Chapter 1371: 凝永恒遗念

Qiu Shui, the young Daoist acolyte, shrieked, and his body instantly exploded into countless fragments.

However, he didn't simply fall in defeat. Instead, the countless fragments rained down, continuing to pour over Tian Yang.

Qiu Shui had previously used this move in front of Li Fan, but this divine ability, after being refined, had become far more powerful.

Connected to the power of the infinite star sea, the downpour was torrential and ceaseless.

Each raindrop contained the maximum destructive power that the Autumn Water Sword could unleash.

A flurry of impacts resounded!

Even with the battle consciousness of the Immortal Puppet Ancestor boosting him, Tian Yang could evade most of the sword rain's attacks by shifting his body. But at that moment, too many sword gleams erupted simultaneously.

Still, countless specks of light exploded violently on Tian Yang's immortal body.

The surrounding protective field vibrated incessantly. This defense, which could isolate even the power of True Immortal Seal Characters, became precarious under the attack of an infinite number of Grand Pure Sword Qi.

Yet, the expression on Tian Yang's face remained calm and composed. He showed no change, even as the situation gradually turned unfavorable.

Suddenly, a vertical pupil appeared on his forehead, between his brows.

This third eye glowed with a faint golden light, appearing otherworldly, like an ancient desolate god. Wherever its gaze fell, the torrential rain filling the sky froze in mid-air.

Tian Yang let out an unconscious growl, his hands forming a grasping gesture in front of his chest.

The countless sword rain fragments that Qiu Shui had transformed into were forcibly merged by Tian Yang, instantly forming a sphere!

An invisible flame emerged from Tian Yang's palm.

It seemed as if it intended to completely incinerate the water sphere within!

Qiu Shui, the young Daoist acolyte, appeared in a disheveled state from within the water sphere, hastily shouting towards Li Fan, "My Lord, save me!"

Li Fan merely wanted to test Qiu Shui's actual combat power, not to destroy this hard-won Grand Pure assistant. With a thought, Tian Yang, who was about to deliver the final blow, paused slightly and then finally stopped.

At the same time, Li Fan noticed that an extremely profound and inexplicable aura vanished from Tian Yang.

Tian Yang silently returned to Li Fan's side, while Qiu Shui knelt down in gratitude, repeatedly exclaiming, "My Lord is merciful."

Although Qiu Shui lost to Tian Yang, Li Fan was quite satisfied with the strength he displayed during the battle.

Putting everything else aside, Li Fan himself could not withstand that single move of 'sword rain filling the sky'; he could only evade it.

The reason Tian Yang was able to win so easily, besides the insights gained from the Immortal Puppet Ancestor and the Thousand-Eyed Desolate God, was ultimately due to the wisp of invisible flame he displayed at the end.

Judging by Qiu Shui's extreme fear, this invisible flame was capable of truly threatening his existence.

This naturally piqued Li Fan's curiosity.

One must know that after connecting to the infinite power of the star sea, even Li Fan could only destroy the Autumn Water Sword through its living form. No other divine abilities or spells could inflict actual damage upon it. Yet, this invisible flame could do what Li Fan could not.

Li Fan then questioned Tian Yang.

To his surprise, Tian Yang's reply was simply two words: "I don't know."

Li Fan frowned slightly. After further communication, he finally understood. This invisible flame was something Tian Yang naturally unleashed once he entered a state of pure combat consciousness. Tian Yang knew nothing about its underlying principles or how to intentionally summon it.

That pure combat consciousness originated from the legacy of the Ancestor Puppet. Once activated, it allowed him to focus entirely, his mind subtly connecting with the Grand Dao of Heaven and Earth, instinctively launching relentless attacks on his target.

"Instinct..."

Li Fan vaguely had a guess: "It must be inextricably linked to that Eternal Remnant Thought."

"I never expected this Eternal Remnant Thought could also be used as a divine ability to harm others. It truly lives up to its nature as an existence that can resonate with the Grand Dao."

Li Fan pondered for a moment, feeling a slight regret.

Although he already knew the Eternal Remnant Thought held a high status, he still hadn't found a way to comprehend and apply it, aside from its automatic absorption.

"Speaking of which, the seeds sown in this lifetime should now be ready to blossom, bear fruit, and be harvested."

Instructing Qiu Shui to continue seeking guidance from "Second Lord" Tian Yang, Li Fan flashed into the Sermon Platform.

With a gentle wave of his hand, Li Fan projected the figures of Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi onto the massive eye that formed the Imitation Heavenly Grid.

