The other party added that it was precisely because someone as deeply sentimental as Li Fan was exceedingly rare in today's cultivation world that she had gone out of her way to ask.
Li Fan checked her name.
Song Weiyu—she seemed to be a female cultivator.
To go or not to go?
A cave abode of a Golden Core Master, led by a Nascent Soul expert, seemed to offer guaranteed safety.
Yet after a moment's thought, Li Fan tactfully declined her offer.
All he sought was He Zhenghao's remains.
If Song Weiyu's expedition succeeded, she would naturally bring them back.
Why take the risk himself?
And if there truly was some immense opportunity within the cave abode, he could easily gather all the details and go there in his next life.
Seeing Li Fan decline, Song Weiyu said no more.
With everything settled, Li Fan began cultivating the Cloud Water Illusory Dream Technique.
Li Fan remained quite invested in this chess piece named Zhang Haobo.
To keep him from going astray and deviating from the growth trajectory Li Fan had designed for him, Li Fan needed to reshape his illusory dreams at regular intervals.
Doing so during his mortal stage was easy enough.
Once Zhang Haobo broke through to the Qi Condensation stage, influencing his thoughts would no longer be so simple.
Therefore, what Li Fan needed to do now was break through to the second layer of the Cloud Water Illusory Dream Technique.
This technique was rather peculiar.
It had seven layers in total, none of which corresponded to cultivation realms such as Qi Condensation or Foundation Establishment.
Instead, it depended entirely on the strength of one's divine sense and the intricacy with which one constructed illusory dreams.
The higher the layer cultivated, the greater the influence of the dream.
In theory, even a mere mortal, so long as their mental strength was sufficient, could cause a Golden Core or even Nascent Soul grand cultivator to lose themselves in an illusion.
In reality, however, a cultivator's realm almost always determined the strength of their divine sense, making such a scenario virtually nonexistent.
***
Three months later.
Liuli Island.
Aboard the Canghai.
Zhang Haobo stood at the bow, gazing out over the water against the sea breeze.
His brows were tightly furrowed, as if searching for something.
Suddenly, he spotted a somewhat familiar reef ahead.
His spirits lifted, and he immediately leaped forward, plunging into the sea.
A wave of gasps erupted from the crew around him.
Navigating the murky underwater depths, Zhang Haobo dove straight down.
Soon, he reached the ocean floor.
An ordinary mortal would have long succumbed to the tremendous pressure of the seabed and exploded.
Yet after three months of cultivation, the immortal-mortal miasma within Zhang Haobo had been largely purged.
His physique had also been vastly strengthened, putting him not far from breaking through to the Qi Condensation stage.
Coupled with his innate mastery of swimming, he naturally had nothing to fear.
Zhang Haobo swam across the seabed until suddenly, his gaze locked onto something.
His speed abruptly surged as he swam toward a skeleton half-buried in the silt.
Digging the remains out of the mud, Zhang Haobo found, just as expected, a book resting against its chest.
*Sea-Calming Divine Sword*.
"It really wasn't a dream... I was reborn." Zhang Haobo blankly stroked the book's cover.
Though he had already concluded he was someone reborn, rebirth was ultimately too fantastical.
Combined with the gradual fading of scenes from his previous life in his mind, he couldn't help feeling a trace of doubt.
Fortunately, perhaps because he was nearing a breakthrough into the Qi Condensation stage, certain forgotten details had recently resurfaced in his memory.
Among them was the place where he had originally salvaged this *Sea-Calming Divine Sword*.
So he had taken advantage of this sea voyage to come here and verify the truth.
To see whether he truly was reborn, or if everything was merely a terrifyingly realistic dream.
Now, the appearance of this skeleton and the *Sea-Calming Divine Sword* finally convinced him that he had indeed been reborn.
His gaze gradually turned resolute as he tucked the book into his robes.
*I can't delay any longer. I must raise my cultivation as quickly as possible. Only then can I prevent that catastrophe.*
*A mere Qi Condensation cultivation definitely won't suffice. The words of the insignificant carry no weight; no one would believe me.*
*At the very least, Foundation Establishment... or even Golden Core...*
With these thoughts, Zhang Haobo slowly swam back to the surface and climbed back aboard the Cangyuan.
Seeing their boss's grave expression, none of the crew dared ask questions.
Starting a while ago, some inexplicable change seemed to have come over him.
The captain who used to joke around with everyone had vanished.
Zhang Haobo had gradually grown stern and unsmiling, and the aura of authority he exuded intensified by the day.
It was almost like that of the immortal masters on the island.
When interacting with their boss, they could not help but become constrained and fearful.
***
Above the Canghai.
Concealing his form, Li Fan watched Zhang Haobo from afar.
Circulating the Stealing Heaven Changing Sun Art, he observed Zhang Haobo's destiny.
"Sure enough, his destiny seems to have undergone a wondrous shift."
The change was miniscule, but since Li Fan was the one driving it, he paid extraordinary attention to it.
Thus, he keenly perceived it.
Li Fan carefully contemplated the subtle differences before and after, feeling a stroke of enlightenment.
"In the path of cultivation, being one step ahead often means staying ahead at every step."
"In his previous life, Zhang Haobo was already middle-aged when a stroke of fortune set him on the path of cultivation. Though his destiny was extraordinary, reaching Foundation Establishment in a dozen-odd years was his absolute limit."
"That was the destiny he was meant to have."
"Yet in this life, driven by my hand, he began cultivating more than a decade earlier."
"Once destiny shifts, it circulates on its own. Like standing in the wind, the strong only grow stronger..."
Li Fan murmured softly, his eyes shining brighter and brighter.
To witness with his own eyes the shift in a person's destiny before and after was an immense opportunity for Li Fan as well.
Without the aid of True Reversion, allowing him to compare and corroborate the fates of two lifetimes, he would be like the boundless multitude of living beings under the operation of the Heavenly Dao—mere ants struggling bitterly.
How could he ever comprehend his own destiny, let alone that of others?
Just as transforming into the boundless sea in his previous life allowed him to glimpse the killing intent of heaven and earth, only by bridging two lives could he perceive the shifts in destiny.
Enlightened, Li Fan could not help letting out a low chuckle.
"Perhaps you truly will bring me a pleasant surprise."
"I really look forward to your performance, Zhang Haobo."
***
In high spirits, Li Fan flew leisurely toward Liuli Island.
Three months had passed, and his avatar, Lin Fan, remained immersed in the enlightenment of "Life-and-Death Interlocking Chain."
The Spirit Enlightenment state had not ceased for a moment.
Contribution points flowed away like water, with nearly two thousand already spent.
Fortunately, the avatar had a foundation of one hundred thousand contribution points, plenty to sustain such consumption.
"I wonder what kind of divine ability the avatar will comprehend once he leaves seclusion?"
Indulging in such reverie, Li Fan arrived within Liuli Island's Island-Protecting Grand Formation.
Just as he was about to return to Wanxian Island through the teleportation array, he saw Yuwen Xing wearing a grave, troubled expression.
"Fellow Daoist Yuwen, did something happen?" Li Fan inquired politely.
Yuwen Xing seemed lost in thought and did not react at first.
"Fellow Daoist Yuwen?" Li Fan had to repeat himself.
Only then did Yuwen Xing snap back to reality.
He looked at Li Fan and sighed.
"Disaster struck."
"The expedition team led by True Monarch Gouxuan into the cave abode was completely wiped out."
"Not even True Monarch Gouxuan himself managed to escape."
Chapter 98