Third: If you wish to explore the Oddities, gather as many helpers as possible. The most effective way to uncover the rules of an Oddity is to throw lives at it until they are deciphered.
Have faith—you certainly won’t be the first to die!
After carefully reading the Survival Guide to Exploring Sect Ruins , Li Fan felt the hundred contribution points had been well spent.
With these insights, he felt far more confident about exploring Cloudwater Palace in two years.
In his previous life, the news that Sikong Yi had retrieved the Cloudwater Model from Cloudwater Palace and been rewarded with a hundred thousand contribution points ignited a frenzy of exploration among the cultivators of Congyun Sea.
The Cloudwater Model might have already been taken, but surely such a vast place held more treasures than just that one artifact?
Driven by that hope, wave after wave of cultivators from the Congyun Sea threw themselves at Cloudwater Palace, heedless of the danger. Some rogue cultivators even traveled from distant continents, drawn by its fame.
And they weren’t wrong.
Even by Anchor Year 27, the year Li Fan had reached the Qi Refinement realm in his last life, Cloudwater Palace still hadn’t been fully explored.
News of cultivators emerging with newfound treasures periodically surfaced, sparking envy across the land.
As a result of this constant exploration, the rules of the majority of the Oddities within were already widely known, and Li Fan had heard many stories himself.
But exactly how Sikong Yi had obtained the Cloudwater Model remained a mystery, with many conflicting accounts and no consensus.
So, if Li Fan wanted to claim the Cloudwater Model in this life, his best strategy was to shadow Sikong Yi in secret and seize it at the critical moment.
With two years until Cloudwater Palace opened, he could begin gathering intelligence on Sikong Yi. After all, know your enemy, know yourself.
At the same time, he needed to strengthen himself as much as possible.
Li Fan’s attention turned to the Qi Refinement offensive techniques available within the Tianxuan Mirror.
Offensive techniques were far more expensive than ordinary cultivation techniques. The Lesser Water Manipulation Art he had been practicing cost only 1200 contribution points, while offensive techniques started at around 1500.
Li Fan quickly scanned through the technique descriptions, searching for one that suited him.
Flowing Water Sword Art, Lesser Cyclone Sword, Crimson Meteor...
Suddenly, his gaze settled on one technique: Nether Spirit Illusion Art.
After reading the description several times, his heart began to race.
According to the introduction, this was an illusion-based technique. It involved visualizing and nurturing a phantom spirit within one’s mind, which could be summoned in battle to confound enemies.
Once the phantom spirit grew powerful enough, it could even invade an opponent’s sea of consciousness and launch direct divine sense attacks.
This technique seemed tailor-made for him!
He wasn’t sure how his divine sense compared to other cultivators, but after numerous lifetimes of experience, and bolstered by the Xuanhuang Heart Refinement Sutra, it certainly shouldn’t be weak.
Moreover, the practice of visualizing and nurturing a phantom spirit...
A crimson figure flickered unbidden into Li Fan’s mind.
If he used Crimson Flame as the template for visualization, the resulting phantom spirit would likely be exceptionally powerful.
Turning the idea over, Li Fan decided to purchase this technique then and there.
But the price...
Li Fan’s eyelid twitched as he looked at it.
2500 points!
That was almost the same as a relatively weaker Foundation Establishment technique!
No wonder this technique seemed so powerful yet had been sitting here untouched all this time.
Actually, Li Fan had it wrong.
The reason the Nether Spirit Illusion Art was priced so high was simply that illusion-type techniques were relatively rare, not because it was particularly powerful.
In the current cultivation world, the vast majority of cultivators had roughly the same divine sense strength.
After all, even before the Great Reformation, techniques specializing in strengthening divine sense were scarce.
Not to mention now, when immortal techniques could only be cultivated exclusively.
Lacking methods to strengthen and enhance their divine sense, the vast majority of cultivators at the same cultivation realm operated on a similar level of divine sense.
Under these circumstances, few chose to use divine sense to attack others, because it often meant mutual destruction.
This was also why the Nether Spirit Illusion Art was seen as rather impractical by other cultivators.
When all was said and done, it was just an illusion technique. It was a method for using divine sense, not enhancing it.
Who would be willing to spend 2500 contribution points just for some illusions, especially when divine sense attacks couldn’t be used lightly?
It was precisely because Li Fan possessed the Xuanhuang Heart Refinement Sutra and had personally witnessed the form of the Soul Arbiter Crimson Flame that he was particularly suited to the path of visualizing phantom spirits.
Thus, the Nether Spirit Illusion Art would be multiple times more effective in his hands.
Regardless, Li Fan ultimately gritted his teeth and purchased the Nether Spirit Illusion Art.
In the blink of an eye, Li Fan’s contribution points were reduced to 1321.
The points came quickly but disappeared even faster!
He had originally intended to buy an escape technique as well. But now he was running short, that would have to wait for another time.
The immediate priority was to cultivate the Nether Spirit Illusion Art to the late-stage Qi Refinement realm.
Activating the Tianxuan Mirror’s Assisted Cultivation Mode and placing the Exquisite Liuli Pearl beside him, Li Fan began his cultivation.
His mind became clear as a mirror. Under the dual enhancements, the obscure text of the technique became as easy to understand as a primary school textbook.
The pure cultivation derived from the Lesser Water Manipulation Art in his dantian served as nourishment, allowing his cultivation progress of the Nether Spirit Illusion Art to skyrocket.
In less than a day, he had reached the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm of the Nether Spirit Illusion Art.
Upon reaching mid-stage Qi Refinement, one could begin visualizing a phantom spirit within the mind.
Although it was a phantom spirit, the object of visualization couldn’t be created from nothing. It had to be based on something that truly existed in the cultivation world.
His thoughts flowed slowly, memories surfacing one after another before his eyes.
Li Fan felt as if he had returned to his previous life, witnessing the moment Crimson Flame scorched the sea.
A faint silhouette slowly took form within Li Fan’s sea of consciousness.
Yet, even this unformed silhouette caused Li Fan’s body temperature to rise drastically.
Sweat poured from him like rain.
Frowning, Li Fan forcefully operated the Heart Refinement Sutra, suppressing the scorching sensation.
He continued to visualize the form of Crimson Flame.
As the Crimson Flame phantom spirit slowly took shape, the temperature of Li Fan’s body climbed higher and higher.
If it felt like being in a desert under the blazing sun before, now it was as if he were being roasted within a great fire.
As Li Fan continued his visualization, the searing heat grew increasingly terrifying.
Finally, when the temperature reached a certain level, the clothes Li Fan wore spontaneously combusted.
His meditative state was shattered instantly, and the image within his mind vanished without a trace.
A moment later, Li Fan violently coughed up a mouthful of blood.
The blood itself seemed to radiate intense heat, transforming into a plume of white vapor and evaporating before it could even hit the ground.
Li Fan wiped the blood from his lips. Though this attempt was unsuccessful, he didn’t feel discouraged.
He purchased a single Restoration Pill from the Tianxuan Mirror. After taking a moment to recover, he began his visualization anew.