The style of this communication talisman was truly no different from those in the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals. Lu Fan put it away solemnly. Then, taking Li Fan—who had been standing beside him, seemingly in a daze—he piloted the Puxian True Boat and charged into the White Mist Barrier.
All around was a vast expanse of white; even at extreme speed, their movement was impossible to perceive visually. Inside the flying boat, Lu Fan kept his eyes half-closed, seemingly sensing something.
Only when the Puxian True Boat broke through the Essence-Devouring White Mist did he open his eyes, full of excitement. "The loss of lifespan actually dropped from around fifteen days to just a single day! It's virtually negligible! This was truly worth far more than its price!
"With this thing, the White Mist Barrier can no longer obstruct us cultivators! From now on, vast as heaven and earth may be, our generation can roam wherever we please, no longer worrying about losing lifespan!" A trace of regret crossed Lu Fan's face. "A pity the underlying principle was first discovered by our Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, yet the Five Elders Association was the one to popularize it first!"
"It is indeed a fine thing. But we have already delayed quite a bit; we should head to the One Heart Immortal Sect as soon as possible." At this moment, the puppet body—animated by only a thread of obsession—spoke up to urge him on.
"Heh heh, looks like Daoist Jiao is even more impatient than I am." Lu Fan was taken aback at first, but then flashed an understanding grin.
He immediately accelerated again, flying steadily northward. The territory of the Five Elders Association was just like that of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals: vast in land and sparse in population.
Traveling on the road, one could often go half a day without running into another cultivator. Even when spotting the light of another cultivator's escape technique in the distance, both parties would deliberately steer clear of each other.
The trouble Lu Fan had worried about—Five Elders Association cultivators coming to harass them—never came to pass. Thus, having peacefully traversed over a dozen provinces, they emerged once more from a White Mist Barrier.
Yet the Puxian True Boat suddenly lost control, plummeting straight toward the ground. Fortunately, Lu Fan reacted quickly, flying out of the boat and storing it back into his storage ring before it crashed.
"This place..." He looked up at the firmament, brow tightly furrowed. This region seemed somewhat different from where they had been before.
Where the difference lay, he could not say. But that peculiar sensation was crystal clear, unmistakable.
"Is this the One Heart Immortal Sect?" Li Fan also looked all around, his tone regaining its former vitality.
"Let's inquire into the situation first," Lu Fan suggested.
"Fine," Li Fan agreed with a nod. And so the two began wandering through Wangyue Province. Consistent with the overall layout of the Heavenly Realm of Humanity, the vast majority of the population was scattered across dotted towns and cities, with cultivators and mortals living separately.
Yet during their travels, both Li Fan and Lu Fan noticed something unusual. Within the One Heart Immortal Sect, things seemed extraordinarily... harmonious?
Fighting, arguing—things that were utterly commonplace in interpersonal interactions—seemed nonexistent in Wangyue Province.
There was not even any bargaining between buyers and sellers in commerce. Everywhere they went, people were unfailingly polite, treating others with unusual kindness.
Although these scenes appeared heartwarming and touching on the surface, in the eyes of outsiders like Li Fan, they seemed rather eerie.
For caution's sake, the two also put on smiling faces, striving not to appear out of place among the crowd.
At the same time, they secretly inquired into rumors about the true One Heart Immortal Sect. In this land, it was no secret.
Yet the answers they received from the people left Li Fan and Lu Fan bewildered. Everyone here had known since childhood of the Great Immortal Sect's existence between heaven and earth.
They believed that the highest honor of one's life was to join the Great Immortal Sect. Yet where this sect was actually located, or by what method one could enter, they did not know in the slightest.
There was only one thing they believed without doubt: so long as one was "sincere of heart" and "sufficiently outstanding," one could earn the favor of the Heavenly Venerable and be chosen to join the Great Immortal Sect.
Such an explanation was far too abstract, leaving Li Fan and Lu Fan utterly baffled.
Leaving Wangyue Province, they traveled through other provinces within the One Heart Immortal Sect for over a month. They found that everyone's claims were astonishingly identical.
This could not help but bring some disappointment to the two, who had harbored high hopes.
"Daoist Jiao, we crossed dozens of provinces to get here—does that not count as sincere of heart?" Inside a tavern in Weichang Inner City, Canhong Province, Lu Fan downed a cup of spiritual wine in one gulp and asked Li Fan in frustration.
Li Fan stared blankly and did not answer.
"Or is our strength not enough, falling short of Senior Sister Zhao's selection criteria?" Lu Fan's gaze drifted as he muttered to himself.
Although Li Fan held only a wisp of residual intent, watching Lu Fan become faintly obsessed and witnessing the shift in his mindset along the way, he also sensed that something was amiss.
At the very beginning, Lu Fan had accompanied Li Fan on a whim, harboring a take-it-or-leave-it attitude toward touring this place.
Toward that incomparably gorgeous, peerlessly graceful Senior Sister Zhao, Lu Fan had mostly just joked around, not truly harboring any deep veneration.
After all, to a cultivator, "beauty" was nowhere near as important as cultivation realm and prowess. Yet ever since entering the territory of the One Heart Immortal Sect, a subtle change had quietly come over Lu Fan.
He grew more and more interested in the existence of "Senior Sister Zhao" and the "Great Immortal Sect." And the more he interacted and learned, that feeling of "the more unattainable it is, the more desperately I crave it" continuously eroded him, haunting his thoughts and making him toss and turn at night.
To the point where he was now pining for it like a madman, on the verge of losing himself.
In contrast, this puppet body—which originally harbored only the single-minded obsession to "enter the One Heart Immortal Sect"—was barely affected. However, Li Fan did not snap Lu Fan out of it.
It wasn't that he disregarded their camaraderie; rather, Li Fan knew full well that this subtle, insidious influence of a Heavenly Venerable's power could not be undone by a few words. If he told Lu Fan about his change, the man might even be proud of it.
Just as the two sat across from each other—one frowning gloomily, the other expressionless—clamorous shouts suddenly erupted in the street outside.
"Wan Zailai of Canhong Province, with only Golden Core cultivation, consecutively defeated thirty-six Nascent Soul cultivators of Yilu Province! He finally caught the attention of the Heavenly Venerable and successfully entered the Immortal Sect!"
"As expected of our Canhong Province's chosen genius, what a satisfying blow that was!"
"Haha, now the number of our Canhong Province's Immortal Sect disciples will surpass Yilu Province! Let's see them swagger around now!"...
The chatter outside was endless. Li Fan and Lu Fan exchanged a glance, immediately listening closely and inquiring into the details of the incident.
"I understand! As long as we do something extraordinary to draw Senior Sister Zhao's... the Heavenly Venerable's gaze, we can enter the Immortal Sect!" Lu Fan realized in sudden enlightenment.
Chapter 504