"Physiological age: 882/899."
Without halting the work in his hands, Li Fan glanced at the True Reversion panel while continuing to set up the formation.
Relentless, selfless toil did not come without a price.
Once Li Fan broke out of that completely immersed, epiphany-like state of formation deployment, an uncontrollable wave of weakness welled up in his heart.
Under extreme strain, his physiological age had climbed rapidly.
Li Fan had now truly arrived at the end of his lifespan.
"It's time to rest."
The thought involuntarily surfaced in his mind.
Yet in the next instant, he seized upon it as prime material for the reverse cultivation of his Dao heart, forcibly suppressing all slackness and exhaustion.
"If I'm not ruthless with myself, how can I hope to attain transcendence in this peril-fraught cultivation world?"
Li Fan told himself silently. Then, rousing his spirits, he forced his aged body to burn the final moments of his life, resuming the work of laying out the formation.
The expressions and reactions of Yan Hang and the others below were entirely within Li Fan's expectations.
In truth, there had been no need for them to submit a report.
When Li Fan had used the Overseeing Heaven Record to submit his cross-regional work application to Qi Buyi earlier, he had already explained his current physical condition.
After attempting in vain to dissuade him, Qi Buyi had decisively granted Li Fan's request.
"Theoretically speaking, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals ought to extend my lifespan. But nothing is absolute, and I must be prepared in case the Alliance does not play by the rules."
"Fortunately, I have more than enough contribution points and one Transformation Longevity Fruit left. When necessary, whether by purchasing or trading, I can still obtain some lifespan-extending items to buy some time to wrap up this life."
...
After Yan Hang and his team submitted their report, it was like a stone dropped into the sea, stirring not the slightest ripple.
This left the five-man group deeply disappointed as well as baffled.
Li Fan himself, however, seemed entirely unaffected, which only deepened their admiration for him.
In this manner, amidst tranquil and uneventful days, another half year passed.
On this day, a sudden, violent upheaval shattered the peace of the Water Grotto-Heaven.
The azure water world began to shake violently without warning.
Caught completely off guard, Li Fan was forced to halt the formation setup.
He instinctively tried to observe what was happening around him, but felt as though heaven and earth were spinning; dizzy and disoriented, he could discern nothing.
Fortunately, Yan Hang and the others reacted with great speed.
The instant the sudden change occurred, they flew to Li Fan's side, retrieved various protective dharma treasures, and surrounded him at the center to shield him.
Within the barrier of layered radiant light, the impact of the external upheaval was finally somewhat shut out.
Only then could Li Fan clearly see what was transpiring within this water-attribute grotto-heaven.
The straight boundary separating water and wood now appeared squeezed by an immense force, distorting into undulating, wavy lines.
The water surface, placid for ten thousand years, was surging with monstrous waves that reached toward the sky, meeting the wood-attribute grotto-heaven intruding from above.
Amidst a tremendous grinding roar like rumbling thunder, the inverted colossal tree hanging above everyone's heads seemed to have drawn even closer.
A dense tangle of sharp branch tips extended downward ceaselessly. Upon touching the Water Grotto-Heaven, they broke and withered one after another.
Yet this only slightly slowed their rate of growth; they continued to pierce through the boundary between the two realms with resolute momentum.
The pure, gentle water-attribute spiritual energy of the world also began to turn turbulent.
Li Fan and the others solemnly watched the cataclysm unfolding in the grotto-heaven.
Meanwhile, Qi Buyi's warning had already arrived through the Overseeing Heaven Record.
"Do not panic, everyone. This is a sign of further progression in the convergence of the five elements."
"It is advancing even faster than we anticipated. It seems we must quicken our pace."
"Stay vigilant against potential changes brought about by the intersection of the two realms. If you encounter anything unusual, report it immediately."
...
Once the upheaval began, it showed no sign of stopping.
Human adaptability, however, was astonishingly formidable.
Before long, Li Fan and the others grew accustomed to working amid occasional surging waves and grinding roars.
For them, these disturbances affected their state of mind at most, posing no real danger.
The true danger came from the bizarre creations spawned during the fusion of the water and wood realms.
These were monsters formed when the withered, broken remains of the inverted colossal tree fell into the Water Grotto-Heaven and melded the two attributes of water and wood.
They came in varied shapes, their bodies composed entirely of withered, yellowed wood.
Deep blue water flowed ceaselessly across the surface of their wooden bodies, like blood running on the outside.
They were exceedingly aggressive and keenly sensitive to cultivators' auras.
Even across tens of thousands of li, they would instinctively seek out the nearest cultivator to attack.
The Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals had tried many tactics, but had yet to find a proper solution.
Battles thus became inevitable.
Although the bodies of these monsters resembled withered wood, their substance was unexpectedly hard.
Even a full-power strike from a Nascent Soul cultivator could leave only a shallow gouge on them.
Fortunately, their fighting style was crude and clumsy, and their numbers were relatively sparse.
Cultivators from the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals generally operated in groups of several people.
Relying on numerical superiority and suppression from superior equipment, they could dispatch the monsters without incident after expending some time.
After each battle, Yan Hang and his team would submit a detailed report of the combat via the Overseeing Heaven Record.
Having gathered vast amounts of data, the Alliance compiled key combat strategies against these monsters and pushed them to every cultivator.
Because different attributes fused across the various grotto-heavens, the monsters that appeared varied accordingly.
The wood-and-water-fused, wood-dominant monsters Li Fan and the others encountered were named "Fallen Wood."
Against the Fallen Wood, two types of arts were most effective.
The first was fire-attribute arts. Under blazing flames, the wood burned and the water boiled, reducing the Fallen Wood to ashes.
The second was separation-type arts.
By completely separating the blue water flowing over the Fallen Wood's surface from its body, the Fallen Wood would collapse on its own. In an instant, the horrifying, vicious monster would revert into pure wood and water qi.
Separation arts were not only effective against Fallen Wood, but also worked brilliantly against monsters of other blended attributes.
Regrettably, such arts were far too obscure, and exceedingly few cultivators had mastered them.
Everyone could only rely on conventional arts of various attributes.
Having synthesized these combat tactics, cultivators handled the monsters arising in the grotto-heaven with greater ease.
Unfortunately, most cultivators remained heavy-hearted.
On this day, another cluster of withered wooden debris fell, transforming into a misshapen, half-human, half-beast monstrosity that launched an attack toward Li Fan and his companions.
Yan Hang's group of five promptly stepped forward to engage it.
While laying out the formation, Li Fan observed the clash between the two sides.
"Compared to the first one we encountered, these Fallen Wood have made tremendous progress in their combat methods and technique."
"These individuals separated from the inverted tree seem to possess a collective consciousness."
Watching the intense battle not far away, Li Fan felt a secret chill.
"This is merely a fusion of two attributes, wood and water. If one more attribute, or even several more, are added, wouldn't these monsters become far more formidable?"
Chapter 383