Watching Li Fan depart as though riding the clouds and mist, the youths suddenly came to their senses, realizing there had been neither deception nor exaggeration in Immortal Master He's words, and one after another felt a pang of shame.
"Those who enter the spirit pool first receive more spirit liquid. Go on, hurry," Immortal Master He said, his expression softening as he addressed the gathered youths.
With that, the youths scrambled, vying with one another to rush toward the sea of clouds.
...
Surrounded by the dense sea of clouds, Li Fan only felt that he had lost all sense of direction.
The white clouds around him converged toward him endlessly, growing thicker and thicker.
In a matter of moments, they coalesced into white spirit liquid, enveloping Li Fan completely.
Submerged in the spirit liquid, Li Fan felt no sense of suffocation; instead, an incomparable warmth and comfort washed over him.
Like an unborn child resting in a mother's womb, Li Fan's mind gradually relaxed completely.
A gentle, bubbling warmth flowed across every inch of his skin, burrowing into his pores and entering his body.
His entire body, along with his soul, felt as though steeped in warm water, nearly drawing a groan of pure comfort from him.
Immediately after, however, the warmth turned to searing heat.
The searing heat became scalding.
The scalding heat became a blazing inferno.
Caught completely off guard, Li Fan let out a wail of agony.
In that single instant, he lost control of his body.
He felt only magma-like thermal currents coursing and ravaging unchecked through him, tearing and boring into every single nerve.
Such agony was truly beyond human endurance. Li Fan almost called out to [True Reversion] by reflex, yet he gritted his teeth and forced himself to hold back.
"Three hundred years of bitter searching—was it not all for this very moment?"
"No matter what, I will never give up."
"I want to cultivate immortality! I want eternal life!"
Li Fan's consciousness fractured under the excruciating torment, yet a singular obsession sustained him, keeping him from breaking completely.
The thermal currents cycled and circulated through his body, seemingly without end.
With each cycle, the destruction and the agony deepened by a degree.
Eventually, the torment reached a point that defied description.
The pain was like a blade, slicing his soul a thousand times and then a thousand times more, boundless and ceaseless.
No matter how unyielding Li Fan's will was, before agony of this magnitude, it inevitably began to lose its power to resist.
Little by little, Li Fan's consciousness grew drifting and ethereal.
His mind began to disperse.
Even at this moment, the obsession in Li Fan's heart drove him to hold on, never activating [True Reversion].
His awareness faded into near-total blankness.
Cultivating immortality, eternal life, purging the miasma, the spirit pool, Liuli Island, wonders of heaven and earth, True Reversion...
Every single one of these thoughts slowly drifted away as Li Fan's consciousness sank into quietude.
Instinct supplanted self-awareness, and the *Xuanhuang Mind-Clearing Incantation*, which Li Fan had cultivated almost without pause day and night ever since arriving on Liuli Island, began to circulate naturally of its own accord.
As the Mind-Clearing Incantation circulated, Li Fan's consciousness seemed to find an anchor, coalescing and strengthening anew.
Though he still remained in an unfeeling, senseless stupor, he had become like a coastal reef, standing resolute and unyielding no matter how fierce the winds or high the waves.
...
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Of the thirteen people who had entered the Purifying Spirit Pool, twelve had already emerged.
Among the twelve, only four had succeeded in purging the miasma from their bodies. The remaining eight had been unable to endure the excruciating pain, resulting in failure.
As for the one person who had yet to appear, that was naturally Li Fan.
Sensing the faint, elusive aura within the spirit pool formation array, He Zhenghao grew increasingly astonished.
As the cultivator presiding over the spirit pool formation array, he knew all too well what kind of torment mortals had to endure when the immortal-mortal miasma was uprooted from their bodies.
The immortal-mortal miasma ran deep within a mortal's bloodline, coexisting with flesh and blood from the moment the fetus took shape.
As a mortal grew, the immortal-mortal miasma became increasingly inseparable from their flesh.
