Li Ping seemed to perceive Baihua's reservations and said in a deep voice, "The Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals and the Five Elders Association are indeed formidable, but we are far from the only ones in the Xuanhuang Realm dissatisfied with their rule.
"To say nothing of the various factions hidden throughout the pocket worlds, even within the Alliance itself, there are countless individuals harboring their own ulterior motives."
With a wave of Li Ping's sleeve, an enormous interpersonal web unrolled steadily before Daoist Baihua.
Daoist Baihua looked closely. To her astonishment, the faces belonged to members across the various branches of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals!
Not just their names and appearances, but their life histories, temperaments, likelihood of being swayed, forecasts of their future actions and developments, and more—everything, down to the minutest detail, was meticulously cataloged.
And those specifically highlighted were the Alliance's volatile elements—the personnel most susceptible to being turned.
Studying these texts and images, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals ceased to be an empty name in Daoist Baihua's mind; in an instant, it took on a vivid and concrete form.
The more Daoist Baihua read, the more alarmed she became. *No wonder this man dared to make such grand claims and harbored the confidence to challenge the Alliance. Who knows how long it took to gather intelligence this detailed? And it is not just a matter of time—some of these secrets would be utterly impossible to obtain without high-ranking moles on the inside.*
Daoist Baihua did not believe for a second that he had fabricated all of this. The information was simply too comprehensive; the likelihood of forgery was exceedingly low.
She wanted to inspect it further, but Li Ping waved his hand, and the light screen before them shifted once more.
This time, it changed from Alliance dossiers to intelligence on the various pocket worlds of the Xuanhuang Realm: those whose formidable strength made them potential allies; those lacking in strength but abundant in resources that could be conquered and turned into production bases; and even pocket worlds marked as extremely hazardous and not recommended for contact...
A hidden tapestry of the Xuanhuang Realm unfolded steadily before Daoist Baihua.
Even as shock coursed through her, a wave of helplessness welled up. Having been exposed to so many of this Sacred Dynasty's state secrets, she likely had no choice but to join now.
As for dropping all pretense and fighting it out with him...
Even though Daoist Baihua had been a Longevity realm existence in her original world, facing this Faceless Sacred Emperor right now, she had no certainty of victory whatsoever. Whenever the thought of turning hostile arose, her instincts would flare with a faint, foreboding sense of irreversible doom.
Nothing like this had ever happened to her in the past. Even when she had been reeled in and captured by the fishing pond, she had not felt such a sense of crisis.
Thus, when Li Ping calmly extended the invitation for her to join the Sacred Dynasty, Daoist Baihua agreed without the slightest hesitation.
Li Ping laughed heartily. "Good, good, good! With Fellow Daoist Baihua's assistance, our odds of victory increase by another fraction.
"Right now, there is a matter that requires your help." Scarcely had Baihua joined before Li Ping wasted no time in assigning her a task.
The miniature projection ahead abruptly contracted, ultimately focusing on a pocket world formed of five interlocking rings.
"This Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven is what I intend to designate as the ultimate prize for this fishing tournament. However, it currently lies within the territory of Tianling Province under the Alliance. Situated right along the border, it could easily draw the attention of both the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals and the Five Elders Association. Therefore..."
Li Ping said with considerable sincerity, "I must trouble you, Fellow Daoist, to relocate it to the void surrounding our Great Qi."
At first, Daoist Baihua assumed it was merely an ordinary grotto-heaven and paid it little heed. But when Li Ping transmitted the detailed information regarding the Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven, her golden-glowing body shuddered uncontrollably.
These five interlocking grotto-heavens were simply too massive! With her strength, she could indeed manage to haul them over, but she would inevitably be left severely depleted afterward.
Would he take advantage of her exhausted state to harbor ill intent?
Just then, Li Ping chuckled. "It is truly because I am unable to pull myself away that I must trouble you, Fellow Daoist.
"Were I truly minded to move against you, I would hardly need to resort to petty schemes..."
There was not the slightest tremor in Li Ping's tone; he seemed to be merely stating a simple fact.
As Li Ping spoke, several stone puppets materialized silently in the void, subtly encircling Daoist Baihua.
The innate strength of these puppets was unremarkable, yet the fluctuations emanating from them filled Baihua with both dread and a creeping familiarity.
A flash of revelation illuminated Baihua's mind, and she instantly identified the source of that familiarity from her memories. It was none other than the horrific calamities of long ago—the ones that had swept unchecked across the void and eradicated countless cultivation worlds!
"Are you mad?!" Daoist Baihua could not help shrieking. Subconsciously, her body recoiled, scrambling to put distance between herself and the stone puppets.
"You are playing with fire! How could the power of a world-extinguishing calamity ever be ours to command? If a single slip occurs, you could destroy even the Xuanhuang Realm—our very last refuge!" Daoist Baihua trembled, caught between terror and rage.
Never could she have imagined that this so-called fellow traveler would turn out to be a complete lunatic. No wonder she had sensed such an unspeakable premonition of danger from him earlier...
Faced with Daoist Baihua's accusations, Li Ping remained unperturbed.
He gave a cold snort and replied indifferently, "The world-extinguishing calamities have only vanished temporarily. Who can guarantee they will never reappear? Even if we are fortunate enough to escape the Immortal Ruins, what shall we do when we encounter other disasters in the future?
"Blind avoidance will inevitably lead to annihilation. Only by actively studying them and seizing their power can we attain true freedom!" Li Ping's tone was unyielding, even tinged with a faint fanaticism.
With another wave of his hand, three convoluted, twisted glyphs suffused with a sacred aura materialized beside him.
They revolved unceasingly around Li Ping.
Though devoid of any contained energy, their depicted forms alone caused Daoist Baihua, a Longevity realm master, to shudder incessantly.
And standing at the center of the three profound glyphs, the Faceless Sacred Emperor, Li Ping, embodied both sacred majesty and sinister allure all at once.
It left one afraid to look upon him directly.
"Heheheh. These three True Immortal seal characters were obtained from the void through great pains and tribulations. Would you not care to observe them, Fellow Daoist?" Li Ping's voice rumbled, echoing through the gloomy expanse.
Daoist Baihua sensed signs of the Dao child Liuli waking up, and hastily cast a spell to send her back into a deep slumber.
As for herself, she truly dared not look directly at those three True Immortal seal characters!
Indeed, True Immortal seal characters possessed boundless might. But was that transcendent power truly something cultivators like them, who had yet to set foot upon the immortal path, could ever wield?
She had witnessed with her own eyes countless cultivators reduced to ash under such power, entirely defenseless. Among them were no small number of so-called Longevity realm beings like herself.
To her mind, studying True Immortal seal characters was like a toddler wielding a world-destroying weapon.
At the slightest misstep, not only would one's life and cultivation vanish in an instant, but the entire world would be dragged down into the grave alongside them!
She clearly still had many long years to live—how could she ever partake in such madness!
Chapter 1163