Chapter 812: The Common Lives Spirit Essence Art
Chapter 812: The Common Lives Spirit Essence Art
The Spirit Wood Realm.
The Tianyang puppet, wreathed in flames, suddenly dove down from the sky and plunged headfirst into the earth.
A continuous roar echoed as a deep tunnel was carved out in the blink of an eye.
Dense swarms of Tree People flew into the passage.
They were following Li Fan's orders, tasked with excavating the ores and other resources buried deep underground.
From the very top of the Spirit Tree, one could look out and see similar scenes unfolding all across the Spirit Wood Realm.
"Master, the Spirit Tree spent over four thousand years just to bring a sliver of life back to this world. The ecosystem is still incredibly fragile. If we continue with this destructive excavation..." the Tree People Chieftain advised, his voice heavy with concern.
Li Fan replied with a faint smile. "Your perspective is still too narrow. Resources left unused, buried in the ground, are no different from ordinary rocks. The only true path is to use everything to its fullest potential and develop as quickly as possible."
"Confining oneself to a single realm is a path to stagnation. Even if you can survive for a while, you will eventually be devoured by other worlds."
The Tree People Chieftain had clearly never heard such a theory before. He stood stunned. "Is... Is that how it is?"
Li Fan didn't answer, merely offering an enigmatic expression.
As he watched the countless Tree People toiling away, a sudden thought struck him. *If I help these Tree People raise their overall strength, I wonder if I'll receive cultivation feedback from the Sitting Immortal Technique.*
Tree People couldn't cultivate; their strength was fixed from the moment they were born.
The strength of a Tree Person, in turn, depended on the Spirit Tree itself.
The more powerful the Spirit Tree, the stronger the Tree People it produced.
A spiritual entity of heaven and earth like this, if nurtured properly, could grow far more rapidly than any cultivator.
At the very least, Li Fan himself knew of no fewer than ten heavenly treasures that could nourish the Spirit Tree.
...
Sharing the Spirit Tree's panoramic vision, Li Fan knew exactly where every valuable resource in this world was hidden.
Under Li Fan's guidance, Tianyang moved like a loach burrowing through mud, spending a few days carving out the main tunnels.
After instructing the Tree People Chieftain to oversee the mining operations, Li Fan took Tianyang and returned to the Xuanhuang Realm for the time being.
On his way out, he made a detour to the ruins of the Heavenly Mystery Sect.
He plundered all of its treasures, including the Heaven-Earth Divination Dice, leaving nothing behind.
*Right now, the Federation of All Worlds doesn't exist. If I just show up out of the blue, gaining the Five Elders Council's trust will likely be as difficult and time-consuming as it was in previous lives.*
*I should find a way to make a name for the Federation of All Worlds first...*
*Anchor Point: 5 years.*
The various events from that year flashed through Li Fan's mind, and he quickly identified a suitable target.
Soon, the Five Elders Council would launch a surprise attack on the Nine Mountains Prefecture.
It was an attempt to seize the territory.
For some reason, however, their plans were leaked. Not only did the surprise attack fail, but they also fell into an ambush laid by the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
The operation ended in a disastrous defeat.
The Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance frequently cited the event as a classic case study of their military prowess.
As a result, Li Fan was intimately familiar with the beginning, end, and all the details of the incident.
Nine Mountains Prefecture, a border region between the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders Council, was formed from the corpse of the strange beast, Tian.
Its space was extremely unstable, rendering teleportation arrays useless within the prefecture's borders.
The cost of governing it was therefore immense, so the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance merely built cities to guard the key mountain passes.
They paid little attention to most of the remaining territory.
This gave rise to a unique phenomenon rarely seen in other prefectures: a chaotic melting pot of factions.
Aside from the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, there were numerous local powers, led by the Spirit Element Sect.
There were also many sleeper agents cultivated by the Five Elders Council.
Nine Mountains Prefecture was easy to defend and difficult to attack. Whichever side controlled it would hold a commanding strategic advantage.
The Five Elders Council had always wanted to bring it into their domain.
But they had never found the right method.
The reason they would launch their attack soon was that they believed they had successfully turned the Spirit Element Sect to their side.
As the largest local power in Nine Mountains Prefecture, the Spirit Element Sect was technically under the rule of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, but in reality, it was relatively independent.
The sect boasted numerous Nascent Soul and Soul Transformation cultivators, and its members were exceptionally united.
They were a force to be reckoned with.
If they were to switch sides, acting as an inside force, it was indeed possible to conquer Nine Mountains Prefecture in a single stroke.
For this very reason, after several meetings with the Spirit Element Sect to confirm their assistance, the Five Elders Council launched their surprise attack.
Yet, somehow, the news leaked. The Alliance's reinforcements arrived with incredible speed.
It was as if they had anticipated the move all along.
And seeing that the tide had turned, the Spirit Element Sect immediately switched sides again.
They turned on the forces of the Five Elders Council.
This battle completely crushed any intentions the Five Elders Council had of attacking from the direction of Nine Mountains Prefecture.
They shifted their strategic focus to Tianling Province instead.
*The Spirit Element Sect...* Li Fan quickly mulled over the cause and course of events.
He frowned slightly as he thought about this rather strange organization.
Although on the grand scale of the Xuanhuang Realm, the Spirit Element Sect was nothing more than an ant, within Nine Mountains Prefecture, it was a power that could not be ignored.
Considering the Alliance's typical methods, it was surprising they tolerated such an independent organization within their territory.
Aside from the unique terrain of Nine Mountains Prefecture, it was also related to the sect's ability to rise again like wildfire.
*The Common Lives Spirit Essence Art. The more people who cultivate this technique simultaneously, the faster they all progress.*
*It's enough to counteract the negative effects of the Law of Incompatible Cultivation.*
Li Fan had a general understanding of this technique from before.
But he had no interest in practicing a technique that was so obviously suspicious.
*The leader of the Spirit Element Sect has never appeared in public. Their identity is a complete mystery.*
*In the past, even when the sect was annihilated, it would rise again within a few years, thanks to the nature of its technique.*
*And besides the Common Lives Spirit Essence Art, the sect seems to possess other secret arts. They can not only resolve the mutual killing intent generated by co-cultivating but also repeatedly reuse Grotto-Heavens.*
*For instance, the Peach Blossom Grotto-Heaven of Shen Yurou, whom I've seen before, has also appeared in cultivators from past eras.*
*...*
*There must be some special restriction. Otherwise, no matter how well they hide, they would have been found and dealt with long ago.*
Li Fan slowly contemplated everything he knew about the Spirit Element Sect.
*But for this trip, I don't need to clash with them.*
*I only need to help the Five Elders Council take Nine Mountains Prefecture.*
With this in mind, Li Fan stood atop the Tianyang puppet and sped towards Nine Mountains Prefecture.
After crossing into the Nine Mountains region, he set up an array around himself to conceal his presence.
He arrived near Yulan Mountain and lay in wait.
*The Five Elders Council would probably never guess that their crushing defeat wasn't because a spy leaked their plans.*
*It was merely a coincidence.*
As Li Fan pondered this, it wasn't long before he saw a young man dressed in white slowly appear on the horizon.
Comments