Heart Cleansing Worked Wonders

Heart Cleansing Worked Wonders

Li Fan secretly made inquiries and confirmed that Yin Yuzhen had not lied about the Worldly Dust Severance Pill.

Thus, three days later, he met Yin Yuzhen again and agreed to her request.

The two sides agreed that, before the Purification Spirit Pool opened, Li Fan would help Heavenly Treasure Pavilion gather a certain quantity of treasures at regular intervals.

When the spirit pool opened, Yin Yuzhen would hand the Worldly Dust Severance Pill over to Li Fan.

Naturally, to show her sincerity, Yin Yuzhen brought out the deed to Listening to Seclusion Pavilion once more.

Since they had reached an agreement, Li Fan did not stand on ceremony and accepted it.

Thus, Li Fan moved house again.

Listening to Seclusion Pavilion stood in the heart of Liuli Island, surrounded by prosperity and bustle.

Yet through its unique architectural design and the embellishment of trees and plants, it completely shut out the clamor outside.

Though it stood amid the bustling city, it felt as though it lay deep within the mountains.

Taking tranquility from motion—hence the name Listening to Seclusion.

Listening to Seclusion Pavilion was several times larger than Li Fan's previous little courtyard. Its artificial hills and lake, flowers, grass, and trees all required tending.

Once again declining the maids sent by Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, Li Fan hired several workers on the island himself and had them come by once every three days to clean.

Yin Yuzhen could only feel helpless at Li Fan's caution.

Fortunately, Li Fan did not play fast and loose with what the two sides had agreed upon.

During the year he lived in Listening to Seclusion Pavilion, Li Fan first completed three official voyages from Liuli Island. Each time, he returned with several chests of treasure, shaking the entire island and successfully winning Heavenly Treasure Pavilion a ship fleet quota.

After that, whenever Heavenly Treasure Pavilion's fleet put to sea, Li Fan went along.

Over the course of a year, Heavenly Treasure Pavilion made a fortune, earning nearly as much as it had in the previous five years combined.

He had also established his prestige among the people of Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. Everyone treated him with both respect and fear.

In the eyes of Heavenly Treasure Pavilion's people, this Elder Li not only possessed heaven-shaking abilities and could lead everyone to treasure on every voyage, but was also meticulous in thought and decisive in killing.

Once, when Heavenly Treasure Pavilion's fleet went to sea, several sailors grew greedy over the salvaged treasures. Evil thoughts arose in their hearts, and they wanted to join forces to kill for treasure.

Unexpectedly, Elder Li had long detected something amiss. Before they could make their move, he struck first and beheaded them all.

The bodies were thrown into the sea, while their heads were strung together to intimidate the others.

In private, everyone said that those sailors might merely have uttered Reckless Words after drinking and might not truly have had the nerve to commit murder and robbery.

Yet with even that sliver of a possibility, Elder Li killed them all without the slightest mercy.

Moreover, neither Liuli Island's officials nor the shopkeeper blamed him. Instead, they lavishly praised Elder Li's actions, saying that he had reasonably and effectively protected Liuli Island's assets.

Even the island's residents, upon hearing of it, cursed those bandits for having gotten what they deserved and said Elder Li had done well.

From then on, no one in Heavenly Treasure Pavilion's fleet dared harbor any ulterior intentions.

Whenever they saw Li Fan, everyone became exceedingly careful, terrified that he would find an excuse to cut them down.

Naturally, Li Fan did not care what others thought of him.

In order to gain complete control over the fleet as quickly as possible, a few methods of killing the chicken to scare the monkeys were still necessary.

He did not have so much energy to waste on such mundane affairs.

Over the past year, whenever he had spare time, he diligently cultivated the Profound Yellow Heart Cleansing Mantra.

It was not merely because it could dispel miasma, but because Li Fan had discovered something that filled him with ecstatic delight.

Return to Truth's charging progress had accelerated! Before this, Return to Truth's charging progress could only increase naturally with the passage of time.

