Chapter 218: Six Desires Formless Skill

By creating Dao Debaters and having them battle other characters, Li Fan aimed to find a way to defeat Zhang Qianmo. This was just one of his many attempts. Since he wasn't short on contribution points, he figured there was no harm in trying, even if it failed. "If all else fails," Li Fan mused, "I'll simply wait until I break through to the Golden Core stage and subdue him directly with the Bug Binding divine ability."

Putting the matter aside for now, Li Fan took out a dark blue stone from his storage ring and gently caressed it. This was the very Dao Transformation Stone he had obtained from the Sky Lock Treasure Box in Yin Xing's tomb in this life. In his previous life, he hadn't managed to remember how to unlock the Sky Lock Treasure Box. This time, when he asked the Heavenly Profound Mirror for help in deciphering it, Li Fan, who had already mastered the Secret Art of Dao Transformation One, effortlessly memorized the correct arrangement of the forty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine papers. "Next time," he thought, "I won't need to bother the Heavenly Profound Mirror, and I'll save some contribution points."

Li Fan touched the Dao Transformation Stone in his hand with his divine sense. Instantly, a faint dark blue light flickered. Streams of energy flowed out from the Dao Transformation Stone and were absorbed by Li Fan's divine sense. The blue crystal in the Sea of Consciousness between his brows seemed to become even deeper.

"These two Dao Transformation Stones were originally one entity. Although they won't automatically merge like natural wonders, I can use the Secret Art of Dao Transformation One to slowly absorb this one, eventually integrating it with the one in my Sea of Consciousness.""Dao Transformation Stones are incredibly rare now. The one in my mind is only a low-grade one and isn't considered particularly precious.""However, with each reincarnation, I gain another low-grade Dao Transformation Stone to absorb.""Even if one or two don't have much effect, what if there are hundreds or thousands?""Quantitative change can lead to qualitative change.""It might even be possible, in the end, to restore the original mother Dao Transformation Stone of the Taiyan Sect."As he considered this, a peculiar glint appeared in Li Fan's eyes.

"The only limitation is that my divine sense is still too weak. The absorption and conversion efficiency is too slow.""To strengthen my divine sense, the Heavenly Profound Mirror still yields no results in its search.""I still have to rely on the Immortal Meteor Realm."The reason Li Fan was eager to change locations in the Immortal Meteor Realm was that the method of strengthening his divine sense by absorbing Li Chen's body from the Purple Firmament Sect seemed effective only the first time. Subsequent deaths had not managed to strengthen his divine sense further. "I can't rush this; I need to proceed step by step," Li Fan sighed softly.

Multitasking, Li Fan simultaneously cultivated the Mountain Sitting Art and absorbed the Dao Transformation Stone. Time passed quietly. Soon, it was Anchor Year 11, the day the Cloudwater Heavenly Palace was set to open. Li Fan's main body didn't go; he continued his arduous cultivation within the Heavenly Profound Mirror. He only sent a clone to Qin Tang, from whom he "acquired" a Nascent Soul cultivation technique called "Six Desires Without Form." This technique could activate the six innate human desires—joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, and hatred—transforming them into six distinct divine abilities.

"As expected of the chief of the Scripture Transmission Pavilion, Senior Brother Qin's collection is truly inexhaustible," Li Fan mused. "Now Su Xiaomei has a cultivation technique too. Unfortunately, with the Heavenly Doctor as a precedent, after learning his Cloudwater Illusory Dream Art, I don't dare to 'milk' him for more. If this Senior Brother Qin, who has already become an unsettling entity, senses something amiss, I might be forced to revert to my original state." Li Fan shook his head regretfully.

