After the anomaly faded, Li Fan keenly sensed that some inexplicable change seemed to have occurred within him.
Yet after examining himself thoroughly, he still couldn't figure out what this change actually was.
Still, it likely wasn't a bad thing.
Li Fan simply set it aside for now, keeping mental note of the matter.
Orienting his current position, Li Fan realized that it slightly deviated from the location where he had appeared in the cultivation world in his previous life.
The difference wasn't great, however.
This place was closest to Liuli Island, so Li Fan decided to head there first.
After all, he had stayed on Liuli Island for a long time in his previous life and was relatively familiar with it.
Though the "good-natured" He Zhenghao harbored a bit of greed, he was reasonably dependable when handling matters.
Compared to strangers, Li Fan still preferred dealing with acquaintances to minimize uncertain factors as much as possible.
Having chosen his direction, Li Fan did not pilot the Taiyan Boat; instead, he formed a hand seal for the Wind Riding Technique and flew toward Liuli Island.
The identity he currently intended to play was an itinerant cultivator of the Congyun Sea who, by sheer stroke of luck, had cultivated to the late Qi Condensation stage.
Unable to find the method to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, he sought to join the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
In the present cultivation world, an itinerant cultivator's life could be described as exceedingly harsh.
Unlike members of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals and the Five Elders Association, who possessed established channels to acquire cultivation methods, itinerant cultivators seeking a method often had to risk their lives exploring the ruins of various ancient sects.
Not only did they have to face the bizarre anomalies and traps within the ruins, but they also had to stay wary of peers covetously watching for an opportunity.
A single misstep led to death and the end of one's cultivation path.
Yet the reason these itinerant cultivators refused to join the two great organizations even under such conditions was simply that they were unwilling to be controlled by others and risk their lives at another's behest.
For an itinerant cultivator, absolute freedom took precedence over all else.
Different choices merely stemmed from differing viewpoints; one could hardly say which was superior.
Thus, the Taiyan Boat was a bit too ostentatious for the persona of an itinerant cultivator.
To avoid unnecessary trouble and suspicion, Li Fan chose to fly by riding the wind himself.
It was on the slower side, but Li Fan was in no rush, using the opportunity to acclimatize.
The reason for this was that back in Great Xuan, Li Fan had faintly felt that his affinity with spiritual energy in this life had inexplicably risen.
Yet because the land severed from immortality lacked spiritual energy, he had never been able to verify it.
Once he personally set foot in the cultivation world and sensed and drew in the surrounding spiritual energy, Li Fan finally confirmed his premonition was correct.
If in his previous life he had used the Root of Heaven and Earth to forcefully pump in spiritual energy from heaven and earth like a water pump, then in this life, with merely a thought, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth would compliantly enter his dantian without any need for coercion.
While it still could not compare to the intimacy with spiritual energy Xiao Heng had spoken of, it was vastly superior to before.
Li Fan surmised that the cause of this change most likely lay within the Root of Heaven and Earth.
His previous life's Root of Heaven and Earth had been nurtured from five emotions: greed, fear, fury, hatred, and self-centeredness.
In this life, however, the Root of Heaven and Earth in Li Fan's dantian was directly manifested through True Reversion.
If the Root of Heaven and Earth cultivated via the Five Spirits Qi-Sensing Method was rife with tyranny, darkness, and other negative emotions, then the Root of Heaven and Earth bestowed by True Reversion was upright, balanced, serene, and natural.
He hadn't expected that inheriting his past life's cultivation through True Reversion would bring such an incidental benefit.
Amidst his delight, Li Fan faintly sensed that there might be a deeper reason behind it.
Yet before he could ponder it further, his expression suddenly shifted.
For in Li Fan's perception, a wave of killing intent had appeared in the distance, firmly locking onto him and flying toward him at high speed.
Moreover, the person's aura was formidable—at least at the Foundation Establishment stage!
Though completely baffled, Li Fan did not hesitate.
