Chapter 1015: The Enigma of the Dao-Transforming Stone

Li Fan needed a large quantity of pills that could directly increase cultivation, naturally intended for the cultivators in his small world.

It had been some time since they collectively practiced the Myriad Beings Spiritual Essence Art, but their overall progress was, at best, underwhelming. Li Fan, therefore, decided it was time for some "forced growth."

In this current life, the exploration of the Blood-Red River, which holds the entire past of the Xuanhuang Realm, had not yet begun. Soon, Li Fan might face a counterattack from the Myriad Immortals Alliance, the Transmitting Dharma Heavenly Venerable, as well as various powerful beings such as Immortals from the Immortal Ruins and Faceless True Immortals. When clashing with enemies of such a caliber, one could never be too cautious. Given Li Fan's current low strength, he had to leverage every available resource and could not afford the slightest misstep. All his energy had to be concentrated on this; once he started, he couldn't afford to be distracted by anything else.

However, the formation of the Blood-Red River in this particular life was purely coincidental. Li Fan wasn't sure if he could replicate its formation in a future life. Missing the opportunity to gain vital secrets from it would be truly regrettable. Therefore, Li Fan's current priority was to accelerate the exploration process as much as possible.

In fact, under the command of his clone, Li Qing, a group of Foundation Establishment cultivators had already been dispatched from the various small worlds to undertake the exploration. Without exception, they all died of old age before the Blood-Red River, failing to bring back any useful information. Fortunately, the area of the Blood-Red River was extremely unique, as it was the hidden location of the supreme treasure, the Fishing Pond. Consequently, any unusual phenomena signaling cultivators' deaths were completely concealed, making them undetectable to outsiders. Otherwise, the secret of the Blood-Red River surely wouldn't have remained hidden.

"At the very least," Li Qing had concluded, "they must significantly advance to the Golden Core realm for there to be any chance of success. Otherwise, with such a short timeframe, it would merely be a pointless sacrifice." This led to Li Fan intimidating the Medicine King Sect, commanding them to focus solely on pill refinement.

After completing the tour of the Wood-attributed Grotto-heaven, Li Fan released them from his body. He only took a batch of herbs, providing them with the necessary ingredients for their pill refinement.

With these minor tasks concluded, Li Fan returned to the underground secret chamber in the Spiritwood Realm and retrieved a list to examine. This was precisely the result of the investigation he had tasked Mo Rubing with previously, concerning cultivators likely possessing the Dao-Transformation Stone. It had helped Li Fan eliminate the vast majority of non-suspect individuals.

Gazing at the names and the intricate network of connections behind them, Li Fan mused, "Having someone at the very top of the Myriad Immortals Alliance truly makes things convenient. Otherwise, I might spend years just trying to organize this much information, let alone this clearly." He continued, "Mo Rubing merely issued a simple command, and naturally, someone below executed it flawlessly."

As he reviewed the names, Li Fan had an idea and retrieved the Sky-Measuring Ruler that his Heavenly Profound Mirror clone had given him earlier. Without a specific target for his full-scope vision, Li Fan's current data processing capabilities naturally couldn't fully manage the immense volume of information. But what if he had a targeted selection?

Li Fan's divine sense once again submerged into the infinite world of mirrors. This time, he used the suspects from the list as his desired search results, directly filtering out a vast amount of irrelevant information. As expected, the cognitive load instantly lightened. Countless images flickered before his eyes, and Li Fan patiently waited for each result to surface.

A few hours later, dozens of mirror-like light screens appeared sequentially before Li Fan. "Hmm, there are still some with no search results," Li Fan murmured. "It's likely not an oversight on my part, but rather due to the inherent scope of the Heavenly Profound Mirror's power. It's similar to how the Creation Stone Tablet only records the history of the Xuanhuang Realm itself, with no records from external cultivation worlds."

Li Fan watched intently, secretly observing all forty-five cultivators. Some were cultivating within the Heavenly Profound Mirror, while others explored sect ruins. Some were experimenting with divine abilities, and others were discussing cultivation challenges with their companions. Without exception, however, all of them had moved beyond the basic stage where they had to worry about contribution points. None of them were laboring to complete tasks and earn contribution points.

After three full days of observation, no cultivator showed any tell-tale signs. Yet Li Fan was not concerned; he continued to wait patiently. As someone who possessed a Dao-Transformation Stone, Li Fan well knew that once accustomed to its presence, one easily developed a dependence on it. Whenever a problem could be resolved by the Dao-Transformation Stone, there was no reason not to utilize it. After all, it was a divine ability inherent to oneself.

Li Fan's patience soon paid off. Seven days later, during a casual conversation with a friend, Lu Chengxue, a Soul Transformation cultivator, brought up an old incident from a joint expedition they had undertaken many years ago. Since a long time had passed, they seemed to have previously disagreed and argued over the specific details of that time. After a brief pause, Lu Chengxue fully recalled and recounted the entire sequence of events. He convinced his friend.

"That's him!" A sharp glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes. Li Fan was all too familiar with this scenario! It was precisely the act of searching through past events recorded by the Dao-Transformation Stone!

Having identified his target, Li Fan did not act immediately. Instead, he continued to observe through the mirror. This continued for over a month and a half, yet he felt no boredom. Including Lu Chengxue, he ultimately pinpointed three targets. The other two were exposed by demonstrating superhuman memory and data processing abilities.

"These should be all," Li Fan mused. "If they can refrain from using the Dao-Transformation Stone for this long, either they've detected someone spying and are deliberately hiding their abilities, or they've completely given up and are indifferent to cultivation."

Li Fan abruptly stood up, exited the Spiritwood Realm, and headed directly toward his target. It was also time for another upgrade to the Dao-Transformation Stone. His first target was Lu Chengxue.

This individual was a prominent member of the Lu family in Tianquan State. Although the Lu family lacked any supreme powerhouses, their most commendable trait was their generosity and eagerness to assist others. Anyone who befriended the Lu family and encountered difficulties, the Lu family would invariably offer assistance. Even if they faced irresistible forces that prevented official intervention, Lu family members would privately extend aid under their own names. In the Xuanhuang Realm, a place rife with deception and treacherous hearts, the Lu family was undoubtedly a refreshing anomaly. Over the years, countless cultivators had benefited from the Lu family's benevolence. Even ordinary passersby typically held a very friendly attitude toward the habitually benevolent Lu family. After all, who could guarantee they would never face trouble in the future? Maintaining good relations with the Lu family meant securing more avenues for survival in the future.

Yet, it was precisely against this widely praised family that Li Fan was about to strike a harsh blow against one of its core disciples. After cultivating the "Dao-Transformation Divine One Secret Art," the Dao-Transformation Stone merges with a cultivator's divine soul. The only way to extract the Dao-Transformation Stone... is to destroy the cultivator's divine soul.

But Li Fan would not hesitate in the slightest. In fact, it wasn't just in this life. He would continue to do so in all future lives, until the Dao-Transformation Stone was no longer of any use to him.

In Tianquan City, Li Fan, having found Lu Chengxue, gazed at the man's warm and sincere face. He first offered a moment of silent commiseration.