Up until now, Li Fan still hadn’t figured out the exact consequences of violating the contract with the Five Elders Association.
However, he had no intention of testing it out personally.
Every deal he had made with the Five Elders Association had brought him immense profit. Why would he ever willingly break the agreement? On the contrary, he wished for more opportunities like these.
The Five Elders Association’s spy was now reduced to nothing but bones. At the transaction site, only Li Fan remained.
Casually destroying the stone table with engraved characters, “Zhou Qingang” leaped and returned to Congyun City.
On the way back, Li Fan reflected on some oddities during the negotiation process.
Treasures like the ‘Truth-Defying Fruit’ and ‘Human Dao Stardust’, valuable even to cultivators in the Dao Integration realm, were offered sparingly by the Five Elders Association. This was understandable to Li Fan.
However, regarding the ‘Samantabhadra True Boat’, the Five Elders Association was overly stingy, refusing to provide more even when offered compensation with even more precious resources.
This puzzled Li Fan.
How had it suddenly become so valuable?
What had changed?
Li Fan couldn’t make sense of it until “Zhou Qingang” returned to the Administration Hall and happened to glance at the map of the Congyun Sea and its surrounding regions on the wall. Suddenly, inspiration struck.
He stared intently at the natural boundaries marked on the map—the place labeled as the ‘White Mist Barrier’—and seemed to have an epiphany.
“The so-called law of supply and demand,” he murmured.
“Although the Samantabhadra True Boat’s actual value isn’t high, if the Five Elders Association is now requisitioning them on a massive scale and experiencing severe shortages…”
“This would explain everything.”
Li Fan’s thoughts raced.
“The Five Elders Association is planning a campaign within the White Mist?”
“Are they using the White Mist Barrier to launch an attack into the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance, or are they venturing deeper into the White Mist itself?”
Even Li Fan himself was startled by this sudden hypothesis.
For countless years, cultivators had avoided the White Mist because of its life-draining properties.
Who would have thought of utilizing the White Mist Barriers as natural pathways?
Although the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance had long known that Samantabhadra True Leaf could somewhat mitigate the effects of the life-draining mist, this knowledge hadn’t been widely implemented.
This oversight was a major blind spot in the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance’s thinking.
What seemed like an impenetrable and safe White Mist Barrier could, in the next instant, erupt with countless enemy cultivators pouring forth.
This was an utterly terrifying prospect.
“I hope I’m just overthinking things. With the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance’s many brilliant minds, they must have already prepared for such a possibility…”
“Right?”
In the days that followed, “Zhou Qingang” deliberately kept himself busy.
Requests for meetings that he would have usually rejected outright were now all accepted.
Whenever he had free time, he patrolled the islands across the Congyun Sea.
In just three to four days, he had interacted with hundreds of individuals from various backgrounds and ranks.
This strategy made it nearly impossible for the Five Elders Association to trace his sources of intelligence or uncover traces of the so-called “Heaven-Suppressing Society”.
Even if the Five Elders Association had the means to interrogate every person he met through soul-searching techniques, they wouldn’t find anything.
They would never guess that all of the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance’s top secrets originated from Li Fan himself.
On the fifth day, Li Fan, carrying a fragmented formation diagram, ventured alone to the Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion on Yulan Island.
In a hidden chamber deep within, he met the contact for this transaction.
The person was dressed in black, their face concealed, but Li Fan could tell they weren’t the same individual as the last contact.
“Excellent! Fellow Daoist Zhou is trustworthy, and we won’t disappoint you either,” the black-clad cultivator praised upon seeing Li Fan arrive as promised.
Li Fan asked about the previous Five Elders Association spy.
The black-clad cultivator replied solemnly, “To complete the mission, he chose self-sacrifice. It is our fate and our honor.”
It was clear that the person Li Fan had witnessed dissolving in golden light had truly perished. They had given their life to secure a contract bearing the marks of five Heavenly Sovereigns.
Curiously, there had been no celestial anomaly marking the spy’s death—a mystery Li Fan couldn’t unravel.
Nodding silently, Li Fan handed over a storage ring containing encrypted jade slips.
The black-clad cultivator accepted it with care and said, “Please wait here for a moment, Fellow Daoist Zhou.”
With that, he left the chamber with the ring, destination unknown.
Li Fan closed his eyes and waited patiently.
He wasn’t concerned about the safety of this puppet body.
First, the golden contract prohibited either side from harming the other.
Second, “Zhou Qingang” presented himself as a member of the massive covert organization ‘Heaven-Suppressing Society’, hidden deep within the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance.
Moreover, he was the only link between the Heaven-Suppressing Society and the Five Elders Association.
Unless the Five Elders Association was prepared to sever ties with the Heaven-Suppressing Society entirely, they wouldn’t dare harm him.
Especially when their war with the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance left no room for creating additional enemies.
Still, Li Fan remained vigilant, ready to abandon this puppet body if needed.
The Five Elders Association’s efficiency was remarkable.
In less than the time it took to brew a cup of tea, the black-clad cultivator returned to the chamber.
Although he tried to mask his emotions, the faint excitement in his demeanor was evident.
“Your methods are truly extraordinary. I am impressed!”
“This is what we promised. Please check it.”
The black-clad cultivator handed over a white stone.
“This is…” Li Fan’s eyes flashed.
Fortunately, after searching through the memories stored in the Dao Deviation Stone, he instantly knew what this white stone was.
It was the ‘Primordial Void Stone Mother’—a rare, natural storage material.
Compared to ordinary storage rings, it offered significantly larger space. It could also be refined and stored within a cultivator’s body.
An essential material for crafting spatial artifacts, it was both priceless and scarcely available.
This item wasn’t on Li Fan’s list of requested goods. It was clearly provided as a dedicated storage vessel.
Li Fan nodded slightly, opened his mouth, and swallowed the stone directly.
He didn’t immediately refine it but first inspected its contents.
The Five Elders Association had fulfilled their side of the agreement without any shortages: 10,000 Enlightenment Pills, 300 Samantabhadra True Boat, three fragments of Human Dao Stardust—all matched the contract.
Li Fan’s attention focused on a five-colored glowing statue floating amidst the items.