“Then I shall look forward to it very much,” Li Fan said with a smile, looking at He Zhenghao, who was brimming with confidence.
He Zhenghao bragged some more about his past record—how he had doubled his contribution points within ten years, how a single big score had matched several years of hard toil, and the like.
Only under Li Fan’s hinting gaze did he reluctantly call it quits, taking his leave before he had fully said his piece.
The Heavenly Profound Mirror’s notification chimed at just the right moment.
“Cultivator Li Fan, welcome to the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals. As a benefit, you have been granted 1,000 contribution points free of charge. You may use contribution points to exchange for spirit stones, cultivation methods, Dharma treasures, and more.”
“You have received 1,500 contribution points transferred from He Zhenghao.”
“Current total contribution points: 2,500 points.”
...
Although he had started this lifetime with 2,500 contribution points right out of the gate, such a meager amount could hardly stir any ripples in Li Fan’s heart, having once amassed a net worth of over a million.
In late Foundation Establishment especially, the cost of Spirit Enlightenment inside the Heavenly Profound Mirror ran as high as three hundred points per day.
Li Fan could now see that these three hundred points were roughly what an ordinary late Foundation Establishment cultivator would earn by spending nearly a month running low-risk tasks.
Running errands for most of the month, leaving just a single day for Spirit Enlightenment cultivation.
Then running errands again.
An endless cycle like this.
Together with the occasional lucky windfall of landing a high-reward, low-risk mission, a cultivator could only scrape together a pitiful sum of contribution points by the end of a year.
This was the beast-of-burden fate of ordinary cultivators in the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
If one felt unwilling to accept it and wished to gamble on a breakthrough, there was naturally the risk of perishing.
Yet as someone who continually started anew, Li Fan would never allow himself to be reduced to such a fate.
Repeating his old trick, he bought a storage ring, left, and returned.
He exchanged the gold, silver, and valuables from the Taiyan Boat alongside the Step-Halting Broken Stele.
He received 2,831 contribution points.
It was still too little!
Li Fan remembered that in roughly half a year, the strange beast dragon whale that had gained sentience from devouring countless liuli pearls would destroy the Spirit Mist Grass island.
True Sovereign Qingmu Huasheng had used the incident to set up a scheme, reaping an immense harvest.
Li Fan naturally had no intention of missing out on such a feast.
He had to amass enough contribution points beforehand to take part.
Li Fan couldn’t help looking back at that earlier task to collect blue-blood coral.
Without hesitation, he accepted it on the spot.
Then, using the teleportation formation, he arrived directly at Mist Crow Island in the northwestern waters of the Congyun Sea.
The garrison of Mist Crow Island was also a Foundation Establishment cultivator, his hunched frame hidden beneath black robes so that his face and expression remained concealed.
The aura around him exuded a gloomy chill that kept people at a distance of a thousand li without a word spoken.
Li Fan merely gave him a slight nod of acknowledgment before walking straight past.
Stepping out of the Island-Protecting Grand Formation, Li Fan looked up.
Over the island hung a thin veil of gray mist, cloaking the sky day and night.
Within the mist, flocks of birds were faintly visible.
Flying near the gray mist, Li Fan manipulated his spiritual energy to capture one of the birds and examine it closely.
“Caw! Caw!”
This bird was naturally the so-called mist crow.
It had no physical form, its entire body composed of the gray mist.
The mist crow struggled, flapping its wings and relentlessly trying to peck at Li Fan with its large, hooked beak.
Where his spiritual energy came into contact with the gray mist, a faint burning sensation actually arose.
Li Fan could not help being slightly surprised.
“These mist crows seem to serve some purpose, but only the people from the Heavenly Secret Hall know what it is.”
After studying it for a while without discovering anything useful, Li Fan released it.
He then set about his primary business, flying due west from Mist Crow Island.
After flying more than two hundred li, Li Fan restrained his aura and dove beneath the waves.
Amid vast undersea ruins stretching for dozens of li, a stalk of blue-blood coral stood growing in plain sight.
It was completely translucent, emitting a faint, eerie glow.
All manner of marine creatures clustered around the coral, making it their home.
Furthermore, a sea snake with strength comparable to the mid Foundation Establishment stage lurked nearby in secret, guarding it.
This tranquil, picturesque scene was shattered the instant Li Fan arrived.
Activating his Insect Binding divine ability, he simultaneously turned True Reversion into the Vast Sea Pearl.
Beneath the Single Sword of Congyun, the sea snake instantly lost its life.
“Huh? After transforming my Foundation Establishment wonder into the Vast Sea Pearl, the might of my moves actually gained a slight boost within the Congyun Sea?”
The moment his sword struck, Li Fan keenly sensed the difference.
He carefully observed the sensations washing over him.
“Is this feeling... an inexplicable sense of affinity coming from the Congyun Sea?”
“Is it treating the Vast Sea Pearl as its brother?”
Li Fan chuckled wryly and thought nothing more of it, shifting his gaze to the blue-blood coral.
Amid rumbling tremors, the blue-blood coral was uprooted and stowed inside his storage ring.
With their homes destroyed, countless sea creatures fled in panicked disarray.
Li Fan had not the slightest self-awareness of acting as a world-destroyer.
“Just like that, three thousand contribution points secured. Even easier than imparting dharmas.”
Li Fan remembered that Elder Chen of the Medicine Hall had always been buying this blue-blood coral.
So he racked his memory for other places in the Congyun Sea where it could be found.
“Right, not far from here, inside an undersea trench, there’s another stalk.”
“Might as well take it along the way.”
And so, with little effort, Li Fan dug up another stalk of blue coral.
Returning to the Heavenly Profound Mirror, he chose to submit them.
Once the other party received the two stalks of coral, the mission reward was quickly settled.
Six thousand contribution points landed in his hands in an instant.
“Might I ask what pill Elder Chen intends to refine with this blue-blood coral?” Li Fan inquired casually.
After a while, perhaps out of appreciation for the two stalks of blue-blood coral, the other side replied:
“The Heart-Severing Ice Intent Pill, required for exploring a secret realm. If you can find more of this coral in the future, you may trade it all to me.”
“I’ll take as many as you have.”
...
“Heart-Severing Ice Intent Pill, is it?” Li Fan mused over the pill’s name, lost in thought.
With the mission completed, his contribution points now exceeded ten thousand.
And from the moment he joined the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals until now, only three days had passed.
The speed at which his points had grown was truly astonishing.
Li Fan looked once again at the most conspicuous bounty mission.
“The hundred thousand contribution points for the Cloud Water Chart and Talismans cannot be missed in this lifetime either.”
“However, that old fellow called the Heavenly Physician is somewhat sinister.”
“Judging by his strength, he is at least a Dao Integration Immortal Venerable.”
The scene in Yuandao Province where that black-robed Dao Integration expert froze even Li Fan’s thoughts was still vivid in his mind.
Li Fan naturally would not choose to face the Heavenly Physician in his true body.
“It seems I still need to refine an avatar.”
After purchasing all the materials required to refine an avatar, he went undersea once more to retrieve the Heavenly Crystal Spirit Sand.
Then he headed straight for the cave abode where Sikong Yi was hiding.
The whereabouts of Sikong Yi and his avatar, Baili Chen, were erratic and unpredictable. If Li Fan attempted to sense them by practicing the Stealing Heaven Changing Sun Art, he feared the two of them might use a teleportation formation to flee into the distance.
Chasing them then would be quite a hassle.
It was better to simply lie in wait here.
Chapter 165