In his previous life, Li Fan had breached the Immortal-Slaying Grand Array’s blockade by sheer chance, arriving in the cultivation world for the first time as his lifespan neared its end.
What he witnessed then was an unbroken stretch of mountain ranges and a majestic city suspended in the sky.
Yet in this life, after crossing into the cultivation world, Li Fan found himself above a vast, endless sea.
Until now, he had not given it much thought, simply assuming some mishap had occurred during the teleportation process.
It was only today, upon witnessing the desiccated Congyun Sea and the revitalization of the Deepsea Pearl, that Li Fan finally understood:
There had been no mishap. The place he arrived at after passing through the Immortal-Slaying Grand Array was indeed the same location. The only difference was the time of his arrival in the cultivation world.
In his previous life, Li Fan had entered the cultivation world at the age of eighty-five, in Anchor Year 65. In this life, he had entered at forty, after the virtualization charging progress reached 100%. That was Anchor Year 20.
A gap of forty-five years, greeted by a sea on one arrival, and by mountains on another.
It was no wonder Li Fan had never considered this possibility. Without experiencing it personally, even if someone had told him such a cataclysmic transformation of heaven and earth would occur, he would likely have remained skeptical.
So Li Fan laughed. He laughed first at himself, for he had not yet shaken off his mortal mindset.
Had he connected the various anomalies Zhang Haobo had mentioned with the differences between his two arrivals, he might have deduced the coming of this great change sooner.
He laughed secondly because he had finally glimpsed hope for this disaster’s end.
In Anchor Year 50, Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi had stormed into Great Xuan, claiming to hail from Lingtian City in the Congyun Mountain Range.
Clearly, the drought must have ended before then. The parched sea would transform into vibrant mountains filled with life.
It was now Anchor Year 34. The end was not far off. Waiting without hope was the most agonizing torment. Knowing the final outcome made this seemingly endless catastrophe feel far less terrifying.
Li Fan settled his emotions and returned to Tai’an Island.
Seeing the mortals living in constant fear—numb with despair and reduced to ceaseless prayer and prostration day and night—Li Fan sent his voice across the entire island, assuring them the disaster would eventually pass.
Receiving this guidance from the Immortal Master, the island’s inhabitants were overjoyed, and their will to survive was rekindled.
Li Fan himself entered seclusion and retrieved the Deepsea Pearl once more.
Is this the thread of hope? Li Fan observed the blue Curio of heaven and earth.
He directed his divine sense into it, but it vanished like clay oxen plunging into the sea, disappearing in an instant.
It seems utilizing it will require significant effort. Li Fan mused to himself, contemplating.
Curios of heaven and earth were pivotal for establishing one’s Dao Foundation. Knowledge of how to find and use them was incredibly precious, and redeeming these within the Tianxuan Mirror cost nearly two thousand contribution points.
Li Fan had no choice but to explore its secrets on his own.
He tried numerous methods to activate it. He channeled spiritual qi into it, nurtured it with his divine sense, subjected it to external force, and even tried dripping his blood onto it.
Yet the Deepsea Pearl remained utterly unresponsive. Its vast reserves of water vapor refused to be stirred.
Ultimately, a spark of inspiration struck Li Fan. He recalled that the Thousand Mechanisms Jade Cosmos Scripture contained methods for perceiving and refining the energy mechanisms within various natural spiritual treasures.
He immediately activated the Discernment of Mechanisms divine ability and turned his gaze to the Deepsea Pearl.
A profound, deep blue radiance enveloped the pearl. It was ancient, profound, and brimming with vitality...
Though small, the complexity and potency of its energy mechanisms surpassed that of every living being on Tai’an Island combined.
It was merely dormant, nurturing itself in a state of slumber, which made its true nature difficult to discern without careful observation.
Li Fan cautiously extended his consciousness toward the pearl’s energy mechanisms.
The moment he made contact, his physical body seemed to vanish.
It was as if he had been suddenly transported to the highest heavens, looking down upon the sea below through a god’s-eye view.
The Congyun Sea had existed since time immemorial, nurturing countless lives.
But one day, a will from heaven descended.
And so, the sea began to die.
Life bestowed by heaven, death decreed by heaven—this was the way of the Dao, the natural order. If heaven willed the sea to burn, the sea was powerless to resist.
But It refused to submit!
Thus, though one sea may perish, another shall be born!
Boom!
Li Fan snapped out of that mysterious state.
Before he could even process the scenes he had witnessed, a wave of debilitating weakness washed over him, so severe he nearly lost his footing.
A quick self-assessment made him gasp in horror. He had somehow gained a streak of white hair, and fine wrinkles had appeared on his face.
All of this from an instant of synchronizing with the Deepsea Pearl’s energy mechanisms!
When Li Fan opened Return to Truth’s panel next, he drew a sharp, cold breath.
Name: Li Fan
Realm: Mid-stage Qi Refinement
Biological Age: 89/199
Psychological Age: 517/2280↑
In that single moment, his biological age had leapt from fifty-four to eighty-nine, as if thirty-five years had passed in the blink of an eye.
No wonder barely anyone cultivated this technique even in the ancient Heavenly Mechanisms Sect. Just making contact with the consciousness of a single sea consumed my lifespan at an alarming rate.
If my body hadn’t sounded the alarm from the rapid depletion of my lifespan, I might have been completely assimilated by that sea’s consciousness without even realizing it. Who knows if I could have even activated Return to Truth then.
Understanding what had just happened sent a chill of fear down his spine.
No, this can’t be the right way to control a Curio of heaven and earth.
He knew he must have gotten the method wrong.
The human perception of time was simply not on the same scale as that of the heavens, the earth, the mountains, or the seas.
Even mighty cultivators who lived for millennia were but mayflies compared to them.
With a mortal mind, recklessly interacting with such a consciousness could only end in assimilation.
So how, then, did one truly control a Curio of heaven and earth?
Li Fan gripped the Deepsea Pearl, his expression shifting uncertainly.
***
Days turned into weeks, and Li Fan still hadn’t found a way to use the Deepsea Pearl.
Meanwhile, the weather grew increasingly hot, as if intent on performing a final, thorough purification of the Congyun Sea.
The mortals on the island gradually lost even the strength to pray.
Li Fan knew that if this continued, these people would likely die before the fiery calamity passed.
To perish just before the dawn was a truly despairing fate.
Restlessness began to gnaw at him, and distracting thoughts cluttered his mind.
In an effort to calm his heart, he found himself operating the long-unused Xuanhuang Heart Refinement Sutra.
Since becoming a Qi Refinement cultivator, the vast majority of his energy had been devoted to practicing techniques like the Water Manipulation Art and the Thousand Mechanisms Jade Cosmos Scripture.
He hadn’t intentionally cultivated the Xuanhuang Heart Refinement Sutra for a very long time.
It offered no tangible benefit to his actual cultivation, and even if he didn’t actively practice the Heart Refinement Sutra, it would continue to operate slowly on its own. So, Li Fan had set it aside.
Now, as the Heart Refinement Sutra circulated through him, the unease, fear, impatience, and other negative emotions churning within Li Fan slowly faded, becoming nourishment that strengthened his Dao Heart.
As his mind grew calm once more, Li Fan was suddenly struck by an intuition: his opportunity for a breakthrough also lay with this Deepsea Pearl.