Chapter 210: Aftermath Changes the World

In the Bone Hand Vanguard Realm, Li Fan, who held the highest authority, secretly nodded as he watched Ye Feipeng, who was inexplicably excited, and Xiao Heng, who was equally pleased.

"After acting with these youngsters for so long," he thought, "the time is finally ripe. From now on, barring any accidents, I can just sit back and collect the returns on my investment, without having to worry about every little detail."

To make his fabricated story appear as real as possible, Li Fan had gone to great lengths and spent a considerable amount of money. This included, but was not limited to: a necklace that integrated a communication formation and a ritual solidification formation, a communication transmission formation disguised as an altar, a Foundation Establishment stage puppet, an illusion stone that faked the phenomenon of a cultivator's demise, and so on.

The reason he went to such great lengths in this life—renting and modifying the Vanguard Realm, and fabricating a non-existent past of a True Immortal—was that Li Fan naturally had his considerations.

Firstly, if he were to directly provide cultivation techniques as a cultivator, it would be fine at first, as the prodigies were young and wouldn't have many questions. But as they grew older and understood the true value of the techniques, they would inevitably become suspicious, wondering if there was some hidden conspiracy or price behind it. Once a rift formed, many complications would easily arise. By disguising himself as a half-fallen ancient cultivator and presenting the gifted techniques as the prodigies' own serendipitous encounters, he would avoid such concerns.

Secondly, after establishing the Revival Immortal organization, he could fully act as a hands-off manager. He wouldn't have to painstakingly search for exceptionally talented individuals to invest in. As the saying goes, "talents attract each other." As Xiao Heng, Su Xiaomei, and the other prodigies grew and traveled, they would very likely encounter companions with similar, impressive talents. Li Fan wouldn't have to worry at all, as the number of Revival Immortal members would naturally increase. By letting the prodigies develop on their own while he focused on his own cultivation, he could also enjoy the investment returns brought by Revival Immortal's expansion. It was truly wonderful.

Thirdly, the Revival Immortal organization's background of being at odds with the Myriad Immortals Alliance would naturally impose a layer of pressure on Xiao Heng and the others. Pressure creates motivation. Only then could their cultivation talents be pushed to their limits, and only then could Li Fan recover his investment costs faster. Li Fan clearly remembered that previously, when Xiao Heng was under no pressure, he had failed to remove the miasma from his body for over ten years. Yet in this life, under the pressure of being stranded on a deserted island and "bearing the heavy responsibility of revenge," he spontaneously began cultivating the day after receiving the *Divine Sea-Stabilizing Sword Art* technique. The difference was immense.

As for whether this small Revival Immortal organization would attract the attention of the Myriad Immortals Alliance, when Li Fan was disguised as a skull, he had already instructed Xiao Heng: The Myriad Immortals Alliance was powerful, but currently focused mainly on developing and strengthening itself. Before reaching the Nascent Soul stage, they should not directly conflict with the Myriad Immortals Alliance. Even if Xiao Heng was a genius, it would still take many years for him to reach the Nascent Soul stage. Li Fan probably wouldn't live to see it in this lifetime.

In short, the seeds had been planted. Now, he just needed to quietly wait for the prodigies of the Leaving Realm to grow, and he could reap the fruits.

After two months of continuous work, by the time Li Fan returned to Myriad Immortals Island, the time was already Fixed Year 10. Although cultivating the Mountain Sitting Technique allowed for passive gains, Li Fan was not the type of person to pin all his hopes on others. He had not neglected his own cultivation either. Throughout Fixed Year 10, Li Fan spent his time diligently cultivating in seclusion. With his Enlightenment state active without pause, just one year of his cultivation was equivalent to twenty years of arduous cultivation for an ordinary cultivator.

Then one day, a rather substantial amount of feedback cultivation energy suddenly appeared out of nowhere in Li Fan's dantian, startling him awake from his cultivation. The amount of this cultivation energy was equivalent to three or four years of his own arduous cultivation under normal circumstances. Li Fan was pleasantly surprised that the first batch of cultivation feedback arrived so quickly, and he immediately began to examine it.

Upon careful sensing, to Li Fan's surprise, the first large amount of cultivation feedback from the Mountain Sitting Technique did not come from the people of the Leaving Realm. Instead, it came from He Zhenghao! Just moments ago, he had successfully broken through from the mid-Foundation Establishment stage to the late-Foundation Establishment stage.

"Fellow Daoist He has really built up a lot of momentum," Li Fan thought, "to break through so quickly. It seems his claim of definitely reaching the Golden Core stage within fifty years was not an empty boast after all."

At this point, Li Fan also received a celebratory message from He Zhenghao. Li Fan waived the interest He Zhenghao owed for the year as a sign of encouragement. He encouraged him to continue cultivating diligently and strive to reach the Golden Core stage soon. Afterward, he checked the messages he had missed during his seclusion.

Zhang Zhiliang's research on the Mountains and Rivers Grand Formation was nearing its end. He sent a message, asking Li Fan about his self-study progress in formation array knowledge. When he returned, he planned to test Li Fan. This, of course, posed no difficulty for Li Fan, who had already studied formation arrays under Zhang Zhiliang for over ten years in his previous life. So Li Fan wasn't particularly worried.

