Amid the ocean of information within the Tianxuan Mirror, the dozen works suddenly Ling Xiao went largely unnoticed by most... except for Ling Xiao's most devoted fans.
Within this extremely small circle of about a dozen people, the following conversation unfolded that day:
"Fellow Daoists, look what I've found..."
“Oh? Signed by Ling Xiao? Could someone be impersonating him with fake works?"
"Let me take a look... Hmm, the writing style, the skill, that familiar immersive feeling...
"And the spiritually resonant illustrations accompanying each chapter.
"Most importantly, the absolute lack of taboos in the protagonist's choice of partners!
"Humans, immortals, objects, beasts... These must undoubtedly be Ling Xiao's posthumous works!
"I've read every one of Ling Xiao's works no fewer than a hundred times, so you can trust my judgment. These are absolutely genuine creations by Ling Xiao!"
"To think that in this lifetime, I'd actually get to see new works from Ling Xiao, hahaha! Even if I die attempting a breakthrough tomorrow, I'd have no regrets!"
"To see so many appearing at once out of the blue... If I'm not mistaken, they were likely discovered together in the ruins of some cave dwelling. Senior Ling Xiao was truly prolific back in his day. Ah, who knows how many works have been lost to the river of history?"
"This fellow enthusiast is truly generous and selfless, actually making so many works publicly available for free. If it were someone else, they'd surely sell these rare copies for astronomical prices!"
"Old Ghost Jingxuan, what are you implying with that sarcastic tone? Looking for a fight?"
"Heh, he's getting defensive, he's really defensive now!"
"Enough, Jingxuan, Guangwu. Even all these precious secret manuscripts can't shut you two up. Hmm... Regardless, since this fellow enthusiast has been so generous, allowing us to feast our eyes, we should express our gratitude. I'll take care of this matter."
"Let me see... Congyun Sea, Li Fan. That's quite a remote location."
"Oh? Only at Foundation Establishment? But that's fine. We were only brought together by shared interests anyway."
***
Within the Tianxuan Mirror of Myriad Immortals Island.
Preoccupied with figuring out a solution to his predicament, Li Fan hadn't paid any attention to the posthumous works he'd uploaded for Ling Xiao.
Suddenly, a friend request popped up.
Tianyun Province, Shen Yuzi? Who might this be? Li Fan felt somewhat perplexed. No cultivation realm information displayed. They must be Golden Core or above.
After some thought, Li Fan still accepted the friend request.
The image of a refined, scholarly middle-aged man dressed in snow-white robes appeared before Li Fan.
Smiling, Shen Yuzi laid out the entire situation for Li Fan and thanked him for his generosity.
Li Fan hadn't expected that a group of Ling Xiao's die-hard fans would still exist thousands of years after his death. For an author, this was probably the greatest reward possible. If Ling Xiao had any awareness after death, this would surely bring him immense joy.
Li Fan didn't arrogantly claim credit, but instead modestly stated it was just a small effort on his part.
Shen Yuzi nodded and didn't say much else. He simply told Li Fan to contact him if he ever encountered any trouble.
Li Fan agreed.
After ending the communication, Li Fan searched for information about "Tianyun Province” and “Shen Yuzi" within the Tianxuan Mirror.
He found nothing about Shen Yuzi himself, though there was plenty about Tianyun Province.
This province was located in the central-western part of the Xuanhuang World, apparently quite distant from the Congyun Sea.
The most famous attraction within the province was a projection wall. This wall had existed for thousands of years, seemingly dating back to before the Great Reformation.
Every midyear, light and shadow would play across its surface, projecting a scene. This scene of a mortal advancing to the Spirit Transformation realm was said to have truly occurred millennia ago.
It was an era that still emphasized the unity of heaven and man, where Dao Techniques followed the natural order.
Back then, a mortal had a sudden epiphany. In that moment, he achieved Spirit Transformation, ascending to the heavens in a single step.
By chance, this exceedingly rare event was recorded by the wall.
In the countless years that followed, it replayed again and again.
Just as it had on that fateful day, each appearance of the scene resonated with the laws of heaven and earth, giving rise to innumerable wondrous phenomena.
Nearly every cultivator below the Spirit Transformation realm could glean some measure of insight from witnessing it.
For this reason, cultivators from distant provinces flocked to Tianyun Province, hoping to seize an opportunity of their own.
A mortal ascending to Spirit Transformation... If I ever find myself stuck at a bottleneck in the future, it might be worth going to see it.
In the current cultivation world, due to the existence of the White Mist Barrier, the vast majority of cultivators spent most of their lives confined to a single province. Establishing connections with cultivators from other provinces was exceptionally difficult.
This time, thanks to Ling Xiao, Li Fan was able to connect with a cultivator from the distant Tianyun Province, an unexpected boon indeed.
However, this would likely only prove useful in the future.
For the moment, Li Fan gathered his thoughts once more and turned back to contemplating how to break the deadlock.
The task was actually quite clear now:
Before the conscription decree arrived, become the strongest in the Embodiment Transformation Dao Sect and replace Big Senior Brother Si Xing in the war.
But that seemed like an impossible mission.
Consider this: from the start of the simulated world's storyline to the arrival of the conscription decree, only about six years passed.
To have a mortal with a prenatal constitutional weakness defeat a powerful ancient cultivator at the late-stage Golden Core realm in such a short time... that was truly daunting.
At the very least, given Tian Yang's inherent aptitude, there was almost no hope of success.
In this lifetime, Li Fan only had a single use of Tian Yang’s Eternal Remnant Will left. Without a reasonable degree of certainty, Li Fan wouldn't recklessly attempt it.
Still, there's no need to be overly fixated on it. If I can be confident of surpassing Golden Core combat power before those seven break into the Embodiment Transformation Dao Sect, it might be worth making an attempt just to see what happens next.
As for how to rapidly increase his actual combat strength, Li Fan already had a vague idea.
After a series of searches, over a hundred results about "the human body's hidden reserves" surfaced in Li Fan's mind.
Many required payment to unlock. However, the contribution points needed were a drop in the bucket for Li Fan.
He carefully examined each plausible result.
The fact that the human body contained boundless reserves wasn't knowledge exclusive to the Heavenly Physician.
Throughout the Xuanhuang World's long development, many schools studying the body's hidden reserves had emerged.
After the establishment of the Myriad Immortals Alliance, research into utilizing these hidden reserves proliferated even more. This was mostly due to the Tianxuan Mirror, a supreme spirit treasure enabling highly efficient information sharing and exchange.
Unfortunately, practical results had been limited thus far.
Even though the path of cultivation was fraught with obstacles, including backlash from the Heavenly Dao itself, cultivating was still more practical than developing the body's hidden reserves.