Within the Bone Vanguard Realm, Li Fan nodded imperceptibly to himself as he watched the visibly excited Ye Feipeng and the equally pleased Xiao Heng.
After spending all that time playing along with these youngsters, the preparations are finally done.
If nothing goes wrong from here, I can simply reap the rewards of my investment without needing to manage every little detail.
To make his fabricated tale appear as authentic as possible, Li Fan had expended considerable effort and resources.
This included, but wasn't limited to: a necklace fused with communication arrays and ritual-stabilization arrays, a communication transmission array disguised as an altar, a puppet possessing Foundation Establishment cultivation, illusion stones capable of mimicking the death phenomena of cultivators, and more.
His reasons for going to such lengths this time—leasing and modifying the vanguard realm, fabricating completely fictional tales of a True Immortal—were carefully considered.
First, if he directly provided cultivation techniques as a fellow cultivator, it might work in the beginning while these prodigies were still young and impressionable.
But as they matured and understood the true value of such techniques, they would inevitably grow suspicious, wondering what hidden costs or schemes lay behind his generosity. Once that seed of doubt was planted, complications would surely follow.
By masquerading as a semi-fallen ancient cultivator and framing the technique transmissions as fortuitous encounters the prodigies had discovered themselves, he avoided this concern entirely.
Second, by establishing the Immortal Avengers organization, he could freely act as an absentee leader. No longer would he need to painstakingly seek out individuals with exceptional talent for investment.
As the saying goes, talent naturally attracts talent. As Xiao Heng, Su Xiaomei, and these other prodigies grew and traveled, they would likely encounter companions with considerable aptitude themselves.
Even without any effort from Li Fan, the Immortal Avengers' membership would keep growing steadily. He could let the prodigies develop independently, focus on his own cultivation in peace, and simultaneously enjoy the investment returns brought by the Immortal Avengers' expansion. It was a perfect arrangement.
Third, the very nature of the Immortal Avengers, as an organization opposing the Myriad Immortals Alliance, placed constant pressure on Xiao Heng and the others.
Pressure created urgency. And urgency drove growth. Only under sustained pressure could their cultivation potential be forced to fully awaken, allowing Li Fan to recover his investment far more quickly.
He remembered this all too clearly: in his previous life, without any external pressure at all, Xiao Heng had failed to purge the miasma within his body for over a decade.
Yet in this life, stranded on a desolate island and bearing the "heavy responsibility of revenge," Xiao Heng had spontaneously begun cultivating the Sea-Calming Sword Art the very day after receiving it. The difference was staggering.
As for whether this small Immortal Avengers organization might attract the attention of the mighty Myriad Immortals Alliance... While disguised as a skull, Li Fan had already instructed Xiao Heng on this matter: the Myriad Immortals Alliance had immense power, so their current focus should be on developing and strengthening their own capabilities. They were not to confront the Alliance directly until they reached the Nascent Soul realm.
No matter how gifted Xiao Heng was, reaching the Nascent Soul realm would still take many years, likely more than Li Fan would witness in this lifetime.
In any case, the seeds had been sown. Now, he simply needed to wait patiently for the prodigies of the Li World to mature and reap the fruits of his labor.
After two busy months, Li Fan finally returned to Myriad Immortals Island, just as Anchor Year 10 arrived.
Although reward-reaping was a benefit of cultivating the Mountain-Sitting Art, Li Fan was not the type to pin all his hopes on others.
He didn’t neglect his own cultivation, spending the entirety of Anchor Year 10 in diligent, secluded practice.
By staying constantly in the epiphanic state without pause, his progress in a single year was equivalent to spending twenty years in arduous, unaided practice.
Then, one day, a substantial surge of cultivation feedback suddenly manifested within Li Fan's dantian, jolting him from his meditative state.
This influx of cultivation equaled what would normally take him three to four years of dedicated practice.
Surprised by how quickly the first wave of cultivation feedback had arrived, Li Fan felt a thrill of excitement and immediately began checking its source.
To his astonishment, this first substantial return from the Mountain-Sitting Art didn't come from the people of the Li World, but He Zhenghao!
Just moments before, He Zhenghao had successfully broken through from the mid-stage Foundation Establishment realm to the late-stage Foundation Establishment realm.
Fellow Daoist He has been building his foundation for a long time. To break through so quickly... It seems his claim of reaching the Golden Core stage within fifty years wasn't an empty boast.
Right then, Li Fan received a message from He Zhenghao, who reported his breakthrough.
Li Fan waived this year's interest payment as encouragement, urging him to continue cultivating diligently and strive to reach the Golden Core realm as soon as possible.
Afterward, Li Fan checked the messages he'd missed during his seclusion.
Zhang Zhiliang's research on the Mountain River Grand Array was nearing completion. He'd sent a message asking how Li Fan's self-study of arrays was progressing, saying that he would test Li Fan upon his return.
This posed no challenge for Li Fan, who had already studied under Zhang Zhiliang for over ten years in his previous life, so he wasn't particularly concerned.
Among the numerous unimportant messages and greetings, one from Jiang Zhengji of the Martial Hall caught Li Fan's interest.
He asked if anyone had recently seen a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. Though clearly a mass message, Li Fan happened to recognize the person he was searching for.
