Great Xuan Kingdom, Xuanjing, Grand Tutor's residence.
Li Fan held a wine cup, gazing at the civil and military officials who had come to celebrate his birthday. Even though he was now in his seventies, he couldn't help but feel secretly proud.
One must know, today in the Grand Tutor's residence, nine out of ten of the court's officials had come! What a grand spectacle!
Thinking back, when Li Fan first crossed into this world, he was a poor scholar.
Over fifty years, he went from having nothing to being appointed as the Grand Tutor, wielding power over the entire nation. The experiences along the way could fill a lengthy novel of millions of words.
With such a life, what more could one ask for?
Li Fan stroked his beard and drank the fine wine in his cup in one go.
"To the Grand Tutor's longevity!"
The gathered officials all congratulated in unison.
Li Fan felt even more pleased.
Just then, sudden exclamations of surprise came from outside.
"Look quickly! What is that!"
"Heavenly fire descends, this is an auspicious sign, an auspicious sign! Quickly, inform the Grand Tutor!"
"Why does it seem to be flying towards our Grand Tutor's residence!"
...
Hearing the commotion outside, Li Fan furrowed his brows.
The originally lively hall suddenly fell silent.
Li Fan stood up and was the first to walk out.
However, before he could scold the servants and express his dissatisfaction, he was captivated by the scene in the sky.
In the distant sky, two silver lights, one in front of the other, sped towards them like meteors.
"This is..." Li Fan was stunned.
In the blink of an eye, the two meteors reached the sky above Xuanjing City but suddenly stopped.
At the same time, a voice like thunder descended from the heavens, exploding in everyone's ears.
"Dao Xuanzi! Don't push me too far!"
...
The crowd was shocked beyond words. Some even called out to the immortal master and directly knelt to the ground.
And a term buried deep in memory, almost forgotten, suddenly sprang into Li Fan's mind.
"Imm... Immortal Cultivator!" Li Fan was stunned, murmuring to himself, "How is this possible..."
The two immortal cultivators in the sky clearly didn't care about the thoughts of the mortals below.
Another voice rang out: "Kou Hong! Do you think escaping to this Immortal-Forsaken Land means I'll let you go? Hand over the technique you obtained that day, or it will be a fight to the death between us!"
"Ridiculous, it was precisely because I lacked the method to form a core that I was trapped in the Foundation Establishment stage for nearly a century, facing imminent death and turning into bones. Now that I've obtained this core formation technique, how could I hand it over to others!" Kou Hong snorted coldly, his tone full of disdain.
"Indeed!" Dao Xuanzi sighed deeply, "The path to the Golden Core is exclusive. Though there are many core formation techniques in this world, even more cultivators are trapped in the Foundation Establishment stage!"
Dao Xuanzi's tone suddenly turned fierce: "Since that's the case, with the path to longevity before me, how could I let you go, how could I not push you too far!"
Kou Hong laughed loudly: "It's just a dream! Laughable that we, brothers for a hundred years, now draw swords against each other for a sliver of hope!"
Dao Xuanzi sneered without answering.
Kou Hong suddenly said: "I know I'm not your match, today I likely won't escape. But with so many mortals here, I wonder if you can withstand such a concentration of immortal miasma!"
Dao Xuanzi's expression changed: "Kou Hong! What are you planning!"
Kou Hong laughed maniacally: "Just seeking a sliver of hope!"
Listening to the conversation between the two immortal cultivators above, Li Fan felt a sense of foreboding. However, before he could react, he saw a crimson flame explode above Xuanjing City.
"Boom boom boom boom!"
The deafening roar continuously erupted in Li Fan's ears, and his vision turned blood-red in an instant. In just a moment, he fainted.
...
Li Fan didn't know how much time had passed before he finally woke up.
At first, he was a bit confused. After a long while, he remembered what had happened before.
Li Fan coughed, spat out a few mouthfuls of blood, and shakily got up, looking around.
It was still night, but the once luxurious Grand Tutor's residence had turned into ruins.
The air was filled with the unpleasant smell of charred corpses.
The civil and military officials from moments ago were all dead, their souls returned to the heavens.
Li Fan's wives and concubines, and his five sons, were not spared either.
There was no longer any expression on Li Fan's aged face. His eyes were somewhat vacant.
After standing in place for a long time, he dragged his weakened body out of the Grand Tutor's residence.
The once bustling and lively Xuanjing City had now become a hell of blood and fire. Everywhere he looked, there were broken bodies and collapsed buildings.
Presumably, after this calamity, less than one in a hundred of the people survived.
All of this was because of the two suddenly descending "immortal masters," the two immortal cultivators.
Li Fan had no strength left, and he sat limply in a broken corner of a wall.
His hearing had long been destroyed by the violent explosion earlier. But that didn't matter anymore.
At this moment, he just wanted to laugh.
How could there be immortal cultivators in this world?
Since the moment he became an official, he had used his power to search for traces of the immortal path.
