“It is indeed so!”
Li Fan’s loud voice echoed through the space.
The White Jade Heart Examination Platform remained quiet, without any response.
The old man took another careful look at Li Fan and continued to ask, “May I know where you were in slumber and approximately when you awoke?”
Li Fan showed a displeased expression but still answered in a deep voice, “On the outskirts of Congyun Sea, in an underground cave. As for the time, it should be about twenty-six days ago.”
“Please wait a moment.” The old man said with a smile, then closed his eyes.
Li Fan waited patiently on the Heart Examination Platform.
After a full day had passed, Li Fan began to show signs of impatience.
“Is it not done yet, old man?!”
“Each generation is worse than the last. Back in the day, our Tianji Sect selected disciples without such hassle…”
He muttered softly.
Soon after, the old man opened his eyes.
“Upon verification, a few days ago, there was indeed a cultivator flying out from the Hundred Stone Cave.”
“However, please be patient, there is one last procedure to complete.”
The old man smiled apologetically. As he spoke, a simple bronze mirror appeared above Li Fan’s head.
It emitted a faint green light, enveloping Li Fan.
“It’s here…”
Li Fan’s heart stirred, but he remained unafraid.
In the past, with the Crucible of Ten Thousand Forms combined with the secret technique [One Hand Covers the Sky], he could deceive the upgraded version of the Tianxuan Mirror, the [Xuan Net].
Now, with the addition of the Seven Aperture Exquisite Heart, and only a clone of the Tianxuan Mirror here for verification, the risk of exposure was minimal.
As expected, after a moment, the Tianxuan Mirror retracted its green light and disappeared.
The old man’s expression became even more amiable. “Welcome, fellow Daoist, to our Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance!”
“As time flows and everything changes, many significant events have occurred during your years of slumber.”
“If you have any needs, we can assign a specialist to help you quickly adapt to the present life…”
Li Fan waved his hand. “I appreciate the kind offer! However, before coming here, I had some interactions with He Zhenghao from Glass Island, so I am already quite familiar with the affairs of your alliance.”
The old man nodded. “That’s even better. Your identity information has been recorded, and you are now free to move around.”
Upon hearing this, Li Fan strode away.
“By the way, remember, you should change your wording. From now on, it’s not ‘your alliance’ but ‘our Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance’.” The old man said with a meaningful smile.
Li Fan paused briefly, said nothing, and left directly.
He left the central area of the Ten Thousand Immortals Island and arrived before the Tianxuan Mirror.
Looking at the seemingly ordinary, harmless mirror, Li Fan couldn’t help but recall the green web that covered the entire Xuanhuang Realm in the future.
After staring for a long time, Li Fan took a deep breath and walked into the mirror.
“Ancient cultivator Li Fan, welcome to the future!”
The familiar mechanical voice of the Tianxuan Mirror sounded.
Then followed a series of introductions and explanations about the Tianxuan Mirror.
Li Fan pretended to listen attentively and tried out each function.
After a long time, the voice of the Tianxuan Mirror disappeared.
Li Fan looked at his contribution points balance.
“10,000 points.”
“Such generosity is surprising. I remember when I reached the late Foundation Establishment stage, I only received 1,000 points.”
“Or maybe ancient cultivators get special treatment?”
Shaking his head, he put this insignificant matter aside.
After searching through the technique list in the Tianxuan Mirror, Li Fan took out a pile of jade slips from his storage ring and requested to sell them.
They were the various techniques he had obtained from the Hundred Stone Cave.
Fortunately, these techniques were all unique copies.
There were originally twenty Golden Core techniques and ten Nascent Soul techniques.
Li Fan kept three of each for future use.
He sold all the rest.
The Tianxuan Mirror offered an average of 13,000 points per Golden Core technique and 85,000 points per Nascent Soul technique.
Li Fan didn’t haggle and sold them directly.
In an instant, his account balance became 826,000 contribution points.
“Trading techniques is really fast money, much easier than my years of teaching at Mingyue Palace.”
“Demand is truly high.”
Li Fan couldn’t help but sigh.
“With more than 800,000 contribution points, it’s enough to last for a while. But it’s still not enough…”
Currently, Li Fan was in the mid-Golden Core stage.
In eight years, or 16 years as the anchor point, the Five Elements Great Subworld would be discovered and then moved to the core area of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
In 36 years as the anchor point, the Void of Tianling Continent would reappear, drawing the attention of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
This meant Li Fan only had 20 years.
Time was tight, and Li Fan had to reach the peak of the Golden Core stage within eight years.
