Chapter 227: Eternal Remembrance

The unrestrained attacks of a Spirit Transformation stage cultivator were enough to cause immense destruction to an entire province.

The appearance of the Heavenly Yang Golem, as expected, drew the attention of Immortal Lord Hongxi from Myriad Immortal Island.

The earth-shattering battle between the two Spirit Transformation masters attracted the gaze of countless cultivators from the surrounding areas.

Xiao Heng and Ye Feipeng, who had been fleeing frantically and finally found a safe place to hide, were now watching the scene from afar, their faces subtly pale.

Even from such a distance, the residual shockwaves of the battle swept over them, making it difficult for the two minor Qi Condensation cultivators to stand steady.

One could well imagine how terrifying the might of a Spirit Transformation cultivator’s every move and strike truly was.

Thinking back to not long ago, when he had recklessly competed against this golem, Xiao Heng swallowed hard.

“Fatty, don’t drag me into this kind of thing next time. I still want to live a few more years,” Xiao Heng said slowly, casting a long, meaningful glance at Ye Feipeng.

Ye Feipeng, too, looked utterly devastated, as if he had lost a parent.

“It wasn’t easy for me, your young master, to muster up the courage, risking my life to charge in.”

“But I didn’t find any fortuitous opportunities at all.”

“You’re at least a Spirit Transformation grandmaster; must you be so stingy?”

The little fatty looked at the Heavenly Yang Golem roaring majestically in the distance and sighed.

“You really didn’t find anything?” Xiao Heng was a bit incredulous.

Ye Feipeng immediately said indignantly, “When did you get so suspicious, kid?! You don’t even believe what I say anymore.”

“Besides, why would I lie to you for no reason?”

He then threw the storage ring in his hand over, saying, “See for yourself, we’re so poor now, there’s nowhere else on me to hide anything.”

At the same time, he complained, “Inside that grotto-heaven, it was truly empty. There was nothing but a child’s skeleton.”

“I searched it thoroughly several times, but the results were always the same.”

“You were yelling outside again, and the Heavenly Yang Golem was about to appear. Upholding my principle of never leaving empty-handed, I casually put away the skeleton before hastily escaping.”

“Sigh, I went through all that trouble only to get a mere skeleton. How incredibly unlucky!”

After Xiao Heng scanned the storage ring, he also wore a look of disdain. “It’s fine if you didn’t find any treasures, but why bring out this skeleton?” he asked.

“Who knows how many years it’s been dead. It looks like it was younger than us when it died.”

“I wonder what connection it has to that Spirit Transformation Golem.”

Saying this, Xiao Heng returned the storage ring to Ye Feipeng.

Ye Feipeng suddenly had a strange idea. “We can use it to nourish that old skull,” he suggested.

“They’re both skeletons anyway. Maybe if it ‘eats’ this one, it might actually speed up its recovery.”

Xiao Heng’s expression turned stern. “Don’t make jokes about the elder!”

Seeing Xiao Heng’s serious demeanor, Ye Feipeng pursed his lips but didn’t argue.

After pondering for a moment, he suggested, “The commotion we caused this time is quite significant. We should go back to the desolate island and lie low for a while. We can discuss things once the situation calms down.”

Xiao Heng nodded upon hearing this. “Mm, shortly after we escaped from that grotto-heaven, it seems the second exploration team from the Myriad Immortals Alliance you mentioned just happened to go in.”

“One Nascent Soul stage cultivator and over ten Golden Core stage cultivators, gone just like that.”

“If it weren’t for the strange phenomena manifested in the sky, probably no one would even know how they died. Tsk tsk.”

Xiao Heng remarked with emotion.

Ye Feipeng, on the other hand, was momentarily stunned. “Really? At the time, I was just focused on escaping; I didn’t notice what was above my head.”

“But it seems that team really was fated to die. I tried to anticipate it as much as I could, yet I still ran into them…”

The little fatty seemed to realize something and lowered his head, lost in thought.

As Immortal Lord Ziyun made his move, Heavenly Yang and Hongxi were transferred elsewhere, and the Sea of Cloud Clusters became calm once more.

The two quietly returned to the desolate island.

However, along the way, Ye Feipeng seemed absent-minded.

“By the way, Fatty, give me that skeleton you found,” Xiao Heng suddenly said.

“Hmm,” the absent-minded Ye Feipeng said, subconsciously taking the skeleton out of his storage ring.

After handing it to Xiao Heng, he finally came to his senses and felt utterly baffled. “What do you want this thing for? I was going to check if it was hard enough to be polished into a magic artifact later.”

Xiao Heng replied earnestly, “I thought about it, and I think what you just said makes some sense.”

“Heh heh, my words have always been…”

“Wait, you’re not actually planning to feed this skeleton to that other skull, are you?” Ye Feipeng reacted, immediately looking at Xiao Heng as if he were an idiot.