He summoned the Taiyan Boat at once, accelerated to maximum speed, and fled toward the nearest island, Liuli Island.
The pursuer seemingly had not expected Li Fan to possess a treasure like a flying boat; caught off guard for a moment, their speed surged even further.
Inside the Taiyan Boat, Li Fan's face grew somber.
The distance was too great, exceeding the reach of his divine sense.
Yet judging by the gradually closing killing intent, the other party's speed was definitely superior to his own while piloting the Taiyan Boat.
After a moment's hesitation, Li Fan nonetheless released a Formless Killing Intent toward the pursuer.
His vision suddenly dimmed, and faint murmurs reached his ears.
The surrounding scenery became hallucinatory and warped.
It felt as if countless eyes were staring at Li Fan from the shadows.
Fortunately, this illusion-like scene came quickly and vanished just as fast.
With merely a momentary blur before his eyes, everything returned to normal.
Li Fan knew that this was the backlash of unleashing Formless Killing Intent beyond his realm.
Formless Killing Intent functioned by borrowing Heaven's will.
Since it borrowed Heaven's will, it naturally could not be without risk.
A mortal falsely issuing an imperial edict would be punished with the extermination of nine generations of kin, to say nothing of impersonating Heaven's mandate.
The greater the gap in cultivation between himself and the target of the killing intent, the easier it was to be detected by the will of Heaven and Earth.
Fortunately, crossing just one major realm did not seem to pose too severe an issue for now.
After Formless Killing Intent was unleashed, there was no sign of anything at first.
Yet soon, Li Fan sensed a sudden breeze stirring between heaven and earth.
The wind swirled incessantly along the pursuer's path, quickly whipping into a tornado.
Glinting with faint cyan light, the tornado roared toward the pursuer like a colossal dragon.
Taken completely unawares, the person was caught dead center by the tornado.
Seizing the opportunity, Li Fan sped up his escape.
Before long, a deafening boom sounded from behind.
The pursuer seemed to have broken free of the tornado and flew toward Li Fan's direction even faster.
The killing intent grew even fiercer.
Just as the figure drew near Li Fan once more, a gigantic crocodile-shark leapt high from beneath the sea and swallowed the pursuer in a single bite.
The crocodile-shark then crashed back into the ocean, throwing up towering plumes of spray.
"Bang!"
A burst of roaring flame erupted from the sea.
The crocodile-shark was incinerated until not even bones remained, and the person flew out of the water in utter disarray, driven near madness.
Sensing the direction of Li Fan's aura, the pursuer accelerated in pursuit.
Yet every time the pursuer drew close to Li Fan, some unexpected situation would crop up.
Thus, the chase dragged on between the two; though the pursuer was significantly faster than Li Fan, somehow they simply couldn't catch up to him.
Finally, Liuli Island came into view.
The pursuer warily glanced around. Seeing that no more freak accidents were occurring at last, they breathed a sigh of relief. With a grim expression, they prepared to unleash a Dao technique to blast Li Fan to ashes.
Beneath the bright sun in broad daylight, a bolt of lightning abruptly crashed down from the sky.
It struck the pursuer dead-on.
Had a protective glow not flared across the pursuer's body at the critical juncture to negate most of the lightning's damage, their life would likely have ended on the spot.
Even so, the person was charred black from head to toe, burned beyond recognition.
Seeing this, Li Fan hurried toward the central protective array of Liuli Island.
The pursuer hovered frozen in midair for a while before coming back to their senses.
Both shocked and enraged, they bellowed, "He Zhenghao, come out this instant and help me kill this little thief!"
From Liuli Island came a voice familiar to Li Fan: "Protector Wan? How did you end up like this?"
...
Mid-flight toward Liuli Island, Li Fan came to an immediate halt upon hearing the exchange between the two.
Trapped between the two with no escape in sight, Li Fan cursed under his breath.
Then, he silently chanted in his mind:
"True Reversion!"
Chapter 62