Heavenly Venerable Dao Teacher, Taishang Primordial True Scripture.
These two extremely sensitive terms appearing together in a single item's name couldn't help but set Li Fan's nerves on edge.
Li Fan approached the partially unrolled scroll, locking onto it with his divine sense. The item’s information immediately surfaced.
The Heavenly Venerable Dao Teacher Seizes the Taishang Primordial True Scripture—Illustrated Scroll
Years ago, the Heavenly Venerable Dao Teacher personally visited the Taishang Sect, wishing to borrow the Taishang Primordial True Scripture for study.
A visiting artist, skilled in painting, happened to be staying at the Taishang Sect at that time. Thus, he used his brush to record the scene.
Replica.
Best destroyed after viewing.
Myriad Immortals Alliance cultivators are advised not to carry this.
Five Elders Council cultivators are strongly advised not to carry this.
Price: 200 contribution points.
Li Fan checked the price again, his expression turning strange as he asked, "This scroll only costs 200 contribution points? Can it truly be considered a forbidden item?"
The shop attendant nearby patiently explained, "Because it's a replica that can be mass-produced, the price is very low. The reason it's classified as forbidden is that this painting involves two Heavenly Venerables. Displaying it casually could bring considerable trouble."
Li Fan's eyes flashed with understanding. "Two Heavenly Venerables..."
He immediately prepared to pay.
Just then, Li Fan suddenly grew cautious. "After viewing this painting, there won't be any... complications, will there?"
The shop attendant gave a wry smile. "You should understand, honored customer, this painting contains no distortions or slander. It merely records and recreates the scene from a bystander's perspective.
"Moreover, to the Heavenly Venerables, we cultivators are no different from ants. Our words and actions are beneath their notice.
"The real trouble comes from those under the Heavenly Venerables, those eager to prove their loyalty..." The attendant trailed off, saying no more.
Li Fan nodded slowly and spent 200 contribution points to purchase the scroll. Holding the scroll in his hand without unrolling it, his divine sense entered the painting.
The surroundings transformed abruptly, as if he had crossed through time and space to arrive thousands of years in the past.
Above the misty sea of clouds, all thirty-three floating mountains activated in succession, and the sect protection array materialized.
An elder wearing a tall headpiece, his expression calm, stepped through the void as if walking on solid ground.
"I heard that the Taishang Sect possesses a Primordial True Scripture. It is said to be profoundly mystical, hailed as the source of all techniques and predecessor of myriad paths.
"Now calamity descends upon the world, and techniques cannot be shared. For the sake of all living beings, I request to borrow the scripture for study!"
His voice, neither hurried nor slow, instantly filled heaven and earth.
The vast, rolling sea of clouds parted, revealing the mortal world below.
The sky suddenly darkened, and stars appeared in the daytime.
A cold voice utterly devoid of emotion resonated from the thirty-three peaks of the Taishang Sect, suppressing all the strange phenomena.
"What concern are the lives and deaths of the world's cultivators to me? Fellow Daoist, please return!"
The elder shook his head slightly, his expression one of compassion for all living beings.
"If that is so, then what concern is my borrowing of the scripture to you, Taishang?"
The elder took a single step, arriving instantly before the thirty-three peaks.
Boom!
A violent tremor was transmitted through the scene as white light drowned everything in view.
***
The painting ended abruptly there, and Li Fan withdrew his divine sense from the scroll.
Though it did not depict what followed, the outcome was already clear. The fact that every cultivator today possessed the basic version of the Taishang Primordial True Scripture’s technique-dissipation method said enough about how that battle had concluded.
Li Fan stored the scroll away and fell briefly into thought.
So the technique-dissipation method that all cultivators now rely on, the one that allows them to abandon a path and start anew, also originated from the Immortal Venerable Dao Teacher.
Without such a technique that lets cultivators switch cultivation methods with almost no loss, the modern system of trading and circulating techniques would be fundamentally unsustainable. Cultivators’ lives would undoubtedly be far harsher than they are now.
“For the sake of all living beings...”
On the surface, that explanation certainly makes sense. But...
After a moment, Li Fan set the thought aside and continued browsing the forbidden-items layer.
Items like this one, banned due to their association with supreme existences, were rare. Most forbidden items were materials explicitly prohibited by the Five Elders Council, each possessing some unusual or specialized function.
What interested Li Fan most were the Dao Comprehension Pills mentioned previously.
There were also portable teleportation arrays.
These required no array expertise from the user. As long as both ends were placed in suitable open locations, the array would automatically assemble and activate on its own.
Within the Myriad Immortals Alliance, teleportation array construction was highly classified knowledge. Even now, Li Fan had not managed to access any detailed information on it.
Dao Comprehension Pills cost five hundred contribution points each, with a purchase limit of one hundred per cultivator.
The portable teleportation arrays cost three thousand contribution points per set.
Li Fan bought two sets, just in case.
Afterward, he purchased two Golden Core techniques and twelve Foundation Establishment techniques in one go.
By the time he finished, his avatar had nearly exhausted the three hundred top-grade spirit stones it had brought along.
As he left the Wanfa Trade Association, the staff thoughtfully presented him with a mask.
Once worn, it could alter one’s appearance and aura, preventing others from tracking or identifying the wearer.
Li Fan smiled and accepted it.
He then rented a guesthouse in Tianchang Mountain City, performed a ritual, and transferred all the purchased items into the Bone Vanguard Realm.
Only then did he finally relax a little.
Both his true body and his avatar possessed the left-hand bone, the control center of the vanguard realm. That way, even if something went wrong on the return journey, the worst outcome would be the loss of a single avatar.
With everything settled, the avatar left the guesthouse and wandered through Tianchang Mountain City once more.
Three days later, Qingmu and the others finished their purchases.
As they prepared to return, the group encountered another team of cultivators who had come from the distant Congyun Sea.
This team was led by a Nascent Soul cultivator named Ling Meng.
Though Ling Meng and Qingmu were not personally acquainted, they were well aware of each other’s reputations. Since everyone hailed from the Congyun Sea, they decided, after a brief discussion, to return together and look out for one another along the way.
After waiting a few more days, they finally set off.
With the newcomers, the group’s size nearly doubled.
Two Nascent Soul cultivators, seven Golden Core cultivators, and over twenty Foundation Establishment cultivators—this was no weak force.
Their combined strength deterred most ill-intentioned parties, and the journey was far more peaceful than expected.
Still, Li Fan couldn’t shake the feeling that Ling Meng seemed familiar. But no matter how he tried, he couldn’t immediately recall where he had seen him before.
His true body, cultivating within the Tianxuan Mirror, split off a strand of consciousness and combed through past memories. At last, realization struck.
Ling Meng was the Nascent Soul cultivator who, in Li Fan’s twelfth lifetime, had once entered Fuzi’s study, only to die shortly afterward while exploring a cave dwelling.
Li Fan had seen his portrait in the Heavenly Mechanism Hall. That explained the sense of familiarity.
In this lifetime, Li Fan had not undertaken the Cloudwater Model mission. The events involving the azure ox pulling the cart and Fuzi’s manifestation should never occur.
The only remaining question was whether Ling Meng’s destined death could be changed this time.