Clearly, no one could repeatedly log in to the same location as Li Fan could.
However, one Golden Core cultivator complacently boasted of his own experience.
On one occasion when he appeared in the Fallen Immortal Realm, he possessed the body of a youth.
When this youth was young, his clan had been exterminated.
His entire family had suffered tragic deaths; only the youth had escaped the calamity.
While struggling to survive, the youth investigated the true culprit behind the tragedy.
By a stroke of fortune, one day in the mountains, the youth came across two cultivators locked in a fight to the death, who ultimately perished together.
From the corpses of these two cultivators, the youth found some pills and two cultivation methods.
He had finally embarked on the immortal path.
Just as he achieved success in his cultivation, reaching the Foundation Establishment realm, and discovered a clue about his clan's extermination, he happened to be possessed by this Golden Core cultivator.
Following the clues, the Golden Core cultivator successfully tracked down the culprit within the limited time frame of a dozen or so days.
And in revenge, he slaughtered the culprit's entire family as well.
After leaving the Fallen Immortal Realm, the Golden Core cultivator successfully brought back a cultivation method.
He sold it for a handsome sum of thirty thousand contribution points.
Upon hearing this, everyone was filled with envy and praised his good fortune.
"So I believe that one possible way to bring items out is through exchange."
"If I wanted this youth to hand over the technique to me, I had to help him fulfill his long-cherished wish."
"His wish was to avenge the extermination of his family, and I did so. In exchange, he was naturally willing to give the technique to me."
This Golden Core cultivator named Ji Xingwen spoke with confidence and eloquence.
Hearing this, Li Fan and the others all wore thoughtful expressions.
Having obtained the information he wanted, Li Fan waited for the results of the fish picking, memorized the appearance of the top-prize fish, and then hurriedly returned to Wanxian Island.
Inside the Heavenly Profound Mirror, he accelerated his cultivation while waiting.
A dozen or so days later.
Li Fan felt a sudden inner premonition: he could enter the Fallen Immortal Realm once more.
He immediately performed the ritual.
Without any surprises, just as with the previous two times, he possessed Li Chen of the Purple Cloud Sect.
Li Fan followed the exact same routine as last time.
It was as if someone had pressed the fast-forward button.
"Junior Brother, wait for me here. I'll be back shortly!" Before his voice even faded, Zhang Qianmo was already far in the distance.
This time, Li Fan picked a different person to search their soul.
Circulating the Purple Empyrean Soul Observation Technique for the second time, he had grown somewhat more proficient.
Yet the consumption of divine sense was still considerable.
Browsing through this person's past experiences one by one yielded no special discoveries.
His experience was largely similar to Liu Tu's; he was also an ordinary mortal.
By chance, he had encountered someone preaching the Immortal Venerable's new method, and had since embarked on the immortal path and joined the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
Only, in his memory, the person popularizing the new method to the mortal masses was not that spirited young man who achieved the Golden Core realm in ten years.
Instead, it was a breathtakingly beautiful woman clad in snow-white robes.
This woman's cultivation speed was even more absurd.
Rumor had it that in no more than twenty years, she had already attained the status of a Nascent Soul True Monarch.
"It seems quite a few cultivators personally witnessed the Immortal Venerable preaching the Dharma back then and later helped him propagate the new method."
Tossing the soul-searched cultivator aside onto the ground like a puddle of mud, Li Fan looked toward the center of Ningyuan City.
Some time had passed, yet the battle had still not begun.
After a long while, Li Fan finally saw Zhang Qianmo emerge satisfied from the Drunken Immortal Pavilion and stroll slowly toward the Rebirth Longevity Tree.
Li Fan could also see that Zhang Qianmo had visibly set up a barrier around the Drunken Immortal Pavilion.
He was probably worried that the upcoming fight with Song Hesong would affect his old flame, Chi Xia.
"It seems this Senior Brother Zhang really is a hopeless romantic."
"Perhaps if I want to bring back the Purple Empyrean Soul Observation Technique, I can start from this angle."
Li Fan's eyes flashed with an inscrutable light.
Boom!
A bolt of purple thunder as thick as a bucket suddenly crashed down from the sky.
