Chapter 1628: Before Realizing the Method in the Void Realm

Angry Squid

In the Great Xuan Kingdom, Xuanjing City, at the Grand Tutor’s Estate.

Li Fan held a wine cup, observing the numerous civil and military officials who had come to celebrate his birthday. Even though he was already well into his seventies, he couldn't help but feel a surge of secret pride.

It was widely known that today, at the Grand Tutor's Estate, the vast majority of high-ranking officials from the imperial court were present! What an impressive display of influence!

He, Li Fan, had been a poor scholar when he first transmigrated to this world.

For over fifty years, he had risen from having nothing to becoming the Grand Tutor, wielding immense power over the world. The entirety of his journey was enough to fill a multi-million-word novel.

With a life like this, what more could one ask for?

Li Fan stroked his beard and drained the exquisite wine in his cup.

“To the Grand Tutor, may he live long!” the assembled officials cheered in unison.

Li Fan felt even more pleased.

Just then, a series of discordant exclamations suddenly came from outside.

“Look! What’s that!”

“Fire falling from the sky! It’s an auspicious sign, a good omen! Quickly inform the Grand Tutor!”

“Why does it look like it’s flying towards our Grand Tutor’s Estate!”

Hearing the commotion outside, Li Fan furrowed his brow.

The previously lively main hall suddenly fell silent.

Li Fan rose and walked out first.

However, before he could scold his servants or express his displeasure, he was captivated by the sight in the sky.

In the distant sky, two streaks of silver light, one after the other, sped towards them like meteors.

“This is…” Li Fan was stunned.

In a flash, the two streaks of light arrived above Xuanjing City, but suddenly stopped.

At the same time, a voice like thunder descended from the heavens, exploding in everyone’s ears.

“Dao Xuanzi! You’re going too far!”

Everyone present was utterly terrified. Several even cried out “Immortal Master” and prostrated themselves on the ground.

Meanwhile, a word that had been suppressed deep in his memory, almost forgotten, suddenly popped into Li Fan’s mind.

“Culti… cultivators!” Li Fan froze, muttering to himself, “How is this possible…”

The two cultivators in the sky clearly paid no heed to the thoughts of the mortals below.

Then another voice rang out: “Kou Hong! Do you think I’ll let you go 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!”

“A joke! It’s precisely because I lacked the core-formation method that I’ve been stuck in the Foundation Establishment stage for nearly a hundred years, seeing my end approach, about to turn into withered bones. Now that I have this core-formation cultivation method, how could I possibly hand it over to another!” Kou Hong scoffed, his tone filled with disdain.

“Indeed!” Dao Xuanzi sighed deeply. “For the Golden Core Dao, it’s either me or you. Although there are many core-formation methods in this world, there are even more cultivators stuck in the Foundation Establishment stage!”

Dao Xuanzi’s tone suddenly turned ferocious: “Since that’s the case, with a method for immortality right before me, how could I possibly let you go? How could I *not* push my luck!”

Kou Hong laughed heartily: “It’s just a fight! How ridiculous that you and I, brothers for a century, now draw blades against each other for a glimmer of hope!”

Dao Xuanzi sneered and gave no reply.

Kou Hong, however, suddenly said: “I know I’m no match for you, and I probably can’t escape this calamity today. But there are so many mortals here, and I wonder if you can withstand such a concentrated Immortal-Mortal Miasma!”

Dao Xuanzi’s expression instantly changed: “Kou Hong! What are you trying to do!”

Kou Hong laughed maniacally: “I’m just seeking a glimmer of hope!”

Listening to the conversation between the two cultivators overhead, Li Fan instantly felt a bad premonition. Yet, before he could react, he saw a fiery red flame burst open above Xuanjing City.

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Enormous roars continuously erupted in Li Fan’s ears. His vision immediately turned blood-red, and within moments, he fainted.

He didn't know how much time had passed before Li Fan woke up.

Initially, he was somewhat disoriented. It took him a long time to remember what had happened.

Li Fan coughed, spitting out a few mouthfuls of blood. He tremblingly climbed to his feet and looked around.

It was still night. The once luxurious Grand Tutor’s Estate had already become a pile of rubble.

The air was filled with the unpleasant smell of charred corpses.

The civil and military officials who had been there moments ago were all utterly destroyed, their souls sent to the Western Heaven.

And Li Fan’s wives, concubines, and five sons had also not been spared.

Li Fan’s aged face was devoid of any expression. His eyes were somewhat vacant.

After standing in place for a long time, he finally dragged his weakened body out of the Grand Tutor’s Estate.

Xuanjing City, which had been incomparably prosperous and lively moments before, had now clearly become a hell of blood and fire. As far as the eye could see, there were only broken bodies and collapsed buildings.

It was probable that barely one in a hundred common folk had survived this catastrophe.

All of this, everything, was due to the two “Immortal Masters” who had suddenly descended, the two cultivators.

Li Fan had no strength left and slumped casually into a broken corner of a wall.

