The next day, Li Chenfeng and his two companions quietly departed from the island.
Through Formless Killing Mechanism, Li Fan sensed them traveling north, growing ever more distant. As their images grew increasingly blurred, he stopped tracking Li Chenfeng.
There’s still another forty or fifty years. If the opportunity arises in the future, I might pay a visit to their Empire.
However, in this lifetime, his first priority was to advance his cultivation to the Foundation Establishment realm.
Returning to Myriad Immortals Island, Li Fan entered seclusion for a period of time, slowly digesting the insights gained from observing the Foundation Establishment processes.
After emerging, he reviewed the Atlas of the Geographical Areas Surrounding the Congyun Sea that his avatar Lin Fan had redeemed.
He had considered acquiring a complete map of the entire Xuanhuang World in one go, but the Tianxuan Mirror denied him access, stating his permission level was insufficient. Thus, he had to settle for the next best option: obtaining the maps of the regions surrounding the Congyun Sea.
As the map materialized in his mind, Li Fan discovered that the seemingly boundless Congyun Sea was, in fact, just an inland sea.
It looked as if someone had forcefully carved a gap into the continent.
The Congyun Sea was almost entirely surrounded by land. Only to the southeast, through a relatively narrow stretch of water, was it connected to the endless ocean.
To the north of the Congyun Sea lay Yongliang Province, where Li Chenfeng and the others had fled.
To the west and south, from top to bottom, were Jiushan Province, Shilin Province, and Yuandao Province. These three provinces were all territories under the control of the Myriad Immortals Alliance.
The northern Yongliang Province, however, was under the dominion of the Five Elders Council.
We’re now approaching Anchor Year 14, it is time to plan an exit strategy.
After obtaining the Deepsea Pearl, I must leave the Congyun Sea as soon as possible. I will leave my avatar here to observe how events unfold.
As for where to go...
Li Fan carefully examined the information on each province.
Jiushan Province bordered Yongliang Province and was not particularly stable. Shilin Province and Yuandao Province were quite similar. However, Yuandao Province bordered the endless ocean, and was abundant with water attribute spiritual qi.
Considering he intended to use the Deepsea Pearl for Foundation Establishment, Yuandao Province was undoubtedly the more suitable choice.
Li Fan also noted that in the Xuanhuang World, the boundaries between provinces were not artificially drawn. Instead, provinces were naturally separated by something known as the White Mist Barrier.
Both mortals and cultivators could pass through it. However, the cost of crossing the White Mist Barrier was one's lifespan. The longer one took to cross, the more lifespan was consumed.
Few mortals voluntarily traversed the White Mist Barrier, for at their pace, they would often grow old and die before making it through.
Although cultivators could fly at great speeds, each crossing of the White Mist Barrier still cost at least thirty days of their lifespan. While not a significant length of time, frequent crossings would drain even a Golden Core cultivator’s lifespan.
Thus, most cultivators adhered to a principle: Don’t move unless necessary. They generally remained active only within their own provinces.
Fortunately, each province was vast, no smaller in area than the Congyun Sea. Coupled with the existence of massive organizations like the Myriad Immortals Alliance that spanned the entire cultivation world, resources were never in short supply. Therefore, some cultivators could spend their entire lives within a single province without it significantly impacting their cultivation.
Of course, one could also use ultra-long-distance teleportation arrays to travel between provinces. However, this only reduced the lifespan cost to around ten days and was prohibitively expensive. Only a very small number of cultivators would adopt this approach.
After some investigation, Li Fan discovered that there was no White Mist Barrier between Yuandao Province and the Congyun Sea. Moreover, within Myriad Immortals Island, there was a dedicated teleportation array leading to Yuandao Province.
If I can successfully reconstruct the Mountain-Sitting Art, then individuals with exceptional talent will become particularly important to me.
For a moment, several figures flashed through Li Fan’s mind.
After leaving, perhaps I can bring them along to test the effects of the Mountain-Sitting Art. Li Fan pondered.
However, traveling with mortals will undoubtedly have its inconveniences. I should make a trip in advance to prepare.
Li Fan had previously attempted to store living people inside the Taiyan Boat but found it impossible to bring them into Return to Truth’s space.
After some thought, Li Fan decided to use the teleportation array to visit Yuandao Province and survey the place.
The overall layout of Yuandao Province was similar to that of the Congyun Sea. Nearly every large mortal town had protective arrays and Foundation Establishment cultivators serving as guardians.
High above Yuandao Province stood a massive floating city. It was named after the province: Yuandao Sky City.
The layout of Yuandao City was identical to that of Myriad Immortals Island, as if carved from the same template, giving Li Fan an unexpected sense of familiarity.
At the city center stood a Tianxuan Mirror. Li Fan entered and found it functioned exactly like the one on Myriad Immortals Island.
He even spotted a familiar face within Yuandao City.
It seems this is how things are under the rule of the Myriad Immortals Alliance. I wonder what the situation is like on the Five Elders Council’s side.
Mortals were not permitted to enter Yuandao Sky City. The largest city in Yuandao Province was called Zhuoling City.
After teleporting to Zhuoling City, Li Fan paid 50 contribution points to the city guardian in exchange for a courtyard to serve as his future base.
Following this, Li Fan piloted the Taiyan Boat, flying all the way from Yuandao Province back to the Congyun Sea. This was to scout the route for his eventual departure.
By the time he returned to Myriad Immortals Island, it was already Anchor Year 14.
During this period, Zhang Haobo had been relentlessly pursuing traces of stormfloods.
At first, he would misjudge the timing and location of a stormflood’s appearance. But gradually, Zhang Haobo’s predictions grew increasingly accurate. He always managed to arrive precisely when each stormflood formed.
Now, however, Zhang Haobo had halted his pursuit of stormfloods. He hovered in the air motionlessly like a stone statue, gazing upward at something. This had been going on for quite some time.
But slowly, an unusual aura began to emanate from Zhang Haobo’s body.
Li Fan immediately shifted his attention back to Zhang Haobo.
Zhang Haobo’s robes suddenly billowed without any wind, rustling loudly. Meanwhile, Zhang Haobo himself seemed to be pushed upward by an invisible force, slowly ascending. His speed increased rapidly, and he soared straight toward the heavens.
However, upon reaching a certain altitude, he abruptly came to a halt. He then began to circle that space repeatedly, as if searching for something, but couldn’t find the entrance.
Zhang Haobo's face remained as impassive as still water. He moved like a gentle breeze, sweeping through the sky.
One day, two days, three days... Time passed, yet he still seemed to gain nothing from his efforts.
However, Li Fan observed that the area Zhang Haobo circled was gradually shrinking.
When the final zone was determined at last, he let out a long cry and suddenly accelerated, transforming into a streak of azure light that violently slammed into that empty space.
A faint, almost imperceptible water-blue glow simultaneously ignited across his body.
Zhang Haobo's figure abruptly vanished from the world, and Li Fan's perspective was pulled along, entering a bizarre space.
A translucent azure figure stood with its eyes closed. In its hands, it held a cage woven from azure light aloft.
A black sword hilt radiating overwhelming killing intent battered the cage bars, struggling to break free from its confines.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Occasional strands of azure light were struck loose by the impact, drifting down to various parts of the Congyun Sea.
There, they transformed into stormfloods.