When Li Fan made his entrance, that silvery starlight and the uncontrollable Great Dao rhythms radiating from him—which sparked fleeting insights in those around him—were naturally the combined effect of Humanity Stardust and Dao Comprehension Pills.
To achieve this, Li Fan had swallowed whole the piece of Humanity Stardust—previously meant to alter the mind of a beloved—along with more than a hundred Dao Comprehension Pills in a single gulp.
He had not sought to digest them; all he needed was the overflow of vibrations emanating from these treasures.
Judging by the results, the bluff had worked rather well.
As sum after sum of contribution points was pocketed into his coffers, he was confident that, barring any mishaps, this final fundraising initiative should proceed quite smoothly.
There was no need to remain here any longer, so Li Fan quietly departed.
Rather than returning to Congyun City, he went back to the secret chamber he had previously excavated in the depths of the ocean trench and hid himself away once more.
"Heaven and Earth Qiankun Die..."
Li Fan's eyes flickered, and the crystal-clear die appeared in his hand.
He turned it over and over in his fingers, thoughts churning through his mind.
What he had told the crowd earlier had not been entirely fabricated.
During the time he had spent communing with this ancient relic of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect, vague, hazy visions had indeed flickered through his mind from time to time.
Namely, the apocalyptic scene of a scorched wasteland spanning thousands of li, and the Congyun Sea reduced to dead silence.
Had an ordinary cultivator received such an inexplicable premonition, they would inevitably have been seized with terror and left at a complete loss.
Yet Li Fan felt no particular stir. After all, let alone mere deduced visions, he had witnessed with his own eyes the total annihilation wrought by Mo Sha—a force several times more terrifying.
To Li Fan, the Crimson Flame Burning the Sea was truly a small-scale spectacle.
The only point that piqued his interest was that the timing shown in the future visions sensed from the Heaven and Earth Qiankun Die was not Anchor Year 28, as he had experienced in previous lifetimes, but somewhat earlier.
Moreover, with each successive action he took in this lifetime, that point in time continued to shift earlier and earlier.
For instance, after he used a small scheme to successfully push Sikong Yi into completing the Heavenly Physician's task.
Or after the scheme took shape in his mind to have Han Yi incite a battle between the trio of Yufu, the Heavenly Physician, and the Master.
In each case, the vision of Crimson Flame Burning the Sea sensed from the Heaven and Earth Qiankun Die had been brought forward by a noticeably substantial margin.
Li Fan knew that the future never had only a single possibility.
Nor was there anything that was absolute and bound to happen.
Still, an earth-shattering event like the Crimson Flame Burning the Sea should not have been so easily altered by these actions of his.
Yet clearly, he might have underestimated the impact his actions had on the Crimson Flame Burning the Sea.
Why would an anima of Heaven and Earth slaughter living beings in the Congyun Sea?
Why was it that, even after Crimson Flame perished, the will of Heaven and Earth still refused to rest, dispatching the formidable Mo Sha to thoroughly reduce the Congyun Sea into a dead zone?
When Mo Sha struck, only nothingness would remain of the Congyun Sea. For Heaven and Earth, this was undoubtedly a mutually destructive act.
Even so, Heaven and Earth stubbornly insisted on doing it.
The Congyun Sea had to die.
This was something Li Fan had already realized during his very first few reincarnations.
Yet as to why, he had never been able to find the slightest clue.
In this lifetime, however, as he actively orchestrated encounters between the Heavenly Physician, the Master, and Yufu in the Congyun Sea, things began to shift.
According to the future visions reflected by the Heaven and Earth Qiankun Die, if the battle between the three truly took place...
...the Crimson Flame Burning the Sea event, which was originally not due until Anchor Year 28, would occur by Anchor Year 20 at the latest.
A full eight years earlier!
The battle between the Heavenly Physician and Yufu was something Li Fan had planned long ago.
He could not alter it simply because an inevitable catastrophe would arrive ahead of schedule.
That was also why Li Fan had scheduled this final fundraising initiative for the present moment.
Of course, all of this was still merely fragmented visions shown by the Heaven and Earth Qiankun Die.
A definitive conclusion could likely only be reached several years later, once events actually unfolded.
"If the Crimson Flame Burning the Sea truly arrives ahead of schedule because of the frequent activities of the Heavenly Physician and the others..."
"...then that gives plenty of food for thought."
A glint of profound light flickered in Li Fan's eyes.
He thought once more of the fragments of the Heaven Fiend Sword that were suppressed by various animas of Heaven and Earth across different places.
Having stepped into the Xuanhuang cultivation world across several reincarnations and browsed through countless ancient records, he could say that while he did not comprehend every nuance of the cultivation landscape in the Xuanhuang Realm, he understood a good seventy to eighty percent of it.
As far as he knew, ever since the new method was established, the contradiction between cultivators and Heaven and Earth had become irreconcilable.
Yet the way Heaven and Earth retaliated against cultivators was usually through altering its own inherent rules—such as decreeing that "dharmas cannot be cultivated concurrently"—to indirectly purge cultivators.
A catastrophe like the one in the Congyun Sea, where Heaven and Earth actively manifested overt killing intent... Li Fan had seen very few comparable cases.
Or perhaps relevant records had been concealed; at least for now, the only place Li Fan knew of was the Congyun Sea.
"What does this actually signify?"
A contemplative expression settled on Li Fan's face.
"I hope the Heavenly Physician and the others can shed some light on it for me in this lifetime."
-----
Less than a day after the gathering of cultivators on Liuli Island, cultivators throughout the entire Congyun Sea received confirmed news.
The previous rumors were no falsehood; the Master Secret Emissary, who had been in secluded cultivation for so long, had personally stepped forward to verify them.
And so, a massive frenzy ensued.
The legendary, high-return fundraising scheme—which in the past had only been open to cultivators with direct ties to Li Fan—was finally open for them to participate in as well.
A target of tripling one's investment in five years seemed unbelievable, but if it was steered by that legendary Heavenly Mechanism Sect cultivator, then it hardly seemed out of reach.
Cultivators rushed about spreading the word, heatedly debating just how many contribution points they should invest this time.
Even some deeply rational cultivators could not help wavering in the face of this universal fervor.
"Right now, I have a total of four hundred and fifty thousand contribution points in hand. If that triples..."
"That'll be over a million!"
Sikong Yi's heart surged with excitement.
"Daoist Han was right after all—the path of cultivation depends on connections! Without the opportunity he left behind to get close to He Zhenghao, who knows how long it would have taken me to earn a million!"
"Daoist Han, what a splendid death you died!"
With this thought, Sikong Yi hesitated not in the least, resolving to take another leap of faith and pour all his accumulated savings into this fundraising scheme.
"Such an opportunity comes once in a blue moon. Once missed, it won't come again. Turning my life around completely hinges on this!" A flicker of resolve flashed across his eyes.
Meanwhile, Han Yi, who had struck the jackpot in fish picking and was flush with a million contribution points, was currently in Yuandao Province.
"Li Fan of the Congyun Sea... tripling in five years?"
His interest was piqued.
Perhaps as a backlash from forcibly twisting his own fortune, nothing had gone right for him ever since he set foot in Yuandao Province.
His cultivation had barely progressed, whereas a chunk of his million contribution points had already been spent.
"Why not..."
A flicker of hesitation crossed Han Yi's eyes.
Chapter 575