"So many years have passed. If all has gone as expected, the true Medicine King Cauldron in the Cangwu Abyss should have appeared by now."
"Hopefully, Su Xiaomei and the others can protect those four small cauldrons so that I can glimpse the mysteries of the Medicine King Cauldron."
Before leaving the detached courtyard of the Dao Discussion Tower, Li Fan checked the Heavenly Profound Mirror once more.
First was the Grand Competition Gold Ranking.
He remained unshakably in second place.
After frantically farming points in the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens for over two years, he had pulled considerably ahead of third place.
Barring any major unexpected turns, this was likely where he would finish.
As for Guo Yezhong in first place, thanks to that insurmountable, unique percentage cut of points, he was far ahead of Li Fan.
Presently, there seemed to be no hope of surpassing him.
Li Fan stared intently at Guo Yezhong's name. "The Dissociation Disc..."
"Perhaps the Alliance never intended to give it away in the first place."
With a cold snort, Li Fan closed the rankings and looked through the messages he had received over the years.
Because he had been inside various secret realms, communication talismans could not reach the outside world.
The vast majority of messages had been sent to his space in the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
Most were merely pleasantries sent periodically from He Zhenghao, Daoist Jingxuan, and others, with nothing of great importance.
Li Fan skimmed through them.
Finally, he checked his merit rank.
"Yan Thirty-One."
The moment he saw this number, Li Fan's heart could not help but skip a beat.
"As expected of the Alliance's millennium project. I merely took part in constructing three formations, yet my merit rank surged all the way to thirty-one."
"If I had slowly done ordinary merit missions, a Golden Core cultivator might never reach this height in an entire lifetime."
Constructing the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation offered merit rewards.
Moreover, rewards were settled in real time upon the completion of each formation.
Ji Hongdao had made this clear when mobilizing everyone earlier.
Reaching Yan Thirty-One unlocked new privileges.
First came some minor perks.
He could apply for free visits to certain Alliance attractions, such as the Shenzang Museum he had seen before.
Another was applying for lateral transfers between regions.
If He Zhenghao had possessed this privilege back then, he wouldn't have needed to trouble Shenyuzi or Daoist Jingxuan and could have transferred directly to Tianyu Province.
Beyond that, what Li Fan valued even more was the declassification of certain restricted materials.
A great deal of information he previously couldn't search for was now accessible in the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
For instance, the materials from the Alliance's decennial employment exam.
Li Fan's eyes flickered, and he memorized all the exam questions from Anchor Year 9 onward.
As Li Fan voraciously browsed all kinds of information, two days slipped by in a flash.
On the final day of rest, Li Fan received a transmission from Gu Youguang and Xiang Liu.
The two had looked all around and hadn't found any sign of Li Fan in the Qianxing Detached Courtyard.
Worried, they had sent an inquiry.
After replying that he was fine, Li Fan returned to the celebration at the very last moment.
Inside the Qianxing Detached Courtyard, bright lights shone everywhere.
People came and went in bustling streams, and the atmosphere was immensely lively.
"I felt somewhat fatigued, so I stepped away to rest for a while. Please pardon me," Li Fan said with a smile.
Xiang Liu and Gu Youguang both nodded repeatedly, looking completely understanding.
"Still, what a pity," Gu Youguang sighed, shaking his head.
"Oh? Why do you say that?" Li Fan asked.
Xiang Liu chimed in, "Fellow Daoist, you might not know, but yesterday the Alliance's renowned Fairy Kongyou came by to offer her regards."
"You missed the chance to lay eyes on her beauty—it truly is an enormous pity!"
Gu Youguang agreed wholeheartedly: "Fairy Kongyou's beauty is unmatched, truly rare in this age. Even the image-recording stones I've collected cannot capture one ten-thousandth of her charm. That kind of beauty has already exceeded the limits of what words can describe. Only by seeing her with your own eyes can you understand how well-deserved her reputation is."
Li Fan thought something serious had happened, only to find it was merely about a woman.
He chuckled dismissively: "I am an old man on the verge of death. Why would I care about such things?"
Gu Youguang took on a solemn look and lowered his voice. "Fellow Daoist, if you had the chance to win her favor, it might just give you an opportunity to defy the heavens and change your fate."
"Fairy Kongyou has a special constitution..."
"Well, you know what I mean."
Li Fan smiled and shook his head.
Xiang Liu also sensed the topic was somewhat inappropriate and immediately changed the subject, asking, "Fellow Daoist, what are your plans next?"
"Senior Qi has already posted the overall construction status of the Spirit-Locking Formations across the Alliance. Any cultivator who participated in the Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven's construction can freely choose their next assignment."
With that, he took out a jade-slip-like crystal from his storage ring and handed it over.
Li Fan took it, examined it, and was somewhat surprised.
"How is the construction progressing so fast?"
Compared to what he had seen from Huangfu Song over two years ago, the visible Spirit-Locking Formation tasks were now nearly all completed.
The overall progress was close to ninety-five percent.
"It's all because of those voices of opposition," Gu Youguang shrugged. "Lately, the wave of opposition against the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation has grown increasingly turbulent. In some places, people have even tried to halt construction by force. Although it was suppressed right away, it goes to show how dangerous the situation has become."
"To avoid more complications, everyone has gone all out during this period and worked without rest."
Xiang Liu also sighed deeply. "I truly don't understand why anyone would object so strongly."
"If they saw the Spirit-Locking Formation's performance in the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens, they would definitely change their minds," Gu Youguang said earnestly. "Unfortunately, Senior Qi instructed that it's classified information and must not be leaked. Otherwise, I'd give them a piece of my mind."
On the surface, Li Fan nodded in agreement, but inside he mocked: *If those opponents saw the Spirit-Locking Formation's terrifying might with their own eyes, they'd probably risk their lives even more desperately to stop it.*
"No matter. When the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation is truly deployed everywhere, all doubts will collapse on their own." Qi Buyi's voice suddenly came from beside the three of them.
Startled, Li Fan and the others hurriedly bowed to her.
Qi Buyi waved her hand. Perhaps having drunk a good deal of spiritual wine, her face was slightly flushed.
She said to Li Fan, "You can rest easy as well. The Alliance will never mistreat those who have performed meritorious service. The matter of extending your lifespan has already been approved, and treasures will be delivered in a few days. Barring any accidents, the extra lifespan will be more than enough to sustain you until you break through to the Nascent Soul realm."
Hearing this, both Xiang Liu and Gu Youguang were overjoyed.
Li Fan also put on a face full of gratitude and thanked Qi Buyi.
While they were speaking, a ray of sunlight shone into the Qianxing Detached Courtyard.
"Ah, day has broken."
"Just as the night must eventually pass..."
"Under the Heavenly Profound Spirit Lock, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals is bound to usher in an incomparably bright future."
Qi Buyi's eyes looked dazed, yet her tone was resolute beyond measure.
Li Fan and the others exchanged glances and nodded along.
Right at that moment, a flood of information appeared out of nowhere in Li Fan's mind.
It was the experiences of the clone that had mysteriously vanished before.
"Yuandao Province, the lost ten years..."
In an instant, Li Fan's expression shifted.
Chapter 390