Chapter 225: Meeting an Old Friend in a Foreign Land

The name of an item contained two extremely sensitive terms, making it hard not to pique Li Fan's interest.

Li Fan walked over to the partially unfurled scroll and locked his divine sense onto it.

Product information immediately appeared.

“《Painting of Chuanfa Tianzun Forcibly Seizing the Taishang Yuanshi Zhenjing》”

“Many years ago, Chuanfa Tianzun personally visited the Taishang Sect, intending to borrow the 《Taishang Yuanshi Zhenjing》 for a look.”

“At that time, a cultivator skilled in painting happened to be staying as a guest at the Taishang Sect.”

“He then used his brush to record this scene.”

“Replica.”

“It is recommended to burn it after viewing.”

“Not recommended for Myriad Immortals Alliance cultivators to carry.”

“Highly unrecommended for Five Elders Council cultivators to carry.”

“Price: 200 contribution points.”

Li Fan carefully checked the price again and asked with a strange expression, “This painting only costs 200 contribution points? Can it really be called a forbidden item?”

The shop assistant patiently explained, “Because it's a replica and can be mass-produced, the price is very low.”

“It's designated as a forbidden item because it involves two Celestial Venerables.”

“Displaying it casually would cause significant trouble.”

Li Fan's eyes flashed upon hearing this. “Two Celestial Venerables…”

He was about to pay for it immediately.

Just then, Li Fan suddenly became alert and asked, “Will there be any trouble after viewing this painting?”

The shop assistant smiled dismissively. “This esteemed guest should know that this painting contains no distortion or slandering. It merely records and reconstructs the scene from an observer's perspective.”

“Moreover, cultivators like us are no different from ants in the eyes of a Celestial Venerable.”

“Our words and actions are of no concern to a Celestial Venerable.”

“The real trouble comes from those beneath the Celestial Venerables, those eager to demonstrate their loyalty…”

The shop assistant stopped there, saying no more.

Li Fan nodded slowly and purchased the painting for 200 contribution points.

Holding the scroll in his hand, without even unfurling it, his divine sense instantly entered the painting.

The surrounding scenery abruptly shifted, as if he had traveled through space and time, arriving several millennia ago.

Above a vast sea of clouds, thirty-three floating mountain peaks consecutively activated their sect-protecting formations.

An old man with a tall crown, his expression serene, stepped through the void.

“I hear the Taishang Sect possesses a Primordial True Scripture, infinitely profound, hailed as the source of all methods and the origin of all Daos.”

“Now, with disaster befalling the world, cultivation methods cannot be practiced concurrently. For the sake of all living beings, I request to borrow the scripture for a look!”

His voice, neither hurried nor slow, instantly spread throughout heaven and earth.

The vast and surging sea of clouds parted, revealing the mortal realm below.

The sky suddenly darkened, and the stellar river appeared in broad daylight.

A cold voice, utterly devoid of emotion, immediately resounded from the thirty-three peaks of the Taishang Sect, suppressing the numerous anomalies.

“What concern are the lives and deaths of cultivators in the world to me?”

“Fellow Daoist, please return!”

The old man with the tall crown shook his head slightly, a compassionate expression appearing on his face.

“Since that is the case, what concern is my borrowing of the scripture to your Taishang Sect?”

The old man took a step forward, instantly arriving before the thirty-three peaks.

“Boom!”

Violent tremors erupted, and an infinite white light engulfed everything in his vision.

The painting's content ceased abruptly here, and Li Fan's divine sense retreated from it.

Although the painting did not describe what happened next, judging by the present situation where everyone can cultivate the fragmented *Dispersing Cultivation* section of the 《Taishang Yuanshi Zhenjing》, the outcome of this battle was self-evident.

Putting away the scroll, Li Fan couldn't help but fall into a brief period of thought.

“So, the method of dispersing cultivation and restarting, which all cultivators now heavily rely on, also originated from Chuanfa Celestial Venerable.”

“It could be said that without this heaven-defying method, which allows one to switch to other cultivation techniques with almost no loss, the current system for trading cultivation methods would simply be unsustainable.”

“The plight of cultivators would certainly be much worse.”

“For the sake of all living beings…”

“On the surface, that indeed seems to be the case.”

“But…”

After a moment of contemplation, Li Fan set aside his thoughts and continued to browse the forbidden items section.

Like this painting, items that became forbidden due to involving secrets of powerful figures were still a minority.

The vast majority were resources explicitly forbidden by the Five Elders Council from being circulated externally, possessing various special uses.

Li Fan was particularly interested in the Enlightenment Pill, which he had heard of before.

And there was also a portable teleportation array.

It didn't require the user to have much knowledge of formations; one simply needed to place both ends of the teleportation array in suitable, open locations.

The teleportation array would automatically construct and activate itself.

Within the Myriad Immortals Alliance, the construction of teleportation arrays was considered highly confidential.

Li Fan had not yet gained access to related knowledge.

Enlightenment Pill: 500 contribution points per pill.

Each cultivator was limited to purchasing one hundred pills.

Portable teleportation array: 3000 contribution points per set.

Li Fan bought two sets, just in case.

He then left the forbidden items section and, in one go, purchased two Golden Core cultivation techniques and twelve Foundation Establishment cultivation techniques.

He had spent almost all three hundred supreme-grade spirit stones that his clone carried before he finally stopped.

Upon leaving the Myriad Dharma Merchant Guild, he was thoughtfully gifted a mask.

Wearing the mask allowed one to change their appearance and prevent tracking.

Li Fan smiled and accepted the mask.

He then rented an inn in Tianchang Mountain City, activated a ritual, and first transferred all the purchased items into the White Bone Vanguard Realm.

Only then did he feel a slight sense of relief.

The control hub of the Vanguard Realm, the White Bone Left Hand, had one part held by his main body and another by his clone.

This way, even if something unexpected happened on the way back, he would at most only lose a clone.

With matters handled, the clone left the inn and began strolling around Tianchang Mountain City.

Three days later, Qingmu and the others also finished purchasing their items.

As they prepared to return home, they encountered another group of cultivators who had traveled a long distance from Congyun Sea.

This group was led by a Nascent Soul cultivator named Ling Meng.

Although Ling Meng and Qingmu didn't know each other personally, they had both heard of each other's names.

Since they were all cultivators from Congyun Sea, after discussion, they decided to return together.

This way, they could look out for one another.

After waiting a few more days, they finally embarked on the long journey home.

Compared to their journey there, the returning group had nearly doubled in size.

There were two Nascent Soul cultivators, seven Golden Core cultivators, and over twenty Foundation Establishment cultivators.

The team's lineup could certainly be considered formidable.

It deterred many ill-intentioned minor figures.

The journey was finally much more peaceful.

However, Li Fan couldn't shake the feeling that this Nascent Soul cultivator named Ling Meng looked familiar, yet he couldn't immediately recall where he had seen him.

It was only when his main body, currently cultivating within the Tianxuan Mirror, sent out a strand of thought.

After carefully examining his past memories one by one, he finally recalled.

This Ling Meng was precisely the Nascent Soul cultivator who, in his twelfth life, had entered the Fuzi Study and tragically died shortly after during a cave dwelling exploration.

Li Fan had seen this person's posthumous portrait in the Heaven's Secrets Hall, which was why he found him somewhat familiar.

In this life, Li Fan had not undertaken the 《Clouds and Water Scroll》 mission, so the events of the green ox pulling a cart and Fuzi appearing should not occur.

He just wondered if he could alter this person's destined demise.