Li Fan wasn't being sarcastic.
The Mountain-Sitting Art truly wasn't originally created for cultivators.
Its exact origins were already lost to time. But according to the technique's records, one could only make progress with the original version of the Mountain-Sitting Art by literally sitting on a mountain.
By selecting a mountain and relying on its continuous growth in height, the practitioner would receive corresponding cultivation feedback in return.
This process was far too lengthy.
In ancient times, mountains and rivers weren't as easily altered as they were today. A mountain might require thousands of years to grow just a tiny bit taller.
If the Mountain-Sitting Art wasn't created as some kind of joke, then it seemed less suited for human cultivation and more appropriate for the trees and rocks upon the mountains themselves.
Yet to Li Fan's knowledge, there were no tales of plant spirits, tree demons, or demonic beasts in the current cultivation world.
The slightly more powerful exotic beasts only controlled a trace of supernatural power through their bloodline inheritance, but they absolutely couldn't cultivate.
Perhaps spirits and demons existed in the earliest era of this world, but then, some catastrophe occurred, causing all the demonic creatures to disappear? Li Fan wondered.
Still, regardless of the truth, it had little bearing on Li Fan's practice of the Mountain-Sitting Art. He only speculated briefly, knowing deeper investigation would prove futile.
The original Mountain-Sitting Art was fundamentally unusable for cultivators. But as the Great Reformation descended, causing increasingly frequent changes to mountains and rivers, the Mountain-Sitting Art paradoxically became barely practicable.
Then, a thousand years ago, a remarkably talented individual accidentally obtained the Mountain-Sitting Art.
Grasping its essential principle of "sitting on a mountain and reaping its rewards," this person modified the technique.
Now the practitioner could also make progress in the technique through their own cultivation. Furthermore, they expanded the scope from only mountains to include people. This officially transformed the Mountain-Sitting Art into an exceptionally rare and precious technique.
Unfortunately, this peerless genius only recorded this modification in the technique's preface, without leaving their name behind.
Like the Sea-Calming Sword Art, the Mountain-Sitting Art was a Golden Core technique. It would certainly be sufficient for Li Fan's cultivation needs in this lifetime.
Following the technique's instructions, Li Fan began circulating his energy. Within moments, he had grasped the fundamentals of the Mountain-Sitting Art.
But then that familiar sensation of stagnation during cultivation reappeared.
Clearly, the Mountain-Sitting Art also didn't harmonize with Li Fan's Foundation Establishment Curio, the Deepsea Pearl.
After a moment's hesitation, Li Fan activated the Taishang Primordial True Scripture.
He completely dissolved his cultivation of the Thousand Mechanisms Jade Cosmos Scripture and began cultivating the Mountain-Sitting Art instead.
Supported by his vast and refined Foundation Establishment cultivation, Li Fan soon advanced the Mountain-Sitting Art to the Foundation Establishment realm.
Next, I need to test the effectiveness of its reward-reaping effects.
If the effect is mediocre, I'd be better off cultivating the Sea-Calming Sword Art instead.
Having made his decision, Li Fan took out the jade slip containing the Thousand Mechanisms Jade Cosmos Scripture.
No kindness surpasses that of transmitting a technique, especially in a world where the law of the Exclusivity of Immortal Techniques holds sway. The grace of transmitting a method was nearly akin to the gift of a second life.
He Zhenghao previously showed me considerable favor, likely because of this reward-reaping effect.
Unfortunately, his vision was too narrow, limited to minor favors and small benefits. Even if he could receive cultivation feedback, it probably wouldn't amount to much.
Investment follows a simple principle—the greater the input, the greater the return.
Since that's the case, I might as well make a major investment and see what this Mountain-Sitting Art is truly capable of.
He immediately took out the Mini Tianxuan Mirror and began checking the market prices of Nascent Soul techniques.
Within the Myriad Immortals Alliance, Qi Refinement realm techniques generally ranged from 1000 to 3000 contribution points.
Foundation Establishment techniques typically started around 5000 contribution points.
Starting from Golden Core techniques, there was a massive leap in prices.[1]
Even the lowest-tier methods cost tens of thousands of points, with more exquisite Golden Core formation methods commanding increasingly higher prices.
Nascent Soul techniques could cost up to hundreds of thousands of contribution points.
Li Fan even spotted a technique called Yin-Yang Dual Cultivation Participation Concordance listed for an astonishing number of points.[2] He wondered what profundities it contained.
Kou Hong, Dao Xuanzi—this lifetime, I won't allow you two brothers to turn on each other.
Li Fan smiled faintly and chose to sell the Nascent Soul technique, Thousand Mechanisms Jade Cosmos Scripture.
A faint glow swept over the Mini Tianxuan Mirror.
After a moment, it offered a price of around 90,000 points.[3] Considering the Tianxuan Mirror took a cut for purchases, this indicated the Thousand Mechanisms Jade Cosmos Scripture was indeed exceptional.
Li Fan didn't hesitate and accepted right away.
A golden contract flew out from the Mini Tianxuan Mirror, hovering before Li Fan.
Li Fan read it carefully.
The contract spelled out the various terms of the technique transaction. Once it was finalized, ownership of the technique would pass entirely to the Myriad Immortals Alliance, and any future use of it would bear no relation to its original owner.
The transaction was irreversible, and the original owner's memory of the technique would automatically vanish after the transaction.
Under no circumstances should copies be retained or traded with others—violators would bear the consequences.
Li Fan had no objections. Using spiritual power as a brush, he signed his name on the golden contract. The contract then dissolved into countless golden particles, a portion of which disappeared into Li Fan's body, while the rest carried the jade slip back into the Mini Tianxuan Mirror.