“Maybe,” Xiao Heng said carelessly, urging, “Fatty, hurry up, don’t be so reluctant.”

Ye Feipeng felt a faint reluctance in his heart, and a hesitant expression appeared on his face.

Seeing this, Xiao Heng grew a bit displeased. “Look at how petty you are. What useful magic artifact can you make from bones? Fine, consider this one on me. When there’s a chance in the future, I’ll specially get you a good one!”

Ye Feipeng, provoked by this, immediately felt a bit embarrassed.

He feigned generosity. “Hmph, I was just saying it casually. It’s just a useless skeleton; would I, Ye Feipeng, even care about it? What a joke! It’s yours!”

Xiao Heng smilingly accepted the skeleton, performed a ritual, and headed to the White Bone Vanguard Realm.

Though Ye Feipeng felt a little lost, he was still young and didn’t think much of it.

He then turned his attention back to his recent realization about being “fated to die.”

In the Vanguard Realm, Xiao Heng carefully placed the skeleton down and softly called out to the elder.

Unfortunately, he received no response.

Although Xiao Heng felt a bit disappointed, he didn’t retrieve the skeleton.

Instead, he placed it where he had first found the elder’s skull, hoping it might be of some help to the elder.

He then quietly left.

Not long after Xiao Heng left, Li Fan’s clone manifested.

Looking at the skeleton quietly lying on the ground, Li Fan couldn’t help but feel a sense of amusement and exasperation.

“This kid can’t actually think this thing is useful, can he?”

Li Fan had been observing Ye Feipeng with his Formless Killing Intent the whole time.

He saw everything clearly; from a cosmic perspective, this was indeed just an ordinary human skeleton.

“However, his intention is genuine. This kid’s heart is as pure as ever.”

“Compared to him, Ye Feipeng the fatty is much worse.”

With the thought of not disappointing the child’s intentions, Li Fan decided to collect the skeleton and deal with it elsewhere later.

However, the moment the clone touched the skeleton, Li Fan’s expression subtly changed.

“This feeling is…”

His expression grew solemn, and he began to examine it carefully again.

But after examining it repeatedly for a long time, he still couldn’t find anything unusual.

“Strange…”

“Where does this palpitation in my heart come from?”

Li Fan frowned and muttered to himself.

Still unwilling to give up, he researched it repeatedly for half a day, but still gained nothing.

“It’s purely a cultivator’s skeleton; there’s no mistake about that. It’s not some heavenly material or earthly treasure in disguise.”

“But that strange feeling in my heart wouldn’t arise without reason.”

“So where’s the problem?”

Li Fan put down the skeleton, placed his hand lightly on it, and closed his eyes, carefully sensing the feelings in his heart.

After a long while, he slowly began to discern something.

“This feeling is somewhat similar to when I first encountered the Spirit of Heaven and Earth.”

“It’s…”

“Hungry?”

“No, I’m not hungry. It’s more like…”

Li Fan realized something, and a strange light flashed in his eyes.

“It really is hungry.”

Inside the Heavenly Profound Mirror, Li Fan’s main body, who was in secluded cultivation, suddenly stood up.

A ritual was instantly set up, and in an instant, he arrived in the White Bone Vanguard Realm.

The moment he touched the young cultivator’s skeleton, the crisp prompt sound of True Return immediately echoed in his mind.

“Discoverable item: Eternal Legacy.”

“Absorb?”

A huge surge of joy instantly welled up in Li Fan’s heart.

Ever since more than six hundred years ago, when he discovered that Heaven and Earth Wonders could charge True Return, Li Fan had finally found a second type of item useful to True Return.

“Heaven and Earth Wonders can increase True Return’s anchor charging progress and unlock additional anchor points.”

“I wonder what use this Eternal Legacy has.”

Taking a deep breath, Li Fan suppressed the urge to absorb it immediately.

After putting away the skeleton and returning to the Heavenly Profound Mirror, Li Fan made some preparations, and then quietly left Myriad Immortal Island.

In his previous life, the Heavenly Doctor’s act of forcefully breaking open the Heavenly Profound Mirror had left a considerable psychological trauma on Li Fan.

But at the same time, it made Li Fan understand that inside the Heavenly Profound Mirror was not absolutely safe.

If True Return’s absorption of the Eternal Legacy triggered any unusual phenomena, within the Heavenly Profound Mirror, which was full of cultivators, it would be even more dangerous.

It would be safer to randomly find a remote, uninhabited place outside to cultivate in seclusion.

For normal daily cultivation, it was fine, but since it involved True Return, Li Fan decided he still needed to be more careful and cautious.

He randomly chose a teleportation array and left Myriad Immortal Island.

After leaving the guard island and flying for most of a day, he arrived at a secluded sea region, and Li Fan plunged headfirst into the sea.

