Chapter 643: Heaven and Earth Will Change

Angry Squid: ............

With the Five Elements Grand Cave Heaven as a foundation, even if the Sky Marrow Hongxi extracted during his Transcendent breakthrough was unremarkable, his achievements would likely far surpass what they are today.

Was it that he didn't want to?

He simply couldn't achieve it.

While one might still be able to struggle for a rare natural treasure or a heavenly law through personal effort, at the Nascent Soul and Transcendent stages, acquiring powerful and rare Cave Heavens or Sky Marrow is impossible with mere diligence. Without family background and resources, or sufficient personal fortune, how can one compete with other cultivators?

For ordinary cultivators, finding a resource and successfully advancing is already a great fortune. They are in no position to be picky.

Someone like Di Yijing, who decisively gave up the opportunity to merge with the Dao even when tempted by a World Soul, certainly did so because of his extraordinary talent and disdain for a weak World Soul. But wasn't it also because his high position in the Myriad Immortal Alliance gave him access to resources and information far beyond what ordinary cultivators could ever hope for?

The strong can meticulously choose and carefully consider their path forward, leading to a cycle where the strong become even stronger.

Conversely, the weak can only seize hard-won opportunities for advancement and barely break through, thus remaining perpetually weak.

Therefore, from the Nascent Soul stage upwards, the disparity in individual strength among cultivators becomes increasingly pronounced.

Even in battles between cultivators of the same realm, instantaneous kills are not uncommon.

Now, Li Fan, having broken through with the Five Elements Grand Cave Heaven, can be considered at the pinnacle of the Nascent Soul realm.

However, he still has no clue how to find a Sky Marrow that matches it.

What is Sky Marrow?

Long Jiuyuan achieved Transcendent status by using the Heavenly Spirit that would give birth to a thousand waters.

Hongxi broke through by relying on the Taihua that would give birth to a thousand mountains.

From the information revealed in the heavenly proclamations after their deaths, one might glimpse a few clues.

If human marrow creates blood, then Sky Marrow creates laws.

When laws manifest in the Xuanhuang World, their specific manifestation is "Heaven and Earth Transformation."

In Tianling Province, after several millennia, a thousand rivers will be born.

In Taihua Province, after several millennia, a thousand mountains will rise.

These are predetermined changes that will occur in a specific province of the Xuanhuang World over a future period.

Extracting Sky Marrow involves drawing out and stripping away the laws that drive these "Heaven and Earth Transformations."

One then applies the majestic power of heaven and earth to oneself, resulting in a tremendous surge in cultivation and combat power.

Concurrently, the initial integration of heavenly laws within one's body lays a foundational groundwork for the future "sacrifice to the World Soul" when cultivators merge with the Dao.

Heaven and Earth Transformations often span tens of thousands of years. Cultivators' sensory abilities typically cannot easily detect them. However, the Heavenly Venerate's new method can perceive even the most subtle changes, first tearing open an aperture, and then continuously and rapidly extracting and absorbing the primordial power that heaven and earth originally intended to release slowly over several millennia. While this act undoubtedly significantly depletes the world's potential, for cultivators, it can achieve a notable leap in strength.

Li Fan's thoughts churned as he continuously pondered, integrating all he knew.

The Five Elements Cave Heaven forms a self-contained cycle, a perfectly integrated whole—something incredibly rare and sought after. If he achieved Transcendent status and extracted Sky Marrow, the most suitable choice should be related to this. However, when the five elements manifest in the world, they disperse. It was likely that a single Sky Marrow would only correspond to one specific attribute. And in the Transcendent stage, achieving multiple laws, as one might at the Golden Core stage, was not so easy.

Li Fan's eyes narrowed slightly.

Beyond creating laws, Sky Marrow also possesses mechanisms akin to "immunity" or "resistance."

Once one already possesses a certain Sky Marrow, attempting to extract another will be detected, leading to a degree of rejection.

The more one mastered, the greater the repellent force. Each additional type almost increased the difficulty exponentially. Therefore, for the vast majority of cultivators in the world, extracting one type of Sky Marrow was already their limit. Even a prodigy like Long Jiuyuan, who could single-handedly battle a World Soul and ascend to Dao Merging, was no exception. This demonstrated the immense difficulty.

He could probably only accommodate two types of Sky Marrow at most, Li Fan thought to himself, not blindly overestimating his abilities.

To achieve a perfect ascension, unless...

A glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes: simultaneously extract five Sky Marrows of different attributes and use the principle of mutual generation and restraint to achieve self-balance.

This was undoubtedly a wild and fanciful idea.

Not to mention where one would even encounter an opportunity to extract five Sky Marrows simultaneously, even if such an opportunity arose, the success rate would be minuscule.

No rational cultivator would choose to do so.

However, for Li Fan, it might not be impossible to try!

Within his mind, the Dao Transformation Stone crystal continuously emitted a faint blue glow, constantly integrating and processing all the information he had seen, slowly deducing potential methods to realize his vision.

Over ten days later, Li Fan sensed Liu San's awakening. He flickered and appeared before him.

Liu San, who seemed to have spent a considerable amount of time in the Immortal Extinction Realm, was still somewhat disoriented upon returning to the real world.

A hint of confusion flickered in his eyes.

However, this bewilderment quickly receded the moment he saw Li Fan.

"Young Master!" Liu San stood up, his expression normal.

"How was it? Did you encounter any cultivators from the Medicine King Sect back then?" Li Fan asked kindly.

Liu San shook his head.

"It's strange, but the scenario I experienced this time in the Immortal Extinction Realm wasn't the ancient cultivation world you mentioned, Young Master. Instead, it was an era I'd never heard of. In that place, immortal cultivation was completely severed, and no cultivators existed. People could only gain extraordinary power by resonating with various ancient magical artifacts. They were called 'Divine Weapon Wielders' or something similar… And this time, I possessed a child no older than seven or eight."

Liu San recounted his experiences to Li Fan as he recalled them.

"In the end, after countless hardships and much bloody slaughter, I finally succeeded in resonating with the legendary strongest divine weapon."

"The Immortal Slaying Sword…"

As he spoke, Liu San took out a long sword that shimmered with rainbow light, yet also seemed to contain endless malevolent energy.

Li Fan's gaze sharpened, but after a closer look, he gave a faint smile.

Liu San then said, "Its name is quite grand. But in reality, it's just a Natal Flying Sword crafted by a Nascent Soul stage sword cultivator. It only stood out among a pile of 'so-called' divine weapons because it was tainted by a wisp of residual soul from the fallen cultivator."

Liu San's gaze swept over the flying sword before him, and he commented with a hint of disdain, "The crafting method is crude, and the material is utterly common. It's truly trash."

With that, he exerted a slight force.

The so-called 'Immortal Slaying Sword,' the strongest divine weapon, vanished into ashes in an instant.