Ever since the fish-picking lottery began, it had become the most popular activity among cultivators in the Congyun Sea.
The final fish-picking event of each year was especially packed, drawing so many participating cultivators that they practically crowded the isolated island to bursting.
Everyone dreamed of striking it rich overnight.
At the end of Year 16 of the Anchor, Li Fan went to join in the fun.
He discovered that there was indeed an art to this fish picking. It was by no means a simple matter of luck alone.
One had to understand that the fish in this isolated island's lake came from all corners of the Congyun Sea.
Any fish capable of trekking thousands, even tens of thousands of li to reach this place possessed formidable strength.
Over the twenty-seven-day observation period, these fish had to secure their survival within the lake while building up their strength in preparation for that final leap into the sky.
And on the day the lake finally erupted, amid the rushing currents and spraying waters, the position of each fish largely determined the height of its ultimate leap.
Millions of fish, their destinies intertwined in this lake, struggled against one another for survival.
The sole fortunate winner not only had to defeat its rivals, but also rely on the lake water's "heavenly destiny" to emerge triumphant.
How difficult that was!
Li Fan swept his divine sense through the countless fish, searching for a long time without spotting any that seemed especially promising.
In the end, with the deadline fast approaching, he randomly picked a fish that looked reasonably strong.
To his dismay, the fish failed to survive the remaining three days; before the lake could erupt, two other fish teamed up and devoured it.
Li Fan shook his head, resigning himself to bad luck.
When the final outcome emerged, the fish that leapt highest above all the rest was actually a sickly looking, utterly inconspicuous white pomfret.
Before this, it had merely managed to scrape by in the lake, yet it turned out to have the last laugh.
Only after reviewing the recordings captured by shadow-recording stones did the cultivators realize that this white pomfret possessed uncanny, heaven-defying luck.
When the lake erupted, it happened to be positioned right where the surging currents were most ferocious.
Combined with the power it had quietly conserved, a confluence of favorable factors propelled it straight into the sky to seize first place.
No one could have predicted this, leaving the onlookers to gaze at the white pomfret with rueful sighs.
Li Fan locked onto it with his Formless Killing Intent, etching its appearance firmly into his memory.
*I wonder if this same fish will win again in my next lifetime,* Li Fan thought idly.
With the fish picking concluded, some rejoiced while others lamented.
Still, what had to be done must be done.
Working together, the cultivators quickly refined all the other fish in the lake into pure essence in an instant, sparing only the white pomfret.
Upon devouring this mass of essence, the white pomfret instantly swelled several times in size.
Its teeth sharpened like razor blades, blood-red stripes surfaced across its scales, and a ferocious aura erupted from its body.
In a brief span of time, the white pomfret had undergone a transformation that other fish might never achieve in an entire lifetime of arduous struggle.
Releasing the white pomfret back into the open sea, the cultivators departed in groups.
Li Fan left alongside them.
Halfway into his flight, Li Fan suddenly froze.
Through the sensation of his Formless Killing Intent, the aura of that white pomfret—which had just undergone its miraculous transformation and soared to great heights—was rapidly fading.
*Hm? What's going on?*
Curious, Li Fan promptly activated Heavenly Sight and Earthly Hearing.
In his mind's vision, five hideous, fiercely aggressive fish were besieging the white pomfret.
Every one of them possessed strength no lesser than the newly transformed white pomfret.
Beset by their coordinated attack, how could it possibly withstand them?
Before long, it was grievously injured and clinging to its last breath.
Li Fan could see with complete clarity that the vital blood within these five fish was mixed and impure; they had certainly not evolved to this stage on their own, bearing blatant hallmarks of artificial cultivation.
*Fascinating. Are these the winning fish from previous years?* Li Fan grasped the full story in an instant.
These fish that had received the great fortune were barred from re-entering the lake to participate in fish picking by the arrays outside the isolated island.
Yet having gained the rudiments of sentience, they knew that a new Fish Champion was born here every month.
And so they lingered nearby, joining forces to slaughter each newly minted Fish Champion and devour its flesh.
If they could not obtain the fortune themselves, consuming a fish that had attained it yielded the exact same result.
Under Li Fan's gaze, the white pomfret—hailed by the cultivators only moments ago as "favored by destiny" and blessed with "heaven-defying luck"—was torn apart until not a single bone remained, swallowed into the bellies of the five fish.
Only a wisp of bright crimson blood slowly drifting upward from the seabed proved it had ever existed.
Having eaten their fill, the five strange fish saw the essence within their bodies swell once more.
Content and satisfied, they wagged their heads and flicked their tails as they swam away.
Watching this scene from afar, Li Fan sank into deep thought.
Upon returning to Wanxian Island, he did not choose to cultivate in seclusion within the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
Instead, he narrowed his eyes, gazing up at the sky, then toward the statue of the elderly man in a tall crown that overlooked all living beings on the island.
The realization resonated ever deeper within his heart.
*Perhaps there is nothing truly new under the sun...*
Li Fan thought with sudden clarity.
***
Time flowed on relentlessly, minute by minute.
In Year 17 of the Anchor, Zhang Haobo's cultivation broke through to the middle Foundation Establishment stage.
Li Fan had observed him for a time, noticing that he no longer practiced the *Sea-Calming Divine Sword* over and over.
Instead, he had resumed his pursuit of the winds.
Yet unlike before, whenever Zhang Haobo arrived at the site of a wind calamity, he danced with his swords against the tempest.
One hundred and eight Sea-Calming Divine Swords combined into a colossal blue sword.
Wielded by Zhang Haobo, it slashed against the howling gales, cutting counter to the raging storm.
Under his relentless strikes, sword after sword, the roaring wind calamity showed faint signs of abating.
The change was exceedingly subtle; had Li Fan not employed Heavenly Sight and Earthly Hearing to perceive the shifting flows of worldly spiritual energy with absolute clarity, it would have been nearly impossible to detect.
Yet Zhang Haobo remained unflappable, moved neither by favor nor disgrace.
Steadfast and unyielding, he chased one wind calamity after another, honing his sword intent amidst the gale.
*It looks like he isn't far from another breakthrough,* Li Fan thought, feeling not the slightest envy toward Zhang Haobo's rapid progress.
Ever since the moment he bore True Reversion and stepped into the cultivation world, Li Fan had understood that cultivation speed held little significance for him.
Accumulating strength lifetime after lifetime to forge an incomparably solid foundation was his true path.
And seeing the white pomfret devoured alive only hardened his conviction.
Cultivating the method of a hundred lifetimes offered the only slender chance of breaking free from the dead end.
***
Li Fan's days on Wanxian Island remained as tranquil as ever.
By the middle of Year 17 of the Anchor, Li Fan had accumulated over eight thousand contribution points and purchased two low-grade wonders of Man.
He made a trip out and unlocked True Reversion's second anchor.
Choosing not to drop the anchor immediately for now, Li Fan planned to see what was required to unlock the third anchor before deciding.
Yet not long after, Li Fan's peaceful life was disrupted.
He received a summons from the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals' Heavenly Secret Hall, requesting his assistance in investigating a mysterious death case involving two Nascent Soul, six Golden Core, nineteen Foundation Establishment, and several Qi Condensation cultivators.
Chapter 124