Having acquired a taste for it and realizing just how powerful an upper-grade Dao Transformation Stone was, Li Fan wasted no time and captured the other two cultivators without pause.
He did not hit the jackpot; the Dao Transformation Stones they carried were still only upper-grade.
Li Fan handled them the same way.
After absorbing three upper-grade Dao Transformation Stones in total, Li Fan once again felt that long-lost qualitative leap, akin to breaking through an entire major realm.
Yet he did not let it go to his head, reanalyzing his experiences throughout this life once more.
With his enhanced planning abilities, he laid out rough deductions on how to successfully tear free from the Web of the True Immortal, smoothly undergo True Reversion, and even reap benefits from the process in the future.
"Still, it hasn't reached the level of the Dao Transformation Mother Stone, capable of deducing the real world. I must continue to adapt to circumstances as they arise."
Li Fan remained silent as countless thoughts churned in his mind.
After remaining in seclusion for a full three days, he first summoned his clone, Li Qing.
"Head to the Congyun Sea first and spook the Chaoyuan Sect into fleeing ahead of time. Barring any accidents, the Chaoyuan Sect ruins will still fly toward Jiushan Province.
"Once the cultivators of the various pocket worlds take the Medicine King Sect's pills and are forcibly elevated to the Golden Core realm, lead them there.
"With you watching over them, they should be able to fight their way through the Chaoyuan Sect's mountains of corpses and seas of blood. When they emerge again, their overall cultivation will have advanced to the Nascent Soul realm. By then, exploring the secrets within the Crimson River will be far easier."
In the clone's mind, everything regarding the Chaoyuan Sect instantly surfaced.
The Chaoyuan Sect was an ancient cave estate concealed in the Three Faults deep beneath the Congyun Sea.
Just before the Congyun Sea was struck by disaster, it had fled far away and landed in Jiushan Province.
Shuo Feng, Zhang Haobo, and Su Xiaomei had once ventured there together, seeking an opportunity for a breakthrough.
From their experiences, Li Fan had learned the secrets of the Chaoyuan Sect.
The Chaoyuan Sect was a native sect of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Ever since the Great Cataclysm struck, it had vanished without a trace, as if evaporating from the world.
In truth, the entire sect had been converted into a bizarre state, suspended between illusion and reality, isolated from the outside world.
Time within it seemed to have ground to a halt, all in the hope of evading catastrophe.
That was the Chaoyuan Sect's original plan.
Yet unexpected turns invariably occurred.
First, the region they occupied was slapped into the Congyun Sea by a single strike from the Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable, burying the Chaoyuan Sect deep underground.
Later, perhaps influenced by the force of the two realms merging, all manner of eerie changes gradually unfolded inside the Chaoyuan Sect.
When Su Xiaomei and her companions entered the Chaoyuan Sect ruins, the cultivators inside appeared to live normal lives.
In truth, however, they had all turned into faceless blood faces, robbed of their original features.
Moreover, they themselves remained completely oblivious.
If anyone exposed their true identities as faceless blood faces right to their faces, they would go mad and launch a sudden, frantic assault.
As if stripped of all reason, regardless of their cultivation level, they would attack like wild beasts using only physical claws and raw flesh.
Though they could not employ divine abilities, these faceless blood faces were remarkably difficult to deal with.
They were astonishingly fast, and their wounds healed almost instantly.
Only by slicing off their entire blood faces could one finally kill them.
Once a faceless blood face was slain, it would transform into a ray of red light that attached itself to the cultivator who struck the killing blow.
This red light was actually the origin power of the Chaoyuan Sect world.
Upon departing the Chaoyuan Sect, the claimed red light would follow the cultivator outside.
Like some supreme tonic, it was enough to elevate any cultivator below the Nascent Soul realm by an entire major realm.
Even the Foundation Establishment wonder, Golden Core method, and Nascent Soul grotto-heaven required for advancement under the new method would naturally evolve from the red light.
Furthermore, if one mastered a specialized refining technique, one could directly absorb the red light origin within the Chaoyuan Sect world, sustaining and strengthening oneself through battle.
As for why such an eerie scene had emerged within the Chaoyuan Sect, there was no way to know for now.
As for why such an eerie scene had emerged within the Chaoyuan Sect, there was no way to know for now.
Li Fan guessed, however, that it was likely still due to the influence of the Xuanhuang Realm merging with other worlds.
***
Li Qing sorted through the history of the Chaoyuan Sect, then nodded.
"If that red light origin is useful to me as well, wouldn't it be possible for my realm to surpass yours instead?" Li Qing said with a smile.
"Then you had better kill quite a few more. Advancing with a wonder of Heaven is unlike anything else. The resources you need to break through to Soul Formation might well exceed what an ordinary cultivator needs to reach Dao Integration." Li Fan brushed the remark aside.
"If you truly attain the Soul Formation realm, with your Black Sword wonder of Heaven, you might actually be able to hold out against me for two or three rounds."
The clone smiled and did not reply.
He accepted his orders and departed.
From then on, the exploration of the Crimson River would be under the full charge of the clone Li Qing.
In any case, once any secrets were uncovered, the moment the clone learned of them, Li Fan would naturally know simultaneously.
Nothing was likely to go awry.
***
Backed by the upgraded Dao Transformation Stone, the Terminal Dissociation Disc was finally able to unleash its maximum computational power.
While deducing how to crack the Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable's restrictions, it also began creating an entirely new array from scratch according to Li Fan's designs.
Meanwhile, Li Fan set about examining the cluster of white light within his body.
It was none other than the Mirror Origin previously granted to him by the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
Although the Heavenly Profound Mirror claimed that this Mirror Origin existed solely with it, neither increasing nor decreasing, Li Fan was very curious to see what would happen if he chose to retain it after True Reversion.
"Most likely, a new Mirror Origin would suddenly appear out of thin air in the world.
"And if the Heavenly Profound Mirror cannot sense this new Mirror Origin..."
Li Fan's eyes narrowed slightly.
During the time since obtaining the Mirror Origin, Li Fan had enjoyed far too many benefits.
The simple fact that the Heavenly Profound Mirror stood virtually defenseless against him made it well worth sacrificing an anchor to retain the item.
"In the final days of this life, I can test the Heavenly Profound Mirror's reaction.
"If it detects anything, I will be undergoing True Reversion immediately anyway, so it won't matter.
"But if the Heavenly Profound Mirror cannot detect this sudden additional origin, its usefulness will be immense."
Of course, all of this was predicated on the assumption that an item retained via an anchor was generated out of thin air within True Reversion's item space, rather than drawn from what already existed in the world.
"In fact, this also touches upon the true possibilities of True Reversion."
Li Fan sank into deep contemplation for a moment.
"Regardless, it is definitely worth a try."
At present, Li Fan had only two blank anchors remaining.
However, regarding how to gain more anchors, Li Fan already had a hypothesis.
Previously, anchors were added when Li Fan absorbed cultivators' Golden Cores.
In the very beginning, it was by absorbing cultivators' Foundation Establishment wonders.
Then it was obvious that the next step to increase anchors would most likely require absorbing what cultivators needed to form a Nascent Soul—namely, a grotto-heaven.
As for why Li Fan had personally visited many grotto-heavens yet True Reversion had given no prompt to absorb them...
Li Fan guessed that it might require a newborn grotto-heaven.
Chapter 1027