To comprehend all laws and attain immortality

Phoenix Island.

Despite being away for nearly ten years, the array outside the Qing Shi Palace still operates smoothly, only the furnishings inside are covered with a layer of fine dust.

Hulu was overjoyed to be back in its familiar home, jumping and digging holes in the open space outside the hall.

This was a habit formed on Falling Star Island, and within a few days it had transformed the ground into a pitted mess. Gu Fan had to give it a serious reprimand and strictly forbid it from digging holes in the Green Stone Palace.

No! It's not good to dig a hole anywhere!

"You're destined to become a great demon, how can you just keep digging holes all day!"

Gu Fan said earnestly.

Hulu puffed out his cheeks and sullenly lay back down on the futon.

Gu Fan slowly shook his head and sighed, brewed a cup of tea, and sorted out the results of this recruitment.

It was now the third day since they returned to their sect.

The evaluation of Gu Fan's performance in this Golden Order recruitment was released the day before, and the results were very pleasing.

Not only was the recruitment counted as a normal completion, but he also received a large reward for good deeds for killing two late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Gu Fan's empty jade ring finally became full again.

How to redeem merits will have to wait until later. Gu Fan took out a gray storage bag, rubbed his hands together like a fly, and looked expectant.

This storage bag was obtained from Wang Huaiyu.

Mu Fengchun's storage bag disappeared through the spatial gap, which pained Gu Fan greatly. Not to mention that he also lost a lot of second-tier spirit talismans, and the high-grade magic artifact Biyun Pearl was also broken.

All hopes of recouping their losses rested on Wang Huaiyu's storage bag.

With a slight movement of his divine sense, he reached into the storage bag, but couldn't open it for a moment.

Gu Fan raised an eyebrow.

"It's actually quite high-end."

An ordinary storage bag can be opened by anyone simply by holding it in their hand.

However, high-end storage bags are different; they will bear the owner's mark and can only be opened by the owner's spiritual consciousness.

If someone else obtains a high-level storage bag, they can only open it by slowly rubbing away the mark with their divine sense.

Thinking of this, Gu Fan stroked his chin and muttered to himself, "With my possessions growing, I should probably forge a better storage artifact."

When it comes to storage artifacts, storage bags are just the most commonly used form.

In addition to these, there are rings, bracelets, and so on.

Fortunately, Gu Fan still had plenty of time, and his immediate priority was to open the storage bag in front of him.

Gu Fan held the storage bag in his hand, stared intently at it, and his divine sense transformed into a file, slowly moving.

Half a day later, Gu Fan let out a long breath and began to examine the items in his storage bag.

The largest portion of the storage bag was occupied by a pile of low-grade spirit stones, numbering in the tens of thousands.

Besides these, what is noteworthy are a dozen jade bottles, three jade slips, and a dark, black box.

The jade bottle contained mostly pills for cultivation, which Gu Fan could also use, so he happily put it away.

The other jade bottle contained some strange gas.

Wisps of dark gas swirled and flowed within the jade bottle, instantly reminding Gu Fan of the ink-writing spell Wang Huaiyu had cast.

"Senior, do you recognize these energies?" Gu Fan asked, looking at the snake-shaped mark on his arm.

Chang Yuan emerged as black smoke, glanced at it only once, and said, "It's just some literary talent and literary aura."

"The literary spirit of books?"

Chang Yuan snorted and continued, "Under the lineage of the [Myriad Fate Ancestor], the materials used in cultivating some low-level techniques are extracted from people with outstanding literary talent and then refined by mixing them with spiritual energy."

Gu Fan frowned and asked, "What will happen to the person who is selected?"

"What will happen?" Chang Yuan chuckled softly. "Without literary talent, one will naturally become ordinary and just another face in the crowd."

"The cultivation methods under the 【Wanyuan Fazu】 lineage have always been closely related to the mortal world, including literary talent, wealth, worldly love, battlefield battles, and even the anger and resentment of wronged people."

"There are countless causes and conditions in the world, each with its corresponding energy."

"Many sects that believe in the [Ancestor of Ten Thousand Fates] have a Lesser Heaven as their human race, which is used by their disciples to absorb Qi."

Upon hearing this, Gu Fan's eyes flashed with understanding.

When he was practicing the "True Secrets of the Machine", he also collected the energy of killing, but he collected it from the killing tools. However, he was much more demanding when it came to the energy of writing.

A literary giant who should be praised by the world will become a useless scholar after absorbing qi.

A cultivator's slightest action can affect the entire life of a mortal.

Thinking of this, Gu Fan couldn't help but sigh, feeling sorry for the people behind these literary talents.

After casually putting the jade bottle away, Gu Fan picked up the jade slip.

After flipping through them one by one, he curled his lip and tossed the jade slips aside as if they were trash.

These jade slips were all protected by restrictions, and they would automatically be destroyed if an outsider viewed them.

"There's nothing particularly rare here!" Gu Fan frowned. "Is this all a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator has?"

Thinking this, Gu Fan looked at the only remaining wooden box.

Upon opening the wooden box, a sharp sword light emerged, causing a slight stinging sensation in the eyes.

"This is... a talisman?"

Gu Fan was overjoyed, and his disappointment vanished instantly.

Inside the wooden box was a palm-sized cyan talisman paper with a small golden sword drawn on it. The abundant spiritual energy and sword light revealed the extraordinary nature of the talisman.

Reaching out and holding the talisman in my hand, a strong sense of satisfaction welled up inside me.

The appearance of this talisman treasure undoubtedly solved Gu Fan's urgent problem of lacking a trump card to protect his life.

The True Treasure Void Mirror has already been used up, and True Person Xuanji has not given him a new one.

