At first, some cultivators held onto wishful thinking.
Believing it was merely an isolated occurrence, they still chose to remain inside the Chaoyuan Sect ruins, refusing to disperse.
However, when more than a dozen skeptical cultivators turned into phantoms one after another within a mere seven days, the crowd finally faced reality and scattered like birds and beasts.
The main reason the Chaoyuan Sect ruins had been so popular before was that there was almost no danger. Now that an inexplicable crisis had arrived, not many cultivators were willing to brave fatal risks to explore before figuring out what was truly going on.
After all, opportunities would always come, but one had only one life.
Only a tiny handful of people still held their ground here.
"Well? It's so perilous here—do you still dare to go in?" Shuo Feng looked at Su Xiaomei and asked with a smile.
Having traveled together and spent dozens of days in each other's company from dawn to dusk, the three of them were no longer as distant as when they had first met.
Although Shuo Feng was a Soul Formation Immortal Lord who had dispersed his cultivation to cultivate anew, he never put on airs and was easy to approach.
Along the way, he also gave occasional pointers to Su Xiaomei and Zhang Haobo on their cultivation, benefiting the two of them enormously.
And his declarations—"I dispersed my cultivation to cultivate anew in search of an invincible path. Invincible in Qi Condensation, invincible in Foundation Establishment, invincible in Golden Core... all the way to invincible in Longevity!" and "My name is Shuo Feng. Blazing paths and creating dharmas, I am the origin for all under heaven; invincible across a hundred battles, I am the vanguard blade for all under heaven!"—as well as the disdain for all creation he occasionally radiated when speaking, secretly won the admiration of Su Xiaomei and Zhang Haobo.
Seeing him ask now, their own pride and daring were stirred.
"If even you dare, why wouldn't I?" Su Xiaomei held her head high, refusing to back down.
Zhang Haobo showed no fear either. "I'll see it through to the end with you!"
"Haha! Splendid!" Shuo Feng laughed heartily, heedless of anyone around, and took the lead in walking into the Chaoyuan Sect ruins.
Su Xiaomei and Zhang Haobo exchanged a glance and closely followed.
The instant they stepped into the territory of the Chaoyuan Sect, Li Fan lost his connection to them.
It was as if...
In a flash, they had vanished from this world and traveled to another.
"The Chaoyuan Sect..."
"Su Xiaomei and the others have heavenly fortune upon them, so their lives shouldn't be in danger."
"As for what kind of peculiarities lie within, I won't know until they come out."
Li Fan's gaze flickered.
...
Time flowed by, arriving at Anchor Year 26.
The Yin sisters had both successfully established their foundations, feeding back a considerable amount of cultivation to Li Fan.
Growing restless after a long period of quiet, they took a mind to return to Yelan Island.
It just so happened that Su Changyu was always in secluded cultivation, so there was no one to mind them.
Thus, after leaving behind a message, the two quietly returned to their homeland.
The sisters settled accounts one by one with the villains on the island who had bullied them in their childhood.
There was no need to elaborate on this matter.
On this day, Li Fan finally received a transmission from Zhang Zhiliang.
Hurrying to the Formation Planning Hall, Li Fan met this formation master once again.
Without exchanging pleasantries, Zhang Zhiliang went straight to the point. "The closed-door training in Tianyu Province has already commenced."
"Get ready; you can depart within a few days."
"Everything you need to be mindful of has been inscribed into a jade slip. You'll understand once you look at it."
A glittering, golden encrypted jade slip was handed over.
Li Fan did not examine it on the spot; he put it away and thanked Zhang Zhiliang.
Zhang Zhiliang looked nonchalant.
A spirit testing orb flew before Li Fan. "Let me see if your formation cultivation has gone slack during this period."
Taking the spirit testing orb, Li Fan skillfully set about answering the questions within.
A moment later, Zhang Zhiliang looked at the points of light glowing on the spirit testing orb and nodded in satisfaction.
