Chapter 243: Unexplained Smoke Arises

“The Heaven's Bane Technique, the Vast Ocean Technique.”

“If I continue to refine them like this, it won't be long before I can achieve the Golden Core stage using these two techniques.” Li Fan felt a slight stir of joy in his heart.

However, the moment this thought arose in his mind, a sudden sense of crisis surged within him. It was akin to the profound danger he once felt when facing the mysterious and unfathomable Celestial Physician. The intensity of this crisis made his heart pound with an inexplicable dread.

“Hmm?” Li Fan's deep cultivation process was instantly interrupted. His expression became extremely solemn, and he wondered inwardly.

“This premonition… where is this crisis coming from?” Li Fan had always been extremely confident in his sensing abilities. They had allowed him to narrowly escape death from calamities on several occasions. Therefore, facing this sudden surge of danger, Li Fan had no choice but to take it seriously.

His True Essence continued to fluctuate, merely maintaining the nascent forms of the Heaven's Bane and Vast Ocean techniques, which he had painstakingly solidified, from completely dissipating. Halting the Golden Core formation process, Li Fan began to ponder.

However, he turned the matter over and over in his mind, searching for a long time, but he still couldn't find the reason.

Instead of recklessly forcing the Golden Core formation, Li Fan began to consider solutions.

“Heaven's Bane and Vast Ocean — I cannot purely form the Golden Core with just these two.”

“Although I don't yet understand why, there must be a deep-seated reason for it.”

“I'll simply treat the inability to form the Golden Core purely with the Heaven's Bane and Vast Ocean techniques as a given fact for now, rather than dwelling on the reason.”

“If two aren't enough, then I'll try three…”

The Azure Flame Phantom suddenly emerged from his sea of consciousness. It flew before Li Fan and pressed a finger against his Dantian. The Azure Flame Technique slowly integrated into the Golden Core formation process.

As time passed, the Heaven's Bane, Vast Ocean, and Azure Flame techniques gradually formed a stable tripod-like balance. The nascent Golden Core slowly stabilized.

At this point, Li Fan once again entertained the idea of fully forming the Golden Core. The sense of crisis returned, though this time it was much milder than before.

“It seems my approach is effective.”

“But what's the reason for this?”

“Are the Heaven's Bane and Vast Ocean techniques toxic, requiring dilution?”

Recalling that the Vast Ocean was indeed strange and Heaven's Bane had been trapped by Azure Wind, Li Fan could only arrive at this conjecture.

“If my conjecture is correct, then all I need to do is add another technique during the Golden Core formation process.”

“With my current abilities, maintaining four techniques simultaneously for Golden Core formation is already my limit.”

“For the choice of the remaining technique, there's…”

“Azure Wind, Crimson Flame…” Li Fan shook his head inwardly. These two — one felt like a mere warden, the other a boiler attendant. Regardless of their power or rank, Li Fan felt they weren't on the same level as Heaven's Bane and Vast Ocean. As for Azure Flame, while it seemed somewhat weaker, its characteristic of maintaining absolute rationality was Li Fan's primary reason for prioritizing it.

“It's now Anchor Year 16.”

“In this life, Crimson Flame's manifestation and Ink Slayer's annihilation of everything should still occur in Anchor Year 28.”

“That's only twelve years; I can wait.”

Li Fan mused, resisting the temptation to advance and temporarily abandoning the Golden Core formation. The power of laws, painstakingly condensed in his Dantian, slowly dispersed. Yet, Li Fan felt no reluctance. No cultivator could refuse the terrifying, annihilating power of Ink Slayer. Even a weakened Golden Core version of it would undoubtedly be exceptionally formidable. Waiting twelve years for it would be entirely worthwhile.

“The day Ink Slayer annihilates Congyun will be the day I achieve the Golden Core.”

“However, during this period, my cultivation cannot increase.”

“The cultivation feedback from the Sitting Mountain Art will be wasted.”

