Third: If you wish to explore the eerie, gather as many people as possible. The most effective way to understand the rules of the eerie is to sacrifice lives. Trust yourself; you surely won't be the first to die!
...
Li Fan carefully read through the "Sect Ruins Survival Guide" and felt that the hundred contribution points were well spent. With this experience, he would be more confident in exploring the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace in two years.
In his previous life, ever since Sikong Yi discovered the "Cloud Water Scroll" in the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace and earned a hundred thousand contribution points, it ignited the enthusiasm of cultivators from the Congyun Sea to explore the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace. Although the "Cloud Water Scroll" had already been taken, the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace was so vast that there must be more treasures inside, right? With this thought in mind, cultivators from the Congyun Sea flocked to the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace, risking their lives. Even rogue cultivators from distant continents came, attracted by its fame.
Their thoughts were indeed correct. Until the 27th year of anchoring, the year Li Fan was refining qi, the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace had still not been fully explored. From time to time, news of cultivators obtaining treasures from within would spread, making others envious. Because of the continuous exploration by so many people, most of the eerie rules within the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace were no longer secrets. Li Fan had heard about them in his previous life.
However, the exact method by which Sikong Yi obtained the "Cloud Water Scroll" remained a topic of debate, with no definitive conclusion. Therefore, in this life, Li Fan's best strategy to acquire the "Cloud Water Scroll" was to secretly follow Sikong Yi and intercept it when he was about to succeed.
There were still two years before the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace would open, allowing Li Fan to secretly investigate various information about Sikong Yi and understand both himself and his opponent. At the same time, he needed to improve his own strength as much as possible.
Li Fan turned his attention to the array of offensive techniques for the qi refining stage in the Profound Mirror. The prices for offensive techniques were significantly higher than those for ordinary techniques. The "Small Cyclic Water Art" he previously practiced only required 1200 contribution points, whereas the prices for offensive techniques were generally around 1500 points.
Li Fan quickly browsed through the technique descriptions, selecting one that suited him. "Flowing Water Sword Art," "Small Gale Wind Sword," "Red Meteor"...
Suddenly, Li Fan's gaze stopped on a technique. "Underworld Phantom Art." After carefully reading the technique's introduction several times, Li Fan was deeply moved. According to the introduction, this was a technique focused on illusion arts. It involved visualizing and nurturing a "phantom spirit" in one's mind, which could be released to confuse enemies. Once the phantom spirit grew strong, it could even infiltrate others' divine sense seas and launch direct divine sense attacks. This technique seemed tailor-made for him!
Although he wasn't sure how his divine sense strength compared to other cultivators, having reincarnated hundreds of times and with the Xuanhuang Heart Refining Mantra's enhancement, it shouldn't be too weak. Moreover, visualizing and nurturing a "phantom spirit"...
An image of a scarlet figure inexplicably appeared in Li Fan's mind. If he visualized using the red flame as a model, the resulting "phantom spirit" should be quite formidable.
Li Fan pondered silently and immediately decided to purchase this technique. But the price... Li Fan glanced at it, and his eyelid twitched. 2500 points! Almost the price of a lesser foundation establishment technique! No wonder this technique seemed so powerful yet remained unsold.
Actually, Li Fan misunderstood this point. The high price of the "Underworld Phantom Art" was due to the rarity of illusion arts techniques, not because of its strength. In the current Immortal Cultivation World, the divine sense strength of most cultivators was not significantly different.
After all, before the calamity descended, techniques specializing in enhancing divine sense were already rare. Not to mention that immortal techniques could no longer be practiced concurrently now. Lacking methods to strengthen and enhance divine sense, the divine sense strength of most cultivators remained on the same level.
In such circumstances, few would choose to attack others with divine sense, as it often meant mutual destruction. This was why other cultivators considered the "Underworld Phantom Art" somewhat impractical.
In essence, it was merely a phantom art, a method of using divine sense rather than enhancing it. Divine sense attacks were not easily employed, and for mere illusion arts, who would be willing to spend 2500 contribution points? However, because Li Fan possessed the Xuanhuang Heart Refining Mantra and had personally witnessed the image of the spirit of heaven and earth, the red flame, it aligned well with the path of visualizing "phantom spirits." Therefore, the "Underworld Phantom Art" could exhibit multiple times its effect in his hands.
Regardless, Li Fan ultimately gritted his teeth and purchased the "Underworld Phantom Art." In the blink of an eye, his contribution points dwindled to 1321. Contribution points came quickly and went even faster! Originally, he had planned to purchase an escape technique, but now he was a bit short and had to postpone it.
The urgent task was to first cultivate the "Underworld Phantom Art" to the late qi refining stage. Activating the Profound Mirror's auxiliary cultivation mode and placing the exquisite Glass Pearl beside him, Li Fan began cultivating. With a mind as clear as a mirror, the profound technique texts became as simple and understandable as elementary school textbooks under the dual enhancement Li Fan received.
The pure cultivation from the "Small Cyclic Water Art" in his dantian became nourishment, propelling the cultivation progress of the "Underworld Phantom Art" at rocket speed. In less than a day, the "Underworld Phantom Art" reached the mid-stage of qi refining. At the mid-stage, he could begin visualizing the "phantom spirit" in his mind.
Although called a phantom spirit, the object of visualization couldn't be conjured from thin air. It had to be based on something that truly existed in the Immortal Cultivation World. Memories flowed gently, and past events unfolded before his eyes. Li Fan seemed to return to the moment in his past life when he witnessed the red flame incinerating the sea. A shadow slowly manifested in Li Fan's divine sense sea.
Even this unformed shadow caused Li Fan to suddenly feel a dramatic increase in his body temperature. Sweat poured down his body like raindrops. Li Fan frowned, forcibly circulating the Heart Refining Mantra to suppress the scorching sensation. He continued visualizing the red flame figure. As the red flame phantom spirit gradually took shape, Li Fan's body temperature rose even higher. If earlier he was in a desert under the scorching sun, now it felt as if he were being roasted in a great fire.
With Li Fan's continuous visualization, the intense heat became increasingly terrifying. Finally, when the temperature reached an extreme, the clothes Li Fan wore spontaneously ignited. "Pfft!" The visualization state could no longer be maintained, and the shadow in his divine sense sea immediately dissipated. Li Fan spat out a mouthful of blood. The blood seemed to emit an extremely high temperature, evaporating into white mist before it even hit the ground.
Li Fan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, undeterred. He purchased a healing pill from the Profound Mirror, recovered for a moment, and resumed his visualization.
Thank you to book friends Wuyan Miao and Bai Simeng for their rewards.
After running for over a hundred thousand words, the novel finally got recommended on the app. From now on, updates will be fixed at six in the morning and six in the evening. Fellow readers, please follow daily as I aim for promotion! Keep going!