Chapter 54: Heaven and Earth Spread a Deadly Trap

“What’s going on?”

Shocked to his core, Li Fan’s Water Mirror spell shattered. His mind reeled, momentarily plunging into confusion.

After a moment, Li Fan slowly regained his composure. “Could it be that this 'Thousand Machine Jade Sky Golden Chapter' has a problem?”

His first thought was that the cultivation method itself was flawed. The so-called 'Discernment of Opportunity' might no longer be applicable in the cultivation world after the great changes in heaven and earth. After all, Li Fan was currently inside Tai'an Island's protective formation. Furthermore, Tai'an Island was located in the central region of the Congyun Sea, under the jurisdiction of the Myriad Immortals Alliance. He had been safe all this time; how could disaster strike just because he went into seclusion?

However, sensing the dense death aura around him, Li Fan couldn't simply convince himself otherwise. The unease in his heart grew increasingly strong. Li Fan made a decisive choice: whether it was real or not, he would first go to Myriad Immortals Island to avoid potential calamity. He immediately planned to activate the teleportation array to Myriad Immortals Island.

To his dismay, the teleportation array showed no response! Li Fan's expression darkened. He then took out the communication talisman that He Zhengtao had given him and tried to contact He Zhengtao. Even after infusing spiritual energy, there was still no reaction!

It was clear now: something strange had indeed happened. Staying on Tai'an Island was a dead end; he couldn't just sit and wait for death! Li Fan summoned the Taiyan Skiff, took out the 'Congyun Sea Atlas,' and prepared to personally pilot the skiff. The spiritual stones powering the Taiyan Skiff were almost depleted, but fortunately, when Li Fan had splurged on shopping before, the 'Cultivator's Solo Essential Kit' included quite a few spiritual stones. Li Fan estimated that it would take about two or three months to fly from Tai'an Island to Myriad Immortals Island. The spiritual stones would certainly be enough.

At this point, Li Fan no longer cared about his island guardian duty; he simply piloted the skiff, preparing to leave. Just as the Taiyan Skiff was about to fly out of the protective formation, Li Fan suddenly sensed an endless murderous aura from outside. It was like tens of thousands of sharp swords, spread throughout the heavens and earth. Li Fan's heart stopped; he immediately halted the Taiyan Skiff. His intuition told him that if he left the protective formation, he would surely die!

Li Fan squinted, looking at the calm sea, unsure of where the danger originated. Ultimately, Li Fan chose not to take the risk. He put away the Taiyan Skiff, preparing to first ask the mortals on the island what had happened recently. However, once his divine sense swept across the entire island, he was greatly astonished again.

It turned out that a full one-third of the island's residents were gone. The remaining residents were all inexplicably pale and emaciated, as if they hadn't eaten in a long time.

Knowing that something significant must have happened during his seclusion, Li Fan's expression turned grim as he flew to the Tai'an Island Master's mansion. Since becoming the acting guardian, Li Fan had remained in seclusion, largely ignoring the island's mundane affairs. He had only met the island master a few times. When the island master saw Li Fan at this moment, he immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowing and wailing incessantly.

“Immortal Master, have mercy! Immortal Master, have mercy! Please save us!” The island master wept bitterly, banging his head until it nearly bled.

“What exactly happened? Tell me quickly!” Li Fan's face was extremely grim.

“Reporting to Immortal Master, we truly cannot go on like this. It hasn't rained for over half a year, and the island's fresh water and food are almost depleted. If this continues, everyone will starve to death!” the island master cried, still kowtowing.

“No rain for half a year?” Li Fan recalled what Zhang Haobo had told him years ago. “So the drought still came. But why did the Celestial Mystery Mirror tell me there wouldn't be any major changes when I consulted it before? Could it be that a drought of this scale isn't even worth mentioning to the Celestial Mystery Mirror?”

The island master continued to wail: “The fish near the coast have all been caught, and the weather is far too hot. Not a single fishing fleet that ventured into the open sea has returned alive. Everyone is truly on the verge of starving to death! Immortal Master, have mercy, please save us!”

Annoyed by the man's cries, Li Fan also noticed that while the island master had lost some weight, his body was still full of fat. Furious, he demanded, “Half the mortals on the island have starved to death, yet you haven’t lost weight?”

The island master's face turned pale, and he was about to explain. However, after Li Fan's divine sense swept through the island master's mansion kitchen, his rage reached its peak. Without waiting for the island master to speak, he slapped him into a pulp.

“Holding office without performing duties, you deserve to die!” Li Fan snorted coldly and used the power of the great formation to transmit his voice across the entire island. “I have killed the island master. All other managing officials, come to the island master's mansion to see me immediately!”

A moment later, several trembling mortals cautiously approached Li Fan. Li Fan saw that they, too, looked as if they hadn't eaten enough, which finally made him suppress his murderous intent. Through their tearful lamentations, Li Fan finally understood what had transpired during his year of seclusion.

The drought began half a year ago. Initially, no one paid much attention when it hadn't rained for many days. It wasn't until two months passed without a single drop of rain that everyone on the island panicked. The island did have sources of fresh water, but as the days without rain continued, they gradually became depleted. Food could initially be sustained by catching fish near the coast, but as the weather grew hotter, fish could no longer be caught around the island, and all the outgoing fishing fleets never returned. Tai'an Island then plunged into famine. In just one month, one-third of the island's population died, and countless tragedies occurred. The remaining survivors were merely clinging to life. If Li Fan had emerged from seclusion any later, he might not have found even a few living people.

With things as they were, Li Fan could not stand by and do nothing. When he left Grand Profound back then, the Taiyan Skiff, apart from a few cabins filled with gold and silver treasures, had its remaining space packed with provisions. This was originally just a precaution, a cautious habit for exploring an unknown cultivation world. He never expected that it would finally come in handy after almost ten years. The Taiyan Skiff had a dust-purifying formation, so the food naturally hadn't spoiled. Li Fan immediately enlarged the Taiyan Skiff to its maximum size and ordered the mortals on the island to move out some of the provisions for emergency use.

Seeing that the Immortal Master had brought life-saving food, all the islanders excitedly knelt on the ground, kowtowing incessantly. Li Fan didn't bother with them, letting them cheer. The food inside the Taiyan Skiff, if rationed, should be enough to sustain the islanders for several months. The most crucial issue was to solve the fresh water problem. With water, they could live.

Li Fan went to the island's main source of fresh water, a medium-sized lake in the center of the island. The lake was already guarded by special personnel, preventing ordinary people from approaching. Due to the long period without rain, the lake had significantly shrunk, now only one-tenth of its original size, on the verge of completely drying up.

“When the protective formation was built, I never thought we'd encounter a water shortage…” Holding the Tai'an Island Guardian Token, Li Fan shook his head helplessly. “It seems I'll still need to build a formation to purify seawater.”