Now Jiao Xiuyuan was genuinely intrigued.
Information meant business opportunities, and potentially an opportunity for a breakthrough.
And so he had invested tremendous effort, conducting infiltration and subversion.
The wealth he spent was beyond measure, yet still not a single cultivator was willing to disclose the slightest detail.
They had even hinted obscurely that this matter was of paramount importance, unlike anything before.
If secrets were leaked, they feared they would have the life to receive the payout, but no life left to spend it.
With nothing to be done, reluctant though he was, Jiao Xiuyuan had no choice but to give up.
Having found nothing, there had naturally been no point in replying to Li Fan.
Just as he was about to let the matter slip his mind, a turning point emerged.
Shortly after the great battle in Tianling Province ended, a cultivator who had once kept his lips sealed tight and sworn never to leak a word secretly contacted him of his own accord.
Jiao Xiuyuan was somewhat astonished.
Yet the man confessed frankly that times were different now and the situation had changed.
The classification level of the matter had been downgraded several notches, so...
Naturally, the required compensation still could not be spared.
Thus, at a price that pained even Jiao Xiuyuan himself, he acquired this piece of classified news.
And it truly had shocked him.
Such a secret could naturally not be shared with Li Fan for nothing.
Moreover, Jiao Xiuyuan had not believed Li Fan could afford the price of purchasing such top-secret intelligence.
Therefore, he had chosen to simply let the matter fade from memory.
Until today, when Li Fan came looking for him in person.
"The future of ultimate ownership..."
"It is more than enough."
In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through Jiao Xiuyuan's mind.
In the end, he made his decision.
"Aiyo, look at my memory! I truly almost forgot!" Jiao Xiuyuan slapped his forehead.
"To be honest, the matter Fellow Daoist asked me to look into really is a top secret of the Alliance. If it were anyone else, no matter how many contribution points they offered, I wouldn't reveal a single word.
"However..."
Jiao Xiuyuan looked Li Fan up and down and said, "What kind of relationship do we share? We've made fortunes together!
"And on top of that, there is your guidance today," Jiao Xiuyuan emphasized his tone. "I don't mind telling you for free.
"However, this matter is inconvenient to discuss over a communication talisman. If Fellow Daoist is truly interested, please come find me at the nearest Thousand Li Hall."
Li Fan's eyes narrowed slightly.
It seemed this matter was indeed of grave importance, if even Jiao Xiuyuan was being this cautious.
He nodded and terminated the transmission.
After some thought, he took the teleportation arrays all the way back to the Congyun Sea.
He found Jiao Xiuyuan inside the Thousand Li Hall shop in Congyun Immortal City.
There hadn't been many customers to begin with. After politely seeing them all out, Jiao Xiuyuan closed the main doors, seemed to lay down some isolating restriction around the room, and only then began his explanation to Li Fan.
"Does Fellow Daoist know of the Profound Heaven Sect?"
Jiao Xiuyuan opened with a bombshell question right away.
Li Fan's eyes flickered, and he gave a slight nod.
"An ancient evil cult, an enemy of all."
Although the existence of the Profound Heaven Sect was no longer known to the world today, as a cultivator of the ancient Heavenly Mechanism Sect, Li Fan naturally could not be ignorant of its existence.
Jiao Xiuyuan was not surprised by this.
He continued, "The slumbering ancient cultivator the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals discovered this time is none other than one of the Twelve Dharma Kings of the former Profound Heaven Sect."
"?"
In Li Fan's eyes, a sharp glint instantly erupted.
"A Dharma King of the Profound Heaven Sect? And still alive?" he couldn't help but ask.
"Indeed. When I first learned of it, I was astonished as well. That fellow actually managed to survive for so long, spanning several eras...
"After all, they were an entity that once unified the Xuanhuang Realm; they truly have some remarkable tricks," Jiao Xiuyuan sighed in admiration.
Li Fan, however, instantly fell into deep thought.
According to the previous intelligence from the Five Elders Association, this ancient cultivator had been excavated by the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals from the ruins of the Purple Cloud Sect.
They simply hadn't been able to figure out his true identity.
He also seemed to be of utmost importance to the Five Elders Association, who had even asked Li Fan to help investigate...
Li Fan had originally assumed it would be someone connected to Zhang Qianmo, never expecting it would turn out to be a remnant of the ancient Profound Heaven Sect.
How could a Dharma King of the Profound Heaven Sect have been hiding in the Purple Cloud Sect?
Li Fan was somewhat perplexed.
*Wait...*
Something occurred to Li Fan, and his gaze shifted.
In the Fallen Immortal Realm illusion "Retrieving Longevity Fruits in Ningyuan", Li Fan had learned from Song Hesong, the steward of Ningyuan City:
Roughly two hundred years prior to that time, during the centennial celebration of the Purple Cloud Sect, special envoys from the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao had arrived.
Their purpose had been to hunt down a wanted fugitive hiding inside the Purple Cloud Sect.
In the end, the matter had been left unresolved, and they had merely arrested an inner disciple to wrap up the assignment.
*Could it be that the person lurking within the Purple Cloud Sect back then was this Dharma King of the Profound Heaven Sect?*
*And the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao never found him, only arresting a scapegoat?*
Having figured out the connections, Li Fan felt a jolt in his heart.
Meanwhile, seeing the subtle shifts in Li Fan's expression, Jiao Xiuyuan seemed thoughtful as well.
He continued, "And the reason the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals went to such great lengths, stopping at nothing to dig three feet into the ground across various ruins just to find this Profound Heaven Dharma King...
"...is that he is connected to the Profound Heaven Spirit-Sealing Formation."
Jiao Xiuyuan paused, observing Li Fan's reaction, before continuing, "As for the specific details, they aren't entirely clear either.
"However, it seems that an indispensable link in maintaining the formation requires this Profound Heaven Dharma King.
"At the time, right as war between the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals and the Five Elders Association was about to erupt, the Alliance pinned its hopes of defeating the Five Elders Association entirely on the Profound Heaven Spirit-Sealing Formation.
"Naturally, they guarded this Dharma King very closely, permitting not the slightest mishap.
"Strangely enough, even so, word somehow managed to leak out.
"Such a peerless, devastating trump card, yet the Five Elders Association found a way to counter it in an astonishingly short time.
"It completely defies common sense. Who would believe there wasn't a traitor on the inside?
"With the complexity of that formation, I fear even if the Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable were alive today, he might not have been able to unravel it so quickly knowing nothing about it beforehand."
Jiao Xiuyuan sighed, "Still, that traitor is hidden remarkably deep. The Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals has conducted internal purges for a long time, yet even now they haven't rooted him out. Tell me, isn't that bizarre?"
"It truly is somewhat incredible," Li Fan remarked, his expression calm, merely displaying a touch of wonder.
"Somehow I feel it's even possible someone inside the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals intentionally leaked the formation just to prevent the war from becoming completely one-sided," Li Fan casually remarked.
"That wouldn't happen; that's a bit too..." Jiao Xiuyuan laughed, but his expression suddenly froze.
"Then again, it might not be entirely impossible," he said after a long silence, his expression turning solemn.
Li Fan was momentarily speechless.
"Right, what was this Profound Heaven Dharma King's name? What did he look like?
"The Purple Cloud Sect...
"I used to know quite a few people from their sect back then," Li Fan asked.
Still brooding over Li Fan's earlier theory, Jiao Xiuyuan answered absently, "Oh right, he shares your surname.
"I think his name was...
"Li Chen?"
Chapter 602