He then took out a small black box and handed it to Li Fan.
"Inside are some things I prepared for you. There is a seal placed upon it; when the time comes, the seal will unlock on its own," Zhang Zhiliang said with a profound look at Li Fan.
"Going to Tianyu Province is a long journey. I applied for an opportunity for you to use the super-long-distance teleportation array, which can take you directly to Tianyu Province."
"The teleportation jade talisman must be used within ten days, or else it will dissipate on its own."
Saying this, Zhang Zhiliang tossed another jade talisman over.
Li Fan caught the jade talisman. Carved upon it was the image of an elderly man wearing a high crown, an exact match for the Heavenly Venerable statue on the Dharma Transmission Plaza.
"Go on!"
"Remember, do not disgrace my name, Zhang Zhiliang!"
Zhang Zhiliang waved his hand, dismissing Li Fan.
Li Fan bowed respectfully and slowly withdrew.
"It's about time to leave the Congyun Sea as well."
"At any rate, my clone will remain here to look after things when necessary."
Li Fan was alone, his entire fortune kept in his storage ring.
With nothing keeping him back, Li Fan simply left without hesitation, heading straight for the Dharma Transmission Plaza.
Unlike the island teleportation arrays that corresponded to each island of the Congyun Sea and were situated before various statues, the super-long-distance teleportation array was established inside the Heavenly Venerable statue.
Reaching the foot of the Heavenly Venerable statue, Li Fan presented the teleportation jade talisman to the stationed cultivator.
After verifying the authenticity of the talisman, the cultivator formed hand seals and pointed toward Li Fan.
Li Fan's vision blurred, and the next second, he found himself inside the Heavenly Venerable statue.
Only then did he discover that looking out from within the statue, the stone figure seemed transparent.
Without the slightest obstruction, the surrounding scenery was fully visible.
At this moment, Li Fan was positioned roughly where the Heavenly Venerable statue's heart would be.
Looking down upon Wanxian Island, the bustling cultivators seemed as small as ants.
*The view is quite fine. Flying isn't permitted on Wanxian Island, and across so many reincarnations, this is my first time seeing such a sight,* Li Fan thought to himself.
After marveling for a moment, Li Fan flew forward following the guidance.
Before him was a space permeated with silver mist, where brilliant stars sparkled.
The teleportation array was situated here.
Because each activation consumed a vast amount of energy, the super-long-distance teleportation array was rarely ever activated.
Right now, Li Fan was the only person in this space.
Li Fan held the teleportation jade talisman high.
An instant later, the talisman dissolved into specks of green light that shot violently toward the surrounding stars.
Then, an illusory vision of a large, luminous cloud cluster appeared before Li Fan.
Within the cloud cluster, miniature landscapes of lands, mountains, and rivers were faintly visible.
"Tianyu Province," Li Fan sensed as his divine consciousness made contact.
The cloud cluster's scenery expanded rapidly, concentrating on the four central regions.
"Tianyu, Tianchen, Tianshu, Tianquan."
"These are the four provinces guarding the headquarters of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals," Li Fan murmured thoughtfully.
Selecting Tianyu Province as his destination, Li Fan activated the formation array.
In an instant, the starry expanse dimmed.
Time and space seemed to grind to a halt.
A pressure hundreds and thousands of times greater than that of an ordinary teleportation array bore down from the surrounding space.
Caught off guard, Li Fan felt his blood and qi surge violently, his heart racing.
Just as he moved to circulate his spiritual energy to regulate himself, he found it completely out of control, rampaging chaotically within his body.
The surrounding scenery shifted abruptly.
Seven-colored radiance converged and dispersed; all sights were twisted and elongated.
Unable to hear even his own heartbeat, Li Fan felt as if he had fallen deaf.
After a long time, yet seemingly only an instant, all the anomalies vanished at once.
Dizzy and light-headed, Li Fan almost stumbled and collapsed to the ground as the teleportation completed.
Chapter 289