After inspecting them, Li Ping determined that these clusters of light were of little use to him.
With a solemn demeanor, he then returned the light clusters to the anglers who had emerged victorious through layer upon layer of trials.
The first attempt yielded no heavyweight harvest.
Li Ping did not mind.
This fishing tournament had been organized in haste, leaving the common folk of Great Qi very little time to prepare. These victors were all seasoned veterans steeped in the way of angling for years; their triumph owed more to experience than to comprehension or natural talent.
"With them as role models inspiring great passion among the people, the second and third tournaments will surely bring me some surprises."
Looking at the winners before him as they turned the orbs of light over and over, studying them intently, Li Ping nodded slightly. His figure shattered and vanished without a trace.
After all, fighting in the Xuanhuang Realm was not on home turf. Without the continuous support of the Sacred Dynasty's providential fortune, Li Ping likely would not even be a match for an ordinary Dao Integration cultivator.
It was better to return early.
Had the supreme treasure, the fishing pond, not been unmovable, he would never have risked coming here in person.
"There are still too few hands.
"Trustworthy subordinates with sufficient strength are simply far too rare."
Li Ping sighed softly, then quietly pondered solutions.
***
Tianquan Province.
The Sun Clan's secret chamber.
More than a month had passed since Sun Luyuan's departure.
According to his past habits, Sun Luyuan should have returned long ago to feed the Boundless Mirror with fresh blood.
Yet for reasons unknown, he had been delayed this time.
On this day, Li Fan's divine sense avatar, who was immersed in studying the Boundless Mirror's residual formations, suddenly detected traces of tampering on the secret chamber's defenses.
A glance left him dumbfounded with amusement.
Somehow, Wu Ninglu had actually sniffed out the entrance to the underground chamber.
At this very moment, she was attempting to break inside.
Though she had used a secret art to conceal and alter her aura, how could she escape Li Fan's discerning eyes?
The divine sense slipped quietly out of the Boundless Mirror and lightly pointed a finger.
In an instant, the chamber's defensive formation shifted.
Struck mercilessly by the abruptly reinforced formation, Wu Ninglu's expression shifted, realizing she had been exposed.
Daring not linger for a second, she transformed into a beam of black light and fled.
Li Fan watched closely as Wu Ninglu looped around and shed her disguise in an empty corner.
Then, brazenly and unhurriedly, she strutted right back into her own room.
She actually still harbored a sliver of wishful thinking and did not flee the Sun Clan immediately.
"Heh. Is she genuinely foolish, or does she feel fearless simply because she carries the Sun Clan's blood in her womb?
"Not that it has anything to do with me anyway. I imagine that once Sun Luyuan returns this time, I can use the Boundless Mirror to meet that Mirror Keeper, Fu."
Li Fan's prediction proved accurate.
Seven days later, a solemn Sun Luyuan arrived at the underground chamber.
He too noticed signs of an intrusion on the defensive formation, and his expression darkened.
His expression shifted between doubt and anger, but in the end, Sun Luyuan made no commotion.
Instead, he first placed a mass of blood essence before the black mirror.
From the heart of the mirror spirit, Sun Luyao, Li Fan felt a faint, irrepressible craving.
With a cold snort, Li Fan forcibly snuffed out the spirit's instinct.
By now, the Boundless Mirror had already been refined by him; sacrificial refinement using the Sun Clan's bloodline would only undermine his mastery over the mirror.
How could he let them have their way?
However, so as not to reveal any flaws, he still made Sun Luyao put on an act.
After "swallowing" the blood essence, Sun Luyao slowly manifested.
"Brother, I feel much better," he said against his conscience.
Sun Luyao's heart was filled with guilt over deceiving his elder brother. But as an artifact spirit, he was not master of his own fate. He could not even manage to give Sun Luyuan a warning.
He could only watch helplessly as his brother stepped, stride by stride, into the trap laid by this terrifying entity.
"That old bastard's demands are growing more and more outrageous. It hasn't been long since we provided him with vital intelligence, and already he isn't satisfied," Sun Luyuan said, his gaze softening as he looked at Sun Luyao's faint figure, before speaking with venom.
"This time his demand is even more preposterous: he wants us to pry into news of the Heavenly Profound Mirror's human avatar! Over a mere unrealistic conjecture, he expects us to keep trying at the cost of our blood..."
"Old thief!"
Sun Luyuan slammed his fist heavily against the ground.
In the eyes of outsiders, he was the illustrious patriarch of the Sun Clan, holding an important, powerful post in the Protector Hall.
Yet before the true rulers of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, he was practically lower than a dog!
For the survival of the entire Sun Clan, he bowed and scraped, utterly stripped of dignity.
"Why do the Dharma Transmitters and Mirror Keepers get to remain perpetually above all, while no matter how hard we strive, we can only serve as their dogs?!
"Is there never any hope of turning things around?!"
With a suffocating fury festering in his chest, Sun Luyuan felt reckless daring rise from his wrath. A thought he had never dared entertain in the past suddenly and naturally surfaced in his mind.
Yet he quickly caught himself.
Startled by his own thought, he hurriedly suppressed it deep into the recesses of his mind, not daring to let even a shred show before his closest brother, who had turned into an artifact spirit.
For he understood all too well the ruthless style of the Alliance's rulers. If they ever learned of his thoughts, then by tomorrow, not a single trace of the Sun Clan's existence would remain in the Alliance. They would evaporate completely from this world!
Yet he seemed to underestimate the bond shared by twin souls.
"Brother, when I was spying on the Heavenly Profound Mirror last time, I actually discovered something interesting," Sun Luyao suddenly said.
"Hm?" Sun Luyuan paused, looking at his brother's dead-serious expression.
"Through various subtle clues, the Heavenly Profound Mirror detected traces of a faction currently in hiding within the Xuanhuang Realm that might rebel in the future," Sun Luyao whispered.
"Rebel?" Sun Luyuan shook his head. He did not believe anything in the vast Xuanhuang Realm could shake the rule of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
Yet what his brother said next made his heart skip a beat: "According to the Heavenly Profound Mirror's predictions, this faction is very likely to inflict catastrophic damage upon the Alliance."
"Is that true?"
Sun Luyuan's spirits rose. The first thought to pop into his mind was to report this heavyweight intelligence to Mirror Keeper Fu immediately to earn merits.
However, just as he finished reading the various records sent by his brother, silently shocked to his core...
Sun Luyao's eerie voice drifted into his ear.
"Brother, I am truly in agony.
"If this goes on, it won't be long before I can no longer hold on, and my soul and form will both perish.
"Even if one serves as someone's dog for a lifetime, a dog is still just a dog.
"Even mere mortals dare to shout, 'Emperors take their turn; this year it could be mine'..."
His brother's soft murmurs swirled around Sun Luyuan's ears like an enchanting demonic whisper.
Under its influence, the thought he had previously suppressed sprang forth once more, utterly uncontrollable.
"The Sacred Dynasty of Great Qi..."
Sun Luyuan narrowed his eyes, re-evaluating the materials in his hands.
Chapter 1165