Having obtained the answer he sought, Li Fan did not leave immediately.
Instead, he waited for this golden spearfish champion to finish its metamorphosis.
After a long time, the golden spearfish, its body having grown several sizes sturdier, finally finished absorbing the essence of its kin.
Smug and self-satisfied, it flicked its body and turned to swim back into the ocean.
Yet it failed completely to notice five dark figures emerging from the ocean depths, quietly drawing near.
Caught off guard, the golden spearfish fell right into the encirclement of the previous fish kings.
Five hideous, exceptionally ferocious fish launched attacks against it one after another.
None of these fish kings was inferior in strength to the golden spearfish.
Under their well-coordinated siege, the golden spearfish was soon driven into a desperate plight.
Flesh and blood flew, leaving it on the verge of death.
Just then, hovering above the sea, Li Fan channeled a cluster of essence across the empty air.
This was the purest power of flesh-and-blood essence.
It was what his clone had obtained through continuous study of the human body's secret treasures over this period.
How mighty was this cluster of flesh-and-blood essence drawn from a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator!
For the golden spearfish, it was even more tonic than devouring all of its kin combined.
Instantly, its wounds visibly healed before one's eyes.
Moreover, its body grew another size sturdier than it had been in its previous prime.
This unexpected turn of events left the besieging fish kings utterly bewildered.
Their offensive involuntarily stalled.
Seizing this opportunity, the golden spearfish, which had been battered and forced on the defensive, launched a decisive counterattack.
Its savage frame carried overwhelming force as it slammed violently toward the fish king that had pressed the fiercest attack earlier.
Swift as lightning, unstoppable.
Its golden spear thrust into the fish king's belly, churning frantically.
Dark red blood slowly drifted to the water's surface.
In a flash, the fish king died.
Its eyes bloodshot with killing frenzy, the golden spearfish was about to turn and deal with the other fish kings, only to find that the remaining four had sensed something was wrong and fled in all directions for their lives.
Having narrowly escaped death, the golden spearfish was somewhat at a loss.
It wandered about the sea for a long time, unable to discover where that life-saving cluster of essence had come from.
In the end, it could only sway its body and swim toward the depths of the ocean.
Watching the golden spearfish swim beyond his range of perception, Li Fan revealed a faint, enigmatic smile.
He casually cleaned up the traces left by the fish battle, then returned to Wanxian Island.
...
Inside the Heavenly Profound Mirror, Li Fan inspected his dantian.
Sitting cross-legged atop True Reversion, which took the form of the Vast Sea Pearl, was an illusory miniature figure.
This miniature figure bore a seventy-to-eighty-percent resemblance to Li Fan.
"The Taishang Sect's secret art is truly marvelous. This Tribulation Body has already stored cultivation equivalent to five years of usual painstaking effort."
"Seems everyone has made considerable progress during this period."
Li Fan nodded to himself in satisfaction.
The Tribulation Body was the method Li Fan had found during the combat readiness period to store cultivation without breaking through his realm.
This secret art was said to also originate from the Taishang Primordial Scripture.
In the ancient cultivation world, cultivators occasionally advanced too quickly, causing their foundations to become unstable.
When that happened, a cultivator needed to actively suppress their realm and solidify their foundation.
Different sects adopted different methods.
The Taishang Sect's method was to form an illusory figure within the dantian to hold the excess cultivation.
Because the Taishang Sect regarded an unstable foundation as one of the tribulations of cultivation, this illusory figure used to cope with the tribulation was named the Tribulation Body.
With the Tribulation Body, Li Fan no longer needed to worry about the cultivation fed back by the Mountain-Sitting Art overflowing.
However, the secret art did not specify whether there was an upper limit to how much cultivation the Tribulation Body could accommodate.
So what would happen going forward could only be known once Li Fan tested it in practice.
"This method of storing cultivation in the Tribulation Body seems very similar to that purple core inside Zhang Qianmo of the Purple Cloud Sect."
"Perhaps back then, Zhang Qianmo relied on something like this to constantly suppress his realm."
Thinking this, Li Fan opened Sit and Debate the Dao.
Zhang Qianmo's record had already soared to one hundred eighty-six wins and seventy-eight draws.
Yet no victor had emerged to defeat him.
This left Li Fan somewhat helpless.
Meanwhile, "Wo Wudi," who had previously bragged about finding a way to defeat Zhang Qianmo, seemed to have vanished into thin air, never appearing again.
"He probably hasn't finished preparing his method yet."
Li Fan could only look on the bright side.
Glancing around casually, Li Fan was about to log off when a title caught his eye.
"Dao Integration versus Dao Integration: Debriefing the Battle of Tianling Province!"
Intrigued, Li Fan clicked on it.
"Neither side has disclosed the exact casualty figures of this battle. However, based on the identities of the sixteen Dao Integration powerhouses who participated, after thousands of simulated replays, it is not difficult to draw a conclusion."
"The probability of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals' defeat in this battle exceeds eighty-five percent..."
"Unless a peerless powerhouse rivaling Dao Integration cultivators was hidden among the accompanying Soul Formation experts, otherwise..."
...
Just as Li Fan was reading with keen interest, he suddenly discovered that the post had vanished.
"Censored so quickly."
"In other words, the Alliance's pursuit force really did possess combat strength comparable to Dao Integration."
"Interesting," Li Fan mused inwardly.
In the cultivation of the immortal path, the further one advanced, the greater the gap between each tier.
Qi Condensation killing Foundation Establishment, Foundation Establishment slaughtering Golden Core, Golden Core slaying Nascent Soul—peerless geniuses might achieve this relying on innate talent and divine abilities.
Yet for Nascent Soul to kill Soul Formation, or Soul Formation to slay Dao Integration, was practically an impossible task.
Of course, tool figures like Zhang Haobo were outside the scope of this discussion.
As for Dao Integration slaying Longevity...
One would have to drop the word "practically."
"Soul Formation rivaling Dao Integration—the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals' foundation is truly profound."
"I wonder if I'll be able to stand toe-to-toe with a Dao Integration Immortal Venerable when I reach Soul Formation."
"Even if I'm outmatched, preserving my life shouldn't be a problem."
After letting his thoughts wander leisurely for a moment, Li Fan logged out upon seeing nothing else worth noting on Sit and Debate the Dao.
After a great war, recuperation was required.
The three years of Anchored Years 17, 18, and 19 passed peacefully without incident in the Congyun Sea.
Li Fan also enjoyed a rare period of prolonged closed-door cultivation.
Over these three years, the illusory figure of the Tribulation Body grew increasingly vivid and lifelike.
He had completely mastered all the knowledge in the Divided Spirit Jade Slip given by Zhang Zhiliang.
He had also fully absorbed the second Dao Transformation Stone.
The performance of the blue crystal in his mind had nearly doubled compared to the beginning, making Li Fan ever more adept at multitasking.
As for the Heavenly Physician Immortal Scripture, it was truly vast and profound.
Even after several years, Li Fan had only gained an elementary understanding of an insignificant fraction of it.
However, Li Fan was in no hurry; he had plenty of time.
After paying a visit to Zhang Zhiliang and passing the spirit testing orb's trial, Li Fan obtained the second Divided Spirit Jade Slip from him.
Just as he was about to leave, Li Fan faintly sensed that Zhang Zhiliang's disposition seemed somewhat different from before.
Some inexplicable change seemed to have occurred in him.
Chapter 246