The Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable and the *Taishang Primordial Scripture*.
For an item's name to contain two extremely sensitive terms could hardly fail to strike a nerve with Li Fan.
Li Fan walked over to the half-unrolled painting scroll and locked onto it with his divine sense.
The item's details immediately appeared:
"*Illustration of Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable Forcibly Seizing the Taishang Primordial Scripture*"
"A number of years ago, the Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable personally visited the Taishang Sect, seeking to borrow the *Taishang Primordial Scripture* for perusal."
"At that time, a cultivator skilled in painting happened to be lodging at the Taishang Sect as a guest."
"He therefore used his brush to record this scene."
"Replica."
"Best destroyed after viewing."
"Cultivators of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals are not advised to carry this on their person."
"Cultivators of the Five Elders Association are strongly advised against carrying this on their person."
"Price: 200 contribution points."
Li Fan looked at the price closely once more, then asked with an odd expression, "This painting sells for only two hundred contribution points? Can something like this truly be considered restricted goods?"
The shop attendant beside him explained patiently, "Because it's a reproduction that can be mass-produced, the price is very cheap.
"The only reason it's classified as restricted is that it involves two Heavenly Venerables.
"Displaying it casually would bring considerable trouble."
Li Fan's eyes flashed at those words. "Two Heavenly Venerables..."
He immediately moved to pay and purchase it.
Just then, Li Fan suddenly grew cautious. "Viewing this painting won't bring any trouble, will it?"
The attendant chuckled. "Honored guest, you should know that this painting contains no distortion or slander whatsoever. It simply records and restores the scene as it happened from a bystander's perspective.
"Furthermore, in the eyes of a Heavenly Venerable, we cultivators are no different from ants.
"A Heavenly Venerable wouldn't pay any mind to our words and actions.
"The real trouble comes from those beneath the Heavenly Venerables, the people eager to show their loyalty..."
The attendant stopped there, saying no more.
Li Fan nodded slowly, spent the two hundred contribution points, and bought the painting.
Holding the scroll in his hand without unrolling it, his divine sense plunged into the painting in an instant.
The surrounding scenery changed abruptly. In a single moment, it felt as though he had traveled across time and space, arriving thousands of years in the past.
Above a boundless sea of clouds, thirty-three floating peaks activated their sect-protecting grand formations one after another.
An elderly man wearing a high crown approached calmly, stepping through the void.
"I have heard that the Taishang Sect possesses a volume of the primordial scripture of boundless profundity, hailed as the source of all dharmas and the ancestor of all daos.
"Now that calamity has descended from the heavens and techniques cannot be cultivated together, for the sake of the common people under heaven, I ask to borrow the scripture for a perusal!"
His voice was neither hurried nor slow, spreading throughout heaven and earth in an instant.
The vast, rolling sea of clouds parted, revealing the mortal world below.
The sky abruptly darkened, and a river of stars appeared in broad daylight.
A cold voice devoid of any emotion rang out from the thirty-three peaks of the Taishang Sect, suppressing the numerous phenomena.
"What do the lives and deaths of the world's cultivators have to do with me?
"Fellow Daoist, please turn back!"
The high-crowned elder shook his head slightly, an expression of universal sorrow and pity surfacing on his face.
"If that is so, what does my borrowing of scriptures have to do with your Taishang?"
The elder took a step forward, arriving before the thirty-three peaks in an instant.
*Boom!*
A violent tremor shook the air, and boundless white light engulfed everything in sight.
...
The painting's contents came to an abrupt halt, and Li Fan's divine sense withdrew from it.
Although what happened next was not depicted in the painting, judging from the modern reality where everyone knew the cultivation-dispersing remnant chapter of the *Taishang Primordial Scripture*, the outcome of that battle was self-evident.
Stowing the scroll, Li Fan sank into brief contemplation.
