Lost at Outpost Jiaxu

Inside Outpost Jiaxu, Li Fan studied the Golden Board rankings projected from the Lesser Heavenly Profound Mirror. "This Guo Yezhong is quite an intriguing fellow. If he doesn't have some special reason, then he's openly slacking off under everyone's watchful eyes. It's practically a barefaced slap in the face to the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals." Recalling Guo Yezhong from the intensive training back then, he had looked completely unremarkable. "If this man still has zero points by the time the competition ends, I'll respect him as a real man." Faint murmurs of resentful whispering suddenly echoed in his ears once more. After over a year of being tempered by it, Li Fan had long since grown accustomed to it. Without batting an eye, he lit a glazed lamp inside the room. An uncanny black flame flared to life, and in an instant, the eerie noises from the abyss vanished without a trace. "This Extinction Glazed Lamp really is useful," Li Fan couldn't help praising as he once again enjoyed the rare silence. The Extinction Glazed Lamp was a new type of sound-dampening treasure delivered by the Martial Practice Hall two months ago. It originated from Piaomiao Province in the west. Once the Extinction Primer Cord within the lamp was ignited, it produced a black flame that reduced all surrounding sounds to nothingness. Simple to use and extraordinarily effective. Furthermore, unlike other exotic treasures that risked mutating after absorbing too much demonic sound, this glazed lamp was entirely unaffected until it burned out completely. When not in use, it could even be extinguished to prolong its lifespan. Among all sound-dampening treasures, the Extinction Glazed Lamp was considered the most outstanding. Unfortunately, the key component, the Extinction Primer Cord, reportedly required specialized processing techniques, had a long production cycle, and was extremely precious. Thus, only formation masters like Li Fan and Xue Mu were equipped with one to carry at all times. As for the Qingxuan troops, they would only take them out to weather crises. Yet Li Fan lighting the Extinction Glazed Lamp now was not a matter of squandering resources. Ever since the demonic sound tide of the Chizha Abyss erupted abruptly fifteen days ago, Outpost Jiaxu had lost contact with the other outposts as well as the Eternal Immortal Bastion. Communication talismans, spell transmissions, and even the Heavenly Profound Mirror were unable to connect with the outside world. In fact, the rankings Li Fan had just been browsing out of boredom were merely data frozen before the surge broke out. According to Leng Yingyi—the veteran Qingxuan soldier and Nascent Soul cultivator guarding him—the ferocious might of this tide was something seen only once a century. Based on Leng Yingyi's experience, the duration of a demonic sound tide was nearly proportional to its power. The sudden eruption of the tide had caught everyone off guard. The supplies within the outpost, including the Black Death Talismans essential for surviving within the Essence-Devouring White Mist, were running dangerously low and desperately needed replenishing. Therefore, fulfilling his duty, Leng Yingyi took three subordinates and risked perishing to return to the Eternal Immortal Bastion for supplies during a lull after the demonic sound tide's initial surge. Yet, to this day, he had not returned. Although Li Fan found it a bit baffling why a once-in-a-century tide just had to cross his path, judging by the current situation, the interior of the outpost was still relatively safe, so there was no need to panic. The only problem was that under the dual influence of the sound tide and the white mist, not only communications but even spiritual energy had become chaotic. One could not focus their mind. If one forced themselves to circulate techniques, the spiritual energy would surge erratically within the body, injuring one's qi and blood. Unable to cultivate, the habitually diligent Li Fan was left with nothing to do. He had also tried activating the ritual to enter the Fallen Immortal Realm. Yet amid this white mist, the connection to the Fallen Immortal Realm was far too tenuous. Several attempts had failed, instead leaving Li Fan's divine soul shuddering and his head spinning with dizziness. So he had no choice but to give up. The only way to pass the time was shooting the breeze and chatting about anything and everything with the other cultivators in the outpost. Yet as the days passed, seeing the outpost's supplies dwindle and still no sign of Leng Yingyi returning, everyone's hearts grew heavier, and casual chatter gradually faded away. The black flame flickered uncertainly, constantly dancing. It cast a somber hue across Li Fan's face. *Could it be that this lifetime ends right here?* After lingering here for so long, this thought could not help occasionally surfacing in his mind. Taking a deep breath, he habitually circulated the Xuanhuang Heart-Refining Incantation to suppress his stray thoughts. With nothing else to do anyway, Li Fan pondered for a moment and simply resolved to devote all his focus to cultivating this Heart-Refining Incantation. Ever since his cultivation had achieved some success, circulating the Xuanhuang Heart-Refining Incantation had become as instinctive to him as breathing. Yet wholehearted contemplation and cultivation was still different from passive, instinctive practice after all. This was also the first time in a very long while that Li Fan had earnestly practiced the Heart-Refining Incantation again. Back when he was still a mortal, the Heart-Clearing Incantation had been his hope of breaching the divide between immortal and mortal. Therefore, he could forget food and sleep, persevering in bitter cultivation for years. Yet once he broke through to the Qi Condensation stage and the Heart-Clearing Incantation transformed into the Heart-Refining Incantation, its utility became vague. It could not increase his cultivation base in the slightest; its only apparent function was suppressing and crushing stray thoughts in his mind. In today's cultivation world, where cultivation did not place much emphasis on temperament and state of mind, it was practically useless. Moreover, Li Fan's mental fortitude was already exceptionally resilient, so he almost never suffered trouble from inner demons. Thus, to Li Fan, the Heart-Refining Incantation's value was all the more negligible. If not for his intuition and its ranking as the first technique listed on True Reversion's interface, which implicitly demonstrated the incantation's worth, Li Fan might have abandoned it long ago. After all, no matter how formidable a dragon-slaying art might be, if there were no dragons in the world to begin with, it was merely wasted effort, not worth squandering time on. Yet at this moment, after Li Fan set everything else aside again and immersed himself in refining his heart, a glimmer of insight gradually began to dawn on him. "Refining the heart, refining the heart..." "How to refine it, I already know like the back of my hand." "Yet what it should be refined into, and what the ultimate purpose is, I haven't the slightest clue." "Perhaps that is also why my progress in the Heart-Refining Incantation has lingered and stalled incomplete all these years." "What is it refined for?" ... This question was perhaps too profound. Even Li Fan, who considered his own comprehension rather sharp, found himself stumped for a time. Time slipped slowly by in this manner. Working behind closed doors had its limits. On the thirty-sixth day after the demonic sound tide erupted, unable to arrive at an answer, Li Fan simply halted his practice for the time being. He merely paced slowly through the outpost—listening, observing, sensing, and reflecting. Compared to a dozen days ago, certain subtle shifts had quietly taken place within Outpost Jiaxu in this short span of time. An enclosed environment, an uncertain future, and the demonic sound tide sweeping in from time to time. Dwindling survival supplies. While making each day drag on like a year for the outpost's cultivators, a nameless emotion also began quietly brewing in everyone's hearts. Though they had not yet reached the end of their rope, Li Fan, with his keen insight into human nature, noticed it immediately. "Apart from me, there are three Nascent Souls and six Golden Cores." "My cultivation base is the weakest, but if I play the pig to eat the tiger and wait to reap the spoils of the conflict, hiding away until the end shouldn't be a problem." This was the first thought that crossed Li Fan's mind.