The perspective shifted.
Fierce winds roared, whipping up terrifying waves.
A faint, glowing barrier shielded the island, trembling before the relentless onslaught of crashing swells.
The spiritual energy between heaven and earth rampaged as well, tearing and crashing about like a rabid beast.
Wind. Boundless, endless wind arose from nowhere, ravaging the expanse between sky and sea.
This was the scene of an ordinary wind calamity in the Congyun Sea.
Amidst the shrieking gale, Zhang Haobo rose and fell like duckweed adrift on the wind.
Zhang Haobo completely lacked any presence. Yet from the perspective of heaven and earth, Li Fan could faintly see a distinct rhythm of spiritual energy gradually emerging over his body.
He seemed to be mimicking the "wind" omnipresent throughout heaven and earth.
Zhang Haobo stilled his mind, closing his eyes to comprehend.
Only when the wind calamity gradually subsided did he open his eyes.
After sensing his surroundings for a moment, he drifted off in a certain direction.
There were still no fluctuations of spiritual energy, yet his speed was astonishing.
He truly seemed like a gentle breeze, softly sweeping through the world.
"A fine movement technique," Li Fan nodded slightly.
"Only, what is he comprehending now? Isn't he searching for a wonder of heaven and earth to establish his foundation?"
Li Fan faintly sensed that in the direction Zhang Haobo was heading, another wind calamity was brewing.
Zhang Haobo was chasing the wind.
"Interesting..."
It seemed he had no intention of establishing his foundation anytime soon.
Li Fan thus shifted most of his attention back to the Foundation Establishment Master.
Over ten days had passed since the last batch of Qi Condensation cultivators had successfully established their foundations and departed.
Based on past experience, at least one or two cultivators would arrive every seven or eight days, drawn by the master's reputation.
Now more than ten days had passed without a single newcomer.
It was somewhat abnormal.
Consequently, the three people on the island grew restless.
Every day they huddled together, conferring about something unknown.
Observing in secret, Li Fan activated Formless Killing Intent and locked onto the young man named Li Chenfeng, intending to see what they were plotting.
On this day, the three conspired inside their room once again.
With Heavenly Sight and Earthly Hearing, Li Fan took in everything within the room at a glance.
The Foundation Establishment Master looked anxious and fidgety. He glanced upward once more, turning rather panicked. "It's back! That feeling is back again!"
"Is it really that bad, old man? Why are you so terrified?" Li Chenfeng asked with a solemn expression, though puzzled.
The Foundation Establishment Master shook his head. "You don't understand. My cultivation may have plateaued at late Foundation Establishment, but I've observed hundreds of cultivators succeed in establishing their foundations. I am extraordinarily sensitive to fluctuations in the laws of heaven and earth.
"There's no mistaking it. This sensation of being watched...
"Some mighty figure must be watching this place..." The Foundation Establishment Master's wrinkled face was faintly pale.
"Once or twice might have been a passing glance, but this has happened many times already. Is it a warning? Or..." The more the Foundation Establishment Master thought about it, the more frightened he became.
"Enough, stop scaring yourself! If our secret were truly exposed, someone would have come knocking to wipe us out long ago!" Li Chenfeng slapped the table impatiently, trying to steady their nerves.
"Still, your concerns aren't without merit, old man," Li Chenfeng changed his tone.
"Our principle has always been never to linger in one place—we make a haul and run. It's only because the Congyun Sea is so vast and so many cultivators establish their foundations here each year that we've stayed this long.
"We originally planned to work another seven or eight years before leaving. But now it seems our hefty profits have drawn someone's attention."
Li Chenfeng calmly analyzed the situation. "In that case, we'd better pull out early. Pack our things; we leave tomorrow morning. Next, we head north to Yongliang Province. That's the territory of the Five Elders Association. Once we're there, even if the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals wants to cause trouble for us, it won't be so easy."
The man surnamed Xiao chimed in, "Right. Once we arrive, we'll change our identities and pull the same trick again."
Li Chenfeng suddenly lowered his voice and asked softly, "Old man, how much are we still short of exchanging for the Sea-Swallowing Longevity Technique?"
The Foundation Establishment Master narrowed his eyes. "Almost there. If we're careful and work for another fifty-odd years, we should be able to exchange for it."
The man surnamed Xiao sighed with emotion. "It really hasn't been easy. Elder Zhu, you've left our homeland and stayed here for almost a hundred years now, haven't you?"
Elder Zhu also sighed with deep emotion. "Indeed. Back then, I went through endless trials and tribulations to break through the Immortal Severing Formation and arrive in the cultivation world. More than ninety-eight years have passed since then."
Li Chenfeng said gravely, "A true Dao Integration technique is naturally extraordinary. To be able to exchange for it in only a hundred-odd years is already a stroke of immense fortune."
Elder Zhu said with some shame, "It's all thanks to your quick wit, Master Li, in coming up with such a wonderful scheme. One year brings in more than what I used to earn in ten."
The man surnamed Xiao also praised him repeatedly.
Li Chenfeng showed no complacency; instead, he spoke with solemn gravity: "The closer we are to success, the more vigilant we must be. A century of planning and the sacrifices of countless people must not be ruined in our hands."
Elder Zhu's expression also grew solemn. "Master Li speaks the truth."
The man surnamed Xiao said in a low voice, "As long as we can bring this Sea-Swallowing Longevity Technique back, all those sacrifices will have been worth it."
Li Chenfeng sighed. "I wonder how many Realm-Rifting Whales have been raised over these years. Back then, the Imperial Daughter deduced that only the combined force of a pod of a hundred thousand Realm-Rifting Whales could overcome the cultivation world's gravitational pull on our homeland. When I left home thirty years ago, the pod was only a little over seventy thousand.
"Thirty years, thirty thousand...
"It will be difficult!" Li Chenfeng shook his head.
Elder Zhu consoled him, "If the number of Realm-Rifting Whales isn't enough, they can always be raised slowly in the future. As long as we bring back the true Dao Integration technique, we can help the Imperial Daughter subjugate those fickle factions.
"When that time comes, with the full might of the entire empire rallied, we will surely be able to push the empire to break free from this cultivation world within ten years.
"And once the Sea-Swallowing Longevity Technique establishes our orthodoxy, freeing us from the shackle where different cultivation methods cannot be practiced together,
"more and more cultivators will emerge across the empire.
"The empire's future is bright!"
Elder Zhu's words sent both Li Chenfeng and the man surnamed Xiao into wonderful visions of the future.
After a long while, the three clasped their hands tightly together.
"For the empire, for the Imperial Daughter!"
Extreme fanaticism surfaced on their faces as they spoke in unison.
...
"An empire, Dharma thieves, breaking free from the cultivation world..." Watching this scene in the secret room from afar, Li Fan wore an inscrutable expression.
"It seems those small worlds and grotto-heavens where mortals migrated in the past are not all devoid of spiritual energy like Great Xuan.
"Or perhaps that truly was the case originally, but several thousand years were enough to bring about changes.
"To be able to raise and command a hundred thousand Realm-Rifting Whales...
"This so-called empire's strength is by no means weak. One wonders what methods they employ."
Chapter 115