284: When one person succeeds, everyone in the family will prosper.

Dead silence.

A silence like that of a graveyard.

Zhao Linger, Fatty Zhang, and Li Hanyue were like three petrified statues, frozen in place. Their brains had completely crashed from processing information that exceeded their understanding.

The Universe... the interstellar sea... the graveyard of warships... the skeletons of giant beasts spanning the heavens and earth... every scene before them was frantically assaulting the small world view they had brought from the Tianyuan Continent.

"Fan... Brother Fan..."

All color drained from Fatty Zhang's round face. His lips trembled, and it took him a long while to squeeze out a single sentence.

"Are... are we ascended to... the Heavenly Court's junkyard?"

Li Hanyue gripped her sword so hard that her knuckles turned white.

She didn't speak, but her cold eyes were filled with shock and... confusion.

She once thought she had caught up to his back, but now she realized that what lay between them was an entire sea of stars.

Only Zhao Linger, after the initial shock, looked past that despair-inducing graveyard of stars and fixed her gaze once more on Lin Fan's back.

In her eyes, there was no fear of the unknown; instead, an indescribable heartache welled up.

Had he spent all these years here alone?

Lin Fan turned around and saw the classic 'Who am I, where am I, what am I doing' expressions on their faces, and couldn't help but find it a bit amusing.

It seemed the shock was a bit too much.

He needed to give them a change of pace.

"Stop staring. It's just some interstellar trash."

His tone was flat, as if he were talking about weeds in his backyard.

He walked up to the three of them, nodding slightly as he observed their somewhat unstable auras, caused by the clash between their internal spiritual energy and the Laws of this Realm after just crossing over.

"You've just arrived, your Foundation is unstable, and your cultivation is too low."

"I'll first help you reconstruct your bodies to adapt to the environment here."

Reconstruct their bodies?

Adapt to the environment?

Fatty Zhang and the others hadn't even reacted yet.

Lin Fan had already casually waved his hand.

Crash!

A pile of rare treasures, shimmering with various precious lights and emitting terrifying energy fluctuations, was casually piled up on the metallic floor like a small mountain.

A crimson crystal the size of a human head, with what looked like a churning sea of blood inside.

A ten-thousand-year-old ancient herb, entirely emerald green, with natural Dao patterns engraved on its leaves, emitting a majestic life force.

A mysterious fruit surrounded by wisps of Chaos Qi, which made one's Divine Soul tremble with a single glance... Each item, just by the aura it emitted, made Zhao Linger, an Alchemy Grandmaster, feel her heart skip a beat and her Soul tremble.

What grade of treasures were these?!

The legendary top-tier holy medicines on the Tianyuan Continent wouldn't even be fit to carry their shoes!

"Brother Fan, this... this is..."

Zhao Linger's voice was trembling.

"Oh, just some little trinkets I don't use."

Lin Fan spoke as if it were nothing.

"That red one is the flesh and blood crystal core of a starry sky giant beast called a Leviathan. The vitality within is decent enough."

"That stalk of grass is Ten-Thousand-Year Soul-Nourishing Grass. It's somewhat beneficial for the Divine Soul."

"That fruit is called a Chaos Dao Fruit. Eating it will help you understand the Great Dao Laws faster."

He pointed at the pile of treasures, introducing them one by one as if he were a Mortal showing off the harvest from his vegetable garden.

Fatty Zhang and the others were completely dumbfounded.

They recognized every word, but combined, they didn't understand a thing.

"Alright, stop dazing off."

Lin Fan picked up the Leviathan's flesh and blood crystal core, broke off a large piece with his hands, and stuffed it directly into Fatty Zhang's arms.

He then casually plucked a few leaves from the Ten-Thousand-Year Soul-Nourishing Grass and tossed them to Li Hanyue.

Finally, he handed the Chaos Dao Fruit to Zhao Linger.

"Just eat them like candy, don't let them go to waste," Lin Fan instructed.

"Don't let them go to waste."

Like... candy?

Fatty Zhang looked down at the crystal core in his arms, which was larger than his head and seemed to have lava flowing inside, and swallowed hard.

Zhao Linger's pretty face turned red with anxiety.

"Lin Fan! This is too wasteful! These are priceless treasures! They should... they should be refined into Medicinal Pills to maximize their efficacy!"

"Refining pills is too much trouble."

Lin Fan waved his hand with an 'you're so naggy' expression.

"Eating them directly is the most effective and fastest way."

"Don't worry, with me watching over you, you won't die."

Seeing Lin Fan's unquestionable gaze, the three of them looked at each other.

Fatty Zhang gritted his teeth and stomped his foot.

"Dammit! Brother Fan wouldn't hurt me! I'll eat it!"

He held the crystal core and took a huge bite as if he were gnawing on a watermelon.

Crunch!

