Through the perspective of heaven and earth, Li Fan saw faint blue sparks flicker occasionally around Ye Feipeng's body.
It seems Ye Feipeng's plan to attract the Congyun Sea's attention is proceeding quite smoothly.
The youngsters' cultivation paths were gradually falling into place.
He Zhenghao hadn't been idle either. During this period, the vast majority of cultivation feedback Li Fan received came from him.
Though his cultivation speed couldn't compare to those prodigies, his cultivation level was similar to Li Fan's, resulting in a greater quantity of feedback.
Not long ago, He Zhenghao, still shaken by recent events, had sent Li Fan a message.
He mentioned that a friend had invited him to explore a cave dwelling, but he'd been in secluded cultivation at the time and hadn't responded.
When he emerged from cultivation, he was shocked to learn that his friend's entire exploration team had been wiped out.
What's more, the cave dwelling didn't contain the remains of some Golden Core Reverend, but rather a Spirit Transformation puppet.
Recalling his narrow escape, He Zhenghao still broke out in cold sweat afterward.
"The path of cultivation is truly perilous beyond measure," he reflected. "The slightest misstep can lead to death and Dao dissipation.
"My young friend Wei Qizheng possessed no shortage of talent. Everyone thought he'd surely reach Golden Core within a few years. Who could have imagined he'd die just like that?" He Zhenghao said with a trace of lingering fear.
Li Fan casually comforted He Zhenghao with a few words, advising him not to wander about unnecessarily.
He also waived next year's interest payment, telling him to focus on his cultivation.
He Zhenghao responded with a rapid series of affirmations.
As the number of people I invest in through the Mountain-Sitting Art continues to grow, the cultivation feedback I receive each day increases along with it.
At this pace, it won’t be many more years before it rivals what I would gain from constant secluded cultivation.
The real advantage of reward-reaping is that even while I devote my attention to other matters, my cultivation continues to advance steadily on its own.
With everything developing in an orderly fashion, Li Fan felt quite pleased.
He then departed from Myriad Immortals Island and, as he usually did, found a secluded spot on the ocean floor to begin his second memory simulation.
In an instant, the scenery changed. Li Fan found himself once more within the cave dwelling of the Embodiment Transformation Dao Sect from thousands of years ago.
"Tian Yang, time for your medicine..."
It was the usual opening line.
Li Fan drank the medicinal brew, using the brief surge of warmth in his body to rouse his spirits forcibly.
He quickly whispered, "Master, this medicine isn't very effective. Next time, please prepare a different prescription for me."
Without waiting for Tian Yangzi to recover from his shock, he recited the formula in one breath.
Li Fan’s body was extremely weak, and even speaking required great effort. Once he was done, he sank into a deep sleep, as if he'd exhausted all his energy.
When Li Fan awoke to take his medicine once more, what surged through his body was not just warmth, but a searing, unbearable pain. It felt as though countless fine needles were piercing every inch of him at the same time.
Li Fan's face instantly turned deathly pale, and sweat poured from his entire form.
"Tian Yang!"
"Junior Brother!"
Concerned and urgent voices called out one after another.
Gritting his teeth, Li Fan responded in a low voice, "I'm fine. Master, the formula is very effective. Please don't change it."
With that, Li Fan lost consciousness once more.
Even while trapped in his comatose state, he dimly sensed his body shuddering and convulsing without end under the overwhelming agony, as though death might claim him at any moment. Yet deep within that seemingly depleted body, a pure and vigorous vitality was quietly beginning to emerge.
It's actually effective. Li Fan thought with relief before losing consciousness for good.
Over the next few years, Li Fan utilized the Crisis method from the Heavenly Physician’s Immortal Scripture , gradually replenishing his body's deficiencies.
His bouts of deep sleep grew shorter with each passing day, and little by little he was able to rise from bed and move about on his own.
When the disciples of the Embodiment Transformation Dao, curious about the origins of the prescription, questioned him, Li Fan would simply put on an innocent expression and claim that he knew nothing about it either.
The prescription had simply appeared in his mind one day, he said.
