Had advancing further not required wonders of heaven and earth, Sun Erlang would likely have soared straight into the mid Foundation Establishment realm.
Sun Erlang possessed a steady demeanor and did not let his joy show on his face. Instead, he took the initiative to report the matter to Li Fan.
"The Great Xuan Imperial Guard, and even the soldiers and common folk of all the realms conquered in the future, will all be fuel for your cultivation of the Immortal-Sitting Art.
"Within five years, I need you to forge an army for me that is capable of fighting, conquering, and executing my will."
Li Fan sat suspended above the Holy Emperor Throne, looking down at Sun Erlang kneeling below, and spoke impassively.
"As for the necessities required to advance your realms, you need not worry about any of them."
Sun Erlang's chest surged with emotion, blood boiling through his veins as he voiced his obedience and withdrew.
He set off to train and drill the Imperial Guards under his command.
Meanwhile, Li Fan retrieved a small Heavenly Profound mirror and sent his divine consciousness into it.
This small Heavenly Profound mirror was an unexpected harvest from the Taiyan Boat's excursion to the Xuanhuang Realm.
While the Taiyan Boat had been siphoning spiritual energy from the Xuanhuang Realm, a Golden Core cultivator happened to pass by.
Whether by sheer coincidence or because the cultivator possessed extraordinary perception, he had managed to faintly detect the oddity of the Taiyan Boat beneath its concealing formations.
Thinking he had stumbled upon some hidden treasure, the man had excitedly circled around to investigate.
In the end, he triggered the boat's defensive formations and was unfortunately drawn inside, thoroughly suppressed.
At this moment, Li Fan had him locked away in Great Xuan's dungeons, leaving him out in the cold for the time being.
*A pity it's only the most ordinary small Heavenly Profound mirror, lacking direct item transmission functionality.*
Even though he had not yet joined the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals in this lifetime, and even though the small Heavenly Profound mirror did not belong to him, Li Fan still connected to the Heavenly Profound Mirror without the slightest hindrance.
This was entirely due to the presence of the Heavenly Profound Mirror Origin.
In his previous life, when the world-extinction plan was set in motion, Li Fan had used a blank anchor to substitute the Golden Chapter of Thousand Mechanisms and the Jade Cosmos with the Heavenly Profound Mirror Origin.
On the status panel of True Reversion, it had become the Profound Heavenly Mirror Origin (Fragmented).
The Heavenly Profound Mirror seemed completely unaware of this origin essence that had mysteriously manifested in the world.
And in this lifetime, as the true master of this origin essence, Li Fan felt a distinct difference from his previous cycle upon entering the Heavenly Profound Mirror once more.
In his past life, the Heavenly Profound Mirror Origin had been gifted by the human avatar of the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
Although it indeed carried all manner of authorities exclusive to the mirror, its root and the ultimate source of that authority still belonged to the Heavenly Profound Mirror itself.
If the Heavenly Profound Mirror so willed, it could revoke the gifted origin at any moment, rendering those privileges void.
Yet in this lifetime...
As Li Fan roamed through the sea of information within the Heavenly Profound Mirror, he felt true freedom.
He possessed entirely autonomous authority.
He could even accomplish things that the Heavenly Profound Mirror itself could not.
Such as deleting certain transaction records.
Perhaps influenced by the King of Profound Heaven having once refined it, the Heavenly Profound Mirror was incapable of fabrication or deceit.
To maintain the stable operation of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, all data within the mirror was undeletable and completely traceable.
In the previous cycle, Mo Rubin's act of using the Heavenly Profound Mirror to deduce the King of Profound Heaven's whereabouts had ultimately been uncovered by the Alliance.
This was not a betrayal by the Heavenly Profound Mirror, but rather a consequence of its inherent nature.
Yet now, bolstered by the power of this newly emerged origin, Li Fan could achieve precisely that.
Erasing the records of the mirror's original owner, Li Fan registered a brand-new blank identity for himself.
By selling key pieces of intelligence, he earned tens of thousands of contribution points in short order.
Using this as starting capital, he engaged in high-frequency trading. Within a mere fortnight, the contribution points in his account swelled to hundreds of thousands.
