Chapter 1635: Induced to Transcendence

In the Kingdom of Dàxuàn, within the Grand Tutor’s Mansion in Xuàn Capital.

Li Fan held a wine cup, observing the hall filled with civil and military officials who had come to celebrate his birthday. Even at his advanced age of seventy, he couldn't help but feel a secret satisfaction.

One must know that today, within the Grand Tutor’s Mansion, eight or nine out of ten of the court’s high officials were present! What an impressive display of influence!

Li Fan recalled that when he first transmigrated to this world, he was just a poor scholar.

For over fifty years, he had risen from nothing to become the Grand Tutor, wielding immense power over the land. The story of his rise alone would be 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 fine wine in his cup.

“To the Grand Tutor’s longevity!” the assembled officials cheered in unison.

Li Fan grew even more pleased.

Just then, bursts of discordant exclamations suddenly came from outside.

“Look! What’s that!”

“Flowing fire from the sky! It’s an auspicious omen, a good omen! Quickly inform the Grand Tutor!”

“It looks like it’s flying towards our Grand Tutor’s Mansion!”

Hearing the commotion outside, Li Fan furrowed his brow.

The previously lively hall abruptly fell silent.

Li Fan rose and was the first to walk out.

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

Far on the horizon, two silver streaks of light, one following the other, approached rapidly like meteors.

“This is…” Li Fan was stunned.

In the blink of an eye, the two meteors arrived above Xuàn Capital, but suddenly stopped.

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

“Dao Xuanzi! You are going too far!”

Everyone present was inexplicably terrified. Some even cried out "Immortal Master" and prostrated themselves on the ground.

A word, buried deep in his memory, almost forgotten, suddenly sprang into Li Fan’s mind at that moment.

“Cultiva… cultivator!” Li Fan froze, muttering to himself, “How could this be possible…”

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

Another voice was heard: “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 acquired that day, or I’ll pursue you relentlessly until one of us is dead!”

“Ridiculous! It’s precisely because I lacked a Core Formation method that I’ve been stuck in the Foundation Establishment stage for nearly a century. My lifespan is nearing its end, and I’m about to turn to dust. Yet, now that I have this Core Formation technique, how could I possibly hand it over to another?!” Kou Hong scoffed, his voice filled with disdain.

“Indeed!” Dao Xuanzi sighed deeply. “The path to the Golden Core is exclusive; there can only be one. Though 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 the method for immortality right here, how could I possibly let you go? How could I possibly not go too far!”

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

Dao Xuanzi sneered but did not reply.

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

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

Kou Hong laughed maniacally: “Just seeking a sliver of life!”

Listening to the conversation of the two cultivators above, Li Fan felt a sudden sense of dread. However, before he could react, he saw a crimson flame explode above Xuàn Capital.

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Enormous roars continuously erupted in Li Fan’s ears. His vision instantly turned blood red, and in just a moment, he fainted.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Fan finally awoke.

At first, he felt somewhat disoriented. It took him a long time to remember what had happened.

Li Fan coughed, spitting out several mouthfuls of blood. He shakily pushed himself up and looked around.

It was still night. The once-luxurious Grand Tutor’s Mansion had been reduced to ruins.

The air was filled with the acrid smell of burnt corpses.

All the civil and military officials who had been present moments ago were completely annihilated, their souls returned to the Western Heavens.

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

There was no longer any expression on Li Fan’s aged face. His eyes were somewhat vacant.

He stood there for a long time before dragging his weakened body out of the Grand Tutor’s Mansion.

Xuàn Capital, which had been bustling and prosperous moments ago, now appeared to be a hell of blood and fire. Everywhere he looked, there were only broken bodies and collapsed buildings.

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

All of this was due to the two "Immortal Masters"—the two cultivators—who had suddenly descended.

Li Fan lost all strength and slumped down at a broken wall corner.

His hearing had already been destroyed by the violent explosion. But it hardly mattered anymore.

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 signs of the immortal path.