His master and fellow disciples of he Embodiment Transformation Dao Sect naturally clicked their tongues in wonder. But they thought little of it, simply believing their junior brother was blessed with incredible luck and that fate had decreed his time wasn’t up yet.
After all, in the vast cultivation world, all sorts of mysterious and wondrous events could occur.
“Speaking of which, Junior Brother, you’re truly fortunate. Several ingredients listed in the pill formula you provided were things we’d never even heard of. We scoured all the surrounding marketplaces, yet no one was selling them. Some people even claimed that such herbs don’t exist in the cultivation world at all.
"Hah, I didn't believe that. How could it be that all the other ingredients in a single prescription are readily available, yet a few key ones are nonexistent?
"I argued fiercely with them, defending my position.
"Fortunately, a disciple from the Medicine King Sect happened to pass by. Hearing our dispute, he grew curious and asked us for the specific formula.
“Then, drawing on medicinal principles, he helped us choose several common herbs that could be used as substitutes.”
"That's the only reason you were able to drink this medicine, Junior Brother!"
With Tian Yang's body improving day by day, the faces of the Embodiment Transformation Dao Sect members also grew noticeably brighter.
Second Senior Brother Ling Xiao, having transformed into a chatterbox, recounted their experiences to Li Fan in long and winding tales.
Big Senior Brother Si Xing and Third Senior Brother Lian Chang listened quietly nearby, smiles gracing their faces.
These warm and peaceful days slipped by swiftly.
Gradually, Li Fan gained the ability to move about normally. However, the Embodiment Transformation Dao Sect members, citing the extreme dangers outside, only permitted him to remain within the cave dwelling.
Li Fan suspected this was another restriction imposed by the memory simulation's rules.
This space, simulated and constructed based on Reverend Tian Yang's Eternal Remnant Will, was ultimately not like the Fallen Immortal Realm, which was nearly a real world. It couldn't allow Li Fan to roam about without any restrictions.
Seeing no alternative, he decided not to force the issue.
In his daily life, Li Fan divided his time between cultivating the Embodiment Transformation Technique and seizing every opportunity to chat with his senior brothers, gathering information.
These senior brothers treated Tian Yang with great care, answering any question he asked—so long as it pertained only to their master and the disciples of the Embodiment Transformation Dao.
But any time the discussion drifted toward other matters of the cultivation world, they would simply smile and smoothly steer the conversation elsewhere.
While it was slightly regrettable that he couldn't gain a more thorough understanding of the ancient cultivation world, these three senior brothers of the Embodiment Transformation Dao Sect left a deep impression on Li Fan.
To cultivate the Embodiment Transformation Technique, the most crucial step was to select an Embodied Object.
Big Senior Brother Si Xing was a late-stage Golden Core cultivator. His Embodied Object was a sword, thin as a cicada's wing and vividly emerald green.
When man and sword united as one, his movements were as swift as the wind. He could take a cultivator's head from a thousand li away without a sound and was rightly considered the most powerful combatant among the Embodiment Transformation Dao Sect’s disciples.
Third Senior Brother Lian Chang was a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator. His Embodied Object was a bronze bell that possessed immense defensive capabilities and could also emit sonic waves capable of shaking the soul to ward off enemies.
Second Senior Brother Ling Xiao, however, was... peculiar.
Though he also possessed mid-stage Golden Core cultivation, his Embodied Object was a brush.
It had no offensive power and no special tricks for harming others; its only remarkable feature was that it could automatically transcribe every sensation and thought in his mind into words and images.
His prose was exquisite and vivid, making readers feel as if they were living within the scenes he described, utterly unable to put his works down.
Thus, Ling Xiao managed to produce volume after volume at the staggering pace of nearly one book per day.
As for the nature of these works... Li Fan fully understood one morning when he was roused by a cacophony of cat cries.
Stepping outside, he saw Ling Xiao directing a single tomcat as it mingled among a sprawling gathering of cats.
Li Fan suddenly recalled that even though the Embodiment Transformation Dao Sect was just a small, obscure mountain sect, its fame would far surpass that of all the great ancient immortal sects thousands of years later.
And that was all because of these... masterfully crafted literary works.