Yet Li Fan knew of a method to completely ice-seal it.
After the Tianling Flower went extinct, many techniques that had originally been kept strictly secret gradually spread.
Its name was the "Collection Among Flowers," which thoroughly sealed the Tianling Flower inside a painting through artistic techniques.
The original "Collection Among Flowers" had not been created specifically for the Tianling Flower.
Rather, it had been conceived to paint every blossom under heaven.
The author of the Collection Among Flowers was named Zhao Chong, a man whose love for flowers was bordering on obsession.
He swore an oath to behold every flower in the world.
Thus, he intended to use brush and ink to record every flower across the mortal realm.
Alas, his personal talent in the Dao of painting was thoroughly mediocre.
The paintings he produced differed from the real things like clouds and mud.
They were "a blasphemy against real flowers."
Racking his brains, he struck out on a new path and came up with this "painting" method of directly sealing the physical object itself.
Though it lacked some of the spirit and grace of brush and ink, it was vividly lifelike and incomparably authentic.
However, in his previous life, the Collection Among Flowers Zhao Chong compiled did not contain a Tianling Flower.
This was because the man had long heard of the Tianling Flower's renowned beauty and believed the most magnificent should be saved for last.
So he had continually delayed taking up his brush.
Not until after the great battle of Tianling Province, when the magnificent scenery of Tianling was no more, did he regret it bitterly, weeping and lamenting his remorse to anyone he met.
***
At this moment, Li Fan tucked the wooden box containing the Tianling Flower into his robe and continued pretending to browse around the shop.
Only upon noticing the shopkeeper's hostile glare did he depart with apparent chagrin.
Leaving the shop, Li Fan went to the Dao Discussion Tower in the city and rented a room.
Through the Heavenly Profound Mirror, he purchased three items: Ice Droplet Dew, As-Form Capture, and Thousand-Color Silk.
Though none was particularly precious, they almost entirely depleted the contribution points Li Fan had on hand.
Taking out the seventeen-petaled Tianling Flower, he set it atop the Thousand-Color Silk.
Then he soaked it with the Ice Droplet Dew.
Seeing frost gradually rise along the petals, he pressed down the As-Form Capture.
Li Fan steadily carried out the procedure according to the method for creating the Collection Among Flowers described by Zhao Chong in his previous life.
From the Thousand-Color Silk, beams of hundreds and thousands of different colors burst forth.
The light passed through the Tianling Flower and was cast onto the As-Form Capture. Like weaving thread through a needle, it bound the ice-sealed Tianling Flower together with the Thousand-Color Silk and the As-Form Capture.
The brilliance gradually dimmed, and soon, a transparent "sheet of paper" as thin as a cicada's wing appeared in Li Fan's hand.
Though it felt completely flat to the touch, to the eye it was identical to a blooming flower in the flesh.
The scenery upon each of the seventeen petals was distinctly visible.
One could even see the entire flower trembling ever so slightly.
"That will do."
Li Fan breathed a sigh of relief.
"The last thing to do is mount a layer of divine sense protection on the outside to prevent malicious damage.
"No rush for that, though."
Looking at the "painting" in his hands, Li Fan knew that before long, it would become a one-of-a-kind treasure across the entire Xuanhuang Realm.
When that time came, its value would be immeasurable.
Wealth was secondary; what mattered most was having that unique spectacle.
It would be enough to accomplish things that contribution points alone could never achieve.
Li Fan smiled faintly and admired it with satisfaction for a moment longer before solemnly putting it away.
Leaving the Dao Discussion Tower, he loitered around Tianling City for another three days.
On this day, cries of alarm suddenly rang out across Tianling City.
"Look at the sky!"
Hearing the shout, Li Fan looked up and finally witnessed the scene he had long been anticipating.
A rolling black mire, like towering storm clouds, blotted out the sky and sun.
It seemed to possess infinite might, but inside, it was already parched, its vitality utterly drained.
