Chapter 570: A Covert Transaction
Whether the Tian Beast truly resembled a turtle in appearance could no longer be verified.
But having a specific name made searching for relevant information far easier.
Most of what Li Fan found were fragments, yet they were enough to confirm that the Tian Beast had existed as a kind of totem in the distant ancient era, closely linked to a particular belief.
The Tian Beast had most likely belonged to the Xuantian Sect. When the Ten Immortal Dao Sects annihilated the Xuantian Sect, the Tian Beast fell in the war, transforming into the nine mountains—Jiushan.
Senior Sister Zhao had once said the Xuantian Sect stole heaven's authority, granting mortals Imprints that allowed them to wield divine abilities only cultivators should possess.
If they could grant such abilities, they could naturally strip them away as well.
Perhaps that explained what had happened on the Tianling Province battlefield. The cultivators caught in the green light had lost their ability to fly and plummeted from the sky.
In my previous life, the Xuan Net had no such power-stripping ability. To suppress rebellious cultivators, they had to dispatch black-robed Celestial Artificers. Surveillance and power-bestowal were its strengths.
Li Fan frowned.
Tianxuan Soul-Locking, Xuantian Spirit-Sealing—perhaps these are simply two sides of the same coin, both expressions of the Xuantian Sect's original power.
Bestowal and stripping are both uses of heaven's authority. Two aspects of the same act: seizing heaven and replacing it.
He took out a blank, encrypted jade slip. The Dao Transformation Stone in his mind hummed faintly.
The structural diagram of the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array, memorized perfectly in his previous life, was imprinted onto the jade slip.
He made a few deliberate alterations along the way, omitting the intricate details of the central core array structure.
It took the better part of a day to finish the engraving.
He held the jade slip, his expression shifting.
The Myriad Immortals Alliance appears to hold every advantage, winning a great victory in Tianling Province. But that appearance of superiority is an illusion. The Eternal Heavenly Venerables of the Five Elders Council have only held back because of their past agreement with the Dao Teacher. In truth, the Heavenly Venerable Dao Teacher has already...
He stopped.
His original assumption had been that the Heavenly Venerable Dao Teacher had already departed the Xuanhuang World. Once that was exposed, the Myriad Immortals Alliance would face five Eternal Heavenly Venerables with almost no way to defend themselves. Leaking the Soul-Locking Array diagram to the Five Elders Council might cause the Alliance's situation to collapse rapidly, exposing how hollow its strength truly was.
But he quickly spotted the flaw in his own reasoning.
In his previous life, it was in Anchor Year 41 that Senior Sister Zhao made her probing move, which finally confirmed the Heavenly Venerable Dao Teacher had gone somewhere far away. But no one had known exactly when the Dao Teacher left.
The only hint lay in Anchor Year 24, when the Myriad Immortals Alliance had moved to implement the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array universally. Yet Li Fan recalled that when those array path prodigies first began their training, the Alliance had shown no particular urgency.
Perhaps the Alliance itself hadn't yet detected the Dao Teacher's departure. Or perhaps the Dao Teacher truly hadn't left at that point.
Should I stir the waters and test the situation?
He hesitated.
After long deliberation, he set the idea aside.
His primary goal in this life was still to form his Nascent Soul. For that, the Myriad Immortals Alliance needed to win the war in Tianling Province and relocate the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens.
Only then would Li Fan have any chance of venturing into the mysterious void where they spawned. If the Myriad Immortals Alliance were defeated... Well, when the nest is overturned, no egg remains unbroken. He would have no freedom to act at all.
But I can't leave the Myriad Immortals Alliance entirely without pressure either. If the Five Elders Council suffers defeat after defeat, the Alliance might decide their opponents are too weak to pose any real threat and see no reason to relocate the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens. That would be a problem.
After much thought, Li Fan crushed the encrypted jade slip to powder and took out a fresh one.
This time, he removed the central sections of the array entirely, preserving only the structural diagram of the outermost perimeter.
The Five Elders Council surely has its share of array path geniuses. Based on what I give them, fully deciphering the Spirit-Locking Array may be beyond them, but developing some countermeasures shouldn't be.
When he finished, Li Fan's eyes gleamed with quiet satisfaction. He stored the encrypted jade slip in a separate storage ring.
Three days later, he met with the Five Elders Council spy again.
"Fellow Daoist Zhou, any updates?" the spy asked the moment Li Fan appeared, barely concealing his impatience.
"We can obtain the diagram," Li Fan said flatly.
The Five Elders Council cultivator stared at him, stunned, then broke into an expression of disbelief and wild joy.
Li Fan soon dampened it. "But it's only the diagram of the outer array structure. And it's only the first version. The Xuantian Spirit-Sealing Array has gone through who knows how many iterations since then. It will be largely irrelevant now, useful only as a reference."
The cultivator's face fell.
However, he recovered quickly.
Even the original outer array structure was a significant gain. And frankly, it was the most he could have reasonably hoped for.
The Xuantian Spirit-Sealing Array was among the most tightly guarded secrets in the Myriad Immortals Alliance. The Five Elders Council had lost several deeply embedded spies without gleaning a single scrap of information.
If the man before him had made sweeping guarantees, he would have suspected a trap, or wondered whether he was somehow speaking to the Heavenly Venerable Dao Teacher himself.
"No matter. The original array diagram is more than enough," the Five Elders Council cultivator said, fixing Li Fan with an eager look. "What are your conditions?"
Li Fan's voice took on a measured gravity. "I trust you understand the value of what I'm offering. There is no need to elaborate—it cannot simply be measured in contribution points.
"Our demand, however, is straightforward." His gaze sharpened, his expression unreadable. "Your Five Elders Council must coordinate with our actions at certain necessary moments."
The spy blinked. "What does that mean?"
Li Fan didn't answer directly. "With the power of the Contract binding us, I trust there will be no going back on your word. Rest assured, we will not make unreasonable demands. At the critical moment, we will require the support of your Five Elders Council within a single province at most."
The Five Elders Council spy went quiet.
"Please wait a moment."
He turned away, closed his eyes, and appeared to seek instruction from his superiors.
A long while passed.
When he finally turned back around, his face was slick with sweat.
"We agree to this deal."