My Simulated Road to Immortality

Chapter 52 - 52: 52: Guarding Taian Island

“Whenever the wind blows, the faces on the fruits revealed chilling smiles.”

As He Zhenghao recounted the tale, Li Fan seemed to see countless faces smiling at him.

Remembering that he had just eaten such a fruit, Li Fan couldn’t help but shudder in revulsion.

He Zhenghao continued speaking.

“The Gold Core guard, after his initial shock, investigated the city.”

“Not a single mortal survived on the island; all were turned into smiling face fruits. But why this strange event occurred, the Gold Core guard couldn’t figure it out. So, he had no choice but to report the matter.”

“The Alliance of Thousands of Immortals sent people to investigate, but nobody knew the results. All the trees in the city were later cut down, and the city was restored to its original state. However, the smiling face fruits continued to live in the city as if nothing had happened.”

“Generation after generation, they propagated until now. The Alliance of Thousands of Immortals built a great array here, appointed a person to guard it, and harvested the fruits.”

After hearing all this, Li Fan couldn’t help but say: “So, these Taian fruits are humans, aren’t they?”

He Zhenghao shook his head: “How can they be human? They have no consciousness of their own and act purely on instinct. If I must say, at most they only retain some human obsessions.”

Li Fan fall silent for a moment and ultimately didn’t rebut.

This matter was too extraordinary; he didn’t know how to categorize these Taian fruits.

However, once the fruits’ longevity-enhancing properties were discovered by cultivators, none of these matters mattered anymore.

Even if these Taian fruits were indeed humans, as long as eating them could prolong life, they could not escape being consumed.

Li Fan fell into deep thought.

Something seemed to have crossed He Zhenghao’s mind, leaving him silent too.

Only after a long while did the two of them snap back to reality.

Next, He Zhenghao explained to Li Fan some things he needed to take note of in guarding an island.

Li Fan committed each point to memory.

“The Great Array covers the whole island and each time it is activated, a small amount of essence energy is drawn from the mortals within.”

“The amount drawn is very small and won’t affect the mortals. But when these essences gather, the total amount becomes quite significant.”

“This essence energy is transformed and can increase the concentration of spiritual energy within the array.”

“Therefore, cultivating within this Island Protection Array, although not as efficient as cultivating in the Tianxuan Mirror in assisted cultivation mode, is still much faster than the outside world.”

In the end, He Zhenghao proudly shared with Li Fan a secret only cultivators who had served as island guards knew.

After advising Li Fan to contact him whenever there were issues, He Zhenghao finally left leisurely.”

With the Guardian Token in hand and bolstered by the Great Array, Li Fan’s spiritual senses covered the whole island. ”

The ordinary mortals on the island and the Taian fruits in the central core Array were all busily going about their lives.”

Watching for a long time, Li Fan sighed.

“Preying on the marrow of the world to serve one’s cultivation.”

If possible, Li Fan naturally wanted to do something. But unfortunately, he was currently only an Energy Refining Cultiva tor.”

The only thing he could do right now was to diligently cultivate.”

Li Fan suppressed the various thoughts in his mind.

From then on, Li Fan was stationed on Taian Island.”

It must be said that the position of an island guard is indeed a relatively relaxed one.”

The mortals on the island wouldn’t dare to disturb an Immortal Teacher without reason.”

All Li Fan had to do was to inspect the Island Protection Array periodically to ensure its normal operation, and harvest and store the ripe Taian fruits on time. All other times were free for him to use.”

Li Fan, naturally, devoted all this time to rigorous cultivation.”

“One Hundred Ways to Use Spiritual Energy,” “Basic Explanation of Spells,” “Secrets to Winning Duels — Strike First,” “Survival is Victory,” “Speed is Everything”…

Starting from these basic cultivation knowledge, Li Fan gradually mastered some simple small spells like Breath Concealing Technique, Feign Death

Technique, Wind Riding Technique, Super Strength Technique, and so on.

In the process of learning, Li Fan couldn’t help but admire the extent of the

Alliance of Thousands of Immortals’ knowledge monopoly.”

These pieces of knowledge purchased from the TianXuan Realm for self-study are fine.

But if you wanted to teach others after learning them, it wouldn’t be allowed.”

Unless you were powerful enough to surpass the TianXuan Mirror and could naturally break the prohibitions within. ”

Li Fan was uncertain about the strength of the TianXuan Mirror, which level of cultivator it would correspond to.”

But logically guessing, it should be at least not less than a God Transforming cultivator. ”

The power of a God Transforming cultivator was beyond Li Fan’s understanding at the moment.”

So even if he had many grievances, he could only temporarily accept reality.”

After finishing these books, Li Fan began attempting to read about alchemy, tool refining, and array techniques.”

Compared to the previous spell section, these contents were too complicated.” It was a jumble of information, and Li Fan didn’t know where to start.”

Just the basic Alchemy in “Introduction of Alchemy,” including various herbs’ age and function analysis, took Li Fan more than ten days to read through.”

Not to mention the subsequent sections on the choice and control of alchemical fire, furnace rituals, and practical alchemy. Li Fan estimated that it’d be impossible to finish it all in less than a year or two.”

Knowing that these arts often require a trustworthy mentor, Li Fan, after some struggle, decided to give up for the time being.”

So he temporarily set aside these troubles and began to cultivate “The Golden

Seal of the Jade Realm of a Thousand Mechanisms.”

This ancient cultivation technique of the Heavenly Machine Sect was truly obscure and difficult to comprehend. Compared to “The Minor Water Expansion Technique” that Li Fan previously cultivated, they seemed to be entirely different systems.”

Even with the continuous assistance of the Liuli bead to enhance comprehension, it took Li Fan half a year just to make initial progress.”

The difficulties he faced during this time made Li Fan yearn to cultivate “The

Golden Seal of the Jade Realm of a Thousand Mechanisms” in the TianXuan

Mirror’s super-assisted cultivation mode.”

Ultimately, however, he subdued this idea.”

After all, Li Fan still had his misgivings about the Alliance of Thousands of

Immortals.”

From their behavior, the Alliance was obviously no good entity.”

If he aroused the interest of the TianXuan Realm and revealed the existence of the Nascent Soul Cultivation Technique, that wouldn’t be a concern. However, if he revealed the [Real] existence, it would spell doom.” Therefore, Li Fan would rather cultivate slowly on his own.”

And so, a year passed by.”

Li Fan returned to the Ten Thousand Immortals Island, received his reward of 800 contribution points for acting as a caretaker, and then exchanged it for the final stage part of “The Minor Water Expansion Technique.”

After cultivating for five more days in the super-assisted cultivation mode of the TianXuan Mirror, he reluctantly returned to Taian Island.”

The five days of intensive cultivation had given Li Fan the vague sensation that he was not far from the final stage of Energy Refining..”