This Purifying Spirit Pool formation array had been created by Heavenly Venerable Dongji, one of the leaders of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
It purged the miasma by thoroughly destroying the physical body, then used the power of regeneration to reshape it.
This cycle repeated until all the miasma within the body was expelled.
The older a person was, the harder it was to sever the miasma from their flesh and blood.
Consequently, more cycles of destruction and reconstruction were required to eradicate the immortal-mortal miasma completely.
The suffering endured throughout this process was unimaginable!
He Zhenghao had presided over the formation on Liuli Island for more than fifty years, and the oldest person he had ever seen endure to complete the cleansing was merely thirty-one.
For someone of Li Fan's age, He Zhenghao had believed there was no hope of success at all.
Yet now, Li Fan's performance had vastly exceeded his expectations.
*The unyielding strength of this man's will is simply appalling. If he manages to complete the body purification, reaching the Foundation Establishment stage will certainly be no trouble at all, and perhaps even the Golden Core...* He Zhenghao's eyes flickered. *Perhaps I should forge a good bond with him early on.*
With that in mind, He Zhenghao sent the others out of the formation array first, remaining behind inside to wait for Li Fan alone.
Another three days passed. Seeing that Li Fan still had not emerged, He Zhenghao was left practically speechless with shock.
Had he not still been able to sense Li Fan's steady life aura within the formation, He Zhenghao would have rushed inside long ago.
At present, however, he had no choice. The purification array could not be recklessly interrupted, so he could only continue to wait.
...
Another three days went by.
He Zhenghao's expression grew rather unsightly. He wondered just what kind of monster he had encountered to actually endure for this long in the Purifying Spirit Pool formation array.
Worse still, the materials maintaining the formation's operation were running out.
If the materials ran dry, the formation would be forcibly terminated, which would lead to unpredictable consequences and might very well undo all previous efforts.
Under normal circumstances, even if the formation stopped now, it would only count as Li Fan's bad luck and have nothing to do with He Zhenghao.
Yet when he thought of Li Fan's terrifyingly resolute will, He Zhenghao's expression shifted repeatedly.
"Forget it, forget it. Consider it a gamble that this kid will achieve something extraordinary in the future!"
With that, He Zhenghao formed hand seals, and item after item flew out from his storage ring, disappearing into the depths of the cloud sea.
"Good thing I quietly keep a portion of these materials for myself every time..." He Zhenghao muttered, aching with regret as he looked at his storage ring, which was now nearly half empty.
...
Two more days passed before the churning sea of clouds finally began to calm.
The white clouds danced, gathering together to deliver Li Fan back to the mountain summit.
Sweeping his divine sense across and seeing that no miasma remained in Li Fan's body, He Zhenghao finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Congratulations, young friend! From this day forth, all shackles are cast aside, and eternal life is within reach!" He Zhenghao said with great warmth.
Feeling better physically than ever before, Li Fan was still adjusting to his brand-new body.
Seeing Immortal Master He's sudden change in attitude, he felt somewhat puzzled.
Although he had purged the immortal-mortal miasma from his body, he had not yet formally begun cultivating and was still merely a mortal after all.
Why was this man being so polite to him?
Li Fan looked at He Zhenghao with an inquiring gaze.
He Zhenghao understood immediately and told him that he had stayed in the Purifying Spirit Pool for a full eight days.
"What? I was inside for that long?"
Now Li Fan was genuinely astonished.
"Indeed. My young friend, you have no idea—the formation materials were about to run out long ago. It was only because I paid heavily out of my own pocket to add another batch for you..." He Zhenghao said, taking credit for his contribution.
At this moment, Li Fan's heart was shaken to its core.
It was not because of He Zhenghao's 'selfless sacrifice,' but because he discovered that an additional cultivation technique had appeared on his [True Reversion] panel.
It was not the *Xuanhuang Mind-Clearing Incantation* he had been cultivating all this time.
It was the *Xuanhuang Heart-Refining Incantation*.
Chapter 40