While activating a trace-erasing talisman, he simultaneously transformed True Return into the Seven Aperture Exquisite Heart and activated the secret art of “Appearance Changes with Mind.”

After altering his appearance, Li Fan then found a deep trench on the seabed and submerged himself into it.

He didn’t go to the deepest part, but instead, he carved out a large hole in the cliff face of the trench.

He drilled thousands of meters deep into the rock before finally stopping.

After carving out a living space deep within the earth, Li Fan turned back and sealed off the excavated passage.

At the same time, he didn’t forget to use the secret arts from the “Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Swapping Art” to conceal his tracks.

Returning to the cavern, he then set up protective formations around it.

After all these arrangements were made, Li Fan finally took out the skeleton again.

“Discoverable item: Eternal Legacy.”

“Absorb?”

The True Return’s prompt sounded again.

This time, Li Fan chose “Yes.”

The surrounding space instantly became illusory.

The skeleton on the ground gradually dissolved into crystalline white light and was absorbed by Li Fan.

The moment the skeleton completely disappeared, Li Fan’s mind was violently shaken.

“Heavenly Yang’s entire life, second to none!”

The stubborn voice of a young child constantly echoed in his ears.

Subsequently, Li Fan’s vision went black, and he lost consciousness.

After an unknown period, he slowly woke up.

His eyes were initially a bit blank, but quickly regained clarity.

Just now, he seemed to have experienced an extremely real dream.

No, rather than a dream, it was more like he had truly possessed another person’s body.

He had lived out a long life from that person’s perspective.

During this process, he could only see and hear, unable to control the body to make any movements.

Furthermore, his own mental activity was suppressed to its lowest point.

From beginning to end, Li Fan didn’t even realize anything was wrong.

However, when Li Fan awoke, everything he had experienced suddenly receded like a tide.

He couldn’t remember the specifics of what he had experienced.

Only some vague images remained, which were also rapidly fading from memory.

Li Fan did not insist on recalling what exactly had happened during his contact with the Eternal Legacy.

Because True Return’s prompt had already appeared again.

“Though mortals die, their legacy lives on eternally.”

“Eternal Legacy (True Man Heavenly Yang) absorbed.”

“Current usable times: 3.”

At the same time, a lot of information naturally surfaced in Li Fan’s mind.

Li Fan narrowed his eyes and carefully sensed it.

“Consuming a usage count allows for the simulated construction of memory scenes from the Eternal Legacy.”

“Everything in the scene is identical to reality.”

“But to bring items or information from the scene back to reality, one must resolve the obsession that sustains the Eternal Legacy…”

“This behavior, why is it so similar to the Immortalfall Realm?”

Li Fan was slightly startled.

“Immortalfall, Legacy…”

Li Fan pondered for a moment and vaguely formed some reasonable conjectures.

“Resolve obsessions, huh? Perhaps next time I enter the Immortalfall Realm, I can try approaching it from this angle.”

Temporarily suppressing these thoughts, Li Fan continued to sense the information feedback from True Return.

“In the simulated scene, one will exist entirely as a replacement for the legacy’s owner.”

“At the same time, one will also synchronously receive the legacy owner’s relevant memories and abilities.”

“Hmm… also consistent with the Immortalfall Realm.”

“When the usage counts are exhausted, the Eternal Legacy will completely disappear.”

“Perhaps it can be understood this way: True Return uses the energy contained within the Eternal Legacy to simulate and construct a miniature Immortalfall Realm.”

“Each simulated construction requires energy consumption.”

“When the energy is depleted, the Eternal Legacy will dissipate.”

“However…”

Li Fan’s heart stirred.

According to True Return’s prompt, the Eternal Legacy cannot be a bound item.

However, after each reincarnation, by finding the Eternal Legacy’s carrier again and absorbing it, it can be reused.

“Perhaps other cultivators in this world can use this Eternal Legacy through other methods.”

“But for them, the usage counts are limited. Once they cannot bring the fortuitous opportunities within back to reality within the limited counts,”

“The Eternal Legacy would be wasted.”

“But for me, its usage counts…”

“Are infinite.”

Thinking of this, Li Fan no longer hesitated and activated True Return’s simulation function.

A familiar sensation came over him.

As if his head had been shoved into a sack, Li Fan’s vision went black, and he instantly lost consciousness.

“Tianyang! Tianyang!”

A slightly aged voice gently called out in Li Fan’s ear.

“Tianyang, it’s time for your medicine…”

A bowl of strangely flavored medicinal soup was poured into his mouth.

It felt as if a flame was burning in his stomach, and the immense pain instantly jolted Li Fan awake.

Weakness.

Extreme weakness.

A weakness as if he might die at any moment.

This was Li Fan’s first sensation upon waking.