Only then would he be qualified to plot for the Void of Tianling Continent.
Eight years to advance from mid-Golden Core to peak Golden Core.
Given Li Fan’s cultivation aptitude, it was challenging.
So, he naturally had to use some methods.
Li Fan looked at his reflection in the mirror.
It wasn’t his original twenty-year-old appearance.
Instead, he looked like a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties.
This was achieved through the [Mystical Transformation of True Spirits] technique.
“Disguising oneself and not showing the true face gives a unique sense of security in this perilous Xuanhuang Realm.”
“If things go wrong, it’s just a matter of changing identities.”
Li Fan smiled faintly and purchased the materials needed for refining a clone from the Tianxuan Mirror.
Then, through the teleportation array, he arrived at Taian Island.
After using the Formless Killing Intent to lock onto Zhou Qingang, the spy of the Five Elders Association, who guarded Taian Island.
Pretending to leave Taian Island, he didn’t go far but lurked underwater.
After waiting for more than a month, he finally got the chance when Zhou Qingang went out to sea alone.
Following him to a deserted sea area.
He suddenly activated the Binding Insect divine power and captured him.
Taking him to the seabed, he dug out a secret chamber as usual.
Without any nonsense, he lightly tapped his finger, activating the Cloud Water Dream Technique.
Zhou Qingang immediately fell asleep.
With the experience of the previous life, Li Fan knew that Zhou Qingang’s soul contained a special restriction from the Five Elders Association.
If he forced a soul search, it would trigger the restriction, causing his soul to scatter.
So, in this life, Li Fan used a different method, constructing a false dream world to explore his innermost secrets.
Gradually, a smile appeared at the corner of Zhou Qingang’s mouth.
In the dream, he had been lurking in the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance for hundreds of years.
Starting from the grassroots, when he broke through to the Nascent Soul stage, he finally became the master of Ten Thousand Immortals Island.
With his inside help, the Five Elders Association launched a massive attack, capturing the entire Congyun Sea in just a few days.
And Zhou Qingang finally returned home with great merit and pride.
…
“Land of Gentlemen?”
Looking at Zhou Qingang, who was immersed in the illusion, Li Fan mused thoughtfully.
Chapter 429
According to Zhou Qing’ang’s memory, under the rule of the Five Elders Association, there were five “Celestial Realms” in total, each governed by different Longevity Immortals.
Each “Celestial Realm” had starkly different characteristics from the others.
His homeland was called the “Land of Gentlemen.”
It got its name because no one within could tell a lie.
Of course, that was what the people within the “Land of Gentlemen” called themselves.
Cultivators from other parts of the Five Elders Association preferred to call it the “Land of Truth.”
Regardless of what it was called, it didn’t affect its wonderful essence.
There, people were always honest with each other, always showing their truest selves.
Although some killing was inevitable from time to time, compared to the outside world filled with lies, Zhou Qing’ang loved his homeland deeply.
To the north of the “Land of Truth” was the dream destination of countless cultivators, the “Land of Carefree Bliss.”
As for the other three realms, Zhou Qing’ang was still young when he was chosen for spy training, so he didn’t get to know about them.
…
As the dream was about to shatter, Li Fan replayed the dream sequence again.
To ensure the accuracy of the information obtained.
He repeated this process three times.
Taking some biological materials from Zhou Qing’ang, Li Fan began to use them as a template to create a doppelganger.
Several days later.
A body identical to Zhou Qing’ang’s appeared.
Li Fan nodded slightly, then followed the same method, activating the Mystical Transformation of True Spirits to change himself into Zhou Qing’ang’s appearance as well.
A rather eerie scene appeared in this small underwater secret chamber.
Three bodies with completely identical appearances, but with different expressions.
“Marvelous, marvelous!”
Li Fan nodded with satisfaction.
Looking at the still unconscious Zhou Qing’ang with a smile on his face, a strange light flashed in Li Fan’s eyes.
“I won’t kill you in this life, to avoid leaving any traces.”
“Being forever immersed in an illusory dream might not be a bad thing for you.”
Using materials at hand, Li Fan crafted a stone coffin for Zhou Qing’ang.
After placing him inside, he scattered a pile of spirit stones to maintain his vitality.
Li Fan then set up an array with “Cloud Water Dream Illusion” as its core.
It could maintain an illusory realm for at least twenty years.
He then sealed the stone coffin with huge rocks and buried it deep in the seabed.
“This way, no one in the world except me should discover that you’ve disappeared.”