Next, among a pile of unimportant greeting messages, a message from Jiang Zhengji of the Martial Arts Hall piqued Li Fan's interest. He asked Li Fan if he had recently seen a late-Foundation Establishment stage cultivator. Obviously, the message was a mass send, but Li Fan knew this particular Foundation Establishment cultivator. It was the Foundation Establishment Master from his twelfth life, who had also smuggled himself from a mortal small world.

Li Fan inquired with Jiang Zhengji to find out what had happened. It turned out that not long ago, this Foundation Establishment Master, who had always been relatively low-key, suddenly ramped up his promotional efforts. Under the slogans of "guaranteed Foundation Establishment success" and "reducing Foundation Establishment time by ninety percent," he extensively recruited apprentices. The Foundation Establishment Master's previously good reputation and the exaggerated, miraculous effects of his methods attracted many cultivators at the perfected Qi Refining stage who were preparing for Foundation Establishment. They were quite trusting of this Foundation Establishment Master, and after paying their contribution points, they began their Foundation Establishment right there, under the Master's careful guidance.

However, after they emerged from the Foundation Establishment process, whether successful or failed, they angrily discovered something. The Foundation Establishment Master who had been speaking and guiding them in their ears was merely an illusion. The real Foundation Establishment Master had long since fled. Only then did the cultivators realize that they had been scammed. According to later statistics, at least over a hundred cultivators had gathered on the island at that time. 2,000 contribution points was a considerable sum for a perfected Qi Refining cultivator. Unwilling to accept their loss, they no longer cared about losing face and chose to report the incident to the Myriad Immortals Alliance.

The Myriad Immortals Alliance wouldn't truly care about such a minor matter. However, the necessary superficial work still had to be done. Thus, the Martial Arts Hall ordered Jiang Zhengji to thoroughly investigate the case. By the time Jiang Zhengji arrived at the island to investigate, the place was already deserted, and he found nothing. Moreover, these individuals seemed quite resourceful. Even when Jiang Zhengji used his connections to ask Elder Gongsun of the Heavenly Secrets Hall to divine their whereabouts, not a single trace was found. Failure to complete the mission would result in a deduction of merit points and a lowering of his authority level. A helpless Jiang Zhengji could only send out a mass message to his friends, hoping for a lead, asking if anyone had ever seen the Foundation Establishment Master's traces.

Li Fan, who understood the whole story, rubbed his chin with interest. "Following the normal trajectory," he mused, "they should still be quietly running their scam, slowly accumulating contribution points. Why would they pull off such a big one and just flee? Could it be that they also speculated on Spirit Mist Grass?" Li Fan couldn't help but wonder. After thinking for a moment, he realized it was indeed possible. After all, in his twelfth life, they were not far from redeeming the Dao Conjoining cultivation technique, *Sea-Swallowing Longevity Art*. Taking a gamble, perhaps they could complete their goal fifty years earlier?

Li Fan could even imagine that when Spirit Mist Grass first surged in price, although they were tempted, their opinions might not have been unified regarding using decades of savings for speculation. But as the price of Spirit Mist Grass continued to soar, dissenting opinions would weaken. Finally, after much hesitation, they agreed to enter the market, just as they were ready to make a quick profit and leave. Then, the Heavenly Profound Mirror's single announcement settled the turmoil, and the price of Spirit Mist Grass collapsed. They lost everything.

"Perhaps they didn't use all their savings, but they definitely suffered heavy losses," Li Fan mused. "That's why they took such a desperate risk, planning to make a quick buck to recover their losses and then flee. One hundred people means two hundred thousand contribution points. This scam is faster money than investing."

After some thought, Li Fan replied to Jiang Zhengji: "If possible, Fellow Daoist, you could search along the path leading towards Yongliang State. You might find something."

A moment later, Jiang Zhengji replied: "Fellow Daoist, do you mean they went to join the Five Elders Society? Hmph, betraying the Alliance is a grave crime. If I catch them... Regardless, thank you, Fellow Daoist!"

Li Fan exchanged a few more polite words, put away his communication talisman, and began to ponder silently. He didn't care much about the Foundation Establishment Master fleeing early. What Li Fan truly cared about was that the impact of the Spirit Mist Grass incident seemed to exceed his expectations. He had a faint feeling beforehand that he had overlooked something. Now, prompted by this incident, Li Fan finally understood what he had overlooked.

Li Fan searched for the prices of spirit plants and herbs in the Heavenly Profound Mirror. As expected, there was widespread lamentation, and the prices were unbearable to witness. Some had even fallen below their cost price.

"In the twelfth life," Li Fan recalled, "these herbs' prices collapsed because in Fixed Year 13, the first batch of spirit plants grown in the Wood-attribute grotto-heaven matured and were massively shipped. But in this life, due to the Heavenly Profound Mirror's announcement, all cultivators in the Myriad Immortals Alliance knew in advance about the immense abundance of various spirit plants and herbs in that grotto-heaven. The price drop was foreseeable. To quickly sell the herbs they held, cultivators engaged in a mutual run, which led to the premature collapse of spirit plant prices. However, this isn't the main point. The main point is... the Small Medicine King Cauldron."

Recalling this culprit that had once caused his death, a glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes. "With the collapse of herb prices," he reasoned, "naturally no one would buy small cauldrons for cultivating herbs. If no one commissions Jiao Xiuyuan, will he still go to the Medicine King Sect ruins to dig out the Small Medicine King Cauldron? At this moment, the Small Medicine King Cauldron has little value. But once the true Medicine King Cauldron returns, it will become a treasure that everyone scrambles for."