Old Sun frowned slightly. "It's best not to spread groundless rumors."
"No matter what, they are great warriors who died gloriously for the Immortal Alliance. How could the higher-ups allow shameless scoundrels to desecrate their corpses?"
The lazy cultivator was slightly unconvinced. "How is it groundless rumors? I saw it with my own eyes!"
"That kid Zhang Debiao, backed by the Alliance's appointment, brought a gang to openly collect corpses. But the storage rings on their bodies, the dharma treasures that could still be used—weren't they all quietly pocketed by them?"
"I even heard that the remnants of Golden Cores and grotto-heaven fragments inside the corpses were all dug out by those people!"
"You came off the battlefield too. The battle of Tianling Province was so horrific; those corpses were almost all shattered and mangled. How else could they recover them? Don't they just burn everything clean with a single fire, leaving only a bit of ash as proof? Who could ever find out?"
"As the saying goes, if the people don't complain, the officials don't inspect. Ordinary cultivators are almost all solitary souls. When they're dead, they're dead. Who really cares..."
The lazy cultivator rambled on recklessly, while beside him, Old Sun's face gradually darkened.
Suddenly feeling a chill rise up his back, the lazy cultivator saw Old Sun's expression. For some reason, his heart shuddered, and he subconsciously shut his mouth.
Not until the other man's gaze finally drifted away did the lazy cultivator secretly breathe a sigh of relief, feeling as if a great weight had been lifted.
Used to being around him day to day, he had almost forgotten the legends surrounding this man.
Old Sun was named Sun Qi.
Though on the surface he was just like the other guards, a Golden Core cultivator, and usually very affable and seemingly honest and simple, Sun Qi was truly a ruthless man.
He was a native cultivator of Tianling Province and had been conscripted at the very start of the great war.
Whether by luck or some other reason, while countless Nascent Soul cultivators had perished in the war, he, a mere Golden Core, had tenaciously survived through it all.
Those who fought their way out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood always possessed a chilling aura. Usually kept hidden, once truly angered, it struck terror into others. Seeing this, the lazy cultivator tactfully stopped provoking this formidable man.
Meanwhile, hiding in the sky and observing in secret, Li Fan saw Sun Qi's gaze sweep faintly past where he was concealed.
His interest in this man grew even deeper.
Instantly activating Formless Killing Intent, he locked onto him.
Seeing Sun Qi look suspicious and uncertain, abruptly leaping up to inspect his surroundings only to find nothing, Li Fan smiled faintly in his heart.
Leaving him be for the moment, Li Fan quietly flew off toward a collapsed mountain range filled with dead silence, looking as though it had been crushed from the sky by someone.
As usual, he dug deep underground to excavate a secret chamber.
After sealing it, Li Fan closed his eyes and checked his status.
Name: Li Fan
Realm: Early Nascent Soul
Physiological Age: 31/999 (Heaven's Spite)
Psychological Age: 1332/9999
Reversion Charging Progress: 200%
Anchor Charging Progress: 0%
Current Anchors: 3
Currently Usable Anchors: 1
Bound Items: Golden Chapter of Thousand Mechanisms and the Jade Cosmos, Taiyan Boat, Step-Halting Broken Stele (Damaged), Essence-Blood of Ten Thousand, Dao Transformation Stone
Cultivation Techniques: Xuanhuang Heart-Refining Incantation, Cloud Water Illusory Dream Technique, Path of Bodily Transformation, Wondrous Profound True Spirit Transformation, Furnace of Myriad Manifestations Technique, Creation Furnace Technique, Mountain-Sitting Art
Divine Abilities: Chaos, Reverse Five Elements Creation and Annihilation Sword, Life-Death Interlink, Formless Killing Intent, Insect Binding, Single Sword of Congyun, Heaven-Overturning Palm
...
"Phew!"
Li Fan gently exhaled a breath of turbid air.
He felt vast, pure vitality surging from every corner of his body, nourishing his flesh.
His spiritual energy was unbroken and boundless.
In his dantian, where his Golden Core had once rested, the outlines of five mutually reflecting grotto-heavens were faintly visible.
"So this is the Nascent Soul realm. A single breakthrough turns heaven and earth upside down!"
To test the difference between now and his Golden Core stage, Li Fan immediately brought out the strongest divine ability currently at his disposal.
Using his hand as a brush, he wrote in midair while sensing the changes in his body.
Writing the upper-left part of the character "Chaos," he still had strength to spare.
A continuous stream of spiritual power and vitality surged from the grotto-heavens, supporting the consumption of casting the Chaos technique and preventing his body from collapsing.
Li Fan continued writing, completing half in an instant.
In the underground secret chamber, the surrounding soil was affected, rising into the air and vibrating ceaselessly, dense and packed like ranks of mortal soldiers.
Looking closely, the vibrational frequency of every single grain was actually completely different.
Seemingly in unison, they were actually in chaos of their own.
Li Fan narrowed his eyes. Then, his finger suspended in the air suddenly paused.
"Now I understand."
"Stepping into the Nascent Soul realm, I no longer need to worry about bodily damage. I can finally unleash this killing move in its entirety."
"However, I still cannot use it consecutively without restraint, otherwise..."
Li Fan sensed the slightly trembling Five Elements Grotto-Heavens within his body, and a look of gravity flashed across his eyes.
"The might of the character 'Chaos' is truly terrifying."
"As the caster, possessing the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens, even I suffer such backlash. An ordinary Nascent Soul would likely have their Nascent Soul grotto-heaven collapse immediately upon coming into contact with even a trace of it."
"I wonder if a Soul Formation cultivator could withstand me."
The Chaos formula had been comprehended by Li Fan in the Lost Domain of the white mist.
It was exceedingly profound; as his cultivation rose, Li Fan felt all the more how extraordinary this single character "Chaos" was.
"Even my clumsy, inferior imitation has such power."
"I truly wonder just how terrifying the real Chaos technique is."
"It seems to have already exceeded the limits of power an ordinary cultivator can grasp. Could it be..."
Li Fan frowned, falling into silent contemplation.
After a moment, suppressing the thought for now, he focused his gaze on the [Reverse Five Elements Creation and Annihilation Sword] on the [True Reversion] divine ability panel.
The [Reverse Five Elements Creation and Annihilation Sword] was the divine ability Li Fan had comprehended after observing the [Root of Heaven and Earth] weave the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens and combining that with the scene of the convergence of the five elements in his previous life.
Incorporating the essence of the [Great Five Elements Oblivion Sword], it not only possessed tremendous destructive power capable of obliterating everything, but could also create vitality out of nothingness.
Li Fan casually drew into his palm a crawling insect nearby that had been caught in the aftershocks of the Chaos technique and was already on the verge of death.
A gentle, milky-white light surged from his palm.
Moments later, bathed in the white light, the insect miraculously regained its vitality.
Struggling to right itself, it hurriedly flew from Li Fan's hand.
Ignoring the lucky bug that had escaped death, Li Fan mused, "Reviving from near death is merely a minor trick. Other medical arts can easily achieve that as well."
"The real marvel of the [Reverse Five Elements Creation and Annihilation Sword] lies in creation."
Taking a spirit stone from his storage ring, he held it in his left hand.
His right hand, meanwhile, continuously emitted radiance.
Nearly half a day later, when the light faded, a spirit stone that looked identical to the one in his left hand slowly appeared.
Chapter 582