Hearing this, Liu San's face turned awkward. "Uh, I'm afraid this might be a little difficult..."
"Hmm?" Li Fan was slightly taken aback.
Just as Liu San was about to answer, Fang Zaiji beat him to it. "Haha, Sect Master, have you grown muddled from seclusion? Where in our Medicine King Sect would you find any Qi Condensation disciples right now? Even those with the worst aptitude achieved Foundation Establishment long ago."
The movement of Li Fan stroking the Dissociation Disc paused slightly.
"Then I will have to trouble you to make a trip outside, Mister Fang, to pick out some promising seedlings," Li Fan said, feigning sudden realization before adopting a somewhat helpless tone.
"It would be best to carry a Terminal Disc with you and prioritize safety. Otherwise, if cultivators from the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals discover you, a bloody fight will be inevitable," he added with utmost consideration.
"Uh." Fang Zaiji's face instantly fell. "Sect Master..."
"Mister Fang, please make it a quick trip. After all, this concerns our hope of deciphering the Heavenly Profound Treasure Mirror. Entrusting it to anyone else, I truly wouldn't feel at ease," Li Fan said earnestly.
Seeing that there was no way out, Fang Zaiji could only glare at Liu San, who was watching the spectacle from the side, and fly straight off.
"I want to go out and have a look as well," Jiang Yushan, who had remained silent all along, suddenly spoke up.
Liu San was stunned.
"I have stayed here for too long; it feels stifling," Jiang Yushan said indifferently. "It seems quite lively outside right now. The myriad pocket worlds hidden for thousands of years are finally revealing their full picture, and I am very interested. Perhaps I might even run into old acquaintances."
Li Fan pondered for a moment and nodded in agreement.
Handing her a Terminal Disc and a communication talisman, he urged, "Safety still comes first. Our Medicine King Sect's resurgence cannot do without your assistance, Elder Jiang."
"Rest assured," Jiang Yushan replied coldly, then broke through the air and departed.
"Young Master, I also..." Liu San hurriedly began.
"Elder Liu, you stay in the Medicine King Valley. Soon there will be an urgent matter that requires you to make a trip with my clone." Li Fan waved his hand, flatly refusing Liu San's request.
A bitter look washed over Liu San's face. Unable to defy Li Fan, he could only seek out disciples in the valley to vent his frustration on.
Li Fan continued immersing his mind in feeding the Dissociation Disc.
Meanwhile, his clone Xu Bai, having returned to Tianliang City, caught up on the Alliance's recent progress in conquering the myriad realms.
Everything had been smooth sailing previously, but shortly after his return to the Xuanhuang Realm, the frenzied cultivators finally suffered their first rout.
Over a hundred cultivators had entered the pocket world in the first wave, led by three Soul Formation experts and anchored by fifty Nascent Soul stalwarts.
Such impressive fighting strength had been almost completely wiped out.
The sole survivor was a Foundation Establishment cultivator named Lu Zhixian.
Positioned at the rear of the expedition, he had originally only joined the campaign by relying on his connections with one of the Soul Formation leaders.
He had merely hoped to skim some merits, but who could have expected the tide of battle to turn so drastically? Sensing danger, Lu Zhixian had decisively fled.
Perhaps precisely because his cultivation was so insignificant, the enemy had not bothered to hunt him down.
Such a catastrophic defeat naturally caused a sensation and prompted an official investigation by the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
With the projection recorded by the Heavenly Profound Treasure Mirror, Lu Zhixian's suspicion of being a spy was quickly cleared, and he was released without charge.
Yet when the footage was made public, it caused an uproar among the populace.
Because the one who had annihilated the entire expeditionary force turned out to be just a single person.
White hair, white brows, a face etched with wrinkles. He appeared ancient, as though his lifespan might run out at any moment.
Yet his strikes were ruthless and merciless.
His hair and beard surged forward like living creatures to maim and slaughter, shooting out like silver dragons that instantly pierced through the bodies of the Alliance cultivators.
Even more terrifying, once the old man's hair and beard stabbed into the cultivators, they seemed capable of siphoning their life force.
Countless cultivators grew decrepit in an instant; some were reduced to skeletons before they could even scream.
Meanwhile, a touch of color returned to the old man's face.
This white-haired elder was at least at the Dao Integration realm. Moreover, he seemed to possess some unique advantage within that pocket world—ordinary Soul Formation cultivators stood no chance against him, powerless to do anything except watch themselves get drained dry alive.
The footage instantly ignited outrage among the cultivators of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
"He can drain a cultivator's lifespan alive?! How is such conduct any different from an evil demon? Anyone has the right to strike him down!"
"Well said! Fellow Daoist, I support you! Go take his head!"
"Hiss, to think such a ruthless figure existed inside a pocket world. In my opinion, unless two or three Dao Integration experts step up, killing him will be out of the question."
"A bunch of fools, haven't you figured it out yet? He intentionally let Lu Zhixian go to report back—just to lure more cultivators to their deaths!"
"That makes some sense. But if so, why doesn't he just leave that pocket world and run amok in the Xuanhuang Realm?"
"Because he's not as stupid as you."
...
Despite the fierce debate, Alliance cultivators were no fools. Since such a monster lurked within that pocket world, they could simply steer clear of it. There were countless unexplored pocket worlds out there—why bang their heads against a wall? Naturally, people picked the soft persimmons first!
And so, a dramatic scene unfolded.
The pocket world was marked on maps with a red skull, and not a single person was willing to venture inside again.
"In the end, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals will definitely send someone to clean it up anyway."
With this mindset, cultivators chose to outright ignore it.
And the Alliance officials seemed to tacitly approve of this behavior, issuing no bounties or warrants for that pocket world.
"Interesting." After inquiring around, Xu Bai learned that a dispute had also erupted within the Alliance over how to handle the pocket world.
One faction argued that such scum should be eliminated swiftly to demonstrate the supreme majesty of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
The other faction contended that in future conquest campaigns, opponents of comparable strength to this white-haired elder would surely be encountered. If they had to root out evil thoroughly every time, casualties would be unavoidable.
Dao Integration cultivators were pillars of the Alliance; losing even one was a staggering loss.
Even with the Manor of Rebirth enabling resurrection after death,
Dao Integration cultivators appeared quite wary of "resurrection," and few were willing to lead the charge.
Xu Bai spent some effort before finally uncovering the reason behind this.
It turned out that while various methods existed to revive someone—even preserving memories and cultivation from one's past life—
there was a fatal flaw that no Dao Integration cultivator could overlook:
Once one entered the Manor of Rebirth, the Longevity realm was forever out of reach.
The reason was unknown, but judging from the behavior of the Dao Integration experts, it seemed to be a proven fact.
After all, which Dao Integration powerhouse did not harbor the grand ambition to attain Longevity?
Resurrection was merely the ultimate last resort.
Chapter 753