Inside Outpost 01-11, Li Fan examined the golden ranking list projected by his Mini Tianxuan Mirror.

This Guo Yezhong is quite a character. If there isn't some special reason, then he's openly slacking off and doing nothing right under everyone's noses. That's practically a blatant slap to the Myriad Immortals Alliance’s face.

He remembered Guo Yezhong’s completely unremarkable appearance when the trainees had first gathered.

If this guy still has zero points by the end of the grand competition, I'll respect him as a true man.

A faint, resentful whispering suddenly echoed in his ears again. After more than a year of conditioning, Li Fan was long since accustomed to it.

Without changing his expression, he lit a crystal lamp in the room. A sinister black flame flickered to life, and the aberrant noises from the abyss vanished in an instant.

This Extinction Crystal Lamp really is useful. Li Fan praised, once again savoring the rare silence.

The Extinction Crystal Lamp was a new type of sound-absorbing esoteric treasure delivered by the Martial Hall two months prior. It originated from the distant, misty western provinces.

After lighting the Extinction Wick within the lamp, it would emit a black flame that reduced all surrounding sound to nothingness.

It was simple to use and remarkably effective. And unlike other esoteric treasures, which had a certain probability of mutation after absorbing too much of the demonic noises, this crystal lamp remained completely unaffected until its fuel was entirely consumed. When not needed, it could be extinguished to prolong its service life.

Among all sound-absorbing esoteric treasures, the Extinction Crystal Lamp was considered the most outstanding.

Unfortunately, it was said that its key component, the Extinction Wick, required special processing techniques, had a long production cycle, and was extremely precious.

Thus, only array masters like Li Fan and Xue Mu were personally equipped with one. Members of the Qingxuan Garrison would only bring theirs out during critical moments.

However, Li Fan lighting the lamp now wasn't an act of extravagance. Ever since a huge demonic sound tide erupted abruptly from the Roaring Abyss fifteen days ago, Outpost 01-11 had lost all contact with other outposts, as well as the Eternal Immortal Fortress.

Spirit talismans for communication, arcane arts for messaging, and even the Tianxuan Mirror—none could connect to the world outside.

In fact, the ranking list Li Fan had just been idly examining was actually data frozen from before the tide's eruption.

According to Leng Yingyi, the veteran Qingxuan Garrison Nascent Soul cultivator assigned to protect him, the power of this tide was a once-in-a-century event.

Based on Leng Yingyi's experience, the duration of a demonic sound tide was almost directly proportional to its potency. The sudden eruption of this massive tide had caught everyone off guard.

Supplies within the outpost, including the stock of Black Death Talismans necessary for survival within the Lifespan-Devouring White Mist, were running critically low, all in urgent need of replenishment.

Therefore, duty-bound, Leng Yingyi had led three subordinates to the Eternal Immortal Fortress to attempt a resupply during a lull in the demonic sound tide.

They had not returned.

While Li Fan found it somewhat puzzling why he, of all people, had encountered this hundred-year event, the current situation within the outpost still seemed secure enough. There was no need for panic.

It was just that, under the dual influence of the great tide and the White Mist, not only were communications disrupted; even the spiritual qi had grown chaotic.

His mind could not focus. Forcing cultivation would cause the spiritual qi to surge erratically within his body, damaging his vital qi.

Unable to cultivate, even the habitually diligent Li Fan found himself with nothing to do.

He had tried to initiate the ritual to enter the Fallen Immortal Realm. But within this white fog, even the connection to the Fallen Immortal Realm felt tenuous and weak. Several attempts ended in failure, leaving Li Fan's spirit shaken, his head dizzy, and his vision swimming. So he had no choice but to give up.

The only way to pass the time was to engage in idle chatter and conversation with the other cultivators in the stronghold.

However, as the days passed, watching the supplies within the stronghold dwindle with no sign of Leng Yingyi's return, everyone grew somewhat somber, and casual conversation gradually dwindled.

The black fire flickered and danced erratically, casting Li Fan's face in a gloomy, shifting light.

Will this lifetime end like this?

Having stayed here too long, this thought would occasionally leap into his mind.

He took a deep breath and, out of habit, circulated the Xuanhuang Heart Refinement Sutra to suppress the distracting thoughts.

With nothing else to do, Li Fan decided to devote his entire mind and spirit to cultivating this Heart Refinement Sutra.

Ever since he had achieved some success in his cultivation, circulating the Xuanhuang Heart Refinement Sutra had become as instinctual as breathing.

But there was still a difference between wholeheartedly contemplating and cultivating it versus instinctual operation.

This was the first time in a long while that Li Fan had seriously cultivated the Heart Refinement Sutra again.

When he was still a mortal, the Heart Clarification Sutra was his hope for bridging the gap between mortal and immortal. Thus, he could practice it tirelessly, persevering through years of arduous cultivation.

But after breaking through to the Qi Refinement realm, when the Heart Clarification Sutra transformed into the Heart Refinement Sutra, its purpose became ambiguous.

It couldn't advance his cultivation progress by a single iota; its only apparent function was to suppress and shatter distracting thoughts in his mind.

In the current cultivation world, which placed little emphasis on the state of one's heart, this was almost useless.

Furthermore, Li Fan's own will was exceptionally firm; he almost never encountered inner demons or mental disturbances.

So, for Li Fan, the Heart Refinement Sutra's utility was minimal.

If not for an intuitive feeling, and the fact that Return to Truth listed it as the top technique on its panel, hinting at its value, Li Fan might have abandoned it long ago.

After all, no matter how powerful a dragon-slaying art might be, if there were no dragons in the world, it would be a useless skill, not worth wasting time on.

Yet now, as Li Fan once again temporarily set everything aside and immersed himself in refining his heart, he gradually began to gain some insight.

Heart refinement, heart refinement. I already know the method of refinement inside out.

But what form should this refinement take? What is its ultimate purpose? I have no clue.

Perhaps this is also the reason why my progress in the Heart Refinement Sutra has stagnated all these years.

What am I refining it for?

This question was perhaps too profound. It stumped even Li Fan, who considered himself fairly perceptive, plunging him into contemplation for a time.

Time flowed slowly in this state.

But the usefulness of isolated contemplation had its limits.

On the thirty-sixth day after the demonic sound tide's eruption, Li Fan, still unable to find an answer, simply stopped his cultivation for the time being.

He simply paced slowly within the stronghold, listening, observing, feeling, and thinking.

In the short span of a dozen days, Outpost 01-11 had quietly undergone certain changes.

The enclosed environment, the uncertain future, bursts of noise from the demonic sound tide that assaulted them from time to time, and the continually dwindling survival supplies... As the cultivators in the stronghold endured days that felt like years, a nameless emotion slowly began to take root in their hearts.

Though they had not yet reached the point of utter desperation, Li Fan, who was adept at reading people, was the first to notice it.

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

I am the weakest, but if I play the pig to eat the tiger and wait to profit from others’ conflicts, I should be able to endure until the end.[1]

This was the first thought that surfaced in Li Fan’s mind.

1. 扮猪吃虎 (Bàn zhū chī hǔ): Literally "disguise as a pig to eat the tiger." This means to hide one's true strength and pretend to be weak and harmless in order to lure a stronger opponent into a trap or a false sense of security

坐收渔翁之利 (Zuò shōu yúwēng zhī lì): Literally "sit and collect the fisherman's profit." This refers to the fable where a fisherman benefits from a fight between a bird and a clam. It means to profit from the conflict of others without getting involved. ☜