Chapter 94 – Zhang Haobo’s Rebirth

《On Singularities》.

Two thousand contribution points.

Without even blinking, he bought it.

Lin Fan carefully browsed through it.

Heavenly-Earthly Wonders were the key to a cultivator building their Dao Foundation.

They were divided into three major categories: Wonders of Heaven, Wonders of Earth, and Wonders of Man.

Wonders of Heaven were in harmony with the Heavenly Dao, but they were ethereal and untraceable. Forget about actually seeing one — even hearing about them was exceedingly rare.

The book cited only a single example.

The very foundation upon which the Myriad Immortals Alliance was established.

Its importance surpassed even that of the Celestial Mystery Mirror.

The Dao-Evolving Jue.

Whose Foundation Establishment singularity it had originally been was unknown.

Its special effect was the ability to autonomously derive new cultivation techniques, ceaselessly, day and night.

…

Lin Fan’s thoughts stuttered to a halt when he read this.

“I heard Kou Hong mention before that the cultivation techniques practiced by cultivators nowadays are all newly compiled. I assumed some heaven-defying genius had created so many different techniques across various disciplines.”

“So it wasn’t derived by human effort at all — it relied on this Heavenly-Earthly Wonder.”

Lin Fan mused on this for a while, then continued reading.

Wonders of Earth were also extremely rare, but at least they left traces that could be followed.

They often appeared alongside extraordinary phenomena of heaven and earth.

The book cited several examples.

Cangwu Province — four rivers and twenty-eight mountains.

One year, one month, they vanished without a trace overnight, leaving behind only a bottomless abyss.

The Wonder of Earth, the Cangwu Landscape Scroll, emerged from this.

The continent’s waterways were supposed to flow from west to east, returning to the sea.

One year, one month, one day, all waters reversed their course and converged upon Mount Penglai.

It lasted three months before ceasing.

The Wonder of Earth, the Wellspring Mother of All Waters, emerged from this.

…

Lin Fan read with great relish.

“So by that reasoning, the Azure Sea Pearl would also be classified as a Wonder of Earth.” He couldn’t help but think.

There were still over ten years until the Azure Sea Pearl would appear in the world.

It seemed to be somewhere near Flowing Cloud Island.

He absolutely couldn’t let himself forget about this.

…

Next came the Wonders of Man.

The vast majority of Foundation Establishment singularities in the world fell under the category of Wonders of Man.

Wonders of Man were typically formed from cultivators who had perished thousands of years ago, their remains undergoing transformation over many years.

By quality, they were further divided into three grades: upper, middle, and lower.

The higher the quality, the greater the power a cultivator who built their Dao Foundation upon it would wield.

Li Fan couldn’t help but think of the Coiling Dragon Branch and Rusted Sword Daoxuan.

He wondered what grade those two were.

Judging from the power they had demonstrated, they were at minimum middle grade or above.

…

Just as the clone Lin Fan was immersed in the hidden secrets of the cultivation world,

the true body, Li Fan, took advantage of the night to travel through the teleportation array to Glazed Glass Island.

He didn’t manage to see He Zhenghao.

The one guarding the island protection formation was an unfamiliar cultivator.

He Zhenghao had probably gone to explore a cave dwelling and hadn’t returned yet.

Li Fan didn’t think much of it. After exchanging a nod with the man, he exited the formation, concealed his presence, and quietly made his way to the home of Zhang Haobo — captain of the Distant Traveler.

Looking at the sleeping Zhang Haobo, Li Fan smiled faintly.

There were still nineteen years until Crimson Flame would burn the sea.

Now that the clone was complete, certain threads could be laid in advance.

Cloud-Water Phantasm Technique — activate.

…

Zhang Haobo jolted awake from his nightmare, his entire body drenched in cold sweat.

He gasped for air in great heaving breaths, the terror in his heart still lingering.

It was a long time before he came back to his senses, staring blankly at his surroundings.

This was…

Glazed Glass Island?

Could it be that all of that was just a terrible nightmare?

But what kind of dream could possibly feel that real?

In the dream, he had once hauled up a set of remains while out fishing at sea.

Together with the bones, there was also a book.

Despite having been soaked in seawater for ages, the writing on it remained perfectly legible.

《Sea-Calming Divine Sword》.

It was a secret cultivation method from the ancient Cloud-Water Celestial Palace, capable of carrying one’s cultivation all the way to the Foundation Establishment stage.

