Li Fan's thoughts raced, and he instantly understood where the "extreme danger" in He Xinxin's divination had come from.
It was the same flaw exposed when his clone had faced the Heavenly Physician.
In this lifetime, had He Xinxin's deduction not occurred, Li Fan would still have traveled to Yuandao Province according to his original plan.
When Anchored Year 29 arrived and "It" swallowed time once more, would it somehow notice...
...that upon this insignificant cultivator named Li Fan, there already lingered the marks of a previous "bite" from it?
Yet "It" would be certain that it had never stolen Li Fan's time before.
He had no doubt this unknown, terrifying entity would immediately deduce the most likely explanation for such an anomaly.
Against the Heavenly Physician, Li Fan had still been able to activate True Reversion while conscious.
Yet against a monster capable of devouring another's time, Li Fan would not even get the chance to silently invoke True Reversion.
The reason it was deemed "extreme danger" rather than certain death...
...lay perhaps in the sole glimmer of survival: True Reversion's autonomous protection waking Li Fan's consciousness and shielding him for a fleeting instant...
...long enough for him to trigger True Reversion.
At this point, Li Fan had formed a baseline theory regarding those "missing ten years."
In his view, this was likely the conjecture closest to the truth.
As for other possibilities...
If he had simply failed to notice ten stolen years within a single lifetime, only to realize it immediately after True Reversion when reviewing what transpired in that past life...
...then Li Fan might have suspected the machinations of Immortal Venerable Blue Feather's Essence-Devouring Rebirth Formation.
But to affect True Reversion such that Li Fan remained utterly oblivious...
...until someone alerted him, and only after scouring his memories over and over could he discover it...
It was not that Li Fan looked down on Blue Feather, but based merely on the strength of a quasi-Heavenly Venerable, the man truly might not measure up.
"This world is bizarre and fraught with perils..."
"The slightest carelessness—a single misstep on the board—and the entire game is lost."
"Precisely because I possess True Reversion, I am in even greater danger before the supreme figures of this realm."
...
"The only good news is that Its range of influence seems confined solely to Yuandao Province. Moreover, it lacks active hostility and merely steals time."
"In my tenth lifetime, when I first entered the cultivation world, I dissolved my body into the Congyun Sea and lived all the way until Anchored Year 48."
"Time was never stolen from me throughout all those years."
"It seems I cannot go to Yuandao Province in the future."
"Furthermore, I must find a way to purge the influence It left on me."
"Otherwise, it will stick in my throat like a fishbone—a grave hidden danger."
Such is human nature.
When confronted with pure, unknown horror, the heart trembles uncontrollably.
Yet once the adversary takes shape, even as a mere concept, fear naturally diminishes.
And as understanding deepens, that fear dissipates step by step.
Though Li Fan still did not know what "It" truly was...
...for now, he might as well treat it as a supreme powerhouse entrenched in Daoyuan Province who possessed the ability to devour the time of living beings.
If he could not afford to provoke it, he could simply steer clear.
At the very least, judging by the present situation, True Reversion still held the upper hand over it.
As long as he did not run into Its hands again, there should be little trouble.
"It must also be that my time has not yet come. Before heading to Yuandao Province, I met He Xinxin and averted this catastrophe."
"Speaking of which, Daoist He is truly my lucky star. If the Formless Killing Intent monitoring him hadn't suddenly failed, I wouldn't have acted on a whim and come to Liuli Island to see what was going on."
Thinking up to this point, Li Fan showed a rare, gentle smile.
Seeing this, He Zhenghao felt his heart give an inexplicable thud and hurriedly asked, "Fellow Daoist Li Fan, is anything amiss?"
Li Fan patted his shoulder. "Nothing of consequence, merely a trivial matter. Thanks to your fortune, Fellow Daoist, I have already thought of a way to resolve it."
"Speaking of which, I truly must thank Xinxin. Without her warning, who knows what might have happened!"
Praised like this, He Xinxin's face flushed at once, looking bashful.
He Zhenghao, however, laughed heartily, looking overjoyed.
"How long do you plan to stay here, Xinxin...?" Li Fan asked, knowing she must have slipped out secretly and could not remain by He Zhenghao's side indefinitely.
"Whenever Mother finds out, I'll go ba—" Halfway through, He Xinxin realized what she was saying.
She stuck out her tongue, glanced at the somewhat awkward He Zhenghao beside her, and lowered her head without another word.