Song Hesong's wretched screams instantly echoed across the entirety of Ningyuan City.
Li Fan saw the Creation Yuan-Transforming Grand Array in the city operating at high speed, drawing wisps of green vitality from the mortals and sending them flying toward where the two were fiercely clashing.
"Zhang Qianmo, though you are an inner disciple, your cultivation is only at Foundation Establishment! Do you really think I'm afraid of you?!"
Song Hesong's voice rolled across the entire city like muffled thunder.
A blood-colored bell instantly descended over Zhang Qianmo.
Then, Li Fan saw Song Hesong casually strike out with his palm, instantly turning countless buildings to rubble.
The shivering mortals inside the buildings died on the spot before they could even scream.
From the corpses of the mortals, a massive surge of near-solid blood-colored baleful aura soared into the sky and gathered around Song Hesong.
Within the bloody light were the distinct faces of the mortals who had just perished.
Countless human faces rushed toward Zhang Qianmo trapped inside the bell.
A moment later, Senior Brother Zhang fell into a dull, lifeless stupor.
"This All Living Beings Spirit-Refining Array is truly extraordinary. Even though Zhang Qianmo struck first this time, he was still trapped by the array."
"Pity that it requires mortal lives as a medium; nowadays, it is likely useless."
Li Fan watched silently as Song Hesong recklessly harvested the lives of mortals in the city, turning them into weapons against his enemy.
In an instant, Ningyuan City became a scene of devastation.
Who knew how many mortals perished by Song Hesong's hands.
Only the Drunken Immortal Pavilion, protected by Zhang Qianmo's barrier, and the place where Li Fan currently stayed remained safe.
With the continuous deaths of the mortals in Ningyuan City, half of Zhang Qianmo's skull inside the All Living Beings Spirit-Refining Array had blown apart.
Yet his life force remained unextinguished.
Just like before, Song Hesong's expression changed.
Yet fear was quickly suppressed by greed.
Red flames roasted Zhang Qianmo, exposing the purple core within his body.
Song Hesong finally sensed something was amiss.
He struck out repeatedly, killing all the remaining mortals in Ningyuan City and summoning bloody faces to block the path.
Meanwhile, he fled toward the distance behind him.
Realizing things had gone awry, he actually turned on his heel and fled.
Li Fan narrowed his eyes, hurling Li Chen's spear artifact in the direction of his escape.
At the same time, he circulated the Purple Empyrean Thunder-Controlling True Scripture, bringing a bolt of Purple Cloud Divine Thunder crashing down straight toward Song Hesong's head.
The divine thunder struck true, instantly halting Song Hesong in his flight.
Like a dragon trailing wisps of purple lightning, the spear arrived in an instant, about to plunge savagely into Song Hesong.
However, he was a Golden Core cultivator after all; in the face of mortal peril, he snapped out of his paralysis.
He gripped the purple-lightning spear firmly.
Thunderous light suddenly erupted from the spear, causing Song Hesong to reflexively release his grip.
The spear broke free of his control instantly and returned to Li Fan's hand.
Song Hesong looked down from above toward Li Fan's position.
Although Li Fan was merely a Foundation Establishment cultivator, Song Hesong, despite being a Golden Core cultivator, did not even harbor the slightest thought of fighting now.
Casting a venomous glare at Li Fan, he was about to transform into bloody light and flee once more.
"Junior Brother, well done!"
The purple core blazed with light, and Zhang Qianmo's physical body reconstituted.
The radiance converged, turning into robes.
Stepping forward, he transformed into purple lightning and intercepted the bloody light.
In a scene identical to before, Zhang Qianmo seized Song Hesong from within the bloody light by the throat.
"Those who betray the sect die!"
Purple Cloud Divine Thunder fell from the sky, announcing Song Hesong's doom.
A Golden Core cultivator perished so easily at Zhang Qianmo's hands.
As though he had merely slaughtered a stray dog or chicken, not a ripple of emotion showed on Zhang Qianmo's face.
Flying down to Li Fan's side, he completely concealed his aura.
"The matter here is settled. Junior Brother, let us hurry back to the sect."
"Take these people along as evidence," Zhang Qianmo said, pointing at the four captured Foundation Establishment cultivators from earlier.
