My longevity simulation

However, the world is ever unpredictable.

During the year that Li Fan patiently waited for the changes within the Xuanhuang Realm, and for his clone to successfully retrieve the Black Sword, something utterly unforeseen occurred—something that had never once happened in any of his previous cycles of reincarnation.

That day, Tianyang, who had been lying idly within the Spiritwood World, suddenly sat upright.

He gazed in a particular direction toward the Xuanhuang Realm, his expression solemn.

Tianyang’s unusual behavior immediately caught Li Fan’s attention.

He knew his junior brother’s temperament well. Aside from himself, Tianyang rarely showed concern for anything or anyone else.

To see such grave seriousness on his face now could only mean that something extraordinary had happened.

“Junior brother, what is it?” Li Fan flashed before him, pretending to ask casually.

“I sensed an extremely powerful spatial fluctuation descending upon the Xuanhuang Realm. It vanished in an instant, making it impossible to pinpoint the source.”

“But I am certain of what I felt.” Tianyang’s speech had become increasingly fluent—his words were brief but precise.

Li Fan’s heart skipped a beat. “An extremely powerful spatial fluctuation? What do you mean?”

“If it were just ordinary spatial teleportation within the Xuanhuang Realm, it would not produce such an intense ripple. This means the Xuanhuang Realm…”

“Has received a visitor from beyond the heavens?” Li Fan interjected.

Tianyang gave a slight nod.

At once, Li Fan’s expression grew grave.

“In this dark star sea, there are still cultivators alive?”

“Or… could this person have come from beyond the Great Wall?”

Countless thoughts flashed through Li Fan’s mind.

Even with his usual composure, he found himself unsettled.

The matter of an outsider arriving from beyond the heavens was shocking enough, but what truly disturbed him was that such an event had never occurred in any of his prior reincarnations.

Where had the course of fate diverged, leading to the descent of a guest from beyond?

“Or perhaps…”

A sudden thought stirred in Li Fan’s mind. “Maybe this did happen in previous lives, but at that time my strength was too low to perceive it.”

After pondering for a long while, Li Fan finally calmed himself.

Such a tremendous disturbance would certainly not go unnoticed by the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance or the Five Elders Association.

He decided to first observe their reaction.

“Junior brother, I’ll trouble you for a while. See if you can trace that spatial fluctuation,” Li Fan instructed.

Tianyang nodded in acknowledgment.

As it turned out, although the descent of the heavenly outsider remained unknown to the common populace, it undeniably caused considerable unrest among the ruling powers of the Xuanhuang Realm.

Most notably, the previously tense standoff between factions had suddenly eased.

For more than thirty consecutive days, the Immortal Ancestor Manifestation of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance did not appear again.

Meanwhile, the Five Elders Association was eerily quiet, almost unnaturally so.

It was as if both sides had paused their ongoing struggles to focus on something else entirely.

Li Fan, too, sent a message to the Five Elders Association, inquiring about the intense spatial fluctuation.

Their reply confirmed his suspicions: they had indeed detected the anomaly and were already investigating its cause.

They further added that, should the Federation of All Worlds discover anything, they were to report it immediately.

…

“Such seriousness is rarely seen.” Li Fan rubbed his chin, his brow slightly furrowed.

“The most crucial thing is that the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance joined hands with the Five Elders Association. After searching for so many days, they still have not found that outsider from beyond the heavens?”

A faint sense of unease rose in Li Fan’s heart.

After pacing back and forth several times, he finally made up his mind.

He went to the small, worn-out temple in Yongyun Prefecture and stood before the Stone Tablet Elder.

“You are talking about that fluctuation from not long ago?” Senior Stone Tablet seemed to have truly grasped some insight into the Way of Fishing. The aura around him fluctuated unpredictably, rising and ebbing like the tide, exuding an invisible pressure that shook the surroundings.

With Li Fan’s current strength, even trying to get close caused him to be forcibly pushed away by that unintentional power. Li Fan could not help feeling alarmed.

“Yes. The intensity of that spatial fluctuation clearly exceeded the standard of spatial teleportation within the Xuanhuang Realm. If it truly came from beyond this world, I fear…” Li Fan said with a worried expression.

“The Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance and the Five Elders Association have been searching together, yet still have no results. For the safety of the Xuanhuang Realm, I could only come to seek your guidance, Senior.”

Senior Stone Tablet fell silent for a long time.

However, it was not that he refused to answer—it was as if he had fallen asleep.

After a while, when he awoke again, he shook his head and smiled. “Though I have long grown weary of this life, I still bear the responsibility of the Genesis Stone Tablet. If the Xuanhuang Realm were truly facing life and death, how could I possibly sit idly by?”

“This matter is actually a misunderstanding. It was not an outsider from beyond the heavens…”

“In any case, if you truly wish to know the full story, go to this place and find this person.”

As the Senior Stone Tablet spoke, he lightly tapped toward Li Fan.

Immediately, corresponding information surfaced within Li Fan’s mind.

Senior Stone Tablet once again immersed himself in the insights of the Way of Fishing. Li Fan bowed respectfully and then departed.

“Qinghuang Prefecture, Han Zhong?”

Li Fan frowned as he examined the information the Senior Stone Tablet had sent him.

He had been to Qinghuang Prefecture before.

It was located in the southwest corner of the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance, desolate and remote, vast in land but sparsely populated.

Compared to the Congyun Sea, it was even more backward, ranking at the very bottom among all territories under the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance.

“Could it be that precisely because of that, it is the most suitable place to hide?”

Thinking so, Li Fan turned into a streak of light and flew toward Qinghuang Prefecture.

After considerable effort, when he finally arrived and stood before Han Zhong’s residence, even before entering, Li Fan smelled a strong scent of alcohol.

“Why does no one believe me?”

“Good wine!”

“Heh, it’s all fake, nothing but a dream! Hic…”

Li Fan’s frown deepened.

Stepping into the room, he saw a disheveled cultivator with an unkempt beard, his clothes tattered, lying sprawled on the floor without a shred of composure.

In his hand, he clutched a wine jar tightly, his eyes unfocused.

A sweep of divine sense across Han Zhong’s body revealed no danger.

The man was merely a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator, posing no threat whatsoever.

“You are Han Zhong?” Li Fan asked coldly.

Han Zhong looked at Li Fan in confusion, his gaze vacant for a few seconds.

Then, as if he had not seen Li Fan at all, he lifted the wine jar again and continued drinking.

Li Fan snorted coldly and was about to use a Soul-Searching Secret Art to extract the truth directly from the drunkard’s mind.

However, just as his right hand touched Han Zhong’s head, he suddenly withdrew it, as if burned by fire.

“Hm?”

Li Fan stared at his palm in astonishment.

Though his flesh appeared unharmed, he could clearly sense that at the instant of contact, his divine soul had withered!

It was not an injury—it was as if his very soul was decaying, like that of a cultivator on the verge of death.

Li Fan’s heart trembled.

He knew that his divine soul strength at this moment was such that even among Dao Integration cultivators, few could match him.

Yet now, before a mere Golden Core cultivator, he had been injured?