Chapter 1337

The Grand Xuan Kingdom, Xuanjing City, Grand Tutor's Estate.

Li Fan held his wine cup, observing the civil and military officials who filled the hall, all there to celebrate his birthday. Despite his advanced age, approaching seventy, he couldn't help but feel a secret surge of pride. One should know that today, within the Grand Tutor's Estate, eight or nine tenths of the court's dignitaries were present! What an impressive display of influence! He, Li Fan, had been a poverty-stricken scholar when he first transmigrated to this world. Over fifty years, he had risen from nothing to become the Grand Tutor, wielding immense power across the land. His journey alone could fill a multi-million-word novel. With such a life, what more could one ask for? Li Fan stroked his beard and drained the fine wine from his cup.

"To the Grand Tutor's long life!" the assembled officials cheered in unison. Li Fan felt even more triumphant.

Just then, a series of discordant exclamations suddenly arose from outside. "Look! What's that!" "Fire falling from the sky! This is an auspicious sign, truly auspicious! Go tell the Grand Tutor quickly!" "It looks like it's flying towards our Grand Tutor's Estate!"

Hearing the commotion outside, Li Fan furrowed his brow. The somewhat lively hall abruptly fell silent. Li Fan rose and walked out first. However, before he could reprimand his servants or voice his displeasure, he was captivated by the sight in the sky. In the distant sky, two silver streaks of light, one following the other, sped towards them like meteors. "This is..." Li Fan froze. In the blink of an eye, the two meteors arrived above Xuanjing City, then suddenly stopped.

At the same time, a voice like thunder descended from the heavens, exploding in everyone's ears. "Dao Xuanzi! You go too far!" All present were inexplicably terrified. Some even cried out "Immortal Master" and prostrated themselves on the ground. Meanwhile, a word, long suppressed in the depths of his memory and nearly forgotten, suddenly sprang into Li Fan's mind. "Cul... Cultivators!" Li Fan was stunned, muttering, "How is this possible..."

The two cultivators in the sky clearly paid no heed to the thoughts of the mortals below. Another voice rang out: "Kou Hong! Do you think I'll let you off just because you fled to this land devoid of immortals? Hand over the cultivation method you obtained that day, or I'll pursue you to the death!"

"Ridiculous! It's precisely because I lacked the Core Formation method that I was trapped at the Foundation Establishment stage for nearly a hundred years, facing imminent demise and turning into withered bones. Now that I have this Core Formation method, how could I possibly hand it over to another?!" Kou Hong scoffed, his tone filled with disdain.

"That's right!" Dao Xuanzi sighed, "The Great Dao of Golden Core is a path of 'me or them.' Though there are many Core Formation methods in this world, there are even more cultivators stuck at the Foundation Establishment stage!" Dao Xuanzi's tone suddenly turned ferocious: "Given that, with the method for longevity right before me, how could I possibly let you go? How could I *not* go too far!"

Kou Hong laughed heartily: "It's just a fight! How laughable that we, brothers for a hundred years, now draw blades against each other for a slim chance at life!" Dao Xuanzi sneered but did not reply. Kou Hong suddenly said, "I know I'm no match for you, and I probably won't escape today. But with so many mortals here, I wonder if you can withstand such a high concentration of immortal-mortal miasma!" Dao Xuanzi's expression instantly changed: "Kou Hong! What do you intend to do!" Kou Hong burst into crazed laughter: "I'm merely seeking a slim chance at life!"

Listening to the dialogue between the two cultivators above, Li Fan felt an immediate sense of dread. However, before he could react, a crimson flame erupted above Xuanjing City. "Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!" Enormous roars continuously exploded in Li Fan's ears. His vision immediately turned blood red, and within moments, he fainted.

After an unknown period, Li Fan awoke. Initially, he felt disoriented. It took him a long time to recall what had happened. Li Fan coughed, spitting out several mouthfuls of blood, then shakily managed to get to his feet and looked around. It was still night. The once luxurious Grand Tutor's Estate had been reduced to ruins. The air was thick with the foul stench of charred corpses. All the civil and military officials who had been present moments before were now dead, their bodies dismembered, their souls departed. Li Fan's wives and concubines, and his five sons, had also perished.

There was no longer any expression on Li Fan's aged face. His eyes were dull and vacant. After standing motionless for a long time, he dragged his weakened body out of the Grand Tutor's Estate. Xuanjing City, so prosperous and bustling moments ago, had now become a hell of blood and fire. As far as the eye could see, there were only shattered bodies and collapsed buildings. It was clear that barely one in a hundred common folk had survived this catastrophe. All of this was due to the two "Immortal Masters," the two cultivators, who had suddenly appeared.

