The vast quantity of pills capable of directly increasing cultivation that Li Fan required was, of course, intended for the cultivators in the pocket worlds.
It had been quite some time since they collectively began practicing the Common People Lingyuan Technique, but their overall progress could only be described as barely passable.
Thus, Li Fan decided to force the pace.
In this lifetime, the exploration of the Crimson River—which contained the entirety of the Xuanhuang Realm's past—had not yet begun. Ahead of him lay potential counterattacks from the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, the Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable, as well as formidable entities like the immortals of the Immortal Ruins and the Faceless True Immortal.
When clashing with enemies of such caliber, one could never be too cautious.
Li Fan's personal strength was still modest; he had to borrow strength against strength, leaving no room for the slightest slip.
All of his focus would have to be dedicated to that confrontation. Once it began, he would no longer have the luxury of dividing his attention.
Yet the emergence of the Crimson River in this lifetime was an entirely fortuitous accident.
Li Fan was not at all certain whether he could replicate the same conditions to recreate it in the next lifetime.
If he missed this opportunity to unearth its hidden secrets, it would truly be a pity.
Therefore, what Li Fan needed to do now was accelerate the pace of his exploration as much as possible.
In fact, under the command of his avatar, Li Qing, a batch of Foundation Establishment cultivators from various pocket worlds had already been dispatched to explore it.
Without exception, every single one of them had aged to death right before the Crimson River, failing to bring back even a shred of useful information.
Fortunately, the area where the Crimson River lay was exceedingly special—the very place where the supreme treasure, the fishing pond, was hidden. Consequently, the phenomena of those cultivators falling were completely concealed, beyond the notice of outsiders.
Otherwise, the secret of the Crimson River surely could not have been kept.
"At the very least, we must elevate a large number of them to the Golden Core realm before there is any chance of success. Otherwise, their lifespans are too short, and they are simply marching to pointless deaths." This was the conclusion Li Qing had reached.
Hence Li Fan's calculated display to overawe the Medicine King Sect, commanding them to focus entirely on concocting pills.
Having concluded their tour of the Wood-attribute grotto-heaven, Li Fan dismissed them all from his inner body, merely retrieving a batch of herbs to supply what they needed for concocting pills.
With those trivial matters settled, Li Fan returned to his underground chamber in the Spirit Wood Realm, taking out a list to examine.
It was precisely the results of the investigation he had previously asked Mo Rubin to conduct regarding cultivators who were likely in possession of Dao Transformation Stones.
It had helped Li Fan eliminate the vast majority of individuals who bore no suspicion.
Looking at those names and the dense networks of personal connections behind them, Li Fan murmured with a faint sigh, "Having someone at the very pinnacle of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals makes getting things done so effortless. If not for this list, it might have taken me several years to compile such clear intelligence.
"Yet Mo Rubin merely gave a casual order, and his subordinates handled it impeccably."
Looking over the names, Li Fan's mind stirred. He retrieved the Heaven-Measuring Ruler previously gifted to him by the Heavenly Profound Mirror's avatar.
With an aimless, all-encompassing gaze, Li Fan's current data-processing capacity naturally could not handle the immense deluge of information.
But what if he searched with a specific target in mind?
Li Fan sank his divine sense once more into the boundless mirror world.
This time, taking the suspects on the list as his search query, he directly filtered out the vast ocean of useless data.
Sure enough, the mental strain vanished in an instant.
Countless scenes flickered before his eyes as Li Fan waited patiently for the results to surface.
Nearly half a day later...
Several dozen mirror surfaces floated sequentially before Li Fan like glowing screens.
"Mm, there are still a few that yielded no results. It shouldn't be that I overlooked them, but rather the operational scope of the Heavenly Profound Mirror itself. Just as the Genesis Stone Slab only records the native history of the Xuanhuang Realm, leaving external cultivation worlds unrecorded."
Li Fan watched intently, observing all forty-five cultivators without blinking.
Some were cultivating within the Heavenly Profound Mirror, while others were exploring sect ruins.
Some were experimenting with divine abilities, while others were discussing problems encountered in their cultivation with companions.
Yet without exception, every one of them had long passed the elementary stage of fretting over contribution points.
Not a single one was toiling away on missions just to earn points.
He watched for three full days without any of them slipping up.
Yet Li Fan was not concerned in the least, continuing to wait with immense patience.
Possessing a Dao Transformation Stone himself, Li Fan knew full well that once one grew accustomed to its existence, it was easy to develop a dependence on it.
Whenever a problem arose that could be solved with the Dao Transformation Stone, there was no reason not to make use of it.
After all, it was one of their own divine abilities.
Li Fan's patience was soon rewarded.
Seven days later, one of them—a Soul Formation cultivator named Lu Chengxue—was chatting about anything and everything with a close friend, and the two brought up an expedition they had shared many years ago.
Because so much time had passed, they seemed to have disagreed and argued over the exact details back then.
After a momentary pause, Lu Chengxue clearly recalled and recounted the events of that day from start to finish, thoroughly convincing his friend.
"It's you!" A sharp gleam flashed through Li Fan's eyes.
This scene was all too familiar to him!
Was that not precisely the act of searching through the past recorded within a Dao Transformation Stone?
Having found his target, Li Fan did not act immediately.
Instead, he continued to watch before the mirrors.
He persisted for more than a month and a half without feeling the slightest boredom.
Including Lu Chengxue, he ultimately locked onto three targets.
The other two had exposed themselves by displaying superhuman memory and data-processing capabilities.
"That should be all of them. If someone could hold back from using the Dao Transformation Stone for this long, they either sensed they were being watched and deliberately hid their abilities, or they are entirely slacking off, paying no heed to their cultivation."
Li Fan rose abruptly, left the Spirit Wood Realm, and headed straight for his target.
It was time to upgrade the Dao Transformation Stone once more.
His first target was Lu Chengxue.
This man was part of the backbone generation of the Lu family in Tianquan Province.
Though the Lu family possessed no peerless powerhouses, the trait they were most praised for was their charity, benevolence, and eagerness to help those in need.
Whenever anyone on good terms with the Lu family ran into trouble, the Lu family would unfailingly lend a hand.
Even if unforeseen circumstances prevented them from intervening formally, members of the Lu family would still offer aid in a private capacity.
In this Xuanhuang Realm rife with intrigue and treacherous hearts, the Lu family was unquestionably a breath of fresh air.
Over the years, countless cultivators had received kindness from the Lu family.
Even ordinary passersby treated the routinely benevolent Lu family with immense goodwill.
After all, who could guarantee that they would never encounter trouble down the line?
Staying on good terms with the Lu family meant an extra avenue of survival in the future.
Yet against such a widely praised family...
Li Fan was about to strike ruthlessly against one of its core scions.
Once the secret technique of Spirit Unity with Dao Transformation was mastered, the Dao Transformation Stone fused completely with the cultivator's divine soul.
The only way to extract it...
Was to annihilate their divine soul.
Yet Li Fan would not hesitate in the slightest.
In fact, it would not be limited to this lifetime alone.
Through life after life to come, he would continue to do so—until the Dao Transformation Stone was no longer of any use to him.
...
Within Tianquan City, Li Fan tracked down Lu Chengxue. Gazing upon the man's warm and earnest face, he first observed a brief moment of silent mourning for him.
Chapter 1025