Chapter 1000: Li Fan at a Loss for Words
Daoist Baihua paused, choosing her words carefully. "For cultivators like us, if we live among mortals for an extended period, even without direct contact, simply being exposed to the aura of the Immortal-Mortal Miasma... wouldn't there be a risk of our cultivation level declining?"
Li Fan narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the mortals below as he nodded. "That's right. It's precisely why we cultivators in the Xuanhuang Realm typically live apart from mortals."
"The target is in this city? It's not a major one, but there must be over a hundred thousand mortals here. Hmm, I don't sense the aura of any cultivator. Searching for them one by one would be a hassle. I say we just make a move and force our target out!" Daoist Baihua, having witnessed Li Fan's methods before, suggested eagerly.
Her so-called "move," of course, was an indiscriminate, large-scale attack to slaughter everyone in the mortal city of Weidu. The last one standing would be the avatar of the Tianxuan Mirror.
As for the lives of the more than one hundred thousand mortals in the city...
They had never been a concern for cultivators.
Especially outside the Xuanhuang Realm, where the Immortal-Mortal Miasma was absent. To cultivators, mortals were truly no different from ants, and slaughtering them carried no psychological burden at all.
Thus, the seemingly righteous Daoist Baihua could utter such bloodthirsty words with complete nonchalance.
However, Li Fan did not agree with Daoist Baihua's plan.
At these words, Daoist Baihua was immediately filled with awe and respect.
Lin Ling, however, muttered something under her breath and shot Li Fan a furtive glance, though she ultimately dared not voice any questions.
The truth was, it wasn't that Li Fan had a sudden change of heart.
Rather, he was considering that the population in the small worlds under his control was still quite sparse.
Cultivating large numbers of cultivators through the Common Lives Spirit Essence Art and then exploring the Creation History Book required a substantial population base.
Waiting for the population to grow naturally was simply too slow. Plundering some from the Xuanhuang Realm wasn't a bad alternative.
As for how to find the Tianxuan Mirror's avatar among these hundred thousand-plus people...
Li Fan's spiritual sense swept across the city of Weidu.
In an instant, the faces and every single movement of all the mortals in the city—men and women, old and young—materialized in his sea of consciousness.
The Dao Transformation Stone flickered with blue light, separating them into individual subjects for observation.
Li Fan floated silently in the air, monitoring and analyzing.
The Tianxuan Mirror, after all, was not truly human.
It was, first and foremost, an immortal artifact that had taken a human form, and it was bound to possess some level of cultivation.
No matter how convincing its performance, its behavior and actions would inevitably have subtle differences from those of an actual mortal.
Especially now, after his spiritual sense had swept so brazenly across the city, the Tianxuan Mirror's avatar surely knew he had come for it. This would make it even easier to expose a flaw.
Before long, Li Fan had already locked onto several dozen suspicious individuals.
After another half-day of intense observation, he finally pinpointed his target.
High above Weidu, the four of them had already laid a sealing formation.
Li Fan gazed at the face of the Tianxuan Mirror's avatar, then flickered out of sight and reappeared directly in front of it.
It turned out to be a young waiter in one of the city's taverns.
At that moment, he had just finished serving some customers and was sitting in a corner to rest.
With Li Fan's sudden arrival, the once-bustling surroundings instantly fell silent and still.
The waiter didn't seem surprised by Li Fan's appearance, only curious. "How did you find me so quickly?"
Li Fan smiled, choosing not to attack immediately. Instead, he offered a piece of advice. "If you were a real mortal waiter, you'd be desperate to just close your eyes and doze off during a break. You wouldn't be like this, still curiously observing every single person in the tavern."
The Tianxuan Mirror's avatar had a look of realization. "So that's how it was."
"Unfortunately, observation is in my nature. Even reincarnated as a human, I couldn't change that overnight."
The Tianxuan Mirror's avatar sighed for a moment, then asked, "Are you here to kill me?"
"I could be. Or I could not be," Li Fan replied, staring at it, his tone inscrutable.
"Oh?" This time, the Tianxuan Mirror's avatar was a little surprised. It stared at Li Fan for a moment, its brows furrowed.
Finally, it shook its head. "I sense a familiar aura about you. It's a shame that after becoming human, there's much I can no longer remember or see clearly."
"So, you're not from the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance?" the avatar asked again before Li Fan could respond.
"And you don't carry the aura of the Five Heavenly Venerates..."
The Tianxuan Mirror's avatar kept sizing up Li Fan, as if it had discovered some new and interesting toy.
The moment he saw the look in its eyes, Li Fan felt an inexplicable sense of discomfort well up inside him.
This was the kind of look that usually only appeared in his own eyes when he gazed upon the creatures of the Xuanhuang Realm.
It was a deep-seated indifference, a detachment that came from the very soul.
And now, he was being looked at in the same way by this avatar of the Tianxuan Mirror...
"I represent only myself," Li Fan said in a low voice.
But the Tianxuan Mirror's avatar shook its head again. "Heh, I don't think so."
"Tainted by immortal will, escape is impossible..."
"Could it be that you, like me, are caught in a net, and you're hoping I can show you the way out?"
The Tianxuan Mirror's avatar had seen right through the fact that Li Fan was ensnared by the net of a True Immortal, and its question was a direct psychological assault.
A cold glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes. "You may be the avatar of an immortal artifact, but in this feeble human body, I can suppress you with ease. I wonder if you'll still be so sharp-tongued when that happens..."
The Tianxuan Mirror's avatar, however, remained completely unafraid.
It smiled and brushed the dust from its clothes. "Given your personality, if you truly intended to do that, you would have acted already. Why waste so much time talking nonsense with me?"
At these words, Li Fan suddenly fell silent.
As expected of a spirit born from an immortal artifact. After just a few exchanges, Li Fan felt a long-forgotten sense of being completely stymied.
All his gambits had been effortlessly neutralized, only for the tables to be turned back on him.
"In the short time since we met, you've already seen through my personality and my conflicts."
"But it's a pity..."
"What you see is bound to be only the surface..."
Li Fan sneered inwardly.
He then switched tactics, turning defense into offense, and admitted freely, "You're right. You are, after all, an avatar of the Tianxuan Mirror. It would be a true waste to simply kill you."
"If you can offer a reward of sufficient value, I might just be willing to let you go."
The Tianxuan Mirror's avatar looked as if it had heard the most hilarious joke. "Do you even believe the words you're saying?"
"Even if you did gain something from me, I doubt I would escape death in the end."
"People like you..."
"One can only keep a respectful distance from people like you. Not a single one of your promises can be trusted."
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