By channeling his divine sense through this multicolored model, Li Fan could experience Cloudwater Palace as if he were truly walking through its ancient halls.
But beyond that, the Cloudwater Model didn’t seem to serve any other remarkable purpose.
Perhaps “Cloudwater Record” would be a more fitting name for this thing. He mused inwardly.
Or maybe it holds some deeper secret? Otherwise, why would someone offer a hundred thousand contribution points for it?
Numerous questions swirled in Li Fan’s mind, but now wasn’t the time to pursue them.
Storing the model in his storage ring, Li Fan cupped his hands toward the turtle-snake monstrosity. “Patriarch Taiyi, I request to be sent from this place as well. I have matters to attend to with my junior brother, Baili Chen.”
A moment later, Taiyi’s ancient, weary voice echoed, “Yes... it’s good to leave. It’s good to leave...”
His tone was exactly the same as when he had sent Baili Chen away.
A blue light enveloped Li Fan, and his figure vanished.
Before Taiyi Hall, a profound and enduring silence descended once more.
As time passed, a strange, grating noise shattered the stillness.
Zii—...
Zii—...
Zii—...
It sounded like a blade scraping relentlessly against a whetstone, or a massive serpent shedding its old skin.
With each rasping sound, countless phantom swords materialized from the void and stabbed into the turtle-snake monster’s body.
Boom!
Taiyi Hall plummeted downward violently, forcing the monster’s limbs to retract. The two enormous black serpents forming its head and tail let out agonized hisses, their ferocious heads twisting as they withdrew into the hall.
“Pain... So much pain...”
Taiyi’s aged and maddened voice, thunderous with agony, reverberated throughout the entire Cloudwater Palace.
Terrifying sounds seemed to answer in kind from the white mist shrouding the various structures, building up to a chorus of suffering.
The rain of phantom broken swords intensified abruptly in a sudden downpour.
“Roar!”
The turtle-snake monster’s form finally sank completely.
Only an empty Taiyi Hall remained, along with the ever-expanding Sword Forest before it, silently bearing witness to Taiyi’s eternal torment.
***
The Congyun Sea.
Li Fan’s vision blurred, and he found himself back above the vast blue sea, though now outside the central region where the ruins of Cloudwater Palace lay.
Sensing the locations of Sikong Yi and Baili Chen, Li Fan activated the Shadow Stalk Art, closing in on them rapidly.
Simultaneously, Formless Killing Mechanism finally sprang into action.
Sikong Yi and his companion immediately met resistance, and their speeds fell drastically. Li Fan, however, only accelerated.
The distance between them shrank. Soon, he could just make out their figures ahead.
“Who are you, really?” Sikong Yi’s furious voice carried across the water. “I yielded the Cloudwater Model to you! Why do you still refuse to let us go?!”
Li Fan offered no reply, merely increasing his pace.
“You’re going too far!” Seeing this, Sikong Yi abandoned his flight and turned to face Li Fan instead.
Shimmering golden sword qi materialized around him, coiling and slithering like powerful flood dragons.
As Sikong Yi pointed forth, sword qi shot out, and a sky full of soaring dragons descended upon Li Fan.
Meanwhile, Baili Chen, employing some secret technique, suddenly sped up several times over, attempting to flee toward a distant island.
Trying to slip away like a cicada shedding its shell again? Hoping to use the island's teleportation array to return to Myriad Immortals Island?
Not a bad plan.
Unfortunately, I came prepared.
An unreadable light flickered in Li Fan’s eyes as he watched the two of them.
Ever since he'd learned from Jiao Xiuyuan that Sikong Yi and Baili Chen typically operated together, Li Fan had specifically purchased some targeted artifacts from the Tianxuan Mirror to deal with them more effectively.
A shield wreathed in flames materialized before him, blocking Sikong Yi's golden sword qi.
This was the Crimson Fire Shield, redeemed with 350 contribution points. It possessed a natural restraining effect against Sikong Yi's metal attribute sword qi.
Li Fan then retrieved a black chain from his storage ring.
He aimed one end at Sikong Yi and the other at Baili Chen.
With a gentle toss, the black chain rapidly extended, binding Sikong Yi and Baili Chen together with lightning speed before they could react.
The chain then contracted violently.
Baili Chen, who had been fleeing at breakneck speed, was yanked back hard, tumbling through the air toward Sikong Yi.
This was the Soul-Locking Chain. Li Fan had spent 958 contribution points to have it custom-made by a Foundation Establishment artifact forging master from the Myriad Immortals Alliance.
Once two people were connected by this chain, they could not separate beyond a certain distance.
Finally, looking at the two bound together, Li Fan produced an array diagram.
This was the Azurewood Violet Flame Array, redeemed with a full 1500 contribution points.
It was extremely powerful; once activated, an ordinary Qi Refinement cultivator would be reduced to ashes in two to six hours.
Li Fan's expression remained impassive as he activated the array, enveloping Sikong Yi and Baili Chen within it.
Though the sequence seemed long, from the moment Li Fan blocked Sikong Yi's golden sword qi to trapping them both in the array, it had all happened in the blink of an eye.
They had no time to react before they became turtles in a jar, with no hope of escape.
"Just who are you?!" Sikong Yi demanded.
Seeing how every one of Li Fan's moves perfectly countered them, how could he not realize this was a long-planned ambush?
Li Fan didn't answer. He simply used his Insect Binding divine ability to restrain Baili Chen.
Ignoring Sikong Yi's stream of curses, Li Fan activated the array, subjecting Sikong Yi to its scorching flames.
"AH!" Amidst screams of agony, Sikong Yi was burned to ashes.
But no phenomena appeared in the sky above.
Then, just as Li Fan had anticipated, a faint, shadowy figure slowly materialized beside Baili Chen.
The shadow writhed and gradually solidified into a physical form.
Sikong Yi had revived!
Li Fan narrowed his eyes and activated the array again.
The screams continued.
Sikong Yi died once more.
After this revival, his cultivation had fallen from the late-stage Qi Refinement realm to the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm.
Li Fan began to understand.
The violet flames leaped, and Sikong Yi faced yet another death.
Sikong Yi's curses turned to pleas for mercy, then to tearful, agonized begging.
But Li Fan remained unmoved.
This Sikong Yi was mysterious and unpredictable, with incredibly strong life-preserving methods.
Li Fan had already stolen the Cloudwater Model worth one hundred thousand contribution points from him, forging an irreconcilable enmity.
Even if he couldn't force his secrets out of him, Li Fan would never let him escape.
The Azurewood Violet Flame Array was activated again and again.
Soon, Sikong Yi's cultivation had dropped to the early-stage Qi Refinement realm.
Despair washed over his face, and he broke down, begging Li Fan for mercy.
To save his own life, he chose to lay bare all his secrets.
Li Fan listened in silence, his expression shifting constantly.
Finally, the violet flames flared.
After dying three more times consecutively, Sikong Yi failed to resurrect again.
As for Baili Chen, he turned to dust after Sikong Yi's death, vanishing completely from the world.
Where Sikong Yi had disappeared, a black token hovered silently in the air.
Li Fan picked up the token, and a stream of information instantly flooded his mind.
“He who holds this token shall command the Heaven-Swapping Sect.”