*So the method of dispersing cultivation and cultivating anew, which all cultivators rely so heavily on today, was also released by the Dharma-Transmitting Immortal Venerable.*
*It could be said that without this heaven-defying technique that allows one to switch to other cultivation arts with almost no loss, the modern trading system for cultivation techniques couldn't be sustained at all.*
*The plight of cultivators would certainly be far more miserable.*
*For the sake of the common people...*
*On the surface, it really can be put that way.*
*However...*
Pondering for a moment, Li Fan put the thought aside and continued browsing the restricted goods floor.
Commodities like this painting, which became restricted goods because they touched upon secrets of mighty figures, were still in the minority.
The vast majority were materials strictly prohibited from leaking by the Five Elders Association that possessed various special functions.
Among the items Li Fan was interested in was the Dao Comprehension Pill he had heard of before.
Then there were portable teleportation arrays.
They didn't require the user to have deep knowledge of formations; one simply had to place both ends of the teleportation array in suitable open spaces.
The arrays would automatically construct and activate themselves.
Within the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, the construction of teleportation arrays was considered highly confidential information.
Li Fan had not yet been able to access knowledge related to them.
Dao Comprehension Pills cost five hundred contribution points each.
Each cultivator was limited to purchasing one hundred.
The portable teleportation array cost three thousand contribution points per set.
Li Fan bought two sets to prepare for unexpected needs.
Afterward, he left the restricted goods floor and bought two Golden Core cultivation techniques and twelve Foundation Establishment cultivation techniques in one go.
He only stopped after nearly exhausting all of the three hundred supreme-grade spirit stones carried by his clone.
Upon leaving the Wanfa Merchant Guild, he was thoughtfully presented with a mask.
Wearing it allowed one to change bodily form and facial appearance to prevent being tracked.
Li Fan accepted the mask with a smile.
Turning around, he rented lodgings in Tianchang Mountain City, activated the ritual, and first transferred the purchased supplies into the White Bone Vanguard Realm.
Only then did he breathe a slight sigh of relief.
The White Bone Left Hand, the control center of the Vanguard Realm, was held in duplicate by his true body and his clone.
This way, even if an accident occurred on the return trip, at most he would only lose a clone.
With his affairs settled, the clone left his lodgings and strolled around Tianchang Mountain City again.
Three days later, Qingmu and the others had also finished purchasing everything they needed.
Just as they prepared to head home, the group encountered another convoy of cultivators who had traveled all the way from the Congyun Sea.
This party was led by a Nascent Soul cultivator named Ling Meng.
Although he and Qingmu did not know each other personally, they had heard of each other's reputations.
Since both groups were cultivators from the Congyun Sea, after conferring together, they decided to make the return journey together.
That way, they could look out for one another.
After waiting several more days, they finally embarked on the long journey home.
Compared to when they came, the returning convoy had nearly doubled in size.
Two Nascent Soul cultivators, seven Golden Core cultivators, and over twenty Foundation Establishment cultivators.
The lineup could certainly be called formidable.
It deterred many petty scoundrels with ill intentions.
The journey proved far more peaceful along the way.
Yet Li Fan kept feeling that this Nascent Soul cultivator named Ling Meng looked familiar, though he couldn't recall where he had seen him before.
It was only when his true body, currently cultivating within the Heavenly Profound Mirror, separated a thread of consciousness and carefully reviewed his past memories one by one that he finally remembered.
This Ling Meng was none other than the Nascent Soul cultivator who had entered the Master's Study in his twelfth life.
Not long after that, he had died a tragic death while exploring an ancient cave abode.
Li Fan had seen the man's memorial portrait in the Heavenly Secret Hall, which was why he found the face familiar.
In this life, Li Fan hadn't taken the mission for the *Cloud Water Chart and Talismans*, so the incident of the green ox pulling a cart and the Master appearing in the world probably wouldn't occur.
He simply wondered whether this could change the man's fate of perishing.
Chapter 225