My Longevity Simulation Chapter 1129: The Meaning of the Anchor Point

A deep black robe, lengthy and flowing, was adorned with nine golden dragons twisting and coiling together.

Beads from the imperial crown hung low, shrouding the face and concealing its appearance.

"Truly befitting the Heavenly Mandate Holy Emperor; ordinary people can barely catch a sight of the dragon's visage."

Sensing Li Fan's eyes on him, Sun Erlang's frame shook faintly, and he bowed his head without thinking.

At that moment, he spoke in a rough voice: "To answer Teacher, this disciple has failed you. I merely reached the first layer of Qi Condensation just yesterday."

"Drawing in qi into your body so quickly, using only the thin spiritual qi in the palace, is quite an achievement." Li Fan offered no blame; he simply nodded approvingly.

Sun Erlang's expression filled with deeper shame upon hearing this: "Without the Xuanhuang Immortal Heart Mantra passed down by Teacher, I would likely still be tormented by the poison in my body, cut off forever from the path of immortality."

With those words, Sun Erlang prostrated himself repeatedly, kowtowing with deep thanks.

Li Fan made no move to halt him.

"By yesterday, a full one hundred and sixty troops had stepped through the threshold and cast off their mortal shells. All those who couldn't pass the test have been completely handled." A hint of hesitation flashed in Sun Erlang's gaze, though he hid it swiftly.

"From now on, you will form the core strength in my campaign across countless realms; train hard without cease, day after day."

"Regarding spiritual qi, have no concerns. In three days, you will take this immortal vessel yourself and journey to the Eastern Ruins Abyss."

With a light flick of his finger, Li Fan brought forth a ten-zhang wooden vessel right before Sun Erlang.

Silver patterns covered the entire boat, radiating an aura of deep mystery.

"Indeed a divine artifact. For Master to hand over such a marvelous treasure to me without hesitation." Sun Erlang's chest tightened; he nodded quickly in agreement.

The immortal boat then drifted into his arms.

A feeling of total command, as if it were part of his own limb, surged instantly in Sun Erlang's thoughts.

"Depart." As he lingered on the vessel's secrets, Li Fan's command rang out right on cue.

Sun Erlang gave a respectful bow and withdrew.

Now, only Li Fan remained in the vast rear garden of the imperial palace.

Under the veil of beads from the crown, within the dimness, the featureless face looked both odd and chilling.

"Heh, were it not for this world's fated short lifespan, and my offhand effort to teach the law to others, it would have taken me far longer to realize the Xuanhuang Immortal Heart Mantra escapes the limits of the 'law of incompatible cultivation.'"

"Does the Immortal Heart Mantra lie outside the realm of cultivation techniques, or is it a unique blessing from the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao meant for the Xuanhuang Great Celestial Venerable?"

"Regardless, the scheme to choose a fitting heir for the Xuanhuang Great Celestial Venerable down the line will turn out much simpler than I expected."

Li Fan's mind wandered gradually. In a flash, he materialized atop the towering Holy Emperor Base in Xuan Capital City.

Traces of weak spiritual qi refreshed Li Fan's form.

This prevented his present late Foundation Establishment stage from declining for want of spiritual qi.

After more than a hundred cycles of rebirth, peaking at Soul Transformation strength akin to Dao Integration experts, Li Fan, though back at Foundation Establishment now, viewed the world with a perspective unlike his earlier incarnations.

For example: a minor mortal realm such as Great Xuan held no complete absence of spiritual qi, since it remained linked to the Xuanhuang Realm.

The scarcity arose solely from the small world's distinct makeup, along with the barrier of the Immortal Severing Great Formation, making the spiritual qi so faint it was nearly nonexistent.

Standard cultivation practices couldn't harness it at all. Only creatures with extended lives, gathering it slowly over time, managed to scrape together a modest amount of spiritual qi.

For example, that massive serpent spanning hundreds of feet on Jieli Mountain.

"Extracting every bit of spiritual qi from a whole world would only just keep a Foundation Establishment cultivator alive at the basics..."

"Yet pulling some from the Xuanhuang Realm poses no problem."

The Taiyan Boat handed to Sun Erlang by Li Fan came equipped with fresh arrays. Their role was to steer the boat into the Xuanhuang Realm on its own, draw in spiritual qi to store, and fly back.

