Chapter 89: Stealing Heaven and Changing the Day Sect

The demise of Qi Refining stage cultivators is far less spectacular than that of Foundation Establishment stage cultivators.

There are no brilliant, fireworks-like phenomena of natural wonders; only two streaks of crimson clouds suddenly appear in the sky.

"Qi Refining cultivator Sikong Yi, having cultivated for thirty-five years, was slain by Qi Refining cultivator Li Fan in the Congyun Sea region..."

"Qi Refining cultivator Baili Chen, having cultivated for three years, was slain by Qi Refining cultivator Li Fan in the Congyun Sea region..."

"Now, their bodies are dead and their paths extinguished, returning to heaven!"

Beneath the fiery clouds, Li Fan stood quietly, caressing the Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Token in his hand.

After a long while, he finally suppressed the greed welling up in his heart.

"What a treasure, but alas...""It is not my path."

The Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Token was the supreme treasure of the Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Sect.

The Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Sect was a reclusive sect that had existed since ancient times.

Unlike other sects that established themselves openly and widely recruited disciples, the Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Sect had no fixed stronghold and often only had one successor per generation.

Consequently, when great calamities descended, other sects faced apocalyptic scenes of bloodshed and turmoil.

However, these events had little impact on the Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Sect.

The reason the Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Sect managed to continue its lineage for nearly ten thousand years with only one member at a time was largely due to its unique cultivation method.

Heaven-Stealing: This allows one to create a special clone using vital blood and certain unique materials. Unlike ordinary external manifestations, this clone possesses its own unique appearance, aura, spirit, cultivation realm, and even its own independent luck.

This clone can be entirely regarded as a separate individual.

Sun-Shifting: When creating a clone, by adding the remains of deceased cultivators or mixing in the vital blood of living cultivators, one can strip away a portion of the original individual's talent, luck, and other attributes, grafting them onto the clone.

Of course, if this were its only capability, it would not fully showcase the power of the Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Sect.

The Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Art, when combined with the token in Li Fan's hand, becomes its complete form.

This Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Token was forged thousands of years ago by Sikong Yue, the thirty-eighth successor of the Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Sect.

Back then, Sikong Yue witnessed the arrival of a great calamity, seeing countless cultivators slaughtering each other, their lives as insignificant as ants. Terrified by this, she felt a profound fear and urgently sought a perfect method for self-preservation.

Thus, after a century of painstaking research, delving into countless artifact-forging methods, she finally created this Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Token.

The token possessed infinite wondrous uses.

Not only did it have an extremely spacious storage compartment, but after being refined, the token could freely transfer between the main body and the clone, disregarding limitations of spatial distance.

Most importantly, through the Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Art, she transferred the essence of life of both the clone and the main body entirely onto this token.

As long as the token remained intact, even if the main body and clone were killed, a new body could be reconstructed by consuming the vital blood accumulated within the token over time.

This allowed for "resurrection."

Simply put, once the cultivation method was perfected, what appeared to outsiders, whether the main body or the clone, was merely an empty shell.

The Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Token was the actual true body.

Although this technique, after Sikong Yue's radical modifications, had become somewhat unorthodox, it was...

...extremely effective.

For thousands of years, relying on this bizarre cultivation method, members of the Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Sect were able to escape unharmed from any perilous situation.

Consequently, the Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Sect endured for thousands of years without perishing.

This continued until Sikong Yi encountered an anomaly like Li Fan, who could rewind time.

However, the Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Art was not perfect and had certain fatal flaws.

For instance, the main body and the clone needed to maintain a certain distance. The further the clone was from the main body, the greater the decline in the clone's strength. If the distance exceeded the limit, the clone would only retain the minimal cultivation base of the early Qi Refining stage.

Another example: because the essence of life was linked to the token, after a member of the Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Sect died, a portion of their residual soul would be bound within the token, unable to find release.

These residual souls often retained important fragments of their memories from life.

In times of crisis, they could even be released by the token's owner to fight enemies.

Li Fan's divine sense entered the Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Token; its vast storage space was empty.

Only Sikong Yi and another indistinct residual soul drifted aimlessly within.

His divine consciousness transformed into a giant hand, grasping the two residual souls and reading their remaining memories.

After a long while, Li Fan finally understood why the Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Sect, which had been passed down for millennia, had fallen to such a state of decline.

The origin of the matter began with Sikong Yi's nominal master, Sikong Bo.

For thousands of years, the Heaven-Stealing, Sun-Shifting Sect had navigated various perilous situations unharmed. Consequently, they gradually became arrogant, acting increasingly recklessly. This arrogance reached its peak with Sikong Bo.

On a distant continent, Sikong Bo, who had broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage, felt somewhat dissatisfied with the clone he had previously refined.

So, he decided to gather materials and refine a new one.

Coincidentally, at this time, he encountered a five- or six-year-old child in a desolate mountain village.

The child possessed a natural immortal physique. Not only were they immensely strong, but their cultivation speed was also astonishingly fast.

At such a young age, they had already reached the peak of Qi Refining and were preparing for Foundation Establishment.

This greatly moved Sikong Bo.

After observing for a while in secret, Sikong Bo discovered that the child's luck was even more extraordinary.

Every time they went hunting alone in the deep mountains, they would simultaneously bring back various natural treasures.

If he were to seize the child's luck, the clone he created would certainly be extraordinary!

Thus, blinded by desire, Sikong Bo, one night, while the child was asleep, attempted to steal their vital blood.

Unexpectedly...

This child had already been chosen by a Nascent Soul Grandmaster.

This Nascent Soul Grandmaster's lifespan was nearing its end, and he felt that further breakthroughs were hopeless. So, he searched everywhere for a suitable target for soul possession.

He happened to find this exceptionally gifted child.

Ordinary soul possession methods would, to varying degrees, damage the foundation of the possessed individual. This Nascent Soul cultivator was hoping to advance further, so how could he allow such a thing to happen?

Therefore, he adopted an extreme method: he transformed himself into a natural wonder, planning to perfectly merge with the child when they reached the Foundation Establishment stage.

Indeed, according to Sikong Bo's surviving memories, humans could be refined into natural wonders.

Or rather, a significant portion of the Foundation Establishment stage natural wonders constantly appearing in the world were transformed from cultivators who had previously perished.

After cultivators perished, the so-called "returning to the path of heaven" was not just an empty phrase.

The "path" of a cultivator, after years of transformation by heaven and earth, would gradually form various unique wonders, reappearing in the world according to their character and the characteristics of their cultivation method in life.

While alive, they might not cultivate together; in death, their utility must still be exhausted.

This was the attitude of this world towards cultivators.