In the words of Master Xuanji, "It's already difficult enough to split a magic weapon into two true treasures; splitting it any further will cause it to drop in rank!"

"If you're truly determined, then you should reach the Core Formation stage soon and forge your own magic weapon!"

The warmth of the talisman filled Gu Fan with immense comfort, instantly dispelling the gloom in his heart.

......

Time flies, flowers bloom and fade.

Five years have passed quietly.

Since returning to the Lingxiao Sect, Gu Fan has kept a low profile, spending most of his time in the Qing Shi Palace, except for occasionally forging magical artifacts and listening to Xuanji Zhenren's lectures.

Five years have passed, and his cultivation at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage has stabilized, and the lost magical artifacts have been replaced.

At that moment, a tremor sounded outside Phoenix Perch Island.

In the large lake surrounding Phoenix Perch Island, a gourd three zhang tall (approximately 10 meters) walked heavily ashore, leaving a trail of deep footprints.

Gu Fan stood on the shore, feeling the tremors beneath his feet and a sudden headache.

The gourd seemed oblivious to Gu Fan's distress. Its giant eyes darted around, and with a flick of its tail, it stirred up a wave that crashed down on Gu Fan.

Gu Fan narrowed his eyes, touched a white jade ring on his left hand, and a spherical light screen enveloped him.

The lake water receded without even wetting the hem of Gu Fan's clothes.

Seeing this, the gourd puffed out its cheeks, its body rapidly shrank to the size of a palm, and leaped onto Gu Fan's shoulder.

"When you get a little older, you'll probably tear the whole house apart!"

Gu Fan extended a finger and gently tapped the head of the gourd.

The gourd chuckled twice and stuck out its tongue.

After playing around for a while, the man and the beast suddenly sensed a streak of light heading towards Phoenix Perch Island.

The light of escape landed in front of him, revealing an outer disciple dressed in a green robe. After landing, the disciple cupped his hands and said, "Greetings, Uncle Gu. This disciple is on duty in the Duty Hall. Uncle Chen has something to discuss with me, please come over."

"Do you know what it is about?" Gu Fan asked.

"Uncle-Master, please forgive me. I truly did not know."

The green-robed cultivator was extremely respectful, fearing that Gu Fan might be displeased.

After all, according to rumors, this Uncle Gu was a ruthless person who killed two late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators with only a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivation level!

Gu Fan nodded slightly: "In that case, please go back and tell Senior Brother Chen that I will visit him later."

"Yes, disciple takes his leave."

The green-robed monk bowed again and then left.

As Gu Fan fumbled for the ring on his hand, he began to ponder in his mind.

Logically, he shouldn't have been given a summons to the Cloud and Mist Sea, but Chen Yunfan's invitation was clearly not without reason.

"Could it be that something went wrong with the Spirit Transformation Sect?" Gu Fan wondered to himself.

Compared to the Lingxiao Sect's steady progress on the Cloud Mist Sea, the Hualing Sect has been in increasingly dire straits in recent years, being suppressed by two transformed demon kings and suffering heavy losses among its disciples.

If it weren't for the help of the Lingxiao Sect and the Bailian Sect, the mountain gate might have been breached again.

Gu Fan returned to the Qing Shi Palace, where many talisman papers, talisman ink, and other miscellaneous items were placed on the table.

With a flash of light from the ring on his right hand, he put away all the miscellaneous tasks.

Now, Gu Fan has a ring on his left thumb and a ring on his right index finger.

The ring on his left hand was white jade, a newly crafted protective artifact, whose strength was no less than that of the Azure Cloud Pearl.

The ring on his right hand was a storage ring, entirely bluish-gray, carved with a lion's head with its mouth open.

Compared to his previous storage bag, the Azure Lion Ring was more than ten times larger. Gu Fan felt that even if he cultivated to the Golden Core stage, he would not need to change his storage artifact anymore.

After packing his belongings, Gu Fan rode his escape light towards the Hall of Duty.

As soon as he entered the second floor of the Service Hall, Chen Yunfan greeted him with a smile.

"Junior Brother Gu has arrived!" Chen Yunfan greeted them warmly, and as soon as the two sat down, a disciple served them fragrant tea.

After exchanging pleasantries, Gu Fan asked directly, "Senior brother, did you summon me here for a new assignment?"

Chen Yunfan smiled and nodded slightly upon hearing this, but his words made Gu Fan raise an eyebrow.

"Actually... it's not mandatory for this junior brother to accept or not."

"Please speak frankly, senior brother."

Gu Fan put down his teacup and leaned forward slightly.

Chen Yunfan continued, "Junior Brother, do you still remember when you asked me to keep an eye out for sect missions related to the plague?"

Gu Fan's heart tightened immediately, and he asked in a deep voice, "Of course I remember!"

After returning from Bibo Island, Gu Fan asked Chen Suzhen to introduce him to Xu Changsheng. After learning about the demonic cultivators of Wu Kingdom, he asked Chen Yunfan to help him keep an eye out for sect missions related to the plague, all in order to find that demonic cultivator from back then.

"It's a long story," Chen Yunfan said, his eyes filled with reminiscence. "Initially, the sect did receive news that a plague had broken out near Xuan Yin Mountain, but that was six years ago."

"Since my junior brother was stationed on Falling Star Island at the time, and the scale of the plague was not large, this matter was assigned to another junior brother."

"Who knew that the junior brother would return to the sect so soon after accepting the mission, saying that the plague had disappeared."

"Several years have passed, and no more plagues have appeared in Xuan Yin Mountain."

Gu Fan squinted as he listened, and as he had expected, there was a "but".

"But..." Chen Yunfan changed the subject.