Chapter 432: Chenfeng’s Exotic Beast Transformation |
However, five million contribution points was no small sum, and the stone-face did not make a decision on the spot.
After a moment of silent contemplation, the face spoke cautiously, "This matter requires further consideration. We shall meet again in seven days."
After transmitting a set of coordinates to Li Fan, the face quietly vanished.
Yet an instant later, it reappeared.
"One more thing. Regardless, this He Zhenghao possesses significant recruitment value.
"You must continue to maintain good ties with him. Even if this examination question leak is false, his connection to the Heng Family of Tianyu Province alone makes him worth a substantial investment.
"I recall from your previous report that this man is utterly fascinated by arrays? Perhaps we can approach him from that angle."
The face offered a few more words of instruction before finally departing.
After glowing with a yellow light, the smooth stone fragment crumbled into pieces, scattering across the ground.
He stood there for a moment, lost in thought. Then, still wearing the guise of Zhou Qing'ang, he quietly flew away.
He flew a considerable distance, ensuring no one was tailing or observing him along the way. Only then, in a secluded spot, did he revert to his original middle-aged appearance.
The bait is set. Now we see if the Five Elders Council takes it.
As he flew, Li Fan recalled the information about the Five Elders Council he had gleaned from Zhou Qing'ang’s memories.
Paradise of No Troubles… The one who rules that Celestial Domain must be the Eternal Heavenly Venerable who can make people forget calamities.
But what of the Land of Truth? The principle of heaven and earth defied by Heavenly Venerable Untroubled covers nearly the entire Xuanhuang World.[1] Yet the effect of “being unable to lie” clearly hasn't influenced other regions; it only functions in specific areas.
Senior Sister Zhao's “multitude as one” seems to be similar.
Untroubled and the Dao Teacher are likely a level above these two...
No wonder the Five Elders Council, presided over by five Eternal Heavenly Venerables, still fears the Dao Teacher so deeply.
Even their probes are undertaken with extreme caution.
Li Fan pondered this.
Establishing contact with the Five Elders Council was not a spur-of-the-moment decision.
Beyond maximizing profit from the Myriad Immortals Alliance's examination questions leak, they would be crucial in the future as a counterbalance to prevent the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array from evolving into the Xuan Net.
Having an avatar serving as a Five Elders Council spy would make future operations much more convenient.
Next, instead of returning to Myriad Immortals Island, Li Fan flew towards the southeastern region of the Congyun Sea.
His destination was a remote, small island located in the central part of that sea region.
A good half of the day later, Li Fan spotted the compound courtyard on the island from a distance.
Inside the courtyard, five cultivators sat cross-legged.
A ruddy-complexioned, white-haired old man who appeared quite spirited was pacing back and forth beside them.
He was muttering a stream of profound, esoteric, and nearly incomprehensible words.
This late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator was none other than the Foundation Establishment Master Li Fan had encountered years before.
This Foundation Establishment Master, the gatekeeper Li Chenfeng, and the actor surnamed Xiao, were actually technique thieves who had smuggled in from a minor world.
Their homeland, a minor world called the Empire, was attempting to break free from the Xuanhuang World's constraints through the combined force of one hundred thousand Realm-Splitting Whales.
They were responsible for the crucial task of stealing cultivation techniques from the Xuanhuang World.
Their mission was to re-establish the path of cultivation after the Empire achieved its goal of separation from the Xuanhuang World.
For Foundation Establishment cultivators, accumulating enough contribution points to redeem a Dao Unity technique using ordinary methods was nothing short of a fool's dream.
Thus, they resorted to this risky, fraudulent scheme to amass wealth.
Li Fan had come to them not because he coveted the few contribution points in their possession, but to leverage the name of the Foundation Establishment Master, who was famous among numerous Qi Refinement cultivators.
Li Fan smiled faintly, shifting his face into another unfamiliar visage.
He landed openly and boldly before the Foundation Establishment Master.
"Calm your mind, focus your spirit, contemplate carefully…" The Foundation Establishment Master droned on, shaking his head and reciting his script like a mantra.
Seeing Li Fan descend from the sky, his words cut off abruptly.
A Golden Core cultivator
In an instant, numerous thoughts flashed through the Foundation Establishment Master's mind.
Yet, years of living undercover allowed him to feign composure. "Esteemed senior, I wonder—"
Before he could continue, Li Fan rendered the other four Qi Refinement cultivators unconscious with a light wave of his hand.
He left only the actor surnamed Xiao and the Foundation Establishment Master awake, then said calmly, "So, you are the ones who snuck in from a minor world?"
His words caused both their faces to pale dramatically.
The Foundation Establishment Master was about to offer an excuse when he felt an unseen net wrap around him, binding him tightly.
Instantly, he lost control of his body and his voice failed. He couldn't even manage to end his own life.
A flicker of despair flashed in the Foundation Establishment Master's eyes.
Just as Li Fan was about to speak, he suddenly sensed something approaching rapidly from behind.
His form blurred, shifting away from the spot.
Looking back, Li Fan's eyes narrowed slightly.
A figure roughly two zhang tall stood there.
Looking at its face, it was unmistakably that Qi Refinement cultivator, Li Chenfeng. However, he had undergone a drastic transformation.
His body had swollen to several times its original size, and his skin was now covered in a keratinous shell resembling that of an exotic beast.
Two pairs of transparent wings on his back beat rapidly, holding him aloft in the air.
Where his hands should have been were now a giant pair of sharp, dark golden claws.
His face, too, seemed to be covered by a mask resembling exotic beast markings, leaving only two pairs of eyes visible.
The creature looked like a fusion of man and exotic beast. Caught in the sunlight, it possessed a beauty that was as bizarre as it was unsettling.
“Interesting. What’s this?”
His transformation was not within Li Fan’s expectations.
He fixed his gaze on Li Chenfeng and quickly realized that in his bestial form, the man was capable of deceiving divine sense. In Li Fan’s perception, the two-zhang-tall giant registered as no more significant than a flying insect.
“Senior, please let us go,” Li Chenfeng said. “Just take it that you never saw us, alright?”
The sound he produced was strange, like two voices overlapping.
Before Li Fan could respond, the massive figure vanished, only to reappear behind him in the same instant. A gigantic claw rose high, poised to tear Li Fan’s head from his shoulders.
Li Fan’s expression shifted slightly—the Insect Binding divine ability had completely lost its effect on Li Chenfeng.
This was the first time such a thing had happened since he learned the art from Junior Brother Chong.
Though startled, Li Fan did not panic. In that fleeting moment, he deployed several arrays around himself. At the same time, he flipped his palm upward and met the attack head-on.
A colossal azure palm slammed into the dark-golden claw, erupting with a thunderous roar.
Using the momentum, Li Fan retreated swiftly. A blue water sword lit up heaven and earth as the Congyun Sword shot forth, piercing straight through Li Chenfeng’s torso and cleaving him in two.
Blood sprayed like rain, yet Li Fan remained on high alert.
The two severed halves of Li Chenfeng’s body healed their wounds almost instantly. Then, moving independently, they lunged at Li Fan from both sides.
At that moment, the arrays Li Fan had laid earlier activated without a sound.
After flying only a short distance, Li Chenfeng’s body abruptly froze in midair, unable to advance even an inch.
1. Back in chapter 145, I translated his title as “Heavenly Venerable Wu You.” It has been changed to “Heavenly Venerable Untroubled” for consistency. ☜