Chapter 560: Dark Deal

Whether the Tian Beast’s exact appearance truly resembled a softshell turtle is now impossible to verify.

However, with a specific name, searching for relevant information became much easier. Although most of the information was fragmentary, it could be largely confirmed that the Tian Beast existed as a ‘totem’ in ancient times. It seemed closely related to a certain belief system.

Li Fan pondered, "The Tian Beast should belong to the Profound Heaven Sect. During the war where the Ten Immortal Dao Sects annihilated the Profound Heaven Sect, the Tian Beast perished and transformed into the Nine Mountains. Senior Sister Zhao once said that the Profound Heaven Sect usurped Heaven's authority, capable of bestowing marks upon mortals and enabling them to master various divine abilities typically only possessed by cultivators. Since it could bestow, it could naturally also strip them away. Perhaps on the Tianling Province battlefield, those cultivators targeted by green light lost their ability to fly for this reason, causing them to fall from the sky. In my previous life, the Profound Net in my memory hardly exhibited this ability to strip away powers. To suppress rebellious cultivators, they often needed to dispatch black-robed Celestial Arcanists. Its strength lay more in surveillance and bestowal."

A moment later, Li Fan secretly frowned again. "Heavenly Profound Spirit Lock and Profound Heaven Spirit Sealing might just be two sides of the same coin of the Profound Heaven Sect's power back then. The so-called bestowal and stripping away were actually acts of usurping and exercising Heaven's authority."

At this thought, Li Fan took out a blank encrypted jade slip, and the Dao Transformation Stone in his mind subtly activated. The structural diagram of the Heavenly Profound Spirit Lock Array, which he had memorized thoroughly in his previous life, was entirely etched onto the jade slip by him. However, Li Fan made a few deletions and modifications, deliberately concealing the subtle structure of the central core array. It took him a good half a day to complete the engraving of the array diagram.

Holding the jade slip, his expression flickered between contemplation and uncertainty. "Tianling Province achieved a great victory, and the Myriad Immortal Alliance seemingly holds the upper hand. In reality, all appearances of advantage are false. The Longevity Celestials of the Five Elders Council only chose not to act because of their agreement with the Law Inheritor back then. In reality, the Law Inheritor Celestial has already..."

Suddenly, Li Fan paused slightly. He had originally thought that the Law Inheritor Celestial had already left the Xuanhuang World. Once this was exposed, the Myriad Immortal Alliance would be almost impossible to resist in front of the Five Elders Council, which had five Longevity Celestials. Leaking the Spirit Lock Array diagram to the Five Elders Council might lead to a rapid collapse of the Myriad Immortal Alliance's situation, thus exposing its facade of strength.

But soon, he realized a fallacy in his understanding. In his previous life, it was in Year 41 of the Anchoring Era that Senior Sister Zhao made a probing move, finally confirming that the Law Inheritor Celestial had gracefully departed. But exactly when the Law Inheritor left, no one knew. Only from Year 24 of the Anchoring Era, when the Myriad Immortal Alliance decided on a plan to fully popularize the Heavenly Profound Spirit Lock Array, might some clues be glimpsed. However, Li Fan felt that when they, these various formation path prodigies, first received training, the Myriad Immortal Alliance was not in such a hurry. Perhaps it was because the Myriad Immortal Alliance itself had not detected the Law Inheritor's departure, or perhaps because... the Law Inheritor Celestial truly had not left at that time.

"Should I fan the flames and probe them?" For a moment, Li Fan couldn't help but hesitate. However, after pondering for a long time, he ultimately decided to temporarily abandon this decision. His primary goal in this life remained focusing on forming his Nascent Soul. Only if the Myriad Immortal Alliance won the battle of Tianling Province and the Five Elements Grand Grotto-Heaven was relocated would Li Fan have the chance to explore that mysterious void, which continuously birthed Five Elements Grotto-Heavens, to find out the truth. If the Myriad Immortal Alliance were to collapse, with the nest overturned, no egg would remain unbroken, and he would instead have no room for free action.

"But I also can't give the Myriad Immortal Alliance no pressure at all. Otherwise, if the Five Elders Council keeps losing battles, the Myriad Immortal Alliance might think the opponent is too weak to bother with and won't need to relocate the Five Elements Grand Grotto-Heaven at all. That would be a bit awkward."

After much deliberation, Li Fan crushed the encrypted jade slip in his hand. He then took out another blank one and began engraving anew. This time, he also deleted the central part of the array, only retaining the structural diagram of the outermost array region.

"As the saying goes, 'a small clue can reveal much.' The Five Elders Council certainly doesn't lack array path geniuses; with only a part of the array that I reveal, they might not be able to fully decipher the Spirit Lock Array. But countermeasures against it should not be a problem."

Li Fan, who had painstakingly completed his masterpiece, his eyes gleaming, placed the encrypted jade slip into a separate storage ring.

Three days later.

Li Fan met with the Five Elders Council's spy again. As soon as Li Fan appeared, he impatiently asked, "Fellow Daoist Zhou, what's the word?"

"We can obtain the blueprint," Li Fan stated directly.

The Five Elders Council cultivator was startled at first, then his face filled with incredulous ecstasy. However, soon Li Fan poured cold water on him: "However, it's only the structural diagram of the outer array... Furthermore, it's the initial version. This Profound Heaven Spirit Sealing Array has undergone countless derivations and iterations since then; it's probably completely different now. It can only be used as a reference for you." Li Fan said indifferently.

Upon hearing this, the Five Elders Council cultivator immediately felt a little disappointed. However, soon he quickly regained his spirits. To obtain the original external structural diagram of the array was already a great achievement. This was also a relatively reasonable and expected outcome. After all, the Profound Heaven Spirit Sealing Array had a high level of secrecy, ranking among the top secrets of the Myriad Immortal Alliance. The Five Elders Council had lost several deeply embedded spies without gleaning a single piece of information. If this person in front of him could guarantee everything and agree without hesitation, then he would probably have to suspect whether this was a trap. Or perhaps, this person was the Law Inheritor Celestial himself.

"No matter, having the original array diagram is excellent as well," the Five Elders Council cultivator, full of expectation, looked at Li Fan. "What are your conditions?"

Li Fan, however, said in a deep voice, "You must be well aware of the array diagram's value, so I won't elaborate. It cannot be measured by contribution points at all. However, our demands are also simple." Li Fan's gaze was profound, and he wore an unfathomable expression: "Your Five Elders Council will need to cooperate with our actions at certain necessary moments."

The Five Elders Council spy was slightly taken aback, then his brows furrowed. "What does this mean?"

Li Fan did not answer, but continued on his own: "With the power of a contract involved, I believe you won't go back on your word. Don't worry, we won't make any overly excessive demands. At critical moments, at most within the territory of a single province, we will require your Five Elders Council to provide support."

The Five Elders Council spy fell silent. "Wait a moment." He turned his back, closed his eyes, seemingly requesting instructions from his superiors. After a long while, he finally turned back around, already drenched in sweat.

"We agree to this transaction."