Li Fan examined the cavern carefully.
Above, numerous structures hung inverted from the stone ceiling, as though they had grown directly from it.
Li Fan also saw stone statues in the likeness of cultivators.
They too hung upside down overhead, feet fused with the architecture, arms stretched out in a desperate, helpless plea for aid. But their bodies were forever frozen in that moment, faces etched with terror.
This should be one of the mountain peaks of the Heavenly Mechanisms Sect, swallowed by this Origin-Returning Toad through some twist of fate.
Judging by the look of it, the entire place was petrified first, then consumed.
Li Fan raised his guard and flew into the upper space of the cavern.
Ignoring the petrified cultivators, he wove through the ruins, heading straight for the most conspicuous stone pagoda.
The Heaven-Peering Pagoda, a crucial site from which the Heavenly Mechanisms Sect observed the heavenly mechanisms.
Li Fan arrived before the stone pagoda and found that even after thousands of years, a faint glimmer of light still shone upon it.
The protective arrays remain, but unfortunately, they are nothing more than hollow shells now.
Li Fan entered the interior of the Heaven-Peering Pagoda, encountering no resistance at all.
Hmm?
The instant he stepped inside, Li Fan's expression changed.
He felt a vicious and hateful gaze lock onto him.
Following the direction of the stare, Li Fan saw a cultivator with disheveled hair standing ahead.
His face was contorted, one eyeball bulging as if trying to escape its socket. Its single pupil was fixed unwaveringly on Li Fan.
The lower half of the cultivator's body had turned to stone, much like the Heavenly Mechanisms Sect disciples outside. His upper torso, however, appeared caught mid-transformation—a grotesque amalgam of flesh, blood, and stone intermingled.
Is it dead or alive?
Li Fan did not dare let his guard down. He immediately unleashed a Five Elements Annihilation Sword strike.
Thump!
The black sword light struck the cultivator squarely, piercing through its chest and shattering the body into pieces that scattered across the floor.
Only that half-petrified eyeball remained, floating in the air, its pupil still tightly focused on Li Fan.
As Li Fan slowly approached, he constantly shifted his position, yet the eyeball seemed able to sense his presence, tracking his location unerringly.
Finally, he stood before the eyeball and waited. But it showed no other reaction.
Li Fan held it in his hand, examining it closely.
So it's not a real eyeball, but something this long-dead cultivator implanted in his body while alive.
Strange, I don't recall Xiao Heng and the others finding this among their spoils...
Did they not discover it? Or did that Linghu Chang secretly keep it for himself?
Li Fan toyed with the eyeball for a while but couldn't discern any use for it.
Tucking it into his robes for now, Li Fan made his way deeper into the Heaven-Peering Pagoda.
The pagoda had nine levels.
From the second to the fifth floor, the ground was littered with jade slips and artifacts, though most were damaged.
After finding a storage ring among the debris, Li Fan happily collected the still-intact items.
Taiwei Celestial Calculus, Nine Heavens Single Qi Art, Heaven's Will Descent Technique, Thousand Mechanisms Enigma Record...
There were cultivation techniques and scholarly works on the study of heavenly mechanisms.
In the end, Li Fan gathered a total of twenty-six techniques and forty-eight books. Among them were seventeen Golden Core techniques and nine Nascent Soul techniques.
What a windfall. I wonder how many of these are unique copies.
Still, among these techniques, only two show signs of being actively cultivated. I suppose the proportion of cultivators possessing these techniques within the Myriad Immortals Alliance can't be too high.
Stowing his delight, Li Fan continued his ascent.
The sixth to eighth floors held various peculiar objects.
A lotus flower with a human face nestled within its petals.
An unknown fruit shaped like a flood dragon.
A rectangular stone slab bearing patterns that seemed to have formed naturally...
These objects seemed to have once been enveloped by a peculiar power. But with the passage of time, that power had completely dissipated. Now, they just looked like strange objects.
These must have been the objects used by the Heavenly Mechanisms Sect to sense the heavenly mechanisms. Li Fan thought, a flicker of understanding crossing his mind.
The Heavenly Mechanisms Sect believed the energy mechanisms of heaven and earth interacted and resonated, manifesting in the mortal realm.
Things that defied common sense were the results of intense interactions between these energy mechanisms.
By using these objects, one could gain a profound understanding of the world's energy mechanisms.
It’s the same principle as me using the Deepsea Pearl to perceive the world. Regardless of their current usefulness, Li Fan collected them all.