His hearing had long been destroyed by the intense explosion. But, it didn’t matter anymore.

At this moment, he only wanted to laugh.

How could this world have cultivators?

From the moment he became an official, he had used his power to search for any traces of the immortal path.

When he became the Imperial Tutor, standing above ten thousand people, he had scoured the entire world!

From the Ice Sea in the north to the Great Ocean in the south, from the Ruined Abyss in the east to the Connected Mountains in the west.

Throughout the entire Great Xuan, there wasn’t even the slightest trace of immortals.

But today, many 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 destroyed everything he possessed.

Is this what an immortal is?

And where did immortals come from?

His heart full of fury and unwillingness, in the end, transformed into endless bewilderment.

Heaven’s will plays tricks on man!

At the same time, Li Fan felt incredibly fortunate.

Fortunate that before his death, he had finally confirmed the existence of immortals!

Otherwise, after starting his next life, wouldn’t he again waste fifty years in vain?!

That’s right! He, Li Fan, a mere mortal, able to rise from a humble scholar to the Imperial Tutor of the world, how could he have no reliance?

This was also the reason he barely survived at the hands of an immortal.

“Truth Reversion!”

Li Fan silently recited this in his mind. Immediately, the surrounding scenery suddenly dimmed. It was as if a thick curtain of water separated him from it, making it hazy and somewhat indistinct.

“When the real is made false, the false is also real.”

Seven large characters lit up in the darkness, then suddenly dispersed, transforming into a light screen.

“Charging complete.”

“Virtualize current scenario, return to original anchor point?”

Two lines of small text appeared consecutively.

At the same time, images appeared one after another, rapidly filling the entire light screen.

That was Li Fan’s life of fifty years in this current existence.

Li Fan stared at himself in the various images 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 truth into falsehood, and reality into illusion!

“Turning reality into illusion” meant transforming everything Li Fan had truly experienced into simulated, illusory experiences, allowing Li Fan to return to his initially set anchor point—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 great ambitions, he was merely an ordinary person. He repeatedly failed imperial examinations and finally gave up the idea of studying to become an official after thirty. He started a small business, became a regular wealthy man, then married and had children, living an ordinary life. It was only when he was very old and on the verge of death from illness that he finally awakened “Truth Reversion.”

This was how Li Fan’s second life saw him rise with unstoppable momentum.

It was just a pity that, as it now seemed, he had used it in the wrong place.

After a moment of contemplation, Li Fan chose not to immediately end this life. Before that, he still had a few things to do.

Closing the light screen, returning to reality, Li Fan forced himself to rally his spirits and deal with the aftermath of Xuanjing’s severe damage by the immortals.

After searching for some survivors, Li Fan, relying on his years of prestige, managed to somewhat stabilize the morale of the people.

Even though Li Fan couldn’t hear, he could still find paper and pen. Although communication was somewhat troublesome, it didn’t prevent Li Fan’s orders from being conveyed one after another.

First, Li Fan ordered his trusted garrison stationed outside the city to rush to Xuanjing City to maintain order after the disaster. Then he sent orders to surrounding cities to dispatch provisions and officials to Xuanjing.

Most of Xuanjing’s buildings were destroyed. After the garrison took control of Xuanjing, Li Fan simply stayed in the military camp to oversee the aftermath.

And with Li Fan’s decrees, resources and talent from surrounding cities were continuously transported to Xuanjing City.

A month later, the ruined Xuanjing City had only just begun to recover a semblance of life.

Only after the Great Xuan Kingdom finally recovered from the immortal’s attack did Li Fan begin to order all regions to collect intelligence about the two immortals who appeared that night.

This included where the two originally came from, where they went afterward, whether they had any other conversations along the way, and so on.

Unfortunately, months of investigation yielded nothing except the knowledge that these two cultivators seemed to have appeared from the direction of the Eastern Ruined Abyss.

The outcome Li Fan had hoped for—the two immortals fighting each other to mutual destruction—did not happen.

“I shouldn’t have expected such a thing in the first place,” Li Fan sighed inwardly. “Since that’s the case, there’s nothing left for me to cling to in this life.”

Standing in the newly constructed Grand Tutor’s Estate, Li Fan activated “Truth Reversion” once more.

“Virtualize current scenario, return to original anchor point?”

Li Fan no longer hesitated and chose “Yes.”

On the light screen, countless vivid images froze simultaneously. Then, the political maneuvering, power, and glory of this life shattered and exploded like ephemeral dreams, transforming into streaks of meteors that flew into Li Fan’s mind.

Scene after scene flashed rapidly before Li Fan’s eyes like a revolving lantern. Finally, the image froze on the two cultivators confronting each other high above the Grand Tutor’s Estate.

“Dao Xuanzi, Kou Hong.” Li Fan softly uttered their names. “Fifty years from now, I will still be waiting for you in Xuanjing City.”

“Wealth and power are but fleeting clouds to me.” Li Fan’s consciousness gradually blurred, but his will and goal became firmer than ever before.

“Next life, I will hunt immortals!”

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