It could condense twenty-four Sea-Calming Divine Swords within one’s dantian to combat enemies — extraordinarily formidable.

It was precisely through this technique that, in the dream, his cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds over just a dozen or so years.

From an ordinary mortal, he had cultivated all the way to the late Qi Refining stage.

Foundation Establishment had been within reach, but then…

The moment he recalled that horrifying scene from the dream, Zhang Haobo couldn’t stop his whole body from trembling.

High above the Layered Cloud Sea, a crimson, translucent figure had appeared abruptly in the sky.

In Its hand danced what appeared to be a feeble little flame.

But it was precisely this flame that, over the following ten years, slowly boiled the entire Layered Cloud Sea dry.

His family, his friends, his hometown, everything around him — all of it was utterly destroyed.

The cultivators of Ten Thousand Immortals Island had fought It with everything they had. But tragically, that figure was far too powerful.

And Its appearance had been so sudden.

The Layered Cloud Sea had become a deathtrap, impossible to enter or leave.

No reinforcements came. In the end, every cultivator on Ten Thousand Immortals Island gave their lives, and all they managed was to seriously wound It.

Rolling flames descended from the heavens, reducing Ten Thousand Immortals Island to ashes.

The nightmare ended there.

But Zhang Haobo could not calm down for a long, long time.

Was that really just a dream…?

He was an ordinary mortal — how could he have dreamed so vividly of things like Ten Thousand Immortals Island and the Celestial Mystery Mirror, things that had never even existed in his imagination before?

And that cultivation technique…

Wait.

Zhang Haobo’s gaze sharpened.

The technique of 《Sea-Calming Divine Sword》 surfaced in his mind in an instant!

Every single word, every single sentence — crystal clear.

He shot to his feet.

It wasn’t a dream?!

Then I…

Have been reborn?!

He had read quite a few tales of the strange and fantastical, stories featuring plots about dying and being reborn decades in the past.

He never imagined that one day, it would actually happen to him.

It took a very long time before Zhang Haobo managed to calm himself.

He struggled to recall the scenes from his previous life.

Unfortunately, perhaps because that crimson figure had been so terrifying — occupying nearly all of his mind —

of the events from his previous life, only a few major events remained as faint impressions.

However…

This was already enough.

He turned to look at his wife, still sleeping soundly, and his gaze grew resolute.

There were still over ten years before that tragedy would occur.

If he prepared early and set up an ambush in advance, they could certainly kill that crimson figure!

The first thing to do was break through to the early Qi Refining stage.

Then join the Myriad Immortals Alliance.

The matter of his rebirth was too extraordinary — he couldn’t reveal it to anyone.

He also needed to find a way to make the Myriad Immortals Alliance believe that the crimson figure would truly appear.

Zhang Haobo returned to the mentality of his previous life’s late Qi Refining stage self, his mind churning with plans.

…

Li Fan watched Zhang Haobo’s rapidly shifting expressions. Seeing that the man had no intention of fleeing immediately, he nodded to himself in secret approval.

What Zhang Haobo believed to be a rebirth was, of course, the effect of Li Fan’s Cloud-Water Phantasm Technique.

Using his own genuine experiences of the future as a blueprint, the fabricated dream was more than sufficient to deceive an ordinary mortal.

Unfortunately, his current cultivation was still shallow, and even having lived through future events, his knowledge was far from comprehensive.

So the constructed dream still contained quite a few flaws.

To enhance the dream’s credibility, Li Fan had gone to great expense, even offering up a version of 《Sea-Calming Divine Sword》 truncated to the Foundation Establishment stage.

All of it was so that Zhang Haobo would act in his stead, pushing the Myriad Immortals Alliance to fight against Crimson Flame.

Li Fan wanted to know: if they learned in advance about the descent of the Spirit of Heaven and Earth, how would the cultivators of Ten Thousand Immortals Island react?

Of course, to prevent Zhang Haobo from being so overwhelmed by Crimson Flame’s might that he simply chose to flee,

Li Fan had also woven certain psychological suggestions into the dream, instilling in him a sense of responsibility — a duty to stop the tragedy for the sake of his family and companions.

At the same time, he had altered the portrayal of Crimson Flame’s strength.

Making It appear less invincible, more defeatable.

From the looks of things, the results were quite satisfactory.

He would need to come back periodically to reinforce it with the Cloud-Water Phantasm Technique.

With this thought, Li Fan used Formless Killing Intent to secretly lock onto Zhang Haobo, as a precaution against him quietly slipping away.