Chapter 414: Heavenly Secret Sect Stone Mutation

Li Fan carefully examined the hollow cavern. Above, many buildings appeared to grow from the ceiling of the stone cave, hanging upside down in mid-air. Li Fan also saw stone statues resembling cultivators. Their feet were fused with the buildings, also suspended overhead, with hands outstretched in desperate helplessness, seemingly pleading for aid. But their bodies were forever frozen in that moment, their faces filled with terror.

"This must be a mountain peak of the Tianji Sect, which by chance was swallowed by this Guiyuan Toad."

"Judging by appearances, it seems it was swallowed only after being completely petrified."

Li Fan raised his guard and flew to the top of the cavern. Ignoring the petrified cultivators, he moved through the ruins, heading straight for the most conspicuous stone pagoda.

"The Peeping Heaven Pagoda, a crucial place where the Tianji Sect observed the secrets of heaven."

Li Fan arrived before the stone pagoda and found that even after thousands of years, a faint glow still emanated from it.

"Though the restrictions remain, they are unfortunately just for show."

As if unimpeded, Li Fan entered the Peeping Heaven Pagoda.

"Hmm?"

The moment he entered, Li Fan's expression changed. He felt a gaze staring at him menacingly. Li Fan looked in the direction from which the gaze came and saw a dishevelled cultivator standing before him. Its face was twisted, and one eyeball protruded as if about to pop out of its socket, fixed intently on Li Fan. The cultivator's lower body, like the Tianji Sect disciples outside, had turned to stone. However, its upper body seemed to still be in the process of petrification, displaying a bizarre mixture of flesh and rock.

"Is it dead or alive?"

Li Fan dared not be careless and immediately unleashed a Five Elements Annihilation Sword.

"Bang!"

The black energy sword struck the cultivator's body squarely. After piercing through its chest, the cultivator's body instantly shattered into pieces, scattering across the floor. Only the half-petrified eyeball remained floating in the air, its pupil still fixated on Li Fan.

As Li Fan slowly approached, he continuously changed his position. He noticed that the eyeball seemed to sense his presence, constantly locking onto his location. He reached the petrified eyeball and waited for a moment, but it showed no further reaction. Li Fan picked it up and examined it closely.

"It's not a real eyeball after all, but something this deceased cultivator implanted in himself during his life."

"Strange, I don't remember Xiao Heng and the others finding anything like this..."

"Did they not discover it? Or did Linghu Chang secretly keep it?"

Li Fan toyed with it for a while but found no use for the eyeball. He temporarily put it in his pocket and continued exploring deeper into the Peeping Heaven Pagoda.

The Peeping Heaven Pagoda had a total of nine levels. From the second to the fifth level, jade slips and magical artifacts were scattered all over the ground. Most of them, however, were damaged. Li Fan found a storage ring among them and happily put the still-intact items into his bag. "Taiwei Heavenly Count," "Nine Heavens Qi Cultivation Art," "Heaven's Will Descent Technique," "Thousand Machines Bewilderment Record"... There were cultivation techniques and research treatises on the secrets of heaven. In the end, Li Fan collected a total of twenty-six cultivation techniques and forty-eight books. Among these, seventeen were Core Formation stage techniques, and nine were Nascent Soul stage techniques.

"What a windfall! I wonder how many of these are unique copies."

"However, only two of these techniques showed signs of being cultivated by someone. It seems the proportion of techniques available in the Myriad Immortal Alliance wouldn't be very high."

Li Fan suppressed his joy and continued upwards. The sixth to eighth levels contained various peculiar objects. For instance, there was a lotus with a human face growing among its petals. There were also unknown fruits resembling flood dragons. And rectangular stone blocks with naturally appearing patterns. These strange objects seemed to have once been enveloped by some special power. However, with the passage of time, this power had completely dissipated. Now they merely looked strange.

