Li Fan narrowed his eyes slightly, gazing into the distance with a look of boundless reminiscence.
"Back then, although our ancestor joined the Taiyan Sect, he took no pleasure in cultivation. Instead, he was obsessed with the arts of deduction and divination. Originally, that was harmless enough. Who could have foreseen the great upheaval of heaven and earth, forcing all mortals into migration?
"Given that our ancestor was only in the early Qi Refining stage, no one would have forced him to leave had he been unwilling. Yet his ties to the mortal world remained unbroken. Seeing the people of his clan trembling in panic and confusion, he volunteered to oversee the mortal migration. Thereafter, he remained here with the family."
Li Fan spoke with easy eloquence, his voice laden with emotion.
Listening to him, Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi found that his words subtly aligned with various ancient legends they had heard before, and both nodded slowly.
Kou Hong marveled even more. "The Taiyan Sect still existed during the era of the Great Migration? I had heard that the ancient sects all perished in the Great Cataclysm."
Li Fan froze for a moment, then shook his head. "Nothing more than rumors bred from falsehood. Though the Great Cataclysm made it impossible to cultivate immortal arts concurrently, the techniques within the Taiyan Sect were as vast as a sea of stars. How difficult could it have been to grant each disciple a single method? The sect suffered grievous losses back then, to be sure, but annihilation was out of the question."
Li Fan spoke with immense confidence, and his assertion that the sect possessed a sea of techniques so vast that each person could receive their own left both Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi dazzled.
Immediately after, Li Fan asked, "From what you two have said, has the Taiyan Sect not shown itself in the outside world for a very long time?"
Dao Xuanzi shook his head. "Not only the Taiyan Sect, but ancient sects like the Taishang Sect, the Dadao Sect, and the Heavenly Sword Sect have all vanished without a trace."
Upon hearing this, Li Fan murmured to himself, "The immortal path is truly perilous. It is just as our ancestor predicted: the sect chose to enter seclusion to evade calamity..."
Dao Xuanzi and Kou Hong exchanged a glance, conversing privately through voice transmission. "I harbored doubts before about the sudden destruction of those ancient sects. Thinking on it now, something indeed seems amiss. With foundations as profound as theirs, how could they have vanished overnight?"
"It is hardly surprising that they chose to seclude themselves. If word got out that they still endured, no matter how formidable they were, enemies would be hammering at their gates every few days."
...
In the span of a breath, the two exchanged several remarks. Then Dao Xuanzi cupped his hands. "May I ask why you stopped us, Fellow Daoist?"
Li Fan sighed. "For thousands of years, no cultivator has set foot in this place. Seeing the two of you today, I knew at once that you were the ones prophesied by our ancestor before his passing—the opportunity for our clan to escape. Seeing that you were about to fight to the death over a mere Core Formation technique, I hurried to intervene."
Dao Xuanzi said frankly, "We must have made fools of ourselves before you. Yet you might not realize that techniques are exceedingly rare in the outside world. Turning on one another over a single scroll is entirely commonplace."
Li Fan shook his head repeatedly. "Why go to such lengths?"
Dao Xuanzi asked probingly, "From your tone, Fellow Daoist, could it be..."
"Indeed. Before his death, our ancestor passed down a scroll containing a technique that leads straight to the Golden Core realm," Li Fan stated proudly.
Dao Xuanzi drew a sharp breath. "What is it you ask of us, Fellow Daoist?"
Kou Hong was overjoyed as well. "Wonderful! Dao Xuanzi, if you can obtain this technique, there will be no need for us brothers to fight any longer."
"Our ancestor's lifelong wish was to return to the Taiyan Sect in the cultivation world," Li Fan said slowly after taking a sip of wine. "Before passing away, in addition to that technique, he left behind a magical artifact known as the Taiyan Boat. Though it is damaged, our ancestor once used the Taiyan arts to divine that many years later, two cultivators would arrive here—one skilled in swordsmanship, the other fond of artifact crafting. They would aid his descendants in repairing the Taiyan Boat and escaping this dead land."
The expressions of both Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi shifted drastically.
