"If you can't compete in talent, you either rely on fortuitous encounters or on hard work."
"Unfortunately, while the hard work was there, a fortuitous encounter has yet to come my way in this life."
As the last wisp of golden light dissipated from the Soul-Gathering Pearl, Li Fan could not help sighing with emotion.
Nothing unexpected had occurred.
Another two months or so had gone by. While Li Fan could not say he had made no progress at all, his success rate in identification had merely crept from five in ten thousand up to one in a thousand.
He still could not perceive the difference between an ordinary divine soul and one bearing a soul covenant; his so-called identification was still nothing more than blind guesses based on intuition.
This, naturally, fell far short of the requirements for constructing the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation.
"Looks like I can only try again next time."
"The only thing I'm reluctant to part with is this superior Cosmos Courtyard, where I could enter the Spirit Enlightenment state on the public dime."
Li Fan shook his head and seized this final bit of time to cultivate for free.
A dozen days later, the monthly assessment arrived once more.
Most cultivators had completely exhausted the Soul-Gathering Pearls in their hands, so this test was also the final examination deciding who would stay and who would go.
Li Fan's performance was exceedingly steady.
In the theoretical formation construction section, he scored top-tier as always.
In the soul covenant identification section, he was still rock bottom.
"Only those with an identification success rate above fifty percent will have the opportunity for further study."
"All who fail to meet the standard shall be expelled from the Cosmos Courtyard starting today."
"The relevant personnel will also be notified."
Ji Hongdao swept his gaze over the young cultivators below, speaking coldly.
When his eyes fell upon Li Fan, a slight ripple stirred within them, but that was all.
He would not break the rules for a stranger.
Upon hearing this, nearly a hundred among the thousand-plus cultivators turned deathly pale, looking as though they had lost their parents.
Yet at least no unseemly scene of wailing and begging for another chance occurred.
Only Li Fan looked thoroughly calm and unruffled. Anyone unaware of his results might have thought he had passed the test.
With a wide wave of Ji Hongdao's hand, a layer of white light enveloped the eliminated cultivators, including Li Fan.
A moment later, this group of over a hundred appeared in a spacious, empty courtyard.
"Don't lose heart just because you were eliminated. Return to where you came from. Continuing to dedicate a bit of your strength to the development of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals is also deeply meaningful!"
The speaker was a chubby, middle-aged cultivator with a prominent goatee on his chin.
Beaming with a genial smile, the fat cultivator patted each of the eliminated youths one by one.
As he patted them, he explained, "It's not that the organization doesn't trust you, but the confidentiality level of the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation is simply rather high."
Each cultivator he patted vanished in a flash of light.
Alarm bells instantly clanged in Li Fan's mind. He wondered if this fat cultivator was here to silence them by extermination.
The man's cultivation was indiscernible, yet these young cultivators with Golden Core strength stood utterly helpless before him, incapable of the slightest resistance.
Li Fan clearly was no match for him either.
Just as he was about to silently chant True Reversion, he heard the man continue: "Relax, relax. I'm merely sealing the parts of your memories regarding the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation."
"Don't look at me with such horror! I know what you're thinking. But this is Tianyu City, a core stronghold of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals. Who knows how many pairs of eyes are watching this place? How could something like that possibly happen...?"
Muttering under his breath, the fat cultivator swiftly went about his work.
Hearing this, Li Fan breathed a sigh of relief along with the other cultivators.
Even so, he did not place complete trust in the fat cultivator's words; he remained on guard, ready to trigger True Reversion at any moment.
"May I ask Senior's name?" When it was Li Fan's turn, he suddenly spoke up.
The fat cultivator paused, his hand slowing by half a beat.
"You're an interesting fellow. I somehow feel I'll run into you again one day." The fat cultivator sized Li Fan up and said, "I'm Huangfu Song."
Though he spoke casually, his hand did not delay any longer.
He slapped Li Fan on the body.
With an eruption of light, Li Fan felt a wave of dizziness, and then he appeared in another courtyard.
Ahead was what appeared to be the main gate leading out.
"Sign this confidentiality agreement, hand over your Cosmos Token, and you may leave on your own. I suggest you not rush back; it's a rare chance to visit our Tianyu Province, and it would be a shame not to look around. I personally recommend the Dao Discussion Tower in the east of the city. Cultivators traveling north and south all choose to stay there, so it's bustling with life. They even offer free spiritual tea."
Guarding the exit was a cultivator thin as a bamboo pole.
