"So that is how it is." Li Fan nodded slightly, his expression as calm and unruffled as an ancient well, though a touch of regret tinged his voice. "A single oversight amid a hundred precautions—it was no failure of skill."
"Hmph! For you to have deceived us for this long, your methods are truly impressive!" The human face on the smooth, severed stone flickered in and out of view, betraying the turmoil surging within him.
"I should have noticed something was wrong much sooner. With that kid Zhou Qing'ang's mediocre abilities, how could he possibly have achieved several extraordinary feats in just a few short years?"
"Earlier, I was blinded by those bountiful results, assuming he had struck a run of luck that defied heaven."
"Looking back now, an occasional windfall can be explained away as good fortune. But time and again, to be blessed so consistently by luck..."
"Hmph! Zhou Qing'ang is hardly some chosen child of destiny," the face said slowly, tinged with a hint of chagrin.
All the while, the face remained fixed on Li Fan, hoping to catch a flicker of smugness or triumph on his features.
Yet Li Fan's expression did not shift in the slightest. Even after having his identity exposed, he showed not the faintest hint of panic.
This instead left the stone face somewhat unnerved and suspicious, and its voice gradually trailed off.
The undersea ruins fell into utter silence.
After a moment, unable to contain himself any longer, the face asked in a low, heavy voice, "Just who on earth are you?!"
"The questions for the Alliance's induction examination, the events on Wanxian Island the day it was sealed..."
"Every single one of those was an absolute secret. Anyone who knew them must occupy a high post within the Alliance. And yet, for a meager sum of contribution points, you sold them out to us..."
"Was it to earn our trust and infiltrate our ranks from within?"
Through a process of meticulous deduction, the face had reached the conclusion that Li Fan was a fellow covert operative.
"Relax, I am no spy for the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals," Li Fan said impassively. "Quite the contrary—my goal and that of your Five Elders Association are actually identical."
"Both are for..."
"The overthrow of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals!"
"What?" Li Fan's tone had been light, but in the face's ears, the words struck like a thunderclap.
"You..." The face seemed as though it were leaping to its feet in sheer shock, staring blankly at Li Fan.
A moment later, he abruptly snapped back to his senses, his expression filled with disbelief. "Trying to trick me again?"
As if paying no heed to the other party's reaction, Li Fan spoke on his own. "The Alliance has lost the Dao. It treats the world's cultivators like cattle and beasts, exploiting them without restraint. Although its rule may appear unbreakable today, with all living beings submitting to it..."
Li Fan's tone suddenly shifted, his edge laid bare and his spirit soaring with grandeur. "We cultivators walk a path that defies heaven itself! If we do not fear the heavens, why should we fear a mere Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals?!"
"Among the teeming masses, there will always be those who would rather die than not rise in revolt! Those who would rather fall in battle than be penned and kept like domestic livestock!"
"Give me liberty, or give me death!"
...
His momentum peaked, and hearing such an impassioned declaration, even the face across from him could not help but be slightly moved.
Right at that moment, Li Fan abruptly changed his tune. "However, the Alliance's power is vast. If one does not grasp the proper methods of struggle and acts rashly, it is scarcely different from throwing one's life away."
"While we do not fear death, we have no desire to squander our precious lives without accomplishing anything of value."
"Therefore..." Li Fan cast a deeply meaningful look at the face.
Upon the smooth stone, the face fell silent for a while before murmuring thoughtfully, "Therefore, you set your sights on our Five Elders Association?"
Li Fan admitted it candidly. "Indeed. While our current intelligence suggests your Five Elders Association is hardly a benevolent force either, an enemy of an enemy is a friend."
Li Fan's voice turned faintly eerie, and he spoke with blunt honesty: "Or perhaps, when two tigers fight, one is bound to be injured. Let you two tear into each other like dogs, battling to the death. When that time comes, we shall step forward to cleanse the jade-pure cosmos and recreate heaven and earth!"
The face reacted as though it had just heard the most preposterous words in the world. Too scoffing to even muster laughter, it simply sneered, "So you are nothing more than a band of madmen."
Li Fan paid the barb no mind, his expression solemn and sincere. "Back when the Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable sought to establish the new method and remake heaven and earth, surely most people in the world considered him an outright madman as well."
"After all, the iron-fisted rule of the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao in those days was not one bit inferior to that of today's Alliance."
"Yet where are the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao now?"
"If Chuanfa could achieve it, how do you know our Heaven-Overturning Society..."
As if slipping up, Li Fan paused slightly before correcting himself: "How do you know we cannot?"
The face narrowed its eyes, staring deeply at Li Fan without offering further judgment.
"In a certain sense, we are natural allies at this moment, are we not?" Li Fan continued smoothly.
"In fact, according to our current operational strategy, we have no plans to make an enemy of your Five Elders Association for the time being."
"We harbor no malice toward you. As can be seen from the intelligence I previously provided, had we wished to covertly sabotage you, we could have easily inflicted a heavy loss on your Five Elders Association before you even realized it."
"The reason I approached you through Fellow Daoist Zhou Qing'ang's identity was simply that on the Alliance's home turf, neither your identity nor mine can see the light of day. If someone had suddenly approached you out of nowhere, you would have assumed your cover was blown and fled at the first opportunity."
"Heh. I know people of your kind all too well."
"Oh, right. Speaking of Zhou Qing'ang, I just remembered—he is still alive. It is not entirely out of the question to hand him back to you."
Li Fan spoke with boundless fluency, talking circles around the subject.
The other party's expression turned rather unsightly. "That fool? Let him fend for himself!"
After a brief pause, the face reined in its temper, suppressing its anger as it asked in a deep voice, "After saying all this, you still intend to cooperate with us?"
Li Fan chuckled and countered, "Why ask what you already know? After realizing Zhou Qing'ang was exposed, you didn't sever communications immediately, but instead stayed and chatted with me for half a day. Isn't that because you cannot be sure of my identity, and you still covet the top-secret intelligence I might provide?"
"Surely the Five Elders Association's espionage network isn't so idle that you have time to waste on idle chatter?"
The face let out a cold snort but did not argue, tacitly conceding Li Fan's point.
"Very well. Now that we have laid our cards on the table, we can speak openly. We recently acquired a new piece of top-secret intelligence," Li Fan said slowly, watching the face's reaction.
Sure enough, the other's expression shifted slightly, and a flicker of longing flashed through his eyes.
'To him, whether I am the real Zhou Qing'ang or a real undercover agent of the Five Elders Association does not matter at all. What matters is whether I can deliver the secrets of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals to him,' Li Fan thought, his mind clear as a polished mirror.
'No spy wants to remain in that role forever. To perform illustrious deeds, retire upon success, and never have to live in fear again, enjoying a peaceful life of leisure—that is the life they dream of.'
'And I can help him achieve it.'"
Chapter 541