“It's almost a certainty that Su Xiaomei, Zhang Haobo, and the others will break through to the Foundation Establishment stage.”

“And after that, there might be a massive amount of cultivation feedback from Ye Feipeng's path integration…”

“No, this won't do!” Li Fan immediately felt a pang of heartache, as if countless grains of food were being senselessly wasted before his eyes.

“I need to find a way to preserve this excess cultivation.”

Just as he was about to search for a solution in the Celestial Profound Mirror, a sudden notification, starkly different from its usual tone and filled with a grim atmosphere, rang out.

“Effective immediately, the Myriad Immortals Alliance is entering Class B combat readiness.”

“All protective arrays across all prefectures are to be fully activated.”

“All cultivators are prohibited from traveling across prefectures.”

“All official members within the Alliance are to return to their respective prefecture capitals as soon as possible and await orders.”

“Any foreign cultivators found are to be killed on sight, regardless of their status.”

Li Fan's eyelids twitched, and he abruptly stood up.

“What's going on?”

“Why has it suddenly entered combat readiness?”

“Class B…”

“Has the war with the Five Elders Council already begun?”

In an instant, several thoughts flashed through Li Fan's mind. This sudden turn of events was completely unexpected. He wondered what had gone wrong to cause such a major event, which had never occurred before.

Soon, suppressing his distracting thoughts, Li Fan began to inquire among his friends. He currently had a wide circle of acquaintances and extensive connections. He sent out inquiry messages one by one.

“Huh? How is this star…”

Among the stars in his Myriad-Character Communication Talisman, each representing a cultivator's identity, one star, though bright, was a desolate, deathly gray. This indicated that the cultivator had fallen. Li Fan tapped on this star, and the identity of the fallen cultivator instantly appeared in his mind.

“Congyun Sea, Medicine Hall's Chen Ying.” Li Fan's heart jolted.

“It's him? How could a Nascent Soul cultivator fall so easily?”

“And wasn't he going to that Grand Five Elements Grotto-Heaven…”

“Wait, could it be that this battle is related to that Grand Five Elements Grotto-Heaven?”

In a flash, Li Fan seemed to realize something. In his twelfth life, in Anchor Year 16, the Myriad Immortals Alliance had discovered four other hidden grotto-heavens near the wood-attribute one. These five grotto-heavens corresponded to the attributes of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth, respectively. Yet, they subtly formed an array, appearing as a single entity. The discovery of these Five Elements Grotto-Heavens had attracted the covetous gaze of the Five Elders Council. A great battle erupted between the two sides, and the Myriad Immortals Alliance lost a Transformation God stage expert. The Five Elders Council's casualties were unknown, but they were successfully repelled.

“If my guess is correct…” In a flash of insight, Li Fan deduced the cause of the events. Previously, in his twelfth life, the Five Elders Council only knew that the Myriad Immortals Alliance had discovered one of the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens. They might not have been fully aware of what truly lay within that grotto-heaven. Thus, after an unsuccessful attempt, they had given up and retreated.

However, in this life, the commotion surrounding the Spirit Mist Grass had grown too large. This forced the Celestial Profound Mirror to intervene to calm public sentiment and stabilize the market. While its single statement resolved the turmoil, it also inadvertently revealed details about the wood-attribute grotto-heaven.

“…This grotto-heaven is extremely vast, possesses exceedingly high wood-attribute spiritual energy, and is incredibly rich in various spiritual plants and herbs…”

Li Fan's expression became one of sudden realization as he recalled the Celestial Profound Mirror's wording at the time. The repeated use of "extremely" three times highlighted the grotto-heaven's rarity and extraordinary nature. If just one wood-attribute grotto-heaven within the Grand Five Elements Grotto-Heaven held such immense value, it was almost unimaginable what treasures the other four attribute grotto-heavens might contain.

Understanding the crucial details, Li Fan suddenly realized.

“No wonder they suddenly entered combat readiness this time.”

“It must be that the Five Elders Council has made a deadly move.”