What exactly was [True Reversion]?
Ever since Li Fan awakened [True Reversion], this question had remained deeply buried at the bottom of his heart.
Was it a personal anomaly that had awakened along with his transmigration?
Or was it a bizarre treasure hidden inside his body?
At certain moments, Li Fan could not help feeling a subconscious surge of dread.
What if one day, he suddenly lost [True Reversion]?
Or what if, at some critical moment when he needed to turn reality into illusion, [True Reversion] suddenly malfunctioned?
When he first read the *Treatise on Wonders*, Li Fan had also wondered whether [True Reversion] was some kind of wonder of heaven and earth.
Could he use it to achieve Foundation Establishment?
Now, after hearing Master Yin's words, Li Fan was faintly convinced that it might truly be possible to build a Dao Foundation with [True Reversion].
However...
Not right now.
As his ultimate trump card, there was no way he would rashly try it before he had a certain degree of confidence.
If using [True Reversion] to establish his foundation were compared to a difficult subject that needed tackling, Li Fan did not even have the qualifications to join the discussion yet.
After all, he had not even figured out how Foundation Establishment worked in detail.
Fortunately, in this era, most questions could be answered simply by paying.
His avatar, Lin Fan, began searching for knowledge related to Foundation Establishment.
*Introduction to Foundation Establishment*, *Heaven, Earth, and Man*, *Records of One Hundred Foundation Establishments*...
One relevant text after another was exchanged for and read.
Gradually, Li Fan developed a general understanding of Foundation Establishment.
Through the [Object-Devouring Method], a wonder of heaven and earth was swallowed into the dantian.
The Root of Heaven and Earth took root upon it.
Using the wonder as soil and a breeding ground, the cultivator absorbed the laws contained within it, ultimately growing the fruit known as a "Dao Foundation."
Wonders of heaven and earth were divided into three major categories: wonders of Heaven, wonders of Earth, and wonders of Man.
Among them, establishing a foundation with a wonder of Man was the easiest.
This was because wonders of Man were mostly formed from fallen cultivators, containing their lifetime insights into the laws of heaven and earth.
During the process of Foundation Establishment, it was equivalent to having a teacher at one's side at all times, providing careful, direct instruction.
Wonders of Earth and wonders of Heaven, on the other hand, were closer to pure heavenly laws.
Moreover, without the insights of other cultivators as a reference, one had to spend far more time and effort to comprehend the various rules gathered within the wonder and transform them into one's own Dao Foundation.
Yet the advantage of relying on wonders of heaven and earth to construct a Dao Foundation was that it would never fail.
It was just like breaking through to Qi Condensation: condensing the Root of Heaven and Earth to forcibly extract spiritual energy.
Such a method of Foundation Establishment prioritized stability above all else.
***
"If Foundation Establishment before the ancient Great Calamity was a closed-book exam, then Foundation Establishment today is an open-book exam. The answers are right before your eyes; how fast and accurately you copy them depends entirely on the individual," Li Fan mused to himself.
"The rarer the wonder, the higher the difficulty of the exam. When the difficulty reaches a certain point, one can't even comprehend what the exam questions mean, let alone answer them.
"From this perspective, even if I wanted to use [True Reversion] to establish my foundation in the short term, it would be utterly impossible.
"However, if I continually improve my comprehension of heavenly laws through successive foundation establishments and then attempt it repeatedly, there might still be a chance.
"As for [establishing the foundation with oneself]...
"Ten years ago, was it? Perhaps I can let that Master Yin try it himself first."
Li Fan laid out his plan for his upcoming cultivation.
At present, his avatar was still active, so the cultivator's remains obtained from Master Tianyang's cave abode could not yet be used.
His avatar, Lin Fan, continued to browse through hidden records within the Heavenly Profound Mirror while exchanging for and studying various Foundation Establishment cultivation techniques to build a foundation for deducing and fusing his own techniques later on.
As for his true body, Li Fan still planned to wait for the Vast Sea Pearl to appear before using it to establish his foundation.
In his previous life, he had transformed his body into the vast sea, using the sea's consciousness to comprehend heaven and earth.
His compatibility with the Vast Sea Pearl was already peerless.
Using it to establish his foundation would certainly yield twice the results with half the effort.
Now, more than half of Anchor Year 13 had passed. There were only about seven or eight years left until the Crimson Flame incinerated the sea and the Vast Sea Pearl emerged.
He could easily afford to wait.
Besides, during this period, it was not as though he had no means of gaining insight into the path of Foundation Establishment.
Formless Killing Intent, Heavenly Sight and Earthly Hearing—activate.
The images in his mind gradually cleared.
Amidst the howling wind and pouring rain, Zhang Haobo drifted on the gale like a kite with a snapped string.
He paid no heed to the soaring waves or the pea-sized raindrops, letting them batter his body at will.
Li Fan observed Zhang Haobo.
*It's been nearly three months since I last checked on him, and he has already reached the late Qi Condensation stage...*
*His eyes are tightly shut, his breathing gone, and even the spiritual energy throughout his body has fallen completely silent.*
*What is he trying to comprehend?*
Li Fan also observed the raging wind and rain.
Whether it was an illusion or not, a streak of azure light flashed across the dim, gloomy sky and vanished in an instant.
"That was..."
When Li Fan looked again, he could see nothing.
That fleeting glimpse just now seemed to have been a mere illusion.
"Azure..."
Under Heavenly Sight and Earthly Hearing, Li Fan did not believe he could have seen wrong.
He suddenly recalled the wind calamities that had raged across the Congyun Sea for several years.
He had previously searched for information regarding the wind calamities in the Heavenly Profound Mirror, but it seemed to have no significant impact on cultivators, and there were virtually no records about it.
Now he understood: this was likely another influence of the Longevity Heavenly Venerable.
Li Fan remembered that in his previous life, not long before he arrived at the Congyun Sea, an enormous wind calamity had occurred.
Over a hundred islands had been destroyed.
In the years that followed, the scale and frequency of the wind calamities grew smaller and smaller until the Crimson Flame descended.
*There might be some secret behind this. It's just not the right time to investigate yet...* Li Fan made a mental note of it.
He refocused his attention on Zhang Haobo.
He was still deep in sudden enlightenment.
Li Fan could make neither heads nor tails of it, and the sky-enveloping wind and rain seemed endless, with no telling when they would cease.
He had no choice but to reserve a sliver of his focus to keep track of Zhang Haobo's movements at all times.
Most of his attention, however, returned to the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
*Betting everything on one person is obviously not viable; I need to cast a wider net. I haven't tested how many people Formless Killing Intent can lock onto at once.*
*Hmm, I can find some cultivators on the verge of Foundation Establishment to run an experiment.*
When it came to gathering intelligence, Li Fan immediately thought of Jiao Xiuyuan.
Although the man was greedy and cowardly, his information was fairly reliable.
Li Fan was an old customer of his as well.
Concealing his figure, he made his way with familiar ease to the outside of Thousand Li Hall.
Before he even stepped inside, Jiao Xiuyuan's voice carried over from a distance.
"I already got the goods! When exactly are you coming to pick them up?! How many times have I pressed you already?!"
"Don't give me that bullshit about not being able to make it over—I think you just don't want it anymore!"
"Hello? Hello?!"
"Damn it!"
When Li Fan walked into the room, he saw Jiao Xiuyuan looking thoroughly indignant.
He slammed a small cauldron violently onto the table.
Chapter 111