Chapter 34: The Cleansing Heart Mantra's Effect
Li Fan inquired discreetly and confirmed that Yin Yuzhen was not lying about the Body Cleansing Pill.
So, three days later, he met Yin Yuzhen again and agreed to her request.
Both parties agreed that before the Pure Body Spirit Pool opened, Li Fan would help the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion collect a certain amount of treasures every once in a while.
When the pool was opened, Yin Yuzhen would give the Body Cleansing Pill to Li Fan.
Of course, to show sincerity, Yin Yuzhen brought out the land deed.
Since they had an agreement, Li Fan didn't hesitate and accepted it.
Thus, Li Fan moved again.
The property was located in the central part of Liuli Island, surrounded by a bustling and lively environment.
However, with its unique architectural structure and embellishments of vegetation, it was completely isolated from the noisy surroundings.
Though in a bustling place, it felt as if it were deep in the mountains.
The area of the building was several times larger than Li Fan's previous small courtyard. The artificial hills, lakes, flowers, plants, and trees inside needed care.
Li Fan declined the maids sent by the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion and hired a few servants from the island to clean every three days.
Yin Yuzhen was quite helpless about Li Fan's caution.
Fortunately, Li Fan didn't overlook the agreed-upon matters.
Over a year, Li Fan joined three official sea expeditions of Liuli Island, each time bringing back several boxes of treasures, astonishing the whole island and winning a fleet quota for the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.
Afterward, every time the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion's fleet set sail, Li Fan would go with them.
Over the year, Heavenly Treasure Pavilion's earnings were overflowing, almost equal to the total profits of the previous five years.
In the eyes of everyone in Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, Elder Li not only had great abilities, being able to find treasures on each expedition, but was also meticulous and decisive in his thinking.
During one of the sea expeditions by the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, a few crew members were tempted by the valuable items brought up from the sea. They planned to unite and kill for the treasures.
Unexpectedly, Elder Li had already sensed the abnormality and struck preemptively before they could act, executing them all.
The corpses were thrown into the sea, and their heads were strung together to deter others.
Privately, people said that perhaps those crew members were just boasting recklessly after drinking, and they might not have had the courage to commit murder and theft.
But just because there was this slight possibility, Elder Li didn't hesitate to kill them all.
Moreover, the island's authorities not only didn't punish him, they instead praised Elder Li for his reasonable and effective protection of Liuli Island's assets.
Even when the islanders found out about it, they cursed those pirates for deserving their fate and praised Elder Li for his decisive action.
Since then, there were no crew members in Heavenly Treasure Pavilion's fleet who dared to harbor evil intentions.
...
Li Fan, of course, didn't care about what others thought of him.
In order to completely control the fleet as soon as possible, harsh measures were necessary.
He didn't have so much energy to waste on these worldly matters.
During this year, whenever he had free time, he diligently cultivated the "Cleansing Heart Mantra."
It was not only because it could purify the miasma but also because Li Fan had discovered something that delighted him.
The recharging progress of [Truth] had accelerated!
Before this, the recharge progress of [Truth] could only increase naturally as time passed.
It would reach 100% every twenty years, slowly rising to the upper limit of 200% after reaching 100%.
In the previous nine cycles, Li Fan had tried various methods to try to speed up the progress, but none had succeeded.
Li Fan had left the Land of Immortal Extinction and came to the cultivation world a little over a year ago.
According to the previous pattern, the progress should be between 6% to 7%.
However, Li Fan was pleasantly surprised to find that the progress had reached 15%.
The charging speed had nearly doubled! Apart from the Cleansing Heart Mantra, Li Fan did not engage in anything else that could possibly help with this.
The only explanation is that cultivating the "MCleansing Heart Mantra" can actually accelerate the charging progress of [Truth].
Although the principle behind it was still unknown, this didn't hinder Li Fan from practicing even more diligently.
With the display of the [Truth] panel, every bit of progress could be clearly seen.
This also kept Li Fan motivated, preventing him from losing motivation due to the long and repetitive cultivation.
In addition to the charging progress, Li Fan's upper mental age limit also increased significantly.
Name: Li Fan
Realm: Mortal
Physical Age: 42/95↑
Mental Age: 505/1210↑
Virtualization Charging Progress: 115%
Anchor Charging Progress: 51%
Current Anchor Count: 1
Bound Items: "Jade Cosmos Thousand Variations Sutra," Tai Yan Boat, "Stone Tablet of Prohibition" (Damaged)...
Time passed quietly as Li Fan immersed himself in his practice.
Soon, there was only one year left until the opening of the Pure Spirit Spirit Pool.
On Liuli Island, the list of needed supplies for this event was also announced.
At this moment, Li Fan was studying this list with the people from Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.
"Everything else on this list is fine, but what is this Starry Sea Quicksand?" Li Fan frowned and asked after reading it once.
Having worked for Heavenly Treasure Pavilion for a year, Li Fan had gained some insights, at least regarding the conventional ores and rare materials circulating in the Cong Yun Sea.
Not only was Sun Zhang at a loss, but even Yin Yuzhen, the manager of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, fell silent.
"The materials needed this time are all very common, except for this Starry Sea Quicksand that I've never heard of. It seems that the key to competing for the slot this time lies in this Starry Sea Quicksand," Sun Zhang said.
"I've done business for over ten years and have never heard of this thing," Yin Yuzhen tapped the table lightly with her fingers. "Looks like we need to ask the people from the Wanhua Chamber of Commerce about it."
"These people are very greedy. It's probably going to cost us a lot," Sun Zhang sighed.
"I am determined to get the Pure Body Spirit Pool slot," Li Fan said firmly.
The Wanhua Chamber of Commerce wasn't a local business in the Cong Yun Sea but instead came from a distant continent.
It was said that the trading company was supported by immortals, allowing them to easily cross endless seas and come to this remote Cong Yun Sea for business.
Yin Yuzhen established a connection with the Wanhua Chamber of Commerce over a decade ago, and the two sides have engaged in trade over the years.
It was through the Wanhua Chamber of Commerce that the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion could quickly digest the large number of treasures found by Li Fan and convert them into profits.
"We still have a year of preparation time. The Wanhua Chamber of Commerce's trading ship should pass through the Cong Yun Sea in three months. At that time, I can contact them," Yin Yuzhen said.
"We can't solely rely on the Wanhua Chamber of Commerce. In the past year, Liuli Island has gathered many disaster refugees from other islands. These refugees are from various places in the Cong Yun Sea, and there might be someone who knows about this Starry Sea Quicksand among them. We can inquire with them. Other forces on the island are also looking for this Starry Sea Quicksand, so we also need to monitor them closely. If they find anything, we can take action accordingly," Li Fan decided.