By the time he became the Imperial Tutor, above all others, he had scoured the entire world!

From the icy sea in the north to the vast ocean in the south, from the Xu Ruins in the east to the Continuous Mountains in the west.

Throughout the entire Great Xuàn Kingdom, there was not a single trace of immortals!

But today, years after he had grown old and weary, years after he had completely given up hope, two cultivators descended from the heavens, appearing before him, and, without a word, utterly destroyed everything he possessed.

Were these immortals?

Where did immortals even come from?

His heart, full of anger and unwillingness, ultimately transformed into endless confusion.

Fate is cruel!

At the same time, Li Fan felt immensely fortunate.

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

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

That’s right! Li Fan, a mere mortal, who rose from a humble scholar to the Imperial Tutor of the land—how could he have achieved this without something to rely on?

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

“True Reversion!”

Li Fan silently recited in his mind. Immediately, the surrounding scenery suddenly dimmed. As if separated by a thick curtain of water, it became hazy and indistinct.

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

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

“Charging complete.”

“Virtualize current scene and return to initial anchor point?”

Two lines of small text appeared sequentially.

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

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

Li Fan looked at himself in the various images and was stunned for a long time.

This was the name Li Fan had given to the wondrous artifact 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 the initial anchor point he had set, which was when he had just 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. Failing repeatedly in examinations, he eventually gave up the idea of studying to become an official after thirty. He started a small business, became an ordinary wealthy man, then married, had children, and lived a mundane life. It was only when he was old and infirm, on the verge of death from illness, that he finally awakened "True Reversion".

Only then did Li Fan’s rise in his second life become unstoppable.

It was just a pity that it now seemed to have been used in the wrong place.

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

Turning off the light screen and returning to reality, Li Fan forced himself to rally his spirits and began handling the aftermath of Xuàn Capital being severely damaged by the immortals.

After searching for and finding some survivors, Li Fan, relying on his years of prestige, managed to somewhat stabilize the shaken populace.

Even though Li Fan couldn't hear, he could still find paper and a brush. Although communication was somewhat difficult, it did not prevent Li Fan’s orders from being conveyed one after another.

First, Li Fan ordered his loyal garrison camp, stationed outside the city, to rush to Xuàn Capital to maintain post-disaster order. He then sent orders to surrounding cities to dispatch provisions and officials to Xuàn Capital.

Most of Xuàn Capital's buildings had been destroyed. After the garrison camp took control of Xuàn Capital, Li Fan simply stayed in the military camp to direct the relief efforts.

And with Li Fan’s decrees, resources and personnel from surrounding cities were continuously sent to Xuàn Capital.

A month later, Xuàn Capital, still largely in ruins, had only just begun to regain a semblance of life.

It was only after the Great Xuàn Kingdom had finally begun to recover from the immortals' strike that Li Fan began ordering the collection of intelligence from various regions regarding the two immortals who appeared that night.

This included where the two had originally come from, where they had gone afterwards, and whether they had any other conversations during their journey, among other things.

Unfortunately, several months of investigation yielded nothing but the knowledge that the two cultivators seemed to have appeared from the direction of the Xu Ruins in the east. Everything else was fruitless.

The outcome Li Fan had hoped for—the two immortals destroying each other—did not occur.

“I shouldn’t have expected anything like that,” Li Fan sighed inwardly. “Since that’s the case, there’s nothing left for me to be attached to in this life.”

Standing in the newly rebuilt Grand Tutor’s Mansion, Li Fan activated "True Reversion" once more.

“Virtualize current scene and return to initial anchor point?”

Li Fan no longer hesitated and chose “yes.”

On the light screen, countless vivid images simultaneously froze. Then, all the strategizing, maneuvering, glory, and 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. The final image froze on the two cultivators standing high above the Grand Tutor’s Mansion, locked in confrontation.

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

“Wealth and glory are but fleeting clouds to me.” Li Fan’s consciousness gradually blurred, but his will and purpose became more resolute than ever before.

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

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