Chapter 430: Thousand-Year Changes in the World

"Even the questions for the entrance examination are easily acquired, not to mention more confidential information..." The cultivator from the Five Elders Association's voice grew lower, clearly lost in thought and speculation.

After a moment, he came back to his senses and looked at "Zhou Qingang."

"Although there were some minor issues, overall, you've done a great service by establishing contact with the organization behind He Zhenghao this time." He tossed over a storage ring. "Inside are the Heaven-Devouring Earth-Consuming Grand Art you requested, along with some Enlightenment Pills."

"In addition, there are 50,000 contribution points worth of spirit stones. Consider them your reward for your meritorious service this time." Li Fan took the storage ring, inspected its contents, and his face lit up with joy.

"Fifty thousand contribution points! How can the leader be so generous!"

The Five Elders Association cultivator snorted, "Rewards are always given for merit. Next, while you continue your undercover work, ensure you maintain a good relationship with He Zhenghao."

"If possible, try to extract some information about the mysterious organization behind him."

"Of course, if it's not possible, don't force it. Simply establishing contact with them and exchanging spirit stones for confidential information will suffice."

Li Fan nodded repeatedly.

"Alright, you may return."

"Your recent contacts have been a bit frequent. For the time being, you should avoid meeting the leader, lest you expose yourself. If there's a special situation, we will contact you again."

After giving further detailed instructions, the other party departed Youlan Island. Only then did Li Fan's clone leisurely make his way back.

On Tai'an Island, Li Fan's main body had been waiting for a long time.

"Five million and five thousand contribution points, three bottles of Enlightenment Pills, the Heaven-Devouring Earth-Consuming Grand Art..."

"This is a decent haul."

After tallying the contents of both his main body's and clone's storage rings, Li Fan nodded slightly. "With such a massive amount of contribution points, whatever I plan next will be significantly easier."

After a mere glance, Li Fan no longer focused on the pile of spirit stones. Once they reached a certain magnitude, any additional amount was merely a string of numbers. Moreover, for an anomaly like Li Fan, who could endlessly reset and restart, the more cycles he experienced and the more information he acquired, the easier it became to gain contribution points.

Li Fan first began to study the Heaven-Devouring Earth-Consuming Grand Art. To be safe, his clone, Zhou Qingang, was the one who examined the jade slip. Its linguistic style differed greatly from the cultivation methods available for exchange within the Immortal Alliance's Heavenly Profound Mirror. It wasn't concise or directly pointed to the cultivation essentials. Instead, it was filled with numerous abstruse and enigmatic phrases, making it rather obscure and difficult to comprehend.

"A distinct ancient cultivation style..."

Fortunately, Li Fan had already cultivated several techniques passed down from antiquity, and he spent most of the day reading through it completely.

The Heaven-Devouring Earth-Consuming Grand Art was not a primary cultivation method designed to raise one's cultivation realm. Nor was it merely a secret art that simply altered how cultivators absorbed spiritual energy. Rather, it was more like a divine ability. While it could brutally extract power from earth and spirit veins, converting it into one's own spiritual energy for cultivation, it also had an accelerating and promoting effect on the primary cultivation technique.

Normally, there is a certain upper limit to the spiritual energy a cultivator can absorb. Once they reach their maximum capacity, forcefully absorbing more carries the risk of their body exploding. However, after cultivating the Heaven-Devouring Earth-Consuming Grand Art, such concerns vanished. The excess power absorbed would act as an accelerator for the cultivation technique. The more one absorbed, the faster the technique would operate on its own, until a breakthrough in realm allowed for even greater consumption. This cycle would continue, relentlessly, until one truly "devoured the heavens and consumed the earth."

Of course, the prerequisite was not to be discovered and then utterly destroyed.

Undoubtedly, this parasitic method of cultivation was even more destructive than the Heavenly Venerate's new method. It would cause almost irreversible damage to the world in a short period; it would be accurate to call it the public enemy of all other cultivators. However, as long as it could enhance his cultivation, Li Fan cared little about being a public enemy of the world.

After careful contemplation, Zhou Qingang's clone attempted to activate the Heaven-Devouring Earth-Consuming Grand Art.

In an instant, his eyes turned bloodshot. The entire world within his vision transformed. There was no longer a distinction between people, landscapes, or objects. Only the difference between delicious and unappetizing remained.

The clone stared at the main body for a moment before looking down towards Tai'an Island. The earthy-yellow earth veins extended from beneath the island, all the way to the seabed, connecting with the earth in all directions. It looked incredibly appetizing.

The clone gently placed his hands on the ground, and a suction force emanated from his palms.

"Hmm."

To Li Fan's surprise, according to the technique's description, the power of the earth veins should have been absorbed into the body without any resistance at this point. Yet, it remained stubbornly unmoving.

"What's going on?"

Li Fan checked carefully once more, and after confirming he hadn't made a cultivation error, he tried again. This time, he released his inhibitions and increased the suction force. The power of the earth veins trembled slightly, but it remained an unshakeable, interconnected whole. A valuable delicacy was right before him, yet he couldn't partake.

The clone's eyes grew even more bloodshot. He grew somewhat desperate, relentlessly increasing the absorption power of the Heaven-Devouring Earth-Consuming Grand Art. The earth veins continued to resist. Under the clash of the two forces, the entire Tai'an Island began to tremble slightly. If this continued, such an anomaly would surely arouse suspicion from others.

But the clone paid no heed, showing no intention of stopping whatsoever. It wasn't until the main body, who had been observing from the side, intervened and knocked "Zhou Qingang" unconscious with a slap. Only then did Tai'an Island cease trembling.

"This Heaven-Devouring Earth-Consuming Grand Art is rather insidious..."

Li Fan frowned slightly. The consciousness of the main body and the clone were one, so a situation where the clone lost control should not have occurred. However, just now, under the influence of the desire to "feed," Li Fan's consciousness felt as though it had split in two. When the clone saw the main body, it even harbored a fleeting thought of devouring it. However, at that point, it was still controllable.

But once its "feeding" was obstructed and its desire remained unfulfilled, the clone became completely entranced. Even though it clearly understood the consequences of forcefully absorbing Tai'an Island's earth veins, it simply could not stop itself.

"No wonder its original creator was unable to restrain himself; it wasn't that he didn't want to, but that he simply couldn't." Li Fan couldn't help but feel a pang of regret. He didn't regret the creator's fate, but rather that this secret art couldn't be used by him.

"There's no need to dwell on it too much. I have the Mountain-Sitting Art, and the Heaven-Devouring Earth-Consuming Grand Art would merely be icing on the cake. Besides, I could always have others cultivate this method and then reap the benefits myself."

After pondering for a moment, Li Fan temporarily set it aside. His gaze pierced through numerous obstructions, looking at the earth veins beneath Tai'an Island.

"The original Mountain and River Grand Formation had already interconnected all the world's earth veins. Although the Grand Formation has now been replaced by the Heavenly Origin Transformation Array, its effects persist."

"Even if one desired to devour the heavens and consume the earth, it wouldn't be as easy as it was in antiquity. A peerless, ferocious technique from thousands of years ago has, with the passage of time, become so useless. No wonder the Five Elders Association so easily handed it over to a Foundation Establishment stage spy."

Li Fan shook his head, lamenting.