Chapter 40: Opportunity Leads to Extraordinary Skill

The youths watched Li Fan depart as if flying on clouds, then suddenly realized that Master He's words were neither deceitful nor exaggerated. They all felt a little ashamed.

“Those who enter the Spiritual Pool first will receive more spiritual liquid. Go quickly,” Master He said to the group of youths, his expression softening.

The youths then scrambled towards the sea of clouds.

Surrounded by the dense sea of clouds, Li Fan felt disoriented.

The white clouds around him continuously gathered, becoming denser and denser.

In an instant, they converged to form a white spiritual liquid, enveloping Li Fan.

Immersed in the spiritual liquid, Li Fan felt not suffocation, but immense warmth and comfort.

Like a fetus in its mother's womb, Li Fan's mind gradually relaxed completely.

A gentle, gurgling energy flowed over every inch of his skin, penetrating through his pores and into his body.

His entire body, along with his soul, felt as if it were soaking in hot water, making Li Fan almost moan with pleasure.

But then, the warmth turned into scorching heat.

The scorching heat became scalding.

The scalding heat transformed into the torment of blazing fire.

Caught off guard, Li Fan let out a wail.

In that instant, he lost control of his body.

He felt only a lava-like current surging through his body, tearing, drilling, and ravaging every nerve.

This pain was truly unbearable for any human. Li Fan instinctively wanted to activate Huan Zhen, but he forced himself to endure it.

“Isn't this moment what I've been striving for over three hundred years?”

“No matter what, I will not give up.”

“I want to cultivate immortality, I want eternal life!”

Li Fan's consciousness fractured in the intense pain, but a persistent obsession sustained him, preventing him from collapsing.

The hot current circulated within his body, seemingly without end.

With each cycle, the destruction and pain intensified.

Later, the agony became indescribable.

The pain was like knives, dismembering Li Fan's soul again and again, endlessly and without pause.

Even with Li Fan's strong will, he gradually lost the power to resist such intense suffering.

Slowly, Li Fan's consciousness began to drift.

His awareness started to dissipate.

Even at this point, the obsession in Li Fan's heart kept him holding on, preventing him from activating Huan Zhen.

His mind became almost a blank slate.

Cultivation, eternal life, dispelling miasma, Spiritual Pool, Liuli Island, rare treasures, Huan Zhen…

All these thoughts gradually faded as Li Fan's consciousness sank into silence.

Instinct replaced his conscious self, and thus the *Xuanhuang Pure Heart Incantation*, which Li Fan had diligently cultivated day and night almost without pause since arriving at Liuli Island, began to operate naturally.

As the Pure Heart Incantation ran, Li Fan's consciousness seemed to find its anchor, re-coalescing and strengthening.

Although still in a state of unknowing, it gradually became like a reef by the sea, unyielding despite the strong winds and crashing waves.

Three days passed in a flash.

Out of the thirteen people who entered the Body Purifying Spiritual Pool, eleven had already emerged.

Only four of the eleven successfully removed the miasma from their bodies; the remaining seven failed to endure the intense pain, resulting in a failed purification.

Besides the unfortunate one who died, the remaining person who had not yet appeared was, of course, Li Fan.

He Zhenghao sensed the faint, almost imperceptible aura within the Spiritual Pool array, growing increasingly astonished.

As the cultivator overseeing the Spiritual Pool array, he knew clearly how agonizing it was when the immortal-mortal miasma was extracted from a mortal's body.

The immortal-mortal miasma was deeply embedded in a mortal's bloodline, coexisting with their flesh and blood since the fetus took shape.

As a mortal grew, the immortal-mortal miasma became increasingly inseparable from their flesh and blood.

This Body Purifying Spiritual Pool array was created by one of the leaders of the Myriad Immortal Alliance, Celestial Venerable Dongji.

It expelled the miasma by completely destroying the physical body, then reshaped it using regenerative power.

This process repeated until all the miasma in the body was removed.

The older one was, the harder it became to separate the miasma from their flesh and blood.

This required more cycles of destruction and reshaping to completely remove the immortal-mortal miasma.

The pain experienced during this process was unimaginable!

He Zhenghao had managed the array on Liuli Island for over fifty years. The oldest person he had seen successfully complete the body purification was only thirty-one.

For someone Li Fan's age, He Zhenghao believed there was no hope of success at all.

But now, Li Fan's performance greatly exceeded his expectations.

“This person's willpower is simply astonishing. If he succeeds in body purification, reaching the Foundation Establishment stage will certainly not be difficult, perhaps even the Golden Core stage…” He Zhenghao's eyes flickered. “Perhaps I can form a good connection early on.”

Immediately, He Zhenghao sent the others out of the array, remaining inside to wait for Li Fan alone.

Another three days passed, and He Zhenghao, seeing Li Fan still hadn't emerged, was too shocked to speak.

If he hadn't been able to sense Li Fan's stable life force within the array, He Zhenghao would have rushed in long ago.

However, there was nothing he could do at the moment; interfering with the body purification array was not advisable, so he could only continue to wait.

Three more days.

He Zhenghao's expression turned grim. He had no idea what kind of monster could endure in this Body Purifying Spiritual Pool array for so long.

What was worse, the materials needed to maintain the array were running low.

If the materials ran out, the array would be forcibly halted, which could lead to unpredictable consequences, potentially nullifying all previous efforts.

Normally, even if the array stopped at this point, it would simply be Li Fan's bad luck, completely unrelated to He Zhenghao.

But recalling Li Fan's terrifyingly resolute will, He Zhenghao's expression shifted.

“Alright, alright. I'll take a gamble that this young man will achieve extraordinary things in the future!”

With that, He Zhenghao formed a hand seal, and items flew out from his storage ring, disappearing into the depths of the sea of clouds.

“Fortunately, I always secretly kept a portion of these materials for myself each time…” He Zhenghao muttered, his heart aching as he looked at his storage ring, now a quarter empty.

Two more days passed, and the swirling sea of clouds finally began to calm.

The white clouds, as if joyful, gathered around Li Fan and carried him back to the mountaintop.

After scanning with his divine sense and confirming that Li Fan's body was free of miasma, He Zhenghao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“Congratulations, young friend! From now on, all your shackles are gone, and eternal life is within reach!” He Zhenghao exclaimed enthusiastically.

Feeling his body in a condition better than ever before, Li Fan was still adapting to his new physique.

At this moment, seeing Master He's sudden change in attitude, Li Fan felt a little strange.

Although he had already removed the immortal-mortal miasma from his body, he hadn't officially begun cultivation yet and was ultimately still a mortal.

Why was Master He being so polite to him?

Li Fan looked at He Zhenghao with a puzzled gaze.

He Zhenghao understood immediately and told Li Fan that he had spent a full eleven days in the Body Purifying Spiritual Pool.

“What? I was in there for that long?”

Li Fan was genuinely surprised now.

“Yes, young friend, you wouldn't know, but the array materials were about to run out. I went to great lengths and added another batch for you…” He Zhenghao boasted, seeking credit.

Li Fan's heart was trembling at this moment.

Not because of He Zhenghao's “selfless contribution,” but because he discovered that his Huan Zhen interface now displayed an additional cultivation technique.

It wasn't the *Xuanhuang Pure Heart Incantation* that Li Fan had been practicing.

Instead, it was the *Xuanhuang Heart Tempering Incantation*.