In this lifetime, upon realizing that the beliefs of these two devout truth-seekers might be the nascent form of the Eternal Remnant Thought, Li Fan secretly made numerous arrangements.

He sought to catalyze the sprouting of this nascent form, and even the birth of a true Eternal Remnant Thought.

Thus, the two brothers, who already faced an arduous cultivation path and had fought to the death over a mere Nascent Soul cultivation technique in past reincarnations, endured an even more tragic fate in this lifetime.

Over these years, they had traveled far and wide in search of cultivation techniques beyond the Foundation Establishment stage.

It wasn't that they had no gains.

However, every time they found something valuable in a cave dwelling, a Grand Nascent Soul cultivator would suddenly descend from the sky, snatching their hard-earned gains right before their eyes.

If it had happened once or twice, Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi might have begrudgingly accepted it.

But such incidents had occurred nearly ten times in a row.

The frustration in Kou Hong's chest was almost unbearable. He repeatedly wanted to fight to the death with the Nascent Soul cultivators who stole their spoils, but he was always held back firmly by Dao Xuanzi, who still retained his rationality.

But even a clay figure has a temper. After the incident replayed for the last time, Dao Xuanzi also reached his limit. The two brothers combined their strength and launched a desperate attack on the sudden appearance of the Nascent Soul cultivator.

The outcome was predictable.

The brothers were thoroughly humiliated for a while, but the opponent did not take their lives. Instead, the cultivator directly announced his name and disdainfully sneered, "You two good-for-nothings, I'll beat you every time I see you," before swaggering away.

After this, Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi were genuinely disheartened for a period.

However, true to their nature as devoted truth-seekers, they quickly recovered from the blow. They even secretly swore to achieve success in cultivation and seek revenge against that Nascent Soul cultivator.

To achieve this, they even abandoned their long-held principles. They gave up their rogue cultivator status and chose to join the Myriad Immortals Alliance.

From then on, the two no longer needed to venture into ancient sect ruins. Instead, they simply took on daily commissioned tasks, slowly accumulating Immortal Alliance contribution points.

The brothers economized diligently and finally accumulated enough contribution points to exchange for a Core Formation cultivation technique.

The moment the cultivation technique's content transformed into golden light and flowed into their minds, both Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi wept profusely.

Although they had barely entered the Core Formation stage, they were still far from their goal of successful revenge.

The two worked even harder, accepting commissioned tasks and earning contribution points.

However, the price of Nascent Soul cultivation techniques suddenly escalated. Routinely requiring fifty to sixty thousand contribution points, it left the two staring blankly, utterly helpless.

Furthermore, if they wanted to succeed in their revenge, the Nascent Soul cultivation technique they practiced could not be too weak. Otherwise, even if they reached the Nascent Soul stage, they might still not be a match for their great enemy.

Some powerful Nascent Soul cultivation techniques they favored cost nearly one hundred thousand points. The exorbitant prices were almost despair-inducing.

Initially, they quietly continued to accumulate points. But after some time, they calculated their income and expenses and realized it would take at least fifty to sixty years to exchange for a Nascent Soul cultivation technique.

This was assuming there would be no unexpected incidents.

However, how could there be no unforeseen circumstances in this world?

To earn contribution points faster, they had to accept more dangerous tasks. This meant that they were very likely to get injured while completing missions. Without reaching the Nascent Soul stage and possessing the power of a grotto-heaven to constantly reshape their bodies, healing was an extremely costly endeavor.

Unfortunately, the two had always had bad luck.

During their missions, they encountered various accidents three out of ten times. While not fatal, they often suffered severe injuries. After deducting healing expenses, there was hardly any surplus. If not for the fact that these incidents were all natural disasters, beast riots, and other phenomena without any traces of cultivators' involvement, the two might have suspected they had offended some powerful being who was toying with them.

Earning little was one thing, but accumulating a bit each day still offered some hope.

However, for some unknown reason, stories of their overwhelming bad luck began to spread. The rumors grew increasingly outlandish, with some even claiming they were under a strange curse, bringing misfortune to anyone associated with them.

Gradually, cultivators willing to accompany them on missions became nonexistent. What was worse, task issuers, to avoid involvement with the supposed strange curse, often specifically stated in their mission postings that Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi were ineligible to accept them.

Accumulating contribution points became completely impossible.

Even at this point, the two brothers still had not abandoned their ideals.

After much deliberation, they returned to their old profession: exploring sect ruins.

Since the Heavenly Profound Mirror handled the recovery of exploration materials, they weren't worried about being unable to process or being stuck with the items they found.

