Chapter 431: Heaven's Rain Returns as My Rain

"Speaking of which, this Great Law of Swallowing Heaven and Devouring Earth is quite similar to the Primal Return Toad. Both can devour earth veins and show no restraint. It seems many cultivation techniques in ancient times were created by imitating strange beasts." Li Fan recalled his experiences in the Myriad Laws Contest area of the Museum of Divine Treasures, lost in thought. "Unfortunately, while these derived cultivation techniques inherited the characteristics of the beast, they also brought along their flaws. However, if it could be refined with the Dharma Jade and its flaw of losing one's mind optimized out, it would still be a powerful divine ability."

Thinking of this, Li Fan shook his head. "I'm afraid there's no opportunity in this life. I'm about to break through to the Nascent Soul realm, and the 'Mountain Sitting Art' has already been cultivated to its limit. Deriving it to a higher realm is the top priority."

The uninhibited face of a young cultivator suddenly appeared in Li Fan's mind. It was Han Yi, who in his previous life had successfully obtained the qualification to derive Dao Harmonization cultivation techniques with the Dharma Jade, by acquiring the Heaven Capital Feather Transformation Pill, a treasure capable of extending one's lifespan by eight hundred years.

"To derive the 'Mountain Sitting Art' to the Dao Harmonization level in one go, I would need to steal this person's opportunity. However, something seems off about this person. No matter how I look at it, he doesn't seem like someone with strong heavenly fortune. In my previous life, my clone explored the Heaven Capital ruins with him, gaining nothing. What's more, we constantly faced dangers along the way and almost died. One could say that my clone, which had almost no luck to speak of, was still much stronger than him. Yet, it's undeniable that he won the 'Fixed Fish Jackpot' and possessed treasures like the Heaven Capital Feather Transformation Pill."

Li Fan frowned slightly. "I remember, before his sudden wealth, he had been swindled by a Foundation Establishment master. At that time, I can pay special attention to him, to see exactly how he managed to turn his life around from destitution."

After much contemplation, his clone finally awoke. Li Fan put away all the spirit stones and enlightenment pills, leaving his clone to continue guarding Tai'an Island. He, himself, changed his appearance again and hurried towards the northeasternmost corner of the Cloud Sea via a teleportation array. His destination, naturally, was Yinyin Island, where Venerable Yinyin resided.

In the entire Cloud Sea, there were few people Li Fan truly cared about. Venerable Yin was definitely one of them. It wasn't just the 'Foundation Establishment Through Self' method he had comprehended, which had been verified by Su Changyu in the previous life as truly feasible, though it merely still had a few flaws that needed perfecting. What concerned Li Fan most was that after more than ten years of research into the Immortal-Mortal Miasma, Venerable Yin had ultimately chosen to end his own life.

Even ants cling to life. Someone as obsessed as Venerable Yin, theoretically speaking, would certainly not easily give up his life. But he did precisely that, which could only mean one thing: he had finally truly comprehended the mysteries of the Immortal-Mortal Miasma, and the result was something he found unbearable. In his utter despair, he lost the motivation to continue living. That's why he chose to immolate himself. Li Fan was also very interested in this mystery.

After three days, Li Fan quietly arrived outside Yinyin Island. From a distance, the continuous wails of mortals could be heard. Li Fan had no intention of alarming Venerable Yin; he merely planned to release his Formless Killing Intent to monitor. But the result greatly surprised him.

The moment the Formless Killing Intent locked onto Venerable Yin, his vision suddenly split into hundreds of perspectives. Apart from the one on the ground who was intently conducting an experiment, all others he saw were dilapidated corpses, identical in appearance to Venerable Yin, located in the basement. From a cosmic perspective, Li Fan discovered that these fragmented corpses, which appeared to be utterly dead, were actually still alive! While quietly lying in the basement, they would occasionally, almost imperceptibly, shift their bodies or roll their eyeballs. Li Fan looked into their eyes and even had the thought that these corpses seemed to be 'thinking'. This bizarre scene sent a chill down Li Fan's spine.

"The Formless Killing Intent's locked perspective split, meaning that from a cosmic viewpoint, these living corpses were essentially the same person as Venerable Yin." As Li Fan thought this, his expression grew more solemn. He remembered Venerable Yin mentioning that he had dissected hundreds of corpses in that basement, eventually comprehending the 'Foundation Establishment Through Self' method. Given the current situation, it was highly probable that he had dissected 'himself' one by one, while 'he' still retained consciousness.

"A true madman..." "No wonder he could comprehend such a heaven-defying method as 'Foundation Establishment Through Self'. If he had focused on cultivation, perhaps the Dao Harmonization realm would have been easily attainable for him. It's a pity he was so engrossed in the research of the Immortal-Mortal Miasma." Li Fan stared at the only Venerable Yin still moving normally and couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. Throughout his many reincarnations, he had encountered numerous so-called geniuses. Even Senior Brother Zhang's grand vow Dharma Body suppressing ages, and Mister Bai's mortal achieving Spirit Transformation in an instant — these were all beings capable of having their names remembered for centuries. But to Li Fan, none of them felt as unsettling as this Foundation Establishment cultivator, Venerable Yin.

Li Fan secretly observed from outside Yinyin Island for several days. Venerable Yin seemed like a tireless machine, experimenting, recording, and thinking, then repeating the experiments. There was no hint of weariness on his face, only deep immersion. Li Fan also observed that whenever Venerable Yin fell into thought, the 'thinking' expression on the faces of the hundreds of corpses in the basement became even more pronounced.

"It's like hundreds of himself thinking about a problem simultaneously..." Li Fan mused with newfound understanding. "Perhaps this is why he was able to unravel the mysteries of the Immortal-Mortal Miasma." Li Fan then recalled Venerable Yin's deranged mutterings to Su Changyu in the previous life: "Indeed, where did these corpses come from? Ah! I remember now! It was a massive rain! Countless corpses fell from the sky like rain, and I took the opportunity to gather some..."

Li Fan slightly narrowed his eyes: "Hundreds of corpses collected from a great rain, all of himself? What a bizarre and fantastical affair." He pondered for a long time but couldn't find any related instances in the classified records of the Xuanhuang Realm he had read before. Li Fan could only temporarily set it aside. He continued to observe from outside for a few more days, until the supply of mortal subjects on Yinyin Island ran out. Venerable Yin then had to go out to find more mortals for his experiments. Only then did Li Fan quietly depart.

"I'll just keep a constant watch on him for now. Anyway, with the Secret Art of Dao Transformation, it won't affect my daily cultivation." Li Fan took one last deep look at Venerable Yin's hurried retreating figure, then reverted to his 'Heaven's Mystery Sect cultivator' appearance and returned to Myriad Immortals Island.

Swallowing an Enlightenment Pill, he activated his spiritual enlightenment state. Li Fan temporarily entered seclusion for intense cultivation. Under the dual blessings, even though Li Fan was cultivating the 'Mountain Sitting Art,' an extremely difficult technique, his progress was swift. More than two months later, as a pure surge of cultivation feedback suddenly appeared in his Dantian, Li Fan then awoke from his seclusion.