An illusion? Or perhaps a premonition from the sprout?
Su Fan only had time for this question to surface in his mind before a intense wave of dizziness swept over him.
Spiritual erosion.
Stronger than before.
Before Su Fan’s eyes, numerous terrifying and colorful illusions began to flicker.
These illusions were beyond even his ability to fully see clearly. To an ordinary person, they would appear as nothing more than chaotic light sources flashing rapidly.
By his ears, a rhythmic tidal sound gradually grew louder. At the same time, the sea shrouded in gray mist began to stir with subtle movements.
Something—some “existence”—was coming.
Was it the main body? Or was this merely a prelude?
But at this moment, Su Fan had no attention to spare for these external disturbances.
He could feel his senses being twisted and contaminated. He wanted to resist, but could not fully hold it back.
At this rate, it was likely that before the entity in the sea could fully emerge, Su Fan would already have suffered severe damage.
His head felt like it was splitting apart, yet despite overwhelming fear and erosion, he forced himself to look up, wanting to witness the changes happening in the ocean!
And it was precisely at this moment that a distorted, expanding dialogue box appeared in Su Fan’s mind.
Had the system’s dialogue box been distorted too?
No… that’s not right… the spiritual erosion had deepened again.
[Warning…]
[Through touching a book imbued with eerie power, you have been pulled into a certain unspeakable illusion.]
[You came into contact with an item left behind by a high-level mysterious existence too early. This has affected your spirit and soul.]
[The situation is urgent. Forced separation will now be carried out immediately.]
The instant the dialogue box appeared, all the scenery before his eyes dissolved completely.
The ocean, the gray mist, the decayed docks he had seen earlier—all of it reverted to floor tiles and bookshelves.
Su Fan took several deep breaths, and only after feeling his spirit gradually stabilize did he raise his head again.
A stream of warm blood flowed from his nose. Su Fan wiped it away with his hand and saw a smear of crimson.
From beginning to end, he had never seen the true face of the power source behind the book.
Merely being pulled into the illusion had caused the intensity of the spiritual erosion to multiply exponentially.
So much so that the system had intervened with forced interference.
It had been the right call to let the Winchester brothers leave first.
If they had been caught up in it, there would have been no other outcome except losing their minds and going completely insane.
[A high-level mysterious existence…]
In Su Fan’s mind, the key phrase from the system’s description surfaced.
Could it be what people call a higher-dimensional being?
In his past life, people on the internet liked to use the term “dimensional strike” to describe an overwhelming, hopeless gap between two sides.
When a higher-dimensional being strikes a lower-dimensional one, the latter has almost no ability to fight back.
Su Fan thought for a moment, then shook his head.
A higher-dimensional being couldn’t possibly descend directly into a lower-dimensional space.
Saying there’s no ability to fight back at all was giving the enemy too much credit and undermining his own morale.
The moment a higher-dimensional existence appears in a lower dimension, it means it has lowered its own power level.
As long as it shows a health bar, there’s always a way to beat it.
But clearly, the opponent’s current level was far above Su Fan’s.
Forget a face-to-face confrontation—just getting slightly close to that long health bar would probably make Su Fan cough up blood.
Fortunately, with the system’s forced intervention, the other party didn’t seem to have noticed Su Fan’s existence.
He had a premonition that if he were to be gazed upon by the existence emerging from the sea, he would inevitably be locked onto by it.
“At least there’s still time to cultivate slowly and improve my strength.”
Thinking this, Su Fan couldn’t help but let out a long sigh.
What kind of place was this, really…
A random encounter with a deranged murderous family, and there was something like this in their study.
Su Fan weighed the book in his hand, wrapped it in paper, and turned to leave the room.
——
After returning to the antique shop, Su Fan didn’t immediately begin cultivating. Instead, he started recovering his spirit, which had suffered some contamination.
It was worth mentioning that when he had brought the book back, the astrologer ghost had shown extreme hostility and panic.
If Su Fan hadn’t still held her soul contract, she would probably have fled to some unknown place.
This situation only gradually improved after Su Fan used talismans to seal the book away.
During the days Su Fan was away, Ron had kept the antique shop in perfect order, and even in his spare time, he had taught himself knowledge related to appraisals.
The two or three scattered antiques he had acquired were all judged correctly.
It was seeing his excellent performance that made Su Fan suddenly remember—this person was a top graduate from Stanford University, and moreover held a doctorate in the extremely difficult field of medicine.
Academic credentials don’t necessarily represent ability, but in most cases, they can represent a person’s learning efficiency and speed of mastering knowledge.
He was so outstanding that Su Fan even felt like keeping him as a long-term employee of the antique shop.
However, that was as far as the thought went.
News came from New Orleans—there was an important meeting within the Mayfair family that required the head of the family to attend in person.
Ron had no choice but to bid farewell to Su Fan and board a private jet to New Orleans.
Once away from this antique shop, she became once again the helm of a billion-dollar family empire.
Su Fan, remaining in the shop, felt a slight chill of loneliness, but he quickly composed himself and threw himself into his daily cultivation.
After she left, Su Fan’s life returned to its normal track.
Except that compared to before, the focus of his cultivation had shifted somewhat.
The previous spiritual attack incident had made Su Fan realize his deficiency in mental fortitude.
When facing high-level spiritual interference, this weakness had been fully exposed.
So he changed his previous cultivation approach, which had focused solely on cultivation level.
He recited the Calming Mind Incantation morning and evening, and increased his daily practice related to mental state.
After starting, Su Fan realized just how wise this decision was.
Many ancient sages like Huang, Lao, Lie, and Zhuang had all emphasized the importance of dual cultivation of body and soul—comprehensive cultivation of both the physical and spiritual, reaching the supreme realm of perfection.
This idea had deeply influenced Chinese culture and numerous myths and legends.
In his past life, Su Fan had always seen many foreign literary works and films exploring the impact of immortality on humans.
Most of the content was the sorrow of lifespan theory, and the protagonist unable to bear the weight of an endless lifespan—wanting to die after living too long, or having their humanity worn away over the long years, becoming twisted and numb.
But interestingly, in Chinese mythology, one never heard of any existence that had attained the great Dao and lived as long as heaven undergoing a transformation toward a worse mentality.
Su Fan thought that part of the reason was that whether it was those who created the myths and legends, or those who listened to these stories, they all assumed that those who obtained immortal fruit must possess a matching mental state.
As time passed, Su Fan could gradually feel his own changes.
The many divine powers and skills connected with each other more freely, and in application, they became more refined and nuanced.
The soul damage the book’s illusion had inflicted on Su Fan healed mostly within half a month.
Of course, Su Fan didn’t neglect the cultivation of his own realm and body either.
During his recovery period, Sheriff Dyson paid a visit and talked with Su Fan about the recent movements among Los Angeles’ political elite.
The son of a certain city councilman had been exposed by the media for serious crimes against humanity.
The matter hadn’t been buried as usual—instead, it escalated.
The councilman was removed from office, his son thrown into prison, and the councilman’s wife seemed to have gone mad from the upheaval. She ultimately got into a severe car accident and died on the spot.
