Calendar of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals

Within the Heavenly Profound Mirror, beams of light and shadow surfaced one after another. From the official foundation laying of Congyun Immortal City supervised by Li Fan in Anchor Year 11 to the end of Anchor Year 14, the settlement data for all four years appeared before Li Fan in an instant. "New Immortal Calendar Year 2021: Overall Assessment Ranking: 231st. Reward: Three Medium Yi Merits, 11,000 contribution points." "New Immortal Calendar Year 2022: Overall Assessment Ranking: 226th. Reward: Three Medium Yi Merits, 15,000 contribution points. Note: During the great battle in Tianling Province, the Congyun Sea region actively answered the Alliance's cultivator conscription policy and performed well. Additional reward: One Superior Yi Merit." ... As Li Fan claimed thirteen merit missions all at once, his merit rank soared non-stop until finally halting at Yan Twenty-Two. In his previous life, Li Fan had relied on his monumental feat of desperately constructing the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation just to climb to Yan Thirty-One by the time his lifespan ran out. Yet now, while doing little more than acting as a hands-off manager, he had risen smoothly and unhindered all the way to Yan Twenty-Two. Of course, this was also thanks to the boost provided by the Superior First-Class Merit previously bestowed by the Alliance during the foundation-laying ceremony of Congyun City. With the elevation of his merit rank, many techniques and treasures previously hidden within the Heavenly Profound Mirror were unlocked. Having attained an even higher rank in his previous life, Li Fan merely cast a brief glance over them. Compared to his past life, the list had only gained a few magical treasures that were exclusively available to regional administrators. For instance, the Mirror of Sentient Beings could monitor the overall cultivator population and cultivation realm distribution of an entire province. The Clock of Myriad Aspects could display the general development of other provinces throughout the year alongside their province's projected ranking in the annual overall assessment. On the whole, they were merely magical artifacts designed to facilitate bureaucratic competition and held no real practical value for Li Fan. What caught Li Fan's attention far more was the date shown in the settlement notification. "The New Immortal Calendar..." As the name suggested, the New Immortal Calendar was a system that used the Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable's reconstruction of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals as its inaugural year. Yet whenever Li Fan had consulted various ancient texts before, every specific date had been blurred, whether intentionally or otherwise. There were only broad concepts like ancient, primeval, primordial, or "thousands of years ago" and "centuries ago." This was the very first time Li Fan had seen a historical record pinpointed to a specific year. As for Sima Changkong's Bloodline Historical Records, it resembled Li Fan's Anchor Years by treating its own origin as year one, which was inapplicable to the broader cultivation world. "It seems the upper echelons of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals certainly maintain a detailed system of chronicling. They simply keep it shrouded in secrecy." Li Fan was hardly surprised by this. Since the Museum of Divine Archives preserved all kinds of precious relics from the history of the Xuanhuang Realm, having detailed records of true history itself was only natural. "The matters of the ancient past are simply deemed unsuitable for the general public. Keeping them ignorant and confused makes for far greater stability," Li Fan sneered inwardly. "If I remember correctly, once clearance reaches Yan Thirty, one gets a free opportunity to tour the Divine Archives." The image of that severed head in the center of the hall suddenly flashed before Li Fan's eyes, and he felt as though he could once again sense the hunger of True Reversion. Yet in the next breath, Li Fan forcefully suppressed the urge stirring in his heart. Security within the Divine Archives was airtight, guarded in person by the Longevity beast Di Sanmo. Striking recklessly would be nothing short of flying into a net. It was certainly not something the current Li Fan could covet. Only by progressively strengthening himself across cycles of reincarnation and uncovering more secrets to find a suitable opening could he perhaps harbor a sliver of hope. Closing the merit records, Li Fan sent a message to Immortal Lord Hongxi, reporting that he had claimed all the merits from the past several years and thanking him for the guidance. Hongxi laughed heartily and said little else, merely telling Li Fan to keep up the good work. As for the thoughts of the subordinates, there was no need to worry; Hongxi would take care of them. Sure enough, three days later, the returned Immortal Lord Hongxi summoned all the institutional cultivators of the Congyun Sea for a gathering. Just as they all assumed that the once-dominant Li Fan would lose power and be cast back down to earth, Immortal Lord Hongxi publicly announced that Li Fan would continue managing administrative affairs on his behalf. This caused He Zhenghao and the others, who had been on edge with anxiety, to instantly beam with overjoyed expressions. The rest of the cultivators wore looks of utter disbelief. Stealing glances out of the corners of their eyes toward Li Fan's composed demeanor, their hearts churned with equal parts shock and dread. Wild speculation ran rampant regarding Li Fan's backing. For Immortal Lord Hongxi, who had ruled the Congyun Sea for a century, to be forced into yielding authority—just how terrifying was the concealed power behind this Li Fan? Ignoring the shifting expressions of the crowd, Li Fan bowed to Immortal Lord Hongxi to express his gratitude once more. Immortal Lord Hongxi merely waved a hand languidly, took a step, and vanished from the scene. Li Fan naturally knew that Hongxi simply could not be bothered to deal with the petty nuisances of the Congyun Sea and wanted nothing more than to be an absentee manager. But the others were completely unaware of that! In their eyes, Immortal Lord Hongxi's departing silhouette looked downright dejected! The truth was glaringly obvious: in this struggle for power, Immortal Lord Hongxi had truly lost to Li Fan! Waves of shock crashed through the minds of the gathered cultivators. They lowered their heads and averted their eyes, not daring to look straight at the soaring, triumphant Lord Secret Emissary before them. Seeing the behavior of the cultivators present, Li Fan knew full well what was running through their minds. Yet he could not be bothered to explain either, choosing instead to follow Hongxi's example. "In Alliance administration, stability comes first. Everything in the Congyun Sea shall proceed as before. Zhou Qing'ang, He Zhenghao, Gao Yuan, and the rest will assist me in overseeing various matters." Zhou, He, and the others were overjoyed and hastily voiced their agreement. "You are dismissed!" Li Fan waved his hand. With that, he too took a step forward, and his figure vanished from sight. After Li Fan departed, the Administration Hall instantly erupted into a commotion. "Fellow Daoist Zhou, congratulations!" "Lord He, wonderful news, truly wonderful news!" ... Listening in from afar, Li Fan shook his head slightly. Just as he was about to return to Shenhua Island, he suddenly received another message. "The Second Friendly Exchange Gathering between the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals and the Five Elders Association will take place in Tianling Province in ten days." "Upon this former battlefield, both sides shall put aside past hatred and forge a new friendship." The very first thing that came to Li Fan's mind was the scene of devastation he had witnessed across Tianling Province. "Holding a friendly exchange gathering in a place like that? Can that really go smoothly?" Li Fan wondered to himself. "Could it be that under the guise of friendly exchange, swords remain drawn beneath the surface?" Li Fan carefully searched for relevant information and indeed uncovered several peculiar details. Beyond the mutual exhibition of each faction's world-suppressing supreme artifacts—which served as the true symbol of "exchange"—the gathering would also host competitions in martial combat, doctrinal debate, formation trials, and more. Those representing both factions would all be paramount young talents within their respective organizations. Furthermore, the entire process of the contests would be broadcast publicly in real time.