A smile uglier than crying hung on his face. Whenever a cultivator approached him, he pulled out a golden contract and handed it over.
Only after they finished signing and surrendered their Cosmos Token would he let them go.
"By the way, have you heard of the wonder called the Ice Abyss Fire Lotus? I highly recommend you go see that as well."
The thin cultivator introduced places worth visiting in Tianyu Province while ushering out the crestfallen young cultivators who had completed the procedures.
Soon, it was Li Fan's turn.
As was his habit, Li Fan asked, "May I ask Senior's name?"
"Shangguan Shi."
The man replied curtly, placing a shimmering golden contract before Li Fan.
It seemed somewhat higher grade than the common Commercial Contract, though inferior to the Five Elders Association's Divine Soul Contract.
Li Fan scanned the contents in a single glance.
A unilateral contract with harsh conditions.
Any leaker would have their divine soul obliterated.
Since he had no choice in the matter anyway, Li Fan did not hesitate and scribbled down his name with a flourish.
A streak of golden light sank into his body. Shangguan Shi nodded.
"You may go!"
Cupping his hands in salute, Li Fan stepped out of the Cosmos Courtyard.
"This is getting a bit awkward. I doubt Zhang Zhiliang ever expected I'd be eliminated in the very first round."
"Counting the time, there's still a little over a year before the Crimson Flame Burning Sea."
"Going back is definitely out of the question. I should stick to the original plan: travel around Tianyu Province for a while, and once Daoist He's closed-door training ends, head straight to join him."
"As for Zhang Zhiliang..."
"Presumably, he won't give up his chance at Dao Integration just to come trouble me over such a trivial matter."
Recalling the Dao Discussion Tower mentioned earlier by Shangguan Shi, Li Fan, who had nowhere else to go for now, inquired about its location and headed straight there.
The Dao Discussion Tower was not merely a single tower, but a sprawling complex of interconnected buildings.
Not only did it provide social and dining services, but it also contained many small courtyards like those in the Cosmos Courtyard where guests could lodge.
The main hall of the central building was lively and bustling, packed with cultivators.
Most had modest cultivations; by Li Fan's visual estimate, the highest was at the Nascent Soul realm.
Presumably, those at Soul Formation and above would choose private individual courtyards when gathering here.
Finding an empty seat at random, Li Fan sat down, and a cup of spiritual tea automatically emerged on the tabletop.
Taking a sip, he felt the spiritual energy within him surge pleasantly, bringing supreme comfort.
After draining it in one gulp, he set the cup back on the table.
Spiritual tea welled up from the bottom of the cup, refilling it completely.
Li Fan did not drink this time. Instead, he picked up a jade plaque inscribed with the character "Dao."
Sweeping it with his divine sense, countless varied dishes immediately sprang into his mind.
Almost all possessed the effects of mildly improving one's constitution and refining the purity of one's internal spiritual energy.
Naturally, the prices were far from cheap.
Virtually every dish cost several hundred contribution points.
"This Dao Discussion Tower could never survive in the Congyun Sea."
"Ordinary cultivators simply couldn't afford it."
Li Fan ordered a few dishes at random to sample their effects.
While waiting, he pricked up his ears to listen in on the chatter of the surrounding cultivators.
It differed little from mortals shooting the breeze in an ordinary tavern.
Topics of every kind arose:
Such-and-such cultivator had broken through another minor sub-realm; so-and-so was approaching the end of their lifespan and, unable to break through, had died of old age with deep regrets;
The Five Elders Association hadn't made any major moves in recent years, which meant they were surely plotting some scheme in secret...
Li Fan listened to all of this without feeling bored.
Before long, with flashes of light, the ordered dishes and tableware appeared on the table one after another.
Li Fan tasted them one by one, feeling the changes within his body, and nodded inwardly.
*This Dao Discussion Tower truly has something to it.*
Just then, amid the already noisy hall, another wave of clamor suddenly broke out.
A few key words drifted into his ears, giving Li Fan a start, and he could not help focusing his attention to listen.
"Brother Lü, did you truly find a spirit fruit that extends lifespan?"
"Shh, keep it down, keep it down. My trip to the Subterranean Secluded Forest did indeed yield some small harvest. Appraised by the Heavenly Profound Mirror, the Spirit Turtle Purple True Fruit can extend lifespan by a hundred and fifty years." Brother Lü's voice carried a hint of pride.
"Hiss..."
"Spirit Turtle Purple True Fruit? If I recall correctly, that fruit wasn't on the list provided by Immortal Venerable Jicheng, right? Doesn't that mean..."
