Seeing how readily Li Fan agreed, Dharma Transmitter Zhou was overjoyed. "Good. Then let us rendezvous here."
With that, she transmitted the spatial coordinates.
After ending the communication, Li Fan began his preparations.
The "newly developed technology" he had mentioned earlier was not mere fabrication. Rather, it was the fruit of the Terminal Dissociation Disc's deductions over the past year.
Ever since it mastered the two Immortal-grade grand arrays—"Xuanji, Myriad Spirits Numerical Reduction" and "Huangluo, Flowers Blooming in an Empty Chamber"—and devoured the nine newly spawned sub-discs to undergo its metamorphosis, the Dissociation Disc's array-analyzing capability had been growing day by day at an unimaginable speed.
At every passing moment, endless streams of entirely new formations seemed to be deduced by it.
Much like the Yanfa Jade, the Dissociation Disc acted as though it sought to deduce every array in existence!
Even without Li Fan's deliberate manipulation, over the course of a single year, it had amassed an extraordinarily vast array database.
Setting a few parameters and searching briefly, Li Fan found exactly what he wanted.
Named after the convention of Immortal-grade arrays, it was called "Yazi, Every Grievance Avenged."
The function of the formation could be gleaned from its name.
By keeping the array active, it would automatically scan its surroundings for targets with whom the caster shared grievances, then mark and track them.
Its coverage area was roughly the size of a province in the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals. Once locked on by the Yazi Array, as long as the target did not escape its perimeter, they would be relentlessly tracked.
The array possessed distinct specificity—that is, a single formation could designate only one object of grievance.
Li Fan tested it and found that the Yazi Array's method of locking onto a target was entirely beyond his current scope of understanding. It was already faintly bordering on the realm of an "Immortal."
Yet Mo Rubin's performance last time had truly inspired caution.
An array alone was not enough!
Li Fan produced a small jade bottle.
Inside sat three pills.
They sped erratically and endlessly within the bottle, their chaotic trajectories nonetheless imbued with a strange, mystical quality.
"Soul-Detaching Pills."
"Once ingested, to outsiders, one's divine soul will appear to be adrift and in utter chaos. In truth, one still retains control over their body. It is miraculously effective against soul possession. Mo Rubin's possession technique is similar to Dharma Transmitter Jiang's, converting the target into an extension of himself."
"Yet how can one possess or influence a mass of primordial chaos?"
A cold glint flashed across Li Fan's eyes. "Even if it cannot stop him completely, at the very least, it can drastically delay his possession process."
"Three pills per set. The Medicine King Sect's very first batch produced well over two hundred sets..."
***
Once everything was prepared, Li Fan took Tianyang with him and set out for the agreed location.
Naturally, he had altered his original appearance.
Dharma Transmitter Zhou was already waiting ahead of time. Accompanying her were thirty-seven others.
They were roughly divided into three factions. The largest group comprised a squad of expressionless, grim-faced cultivators in black robes.
Compared to those Li Fan had encountered before, their eyes were entirely vacant.
Rather than cultivators, they looked more like soulless puppets that did nothing but execute commands.
Of the remaining two factions, one consisted of two Dharma Transmitters standing beside Dharma Transmitter Zhou.
The second faction, however, was rather peculiar.
They did not appear human. Stunted in stature, they stood no taller than seven- or eight-year-old children.
They had no heads; their facial features were crammed together onto their chests.
Their bodies were pitch-black, presenting an appearance that was simultaneously grotesque and comical.
"To enter this perilous realm, we will need the You people to serve as our guides." Dharma Transmitter Zhou glanced at Tianyang, who stood behind Li Fan with eyes closed in silence. She bowed slightly toward him before turning to speak to Li Fan.
"The You?" Li Fan scrutinized the bizarre figures with keen interest.
"Let us speak as we walk. Here are the precautions for after we enter."
At Dharma Transmitter Zhou's signal, the You people gathered in a circle, held hands, and began dancing a peculiar dance.
It resembled a ritual. Accompanied by their unified humming, a murky, suffocating aura quietly descended above them.
Of course, this was merely Li Fan's perception.
In truth, whether observed with the naked eye or divine sense, nothing in front of them showed any physical change.
"Let us proceed inside."
The subsequent actions of the group proved Li Fan's intuition correct.
When the Alliance cultivators flew up toward the space above the You people, it was as if they were abruptly swallowed by the gloom.
They simply vanished into thin air.
The Alliance cultivators filed in one after another, and Li Fan ultimately followed suit, flying into the expanse.
Light was stripped away from the world.
All around was utter, boundless gloom.
It was somewhat different from the Pitch-Black Star Sea beyond the Xuanhuang Realm.
Though both were dark, the blackness of the Star Sea imparted a feeling of dead silence, nothingness, and vast expanse.
Yet here...
It felt cramped, damp, and gloomy, as though something was stirring in the shadows, ready to lunge out and devour someone at any moment.
The Alliance cultivators who had entered before him seemed to have vanished collectively.
Within this gloomy, perilous realm, it felt as if he were the only person left alive.
Subconsciously, Li Fan tried to sweep his divine sense around him, only to discover it was entirely useless here.
The moment it left his body, it was enveloped by endless gloom, unable to perceive anything at all.
Li Fan then attempted to illuminate his surroundings with light, but that failed as well.
Light itself seemed unable to survive within this perilous realm.
Just then, without warning, a hand rested abruptly on Li Fan's shoulder.
His hair stood on end, and Li Fan was on the verge of striking back in an instant.
However, through physical contact, divine senses could be transmitted between them.
Only then did Li Fan "hear" the other party's words.
The person first stated his identity.
Dharma Transmitter Yan.
Only afterward did he explain to Li Fan, "In this gloomy perilous realm, both divine sense and voice lose their function. Only through physical contact, like the You people, can we communicate with one another."
"We entered together and have not been scattered. Everyone should be right around here. Let us regroup first."
Li Fan gave a slight nod.
This gloomy perilous realm was indeed bizarre. Even the connection between himself and Tianyang had been severed.
Fortunately, Tianyang had not wandered far. With little effort, Li Fan found him again.
With a thought, before anyone could notice, Tianyang quietly transformed into Immortal Puppet Battle Armor and attached himself to Li Fan's body.
*The Yazi Array is greatly weakened here as well. Its detection radius is down to roughly three zhang around me?*
Li Fan could not help but be inwardly shocked.
One had to realize that this formation was infinitely close to the level of a true Immortal-grade array.
*To think that the Xuanhuang Realm still conceals such a treacherous place. What did Mo Rubin come all the way here to do?*
Just like the You people holding hands before entering, the Alliance cultivators and Li Fan used the same method to regroup.
After a headcount revealed that three people were missing, the group did not go looking for them.
Instead, an order of immediate execution on sight was directly issued against those three.
Together, the company set off toward the depths of the gloom.
Chapter 1094