I feel like I've read this book before. But the contents seem different.
Scenes from the book flashed through Li Fan's mind, stirring a vague sense of familiarity. He frowned slightly.
"Fellow Daoist," he said, turning to the book vendor, who was watching the duel in the sky with rapt attention. "Are there other editions of this book?"
The vendor turned, initially irritated. But when his eyes landed on the illustrated volume in Li Fan's hand, a strange light flickered across his face.
"You jest, Fellow Daoist," he said flatly. "The Secret History of Ancient Cultivation was personally authored by the Heavenly Venerable. How could other versions exist?"
Though the consciousness currently piloting this body was no more than a strand of divine sense, stripped of most memories, the ability to read people had been ingrained into it as instinct. That single glance was enough for Li Fan to confirm his suspicion.
"Name your price," he said, lowering his voice. "I was referred by a mutual acquaintance."
The vendor hesitated, visibly torn. He swept his eyes across the street, noting that every cultivator in the city had their attention fixed on the aerial battle above. At last, he transmitted his voice directly into Li Fan's mind. "Ten thousand soul points, or an equivalent value in spirit stones. Take it or leave it."
Li Fan's hand moved toward his storage ring on pure reflex, only to find his finger bare. He had nothing. No spirit stones, not even a storage ring.
"Please wait a moment, Fellow Daoist."
He offered an apologetic nod and slipped back into the crowd. He waited until Lu Fan's match concluded, then flew forward to make his request.
Flushed with another victory, Lu Fan was in high spirits, the petty haggling from their earlier transaction already forgotten. He pressed a storage ring brimming with standard spirit stones into Li Fan's hand. "Just material possessions, Fellow Daoist Jiao. Take them!"
After thanking him, Li Fan returned to the stall beneath the curious stares of the onlookers.
The vendor took one look and understood. He had been played. His face went pale, then a sickly green. He immediately began packing his things, preparing to bolt.
"Some business integrity you have," Li Fan's voice hissed into his mind. "If you run, I'll start shouting."
The vendor froze. He looked around frantically, a shiver running down his spine. "You really..." He wrestled with himself for a long moment, then finally fished out a picture book glowing with a faint pink light and slipped it across discreetly.
Li Fan accepted the book and handed over the spirit stones in one smooth motion.
Transaction complete, the vendor moved to leave. Then he saw Li Fan actually begin to open the pink book right there on the street. The vendor's face went white as ash. He lunged forward and clamped both hands over Li Fan's.
"Are you trying to get us killed?!"
His entire body was trembling, his face a mask of sheer terror.
"It's fine." Li Fan applied slight pressure and easily pried the vendor's hands away. He opened the pink picture book.
Sweat broke out across the vendor's forehead and ran freely down his face. Seeing he couldn't stop him, the vendor scanned the surrounding crowd. No one seemed to have noticed yet. Wth a burst of speed, he activated the city's teleportation array and vanished.
By then, Li Fan had already plunged into a vivid, startlingly realistic illusion.
[Qin Shou pursued Senior Sister Zhao repeatedly, but was rejected every time. Humiliated and furious, he conceived a malicious plan.]
[She was drugged by Qin Shou with Yin-Yang Union Powder, her reason gradually slipping away...]
Li Fan's expression shifted through several forms, his breathing growing ragged.
The strange pink light from the picture book seemed to pulse with each breath, flickering without pause.
He was utterly absorbed, deaf to everything around him, muttering in a low, continuous stream.
"Such beauty exists in this world..."
"Utterly useless! You've already had one intimate encounter—why don't you press the advantage..."
"Worthless! Could she be any more obvious?"
"If not now, then when?"
The plot was clearly not meeting his standards. His brow furrowed deeply at intervals, and curses slipped from between his teeth.
"How can a protagonist be this spineless?"
"If I were in charge, Senior Sister would already be under my cr—"
He stopped dead.
The air around Li Fan's puppet body seemed to solidify, as though time itself had seized.
Even the strange pink glow from the picture book went still, perfectly suspended.
Then, from high above, a beam of pure white light split the sky and came shooting straight down.
It swallowed the motionless Li Fan whole.
Weichang City, buzzing with excitement over the duel only moments before, fell into absolute silence.
The white radiance intensified, and a pulling force descended from the heavens.
Like a statue, Li Fan was drawn upward, slowly ascending into the sky.
"Guiding Immortal Light! That's the Guiding Immortal Light!"
"Who is it? Has another cultivator from our Canhong Province been chosen by the Heavenly Venerable already?"
"Hahaha! Three disciples for the Immortal Sect in just one month! Our Canhong Province's prestige is about to soar!"
Lu Fan's duel was entirely forgotten. Every cultivator present had their gaze locked onto that white pillar connecting heaven and earth. They stared at the blurred figure within it, their eyes bright with reverence and envy, voices rising in fervent speculation.
Lu Fan had stopped fighting too. He stared at the light pillar in mute shock, as though the person he cherished most had been torn from his grasp before his eyes. The pain was like a knife turning in his chest.
Victory, defeat, cultivation. In that instant, it all seemed to lose meaning.
"Why... why..." he mumbled, lost and hollow.
As the figure within the white pillar rose higher, Lu Fan suddenly thought the silhouette looked familiar.
His eyes widened. He swept his gaze frantically across the street below.
The figure of "Fellow Daoist Jiao" was gone.
"How is this possible?" Lu Fan's face went slack with disbelief.
"Did you not see? I defeated over twenty Golden Core cultivators from the Five Elders Council!
"Why choose him, and not me?"
Boundless grievance, resentment, and fury surged through Lu Fan.
"No!"
He roared, losing all reason, and charged toward the light pillar without thought.
It was useless.
Just as he seemed about to touch it, he passed straight through.
The light pillar was like a reflection on water. Visible before his eyes, yet utterly untouchable.
It faded slowly from the world, carrying Li Fan with it.
Despair crept into Lu Fan's eyes.
***
"Junior Brother, you're awake."
A clear, crisp voice sounded near his ear.
Li Fan opened his eyes.
"Cough, cough." A sharp pain in his chest made him draw a sharp breath.
"You've only just entered the sect. I told you not to be so impulsive, but you wouldn’t listen." A graceful figure appeared at his side, her voice gentle with reproach. She helped him sit up and settled him against the headboard.
"This is medicine I brewed for you. It will help your injuries heal. Drink it now." Her face full of concern, she scooped a spoonful of the decoction and brought it to his lips.
His mind was a swirl of chaos. He couldn't remember anything.
Li Fan simply opened his mouth on instinct and drank.