The man had seemed relatively amiable, but Li Fan's question visibly shifted his expression.
"Haha, you must have misheard, Fellow Daoist. What site? I know nothing of it!" He waved his hands immediately, assuming the air of someone who had been approached by mistake.
Without waiting for a response, he shot off into the distance. His speed was astonishing, well beyond that of an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator.
Having finally found someone who might know something, Li Fan had no intention of letting the lead vanish. He gave chase at once, careful not to press too closely, maintaining a measured distance.
At the same time, he sent a steady stream of transmissions. "Fellow Daoist, please don't misunderstand. I bear no ill will. I am simply very interested in what you mentioned earlier."
The man not only ignored him but pushed his speed higher, trying to shake Li Fan loose. Li Fan clung stubbornly to his trail, continuing to send his persuasions.
Only after roughly half a day, when it became clear he couldn't be rid of Li Fan, did the man finally begin to slow. He looked around, and seeing no one else nearby, his face settled into an expression of visible uncertainty. He was clearly wrestling with himself.
After a brief hesitation, he spoke in a low voice. "This is no place to talk. Follow me, Fellow Daoist."
Li Fan smiled slightly and cupped his hands. "Then I thank you in advance, Fellow Daoist."
He followed the man westward for several hundred li, until they dove beneath the sea and arrived at a structure that resembled a crystal palace.
Deep within the cave dwelling, the man invited Li Fan to sit, then let out a soft sigh.
"It wasn't that I refused to speak earlier. I simply feared that a careless word might bring trouble."
Li Fan nodded and didn't press. "How should I address you, Fellow Daoist?"
"I am Sima Changkong." He waved a hand, and a servant appeared, a being with a human upper body and the tail of a fish in place of legs. It poured two cups of tea, bowed, and withdrew.
Li Fan's gaze followed it briefly.
"A beastkin. A personal eccentricity of mine. I hope you won't think poorly of it, Fellow Daoist." Sima Changkong took a shallow sip of tea, his expression unchanged.
Beastkin. Li Fan's eyes flickered. He had heard that term before. Senior Brother Zhang had used it for the half-beast, half-human skeletons found in Mister Bai's basement in Ningyuan City. He had assumed them extinct, yet here one stood.
He felt no particular urge to make an issue of it. He gave a slight nod and steered the conversation back to the matter at hand.
"Fellow Daoist Zhou, is it..." Sima Changkong let the name fall casually, revealing without ceremony that he already knew Li Fan's puppet's identity. "Now that we are within my private residence, we may speak freely.
"Do you know why Myriad Immortals Island is named such?"
Li Fan had actually wondered about this. The sky cities of other provinces all took their names from their regions—Daoyuan City, Shilin City, Tianyun City, and the like. Yet the stronghold in the Congyun Sea was called neither Congyun City nor Congyun Island, but Myriad Immortals Island. He had searched through records and found nothing that explained it, and so over time had simply accepted it as a matter of convention.
It seemed now that there was a reason for it after all.
"I am all ears," Li Fan said, settling his attention on Sima Changkong.
"Long ago, when this part of the Congyun Sea was still dry land, there was a great lake," Sima Changkong began, his voice unhurried. "In the lake sat an island. It was upon that island that the Heavenly Venerable Dao Teacher first imparted the Dao to the masses.
"At that time, tens of thousands of cultivators and mortals gathered there to receive the Immortal Venerable's teachings.
"In the end, they all comprehended the Heavenly Venerable's cultivation method, and from that comprehension grew the very foundation of the Myriad Immortals Alliance."
He continued at the same calm pace.
"Perhaps owing to the Heavenly Venerable's protection, even as the world changed around it—seas changing into mulberry fields, mountains rising and falling—the island's form was never altered.
"Thousands of years later, when the present Myriad Immortals Alliance was founded and a capital had to be chosen, they selected this very island out of reverence for the Heavenly Venerable Dao Teacher.
"In a sense, it would not be an exaggeration to call it the birthplace of the Myriad Immortals Alliance. That is why it bears the name it does."
Sima Changkong finished his account and took a deep drink of tea, watching Li Fan quietly.
Li Fan considered what had been said, his brow creasing slightly. "If it is the birthplace of the Alliance and the site where the Heavenly Venerable first imparted his teachings, why is so little about it known today? Relevant records are nearly impossible to find. And not only that, its defenses were so lax that it was simply snatched away."
He shook his head, as if not quite persuaded.
Sima Changkong let out a long sigh. "That is precisely why I was reluctant to speak of it earlier."
He fell silent for a moment before continuing in a lower voice.
"Tens of thousands of our forebears sacrificed everything to spread the Heavenly Venerable's new methodology. That is how the Myriad Immortals Alliance's current foundation was laid. It was a heroic and magnificent undertaking, the kind that should be set down in grand epics and remembered by every living cultivator.
"Yet now it is being downplayed, and even suppressed entirely.
"The reason is this: the Heavenly Venerable has not appeared in the world for many years. And those who now hold power in the Myriad Immortals Alliance are no longer the original Dao Imparters from that era."
He drained the rest of his cup. "The conflict between the old and new methodologies was far more brutal than most people imagine. The great sects of old, faced with something that threatened the very foundations of their authority, did not hesitate to raise their blades. The truly pure Dao Imparters almost all perished in that struggle.
"Those who survive today are nothing more than petty scoundrels who stole the Heavenly Venerable's authority for themselves."
A thread of undisguised disdain ran through his voice.
Li Fan's eyes narrowed slightly.
The explanation was plausible enough.
In mortal dynasties, it was common for shifts in power to dim the memory of former heroes, or reshape them entirely. The cultivation world was no different.
For an island to endure unaltered through the vicissitudes of time, that alone suggests Myriad Immortals Island hides some secrets.
The Myriad Immortals Alliance must have investigated it thoroughly at some point and found nothing, which is why they have grown negligent. The Five Elders Council, on the other hand, must have recently come into new information—information significant enough to justify the enormous risk of open war.
His thoughts ran quickly through the implications.
After a moment, he looked at Sima Changkong, who was still quietly seething, and asked another question. "Fellow Daoist Sima, you seem to have a thorough understanding of the hidden history of the Myriad Immortals Alliance.
"Yet based on what you have described, Myriad Immortals Island appears to hold greater symbolic weight than practical value. It hardly seems worth the enormous risk the Five Elders Council took to seize it. What is your own view on that?"
Sima Changkong's expression grew serious.
He considered for a moment before speaking. "I do have a thought.
"The original Dao Imparters, having cultivated at an exceptional pace, held views and practiced habits that remained close to those of ordinary mortals.
"Among mortals, there is a saying: fallen leaves return to their roots.
"Because of that, in those days, when a Dao Imparter fell in battle against the orthodox sects of the immortal path, their comrades would often retrieve their remains and carry them back to Myriad Immortals Island for burial."