Chapter 341: Kidnapping the Pearl of Derivation
Although the Pearl of Derivation appeared as a little girl, Li Fan did not treat her as a child.
The Pearl of Derivation had existed since the Wasteland Era when the Immortal Sage re-established the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
If his assumptions were correct, the Pearl of Derivation had been working tirelessly for at least five to six thousand years.
This was enough to make Li Fan show her due respect.
The little girl glanced at Li Fan and nodded, "Yes, deriving techniques is very exhausting."
Suddenly, she widened her eyes and asked, "You still have one-third of an hour left. Will you stay a bit longer or leave now?"
Li Fan, naturally, was very considerate.
"I will leave when my time is up."
"Being able to spend time with you is an honor for me."
The little girl immediately showed a very satisfied expression.
"Great, I can rest for another third of an hour," she said with a bit of excitement.
During the remaining time, Li Fan did not just stand idly by.
Under the seemingly nonexistent supervision, Li Fan began to tentatively ask the Pearl of Derivation a few questions.
"Are you a cultivator?"
"A long time ago, I was. But people need rest and can die. Later, the Immortal Sage fused me with the Pearl of Derivation," the little girl lazily answered, lying on the table, looking indifferent.
"Now I won't die. I just get tired occasionally."
"How long have you been deriving techniques without resting?"
"How long? I don't remember. It's always been this way. No rest is allowed until all techniques are derived. But I can steal a bit of rest occasionally," the little girl said helplessly. "I really want to finish early and go out to relax."
...
Li Fan and the Pearl of Derivation communicated smoothly.
The presence in the dark did not stop Li Fan from asking increasingly bold questions.
Thus, Li Fan gained a preliminary but relatively detailed understanding of this top treasure of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
Reluctantly, Li Fan's allowed time finally ran out.
"Alright, time to say goodbye," the little girl waved her hand, bidding farewell to Li Fan.
"I hope to see you again," Li Fan bowed respectfully.
Then he felt the surrounding light dim.
After a moment of darkness.
When he opened his eyes, he had returned outside the black stone monument of the Law Enforcement Hall.
The black-robed cultivator who led them was still waiting.
Ximen Yue was also beside him, meditating, seemingly studying a newly acquired technique.
Han Yi was still nowhere to be seen.
Li Fan did not disturb the two, standing quietly aside.
He recalled the recent encounter with the Pearl of Derivation.
But his mind was blank.
"As expected..." Li Fan understood.
Except for the technique "Mysterious Spiritual Transformation" clearly engraved in his mind, the rest of the memory from leaving the waiting room to appearing outside the black stone monument could not be recalled.
He couldn't even remember how he obtained the technique or what the Pearl of Derivation looked like.
"The top treasure of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance is indeed heavily guarded."
"This must be a restriction directly acting on the cultivator to prevent those with ulterior motives from spying on the Pearl of Derivation."
"No wonder, apart from knowing its existence, no one knows any other information."
"However..."
Li Fan closed his eyes, hiding the emotions in his eyes.
"These restrictions are useless to me."
"All memories have already been synchronized with my true self."
In the Tianxuan Mirror in Tianyu City, Li Fan's true self seemed calm.
But in fact, his mind was constantly replaying the first meeting with the little girl, the Pearl of Derivation.
"Forced labor for thousands of years, to ensure efficiency, even merging a cultivator with a unique treasure, turning her into an immortal laborer."
"The Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance is truly wicked and insane."
"The Pearl of Derivation is too pitiful. I must rescue her."
From the conversation with the little girl, Li Fan learned that the Pearl of Derivation was her companion treasure.
However, after being discovered by the Immortal Sage, she was transformed using a secret method for maximum utilization.
Her body disappeared, and her consciousness fused with the Pearl of Derivation.
She became an odd existence, both human and treasure.
Immortal but also sleepless, continuously deriving techniques.
Until no more techniques could be derived.
The Immortal Sage once promised her that the day the techniques were exhausted would be her day of rest.
The Pearl of Derivation naively believed that rest meant real rest.
But to Li Fan, the term "rest" was not a kind word.
Publicly and privately, Li Fan was obliged to rescue the Pearl of Derivation.
For other cultivators, stealing the Pearl of Derivation from the heavily guarded headquarters of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance was an impossible task.
But for Li Fan, now that he had learned her information, it was not impossible.
Li Fan already had a preliminary plan on how to do it.
First, the Pearl of Derivation was guarded by a cultivator.
Based on speculation, the guardian was at least at the Dao Integration stage.
Therefore, the first step in Li Fan's plan was to cultivate to the Dao Integration stage within the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and then become the Pearl of Derivation's guardian.
Second, develop feelings for the Pearl of Derivation through daily interactions.
Third, when the time is right, activate the Truth, return to the anchor point of one year, and during preservation, choose the third option: the memory of a person closely related to oneself.
Fourth, repeat the actions of the previous life, return to the Pearl of Derivation, and let her inherit the memory of the previous life.
These decades or even centuries of memories would naturally include the process and results of the Pearl of Derivation deriving techniques in the previous life.
With these memories, the Pearl of Derivation would no longer need to derive techniques painstakingly.
When needed, she could just take out the techniques derived in the memory of the previous life.
Using this great gift, deepen the relationship with the Pearl of Derivation.
Fifth, activate the Truth again. Repeat the third and fourth steps.
The repeated reincarnation memories would definitely push the intimacy between Li Fan and the Pearl of Derivation to the highest level.
Li Fan would make the Pearl of Derivation recognize him as her master.
The final step, activate the Truth, choose to preserve one item: the Pearl of Derivation.
According to past experience, unique treasures of the world would not have identical duplicates.
If there was a conflict, the weaker one would disappear, and the stronger one would remain.
With countless cycles of memories, Li Fan's Pearl of Derivation would undoubtedly be stronger than the one anchored at one year.
So, the final result would be the disappearance of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance's Pearl of Derivation.
Li Fan's Pearl of Derivation would remain.
This was Li Fan's initial plan to kidnap the Pearl of Derivation.
Although the process would undoubtedly encounter various problems.
For example, becoming a Dao Integration cultivator of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and infiltrating the Pearl of Derivation's side was currently very far for Li Fan.
Also, the Pearl of Derivation should have some backhand left by the Immortal Sage, making it impossible for her to easily recognize someone else as her master.
But...
In the face of countless reincarnations, these were nothing.
As long as there was a theoretical possibility, for Li Fan, it was a certainty.
The Pearl of Derivation was the foundation of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
And the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance was the foundation of the Immortal Sage.
Although the Immortal Sage now lived in seclusion, indifferent to worldly matters,
from the statement "The number of cultivators should not be too many or too few," it could be seen that the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, at least, was a means to maintain a stable number of cultivators for the Immortal Sage.
Li Fan was very curious. If the foundation of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance was uprooted,
how would this elusive Immortal Sage react?