Li Fan could keenly sense that the Yanfa Jade was already awake.
Lying prostrate on the long desk right now, she was unquestionably only pretending to be asleep.
All three Dao Integration garrisons were well aware of this; having Li Fan wake the little girl was merely because he was the newcomer.
Li Fan understood the Yanfa Jade's temperament well enough: childish, grudge-bearing, and petty.
She certainly would not look kindly upon anyone who disturbed her rest.
Moreover, garrisons like them were only responsible for surveillance; they could not actually do anything to the Yanfa Jade.
Once this little ancestor threw a tantrum, they could only coax and indulge her.
Sensing the two divine consciousnesses resting upon him, Li Fan did not refuse.
Following the method Elder Nangong had taught him earlier, he channeled the sealing power of this Law-Deducing Space and conjured a bronze gong above the little girl's head.
Then, he struck it hard.
Clang!
The Yanfa Jade's body shuddered violently, and she jerked her head up.
In an instant, she locked onto Li Fan, the culprit, her little face flushed with rage.
Li Fan shrugged, looking utterly innocent. "Your rest has already exceeded six shichen. It is time to get up and work."
The Yanfa Jade kept her eyes wide, glaring fixedly at Li Fan.
It was as if Li Fan had committed some unforgivable crime.
Keeping a straight face, Li Fan continued, "By the way, according to regulations, the excess time taken will be deducted from your next break."
"Uh... and the time you spend glaring at me counts as well."
Li Fan touched his cheek, seemingly unbothered if the Yanfa Jade kept staring like that.
Upon hearing that her next break would be shortened, the Yanfa Jade instantly bristled like a ruffled kitten.
A layer of mist welled up in her large eyes as she looked at the other two garrisons, brimming with grievance.
Zhang Xu and the other both turned their heads away.
Li Fan, meanwhile, flashed an amiable smile, watching the Yanfa Jade as if enjoying a good show.
He even conjured an hourglass to track the passage of time.
After remaining frozen for a while, seeing more and more sand accumulating at the bottom of the hourglass, the Yanfa Jade finally could not hold out any longer.
Giving Li Fan a ferocious glare, she slapped the desk hard with her little hand.
The previously sluggish orb of glowing characters instantly resumed its rapid evolution.
Li Fan's smile remained unchanged.
Spending several hundred years here, teasing this little girl was perhaps the only way to pass the time.
***
Just as Li Fan had successfully infiltrated and drawn close to the Yanfa Jade...
Great Qi, Shengjing.
After eight years of earth-shattering development, the Holy Dynasty's atmospheric aura had transformed from crimson into purple.
Consequently, the clone Li Ping's cultivation in the Heavenly Emperor's Qi Canon had successfully stepped into the fourth realm.
"Drawing upon the magnificent fortune of hundreds of millions of living beings, I now possess the power to contend with a peak Soul Formation cultivator of the Xuanhuang Realm.
"If we develop for another few decades and exploit this pocket world to its absolute limit, it might not be impossible to rival Dao Integration.
"Yet, to take another step forward and rival the Longevity realm..."
The clone Li Ping shook his head slightly.
"The Heaven and Earth Myriad Spirits Formation has been preliminarily established; it is time to expand our territory."
With a thought from Li Ping, Sun Erlang and Wang Xuanba appeared before him before long.
"Greetings, Master," the two bowed together in salute.
The clone Li Ping waved his hand, and a map dotted with dense constellations of stars materialized out of thin air.
Every white point of light represented a grotto-heaven or pocket world.
Where Great Qi was located, it shimmered with a sacred purple glow.
Sun Erlang raised his head and gazed at the map before him, lost in a daze.
As his divine sense focused on those white specks of light, various information regarding the pocket worlds they represented surfaced in his mind accordingly.
"I have already explained to you the current layout of the Xuanhuang Realm.
"For now, we lack the strength to confront the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals and the Five Elders Association head-on. Therefore, our national policy for the next century is to unite the power of the various pocket worlds and expand the Holy Dynasty's territory.
"Unite myriad worlds to counterattack Xuanhuang."
The clone Li Ping did not shy away from the Great Qi Dynasty's current weaknesses, instead painting a bright future for his two cherished disciples.
Sun Erlang and Wang Xuanba were not entirely ignorant of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals. Sun Erlang even knew of the existence of the Alliance's supreme rulers, such as the Dharma Transmitters and Mirror Keepers.
Hearing the Destiny Holy Emperor's grand plan now, he felt no sense of absurdity like throwing an egg against a rock.
Instead, his blood boiled, and his heart surged with eager anticipation.
It was not that Sun Erlang was shallow or ignorant; rather, having witnessed the Holy Dynasty's dramatic transformations over the past eight years and contrasted them with what he had seen of the Alliance with his own eyes, Sun Erlang firmly believed that sooner or later, the Holy Dynasty would annihilate the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals and unify the Xuanhuang Realm!
Over these eight years, Great Qi's population had quintupled, and average life expectancy had skyrocketed from forty to seventy-three years.
Exploitation and oppression no longer existed; everyone could study and cultivate.
It was a hundred times more wonderful than the reign of sages depicted in ancient texts!
Over those eight years, Sun Erlang had also secretly visited neighboring pocket worlds.
They were no different from the corrupt Great Xuan Dynasty of the past.
In some places, the people lived lives even worse than Great Xuan's former subjects.
Sun Erlang felt that spreading the radiance of the Holy Dynasty and the Holy Emperor to those decadent pocket worlds was a noble and glorious undertaking.
Thus, hearing the Holy Emperor finally state his stance openly, endless fighting spirit ignited within Sun Erlang's chest.
Currently, Great Qi possessed nine legions in total.
Every single legion commander had reached the Nascent Soul realm.
And as the commander-in-chief over these legion commanders, Sun Erlang, who practiced the Immortal-Sitting Art, possessed strength pressing close to the Soul Formation realm.
Had the Holy Emperor not told him that his foundation was unstable and required a period of deep accumulation, he could probably have absorbed the world's transformations and broken through right now.
Reaching Soul Formation in eight years—Sun Erlang believed that even in the Xuanhuang Realm, such cultivation speed was astonishing enough to shake the world.
Those so-called favored darlings of heaven in Xuanhuang could not even measure up to the legion commanders beneath him.
...
The more he knew, the more confident Sun Erlang became in the Holy Dynasty's future.
"I give you one year of preparation time.
"One year from now, the Holy Dynasty's armies will set out from Shengjing to conquer the myriad worlds!"
Accompanying Li Ping's resolute declaration, the purple point of light representing the Xuanhuang Realm on the map ahead suddenly extended countless purple threads. Like tentacles, they tightly bound all the thousands of pocket worlds of the Xuanhuang Realm.
They wove into a colossal net, blanketing the entire map of the Xuanhuang Realm!
Witnessing this sight, Sun Erlang and Wang Xuanba held their breath, their hearts surging with fervor!
In this state of mind, an immensely excited Sun Erlang went down to summon the legion commanders and plan war preparations.
Wang Xuanba, however, remained behind to receive a secret mission from the Holy Emperor.
"[Stars Return to Their Places]?"
Wang Xuanba looked at the code name of the mission, somewhat puzzled.
"First, head to the Congyun Sea and Yinyin Island, and find a cultivator named Master Yin."
Wang Xuanba recited the instruction inwardly.
Chapter 1143