An odd silence fell over the Thousand Li Hall. Jiao Xiuyuan stared at Li Fan with undisguised disbelief.
"Don't look at me like that," Li Fan said with a shrug. "I meant to pay, but no matter how I called out, you didn't respond. And by the time you came to, you exploded before I could get a word in. Can you really blame me for that?"
Jiao Xiuyuan's cheek twitched as he studied Li Fan's expression of perfect innocence.
The man didn't seem the type to simply take without asking, so after a moment's thought, he forced himself to sound magnanimous. "Forget it. It was just one puppet. If it's destroyed, so be it. I have plenty more!"
"You're truly magnanimous, Fellow Daoist Jiao!" Li Fan applauded in praise.
"That painting depicted a scene from the ancient Heavenly Sword Sect, did it not?" Jiao Xiuyuan said suddenly, his eyes fixed on Li Fan with an unreadable expression. "Could it be that seeing it stirred memories of bygone days, Fellow Daoist Li?"
Li Fan held his gaze, thoughts racing. After a pause, he shook his head, his tone edged with confusion. "The Heavenly Sword Sect? You must be mistaken, Fellow Daoist. I may have lost some memories during my years of slumber, but I still recall the two stone steles, Halt and Cease, that stood before their mountain gate. The sect in that painting doesn't match."
Jiao Xiuyuan smacked his own forehead. "Ah, look at my memory. Perhaps losing a puppet just now has scrambled my thoughts.
"The Taishang Sect! It must have been the Taishang Sect!" he declared.
"The Taishang Sect..." Li Fan murmured, narrowing his eyes as if searching his memory.
After a moment, he slowly shook his head. "No. I visited the Taishang Sect once. Their thirty-three floating mountain peaks don't match the scenery in that painting either."
He looked at Jiao Xiuyuan with a trace of suspicion. "Fellow Daoist Jiao, you..."
Jiao Xiuyuan let out a dry, awkward chuckle. "Wrong again! Let me think...
"The Deliverance Sect! This time, I'm absolutely certain!" he stated with conviction.
"The Deliverance Sect?" Li Fan's interest sharpened.
Jiao Xiuyuan's first two probes had missed their mark. This third name was likely genuine.
In his previous life, during the five elements convergence of the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens, Li Fan had witnessed a Time Mirage featuring a master and disciple from the Deliverance Sect. He had been the only cultivator aboard the Dust-Crossing Boat who could see it.
He had originally attributed this to his own unusually robust soul and spiritual sense.
But if the vision he had witnessed at the bottom of the Abyssal Chasm had also originated from the Deliverance Sect...
He recalled standing at the chasm's edge, peering into its depths, when he had felt, for one terrifying instant, the chasm's power worming into his mind.
It had nearly stripped him of reason, tempting him toward a suicidal act: to plunge in for answers before Return to Truth had finished recharging.
In that moment of crisis, a brilliant light had suddenly flared from the depths below.
The words "the path to immortality is no more" had seared themselves into his mind, shocking him back to his senses. In a very real sense, they had saved his life.
It seems this Deliverance Sect is connected to me in countless intricate ways. How strange...
He pondered the thought at length, sifting through his past experiences, but could find no root cause for the connection.
"The Deliverance Sect... I've only heard the name. It seems I've never been there." Li Fan turned the question back on him. "Fellow Daoist Jiao, how much do you know about this Deliverance Sect?
"For some reason, the scenery in that painting feels familiar to me. Could it be that my memories are also in disarray?" A look of genuine puzzlement crossed his face.
Ignoring the teasing in Li Fan's words, Jiao Xiuyuan replied with some surprise, "Is that truly so? That would be remarkable indeed!"
"Oh? What do you mean by that?" Li Fan asked at once.
"Fellow Daoist, it is very likely that you are the Calamity's Answer of the Deliverance Sect cultivator who left this painting!" Jiao Xiuyuan said gravely, his gaze on Li Fan deepening.
"Calamity's Answer?" Li Fan repeated the term several times under his breath. "What does that mean?"
"As their sect name implies, Deliverance Sect cultivators use deliverance from calamity as fuel for their cultivation. Their technique, Eternal Tribulation, Unending World, draws power from all manner of disasters and tribulations. Each calamity they successfully navigate produces a qualitative leap in their strength.
"The more severe the calamity, the greater the power they receive upon overcoming it.
"But by the same token, each subsequent advancement demands they face an even more dangerous calamity.
"Yet there are countless calamities in this world, tribulations capable of shattering heaven and earth itself. How could any Deliverance Sect cultivator ever be certain of survival?
"When they perceive they might not survive their next impending calamity, they employ secret arts to withdraw temporarily from the world.
"At the same time, they leave behind various means, waiting for the one who can resolve that specific calamity to appear.
"That person is what is called a Calamity's Answer."
Hearing this, Li Fan frowned deeply. "Such a technique exists? By that reasoning, has some Deliverance Sect cultivator marked me? Fellow Daoist Jiao, is there a way to undo this?"
Jiao Xiuyuan waved a hand. "Don't be so tense! Thousands of years have passed. Who knows if the cultivator who left this painting still exists?
"Moreover, even if he does, you need not worry. His hope of overcoming his calamity depends entirely on you. Before the calamity is overcome, he would never act against you.
"And if you help him overcome it, he would owe you a profound debt of gratitude and be bound by duty to repay the favor. That rule has been upheld within the Deliverance Sect since its founding. Without it, who would ever play this game with them?
"Furthermore, consider this: you would be capable of resolving a calamity that he himself could not survive. By that point, your strength would likely surpass his. He should be burning incense in gratitude that you don’t go looking for trouble with him. How would he dare make things difficult for you?"
Jiao Xiuyuan dismissed Li Fan's concerns and regarded him with renewed interest.
"Fellow Daoist Li Fan, to be chosen by a Deliverance Sect cultivator as a Calamity's Answer... your future truly knows no bounds!"
Li Fan felt slightly more at ease after hearing this.
Yet a thorn had been planted in his heart.
Judging from the assistance he had received in the Abyssal Chasm, that Deliverance Sect cultivator was certainly still alive somewhere in this world.
The man likely couldn't monitor Li Fan's every move at all times, but who could say what prolonged observation might uncover?
I need to find an opportunity to deal with this hidden threat.
Outwardly, however, he showed nothing. He turned to Jiao Xiuyuan and said, "Fellow Daoist, your knowledge is deeply profound. To be so intimately familiar with the secrets of ancient sects is truly impressive. Most admirable!
"By the way, how many contribution points for this painting? I'll take it. I can't let you suffer a loss on this transaction, Fellow Daoist."