Chapter 884: The Array Refining Federation
A tremor went through Xiao Qing and Xiao Hong's hearts.
They could tell that the words of this senior, brimming with a formidable, malevolent aura, were no empty threat.
If they failed to meet his demands, he would truly kill them.
"Synthesizing spiritual energy..."
The initial discovery that the crystal cores within the strange beasts could generate spiritual energy had been a complete accident.
Achieving a breakthrough within three years seemed an almost impossible task.
Just as Xiao Qing was lost in thought, her brow deeply furrowed, Li Fan spoke again, his voice a low cackle. "Heh heh heh... When this old man acts, I am always true to my word! To ensure no one clings to foolish hope..."
The next instant, Li Fan flickered into existence in the sky above the Empire.
Tens of thousands of blood-red threads erupted from his body, whistling through the air as they shot toward every corner of the imperial capital.
Only now, at the end of each thread, a mortal from the Empire was bound.
They hung in the air, a dense, dark cloud of bodies that blotted out the sky.
This terrifying spectacle nearly caused many of the people below to faint on the spot.
The red threads tightened, and before the unfortunate souls could even utter a cry of despair, Li Fan swept them all into his Five Elements Great Cave-Heaven and suppressed them.
Li Fan did not simply take their lives.
Instead, he planned to deliver them to Master Yin, to be used as research material for the Immortal-Mortal Miasma.
After thoroughly intimidating the Empire, Li Fan plundered it a bit more before finally departing in satisfaction.
As for the red string Mr. Bai had left for Xu Ke...
Li Fan left it for the time being.
Should the need arise, he could always guide some "fated person" to retrieve it.
But as for his true self...
He would pass.
After the great demon lord with his overwhelming presence had gone, a wave of relief washed over the people of the Empire. Feeling as though they had survived a cataclysm, they clutched their heads and wept bitterly.
Xiao Qing, however, felt her heart drop after reviewing the list of the missing.
She discovered to her horror that the group abducted by the senior from the Federation of All Worlds consisted entirely of the Empire's conservative noble faction.
They were constantly at odds with the imperial family, obstructing various reform plans at every turn.
And now, they had all been neatly bundled up and carried away.
From this day forward, she and the others could marshall the full strength of the Empire to solve the technological problem of upgrading their spiritual energy synthesis.
"This is no coincidence. It's a warning."
"To think he understands the inner workings of our Empire so completely..."
A chill seized Xiao Qing's heart, extinguishing any last ember of resistance.
She hastily summoned the Empire's key technical experts to begin deliberating on the project that would determine their very future.
Meanwhile, upon returning from the Empire Small World, Li Fan first joined forces with Tianyang to relocate the entrance to the spatial passage into the Spirit Wood Realm.
He then personally set up an array at the exit.
This would prevent any of the Empire's personnel from escaping.
The fact that the Empire's law-stealers, now scattered across the outside world, might never find their way home again didn't even register as a concern for Li Fan.
Once all this was done, Li Fan took a moment to visit Yinyin Island.
While handing the mortals over to Master Yin, he also inquired about the progress of his research.
"Soon, soon."
Master Yin's expression was strange. He showed none of the excitement one would expect from a researcher on the verge of a breakthrough.
Instead, he seemed dazed and agitated.
He even answered Li Fan's questions distractedly, in half-formed sentences.
Seeing this, Li Fan decided not to disturb him any further.
Upon his return to the Spirit Wood Realm, Ou Daozi and Shang Tianci came to find him.
After several years of tireless and difficult construction, the headquarters of the Federation of All Worlds had finally begun to take shape.
However, because of Li Fan's prior instruction that he must give the final approval for the foundation ceremony, they had come to seek his opinion.
Li Fan's spiritual sense swept over the Spirit Wood Realm.
He saw a sprawling complex of buildings encircling the central Spirit Tree, covering almost a tenth of the realm's total area.
Should a visitor arrive, the first thing to meet their gaze would be a black jade gatehouse soaring three hundred thirty meters high.
The plaque on the gatehouse was still blank, awaiting Li Fan's inscription.
Beyond the gatehouse lay a long, wide avenue.
Its surface was a uniform bluish-green, identical to the one before the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance's Law Enforcement Hall, forged entirely from Spirit Transformation Stone.
Walking upon it completely sealed one's spiritual energy.
Combined with the flight-restricting array, it forced any visiting cultivator to tread the long road to their audience slowly, step by step, like a common mortal.
At the end of the long road stood a great circular hall.
The center of the hall was currently empty. Li Fan planned to place the statue of the Xuantian God there.
It would give all first-time visitors a small, breathtaking shock of mystery.
Using the circular hall as a central hub, avenues radiated in every direction, leading to buildings with various functions.
There was a Welcoming Hall, a Council Hall, a Martial Arts Field, a gathering place for Federation members, the entrances to the World Passages, and more.
None of the buildings were crowded together. They were interspersed with various breathtaking landscapes from the Xuanhuang Realm, a beautiful and endless tapestry of mountains and water.
Outside the Federation of All Worlds headquarters complex was a "miniature Xuanhuang Realm," artificially constructed to roughly replicate the original's appearance.
Using the iconic landscapes of various provinces captured within Shang Tianci's Heavenly View Gourd, they had managed to recreate a rough approximation of the Xuanhuang Realm within the Spirit Wood Realm.
With a single glance, Li Fan spotted the great lake of Luoyan Province, the nine mountains of Jiushan Province, and the all-too-familiar expanse of the Cong Yun Sea.
In Ou Daozi's design, the terrain of the headquarters complex had been deliberately elevated.
As a result, the center of the Spirit Wood Realm was now high, while the surrounding lands were low.
From a distance, it looked as though the Federation of All Worlds was gazing down upon and suppressing the entire Xuanhuang Realm.
...
"Excellent! Excellent!"
It was truly the work of a master architect. The more Li Fan looked, the more pleased he became.
"It was well worth the trouble of bringing Ou Daozi here. I even wasted a Truth Inducing Fruit..."
"Worth it!"
If he had tried to build it himself, it would never have been this magnificent.
"Not bad. I'm very satisfied!" Li Fan nodded.
Shang Tianci's face beamed with delight, while Ou Daozi wore an expression of pride.
"In that case, Senior, when do you think we can hold the foundation ceremony?" Shang Tianci asked eagerly.
Li Fan considered for a moment, then replied, "No rush. Wait for my signal."
With that, Li Fan transformed into a streak of rainbow light and soared into the skies of the Spirit Wood Realm.
Gazing down at the brand-new Spirit Wood Realm, already suffused with a misty, auspicious aura, Li Fan centered his mind and focused his senses on the array materials that had been transported to their designated locations.
"It's time to begin the preliminary [Array Refining]."
"Refining an entire small world into a treasured artifact is not something that can be done overnight."
"Especially since, nourished by so many heavenly materials and earthly treasures, the Spirit Wood Realm itself seems to be on the verge of another transformation..."
"But as long as I first inscribe the arrays into the very land of this world, no matter how it grows in the future, it is fated never to escape its bonds."
Li Fan mused to himself.
"This is both Array Refining and the Federation's defensive formation."
"Rather than trouble myself with maintenance later, it's better to do it right, all in one go."
After some thought, determined to make this place as perfect as possible, Li Fan finally made up his mind.
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