After the strange phenomenon faded, Li Fan keenly sensed that some indescribable change had occurred within him.
Yet after careful examination, he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what this transformation entailed.
It likely wasn’t anything harmful, so he decided to set the matter aside for now.
After getting his bearings, Li Fan realized his current location differed slightly from where he’d first appeared in the cultivation world during his previous life.
However, it wasn’t a major discrepancy. Liuli Island was closest, so he decided to head there first. After all, he’d spent considerable time on Liuli Island in his past life and was familiar with it.
While “Old Nice Guy” He Zhenghao was a little greedy, he was at least relatively reliable. Compared to dealing with strangers, Li Fan preferred interacting with acquaintances to minimize uncertainty.
After choosing his direction, Li Fan didn’t pilot the Taiyan Boat. Instead, he cast the Wind Riding Art and flew toward Liuli Island.
The identity he intended to assume was that of a rogue cultivator from the Congyun Sea who had fortuitously reached the late-stage Qi Refinement realm. Lacking a suitable technique for Foundation Establishment, he sought to join the Myriad Immortals Alliance.
In the current cultivation world, life for rogue cultivators was exceedingly difficult. Unlike members of the Myriad Immortals Alliance or the Five Elders Council, who had fixed channels to obtain techniques, rogue cultivators often had to risk their lives exploring the ruins of ancient sects to find them.
They faced not only the bizarre traps within these ruins but also had to guard against equally predatory fellow explorers. A single misstep could mean death and the end of their cultivation path.
Yet these rogue cultivators still refused to join the two major organizations, unwilling to be controlled or to serve others. For them, freedom surpassed everything else.
Different choices stemmed from different philosophies; it wasn’t a matter of which was superior.
Thus, the Taiyan Boat would be somewhat ostentatious for a rogue cultivator’s identity.
To avoid unnecessary trouble and suspicion, Li Fan chose to ride the wind himself.
It was slower, but Li Fan wasn’t in a hurry. In fact, this actually provided an opportunity for him to adapt to the changes in his environment.
Back in Great Xuan, Li Fan had faintly sensed that his affinity with spiritual qi had inexplicably increased this lifetime. However, with no spiritual qi in the Immortal Forsaken Lands, he couldn’t verify this.
Now, immersed in the cultivation world and sensing the ambient spiritual qi, Li Fan finally confirmed that his guess was correct.
In his previous life, he had forcibly drawn spiritual qi from heaven and earth through his Heaven-Earth Root like a pump. Whereas in this lifetime, with merely a thought, the world’s spiritual qi willingly flowed into his dantian without any coercion.
While it still couldn’t compare to what Xiao Heng described as intimacy with the spiritual qi, it was vastly superior to before.
Li Fan suspected this change likely originated from the Heaven-Earth Root itself.
His previous Heaven-Earth Root had been cultivated from five emotions: greed, fear, rage, hatred, and self-absorption.
This lifetime, the Heaven-Earth Root in his dantian had been directly manifested through Return to Truth.
If the Heaven-Earth Root cultivated by the Five Spirits Qi Sensing Method was filled with violent, dark, and negative emotions, then the one granted by Return to Truth was balanced, peaceful, calm, and natural.
He hadn’t expected that retaining his previous life’s cultivation through Return to Truth would come with such a benefit.
While pleased, Li Fan also felt there might be a deeper reason behind this.
However, before he could ponder further, his expression suddenly shifted.
In his perception, a wave of killing intent had locked firmly onto him from afar and was rapidly closing in.
Moreover, the opponent’s aura was powerful. This was someone at the Foundation Establishment realm at least!
Though the situation felt baffling, Li Fan didn’t hesitate.
He immediately summoned the Taiyan Boat, pushed it to its maximum speed, and fled toward the nearest island, Liuli Island.
His pursuer seemed caught off guard that Li Fan possessed a flying boat. But after a moment, the enemy accelerated even further.
Inside the Taiyan Boat, Li Fan’s face was grim.
The distance was too great, beyond the range of his divine sense.
But judging by the steadily approaching killing intent, the other party’s speed undoubtedly surpassed that of the Taiyan Boat.
After a moment’s hesitation, Li Fan decided to unleash a thread of Formless Killing Mechanism toward his pursuer.
His vision suddenly dimmed, and faint, indistinct whispers echoed in his ears.
His surroundings grew hazy and distorted, and he felt as though countless eyes were watching him from the shadows.
Fortunately, the hallucinatory scene vanished as quickly as it had appeared. In the span of a blink, everything returned to normal.
Li Fan knew this was the side effect of deploying Formless Killing Mechanism on a target beyond his cultivation realm.
Formless Killing Mechanism borrowed the authority of heaven’s will. And borrowing such power was never without risk.
If a mortal forged an imperial decree, their entire clan would face execution. How much more severe would the consequences be for impersonating heaven’s will?
The greater the gap between his cultivation level and his target’s, the more likely it was that the will of heaven would detect the deception.
Fortunately, the difference of one realm seemed to fall within a reasonable range.
The moment Formless Killing Mechanism was unleashed, nothing happened at first.
But soon, Li Fan felt a sudden gust of wind.
This wind spun relentlessly along the path of his pursuer, swiftly forming a tornado.
The tornado shimmered with a faint azure light, resembling a colossal dragon as it roared toward the enemy.
Caught off guard, the pursuer was struck head-on.
Seizing the opportunity, Li Fan accelerated his escape.
Not long after, a thunderous explosion echoed from behind.
It seemed the pursuer had broken free of the tornado and was now flying even faster in Li Fan’s direction. The killing intent also intensified.
Just as the enemy was about to close in again, a massive crocodile-shark leaped high from the sea’s surface and swallowed him whole.
The crocodile-shark plunged back into the sea, sending a towering splash of water into the air.
Boom!
A burst of flames erupted from beneath the waves.
The crocodile-shark was incinerated into nothingness, and the pursuer emerged from the water looking disheveled and increasingly frantic.
After sensing Li Fan’s position, he sped up his chase.
Yet, every time he drew near Li Fan, some sudden, unforeseen circumstance would intervene.
And so the chase continued. Though the pursuer was considerably faster, he never quite managed to close the gap.
Finally, Liuli Island came into view.
The pursuer cautiously scanned his surroundings. Seeing that no further mishaps seemed imminent, breathed a sigh of relief. With a stern expression, he prepared to unleash a Dao Technique to blast Li Fan to oblivion.
Then, from the clear, sunlit sky, a bolt of lightning abruptly cracked down from the heavens.
It struck him square.
Had it not been for a sudden glow that erupted from his body at a critical moment, deflecting most of the lightning’s force, he would have been killed outright.
Even so, his entire form was charred, and he was now barely recognizable as human.
Seeing this, Li Fan immediately flew toward the island protection array in the center of Liuli Island.
The man hung motionless in the air for a moment before slowly recovering.
Shaken and enraged, he roared, “He Zhenghao! Get out here and help me kill this little thief!”
A voice Li Fan recognized came from Liuli Island: “Enforcer Wan? What happened to you?”
Li Fan, still flying toward the island, halted abruptly at their exchange.
Trapped between them with nowhere to run, he cursed under his breath.
Then, he silently recited in his mind:
Return to Truth.