"You're saying... you've gotten dumber?" Daoist Baihua stared blankly at Layman Qiaogong.
"It seems..."
Before Qiaogong could finish, Baihua said, "As for me, compared to the beginning, there hasn't been any noticeable change. Could this just be something with you personally?"
Qiaogong was struck speechless at the remark.
"Guessing accomplishes nothing. Better to go test it in person." Fang Zaiji's eyes flashed with eager anticipation.
Everyone chimed in, tossing ideas back and forth.
Ultimately, it was Li Fan who delivered the conclusion: "The return of gloomy dark power isn't as simple as we think."
"If one merely absorbs it plainly, I fear they'll end up like Mo Rubin—corroded by it in turn."
"Furthermore, the Gloomy Dark Perilous Realm is currently under the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals' control. If we want to enter and study it..."
"I'm afraid they won't grant permission."
Liu Ruchen said, "Didn't the Envoy mention earlier that the Alliance was only able to enter the Gloomy Dark Perilous Realm through the ritual of those 'You people'?"
"Do you perhaps still recall the specific details of that ritual? If we replicate it, perhaps we could slip inside in secret."
"In any case, the interior of the Gloomy Dark Perilous Realm is pitch black. As long as we're careful, they won't notice us."
Hearing this, Fang Zaiji chimed in with immediate agreement: "What a splendid proposal, Sect Master! We can definitely give that a try!"
Li Fan pondered for a moment, then used the Water Mirror Technique to reconstruct the scene of that rather bizarre ritual.
Every chanted syllable and intonation was reproduced flawlessly.
After selecting over a dozen young cultivators to learn it, sure enough, the ritual failed.
"Does it really have to be one of those You people?" Fang Zaiji cursed under his breath.
The Federation members also shook their heads one after another, feeling disappointed.
"The You people..."
Li Fan had already mastered the basic information of all the pocket worlds in the Xuanhuang Realm.
Yet among them, there was no mention whatsoever of the You people; the Alliance had likely concealed it deliberately.
"No matter. We just need to rule them out one by one."
In the process of searching for Xu Ke, initial scouting had already been conducted on the vast majority of pocket worlds.
Covering the remainder wouldn't take much time.
With an order from Li Fan, countless inconspicuous exotic beasts swarmed toward the entrances of the various pocket worlds.
A mere half-month later, word arrived.
In the final image transmitted back before its destruction, traces of what appeared to be the You people were spotted.
That pocket world was bound to have guards from the Alliance.
Li Fan personally led Tianyang and slipped inside.
He was quite intrigued by that gloomy dark power.
Not only because it involved the possibility of escaping the Immortal Ruins, but even more so because it concerned the concept of "integrity."
Regarding Mo Rubin's demise, Li Fan had harbored doubts all along.
That scheming Dharma King of the Profound Heaven Sect, who had played him for a fool time and again, had somehow perished so muddleheadedly within the gloomy darkness.
It was truly difficult for Li Fan to believe.
Especially the reason he had entered the Gloomy Dark Perilous Realm in the first place.
Mo Rubin's goal had likely never changed from start to finish:
Find King Xuantian and leave the Pitch-Black Star Sea.
Even if he had failed the illusion trial of Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang, he had surely gleaned some clue from it.
"Could King Xuantian be hiding in the Gloomy Dark Perilous Realm?"
"Or was his inexplicable disappearance back then also related to gloomy dark power?"
Carrying these questions, Li Fan located the You people hidden underground.
To Li Fan's surprise, there were no garrisoned forces from the Alliance in this pocket world.
This particular group of You people was very small, numbering under a hundred.
Nor were they strong and healthy like the ones Li Fan had seen previously.
Every last one of them was skin and bones, looking as though they could drop dead at any moment.
After probing around, Li Fan vaguely understood.
This band of You people had fled for their lives from their original homeland.
When the Alliance captured the You race, they had fought desperately to escape and found this hiding place.
"All the better."
Without further hesitation, Li Fan erupted with full power, coordinating with Tianyang to suppress this group of You people and seal them into his own grotto-heaven.
However, something unexpected occurred.
Faced with Li Fan's ambush, these You people—who appeared to possess not a shred of supernatural aura—unleashed a remarkably eerie power.
The elder among them, though shocked, remained composed.
Chanting aloud, a strange ripple instantly enveloped them all.
Right before his eyes, Li Fan lost track of them in an instant.
It wasn't an illusion technique; his strike had truly struck empty air.
"Hmm? Interesting."
At that moment, Li Fan distinctly sensed the ripple of gloomy dark power.
"You can run, but you cannot hide."
Upon entering this pocket world, Li Fan had already sealed the entrance and exit completely with a formation.
Without his permission, no one could hope to leave this world!
His divine sense swept across the surroundings, scouring the entire pocket world, yet he still failed to locate the hidden You people.
Li Fan simply launched an indiscriminate attack.
Beams of black light brimming with destructive power rained down from the sky, bombarding every inch of the land.
Countless lives were caught in the devastation.
Yet Li Fan's expression remained unmoved as he purged every corner of this pocket world.
Under this wide-scale carpet bombardment with zero blind spots, the group of You people finally exposed a flaw.
As Li Fan sensed that something had resisted his Great Five Elements Annihilation Sword, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.
In an instant, he sealed off the area layer upon layer with formations.
Cornered, the You people finally revealed themselves.
They huddled together, looking up at Li Fan in the sky.
Their eyes held dread, as well as hatred.
The elder leading them could no longer hold back and called out, "Why must the Exalted Immortal slaughter us to the last?"
"To explore the Holy Land, the number of our people you previously captured is already more than enough!"
"I believe you are mistaken. I am not with the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals. On the contrary, just like you, I share an irreconcilable feud with them," Li Fan said in a clear voice.
"Otherwise, with your meager strength, could you have survived under my hands?"
With that, Li Fan immediately pushed the Soul Burning technique to full power.
His five great grotto-heavens, bathed in a crimson glow, appeared demonic and uncanny.
Coupled with the amplification of the Tianyang immortal puppet, the power Li Fan displayed was now comparable to that of a Longevity realm cultivator.
Unable to contain it, the pocket world they were in began to fissure with streaks of black spatial rifts.
The heaven and earth trembled, gradually falling apart.
The mere aura radiating from him was already causing an apocalyptic scene.
This threw the You people below into utter panic.
"The Alliance is currently exploring your Holy Land, and I intend to seize the chance to ambush and eliminate them in secret."
"Are you willing to lend this Venerable One a hand?"
Li Fan asked in an icy tone.
There was no second choice. Combined with their hatred for the Alliance, the You people below soon submitted.
After smoothly bringing them back to the Spirit Wood Realm, when it came time to pay homage to the Faceless True Immortal as was customary,
these You people acted as if they had seen something terrifying beyond measure, all collapsing to the ground in an instant, shivering violently.
Chapter 1097