It must be said that after advancing to the Core Formation stage, their strength greatly increased. Coupled with years of experience exploring ruins, they indeed gained substantial harvests after several attempts.

Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi were overjoyed, believing their luck had finally turned.

However, the brothers were somewhat puzzled that the Heavenly Profound Mirror's recovery prices were often much lower than market value. After deducting the cost of various supplies needed for each expedition, they found that they weren't actually accumulating many contribution points.

Still, it was much better than slowly completing tasks as they did before.

The brothers were quite optimistic.

Watching their contribution point balance increase bit by bit each day, they felt a subtle sense of happiness.

Finally, after successfully exploring several small ruins in a row without encountering any Grand Nascent Soul cultivators trying to intercept their gains...

They were just one step away from finally purchasing their desired Nascent Soul cultivation technique.

The two decided to seize their current good fortune and undertake one more exploration in a single burst of effort.

As long as they didn't come back completely empty-handed, they would achieve their goal.

For this final exploration, the two were extremely careful.

It was as if a lifetime of bad luck had finally been reversed at this moment.

Based on their previous exchange experience, this time's haul was worth at least thirty thousand contribution points. The brothers had, in a single stroke, turned their fortunes around.

Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi suppressed their inner joy, maintaining calm expressions as they quickly headed towards the nearest Floating Sky City.

At the same time, in their minds, they fantasized about the near future: successfully exchanging for the Nascent Soul cultivation technique, finding a Nascent Soul Grotto-Heaven, advancing to the Nascent Soul stage, and finally exacting their passionate revenge, standing tall with pride.

The journey was entirely smooth. When they returned to the Heavenly Profound Mirror and sold all the ancient artifacts from the ruins in one go, receiving thirty thousand contribution points...

Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi finally let out a long sigh of relief.

After weeping tears of joy, the two eagerly opened the cultivation technique exchange page, ready to make their exchange.

However, the Heavenly Profound Mirror's mechanical, cold voice then thundered in the brothers' ears.

"What do you mean, 'insufficient contribution points'?"

"We clearly each have over seventy thousand contribution points!" Kou Hong's eyes were bloodshot and bulging, and he gasped for breath. His hands were clenched so tightly that his fingernails dug into his flesh, yet he was oblivious to the pain, only roaring his questions.

"He has 73,246, and I have 78,355. We painstakingly earned and accumulated all of it over these years, risking our lives. It's impossible that it's gone..." Dao Xuanzi, still managing to maintain some composure, stated the two figures, demanding the Heavenly Profound Mirror recheck.

However, the cold sweat continuously beading on his forehead and his gradually paling face ultimately revealed his inner panic.

The silence didn't last long; the Heavenly Profound Mirror's reply came swiftly.

"Upon verification, Kou Hong currently possesses 234 contribution points, and Dao Xuanzi currently possesses 264 contribution points."

"Details of contribution point acquisition are as follows."

"Aside from these, there are no other records."

"Repeating..."

The cold voice echoed in the brothers' ears like a death knell.

Now, even Dao Xuanzi could no longer maintain his composure.

He stared blankly at the records displayed by the Heavenly Profound Mirror.

He discovered that the contribution point data had reverted to their very first day of joining the Myriad Immortals Alliance.

Had countless days of blood, sweat, and effort, and the accumulated contribution points, all amounted to nothing?

Dao Xuanzi felt a slight dizzy spell.

"Could it be that all of this was just our hallucination?"

But then, Kou Hong's roar snapped him out of it.

Their Core Formation stage strength was undeniable.

Moreover, the thirty thousand contribution points they had just gained were also real.

If that were the case, how could their memories of the past few years be false?

"You swallowed our contribution points! Our hard-earned money!"

"Give it back to us!"

Dao Xuanzi's expression also turned ferocious.

The Heavenly Profound Mirror, however, continued to repeat its cold, unfeeling words.

The two finally collapsed completely and actually attacked the Heavenly Profound Mirror.

After several unheeded warnings, the Heavenly Profound Mirror directly expelled them.

The plight of Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi naturally attracted the attention of the Myriad Immortals Alliance cultivators.

But no matter how they wept and pleaded, asserting that the Heavenly Profound Mirror, which had never erred, had swallowed their accumulated contribution points...

And given that they were the notorious duo of bad luck...

Naturally, no one believed their words.

Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi cried tears of blood, only to find their surroundings still utterly indifferent.

Recognizing the reality of their situation, they finally stopped their weeping and wailing.

Memories of the years since joining the Myriad Immortals Alliance flashed one by one through their minds, like a dream.

"Let's go," Kou Hong said through gritted teeth.