When he became the imperial tutor, above all others, he searched the entire world!
North to the Frozen Sea, south to the Grand Ocean, east to the Void Abyss, west to the Linked Mountains.
Throughout the Great Xuan, there was not a single trace of immortals!
But today, when he was already old and had completely given up hope, two immortal cultivators descended from the sky, right in front of him, and without a word, shattered everything he had.
Is this what immortals are?
Where do Immortals come from?
All his anger and unwillingness finally turned into endless confusion.
Fate toys with people!
At the same time, Li Fan felt incredibly fortunate.
Fortunate that before his death, he finally confirmed the existence of immortals!
Otherwise, when he started his next life, wouldn't he waste another fifty years?!
That's right! He, Li Fan, a mere mortal, could rise from a humble scholar to the imperial tutor of the world, how could he not have a reliance?
This was also why he narrowly escaped death from the hands of the immortals.
"Return to Origin!"
Li Fan silently recited in his heart, and suddenly, the surrounding scenery dimmed. It was as if a thick curtain of water separated him, making everything appear hazy and indistinct.
"When reality becomes illusion, and illusion becomes reality"
Seven large characters lit up in the darkness, then suddenly dispersed, transforming into a screen of light.
"Charging complete."
"Would you like to virtualize the current scene and return to the initial anchor point?"
Two lines of small text appeared in succession.
Simultaneously, one scene after another appeared, quickly filling the entire light screen.
These were the fifty years of Li Fan's life in this world.
Li Fan stared at the various images of himself, dazed for a long time.
[Return to Origin]
This was the name Li Fan gave to the strange treasure he carried with him.
It had only one function, to turn reality into illusion, to transform the real into the virtual!
The so-called transformation of the real into the virtual meant turning all of Li Fan's real experiences into simulated, illusory experiences, allowing him to return to the initial anchor point, which was when he first crossed into this world.
In fact, this was already Li Fan's second life.
In his first life, although Li Fan had great ambitions, he was merely an ordinary person. After repeatedly failing the imperial exams, he finally gave up on the idea of becoming an official after turning thirty. He started a small business, became a wealthy man, married, had children, and lived an ordinary life. It wasn't until he was old and dying that he finally awakened [Return to Origin].
This led to the unstoppable rise of Li Fan in his second life.
Unfortunately, it now seemed that he had used it in the wrong place.
After pondering for a moment, Li Fan did not choose to immediately end this life. Before that, he had a few things to do.
Closing the light screen and returning to reality, Li Fan forced himself to handle the aftermath of Xuanjing being devastated by the immortals.
After finding some survivors, Li Fan, relying on his years of prestige, managed to slightly stabilize the people's hearts.
Even though Li Fan could no longer hear, he could still find pen and paper. Although communication was a bit troublesome, it didn't hinder the transmission of his orders.
First, Li Fan ordered his trusted garrison camp stationed outside the city to quickly come to Xuanjing City to maintain post-disaster order. Then he sent orders to surrounding cities to dispatch grain and officials to Xuanjing.
Most of Xuanjing's buildings were destroyed in an instant. After the garrison camp took over Xuanjing, Li Fan simply stayed in the military camp to oversee the recovery work.
With Li Fan's orders, resources and talents from surrounding cities were continuously sent to Xuanjing City.
A month later, the ruined Xuanjing City finally showed some signs of life.
Once the Great Xuan Kingdom finally recovered from the blow dealt by the immortals, Li Fan began ordering the collection of information about the two immortals who appeared that night.
This included where they initially came from, where they went afterward, and whether they had any other conversations along the way.
Unfortunately, after months of investigation, apart from knowing that the two immortal cultivators seemed to have appeared from the direction of the Void Abyss in the east, nothing else was discovered.
Li Fan's hope that the two immortals would destroy each other did not come to pass.
"I shouldn't have expected such a thing in the first place." Li Fan sighed inwardly. "Since that's the case, there's nothing left for me to linger in this life."
Standing in the newly built Grand Tutor's residence, Li Fan once again activated [Return to Origin].
"Would you like to virtualize the current scene and return to the initial anchor point?"
Li Fan no longer hesitated and chose yes.
On the light screen, countless vivid images simultaneously froze. Then, the strategies and glories of this life shattered like a dream, turning into meteors that flew into Li Fan's mind.
Scene after scene flashed quickly before Li Fan's eyes, finally freezing on the scene where the two immortal cultivators stood high above the Grand Tutor's residence.
"Dao Xuanzi, Kou Hong." Li Fan softly recited their names. "In fifty years, I'll be waiting for you in Xuanjing City."
"Wealth and glory are but fleeting clouds to me." Li Fan's consciousness gradually became blurred, but his will and goal became unprecedentedly firm.
"In the next life, I will capture immortals!"
The brilliance in his mind gradually faded, and Li Fan slowly fell into a deep sleep.
(End of Chapter)