Foundation Establishment, Already White Bones

Chapter 15: Foundation Establishment, Already White Bones

This little Wooden Boat was precisely the Flying Boat Li Fan had longed for day and night.

And through a passage of information the tomb's owner had carved into its walls before his death, Li Fan finally understood the whole sequence of events.

The tomb's owner had been named Qian Hong, a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator. More than three thousand years ago, he had been pursued by his enemies and, with nowhere left to go, had hidden in the Immortal Forsaken Land.

He had intended to hide for a while before leaving, but the Immortal Forsaken Land contained no spiritual energy at all. Worse still, he had been a poor cultivator with barely a few spirit stones to his name. Before long, his spirit stones had been exhausted. Without spirit stones to replenish his spiritual energy, his cultivation had declined with each passing day.

After failing to force his way through the Immortal Forsaken Grand Formation and suffering grave injuries instead, Qian Hong knew he was trapped here for good.

Yet he was a man of unyielding perseverance and did not give up.

He guessed that when mortals had been exiled here a thousand years ago, one or two Flying Boats might have been left behind.

So he investigated far and wide. After spending several decades, he finally found the Tomb of Yi Xingzhi.

There really was a Flying Boat inside the tomb, but to his despair, the formation at its power core had already been damaged. He was not skilled in Artifact Crafting and could not repair it.

Moreover, even if the Flying Boat were repaired, without spirit stones, his cultivation at the time would have been insufficient to provide it with enough power.

At that point, Qian Hong finally gave up on the idea of leaving the Immortal Forsaken Land. Afterward, he concealed his identity and lived out an ordinary life as a mortal.

Before his death, he carved his life story into the tomb walls. He hoped that if a cultivator entered his tomb in later generations, they could bring his remains back to the Cultivation World. The few items he had left in the tomb would count as payment made in advance.

The first was the source of power that had guarded Qian Hong's tomb and previously caused the deaths of dozens of antiquities seekers. It was also why Qian Hong had firmly believed that anyone capable of entering must be a cultivator.

Heavenly Earth Marvel: Halting Remnant Stele.

Half a damaged stone stele, with the character "halt" faintly visible upon it.

Li Fan touched the stele, but the Minor Return to Truth Art truly gave no response at all. He could not help feeling a little regretful. To force his way into the tomb earlier, he had used a great deal of Immortal-Mortal Miasma. Now that the Halting Remnant Stele had been affected by the Immortal-Mortal Miasma, it had become an ordinary stone.

Still, Li Fan did not care too much. Now that he knew the location of Qian Hong's Tomb, he could simply come and take it in his next life.

The second items Qian Hong had left behind were two Jade Slips. They recorded cultivation arts he had painstakingly exchanged for from the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.

"Minor Return to Truth Art, Qi Refining Stage cultivation art. Current number of cultivators: 1."

"Cloud Water Record, Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation art. Current number of cultivators: 1."

Picking up the Jade Slips and sensing the information they conveyed, Li Fan's heart abruptly jolted. He thought Qian Hong himself might not be dead, and that this place was a trap he had set.

But moments later, Li Fan came to his senses. More than three thousand years had already passed. Forget Foundation Establishment Cultivators—even Golden Core Cultivators had likely turned into a handful of yellow earth.

As for why people were still cultivating these arts, Li Fan understood after giving it a little thought.

The Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance must have kept original records of the cultivation arts. If the number of people cultivating one fell to zero, they would know the cultivator who had previously exchanged for and practiced it had perished, body and soul extinguished.

Naturally, they could then put those cultivation arts back up for exchange.

In fact, over these three thousand years, no one knew how many owners these two arts had passed through.

"Black... truly black..." Li Fan was speechless.

After a bout of reflection, Li Fan turned his gaze toward the third item: the Taiyan Boat.

This was the tool the Taiyan Sect had used to relocate mortals.

Perhaps it was precisely because this Flying Boat had broken down that it had been left behind.

Yet after thousands of years of twists and turns, it had now fallen into Li Fan's hands, becoming his hope of escaping this Immortal-Mortal deadland.

Holding the Taiyan Boat in his hands, Li Fan's heart surged like a tide. His hopes of several hundred years had finally been fulfilled.

As for the Taiyan Boat already being damaged, Li Fan was not worried in the slightest.

Qian Hong could not repair it, and neither could Li Fan—but someone could!...

Fifteen years later, Anchoring fifty years, Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi arrived at Profound Capital City once more.

"Dao Xuanzi! Don't push people too far!"

"Kou Hong! Do you think I'll let you go just because you fled to the Immortal Forsaken Land? Hand over the cultivation art you obtained that day, or I'll fight you to the death!"

"What a joke! It was precisely because I lacked a Core Formation method that I was trapped at the Foundation Establishment Realm for nearly a hundred years. My lifespan was nearly at its end, and I was about to become dry bones. Now that I have obtained this Core Formation Skill, how could I possibly hand it over to another?"

"Exactly! On the Golden Core Path, there can be only me and no other. There may be many Core Formation methods in this world, but there are even more cultivators trapped in the Foundation Establishment Realm! Since the path to immortality now lies before me, how could I let you go? How could I not push people too far?"

"It is nothing more than a battle! How laughable—brothers for a hundred years, yet now we draw blades against each other for a sliver of life!"

The two were just about to fight to the death when bursts of hearty laughter rang out from Profound Capital City below.

"It is merely a Core Formation Skill. Is it worth the two of you fighting to the death over it?!"

Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi's expressions changed at the same time as they looked down.

"Who are you? What audacity!"

"Arrogant!"

Though they spoke those words, both of them became guarded.

"Why not come down and have a talk!"

An elderly man with silver hair called out loudly from within the Grand Tutor Estate below.

Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi exchanged a glance. Keeping a wary distance between themselves, they descended into the Grand Tutor Estate.

"Ha ha ha, please!" The silver-haired old man seemed greatly pleased. He led the two into the main hall and had them sit.

Only after ordering his servants to prepare wine and food to entertain them did he say with some emotion, "When my ancestor was on his deathbed, he once said that in later generations, perhaps two men would come eastward from the Void Abyss and set foot in the capital. That would be our clan's chance to leave this place."

"For thousands of years, our clan has been half-believing and half-doubting. Today, it has been proven true. This calls for a great toast!" The old man laughed and drained the wine in his cup.

Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi looked at each other in bewilderment.

"May I ask how you are addressed?" Kou Hong was the first to speak, his tone noticeably more courteous.

"This old man is Li Fan," Li Fan answered with a smile.

"From what you said, your ancestor foresaw thousands of years ago that the two of us would come here? And what do you mean by an opportunity to leave this place?" Dao Xuanzi frowned as he studied Li Fan.

Li Fan seemed somewhat displeased upon hearing this. "What? You two do not believe me?"

Kou Hong smiled and shook his head. "This matter is far too mysterious. The two of us have roamed the Cultivation World for a hundred years, yet we have never heard of any divination art capable of predicting events a thousand years in the future."

Dao Xuanzi shook his head repeatedly as well.

Li Fan straightened up, raised his head, and looked down upon them as he asked, "Have either of you heard of the Taiyan Sect?"

Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi exchanged a glance, somewhat shocked. "Could it be that sect from Ancient Times, famed throughout the world for its divination arts?"

Li Fan secretly breathed a sigh of relief and nodded faintly. "My ancestor was a disciple of the Taiyan Sect."