Chapter 212: Ripples Change the World (2k words)

In the Preliminary Bone Realm, Li Fan, holding the highest authority, watched the inexplicably excited Ye Feipeng and the equally happy Xiao Heng, secretly nodding.

"After acting with these kids for so long, it's finally about time."

"In the future, barring accidents, I can sit back and enjoy the return on investment without having to worry about everything."

To make the lies he fabricated look as real as possible, Li Fan spared no effort and spent a considerable amount of resources.

Including, but not limited to: a necklace that incorporated communication arrays and ritual solidification arrays.

A communication and transmission array disguised as an altar.

A puppet with Foundation Building cultivation.

A phantom stone that simulated the phenomenon of a cultivator falling.

And so on.

The reason why so much effort was put into this world, leasing and transforming the Preliminary Bone Realm, and fabricating the non-existent stories of ancient true immortals, Li Fan naturally had his reasons.

Firstly, if he directly sponsored their cultivation as a cultivator, it would be fine at the beginning. The young talents wouldn't have many suspicions. However, as they grew older and realized the preciousness of cultivation techniques, doubts and suspicions might arise about possible conspiracies or costs behind the scenes. Once doubt crept in, it could lead to many obstacles in their lives.

By pretending to be a semi-fallen ancient cultivator and masking the gift of cultivation techniques as an adventure of the talents themselves, this concern was eliminated.

Secondly, after establishing the "Revival of Immortals" organization, he could play the role of a carefree shopkeeper.

No need to toil and laboriously search for exceptionally talented individuals for investment.

Genius attracts each other.

During the growth and travels of talents like Xiao Heng and Su Xiaomei, they would probably encounter companions with outstanding talents. Li Fan wouldn't need to worry at all; the members of "Revival of Immortals" would increase on their own.

Foster the talents, focus on one's own cultivation, and enjoy the investment returns brought by the expansion of "Revival of Immortals."

It was truly beyond words.

Thirdly, the background of "Revival of Immortals," opposing the Immortal Alliance, would naturally impose a layer of pressure on Xiao Heng and others.

Pressure leads to motivation.

This would allow them to squeeze out the utmost potential in their cultivation talents.

Li Fan could then quickly recoup his investment costs.

Li Fan vividly remembered that in the past, Xiao Heng, without any pressure, had spent more than ten years unable to remove the miasma from his body.

But in this life, under the pressure of being stranded on a deserted island and bearing the responsibility of revenge, Xiao Heng spontaneously started cultivating on the second day after obtaining the "Ocean-Calming Divine Sword" technique.

The difference between these two situations was significant.

As for whether the small "Revival of Immortals" organization would attract the attention of the Immortal Alliance...

When Li Fan disguised himself as a skull, he had already explained it to Xiao Heng.

The Immortal Alliance was powerful, and currently, their main focus was on developing and strengthening their own power.

Before reaching the Nascent Soul stage, avoid direct conflicts with the Immortal Alliance.

Even if Xiao Heng, a genius, reached the Nascent Soul stage, it would still take several more years.

Li Fan was afraid he wouldn't live to see it in this life.

...

In any case, the seeds had been planted. Now all that was left was to patiently wait for the talented individuals in the "Revival of Immortals" to grow, and he would reap the fruits.

After a total of two busy months, when Li Fan returned to the Immortal Island, ten years had already passed since the anchoring.

Although the "Sit and Enjoy" technique allowed him to passively receive benefits, Li Fan wasn't the kind of person who relied on others for everything.

He didn't neglect his personal cultivation.

During the entire anchoring period, Li Fan spent it diligently in closed-door cultivation.

His Enlightened State never stopped, and in just one year, it was equivalent to twenty years of ordinary cultivation.

And on this day, a rich feedback of cultivation unexpectedly appeared in Li Fan's dantian out of thin air.

It awakened him from his cultivation.

The amount of this feedback was equivalent to three or four years of his usual cultivation.

Surprised at the unexpected speed of the first cultivation feedback, Li Fan couldn't help but check it immediately.

Carefully sensing it, what surprised Li Fan was that the first substantial feedback of cultivation didn't come from the people in the "Revival of Immortals."

It came from He Zhenghao!

Translation:

Just now, he successfully advanced from the mid-Foundation Building stage to the late-Foundation Building stage.

"Friend He has accumulated quite a bit; he broke through so quickly."

"It seems his statement that he would definitely form a Golden Core within fifty years was not an empty boast."

At this moment, Li Fan also received the joyful news sent by He Zhenghao.

Li Fan waived the interest He Zhenghao owed him for the year, as encouragement.

He encouraged him to continue practicing diligently, striving to form the Golden Core at an early date.

Afterwards, Li Fan checked the messages he had missed during his closed-door cultivation.

Zhang Zhiliang's research on the Mountain and River Grand Array was coming to an end.

He sent a message, inquiring about Li Fan's self-study progress in the Dao of arrays.

When he returned, he would assess Li Fan.

Naturally, this posed no difficulty for Li Fan, who had spent more than a decade learning array formations under Zhang Zhiliang in the previous life.

So, Li Fan wasn't too concerned.

Next, among a pile of insignificant greeting messages, a message from Jiang Zhengji of the Martial Arts Hall caught Li Fan's interest.

