Chapter 562: Battle Of Dao Unity Cultivators Begins
Yet Li Fan knew of one method that could freeze it in time completely.
After the Tianling Flowers vanished from the world, many techniques that had once been closely guarded secrets slowly began to circulate.
One of them was the Florilegium method, which used paint to seal the Tianling Flowers within a work of art.
Originally, the Florilegium method was not created specifically for the Tianling Flowers, but to capture every specimen of flower under heaven.
Its creator was a man named Zhao Chong, who loved flowers above all else.
He vowed to see every flower in existence, and set out to record them all with ink and brush.
Alas, his talent for painting was mediocre at best. The flowers he produced looked nothing like their living counterparts.
"They are a desecration of the true blossoms," he lamented.
After long deliberation, he took a different path entirely, conceiving a method that sealed the physical flower itself. It sacrificed the spirit and charm of true brushwork, but the result was utterly lifelike.
In the past life, however, Zhao Chong's Florilegium had never included a Tianling Flower. The man had long heard of the flower's legendary beauty, and believed that the more beautiful something was, the more it deserved to be saved for last. So he kept delaying, never once adding it to his collection.
It was only after the great war in Tianling Province, when the scenery of Tianling was no more, that he was consumed by bitter regret, weeping and lamenting his mistake to anyone who would listen.
***
Li Fan tucked the wooden box containing the Tianling Flower into his robes and continued browsing the shop with the air of idle curiosity. Catching the shopkeeper's unfriendly stare, he finally left with a show of reluctant disappointment.
From the shop, he went to the city's Dao Discourse Tower and rented a room. Through the Tianxuan Mirror, he purchased three items: Frostdrop Dew, Form-Capturing Seal, and Thousand-Hued Silk. None were particularly precious, yet the purchase nearly exhausted all of his remaining contribution points.
He retrieved the seventeen-petaled Tianling Flower and laid it upon the Thousand-Hued Silk, then soaked it with the Frostdrop Dew. As a cold aura rose gradually from the petals, he pressed the Form-Capturing Seal down.
Following the method for creating the Florilegium as described by Zhao Chong in his past life, Li Fan worked with steady hands.
The Thousand-Hued Silk erupted with a thousand rays of multicolored light. The light passed through the Tianling Flower and was projected onto the Form-Capturing Seal, binding the frozen Tianling Flower together with the silk and the seal.
The radiance faded, and when it was gone, a sheet of transparent paper thin as a cicada's wing lay in Li Fan's hands. It was flat to the touch, but to the eye it was indistinguishable from a real, blooming flower. The scenery across each of the seventeen petals was clearly visible, and one could even see the whole flower trembling ever so faintly.
That should do it.
Li Fan exhaled slowly in relief.
The final step is to coat it with a layer of divine sense to prevent damage. But there's no rush for that.
He studied the painting in his hands, knowing it would soon be a singular existence in the entire Xuanhuang World. When that time came, its value would be beyond estimation. Wealth was a secondary concern; what mattered was that unparalleled, unique appeal. It would be enough to accomplish things that contribution points alone never could.
Li Fan smiled faintly, admiring his work for a few more moments before storing it away with great care.
He left the Dao Discourse Tower and wandered the streets of Tianling City for another three days.
On the third day, cries of alarm broke out across the city.
"Look at the sky!"
Li Fan looked up and finally saw the scene he had long been waiting for.
A rolling black marsh blotted out the sky like a bank of storm clouds, overwhelming in its presence yet parched and utterly devoid of life within.
At the same moment, a passage surfaced in his mind.
"Dao Unity cultivator Long Jiuyuan practiced the Dao for 286 years, establishing his Dao Foundation with the Curio, Crimson Dragon Slough.
"He formed his Golden Core through the Laws of Latent Potential, Soaring Dragon, Law-Breaking, and Death Struggle.
"He seized the Hundred Abyss Grotto-heaven to form his Nascent Soul, extracted the Thousand Rivers of Tianling's Pre-Manifestation to transform his spirit, and sacrificed Soul Arbiter Black Marsh to unite his body with the Dao.
"In the lands of Tianling Province, he was grievously wounded by Cultivator Xu Huating.
"Now, his body perishes and his Dao disperses, returning to heaven!"
So it really was him. A sharp glint entered Li Fan's eyes.
The fall of a Dao Unity cultivator meant war was now inevitable. The Myriad Immortals Alliance would issue a mobilization order soon, and when it did, the borders of every province would be sealed. He had to get clear of this brewing storm before it broke, back to the relative calm of the Congyun Sea, away from whatever was coming for Tianling Province.
While other cultivators stood frozen in shock, Li Fan had already slipped quietly into a teleportation array.
Only after his figure had vanished completely did voices begin rising throughout Tianling City.
"Long Jiuyuan? When did he achieve Dao Unity?"
"That can't be right! How did he die?!"
"And who is Xu Huating? He could actually kill a Dao Unity cultivator?"
"The most promising junior of the Long Family, fallen just like that. Things are about to get interesting."
The people of Tianling Province, recovering from their shock, began voicing their disbelief in a chorus of exclamations.
A massive storm centered on Tianling Province was gathering, poised to sweep across the entire Myriad Immortals Alliance.
Not long after, in the Congyun Sea...
He Zhenghao was sweating over the prices of the supplies he had previously acquired, nerves fraying at every minor fluctuation, when the crisp mechanical voice of the Tianxuan Mirror cut through the air.
"Effective immediately, the Myriad Immortals Alliance enters B Tier combat readiness.[1]
"All protective arrays across every province are to be fully activated.
"All cultivators are forbidden from inter-provincial movement.
"All alliance system members must return to their provincial cities immediately and await further instructions.
"Any external cultivators discovered are to be eliminated on sight."
The announcement repeated three times, then fell silent.
He Zhenghao stood frozen for a moment. Then his eyes went wide and he shot to his feet.
Was the Myriad Immortals Alliance going to war with the Five Elders Council?
Fear surged through him. He was on the verge of contacting Gao Yuan when something struck him. His expression shifted sharply, and he looked down at the prices listed on his Mini Tianxuan Mirror.
Speculators always reacted with unnerving speed.
While the vast majority of cultivators in the Myriad Immortals Alliance were still reeling from the news of impending war, the prices of the supplies Li Fan had ordered He Zhenghao to hoard—Heavenly Healing Pills, standard-issue Heavenly Gang Armor, Divine Martial Thunder, Hundred-Battle Array Diagrams—had already begun to skyrocket. And it wasn't just those items. Across the Tianxuan Mirror, the price of anything even remotely connected to survival or combat was surging in unison.
The logic was simple enough. Current stockpiles were nowhere near enough to meet the frenzy about to descend. War was coming, and who could guarantee they wouldn't be sent to the front lines? Every extra preparation made now was one more chance at survival. Measured against a life, did a few contribution points really matter? Even if prices doubled, cultivators would pay without complaint.
In a sudden flash of clarity, He Zhenghao understood.
What unfathomable abilities!
Watching the prices continue their mad climb, he felt equal parts elation and dread. The elation came from the stockpile he held — materials worth a hundred million contribution points, already up by a third in so short a time. The dread came from the fear that his hoarding and profiteering might draw punishment from the Immortal Alliance.
1. Note, this was previously translated as level two combat readiness. Changed to this for better consistency ☜