Chapter 595: Cultivators of Immortality

"My path lies in commerce. It lies in profit."

Jiao Xiuyuan remarked with a hint of emotion, "All under heaven, like fertile soil, gravitates towards profit. The path of commerce flows abundantly through the world. Therefore, I forged thousands of puppets and observed the gains and losses of the human world to cultivate myself."

"At first, the accumulation of assets was incredibly rapid. My cultivation realm ascended step by step, almost a new level each day. However, once a certain level was reached, the expansion of Qianlitang slowed down. My cultivation had been stagnant for a long time. I had hoped that the insights from this enormous profit would allow me to push through and forcefully advance. But I didn't expect that, in the end, it was still a bit short."

"As the saying goes, 'one can run a horse to death looking at a mountain' – I thought it was within reach, but who knew there were still thousands of mountains and valleys ahead?"

Listening to Jiao Xiuyuan's lament, Li Fan recalled the vast disparity he had recently witnessed between different Hedao cultivators, and the immense chasm between the Hedao realm and the Longevity realm. He couldn't help but inwardly agree, nodding slightly.

Just then, he heard Jiao Xiuyuan say, "Furthermore, I've found that the path of commerce, at my current level, is constrained on all sides, making progress incredibly difficult. Taking another step forward is truly arduous!"

Without waiting for Li Fan to ask, he answered himself, "Take the recent incident with the Puxian True Leaves, for example. In an absolutely ideal scenario, we could have definitely earned much more. From a purely commercial perspective, the price of Puxian True Leaves had soared to astronomical heights. And the Myriad Immortals Alliance controls the Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven, where Puxian True Leaves are extremely abundant. They could have simply joined in to profit, but instead, a single announcement brought everything back to square one."

"They say it's for stability, but isn't it really just for their own interests..." Jiao Xiuyuan muttered.

Li Fan listened, deep in thought. "Fellow Daoist Jiao, do you mean that profit must be extracted from others? And once a certain point is reached, further advancement inevitably leads to conflict with others?"

"Precisely!" Jiao Xiuyuan praised. "If the other party is weak, of course, they can be crushed directly. But if they are a solid wall, one would only end up battered and bruised by crashing into it. At such times, one has no choice but to go around the wall."

"Yet, this world ultimately remains under the rule of the Myriad Immortals Alliance and the Council of Five Elders. How easy is it to avoid their restrictions? Dancing in shackles is naturally a hundred times harder."

After listening, Li Fan chuckled dismissively, "In that case, it's truly not your fault, Fellow Daoist. It's this world's fault! Being constrained everywhere is truly unpleasant. Why don't you join me, Fellow Daoist, to overthrow the Myriad Immortals Alliance and recreate heaven and earth! What do you say?"

Jiao Xiuyuan suddenly fell silent. He looked at Li Fan with a peculiar gaze. For a moment, an uncanny silence descended between the two.

"Heh heh, Fellow Daoist must be joking."

"Haha, just a joke, Fellow Daoist Jiao isn't taking it seriously, are you?"

A moment later, both their voices spoke simultaneously. Exchanging a glance, the two chose to deliberately skip the topic.

"Speaking of which," Li Fan asked, "what do you imagine your path would look like if it were developed to its absolute extreme?"

Jiao Xiuyuan pondered for a moment, then slowly replied, "The total assets in the world are limited. The more one gains, the richer one becomes; the more one loses, the poorer one remains. If I continuously profit, and the world's wealth flows endlessly towards me, then one day... Perhaps my wealth alone will surpass that of everyone else in the world combined."

Jiao Xiuyuan's eyes showed a look of longing.

To his surprise, Li Fan chuckled lightly after hearing this.

Jiao Xiuyuan raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong, Fellow Daoist? Do you have a superior insight?"

"Too small, the scope is too small. I originally thought Fellow Daoist Jiao was one of the most brilliant minds in the world, but I never imagined..." Li Fan shook his head slightly, feigning a look of deep regret.

"Hm?" A hint of gloom flashed in Jiao Xiuyuan's eyes.

"If it were truly the extreme, why would anyone else in the world still possess assets?" Li Fan smiled faintly. "Shouldn't it be that everything under heaven belongs to you, Fellow Daoist, and everyone else owes you? You must understand, Fellow Daoist, the total wealth in the world certainly has an upper limit. But..."

Li Fan's tone grew chilling, "The wealth that others owe you, however, has no upper limit. Tens, hundreds, thousands, millions, billions – it can accumulate infinitely. Not only in this life and this generation, but for generations to come, for countless descendants, they would toil eternally, just to repay the debts owed to you, Fellow Daoist!"

Li Fan's words struck Jiao Xiuyuan like a bolt of lightning. The gloom in his eyes instantly vanished, replaced by a look of shock on his face.

"Even..."

"Can it be like this?"

What Li Fan said seemed to open up an entirely new world for him. His eyes were initially bewildered, then grew increasingly bright and excited. Soon after, it was as if he had experienced a sudden enlightenment.

"Excellent, excellent! In one lifetime, profit is ultimately limited. But time is infinite. If I distribute my goals across the long river of time..." Jiao Xiuyuan was immersed in his own fantasy, his eyes sparkling with brilliance.

"Fellow Daoist Li Fan, is this the future path you deduced for me?" After a long time, he finally snapped back to reality and looked at Li Fan.

Li Fan, however, shook his head. "I wouldn't dare claim to be giving pointers. It was merely a glimpse of a possible future scenario I saw during one of my routine deductions. I just thought that perhaps this vision might be beneficial to your path, Fellow Daoist Jiao, so I made a note of it. Today, seeing you, I merely brought it out to share with you. I just hope you don't find my thoughts absurd, Fellow Daoist Jiao!"

Jiao Xiuyuan's eyes flickered. "Your deductive abilities, Fellow Daoist, are truly astonishing, shaking both past and present. To be able to foresee such a peculiar future. However, Fellow Daoist, you sought me out today, and specifically enlightened me like this..." He looked at Li Fan, a hint of confusion in his eyes.

Li Fan smiled. "I said you got rich and became ungrateful, but you wouldn't admit it. Fellow Daoist, surely you haven't forgotten the task I entrusted to you before?"

Jiao Xiuyuan froze for a moment, then realized. "Are you talking about..."

"With your cultivation, Fellow Daoist, forgetting is naturally impossible. But after such a long time without a reply, I presumed there must be some unspeakable difficulty. However, this matter is somewhat important to me. So, I could only brazenly impose upon you, Fellow Daoist Jiao!" Li Fan clasped his hands and said solemnly.

Jiao Xiuyuan looked at Li Fan, his expression changing in an instant.

Five years ago, he had promised Li Fan to help inquire about the identity of the ancient cultivator that the Myriad Immortals Alliance was searching for while excavating ancient sect ruins everywhere. He had indeed gone to work on it. Initially, he hadn't taken it very seriously, only intending to casually gather some information to fulfill the request. What surprised him, however, was that the Myriad Immortals Alliance, which was usually as leaky as a sieve and incapable of keeping any secrets, had managed to maintain an unexpectedly high level of secrecy this time. Even he, after diligently investigating for a year or two, had found no leads.