Soul Arbiter of heaven and earth, Wind? Li Fan's mind trembled violently.
This azure figure bore a striking resemblance to Crimson Flame, whom he had witnessed in his past life!
Only, the Great Dao resonance emanating from it was clearly an agglomeration of the Law of Wind.
Even under the effects of Heaven Watches and Earth Listens, the Soul Arbiter's overwhelming allure to cultivators instantly began eroding Li Fan's consciousness.
Across a distance of untold thousands of li, Li Fan's observational perspective warped. His focus threatened to shift uncontrollably from Zhang Haobo, his primary subject, to Azure Wind.
Within the Tianxuan Mirror, inside Li Fan's sea of consciousness, the Blue Flame phantom spirit abruptly stirred awake. It opened its eyes, gazing toward the direction of Azure Wind.
As if doused by a bucket of cold water, Li Fan's body temperature plummeted instantly, and his amplified desires gradually subsided.
His mind turned utterly cold and rational, allowing Li Fan to once again quietly observe the bizarre scene unfolding before him.
After staring at Azure Wind for a long time, Li Fan shifted his gaze to the black sword hilt. The baleful aura it emitted had nearly solidified, forming a writhing layer of black substance that covered the hilt's surface. Beneath the hilt, a short, broken fragment of the blade was faintly visible.
This black hilt thrashed about like a living creature within the azure cage. It occasionally emitted terrifying roars that shook the azure light violently. Yet no matter how it struggled, it could not break free from the azure prison.
Within the cage, Li Fan faintly perceived what seemed to be churning azure air currents.
The speed of these currents was so high that it exceeded the limits of Li Fan's current perception. Thus, at first glance, the interior appeared calm.
But judging from the occasional azure light strands that drifted down to various parts of the Congyun Sea, the power of the storm raging within this cage was unimaginably fierce.
The azure air currents hacked ceaselessly at the sword hilt like blades of wind, constantly eroding the black, baleful substance.
Though exceptionally fierce, this sword hilt of unknown origin was gradually being worn down and damaged under its protracted imprisonment and erosion by Azure Wind.
Who could have imagined that the stormfloods ravaging the Congyun Sea are just collateral damage from the struggle between a Soul Arbiter of heaven and earth and a sword hilt?
The might of the Dao Unity realm is truly terrifying.
In my past life, stormfloods completely ceased one day. Perhaps it was because this sword hilt was completely destroyed? Or...
Just what is the origin of this sword? Even as a broken hilt, it can contend with a Dao Unity-level Soul Arbiter of heaven and earth on equal footing for so long...
How powerful must it have been in its complete state, and at its prime?
Thoughts flashed through Li Fan's mind one after another.
Afterward, he shifted his gaze back to Zhang Haobo.
A clash between Dao Unity powerhouses is something ordinary cultivators simply cannot perceive. Moreover, they are hidden within this secret space...
Zhang Haobo is exceptionally gifted and can detect the presence of stormfloods. So it’s no surprise that he can roughly sense the location of this space. But with only Qi Refinement cultivation, it should have been absolutely impossible for him to break in. Unless...
In Li Fan's field of vision, a layer of brilliant blue light enveloped Zhang Haobo.
He did not even glance at Azure Wind, as if unaffected by the greed incited by the Soul Arbiter of heaven and earth.
Instead, he stared intently at the cage in its hands, observing the struggle between Azure Wind and the sword hilt within.
Azure Wind seemed completely unaware of Zhang Haobo's presence within the blue light, ignoring him entirely. It allowed him to perceive and comprehend their fight at close range.
To act so boldly before reaching the Dao Unity realm is truly like licking blood from a blade's edge. However, there is indeed a reason for his confidence.
That familiar blue light continued swirling as Zhang Haobo observed the struggle between Azure Wind and the sword hilt.
Li Fan calmly analyzed the situation.
With how fortune is flowing, Zhang Haobo's providence keeps growing. Here in the Congyun Sea, he can already be considered one of heaven's chosen. Everything goes his way; opportunities come to him unbidden.
A pity... Let's see what his final outcome will be.
If I only had my own power to rely on, I might never discover this hidden place even after several simulation cycles. But now, with Zhang Haobo possessing such great providence, he can find it with ease.
The Congyun Sea alone holds countless opportunities. When one considers the entire cultivation world, how many secrets must it hold? Exploring them alone is too inefficient. But if I use all these prodigies as my eyes, having them locate those treasure troves for me, then in the next life, I can take all that is useful...
Excellent.
Li Fan’s thoughts slowly quieted as he focused all his attention, joining Zhang Haobo in contemplating the struggle between sword and wind. Such an opportunity was far too rare; Li Fan had no intention of wasting it.
Time passed slowly this way.
For those who walked the path of cultivation, secluding oneself for years at a time was perfectly normal.
After an indeterminate length of time, Li Fan was startled awake by a sudden surge of blue light erupting from Zhang Haobo's body.
Following that, Zhang Haobo abruptly vanished from the mysterious space where Azure Wind and the sword hilt resided. Like a falling meteor, he plummeted downward, crashing deep into the sea.
The churning aura around him was all too familiar to Li Fan. It was the sign of someone at the final-stage Qi Refinement realm about to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm.
Hmm? Li Fan found it strange, because the Curio of heaven and earth that Zhang Haobo was using for his breakthrough was different from what he had expected.
The clear, sharp cry of a sword suddenly rang out.
It was like an infant's first cry, or the first ray of morning sunlight.
A chaotic, budding consciousness was born in that moment, growing robust with every passing second.
The sword’s cry grew clearer, more intense.
"Screech!" The cry reached its sharpest peak, then abruptly stopped.
At the same time, within Zhang Haobo's dantian, a blurry, constantly shifting sword silhouette suddenly appeared.
In the dark depths of the sea, the water around Zhang Haobo was instantly repelled, creating a sphere devoid of seawater.
That sword silhouette stretched lazily like a mischievous and energetic child. Then, astonishingly, it flew out from his dantian, darting and flipping through the empty space around Zhang Haobo.
Li Fan clearly saw that this sword silhouette had no physical form. Instead, it was much like the Blue Flame phantom spirit, a being of pure consciousness.
Is this... sword intent? Li Fan was shocked.
He hadn't expected Zhang Haobo to comprehend sword intent in such a short time. After all, though he had also gained some insights from observing the sword hilt, he was far from reaching such an exaggerated level.
Li Fan couldn't help but sigh. Human talent truly varied immensely.
But Li Fan also felt a surge of excitement. Zhang Haobo’s use of sword intent as a Curio to establish his Dao Foundation served as undeniable proof of Yin Shangren’s theory: “Everything that exists in heaven and earth can be considered an unfinished Curio.”
If sword intent could serve this purpose, then so could Return to Truth.
Moreover, the process of Zhang Haobo establishing his foundation using something formless like sword intent had given Li Fan considerable insight.
That said, using Return to Truth as the basis for Foundation Establishment was immeasurably more difficult than using sword intent.
To achieve such a goal, Li Fan still had a long, long way to go.