Chapter 40 – A Fateful Encounter Yields a Wondrous Art

Chapter 40 – A Fateful Encounter Yields a Wondrous Art

Watching Li Fan depart as though riding the clouds and mist, the youths finally had their moment of realization. They now understood that Immortal Master He’s words contained neither deception nor exaggeration, and many felt a flush of shame.

“Those who enter the spirit pool first will receive a greater share of spirit fluid. Hurry along now,” Immortal Master He said, his expression softening as he addressed the group of youths.

And so the youths scrambled over one another in their rush toward the sea of clouds.

……

Surrounded by thick, dense clouds, Li Fan felt as though he had lost all sense of direction.

The white clouds around him gathered inward, growing thicker and denser by the moment.

In the span of a breath, they coalesced into white spirit fluid that enveloped Li Fan entirely.

Immersed in the spirit fluid, Li Fan felt no suffocation whatsoever—instead, he was filled with an incomparable warmth and comfort.

Like a fetus within a mother’s womb, Li Fan’s mind gradually relaxed completely.

Streams of gentle, soothing energy flowed across every inch of his skin, seeping through his pores and entering his body.

His entire being—body and soul alike—felt as though soaking in warm water, and Li Fan could barely suppress a groan of pleasure.

But then, warmth turned to searing heat.

Searing heat turned to scalding.

Scalding turned to the roasting of open flames.

Caught completely off guard, Li Fan let out a wail of agony.

In that instant, he lost all control over his body.

He could only feel magma-like torrents of heat rampaging through his body, tearing and boring into every last nerve.

The pain was beyond what any human could endure. Li Fan’s first instinct was to invoke 【Return to Truth】, but he forced himself to hold back.

“Three hundred years of relentless searching—wasn’t it all for this very moment?”

“No matter what, I will never give up.”

“I will cultivate immortality. I will achieve eternal life!”

Li Fan’s consciousness was being shattered to fragments by the excruciating pain, yet a single, unyielding obsession sustained him, keeping him from total collapse.

The searing flow circulated through his body in endless loops, seemingly without end.

With each cycle, the destruction and agony deepened another degree.

Eventually, the pain reached a level beyond the power of words to describe.

Pain like blades, flaying Li Fan’s soul a thousand cuts upon a thousand cuts, endless and unceasing.

No matter how strong Li Fan’s willpower was, before suffering of this magnitude, his resistance was gradually being worn away.

Slowly, Li Fan’s consciousness began to drift and scatter.

His awareness began to dissolve.

Even at this point, the obsession in Li Fan’s heart kept him holding on—he did not activate 【Return to Truth】.

His consciousness faded to near-total blankness.

Cultivation, eternal life, taint removal, the spirit pool, Glazed Glass Island, rare treasures of heaven and earth, Return to Truth…

All these thoughts dissipated along with the fading of Li Fan’s awareness.

Instinct replaced the self, and so the 《Xuanhuang Purification Mantra》—which Li Fan had practiced almost without pause, day and night, since arriving at Glazed Glass Island—began to circulate on its own.

As the Purification Mantra ran its course, Li Fan’s consciousness seemed to find an anchor. It began to reconsolidate, to strengthen.

Though he remained in a state beyond thought and awareness, he became like a reef on the shore—standing resolute no matter how fierce the wind or how towering the waves.

……

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Of the thirteen who had entered the Body-Purifying Spirit Pool, eleven had already emerged.

Of those eleven, only four had successfully purged the taint from their bodies. The remaining seven had been unable to withstand the agony and failed the purification.

Aside from the unfortunate soul who had died, the one person who still had not appeared was, naturally, Li Fan.

He Zhenghao sensed the faint, flickering aura within the spirit pool’s formation array, his astonishment growing by the moment.

As the cultivator presiding over the spirit pool’s formation, he knew full well just how agonizing it was when the Mortal Taint was being ripped from a mortal’s body.

The Mortal Taint lay buried deep within a mortal’s bloodline, coexisting with flesh and blood from the moment the fetus took form.

As the mortal grew, the Mortal Taint became ever more inseparable from their flesh.

