Huangfu Song clutched the Heaven-Measuring Mirror tightly, looking as though he had seen a ghost, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Meanwhile, Dongfang Yao, who had always seemed open-minded and easygoing, saw his eyes turn bloodshot the moment he linked his divine sense to the mirror and watched the thirty-thousand-odd Qingxuan points they had risked their lives to earn drop to zero in an instant.
"Huangfu! Is this damn thing of yours reliable? How could it swallow all our hard-earned credit?" Blue veins bulged on his neck, his expression turning somewhat ferocious.
By comparison, Li Fan was far calmer.
He checked it himself, and indeed, during the time the Heaven-Measuring Mirror had disconnected from the Heavenly Profound Mirror, the massive sum of Qingxuan points they had accumulated from exploring the Lost Domain of Life and Death had vanished completely.
"The change only occurred after we left the Lost Domain and synced with the Heavenly Profound Mirror..." Li Fan mused. He summoned the Puxian True Boat and pulled Huangfu and Dongfang, who were still exposed to the Essence-Devouring White Mist, into the cabin.
"Calm down, brothers. Coming out of this with our lives is already an immense blessing. The Qingxuan points are gone, but we can always earn more later." Standing at the bow of the Puxian True Boat, Li Fan offered words of comfort while gazing out into the white mist not far away.
There, deep within the rich white expanse where vision could not reach, some kind of change seemed to be quietly unfolding.
"No, this can't just be let go! Either something went wrong with the Heavenly Profound Mirror, or someone embezzled our credit! I'm going to demand an explanation!" Huangfu Song ground his teeth.
"Damn it all, walking all over me! If I catch who stole our Qingxuan points..." Raging fire burned in Dongfang Yao's eyes. His chest heaved violently, his fury pushed to the absolute limit.
Seeing their reaction, Li Fan refrained from trying to dissuade them further.
With this misfortune hanging over them, none of them had any desire to continue exploring. Besides, their supplies were largely depleted, and setting off on another venture would hardly be wise. Thus, they hurried back to Tianyu City.
"Wait for my news, brothers. I'm going straight to Dean Ji." The moment they returned to the city, Huangfu Song could not wait to seek out Ji Hongdao.
Dongfang Yao, on the other hand, was utterly unable to contain his anger. Even after entering a private room in the Dao Discussion Tower, he refused to sit. Instead, he paced relentlessly back and forth, stretching and loosening his limbs while his bones popped and crackled in a noisy barrage.
Li Fan said very little. He ordered a cup of spiritual tea, drank it, and closed his eyes to wait.
Nearly half a day later, Huangfu Song walked in, looking like a man who had lost his soul.
He slumped onto the floor, his eyes hollow.
"Huangfu, what did he say?" Dongfang Yao noticed something was wrong, yet still couldn't hold back and pressed for an answer.
"It doesn't exist... It doesn't exist anymore..." Huangfu Song murmured under his breath.
"What doesn't exist anymore?! Speak clearly, will you?! You're driving me crazy!" Dongfang Yao bellowed at the top of his lungs.
Jarred slightly back to his senses by the roar, Huangfu Song stammered in broken phrases, "Dean Ji said... the Lost Domain of Life and Death we reported... no such place exists at all."
Dongfang Yao froze for a moment, then flew into a towering rage. "In broad daylight, how dare they spout such blatant lies?! We experienced it with our own eyes, and that damn mirror was proof—"
"That's what I told Dean Ji too. But..." Huangfu Song's face turned deathly pale. "He had me lead him back to the Lost Domain of Life and Death. But when I reached the location from memory, the Lost Domain of Life and Death was gone."
"What?" Dongfang Yao stood dumbfounded.
"There was only ordinary Essence-Devouring White Mist. No Grand Formation of Inverting Life and Death, no sea of death, no sea of vitality... It was as though everything we experienced was nothing but an illusion..." Bewilderment crept into Huangfu Song's gaze. "Did we really experience all that? Or were we affected by some anomaly in the white mist and fell into a hallucination?" From the look of him, he could no longer tell what was real.
Dongfang Yao opened his mouth, a bellyful of words ready to spill, yet in the end he only slumped dejectedly beside Huangfu Song. In bitter frustration, he grabbed a cup of spiritual tea and downed it in a single gulp.
*An illusion? Hmph...* Within Li Fan's mind, the Dao Transformation Stone radiated a pure blue luminescence, instantly projecting the structure of the Grand Formation of Inverting Life and Death.
*What kind of illusion could conceive such a formation?*
Li Fan was completely certain that their experiences in the Lost Domain of Life and Death had been entirely real.
However, for some reason, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals officially refused to acknowledge that such a place existed.
*It seems the Alliance's upper echelons, or perhaps the Heavenly Profound Mirror itself, know the true identity of this Heavenly Venerable of Inverting Life and Death. What's more, their connection must run quite deep. Since she currently has no desire to reveal herself to the world, the Alliance took the initiative to cover her tracks.*
Li Fan recalled that after they departed the Lost Domain of Life and Death and the Heaven-Measuring Mirror reestablished contact with the Heavenly Profound Mirror, faint ripples had emanated from the domain's location.
It was likely at that very moment that the Lost Domain had been relocated elsewhere.
*Such methods...*
*Fascinating.*
Over thirty thousand Qingxuan points had vanished into thin air, yet unlike Huangfu and Dongfang, Li Fan was not in mourning.
*If I am not mistaken, the Alliance's compensation is already on its way.*
*After all, they need to turn a major issue into a minor one, and a minor one into nothing. Otherwise, if Huangfu Song and Dongfang Yao cannot swallow their grievance and go around talking to everyone they meet, things will become impossible to clean up.*
Having deduced the underlying logic, Li Fan felt thoroughly at ease. He unhurriedly sipped another cup of spiritual tea and quietly awaited their visitor.
Sure enough, after nearly half a day, a knock sounded at the door of their private room.
"Who is it?" A flash of vigilance crossed both Huangfu and Dongfang's eyes.
Before they could react, the door swung open on its own. A black-robed cultivator whose features could not be discerned stood suddenly before the three of them.
"You—" Dongfang Yao's expression changed abruptly. His muscles tightened all over, instantly shifting into a combat stance.
Just as he was about to strike, his heart jolted, and he was forced to freeze.
He watched as the Heaven-Measuring Mirror flew out of Huangfu Song's embrace of its own accord and hovered before the black-robed cultivator.
The cultivator tapped lightly against the mirror, then said coldly, "All regions mapped within the White Mist Barrier up to this point are now recorded inside.
"If you wish to explore more efficiently, head toward the areas that remain blank.
"Remember: never speak of things that should not be spoken. Otherwise, no one will be able to protect you.
"Take care of yourselves!"
With a gentle flick of his finger, a ball of light flew to Huangfu Song's side.
The black-robed cultivator's figure then warped and gradually faded into the air.
Huangfu Song and Dongfang Yao stared blankly at the ball of light before them. After a long while, it was as if understanding finally dawned on them.
Cold sweat dripped from their brows, their bodies trembling faintly despite themselves.
Only after a great deal of time did the two recover their wits.
They exchanged a look, shrouded in secrecy, neither daring to mention the matter again.
Probing the ball of light with his divine sense, a glimmer of joy surfaced on Huangfu Song's pale face. "Exemption Talismans!"
As he spoke, he withdrew three talismans shimmering with seven-colored radiance from within.
Chapter 700