Xu Bai did not refuse immediately.
Instead, after pondering for a moment, an expression of difficulty crossed his face.
"What is it, young friend? Do you have some unspoken trouble?" Nangong Shirong asked.
"To tell Senior Nangong the truth, I am actually not originally an Alliance cultivator, but an ancient dormant cultivator..." With that, Xu Bai recounted in "full and honest detail" how he had traded a Tianling Flower for a member identity in the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
Nangong Shirong burst into laughter. "You need not fret over that, young friend. I investigated all of those matters long ago. That includes the Dao Integration-grade Law-Audience Jade Plaque—that ended up in your hands as well, did it not?"
A look of astonishment surfaced on Xu Bai's face.
Nangong Shirong waved a hand, signaling him not to be tense.
"While it was indeed a bit irregular, your current Alliance identity is recognized by the Heavenly Profound Mirror no matter how you look at it. So there is no issue at all!
"Even Five Elders Association cultivators can reform their ways and naturalize into the Alliance. How much more so for ancient cultivators like you?
"Besides, in the Wang Qiupo affair, your loyalty to the Alliance was proven beyond doubt! Had you not been so alert, young friend, who knows how many more nails he would have driven into our Alliance!"
Nangong Shirong gave a cold huff before turning a warm, genial look back toward Xu Bai.
"Little friend Xu, I am short-handed here right now. Why not lend me a hand?
"Rest assured, as long as I am here, no one will dare attack your past!"
Since things had reached this point, if Xu Bai still refused, he likely would not be walking out of the room.
Thus, after feigning deliberation for a brief moment, Xu Bai said to Nangong Shirong with profound gratitude, "In that case, I thank Senior deeply for your patronage and nurture!"
Having secured Xu Bai's affirmative answer, Nangong Shirong laughed heartily once more.
With his personal assent, Xu Bai's official onboarding process went extraordinarily smoothly.
Even the test at the white jade Heart-Interrogation Platform was nothing more than going through the motions.
After posing only a few superficial questions, they hastily cleared him through.
The post Xu Bai assumed was that of Tianliang Province Liaison Emissary.
Directly answering to the sovereign of an entire province, the post's authority could be described as neither overwhelmingly great nor negligibly small.
Everything hung upon the single word of the Tianliang Castellan.
If the role of Secret Script Emissary that Li Fan had once held was responsible for assisting a castellan in handling provincial governance,
then this Liaison Emissary was responsible for communications between Tianliang Province and other provinces, as well as the Alliance headquarters.
Those holding power in a province inevitably sought to arrange official positions for their juniors out of personal considerations.
However, to conceal their moves from prying eyes and avoid being overly conspicuous, they usually did not place them directly within their own province. Instead, they would dispatch them to take up posts in other provinces where they had familiar ties.
Once ten or twenty years had passed and they had amassed sufficient seniority, they would transfer them back.
Only in this way could they convince the public.
Even if Alliance headquarters came down to investigate, everything would fully comply with official rules and procedures, leaving inspectors powerless to find fault.
Among the affairs handled by a Liaison Emissary, coordinating this matter made up the absolute lion's share.
As soon as Li Fan assumed the post, this was the first task before him.
After all, it was now universally known across the realm that Tianliang Province had a large number of critical vacancies.
If you, Nangong Shirong, were eating all the meat, you had to at least leave some broth for others to sip, didn't you?
There were far too many factions wanting a piece of the pie. Balancing every side so that everyone came away satisfied was by no means an easy task.
If done well, it was merely fulfilling one's duty; if anything went wrong, Nangong Shirong could conveniently push Xu Bai forward as a scapegoat to appease public wrath.
It was indeed a fine calculation.
Facing the deluge of visiting cards pouring in all at once, Xu Bai mixed with none of them and simply ignored every single one.
Taking a leave of absence and concealing his aura, he headed straight back to the Valley of Longevity.
When Nangong Shirong sent a message inquiring about it, Xu Bai merely smiled faintly and replied, "Leave them out in the cold for a while. If any issues arise, the Castellan can push all the blame onto me!"
Nangong Shirong pondered for a moment, uttered a single word—"Brilliant"—and went quiet.
Having made his smooth return, Xu Bai retrieved the Truth Enticement Fruit and entered the Medicine King Cauldron.
The room where Jiang Yushan slept lay right next to Liu San's.
Xu Bai made his way inside without any trouble.
He did not alter many of her thoughts, merely changing Liu Yihang's appearance in her memories to Li Fan's visage.
And after routinely implanting the suggestion that she placed absolute trust in "Liu Yihang,"
he summoned Liu San inside and awakened her before his eyes.
Jiang Yushan's eyelashes fluttered slightly, and Liu San's face was flushed with deep excitement.
Xu Bai, however, quietly backed away a short distance.
Sure enough, when Jiang Yushan opened her eyes, a fleeting daze first showed in her gaze.
Yet very quickly her expression shifted, and she flicked out a ray of black deathlight toward Liu San.
The black light resembled a sword, brimming with baleful aura.
Yet Xu Bai could faintly sense within it an aura identical to the Azure Longevity Force. It was truly rather bizarre.
"Yushan, it's me!" Liu San frantically blocked the black deathlight and shouted in haste.
Jiang Yushan froze slightly, then shut her eyes tightly to mask the killing intent in her heart.
Only after a moment did she reopen them.
"What happened? Have we reached the Xiaoyao Realm?"
Her voice was unlike the melodious, pleasing tones of ordinary female cultivators, but raspy and grating, like metal scraping against metal.
Liu San paid it no heed and began explaining the entire sequence of events to her.
"Returned to the Xuanhuang Realm once more?"
"Several millennia have already passed?"
Even though this female cultivator had spent a prolonged period in the brutal Indeterminate Prison,
she still grew somewhat bewildered upon suddenly hearing such absurd news.
"I want to go out and see for myself!"
Clearly, she did not place full trust in Liu San.
At a prompting glance from Liu San, Xu Bai let her out of the Medicine King Cauldron.
Liu San then led her on a tour of the present Xuanhuang Realm.
Not long after, she returned, looking somewhat lost and forlorn.
"Your reflexive strike at me just now was also because of the tribulation that dharmas cannot be cultivated concurrently," Liu San offered, taking the initiative to find an explanation for Jiang Yushan.
Jiang Yushan knitted her brows slightly. "To prevent myself from killing you, I should switch back to my original cultivation method."
Liu San waved his hands frantically. "No need, no need! The sect is in urgent need of Longevity Pills right now. Yushan, it just so happens you can help me concoct them with your Azure Longevity Force."
To his surprise, Jiang Yushan flatly refused. "I am afraid the Azure Longevity Force I cultivate differs somewhat from that of your Medicine King Sect. If pills are concocted with it, consuming them will likely breed rampant homicidal impulses.
"You should find someone else instead!"
Hearing this, Liu San's expression stiffened at once.
"Right now, other than me, you are the only one who still retains the Scripture of Saving the World and Cultivating Longevity.
"The killing tribulation of dharmas cannot be cultivated concurrently is truly terrifying. If more than three people practice it, I fear it will become impossible to maintain self-control," Liu San stammered in explanation.
A glint of cold light flashed in Jiang Yushan's eyes, causing Liu San's words to halt abruptly.
"Elder Jiang may concoct the pills with an easy mind. Even if there are slight side effects, cultivators in the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals nowadays would hardly care, I imagine."
At this critical juncture, it was Xu Bai who came to Liu San's rescue.
Chapter 717