Chapter 999: Nine Mountain State Secret Storage

With Li Fan's help, the avatar's grotto-heaven, which had been on the verge of collapse, finally began to stabilize.

After consuming the vast amount of cultivation energy that had accumulated because no one claimed it, the subsequent influx was no longer as overwhelming or unbearable. With the help of this immense surge of cultivation energy, Li Qing, the avatar, had now reached a cultivation level incredibly close to that of the main body.

However, there was no joy on his face; instead, he looked extremely grim. "It's too much, too fast," he said. "At this continuous rate of accumulation, even if I can store cultivation energy using the Body of Tribulation method, I probably won't be able to last much longer. If I can't break through my cultivation level and expand my reservoir of energy, I'm afraid I'll still be overwhelmed and explode."

Li Fan, lost in thought, mused, "Logically, the current scale and quality of cultivators practicing the Living Beings Spiritual Essence Art should be far less than that of the previous Spiritual Essence Sect. And the Spiritual Essence Sect Master couldn't have been constantly breaking through either."

Li Qing continued Li Fan's thought, saying, "In my opinion, this cultivation method is likely just a machine for extracting and purifying cultivators' energy. Even if a cultivator dies, it can still operate automatically... It's truly a bit sinister."

Li Fan remained silent, pondering to himself, "To require such an immense amount of cultivation energy, it clearly isn't just for personal cultivation. It seems the Spiritual Essence Sect had grand ambitions. Unfortunately, their power hadn't fully formed before it was completely reduced to dust."

A moment later, Li Fan instructed, "Don't worry about this issue; I will handle the excess cultivation energy."

With the help of the Faceless True Immortal Stone Statue, Li Fan could transfer his cultivation energy to the followers of the Red Dust Benevolent Immortal without any loss. There was no need to worry about exploding.

"Unbeknownst to me," Li Fan thought, "I have already reached the perfected Nascent Soul stage. With the Immortals' Sitting Chant combined with the network connection of the Faceless Stone Statue, the cultivation energy has come too quickly. However, progress in these minor stages no longer significantly affects my current practical combat strength. Even advancing to the Soul Transformation stage would have a negligible effect. Unless I can find a Heaven and Earth Genesis Transformation comparable to the Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven."

In fact, the answer to this question had already been tested by Mr. Bai, the Heavenly Dao, for Li Fan. That was the Profound Yellow Genesis Transformation. It involved extracting all the upcoming changes in the Profound Yellow World into one's own grotto-heaven, essentially "recreating the Profound Yellow" within oneself. If successful, one could almost possess the transformative power of the Profound Yellow World for a certain period. The power to propel the world's operation, especially that of a massive entity like Profound Yellow, which had merged with countless corpses of cultivation worlds.

It was almost imaginable how formidable such a power would be. At that point, Li Fan could easily capture Dao Integration cultivators, and he could remain undefeated against ordinary Immortals.

The prospects were infinitely appealing, but the problem was... such a large-scale extraction of the Profound Yellow Genesis Transformation would likely cause the Profound Yellow World to fall into a state of stagnation for a considerable period. With such severe negative effects, in the 115th reincarnation, Mr. Bai was an incarnation of the Heavenly Dao, which was why the Profound Yellow World allowed him to act freely. But how could Li Fan receive such treatment? Extracting one or two transformations might be fine, but excessive extraction would likely trigger killing intent from Heaven and Earth, and even attract the attention of the Longevity Celestials of the Profound Yellow World. After all, achieving Longevity was akin to becoming a part of the Profound Yellow Prison. Li Fan's action would be like tearing down a wall. If the commotion became too big, it would be strange if it didn't attract attention.

"Unless there's an even greater commotion to cover everything," Li Fan mused, "a commotion capable of destroying the entire Profound Yellow World..." Li Fan's eyes flickered. "Severing the True Immortal Net and escaping its confines might also be the opportunity for me to break through to the Soul Transformation stage. Even if I can't achieve everything in one go, it could significantly reduce the difficulty of future Soul Transformation advancements."

Li Fan nodded slightly, secretly fine-tuning his plan once more. As for other methods of Soul Transformation, they were too weak and utterly meaningless to Li Fan. He hadn't even considered them.

As he was deep in thought, Li Qing's voice interrupted him. "I seem to faintly sense the location where the Spiritual Essence Sect stores its cultivation energy," Li Qing said, a little uncertainly.

"Oh?" Li Fan's eyes flashed, and in an instant, he also sensed that location within his spiritual sea. It was in Nine Mountains State, deep underground.

"It seems we might even find some remnants of the Spiritual Essence Sect," Li Fan said, narrowing his eyes.

Soon after, Li Fan arrived at the target location. Above ground, continuous lines of cave dwellings had already been constructed. However, they appeared to have just been completed; they were empty and uninhabited. It's worth noting that this area was considered relatively remote in Nine Mountains State, yet it was still filled with buildings of all sizes. Li Fan gazed into the distance; these cave dwellings extended all the way to the center of Nine Mountains State. They were plastered across the land like dog-skin plasters, completely devoid of aesthetic appeal. The only goal seemed to be maximizing the number of buildings.

"It seems the reputation of being a 'Trade State' is indeed very attractive," Li Fan commented. "Building so many, and they're not worried about selling them!" He shook his head, saying nothing more.

He quietly slipped underground. Following the sensation, he descended. Before these large-scale cave dwellings were constructed, the underground area had actually been explored. However, the hidden location of the Spiritual Essence Sect's secret vault remained undiscovered, indicating how well it was concealed.

Li Fan estimated he had descended over thirty thousand zhang underground when the pressure around him grew increasingly intense. Even with his current strength, movement became progressively more difficult. Fortunately, he finally found the target. Not far away, a glowing square was deeply buried underground. Ten zhang square, it was remarkably conspicuous in the pitch-black underground. Yet, Li Fan couldn't perceive it with his divine sense. If not for his avatar already being at the highest level of the Living Essence Art in the current era, thereby generating a sense of its location, finding this place deep beneath Nine Mountains State would have been like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Li Fan approached the glowing cube and reached out to touch it. It felt like a solid wall, blocking Li Fan's entry. "This is..." But Li Fan instantly realized what the glowing wall before him was. "Cultivation energy?" A strange expression appeared on Li Fan's face.

After a moment of contemplation, Li Fan absorbed the materialized cultivation energy he was touching into his body. The sheer amount of cultivation energy condensed within this glowing wall was astonishing. Li Fan absorbed for quite some time, yet couldn't create an entrance hole in it. It took filling nine stored tribulation bodies before an entrance was finally opened.

Li Fan prepared his defenses and entered. The opening was quickly sealed again by the overflowing cultivation energy around the glowing cube. Inside, it wasn't materialized cultivation energy, but a confined space five zhang square. It contained various miscellaneous items. However, the most conspicuous items were three gleaming golden bodies. They stood there, devoid of any living aura. But Li Fan felt a sense of crisis.