"My brother Kou Hong is devoted to the art of crafting, while my own forte is swordsmanship. Could this Taiyan art of deduction truly be so miraculous?" Stunned beyond measure, Dao Xuanzi took a long time to recover his wits.
"To possess such unfathomable divine power with only a Foundation Establishment cultivation... it truly defies imagination..." Kou Hong was equally dumbfounded.
Li Fan smiled, and after a brief pause, added, "Words alone offer no proof. Please, follow me to inspect the technique first."
Dao Xuanzi looked delighted and stood to follow. Seeing Kou Hong move to come along, he instantly grew wary. "What, Brother? Having already obtained a Core Formation technique, are you still not satisfied?"
Kou Hong smiled awkwardly. "Very well. I will stay behind."
Dao Xuanzi gave a cold snort and hurried after Li Fan.
Seeing that Kou Hong stayed behind just as anticipated, Li Fan finally let out a silent breath of relief, knowing that his plan for this life was already half-successful.
He guided Dao Xuanzi through a series of mechanisms and led him down into the underground secret chamber of the Grand Preceptor Manor.
Just as Dao Xuanzi was about to step into the chamber, a sudden chill crept down his spine, prompting him to halt in his tracks.
Scanning his surroundings carefully with his divine sense, he blurted out in shock, "Immortal-mortal miasma!"
As it turned out, the mechanisms above, below, and on all sides of the secret chamber were entirely packed with concealed immortal-mortal miasma. The aura was so dense that Dao Xuanzi's heart trembled with dread.
Li Fan offered a faint smile. "One can never be too cautious. As mortals seeking to safeguard our family's greatest treasure, we had no choice but to take such measures."
Dao Xuanzi forced a smile, utterly unwilling to take another step forward, and even retreated slightly.
Li Fan said nothing of it. Stepping into the chamber alone, he retrieved a jade slip from a chest.
Without leaving the chamber, he held it up so Dao Xuanzi could see it clearly.
This jade slip was none other than the *Golden Chapter of Thousand Mechanisms and the Jade Cosmos*, which he had acquired from Kou Hong in his previous life!
Indeed, Li Fan was gambling.
According to Kou Hong's account from the previous life, Kou Hong had snatched the technique and fled immediately back then; Dao Xuanzi had clearly never laid eyes on its true contents.
Using it now as bait to entice Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi into repairing the Taiyan Boat was the perfect move.
As for the possibility that Li Fan had guessed wrong...
The deathsworn guards in the Grand Preceptor Manor were already in position. If he truly proved no match for them...
At worst, he would simply try another approach in his next life!
Li Fan felt no panic whatsoever, for he noticed that Dao Xuanzi's attention had been completely captured by the golden jade slip in his hand.
"The *Golden Chapter of Thousand Mechanisms and the Jade Cosmos*... a Nascent Soul technique... it is actually a Nascent Soul technique..." Dao Xuanzi's breathing grew heavy, and a dangerous glint even flashed across his eyes.
Yet seeing Li Fan's half-smiling expression, coupled with the faint sense of peril radiating from the immortal-mortal miasma within the chamber, Dao Xuanzi instantly regained his senses.
"Well? Did this old man speak the truth?" Li Fan asked with a smile. "Earlier, in front of your brother Kou Hong, I only claimed that our ancestor passed down a Core Formation technique for fear that he might harbor ill intentions."
"Your foresight is truly meticulous, Fellow Daoist. I am deeply impressed," Dao Xuanzi replied, nodding with utter conviction.
Then, with renewed excitement, he added, "Rest assured, my brother Kou Hong is well versed in artifact crafting. I will certainly urge him to do his utmost to help you repair the Taiyan Boat."
Li Fan laughed heartily. "Then I shall leave it in your capable hands. Once the matter is accomplished, I will present this technique to you with both hands."
With longevity now in sight, Dao Xuanzi wished he could drag Kou Hong over to begin working this very instant.
Watching reluctantly as Li Fan put away the technique and sealed the chamber, Dao Xuanzi hurried off to find Kou Hong.
Chapter 16