Inside the Taiyan Boat, Sun Erlang couldn't perceive the outside events. He only had to guide the vessel to the Ruins Abyss brink.

Even with Li Fan's current mastery of formations, siphoning spiritual qi from the Xuanhuang Realm while hidden by the arrays would evade detection easily.

Still, it wasn't a sustainable approach in the end.

To produce spiritual qi out of nothing, he would depend on the Dao One Insect.

The Dao One Insect stood as a strange rare creature that Li Fan couldn't conjure from nowhere.

Yet...

Passing by the reminder to hold onto prior life's choices for , Li Fan examined his personal interface.

Name: Li Fan

Realm: Late Foundation Establishment

Physical Age: 20/399

Mental Age: 1399/9999

Virtual Transformation Charging Progress: 3%

Anchor Charging Progress: 0%

Current Anchor Points: 3

Current Available Anchor Slots: 1

Bound Items: Xuantian Mirror Origin (Damaged), Taiyan Boat, Ten Thousand Beasts Condensation Crystal, Ten Thousand People's Essence Blood, Dao Deviation Stone, Final Dissociation Disc

...

"The physical age has reset to the 399 years typical for Foundation Establishment, but that's nothing to fret over. Long before the life span runs out, I ought to have triggered ."

"The mental age cap, despite once advancing to Soul Transformation, failed to expand as expected; it appears to have reached a ceiling..."

Li Fan gave these a quick look before moving on.

He directed his focus mainly to the count of anchor points and the attached items.

At first, open anchor slots numbered 2, but incorporating the fresh Five Elements Cave-Heaven bumped it to 3.

For the present, just one slot lingered.

This stemmed from Li Fan employing an empty anchor point to swap out bound items.

The "Thousand Mechanisms Jade Cosmos Golden Sutra" gave way to the Xuantian Mirror Origin.

The Halted-Step Remnant Stele (Damaged) shifted to the Myriad Beasts Condensation Crystal.

Anchor points proved tough to acquire usually, yet while taking in the newborn Five Elements Cave-Heaven and creating anchor points, Li Fan grasped a deeper understanding of their core nature.

Heaven And Earth Wonders, Golden Core laws, and Nascent Soul Cave-Heavens.

The demand for to ingest these as anchor points likely served to build its grasp of "external entities."

Much like how the Tianxuan Mirror advanced by gauging the cosmos, advanced bluntly via consumption and integration of knowledge.

"It's precisely the reverse of my earlier assumption."

"Items nearer to the world's fundamental truths yield greater recharging advancement. Foundation Establishment marvels and Golden Core laws lack depth; they fail to meet 's demands."

"Hence, the anchor points produced from such absorptions stay constrained."

"On the flip side, Nascent Soul Cave-Heavens, rebirth evolutions, and even heavenly spirits deliver huge surges in recharging progress."

"With the immense Xuanhuang Realm as fuel, the supply of anchor points won't be a pressing issue for now."

As such, Li Fan promptly engaged the anchor point swap feature without delay.

The Xuantian Mirror Origin came from a lucky find in his last life.

Concerning the Ten Thousand Beasts Condensation Crystal...

In his prior life, just prior to launching the world-ending scheme at last, Li Fan had toured multiple small worlds for one final check.

The Ten Thousand Beasts Wheel yielded gains from the Empire and from Xu Ke's holdings.

Li Fan's recollections gradually returned to that moment.

"The Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance's abrupt attack; the Federation of All Worlds base wiped out?" Xiao Qing's complexion drained to ashen at Li Fan's news.

"Had I not cut off the Spiritwood Realm's tie to you promptly, the Empire might already lie in utter devastation." Li Fan let out a soft sigh.

The Imperial Daughter and Xiao Hong shared a look, their minds both gripped by residual dread.

"Still, no need for undue alarm. Though the Spiritwood Realm fell, nearly all headquarters personnel fled unharmed and lurk in seclusion for the moment. When the crisis fades, the Federation of All Worlds will rebound in a flash." Li Fan spoke the falsehood with a steady face.

Accepting this obvious untruth, the Empire and the rest found comfort instead.

As he heard the Empire and others recount late developments, Li Fan reached the Empire's storehouse.