Chapter 468: Luck Injury Saves People

"That's strange, where is he?" As their injuries slowly healed, the four searched around but couldn't find any trace of Li Fan.

"Could it be that he ran out of stamina and, knowing he couldn't win, retreated first?" A hint of doubt flickered across the faces of the black-clad cultivators from the Five Elders' Guild.

"This is quite possible, judging by the power of that palm strike just now. One strike almost shattered the Abode-domains of all four of us. Even if he's incredibly strong, using such a divine ability should have caused a significant backlash..."

"Not necessarily. Ancient cultivators are skilled in combat, and Li Fan was clearly holding back earlier."

"Regardless, caution is paramount. Let's break this formation first!" The four exchanged glances and jointly attacked the "Splitting Light Trapped Dragon Array" laid down by Li Fan.

It seemed the formation was indeed no longer being controlled by a cultivator; its once impenetrable defense had become incredibly weak. The massive golden alms bowl instantly swayed precariously. Delighted, the four accelerated their attack frequency.

The moment the Trapped Dragon Array was completely shattered, golden light rained down from the sky. It enveloped the four, reflecting dazzling rays. Under the scattering golden light, they couldn't help but squint their eyes.

"Be careful!" Just then, the leading cultivator suddenly shouted a warning. Before his voice faded, with a loud boom, some of the golden lights drifting around them directly exploded. Terrifying energy surged from the explosion centers, sweeping outwards. There were as many as sixteen or seventeen explosion sources disguised as golden light, completely surrounding the members of the Five Elders' Guild from all directions.

"Sky-Rending Gilded Lightning?!" Amidst cries of anger and shock, the gilded lightning's points of light instantly transformed into rings, completely engulfing them.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Earth-shattering explosions continuously echoed across this sea area. After an unknown period, when everything had dissipated.

Within their severely damaged Abode-domains, their regenerating flesh slowly and painstakingly took shape. "How despicable..." "I knew he hadn't gone far!" Their faces showed lingering shock as they quickly scanned their surroundings, yet still couldn't locate where Li Fan was hiding.

"Don't get entangled with him anymore, let's retreat!" the leader gritted his teeth. Suppressing their Abode-domain manifestations, the group disregarded everything else and sped towards Yongliang State, on the fringes of Congyun Sea.

They flew for a long time, and the coastline of Yongliang State was already visible in the distance. Li Fan did not reappear, as if he had given up chasing them. The four couldn't help but let out a collective sigh of relief.

However, recalling their recent near-death experience, they vaguely felt that something was amiss. "Bing Liu, why do I feel like Li Fan was intentionally toying with us?" The black-clad cultivator, codenamed Bing Liu, remained silent for a moment before speaking in a deep voice: "While I don't want to admit it, it does seem a bit strange, considering the actual circumstances. He could have finished us off with the Gilded Lightning right after that palm strike. Yet, he waited until we had recovered our vitality before acting again. It's as if he deliberately gave us a chance to catch our breath."

At this point, another black-clad cultivator interjected: "We were severely injured just now; any casual attack could have completely killed us. But he didn't do that; instead, he let us go... What exactly does he mean?" The four exchanged puzzled glances.

"Li Fan is an ancient cultivator who has been dormant for thousands of years and only recently awakened. It's clear that someone like him wouldn't have much sense of belonging to the Myriad Immortal Alliance," Bing Liu suddenly said after a period of thought.

"Are you saying..." The eyes of the other three lit up. "He figured out we're cultivators from the Five Elders' Guild and wanted to establish a good relationship, which is why he deliberately spared our lives?" "Highly possible." "So that's it!"

"Does that mean we could try to win him over and have him join our Five Elders' Guild?" Bing Liu suddenly suggested, struck by an idea. "According to the information we've gathered, he was the first to deduce the prophecy 'Heavenly Mystery Locks Spirits, Xuanhuang Unites.' If we can recruit him, not only could the punishment for this failed mission be offset, but we could also achieve a significant merit."

At his words, the others were somewhat tempted. However, in the end, reason prevailed over desire. The leading cultivator said, "Let's go back and report his situation first." "This person is strange all over; we must be wary," another black-clad cultivator nodded in agreement.

Bing Liu felt a pang of regret: "His movements are erratic and unpredictable. It would be quite difficult to track him down." Another person chimed in, "Indeed. If we hadn't happened to stumble upon him sneaking out during this mission, we probably wouldn't have had any way to deal with him." "After all, he's a cultivator from the Heavenly Secret Sect, skilled in divination. It's normal for him to be able to counteract and block divinatory spells."

The group exchanged words, watching as they seemingly drew closer to Yongliang State. But gradually, they noticed something unusual about their surroundings. Even though it looked within reach, no matter how they flew, they remained over the vast blue Congyun Sea. They were always just a hair's breadth away from Yongliang State, unable to reach it. What startled them even more was that the distant scenery of Yongliang State, upon closer inspection, appeared somewhat blurry! It was as if it wasn't real, but rather an illusion.

The four stopped their flight, staring intently ahead with grave expressions. A moment later, the leading black-clad cultivator gasped in alarm: "No! It's an illusion!" "What?" The others froze for a moment, then finally realized, re-examining their surroundings in horror. The clouds, the wind, the waves... Everything around them froze instantly. Then, like cracks appearing on a glass mirror, everything shattered with a crash. The echoes of the Sky-Rending Gilded Lightning explosions could still be faintly heard in their ears. Their Abode-domains were a terrible sight, and their bodies were a bloody mess; they hadn't recovered at all!

So time had remained frozen at the moment Li Fan launched his surprise attack with the Gilded Lightning. "He took advantage of the instant our Abode-domains were impacted, while our minds were dazed, to pull us into an illusion!" Bing Liu finally understood, exclaiming in surprise. "Divination, formations, illusions... Truly worthy of an ancient cultivator." The leader coughed, gritting his teeth as he sighed in admiration.

He tried to summon his Abode-domain to absorb the surrounding spiritual energy. However, he despairingly discovered that at some unknown point, their opponent had already set up a formation, turning the area into a spiritual energy vacuum. This completely prevented Nascent Soul cultivators from quickly recovering their bodies using the power of their Abode-domains. "Clever!" He stared at mid-air. There, Li Fan was slowly revealing himself.

"Coincidence...?" Li Fan murmured, his brows slightly furrowed. With his abilities, he could have easily slain these four members of the Five Elders' Guild long ago. The reason he went to such trouble was to use the "Cloud Water Illusory Dream Technique" to extract from their minds the reason for his discovery during this outing. However, what he never expected was to get such a seemingly absurd answer.

Without further hesitation, Li Fan unleashed the Five Elements Oblivion Sword repeatedly. The four Five Elders' Guild cultivators, already severely wounded, resisted for only a moment before tragically dying by Li Fan's blade. The ominous celestial phenomenon of cultivators perishing suddenly appeared above, but Li Fan had no mind to watch it. Because he discovered that, during the very time he was entangled in combat with the Five Elders' Guild cultivators, a powerful suction erupted from the massive underwater vortex, pulling Han Yi, who was immobilized by the Restraint Worm, into a deep crevice within the ruins.

"Fortune..." Li Fan stood before the vortex, a thoughtful expression in his eyes.