Chapter 966: A Single Thought Beguiles Ten Thousand Cultivators
"I'll borrow this body for now and keep it hidden. When we need to communicate again, I'll use this same method," Mo Rubin concluded.
Li Fan nodded in agreement.
The two had already discussed the finer points of their cooperation in detail, yet Li Fan had refrained from asking Mo Rubin to pry into the Alliance's secrets. To take, one must first give. In Li Fan's view, his connection with Mo Rubin was still in its early stages—it was far from time to harvest the fruits of their partnership.
"Once I've helped him solidify his position among the Dharma Transmitters of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance," Li Fan thought, "perhaps then I can start making some small requests."
This was his conclusion after Mo Rubin's divine consciousness had completely faded from his sea of consciousness.
Over the next ten days, every cultivator practicing the Divine Advent technique, guided by Li Fan's subtle influence, began to converge on Luoyan Province.
According to Mo Rubin's plan, he would soon visit Luoyan Province in his official capacity as a Dharma Transmitter.
The entire provincial hierarchy of Luoyan, along with Alliance officials at every level, would undoubtedly treat his arrival with the utmost ceremony.
Furthermore, Mo Rubin would deliberately draw the full attention of the Alliance's surveillance forces, creating a perfect breeding ground for Li Fan to spread the Divine Advent technique unhindered.
Afterward, these newly converted cultivators would be scattered across the Alliance's territories, biding their time until shortly after Mo Rubin completed his tour and returned to the Alliance headquarters.
Then, the situation would erupt.
Once the situation spiraled out of control, Mo Rubin would step forward and volunteer to take on the task of completely eradicating these "rebels."
With Li Fan, the true mastermind, acting as his inside man, resolving the crisis perfectly would be a simple matter.
That was the plan in broad strokes.
Of course, in practice, they were likely to encounter all sorts of unexpected complications. Mo Rubin had already prepared numerous contingency plans.
It truly gave one the sense of a master strategist, devising plans in a command tent to decide a battle a thousand miles away.
Of course, compared to Li Fan, he was still a step behind.
Soon, more than thirty thousand cultivators practicing the Divine Advent technique received Li Fan's signal.
Each made their way toward Luoyan Province.
To prevent the sudden influx of people from raising alarms within the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, Li Fan orchestrated their movements. Some traveled via teleportation arrays, while others flew on their own power.
Arriving in staggered batches over ten days, they settled into various locations across Luoyan Province, lying in wait.
They then began observing the local cultivators, scouting for suitable targets.
While Luoyan Province couldn't match the prosperity of the Alliance's Central Four Prefectures, it was a major province in its own right.
Immortal Sage Jicheng, the Supreme Commander of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance's Garrison Court, was a native of Luoyan Province.
After coming into great power, he had done much to support his home province.
Countless scions from Luoyan's influential families had secured positions at the Alliance headquarters, and over the years, they had, in turn, enriched their homeland.
After years of cultivating these connections, the resulting network was a tangled, unfathomable web of influence.
Only a figure of a Dharma Transmitter's stature could command such cautious deference from the entire province.
Within Li Fan's sea of consciousness, a map of Luoyan Province slowly unfolded.
Red dots, each representing one of the Divine Advent cultivators, peppered the map, scattered across the province.
Sensing the information streaming back from his subordinates, Li Fan couldn't help but nod to himself. "A blessed land breeds exceptional people. Even setting aside the disciples from the great families, the overall quality of the cultivators here is far superior to that of a remote region like the Cong Yun Sea."
"Hmm..."
"Everything is in place. All that's left is for Mo Rubin to make his move."
Li Fan first directed his subordinates to make contact with their chosen targets and build rapport.
There was no rush to act; the first step was to gradually earn their targets' trust.
The conversations of thirty thousand people played out simultaneously within Li Fan's sea of consciousness.
Li Fan presided over it all like a grand puppet master, relying on his formidable divine consciousness and exceptional emotional intelligence to feed each of his agents the perfect response in every situation.
Moreover, these thirty-thousand-plus Divine Advent cultivators were not all working alone.
Li Fan deliberately paired up the less capable ones. By having them support each other, with one person's words reinforcing another's, their efficiency at winning people over was even greater than that of those who operated solo.
In just a few short days, over ten thousand new pairs of "bosom buddies" had formed across Luoyan Province.
Li Fan watched the tens of thousands of different scenes floating before his mind's eye, his expression serene.
To him, the entire process—the introductions, the conversations, the building of trust—was nothing more than a series of multiple-choice questions.
With his vast experience and sharp intellect, finding the optimal answer among countless options was hardly a challenge.
In fact, choices made with cold, detached rationality were often the most effective at strengthening these new bonds.
"The bonds are warmest when a friendship is new. I must strike while the iron is hot..." he thought to himself.
Just one day after the agreed-upon time, an unusual atmosphere seemed to descend upon Luoyan Province.
From the thirty thousand scenes he was monitoring, a cacophony of discussions flooded Li Fan's ears.
"Huh? I haven't seen Young Master Cai around lately. You think he's found some new form of entertainment?"
"Funny you should mention it. I haven't run into Brother Zhang in days either."
"Dammit, I tried to get into Luoyan Heavenly City to take care of some business today, and they just blocked me at the gate. Didn't give a single reason, just flat-out refused entry! The hell with them!"
"Those fellows from the Martial Hall have been surprisingly diligent recently. But the more I look at them, the more it feels like they're just putting on a show."
"Sss..."
Putting all these strange occurrences together, the cultivators of Luoyan Province quickly figured it out.
A very important person had arrived in Luoyan Province.
As for just how important this person was, or what their true identity might be, they had no way of knowing.
The smarter ones, however, had already decided to lie low for a while, staying in seclusion within the Tianxuan Mirror and avoiding the outside world.
Otherwise, they might find themselves "evaporating" into thin air for some inexplicable reason.
On the surface, Luoyan Province remained calm and peaceful.
The cultivators knew better than to cause any trouble.
They merely gathered with their friends to discuss the matter in private.
And now, it was finally Li Fan's time to shine.
Stirring the emotions of his targets and eliciting their sympathy was, in fact, quite simple.
The vast majority of these cultivators came from humble backgrounds, having reached their current cultivation level through sheer effort alone.
Most were at the Foundation Establishment stage, though a few were Golden Core cultivators.
Nascent Soul cultivators were even rarer, perhaps one in a thousand.
Li Fan's beguiling whispers echoed in their ears.
"Hmph. With these families controlling Luoyan Province, I'm afraid lowly cultivators like us will never get a chance to get ahead."
"Exactly. We never get a piece of the pie. We don't even have the right to know what's going on..."
"Tsk, tsk... what a life we lead."
"How far can you get cultivating on your own without resources? Without a Grotto-Heaven, even a peerless genius would be stuck at the Nascent Soul stage forever. I don't think those disciples from the great families are any better than me. Take that Young Master Cai, for example. He has everything he could ever want, but he's still stuck at the late Golden Core stage. A complete and utter waste! If it were me..."
...
Anger and resentment spread like wildfire through the hearts of the common cultivators.
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