The pre-expedition realm that Li Fan selected had the lowest rental price of eight thousand contribution points per year. Although it was relatively small in scale, the scenery suited Li Fan's taste.
Instead of a picturesque scene of immortal splendor, it was built upon a gigantic skeletal left hand. The surrounding space was dark and silent, and the giant bone hand floated in the endless void.
According to the Violet Mist Immortal Sage, the conceptualization of this scene originated from the True Immortal who gave rise to the entire Fallen Immortal Realm in a single thought.
After negotiating with Violet Mist Immortal Sage and agreeing to a thirty-year lease with payment every ten years, the transaction was completed with the signing of a Commercial Contract.
Li Fan transferred sixty-four thousand contribution points. At the same time, he received a storage ring containing three items: a miniature skeletal left hand, ten white bone fingers, and a jade slip.
After picking up the jade slip and reading it for a moment, Li Fan instantly understood its usage. The miniature white bone left hand served as the control center for the pre-expedition realm. Activating the ritual with it granted the highest authority over the pre-expedition realm.
The ten white bone fingers served as the media.
Li Fan performed the ceremony within the Tianxuan Mirror: four items representing daily life were placed at the corners, while the white bone left hand was suspended in the center.
"Blessings bestowed by the Celestial Sovereign of Xuanhuang!"
Li Fan silently recited.
Since he had brought back the "Purple Heaven Soul Observation Technique" from the Fallen Immortal Realm not long ago, he was still under restrictions and couldn't enter the Fallen Immortal Realm again. However, entering the pre-expedition realm posed no problem.
The four items, along with the white bone left hand, emitted a faint glow. A slight dizziness came over Li Fan, and in an instant, he felt the environment around him change.
An ancient and desolate atmosphere pervaded, with five gigantic white bone fingers slanting towards the sky. Li Fan was standing at the bottom of the bone hand. Compared to the enormous bone, he was like an ant.
"If I hadn't been mentally prepared, I'm afraid I would have been startled at first sight."
"Well, it should be enough to fool those kids."
Satisfied, Li Fan nodded. With a thought, he instantly appeared on the thumb bone.
The teleportation array to enter the Fallen Immortal Realm was arranged here. For now, Su Xiaomei and the others didn't need it, and he couldn't let them discover it.
With a wave of his hand, Li Fan hid the array. Then, he thoroughly checked the area to ensure no traces that could leak information were left behind before exiting this space.
"The stage is set; it's time for the actors to appear."
"Although they are still young, cultivating immortality should start from childhood."
"After spending so many contribution points, I need to recover the costs as soon as possible."
Thinking like this, Li Fan, after making preparations, immediately left Ten Thousand Immortals Island and headed straight for Dali.
The current Dali Realm was shrouded in a faint sense of hopelessness. Several months had passed since the agreed-upon date to receive supplies from the immortal master.
The supplies had already been collected, but the immortal master was still nowhere to be seen.
The central volcano in Dali seemed to be growing increasingly active recently. Thick black smoke billowed into the sky, visible even from the capital thousands of miles away.
The officials in the court wore desolate expressions all day long, and the Dali Emperor seemed to have lost his appetite.
In the capital, rumors had been circulating in secret, claiming that the immortal master had abandoned Dali.
With the imminent destruction of Dali, the end was not far off.
The Emperor used draconian measures and executed anyone spreading such rumors, managing to somewhat control the speed of rumor dissemination. However, he couldn't prevent the spread of despair.
Amidst this oppressive atmosphere, a strange event occurred in the capital one day.
In the black night, a meteor illuminated the sky and flew towards the imperial palace.
It hit the central palace where morning court was usually held, creating a deep crater and turning the palace into ruins.
Fortunately, the incident occurred late at night, causing only a few guards to suffer minor injuries and no other casualties.
Afterward, the Emperor personally supervised the excavation and discovered that the meteor from that night had miraculously remained intact.
What left the officials and courtiers of Dali bewildered and at a loss was that this so-called meteor turned out to be a white bone left hand.
Crystal-clear like jade, it possessed a mystical quality.
Although the Emperor knew that this bone hand must be a precious item, after researching for a long time, he couldn't figure out its purpose. In the end, he had no choice but to let the matter drop and ordered it to be placed in the deepest part of the treasury under strict guard.
One night after the commotion about the bone hand gradually subsided, in the Ye Family residence in the capital:
"Mercy, Senior!"
Ye Feipeng abruptly woke up from a nightmare, sweat covering his forehead.
With a frightened expression on his nine-year-old face, his chest rose and fell violently with intense breaths.
Once his emotions settled, he realized that something was off.
Blankly staring at his small body and the surroundings, which were both familiar and unfamiliar, Ye Feipeng's eyes were filled with confusion.
"Master, what's wrong?" A maid in the adjacent room, hearing the commotion, hastily rushed in wearing only a coat.
"It's nothing, you can go!" Ye Feipeng dismissed her, rubbed his temples, and felt a chaotic mess in his mind.
"A dream? Rebirth?"
Just now, Ye Feipeng experienced a long and vivid dream. In the dream, he was brought out of Dali by an immortal master ten years later, settling on Liuli Island. After five years of cultivation, he finally expelled the miasma from his body, successfully condensing Qi and becoming a true cultivator.
Unfortunately, the life of a cultivator was not as beautiful as he had imagined. It was even far less carefree than being a dandy young master in Dali. Running around like an ox or horse every day, it took him a year to finally save enough contribution points to buy a cultivation method.
Just as he felt accomplished in breaking through to the Qi Condensation stage within three years, a shocking event occurred in the Cong Yun Sea, completely altering his values.
"Crimson Flame burns the sea, Haobo integrates the Dao."
Ye Feipeng clenched his fists tightly. His fingernails pierced his flesh, but he didn't mind. Carefully recalling the detailed reviews of this historical event by the cultivators later, he was afraid of missing any details.
"Sixteen years of cultivation to achieve the Golden Core stage, then overcoming levels to slay a Dao Integration-level figure."
"Becoming the youngest Dao Integration Immortal Sage in history."
Jealousy and ambition filled Ye Feipeng's eyes.
"With the Cong Yun Sea as his aid, he seized the critical moments of the battle between the five Soul Transformation True Monarchs and the Crimson Flame."
"He, Zhang Haobo, could do it. Why can't I?"
"As long as I go to the cultivation world ten years earlier, with the countless opportunities in my memories, I have great foresight."
"I might be able to replace him, becoming a Dao Integration Immortal Sage who dominates an entire region!"
"This should be my fate!"
Ye Feipeng's eyes were bloodshot, and his mind was filled with countless thoughts.
Suddenly, he felt a severe headache, unable to endure any longer. His vision darkened, and he fainted.
Beside him, Li Fan's figure slowly appeared in the night.