Li Fan gave a mysterious smile.
"This is precisely where your legions of puppets will prove their worth."
Jiao Xiuyuan's eyes lit up at the words. He nodded repeatedly.
At that same moment, within the cities of the Myriad Immortals Alliance where guardians were stationed, and amid the ruins of sects scattered across remote wildernesses, countless identical faces began telling a story to those around them.
The tale's protagonist was a cultivator from the ancient Heavenly Mechanisms Sect who awakened recently after slumbering for thousands of years.
This man possessed the divination secret arts of the Heavenly Mechanisms Sect and wielded a supreme treasure, the Qiankun Heavenly Mechanisms Die, capable of comprehending Yin and Yang and penetrating the mysteries of creation.
He could even pierce the veil of time and foresee the future.
To receive his guidance was to have all manner of fortuitous encounters within easy reach.
Defying fate and altering destiny aside, becoming fabulously wealthy overnight would be a trivial matter.
He Zhenghao of the Congyun Sea was a living example.
If you didn't believe it, a simple inquiry would lay all doubts to rest.
In short, Jiao Xiuyuan's account elevated Li Fan to the realm of myth, casting him alongside the great powerhouses of antiquity.
Such extravagant claims were naturally met with skepticism by most cultivators. They shook their heads and dismissed it as another young master from some prominent family manufacturing his own reputation, a mere publicity stunt.
A very small fraction, however, found themselves intrigued. They began pressing Jiao Xiuyuan for specifics.
At that point, Jiao Xiuyuan clammed up.
Once curiosity was piqued, how could it be so easily extinguished? Restless and itching to know more, many cultivators sent inquiries to their friends in the Congyun Sea.
What they discovered left them shaken: the rumors might not have been entirely fabricated.
In the Congyun Sea, there truly was a group of cultivators who had profited enormously under Li Fan's guidance.
Unable to reach Li Fan directly, they settled for the next best thing: seeking out He Zhenghao and the other cultivators who had participated in Li Fan's first fundraising round.
He Zhenghao was bewildered by the flood of inquiries that kept pouring in. Left at a loss, he could only answer honestly.
The other participants were in the same situation.
And so the news was corroborated.
Some were greatly disappointed. The first fundraising round had involved a paltry 200,000 contribution points—the same tired old scheme of tearing down the east wall to patch up the west wall, something they themselves could easily pull off.[1]
Others, however, quietly rejoiced after studying the list of participating cultivators, convinced they had stumbled upon a rare opportunity.
Among the names, they found a cultivator called Zhou Peng.
Zhou Peng was not someone of exceptional cultivation, but he enjoyed a close relationship with Elder Gongsun of the Congyun Sea branch's Heavenly Mechanism Hall.
The name Gongsun Qixuan was known even to cultivators outside the Congyun Sea.
If this Li Fan were truly a fraud, would Zhou Peng have been foolish enough to fall for it?
And judging by how Zhou Peng had nearly staked his entire fortune each time he participated in the fundraising rounds, this ancient Heavenly Mechanisms Sect cultivator was likely anything but simple.
After another round of filtering, the number of cultivators seeking Li Fan's contact information decreased, but those who remained were all the more fervent.
In the Thousand Li Hall, listening to the feedback Jiao Xiuyuan relayed, Li Fan sat as steady as an angler waiting for a bite, his expression unchanged.
He let the rumors ferment for over ten days.
Just as public discussion about Li Fan began to wane, he spoke.
"Fellow Daoist Jiao, it seems we can proceed with the next step," Li Fan said solemnly.
"Excellent. Sit back and watch, Fellow Daoist." Jiao Xiuyuan chuckled, his presence fading once more.
At that same moment, across the Myriad Immortals Alliance, whether one had been watching the spectacle from the sidelines or desperately seeking Li Fan's contact information without success, all received new word from Jiao Xiuyuan.
Far too many cultivators had been trying to seek him out of late, and Master Li Fan was truly overwhelmed by the disturbance.
Furthermore, in the face of mounting accusations of fraud, Li Fan had entrusted Jiao Xiuyuan to relay a message that would prove his capabilities once and for all.
The time was set for three days hence.
The announcement caused an immediate sensation. Those who believed in Li Fan felt a thrum of anticipation. Those who had dismissed him as a fraud from the very beginning were filled with contempt, eager to watch him humiliate himself.
Believer or not, the topic had already seized overwhelming attention. Factor in those cultivators present purely for the spectacle, and for a time, the vast majority of low-to-mid-realm cultivators within the Myriad Immortals Alliance looked forward to Li Fan's performance three days later.
As for those at the Spirit Transformation realm and above, they paid little mind to such minor commotions. Only a bored few turned their gaze toward the affair.
Amid the cultivators' discussions, the appointed time finally arrived.
The entrance of the Thousand Li Hall, once so deserted one could have caught sparrows at its gate, was now packed with people. They all craned their necks, watching Jiao Xiuyuan and waiting for Li Fan's declaration.
Countless puppets of Jiao Xiuyuan moved in unison, their expressions identical. His gaze swept over the crowd, his bearing solemn.
He cleared his throat.
"Fellow Daoist Li Fan states that, to prove he is no fraud and to defend the honor of the Heavenly Mechanisms Sect, he did not hesitate to spend his own lifespan to activate a secret art," Jiao Xiuyuan declared gravely. "He has ultimately succeeded in foreseeing the future once more!"
He paused, holding the crowd's attention in an iron grip.
Then he announced, "He has seen that, not long from now, the price of an item called Samantabhadra True Leaf will skyrocket, and the tremors will be felt across the entire Myriad Immortals Alliance!"
Silence fell.
Before the crowd could even process his words, Jiao Xiuyuan turned and retreated into the Thousand Li Hall. The great doors slammed shut with a resounding boom. No matter how much those outside shouted, there was no further response.
"Samantabhadra True Leaf? What is that? A price surge? Is it real or not..." Most of the onlookers were baffled, unsure what to make of it.
Those with quicker minds had already rushed to the Tianxuan Mirror to check the price. To their astonishment, they discovered that the moment Jiao Xiuyuan made his proclamation, the price of Samantabhadra True Leaf had shot straight up from 265 points.
"Everyone, stay rational! The price is rising because too many people are buying at once. That fraud Li Fan must have hoarded a massive stockpile in advance. He's just waiting for everyone to drive the price up so he can offload his goods!" A self-proclaimed expert offered his analysis, earnestly trying to talk the cultivators around him down from the ledge.
But the price was climbing right before their eyes. Even if it fell later, as long as one sold before the drop, there was still a small profit to be made, wasn't there?
More and more cultivators, watching the ever-rising price of Samantabhadra True Leaf, ultimately couldn't resist and bought in, just a small amount each.
Perhaps each individual purchase was modest, but the sheer number of cultivators involved was staggering.
As a result, the upward trend accelerated even further.
In a short span of time, Samantabhadra True Leaf surged from 265 points to 300.
Li Fan and Jiao Xiuyuan were buying up stock just as frantically.
Meanwhile, in a courtyard somewhere in Tianshu...
"Fellow Daoist Tantai! It's a disaster! Look at the price of Samantabhadra True Leaf! 310—no, 320 now!"
By the time Tantai Can snapped out of his shock, the price had already reached 340 points.
He snarled in furious panic.
"Damn it!"
"Forget the price! Buy back every Samantabhadra True Leaf on the market. Now!"
1. english equivalent is robbing Peter to pay Paul ☜