Just as the cultivators of the Divine Brush Sect were plunged into despair, the next thing that happened filled them with even greater fury.
Sect Leader Chu Youhong, with complete disregard for the lives of the sect disciples, seized the sect's supreme treasure along with numerous artifacts from the treasury and fled into the sky.
His escape did draw away some of the Dot-Painting School's forces. But for a sect leader to abandon his post so utterly—it filled the surviving Divine Brush Sect cultivators, still fighting desperately for their lives, with burning resentment.
Had their enemies not been so ruthless, leaving no survivors, they might have surrendered on the spot and defected to the Dot-Painting School then and there.
By the end of that battle, aside from Chu Youhong and a handful of lucky individuals who managed to slip away, the Divine Brush Sect was virtually annihilated.
Though the Dot-Painting School failed to seize the Heaven-Painting Brush, they swallowed up vast tracts of the Divine Brush Sect's territory and resources, greatly swelling their strength. They leapt to the top rank of major sects in the surrounding region, and their reputation soared.
Chu Youhong, along with the Heaven-Painting Brush, seemed to vanish completely from the world.
Twenty years later, a survivor of the Divine Brush Sect happened upon him. Furious, the man demanded to know why Chu Youhong had abandoned the disciples to their fate and fled alone.
Chu Youhong showed not a shred of remorse. The words he spoke in reply would echo through the long river of the Xuanhuang World's history.
"It wouldn't have mattered if all of you had died.
"As long as I live, the Divine Brush Sect lives on.
"Before Master died, he entrusted the sect to me. I could not let it be destroyed in my hands."
His expression held total conviction.
The cultivator who heard this stood gaping, utterly speechless. He tried to form a rebuttal, but his mouth opened and closed without producing a sound.
His earlier resolve for desperate revenge dissolved. In a daze, he simply watched as Chu Youhong drifted away.
Because the statement was so deeply controversial, it spread quickly through the cultivation world of that era.
Some mocked it. Others felt a sudden jolt of understanding and took it for a profound truth.
There were even those who disapproved of Chu Youhong's conduct and sought him out to teach him a lesson.
But after this incident, the man seemed to evaporate from the world entirely. No one ever saw him again.
It was not until later, when the Great Reformation swept the world and the Dot-Painting School inexplicably collapsed overnight, that some began to suspect his hand in it.
***
The ultimate selfishness masquerading as devotion to duty... It is truly a course of action difficult for ordinary people to comprehend.
After pondering this carefully, Li Fan couldn't help but sigh.
Perhaps this is why the Dot-Painting School spy, even after rising to the position of Big Senior Brother, chose to betray the sect and seize the treasure by force. He had recognized his master's true nature and understood that obtaining the Heaven-Painting Brush through normal succession was a hopelessly distant prospect. Left with no other choice, he took this drastic step.
Faced with such an... extraordinary individual, there really was no better alternative.
Li Fan shook his head slightly and searched two more keywords.
He found some fragmented information concerning the Southern Abyss Demonic Mountain, but when he tried to delve deeper, he discovered his permission level was insufficient.
Demonic Mountain. It seems to have some connection to the demonic beasts barely clinging to existence in the world.
A light passed through Li Fan's eyes as he filed this away for later.
Time flowed on, and in the blink of an eye, Anchor Year 10 arrived.
That year, aside from occasional minor friction with the Five Elders Council at the border provinces, the remaining provinces stayed peaceful. The Congyun Sea was no exception.
As a Special Commissioner of the Martial Hall, Li Fan had no specific duties to speak of. He only needed to drop by the Martial Hall for tea every so often. If he were truly occupied, he could spend a few contribution points and delegate the task to another cultivator. Life was rather leisurely.
When he transferred the contribution points from the third fundraising round to He Zhenghao—fifteen million, grown to twenty-three million with interest—the man stared at the astronomical figure and froze, eyes red-rimmed, and took a good half day to come back to himself.
For a fleeting moment, He Zhenghao entertained the thought of absconding with the funds.
But the instant he remembered whose contribution points these truly were, a jolt of fear shot through him and cleared his head at once. Unless he defected directly to the Five Elders Council, attempting to steal this fortune would earn him a death sentence before he could spend a single point.
Composing himself, He Zhenghao began contacting all the previous investors and returning their contribution points one by one.
The cultivators who received their profits were overjoyed, until He Zhenghao's next words filled them with chagrin.
"Due to unforeseen circumstances, Master Li's fundraising plan is being suspended." He Zhenghao sighed faintly. "Please, everyone, return for now. When the situation calms down and Master Li decides to resume, I will notify you all."
His words were deliberately vague. And the more ambiguous such statements were, the more wildly they fueled speculation.
Unforeseen circumstances? Waiting for the situation to calm down? This Master Li was someone who could bury Nascent Soul cultivators under a mountain of money, yet he was being forced against his will to halt the fundraising.
"He must have stepped on someone's toes. Tsk." The cultivators exchanged knowing glances, their expressions saying everything their mouths would not.
Though privately seething at having missed their chance to ride this particular wave of wealth, they also felt a pang of indignation on Li Fan's behalf.
"When everything returns to normal, notify me first," each of them told He Zhenghao privately.
Having received many gifts and made a tidy profit himself, He Zhenghao agreed to everything.
Li Fan's decision to suspend the fundraising had been partly due to the rapidly ballooning total, which had begun showing signs of spiraling out of control, prompting him to apply the brakes for a time. He had also received a reminder from the Myriad Immortals Alliance.
Fine. Let their appetites stay whetted for now. I'll restart the plan just before the Crimson Flame Sea Scorching event. He gave the matter little further thought.
As the cultivators who had profited from the fourth round of investment spent their contribution points to enhance their own strength, streams of cultivation feedback began flowing continuously into Li Fan's dantian, like a hundred rivers converging into the sea.
Even without actively cultivating, his progress advanced steadily each day. This was on top of the dual enhancement of the epiphanic state boost and Dao Comprehension Pills, which he never ceased.
In the span of a single year, he achieved what would take an ordinary cultivator decades of bitter effort.
Li Fan could feel the final stage of the Golden Core realm drawing close. It likely would not be long before he could prepare to form his Nascent Soul.
That year, every three months, he visited Embodiment Island to extract Kun-Peng essence blood from Ye Feipeng for his research, and his understanding of the Kun-Peng bloodline power gradually deepened.
During this period, Li Fan ventured once more into the Fallen Immortal Realm. Xu Ke had received a commission from Lu Ya to deliver a wooden box to the Southern Abyss. The box was clearly of great importance, sealed by several distinct powers. Li Fan even sensed an aura emanating from it that belonged to Sovereign Tapir Tertius, the Beast of Eternal Life.
For the remainder of the journey, Li Fan accompanied Xu Ke, traveling aboard the Azure Luan Bird.
The Southern Abyss lay at a tremendous distance from the Beast Taming Sect. Li Fan's allotted time ran out before they could reach their destination, forcing him to end this venture into the Fallen Immortal Realm empty-handed.
And so time flowed on until Anchor Year 11.
This was the year the long-sealed Cloudwater Palace would re-emerge into the world.