Ripples on Level Ground

Ripples on Level Ground

The simulation had ended.

Li Fan, newly returned to consciousness, was still immersed in the power of Dao Xuanzi's sword.

So this is a Great Circle of Foundation Establishment Cultivator... Li Fan's heart was filled with shock.

Kou Hong's power, capable of destroying Profound Capital City with a mere gesture, had already left Li Fan in awe. But Dao Xuanzi's final sword strike made Li Fan deeply feel his own insignificance.

Like an ant facing a tidal wave, from Li Fan's perspective, he simply could not comprehend that sword, nor could he see its full extent.

Yet even that fleeting glimpse was enough for Li Fan to understand the gap between mortals and cultivators at the Great Circle of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Without the Immortal-Mortal Miasma, even if I reincarnated a hundred times and devised a hundred schemes, I still wouldn't be able to threaten them. Li Fan secretly rejoiced, but at the same time felt boundless confusion and alarm.

What exactly is this Immortal-Mortal Miasma? Don't cultivators rise step by step from mortals? How can mortal blood have such terrifying restraining power over cultivators? The implications concealed behind this made Li Fan's thoughts run wild.

But Li Fan soon forcibly suppressed those many thoughts.

First, I should tally the gains and losses of this life.

Watching scene after scene flash across the light screen, Li Fan pondered in silence.

"The ambush and battle between Dao Xuanzi and Kou Hong basically went as I expected. First, I used bullets soaked in the blood of death-row prisoners to wear down their strength. Then, I used the Core Formation Skill to unsettle their minds. Finally, I used the blood rain to hammer the final nail home, weakening them to the extreme before capturing them alive..."

"What I hadn't expected was that the Immortal-Mortal Miasma would restrain cultivators so severely, directly causing Kou Hong's death and dissipation."

"Even further beyond the plan was that I had thought their talk of being brothers for a hundred years was merely casual speech. Yet their relationship truly was extraordinary. When they were attacked, Dao Xuanzi warned Kou Hong aloud. Knowing he could not escape death, Kou Hong willingly gave the Core Formation Skill to Dao Xuanzi."

"Seeing Kou Hong die to a covert scheme, Dao Xuanzi's Unfulfilled Intent drove him to abandon his chance at survival. He unleashed a sword strike meant to perish together with his enemy, avenging Kou Hong... All of this showed that there truly was a friendship between them beyond that of ordinary men..."

If that was the case, why would the two of them fight each other over a Core Formation Skill? Li Fan grew ever more puzzled.

Suddenly, he recalled the scenes from when he had first seen the two of them.

"The Golden Core Path—there can be only me, no other..." Li Fan immediately fell into thought. Can't immortal arts be cultivated together...

Even those as close as brothers are like this. Then what kind of place is the Cultivation World beyond this land?

Li Fan had a premonition that the Cultivation World of this world might be completely different from what he had imagined.

No matter how perilous the road ahead may be, I will not waver. Besides, with Return to Truth to help me, as long as I am careful enough, surely no predicament can stop me.

After wavering for only a moment, Li Fan's resolve became firm once more.

"In this so-called Immortal Forsaken Land, if I want to seek the immortal path, I still need to find a way through Kou Hong and Dao Xuanzi. Last time, I chose to attack both of them at once. Perhaps this time, I can choose to win one of them over." His thoughts raced, and in the blink of an eye, Li Fan had already come up with several ways to deal with them.

Though they were lofty Foundation Establishment Cultivators, Li Fan did not fear them much. One could even say that he had never seriously treated them as proper "opponents."

It was not that Li Fan was arrogant. It was simply that Return to Truth's ability to start over again and again was far too heaven-defying!

How could mere Foundation Establishment cultivation compare to fifty years of foreknowledge and countless opportunities for trial and error?

After the simulation ended, Li Fan still chose the option to accelerate the charging progress of Transformation of Emptiness.

Name: Li Fan

Realm: Mortal

Physical Age: 20/86 Mental Age: 216/1080↑

Transformation of Emptiness Charging Progress: 30%

"This time, the upper limit of my Mental Age only increased by a few decades. It seems it is nearing its limit." Li Fan had long been mentally prepared for this, so he did not pay it much mind.

"If I count the life before I transmigrated, this is already my fifth life. The road to seeking immortality is truly difficult." Li Fan sighed. "I only hope these fifty years will not be wasted."

Li Fan once again began a fifty-year wait.

Like a program that had been set in place, everything proceeded step by step.

He took the imperial examinations, passed the provincial examination, and became the top scholar.

He became a County Magistrate, mined minerals, and made guns.

After killing the Langya King and replacing him, Li Fan eventually grew somewhat impatient.

Ten years was too long. So long as he could not control the realm, he would have to remain holed up in Jiangnan. If he had ten more years to mobilize the power of the entire realm, then his plan to capture the two cultivators alive would gain another measure of certainty.

Thus, Li Fan decided to send a trusted confidant into the palace to secretly administer slow-acting poison to the emperor.

Who would have thought that this very decision would stir up ripples?

Though his confidant's poisoning went undiscovered, the emperor was young and vigorous. Yet his health suddenly worsened by the day, and he even became somewhat paranoid.

He suspected that someone was secretly trying to harm him. And his chief suspect was his formerly closest brother, the Langya King.

As a result, when the emperor fell gravely ill in Anchoring Year 7, he did not pass the throne to the Langya King. Instead, he passed it to the Runan King, who had always been somewhat frivolous and unruly.

Fortunately, Li Fan's planted agent in the palace sent word in time. Upon receiving the news, Li Fan immediately took action.

On one hand, he sent his men to assassinate the Runan King on the road to the capital. On the other, in the Langya King's name, he declared that the emperor had been harmed by treacherous villains at his side. Under the banner of "Pacify the National Crisis," he led the army he had built over the years in a forced march, storming into the capital before anyone could react and seizing the court by force.

Such fierce methods naturally brought many consequences in their wake.

The first was the refusal of the court officials to submit. The emperor's final edict had named the Runan King as his successor. Wasn't what the Langya King had done rebellion? Though the officials were outwardly cowed by Li Fan's military might and could not openly resist, they could still offer hollow obedience and passive obstruction. Some even secretly contacted the regional princes, attempting to have them lead troops into the capital and "set right what was chaotic." Naturally, Li Fan showed no mercy. Only after ruthlessly killing a number of people did he barely manage to intimidate them. Then, with the secret assistance of his father-in-law, the Chief Grand Scholar, it took several months before the situation was barely stabilized.

During those months, Great Xuan had already become a land where wind and clouds surged. Regional princes everywhere declared themselves independent and turned a deaf ear to the court's commands.

Li Fan could only send troops to crush them one by one.

Firearms were powerful, but their numbers were limited. Great Xuan Country was also vast, so it truly took no small amount of effort.

The wars and state affairs left Li Fan overwhelmed and frazzled.

After remaining busy for a long while, he did not completely resolve both internal troubles and external threats until Anchoring Year 22.

By this calculation, compared with patiently proceeding step by step as before, he had instead taken several more years to fully take control of the realm.

"I still need to be more cautious. I still need to hold my nerve." Once everything had settled, Li Fan could only sigh helplessly and learn his lesson. "A difference of a hair can lead to an error of a thousand miles. If there are too many variables, my advantage of foreknowledge will be greatly diminished."

Fortunately, it was only a minor disturbance and did not affect the broader situation.

Once matters gradually returned to their proper course, the gears of time spun swiftly forward. In the blink of an eye, it was Anchoring Year 35.

That year, Li Fan left Profound Capital City and traveled thousands of miles to personally visit Eastern Ruin Abyss.