Chapter 834: The Alliance's Pursuit and Interception
“The first step is to figure out what that arrow was all about.”
Soon after, Li Fan, his plan already in motion, deployed his clone, Ji Shaoli. After an extensive search and a hefty payment, he finally had his answer.
“The Sky Patrolling Arrow. One of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance's latest innovations, developed to counter a full-scale offensive from the Five Elders Council.”
“Its speed is unimaginable. In just a single day, it can circumnavigate the entire territory of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance on patrol. It automatically locks onto any suspicious target, descending from the heavens to deliver a devastating strike.”
“It can instantly kill almost anyone below the Dao Integration stage. Even a Dao Integration cultivator, if caught unprepared, would be severely wounded on the spot.”
Li Fan read through the information on the Sky Patrolling Arrow, his expression growing grim.
“The most crucial detail is that this weapon can be mass-produced. According to speculation, there are at least five Sky Patrolling Arrows constantly patrolling the Alliance's airspace at this very moment.”
“During wartime, they could likely launch dozens of them at once, establishing absolute air superiority.”
Li Fan's brow furrowed.
Moreover, as a strategic weapon of war, the Sky Patrolling Arrow came with a liability waiver.
In other words, if you were unlucky enough to be in its flight path and were pierced through by the arrow, meeting an unfortunate end...
...no one would be held responsible for your death.
You would have died for nothing.
“So, it seems Ou Daozi and his son have no connection to the Sky Patrolling Arrow.”
“They simply predicted its trajectory and tried to use it to kill me, creating a diversion for their escape.”
Li Fan nodded to himself.
With a clear understanding of the situation, Li Fan set his own plan into motion.
Ou Daozi and his son could never have imagined that Li Fan's retribution would arrive so swiftly.
It was a ruthless, unorthodox retaliation.
In a mere three days, a video recording spread like wildfire across nearly the entire Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
The incredible content of the recording left countless cultivators in the Alliance stunned, but that shock was quickly followed by a rising tide of killing intent and greed in their hearts.
That's right. Li Fan had completely abandoned the idea of hunting down Ou Daozi and his son by himself.
Instead, he had broadcast the secret of their incredible abilities and priceless treasures to the entire world!
By all logic, human nature is inherently greedy and selfish.
Upon learning that someone possessed such a supreme treasure, most would scheme and plot, trying every means possible to claim it for themselves.
They would plot in secret, believing the fewer people who knew, the better.
Even if they lacked the strength, they might seek allies, or simply sell the secret for a handsome price...
In any case, such a secret should have circulated only within a very small circle.
But Li Fan refused to play by the rules. Without a trace of hesitation or personal greed, he had made the matter public knowledge in just a few short days.
To any outsider, Li Fan's move seemed to be a classic case of cutting off one's nose to spite one's face.
There were countless cultivators in the world. Even if the father and son's secret was seized by someone else, it certainly wouldn't end up in Li Fan's hands.
To do all this just to vent his anger, even forsaking the chance to profit from the secret...
...it was truly unwise, bordering on madness.
In truth, if he didn't have [Truth], Li Fan would never have acted this way.
But with [Truth] at his disposal, there was no need to rush. If he wanted something, he wasn't limited to a single moment or even a single lifetime.
“The boy is certainly a handful,” Li Fan mused. “I'll let the cultivators of the Alliance pave the way for me. I'll see what clever strategies they devise to capture him.”
“And in the next life, I'll simply follow their example.” A glint flickered in Li Fan's eyes.
And Li Fan's plan proved to be astonishingly effective.
The power to foresee the future and reverse the flow of time!
Anyone who saw the abilities the pair displayed in the recording felt their heart pound with an irresistible urge to possess such power for themselves.
In an instant, a frenzy to find Ou Daozi swept across the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
Several prominent families even posted massive bounties. Anyone who provided information on the whereabouts of the father and son would be handsomely rewarded, with prizes going as high as a Dao Integration-level cultivation technique.
“You can run, but no matter how vast this world is, there's nowhere left for you to hide.” The architect of this chaos, Li Fan, observed the cultivators descending into a frenzy. He recalled the son's mocking expression and sneered inwardly.
When nearly every cultivator in the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance united their strength toward a single goal, the resulting efficiency was nothing short of terrifying.
The exploration of the white mist and the grotto-heaven pocket dimensions in his 115th life had already answered that question.
Less than five days after the recording was released, the father and son, who had been hiding deep within a forest, were discovered.
Though they managed a narrow escape through their strange and cunning abilities, now that they had been exposed, it was only a matter of time before they were caught, hunted as they were by the countless watchful eyes of the Alliance.
What surprised Li Fan somewhat was that the pair held out for far longer than he had anticipated.
And in the process, more information about their abilities was gradually uncovered.
Ou Daozi's son was named Ou Shangtian.
The abilities to predict the future and reverse outcomes were entirely his.
It was deduced that these powers most likely stemmed from a companion wonder he was born with.
The so-called “future prediction” also turned out to be different from what was initially speculated.
He couldn't predict every detail of the future. It seemed he only received a premonition when his life was in grave danger.
Simply put, he could foresee the countless ways he might die.
This allowed him to avoid disaster and find a path to survival.
As for his ability to “reverse outcomes,” it was just as Li Fan had guessed. He couldn't truly turn back time. Instead, he could revert the state of an object or a burst of energy to what it was a short time before. In doing so, he could also form a mysterious connection with the reversed object.
For instance, Ou Shangtian had once reversed dozens of attacks launched against him.
He even managed to master one of those reversed abilities, turning it back on his assailants to wipe out the entire group before making a clean getaway.
However, this power couldn't be used indefinitely. Each time he used it, Ou Shangtian needed a period of rest before he could unleash it again.
Once the truth came to light, many cultivators were sorely disappointed and abandoned the hunt for Ou Shangtian.
Indeed, while both abilities were powerful, they fell far short of the imagined power to truly reverse the flow of time.
Nevertheless, a considerable number of cultivators continued the pursuit.
After all, cultivators with such rare talents were usually snapped up by major powers and held in high esteem. The chance to kick a man while he was down like this was a rare opportunity indeed.
Now that they understood the specifics of Ou Shangtian's abilities, the cultivators coordinated their efforts with perfect tacit understanding during the subsequent chase.
They planned their attacks to be non-lethal, aiming only for a live capture.
This rendered his predictive ability largely ineffective.
Instead of attacking all at once, they employed relentless wave tactics, forcing him to exhaust his power to reverse outcomes...
Gradually, Ou Shangtian found it harder and harder to escape.
Finally, on the tenth day after the recording was made public, the father and son were cornered, their situation desperate.
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