Qing and Hong shuddered.
They could naturally tell that what this sinisterly formidable senior said was by no means empty bluster.
If they failed to fulfill his demand, he truly would kill!
"Spiritual energy synthesis..."
Back then, discovering that the crystal cores within strange beasts could generate spiritual energy had been a sheer accident.
To achieve a breakthrough within three years was truly daunting.
While Qing was locked in thought with a furrowed brow, Li Fan suddenly cackled, "Heh heh! This old man's word has always been bond! To prevent anyone from holding onto wishful thinking..."
The next instant, Li Fan vanished and reappeared high above the Empire.
Tens of thousands of blood-red threads reached out from his body, whistling through the air toward every corner of the imperial capital.
In mere moments, they returned.
At the tip of every thread was bound a mortal of the Empire.
Densely packed like a gathering squall of dark clouds, they blotted out the sky.
This horrifying sight nearly frightened countless people below into fainting on the spot.
As the red threads contracted, before those unfortunate souls could even utter a wail of despair, Li Fan swept them all into the Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven to be suppressed.
Li Fan did not simply take these mortals' lives.
Instead, he intended to deliver them to Master Yin as research material for studying the immortal-mortal miasma.
Having thoroughly terrorized the Empire, Li Fan plundered once more before departing satisfied.
As for the red string left by Mr. Bai for Xu Ke...
Li Fan left it untouched for the time being.
If needed, he could guide some "fated person" to claim it.
As for his true self...
Best not.
When this oppressive archdemon departed, the people of the Empire felt as though they had survived a calamity, weeping in one another's arms.
After taking inventory of the missing persons, Qing felt her heart skip a beat.
To her shock, she discovered that the group abducted by the senior of the Myriad Realms Association all belonged to the Empire's conservative aristocratic faction.
Normally at odds with the royal family, they had constantly hampered and obstructed various reform plans.
Well, now the whole lot of them had been bundled up and taken away.
From now on, they could pool the Empire's entire power to solve the technological breakthrough of spiritual energy synthesis.
"This certainly isn't a coincidence; it's a warning."
"To think he already understands the Empire to such an extent..."
A chill ran through Qing's heart, thoroughly extinguishing any lingering thought of resistance.
She hurried to assemble the Empire's technical elite to begin deliberations on this matter concerning their future and survival.
Meanwhile, after returning from the Empire pocket world, Li Fan first joined forces with Tianyang to relocate the entrance of the spatial corridor into the Spirit Wood Realm.
Then, he personally laid down formations at the exit to prevent any Imperial personnel from escaping.
As for whether the Empire's Dharma thieves wandering outside might never find their way home again, that was not Li Fan's concern in the slightest.
Having done all this, Li Fan took some time to visit Yinyin Island.
While handing over the mortals to Master Yin, he inquired about the progress of his research.
"Soon, soon."
Master Yin wore a peculiar expression, devoid of any joy of an impending breakthrough.
Instead, he seemed absentminded, visibly unsettled.
His responses to Li Fan's conversation were sporadic and distracted.
Seeing this, Li Fan simply chose not to disturb him further.
Returning to the Spirit Wood Realm, Ou Daozi and Shang Tianci came to see him together.
After several years of tireless, painstaking construction, the headquarters of the Myriad Realms Association had finally begun to take shape.
However, per Li Fan's earlier orders, the final foundation stone had to be personally approved by him, which was why they had come to seek his guidance.
Li Fan swept his divine sense across the Spirit Wood Realm.
Around the central Spirit Wood stood a sprawling architectural complex occupying roughly one-tenth of the realm's landmass.
If a visitor approached, the first thing to meet their eyes would be a black jade gateway standing ninety-nine zhang tall.
The gateway's plaque was still blank, awaiting Li Fan's inscription.
Behind the gateway stretched a long, broad avenue.
The road surface was a jade-green throughout, crafted entirely from Spirit-Dissolving Stone—just like the one before the headquarters of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals' Protector Hall.
Walking upon it completely sealed away spiritual energy.
Combined with flight restriction formations, it forced visiting cultivators to tread forward step-by-step like mortals, slowly completing this avenue of audience.
At the end of the long road stood a circular great hall.
Its center remained empty for now. Li Fan planned to place the Profound Heaven Divine Statue there to give all first-time visitors a subtle, awe-inspiring touch of mystery.
Radiating from the circular hall like nodes, roads branched out in all directions toward structures of various functions: the Guest Welcoming Hall, the Council Hall, the Martial Drill Grounds, the Myriad Realms assembly hub, the Myriad Realms Corridor, and more.
None of these buildings were crammed tightly together; nestled among them were recreations of Xuanhuang's scenic landscapes, with layered mountains and flowing waters, presenting breathtaking beauty.
Outside the headquarters complex lay an artificial "miniature Xuanhuang Realm" built roughly to Xuanhuang's likeness.
Drawing upon the signature landscapes of various provinces captured within Shang Tianci's Heavenly Scenery Gourd, the Spirit Wood Realm broadly reproduced the Xuanhuang Realm.
Sweeping his gaze across, Li Fan spotted the Great Lake of Luoyan Province, the Nine Mountains of Jiushan Province, and the familiar stretch of the Congyun Sea.
In Ou Daozi's design, the terrain under the Association headquarters had been deliberately elevated.
This made the Spirit Wood Realm high in the center and low around the periphery.
Seen from afar, it appeared as though the Myriad Realms Association was looking down upon and suppressing the Xuanhuang Realm.
...
"Good! Wonderful!"
Befitting the handiwork of a master architect, Li Fan grew more delighted the more he looked.
"It was well worth the effort to bring Ou Daozi here, even wasting a Truth Enticement Fruit..."
"Worth it!"
Had he been the one to build it, it certainly would not look this splendid.
"Very good, I am well pleased!" Li Fan nodded.
Shang Tianci beamed with delight, while Ou Daozi wore a proud expression.
"Then, Senior, when can we hold the groundbreaking ceremony?" Shang Tianci asked hurriedly.
Li Fan pondered for a moment and replied, "No rush. Await my word."
With that, Li Fan transformed into a rainbow streak and soared into the firmament of the Spirit Wood Realm.
Looking down at the misty, brand-new realm taking form below, Li Fan calmed his mind and sensed the formation materials that had been transported to various locations beforehand.
"It's time to begin the initial array refining."
"Refining an entire pocket world into a magic treasure cannot be accomplished in a single stroke."
"Especially after being nourished by vast amounts of heavenly treasures, the scale of this Spirit Wood Realm seems poised to transform once again..."
"Yet as long as the array is engraved across the land of this world first, no matter how it grows hereafter, it is destined never to escape its shackles."
Li Fan pondered.
"This is an array refining, and simultaneously the Association's defensive grand array."
"Rather than painstakingly maintaining it in the future, it's better to get it right in a single stroke."
After giving it thought, Li Fan made up his mind to make this place as perfect as possible.
Chapter 882