Fanyong Island was true to its name.
*Fan* meant a fence or enclosure; *yong* meant useless.
This island was located in an exceedingly remote stretch of the sea, with not another island within a thousand li. Perhaps for that very reason, the spiritual energy of this entire maritime region had gathered exclusively on Fanyong Island. As a result, the vast island enjoyed timely rains, gentle breezes, and an overwhelming abundance of natural wealth year after year.
Even without any cultivation or farming, the crops grown by nature alone were more than enough for the island's inhabitants to live free of worry for food and clothing.
Several large warehouses on the island were packed to the brim with grain, slowly rotting away without anyone caring.
Furthermore, this state of affairs seemed to have persisted ever since the Congyun Sea was born.
This had fostered a peculiar way of life: the residents of Fanyong Island had no pressure to survive. Aside from eating and sleeping, their most frequent pastime was an activity known as wrestling duels.
The two competitors fought in the nude, and the victor claimed the loser's social identity for one month—gaining the right to dispose of the other's property and exercise all the authority of their standing.
Aside from acts that harmed the island itself, everything was permitted.
During that month, the loser could only watch helplessly as the victor became another version of themselves.
Squandering their wealth, sleeping with their wife...
Of course, if the loser was dissatisfied, they could issue another challenge once the month was up.
However, if they were defeated a second time, the duration doubled to two months.
And so it escalated.
As the island's sole and most popular form of entertainment, every wrestling duel drew virtually the entire population of Fanyong Island to watch.
The crowd would jeer and cheer, the fighters' eyes would turn red with fury, and their families would be consumed with anxiety.
Yet just after the most recent wrestling duel concluded, something unfolded that left every spectator dumbfounded.
Before everyone's eyes, the victor transformed into the exact likeness of the loser!
Meanwhile, the defeated party vanished into thin air in broad daylight!
Even more bizarre was that despite such an eerie anomaly occurring, the islanders did not stop holding wrestling duels.
Instead, their fervor only swelled.
Defeating someone and truly claiming everything they had—what could be more thrilling than that?
At first, this was indeed how the people viewed the new wrestling duels.
Before long, however, they realized something was terribly wrong.
Panic began spreading across Fanyong Island.
Yet the duels did not cease...
Because this game had long slipped beyond their control.
Shrouded in anomaly, wrestling duels numbering at least half the island's population took place every single day. The rules took effect mandatorily, regardless of either party's will.
The loser disappeared, while the victor transformed into the defeated party's appearance.
Not only did their physique and outward appearance change, but their physical faculties and abilities shifted accordingly.
Only the inner consciousness remained dominated by the victor, who swallowed and absorbed the loser's memories.
Moreover, during the duels, both participants' minds were influenced to some extent, forcing them to fight with everything they had without ever purposely throwing a match.
As the days passed and the wrestling duels continued incessantly, the island's population dwindled rapidly.
Some could no longer bear the torment and chose to take their own lives.
Those who remained constantly shifted identities across duel after duel.
When Li Fan finally tracked down the sole survivor of Fanyong Island and unraveled the full sequence of events from the more than one hundred thousand jumbled memories inside his mind, even he could not help but feel a chill.
The dark anomalous power over Fanyong Island had already dissipated.
The abnormal creature before him—shaped like a cylinder, with facial features nearly drowned in rolls of fat until only a few vertical creases remained—was the ultimate victor.
This individual should originally have been the weakest, frailest existence on Fanyong Island.
Because his body was so immense, even extending an arm or moving about was an ordeal. Thus, in every wrestling duel, he had been incapable of even striking back, taking beatings helplessly and losing each contest.
Yet the will housed within this body was an amalgamation of over a hundred thousand islanders. The dominant consciousness was the absolute champion who had triumphed all the way to the end.
Every victory seemed to swallow a portion of the opponent to strengthen himself. Now, his share within the collective will was stronger than that of all the others combined.
Yet after enduring such a nightmarish ordeal, this meatball was on the verge of total collapse.
He sat dumbly on the ground, his face blank with confusion.
However, the moment Li Fan appeared before him, he instinctively attempted to initiate a wrestling duel.
At that exact instant, Li Fan faintly felt a surge of dark power erupt from the man's body, reaching out like invisible tentacles seeking to latch onto him.
With a cold snort, Li Fan faded from sight.
The dark tendrils grasped at empty air.
The colossal fat man slumped back into his dazed stupor.
Li Fan had an inkling that had he not avoided the wrestling duel just now, he too would have been turned into this grotesque form upon winning.
As for whether his cultivation realm would have been preserved, there was no telling.
*This ability...*
Li Fan's mind immediately went to Mo Rubin's mirror usurpation.
What had occurred on Fanyong Island was clearly weaker than Mo Rubin's method and had greater restrictions.
Yet if properly utilized, it could undoubtedly be considered an extraordinary ability.
Though it appeared that these wrestling duels ultimately caused the victor to continuously degenerate toward weakness...
That was only when the strong defeated the weak.
What if the weak defeated the strong?
Could one not use this ability to achieve rapid leaps in power step by step in a short amount of time?
Under normal circumstances, the weak lost and the strong won.
To Li Fan, however, there were countless ways to let the weak overcome the strong.
At this thought, his interest was piqued.
He stepped away and casually seized a Foundation Establishment cultivator, ignoring the man's terrified gaze and directly immobilizing him with Insect Binding.
Then, he tossed the cultivator before the fat ball.
Driven by instinct, the fat ball issued an invitation to a wrestling duel toward the Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Though the fat ball's body could barely move, the soul commanding it was a powerful one.
Looking at the healthy yet immobilized body before him, the confusion in his eyes instantly erupted with a blazing will to survive.
Struggling laboriously, taking nearly half a day, he finally concluded the contest.
To his immense disappointment, however, despite winning the match, he did not transform into the cultivator's likeness.
After a stunned pause, he soon realized why.
The match had not been fair.
An external force had interfered with the contest...
Therefore, the outcome was invalid!
Reflecting on this cultivator who had suddenly appeared and did not belong to the island, he instantly realized that someone else was hiding here!
Furthermore...
A technique capable of immobilizing someone like this very likely belonged to a legendary immortal master!
At this thought, an overwhelming surge of excitement filled his heart.
Chapter 1032