With the Nascent Soul now formed, the avatar exuded an even more transcendent, otherworldly air.
Let alone the ordinary Medicine King Sect disciples who stared wide-eyed, even Liu San and Fang Zaiji, who had rushed over upon sensing the disturbance, couldn't help but be slightly dazed.
"With Xu Ke's essence blood and appearance, coupled with Mr. Bai's bearing..."
"Why don't you be called Xu Bai from now on?"
Li Fan looked at the avatar and nodded with great satisfaction.
Xu Bai then cupped his hands toward Li Fan and smiled faintly.
From the crowd looking up below, sharp gasps rose in quick succession.
"Young Master, this is..." Liu San approached Li Fan and looked at Xu Bai, a flicker of confusion in his eyes.
During this time, to prevent Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals cultivators in the white mist from sneaking in, he had kept a constant watch over the entrance of the Valley of Longevity. Yet he hadn't noticed at all when this person had entered; it was as if he had appeared out of thin air. Though a guess had begun to form in his mind, Liu San still found it hard to believe, so he sought confirmation from Li Fan.
"This is no place to speak. Follow me." Seeing that Fang Zaiji was equally suspicious, Li Fan, together with Xu Bai, brought the two of them into the secluded cultivation chamber.
"This is an avatar I refined," Xu Bai said directly.
"Just as I thought." Liu San looked enlightened, but then another doubt arose. "Although avatar refinement arts are rare, with the Young Master's abilities, obtaining one wouldn't be difficult. But why is this avatar refined by the Young Master so..."
"Flashy?" Without pressing further about where Li Fan had obtained the avatar technique, Liu San looked at Xu Bai again and asked, somewhat bewildered.
Li Fan merely smiled without answering. "I have my uses for it. By the way, how are the magical treasures Mr. Fang was refining coming along?"
Fang Zaiji caught on in an instant as well. "The white robes and folding fan were prepared for this avatar? I was wondering—that style really didn't suit you at all, Sect Master!"
"How could Dao Integration level magical treasures be so easy to craft? It will take at least another half year. Besides..."
Fang Zaiji scrutinized Xu Bai for a few more moments. "The treasures I previously designed are frankly unworthy of this avatar of yours, Sect Master. No, no, I must scrap them and start over!"
The more he looked, the more Fang Zaiji felt that the white robes and folding fan he had originally envisioned would fall short on Xu Bai.
With that, he was about to rush off to work out a new crafting plan.
Fortunately, Li Fan stopped him in time.
"Nearly three years have passed since the Crimson Flame Burning Sea. It is time for the disciples to re-enter the world. Moreover, my plans require their cooperation," Li Fan said calmly.
Neither Liu San nor Fang Zaiji had any objection to this decision.
"However, re-entering the world also carries risks. If any disciple unfortunately meets with disaster and happens to undergo soul searching, exposing the secrets of the Valley of Longevity and the Beast Seed Realm...
"What should be done then?" Li Fan looked at the two Dao Integration cultivators and asked.
"I only specialize in artifact refinement; you'll have to ask Old Liu about this," Fang Zaiji shrugged, looking completely helpless.
Liu San did not demur. After pondering for a long while, he gave his answer: "The mind of one person can be broken, but the minds of thousands or millions cannot easily be pierced. Currently, the Spring and Autumn Great Dream Formation is still running within the Medicine King Cauldron. Any disciple going out need only link a wisp of their divine sense into it. If they are subjected to a forced soul searching, it will trigger the formation to strike back. Unless the attacker's soul strength exceeds that of all the slumbering Medicine King Sect cultivators combined, they won't learn a single thing from our disciples' minds.
"In truth, the Spring and Autumn Great Dream Formation links the thoughts of every cultivator within it to create a magnificent dreamscape. Thus, beyond uniting everyone to withstand external divine sense attacks, it can also draw upon the dream's power to seal away certain memories of the cultivators inside the formation—just as mortals dreaming never realize they are inside a dream. Furthermore, even if the disciples are scattered all over the Xuanhuang Realm in the future, we can contact them instantaneously via the Spring and Autumn Great Dream Formation without being detected by outsiders..."
Liu San explained another wonderful use of the Spring and Autumn Great Dream Formation to Li Fan in detail.
Hearing this, Li Fan was thoroughly pleased. "Then I shall trouble Elder Liu with this matter. Once the disciples depart, they may act freely; they need only casually ask around for news of the Tianling Flower as if in passing. The Tianling Flower is something unique to Tianling Province in the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals. Blessed by heaven's grace, it was exquisite beyond compare. However, several years ago, after the great battle of Tianling Province, an anomalous change came over it..."
Liu San did not question the reason behind Li Fan's instructions; he simply committed the directions firmly to memory.
After going over the relevant precautions, Liu San immediately went about orchestrating the task of linking the disciples to the formation in full swing.
Li Fan, however, took his leave first and departed the Valley of Longevity.
The Valley of Longevity was located within the White Mist Barrier along the border between Luoyan Province and Luoying Province.
Avoiding patrolling cultivators, Li Fan silently left the white mist and arrived within Luoyan Province's provincial city.
Although located in the interior of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, Luoyan Province was not much more prosperous than the Congyun Sea. In fact, in terms of cultivator numbers, it was even slightly fewer. Part of the reason was that most of Luoyan Province was desolate and barren of resources.
The primary reason, however, was that anomalies occurred frequently in Luoyan Province.
For instance, the Mind Ape, with which Li Fan was quite familiar, had once erupted on a massive scale here. Although the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals had kept no detailed records of this, during earlier lifetimes when Li Fan purchased large quantities of Mind Ape bones, he noticed that most originated from Luoyan Province, which led to this deduction.
At this hour, Luoyan City was rather deserted.
Entering the long-unvisited Heavenly Profound Mirror, the first thing Li Fan did was look up information regarding addictive pills.
Although Liu San had said the disciples had verified that the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals seemingly did not forbid such drugs, Li Fan knew well that due to the merit ranking system, many confidential matters were beyond the reach of ordinary cultivators.
Cultivators who crossed taboos and died unexplained deaths were hardly rare in the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
Yet this item concerned Li Fan's upcoming schemes, making it essential to ascertain the Alliance's attitude.
Under this current identity, he still held a clean record with a merit rank of one. Even so, it did not hinder Li Fan from inquiring about information.
Taking the Mind-Ascending Immortality Pill from the jade bottle, Li Fan prepared to list it for sale on the market.
"Warning: The medicinal pill you are listing for sale is a contraband item. Your trading privileges have been temporarily frozen. Please destroy this contraband as soon as possible."
"Warning..."
The Heavenly Profound Mirror's somewhat piercing alert chimed instantly, repeating over and over.
Feigning utter shock, Li Fan wore an innocent expression. "What? Contraband! Where is this coming from?"
"Isn't it just an ordinary pill...?"
The Heavenly Profound Mirror's cold voice repeated: "Mind-Ascending Immortality Pill, ranked number 3,674 on the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals Banned Circulation List."
"Hazard Level: Grade Yi-Upper."
"Please destroy it as soon as possible."
Chapter 673