After dealing with all traces, Li Fan’s gaze seemed to penetrate the seabed, looking at Zhou Qing’ang sleeping in the illusory dream, and said with satisfaction.
His actions were inspired by the “Eternal Immortal Wall” from the future “Xuan Net” timeline.
When cultivators in the Xuanhuang Realm die, the heaven and earth respond, and strange phenomena appear in the sky.
Li Fan hadn’t yet mastered a method to prevent these phenomena from occurring.
And now, he couldn’t let others discover that the real Zhou Qing’ang was already dead.
Using this method was the most suitable solution.
After doing all this, the doppelganger returned to Tai’an Island to continue as the guardian of the Tai’an Island.
The true body then headed towards the meeting point with the superior, as remembered in Zhou Qing’ang’s memory.
Zhou Qing’ang actually knew very little about his superior.
The contact had always been mostly one-way.
And after each meeting, the location for the next meeting would change.
Li Fan arrived at an uninhabited island and searched it, indeed finding an ordinary-looking stone.
Only in specific positions were there a few inconspicuous small holes.
These small holes represented coordinates from the Congyun Sea.
Li Fan calculated the location for this meeting based on the coordinates.
After crushing the stone, he flew directly towards that location.
A day later.
In a ruin at the bottom of the sea, Li Fan found his target.
A seemingly ordinary broken stone.
Li Fan placed both hands on it, simultaneously activating a secret technique, his palms emitting a yellow light.
In an instant, the same pale yellow glow emerged from the broken stone, quickly scanning over Li Fan’s entire body.
Verification passed, the light returned to the broken stone.
Soon after, the surface of the broken stone became smooth as a mirror.
A blurry face image appeared within.
“What’s going on? Didn’t I tell you to lay low and not contact me recently?”
The other party’s tone was icy, reprimanding.
Li Fan, imitating Zhou Qing’ang’s tone, said: “Boss! I have important intelligence to report this time, that’s why I made an exception to contact you!”
“Important intelligence?” The other side was clearly skeptical, with an unfriendly tone,
“Let’s hear it.”
Li Fan lowered his voice and leaned in closer, saying: “A fellow cultivator I’ve befriended, according to him, he can get hold of the test questions for this Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance’s entrance exam.”
The face first froze, then immediately cursed: “Another con artist? You believe such an outrageous thing? And you specially report it to me?”
“Zhou Qing’ang, oh Zhou Qing’ang, have you been in the Cloud Sea for so long that your brain’s waterlogged?”
Li Fan immediately put on a very wronged expression: “Boss, this time it’s as true as it can be! I can guarantee it!”
Seeing Li Fan’s earnest appearance, the face also became somewhat hesitant.
“How so?”
Li Fan said: “This fellow cultivator of mine has connections above!”
“I reported to you before that I had befriended He Zhenghao, the guardian of Liuli Island, right? This person, like me, is at the Foundation Establishment realm. Not long ago, he was complaining to me about how hard it is to accumulate contribution points, saying he wanted to change his cultivation method but didn’t know how long it would take.”
“Who would have thought, after not seeing him for a few days, he had already switched to an Nascent Soul cultivation method!”
Li Fan narrated with an exaggerated tone.
“Such an anomaly naturally caught my attention. I went to great lengths to find out…”
By now, the face had been somewhat drawn in by what Li Fan was saying.
Seeing him suddenly withhold information, he immediately scolded: “Hurry up and speak!”
Li Fan chuckled: “This He Zhenghao is no simple character!”
“On the surface, he seems just an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator. But in reality, his background is frighteningly powerful!”
“He has a daughter called He Xinxin. Hmph, in fact, she should be called Heng Xinxin!”
“Boss, have you heard of the Heng family from Tianyu Prefecture of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance?”
“The apple of the Heng family’s eye, Heng Ruoshui, who became a Nascent Soul Weaving Master at a young age, is actually He Zhenghao’s old flame!”
“Who would believe this if it were said? But it turns out to be true!”
“Previously, it seems that because He Zhenghao’s cultivation level was too low, he was forced to cut ties with the Heng family. That’s why he was living quite poorly.”
“But recently, it seems that things have taken a turn for the worse.”
Li Fan paused, looked at the human face, and continued, “He Xinxin has already reached adulthood, and she is very reluctant to let go of her old father when she knows that he is leading such a pitiful life. But if she helps openly and honestly, she is afraid of being discovered by her family.”
“So she had to change the way, quietly delivering the news she overheard to He Zhenghao.”
“It was by relying on his own daughter’s help that He Zhenghao was considered to have completely turned over!”