Thinking of Su Xiaomei and the others, his thoughts shifted, and his perspective immediately switched to the deserted island. He had already locked onto Ye Feipeng and Xiao Heng using the Formless Killing Intent. As his attention shifted, Li Fan noticed that after more than a year, Xiao Heng had already reached the middle stage of Qi Refinement. It seemed he was not far from breaking through to the late stage of Qi Refinement. Ye Feipeng's cultivation speed was slightly slower; he seemed to have just broken through to the middle stage of Qi Refinement, and his aura was still a bit unstable. The two were currently sparring.

Xiao Heng could now conjure nineteen Divine Sea-Stabilizing Swords. Blue water swords darted up and down, like dancing dragons, roaring as they attacked Ye Feipeng. Ye Feipeng remained calm amidst the surprise, his figure like a ghost, elusive and unpredictable. Wind seemed to generate beneath his feet, allowing him to easily dodge each of the water swords' attacks. With every step, a water blade would simultaneously form beneath his foot, silently flying towards Xiao Heng. But each time it neared Xiao Heng, it was blocked by a suddenly appearing water sword. Ye Feipeng didn't get discouraged but continued to press closer to Xiao Heng. Slowly, when he was just a zhang away from Xiao Heng, a smirk of triumph appeared on his face. He suddenly realized that, at some point, he had been tightly surrounded by the nineteen Divine Sea-Stabilizing Swords! No matter how good his movement technique, he couldn't escape!

"I surrender!" Ye Feipeng declared decisively, shouting loudly.Xiao Heng smiled slightly, and a Divine Sea-Stabilizing Sword whizzed past, cutting off a strand of Ye Feipeng's hair. "Fatty, you really need to put in more effort. I've collected enough of your hair to dress you up as a young lady!" Xiao Heng said with a laugh."What are you so proud of? One day, I'll beat you black and blue," Ye Feipeng snorted, tapping his feet repeatedly as he fled into the distance.

Reaching the seaside, Ye Feipeng secretly pondered, "No, this won't do. If I keep cultivating on this deserted island, I'll always be suppressed by that kid. It truly disgraces the name of a reincarnator. I recall that next year, Zhang Haobo will suddenly rise to prominence. In just one short year, he'll transform from a mortal into a middle-stage Qi Refinement cultivator. Although I don't know what happened, it won't stop me from cutting him off and seizing his opportunity, taking his fortuitous encounter for myself. Also, the year after next, the Heavenly Sun Cave Mansion will open. Although that 'Heavenly Sun' is actually a Soul Transformation Puppet, as long as I successfully slip away before it reveals its full form, there shouldn't be much of a problem. Hmm, I might be a bit outmatched alone. I need to find a way to get Xiao Heng involved, to have him block those guardian puppets. With my speed, I should be able to sweep through and then withdraw safely." As Ye Feipeng thought this, he wrote "Zhang Haobo," "Heavenly Sun," and other words on the beach, a look of anticipation on his face. He then erased the writing with his foot.

Within the Heavenly Profound Mirror, Li Fan smiled as he witnessed this scene. "As expected, he's planning to seize Zhang Haobo's fortuitous encounter. No matter, I've already made my arrangements. Let's see if, in this life, Ye Feipeng can attract the attention of the Cloud Sea's consciousness and inherit half of the Azure Sea Pearl."

Diverting his attention from the deserted island, Li Fan checked the messages he had received and couldn't help but feel a mix of amusement and exasperation."Fellow Daoist, this Li Qianmo you created is simply too outrageous! It's one thing that he can revive, but his power actually gets stronger after revival? That's ridiculous!""I've already reported this to the Heavenly Profound Mirror; something must be wrong. How can a Foundation Establishment cultivator's combat power be so absurd?""Fellow Daoist, could you reveal who Li Qianmo's prototype is? I'm willing to buy this information from you for 500 contribution points!"These messages were all from cultivators who had failed in their battles against Zhang Qianmo. Li Fan glanced at Zhang Qianmo's combat record during this period: eight wins and one draw. The wins were self-explanatory; after his purple core regeneration, he mostly achieved crushing victories. However, that one draw was quite interesting. The other party, though not strong in cultivation, possessed an exceptionally absurd defensive method. His body was surrounded on all sides by a turtle-shell-like shield, and no matter what methods Zhang Qianmo used, he couldn't break through the defense. Even the Purple Firmament Divine Thunder only left a black mark on the turtle shell. And with a dry chuckle from that cultivator, the black mark would instantly restore itself.

