The Vanguard Realm Li Fan selected was priced at the lowest tier of eight thousand contribution points per year.
Though modest in scale, its setting suited his needs perfectly. Rather than a picturesque immortal paradise, it was built upon a colossal left-hand bone.
Beyond it stretched an endless void, pitch-black and utterly silent, with the gigantic skeletal hand floating alone in the darkness.
According to Immortal Venerable Zi Miao, the inspiration for this scene came from the very immortal whose single thought had given rise to the entire Fallen Immortal Realm.
After negotiating with Immortal Venerable Zi Miao to rent it for thirty years, with payments made every decade, they signed a Commercial Contract, finalizing the transaction.
Li Fan transferred 64,000 contribution points over. Instantly, he received a storage ring containing three items: a small left-hand bone, ten finger bones, and a jade slip.
Li Fan picked up the jade slip. After studying it briefly, he immediately understood the function of the other items. The small left-hand bone served as the vanguard realm's command center. By performing the ritual with it, one could obtain the highest level of authority in the vanguard realm. The ten finger bones served as the so-called mediums.
He prepared the ritual within the Tianxuan Mirror, placing items representing clothing, food, shelter, and transportation at the four corners while suspending the left-hand bone at the center.
"Blessed be Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang," Li Fan murmured.
Though he had recently brought back the Purple Firmament Soul Observation Art from the Fallen Immortal Realm and the cooldown time for reentry had yet to pass, he could access the vanguard realm without issue.
The four items and left-hand bone emitted faint light.
A slight dizziness washed over him, and in an instant, Li Fan felt his surroundings transform.
An ancient, mournful atmosphere permeated the air. Five colossal skeletal fingers pointed diagonally toward the sky. Li Fan stood at the palm's base, appearing minuscule as an ant compared to the gigantic hand.
If I hadn't been mentally prepared, this sight would have startled me too.
Excellent. This will surely be enough to deceive those youngsters.
He gave a satisfactory nod.
With a thought, he appeared atop the thumb bone. The array to enter the Fallen Immortal Realm was set up here. While Su Xiaomei and the others had no immediate use for it, they could not be allowed to discover it either. With a wave of his hand, Li Fan concealed the array.
He then thoroughly explored the entire area, ensuring that there were no traces that might give the game away before withdrawing from the space.
The stage is set. Time for the actors to make their entrance.
Though they're still young, it’s good to start cultivating immortality from an early age. I've spent so many contribution points; best to recoup the costs soon.
After completing his preparations, Li Fan immediately departed from Myriad Immortals Island, heading straight for the Li World.
The capital of the Li World was shrouded in a faint aura of despair. Months had passed since the date that the Immortal Master was scheduled to collect the supplies. The materials had long been gathered, yet the Immortal Master remained conspicuously absent.
The central volcano in the Li World seemed increasingly active lately. Thick black smoke billowed skyward, visible even from the capital thousands of li away.
Court officials wore grim expressions, and the emperor of Li World lost all appetite.
Rumors had begun circulating secretly in the capital, claiming the Immortal Master had abandoned the Li World, and that its destruction was imminent.
Though the emperor eventually curbed their proliferation by employing ruthless measures, executing anyone daring to spread such rumors, he could not stop the creeping despair.
Amid this oppressive atmosphere, something strange occurred in Great Li.
A meteor blazed across the night sky, streaking directly toward the imperial palace.
It struck the very hall where morning court was held, leaving a deep crater and reducing the palace to rubble.
Fortunately, it was late at night; aside from a few lightly injured guards, no one else was hurt.
Afterward, the emperor personally oversaw the excavation, discovering the meteor remained completely intact.
What left the court officials buzzing and bewildered was that this so-called meteor was actually a left-hand bone. Jade-like and translucent, it radiated an unearthly aura.
The emperor knew it was a treasure, but despite extensive study, he couldn't discern what it was used for. In the end, he stored it deep within the treasury under heavy guard.
One night, after the commotion had settled, in the Ye residence within the capital...
"Spare me, Senior!"
Ye Feipeng jolted awake from a nightmare, his forehead drenched in sweat.
The nine-year-old's face was pale with terror, chest heaving with ragged breaths.
As he calmed, confusion set in. He stared blankly at his small body and the familiar-yet-unfamiliar surroundings, utterly bewildered.
"Young Master, what's wrong?" A maid rushed in from the adjacent room, hastily draped in an outer coat.
"Nothing. Leave me," Ye Feipeng dismissed her, massaging his temples as his mind churned.
A dream? Or... regression?
He had just experienced a long, impossibly vivid dream.
In it, an Immortal Master would take him from the Li World to Liuli Island a decade from now.
After five years of cultivation, he finally purified the miasma within him and succeeded in drawing qi into his body, becoming a true cultivator.
Yet the life of a cultivator was nothing like he'd imagined. It was far less carefree and enjoyable than his days as a young master in the Li World. He toiled like a beast of burden, spending a full year to accumulate enough contribution points for a technique.
Just as he grew smug about reaching the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm in just three years, a cataclysmic event shook the Congyun Sea, shattering his worldview completely.
Crimson Flame scorches the sea, Haobo achieves Dao Unity.
Ye Feipeng clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms. Yet he was oblivious to the pain.
He meticulously recalled the cultivators' later analyses of that epic event, fearing he might miss a single detail.
In sixteen years of cultivation, a Golden Core cultivator beheads a Dao Unity entity, becoming the youngest Dao Unity Immortal Venerable in history.
Envy and ambition burned in Ye Feipeng's eyes.
With the Congyun Sea’s aid, he seized the pivotal moment when five Spirit Transformation Immortal Eminences were battling Crimson Flame, stealing their prize.
If Zhang Haobo could do it, why can't I?
If only I had arrived in the cultivation world ten years earlier, armed with the knowledge of countless opportunities and foresight.
I could have replaced him, becoming a Dao Unity Heavenly Venerable who dominates an entire province!
Instead, I cultivated bitterly for decades, only to be crushed like an ant by some passing Nascent Soul cultivator.
This cannot be the fate of Ye Feipeng!
His eyes burned crimson as countless thoughts warred in his mind.
Suddenly, a sharp pain lanced through his skull. Unable to endure it any longer, his vision darkened, and he collapsed into unconsciousness.
Beside him, Li Fan's figure gradually materialized from the shadows of the night.