He went on a massive purchasing spree for required materials.
Setting the designated trade location in the waters near Great Xuan's exit, Li Fan remotely operated the Taiyan Boat to retrieve the goods.
...
Though it appeared cumbersome, Li Fan handled it with effortless ease.
He procured all the resources required for the Great Xuan Imperial Guard to advance.
Freed from the bottleneck of needing wonders of heaven and earth, the strength of the Great Xuan Imperial Guard experienced its first explosive surge.
Foundation Establishment cultivators appeared one after another. Sun Erlang, as their leader, climbed to peak Foundation Establishment in short order.
He was even somewhat stronger than the current Li Fan.
However, backed by Great Xuan's national destiny, Sun Erlang would not last a single exchange if he truly faced Li Fan.
Because Sun Erlang's cultivation had risen too quickly, Li Fan ordered him to temporarily suppress his strength.
He also imparted the Taishang Sect's Calamity Body technique to him, allowing him to store away all the surplus cultivation feedback.
By Anchor Year 3, the Great Xuan Imperial Guard already numbered fifty-six Foundation Establishment cultivators and eight hundred and forty-two at Qi Condensation.
On this day, Li Fan preached the Dao above the city of Xuanjing.
His image was transmitted across the realm through the Holy Emperor Throne.
As Li Fan uttered words that seemed pregnant with boundless Great Daos, various anomalies manifested across the sky of Great Xuan.
Heavenly flowers fell in profusion, accompanied by countless golden dragons dancing through the air.
The Heaven and Earth Furnaces, which Li Fan had previously sealed with formations, began releasing the spiritual energy accumulated over the past three years into the surroundings.
Even mortals could perceive this marvelous change unfolding throughout heaven and earth.
To say nothing of the cultivators within Xuanjing.
Among the fifty-six Foundation Establishment cultivators, three had immediate epiphanies and broke through to the Golden Core realm.
Sun Erlang was naturally among them.
However, it was merely a raw elevation of realm.
In terms of actual combat strength, they were still far inferior to ordinary cultivators of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
Yet for Li Fan, this was already sufficient.
Li Fan never expected them to slay enemies personally; they only needed to serve as spiritual energy batteries to power the formations.
Imparting the formations to Sun Erlang, he commanded the Great Xuan Imperial Guard to drill day and night, ensuring their coordination was seamless.
Great Xuan's strength grew day by day.
In Anchor Year 5, having accumulated its strength for a long time, Great Xuan finally launched its first campaign of conquest.
The objective was none other than the Spirit Wood Realm, with which Li Fan was intimately familiar.
Lacking a Dao Integration cultivator, they could not directly redirect the entrance of the Spirit Wood Realm to Great Xuan.
Therefore, the invasion route this time borrowed passage through Xuanhuang before assaulting the Spirit Wood Realm.
To avoid detection by the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, the expeditionary force comprised only fifty cultivators led by Sun Erlang.
Aboard the Taiyan Boat, they arrived silently within the Spirit Wood Realm.
When they laid eyes upon that colossal tree towering between heaven and earth, all the members of the Great Xuan Imperial Guard momentarily lost their composure.
Yet years of brutal training swiftly snapped their focus back into place.
The formation was deployed in an instant, and an afterimage whistled through the air, shooting toward the Spirit Wood.
It was none other than a Sky-Patrolling Arrow!
The incoming strike of the Sky-Patrolling Arrow naturally provoked the fury of the Treants.
They sought to intercept it.
Yet even Treant elders possessing Nascent Soul strength were as fragile as paper before the Sky-Patrolling Arrow.
Screams rose continuously. Even throwing away their lives in swarms, the Treants could not prevent the Sky-Patrolling Arrow from ultimately striking the Spirit Wood.
*Boom!*
A terrifying crater was blasted clean through the center of the Spirit Wood.
Within it, the continuously pulsing Heart of the Spirit Wood was faintly visible.
Clad in black-and-gold battle armor, Sun Erlang flew forward.
Before him, fully ninety Sky-Patrolling Arrows circled in orbit.
"Submit, or die."
Chapter 1131