"These must have been the objects the Tianji Sect used to sense the secrets of heaven," Li Fan mused. The Tianji Sect believed that the qi of heaven and earth, when interacting, manifested in the world. Objects that defied common sense were the result of intense interaction between the qi of heaven and earth. By using these peculiar objects, one could profoundly comprehend the qi of heaven and earth.

"It's the same principle as when I used the Azure Sea Pearl to sense heaven and earth back then." Li Fan collected all these items, regardless of whether they were useful or not.

Finally, he reached the ninth level of the Peeping Heaven Pagoda. Upon opening it, it was empty; there was nothing inside. "Just as Xiao Heng said." It was as expected, so Li Fan wasn't disappointed.

After Li Fan searched carefully and still found nothing, he was about to leave. Suddenly, inspiration struck him, and he turned back, staring at the ninth-level space.

"From the situation outside, the calamity that befell this mountain peak of the Tianji Sect descended suddenly."

"They had no time to react and met with misfortune."

"They didn't even have time to save their lives, let alone transfer treasures."

"Then why is the ninth level of the Peeping Heaven Pagoda empty?"

Li Fan felt suspicious; the more he thought about it, the more he felt there might be a secret hidden here. However, no matter how he searched, he couldn't find anything of value. It seemed to be just his wishful thinking. After thinking for a moment, Li Fan simply activated the Five Elements Annihilation Sword and directly cut off the ninth level of the stone pagoda. The black annihilating light, with irresistible force, destroyed the thousands of years of remaining restrictions on the Peeping Heaven Pagoda. Then, amidst a mighty roar, the top level of the Peeping Heaven Pagoda was thus taken by Li Fan into his storage ring.

"Better to take it mistakenly than to miss out."

Li Fan nodded with satisfaction. Afterward, he thoroughly scoured the entire ruins, inside and out. Finally, in several other separate cave dwellings, he found four more cultivation techniques: three Core Formation and one Nascent Soul. And this Nascent Soul technique was precisely the "Thousand Machines Jade Ring Golden Chapter."

"This cave dwelling, located on the periphery of the ruins, must have accidentally revealed itself decades later, which is why the Kou Hong brothers discovered it."

"However, these two had truly terrible luck; if they had just searched a little more carefully, they would have found the true ruins of the Tianji Sect not far away."

"Instead, as soon as Kou Hong saw a Nascent Soul technique, he became greedy and missed out on the treasure trove."

Understanding the reason behind it, Li Fan couldn't help but feel a mix of amusement and exasperation. Having made a great haul, Li Fan no longer lingered. Transforming back into a Stone Spirit Worm, he carved a passage through the now re-sealed stone wall. Leaving the Hundred Stone Grotto-heaven, he headed in the direction of the Cloudy Sea.

***

Glazed Island.

He Zhenghao had been very troubled, disoriented, and anxious lately.

"To go, or not to go?"

He Zhenghao frowned, his face full of worry, and let out a long sigh. For some unknown reason, while cultivating the "Mountain Sitting Technique" a while ago, he suddenly sensed something. There was inexplicably another person in the world cultivating the "Mountain Sitting Technique." The "Mountain Sitting Technique" was already incredibly slow to cultivate, and now there was another person cultivating it concurrently. How could this be tolerated? It was practically impossible to cultivate anymore. Such a sudden change to his primary cultivation technique left He Zhenghao at a loss for what to do.

He had stumbled upon this "Mountain Sitting Technique" during a cave exploration in his youth and had never revealed it to anyone. How did the other person know about it? This matter was strange, and He Zhenghao, who was not particularly brave to begin with, dared not rashly go to investigate, fearing unforeseen dangers. He could only spend his days agonizing while hiding within the island's protective formation.

Just then.

"Who dares to secretly learn my sect's cultivation technique, you petty wretch!"

"Get out here!"

A thunderous voice echoed continuously over Glazed Island. He Zhenghao was first stunned, then was about to go out to check the situation. He then immediately realized.

"Is this person coming for me?"

Feeling the powerful aura emanating from the other party, He Zhenghao instantly turned ashen.

"Core Formation stage?"