With the successful formation of his Nascent Soul, the clone now exuded an even more ethereal and transcendent aura, as if detached from the mortal world.
Not to mention the ordinary disciples of the Medicine King Sect, who were staring in awe—even Liu San and Fang Zaiji, who had hurried over after sensing the disturbance, were momentarily stunned.
“With Xu Ke’s blood essence and appearance, combined with Mr. Bai’s demeanor…”
“How about calling him Xu Bai from now on?”
Li Fan looked at his clone with satisfaction and nodded approvingly.
Xu Bai cupped his hands toward Li Fan and offered a faint smile.
The gathered disciples below gasped audibly in astonishment.
“Young Master, this is…” Liu San stepped forward, looking at Xu Bai with a trace of doubt in his eyes.
During this period, he had been guarding the entrance to the Longevity Valley to prevent any cultivators from the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance hidden in the white mist from infiltrating. Yet, he had no idea when this person had entered—it was as if he had materialized out of thin air. A suspicion formed in Liu San’s mind, but he still found it hard to believe. So, he sought confirmation from Li Fan.
Noting Fang Zaiji’s similar look of confusion, Li Fan led both of them—along with Xu Bai—into a secluded meditation chamber.
“This is a clone that I refined.” Xu Bai spoke directly.
“As expected.” Liu San suddenly understood but still had lingering doubts.
“The technique of refining clones is indeed rare, but with Young Master’s abilities, obtaining such a method wouldn’t be difficult. However, why did you refine a clone that is so…”
“So high-profile?” Liu San glanced at Xu Bai again, still unable to understand.
Li Fan simply smiled and did not answer. Instead, he changed the subject:
“By the way, how is the artifact refinement coming along, Mr. Fang?”
Fang Zaiji immediately caught on.
“The white robe and folding fan—are they for this clone?” He chuckled. “I was wondering! That style doesn’t suit you at all, Sect Master!”
“Refining an artifact at the Dao Integration level is no easy feat. It’ll take at least another six months. Besides…”
Fang Zaiji took a closer look at Xu Bai and suddenly frowned.
“The original design I planned won’t be a good match for this clone. No, no, I need to start over!”
The more he looked, the more he felt that the previously envisioned white robe and folding fan would not do justice to Xu Bai’s presence.
Just as he was about to rush off to draft a new refinement plan, Li Fan stopped him in time.
“Three years have passed since the Crimson Flame Burning Sea incident. It’s time for the disciples to re-enter the mortal world. Besides, my plans require their cooperation.” Li Fan said calmly.
Liu San and Fang Zaiji had no objections to this decision.
“However, returning to the mortal world also means increased risks. If any disciples are unfortunate enough to encounter danger and have their souls forcibly searched, the secrets of Longevity Valley and the Beast Realm may be exposed…”
“What should we do then?”
Li Fan looked at the two Dao Integration cultivators and asked for their opinions.
“I only specialize in artifact refinement. You’ll have to ask Old Liu about this one.”
Fang Zaiji shrugged, indicating that this was beyond his expertise.
Liu San did not decline and, after pondering for a long time, gave his answer:
“A single person’s mind can be broken, but the minds of millions are difficult to breach. Currently, inside the Medicine King True Cauldron, the [Great Dream Spring and Autumn Formation] is still operating. As long as our disciples connect a strand of their divine sense to it before leaving, the formation will activate a counterattack if they are forcibly subjected to a soul search. Unless the enemy’s soul is stronger than the combined souls of all the Medicine King Sect cultivators, even in their slumber, they will not be able to extract any information from our disciples’ minds.”
“The Great Dream Spring and Autumn Formation essentially links the thoughts of all participating cultivators into a grand dreamscape. This not only allows them to unite and resist external divine sense attacks but also enables them to use the power of dreams to seal specific memories. Just as mortals do not realize they are dreaming, disciples will be unaware of the sealed information. Moreover, even if they are scattered across different regions of the Xuanhuang Realm, they can instantly communicate through the formation without being noticed by outsiders…”
Liu San carefully explained another wondrous function of the Great Dream Spring and Autumn Formation to Li Fan.
Hearing this, Li Fan was very satisfied:
“Then I will have to trouble Elder Liu with this matter. Once the disciples go out, they may act freely, only needing to casually inquire about the [Heavenly Spirit Flower] when the opportunity arises. The Heavenly Spirit Flower is a unique treasure of the Tianling Prefecture within the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance—blessed by the essence of the heavens, it is breathtakingly beautiful. However, after the great battle in Tianling Prefecture several years ago, it underwent a strange transformation…”
Liu San did not question Li Fan’s reasoning for this order but firmly committed it to memory.
After issuing the necessary instructions, Liu San immediately began organizing the disciples’ connection to the formation.
Meanwhile, Li Fan departed ahead of time, leaving Longevity Valley.
Longevity Valley was located within the White Mist Barrier, at the border between Luoyan Prefecture and Lueying Prefecture.
Avoiding patrolling cultivators, Li Fan silently left the mist and arrived in the city of Tiancheng within Luoyan Prefecture.
Although located in the heart of the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance, Luoyan Prefecture was not much more prosperous than Congyun Sea. In fact, it had even fewer cultivators. Most of Luoyan Prefecture was barren and lacked resources, but more importantly, it was plagued by strange occurrences.
For example, Li Fan was quite familiar with the [Heart Monkey], which had once broken out in a massive outbreak in this region. Although the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance did not keep detailed records of this event, in previous lifetimes, Li Fan noticed that when purchasing Heart Monkey bones in large quantities, most of them originated from Luoyan Prefecture. This led him to suspect the connection.
At this moment, Luoyan City was rather desolate.
Upon arriving at the Tianxuan Mirror, the first thing Li Fan did was search for information on addictive pills.
Although Liu San had mentioned that the disciples had already inquired and it seemed that the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance did not prohibit such substances, Li Fan knew that many secrets were hidden behind the merit ranking system. Not all knowledge was accessible to ordinary cultivators.
There were plenty of cultivators in the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance who had unknowingly broken taboos and died without ever understanding why.
Since this matter was crucial to his future plans, Li Fan had to confirm the alliance’s stance.
His current identity was still that of a “clean slate” with a merit rank of one, but this did not prevent him from gathering information.
Taking out a jade bottle containing “Heart-Desire Ascension Pill”, Li Fan prepared to list it for sale in the market.
Suddenly—
“Warning! The pill you are attempting to sell is a prohibited item. Your trading privileges have been temporarily frozen. Please dispose of the contraband immediately.”
“Warning…”
A sharp, mechanical voice from the Tianxuan Mirror suddenly sounded, repeating itself incessantly.
Li Fan feigned an expression of extreme shock and innocence:
“What? A contraband item? What do you mean by that?”
“Isn’t it just an ordinary pill…?”
The Tianxuan Mirror’s cold voice repeated:
“Heart-Desire Ascension Pill—Ranked 3,674 on the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance’s list of prohibited circulation items.”
“Hazard Level: Grade B-Plus.”
“Please dispose of it immediately.”