Without a doubt, Mr. Bai had an immense connection to the Fallen Immortal Realm.
Yet if his clone, Xu Bai, entered it, he might very well draw the attention of the Mr. Bai who existed within that realm…
And whether the outcome would be fortune or disaster was entirely unpredictable.
Ever since transmigrating into this world and experiencing so much, Li Fan had long ceased to trust anything easily—even what he witnessed with his own eyes.
Especially when it concerned his own life and safety.
After long deliberation, Xu Bai ultimately suppressed the sudden, inexplicable urge to explore the Fallen Immortal Realm.
"It came about too strangely. I must be cautious," Xu Bai thought, his expression inscrutable.
This body had been forged from Xu Ke's essence blood combined with Mr. Bai's divine charm.
Merely by being tainted with a sliver of his divine charm, Xu Bai's body had manifested numerous strange phenomena, including but not limited to "favored by heaven and earth with extraordinary talent," "frequently feeling pangs of compassion," and "having uncontrollable thoughts pop into his head from time to time."
All of this was sufficient proof of Mr. Bai's terrifying power. It made Li Fan all the more wary.
If the influence remained confined to the clone, it would be manageable.
What Li Fan truly feared was that this subtle transformation might creep along the connection between clone and true body, imperceptibly affecting his original self.
When that time came, would he still be himself?
Even with True Reversion, would he truly be able to cast off such "contamination"?
Indeed, in Li Fan's eyes, this bizarre phenomenon of altering his original temperament was undoubtedly a form of pollution.
It was something he could never accept.
"If there is even the slightest sign that my true body is being affected, I will activate True Reversion immediately," Xu Bai resolved in secret.
Calming his mind, Xu Bai composed his expression and departed the Valley of Longevity.
Returning to Tianliang Province, he resumed attending to the various responsibilities of a Liaison Emissary.
Ever since the curtain had risen on the conquest of pocket worlds, another duty had been added to his plate.
Namely, keeping track of the confirmed grotto-heavens and pocket worlds within the province, while organizing and coordinating cultivators to launch expeditions against them.
The underlying reason was that to cultivators, all the unknown pocket worlds in existence represented substantial merits and contributions.
Barring exceptional circumstances, no one would willingly yield them to others.
Cultivators usually chose to share the discovery first with close relatives and trusted friends.
Only when a pocket world's forces were too overwhelming for their small circle to handle would they reluctantly share the opportunity with outsiders.
The ideal scenario envisioned by the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals—where cultivators would openly synchronize information with the rest of the Alliance upon discovering an entrance—was extraordinarily rare.
After so much time had passed, the cultivators had all caught on.
The conquest of pocket worlds was, in truth, a non-renewable resource. It was very likely the only opportunity in their entire lives to amass merits and contributions at such a rapid pace.
Under such circumstances, everyone naturally calculated meticulously to maximize their gains.
Thus, after the initial wave of rapid expansion, the pace of conquering the myriad realms abruptly slowed.
The Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals naturally understood why this was happening.
Hence, this newly added duty had fallen upon him.
Though he possessed no coercive authority, he still bore an official Alliance title. His involvement often facilitated powerful alliances between various small factions.
Consequently, he met with no resistance; in fact, once word spread of his role, cultivators began actively seeking him out for help.
After dealing with them extensively, Xu Bai came to understand their general demands.
First, they were willing to share the pocket world entrance coordinates in their possession, but in return, any cultivators who profited from the expedition had to give them priority consideration whenever they needed allies in future discoveries.
In other words, mutual assistance.
Second, conquering a pocket world was not as simple as eating or drinking. It required facing bloody slaughter at every turn, where a single misstep meant dying on the spot. Therefore, their companions had to be thoroughly trustworthy. Even if they couldn't swear to live and die together, they at least couldn't stab one another in the back.
Third, as the saying went, fertile water should not flow into outsiders' fields. If possible, the pocket worlds discovered in Tianliang Province were best absorbed entirely by the local cultivators of Tianliang Province.
…
Having reincarnated through a hundred lifetimes, Xu Bai prided himself on understanding human nature. Yet facing these cultivators, each harboring their own secret schemes, he still felt a slight headache.
Often, a team of cultivators who appeared completely harmonious on the surface when he introduced them would return with only a meager few survivors.
They would remain tight-lipped about the fallen comrades and turn to accusing one another instead.
Yet the next time Xu Bai contacted them to ask if they would team up again for an expedition, nine times out of ten, they would still agree.
This was because, even knowing the other party's underhanded tendencies, they at least knew their background.
Compared to a complete unknown or a stranger, such people were actually far more trustworthy.
"The human heart is truly unfathomable and impossible to predict,"
Xu Bai sighed, shaking his head.
In his mind, the names of the cultivators were like chess pieces, arranged and combined in various configurations according to their temperaments and capabilities.
Xu Bai was trying to find the optimal method to mobilize the forces of Tianliang Province's cultivators to the fullest.
"It could also be considered a unique form of cultivation in its own right," Xu Bai mused.
"Presently, thirteen pocket worlds have been identified in Tianling Province. One of them is exceptionally dangerous; several expeditions have resulted in no survivors, so it has been temporarily shelved. Of the remaining twelve, half have already been thoroughly cleared…"
Once the Alliance cultivators completely crushed a pocket world's resistance and scanned the realm using the Heavenly Profound Treasure Mirror,
Alliance headquarters would dispatch a team of black-robed cultivators to take over. While expelling all unrelated personnel, they would seal off the entrance, working on who knew what inside.
Even when Xu Bai inquired with Nangong Shirong, he had been unable to learn anything.
However, according to reports from many cultivators under his command, shortly after the black-robed cultivators took over, the entrances to these pocket worlds vanished without a trace.
Although the locations marked on the Heavenly Profound Treasure Mirror's map remained, whenever someone arrived at the actual site, the specific entrance could no longer be found.
"It isn't being concealed by some technique; rather, the entrance itself has undergone a transformation."
"The entrance is actually still there, but it seems to have been encrypted in some manner, making it impossible to locate through conventional means."
After conducting on-site investigations, Xu Bai arrived at this conclusion.
…
While Xu Bai was busy in Tianliang Province,
Li Fan's true body finally bid farewell to the enthusiastic Shuo Feng and departed his estate.
During the days he had been pestered into sparring, Li Fan had benefited substantially.
Yet he was even more astonished by the speed of Shuo Feng's progress.
At first, Shuo Feng had been utterly defenseless against Silk Pulling Life Reduction.
He had only been able to endure by relying on his bizarre constitution.
Yet later on, Shuo Feng had actually begun gradually adapting to the effects of Life Severing.
Chapter 763