The cultivators of the Martial Hall exchanged glances, unease plain on their faces.
The rules were clear enough: any cultivator of the Myriad Immortals Alliance who killed a cultivator of the Five Elders Council could apply to the Martial Hall for a corresponding reward. Slaying four hostile Nascent Soul cultivators would count as a major achievement in any province.
The problem was that the man before them had been far too thorough. Nothing remained of the four Five Elders Council cultivators—no valuable body parts, no remnant souls.
The feat itself was dazzling. Its practical significance was another matter.
Refusing to grant a reward outright would damage the Martial Hall's reputation if word spread. But granting one came with its fair share of difficulties. The Congyun Sea Martial Hall's annual budget was hardly abundant. If they let Li Fan walk away with an enormous payout, how were their fellow members supposed to make it through the rest of the year?
Besides, Master Li Fan hardly seemed like someone short on contribution points. Even if the Martial Hall bled itself dry, it likely wouldn't satisfy him.
More importantly, Li Fan was now a figure of considerable renown. The old tactic of strong-arming someone into "voluntarily" forfeiting their reward was no longer an option.
Finding a solution that would satisfy both sides was a matter that needed careful discussion.
Li Fan showed no impatience. His manner made it clear he would not leave without a satisfactory outcome.
The Martial Hall members conferred quietly through divine sense transmissions, frowning as they negotiated. After several rounds of probing and counterproposal, they finally arrived at something all parties could accept.
For this extraordinary achievement, Li Fan was appointed Special Commissioner of the Martial Hall, formally entering the Myriad Immortals Alliance's official system. The entire reward would be issued in the form of merit. After assessment by the Martial Hall staff, the merit was judged sufficient to raise Li Fan's permission level directly to Yan 16.
To understand what that meant: an ordinary cultivator within the system would need at least thirty-four years of diligent service to reach this level. Li Fan had cleared it in a single step.
For him, contribution points held no particular value. Settling the reward in merit was the best possible outcome. He agreed without hesitation.
What followed was cooperation with the Martial Hall to complete the necessary procedures.
The Martial Hall submitted the application, and the Administration Hall approved it with remarkable speed. After once again going through the motions on the White Jade Heart-Questioning Platform, Li Fan officially became a member of the Congyun Sea branch's Martial Hall. Then came the issuance of merit.
By the time Li Fan left the core region of Myriad Immortals Island, he was no longer simply an ancient cultivator of the Heavenly Mechanisms Sect skilled in divination. He was now also an official of the Myriad Immortals Alliance, holding a Yan 16 permission level.
With all eyes upon me, and official status as a shield, even those who wish to act against me can no longer do so openly.
Walking along the road, Li Fan felt genuinely safer than he had in some time.
His many lifetimes within the Myriad Immortals Alliance had given him a deep understanding of how much order and rules mattered in the current Immortal Alliance. Even a Dao Unity Immortal Venerable would pay a price for violating them.
Guan Xingxiu, who had his cultivation partially crippled and was exiled to Lanlin Province in a past life, was proof enough of that. A system-affiliated identity undoubtedly added another layer of protection.
Even so, to distance himself from the storm that slaying the four Nascent Souls had stirred up, Li Fan went straight into seclusion within the Tianxuan Mirror.
A Golden Core cultivator killing a Nascent Soul was already remarkable. Facing four of them alone and surviving was the sort of feat that would mark someone as a prodigy in any era.
The topic spread without any need for deliberate fanning. Cultivators across the provinces took it up on their own. There were disbelievers, the curious, and those eager to challenge Li Fan alike, each with their own attitude toward what had happened.
Yet when they learned that Li Fan had relied entirely on artifacts purchased from the Tianxuan Mirror to kill all four, their reactions were, with surprising uniformity, the same:
"Money is a damn good thing!"
Somehow, what should have been highly confidential information known only to the Martial Hall's members had spread like wildfire.
Li Fan's deeds, together with every detail of how they had been accomplished, soon reached every province of the Myriad Immortals Alliance.
Whatever cultivators thought of Li Fan personally, his demonstrated ability to lead others toward wealth sent the number of those consulting He Zhenghao soaring once again. Fellow Daoist He himself acquired a measure of fame in the cultivator community.
Li Fan paid no attention to any of it. He cut off all communication with the outside world and cultivated within the Tianxuan Mirror.
Time passed swiftly. In what felt like no time at all, it was the end of Anchor Year 9.
The eight-month cooldown since his last entry into the Fallen Immortal Realm had elapsed. Sensing the call, Li Fan jolted awake from his seclusion.
Mister Bai. The Creation Forge Technique.
Anticipation flickered in his eyes. After brief preparations, he spoke: "Blessed be Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang."
In an instant, the scene before him blurred. When his senses returned, he was already within the Fallen Immortal Realm.
The first thing he did upon arriving was not to assess his surroundings. Instead, he called to mind the contents of the Creation Forge Technique that Mister Bai had imparted.
Exquisitely profound phrases surfaced in his mind at once, carrying with them the full weight of a Profound Art of the Great Dao, a Supreme Orthodox Method.
Li Fan lost himself in the text, unable to pull free.
"Marvelous!"
The exclamation escaped him unbidden.
An ill-timed voice dragged him out of that wondrous state.
"Little Hei, you're finally awake?"
It was Xu Ke, beaming like a simpleton.
Annoyance surged through Li Fan, and he raked a claw across the top of Xu Ke's head. Then he took stock of his surroundings. The scenery was different from the Beast Taming Sect where he had been before.
"What happened while I was asleep?" Li Fan asked through their mental link.
"Huh? Little Hei, you can finally talk?" Xu Ke's face lit with delight.
After enduring several more scratches and yelps of pain, Xu Ke finally began to explain.
It turned out that after Li Fan devoured Song Yang's Ink Immortal Tiger and fell into a digestive slumber, Xu Ke had followed the guidance of the jade token given by Lu Ya and successfully made contact with Senior Brother Lu Ya and the Sagacious Beast, Sovereign Tapir Tertius. The two had been deep in discussion when Xu Ke arrived.
Upon seeing the slumbering Heaven's Will Xuan Bird, Sovereign Tapir Tertius uttered a few cryptic words, then inserted a single white hair into Li Fan's body. From that point on, Li Fan had fallen into an even deeper sleep atop Xu Ke's head, and had only just now awakened.
"You're telling me I spent three years asleep." Li Fan's voice was flat. "And that you came to this gorge inside a minor world to search for something called a Realm-Splitting Whale?"
"That's right! Oh, Little Hei, you have no idea." Xu Ke's tone shifted toward complaint. "These things are enormous, but they hide up in the cloud layers and conceal their forms. Ordinary arcane arts and artifacts are completely useless for finding them. They're incredibly difficult to track down."