Chapter 69: It Turns Out It Was You

Before entering secluded cultivation, Li Fan set the minimum contribution points at 100. If the points dropped below this number, the assisted cultivation mode would be forcefully interrupted.

It felt as if he had been abruptly awoken from a pleasant sleep; Li Fan felt a wave of irritation, though he quickly suppressed it. "These contribution points are consumed too fast." The days of having over three thousand points, a large sum, felt like just yesterday, yet in the blink of an eye, he was empty-handed again.

"The Cloudwater Heavenly Palace will open in about two years. Before that, I still need to find a way to earn some contribution points and strengthen myself." He immediately began browsing the mission page of the Heavenly Profound Mirror again.

Li Fan chose to directly ignore the official missions released by the Myriad Immortals Alliance. Even at the late stage of Qi Refinement, the official missions available were still low-reward but low-risk tasks. Examples included assisting alchemists, artifact refiners, or talismans, or helping to maintain and inspect spell formations from various parts of the Cloud Sea. While safe, the contribution points accumulated too slowly.

If Li Fan had an interest in learning alchemy or artifact refining, he might consider it. However, with the Cloudwater Heavenly Palace about to open, the most important thing right now was to acquire the "Cloudwater Diagram Record" first.

Unfortunately, Li Fan's luck seemed to be poor this time. After searching for a long time, he couldn't find any missions he liked.

After some thought, Li Fan took out the communication talisman that He Zhenghao had given him and sent him a message. "Daoist He, do you know of any quick ways to earn contribution points? I've been looking through the Heavenly Profound Mirror for a long time, and most missions only offer a few dozen points. My cultivation consumes thirty points a day. At this rate, when will I be able to afford a Foundation Establishment cultivation method?" Li Fan spoke in a complaining tone. Once the message was sent, Li Fan set the communication talisman aside.

While waiting for He Zhenghao's reply, Li Fan resumed his cultivation. Although his cultivation speed was much slower without the aid of spiritual enlightenment, he was still making gradual progress. Three days passed, and He Zhenghao finally sent a reply.

"Hahaha, that's how it is in our Myriad Immortals Alliance. Newly joined cultivators often need several years of hard work to exchange for a cultivation method. It's the same for everyone.""However..." He Zhenghao changed his tone and continued, "Since I introduced you to join, naturally I should help you out.""After all, I also hope you enter the Foundation Establishment stage as soon as possible!""However, this matter is not convenient to discuss via communication talisman. If you are willing, you can come to Glazed Island. We can talk about it in detail face-to-face."

Li Fan had only asked casually, with a "just in case" attitude, so he hadn't expected He Zhenghao to give such a direct and positive reply. "This is truly a timely help. However, there must be a reason for it..." Remembering that He Zhenghao had been consistently generous to others in both his lives, a rare trait among cultivators, Li Fan became thoughtful. Without hesitation, he immediately exited the Heavenly Profound Mirror and headed straight for Glazed Island.

Within Glazed Island's island-protecting formation, He Zhenghao was already waiting in a mountain-top pavilion, sipping tea. "It seems Daoist Friend is eager," He Zhenghao said with a laugh upon seeing Li Fan. He clapped his hands, and the mountain beneath their feet suddenly began to shake. Immediately afterward, Li Fan witnessed a strange sight: the surrounding mountains all seemed to be rising together. However, Li Fan quickly realized what was happening. It wasn't that the other mountains were rising, but that the mountain he was on was descending.

The mountain rapidly sank, quickly dropping below ground level into a space filled with silver mist. Li Fan looked up and saw the continuous mountain ranges within the island-protecting formation, now floating above their heads like individual stars. The mountains were dispersed, yet seemed to form a unified whole according to some pattern. They appeared still, yet were constantly in motion.

Noticing Li Fan's expression, He Zhenghao looked slightly smug. "Daoist Friend, what do you think of my Mountains and Stars Array?"In his previous life, Li Fan had never seen the true form of Glazed Island's island-protecting formation. Seeing it now, he sincerely said, "The Mountains and Stars Array... it's truly extraordinary. But why does Glazed Island's island-protecting formation seem so different...?"He Zhenghao already knew what Li Fan was going to ask and grew even more pleased. "That's because this grand formation on Glazed Island was personally constructed by me. Naturally, it's different from those on other islands."

Li Fan was immediately surprised. "I didn't expect Daoist Friend to also be skilled in array formations!" But then he had some doubts: "This Mountains and Stars Array is so massive; can you really construct it with just Foundation Establishment cultivation?"He Zhenghao cleared his throat and said earnestly, "Naturally, there were others assisting. However, the arrangement of the array was absolutely led by me.""To be frank, my Foundation Establishment 'wondrous item' is a 'Diagram of a Hundred Mountain Veins Array'. Because of this, I possess unparalleled talent in the way of array formations compared to ordinary cultivators. If we only discuss array formations and disregard cultivation level, even typical Nascent Soul stage array masters might not be able to compare to me," He Zhenghao said with full confidence.

"I see..." Li Fan nodded, then asked, "Daoist He, what exactly is this matter you wanted to discuss? Why all this mystery and elaborate setup?"He Zhenghao said with a smile, "It's not a major issue, just something a bit taboo."

"Daoist Friend, do you know that many years ago, all mortals in the cultivation world were exiled to various surrounding minor worlds?"Li Fan narrowed his eyes. "I've heard a little about it."He Zhenghao continued, "Actually, these minor worlds contain many valuable things that can be exchanged for a good number of contribution points. However, collecting them alone would be time-consuming and arduous, making it not worth the effort.""However, the powerful and influential mortals in these minor worlds often scheme to return to the cultivation world. So..."

Li Fan already understood what He Zhenghao was getting at. "So?""We can use this as a condition to have those mortals help us collect resources. Coincidentally, I know of a minor world called Dali, which is quite vast and produces several kinds of precious treasures. There's even a lot of Starlight Quicksand.""Starlight Quicksand is a common material for setting up array formations; typically, one jin is priced between two and three contribution points..." He Zhenghao explained voluminously, but then noticed Li Fan's increasingly strange gaze and couldn't help but feel a bit awkward.

He then said, "Don't look at me like that; I know what you're thinking.""You're probably thinking, 'How could a dignified cultivator lower themselves to do such a thing, right?'""But Daoist Friend, you don't know that if you don't do this, someone else will.""Scavenging one minor world once every decade or so can yield over two thousand contribution points. If you have several such worlds, wouldn't that be equivalent to gaining over two thousand contribution points for free every year?""See? When I explain it like this, doesn't it sound quite reasonable?"