The Treatise on Curios cost two thousand contribution points. Li Fan didn't even blink; he bought it immediately.
He then began to carefully peruse its contents.
Curios of heaven and earth were critical for cultivators wishing to build their Dao Foundation.
They were divided into three major categories: Curios of Heaven, Curios of Earth, and Curios of Man.
Curios of Heaven were inscrutably aligned with the Heavenly Dao, yet they were ethereal and elusive. Not only were they nearly impossible to see, but one rarely even heard tales of them.
The book provided only a single example.
It was the very foundation upon which the Myriad Immortals Alliance was built, something even more important than the Tianxuan Mirror: the Derivation Jade.
No one knew whose Foundation Establishment Curio it was.
Its unique effect was the ability to spontaneously derive new techniques day and night without stopping.
Reading this, Li Fan’s thoughts stumbled, and he froze for a moment.
Kou Hong said that the techniques practiced by modern cultivators are all newly compiled. I’d assumed it was the work of some heaven-sent genius that was capable of creating many different techniques.
Turns out they weren’t derived manually, but by this Curio of heaven and earth.
Li Fan was lost in thought for a moment before continuing to read.
Curios of Earth were also exceedingly rare, but there were at least traces one could follow.
They often appeared alongside strange natural phenomena, and the book listed several examples.
Cangwu Province had four rivers and twenty-eight mountains.
On a certain day, it vanished overnight without a trace, leaving behind only a bottomless abyss.
From this emerged a Curio of Earth, the Landscape Painting of Cangwu...
...
The continent’s water bodies should, by nature, flow from west to east, returning to the sea.
On a certain day, the flow of waters reversed, all converging upon Mount Penglai.
This lasted for three full months before ceasing.
From this emerged a Curio of Earth, the Mother of All Waters...
Li Fan read with rapt fascination.
So that means the Deepsea Pearl must also be a Curio of Earth.
There were still over ten years until the Deepsea Pearl’s emergence, supposedly near Liuyun Island. He couldn’t afford to forget this matter.
Next were the Curios of Man.
The vast majority of Foundation Establishment Curios in the world fell into the category of Curios of Man.
Curios of Man were often the transformed remains of cultivators who had fallen thousands of years ago.
They were further categorized based on quality into three grades: high, mid, and low.
The higher the quality, the greater the power one would wield after establishing one’s Dao Foundation with the Curio.
Li Fan thought of the Qiulong Branch and the Rusted Sword Dao Xuan, wondering what grade those two were.
Judging by the power they had displayed, they were likely at least mid-grade or above.
While his avatar, Lin Fan, was immersed in the various secrets of the cultivation world,
Li Fan’s true self traveled to Liuli Island via teleportation array while it was still night.
However, he did not find He Zhenghao there.
The guardian of the island protection array was an unfamiliar cultivator.
He Zhenghao had probably not yet returned from exploring the cave dwelling.
Li Fan didn’t dwell on it. After nodding in acknowledgment to the other party, he exited the array, concealed his form, and quietly made his way to the home of Zhang Haobo, captain of the Cangyuan.
Looking at the sleeping Zhang Haobo, Li Fan smiled faintly.
There were still nineteen years until Crimson Flame evaporated the sea.
Now that the avatar was complete, certain parts of his plan could be set up in advance.
He activated the Cloudwater Dream Illusion Art.
***
Zhang Haobo jolted awake from a nightmare, drenched in cold sweat.
He gasped for air, the terror in his heart slow to fade. It took a long time for him to regain his senses.
He looked around blankly at his surroundings.
This was...Liuli Island?
Could it all have just been a terrifying nightmare? But what kind of dream could feel so real?
In the dream, he had hauled up a corpse while fishing out at sea.