Chapter 376 - Chapter 376: Chapter 353: Lost in Jiaxu

Chapter 376: Chapter 353: Lost in Jiaxu

Translator: 549690339

Inside the Jiaxu base, Li Fan looked at the Golden List projected in the Small Tianxuan Mirror.

“This Guo Yezhong is an interesting fellow. If there’s no special reason for it, then he’s simply slacking off under everyone’s watchful eyes. This is tantamount to slapping the Alliance of Thousands of Immortals in the face.”

Recalling the ordinary-looking Guo Yezhong he had met during the initial training session.

“If he still has zero points at the end of the competition, I’ll give him my respect.”

The faint whispering of grudges in his ear once again surfaced, but having withstood this for over a year, Li Fan had gotten used to it.

Without changing his expression, he lit up a Liuli lamp in the room. The weird black flame lit up and instantly silenced the strange sound from the Abyss.

“This Luili Chalice of Stillness is handy”. Basking once again in the rare silence, Li Fan couldn’t help but praise.

The Luili Chalice of Stillness, was a new type of sound-silencing treasure that the Martial Arts Battle Hall sent over two months ago.

It originated from the Western Piaomiao Province.

After lighting the stillness wick in the lamp, it can emit a black flame that nullifies all sound in the surrounding area.

It’s simple to use and highly effective.

And unlike other treasures, it doesn’t pose the risk of causing abnormalities after absorbing too much Demon Sounds.

This Luili lamp remains unaffected until it burns out. If not used, it can be extinguished to prolong its lifespan.

Among all the sound silencing treasures, the Luili Chalice of Stillness is considered to be the most excellent.

Regrettably, it is said that the key component, the ‘Stillness Wick’, requires a special crafting technique, has a long production cycle, and is very precious.

Therefore, only Array Masters like Li Fan and Xue Mu carry it with them.

For the Qingxuan Army, it is only brought out in times of crisis.

However, when Li Fan lit the Luili Chalice of Stillness at this moment, he was not being wasteful.

Ever since the sudden eruption of the Demon Sound Tide in the Roaring Abyss 15 days ago, this Jiaxu outpost lost all contact with the other outposts and the Eternal Immortal Fortress.

Communication Talismans, magic messaging, and even the Tianxuan Mirror, had been unable to establish a connection with the outside world.

In fact, the list that Li Fan had been boredly looking at just now, was simply the data that was frozen before the Tide erupted.

According to Leng Yingyi, the Nascent Soul Monk and veteran soldier assigned to guard him, the magnitude of this tide was a once in a century event.

Based on Leng Yingyi’s experience, the duration of the Demon Tide is directly proportional to its power.

The sudden outbreak of the Tide was unexpected by everyone.

All kinds of supplies in the outpost, including the Black Death Talisman that maintains the element devouring white fog required for survival, were critically low and would have needed to be replenished promptly.

Therefore, as part of his duty, Leng Yingyi led three of his subordinates to risk their lives and returned to the Eternal Immortal Fortress to seek supplies during the period of vacancy after the eruption of the Demon Sound Tide.

But they have yet to return.

Although Li Fan was a bit puzzled as to why he had the misfortune of encountering this once-in-a-century Tide.

But considering the current situation, the outpost is still safe, so there’s no need to panic.

However, under the dual impact of the Tide and the White Mist, not only communication, even the Spiritual Energy was disturbed.

He couldn’t concentrate his mind and forceful cultivation would lead to irregular movements of spiritual energy in his body, damaging his Qi and blood.

The inability to cultivate made the diligent Li Fan idle.

He also tried to enter the Fallen Immortal Realm via ritual.

But in this white mist, the connection to the Fallen Immortal Realm was too weak.

Several failed attempts led to a shock to Li Fan’s Divine Soul and dizziness, so he eventually gave up.

The only way to pass the time was to chat with the other cultivators in the outpost.

But as time passed day by day, seeing the dwindling supplies in the outpost and the lack of any sign of Leng Yingyi’s return, everyone became gloomier and conversations gradually decreased.

The black flames flickered uncertainly, dancing incessantly.

This made Li Fan’s expression somewhat gloomy.

“Could it be, this life will end here?”

Having been idle for a long time, he couldn’t help but occasionally have this thought.

Taking a deep breath, he habitually circulated the Xuan Huang Heart-Refining Spell to suppress his distracting thoughts.

With nothing else to attend to, Li Fan thoughtfully devoted his entire mind to cultivating this Heart-Refining Spell.

Ever since his cultivation had seen some success, circulating the Xuan Huang Heart-Refining Spell had become instinctive, like breathing.

But after all, there’s still a difference between wholeheartedly perceiving and practicing cultivation and instinctively cultivating slowly.

This moment was the first time Li Fan had seriously cultivated the Heart-Refining Spell after a long time.

When he was still a mortal, the Heart-Clearing Mantra was his hope to break the barrier between mortals and immortals.

Because of this, he was able to forgo sleep and food, persisting in asceticism for several years.

But when he broke through to the Energy Refining Stage, the Heart-Clearing Mantra changed into the Heart-Refining Spell.

Its role became vague.

Unable to enhance a bit of his cultivation, its superficial role was only to suppress and crush the mixed thoughts in his heart.

In today’s Immortal Cultivation World, where cultivation does not value demeanor, it is practically useless.

Add on top of that, Li Fan himself has an exceptionally firm will and rarely encounters mental demons.

So for Li Fan, the utility of the Heart-Refining Spell is even more negligible.

If it weren’t for his intuition and the first arrangement of the Heart Refining Mantra on the cultivation technique panel’s rankings, indirectly hinting at its worth,

Li Fan might have given up on it long ago.

After all, no matter how powerful the Slaughter Dragon Technique is, if there are no dragons in the world, it is a useless technique, not worth wasting time on.

However, at this very moment, when Li Fan once again temporarily set everything aside and immersed himself in refining the Heart, he gradually had some comprehension.

“Refining the heart, refining the heart.”

“How to refine it, I already know by heart.”

“But what should it be refined into, what is the final goal, that I have no clue about.”

“Perhaps this is the reason why my progress in cultivating the Heart-Refining Spell has always been incomplete for all these years.”

“What is the purpose of refining?”

This problem may be too profound.

Even Li Fan, who thinks he has good comprehension, was trapped in the dilemma for the time being.

Time slowly passed during this process.

The effect of self-assertion is limited.

On the thirty-sixth day after the outbreak of the Demon Sound Tide, Li Fan, who was unable to figure out the answer, simply stopped cultivating temporarily.

He just slowly strolled around in the base, listening, observing, feeling, and thinking.

Compared to about ten days ago, Base Jiaxu, in a short period, had quietly undergone some changes.

The closed environment, the unknown future, the occasional Demon Sound Tides,

The gradually depleting living supplies.

All of these made the cultivators in the base feel as if each day was a year, and an inexplicable emotion began to slowly grow in everyone’s heart.

Although it is not yet desperate, Li Fan, who is perceptive of human nature, was the first to notice this.

“Besides me, there are three Nascent Soul cultivators and six Gold Core cultivators.

“I am the weakest in terms of strength, but if I play dumb to trick others and sit back to reap the benefits, survival shouldn’t be a problem.”

This was the first idea that came to Li Fan’s mind.