Museum of Divine Archives

"Once I reach Dao Integration, when facing the Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable of the Longevity realm, I should at least have a bit of power to fight back... right?" Li Fan thought to himself. Sorting through his thoughts and suppressing his runaway imagination, Li Fan began to cultivate this *Wondrous Profound True Spirit Transformation*. "The true spirit of man is like the blossom of a tree. From thousands of trees and myriad blossoms, the wondrous is fashioned from the profound." "Dark and inscrutable, shifting at will into a hundred forms." ... Li Fan first read it through completely, then closed his eyes to cultivate. Before long, he opened his eyes, frowning slightly. Upon first reading *Wondrous Profound True Spirit Transformation*, he had been captivated by its contents, his heart surging with excitement. Yet only when he truly sat down to cultivate it did he realize that this method was somewhat too abstruse and difficult to comprehend. It felt even more difficult to him than when he had first cultivated the *Golden Chapter of Thousand Mechanisms and the Jade Cosmos*. Still, upon reflection, that was only natural. For a method that involved changing the very essence of life, had he been able to master it with effortless ease, he would probably have started doubting its efficacy. After pondering for a moment, Li Fan retrieved a Dao Comprehension Pill from his storage ring. A plain, unadorned black-and-white pill, it could nonetheless rival the accelerated cultivation mode of the Heavenly Profound Mirror. This pill was something his clone, Lin Fan, had purchased along the way when traveling all the way to Jiushan Province to buy cultivation techniques. Because supplies were scarce, each person was subject to a purchase limit. He had only six of them on his person. He had been reluctant to use them before, but now they had finally found their purpose. "The effective duration of a single Dao Comprehension Pill is roughly one month. Hopefully, within six months, I can achieve basic mastery in the *Wondrous Profound True Spirit Transformation*." With this thought in mind, Li Fan swallowed the Dao Comprehension Pill. Then, he entered the Heavenly Profound Mirror's Spirit Enlightenment state once more. With the two stacked together, Li Fan felt the space inside the Heavenly Profound Mirror seem to brighten in an instant. With a slight stir of thought, the text of *Wondrous Profound True Spirit Transformation* that he had just read once immediately surfaced in his mind all at once. Every character and every phrase spontaneously aligned and cross-referenced with similar passages from the secret records and ancient texts he had read in the past. This was what it meant to draw analogies and achieve broad comprehension. In just a few breaths of time, the text in Li Fan's mind expanded dozens of times over from the isolated chapters of *True Spirit Transformation*. Between the lines, dense annotations woven from his past experiences filled the space. Beside those phrases whose meanings were still unknown, characters shifted and reformed continuously. It was Li Fan's subconscious pondering and comprehension at work. Li Fan's core self was like a general seated at the center of an army camp, calmly and orderly watching the evolution of his comprehension of the method unfold in his mind. His thoughts were exceptionally clear, everything firmly within his grasp. It gave Li Fan the fleeting illusion that he held pearls of supreme wisdom, capable of calculating everything under heaven. The deeply profound *Wondrous Profound True Spirit Transformation* no longer seemed so difficult in his eyes. He even had mental bandwidth left over to contemplate his subsequent plans. ... While Li Fan's true body was diligently cultivating, in front of the black stele of the Protector Hall at the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals headquarters... Han Yi finally walked out, high-spirited and beaming with vigor. "Congratulations, Fellow Daoist. One look tells me that Brother Han gained quite a lot this time!" Li Fan was the first to open his eyes, speaking with a smile. "Haha, it was alright, it was alright." Though Han Yi reined in his expression slightly, the joy on his face could not be concealed no matter how he tried. "However, once you leave the Alliance headquarters, you must still be cautious, Fellow Daoist. Cultivators across the world now know you possess a Dao Integration method..." Li Fan kindly reminded him. Hearing this, Han Yi's expression turned solemn at once. He cupped his hands toward Li Fan and said, "Rest assured, Fellow Daoist. Naturally, I understand this truth." Just then, Ximen Yue's voice also rang out: "To speak such words shows that Brother Xiao Fan is someone truly worth befriending!" Han Yi also nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. Li Fan simply gave a faint smile and did not pursue the compliment, asking instead, "What are the two of you planning to do from here?" Ximen Yue scratched his head and said, "I don't have any long-term plans. My current thought is to stay in Tianquan City for now and cultivate this method to completion before doing anything else." "What about you, Brother Xiao Fan?" he asked in return. Li Fan glanced at Han Yi beside him, chuckled, and said, "Earlier, I heard Brother Han mention that he obtained a wondrous treasure like the Tiandu Feathering Pill from the Blue Feather Legacy Treasure, which made me curious about Yuandao Province." "Having nothing pressing to attend to right now, I plan to go to Yuandao Province to try my luck. Who knows, perhaps I might stumble upon a lucky find." Ximen Yue could not help expressing surprise: "Immortal Venerable Blue Feather fell so long ago. Surely all of those Blue Feather Legacy Treasures have long been snatched clean?" Hearing that, Han Yi could not resist chiming in: "Not necessarily. Strange as it sounds, even though eight years have passed since the Immortal Venerable's fall, new Blue Feather Treasure Boxes still pop up from time to time in Yuandao Province. And they aren't anyone's prank either—they all contain treasures of substantial value." "So if Brother Xiao Fan truly wishes to try his luck, there's no harm in going." "There's really such a bizarre thing?" Ximen Yue stroked his chin, his face full of perplexity. Li Fan smiled at Han Yi and said, "I don't expect to have good fortune like Brother Han's. For me, being able to find just one Blue Feather Treasure Box would already be a tremendous stroke of luck." Han Yi hastily said, "No need to be modest, Fellow Daoist. In my view, your fortune is also far beyond ordinary..." Halfway through the sentence, Han Yi stopped abruptly, looking rather embarrassed. Li Fan's heart stirred slightly, but he did not press the matter. Instead, he took the initiative to ease the awkwardness: "What about you, Brother Han?" Han Yi hesitated for a moment before answering, "Tianyu Province is fine, but it isn't a place where I should linger." "I..." His eyes narrowed slightly, as though lost in thought. A few breaths later, he answered resolutely, "I'm still going back to Yuandao Province." Li Fan and Ximen Yue exchanged a glance, both wearing inscrutable expressions. Yet the two maintained an unspoken tacit understanding and did not pry. Ximen Yue looked at Li Fan and Han Yi, teasing, "Then can't the two of you keep each other company on the road?" Li Fan gave a slight nod, while Han Yi nodded as well. "Naturally." While the three were chatting, the black-robed cultivator who had guided them finally recovered from his statue-like state. "Alright, since business is concluded, do not delay. I shall escort you out." The three quickly ceased their idle chatter and followed the black-robed cultivator back the way they came. As they transformed into beams of light once more and traveled downward toward the exit, the sharp-eyed Li Fan noticed that on a certain floating landmass beneath the Protector Hall, roughly a hundred young cultivators had gathered for some reason. Some even looked to be mere children of around ten years old. This group clearly did not belong to the personnel of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals headquarters. Li Fan could not resist asking the black-robed cultivator, "Senior, what is that place?" The black-robed cultivator evidently understood what Li Fan was asking about and casually replied, "That is the Museum of Divine Archives." "What is preserved inside are historical items of commemorative value."