"Perhaps reaching the legendary state of desiring nothing and seeking nothing would allow one to disregard Mr. Bai's pollution."
"Then again, if one truly desired nothing from the world..."
"One wouldn't obsess over True Reversion either." Li Fan shook his head slightly, putting the unrealistic thought out of his mind.
With a light tap of his index finger, he fixed the Dissociation Disc suspended in midair. Li Fan then withdrew eight gleaming white crystals from his storage ring.
*When a crisis arrives, if I want to draw the Heavenly Profound Mirror's attention by imbuing the Dissociation Disc with formations, there certainly won't be enough time for me to do it slowly. I must prepare in advance.* With this thought, Li Fan narrowed his eyes slightly and began infusing the data of the Grand Formation of Inverting Life and Death into the eight gleaming crystals respectively.
These crystals were items similar to array coronets, known as formation crystals. They could record and store formations, except that while an array coronet could be reused multiple times, a formation crystal was strictly single-use.
Into each formation crystal, a portion of the formation was etched. Li Fan then manipulated them so they hovered in a circle around the Dissociation Disc.
"With just a single thought, these formation crystals will detonate simultaneously and flood the formation data into the Dissociation Disc." Looking at the eight white crystals flickering with light, Li Fan laid down another formation to bind them, guarding against any accidents.
Next was the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation. After repeating the process, the Dissociation Disc, enshrouded at the center by sixteen gleaming crystals, was no longer recognizable.
Li Fan carefully stored it away separately in a blank storage ring.
"It cannot yet be determined whether a Heavenly Profound secondary body truly still retains a connection to the Heavenly Profound Mirror. This is merely a backup measure."
"I still need to make comprehensive preparations and fight with everything I have." Leaving the secret chamber, Li Fan first made his way to Thousand Li Hall in Tianquan City.
The place was completely deserted, and even the signboard hung askew, yet Jiao Xiuyuan hadn't bothered to come out and fix it.
*I heard earlier that Thousand Li Hall's business had plummeted, and it really is true,* Li Fan thought to himself as he strode inside.
Due to the gradual proliferation of the Heavenly Profound Treasure Mirror, cultivators could conduct transactions seamlessly even if separated by dozens of prefectural provinces.
Anytime, anywhere, trading faced virtually no restrictions. Moreover, with so much information made public, the prices of all goods had become practically transparent.
For a merchant like Jiao Xiuyuan, this was practically a dimensional strike. Virtually overnight, countless shops had vanished.
Fortunately, Jiao Xiuyuan ran his business merely to aid his cultivation. As long as he didn't incur losses, it was no great problem; turning a substantial profit was not a matter of life and death.
Even so, abruptly losing his foundation for cultivation was clearly not an easy pill for him to swallow.
"What on earth should I do..." Jiao Xiuyuan mumbled listlessly as he slumped behind the dust-covered wooden counter.
He was so lost in thought that he hadn't even noticed someone walking in. Li Fan gave the counter a light knock.
Jiao Xiuyuan jolted with a start and leaped up. "A customer?" He eyed Li Fan with some suspicion, a hint of disbelief written across his face.
Li Fan, meanwhile, slowly inspected Jiao Xiuyuan's puppet body, staring at him until the hairs on his neck stood up.
"You..." Jiao Xiuyuan began, uncertain and alarmed.
"Daoist Jiao, I wonder if this puppet body of yours is for sale? The price is negotiable!" Li Fan said with a smile.
Jiao Xiuyuan's expression changed abruptly, and he slammed his hand on the counter. Just as he was about to lash out, he stopped short. His gaze locked onto what Li Fan had quietly brought out in his hand.
"This is..." Knowledgeable and experienced as he was, he recognized almost at a glance an aura similar to that of the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
"A Heavenly Profound secondary body?" Jiao Xiuyuan was stunned. Across the entire Xuanhuang Realm, there were definitely no more than fifty Heavenly Profound secondary bodies in existence.
Each possessed unique and wondrous functions, and almost all of them were priceless treasures beyond market trade. No cultivator would ever put one up for sale.
Information on various secondary bodies flashed rapidly through Jiao Xiuyuan's mind, yet none matched what lay before him.
Jiao Xiuyuan's heart leaped. With a wave of his hand, he shut the shop doors and received Li Fan with boundless enthusiasm.
"Easily done, easily done! It's just a puppet body—no problem at all!"
"I only wonder, what exactly is that in your hands, Fellow Daoist..." Jiao Xiuyuan asked in a lowered, probing whisper.
Li Fan replied with complete frankness, "A Heavenly Profound secondary body: the Terminal Disc."
"It can shield against the perception of the Heavenly Profound Mirror and the Heavenly Profound Treasure Mirror."
At Li Fan's first sentence, Jiao Xiuyuan's eyes had shone brightly.
Yet when Li Fan uttered the second, Jiao Xiuyuan shuddered violently. He instinctively glanced left and right, wiping cold sweat from his forehead.
"Are you serious?" But very quickly, his true colors emerged. A gleam of greed flashed in his eyes, and Jiao Xiuyuan reached out, wanting to touch it.
To his surprise, Li Fan did not stop him from touching such a precious treasure at all. Instead, he allowed him to take the Terminal Disc into his hands.
"Huh?" A bit puzzled, Jiao Xiuyuan closely scrutinized the white-jade-like disc, turning it over and over. Moments later, shock spread across his face.
Gripping it tightly, he looked up and stared at Li Fan, whose expression was impossible to read.
"Fellow Daoist..."
Li Fan raised a hand, cutting him off. "Daoist Jiao, what do you think this item is worth?"
"Incalculable! The stronger the Heavenly Profound Mirror becomes, the more pressing the cultivators' demand for such an item will be, and the higher its value will soar!" Jiao Xiuyuan blurted out.
"What price does Fellow Daoist wish to sell it for?" Jiao Xiuyuan naturally didn't believe the other party had produced such an invaluable treasure just for one of his puppet bodies.
He immediately hurried to ask. In that single instant, he had already devised a path for his future survival: transitioning toward premium, monopolized merchandise.
*So what if commodity prices are public knowledge? If I am the only one in the world with this item, won't the price still be mine to dictate?*
*Coupled with my shops spread across the world, my promotional reach is unmatched. If every premium item were sold by auction... the overall scale of business might shrink, but the profits might not suffer at all—in fact, they could reach new heights.*
Jiao Xiuyuan's mind was flooded with visions of the future. But a single sentence from Li Fan dragged him abruptly back to reality.
"Didn't I make it quite clear? One of your puppet bodies, Fellow Daoist."
Li Fan's utterly placid words left Jiao Xiuyuan completely bewildered.
Inevitably, suspicion crept in.
*Could it be that my eyes deceived me, and this thing is actually a counterfeit?* Jiao Xiuyuan secretly examined the Terminal Disc in his hand again.
"You need not doubt it, Daoist Jiao. Its effects are completely genuine."
"However, my request might be somewhat unusual," Li Fan said in a faint, eerie tone.
Jiao Xiuyuan's expression shifted through a flurry of moods.
Yet as Li Fan continued transmitting his voice, Jiao Xiuyuan's face turned to surprise and bewilderment, followed by repeated nods.
Inside Thousand Li Hall, the two talked for a long time.
Afterward, Li Fan did not take back the Terminal Disc, quietly departing without taking the puppet body either.
Chapter 777