The underlying structures of the two arrays were not identical, but the sense of seclusion and complete isolation they exuded were one and the same.
Li Fan was willing to venture a bold conjecture: the inspiration for the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array had very likely come from this Xuantian Abyss-Sealing Array.
The name "Xuantian" inevitably called the Xuantian Sect to mind, that sect that had long since vanished into the river of history.
Could the Oddities of this world trace their origins all the way back to the era when the Xuantian Sect still existed? If so, might one encounter Oddities within the Fallen Immortal Realm as well?
As Li Fan studied the array diagram, his thoughts drifted.
The diagram had been crafted by some special method and sealed beneath several layers of restrictions, preventing unauthorized eyes from glimpsing the Abyss-Sealing Array's complete structure. It was designed so that even those with no expertise in arrays could operate it without error and project its effects outward.
Masterfully done. After studying it at length, Li Fan quietly set aside any hope of obtaining the array's full structure and moved on, exhaling a soft breath of admiration.
During his daily inspections of the construction site, he used moments when no one was watching to quietly inscribe the Xuantian Abyss-Sealing Array into the gradually rising walls of Congyun Immortal City.
While Li Fan poured his mind and strength into building the floating city, the strand of consciousness attached to the puppet body, millions of li away in the territory of the Five Elders Council, was enduring its own kind of torment.
Nearly two full months had passed since he had first arrived at the bamboo pavilion to attend the scholar's lectures. His understanding of the Five Elders Council's inner workings had grown little. Instead, he had been made to memorize legend after legend from the Celestial Realm of Man's Dao, each one about some cultivator who had reshaped the world according to a passing whim.
Wang Linlang loved beauty and vowed that "white hair shall not be seen in the mortal realm," and so within the Celestial Realm of Man's Dao, even mortals in their eighties walked around with heads full of gleaming black hair.
Yue Chengjin, abandoned by his beloved, turned bitter and cursed that "all lovers under heaven shall end as siblings," a declaration that unleashed decades of tragic forbidden love across the realm. Fortunately, the sincere devotion of one truly loving couple eventually broke the curse, and the rule of "ending as siblings" was changed back.
Qu Su loved fishing but often came home empty-handed, so he swore a great vow: all fish under heaven shall bite when they see bait. After that, everyone became a master angler.
There were countless tales like these. At first, they were interesting enough. After three months, they had become quietly unbearable.
Yet, like every other cultivator gathered before the bamboo pavilion, Li Fan found he could not control his own body. He could not even block out the scholar's voice. He was compelled to listen. Worse, he discovered that everything the scholar said seemed carved directly into his memory, impossible to forget.
And so everyone sat with expressions of barely suppressed resentment, absorbing the scholar's indoctrination whether they wished to or not.
Then, one day, after a particularly long lecture, the scholar finally showed a flicker of weariness. He rose and stretched.
"As the saying goes, seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times. Even if I spoke for another hundred years, it would not compare to witnessing things for yourselves."
He looked out over the assembled Myriad Immortals Alliance cultivators and offered a benevolent smile. "I shall give you three years. During this time, you may travel freely anywhere within the Five Elders Council's jurisdiction. When the three years are up, return here and tell me, in your own words, what you make of the Five Elders Council."
With that, he turned and walked slowly back into the bamboo pavilion. The door shut behind him, and the restraints binding the group dissolved.
"What does this mean? They're just letting us go?"
The Myriad Immortals Alliance cultivators exchanged uneasy, suspicious glances.
"Is this some kind of trick?"
"Fellow Daoist, you've frightened yourself into seeing ghosts. We're meat on their chopping block, why would they need tricks to deal with us?"
"Hmph! Why put them up and drag yourself down like that?"
"Heh, harsh as it is, I think Fellow Daoist Lu Fan has a point..."
Everyone talked, yet not a single person stood up to leave the valley.
Li Fan shook his head and paid them no further attention. He turned and walked back the way they had come, drawing glances from the others as he went. The farther he moved from the bamboo pavilion, the more his body, which had been reduced to a fraction of its normal size, gradually returned to its full dimensions. Nothing blocked his path.
He exited through the long tunnel and emerged from the mountain cave to find the armored cultivators who had been standing guard were also gone.
He rose into the air and scanned the horizon for any trace of Myriad Immortals Island. The place where it had anchored was utterly empty, without a single mark left behind.
I wonder if the Five Elders Council found what they were looking for in the end. His gaze swept the surroundings.
A profound loneliness pressed in on him—the world was vast, yet he knew not where he belonged.
He caught himself in the middle of that thought and stilled. He was not the type to wallow in melancholy or put on airs of sorrow. Why had such feelings risen unbidden? The image of the scholar surfaced in his mind.
Was it him?
Before the thought had fully settled, a shout rang up from below: "Fellow Daoist Jiao! Fellow Daoist Jiao!"
Li Fan paused. It took him a moment to register that the call was for him. He looked toward the voice and found Lu Fan, who had also emerged from the cave and was hurrying over after spotting him.
"Where are you headed, Fellow Daoist Jiao? How about we travel together?" Seeing that Li Fan was looking at him without responding, Lu Fan pressed on. "The Five Elders Council's territory is vast, no smaller than the Myriad Immortals Alliance's. This is foreign land, unfamiliar in every way. At least if we travel together, we can watch each other's backs."
His tone grew animated. "I've heard that among all the regions of the Five Elders Council, the Paradise of No Troubles is the most popular. It offers all sorts of pleasures and wonders, and interesting local products like Bliss Crystals. Apparently, if you take one, you’ll feel as if you're floating free, as if you've ascended to ultimate bliss..."
Li Fan regarded him for a moment. "Fellow Daoist, if I recall correctly, you held the position of Recorder in the Congyun Sea branch's Administration Hall. You are paid by the Myriad Immortals Alliance. Now that you've regained your freedom, why is your first thought not to go home? Why are you so eager to explore the Five Elders Council's territory instead?"
Lu Fan froze. Then sweat began to bead on his forehead, and his face went ashen.
Li Fan understood at once.
So it really is that scholar's doing. The Five Elders Council certainly knows how to work on a person's mind.
"How subtle," Lu Fan muttered, half to himself. "If you hadn't said something, Fellow Daoist, I might never have noticed."
A long sigh followed. "No wonder the Five Elders Council let us go so easily. Even now that I know my thoughts have been tampered with, I can't undo it. I know the Myriad Immortals Alliance is my home, and yet I can't bring myself to want to go back..."
He was still murmuring when he noticed that Li Fan had already taken to the sky and was flying off into the distance.
"Fellow Daoist Jiao! Where are you going? Take me with you!"
"The One Mind Immortal Sect!" Li Fan called back, not bothering to turn around.