It reached one hundred percent every twenty years, slowly rose to its upper limit of two hundred percent, and then stopped increasing.

Over the cycles of his previous nine lives, Li Fan had tried every possible method to accelerate the charging progress, yet none had succeeded.

Li Fan had already left Great Xuan and come to the Cultivation World for over a year.

By the previous pattern, the charging progress should have been between six and seven percent.

Yet Li Fan was delighted to discover that the charging progress had actually reached fifteen percent.

The charging speed had nearly doubled! Other than the Heart Cleansing Mantra, Li Fan had not encountered anything else that might have helped with this.

The only explanation was that cultivating the Profound Yellow Heart Cleansing Mantra could actually accelerate Return to Truth's charging progress.

Though he did not yet know the reason, that did not stop Li Fan from cultivating even more diligently.

And with the display on the Return to Truth Panel, every trace of progress could be seen with perfect clarity.

This also kept Li Fan from losing motivation due to the long, dull repetition of cultivation.

Aside from the charging progress, Li Fan's upper age limit had also increased considerably.

Name: Li Fan

Realm: Mortal

Physical Age: 42/95↑

Mental Age: 505/1210↑

Transformation of Emptiness Charging Progress: 115%

Anchor Charging Progress: 51%

Current Anchor Point Count: 1
Bound Items: "Thousand Machines Jade Ring Golden Chapter", Taiyan Boat, Halting Remnant Stele (damaged)...

Time quietly slipped away as Li Fan cultivated in utter absorption.

Before long, only one year remained until the Purification Spirit Pool opened.

Liuli Island also announced the list of materials required this time.

At that moment, Li Fan was studying the list together with the people of Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.

"Everything else on this list is manageable, but what exactly is this Star Sea Quicksand?" Li Fan asked with a frown after reading through it.

After working for Heavenly Treasure Pavilion for a year, Li Fan had not come away empty-handed.

At the very least, he had gained a general understanding of the common ores and rare materials circulating throughout the Congyun Sea.

Not only did Sun Zhang wear a blank expression, even Heavenly Treasure Pavilion's shopkeeper, Yin Yuzhen, fell silent.

"The materials required this time are all quite common, except for this Star Sea Quicksand, which I've never heard of. It seems the key to competing for this quota lies in the Star Sea Quicksand," Sun Zhang said.

"I've been in business for over a decade, yet I've never heard of it either." Yin Yuzhen lightly tapped the table with her fingers. "It seems we'll have to ask the people from the Myriad Flowers Merchant Guild."

"Those people are starving ghosts reborn, greedy to the bone. I'm afraid we'll have to bleed heavily," Sun Zhang sighed.

"I am determined to obtain the spirit pool quota," Li Fan said in a low voice.

The Myriad Flowers Merchant Guild was not a local guild of the Congyun Sea, but came from a continent countless tens of thousands of miles away.

It was said that the guild had immortal masters backing it, allowing it to easily cross the boundless seas and conduct business in the remote Congyun Sea.

Ever since Yin Yuzhen had connected with the Myriad Flowers Merchant Guild over a decade ago, the two sides had maintained trade dealings over the years.

It was precisely thanks to the Myriad Flowers Merchant Guild that Heavenly Treasure Pavilion could swiftly dispose of the vast quantities of treasure Li Fan salvaged and turn them into profits.

"We still have a year to prepare. The Myriad Flowers Merchant Guild's Merchant Guild Emissary should pass through the Congyun Sea in three months. Then I'll be able to contact him," Yin Yuzhen said.

"We can't place all our hopes on the Myriad Flowers Merchant Guild either. Over the past year, Liuli Island has taken in quite a few disaster victims from other islands. These refugees come from all over the Congyun Sea, and one of them may know of this Star Sea Quicksand. We can ask around among them. The other factions on the island will likewise be searching for Star Sea Quicksand, so we must keep a close watch on them as well. Once they find anything, we can follow up immediately." Li Fan made the final decision.