As for Ningyuan City, now a vast expanse of ruins with countless casualties, he completely ignored it.
Summoning the Purple Cloud Flying Cloud, he brought the prisoners aboard and flew into the high sky.
Just as they were about to depart, Li Fan suddenly knocked the prisoners unconscious and spoke up to ask, "Senior Brother, what do you think of this new method?"
Zhang Qianmo fell silent for a long time before slowly saying, "An unorthodox path, unworthy of the true lineage!"
Li Fan chuckled softly. "Does Senior Brother truly think so?"
Pointing at the figures lying haphazardly across the purple cloud, Li Fan said in a faint, eerie tone, "Senior Brother, look at these people. Not to mention comparing them with you and me, they are far inferior even compared to the outer disciples and handyman disciples within our sect."
"They've cultivated for less time than us, yet now, like me, they all have Foundation Establishment cultivations!"
Zhang Qianmo furrowed his brows. "Junior Brother, what exactly are you trying to say?"
Instead of answering, Li Fan continued, "When the thousands upon thousands of junior brothers in the sect who never received true teachings learn of the new method's existence, will they still be willing to be driven by the sect, toiling away without complaint at menial chores just for the hope of advancing a little further on the immortal path?"
"Now the path to immortality has opened wide, yet it does not lead to our Purple Cloud Sect."
Li Fan pointed down at the ruined wasteland of Ningyuan City and said, "In today's battle between Senior Brother and Song Hesong, mortals were caught in the crossfire, suffering casualties beyond count."
"After all, immortals and mortals walk different paths, and mortal strength is far too puny. In the hands of cultivators like us, they have no power to resist whatsoever."
"Yet does Senior Brother truly believe they harbor no resentment at all?"
"Those mortals who survived, those mortals across heaven and earth who are as weak as ants yet number in the hundreds of millions..."
"If they learn of the new method's existence, what choice will they make?"
"Senior Brother possesses divine might and can easily slaughter four or five cultivators of equal cultivation."
"However, if one-tenth of the mortals in Ningyuan City today had possessed Foundation Establishment cultivations, would Senior Brother still have dared to act so unscrupulously?"
Zhang Qianmo still remained silent.
Li Fan's eyes burned brightly as he stared fixedly at Zhang Qianmo. "Senior Brother's comprehension far surpasses mine. If I can think this through, Senior Brother must have figured it out long ago."
"Junior Brother..." Zhang Qianmo started to speak, but Li Fan cut him off directly.
"The rise of the new method cannot be stopped. Those who go with it prosper; those who oppose it perish. Does Senior Brother agree?" Li Fan pressed.
Even though he harbored the same thoughts in his heart, seeing his junior brother utter them so casually made Zhang Qianmo turn slightly pale.
Had this junior brother not remained on the mountain ever since entering the sect, never once venturing down, Zhang Qianmo would have almost suspected that he had already thrown himself into the embrace of the new method.
"Junior Brother, you must not speak rashly..." Zhang Qianmo spoke up to dissuade him.
"This matter..."
"...will be judged by the sect's seniors."
Li Fan smiled faintly and did not pursue the topic any further. Instead, he abruptly shifted gears. "Back in the mountains, I often heard Senior Brother lament that Lady Chi Xia refused to return to the sect with you simply because she lacked a spirit root and could not cultivate."
"Now that Senior Brother knows of the new method, I wonder if you told Lady Chi Xia about it just now?"
While Zhang Qianmo was cold and ruthless when killing enemies, facing Li Fan's inquiry here, he actually began to hem and haw, looking terribly embarrassed.
"Senior Brother, mortals are not like us immortal cultivators who can retain eternal youth."
"Youth fades easily, and beauty is fleeting."
"How much time does a mortal have to squander away?"
"Could Senior Brother truly bear to watch her age day by day..."
"...and then have nothing to do with you ever again?"
Li Fan rattled off questions like rapid cannon fire, pressing Zhang Qianmo step by step.
After a long time, as if having undergone an intense mental struggle, Zhang Qianmo finally let out a long sigh.
"Junior Brother, wait for me here. I'll be back shortly!"
With that, he flew down toward the Drunken Immortal Pavilion below.
Chapter 197