My Longevity Simulation Chapter 1025: The Mysterious Trail of the Dao Deviation Stone

Li Fan required a massive supply of pills designed to boost cultivation levels directly, intended for the practitioners he kept within his small world.

Although they had been practicing the Vital Essence of All Living Beings Technique for a while, their collective advancement was merely mediocre. Consequently, Li Fan resolved to accelerate their development by force.

In this reincarnation, the exploration of the blood-colored long river—which contained the entire history of the Xuanhuang Realm—had not yet commenced. However, Li Fan anticipated imminent confrontations with the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, the Dharma-Transmitting Immortal Ancestor, and entities like the Immortal Ruins Immortal and the Faceless True Immortal.

Engaging such formidable adversaries demanded extreme vigilance; one could never be too prepared. Given his current limited cultivation, Li Fan had to utilize external forces to counter his enemies, leaving no room for error.

He needed to concentrate his entire focus here; once the wheels were in motion, he could not permit himself to be distracted by other concerns. Yet, the manifestation of the blood-colored long river in this life had been a stroke of luck.

Li Fan was uncertain if he could replicate the exact circumstances to recreate it in his next life. To lose the opportunity to harvest its secrets would be a profound regret.

Thus, Li Fan’s current priority was to quicken the pace of his investigation as much as possible. Under the leadership of his clone, Li Qing, groups of Foundation Establishment cultivators had already been dispatched from various small worlds to scout ahead.

The outcomes were uniform: every single one died of old age before the blood-colored long river, failing to bring back even a single piece of valuable intel. Fortunately, the location of the blood-colored long river was highly unique, concealed within the supreme treasure known as the Fishing Pond. This ensured that the deaths of these cultivators remained hidden from the outside world.

Had it been otherwise, the mystery of the blood-colored long river would have undoubtedly been compromised.

"They must be elevated to the Golden Core realm at the very least to have any hope. Otherwise, their lifespan is simply too short; sending them in is just sending them to their deaths," Li Qing had concluded.

This necessity led Li Fan to intimidate the Medicine King Sect, forcing them to dedicate themselves entirely to pill refinement without distraction.

After inspecting the Wood Attribute Cave-Heaven, Li Fan released them from his internal space, keeping only a harvest of herbs required for their work. With these minor tasks managed, Li Fan retreated to his underground chamber in the Spiritwood Realm and consulted a specific list.

This was the data Mo Rubin had painstakingly gathered: a detailed roster of cultivators suspected of owning a Dao Deviation Stone. This information allowed Li Fan to disregard the vast majority of innocent individuals.

Observing the names and the intricate web of social ties they represented, Li Fan sighed softly, "Possessing influence at the peak of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance is incredibly efficient. Compiling this data alone might have taken me years otherwise, and it wouldn't be this precise."

"Mo Rubin only had to issue a simple command, and his subordinates executed it perfectly."

As he studied the names, an idea took hold. Li Fan produced the [Heaven-Measuring Ruler] that the Tianxuan Mirror clone had previously gifted him. While unfiltered omniscient vision would drown his current processing capacity in a sea of data, he wondered what would happen if he narrowed his focus.

Li Fan immersed his divine sense into the infinite mirror world once more. This time, by using the suspects on his list as specific search parameters, he filtered out the mountain of irrelevant data.

As expected, the mental strain vanished immediately.

Countless images flickered past his eyes as Li Fan waited for the results to surface one by one. Half a day later, dozens of mirror surfaces hovered before him like a row of light screens.

"Some still show nothing. This likely isn't a mistake on my part, but rather a restriction of the Tianxuan Mirror’s authority. Much like the Genesis Stone Tablet only archives the history of the native Xuanhuang Realm and ignores foreign worlds."

Li Fan watched closely, monitoring a total of forty-five cultivators. Some were practicing within the Tianxuan Mirror, while others were raiding sect ruins. Some were testing divine abilities, and a few were debating cultivation hurdles with peers.

However, every single one of them had moved past the stage of worrying about contribution points; none were performing menial tasks to earn them. After three days of constant observation, none of the cultivators had slipped up.

Li Fan remained unperturbed, maintaining his vigil with immense patience. Having possessed a Dao Deviation Stone himself, he knew that once a person becomes accustomed to it, a dependency forms. If a problem can be solved by the Dao Deviation Stone, there is no reason to avoid using it.

After all, it functioned as part of one’s own divine ability. Li Fan’s persistence soon bore fruit.

Seven days later, a Soul Transformation cultivator named Lu Chengxue was reminiscing about an old adventure with a friend. Because so much time had passed, their memories conflicted, leading to a dispute. After a momentary trance, Lu Chengxue suddenly remembered every detail perfectly and recounted the event, convincing his companion.

"Found you!" A sharp light glinted in Li Fan’s eyes. This behavior was unmistakable to him; it was exactly what it looked like when someone searched the records of a Dao Deviation Stone.

Despite finding his target, Li Fan did not strike. He continued his surveillance through the mirror for another month and a half without losing interest. Including Lu Chengxue, he eventually identified three targets. The other two were caught because of their unnatural memory and data-processing feats.

"That should be all of them. If anyone else has avoided using the Dao Deviation Stone for this long, they either sensed my spying and hid it, or they have simply given up on Cultivation entirely."

Li Fan stood up abruptly, leaving the Spiritwood Realm to hunt his targets. It was time to upgrade his Dao Deviation Stone once again.

His first objective was Lu Chengxue, a central figure of the Lu Family’s middle generation in Tianquan Prefecture. While the Lu Family lacked top-tier powerhouses, they were famous for their kindness and their devotion to justice. Any friend of the Lu Family in trouble could count on their aid.

Even when official rules prevented the family from acting, their disciples would provide help in a private capacity. In the ruthless Xuanhuang Realm where betrayal was common, the Lu Family was seen as a rare, virtuous exception. Countless cultivators owed them favors, and even strangers treated them with respect, knowing they might one day need the family's help.

Yet, it was this esteemed family’s core disciple that Li Fan intended to strike down. Because of the Dao-Transforming Divine Unity Secret Technique, the Dao Deviation Stone was fused with the host's soul. The only way to retrieve the stone was to destroy the soul entirely.

Li Fan felt no hesitation. He would do the same in every future life until the Dao Deviation Stone was no longer useful to him.

In Tianquan City, Li Fan found Lu Chengxue and looked at his face, which was full of sincerity. He paused for a single moment of silence for the man.