He asked Li Fan if he had recently encountered a late-Foundation Building cultivator.

Apparently, the message was sent to a group, but Li Fan knew this late-Foundation Building cultivator.

It was the Foundation Building expert who had also crossed over from the mortal world during the twelfth era.

After inquiring with Jiang Zhengji, Li Fan learned what had happened.

Recently, this usually low-key Foundation Building expert suddenly intensified his publicity efforts.

Under the banner of a guaranteed success in Foundation Building and a 90% reduction in Foundation Building time, he aggressively recruited apprentices.

The good reputation of the Foundation Building expert in the past and the miraculous effects hyped up by him attracted many Qi Refining stage cultivators who were preparing to enter Foundation Building.

They trusted this Foundation Building expert and, after paying their contributions, began building their foundations under his careful guidance.

However, when they woke up from the Foundation Building process, whether successful or unsuccessful, they angrily discovered that the Foundation Building expert who had been guiding them was just an illusion.

The real Foundation Building expert had long since disappeared.

Realizing they had been deceived, at least a hundred cultivators had gathered on the island at that time.

2000 contribution points were not a small sum for Qi Refining stage cultivators.

Feeling aggrieved, they no longer cared about losing face and chose to report to the Immortal Alliance.

The Immortal Alliance wouldn't take such a trivial matter seriously.

However, the necessary surface work still had to be done.

So, the Martial Arts Hall ordered Jiang Zhengji to thoroughly investigate the case.

When Jiang Zhengji arrived to investigate the incident on the island, it was already empty, and he couldn't find any clues.

Moreover, these people seemed to be quite skilled.

Even when Jiang Zhengji used his connections to ask Elder Gongsun of the Heaven's Secrets Hall to calculate their whereabouts, he couldn't find the slightest trace.

If the mission was not completed, merits would be deducted, and permissions would be downgraded.

Helpless, Jiang Zhengji had no choice but to adopt a trial-and-error approach. He sent a group message to all his friends, inquiring if anyone had ever seen the traces of the Foundation Building expert.

...

Having understood the ins and outs of the matter, Li Fan, with keen interest, stroked his chin.

"According to the normal trajectory, they should have continued their scam quietly, slowly accumulating contribution points."

"Why did they go for a big move and run away directly?"

"Could it be that they also speculated on Spirit Mist Grass?"

Li Fan couldn't help but think so.

Translation:

After giving it some thought, it's quite possible.

After all, during the twelfth era, they were not far from exchanging for the Daoist art "Swallowing the Sea and Living Forever."

Taking a gamble might just allow them to complete the task fifty years ahead of schedule?

Li Fan could even imagine that when the Spirit Mist Grass initially surged in price, they might have been tempted but had conflicting opinions.

Using decades of savings for speculation.

But as the price of Spirit Mist Grass continued to rise, opposing opinions would have weakened.

Finally, with hesitation, they agreed to enter the scene, prepared to make a profit and then run away.

The Heavenly Mirror caused a stir with a single word, causing the collapse of the Spirit Mist Grass prices.

They ended up losing everything.

"Perhaps they didn't use all their savings, but the losses were definitely substantial. That's why they took the risk, planning to make a quick profit and run away."

"A hundred people amount to two hundred thousand contribution points. This scam earns faster than making investments."

After giving it some thought, Li Fan replied to Jiang Zhengji, "If possible, friend, you can search along the way to Yongliang Prefecture. Maybe there will be results."

After a while, Jiang Zhengji responded, "Friend, do you mean they went to join the Five Elders? Hmph, betraying the alliance is a grave crime. If I catch them..."

"Regardless, thank you, friend!"

Li Fan expressed his gratitude a few more times and put away the communication symbol, silently pondering.

Li Fan didn't really care about the Foundation Building expert escaping early.

What Li Fan was truly concerned about was that the impact of the Spirit Mist Grass incident seemed to exceed his expectations.

He had a vague feeling in his heart before, as if he had overlooked something.

Now, after this incident's reminder, Li Fan finally understood what he had overlooked.

What he had neglected.

Li Fan searched the prices of medicinal herbs in the Heavenly Mirror.

Sure enough, there were cries of misery everywhere, a scene too distressing to behold.

Some had even fallen below cost.

"During the twelfth era, these herbs collapsed in price because the first batch of spiritual plants matured and were mass-produced after being anchored for 13 years in the wood attribute celestial cave."

"And this era, because of the Heavenly Mirror's announcement, all the Immortal Alliance cultivators knew in advance about the abundant spiritual plants in that celestial cave."

"The price drop could be anticipated. In order to quickly sell the herbs in hand, cultivators squeezed each other, causing the collapse of spiritual plant prices ahead of schedule."

"However, that's not the point."

"The point is..."

"The Little Medicine King Cauldron."

Recalling this culprit who had once caused his demise, a glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes.

"The collapse in herb prices naturally means that no one will buy the small cauldron for planting herbs."

"No one would commission Jiao Xiuyuan. Would he still go to the Medicine King Sect's ruins and dig out the Little Medicine King Cauldron?"

"At this moment, the Little Medicine King Cauldron, though seemingly worthless, will become a treasure sought after by everyone once the real Medicine King Cauldron returns."

(End of this chapter)