Chapter 1047: The Grand Deception
Chapter 1047: The Grand Deception
Li Fan hovered silently above the city of Weidu.
According to the memories of the mortals below, the Tianxuan Mirror's avatar had vanished the day after the disturbances erupted across the four prefectures.
He scoured the area but found no trace of its presence.
Narrowing his eyes, Li Fan wasn't ready to give up. He traveled to the hidden grotto-heaven where he had previously met Mo Rubin.
The place was untouched, showing no signs of a cultivator's visit.
"Could it be that..."
"Had Mo Rubin and the Tianxuan Mirror simply run off together?"
The thought struck him abruptly.
This time, he didn't analyze it from his own perspective but observed it with the pure objectivity of an outsider.
It all began with Mo Rubin's rescue.
Then came the act—playing the fool, pretending to be Sun Xingwang to win Mo Rubin's trust.
The two had devised a plan to extract information about the Xuantian King from the Tianxuan Mirror.
The initial stages of the plan had seemed flawless. But somewhere in the final step, something had gone terribly wrong.
...
Scene after scene flashed before Li Fan's eyes.
He watched his own seemingly flawless performance, and Mo Rubin, who had played along so convincingly. A muscle in Li Fan's jaw twitched.
Deep down, he was already beginning to suspect—he had likely been played by Mo Rubin.
Still, Li Fan clung to a sliver of hope.
Back in the Spirit Wood Realm, he unceremoniously interrupted Master Qiaogong's research and handed him the ancient bronze mirror Mo Rubin had given him.
"A... a realm... artifact?"
Master Qiaogong's expression instantly turned peculiar.
He stole a furtive glance at Li Fan, then carefully chose his words. "Forgive my ignorance, but this appears to be..."
"Appears to be? It's just an ordinary bronze mirror, isn't it?" Fang Zaiji, who in this lifetime had yet to witness Li Fan's true power, interjected boldly. "Look at this rust! Good heavens, who knows what hole they dug this out of."
"I see. Thank you for your trouble, Master Qiaogong," Li Fan said, his face an unreadable mask. In a flash, he vanished from their sight.
"What was all that about? Wasting our time..." Fang Zaiji grumbled, annoyed by the interruption. He was about to complain further when Master Qiaogong cut him off.
"You should hold your tongue," Master Qiaogong whispered. "The Emissary's mood... does not seem to be very pleasant."
...
In a secret chamber deep beneath the Spirit Wood Realm.
Li Fan held the small, verdigris-coated mirror, his expression completely frozen.
"A realm artifact..."
"How interesting."
With a sharp crack, Li Fan tightened his grip, crushing the bronze mirror into powder.
"All these years, through countless cycles... this is the first time I've been played for a fool."
At this point, even if he hated to admit it, Li Fan could no longer deny the truth.
From the very beginning, Mo Rubin had likely never believed his act as a Dharma King of the Xuantian Sect. But in the course of their interactions, he must have realized Li Fan's power was something he could exploit. And so he played along, using Li Fan's strength to free the Tianxuan Mirror.
And all this time, Li Fan had believed his act was flawless.
Looking back now, however, he could see numerous flaws in his performance—inconsistencies that couldn't simply be explained away by madness induced by a cultivation technique.
For instance, aside from recalling a few past events, his speech and mannerisms were vastly different from the real Sun Xingwang's.
Then there was the astonishing skill in formations he had displayed at several critical moments.
And then there was...
"Perhaps it was my contact with the Tianxuan Mirror's avatar that finally gave me away."
The Xuantian Treasure Mirror was, after all, the ultimate artifact of the Xuantian Sect. As one of the sect's most important figures, a Dharma King would have been intimately familiar with it.
"So, two members of the Xuantian Sect colluded to deceive an outsider like me."
"Excellent. Truly worthy of the prodigies chosen by the Xuantian King to share the burden of saving the world..."
"Excellent!"
Li Fan didn't fly into a rage out of humiliation.
Instead, he suddenly broke into a hearty laugh.
Because, for the first time in a long while, he felt that things were genuinely getting interesting.
His endless cycles of reincarnation had made him increasingly detached from the inhabitants of the Xuanhuang Realm.
He had come to see them as mere NPCs in a game, characters who could be reset and refreshed at will.
With enough information, he could even predict their reactions to a particular phrase.
Even beings like the Heavenly Doctor, the Dharma Spreader, the Immortals of the Immortal Ruins, or the Faceless Immortal...
...were, in his eyes, nothing more than powerful bosses in a game.
But reality, in the end, was not a game.
Just as the Heavenly Doctor had once abruptly read his mind, Mo Rubin, the Dharma King of the Xuantian Sect, had now taught him another valuable lesson.
The cultivators of the Xuanhuang Realm were not so easily trifled with!
Because they were real, living beings!
"It matters not. You may have fooled me in this life, but can you fool me for all eternity?"
There was no trace of frustration in his eyes, only the rekindled fire of eager anticipation.
"Besides, this life is far from over!"
With a cold snort, Li Fan closed his eyes and began to formulate a new strategy.
First, he needed to find out exactly what had happened that day at the Myriad Immortals Alliance Headquarters.
Even after all this time, the incident remained a tightly guarded secret.
Without a Dharma Transmitter as his inside source, Li Fan was once again flying blind.
He had no knowledge whatsoever of the movements and intelligence of the Alliance's high command.
"It seems I must secure some information channels for myself. Relying on others is no longer an option."
"I need my own Dharma Transmitter..."
"Fortunately, I've already gathered enough information in this lifetime. I can begin making attempts in the future."
Having experienced firsthand the immense benefits of an inside source among the Dharma Transmitters, Li Fan had no intention of abandoning the idea.
But that was a matter for future lifetimes.
For now, he had no way of gathering more intelligence. So, Li Fan resorted to his most familiar tactic.
He would wait.
Many secrets cease to be secrets with the passage of time.
What was top secret now, impossible to uncover, might not remain so forever.
The level of secrecy would eventually drop, and with the power of the Wuyou Immortal Venerable...
...Li Fan was confident that, by offering a high enough price, he could eventually learn the truth from someone who had witnessed the event firsthand.
All he had to do was wait patiently.
But Li Fan did not remain idle while he waited.
While matters in the Spirit Wood Realm proceeded as usual, he halted the propagation of the Federation of All Worlds and the teachings of the Faceless Immortal.
Until he found Mo Rubin and the Tianxuan Mirror, it was best to remain cautious.
Though he still couldn't ascertain what had transpired at the Alliance headquarters, the sudden disappearance of Lu Xichan and Shuo Feng's entire family was a clear sign. The Myriad Immortals Alliance had evidently begun its own purge of suspected traitors.
Many people had vanished without a trace, their fates unknown.
Li Fan secretly began compiling a list of all who had disappeared.
At the same time, he kept his ears open for any mention of those who might have witnessed the events of that day.
Five years passed.
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