At the same time, a passage of text surfaced in Li Fan's mind:
"Dao Integration cultivator Long Jiuyuan, having cultivated the Dao for a total of two hundred and eighty-six years, achieved his Dao Foundation with the Red Dragon Molt, and formed his Golden Core through four dharmas: Submerged Potential, Soaring Dragon, Law Breaking, and Death Battle.
"He swallowed the Hundred Abysses Grotto-Heaven to achieve Nascent Soul, and extracted the Tianling Thousand Waters About to Be Born to transform his spirit into Soul Formation.
"He offered the Soul of the Black Mire to integrate his body with the Dao.
"In the lands of Tianling Province, he was grievously wounded by cultivator Xu Huating.
"His body perishes and his Dao is extinguished; returning the Dao to heaven!"
...
"It really is him." A sharp glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes.
With the fall of a Dao Integration cultivator, a great war had become inevitable.
Soon, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals would issue a proclamation of war readiness.
When that time came, the borders of every province would be locked down.
Before that happened, he had to get far away from this vortex of trouble and return to the Congyun Sea, which had remained relatively peaceful during the battle of Tianling Province.
While the other cultivators stood frozen in shock, Li Fan had already quietly stepped into the teleportation array.
Only after Li Fan's figure vanished completely did voices begin rising one after another throughout Tianling City.
"Long Jiuyuan? When did he achieve Dao Integration?"
"Wait, no! How did he die?!"
"And who is Xu Huating? To actually be able to kill a Dao Integration cultivator?!"
"The Long clan's most promising junior has fallen just like that. There's going to be quite a show to watch now!"
...
Recovering from their shock, the crowd across Tianling Province broke into shouts of disbelief.
A colossal storm, centered upon Tianling Province, was sweeping toward the entire Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
Not long after.
In the Congyun Sea.
He Zhenghao had been staring fixedly at the prices of the supplies they had hoarded earlier, trembling with terror and breaking into a cold sweat over even the slightest price fluctuation.
Suddenly, he heard the crisp, mechanical voice of the Heavenly Profound Mirror:
"As of this moment, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals enters Grade B war preparedness state.
"Protective grand formations across all provincial territories are fully activated.
"All cultivators are forbidden from interprovincial movement.
"All personnel within the Alliance system must return to provincial cities as soon as possible to await orders.
"Any foreign cultivators discovered shall be executed on the spot, without exception."
...
The broadcast repeated three times before falling silent.
He Zhenghao froze at first, then his eyes went wide, and he sprang to his feet in shock.
The Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals was going to war with the Five Elders Association?
Fear welled up unbidden in his heart. Just as He Zhenghao was about to contact Gao Yuan to discuss countermeasures, something suddenly crossed his mind.
His expression shifted drastically, and he hurriedly looked down at the prices of the materials displayed on the Lesser Heavenly Profound Mirror.
The reactions of speculative merchants were always astonishingly sharp.
While the vast majority of cultivators in the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals were still reeling in shock over the impending war, the prices of the supplies Li Fan had ordered He Zhenghao to stockpile—Tianyu Pills, standard-issue Tiangang Armor, Shenwu Thunder, Hundred Battles Formation Diagrams—were already surging dramatically.
And not just the items on that list.
Within the Heavenly Profound Mirror, the price of anything related to preserving life or fighting in battle experienced an across-the-board surge.
For everyone knew that with the current stockpile of these goods, it could never withstand a buying frenzy by cultivators.
With a great war imminent, who could guarantee they wouldn't be sent to the battlefield?
A little extra protection and preparation meant one more chance to survive.
Compared to one's life, what did a few contribution points matter?
Even if the price doubled, cultivators would obediently foot the bill.
...
In a flash of insight, He Zhenghao figured it out as well.
"My Lord's foresight is truly unfathomable!"
Watching the prices of the materials surge wildly, He Zhenghao felt both joy and terror.
The joy naturally came from the fact that the hundred million contribution points' worth of supplies hoarded in his hands had already risen by a third in such a short time.
The terror was whether cornering the market and hoarding like this would bring down punishment from the Alliance.
Chapter 558