He Zhenghao shooed her aside and began telling Li Fan about what had happened between him and He Xinxin's mother.
It differed little from a third-rate romance novel.
He Xinxin's mother was named Heng Ruoshui.
She was a native of Tianyu Province.
In her youth, she had hidden it from her parents to travel abroad, where she met He Zhenghao.
In his youth, He Zhenghao was quite handsome.
Heng Ruoshui, on the other hand, had rarely interacted with other men.
Spending day and night together, feelings naturally developed between them.
Just as the young couple were madly in love, Heng Ruoshui's parents suddenly appeared.
After scrutinizing He Zhenghao, they did not immediately beat the pair apart like birds torn from the same branch.
Instead, they brought both of them back to Tianyu Province.
Over the period that followed, promising young talents appeared one after another to court Heng Ruoshui.
In appearance, every one of them possessed sword-like brows and starry eyes, exuding striking good looks.
In cultivation, nearly all were at the Golden Core or Nascent Soul realm. Foundation Establishment cultivators could not even lay eyes on Heng Ruoshui.
At that time, He Zhenghao was merely at late Qi Condensation.
Before cultivators two major realms above him, he dared not even breathe too loudly.
Heng Ruoshui still held some affection for He Zhenghao.
Even in the face of cultivators vastly superior to him, she did not shift her affections.
However, unable to stomach He Zhenghao's spineless, pathetic demeanor, she chided him a few times.
Hot-blooded and full of youthful pride, He Zhenghao let his ego get the better of him and had a furious quarrel with Heng Ruoshui.
He even spouted wild boasts, swearing he would become a Nascent Soul cultivator and carve out a grand career...
...to make Heng Ruoshui look upon him with new respect.
After that, he stormed off.
What awaited the young He Zhenghao was a severe beating at the hands of reality.
Only after enduring immense hardship did he finally cultivate to the Foundation Establishment stage.
He took the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals' decennial unified examination, intending to qualify for the Protector Hall and become a protector.
Who could have expected that when the results were posted, he had indeed passed...
...yet the position was not protector, but garrison.
Worse still, his assigned station was not Tianyu Province, but the extremely remote Congyun Sea, a place he had never even heard of before.
He Zhenghao originally wanted to refuse, but the appointment order had already been issued at lightning speed.
Faced with a transfer order, how could He Zhenghao dare defy a command from the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals?
Even though he knew something fishy was going on and that Heng Ruoshui's parents were surely pulling strings behind the scenes...
...he had no choice but to head dejectedly to the distant Congyun Sea to assume his post.
That stay lasted for decades.
With both his romance and his career in ruins, He Zhenghao lost all his drive.
His cultivation stalled, lingering at the mid Foundation Establishment stage.
Instead, he threw himself into formations, achieving notable success along that path and befriending many peers.
Strange how things turned out.
During a casual chat with a good friend, He Zhenghao happened to learn the truth.
Back then, Heng Ruoshui had already been pregnant.
Knowing her parents were dead set against it, and with He Zhenghao having stormed off without a trace...
...she used a secret art to suspend the fetus's growth for the child's safety.
From then on, she refused all visitors and cultivated in bitter diligence.
Only over ten years ago, after becoming a Nascent Soul law-weaver with enough say before her parents...
...did she reveal the truth and give birth to the child.
And named her He Xinxin.
The matter caused quite a stir in Tianyu Province, and the tale spread far and wide.
People of the time regarded Heng Ruoshui as an extraordinary woman.
Many cultivators did not even care that she had a child, pursuing her vigorously.
Yet without exception, she rejected them all.
Far away in the Congyun Sea, He Zhenghao felt as though struck by lightning when he heard of this.
Tears streamed down his aged face; he was filled with bitter regret, yet powerless to change anything.
Still less did he have the face or courage to meet Heng Ruoshui ever again.
Until He Xinxin sensed her biological father's mortal peril and came to this remote Congyun Sea...
As He Zhenghao finished his tale, tears glistened in his eyes, sigh after sigh escaping him.
Listening to the end, Li Fan could not help cursing internally: *He Zhenghao, what kind of man are you!*
Yet he patted the man's shoulder, making a grand promise: "Fret not, Fellow Daoist He. Someday, I will surely see you return to Tianyu Province in glory to make amends for everything!"
"A century of time might mean an eternity of separation for mortals, leaving regrets that can never be mended."
"Yet for cultivators like us, it is hardly something beyond repair!"
Chapter 252