The Treatise on Curios cost two thousand contribution points. Li Fan didn't even blink; he bought it immediately.
He then began to carefully peruse its contents.
Curios of heaven and earth were critical for cultivators wishing to build their Dao Foundation.
They were divided into three major categories: Curios of Heaven, Curios of Earth, and Curios of Man.
Curios of Heaven were inscrutably aligned with the Heavenly Dao, yet they were ethereal and elusive. Not only were they nearly impossible to see, but one rarely even heard tales of them.
The book provided only a single example.
It was the very foundation upon which the Myriad Immortals Alliance was built, something even more important than the Tianxuan Mirror: the Derivation Jade.
No one knew whose Foundation Establishment Curio it was.
Its unique effect was the ability to spontaneously derive new techniques day and night without stopping.
Reading this, Li Fan’s thoughts stumbled, and he froze for a moment.
Kou Hong said that the techniques practiced by modern cultivators are all newly compiled. I’d assumed it was the work of some heaven-sent genius that was capable of creating many different techniques.
Turns out they weren’t derived manually, but by this Curio of heaven and earth.
Li Fan was lost in thought for a moment before continuing to read.
Curios of Earth were also exceedingly rare, but there were at least traces one could follow.
They often appeared alongside strange natural phenomena, and the book listed several examples.
Cangwu Province had four rivers and twenty-eight mountains.
On a certain day, it vanished overnight without a trace, leaving behind only a bottomless abyss.
From this emerged a Curio of Earth, the Landscape Painting of Cangwu...
...
The continent’s water bodies should, by nature, flow from west to east, returning to the sea.
On a certain day, the flow of waters reversed, all converging upon Mount Penglai.
This lasted for three full months before ceasing.
From this emerged a Curio of Earth, the Mother of All Waters...
Li Fan read with rapt fascination.
So that means the Deepsea Pearl must also be a Curio of Earth.
There were still over ten years until the Deepsea Pearl’s emergence, supposedly near Liuyun Island. He couldn’t afford to forget this matter.
Next were the Curios of Man.
The vast majority of Foundation Establishment Curios in the world fell into the category of Curios of Man.
Curios of Man were often the transformed remains of cultivators who had fallen thousands of years ago.
They were further categorized based on quality into three grades: high, mid, and low.
The higher the quality, the greater the power one would wield after establishing one’s Dao Foundation with the Curio.
Li Fan thought of the Qiulong Branch and the Rusted Sword Dao Xuan, wondering what grade those two were.
Judging by the power they had displayed, they were likely at least mid-grade or above.
While his avatar, Lin Fan, was immersed in the various secrets of the cultivation world,
Li Fan’s true self traveled to Liuli Island via teleportation array while it was still night.
However, he did not find He Zhenghao there.
The guardian of the island protection array was an unfamiliar cultivator.
He Zhenghao had probably not yet returned from exploring the cave dwelling.
Li Fan didn’t dwell on it. After nodding in acknowledgment to the other party, he exited the array, concealed his form, and quietly made his way to the home of Zhang Haobo, captain of the Cangyuan.
Looking at the sleeping Zhang Haobo, Li Fan smiled faintly.
There were still nineteen years until Crimson Flame evaporated the sea.
Now that the avatar was complete, certain parts of his plan could be set up in advance.
He activated the Cloudwater Dream Illusion Art.
***
Zhang Haobo jolted awake from a nightmare, drenched in cold sweat.
He gasped for air, the terror in his heart slow to fade. It took a long time for him to regain his senses.
He looked around blankly at his surroundings.
This was...Liuli Island?
Could it all have just been a terrifying nightmare? But what kind of dream could feel so real?
In the dream, he had hauled up a corpse while fishing out at sea.
Along with the remains was a book.
Though it had been soaked in seawater for so long, the writing inside remained perfectly clear.
Sea-Calming Sword Art.
It was a cultivation technique from the ancient Cloudwater Palace, capable of being practiced all the way to the Foundation Establishment realm.
It allowed one to condense twenty-four Sea-Calming Swords within the dantian, which could be launched against enemies.
