The ruins of Cloudwater Palace were unimaginably vast. Even in his previous life, after more than a decade of relentless exploration by the cultivators of the Congyun Sea, its full scope had never been completely mapped.
The cultivators who had woken up near Qin Tang’s statue quickly split into several distinct camps.
Some felt that Cloudwater Palace was far too dangerous. Being able to survive Qin Tang’s trials was already their great fortune. To continue exploring further would be a guaranteed path to death.
Since they had already committed several powerful techniques to memory, they believed they would gain a massive windfall even if they returned home right away. And so, they decisively chose to leave Cloudwater Palace immediately.
Those who chose to depart were the majority. The remainder, however, thought differently: A single statue at the ruins' entrance had offered such incredible fortune. What kind of heaven-defying opportunities might lie within the legendary Alchemy Hall, Technique Transmission Pavilion, and sect treasury that were staples of ancient sects like this?
Once greed takes root, it swells rapidly within the heart, becoming impossible to suppress.
And so, these individuals vanished one after another into the thick mist, acting like they were possessed.
By the time Li Fan caught up from behind, he found the entire group of cultivators already gone. Had he not already locked onto Sikong Yi and Baili Chen beforehand, he likely would have lost them completely.
Yet, strangely, Sikong Yi and Baili Chen seemed intimately familiar with Cloudwater Palace's layout.
The route they followed was unerringly precise, repeatedly finding paths through the mist's seemingly impassable gaps. They constantly bypassed obscured structures, driving deeper inward.
Was this how Sikong Yi had managed to seize the Cloudwater Model in the previous life?
Li Fan knew these secrets only because of his simulated experiences from that past life. So how did Sikong Yi know?
An intense curiosity welled up within Li Fan.
Simultaneously, his wariness grew. These two clearly harbored significant secrets of their own!
Concealing his presence and aura even further, Li Fan shadowed them closely.
Suddenly, the two men stopped.
After pausing for a moment, Sikong Yi and Baili Chen split up, each darting off swiftly in opposite directions.
A divide-and-conquer tactic? Have they discovered me? Li Fan's eyes narrowed. He hesitated for a brief moment, then chose the direction Sikong Yi had taken.
Pushing deeper into the mist, he eventually arrived at a pagoda-like structure.
Sikong Yi stopped abruptly at the base of the pagoda, turned back to look in Li Fan's direction, and flashed a taunting smile.
Then he plunged inside.
How interesting. Does he plan to use one of Cloudwater Palace's death traps to kill me?
Faintly visible through the white mist, the looming pagoda radiated an eerie, sinister aura.
Memories from his previous life surfaced in Li Fan’s mind.
This was the Demon-Refining Pagoda, one of the most dangerous areas within Cloudwater Palace.
In the first ten years after Cloudwater Palace opened, not a single cultivator who entered the Demon-Refining Pagoda ever returned alive. Consequently, the cultivators of the Congyun Sea had deemed it an absolute death trap, a place to be avoided at all costs.
It wasn't until Anchor Year 21 in his previous life that an alchemy master, after risking his life, finally deciphered the bizarre rules within.
If that's your plan, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed. Li Fan smirked coldly and followed him inside.
The moment he stepped across the threshold, a chilling, foul wind brushed against him, carrying the stench of rot and decay.
The ground floor held a series of prison cells. But it seemed that too much time had passed; only piles of bizarre, strangely shaped demonic bones remained inside them.
Li Fan continued upward, finding the second floor pretty much the same.
He proceeded all the way to the top.
From a distance, a rambling, murmuring voice reached his ears.
"All my senior brothers and sisters are fighting on the front lines. Only I am useless, unable to help.
"I must refine more pills. Only then can I increase their strength as much as possible.
"Every additional pill I successfully refine increases the chances of my senior brothers surviving.
"But the demons and monsters in this Demon-Refining Pagoda are all dead. There are no more alchemical ingredients. What should I do?"
A man with unkempt hair, wearing loose, blue Daoist robes, sighed dejectedly, looking utterly helpless.
Beside him, suspended in mid-air, three figures were bound by invisible ropes.
One of them was Sikong Yi.
The other two were cultivators who had entered the Cloudwater Palace with Li Fan, though it was unclear why they were here.
Their faces were deathly pale, and their lips moved constantly, though he couldn’t hear what they were saying.
Before Li Fan could even react, his hands and feet suddenly felt constricted as if bound by ropes, rendering him immobile. He was then hauled into the air and fixed in place, just like the other three.
Having anticipated this very outcome, Li Fan felt no panic.
It was only then that he could make out the muttered words of the other two captives.
"How did this happen? I clearly chose to leave this place right away! My vision just blurred, and then I was tied up here..."
"My life is over, it's over! I was already outside Cloudwater Palace, and yet I was captured and brought back..."
***
"Ah! It's time to refine pills!" Just then, the man in Daoist robes suddenly snapped out of his rambling.
"Refine pills, refine pills..." The man reached into his robes and dug around. Shortly after, he pulled out two black pills.