Li Fan, drained of strength, collapsed casually against a broken wall. His hearing had been destroyed by the violent explosion. But at this point, it didn't matter. At this moment, all he wanted to do was laugh. How could there be cultivators in this world? From the moment he became an official, he had used his power to search for any trace of the immortal path. Once he became the Imperial Tutor, above tens of thousands, he had scoured the entire world! From the icy seas in the north to the oceans in the south, from the Ruined Abyss in the east to the Linked Mountains in the west. Throughout the Grand Xuan Kingdom, there was no trace, not even a tiny bit, of immortals existing! But today, years after he had grown old and completely given up hope, two cultivators descended from the sky, appeared before him, and without a word, utterly obliterated everything he possessed. Was this what immortals were? And where did these immortals come from?

All his rage and unwillingness ultimately transformed into endless confusion. Heaven plays cruel tricks on people! At the same time, Li Fan felt an immense sense of fortune. Fortunate that before his death, he had finally confirmed the existence of immortals! Otherwise, after starting his next life, wouldn't he waste another fifty years for nothing?!

That's right! How could he, Li Fan, a mere mortal who rose from a humble scholar to the Imperial Tutor of the world, not have a reliance? This was also why he had narrowly escaped death at the hands of the immortals.

"Reversion to Truth!" Li Fan silently recited the name in his heart. Immediately, the surrounding scenery suddenly dimmed. It was as if a thick curtain of water veiled everything, making it hazy and indistinct. "When the real becomes unreal, the unreal also becomes real." Seven large characters lit up in the darkness, then suddenly spread out, forming a light screen.

"Charging complete." "Virtualize current scenario and return to initial anchor point?" Two lines of smaller text appeared one after another. Concurrently, various scenes appeared sequentially, rapidly filling the entire light screen. It was Li Fan's fifty years of life in this current existence. Li Fan gazed at himself in the various scenes, stunned for a long time. This was the name Li Fan had given to the wondrous treasure he carried with him. It had only one function: to turn reality into falsehood, to turn the tangible into the ethereal! The so-called "turning the tangible into the ethereal" meant transforming all of Li Fan's real experiences into simulated, illusory ones, allowing Li Fan to return to the initial anchor point he had set, which was the moment he had first transmigrated to this world.

In fact, this was already Li Fan's second life. In his first life, although Li Fan had grand ambitions, he was merely an ordinary person. He failed the imperial examinations repeatedly and finally gave up the idea of studying to become an official after thirty. He started a small business, became an ordinary wealthy man, married, had children, and lived a mundane life. It was only when he was old and on the verge of death from illness that "Reversion to Truth" finally awakened. This led to Li Fan's unstoppable rise in his second life, riding the winds of fortune. It was a pity, though, that it now seemed he had used it in the wrong place.

After a moment of contemplation, Li Fan chose not to end this life immediately. Before that, he had a few things to do. Turning off the light screen and returning to reality, Li Fan forced himself to focus and began dealing with the aftermath of Xuanjing's severe damage by the immortals. After searching for some survivors, Li Fan, relying on his years of prestige, finally managed to somewhat stabilize the populace's morale. Even though Li Fan could no longer hear, he could still find paper and a brush. Though communication was difficult, it did not prevent his orders from being conveyed.

First, Li Fan ordered his loyal garrison camp stationed outside the city to rush to Xuanjing City to maintain post-disaster order. Then, he commanded surrounding cities to send provisions and officials to Xuanjing. Most of Xuanjing's buildings were destroyed. After the garrison camp took control of Xuanjing, Li Fan simply stayed in the military camp to oversee the recovery efforts. Following Li Fan's decrees, resources and talent from surrounding cities continuously flowed into Xuanjing City.

A month later, the ruined Xuanjing City finally began to show some signs of life again. Only after the Grand Xuan Kingdom had finally recovered from the immortal's attack did Li Fan begin to order various regions to collect intelligence about the two immortals who had appeared that night. This included where they originally came from, where they went afterward, and whether they had any other conversations along the way. Unfortunately, months of investigation yielded nothing, except for the knowledge that the two cultivators seemed to have appeared from the direction of the Ruined Abyss in the east.

The outcome Li Fan had hoped for—the two immortals fighting to mutual destruction—did not occur. "I shouldn't have expected such a thing," Li Fan sighed inwardly. "Since that's the case, I have nothing left to linger on in this life."

Standing in the newly rebuilt Grand Tutor's Estate, Li Fan activated "Reversion to Truth" once more. "Virtualize current scenario and return to initial anchor point?" Li Fan no longer hesitated and chose yes. On the light screen, countless vivid scenes simultaneously froze. Then, the political maneuvering, the glory, and the wealth of this life shattered and exploded like an illusory bubble, transforming into streaks of light that flew into Li Fan's mind. Scene after scene flashed rapidly before Li Fan's eyes like a revolving lantern, finally settling on the image of the two cultivators confronting each other high above the Grand Tutor's Estate.

"Dao Xuanzi, Kou Hong." Li Fan softly spoke their names. "Fifty years from now, I will still be waiting for you in Xuanjing City." "Wealth and status are but fleeting clouds to me." Li Fan's consciousness gradually blurred, but his will and goal became firmer than ever before. "In my next life, I will hunt immortals!"

The brilliance in his mind gradually faded, and Li Fan slowly fell into a deep slumber.