Chapter 52: Guarding Taian Island

"The Mortals on the island had all disappeared. And the city where the Mortals once gathered was, at some unknown point, filled with tree after tree with lush branches and leaves, looking just like a primeval forest."

"Hanging from the branches of those trees were countless fruits with human faces."

"As a breeze blew by, the human faces on the fruits would reveal a creepy smile."

As He Zhenghao recounted this, Li Fan felt as if he could see countless human faces smiling at him.

Thinking back to the fact that he had just eaten one of these fruits, Li Fan couldn't help but feel goosebumps all over his body.

He Zhenghao continued.

"After the Golden Core guardian recovered from the shock, he went down into the city to investigate."

"Not a single Mortal survived on the entire island; they had all turned into smiling fruits. But the Golden Core guardian could not figure out why this bizarre event had occurred. Thus, he had no choice but to report the matter."

"The Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance sent specialists to investigate, though no one knows exactly what conclusions were reached. Later, all the big trees in the city were cut down, and the city returned to its original appearance. Yet, those smiling fruits continued to live in the city in their original way, as if nothing had happened."

"Generation after generation, they have multiplied to this day. The Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance also built a Formation here, ordered specialists to guard it, and harvest the fruits."

After listening, Li Fan couldn't help but say, "In that case, aren't these tai an fruit actually humans?"

He Zhenghao shook his head, "How can they be human? They have absolutely no consciousness of their own and act entirely on instinct. If one had to say, they at most only retain some human obsessions."

Li Fan pondered for a moment, ultimately choosing not to refute this.

This matter was too bizarre, and he didn't know how to define these tai an fruit.

However, after Immortal Cultivators discovered their ability to increase lifespan, none of this mattered.

Never mind these tai an fruit; even if they were real Mortals, if eating them could increase one's lifespan, they would not be able to escape the fate of being eaten.

Li Fan fell into deep thought.

He Zhenghao, not knowing what he was thinking of, also fell silent.

After a long while, the two of them finally came back to their senses.

Next, He Zhenghao explained to Li Fan some matters that needed attention while guarding the island.

Li Fan remembered them one by one.

"The Formation covers the entire island. Every time it operates, it extracts a trace of vitality from the Mortals living within it."

"The amount extracted is extremely small and won't have any impact on the Mortals. But when these vitalities gather, they accumulate, and the quantity becomes quite substantial."

"After these vitalities are converted, they can increase the concentration of Spiritual Qi within the Formation."

"Therefore, Cultivating within this island-protecting Formation is not as efficient as activating the auxiliary cultivation mode in the tianxuan mirror, but it is still much faster than the outside world."

Finally, He Zhenghao proudly told Li Fan a secret that only Cultivators who had served as island guardians would know.

After giving more instructions and telling Li Fan to contact him anytime if there were problems, He Zhenghao then left leisurely.

Holding the guardian token, and with the support of the Formation, Li Fan's Divine Sense immediately enveloped the entire island.

The ordinary Mortals on the island and the tai an fruit in the central core Formation were all busily living their own lives.

After watching for a long time, Li Fan sighed.

"Knocking and peeling the marrow of the world to serve Cultivation."

If he could, Li Fan would naturally want to do something. Unfortunately, he was currently just a small Qi Refinement Stage Cultivator.

The only thing he could do for now was to work hard on his Cultivation.

Li Fan suppressed the various thoughts in his heart.

From then on, Li Fan settled down on this Taian Island.

It had to be said that the position of island guardian was indeed quite relaxed.

The Mortals on the island dared not disturb the Immortal Master without cause.

All Li Fan needed to do was check if the island-protecting Formation was operating normally every so often, and perform trivial tasks like harvesting and storing the ripe tai an fruit in a timely manner.

For the rest of the time, Li Fan was free to do as he pleased.

Li Fan naturally devoted himself entirely to diligent Cultivation.

"One Hundred Techniques for Using Spiritual Qi", "Introduction to Spells", "Secrets to Winning Fights — Strike First", "To Live is to Win", "Only Speed is Unbreakable"…

Starting from these basic Cultivation knowledge, Li Fan slowly mastered some simple little Spells.

Such as Breath Concealment Spell, Feigned Death Spell, Wind Riding Spell, Great Strength Spell, and so on.

During his studies, Li Fan had to lament the degree to which the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance protected its monopoly on knowledge.

It was fine for him to learn and use the knowledge purchased from the tianxuan mirror himself.

But if he wanted to teach others after learning it, that was not allowed.

Unless one's strength could surpass the tianxuan mirror, one could naturally break the Restriction mixed within it.

Li Fan did not know what kind of Realm of Cultivator the strength of the tianxuan mirror, this Spirit Treasure, was specifically equivalent to.

However, judging from common sense, it should at least not be below a Soul Transformation Stage Cultivator.

The power of a Soul Transformation Cultivator was far from what the current Li Fan could fathom.

Therefore, even if he had any dissatisfaction, he could only accept reality for the time being.

After finishing these books, Li Fan began to try reading content related to Alchemy, Artifact Refining, and Formation.

Compared to the previous Spell section, these contents were too complex.

With countless threads, Li Fan did not know where to start learning.

Just the basics of Alchemy in "Introduction to the Dao of Alchemy": the identification and analysis of the age and efficacy of various herbs—Li Fan spent a full ten days or so just reading it through once.

Not to mention the subsequent parts: the selection and control techniques of Pill Fire, Pill Furnace refinement, and Alchemy practice; Li Fan estimated that if he wanted to finish reading it completely, it would be impossible without a year or half a year.

Knowing that these skills often required a famous teacher to lead the way, Li Fan, after struggling for a while, finally chose to give up for the time being.

So he temporarily cast aside distracting thoughts and began to Cultivate the "Thousand Machines Jade Universe Golden Chapter".

This Cultivation Technique from the Ancient Heavenly Mystery Sect was truly obscure and difficult to understand, vastly different from the "Small衍Water Decisive" that Li Fan had previously Cultivated; it was completely as if it were a product of a different system.

Even with the constant assistance of the luli pearl to increase Comprehension Ability, it took Li Fan a full half a year to barely get started.

The hardships involved made Li Fan once consider going to the tianxuan mirror and Cultivating the "Thousand Machines Jade Universe Golden Chapter" under the super auxiliary cultivation state.

But in the end, this thought was suppressed by Li Fan.

At the end of the day, Li Fan still could not set his heart at ease regarding the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.

Judging from their way of doing things, the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance was obviously not a benevolent group.

If he aroused the interest of the tianxuan mirror, exposing a Nascent Soul Cultivation Technique would be nothing, but if he exposed the existence of "Huan Zhen", that would be truly beyond redemption.

Therefore, Li Fan preferred to Cultivate slowly by himself.

Just like that, a year passed.

Li Fan returned to Wanxian Island and received the remuneration for acting as a guardian: 800 contribution points. Subsequently, he exchanged for the Late Stage part of the "Small衍Water Decisive".

After Cultivating for another five days under the auxiliary cultivation mode of the tianxuan mirror, he then reluctantly returned to Taian Island.

The five days of rapid Cultivation made Li Fan faintly feel that he was not far from the Late Stage of Qi Refinement.