At the critical juncture, Ou Shangtian unleashed his power once more.
A brilliant yellow radiance enveloped an area tens of thousands of meters across.
The cultivators caught in its expanse all reverted to the states they were in before they had surrounded Ou Shangtian.
By the time they came back to their senses, the father and son had already vanished without a trace.
Furious, the pursuers pressed on, only to discover that Ou Shangtian was now the sole fugitive.
After putting up a stubborn, desperate fight for half a day more, he was finally captured by a fortunate cultivator named Xie Xiantao.
Faced with the covetous glares of the surrounding cultivators, Xie Xiantao acted decisively and made a prudent choice.
He handed Ou Shangtian over to the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals in exchange for a bounty.
In truth, during his flight, Ou Shangtian had slain no fewer than a hundred Alliance cultivators. Even though it had been in self-defense, it still violated Alliance law. Ou Shangtian had long since become a major wanted criminal of the Alliance.
The fact that authorities had not stepped in personally before did not mean they were not monitoring the situation.
Sure enough, once Xie Xiantao publicly declared his choice, a squad of black-robed cultivators arrived within moments and took him and the dying Ou Shangtian away.
The sensational manhunt that had stirred the entire realm was thus brought to a close.
As for the affair's other protagonist—Ou Shangtian's father, Ou Daozi—no one cared about him anymore.
Except Li Fan.
In a dark, gloomy forest within Luoyan Province, Ou Daozi hid beneath layers of decaying leaves, heavily wounded.
Yet the thought of his son overdrafting his own power to lure away the pursuers and protect him tore at his heart with agonizing grief.
"The Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals..."
Ou Daozi's eyes were bloodshot. The faces of those who had joined the hunt flashed through his mind again and again, filling his heart with bitter hatred.
Yet at this moment, he dared not make the slightest movement for fear of being discovered. He could only quietly nurse his injuries.
"Alas..."
Just then, a sudden sigh drifted into his ears.
Ou Daozi gave a violent start and tried to flee, but it was already too late.
Three familiar figures had materialized beside him before he even realized it.
"It's you!" Staring at Li Fan, the primary culprit behind it all, Ou Daozi's eyes nearly split with fury.
He was on the verge of berserk fury, ready to drag Li Fan down with him to the grave, only to be suppressed by the combined force of Lin Ling and Tianyang.
He was already weaker to begin with, and now, gravely injured, he had lost most of his combat strength. Before long, he was thoroughly subdued.
"How strange. Why look at me like that?"
"All I wanted was to ask you for help designing some buildings. You two fled in panic before we even met face-to-face, and you even schemed to take my life. If not for my great luck, I would probably have perished on the spot.
"I haven't even settled that score with you.
"Besides, the ones who hunted and captured your son were entirely people from the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals. What does that have to do with me?" Li Fan asked with an innocent expression.
"Outrageous!" Seeing Li Fan talking nonsense in broad daylight, Ou Daozi was furious to the extreme. The veins on his forehead bulged and pulsed wildly, as though he would fight Li Fan to the death right then and there.
"Your way of thinking is flawed." Li Fan shook his head slightly.
He produced a translucent, crystal-clear fruit and put on a genial smile. "Come, open your mouth. Eat this, and you'll understand."
An ominous premonition surged in Ou Daozi's heart. "What is this?"
Li Fan did not answer. Handing the Truth Enticement Fruit to Lin Ling, he had her force-feed it to Ou Daozi.
Once the fruit slid into his stomach, Ou Daozi's struggles gradually weakened. The look in his eyes when he stared at Li Fan also began to change.
"Don't you want to save your son?"
"Although companion wonders usually cannot be transferred, the Alliance has far too many methods at its disposal. Who knows what torment your son will suffer?" Li Fan whispered.
"The Alliance!" Bloodlust flared in Ou Daozi's eyes instantly.
"The Alliance is devoid of virtue, yet colossal in power. If you wish to destroy it and rescue your son, you must proceed step-by-step.
"Our Myriad Realms Association was born precisely for this purpose!"
...
Under the effects of the Truth Enticement Fruit, Ou Daozi's mindset was quickly rewritten. He joined the Myriad Realms Association, taking the destruction of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals as his life's crusade.
Toward a like-minded comrade like Li Fan, he now felt as warm and protective as toward his own kin.
From Ou Daozi, Li Fan also learned the secret of Ou Shangtian's companion wonders.
"My son has two companion wonders.
"One of them I knew about since he was small—the Myriad Deaths Ledger, which can foresee the ways he will die in the future.
"As for the Kunqian Bone Hand, which can reverse heaven and earth, he awakened it two years ago during the collapse of Guiyuan Mountain.
"Back then, he had only just entered the Qi Condensation stage when he was caught in such a natural disaster as a collapsing mountain range. His life hung by a thread.
"In that moment between life and death, his potential erupted, activating the long-hidden power of the Kunqian Bone Hand.
"For a collapsed mountain to reappear was simply too astounding, so the boy hid it even from me.
"Not until recently did he come running to find me, urging me to leave. He said he had foreseen a terrifying group of people about to come knocking on our door..."
Having journeyed all the way to the Spirit Wood Realm, Ou Daozi recounted the entire chain of events to Li Fan.
Li Fan maintained a calm expression. "There are countless futures and countless possibilities. What he foresaw might not have been true.
"If I truly intended to kill you, neither of you could have withstood just the two by my side."
A bewildered look crossed Ou Daozi's eyes, followed by a long sigh. "A misunderstanding, yet it has made it nearly impossible for me and my boy to see each other again..."
"There will always be an opportunity. Fellow Daoist, what do you think of my Spirit Wood Realm?" Li Fan changed the subject, gesturing toward the pocket world currently undergoing bustling construction.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk..." Ou Daozi observed it for a moment and shook his head repeatedly, a trace of disdain in his eyes.
"The place is a good place, but the design and construction plans are truly third-rate...
"They hardly match the grand reputation of the Myriad Realms Association."
Li Fan was not offended in the slightest. Cupping his hands, he said, "Then I must trouble you to work hard and remodel it, Fellow Daoist."
Ou Daozi squinted and nodded in agreement. Already deeply passionate about architectural craft, he quickly immersed himself in his own blueprints and concepts.
"Feel free to do as you see fit. If you need anything, speak directly with the treeman chieftain of this realm."
Having received Li Fan's approval, Ou Daozi set aside his earlier sorrow for the moment and devoted himself entirely to building up the Spirit Wood Realm.
*Though it took some twists and turns, the original goal has been achieved.*
*The Kunqian Bone Hand, the Myriad Deaths Ledger...*
Li Fan frowned slightly.
According to Ou Daozi, Ou Shangtian had not fully mastered the Kunqian Bone Hand's abilities. During his flight, he seemed to sense that even more formidable powers lay untapped within it. Given a little more time, perhaps he really could have achieved a certain degree of time reversal.
However, that was merely Ou Shangtian's speculation. What it truly entailed could not yet be confirmed.
The crucial point was that the Kunqian Bone Hand was, without a doubt, the actual hand bone of a certain supreme being.
Chapter 833