Chapter 1631: The Ambition of Chengdao

The Enraged Squid

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

Li Fan held his wine cup, observing the civil and military officials who filled the hall, all gathered to celebrate his birthday. Though he was now a septuagenarian, he couldn't help but feel a secret satisfaction.

It was remarkable that on this day, eight or nine out of ten high-ranking officials from the entire court were present at the Grand Tutor's Estate! What an impressive display of influence!

He recalled how, when he first transmigrated to this world, he was merely a poverty-stricken scholar.

Over fifty years, he had risen from nothing to become the Grand Tutor, wielding immense power across the land. The story of his journey was long enough to fill a novel of several million words.

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

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

“To the Grand Tutor, a long life!”

The assembled officials cheered in unison.

Li Fan grew even more pleased.

Just then, discordant shouts of alarm suddenly erupted from outside.

“Look! What is that?!”

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

“Wait, why does it look like it’s flying towards our Grand Tutor’s Estate?!”

Hearing the commotion outside, Li Fan frowned.

The previously lively main hall abruptly fell silent.

Li Fan rose and was the first to walk outside.

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 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 halted.

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

“Dao Xuanzi! You go too far!”

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

Meanwhile, a term suppressed deep within his memory, almost forgotten, suddenly sprang into Li Fan’s mind.

“Cult… cultivator!” Li Fan was stunned, murmuring 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 Immortal-Barren Land? Hand over the cultivation method you obtained that day, or I’ll pursue you to the death!”

“Ridiculous! It’s precisely because I lacked a Core Formation method that I was trapped in the Foundation Establishment stage for nearly a hundred years, facing impending demise and turning to dust. How could I hand over this Core Formation cultivation method now that I’ve acquired it?!” 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 ruthless: “Since that’s the case, with the method for longevity before me, how could I possibly let you go? How could I not be overbearing?!”

Kou Hong burst into laughter: “It’s merely a fight! How laughable that you and I, brothers for a hundred years, now draw swords against each other for a slim chance at survival!”

Dao Xuanzi sneered but didn't reply.

Kou Hong, however, suddenly said, “I know I’m no match for you, and I doubt I’ll 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 are you trying to do?!”

Kou Hong laughed maniacally: “I’m merely seeking a slim chance at survival!”

Listening to the cultivators’ conversation overhead, Li Fan felt an immediate sense of dread. Yet, before he could react, he saw a streak of crimson flame explode above Xuanjing City.

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Loud roars continuously erupted in Li Fan’s ears, and his vision instantly turned blood-red. In moments, he fainted.

Li Fan eventually regained consciousness, though he knew not how long had passed.

At first, he was disoriented. It took him a long time to recall what had happened earlier.

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 been reduced to ruins.

The air was thick with the stench of charred corpses.

All the civil and military officials who had been there moments ago were now dead, their bodies incinerated, their souls gone to the afterlife.

Li Fan’s wives, concubines, and five sons had also perished.

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

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

Xuanjing City, which had been so 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 shattered bodies and collapsed buildings.

Presumably, fewer than one in a hundred commoners survived this catastrophe.

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

Li Fan, devoid of strength, slumped against a broken wall.

His hearing had already been destroyed by the intense explosion. But it hardly mattered now.

At this moment, he only wanted to laugh.

How could cultivators exist in this world?

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

Once he became the Imperial Tutor, positioned above ten thousand others, he had scoured the entire realm!

From the frozen 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 Grand Xuan Kingdom, there was not the slightest trace of immortals!

Yet 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 shattered everything he possessed.

Is this what an immortal is?

And where do immortals come from?

His heart, filled with fury and indignation, ultimately dissolved into endless bewilderment.

Heaven 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, wouldn’t he have wasted another fifty years after starting his next life?!

That’s right! How could Li Fan, a mere mortal, have risen from a humble scholar to the Imperial Tutor of the land without some reliance?

This was also why he had narrowly escaped death at the hands of the immortals.

“Return to Truth!”

Li Fan silently chanted this in his mind. Immediately, the surrounding scenery dimmed. It was as if a thick curtain of water obscured everything, making it blurry and indistinct.

“When the real becomes false, the false also becomes real.”

Seven large characters lit up in the darkness, then suddenly dispersed, forming a curtain of light.

“Charging complete.”

“Virtualize current scenario? Return to initial anchor point?”

Two lines of small text appeared sequentially.

Simultaneously, a series of images appeared one after another, rapidly filling the entire light curtain.

Those were scenes from Li Fan’s fifty years in this life.

Li Fan looked at himself in each image, 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 illusion, to transform the tangible into the virtual!

The so-called transformation of the tangible into the virtual meant converting all of Li Fan’s true experiences into simulated, illusory ones, allowing him to return to his initial anchor point—the moment he first transmigrated to this world.

In fact, this current life was already Li Fan’s second.

In his first life, although Li Fan harbored grand ambitions, he was merely an ordinary person. He failed the imperial examinations repeatedly and eventually gave up the idea of studying to become an official after turning thirty. He started a small business, became an ordinary wealthy man, then married, had children, and lived a simple life. Only when he was old and on the verge of death from illness did he finally awaken ‘Return to Truth’.

This was what allowed Li Fan’s second life to soar like the wind, unstoppable.

It was a pity, however, that it seemed to have been used in the wrong place this time.

After pondering for a moment, Li Fan chose not to immediately end this life. He still had a few things to do first.

Closing the light curtain, Li Fan returned to reality. He forced himself to rally and deal with the aftermath of Xuanjing City being devastated by the immortals.

After searching for survivors, Li Fan, relying on his years of prestige, finally managed to somewhat stabilize the public’s morale.

Even though Li Fan couldn’t hear, he could still find paper and brushes. While communication was difficult, it didn’t hinder his orders from being conveyed one by one.

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

Most of Xuanjing’s buildings were destroyed. After the Garrison Camp took over the city, Li Fan simply stayed in the military camp to oversee the recovery efforts.

Following Li Fan’s decrees, resources and personnel from surrounding cities were continuously transported to Xuanjing City.

A month later, the ruined Xuanjing City began to show faint signs of life once more.

Only after the Grand Xuan Kingdom finally recovered from the immortals’ strike did Li Fan begin ordering the collection of intelligence about the two immortals who had appeared that night.

This included where they had originally come from, where they went afterward, and if they had had any other conversations along the way.

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

The scenario 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 this is the case, there’s nothing left for me to be nostalgic about in this life.”

Standing in the newly rebuilt Grand Tutor’s Estate, Li Fan activated ‘Return to Truth’ once more.

“Virtualize current scenario? Return to initial anchor point?”

Li Fan no longer hesitated and chose ‘Yes’.

On the light curtain, countless vivid images simultaneously froze. Then, the political maneuvers, glory, and wealth of this life shattered and exploded like an illusion, 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 settled 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 glory are but fleeting clouds to me.” Li Fan’s consciousness gradually blurred, but his will and objective became more resolute than ever.

“In the next life, I will hunt immortals!”

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