Li Fan’s tone was a bit excited and envious: “He knew in advance about the news that [Obscure Jade] was going to skyrocket, so he dumped his savings money and purchased it in one full swoop.”
“After the price doubled, it was immediately sold off.”
“In one go, he made over a hundred thousand contribution degrees!”
“Over a hundred thousand ah! Head! This has to be enough to fund me for how many years!”
“He Zhenghao was also afraid that word would leak out and be unfavorable to his daughter. So he made up a set of nonsense about how he relied on the guidance of the ancient Tian Ji Sect cultivators and spread it around.”
“I pooh! Truly treating us as fools!”
“Boss, fortunately, I was quick-witted and pestered him by all means and softly, and only then did I get the truth out of his mouth.”
Li Fan took credit with a confident face.
“The source of the leaked test questions for this entry exam is likewise from He Xinxin.”
“Boss, do you think it’s reliable?”
The silhouette on the broken stone didn’t move in anger this time, but remained silent, seemingly looking for something.
After a long time, the human face voices came one after another.
“Heng Ruoshui does have a daughter, it’s just that the identity of the father has always been a mystery.”
“But many years ago, she once returned home in the company of a youth. But not long afterward, the youth was nowhere to be found.”
“Let me see what he looks like. ……”
“Sure enough, it’s He Zhenghao!”
The human face was shocked.
“There’s also this ……”
“Before Obscure Jade skyrocketed, there was an unusual trading record. Someone went on a buying spree and later dumped it at a high point.”
“The timing of the grasp is just too good, making it hard to believe that it wasn’t known in advance as insider information.”
“The purchaser ……”
“It’s still He Zhenghao!”
A loud sound similar to slapping a table with force came from the side of the face.
“In that case, the test questions for the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance’s Entrance Examination are most likely true?”
The other party’s breathing couldn’t help but become rapid.
Li Fan couldn’t help but nod his head, “That’s why I hurriedly came to find you, Boss! You should know that the Grand Entrance Examination will be held soon.”
“If we can get the test questions in advance before then ……”
“Then we’ll be able to put nails in more key positions in the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance!”
The face obviously understood the seriousness of the matter and hurriedly asked, “What did he say?”
At this time, Li Fan, however, suddenly became somewhat hesitant.
Swallowing, he said, “Boss, He Zhenghao’s price this time is a bit high ……”
The face angrily rebuked, “Just say it when I tell you to say it! It’s just a little bit of spirit stone, how can you compare it to the entry exam questions?”
Li Fan stretched out his hand and gestured, “He wants this amount?”
“Half a million contribution degrees? It’s not like you can’t ……” The human face hadn’t finished his words.
Li Fan hastily shook his head and cut him off, “No, it’s five million.”
The face instantly froze.
“Five million? He’s crazy, right?!” His voice trembled a little.
But soon, the human face reacted.
His face suddenly darkened, and there was a hint of murderous aura in his voice, “You’ve been exposed?!”
“Facing an individual, who is still only a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he definitely wouldn’t have offered such an outrageous price.”
“Unless, he already knows that behind you, is an organization ……”
The image on the broken stone flickered, seeming to disappear at any time.
The face stared at Li Fan dead in the face, waiting for his answer.
Li Fan, on the other hand, was somewhat speechless, “Boss, in your mind, am I that unprofessional?”
“I just told him that I have someone behind me as well.”
“
“Anyone working in the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance has connections. You can’t get a job there without some personal ties.”
“Don’t worry head, even if He Zheng Hao has some speculations, he would never be right to think of me towards the aspect of a spy.”
“In reality, He Zhenghao is just casting a wide net. He also knows the risks of selling entry test questions, so he’s only doing a one-shot deal.”
“He only deals with one party, and limits the number of people who know the questions to no more than ten who will take the entrance exam.”
……
Only after listening to Li Fan’s explanation did the human face gradually ease up.
The screen became bright and clear again, and the human face carefully analyzed it for a while and said, “Fifty thousand per person, although the cost is a bit high, but it’s still acceptable.”
“It’s just that the number is huge after all. If the test questions given by this He Zhenghao are fake ……”
Li Fan was unimpressed and said, “He Zhenghao, he said that there are seven days for the big entrance exam anyway. He can give us the first day’s exam questions for free first. After it’s determined to be correct, then we’ll make the final deal.”
Hearing this, Man couldn’t help but thump his heart.
(Hey Guys I forgot about the wife? What was she? Nascent Soul Weaving Master came out in the translation I am not sure what weaving master mean.)