Chapter 211: Taiyan Transformation Dao Stone

Moreover, the number of Lesser Medicine King Tripods seems to be far more than just two.

If one's strength is insufficient, a Lesser Medicine King Tripod is not an opportunity but a death warrant. However, watching such a treasure remain buried underground, only to be taken by others in the end, truly goes against my wishes. Perhaps I can use this as a medium to stir up some trouble. If I could also uncover the secret of the returning Medicine King Tripods, that would be even better.

Li Fan's thoughts churned.

But before that, I should have Jiao Xiuyuan retrieve the Lesser Medicine King Tripods first. Speaking of which, how much did Jiao Xiuyuan lose? Why hasn't he replied to me yet? And Thousand-Mile Hall hasn't reopened either.

Li Fan felt a little helpless and had to use his clone to send another message to Jiao Xiuyuan.

To his surprise, the other party replied quickly this time, his tone a little innocent.

"What? I didn't reply to you? How could that be! My injuries healed a long time ago! But there's a small issue; Thousand-Mile Hall can't open for now."

Li Fan was speechless: "Check your message history again."

A moment later, Jiao Xiuyuan quickly apologized: "Oh, it was my oversight! I really didn't notice! But you can't blame me. I have so many things on my mind right now, so many!"

"I thought you'd lost too much and simply ran off," Li Fan teased.

"Haha, you jest, fellow cultivator. Business is my very essence. How could I give up so easily? It's just that the current situation is special. Controlling thousands of puppets by myself is quite a strain. I can't manage them all, so to avoid making bad deals and incurring greater losses, I've had to temporarily close some less important shops."

Jiao Xiuyuan's words were intermittent, somewhat like the stuttering state Li Fan was familiar with.

Li Fan couldn't help but ask, "Huh? Is there something wrong with the cultivation method you practice? Would you mind disclosing it?"

"Haha, there's nothing I can't say. You're my partner, and last time, you lost a lot because of me. Yet you didn't complain at all, and I felt a little bad about that," Jiao Xiuyuan said politely.

"As you know, the cultivation method I practice is called 'Myriad Puppet Dao'. It involves controlling thousands of puppets to procure goods, gather intelligence, and conduct business, reducing the operating costs of Thousand-Mile Hall to the extreme. However, a person's mental attention has its limits. Handling two or three tasks at once can still be managed somewhat normally. But to flexibly control tens of thousands of puppets simultaneously is beyond my current ability."

Jiao Xiuyuan spoke slowly, with pauses.

Li Fan interjected at this point, asking, "So, how did you manage to keep so many puppets operating normally before? Was it some kind of multi-tasking cultivation method?"

"The effect is indeed multi-tasking, but what I relied on wasn't a cultivation method, but an ancient esoteric art!" Jiao Xiuyuan said with some pride. "To find this art, I practically scoured half of the cultivation world."

"An ancient esoteric art?" Li Fan's eyes narrowed, and he couldn't help but ask.

Seeing Li Fan seemed interested, Jiao Xiuyuan didn't keep him in suspense and directly asked, "Do you know about the ancient Taiyan Sect?"

"Taiyan Sect?" Li Fan was slightly startled, recalling Yin Xing's tomb buried deep beneath Great Xuan. That Yin Xing was an outer disciple of the Taiyan Sect. And he had once pretended to be a descendant of the Taiyan Sect in front of Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi, tricking them into repairing the Taiyan Boat for him. He never imagined that the multi-tasking method he had been seeking in vain would be connected to the Taiyan Sect?

Jiao Xiuyuan saw Li Fan freeze and not answer, assuming Li Fan didn't know about it, so he gave a brief introduction: "The Taiyan Sect was famous throughout the world in ancient times for its divination and calculation techniques. Its sect-guarding cultivation method, 'Nine Scrolls of Heaven's Divination', was incredibly profound and endlessly powerful. Cultivating it to mastery was said to allow one to deduce all people and events within a thousand years. Haha. Of course, my esoteric art has nothing to do with these 'Nine Scrolls of Heaven's Divination'."

Jiao Xiuyuan's topic suddenly shifted, making Li Fan pause.

"However, this esoteric art was something every disciple of the Taiyan Sect had to learn back then," Jiao Xiuyuan explained.

"Oh? How so?"

"Consider this, fellow cultivator: 'pull one hair and the whole body moves.' In this world, every person and every event constantly influences one another. One change begets a hundred, and a hundred beget ten thousand. And how vast this world is. The sheer number of variables is truly unimaginable. Even with the abilities of a Dao Integration cultivator, it's impossible to sort out all these variables one by one. And the number of variables one grasps is directly related to the accuracy of the divination results. Therefore, every disciple of the Taiyan Sect dedicated their life to improving their ability to control variables."

Jiao Xiuyuan elaborated.

"This ability, simply put, is a cultivator's computational power. Some cultivators are naturally gifted, with extraordinary computational abilities. Even with countless complexities, all variables appear orderly and perfectly clear to them. But such cultivators are, after all, extremely rare. Even in the ancient Taiyan Sect, they were exceedingly uncommon. So, how would an ordinary Taiyan Sect disciple improve their computational abilities?"

Jiao Xiuyuan paused.

Li Fan cooperatively asked, "Is that where your esoteric art comes in?"

