the current known clues, this was the most probable one.
"Attempting to resolve the event of Ningyuan City by obtaining Longevity Fruits without harming mortals? It's a bit challenging."
Having speculated on the outcome, the next step was to figure out a way to verify it.
However, achieving this goal seemed more difficult than simply defeating Senior Brother Zhang.
Not to mention Senior Brother Zhang's invincible might, just capturing Song Hesong, who was in the mid Golden Core stage, without involving mortals was not an easy task.
"It's fortunate that I have the Insect Binding Technique as a backup. Let's try a few methods first."
"If it doesn't work out, I'll deal with this matter after reaching the Golden Core stage."
In any case, seeing hope of escaping from Ningyuan City, the slight delay in time didn't matter much to Li Fan.
After silently formulating the action plan for the next entry into the Fallen Immortal Realm in his mind, Li Fan recalled the extraordinary stone in the small temple.
He immediately searched for it in the Tianxuan Mirror.
It wasn't something too secretive, so he easily found relevant information.
"Absolute Immortal Stone" was the term used by cultivators for this type of stone.
Its effects were the same as those Li Fan had discovered; it could isolate all spiritual power and consciousness probes.
In ancient times, it was commonly used to build secret chambers, carve stone statues, or make stone nails to imprison prisoners.
The Absolute Immortal Stone nails were paired with a method called "Immortal Spirit Sealing."
By piercing dozens of fixed acupoints in the body with Absolute Immortal Stone nails, it could block the circulation of spiritual energy within the body and seal all cultivation realms.
However, as time passed, the number of Absolute Immortal Stones in existence decreased, and it was now rare to come across them.
"There's still some remaining Absolute Immortal Stone in the small temple, just enough to make a set of stone nails."
Li Fan immediately spent contribution points to purchase the "Immortal Spirit Sealing" technique and kept it in mind.
...
In the 25th year, shortly after Li Fan entered seclusion again, news spread from Jiushan Prefecture, once again attracting the attention of cultivators across the world.
The mysterious Chaoyuan Sect ruins, which had never been thoroughly explored, had recently undergone strange changes.
At first, within the empty ruins of the sect, occasional shadowy figures would appear, moving back and forth. When the cultivators arrived to investigate, the figures would suddenly disappear.
Gradually, the frequency of these appearances increased, and the duration of their stay also lengthened. Eventually, cultivators could even hear the voices of these figures conversing with each other.
Apart from being intangible and without physical presence, these shadowy figures were almost indistinguishable from real people.
They seemed unaware of the presence of real cultivators and behaved as if living in their own time and space, undisturbed.
What caused a sensation, however, was when a cultivator happened to encounter an image of a disciple of the Chaoyuan Sect reciting the "Heavenly Light Building Yang Technique."
Overjoyed, the cultivator memorized the entire technique. Although it was only a Qi Condensation technique, the significance of this event was extraordinary because it implied the possibility of obtaining other higher-level techniques.
Even if there were no techniques, observing the ancient Chaoyuan Sect disciples refining pills and crafting weapons was akin to having free teachers for guidance.
As a result, the Chaoyuan Sect ruins, which had almost been deserted, became lively once again. Of course, the excitement belonged to the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, and the Five Elders Association was not involved.
The several Soul Transformation cultivators responsible for guarding the borders did not return for unknown reasons and remained stationed within Jiushan Prefecture.
The Tianxuan Spirit Lock Formation was activated as a permanent measure.
Any Five Elders Association cultivator who entered would be immediately killed.
The previously chaotic Jiushan Prefecture, under such circumstances, gradually became peaceful.
Meanwhile, on the deserted island in the Cong Yun Sea, the people of Dali had a rare dispute.
The cause of this dispute was the emergence of the changes in the Chaoyuan Sect ruins.
When the fatty Ye Feipeng went out, he learned of this from the conversations of passing cultivators.
Upon returning to the deserted island, he casually mentioned the incident during conversations with others. Unexpectedly, Su Xiaomei and Zhang Haobo felt a mutual resonance upon hearing this.
They both felt that their opportunity to form the Golden Core was likely within the Chaoyuan Sect!
Both of them had been stuck at the late Foundation Establishment stage for some time. The bottleneck was holding them back from advancing further.
Additionally, they hadn't decided on which law to use to form their core.
Now, with the opportunity seemingly within reach, they immediately entertained the idea of going to Jiushan Prefecture.
The journey there was long and fraught with danger.
Xiao Heng, the nominal successor of the "Immortal Revival Organization," naturally opposed this idea.
Xiao Heng believed that with their aptitude, the bottleneck would only hinder them temporarily, not permanently.
If they missed out on the opportunity of the Chaoyuan Sect, there would be other chances to make up for it.
However, venturing out with only a late Foundation Establishment cultivation level would be too dangerous, despite their exceptional talents and considerable combat strength.
The gap between cultivation realms was too significant.
It would be better to continue to lay low for a while longer, waiting until everyone had broken through to the Golden Core realm, and their abilities to protect themselves were greatly enhanced before going out together to seek opportunities.