When Li Fan looked at that cultivator's name again, he was even more speechless. "E Xinren..." He immediately blocked this cultivator and permanently rejected his battle applications. Feeling refreshed after blocking him, Li Fan suddenly received a communication alert.

He opened it to find a message from Grand Array Master Zhang Zhiliang. It turned out that their group had finally almost completed their research on the Ten Thousand Miles Rivers and Mountains Array. They had returned to the Array Strategy Hall. Since joining, Li Fan had only met him once, on that island. This time, Zhang Zhiliang had asked Li Fan to come to the Array Strategy Hall. He was to re-evaluate Li Fan's array formation skills and then, based on the results, assign subsequent tasks. Li Fan didn't delay; he changed into his black and yellow Daoist robe and arrived at the Array Strategy Hall. Zhang Zhiliang was already waiting. Besides Zhang Zhiliang, there was another unfamiliar Foundation Establishment cultivator. It seemed he, like Li Fan, held the position of an array repairer. After greeting both of them, Li Fan quietly stood to the side. Zhang Zhiliang gestured for Li Fan to wait a moment. Afterward, three more Foundation Establishment cultivators arrived one after another.

Once all five were present, Zhang Zhiliang threw each of them a Spirit Recognition Orb and said, "Let's first test your array formation skills to see if you've been slacking off recently." Li Fan took the small black orb, skillfully sent a wisp of his divine sense into it, and began answering the questions. The questions were all familiar, and Li Fan quickly completed the test. The other four were still absorbed in their Spirit Recognition Orbs. Zhang Zhiliang retrieved the orb, a look of satisfaction on his face. "Not bad," he commented.

Once the others completed their tests, he turned to one of them with a grim expression and said, "Sun Ling, among the five of you, your score ranked third, yet I must dismiss you. Do you know why?" The cultivator named Sun Ling's face instantly turned pale. He opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to defend himself. In the end, he didn't speak, only answering bitterly, "Junior understands. Junior has neglected array formation studies recently, and my skill level is still stuck at what it was three years ago..." Zhang Zhiliang waved his hand. "Good that you know. You may leave!" Sun Ling cupped his hands, bowed, and left despondently. Seeing this, the remaining four cultivators' expressions all grew solemn.

"All right, no need to be nervous. The rest of you are all quite good," Zhang Zhiliang said with a smile. "Due to special circumstances, I haven't lectured you for a long time. Coincidentally, the island-protecting grand array on Haitong Island was recently attacked and severely damaged, requiring repairs. You will come with me to repair it. This will be a good opportunity for me to explain the important considerations for constructing and repairing large-scale arrays." The other three nodded in agreement.

Li Fan's heart stirred, and he asked, "Grandmaster Zhang, I recall Haitong Island is located on the northern frontier of the Cloud Sea, near Yongliang State. This sudden attack... Could it be the work of the Five Elders Society?"Zhang Zhiliang nodded. "It was indeed a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Five Elders Society who caused the damage. However, in this matter, our Myriad Immortals Alliance was in the wrong first, so we had to accept it."Li Fan wondered, "We were in the wrong first? How so?"Zhang Zhiliang replied with a hint of helplessness, "It was all because of Jiang Zhengji from the Martial Arts Hall. He claimed he was chasing some swindler and pursued them all the way to Yongliang State. He didn't find the person, but instead, he was discovered by members of the Five Elders Society. Jiang Zhengji and Du Xingchang—those two are quite skilled. Working together, they actually managed to escape from the encirclement and pursuit of one Nascent Soul and five or six Golden Core cultivators."