Daoist Baihua paused, weighing her words carefully before asking, "For cultivators like us, if we spend extended periods living among mortals, even without directly touching this immortal-mortal miasma, merely being tainted by its aura would probably carry the risk of falling in cultivation realm, wouldn't it?"
Li Fan narrowed his eyes, sweeping his gaze across the mortals below as he nodded. "Indeed. Precisely because of this, we cultivators of the Xuanhuang Realm tend to dwell separately from mortals."
"Our target is in this city? While it isn't an enormous metropolis, there are still probably well over a hundred thousand mortals within. Hmm, I sense no cultivator auras. Searching through them one by one would be quite troublesome. In my view, why not simply strike and force the target out?" Having witnessed Li Fan's methods, Daoist Baihua offered her enthusiastic suggestion.
Her so-called strike naturally meant an indiscriminate, wide-area attack that would slaughter this mortal city named Weidu down to the last soul. The sole survivor at the very end would inevitably be the Heavenly Profound Mirror's avatar.
As for the lives of the hundred-plus thousand mortals in the city...
Cultivators had never cared for them in the slightest.
Especially beyond the Xuanhuang Realm, where no immortal-mortal miasma existed, mortals were truly nothing more than ants to cultivators, slaughtered without the faintest trace of psychological burden.
And so, the seemingly dignified and righteous Daoist Baihua casually proposed such blood-drenched measures.
Li Fan, however, did not agree with Daoist Baihua's plan.
He chuckled softly. "Fellow Daoist Baihua carries quite the murderous aura! As the saying goes, Heaven has the virtue of cherishing life. We seek only a single individual; why incur unnecessary bloodshed?"
At these words, Daoist Baihua was immediately struck with newfound respect.
Lin Ling, on the other hand, muttered to herself and stole a covert glance at Li Fan, though in the end she dared not voice any doubt.
In truth, it was not that Li Fan had undergone a sudden change of heart.
Rather, he was taking into account that the population within the pocket worlds he currently controlled remained rather sparse. Using the Common People Lingyuan Technique to cultivate practitioners on a massive scale and subsequently explore the Genesis Historical Records required a certain population base. Relying solely on natural growth was far too slow; plundering a portion from the Xuanhuang Realm was an entirely viable alternative.
As for how to locate the Heavenly Profound Mirror's avatar among over a hundred thousand people...
Li Fan's divine sense swept through the city of Weidu.
In an instant, the appearances and every movement of all mortals in the city—men, women, young, and old—mirrored simultaneously within his sea of consciousness.
The Dao Transformation Stone flickered with blue light, dividing them into individual subjects for observation.
Li Fan floated quietly in midair, monitoring and analyzing.
The Heavenly Profound Mirror was not truly human after all.
First and foremost, it was the living form of an immortal artifact, and it certainly possessed a degree of cultivation. No matter how convincingly it played its part, its conduct and mannerisms were bound to harbor subtle differences from those of ordinary mortals.
Especially now, after Li Fan's divine sense had swept across the entire city with such brazen disregard, the mirror's avatar undoubtedly knew Li Fan had come for it, making it even more prone to revealing flaws.
Before long, Li Fan had already narrowed the field to several dozen suspicious individuals.
After another half day of intensive observation, he finally pinpointed the target.
In the skies above Weidu, the four had already laid down a sealing array in advance.
Li Fan looked upon the face of the Heavenly Profound Mirror's avatar. With a flicker of movement, he appeared directly before him.
The figure turned out to be a young waiter at a tavern in the city.
Having just finished serving customers, he sat in a quiet corner to rest.
With Li Fan's abrupt arrival, the surrounding bustling environment instantly froze into absolute stillness.
The waiter did not appear surprised by Li Fan's appearance, only mildly curious. "How did you find me so quickly?"
Li Fan smiled. Instead of striking immediately, he offered some kindly guidance. "If you were a real mortal waiter, when resting right now you'd wish for nothing more than to close your eyes and sleep like a log. Why would you still be gazing all around with such curiosity, observing every single mortal in the tavern like this?"
The mirror avatar experienced a flash of realization. "So that's it."
"A pity observation is my nature. Even having reincarnated as a human, it cannot be changed overnight."
The mirror avatar sighed wistfully for a moment, then asked, "Are you here to kill me?"
"I could be. Or I could not be," Li Fan said, his tone enigmatic as he fixed his gaze on him.
"Oh?" This time, the mirror avatar looked somewhat surprised. He stared at Li Fan for a while, his brow furrowing.
Ultimately, he shook his head. "I sense a familiar aura about you. What a shame that after reincarnating as a human, many things can no longer be remembered or clearly seen."
"Does that mean you aren't from the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals?" Before Li Fan could reply, the mirror avatar asked again, "Nor do you carry the aura of the Five Heavenly Venerables..."
The mirror avatar scrutinized Li Fan continuously, as if discovering some novel toy.
The moment he met the entity's gaze, an inexplicable wave of discomfort welled up within Li Fan.
That kind of look had only ever appeared when Li Fan himself looked down upon the living beings of the Xuanhuang Realm.
It was a detachment and indifference rooted in the very depths of the soul.
Yet now, he was being viewed in such a manner by this mirror avatar...
"I represent only myself," Li Fan said in a low voice.
The mirror avatar shook his head once more. "Heh, I think not."
"Tainted by immortal will, doomed to calamity..."
"Could it be that you and I are both trapped in the net, and so you wish to find a way of escape through me?"
The mirror avatar had actually seen straight through to the fact that Li Fan was bound by the True Immortal's net, aiming a question directly at his heart.
A cold glint instantly flashed in Li Fan's eyes. "Even if you are an immortal artifact's avatar, with your frail human body right now, I could suppress you with ease. I wonder if you will still be so sharp-tongued by then..."
The mirror avatar, however, was utterly unperturbed.
He smiled, dusting off his robes. "Given your character, if you truly intended to do so, you would have made your move long ago. Why would you waste your breath talking so much with me here?"
At these words, Li Fan fell abruptly silent.
Worthy of a spirit born of an immortal artifact. After just a few rounds of verbal sparring, he had actually made Li Fan feel that long-absent sensation of having strength with nowhere to exert it.
Every offensive was effortlessly parried, followed by a sharp counterthrust.
*In merely the span of this brief meeting, he saw through my character and my entanglements.*
*What a pity...*
*What you see is destined to be merely the surface...*
Li Fan sneered inwardly.
Then, adopting defense as an attack, he openly admitted, "Quite right. You are an avatar of the Heavenly Profound Mirror, after all. Killing you just like that would be far too great a waste."
"If you can offer sufficiently valuable compensation, it's not impossible for me to let you go."
The mirror avatar looked as though he had heard an exceedingly hilarious joke. "Do you even believe your own words?"
"Even if you truly gained benefits from me, I doubt I would escape death in the end."
"A person like you..."
"Can only be kept at arm's length; not a single promise of yours can be trusted."
Chapter 1000