This Body-Purifying Spirit Pool formation had been created by one of the leaders of the Myriad Immortals Alliance—the Celestial Sovereign of the Eastern Extremity.

It worked by utterly destroying the physical body to force the taint out, then using regenerative power to rebuild the body anew.

This process repeated until all taint within the body had been completely purged.

The older the person, the harder it was to separate the taint from the flesh.

The more cycles of destruction and rebuilding were needed to fully eliminate the Mortal Taint.

The suffering endured throughout this process was beyond imagination!

He Zhenghao had presided over this formation on Glazed Glass Island for over fifty years. The oldest person he had ever seen successfully endure the purification was only thirty-one.

For someone of Li Fan’s age, He Zhenghao believed there was simply no hope of success.

But now, Li Fan’s performance had far exceeded his expectations.

“The firmness of this man’s will is nothing short of terrifying. If he can successfully complete the purification, reaching Foundation Establishment would certainly be no difficulty—perhaps even Golden Core…” He Zhenghao’s eyes flickered with thought. “Perhaps I should forge a good connection early on.”

Without delay, He Zhenghao sent the others out of the formation first, remaining inside alone to wait for Li Fan.

Another three days passed. Looking at Li Fan, who still had not emerged, He Zhenghao was so shocked he was nearly at a loss for words.

Had he not been able to sense Li Fan’s stable life force within the formation, He Zhenghao would have rushed in long ago.

But there was nothing he could do—the purification formation could not be arbitrarily interrupted. He could only continue to wait.

……

Another three days.

He Zhenghao’s expression had turned grim. He had no idea what kind of monster he was dealing with—someone who could endure the Body-Purifying Spirit Pool formation for this long.

What was worse, the materials sustaining the formation were running out.

Without sufficient materials, the formation would be forcibly terminated, which could lead to unpredictable consequences—potentially rendering all prior effort meaningless.

By all reason, even if the formation were to shut down at this point, it would simply be Li Fan’s bad luck, having nothing to do with He Zhenghao.

But when he thought of Li Fan’s terrifying, unyielding willpower, He Zhenghao’s expression shifted through a series of conflicting emotions.

“Forget it, forget it. Consider it a gamble on this kid achieving something extraordinary in the future!”

With that, He Zhenghao formed hand seals, and item after item flew from his storage ring, vanishing into the depths of the cloud sea.

“Good thing I always secretly set aside a share of these materials for myself each time…” He Zhenghao muttered, gazing with a pained expression at his storage ring, now a good deal emptier than before.

……

Two more days passed before the churning sea of clouds finally began to settle.

The white clouds danced and gathered joyfully, carrying Li Fan back to the mountaintop.

Sweeping his spiritual sense over Li Fan and finding no trace of taint remaining in his body, He Zhenghao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“Congratulations, young friend! From this day forward, all shackles have been shed—eternal life is within your reach!” He Zhenghao said warmly.

Feeling his body in a state better than he had ever experienced, Li Fan was still adjusting to his entirely new physique.

Seeing this Immortal Master He’s sudden change in attitude, he found it rather strange.

Though he had purged the Mortal Taint from his body, he had not yet formally begun cultivation. In the end, he was still nothing more than an ordinary mortal.

Why was this man being so courteous toward him?

Li Fan looked at He Zhenghao with questioning eyes.

He Zhenghao understood at once and told Li Fan that he had spent a full eleven days inside the Body-Purifying Spirit Pool.

“What? I was in there that long?”

Li Fan was genuinely taken aback.

“Indeed! And what you don’t know, young friend, is that the formation materials had nearly been exhausted. It was I who went to great expense to replenish them on your behalf…” He Zhenghao made sure to highlight his contribution.

Li Fan’s heart was in turmoil at this moment.

Not because of He Zhenghao’s “selfless sacrifice,” but because he had discovered that on his 【Return to Truth】 panel, a new technique had appeared.

It was not the 《Xuanhuang Purification Mantra》 that Li Fan had been practicing all along.

It was the 《Xuanhuang Heart-Tempering Mantra》.