Chapter 75: Deep Sea Encounter with the Dragon Whale

Jiao Xiuyuan immediately relaxed upon hearing that the target was only at the Mid-Qi Refining stage.

He quickly took charge, saying, "Don't worry, it's just a small Qi Refining cultivator. I guarantee I'll find out everything about him. As for the price..."

Li Fan smiled, "It's just a minor Qi Refining cultivator, so it shouldn't be too expensive, right?"

Jiao Xiuyuan wished he could slap himself. He sheepishly replied, "There's always some risk in this line of work. How about this much?" He gestured with eight fingers.

"Forty contribution points, no more," Li Fan shook his head.

"Oh, you're bargaining too hard!" Jiao Xiuyuan cried out, feeling pained. "I still need sixty points, otherwise it'll be a loss!"

Li Fan turned to leave.

"No, wait!" Jiao Xiuyuan quickly stopped him.

"Fifty points then, I really can't go any lower," he said, his face contorted in pain.

Only then did Li Fan stop.

"Please give a deposit of ten contribution points first," Jiao Xiuyuan said, handing Li Fan a communication talisman. "Once I have results, I'll notify you through this talisman."

Li Fan accepted the talisman and then handed Jiao Xiuyuan a mid-grade spirit stone. Not in a hurry to leave, Li Fan instead began to examine other items for sale in the room.

Seeing that he had a big client today, Jiao Xiuyuan became even more enthusiastic. "Is there anything else you need?"

"Do you sell cultivation techniques here? Preferably escape techniques, or something similar to a Concealment Talisman," Li Fan asked.

Jiao Xiuyuan's expression immediately froze.

"Heh, are you making fun of me? How about you look at something else? What do you think of this Illusionary Maze Formation Diagram? It's absolutely a top-tier item. Once activated, it can trap a late-Foundation Establishment cultivator for a day."

"This set of Ice Talisman Swords is also good, suitable for sneak attacks..."

"Hey, don't leave!"

After leaving Qianli Hall, Li Fan returned to the Celestial Profound Mirror.

He planned to first cultivate the Nether Illusion Art to the late Qi Refining stage. Once the Azure Flame Illusion Spirit was fully stable, he could release it to fight enemies. With the auxiliary cultivation mode activated, Li Fan once again entered seclusion.

A month later, in the waters of Fiery Crystal Island, east of Congyun Sea.

In the deep sea, Li Fan concealed his aura and followed a group of Scarlet Flame Sharks. There were over ten Scarlet Flame Sharks, currently hunting a solitary Crimson Whale. The Crimson Whale had a massive body, fed on undersea fiery crystals year-round, and its skin was like a layer of hard rock. The Scarlet Flame Sharks, on the other hand, had sharp teeth, moved swiftly, and cooperated seamlessly.

Although they couldn't inflict significant damage on the Crimson Whale immediately, they were slowly depleting its vitality, like cutting flesh with a dull knife. The Crimson Whale attempted to break through the Scarlet Flame Shark pack's blockade several times but failed. Gradually, its resistance grew weaker and weaker.

Li Fan watched the scene unfolding before him, knowing it was time.

The Azure Flame Illusion Spirit appeared. It then transformed into a thin blue light, swiftly passing through each of the dozen-plus Scarlet Flame Sharks and the Crimson Whale in an instant.

A moment later, it returned to Li Fan's Sea of Consciousness. The Scarlet Flame Sharks and Crimson Whale suddenly stopped moving. Then, a chilling aura surged from within their bodies, freezing them from the inside out. In just an instant, strange ice sculptures appeared on the seabed. Their expressions and postures were lifelike, as if they were still alive, but they had long since lost all signs of life.

"The Azure Flame Illusion Spirit's power is indeed impressive."

"Most of these sea beasts are comparable to Qi Refining cultivators, and they have tough hides and thick flesh, making them difficult to hunt by ordinary means. Yet, after being attacked by the Azure Flame Illusion Spirit, they were like lambs to the slaughter, completely unable to resist." Li Fan nodded, quite satisfied with his initial test of the Illusion Spirit's lethality.

Not long ago, after more than twenty days, he had finally managed to break through the Nether Illusion Art to the late Qi Refining stage. To test the Illusion Spirit's power and earn some contribution points, he accepted the mission to "hunt Scarlet Flame Sharks and obtain their beast cores."

Each beast core was worth 5 contribution points, so he could earn over sixty points in total. Adding the materials from the Crimson Whale, this trip could yield over eighty contribution points. How should he put it? Better than nothing, he supposed. In the past, his contribution point gains were always in the thousands, so such a small amount hardly stirred any emotion in Li Fan.

While thinking this, Li Fan was about to step forward and collect the Scarlet Flame Shark beast cores. Suddenly, he felt an extremely massive figure approaching from the deep seabed below. Li Fan's expression changed. Ignoring the beast cores that were almost within reach, he quickly retreated.

A deep-brown, monstrous deep-sea behemoth, with a grotesque face and a faint, deformed protrusion on its forehead, looking neither like a dragon nor a fish, suddenly emerged from the shadows of the seabed. Its colossal mouth opened, swallowing over a dozen Scarlet Flame Sharks along with the Crimson Whale in one gulp! Its massive body swayed, and the behemoth swam in a circle before orienting itself and swimming in a certain direction.

Li Fan, who had barely managed to avoid the behemoth, hadn't even had time to react, as he watched his prey being snatched away right before his eyes. Could he tolerate this? Li Fan's anger flared instantly.

But soon, the Profound Yellow Mind-Refining Incantation began to circulate, calming him slightly.

Wait, wasn't this behemoth the same one that previously destroyed the island cultivating Spirit Mist Grass? As if remembering something, Li Fan was immediately stunned.

Earlier, when he had accepted the mission to hunt Crimson Whales, Li Fan had also noticed another bounty mission. Since this mission was somewhat related to him, he had examined it carefully. It turned out that the group who had speculated on Spirit Mist Grass back then had almost all suffered heavy losses, losing everything.

Holding a grudge and overflowing with resentment, they couldn't even calm down to cultivate. However, they dared not trouble True Monarch Qingmu Huasheng and the Myriad Immortals Alliance, so they could only take their anger out on the monstrous beast that had destroyed the Spirit Mist Grass cultivation island. According to witnesses, the attacker was a Dragon Whale, roughly at the Foundation Establishment stage of cultivation.

The island's guardian was also a Foundation Establishment cultivator. But the Dragon Whale was so massive that the guardian's attacks barely had any effect, like tickles. The Dragon Whale directly ignored the guardian, broke through the island's protective formation, wreaked havoc on the island, and devoured most of the Spirit Mist Grass. Only after this did the Myriad Immortals Alliance's Golden Core cultivators arrive belatedly.

And this Dragon Whale, after taking a blow from a Golden Core cultivator, surprisingly didn't die, but was severely wounded and escaped back into the deep sea. The Congyun Sea was vast, and this group of people, wanting to kill the Dragon Whale to vent their anger, searched for over ten days without success. Out of desperation, each of them contributed a small portion of their remaining contribution points and jointly issued a bounty mission.

Whoever killed the Dragon Whale would receive two thousand contribution points. Since even Foundation Establishment cultivators were helpless against this Dragon Whale, Li Fan, being merely at the Qi Refining stage, naturally hadn't accepted the mission before.

However... Now, the situation was different!