“Will riding the purple empyrean, the body like thunder…”
“What a fine escape technique!”
After studying the secret technique Purple Empyrean Divine Thunder Escape from beginning to end, Li Fan could not help but show a flash of delight.
Soon, however, he felt a twinge of regret. “Pity that without the true intent of divine thunder from the Purple Empyrean Thunder-Controlling True Scripture to accompany it, the speed of this escape technique will be heavily compromised.”
“If I execute it on my own, I estimate it will only reach half its maximum speed.”
“Even so, it is still considerably faster than the standard escape techniques sold in the Heavenly Profound Mirror.”
Gaining a secret technique after defeating Zhang Qianmo this time was purely an unexpected windfall.
Under normal circumstances, killing someone inside the Fallen Immortal Realm yielded no harvest whatsoever.
Otherwise, exploring the Fallen Immortal Realm would be simple: one could just form a group and go on a slaughter.
When such a thing happened, it was generally because the slain person’s obsession was tied to being defeated.
Zhang Qianmo, undefeated and longing to lose?
Li Fan could not help thinking along those lines.
“Still, if not for the Blue Flame phantom spirit allowing me to greatly prolong my time in the Fallen Immortal Realm,”
“wearing Senior Brother Zhang to death truly would have been practically impossible.”
Entering the state of absolute rationality through the Blue Flame phantom spirit to extend his duration in the Fallen Immortal Realm had been inspired by Chen Ying of the Medicine Hall.
To improve his efficiency in exploring the Fallen Immortal Realm, Chen Ying needed to refine Heart-Severing Ice Intent Pills using blue-blood coral.
And after the blue-blood coral was tainted with a trace of the icy aura from the Blue Feather phantom spirit, the efficacy of the resulting Heart-Severing Ice Intent Pills had soared out of nowhere.
Back then, Li Fan had guessed that activating the special state of the Blue Flame phantom spirit might substitute for—or even surpass—taking the Heart-Severing Ice Intent Pill.
Testing it this time, it indeed proved to be just as he had anticipated.
As for why he had not utilized the Blue Flame phantom spirit during his previous explorations of the Fallen Immortal Realm, it was due to a faint apprehension in his heart.
Having practiced the Xuanhuang Mind-Clearing Incantation until it was as instinctive as breathing, cultivating it relentlessly across a hundred lifetimes, though he still had achieved no substantive breakthrough, Li Fan’s awareness of his own “mental state” far exceeded that of ordinary people.
This time, inside the Fallen Immortal Realm, Li Fan had maintained that special state for nearly thirty days.
After emerging, exhausted though he was, he had also keenly sensed the “erosion” that cold chill had wrought upon him.
Ever since witnessing existences like the Heavenly Physician and “It” in Daoyuan Province, Li Fan had always harbored a degree of vigilance toward the transcendent powers of this world.
The same held true for this “Blue Flame” he had inexplicably visualized.
Unlike other cultivation methods, the Nether Spirit Illusion Art and its later advanced version, the Intent Spirit Illusion Art, belonged to a peculiar line of summoning arts.
That power of frigid rationality did not stem from the method itself, but rather from the phantom spirit visualized.
There was an essential difference here.
Not to mention that this Blue Flame phantom spirit might possess a concrete physical counterpart in the real world.
Naturally, Li Fan could not trust it entirely.
Overpowered strength came with commensurate side effects—it was only natural.
Using it occasionally as a trump card, the side effects might be neutralized under the resolving power of the Xuanhuang Mind-Clearing Incantation.
But if abused without restraint…
There was no telling if it might imperceptibly alter one’s mind.
The inexplicable erosion he had sensed this time was the best proof.
What was more, although the Blue Flame phantom spirit greatly increased one’s duration in the Fallen Immortal Realm, its shortcomings were also glaringly obvious.
The Fallen Immortal Realm was a world manifested from consciousness.
Suppressing consciousness fluctuations to such an extreme low made one, in the eyes of the realm’s native figures, an utterly terrifying aberration.
Zhang Qianmo seeing through Li Fan at a glance and subsequently being on high alert clearly demonstrated this.
It was only suitable for delivering the decisive blow once an operational plan was set, not for routine exploration.
Regardless, with the aid of the Blue Flame phantom spirit, Li Fan had ultimately dealt with that stumbling block, Zhang Qianmo.
This left Li Fan, who had been trapped in Ningyuan City all this time, keenly looking forward to what he would encounter the next time he entered the Fallen Immortal Realm.
After all, the Fallen Immortal Realm was even vaster than the Xuanhuang Realm; being perpetually trapped in one spot, unable to take in its wonders and mysteries, would be far too great a pity.
With the matter that had long weighed upon his heart resolved, Li Fan could not help feeling a sense of relief.
After destroying all traces of his secluded cultivation spot beneath the sea, Li Fan was about to return to Wanxian Island when he suddenly received a transmission from Zhang Zhiliang, summoning him to the Formation Planning Hall.
Pondering for a moment, Li Fan did not delay.
Shifting the Continuous Resentment Branch in his dantian into the Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart, he headed straight for the Formation Planning Hall.
Stepping inside the leaning metallic building, Li Fan made his way with familiar ease to where Zhang Zhiliang was.
The man stood tall, seemingly not the least bit changed from before.
Yet the faint, persistent sense of danger welling up in Li Fan’s heart had never once appeared when facing Zhang Zhiliang in the past.
It seems…
The moment the thought surfaced in his mind, Li Fan suppressed it using the Xuanhuang Mind-Clearing Incantation.
“Greetings, Master!”
He bowed with hands clasped, his mind clear of stray thoughts.
Zhang Zhiliang scrutinized Li Fan, nodded, and spoke: “It seems your progress is good. Once the right opportunity arrives, breaking through to the Golden Core will follow as a matter of course.”
Shifting the subject, he asked abruptly, “You have already collected three Divided Spirit Jade Slips from me.”
“How has your study of the most recent Divided Spirit Jade Slip been going?”
Li Fan truthfully reported his progress.
Zhang Zhiliang then tossed a spirit testing orb over, gesturing for Li Fan to be tested.
Sending his divine sense inside, one difficult formation problem after another came rushing at him.
Li Fan answered them one by one.
Compared to the spirit testing orb assessment Zhang Zhiliang had given in the previous life, the difficulty of this round of questions was noticeably much higher.
Yet after nearly ten years of uninterrupted formation study, Li Fan was far from the novice he had once been.
When the test concluded, Zhang Zhiliang looked at the illuminated points of light on the spirit testing orb and finally showed a hint of satisfaction.
“Not bad.”
“Though lacking somewhat in enterprise, your foundation is very solid.”
“It is plain to see you have put bitter effort into the Dao of Formations.”
Li Fan lowered his head and replied, “Master overpraises me. Junior knows he is dull-witted, so not to fall behind others, diligence is my only way to compensate for clumsiness.”
Zhang Zhiliang smiled. “To master the Dao of Formations I taught to such an extent in just a few short years—your aptitude is not bad at all!”
“No need to unduly belittle yourself!”
Zhang Zhiliang gave his verdict.
Of course, had he known the actual time Li Fan had spent studying, he certainly would not have thought so.
Fortunately, he did not know.
“You possess decent aptitude and can apply yourself selflessly.”
Zhang Zhiliang looked Li Fan up and down once more and said, “Two years from now, a closed training session for young talents in formations from all provinces of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals will be held in Tianyu Province.”
“Our Congyun Sea has three spots.”
“I intend to give one of them to you.”
“Are you willing to go?”
Chapter 266