Chapter 1093: News of Mo Rubin
Chapter 1093: News of Mo Rubin
"Our Federation has countless brilliant young talents. Finding a suitable successor will be no trouble at all," Li Fan declared with confidence.
"The safety of all cultivators in the Xuanhuang Realm is at stake, so of course, the Federation will not stand aside. Since it's inconvenient for you to leave, fellow Daoist, I'll arrange for them to come here after I return. You can vet them personally."
"I'm certain that with your discerning eye, you'll be able to find a candidate to your liking," Li Fan added, his voice brimming with righteousness.
"This..." Xu Ke seemed unable to believe it.
After a long moment, he hastily replied, somewhat flustered, "In that case... thank you in advance, fellow Daoist."
"By the way, Little Qing, Little Red, and your descendant, the Emperor's Daughter of the Empire, all miss you dearly. Would you be willing to see them?" Rather than making any assumptions, Li Fan asked proactively.
A flicker of sorrow crossed Xu Ke's face.
Still, he nodded a moment later.
Long before deciding to defy natural law and create the Immortal-Mortal Miasma, Mr. Bai had traveled throughout the major sects of the Xuanhuang Realm, making extensive preparations.
For instance, he had identified individuals of considerable influence within nearly every sect.
This was to ensure that once the Immortal-Mortal Miasma broke out, his plan to migrate mortals to small worlds and grotto-heavens would be swiftly accepted by the major sects.
Furthermore, the Immortal-Forbidden Array that sealed the mortal small worlds, and even the Split Boundary Whales beyond the array...
...their eventual implementation all bore the hallmarks of Mr. Bai's advance planning.
Unfortunately, Xu Ke didn't know much more about the specifics.
Back then, upon hearing the terrible news of Lu Ya's impending death, he had rushed to his side. The final task he received from Lu Ya before he passed was to guard the stripped Heavenly Grace of the Xuanhuang Realm.
...
"The Heavenly Dao of a world has its own mechanisms."
"Just as the Li Realm's Heavenly Dao consciousness naturally sought out a candidate who could save it from annihilation and descended upon Su Yuqing."
"The Xuanhuang Realm chose Mr. Bai. Unfortunately, when faced with a choice between the Heavenly Dao and the mortals of Xuanhuang, he chose the latter."
"He then turned around and sealed the very Heavenly Dao consciousness that had possessed him..."
"And judging by the performance of the Xuanhuang Realm's Heavenly Dao since then, it has almost always been at a disadvantage in its struggle against cultivators. It never deployed countermeasures like the 'Law of Incompatible Cultivation' again. Its remaining power must have been affected to some degree."
Li Fan was suddenly reminded of the divine tree, Ruomu.
Having also been grievously harmed by humanity, Ruomu transformed from a divine tree that nurtured all life into a terrifying entity that hunted cultivators for their Golden Cores.
Such is the power of resentment.
Betrayed by the one it favored most and then sealed away for nearly ten thousand years—one could only imagine what the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, imprisoned in the coffin on Xu Ke's back, had become.
"Another trump card," Li Fan mused. "But not one suitable for use in this lifetime. It would only introduce too many variables."
"I can still manipulate the destiny of the Xuanhuang Realm's remnant Heavenly Dao as it is now. If it were to go mad, I fear even my divine abilities would become useless."
Lost in thought, Li Fan returned to the Spirit Wood Realm.
After he relayed the news of Xu Ke to Little Qing and the others from the Empire, they were naturally ecstatic and expressed their profound gratitude to Li Fan.
Heeding Li Fan's warning about what could and could not be said, the group from the Empire eagerly hurried off to see Xu Ke.
Accompanying them were the promising young candidates selected from the various small worlds.
Li Fan had only performed a preliminary screening; the final decision he left to Xu Ke himself.
After handling these matters, Li Fan made his way to the site of the 'Seeking Gloom' project.
More than a year had passed, and over a dozen steles had already been erected.
Most of them recorded trivial details from sealed-away history.
However, the latest discovery from the river of blood had piqued Li Fan's interest.
The scene was from a time period after countless years of slaughter, when the chaos had finally begun to subside.
It was the era of the cultivation wasteland, a time when civilization was slowly recovering.
In the vision, a man in tattered clothes, radiating a dense, baleful aura, stared warily at an old man who had suddenly appeared before him.
The man in the vision obviously didn't recognize this elder.
But Li Fan, watching from the outside, knew him very well.
It was the Heavenly Doctor!
Without any preamble, the Heavenly Doctor struck, instantly subduing the man with the baleful aura.
Then, he appeared to be reading the man's memories from the past years.
"Has it really been this long this time?"
"It seems I'll have to stay as far away from the Immortal Ruins as possible next time."
The Heavenly Doctor sighed, murmuring to himself.
He then slapped the man with the baleful aura to death and vanished on the spot.
...
The vision ended abruptly.
But the amount of information it contained was substantial.
At the very least, it confirmed one thing: thousands of years ago, the Heavenly Doctor already possessed the power to resist the pull of the Immortal Ruins and traverse the void.
Moreover, he had made the journey more than once.
In the process, he was inevitably affected by the Immortal Ruins, so that when he reappeared, a very long time had passed in the Xuanhuang Realm.
"In that case, the sudden disappearances and reappearances of certain individuals were very likely influenced by the time dilation effect of the Immortal Ruins."
"Which means..."
The theory he had intended to verify in his next life instantly resurfaced in his mind.
Li Fan's expression grew a few shades more solemn.
"The Dharma Spreader and the Heavenly Doctor were both frequently active in the Xuanhuang Realm. The information contained within the river of blood is extremely valuable."
He once again issued generous rewards to bolster the morale of his subordinates.
A few days later, Li Fan received some unexpected news about Mo Rubin from Dharma Transmitter Zhou.
"He's shown himself?"
"And he didn't become the Xuanhuang Great Heavenly Venerate?"
Li Fan's brow furrowed slightly.
"This couldn't be a feint, could it? Given how cautious and meticulous he is, even if his plan failed, he wouldn't reveal his location so easily."
Dharma Transmitter Zhou, however, was quite confident. "The place he appeared is one of the Immortal Alliance's secret sites."
"It appears to be devoid of other cultivators, but in reality, we've had it under covert surveillance for a long time."
"Furthermore, Mo Rubin didn't appear in his true form. We were only able to find and lock onto him by reverse-tracking the fluctuations from the altered mark he left on Dharma Transmitter Chen."
"That's why I'm inclined to believe he simply miscalculated this time."
For this Dharma King of the Xuantian Sect, who had repeatedly played the Immortal Alliance like a fiddle, Dharma Transmitter Zhou felt a hatred so deep it made his teeth ache.
He stated gravely, "This time, the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance is dispatching all of its elites. We are determined to capture him. I was wondering if you, fellow Daoist, would be interested in collaborating with us again?"
Li Fan answered immediately, "I will request instructions and give you a reply shortly."
After a brief pause, Li Fan sent a message. "The Federation elders have agreed."
"And this time, we will deploy our newly developed technology to assist in his capture!"
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