Relying on this powerful technique, his cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds. In just over a decade, he had progressed from an ordinary mortal all the way to the late-stage Qi Refinement realm.
He was on the verge of Foundation Establishment, but then...
The mere thought of the terrifying scene from the dream made Zhang Haobo tremble uncontrollably.
In the sky above the Congyun Sea, a translucent crimson figure had abruptly appeared. In its hand danced a flame that seemed feeble at first glance.
Yet, it was this very flame that slowly boiled the entire Congyun Sea dry over the next ten years.
His family, his friends, his hometown—everything around him was utterly destroyed.
The cultivators of Myriad Immortals Island fought desperately against it, but alas, that figure was far too powerful, and its appearance had been far too sudden.
The Congyun Sea had become a dead zone, impossible to enter or leave.
With no reinforcements, every last cultivator of Myriad Immortals Island sacrificed their lives in the end, yet only managed to wound it severely.
A torrent of raging flames descended from the heavens, reducing Myriad Immortals Island to ashes.
The nightmare ended there.
But Zhang Haobo remained unsettled for a long time.
Was it really just a dream?
How could an ordinary mortal like him dream so vividly of things like Myriad Immortals Island and the Tianxuan Mirror—things he had never even imagined before?
Even that cultivation technique...
Wait.
Zhang Haobo's eyes sharpened.
The Sea-Calming Sword Art instantly surfaced in his mind. Every word, every character, crystal clear!
He shot to his feet.
It wasn’t a dream?!
Then, does that mean...
I’ve regressed?!
He’d read plenty of strange novels featuring plots where the protagonist died and returned to life decades in the past.
He never imagined he would one day experience it himself.
It took a long time for Zhang Haobo to calm down and try to recall the scenes from his past life.
Unfortunately, perhaps because that crimson figure was too terrifying, it dominated his thoughts, and only fragments of major events from his past life vaguely remained in his memory.
But it was enough.
He turned to look at his wife, still sound asleep beside him, and his gaze grew resolute.
There were still over ten years before that tragedy would unfold. If he prepared early and set traps in advance, he could definitely kill that crimson figure!
The first step was to break through to the early-stage Qi Refinement realm. Then, join the Myriad Immortals Alliance.
The matter of his regression was too fantastical to reveal to anyone.
He also needed to find a way to make the Myriad Immortals Alliance believe that crimson figure would truly appear.
Zhang Haobo regained the mindset of the late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator from his past life, his mind racing with plans.
***
Li Fan watched Zhang Haobo’s rapidly shifting expression and, seeing he had no intention of fleeing immediately, nodded to himself.
What Zhang Haobo believed to be his regression was, of course, the result of Li Fan's Cloudwater Dream Illusion Art.
Crafting an illusory dreamscape based on his own experiences of the true future was more than sufficient to deceive a mere mortal.
Unfortunately, his current mastery of the art was still shallow; even having witnessed future events, he could not know every detail. Thus, the constructed illusion still contained significant flaws.
To enhance the dream's credibility, Li Fan had invested heavily, even bringing out a watered-down, Foundation Establishment-level version of the Sea-Calming Sword Art.
His goal was to use Zhang Haobo as his proxy to push the Myriad Immortals Alliance into confronting Crimson Flame.
Li Fan wanted to know: if the cultivators on Myriad Immortals Island were warned of the Soul Arbiter of Heaven and Earth's descent in advance, how would they react?
Of course, to prevent Zhang Haobo from being terrified by Crimson Flame's power and simply fleeing, he had also layered the illusion with psychological suggestions, instilling in him a sense of duty to prevent the tragedy for the sake of his family and comrades.
Simultaneously, he had altered the portrayal of Crimson Flame's strength, making it seem not invincible, but rather something that could actually be defeated.
For now, the results seemed satisfactory.
He would need to return periodically to reinforce the illusion using the Cloudwater Dream Illusion Art.
With this in mind, Li Fan secretly locked onto Zhang Haobo with Formless Killing Mechanism, just in case the man tried to slip away unnoticed.