"What are you muttering about? You've been standing there forever. Are you coming in or not?" Li Chenfeng leaned against the wall and shot Han Yi a sidelong glance, his tone edged with impatience.
"Coming, coming." Han Yi, who had been talking to himself, startled slightly. With visible reluctance, he held out a storage ring.
"Two thousand low-grade spirit stones. It's all in there." The words clearly pained him.
"Alright, follow me." Having witnessed contribution points in the tens of millions, Li Chenfeng's sense of scale had shifted considerably. A few thousand was nothing to speak of.
Still, even the smallest mosquito carries a bit of meat. He curled his lip and pocketed the ring.
Then he led Han Yi to the Foundation Establishment Master.
At the sight of the ethereal, otherworldly Master mid-lecture, Han Yi's face lit up. Not daring to interrupt, he quietly found a seat and listened with fierce attention, not willing to miss a single word.
Though much of it passed beyond his understanding, he sat with rigid seriousness throughout.
When the lengthy discourse finally ended, Han Yi closed his eyes along with the other students and began his attempt at Foundation Establishment.
None of those on the island could have known that the moment Han Yi set foot there, a gaze had crossed more than half the Congyun Sea and come to rest on him.
Fellow Daoist Han. I've waited quite a while for you.
Through his lock on Li Chenfeng, Li Fan observed the cross-legged, meditating Han Yi with keen interest from the perspective of heaven and earth.
Saving for so long?
Once I reach the Foundation Establishment realm, my fate will be my own, no longer dictated by heaven?
Li Fan carefully pondered the meaning behind Han Yi’s two statements.
He recalled Han Yi's erratic performance in his past life: sometimes blessed with heaven-defying luck, other times unremarkably ordinary. A bold conjecture surfaced.
Could it be that Han Yi can actually control his own providence? And that after he establishes his Dao Foundation, that control will undergo a qualitative transformation?
The thought brought to mind the divine ability of the Heaven's Will Xuan Bird, the being he had once posessed within the Fallen Immortal Realm.
Could they truly be so similar? Fascinating.
He fixed his gaze on Han Yi. Through the perspective of heaven and earth, Li Fan saw that within Han Yi's dantian, a dark, shadowy feather was slowly taking form.
This is...
The feather looked remarkably similar to the ones that had once grown on his own body.
Even his Foundation Establishment Curio looks like this. There's no mistake. He truly is connected to the Heaven's Will Xuan Bird.
Li Fan's mind stirred.
If his previous speculation was correct, the Empire's founder was Xu Ke, and that Holy Master had been the Azure Luan Bird from long ago. But what had always puzzled Li Fan was that, according to Li Chenfeng's memories, no trace of a Xuan Bird had ever appeared within the Empire.
In principle, the Heaven's Will Xuan Bird shared a deeper bond with Xu Ke than any other creature. It made no sense that an Azure Luan Bird, picked up along the way, had remained at his side while his true companion beast, the Xuan Bird, had vanished entirely.
If he could uncover the origin of Han Yi's peculiar ability, perhaps he could also learn what had become of the Xuan Bird all those years ago.
***
Time moved on. Just as the Xuan Bird Feather within Han Yi's dantian was on the verge of fully solidifying—
"Hahaha! I've succeeded!"
Beside Han Yi, a cultivator suddenly leapt to his feet with a shout of triumph.
Han Yi, deep in meditation, was inevitably disturbed. The image of the black feather in his mind blurred and began to dissolve. He frowned.
By the time he calmed himself and tried again to condense his Dao Foundation, another cultivator in the courtyard achieved Foundation Establishment. Surging energy erupted outward, followed by a long, exultant cry.
"Only today do I truly know myself! My thanks, Master!"
The man laughed, bowed respectfully toward Zhu Shaotang, then soared away brimming with confidence.
Han Yi's frown deepened. The Dao Foundation crumbled a little further.
"Ten years of bitter toil, today the work is done. Henceforth, though heaven and earth be vast, I, Nangong Qian, shall tread upon it." A scholar-like cultivator shook his head, recited the lines to himself, and drifted away with an air of ease.
Within Han Yi's dantian, the vision of the black Xuan Bird feather shattered completely.
Will this never end?!
Han Yi coughed violently and spat a mouthful of blood. Fury surged through him. He shot to his feet and glared around the courtyard—only to find, with bewilderment, that he was the only one left.
The Foundation Establishment Master regarded him with sympathetic eyes. "Don't lose heart, young man. Though you failed this time, I can see you are not far from success. I'm sure you will manage it next time."
Han Yi's emotions lurched. He spat out another mouthful of blood.
The Master kindly produced a pill. "The path of cultivation cannot be forced. I think it's best you return home, rest well, and recuperate. When you come next time, I'll only charge you one thousand contribution points."
Han Yi opened his mouth, but the words caught in his throat. His heart was full of resentment, but the Foundation Establishment Master's cultivation far surpassed his own, and there was nothing to be done.
He swallowed the pill, staggered into the air, and flew away from Foundation Establishment Island.
This Han Yi. His luck has truly hit rock bottom. It seems it is not yet time for his fortunes to turn.
Li Fan's eyes glinted. He slipped quietly away from Myriad Immortals Island and made straight for Han Yi, still targeted by Formless Killing Mechanism. He had decided to use a soul-searching arcane art to see exactly what secrets the man was hiding.
The incident seemed to have dealt Han Yi a severe blow. After leaving Foundation Establishment Island, he drifted without aim or direction, and by the time awareness returned to him, he had arrived at an unfamiliar stretch of sea.
“Damn it! Just that little bit short again! This wretched heaven!”
With no one around, Han Yi raged freely, shaking his fist at the sky.
At that moment, the calm sea around him churned. A massive wave heaved upward as though something enormous were rising from the depths below. Han Yi stared at the water, his expression unreadable. He glanced around, then dove beneath the surface.
He descended steadily, plunging deeper. At last, he found the source of the disturbance: amidst ruins on the seabed, a large hole had inexplicably opened in the ocean floor. Countless gallons of seawater were being swallowed into it, forming a vast vortex.
Han Yi stared at the whirlpool, his expression shifting rapidly. Then, gritting his teeth, he prepared to throw himself in.
At that moment, a faint whisper reached his ear.
"Insect Binding!"
Horror flooded Han Yi's face as he realized he had lost all control of his body. Every limb was locked in place, rendering him completely immobile.
A shadowy figure, its features indistinct, materialized slowly behind him. An aura of extreme danger radiated from it, chilling Han Yi to his core.
Just as the figure's hand was about to come down on Han Yi's head, several streaks of golden light plunged violently down through the water from above.
They were not aimed at Han Yi but at the shadow before him. The golden light carried formidable power, and the shadow was forced to dart aside.
"Grandmaster Li, we've been looking for you for so long!"
Four black-robed cultivators, their forms also concealed, appeared seemingly from nowhere, encircling them both.