Chapter 938: Everything is Ready

It must be said, Yan Fangzhou appeared truly idiotic at this moment. Even Li Fan, a shrewd judge of character, couldn't tell if he was faking it.

"No matter, we'll find out by testing him."

With a thought, thousands of hideous ghost-gods instantly manifested within the formation. Darkness enveloped the entire space. Each of those grotesque monsters now stared intently at Yan Fangzhou. Each revealed a heart-stopping expression before pouncing on Yan Fangzhou. Immediately, the air was filled with bloodcurdling wails.

In the midst of the myriad ghosts, Yan Fangzhou, who had been sitting still, suddenly leaped to his feet. His eyes bloodshot, he shivered involuntarily at the sight of the countless spectral beings surrounding him. But as the spectral beings closed in, Yan Fangzhou gritted his teeth and roared in desperate defiance, "I'll fight you!" He then mustered the last vestiges of his cultivation and fought desperately against the ghost-gods.

"Not bad, a convincing performance. He almost fooled even me." Li Fan offered a rare compliment.

But at his command, the attacks of the hideous ghost-gods intensified. As these were all constructs of divine consciousness, every attack that landed on Yan Fangzhou caused not only physical injury and pain but also corresponding agony to his soul. The ghost-gods seemed to be toying with him, not tearing him apart instantly. Instead, they tore at him repeatedly, each time as if ripping a small piece from his very soul. It inflicted no fatal wounds, yet multiplied the pain a thousandfold.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

Yan Fangzhou's impotent, desperate roars were eventually swallowed by the multitude of spectral beings.

"When Heaven intends to bestow a great task upon a person, it first torments their will, exhausts their body..."

"Young man, I have high hopes for you."

Li Fan nodded with satisfaction. His form flickered, and he vanished, leaving thousands of spectral beings to continue "training" Yan Fangzhou.

Back in his cultivation chamber, Li Fan mused, "Now that my cultivation technique has reached initial mastery, its power is sufficient for me to impersonate Dharma King Sun Xingwang from those days. My appearance and memories can be concealed using the Secret Manual of Oblivion. Everything is ready; all that's left is for Mo Rubin to come knocking. I wonder how He Zhenghao is doing..."

Soon, aided by the Faceless Stone Statue, numerous scenes unfolded in Li Fan's mind.

Recently, He Zhenghao had been praying less. It wasn't due to a weakening of his faith in the Immortal of Red Dust Compassion, but rather because he had been exceedingly busy lately. He was so preoccupied with important matters that he didn't even have time to form a silent thought of gratitude.

This "important business" was the comprehensive implementation of the Profound Heaven Spirit Sealing technique. Previously, under Li Fan's guidance, He Zhenghao had fully grasped the complete set of diagrams and the underlying principles of the Profound Heaven Spirit Sealing formation. After a thorough review, the Formation Strategy Hall of the Myriad Immortal Alliance recognized the feasibility of the Profound Heaven Spirit Sealing technique.

The decision was remarkably swift, a stark contrast to their usual dilly-dallying. Upper-level approval was granted quickly, and the task was issued: swiftly construct a functional Profound Heaven Spirit Sealing formation. Concurrently, the Immortal Alliance headquarters would provide a Heaven Profound Mirror sub-entity to serve as a test subject for the formation's power. This experiment was among the Immortal Alliance's highest secrets.

He Zhenghao was transferred from the Formation Strategy Hall headquarters to another, undisclosed location. It was clearly a top-secret facility with numerous defensive measures; even the sensory images from the Faceless Stone Statue were somewhat blurry. But ultimately, its power level surpassed that of the Xuanhuang Realm. Thus, the Myriad Immortal Alliance couldn't entirely block Li Fan's prying gaze.

Knowing and understanding formation diagrams is fundamentally different from being able to independently construct a formation. He Zhenghao, fluent in theory, encountered unimaginable difficulties in practical application. Recognizing the difficulty of creating this formation, the Myriad Immortal Alliance dispatched six equally brilliant formation masters to assist him. They explored and discussed the intricacies together. Even Lu Xichan, the chief of the Formation Strategy Hall, frequently visited to inquire about the formation's progress.

While this put immense pressure on He Zhenghao, he also felt a surge of fervent excitement. Pushing his array-formation talent to its limits, he surprisingly succeeded in creating a preliminary Profound Heaven Spirit Sealing formation without having to supplicate the Immortal of Red Dust Compassion.

A faint beam of light shot forth, striking a small, antique mirror directly ahead. From the mirror, a circle of ripples instinctively emanated, seemingly trying to resist the encroaching faint light. The two forces contended for a moment, but ultimately, the antique mirror emerged victorious. He Zhenghao's face was instantly clouded with disappointment. The pent-up ambition he held, his desperate desire to prove himself, failed to materialize, and he fainted on the spot. This sent the cultivators present into a flurry of panic.

Although the first experiment failed, the Immortal Alliance did not lay blame. On the contrary, they offered words of comfort. They even pledged that if the Profound Heaven Spirit Sealing formation was successfully developed, the Immortal Alliance headquarters would personally arrange a marriage for He Zhenghao, allowing him to reconcile with Heng Ruoshui.

Upon hearing this, He Zhenghao, who had been on the verge of collapsing just moments before, immediately sprang from his cot, eager to begin the next experiment. He Zhenghao knew that while the Heng family wielded significant power, they were utterly insignificant before the entire Myriad Immortal Alliance. If the Immortal Alliance headquarters intervened, the Heng family elders would have no grounds to obstruct their marriage. Imagining his glorious return to the Heng family in the near future, He Zhenghao was immediately filled with renewed vigor. All thoughts of fatigue and hardship vanished.

Li Fan watched this scene, shaking his head repeatedly.

"Given that He Zhenghao's past has already been thoroughly investigated, it's unlikely they remain unaware of his meteoric rise after joining the Congyun Mutual Aid Society. Now, it's just a matter of when Mo Rubin comes looking for me." A faint light flickered in Li Fan's eyes.

However, passively waiting was never Li Fan's style. He decided to proactively create a situation to draw Mo Rubin's attention. With a flicker of his form, Li Fan left the Spiritwood Realm. After flying swiftly for half a day, he arrived at Jiushan Province on the border.

Jiushan Province was no longer a deserted, open plain. Since the Five Elder Council's public apology, Jiushan Province had reverted to the Myriad Immortal Alliance's control. And as this was the site where the Heavenly Venerate's Dharma Idol first demonstrated its divine power, many cultivators from the Immortal Alliance came to observe. Some cultivators even attempted to deduce and comprehend the destructive divine abilities of the Heavenly Venerate's Dharma Idol from this location. Furthermore, the Myriad Immortal Alliance had achieved an absolute strategic advantage, freeing them from the threat of the Five Elder Council's advance for the time being. Consequently, this formerly wild border region had become quite bustling.

The new floating sky city had not yet been completed, so most cultivators were resting in a ground-based defensive fortress. The cultivators remained extremely excited when discussing the recent great war with the Five Elder Council.