Chapter 779: The First Step of a Thousand Miles
"Perhaps if I could reach that legendary state of absolute desirelessness, I could simply ignore Mr. Bai's contamination."
"But then again, if I truly desired nothing at all..."
"...I wouldn't be desperately clinging to [Truth] either."
Li Fan shook his head slightly, dismissing the impractical thought.
With a light tap of his index finger, he suspended the Dissociation Disc in mid-air. Then, he retrieved eight shimmering white crystals from his storage ring.
"In a crisis, I won't have the luxury of time to slowly channel a formation into the Dissociation Disc to attract the Heavenly Profound Mirror's attention. I need to prepare in advance."
With that in mind, Li Fan narrowed his eyes and began to infuse the information of the Life and Death Reversal Grand Array into each of the eight gleaming crystals.
These crystals, known as Array Crystals, were similar to the Array Crown. They could record and store formations, but unlike the reusable Array Crown, these crystals were single-use.
He inscribed a portion of the formation onto each crystal. Then, under his control, they hovered in orbit around the Dissociation Disc.
Li Fan observed the eight white crystals, pulsing with an unsteady light, and set up another formation to contain them, just in case of an accident.
Next came the Tianxuan Spirit Lock Formation.
After repeating the process, the Dissociation Disc at the center, now veiled by sixteen shimmering crystals, was almost completely obscured.
Li Fan carefully placed the entire assembly into a new, empty storage ring.
"I still can't be sure if this Heavenly Profound sub-body truly maintains a connection to the original. This is just a contingency plan."
"I must prepare for every eventuality and be ready to fight with everything I have."
Leaving his secret chamber, Li Fan made his way to the Thousand Mile Hall in Tianquan City.
The place was utterly deserted. Even the shop sign hung askew, and Jiao Xiuyuan hadn't bothered to fix it.
"I'd heard business at the Thousand Mile Hall had plummeted. It seems the rumors were true," Li Fan mused, striding inside.
The widespread adoption of the Heavenly Profound Mirror's interface had revolutionized commerce, allowing cultivators to trade seamlessly across dozens of provinces.
Transactions could happen anytime, anywhere, with almost no restrictions.
Moreover, with the public availability of so much information, the prices for all goods had become almost completely transparent.
For merchants like Jiao Xiuyuan, this was a paradigm-shifting blow. Countless shops had vanished almost overnight, their business models rendered obsolete.
Fortunately for Jiao Xiuyuan, his business was merely a means to support his cultivation. As long as he wasn't losing money, it wasn't a catastrophe. Profitability wasn't a matter of life and death for him.
But it was clear that suddenly losing the foundation of his cultivation practice had hit him hard.
"What on earth am I going to do..."
Jiao Xiuyuan muttered to himself, lying listlessly behind a dust-coated wooden counter.
He was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice someone had walked in.
Li Fan tapped gently on the counter.
Jiao Xiuyuan shot up with a start. "A customer?"
He eyed Li Fan with suspicion, a hint of disbelief on his face.
Li Fan, in turn, slowly sized up Jiao Xiuyuan's puppet body, his steady gaze making the merchant's skin crawl.
"You..." Jiao Xiuyuan stammered, a mix of alarm and uncertainty in his voice.
"Daoist Jiao," Li Fan said with a smile, "I was wondering if this puppet body of yours is for sale. The price is negotiable!"
Jiao Xiuyuan's face darkened with rage. He slammed his hand on the table, about to unleash a torrent of angry words, but suddenly froze.
His eyes were locked on the object Li Fan had discreetly revealed in his hand.
"That's..." As a man of broad experience, he recognized the aura instantly—it was similar to that of the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
"A Heavenly Profound sub-body?" Jiao Xiuyuan was stunned.
Across the entire Xuanhuang Realm, there were absolutely no more than fifty such sub-bodies in existence.
Each possessed a unique function and was essentially priceless, with demand far outstripping any conceivable supply. No cultivator would ever willingly sell one.
Information on various Heavenly Profound sub-bodies flashed through Jiao Xiuyuan's mind, but none of them matched the object before him.
Jiao Xiuyuan's heart pounded in his chest. With a wave of his hand, he sealed the shop entrance and began to entertain Li Fan with immense enthusiasm.
"Of course, of course! Just a puppet body, you say? Not a problem!"
"I was just wondering, what exactly is it that you have there...?" Jiao Xiuyuan asked, lowering his voice.
Li Fan answered just as readily. "A Heavenly Profound sub-body. The Terminal Disc."
"It can block the perception of the Heavenly Profound Mirror and its sub-mirrors."
When he heard Li Fan's first sentence, Jiao Xiuyuan's eyes lit up.
But after the second, a violent shiver ran down his spine.
He subconsciously glanced around and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
"Are you serious?"
Soon enough, however, his true nature reemerged.
A flicker of greed flashed in his eyes, and Jiao Xiuyuan reached out to touch it.
To his surprise, Li Fan made no move to stop him from touching such a treasure.
He simply allowed him to take the Terminal Disc in his hand.
"Hmm?" Puzzled, Jiao Xiuyuan carefully examined the disc, which resembled a piece of white jade.
He turned it over and over.
After a moment, a look of astonishment spread across his face.
He gripped it tightly and looked up, staring at the inscrutable Li Fan.
"Daoist..."
Li Fan raised a hand, cutting him off. "Daoist Jiao, in your estimation, what is this object's worth?"
"Immeasurable! The more powerful the Heavenly Profound Mirror becomes, the more desperately cultivators will need something like this. Its value will only increase!" Jiao Xiuyuan blurted out.
"What price are you asking?" Of course, Jiao Xiuyuan didn't believe for a second that his guest would offer such a precious treasure just for one of his puppet bodies. He quickly pressed for the real price.
In that single moment, he had already devised a new path to survival for his business.
He would pivot to dealing in exclusive, monopolized goods.
So what if product information was public?
If I'm the only one in the world who possesses a certain item, I can still set whatever price I want, can't I?
Combined with my network of shops spanning the realm, my promotional power is unmatched.
If every exquisite item were sold by auction...
The scale of his business might shrink, but his profits might not only remain unaffected but could even increase.
Jiao Xiuyuan's mind raced with visions of the future.
But Li Fan's next words brutally dragged him back to reality.
"Didn't I make myself clear? One of your puppet bodies, Daoist."
Li Fan's nonchalant tone left Jiao Xiuyuan utterly bewildered.
Doubt crept into his mind.
"Could it be? Did I misjudge it? Is this thing a fake?"
Jiao Xiuyuan once again began to discreetly inspect the Terminal Disc in his hand.
"No need to doubt, Daoist Jiao. The item's effects are absolutely genuine."
"Therefore, my request... is perhaps a bit special," Li Fan said in a low, enigmatic voice.
Jiao Xiuyuan's expression shifted, flickering between uncertainty and calculation.
But as Li Fan continued to speak via voice transmission, his expression turned to one of astonishment.
He then began to nod incessantly.
The two of them conversed in the Thousand Mile Hall for a long time.
Afterward, Li Fan departed quietly, without taking back the Terminal Disc.
Nor did he take the puppet body.
—
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