With the transaction complete, Li Fan's memory of the specific contents of the Thousand Mechanisms Jade Cosmos Scripture vanished.
He only recalled having once possessed this technique, but every word and sentence of it had completely faded from his mind.
Li Fan didn’t feel any sense of loss. After all, it was an item bound in Return to Truth, so there was no fear of losing it permanently.
It seems I can make a hefty profit from this every lifetime.
With the contribution points secured, Li Fan began his experiment on the reward-reaping effects.
The experiment requires a control. Xiao Heng will do.
His first investment target for the Mountain-Sitting Art was naturally Su Xiaomei, who was born with an Innate Immortal Physique and was a Heaven’s Envied.
His avatar donned clothing, concealed its cultivation with a Form-Concealing Talisman, and stood to the side.
He then used his communication spirit talisman to summon both of them.
Before long, Su Xiaomei and Xiao Heng arrived at the stone chamber at the lake bottom.
They looked curiously at the avatar beside Li Fan, unsure who this unfamiliar cultivator was. But since Li Fan remained silent, they dared not ask questions.
"Master!"
"Greetings, Senior!"
They both bowed respectfully.
"How is your cultivation progressing?" Li Fan asked with his back turned to them.
"Master, I've been cultivating really quickly. I've already reached the final-stage Qi Refinement realm and will soon be able to establish my Dao Foundation. But I’ll need a Curio of heaven and earth and a Foundation Establishment technique. They all cost so many contribution points... I'll need to save up for a long time to redeem them." Su Xiaomei looked at Li Fan pitifully.
"Senior, I'm in the same boat as Xiaomei, also preparing for Foundation Establishment." Xiao Heng appeared somewhat reserved.
Li Fan remained silent for a moment, seemingly contemplating something.
After a while, Li Fan turned around and said, "Gathering Dao resonance artifacts for me has delayed your progress."
Xiao Heng quickly responded, "Senior, you're too kind. Being able to assist you is our honor. If not for you, how could we have left Li World and embarked on the path of immortality?
"Moreover, the cultivation techniques we practice were provided by you. I will never forget your kindness.”
Li Fan waited until Xiao Heng finished speaking before continuing, "In cultivation, gaining an early advantage creates continued advantages.
"If you rely solely on yourself, you'll likely need three to five more years. Any delay in these most precious cultivation years would likely result in completely different future achievements. Therefore..."
Li Fan paused, then continued, "Select the techniques and Curios you desire from the Tianxuan Mirror. I'll cover the cost.
"Once you obtain them, proceed with Foundation Establishment immediately. Don't delay any further."
Su Xiaomei and Xiao Heng first stared at him blankly, as if unable to process this tremendous fortune falling upon them.
Just as joyful expressions appeared on their faces and they prepared to kowtow in gratitude, they heard Li Fan add, "Su Xiaomei has always addressed me as Master. Although I've never formally accepted her as my disciple, there remains a bond between us. Therefore, I won't ask her for contribution points. Consider it a gift from master to disciple.
"As for you... The contribution points will be considered a loan from me. In the future, you'll need to gather Curios of heaven and earth for me as repayment. Do you have any objections?"
These words elicited completely different reactions from Su Xiaomei and Xiao Heng.
Su Xiaomei shouted, "Long live Master!" then kowtowed once before eagerly rushing to the Mini Tianxuan Mirror to begin selecting techniques.
Xiao Heng watched Su Xiaomei and gave a bitter laugh.
Then his expression turned solemn: "The fact that you are willing to lend me contribution points, allowing me to establish my foundation in advance, is already an immense grace. How could I be unsatisfied?
"After achieving Foundation Establishment, I will spare no effort to gather Curios of heaven and earth to repay your kindness, Senior."
Hearing this, Li Fan nodded slowly: "In that case, you may go as well."
Xiao Heng also kowtowed once before walking to the Mini Tianxuan Mirror to select items alongside Su Xiaomei.
Watching the two excited faces, Li Fan's gaze grew profound.
Naturally, the different treatment of the two represented the independent variables in Li Fan’s experiment.
After transmitting techniques, how much cultivation feedback would Li Fan receive as their cultivation levels increased?
Would it justify the initial investment?
What was the difference in the feedback received between transmitting techniques with repayment and without repayment?
For the same amount of contribution points, would investing through the Mountain-Sitting Art yield more cultivation progress than practicing within the Tianxuan Mirror itself?
All these questions needed to be clarified.
This would determine how Li Fan would subsequently utilize the Mountain-Sitting Art's reward-reaping abilities.
After reaching the early-stage Foundation Establishment realm, the cost of the epiphanic state boost in the Tianxuan Mirror had risen to one hundred points per day.
The increase in progress rate had also dropped from twenty-seven times to roughly twenty times.
Moreover, the difficulty of cultivation at the Foundation Establishment realm was a qualitative leap compared to the Qi Refinement realm.
Neither Kou Hong nor Dao Xuanzi was mediocre. Yet both had required a full two hundred years to reach the final-stage Foundation Establishment realm.
This, in some measure, illustrated just how arduous cultivation truly was.
The consumption of contribution points was simply too massive.
Though Li Fan possessed foresight and could easily amass large quantities of contribution points, he still needed to plan meticulously and spend wisely.
1. TL note: please note that the author forgot to actually state all the numbers in the next few paragraphs so I could only fill in the blanks to the best of my abilities ☜
2. I’ll edit this part if the exact number of points is ever revealed in future chaps, but so far I never saw this technique mentioned again. ☜
3. The exact figure isn’t stated as far as I could find ☜