Gathering information on these children was naturally aimed at finding candidates to succeed Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang.
Now that Li Fan already knew all the answers to the trial, as long as he found candidates whose temperaments and personalities were roughly suitable, the chances of them successfully succeeding the title would be quite high.
There was no need to force it to completion in this lifetime.
He could scout out several suitable candidates first, select them in the next lifetime, and put them through special training.
While Li Fan used the Illusory Dream Technique to subject these children to various tests, the grand play he had orchestrated to muddy the waters of the Xuanhuang Realm slowly raised its curtain.
First, a rumor spread like wildfire.
It claimed that the reason Ou Shangtian—who had once caused a massive sensation and had been hunted by virtually the entire Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals—possessed two heaven-defying abilities, the Kunqian Bone Hand and the Myriad Deaths Ledger, was that he had come into contact with the remains of a True Immortal in his youth.
The Kunqian Bone Hand could reverse heaven and earth, reverting an object back to its state from a certain period of time prior.
The Myriad Deaths Ledger could predict countless ways he might die; used properly, it could turn misfortune into fortune, warding off evil and peril.
Cultivators of the Alliance had almost forgotten the name Ou Shangtian.
Yet the moment these two terrifying abilities were mentioned, memories instantly flooded back among the Alliance's cultivators.
Back then, when Ou Shangtian was not even at the Nascent Soul stage, he had managed to hold out for nearly half a year under the relentless pursuit of countless cultivators, proving through actual deeds just how powerful the Kunqian Bone Hand and Myriad Deaths Ledger were.
And these two formidable powers were merely byproducts of a True Immortal's remains?
If someone were to obtain these so-called True Immortal remains in their entirety, what kind of miraculous fortune would they receive?
The moment this rumor reached their ears, this exact thought popped into the minds of almost every cultivator.
However, the notion of a True Immortal was nebulous and ethereal.
People merely treated it as an anecdotal legend, not taking it seriously.
Curiously, as time went on, the rumor did not fade away; instead, it showed signs of growing fiercer and fiercer.
Anyone with discerning eyes could tell someone was fanning the flames behind the scenes.
Just as they were preparing to investigate who was pulling the strings, something entirely unexpected happened.
At dusk that day, an ethereal, solitary white figure suddenly appeared across the sky of Xuanhuang.
Along with its appearance, the entire Xuanhuang Realm trembled slightly in an instant.
And in the hearts of all cultivators who looked up and saw this figure, an indescribable feeling welled up in unison.
The figure lingered for only a few breaths before vanishing abruptly.
Yet combined with the rumors that had been creating such an uproar earlier, four words leapt almost instinctively into the minds of the cultivators: "True Immortal remains!"
The anomaly shrouding the entire firmament and the slight tremor running through the Xuanhuang Realm at the white figure's appearance—neither of these could possibly be faked!
"Even if it isn't a True Immortal, it must be an extraordinary figure!"
Just as people were engaged in endless debate, guessing the white figure's true identity, endless black mire suddenly surged from deep within a mountain range in Tianling Province, threatening to swallow everything in its surroundings.
The moment cultivators caught sight of the viscous black substance, they knew it was the creation of the anima of Heaven and Earth, Black Mire.
Faced with this perilous crisis, the cultivators were not alarmed; rather, they were delighted. Instead of fleeing, they surged forward.
Most launched fearless charges straight toward the black mire.
After all, under the mantle of the Heavenly Venerable's supreme might, everyone could return from death; there was nothing to fear at all.
Conversely, if one happened to slay this anima of Heaven and Earth, it would truly be reaching heaven in a single bound!
Though an anima of Heaven and Earth boasting Dao Integration combat strength was terrifyingly powerful, an army of ants could still bite an elephant to death!
A substantial number of cultivators harbored this mindset.
Under their fierce attacks, the outward expansion of the black mire was actually brought to a halt.
Just when the cultivators were overjoyed, thinking the black mire had weakened, a dazzling golden figure suddenly flew out from the black marsh.
Before anyone could react, it streaked across the sky and vanished without a trace.
And once that golden figure departed, the rampaging black mire receded entirely into the subterranean depths for some unknown reason.
"Was that..."
"The True Immortal remains?"
From the stunned crowd, someone suddenly cried out in a trembling voice.
Boom!
After a moment of silence, the crowd instantly erupted.
Because in that fleeting glimpse, that figure looked remarkably like the one that had appeared across the sky not long ago!
Furthermore, to suppress the Dao Integration-level Black Mire with mere aura alone...
Snapping back to their senses, the cultivators present rushed off in pursuit toward where the golden light had vanished.
Only a handful of cultivators hesitated briefly before continuing their attack on the black mire that had retreated to dormant rest deep within the mountains.
Unfortunately, after retreating to its lair, the black mire became even more savage and violent than before.
It seemed even its strength had increased considerably.
Without exception, every single one of these cultivators lost their lives there.
Yet even a total wipeout could not quell the greed of the cultivators.
After all, everyone could be revived!
And so, hearing the news, a never-ending stream of cultivators flocked in to throw away their lives.
...
The emergence of the black mire and the True Immortal remains quickly spread throughout the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
Capable of inciting an uprising of an anima of Heaven and Earth, that golden figure drew the serious attention of more and more cultivators.
And following that, wherever the True Immortal remains went, without exception, an anima of Heaven and Earth would mysteriously appear, seemingly trying to suppress the remains.
No one had ever known that the Xuanhuang Realm harbored so many animas of Heaven and Earth.
For a time, cultivators were dumbfounded by this grand spectacle.
Every few days, news would arrive of a newly surfaced anima of Heaven and Earth.
And those cultivators in the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals who had long been stuck at the Soul Formation realm fell into something of a frenzy.
Unable to sit still any longer, they set out to hunt their desired animas of Heaven and Earth.
Yet even more cultivators kept their eyes firmly fixed on those True Immortal remains.
The cultivators' desire for the True Immortal remains peaked explosively after a certain incident occurred.
A mortal named Zhang Haobo, after being fortunate enough to touch the True Immortal remains that suddenly descended before him, skyrocketed in an instant from a mere mortal to Golden Core perfection!
And the extraordinary object that allowed him to establish his foundation was astonishingly a strange relic shaped like a rib bone!
Pity that the True Immortal remains only stayed by his side for a fleeting moment before suddenly disappearing and making its getaway.
Otherwise, it wouldn't have been entirely impossible for this Zhang Haobo to ascend all the way to the Soul Formation stage in an instant!
After conducting an investigation into Zhang Haobo's identity and background, the cultivators also ruled out the possibility that he was putting on a fake act.
After all, for the nearly hundred mortals who accompanied him and witnessed the miracle with their own eyes, there was nothing wrong with their memories!
"The True Immortal remains must be searching for someone fated to receive them."
"It was true for Ou Shangtian, and it is true for this Zhang Haobo! But their karmic fortune was insufficient, so in the end, they were not chosen by the True Immortal remains."
"Still, if someone could obtain it in the end..."
Chapter 1106