Chapter 141: Fortunately, the sea

In the two years that passed, besides Zhang Haobo’s flight across the Myriad Immortals, several other major events occurred.

In Anchor Year 21, at the edge of the Congyun Sea, near the boundless ocean.

Two Immortal Lords fought a great battle there for unknown reasons, and the fight lasted for over a month without a victor being decided.

Ultimately, the sky tore open, and brilliant starlight enveloped them, finally ending the fierce battle that had attracted countless Cultivators to spectate.

Also in Anchor Year 21, not long after the battle of the two Immortal Lords, in Source Dao Province, which bordered the Congyun Sea.

Heaven and earth anomalies covered the entire province, signaling the demise of Immortal Venerable Lan Yu of the Harmony Dao Realm.

Immortal Venerable Lan Yu was said to be a powerful Cultivator who had survived since the great calamity, controlling Source Dao Province for over three millennia.

Yet, he ultimately failed to reach the Realm of eternal life; his great limit arrived, and his body perished, his Dao dissipated.

And after Immortal Venerable Lan Yu's death, Source Dao Province also fell into considerable dispute.

In Anchor Year 22, in the northwestern sea area of the Congyun Sea, an Immortal Cave rose from the seabed, then flew straight towards the Nine Mountains Province.

This drew many curious Cultivators to follow and investigate.

However, they all went and never returned, their whereabouts unknown.

…

Li Fan recorded these anecdotes one by one.

Afterward, Li Fan checked the communication spirit talisman’s records.

The collection of Dao Rhyme ancient artifacts seemed to be progressing smoothly; with the help of a group of Prodigies, the progress was much faster than expected.

However, Zhao Erbao’s reporting intervals were getting longer and longer, with the most recent message having been sent half a year ago.

It seemed he needed to be taught another profound lesson.

Xiao Heng rarely disturbed Li Fan.

Only Su Xiaomei sent messages to Li Fan every now and then.

There was nothing special, just greetings like 'Master, Master'.

She also reported her Breakthroughs in Realm every time.

As expected of an Immortal Body, her cultivation was incredibly fast; in just over two years, she was now at the Late Qi Refining Stage.

Xiao Heng's speed was slightly slower, still in the Refining Qi Mid-Stage. However, it was said he was close to a Breakthrough as well.

…

The rest were just casual greetings from Cultivators he had met while wandering on the island, nothing important.

However, upon entering the tianxuan mirror, Li Fan discovered that in Anchor Year 21, a Foundation Establishment cultivator named He XinXin had sent several access requests.

These continued intermittently until half a year ago.

But at that time, Li Fan had been diligently cultivating Formations with Zhang Zhiliang, so he naturally couldn't receive the messages.

“He XinXin…” Li Fan thought for a moment, and his expression suddenly became strange.

Could this person be related to He Zhenghao?

He suddenly remembered that in his previous life, when he was on Liuli Island and first encountered the wind disaster.

The one who activated the island-protecting Formation was indeed a female Cultivator.

However, he never encountered her again afterward, and gradually forgot about it.

“He XinXin probably only stayed in the Congyun Sea for a while before leaving?” Li Fan could only guess.

After some thought, he still chose not to actively seek her out.

If fate allowed, there should be a day when they would meet again.

With all the miscellaneous matters settled, Li Fan no longer delayed.

He arrived at Liuyun Island via the teleportation Formation.

According to Envoy Wu of the Wanhua Merchant Guild, he had acquired the cang hai pearl from a fisherman on Liuyun Island.

Then, this cang hai pearl must have originated in the sea, then been swallowed by a fish.

That's how it fell into the fisherman's hands.

It was just unknown whether the cang hai pearl was still in the sea at this time, or if it had already been salvaged.

Li Fan, as usual, activated the Hiding Talisman, flew over Liuyun Island, and carefully sensed.

In his previous life, he had once transformed into the vast ocean, and was intimately familiar with the aura of the cang hai pearl.

If it was on this island, he would definitely be able to detect it.

Unfortunately, after flying around for a while, he couldn't find any trace of the cang hai pearl.

So Li Fan could only use Liuyun Island as the center and search the surrounding sea areas.

The ocean was vast, and the cang hai pearl was still in its nascent stage, its aura extremely faint.

This endeavor was truly like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Fortunately, it only took some time.

Three months later, Li Fan still managed to obtain the cang hai pearl without any major incidents.

“Where a vast ocean perishes, a new one is born.”

Li Fan carefully examined this wondrous item, which he was so familiar with from his previous life.

He keenly noticed that the cang hai pearl seemed even weaker than when he had seen it in his previous life.

The blue color contained within it seemed to have been diluted.

It wasn't as profound as the ocean, but merely a light blue like the sky.

“I thought I wouldn't see you in this life, but I didn't expect you to also understand the principle of hedging your bets.”

A strange glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes, then he activated the [Devouring Object Art] and swallowed the cang hai pearl into his Dantian.

True Foundation Establishment would only begin when it was fully formed.

But it didn't prevent Li Fan from first swallowing it to comprehend its essence.

With the cang hai pearl in hand, most of Li Fan's affairs in the Congyun Sea were concluded.

Afterward, he went to Nightfall Island to check on the status of the Prodigies, and incidentally, continued to intimidate Zhao Erbao.

To deepen the impression, Li Fan used multiple layers of illusionary dreams this time.

In the illusionary dream, Zhao Erbao suddenly fell into the nightmare of all his ancient artifacts being shattered again.

However, this was already his third time experiencing it, so he had developed a slight resistance.

Therefore, he struggled and woke up from the illusionary dream.

But he still pretended to be immersed in the illusion to deceive Li Fan.

Only when Li Fan appeared did he suddenly strike.

With one blow, he indeed killed Li Fan.

Looking at the corpse lying on the ground, the nightmare that had weighed on his heart for so many years finally disappeared.

Zhao Erbao couldn't help but let out a triumphant roar to the sky.

However, he was surprised to find that there was no anomaly in the sky indicating the death of a Cultivator.

When he looked again, he saw Li Fan's head tilt, revealing a strange smile to him.

The surrounding scene shattered layer by layer like glass, and he returned to his own base.

Time seemed to rewind to the day he first met Li Fan.

He was explaining the origin of the Dao Rhyme ancient artifacts to Li Fan.

However, things changed; after listening, Li Fan didn't care about reappearing Dao Rhyme at all.

He directly shattered the ancient artifacts in the base, then slapped him on the head.

The screen went black, and Zhao Erbao immediately woke up with a start.

Sweating profusely, he was first in a daze, then frantically looked around.

He didn't see Li Fan's figure, but he was already having trouble distinguishing between illusion and reality.

It took a good half a day for Zhao Erbao to recover.

Knowing it was Li Fan's warning, he hastily sent a report message to Li Fan.

From the shadows, seeing Zhao Erbao's expression and actions, Li Fan knew that this deterrence had been successful.

“However, this is indeed not a long-term solution. In the future, if I have the opportunity, I must find a method specifically to control Cultivators.”

Li Fan then went to see Su Changyu again.

The miasma removal was still not complete, but he was neither arrogant nor impatient, persevering tirelessly.

Coupled with Su Xiaomei and Xiao Heng occasionally bringing him some treasures said to be beneficial for removing miasma from the body, he was not far from complete removal.