This was already the sixth cup of spiritual tea Li Fan had downed in succession.
The tea was named Warm Spring Sun, costing eight hundred contribution points a cup.
It was said that the tea bushes had to be cultivated in a rainless grotto-heaven environment, planted facing the sun. Sprouting only once every three years, its yield was scarce. After drinking it, a warm current would surge through the body, leaving one feeling as if bathed in sunshine, an effect that lasted for several days.
Yet even such widely celebrated fine tea failed to dispel the chill in Li Fan's heart.
This was the third time Li Fan's true body had directly faced a genuine almighty powerhouse since stepping into the cycles of reincarnation in the Xuanhuang Realm.
The first time was when his avatar had been seen through by the Heavenly Physician, who followed the sensory link and barged straight into his private space in the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
The second time was when he had been in closed-door cultivation in Tianyu Province comprehending the Great Five Elements Oblivion Sword, and Old Man Yufu, drawn by the Heaven Fiend aura contained within, had abruptly materialized out of nowhere.
Yet this encounter, compared to the previous two, was far more flabbergasting and catching him off guard.
It was also far more perilous.
At least Old Man Yufu was mad and insensate, harboring no malice toward Li Fan; in fact, he had even gifted him a fortuitous opportunity.
As for the encounter with the Heavenly Physician, Li Fan had coveted the mission reward of a hundred thousand contribution points and taken the initiative to provoke him. Although he had not understood back then that one needed to restrain one's thoughts and spirit before an almighty powerhouse, leading the physician to discern a clue, at least Li Fan's self-awareness had remained lucid. With True Reversion protecting him, it had actually been a false alarm.
Only this time...
Daoist Xiumu had arrived abruptly beyond measure, impossible to guard against.
His methods were equally terrifying; even now, looking back, Li Fan felt a lingering dread from the bottom of his heart.
"Unlike the Heavenly Physician's methods of seeing through the human heart, Daoist Xiumu—or rather, Ruomu—can directly twist and alter a cultivator's thoughts and cognition.
"Yet the cultivator themselves will feel nothing abnormal...
"No wonder Daoist Xiumu claimed earlier that the cultivators whose Golden Cores were harvested were all 'willing.'"
Li Fan recalled his own thoughts and reactions at that moment, and another wave of chill rose in his chest.
He drank another cup of Warm Spring Sun to steady his nerves.
"Grieving for one's own kind is natural law.
"Yet after following him and witnessing the scene known as Simmering Mortal Longevity, not only did I feel neither danger nor sorrow, but I actually found it utterly reasonable.
"I even itched to take their place..."
Li Fan narrowed his eyes. Within his mind, the Dao Transformation Stone continually replayed the scenes from before Ruomu.
By now, Ruomu's influence had dissipated.
Even though Li Fan regarded all living beings under heaven as mere tools, seeing cultivators suspended from the branches like fruit still instinctively sent tremors through his heart.
Only that was the reaction a normal person ought to have.
"In Daoist Xiumu's presence, my outlook was distorted and seemed to be guided in a way that made it exceedingly extreme.
"One could say I became rather unhinged."
Li Fan would not deny that deep down, he might indeed harbor a trace of similar thoughts.
Yet a human being is inherently a complex aggregation of spirit and mind, at times even contradicting oneself.
One certainly could not mistake a fleeting thought crossing the mind for one's true worldview.
"This Daoist Xiumu is very wrong.
"He seems to harbor an intense hatred toward cultivators as a whole."
Naturally, Li Fan would not believe that with Ruomu's level of cultivation, trafficking Golden Cores was merely to earn contribution points.
Abducting cultivators into Simmering Mortal Longevity to become part of a production line was also secondary.
The primary objective was most likely to spread her ideology that 'cultivators can also be like fruit.'
Such heresy would never be tolerated by the cultivator community. The Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals would surely have corresponding surveillance and restrictions, which was why Daoist Xiumu could not operate openly.
"Revenge, is it...?" Li Fan's eyes flickered.
*Heaven and earth birth living beings; Ruomu shaves away their lifespans. Drawing life to form Longevity Fruits, consuming them grants longevity.*
During the moments his thoughts had been controlled by Ruomu, numerous scenes had continually surfaced in Li Fan's mind.
That was a towering colossal tree, completely different from the withered yellow tree of today.
Standing tall between heaven and earth, dripping with lush emerald green, overflowing with vitality.
No cultivators hung from it.
At the very tip of the branches, it bore only a few crystal-clear, wondrous fruits of mingled purple and gold.
On the surface of the fruits, one could faintly discern different patterns.
There were trees, mountains and rivers, and strange beasts.
The patterns upon the purple-gold fruits were all distinct from one another, with no repetition.
In the flashing scenes, Li Fan also saw that subsequently, humans occasionally visited.
Initially, they seemed to possess no cultivation, all dressed as mortals.
Only a tiny fraction of fortunate souls could laboriously climb to the treetops and successfully take away a purple-gold fruit.
Yet later, humans appeared more and more frequently.
Their power also grew stronger and stronger.
Some even scaled the towering colossal tree as if walking on flat ground.
Naturally, the number of purple-gold fruits harvested also increased.
Thus, Ruomu, which had originally let the outside world take from it at will, underwent changes accordingly.
Many spirits and monsters evolved and were born upon the tree to serve as a defense system, barring those who sought to take the fruits.
After that, peace finally returned to Ruomu for a long time.
Yet good times never lasted.
When humans returned once more, their strength had undergone an earth-shaking transformation.
Flocking in groups, dressed in bizarre garments, they could soar through the skies, burrow through the earth, and wield the energy in the air to battle.
The spirits Ruomu had spawned were utterly unable to withstand a single blow.
They occupied Ruomu, claiming it as their own.
They stationed guards, coming at regular intervals to harvest a set number of fruits.
...
"The Profound Heaven Sect?"
The style of clothing worn by those humans in the visions was very peculiar and easily recognizable.
It was remarkably similar to what was worn on the remains of the Profound Heaven Sect Dharma King Li Fan had previously seen in Senior Sister Zhao's illusion realm.
The Profound Heaven Sect ruled this place for countless long ages.
When the vision shifted once more, the ones appearing on Ruomu were cultivators from the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao.
"Longevity fruit status?"
Li Fan's gaze glanced across the segment of withered wood sitting on the table, a thought stirring in his mind.
He pondered for a long time, then resumed recalling.
During the period when the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao occupied Ruomu, the yield of purple-gold fruits at Ruomu's summit gradually dwindled for reasons unknown.
Each time someone came to harvest the fruits, they seemed to be cultivators from different sects.
After that, who knew how much more time passed...
On this day, dozens of cultivators exuding formidable auras suddenly barged in aggressively.
After easily striking down the guarding cultivators, they did not plunder the purple-gold fruits right away.
Instead, they looked at Ruomu before them, discussing something unknown.
The argument seemed exceptionally fierce.
Yet in the end, they still reached a consensus.
What followed in the vision made Li Fan's pupils abruptly contract.
They laid down a colossal formation, trapping and binding Ruomu within it.
Streaks of black chains, like long needles, plunged into various parts of the tree.
Subsequently, an endless stream of life essence was drawn out from it, converging into a green orb of light in midair.
Chapter 587