"Brother Lü, you've stumbled into immense fortune this time!"
"Extending lifespan by a hundred and fifty years—that is a truly extraordinary treasure! I wonder what rank it will take among the bounty submissions. If you're fortunate enough to make the top three..."
"That's the Yanfa Jade..."
Everyone's breathing turned ragged.
...
Listening to the conversation between them, Li Fan's expression shifted slightly.
No longer caring to finish the remaining food, he directly booked a courtyard in the Dao Discussion Tower and checked in.
Sure enough, there was a Heavenly Profound Mirror inside the courtyard.
After a brief search, Li Fan quickly understood the ins and outs of the matter.
It turned out that ever since Immortal Venerable Jicheng had resigned from his post as Commander-in-Chief of the Garrison Court to nurse his wounds, his injuries had gradually improved, but the lifespan he had lost could not be recovered.
Just like all cultivators nearing their end, Immortal Venerable Jicheng began searching for all manner of lifespan-extending methods.
However, having held high office for centuries, Immortal Venerable Jicheng had already tasted nearly every heavenly material and earthly treasure known to grant longevity; they were no longer effective for him.
Therefore, he had issued a bounty with a three-year deadline, searching throughout the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals for exotic longevity-granting treasures that still worked on him.
All who offered items proven effective would receive handsome rewards.
The more lifespan an item added, the more lavish the reward would be.
And the special rewards reserved for the top three were enough to make every cultivator under heaven yearn with passion:
An opportunity to use the Yanfa Jade.
As was well known, techniques in the world were hard to come by.
And tailoring a bespoke technique suited perfectly to one's own circumstances was harder still.
While law-weavers could accomplish this, firstly, the cost was exorbitant; secondly, the skill of law-weavers varied wildly, and the techniques they compiled fell far short of perfection.
They were merely a second-best compromise.
What every cultivator dreamed of in their heart of hearts was having the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals' paramount treasure, the Yanfa Jade, deduce and create a technique exclusively for them.
Unfortunately, for the vast majority of cultivators under heaven, this was nothing more than an unattainable dream.
The Yanfa Jade was the very foundation upon which the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals was built—how precious it was!
Ordinary people did not even know what it looked like or where it was kept.
To speak of using it was even more absurd.
Even an ordinary Dao Integration powerhouse might not possess the qualifications to use it.
It was only because Immortal Venerable Jicheng had commanded the Garrison Camp for nearly five hundred years, wielding immense power and prestige,
and had survived countless wars, large and small, accumulating extraordinary merits,
that he was able to offer three opportunities to use the Yanfa Jade as rewards.
"First place can deduce a Dao Integration technique. Second place, Soul Formation. Third place, Nascent Soul."
Examining the reward descriptions, Li Fan had to admit his heart was stirred.
An exotic longevity treasure was something he happened to possess.
The Transformation Longevity Fruit could extend lifespan by three hundred years.
Furthermore, it was not on the list of exotic treasures that Jicheng had already consumed.
To Li Fan, this Longevity Fruit was of little use.
Yet if he used it to claim Immortal Venerable Jicheng's reward...
Leaving aside the advantages of a custom-tailored technique, just getting a glimpse of the alliance's cornerstone treasure, the Yanfa Jade, was already well worth the price in Li Fan's eyes.
"However, this Transformation Longevity Fruit comes from the Fallen Immortal Realm. Generally, only Golden Core cultivators can enter it."
"I'm merely a Foundation Establishment cultivator; submitting it right now would be rather inappropriate."
"In any case, less than a year has passed of the Immortal Venerable's bounty. I can wait until after I break through to Golden Core before handing it over."
"That way, I can openly and legitimately explain its origin."
"Hmm... dealing with a Dao Integration Immortal Venerable inevitably carries risks."
"I still need to think this through carefully."
Over the next few days, Li Fan wandered about Tianyu City.
He also visited the wonder Shangguan Shi had mentioned—the Ice Abyss Fire Lotus.
Within the frigid abyss, countless lotus flowers woven of flame were in full bloom.
Though beautiful, Li Fan could not discern anything particularly profound from it.
It was said that some cultivators had gained enlightenment here and advanced an entire sub-realm on the spot; evidently, his comprehension was not yet keen enough.
On his return journey from the icy abyss, Li Fan's communication talisman suddenly vibrated with a message from Ji Hongdao,
ordering him to return immediately to the Cosmos Courtyard.
Chapter 295