Chapter 562: White Mist's Surprise Attack

To this day, Li Fan still hadn't figured out the exact punishment for breaching a Five Elders Association contract.

However, he had absolutely no intention of testing that out.

Every transaction he had with the Five Elders Association had always been incredibly profitable for him. He was eager for more such opportunities, so why would he deliberately break the contract?

The Five Elders Association spy was already gone without a trace, leaving Li Fan as the sole person at the transaction site.

Casually destroying the stone table inscribed with words, "Zhou Qing'ang" flew back to Congyun City.

On the way back, Li Fan pondered some abnormal signs from the recent negotiation.

The Five Elders Association had only agreed to provide a limited number of treasures useful to cultivators at the Dao Integration realm, such as True Temptation Fruits and Human Dao Stardust.

This Li Fan could still understand.

However, when it came to the Samantabhadra True Boats, the Five Elders Association was extremely reluctant, refusing to provide more.

They even preferred to compensate with other, more valuable resources rather than compromise on the boats.

This puzzled Li Fan.

He recalled that when his puppet body traveled through the Five Elders Association's territories, Samantabhadra True Boats were items that could be casually purchased anywhere.

How could they suddenly become so valuable in such a short time?

What exactly had happened?

Li Fan couldn't make sense of it.

It wasn't until "Zhou Qing'ang" returned to the Political Affairs Hall and inadvertently saw a map of the Congyun Sea surrounding areas on the wall that a flash of insight struck him.

He stared intently at the natural boundaries between the various states on the map, the existence known as the White Mist Barrier, and seemed to understand something.

"Supply and demand determine the price," he mused.

"Although the actual value of Samantabhadra True Boats isn't high, if the Five Elders Association is currently requisitioning them on a large scale, causing them to be extremely scarce..."

"...then it all makes sense."

Li Fan's thoughts raced.

"Are the Five Elders Association preparing to advance through the white mist?"

"Are they attacking deep into the Myriad Immortals Alliance along the White Mist Barrier, or are they heading into the depths of the white mist itself?"

Even Li Fan himself was shocked by this sudden thought.

For many years, cultivators had always avoided the white mist due to its characteristic of consuming lifespan.

Who would have thought that these White Mist Barriers could be used as natural waterways?

Although the Myriad Immortals Alliance already knew that Samantabhadra True Leaves could, to some extent, reduce the effects of the soul-devouring white mist, its practical application had not yet become widespread.

This was undoubtedly a major blind spot in the Myriad Immortals Alliance's thinking.

The seemingly absolutely safe White Mist Barrier could, at any moment, unleash countless hostile cultivators.

By any measure, this was an extremely alarming prospect.

"I hope I'm just being overly concerned. The Myriad Immortals Alliance has countless talents and surely must have defenses against such things..."

"...right?"

For the following period, "Zhou Qing'ang" intentionally made himself extremely busy.

He now accepted all visiting requests that he would have previously flatly rejected.

Whenever he had free time, he would patrol various islands in the Congyun Sea.

In just three or four days, he interacted with hundreds of people of varying statuses.

This way, even if the Five Elders Association wanted to investigate his sources of information or the whereabouts of the so-called Heaven-Covering Alliance, it would be an almost impossible task.

Moreover, even if the Five Elders Association possessed extraordinary means and actually captured all these people to search their souls, they were destined to find nothing.

They probably wouldn't even dream that all the Myriad Immortals Alliance's top secrets originated from Li Fan himself!

On the fifth day, Li Fan, carrying a fragmented array diagram, arrived alone at the Myriad Treasury Pavilion on Youlan Island.

In the deepest secret chamber, he met the contact for this transaction.

The person was still dressed in black, with their appearance concealed.

However, Li Fan could discern that this was not the same cultivator he had met last time.

"Excellent! Fellow Daoist Zhou is very trustworthy, and we will not disappoint you," the black-clad cultivator praised, looking at Li Fan, who had arrived as agreed.

Li Fan, however, inquired about the previous Five Elders Association spy.

The black-clad cultivator's tone was solemn: "To complete his mission, he chose self-sacrifice. This is our destiny, and it is our honor."

It was clear that the person Li Fan had seen dissolve into golden light that day had indeed perished.

They had sacrificed their life in exchange for a contract bearing the marks of five Heavenly Venerates.

The only strange thing was that there were no anomalous celestial phenomena indicating a fall, and the reason for this was unknown.

Li Fan nodded, saying nothing more.

Instead, he handed over a storage ring containing encrypted jade slips.

The black-clad cultivator carefully took it, saying, "Please wait here for a moment, Fellow Daoist."

With that, he left with the ring, disappearing to an unknown location.

Li Fan closed his eyes and waited patiently.

Li Fan was actually not concerned about the safety of this clone.

On one hand, there was the Golden Contract, which stipulated that neither party should harm the other.

On the other hand, "Zhou Qing'ang" currently presented himself as a member of the Heaven-Covering Society, a large organization hidden deep within the Myriad Immortals Alliance.

Furthermore, he was the only channel through which they could contact the Heaven-Covering Society.

Unless the Five Elders Association was prepared to break ties with the Heaven-Covering Society and no longer obtain Myriad Immortals Alliance secrets from them, the Five Elders Association would not make a move against Li Fan.

Especially given that no matter how much they probed, they couldn't uncover even a shred of information about the Heaven-Covering Society, which remained extremely mysterious.

Moreover, with the Five Elders Association currently at war with the Myriad Immortals Alliance, they certainly wouldn't want to create another enemy.

Of course, it couldn't be ruled out that the Five Elders Association might make a foolish move, using methods like True Temptation Fruits or other rare items to forcibly turn Li Fan.

Therefore, while waiting, Li Fan remained on high alert, ready to abandon this clone at any moment.

The Five Elders Association proved to be very efficient.

In just the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the black-clad cultivator returned to the secret chamber.

Although he tried his best to conceal it, a faint excitement could be discerned in his demeanor.

"Your side's methods are truly astonishing, I am impressed!"

"These are the items we promised. Please check them, Fellow Daoist."

Saying this, the black-clad cultivator handed over a white stone.

"This is..." Li Fan's eyes flashed.

Fortunately, he was well-informed; after searching through the memories stored in his Dao Transformation Stone, he immediately knew what the white stone was.

It was an Ethereal Void Motherstone.

A purely natural storage material.

Compared to ordinary storage rings, it offered a larger storage space. It could also be absorbed and refined by cultivators to be stored within their bodies.

It was also an essential material for crafting spatial artifacts, extremely rare, and virtually priceless on the market.

This item was not on the list of materials Li Fan requested; it was clearly given to him purely as a storage device.

Li Fan nodded slightly, then opened his mouth and directly swallowed the Ethereal Void Motherstone.

He didn't rush to refine it immediately but first checked its contents.

Naturally, the Five Elders Association did not shortchange him on quantities: ten thousand Enlightenment Pills, three hundred Samantabhadra True Boats, three pieces of Human Dao Stardust...

All were consistent with the contract.

Li Fan focused his attention on a statue radiating five-colored light, floating amidst all the other items.