Countless black particles surged, descending from the heavens like a tide, eroding everything they encountered.
On Myriad Immortals Island within the Congyun Sea, there was no force aside from the mysterious Heaven-Scorning Sword that could contend with Ink Death.
As the great ink-colored tide loomed overhead, Li Fan’s thoughts raced.
Why has the descent of Ink Death provoked the Heaven-Scorning Sword from Cloudwater Palace in this lifetime?
When I first entered the cultivation world, Crimson Flame scorched the seas, and that was all. Presumably, that wouldn’t affect Cloudwater Palace.
In my twelfth lifetime, I delivered the Heavenly Physician’s figurine to Cloudwater Palace, but that attracted Fuzi. Their great battle caused Cloudwater Palace to be sealed once more. Therefore, when Ink Death ended the world, it never encountered the Heaven-Scorning Sword.
In this lifetime, due to my wariness of the Heavenly Physician’s terrifying mind-reading ability, I chose not to complete the Cloudwater Model task. And Sikong Yi, the only one who knew about the Cloudwater Model, was eliminated by me early on. Thus, Cloudwater Palace still hangs high above the Congyun Sea. Until Ink Death descended...
In an instant, Li Fan understood the reason for the great battle between the Heaven-Scorning Sword and Ink Death.
A sharp light flashed in his eyes, his gaze seeming to pierce through the endless ink-black sea, reaching the place where the two clashed in the heavens.
Ink Death, Heaven-Scorning... If I could witness their battle, it would surely surpass countless fortuitous encounters.
In the time it took Li Fan to ponder this, the black particles had arrived before him.
Showing no fear, Li Fan raised his right arm high, offering it to the black particles. He watched his own body disappear into the writhing ink, carefully perceiving the changes.
No pain, not even the slightest sensation. If not for seeing it with his own eyes, he might not even have noticed that a part of his body was gone.
Pure nothingness.
Li Fan’s heart stirred slightly. Instantly, the Creation Forge Technique roared into operation.
The power of the hidden reserves within his body surged forth, rushing toward the arm that was being eroded by the black particles.
Li Fan attempted to use this pure power of life to contend with that power of nothingness.
For a fraction of a moment, it seemed to delay Ink Death’s power... or perhaps it was just Li Fan’s illusion.
Then, the rolling ink swallowed Li Fan’s avatar.
Tianyu Province, Cosmos Branch Academy.
At this moment, Li Fan’s true self, like his avatar tens of thousands of li away, raised an arm and closed his eyes in contemplation, as if perceiving something. Only after a long while did he lower it.
The power of the hidden reserves is the power of life, the power of creation.
Ink Death’s power is the power of eradication, the power of dissolution.
As for Heaven-Scorning’s power, it is more like the power of distortion, chaos, and destruction.
These may not be the true forms of their original power, but they are my personal insights.
Such insights are enough to form a Golden Core!
After contemplating once more, he carefully stored the insights within the Dao Transformation Crystal in his mind.
Li Fan couldn’t help but feel some joy.
Heaven and earth had its laws; cultivators peered into them to form their Golden Cores.
If one were to compare the various laws of heaven and earth to exquisite paintings, then the process of a cultivator "peering into the laws of heaven and earth" for core formation was like taking a transparent sheet of paper and tracing the painting stroke by stroke.
While the result might not be comparable to the true masterpiece, one could achieve a high degree of similarity without much difficulty.
A cultivator’s Golden Core laws fell far short compared to the true laws of heaven and earth. But even by making a ladle from a gourd, one could still replicate a fraction of its might.[1]
Originally, I planned to form my core using four laws: Heaven-Scorning’s Law, Hanhai’s Law, Blue Flame’s Law, and Ink Death’s Law.
Now it seems, based on my comprehension, I can advance a step further.
Heaven-Scorning's Law and Blue Flame's Law. Distortion and chaos, versus calm and reason.
Ink Death's Law and Hidden Reserves’ Law. Creation and nothingness.
Hanhai's Law is, in essence, the Law of Water. Water alone cannot flourish. If I can form my core using the laws of five elements, then they can generate and regenerate endlessly.
More crucially, if this succeeds, it will be of great benefit to my next step of achieving a Nascent Soul.
As the saying goes, those who do not plan for the ages are not fit to plan for the moment.
After Li Fan successfully established his Dao Foundation using Return to Truth, he had roughly charted the path for his future cultivation.
In this world, the path of cultivation was not shrouded in mystery. Rather, the direction was already rigidly set.
After peering into the laws of heaven and earth to refine a Golden Core, the next step was to seize the essence of heaven and earth to form a Nascent Soul.
Having perused countless secrets and even interacted with many Nascent Soul cultivators, Li Fan had long known that the so-called essence of heaven and earth referred to the various grotto-heavens and blessed lands within the Xuanhuang World.
The Xuanhuang World was vast beyond measure. There were grotto-heavens and blessed lands that had existed since ancient times and were later sealed. There were also new ones born every moment, and ones that reappeared as cultivators perished. Their numbers were beyond counting.
And these places became the proof required for a Golden Core cultivator to achieve a Nascent Soul.
For Li Fan, his target had long been set: none other than the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens that once triggered the brutal war between the Myriad Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders Council!
The stronger the grotto-heaven a Nascent Soul cultivator plundered, the greater their power after forming their Nascent Soul.
Within these Five Elements Grotto-Heavens, even just the wood attribute grotto-heaven alone had received the Tianxuan Mirror's evaluation of "extremely vast, with exceptionally concentrated wood attribute spiritual qi, and an extraordinary abundance of varieties of spirit plants and herbs."
It was difficult to imagine how precious the complete Five Elements Grotto-Heavens must be, and how formidable a Nascent Soul formed using them would be.
Moreover, the five elements generated and overcame each other in a cycle, giving rise to all things in heaven and earth.
Using them as a foundation, combined with the power of Return to Truth, might lead to other unforeseen changes.
Seizing the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens undoubtedly involved immense risk, and for an ordinary cultivator, it would be nothing but a fool's dream.
But with Return to Truth granting opportunities for repeated attempts and the power of foreknowledge, the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens were destined to be Li Fan's for the taking.
I don't necessarily need to travel there and observe them personally to gain insights into the laws of five elements.
Within the Myriad Immortals Alliance, as long as one has sufficient contribution points, there are very few things one cannot buy.
Furthermore, they are just insights into core formation by Golden Core cultivators; they might not be all that precious.
Li Fan had already made a fortune for himself during the Spirit Mist Grass turmoil. Later, when Jiao Xiuyuan sold the Mini Medicine King Cauldrons, he received another 260,000 contribution points. He had no need to worry about this at all.
Thinking of this, Li Fan immediately searched for core formation insights related to the Laws of Metal, Wood, Fire, and Earth within the Tianxuan Mirror.
The laws of the five elements were the most common laws between heaven and earth. Therefore, he received more results than expected.
Prices also fluctuated based on their specific strength levels, ranging from fifty thousand to over a hundred thousand.
Li Fan examined them one by one, selecting suitable ones for himself.
It was worth noting that these core formation insights were not recorded on jade slips,
but directly on fragments of Golden Cores.
It seemed they were likely the Golden Core remnants of deceased cultivators, processed through some method.
Li Fan only needed to complete the laws of five elements; he had no particular strength requirements for the laws of the other four elements.
Soon, he had selected the appropriate Golden Core fragments.
1. The idiom 依葫芦画瓢 comes from the process of making a ladle (瓢) from a dried gourd (葫芦). One uses the gourd as a literal mold—the shape is predetermined, leaving no room for innovation. It basically means to copy something mechanically without understanding. ☜