It was none other than the Foundation Establishment Master who had also secretly been smuggled from a minor mortal world during Li Fan's twelfth life.
After inquiring with Jiang Zhengji, Li Fan learned what had happened.
Not long before, this previously low-profile Foundation Establishment Master had suddenly intensified his promotional efforts.
Using slogans like "We Guarantee A Successful Foundation Establishment" and "Shorten Your Foundation Establishment Process by Ninety Percent," he began recruiting applicants on a large scale.
His previously decent reputation, combined with these miraculous claims, attracted many final-stage Qi Refinement cultivators preparing for Foundation Establishment.
Trusting the Foundation Establishment Master, they paid their contribution points and began their Foundation Establishment attempts under his careful guidance.
However, when they awakened from the process, whether successful or not, they discovered to their fury that the Foundation Establishment Master who had been guiding them was just an illusion. The real Foundation Establishment Master had already fled.
Only then did the cultivators realize they'd been scammed.
According to subsequent investigations, over a hundred cultivators had gathered on the island at the time.
Two thousand contribution points represented a significant sum for any final-stage Qi Refinement cultivator.
Unwilling to accept their loss, they cast aside concerns about face and reported the matter to the Myriad Immortals Alliance.
The Myriad Immortals Alliance was hardly concerned about such trivial matters. Still, they had to maintain appearances. Thus, the Martial Hall ordered Jiang Zhengji to investigate this case thoroughly.
By the time Jiang Zhengji arrived at the island to commence his investigation, it was already completely deserted. He found absolutely nothing useful.
Moreover, this group seemed quite capable. Even when Jiang Zhengji called in favors and requested Elder Gongsun from the Heavenly Mechanism Hall to divine their trail, not a single clue could be uncovered.
Failure to complete the mission meant a deduction of merit and a reduction of his permission level.
With no other choice, Jiang Zhengji could only send messages to all his friends, asking if anyone had seen traces of the Foundation Establishment Master.
After learning the full story, Li Fan rubbed his chin with interest.
Following the normal course of events, they should still be quietly running their scam, slowly accumulating contribution points.
Why would they pull off a big score and flee?
Could they have speculated on Spirit Mist Grass prices too?
This thought instantly came to Li Fan’s mind.
Upon reflection, it seemed quite possible. After all, during his twelfth lifetime, they were already close to redeeming the Dao Unity technique, Ocean-Devouring Eternal Life Art.
By taking a gamble, they might have been able to complete their mission fifty years ahead of schedule.
Li Fan could imagine the scene: When Spirit Mist Grass prices first skyrocketed, they were tempted, but likely couldn't reach a consensus. After all, it was about using decades of savings for speculation.
But as Spirit Mist Grass prices kept rising, the opposing voices grew weaker.
Finally, they hesitantly agreed to enter the market, planning to make a quick buck and leave.
That was when the Tianxuan Mirror made its announcement, and Spirit Mist Grass prices collapsed.
Thus, they lost everything.
Perhaps they didn't use all their savings, but the losses must have been devastating. That's why they took the risk, planning one big score to recover their losses before fleeing.
A hundred people... that's two hundred thousand contribution points. It seems scamming pays faster than investing.
After some thought, Li Fan replied to Jiang Zhengji: "Fellow Daoist, if possible, you might want to search the route toward Yongliang Province. You may find results there."
A moment later, Jiang Zhengji responded: "Fellow Daoist, you mean to say that they left to join the Five Elders Council? Hah, betraying the Alliance is a grave crime. If I catch them...
"Regardless, thank you, Fellow Daoist!"
After exchanging more pleasantries, Li Fan put away the communication talisman and fell into deep thought.
He didn't particularly care about the Foundation Establishment Master fleeing the scene early.
What truly concerned Li Fan was that the impact of the Spirit Mist Grass incident seemed greater than he had anticipated.
He'd previously had a vague feeling that he was overlooking something. Now, reminded by this episode, Li Fan finally realized what he had missed.
He quickly searched for spirit plant and herb prices within the Tianxuan Mirror.
As expected, lamentations filled the listings. The situation was dire, and some prices had even fallen below production cost.
In the twelfth lifetime, these herb prices collapsed because in Anchor Year 13, the first batch of spirit plants in the wood-attribute grotto-heaven matured and were sold in bulk.
This time, because of the Tianxuan Mirror's announcement, all cultivators in the Myriad Immortals Alliance learned in advance that the grotto-heaven would produce enormous quantities of various spirit plants and herbs.
The price drop was predictable. To sell their herbs quickly, cultivators undercut each other, causing spirit plant prices to collapse prematurely.
However, that's not the main point. The main point is... the Mini Medicine King Cauldrons.
Recalling this artifact that had once caused his death, a sharp glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes.
With herb prices collapsing, naturally, no one would bother buying the cauldrons for growing medicinal plants anymore.
Without commissions from anyone, would Jiao Xiuyuan still journey to the Medicine King Sect ruins to excavate the Mini Medicine King Cauldrons?
At this moment, Mini Medicine King Cauldrons hold little value.
But once the true Medicine King Cauldron returns, they will become treasures fought over by everyone.