Before departing, Gao Yuan also handed over the assignment of laundering the identities of ancient realm cultivators to He Zhenghao.
"Zhou Qing'ang" once again offered a generous facilitation fee to show his goodwill.
As old colleagues, He Zhenghao naturally agreed readily. In passing, he also asked whether Zhou Qing'ang had any plans to leave the Congyun Sea.
Zhou Qing'ang chuckled and declared that there was absolutely no such thing.
Hearing this, He Zhenghao's worries were instantly put to rest. If even Zhou Qing'ang—the Lord Secret Emissary's innermost confidant—harbored no intention of fleeing the calamity, it meant that although the descent of an anima of Heaven and Earth carried some risk, the danger certainly would not be too great.
Growing increasingly confident in his choice, he gave it no further thought. After much cajoling to persuade his daughter to leave, he began handling the business of inducting the realm cultivators into the alliance.
In his eyes, this was fundamentally no different from when he served as the Liuli Island garrison and smuggled mortals out of the Li Realm.
In both cases, he charged per head, so he handled the process with practiced ease.
Moreover, he was far bolder than Gao Yuan had been, without the slightest worry of being investigated by the alliance.
As a result, the progress of admitting and laundering the Medicine King Sect cultivators accelerated rapidly.
Batch after batch of cultivators were awakened through Bloodline Transfer, inducted into the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, and received the contribution points Li Fan transferred out in scattered portions.
Yet even so, compared to the hundreds of millions of contribution points on Li Fan's hands, it was merely a drop in the ocean.
To transfer all his contribution points before Crimson Flame burned the sea, Li Fan secretly exchanged and bought up standard spirit stones from other cultivators on one hand, and on the other, contacted the Five Elders Association once more.
The contact was still made through Zhou Qing'ang. For this meeting, the other side acted far more swiftly than before.
Soon, Zhou Qing'ang met the Five Elders Association's representative once again.
He wore the familiar black robes, his face obscured. Yet he was clearly well aware of the contents of their previous transaction.
He got straight to the point: "Is there a result regarding the previous matter?"
Zhou Qing'ang smiled faintly. "It seems this matter truly is important to you. So much time has passed, yet you still haven't let it go."
The previous matter had naturally been the commission given to "Zhou Qing'ang" by the Five Elders Association to investigate the identity of the ancient cultivator excavated from the Purple Cloud Sect ruins.
Li Fan had already pried the answer out of Jiao Xiuyuan, which happened to serve as a bargaining chip for this deal.
The Five Elders Association cultivator admitted frankly, "Although both sides are currently in a truce, everyone knows peace is destined to be brief. No one can predict when war will erupt again. Besides, it is merely an overall peace. In certain regions, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals remains locked in confrontation with us.
"Regarding the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals' Profound Heaven Nether-Lock, we have only managed to find a way to counter it. Completely dismantling its effects will require more intelligence."
Zhou Qing'ang's gaze flickered slightly, but betraying no unusual reaction, he merely nodded.
"The identity of that excavated ancient cultivator—I have already found it out. What price is your Five Elders Association willing to pay this time?" A faint smile touched the corner of his lips as he spoke unhurriedly.
"Is that true?" As if delivered a massive surprise, the Five Elders Association cultivator sprang to his feet, staring fixedly at Zhou Qing'ang.
Zhou Qing'ang nodded haughtily.
"Good, good!" the other man repeated several times. "The methods of your Heaven-Overturning Society truly are extraordinary!
"Wait a moment. I will report to my superiors immediately!"
The black-robed cultivator turned his back and fell silent.
Zhou Qing'ang observed him closely, but still failed to detect how he was establishing contact with the Five Elders Association authorities. One could only say that as the Five Elders Association's espionage network, they could not be underestimated.
Before long, the Five Elders Association cultivator turned back around.
His voice full of vigor this time, he began negotiating terms with Zhou Qing'ang.
"The Truth Enticement Fruits and Humanity Stardust from the last batch were both exceedingly useful; we'll need more of each..."
After some haggling, they finally struck a deal at a price satisfactory to both sides.
"It's urgent. The sooner the transaction is completed, the better," Zhou Qing'ang remarked pointedly.
The Five Elders Association cultivator looked closely at Zhou Qing'ang and nodded in understanding.
"Right, one more thing."
Just as both parties were about to finalize the contract, Zhou Qing'ang suddenly asked, "I have some contribution points with a rather troublesome origin. They need to be converted into clean, untraceable standard spirit stones. Could you help me with this as well?"
The Five Elders Association cultivator froze for a second, thinking Zhou Qing'ang was going back on his word. But once he heard the request clearly, he chuckled and waved it off dismissively: "A minor matter, no problem.
"How much do you need?" he followed up.
"Not much. Just two or three hundred million," Zhou Qing'ang said offhandedly.
The Five Elders Association cultivator instantly petrified.
"How... much?" For a moment, he suspected his ears were playing tricks on him.
Zhou Qing'ang repeated it once more.
"Th-this... Fellow Daoist, please wait a moment. I must ask for instructions once more." Wiping cold sweat from his forehead, even his voice trembled slightly.
Zhou Qing'ang waved a hand, gesturing for him to hurry.
Taking far longer than the earlier inquiry, the black-robed cultivator returned looking nearly drained of energy.
"Er, the higher-ups agreed to your request. However..."
He said with some trepidation, "The list of materials we just discussed will probably need some adjustment."
"Hm?" Zhou Qing'ang put on a displeased frown and turned to leave.
"Wait! Wait!" The black-robed cultivator rushed forward to stop him.
"Everything can be negotiated! Fellow Daoist, the quantity of standard spirit stones you require is simply astronomical. And pulling it off without alerting the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals makes it even harder!" he pleaded.
"If it weren't difficult, why would I come to you? I would have handled it myself," Zhou Qing'ang sneered.
The Five Elders Association cultivator nodded repeatedly, not daring to argue.
After another round of discussions, they finally reached an agreement.
As a streak of golden light flew into Zhou Qing'ang's body, the black-robed spy gradually dissolved into golden radiance and vanished.
Yet on his face, as before, there was neither fear nor panic.
He merely reminded Zhou Qing'ang of the agreed location and details for their next exchange.
Once the black-robed spy had completely disappeared, Zhou Qing'ang examined the surroundings carefully for a moment and shook his head slightly.
"Using a human body as a contract, unafraid of life and death. Truly uncanny."
Without lingering, he destroyed all traces of the meeting and quietly returned.
Ten days later, Zhou Qing'ang met another black-robed spy whose aura was extremely similar, yet who was clearly not the same person.
Just like last time, the spy handed over a Kongming Stone Mother containing all the requested materials from the inventory list.
After inspecting it briefly, Li Fan revealed the identity of the excavated ancient cultivator.
"A Dharma King of the Profound Heaven Sect?"
Upon hearing this, the other party was visibly stunned.
Yet having seemingly anticipated something along those lines, he quickly recovered his composure.
Chapter 634