This tiny wooden boat was none other than the flying boat Li Fan had dreamed of for so long.
And through a passage carved into the tomb walls by the tomb's master before his death, Li Fan finally pieced together the whole story.
As it turned out, the tomb's master was named Qian Hong, a cultivator in the Foundation Establishment stage. Over three thousand years ago, hunted by a bitter enemy and driven to desperation, he had fled into this land severed from immortality.
He had intended only to hide for a short while before departing. Who could have known that this land severed from immortality was completely devoid of spiritual energy? To make matters worse, he was an impoverished cultivator who possessed scarcely a few spirit stones. Before long, his spirit stones were entirely spent. Without spirit stones to replenish his spiritual energy, his cultivation steadily declined.
After failing to force his way through the Immortal Severing Formation and suffering grievous injuries instead, Qian Hong knew he was hopelessly trapped.
Yet he was a man of tenacity and refused to give up so easily.
He surmised that when mortals were exiled here thousands of years ago, a flying boat or two might have been left behind.
Thus, he searched everywhere for clues and spent decades before finally uncovering the tomb of Yi Xing.
There indeed was a flying boat inside the tomb, but to his utter despair, the power-core formation within had been damaged. He lacked skill in artifact crafting, leaving him unable to repair it.
Moreover, even if the vessel were repaired, without spirit stones his cultivation at the time would have been insufficient to supply it with enough power.
At that point, Qian Hong finally abandoned all hope of leaving this land severed from immortality. Thereafter, he concealed his name and identity, living out the rest of an ordinary life as a mortal.
Before his death, he carved his life story onto the tomb walls, hoping that if any immortal cultivator breached his tomb in later generations, they would carry his remains back to the cultivation world. The few items he left behind in the tomb served as payment in advance.
The first item was the source of power guarding Qian Hong's resting place—the very power that had previously claimed the lives of dozens of antiquity seekers, and the reason Qian Hong had been certain that anyone capable of breaking in had to be a cultivator.
A wonder of heaven and earth: the Step-Halting Broken Stele.
It was half a damaged stone tablet, the character for "Halt" faintly discernible upon its surface.
Li Fan touched the stele, but [True Reversion] showed no reaction, leaving him a little regretful. To force his way into the tomb earlier, he had used a vast amount of immortal-mortal miasma. Now, affected by the miasma, the Step-Halting Broken Stele had degraded into an ordinary rock.
Still, Li Fan did not dwell on it. Now that he knew where Qian Hong's tomb lay, he could easily retrieve it in his next life.
The second thing Qian Hong left behind consisted of two jade slips, recording the cultivation methods he had painstakingly exchanged from the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
"'Lesser True Reversion Technique,' Qi Condensation stage cultivation method, current practitioners: 1."
"'Cloud Water Record,' Foundation Establishment stage cultivation method, current practitioners: 1."
Picking up the jade slips and sensing the information transmitted from within, Li Fan's heart gave a violent jolt. For a second, he thought Qian Hong had not died at all, and that this place was an elaborate trap.
A moment later, however, Li Fan collected himself. Over three thousand years had passed; forget a Foundation Establishment cultivator, even a Golden Core cultivator would have long turned into a handful of yellow earth.
As for why people were currently cultivating these methods, Li Fan understood with just a moment's thought.
The Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals undoubtedly kept master archives of their techniques. If the recorded number of practitioners dropped to zero, they would know the cultivator who had exchanged for and practiced the technique had perished, their Dao extinguished.
Afterward, they could naturally bring the techniques back out for others to exchange once again.
In fact, across these three thousand years, who knew how many masters these two techniques had passed through.
"Shady... truly shady..." Li Fan was left speechless.
After sighing in amazement, Li Fan turned his gaze to the third item: the Taiyan Boat.
This was the very vessel used by the Taiyan Sect to migrate mortals.
Perhaps it was precisely because this flying boat had broken down that it was left behind.
And after thousands of years of twists and turns, it had now fallen into Li Fan's hands, becoming his hope of breaking out of this dead land severed from immortality.
Holding the Taiyan Boat in his hand, a surge of emotion swept over Li Fan. The yearning of several centuries had finally been fulfilled.
As for the Taiyan Boat being damaged, Li Fan was not worried in the slightest.
Qian Hong did not know how to fix it, nor did Li Fan, but someone out there certainly would!
...
Fifteen years later, in Anchor Year 50, Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi descended upon Xuanjing once more.
"Dao Xuanzi! Do not push people too far!"
"Kou Hong! Did you think I would spare you just because you fled into this land severed from immortality? Hand over the technique you obtained that day, or this will not end until one of us is dead!"
"What a joke! Precisely because I lacked a Core Formation method, I have been trapped at the Foundation Establishment stage for nearly a century! My life is nearing its limit, and I am about to turn into dry bones. Now that I have finally acquired this Core Formation technique, how could I ever surrender it to anyone else?!"
"Exactly! The Great Dao of the Golden Core has room for only one of us! Though there are many Core Formation methods in this world, there are far more cultivators stranded at the Foundation Establishment stage! Given that the gateway to longevity lies right before me, how could I possibly let you go? How could I not push you too far?!"
"Then we settle this with a fight! How laughable that after a hundred years of brotherhood, we now draw our blades against each other for a single sliver of a chance at life!"
...
Just as the two were about to clash in a battle to the death, a burst of hearty laughter rang out from Xuanjing below.
"It is merely a Core Formation technique—is it truly worth a fight to the death between the two of you?!"
Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi's expressions changed in unison, and they looked down.
"Who goes there?! Such arrogant words!"
"Insolent!"
Though sharp words left their mouths, both instantly grew wary.
"Why don't the two of you come down for a chat?!"
Down within the Grand Preceptor Manor, a silver-haired elder called up loudly.
Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi exchanged a glance, maintained a guarded distance from one another, and descended into the Grand Preceptor Manor.
"Hahaha, please!" The silver-haired elder seemed delighted as he led the two into the main hall and showed them to their seats.
After ordering the servants to prepare wine and dishes to entertain them, he remarked with a touch of wistfulness, "All those years ago, my ancestor said upon his deathbed that two people might arrive from the Ruins Abyss in the east to step foot in the capital, presenting an opportunity for my clan to break free from this place.
"For thousands of years, the people of my clan remained half-believing and half-doubting. Today, with the prophecy fulfilled, this calls for a hearty drink!" The elder gave a hearty laugh and drained the cup of wine before him in a single gulp.
Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi looked at each other in bewilderment.
"May I ask how we should address our host?" Kou Hong was the first to speak, his tone noticeably more polite.
"This old man is Li Fan," Li Fan answered with a smile.
"From your words, sir, your ancestor foresaw thousands of years ago that the two of us would come here? And what do you mean by an opportunity to break free from this place?" Dao Xuanzi frowned, scrutinizing Li Fan.
Hearing this, Li Fan seemed slightly displeased. "What? Do you two not believe me?"
Kou Hong chuckled and shook his head. "This matter is simply too fantastical. The two of us have roamed the cultivation world for a century, yet we have never heard of any divination art capable of foreseeing events thousands of years into the future."
Dao Xuanzi shook his head in agreement.
Li Fan straightened his back, held his head high, and asked with a haughty gaze, "I wonder, have the two of you ever heard of the Taiyan Sect?"
Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi exchanged a look of shock. "Could it be that sect from ancient times, world-renowned for its divination arts?!"
Li Fan let out a quiet sigh of relief and gave a calm nod. "This old man's ancestor was indeed a disciple of the Taiyan Sect."
Chapter 15