Chapter 568: The Five Elders Council Asks For Help
The green viscous fluid covering the floor seemed to retain a trace of awareness even after Sima Changkong's death.
It crawled outward slowly, like worms.
Wherever it spread, the hard crystal floor sizzled and dissolved beneath it.
Li Fan drew a quiet, sharp breath at the sight.
This Xuan Net is truly ruthless. It hunts its target down through whatever medium attempted to record it.
Then a thought struck him, and his expression shifted.
He pulled a blood-red communication spirit talisman from his storage ring. "Fellow Daoist Sima, are you alright?"
Silence. He waited. Nothing came back.
Damn. That means all his avatars are gone too. Li Fan's cheek twitched again.
The Xuan Net's pursuit-and-kill capability was terrifyingly thorough.
He had assumed only the avatar here in the Congyun Sea had been destroyed. Now it seemed Sima Changkong was dead in every sense of the word.
This blood-colored communication spirit talisman had been specially refined by Sima Changkong using his own essence blood. So long as a single Blood Division Avatar still existed anywhere in the world, Li Fan could use it to reach him.
But now, all of Li Fan’s attempts at communication were like throwing stones into the ocean.
The outcome was already obvious.
Sima Changkong's laughter, his voice, the memory of the two of them drinking and discussing the Dao together—all of it was still vivid. And now, just like that, he was gone.
Sima Changkong, go in peace. In your next life, let's have another drink.
Li Fan felt no particular grief. He simply shook his head, activated the Five Elements Annihilation Sword, and destroyed the undersea crystal palace, leaving it as Sima Changkong's modest tomb.
To be capable of this, and even more aggressive than the Xuan Net I remember from my previous life, this is no half-finished product. His expression darkened.
Back in Anchor Year 9, every cultivator at the Nascent Soul realm or above from the provincial Heavenly Mechanisms Halls and Strategy Array Halls had been transferred to the Myriad Immortals Alliance headquarters. Not one of them had been heard from since.
Later, the Alliance had issued a Recruitment Decree, drawing in every brilliant mind in the array path from across the world.
Four years had now passed. It seemed they had produced results.
The Myriad Immortals Alliance has revealed its killing move. Now we'll see how the Five Elders Council responds. With my prior warning, they shouldn't be entirely without countermeasures.
It's a pity the Tianling Province battlefield is too dangerous, and the only Fellow Daoist who could have provided a live broadcast, Sima, has perished. Now I can't learn the specifics of the battle.
A mild regret settled over him.
Still, one thing was certain: with a weapon like the Xuan Net now deployed, the war in Tianling Province should be nearing its end.
A bit faster than anticipated. But for me, this is welcome news. I’ve already reached the final-stage Golden Core realm. Everything is in place.
I just need to wait for the war to end, for the Myriad Immortals Alliance to move the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens back to the heartlands, and then I’ll go investigate the void of Tianling Province.
Cultivation feedback from his many subordinates in the Congyun Sea continued flowing ceaselessly into his dantian, accumulating within his Tribulation Body. The first Tribulation Body was already more than half-formed.
Gauging his own rate of progress, Li Fan considered: If I break through to the Nascent Soul realm in one go, I'll probably shoot straight through to mid-stage Nascent Soul in an instant.
He shook his head, dismissing the fantasy for now. The war wasn't over yet, and keeping a low profile still mattered. With nowhere better to be, he put the Five Elements Annihilation Sword to work again, carving out a cave dwelling deep in the underwater trench. He sealed it with arrays and activated A Single Hand Veils the Heavens before he felt truly at ease.
Over the past year, Li Fan had also made one trip to the Fallen Immortal Realm. The journey back from the Southern Abyss Demonic Mountain to the Beast Taming Sect had been genuinely long and grueling. The vast majority of that visit had been eaten up by travel.
Possessing Little Hei, Li Fan devoted the time to cultivating the Creation Forge Technique refined by Mister Bai, which kept the tedium at bay.
When Little Qing finally carried him and Xu Ke back to the sect, they found that both Lu Ya and Sovereign Tapir Tertius had vanished without a trace. Neither had reappeared by the time Li Fan left.
There should still be over half a year before the next entry. I should prepare to form my Nascent Soul first.
Within his mind, the Dao Transformation Stone shimmered, and every insight on Nascent Soul formation he had ever studied came flooding back. Reading through them all again now, comparing and cross-referencing sources, he felt he was seeing them with fresh eyes.
Time lost all meaning in cultivation. Three months passed in what felt like a breath.
While Li Fan's true self remained in secluded contemplation, his avatar Zhou Qing'ang suddenly received a calling card.
Liu Yihang? Li Fan's expression shifted. The true Medicine King Cauldron had not yet returned, so this Liu Yihang could not be Liu Ruchen's adopted son.
Then he must be from the Five Elders Council. His interest sharpened.
In their previous transaction, Li Fan had demanded the Five Elders Council deliver ten million contribution points to He Zhenghao under the alias Liu Yihang. That name had indeed appeared on He Zhenghao's fundraising roster.
Something urgent must have come up. They left no contact information before, and now they're risking exposure by coming to me directly.
Li Fan opened the calling card, memorized the meeting address, and channeled his spiritual power through it until it crumbled. When night fell, he went to the meeting place alone.
Five hundred li northwest of Congyun Immortal City lay a mortal island with no cultivator guardian. At its center stood a bamboo grove; within the grove, a thatched hut. Li Fan stepped inside and fixed his gaze on the figure waiting there.
It's him.
The other party had concealed his appearance with a secret technique, but Li Fan recognized him at once. This was the Five Elders Council contact he had met at the Myriad Vault during the transaction for the Myriad Immortals Alliance entrance exam questions.
"What should I call you? Last time we met, I didn't notice at all that you weren't the real Zhou Qing'ang. Hah, when the boss told me afterward, I was genuinely shocked," the man said, his tone unfriendly.
"You took all this risk to find me just to say that? What a waste of everyone's time." Li Fan gave a cold snort and turned to leave.
The Five Elders Council cultivator's expression shifted immediately. "Wait!" He stepped forward quickly to block the way, his voice turning more conciliatory. "Fellow Daoist, let's talk this through properly."
Li Fan gave him a measured sidelong look, then turned back and sat down. The cultivator exhaled and got to the point.
"The Xuantian Spirit-Sealing Array diagram?"
Li Fan's eyes narrowed. "I don't have it."
The Five Elders Council cultivator did not look discouraged. If anything, his expression brightened. "Fellow Daoist, your first reaction wasn't to ask what the Xuantian Spirit-Sealing Array is. You refused outright.
"That, precisely, proves you are aware of it.
"You must help us!"
He spoke with complete sincerity.