"You want me to oversee the construction of the core area?"
Inside Outpost Jiaxu, Li Fan was slightly taken aback as he looked at Xue Mu and the others who had paid him an unexpected visit.
He gave it only a moment's thought before flatly refusing.
"I'm not just being modest. During the assessment at Langhuan Annex, my affinity with the Heavenly Profound mirror-surface was completely ordinary."
"Fellow Daoist Xue Mu can vouch for me on this."
"I appreciate everyone's kind intentions, but my abilities truly are limited. I cannot shoulder such a heavy responsibility."
"Senior Jiang's mastery of formations far surpasses mine, and he commands great respect. As I see it, no one is more suited for this than him,"
Li Fan said with utter sincerity.
The Nascent Soul formation master named Jiang Qigui noticed the slightly hostile looks from the surrounding cultivators and hurriedly replied, "Fellow Daoist Li Fan, you must be joking. Your contributions are clear for all to see. How could I dare..."
Before he could finish, Li Fan cut him off with a smile. "Do not misunderstand, Fellow Daoist Jiang. Every word I said comes straight from the heart."
"As everyone knows, the final stage of constructing the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation requires communicating with the central array hub so that future tuning and adjustments can proceed smoothly."
"This truly is not my forte, not some excuse to shirk duty."
Seeing Jiang Qigui hesitate, Li Fan added, "I understand your concerns, Senior Jiang. Constructing the outer and inner formations takes enormous effort, yet yields relatively little contribution."
"The central core area, on the other hand, doesn't actually require nearly as much labor, but yields far more contribution in comparison."
"Stepping in to take charge now looks suspiciously like swooping in to pluck the fruits of others' labor. You fear being reproached down the line—is that not so?"
Seeing Li Fan bluntly lay bare his private thoughts, Jiang Qigui's aged face turned slightly red.
Just as he was about to explain, Li Fan spoke again: "I'll have you all know, I already have one foot in the grave."
"As for the rankings on the Grand Competition Gold Ranking..."
Li Fan paused, smoothing over the faint pang of resentment rising within him.
With a calm, open expression, he said, "I simply don't care at all."
"My only wish is to contribute as much as possible before I perish."
"All I care about is the most efficient method to construct the formation."
"So please do not decline, Fellow Daoist Jiang."
"Such a crucial task—who else could shoulder it if not you?"
With that, Li Fan looked around at the crowd, reaffirming his resolve.
Having heard Li Fan's heartfelt words, Jiang Qigui flushed beet red.
Taking a deep breath, he bowed deeply to Li Fan.
"If that is so, it would be disrespectful of me to refuse!"
"I will not fail your high hopes, Fellow Daoist,"
Jiang Qigui said solemnly.
Li Fan grasped his hands, brimming with earnestness. "I will be troubling you from here on, Fellow Daoist."
Three days later, accompanied by two black-robed cultivators, Huangfu Song arrived at Outpost Jiaxu.
His visit came in response to the message from Li Fan and the others, delivering the Heavenly Profound mirror-surface—the central array hub.
"Greetings, Senior Huangfu!" Li Fan saluted.
"You kid..." The fat Huangfu Song looked at Li Fan with a complicated expression.
"Well done!" Patting Li Fan on the shoulder, Huangfu Song said nothing more.
He took out a fragmented jade talisman, turned around, and joined it together with the jade talismans held by the two black-robed cultivators.
Within the unfurling light screen, countless characters cascaded like a waterfall.
A faint, barely perceptible ripple pulsed from the screen, sweeping over the surroundings, seemingly conducting identity verification.
Moments later, the ripple receded, and an exquisitely compact bronze mirror of archaic design manifested from the light screen.
The characters flowed into the mirror's surface, and the screen vanished without a trace.
Only the bronze mirror remained, floating midair, radiating a faint, serene, profound light.
Huangfu Song wore a grave expression as he formed hand seals in rapid succession.
Then he pointed toward the center of the Essence-Devouring White Mist outside the outpost.
The sea of mist stirred in waves of ripples, as if something deep within was resonating in response to him.
Li Fan narrowed his eyes slightly; that should be the planned location of the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation's core area.
Sure enough, moments later, a beam of profound cyan light pierced through the white mist, shooting straight down toward Outpost Jiaxu.
It struck the bronze mirror suspended in the air dead-center.
The motes of cyan luminescence were completely absorbed by the mirror.
The cyan glow coiling around it gradually drew inward and vanished.
In the end, when not a trace of mysterious aura emanated from the bronze mirror and it looked just like the most ordinary mortal object, Huangfu Song finally let out a sigh of relief. He pulled a square vermilion wooden box from his robes and placed the bronze mirror inside.
Yet once the mirror was inside, the box—which had previously possessed physical substance—transformed before everyone's eyes into a red phantom image.
It then converged toward the center, condensing into a red speck of light that flew onto Huangfu Song's forehead and settled there.
Offering no explanation for what had just transpired, Huangfu Song told the crowd in a deep voice, "Until the central array hub is fully installed, it will remain under my safekeeping."
"Jiang Qigui, roughly how long will your team need for this process?"
Jiang Qigui replied without the slightest hesitation, "Within seven days, working together, we can complete it."
Huangfu Song nodded slowly. "Then there is no time to lose. Once this formation is finished, I have to hurry to other locations."
With that, he looked at Li Fan, his expression softening somewhat. "Thanks to kid Li Fan pushing himself so desperately, your formation's construction progress is among the fastest."
"From what I know, Tianchen Province, currently ranked first in progress, hasn't finished its entire formation either; they should still be in the middle of building their core area as well."
"If you all put in an extra push, you might even overtake them..."
Just as Huangfu Song was encouraging everyone, an exclamation suddenly echoed from outside the Deliberation Hall, from the direction where the Heavenly Profound Mirror stood.
"What's going on? How did the first-place team's points suddenly spike by so much?!"
"Now they've completely widened the gap with second place!"
The words fell upon the ears of the cultivators present, and in an instant, their gazes toward Huangfu Song turned rather strange.
"Heh... too late after all. Still, fighting for second place is well within your grasp," Huangfu Song said nonchalantly, his skin as thick as could be.
"Alright, there's no time to lose. Set out at once," he instructed.
Just as the group prepared to head toward the formation's central area to complete the final stage of work, another outcry rang out, catching Li Fan and the others' attention.
"Huh? Look, that Guo Yezhong who's always been dead last finally moved!"
"Indeed. Even though his points are pitifully low and he's still ranked dead last, at least he's finally started doing some work."
...
Li Fan exchanged glances with Xue Mu and Jiang Qigui.
All of them immediately found this suspicious.
Guo Yezhong earning points seemed to have coincided with the completion of the very first Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation.
Was there some connection between the two?
Li Fan turned his gaze toward Huangfu Song, seeking an answer.
The fat cultivator merely shrugged, wearing a look that said he knew absolutely nothing.
Chapter 368