Chapter 974: The Lost Fishing Pond
"Cultivators who enter a Dharma Transmitter's small world can also enjoy the benefit of agelessness," Mo Rubin explained. "Even Dharma Transmitter Feng—the body I possessed, who was the least interested in gathering talent—had over a thousand true geniuses within his small world."
"You can only imagine how deep the reserves of the other Dharma Transmitters must run."
Mo Rubin remarked with a sigh.
At these words, an image surfaced in Li Fan's mind.
The Xuanhuang Realm was like a vast field, and for thousands of years, cultivators had been the crops, growing season after season.
The unremarkable were reaped, while the true cream of the crop was meticulously preserved by the Dharma Transmitters.
"No wonder the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance seems to have a bottomless well of trump cards, managing to surprise me in every lifetime."
"And that's only the Dharma Transmitter lineage. The Alliance also has the parallel factions of the Mirror Holders and the Illusionary Truth Sages..."
"In comparison, the Five Elders Council seems rather... lacking."
Mo Rubin nodded in agreement. "When the Xuantian King returns, he will surely purge every last one of them!"
Li Fan didn't echo the sentiment, instead feigning a daze. "Xuantian King... Xuantian King..." he murmured.
"That name sounds so familiar..."
Mo Rubin saw that Li Fan was lapsing into confusion again and couldn't help but feel a touch of exasperation.
"Fortunately, it's only intermittent," he thought. "It won't affect the grand plan."
With that thought, Mo Rubin painstakingly "woke" Li Fan once more and laid out the next steps of their plan, should there be any new developments.
Only then did he depart from Li Fan's spiritual space.
Long after Mo Rubin had gone, Li Fan dropped his pretense.
"Dharma Transmitter Jiang must have returned to the origin, taking that gray mold with him. No wonder the attack never came. A close call, but it seems I'm in the clear."
"However, Dharma Transmitter Jiang's innate power seems to stem from a transformed immortal artifact left behind in the Xuanhuang Realm. There's no effective way to guard against it at present. Even knowing about it beforehand doesn't grant immunity to its influence..."
Even with the protection of the Xuanhuang Heart Refining Mantra, Dharma Transmitter Jiang's power appeared to directly alter his fundamental attributes and nature.
It wasn't a power that caused mental or cognitive confusion in its target; if it were, the mantra's defenses would have activated. They never did.
"Before the Great Calamity, all immortal artifacts in the Xuanhuang Realm vanished in an instant. I never expected some to have transformed into people."
"Interesting..."
Since his cover wasn't actually blown, there was no need to activate [Truth].
The plans for this lifetime would proceed as scheduled.
But Li Fan didn't lower his guard. His mind remained firmly connected to the Spirit Wood Realm.
Who was to say Dharma Transmitter Jiang wasn't deceiving his own allies? It could all be a feint.
Li Fan decided to observe a while longer.
All he needed to do now was summed up in a single word: wait.
In his recent conversation with Mo Rubin, he had raised the possibility of strengthening the Xuantian Spirit-Sealing Formation to exert more pressure on the Xuantian Treasure Mirror.
His persona, "Sun Xingwang," was no expert in formations, and neither was Mo Rubin. As for the masters in the Alliance's Array Strategy Hall, they couldn't be trusted.
Their only option was to rely on an external tool.
Perhaps because he was also considering the future need to repair the Floating Starry Sky Grand Formation, Mo Rubin had mulled it over for only a moment before agreeing with Li Fan's reasoning.
He promised that after returning, he would search for a unique treasure capable of deducing formations.
"If I can absorb the Dissociation Disc, once its nine parts are whole, my ability to deduce formations will undergo another fundamental transformation."
"By then, I should even be able to unravel the secrets of the Reversing Life and Death Grand Array. And perhaps I'll finally uncover the true identity of its creator, the Life and Death Heavenly Venerate."
...
Li Fan's plan to remain stationed in the Spirit Wood Realm was brought to an abrupt end half a month later by a sudden, frantic message from Lin Ling.
Though she was a mighty Dao Integration expert, Lin Ling's voice was like that of a panic-stricken child. "Ma-Master! S-Senior Stone Slab... he's gone!"
"And the little pond... it vanished with him!"
A jolt went through Li Fan, and he shot to his feet.
The legendary Fishing Pool and Senior Stone Slab were both gone?
What was going on?
A surge of anxiety gripped Li Fan, and he was about to rush immediately toward the small mountain temple.
However, recalling some of Lin Ling's past behavior, Li Fan abruptly halted.
He sent a transmission, his voice steady and low. "What is there to panic about? With Senior Stone Slab's power, who in the entire Xuanhuang Realm could possibly harm him?"
"Recount what happened in detail."
"Yes, Master." Though still audibly panicked, Lin Ling began to describe the strange events as they unfolded.
Ever since Senior Stone Slab had seated himself in the Fishing Pool to meditate on the Dao, he had remained as still as a statue, utterly unmoving.
Originally, out of respect and fear for Senior Stone Slab, Lin Ling and the little Daoist child Liuli had always kept their distance.
As time wore on, however, they grew bolder.
Finding that even getting quite close elicited no reaction from Senior Stone Slab, they began to approach him from time to time.
They wanted to get a closer look at this peculiar senior.
Lin Ling had been apprehensive at first, but with the young Liuli tugging her along, she soon discovered that there was indeed no danger.
She grew increasingly "daring."
"Sister Lin Ling, the closer you get to Senior Stone Slab, the more benefits there are!" the young Daoist child, Liuli, declared, plopping down on the ground. She tilted her head back, her eyes shining with a hint of greed as she gazed at the silent figure.
Lin Ling had felt it too. An unusual Dao rhythm emanated from Senior Stone Slab's position.
It seemed to resonate with the other laws of heaven and earth, for after only a moment, a stream of fragmented images would surface in her mind unbidden.
They were profound and mysterious, touching upon many different principles of the world.
Even for a cultivator of her power, one at the Dao Integration stage, the insights were immensely beneficial.
"I only understood later," Lin Ling's voice trembled, "that Senior Stone Slab had reached the most critical juncture in comprehending the Dao of Fishing. That's why it triggered a resonance with all the principles of the world..."
"But I was so immersed in the benefits of that enlightenment that I failed to notice."
"Until a short while ago, when that Dao rhythm suddenly grew turbulent. The feeling..."
"It was like a calm lake suddenly whipped into a tempest by a great storm!"
A thread of terror ran through Lin Ling's voice.
"It felt as if something from within the Fishing Pool was pulling with all its might."
"Without any warning, Senior Stone Slab was yanked a step forward."
"His expression then was so strange—a mixture of elation and terror."
"It was as if an invisible line connected him to something deep within the pool. They were locked in a desperate tug-of-war, neither side willing to yield."
"And then..."
Lin Ling paused, her voice thick with horror. "Suddenly, it was as if Senior Stone Slab was violently dragged into the pond. He vanished from thin air, right before our eyes!"
"What's even more terrifying," she finished, "is that afterwards, we discovered the Fishing Pool had stopped working entirely."
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