Based on what was currently known, the Five Elders Council's territory encompassed four major domains: the Paradise of No Troubles, the Land of Truth, the One Mind Immortal Sect, and the Celestial Realm of Man's Dao.
The fifth and final domain remained unaccounted for. The scholar had never mentioned it in his lectures, which made it all the more mysterious.
Of the four known domains, the Land of Truth and the One Mind Immortal Sect were currently the most dangerous. The Celestial Realm of Man's Dao and the Paradise of No Troubles, by comparison, posed relatively little risk.
And yet Li Fan, knowing full well where the tigers lived, had chosen to walk straight into their den. Naturally, it was because he had long admired Senior Sister Zhao...
Alright. The real reason was that he wanted to use this rare opportunity of having a puppet body to investigate the territory of Heavenly Venerable One Mind.
From his previous life, Li Fan knew that under Senior Sister Zhao's power, individual beings were connected as a single unified whole, a state known as Multitude As One.
Once absorbed by her, a being's every memory and experience would be shared across the entire collective.
For someone who possessed Return to Truth, this was completely unacceptable. In truth, the One Mind Immortal Sect posed a greater threat to his real self than even the Land of Truth.
Using this puppet body of Jiao Xiuyuan’s as his proxy for exploration, however, reduced the risk considerably. Several factors supported this.
First, according to the scholar, not every cultivator within the One Mind Immortal Sect had been absorbed into Senior Sister Zhao.
As one of the world's most formidable hunters, she was also extraordinarily selective. Only the most elite cultivators, survivors of round after round of culling, were deemed worthy of entering the legendary Immortal Sect. She would not casually absorb any ordinary cultivator, let alone a wooden puppet. The chances of drawing her attention were negligible.
Second, this puppet was one of Jiao Xiuyuan's avatars, built with a concealed self-destruct mechanism. Even if Senior Sister Zhao, tired of fine fare, decided to sample something simpler and moved to devour it, all she would get was dead wood. The wisp of consciousness riding inside would have long since dissolved on its own.
That said, one could never afford to underestimate the terrifying power of an Eternal Heavenly Venerable.
As Li Fan pushed the puppet northward at speed, he proactively stripped down the wisp of consciousness inside it. He scraped away all memories, leaving only a single directive: go to the One Mind Immortal Sect.
The side effect was immediate and obvious. He had already been controlling the body with the barest sliver of consciousness; after paring it down further, that sliver grew so faint it could barely manage the puppet's movements. The result was a "Jiao Xiuyuan" who moved awkwardly and appeared not particularly bright.
But as long as it could relay everything it saw, heard, and perceived back to his true self, that was enough.
Li Fan drove the puppet onward toward the One Mind Immortal Sect at full speed.
"Fellow Daoist Jiao, wait for me." Before long, Lu Fan came panting up behind him. "I've thought it over. I'll come with you after all."
"The Paradise of No Troubles has plenty of rare things, but seeing the peerlessly elegant Senior Sister Zhao with my own eyes wouldn't be bad either." A flash of yearning crossed Lu Fan's face.
Li Fan turned to look at him and asked flatly, "Fellow Daoist, who are you?"
Lu Fan froze.
But seeing that Li Fan showed no sign of joking, he could only conclude that something had gone wrong with Jiao Xiuyuan's puppet body. He had no choice but to introduce himself all over again.
Li Fan said nothing in reply, gave a slight nod, and kept walking.
Lu Fan couldn't help feeling a flicker of irritation, but having already spoken up, it would have been awkward to back out now.
They traveled in silence, drawing steadily closer to the One Mind Immortal Sect's territory.
Teleportation arrays did exist within the Five Elders Council's domain, of course. They were installed in the cities and towns of each province, but cultivators from the Myriad Immortals Alliance who had not yet been assimilated had no right to use them.
Unlike the Myriad Immortals Alliance, the Five Elders Council did not maintain an immortal city in each province. Instead, large towns were scattered across the land like stars, with mortals and cultivators living side by side.
Each town was divided into inner and outer districts, separated by a tall circular wall. Cultivators occupied the inner city; mortals lived in the outer ring. Neither disturbed the other. Beyond the towns, in the mountains and wilderness, cultivators had carved out their own cave dwellings and mountain gates.
The overall layout bore a striking resemblance to the cultivation world of ancient times.
In most other respects, the customs of the two powers were entirely different. The one thing they shared was the White Mist Barriers that stretched across heaven and earth, marking the boundaries between provinces.
Li Fan's current position was in Wuding Province, within the Celestial Realm of Man's Dao. Passing through the Lifespan-Devouring White Mist ahead would bring him into the neighboring Xuanyin Province.
What surprised him was the crowd gathered at the edge of the White Mist Barrier. Like mortal street vendors, they were calling out their wares at full volume.
"Samantabhadra True Boats! Thirty thousand soul points each! Buy two, get one free! Bulk discounts available!"
"Crossing the White Mist Barrier? Step right up! One hundred soul points buys you a spot on a Samantabhadra True Boat. Save fifteen days of lifespan! One hundred soul points, and you're covered!"
"Samantabhadra Boat rentals, full range of options! Interested parties, come quickly!"
The calls overlapped and rose in waves, as lively as any mortal marketplace.
The noise caught Lu Fan's attention.
"Fellow Daoist Jiao, come look at this! These flying boats are actually built entirely from Samantabhadra True Leaf, and in large quantities!" He examined them for a moment, then couldn't hold back his exclamation.
Seeing the memory-stripped Li Fan looking completely blank, Lu Fan resigned himself to explaining.
"After the Samantabhadra True Leaf incident, rumors began spreading that artifacts made from the material could reduce the lifespan consumed by the Lifespan-Devouring White Mist. That's what kept the price from completely collapsing. But they were only ever rumors. I've never seen a functional artifact made from it. I certainly didn't expect to find them everywhere here in the Five Elders Council's territory..."
He waited for a response. Li Fan's expression remained vacant.
Feeling as though he were talking to a wall, Lu Fan sighed and gave up, turning instead to question one of the roadside vendors.
Soul points were the universal currency of the Five Elders Council, and functioned much like the contribution points of the Myriad Immortals Alliance.
Joining the Five Elders Council entitled one to receive techniques free of charge, but at a price: a Soul Contract had to be signed. It was said that accumulating enough soul points allowed one to dissolve the contract and buy back one's freedom, though few cultivators ever managed it. The overwhelming majority chose to spend their soul points on higher-tier techniques instead, strengthening themselves to earn more soul points in turn.
It was not simply a matter of selling oneself. Contracts permeated every aspect of life within the Five Elders Council, whether daily commerce or every other facet of life.