To varying degrees, Li Fan had sensed the emotions of True Reversion before.
There had been the shudder upon encountering an eternal relic for the first time, as well as the intense craving when facing the skull of Mr. Bai.
Now, when Li Fan attempted to "feed" True Reversion with the newly born Five Elements Grotto-Heaven, it once again sent back a response.
"Not entirely satisfied. Meaning it's barely acceptable."
A glint of cold light flashed through Li Fan's eyes. Countless red threads surged from the grotto-heaven within his body, plunging into the void of the Root of Heaven and Earth like hundreds of millions of tentacles.
He was seizing ownership of the nascent grotto-heaven from the mother entity itself.
The Root of Heaven and Earth was responsible solely for gestating grotto-heavens. Thus, as this creation destined to detach from it was gradually stripped away by Li Fan, it did not mount any fierce resistance.
Instead, it was the nascent grotto-heaven itself that seemed to sense what was happening.
It exerted every ounce of its meager strength in resistance, attempting to halt Li Fan's devourment.
Yet how could a newborn infant compare to a robust, fully grown brother?
There was never any suspense.
Amidst continuous, faint rumblings, the nascent grotto-heaven was dragged into the phantom of the Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven, which loomed like a backdrop painting, until it was entirely swallowed and vanished without a trace.
*Buzz...*
A sharp ringing sounded in Li Fan's ears, and the scene before his eyes seemed to dim for a fleeting moment.
Once everything returned to normal, Li Fan looked at his True Reversion status panel.
"Currently Available Anchors: 3"
"It increased by one. It really worked. Once devouring Golden Core laws could no longer satisfy True Reversion's appetite, moving up to a higher-grade Nascent Soul grotto-heaven was the only way."
Having verified his conjecture and gained another usable anchor for True Reversion, Li Fan nonetheless felt little joy.
Instead, he continually turned over the emotion True Reversion had just conveyed.
Tasteless to chew, yet a pity to discard. Even so, under Li Fan's persistent insistence, True Reversion had ultimately swallowed the nascent grotto-heaven.
"Right now it's grotto-heavens. What will it hunger for in the future? Pocket worlds? Cultivation worlds? Or the new method's subsequent stages—Heaven and Earth About to Change, anima of Heaven and Earth?"
"Regardless, it's about time to keep it dangling for a while. Being a picky eater is hardly a good habit."
Li Fan stood alone in the dim, empty void.
After pondering for a long while, he slowly took his leave.
Emerging from the Root of Heaven and Earth, Li Fan next made his way to where the Crimson River lay.
Sheltered by the residual power of the fishing pond, this place remained undiscovered by the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals. The cultivators surviving in this stronghold were the final remnants of the Myriad Realms Association.
They had long since learned of the total annihilation of the Spirit Wood Realm headquarters. Yet amidst their sorrow and fury, not a single person's faith in the Red Dust Compassionate True Immortal had wavered.
For during meditation, they could still feel the omnipresent, magnificent divine might of the Compassionate True Immortal.
The cultivators Li Fan had dispatched into the Crimson River to search for historical fragments were mostly hot-blooded youths, their cultivation not exceeding the early Golden Core stage.
The Alliance was a colossal power. As fierce as their desire for vengeance burned, they knew full well they were no match for it.
All they could do was lie low, gathering strength in secret.
Without reinforcements from headquarters and stripped of every support they had once relied upon, they could only pin their hopes of revenge on that vast, boundless Crimson River.
Bearing unshakeable conviction and paying no heed to their dwindling lifespans, they plunged into it again and again, striving to uncover its secrets.
Over three years, out of more than a hundred people, only thirty-three survived.
Moreover, every last survivor had suffered severe depletion of their longevity.
Though still young, their hair had turned entirely snow-white, making them look like octogenarians on the verge of the grave.
Yet their efforts were not without fruit.
Li Fan examined the insights they had compiled.
"Compared to being driven purely by self-interest, those burdened with bone-deep hatred are far better able to maintain their sanity while exploring the Crimson River."
"When projecting into the Crimson River, there appears to be an isomorphic attraction. For instance, our group of revengers is much more likely to observe cultivators in history who similarly carried monstrous hatred."
"Beyond merely recording illusions of light and shadow, it may be possible to physically bring out things that once existed in history. This appears to be a physical manifestation of the Crimson River's power. However, the trigger rate is extraordinarily low. Since the founding of Nether Seeking, this phenomenon has occurred only once. We are currently researching the conditions required to achieve this..."
Li Fan committed all of this invaluable research data to memory.
At the same time, he noted the name of the cultivator who had diligently compiled and organized these results.
Chen Chen.
"Not bad. Previously among the crowd, this person was utterly unremarkable. Only now, in the desperate aftermath of the association's destruction, did he finally reveal his leadership ability."
"He is promising material. In the next life, I can put him to use earlier. Hmm, let me see which pocket world he hails from..."
Having achieved his purpose at the Crimson River, Li Fan did not reveal himself to disturb them.
Instead, he left the group to carry on with their mission.
In any case, a year from now, the outcome would be no different.
Li Fan departed quietly, making another round of visits to the Li Realm, the Empire, the Nether Realm, and various other locations.
He reaped his harvests and repeatedly tested and verified his escape plan.
***
The river of time surged onward.
On this day, Li Fan, who was tinkering with a Lesser Heavenly Profound Mirror, suddenly raised his head and gazed into the far distance.
The first Grand Formation of Heaven and Earth Myriad Spirits was complete.
In an instant, Li Fan's gaze pierced through layers of spatial barriers, arriving at the mortal world where the formation was situated.
The cultivator tasked with constructing the formation here felt the reward of cultivation bestowed by the Compassionate True Immortal within his body, his face flushed with excitement.
Guided by an unseen intuition, he did not hesitate for a second and immediately activated the grand formation.
This mortal world was even larger in scale than Li Fan's homeland of Great Xuan.
Yet as the Grand Formation of Heaven and Earth Myriad Spirits was triggered, the sky, previously as clear and blue as washed glass, was suddenly stained with a trace of eerie, blood-red hue.
The crimson color swirled back and forth across the heavens like a brushstroke, eventually coalescing into a grotesque, terrifying giant eye of blood.
The giant eye looked down coldly upon the myriad living beings below, resembling the gaze of a deity.
In that moment, an inexplicable feeling of extreme dread arose in the hearts of all living creatures between heaven and earth.
Driven by primal fear, their bodies trembled uncontrollably as they collapsed limp to the ground.
Even though nothing had actually happened yet, despair had already spread across the vast earth.
Naturally, there were beings who dared to defy this crimson giant eye.
Yet all they could do was point at the sky and scream curses in impotent fury.
Meanwhile, the cultivator who had built this realm's Grand Formation of Heaven and Earth Myriad Spirits with his own hands stared blankly at the crimson eye in the heavens.
He mumbled under his breath, "Wrong... this isn't right. How could it be like this?"
Chapter 1124