This young Garrison Court cultivator looked thoroughly righteous; who would have thought he was actually a spy for the Five Elders Association?
Previously, he had even taken part in apprehending Five Elders Association spies...
It made the whole thing seem all the more absurd.
After tossing out those parting words along with a Kongming Stone Mother, he quickly departed without drawing anyone's attention.
Xu Bai remained outwardly impassive, swiftly stowing away the packed stone mother.
Upon inspecting its contents, he found the types and quantities of supplies matched his demands down to the finest detail.
"In this regard, the Five Elders Association does have its merits. At the very least, they're far more reliable than the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals," Xu Bai mused to himself.
Though there had been some twists and turns, he had ultimately obtained the needed Truth Enticement Fruit.
Yet Xu Bai still could not leave Tianliang Province.
The string of cases sparked by Wang Qiupo had not yet officially closed, and as the instigator, Xu Bai was naturally obligated to remain and cooperate with the investigation.
Right now, however, the public's attention was almost entirely focused on purging Wang Qiupo's former faction and squabbling over the newly vacant positions. Xu Bai was momentarily forgotten, leaving him in peace.
Meanwhile, amidst the boundless white mist.
"What happened? When I checked yesterday, there were only five Dissociation Discs left to redeem! How is the number back up to six now?" As the Puxian True Boat sped through the mist, Huangfu Song suddenly blurted out in shock.
Dongfang Yao's expression changed drastically. "Could we have entered some bizarre Lost Domain again? Has time flowed backward by a day?"
Li Fan remained silent for a moment before replying with a touch of helplessness, "It's likely due to the fallout from the Wang Qiupo case. Of the four people who redeemed Dissociation Discs, one must be tied to Wang Qiupo. With suspicions of espionage hanging over them, such a treasured artifact of the Alliance would naturally never be left in their hands. It was undoubtedly confiscated."
The three of them had only recently emerged from a Lost Domain and restored communication with the Heavenly Profound Mirror, so they were aware of this major incident that had rocked the Alliance.
Hearing this, Dongfang and Huangfu immediately caught on.
"Leave it to Brother Li to think fast," Dongfang Yao chuckled.
Huangfu Song let out a sigh of relief. "I was a bit worried before that our pace wouldn't be fast enough to snag a Dissociation Disc. Now that one more has popped up out of nowhere, we should be set."
The three involuntarily focused their attention on their Qingxuan points.
"Thirty-six thousand points."
Going by past experience, exploring just one or two more Lost Domains would make up the remaining fourteen thousand points.
"In this white mist nowadays, no matter how remote the area, you still bump into cultivators now and then. It feels like everyone in the entire Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals has swarmed in at once. It's completely absurd! That map of charted areas they gave us has become utterly useless," Dongfang Yao complained.
"Indeed. Luckily Brother Li possesses remarkable ability and can hear those strange sounds emanating from Lost Domains across the mist." Huangfu Song casually glanced at Li Fan.
"Speaking of which, Brother Li, what exactly do those sounds you hear sound like? Could you describe them to us?" Huangfu Song probed.
Li Fan sneered inwardly, just about to reply.
"Heaven..."
"Physician..."
That ghostly voice once again rang in Li Fan's ears.
"There's a Lost Domain nearby." Having grown accustomed to this, Li Fan felt no fear. Instead, he brought the speeding Puxian True Boat to a halt, focusing his senses to discern the direction of the voice.
Only this time, something seemed different from before.
For the wailing of "Heavenly Physician" grew louder and louder.
It was as if...
a Lost Domain was rapidly approaching!
Li Fan's expression instantly shifted. He expanded his divine sense outward into the white mist, attempting to ascertain their surroundings.
Yet the white mist was like deep, still pool water, devoid of the slightest ripple.
He had no idea where the danger was coming from.
"Heaven..."
"Physician!"
The cries of fury and malice grew clearer and clearer.
One could distinctly make out that the two words were indeed "Heavenly Physician."
Arriving from all directions, it sounded as if countless frenzied ancient beasts were roaring as they closed in.
The noise was already making Li Fan's eardrums ache.
He glanced at Huangfu and Dongfang beside him.
Even now, neither of them seemed to hear the terrifying din.
"Does something feel off about our surroundings?" Dongfang Yao, being the more vigilant one after all, suddenly spoke up.
"Move!"
The sense of crisis surging in his heart became unbearable. Li Fan made a split-second decision.
The Puxian True Boat accelerated violently, attempting to pierce through the mist.
Just then, a colossal hand suddenly thrust up from the white mist below.
Its five fingers curved into a cage, reaching to seize the Puxian True Boat in its grasp.
"What the hell is that?!" Huangfu Song's face drained of color. Screaming out, his hands did not lag behind.
He hurled an apricot-yellow formation flag that shot like an arrow toward the giant hand.
The formation flag burst apart, turning into ribbons of yellow silk cords that bound the massive hand, causing its movements to falter slightly.
"Go, hurry!" Huangfu Song yelled in panicked haste.
Without needing to be told, Li Fan had already pushed the Puxian True Boat to full speed, fleeing back along the path they had come.
None could blame them for lacking the slightest urge to fight—the abruptly appearing hand was simply too horrific.
Outside the Chizha Abyss at the Eternal Immortal Bastion, Li Fan had once seen the severed hand of an Ancient Heavenly Venerable.
Yet even the shock imparted by that Ancient Heavenly Venerable's severed hand paled in comparison to the giant palm they had just witnessed!
Because that supposed hand was actually pieced together from cultivators' corpses, stacked and sewn into one horrific whole!
In that fleeting glimpse, Li Fan had clearly seen their contorted bodies and faces, along with the eerie black threads stitching them all together!
What sent an even deeper chill down Li Fan's spine was that, although not a speck of life could be felt from these cultivators, their mouths opened and closed unceasingly, uttering roars straight from the depths of hell:
"Heaven!"
"Physician!"
The giant hand was temporarily trapped by Huangfu Song's Thousand Threads Hundred Kudzu Formation, but another hand suddenly burst forth from the depths of the white mist.
It brutally ripped the yellow silk cords apart.
The three could now clearly see that it was another monstrous, bizarre arm assembled from countless joined corpses.
It was as though a giant made of corpses lurked within the white mist, watching and hunting them.
"Could this be the thing the Alliance's Sky-Splitting Cannon was meant to deal with?!" Dongfang Yao shouted, his voice trembling slightly.
Gritting his teeth, he threw a punch toward the giant behind them.
Black fissures detonated like blades and swords—the very divine ability Dongfang Yao had comprehended in the Great Boundary-Splitting Maelstrom.
Yet this lethal move, capable of slightly tearing through space itself, failed to even slow the corpse giant down.
The cultivator corpses forming its body were smashed to dust by the black fissures, only for another to crawl squirming from deep within the heap of corpses to take its place.
This horrifying sight struck sheer terror straight into the hearts of Huangfu and Dongfang.
Chapter 715