“Another money-losing venture, Daoist Jiao?” Li Fan quipped with amusement.
Seeing a customer, Jiao Xiuyuan’s angry expression instantly shifted into a welcoming smile. But upon hearing Li Fan’s teasing remark, his face darkened again.
He chuckled awkwardly. “What are you talking about, Fellow Daoist? I, Jiao, have never conducted business at a loss.” Then, through gritted teeth, he muttered under his breath, “That brat actually dared to play me. Does he really think Jiao Xiuyuan is an easy one...”
Li Fan had heard him grumble like this more than once before and simply smiled without comment. His eyes fell on the small cauldron on the table. “Fellow Daoist Jiao, this small cauldron...”
Jiao Xiuyuan’s eyes lit up, and he immediately launched into an enthusiastic explanation. “This cauldron is extraordinary. I went through immense hardship to retrieve it from the ruins of a destroyed sect.”
“Oh? What purpose does it serve?” Li Fan’s interest was piqued. Most artifacts that survived the Great Reformation and endured to the present day were anything but ordinary.
“Have you heard of the renowned Medicine King Sect?” Jiao Xiuyuan said mysteriously.
“I haven’t,” Li Fan shook his head.
Jiao Xiuyuan’s smile froze for a moment. Fortunately, his professional composure held, and he quickly launched into an explanation for Li Fan.
“The Medicine King Sect was one of the most illustrious sects of the ancient era. They were renowned throughout the cultivation world for their alchemy and herb cultivation.
“It is said that after the Immortal Venerable spread the Dao, but before the Great Reformation arrived, the sect master of the Medicine King Sect at the time, Liu Ruchen, had a vague premonition that a great change was coming to the world.
“So, using the Medicine King Cauldron as a vessel, Liu Ruchen parted the void and broke through the boundaries of this world, departing with the entire Medicine King Sect.”
This was the first time Li Fan had heard such a tale. “They broke through the world’s boundaries? Where did they go?”
Jiao Xiuyuan shrugged. “It’s a story from thousands of years ago. Who can say? Perhaps they went to one of the minor worlds drifting nearby. Perhaps they journeyed to a brand new world. Regardless, that’s not the important part.
“The important part is this cauldron!”
Li Fan nodded slightly, but his avatar, Lin Fan, swiftly began searching for the keyword: “world.”
Relevant information instantly surfaced. It was surprisingly expensive, costing over a thousand contribution points.
He purchased them and began reading.
In ancient times, cultivators had already established a fundamental understanding of the world.
The cultivation world they currently inhabited was not the only world in existence.
Not only were there numerous attached minor worlds and independent miniature grotto-heavens surrounding their world, but beyond the endless void, there existed other worlds similar to their own.
Before the Great Reformation, that ancient and prosperous cultivation world had even engaged in considerable communication and exchange with these other worlds.
The cultivators of that time referred to themselves as “cultivators of the Xuanhuang World.”
Li Fan paused.
Xuanhuang... His mind churned for a moment before he continued reading.
But one day, for reasons unknown, all communications were suddenly severed.
There were cultivators who attempted to traverse the void, intending to visit those other worlds to investigate the matter. But none ever returned.
Later, the Great Reformation descended, and heaven and earth were reshaped.
The Xuanhuang World seemed to enter a state of isolation. Attempting to part the void and leave became countless times more difficult.
Hundreds of years after the slaughter ceased and order was re-established, new cultivators attempted once more to make contact with other worlds. But all these years, there had been no significant discoveries.
Still, it seemed research into the matter was never truly abandoned, and had continued all this time.
So that's it. The Xuanhuang World.
Could the Xuanhuang Heart Clarification Sutra have been passed down since ancient times? But the Immortal-Mortal Miasma hadn't appeared back then. The timeline doesn't quite align.
Li Fan pondered silently.
What truly transpired in that ancient era remained shrouded in mystery, with no definitive written records even within the Tianxuan Mirror.
But one thing was certain: there were cultivators who had survived from that time to the present, like the white-haired elder Li Fan had encountered in a past life.
Yet all of them, without exception, maintained a strict silence on the matter, veiling that period of history in fog and uncertainty.
Modern cultivators could only catch glimpses of what might have happened in that past era through hearsay and fragmented tales.
What Kou Hong had told Li Fan was the version commonly circulated in the cultivation world today: that the Great Reformation had descended, immortal techniques could no longer be shared, and this had occurred before the spread of the Immortal-Mortal Miasma.
But later, Li Fan discovered the tomb of Yi Xing, an outer disciple of the Taiyan Sect. According to the murals in the tomb passage, the Taiyan Sect clearly still existed when the Immortal-Mortal Miasma spread. Yi Xing himself had been tasked with relocating mortals.
This contradicted Kou Hong's account, and Li Fan trusted the evidence uncovered through archaeology more.
According to Kou Hong, there seemed to be a period between when immortal techniques could no longer be shared and when the slaughter truly began.
Perhaps that period was longer than I imagined.
Indeed, the cultivators of that time would have immediately recognized the consequences of being unable to share techniques, so they must have tried every means possible to save themselves.
The collapse of order didn't happen overnight. The ancient cultivation world had existed for an unknowable length of time—it couldn't have been so fragile.
Moreover, the timescale for cultivators is vastly different from that of mortals. And in the ancient cultivation world, cultivators lived far longer lives. A dozen or twenty years might have been nothing more than a single session of secluded meditation to them.
The true fear, despair, and slaughter likely only erupted completely when cultivators found their progress stalled and their lifespans nearing an end.
At first, order might have been barely maintained. But then, the Immortal-Mortal Miasma broke out...
Li Fan narrowed his eyes.
Of course, this was all speculation based on the clues he had gathered. The truth might hold other secrets. But broadly speaking, it likely wasn't far from Li Fan's conjecture.
While Li Fan was lost in thought, Jiao Xiuyuan noticed his lack of response after speaking at length.
He waved the small cauldron in front of Li Fan's eyes.
"Fellow Daoist, what do you think? Do you want this Mini Medicine King Cauldron or not?"
Li Fan snapped back to attention, his expression unchanged. "What exactly is this cauldron used for? Could you explain it again, Fellow Daoist Jiao? I was pondering another matter earlier."
Jiao Xiuyuan sighed helplessly and repeated his explanation. "This Mini Medicine King Cauldron was used by disciples of the Medicine King Sect to plant and cultivate various spirit plants and herbs.
"It contains its own spatial realm and can continuously generate wood attribute spiritual qi on its own, accelerating the growth of herbs."
Li Fan frowned upon hearing this. "If it's such a treasure, why did that person just abandon it?"
Jiao Xiuyuan offered an awkward smile, not bothering to lie. "You haven't heard, Fellow Daoist? The Myriad Immortals Alliance has already begun selling the first batch of spirit plants and herbs from the newly discovered wood attribute spiritual qi grotto-heaven.
"The quantity is absolutely massive, so the prices have completely collapsed." Jiao Xiuyuan shrugged helplessly.