"Precisely!" Jiao Xiuyuan excitedly revealed the answer. "Cultivators aren't born different; they are good at borrowing from external things! If one isn't naturally endowed with this ability, why not use external aids? This esoteric art is called 'Dao Transformation and Divine Unity'. In ancient times, the Taiyan Sect possessed a supreme treasure named the Dao Transformation Stone. On the surface, the Dao Transformation Stone emanated shimmering light, and in the blink of an eye, countless worlds seemed to be born and perish within it. But in reality, these fleeting worlds were not mere illusions. Instead, they were the manifested results of the Dao Transformation Stone's own deductions and calculations. Though seemingly illusory, they were actually not. The art of Dao Transformation and Divine Unity involves using a secret method to merge one's mind with the Dao Transformation Stone. This allowed one to harness the terrifying computational power of the Dao Transformation Stone for personal use, reaching a level where one could glimpse heavenly secrets and probe into karma."

Jiao Xiuyuan's speech became increasingly fluid.

"Back then, almost every disciple of the Taiyan Sect had a Dao Transformation Stone. They were all separated from the largest Mother Dao Transformation Stone. The higher the quality of a Dao Transformation Stone, the stronger its computational ability. The reason I could easily control these myriad puppets before was because of the Dao Transformation Stone and the art of Dao Transformation and Divine Unity. And the little trouble I'm experiencing now is also related to the Dao Transformation Stone. During the last spiritual mist grass price collapse, I lost far too much. Thousands of puppets, all simultaneously experiencing intense mental shock. The Dao Transformation Stone I had merged with wasn't of particularly good quality. It couldn't withstand the shock, directly cracked, and lost its computational function."

As Jiao Xiuyuan mentioned the painful past, he couldn't help but sigh.

"To regain fluid control over these myriad puppets, I need to find a new Dao Transformation Stone. This is a rare item. Priceless and hard to find. When the great calamity struck back then, the Taiyan Sect was destroyed, and the Mother Dao Transformation Stone vanished without a trace. So much time has passed since then; finding another Dao Transformation Stone is as hard as ascending to heaven. However, I've recently found some information. If all goes well, I should be able to resume operations soon."

Jiao Xiuyuan's tone became excited again.

"Dao Transformation Stone, Dao Transformation and Divine Unity."

Li Fan pondered for a moment, then tentatively asked, "The Taiyan Sect was destroyed thousands of years ago. How is it that you know so many secrets about the Taiyan Sect? Are you, by any chance, a descendant of the Taiyan Sect?"

"Don't joke, fellow cultivator, of course I'm not some descendant of the Taiyan Sect. The reason I know these secrets is simply because I happened to dig up a Taiyan Sect disciple's tomb..."

Upon hearing this, Li Fan fell silent. The two fell into an uncanny silence for a moment.

"Haha, don't misunderstand, fellow cultivator. Digging up graves is something I only do occasionally. The source of my Thousand-Mile Hall's goods is clean; those from tombs are definitely a minority."

"Heh heh, rest assured, fellow cultivator. I'm not particularly bothered by such things. My belief is, no matter the origin, if it's useful, that's what matters," Li Fan said.

"Tsk tsk, what you said perfectly aligns with my beliefs!" Jiao Xiuyuan became excited again.

Li Fan remembered his original intention for contacting Jiao Xiuyuan and seized the opportunity to say, "Speaking of which, I do have something I need your help with."

Jiao Xiuyuan immediately said, "Just tell me, fellow cultivator. I'll definitely help if it's within my power."

"You should know about the ancient Medicine King Sect, right? While I was consulting ancient texts today, I discovered that disciples of the Medicine King Sect used a small cauldron to cultivate various spiritual plants and herbs. This small cauldron has its own internal space and can automatically generate wood-element spiritual energy to accelerate the growth of herbs. I happen to need such a cauldron to cultivate a rare herb. However, the Medicine King Sect ruins seem quite dangerous, so I'd like to trouble you to make a trip and find some of these small cauldrons for me. Of course, your compensation will certainly not be lacking. Although we share common goals and get along well, business is business; there can be no ambiguity," Li Fan said slowly with a smile.

Jiao Xiuyuan heard this and fully agreed.

"Well said, fellow cultivator, business is business. Just for that, I'll definitely help you with this! Small cauldrons, right? These were distributed to every disciple and aren't particularly rare, so they shouldn't be hard to find. Just await my good news, fellow cultivator," Jiao Xiuyuan readily agreed.

"In that case, I'll trouble you, Fellow Cultivator Jiao!" Li Fan thanked him in advance.

After a few more pleasantries, without mentioning the Dao Transformation Stone or Dao Transformation and Divine Unity, Li Fan ended the communication.

"Taiyan Sect disciple's tomb, Dao Transformation Stone..."

Inside the Heavenly Profound Mirror, scenes from when he was still the mortal Grand Tutor, leading people to explore Yin Xing's tomb, emerged in Li Fan's mind.

"Back then, as a mortal, I didn't pay much attention. Thinking back now, there seemed to be something else entirely within Yin Xing's tomb. In a place where immortal energy was cut off, within that tomb, there were mountains and a sea of clouds that hadn't dispersed for a thousand years. Clearly not mortal mechanisms, it must have been some kind of formation or restriction."

Li Fan abruptly stood up.

"Since that's the case, I'll make a trip back to Great Xuan!"