An indescribably violent torrent of life energy and vitality instantly flooded from his mouth into his entire body!

Boom!

Fatty Zhang's body began to swell rapidly, like a ball being blown up, at a speed visible to the naked eye.

His skin turned crimson, and veins bulged like coiled dragons. He emitted a terrifying heat, as if he were about to explode on the spot!

"Aaaah! Brother Fan! Help... help! I'm going to explode!"

"What are you shouting for? It's just a small scene."

Lin Fan calmly extended a finger and lightly tapped Fatty Zhang's forehead.

Buzz!

A golden Bloodline Power, far more overbearing and vast than the flesh and blood crystal core, poured into Fatty Zhang's body like the Heavenly River pouring down.

The originally violent and rampaging energy torrent became as docile as a little lamb before this golden vitality.

It was forcibly suppressed, organized, and then integrated into Fatty Zhang's Meridians, bones, and flesh in an incredibly efficient manner.

Fatty Zhang's swollen body slowly returned to its original shape.

However, his aura skyrocketed as if it were on a rocket!

Foundation Establishment... Golden Core... Nascent Soul!

Boom!

An invisible shackle within his body shattered.

A terrifying pressure unique to the Soul Transformation Realm flashed from him.

His cultivation had actually broken through from the Golden Core Stage of the Tianyuan Continent, all the way through Nascent Soul, and directly entered the Transformation Initial Stage within just a few breaths!

And his Foundation was incredibly solid, without the slightest instability!

Fatty Zhang stood dazed, feeling the unprecedented, terrifying power within him that felt like it could shatter a mountain range with a single punch. He was completely stunned.

Just like that... Soul Transformation?

He wouldn't even dare to dream of this!

Seeing Fatty Zhang's transformation, Li Hanyue and Zhao Linger no longer hesitated and immediately consumed the Heaven And Earth Treasures in their hands.

Sword Intent soared from Li Hanyue, and she seemed to transform into a peerless divine sword about to be unsheathed.

Her cultivation also skyrocketed, eventually stabilizing at the Transformation Mid-Stage, even higher than Fatty Zhang's.

On Zhao Linger's side, however, a strange change occurred.

The moment she swallowed the Chaos Dao Fruit, a majestic life energy exploded within her body.

At the same time, the 'treasure map Jade Slip'—the leaf of the ancestral tree—that Lin Fan had swindled from Si Kongya, flew out uncontrollably, emitting a soft emerald green light that enveloped Zhao Linger!

"Hmm?"

Lin Fan's eyes flickered.

A deeply hidden Bloodline Power within Zhao Linger's body was completely triggered.

Behind her, the phantom of a divine tree that spanned the heavens and earth faintly appeared.

Her aura was even more terrifying than Fatty Zhang's and Li Hanyue's, climbing all the way until it broke through the Soul Transformation Bottleneck and reached the Void Refining Initial Stage!

A long time passed.

The light dissipated.

The three of them slowly woke up from the intoxication of their skyrocketing strength, looking at each other with eyes full of disbelief.

They knew they had become stronger, but they didn't know exactly how strong they had become.

"How do you feel?"

Lin Fan's voice came over.

"Brother Fan!"

Fatty Zhang was so excited his face was flushed. He pounced like a hungry tiger trying to hug Lin Fan's leg, but was kicked away by a disgusted Lin Fan.

"I feel like I could take on ten of my old selves right now!"

Zhao Linger and Li Hanyue were also filled with excitement and gratitude.

This favor was too great.

So great that they didn't know how to repay it.

"Alright, go and consolidate your cultivation first."

Lin Fan waved his hand as if he had done something trivial.

Watching the three of them excitedly run toward the cultivation room, Lin Fan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Forcibly stabilizing the world passage and then helping the three of them with cleansing their marrows and tendons had taken a significant toll, even for the Overlord Saint Body.

He sat down cross-legged, sensing the state of his body.

His vitality was depleted, but his Divine Soul appeared exceptionally solid due to the presence of the Soul Dao Barrier.

As his Cultivation Technique circulated, the stray energy in the surrounding starry sky surged frantically into his body.

Through this process of depletion and recovery, his cultivation advanced once more.

Already at the Void Refining Great Perfection, he finally touched that indestructible Bottleneck.

The Body Integration Stage.

Lin Fan slowly opened his eyes.

He knew that ordinary cultivation could no longer lead to a Breakthrough.

To step into Body Integration, he needed a death.

A high-quality death that truly touched the Origin of the Dao, allowing him to complete an ultimate transformation between life and death.

Just then.

The door to the cultivation room opened, and Zhao Linger walked out, her face carrying a hint of confusion and uncertainty.

"Lin Fan, I..."

She hesitated for a moment before speaking softly.

"I seem to... be able to feel the location of another leaf of the ancestral tree."

"It is calling me."