“Oh?” Li Fan looked up at Daoist Baihua.
This fellow always had a way of inadvertently startling people with her words.
“Different in what way?”
Daoist Baihua explained slowly, “Perhaps you, Honored Envoy, are the first person to come into contact with the True Immortal stone statue again, or perhaps the first to cause the stone statue to manifest once more.
“In any case, I believe you have noticed as well, Honored Envoy, that compared to others, you possess distinct authority and powers.
“Perhaps this is an indication that the True Immortal looks upon you with special favor.”
Daoist Baihua racked her brains, trying her best to come up with explanations.
Li Fan merely chuckled in response.
“Enough. The True Immortal's intentions are not for the likes of us to fathom.
“I, for one, am someone who repays kindness above all else. Since the True Immortal made me what I am, regardless of the final outcome, I will take reviving the True Immortal's lineage as my personal responsibility.”
Li Fan spoke with righteous conviction, putting an end to their discussion regarding the True Immortal.
“I have yet to ask what Fellow Daoist is skilled in? Now that you have joined my Myriad Realms Association, we cannot let your talents go to waste.
“Rest assured, our Association is currently in a phase of lying low and developing, and I know your actual combat strength is not very high. I will not send you onto the battlefield to fight to the death,” Li Fan inquired with great consideration.
Seeing Li Fan's chuckling, affable expression, an ominous premonition suddenly welled up in Daoist Baihua's heart for some inexplicable reason. Nevertheless, she braced herself and answered, “Having transformed into a Liuli Body, there are two things I excel at most.
“First is soothing and repairing injuries to divine sense and the divine soul. However, this consumes my origin, so it can only be done occasionally.”
Having bowed before the True Immortal stone statue, Daoist Baihua knew she was already connected to it, and that Li Fan could sense her emotions through that bond.
Thus, she dared not hide anything and honestly confessed, “As for the second, it is cultivating and nourishing spirit plants, herbs, and the like. Not only can I enhance their vitality, but there is also a certain probability of giving birth to elemental spirits within them.
“However, I observed that the spiritual energy of this realm has all been absorbed by the central spirit wood, leaving spirit flora quite scarce here.”
Li Fan nodded. “Indeed. The Spirit Wood Realm is indeed quite barren.”
Daoist Baihua breathed a sigh of relief.
“No matter. Our Association has another base that can definitely meet your needs, Fellow Daoist Baihua.”
Li Fan smiled faintly.
The next moment, Daoist Baihua's vision blurred.
When she could clearly see the scene before her eyes, her body could not help but tremble slightly once again.
A towering, gigantic tree—far taller even than the spirit wood of the Spirit Wood Realm—stood upright in her field of view.
The colossal tree had not sucked the world's nutrients dry. Instead, around its roots and even upon its branches, it formed numerous micro-ecosystems.
Countless grasses, trees, spirit plants, and spirit medicines packed every corner.
Dense and sprawling, they stretched endlessly toward the horizon.
Even with her divine sense, she could not fathom its end in an instant.
The extraordinarily dense wood-attribute spiritual energy nearly choked her.
When had she ever witnessed such an astounding spectacle? In her daze, she even thought she was standing within the legendary Immortal Realm!
“Th-this is...?”
Only after a long while did Daoist Baihua recover her senses.
Not seeing Li Fan anywhere, she looked all around and asked.
“This is one of the Myriad Realms Association's secret bases—the Spirit Wood Grotto-Heaven.
“I trust the abundance of spirit plants here will be more than enough for you to tend to, Fellow Daoist.”
Li Fan's voice boomed across heaven and earth.
Daoist Baihua opened her mouth, wanting to speak, but held back.
With wood-attribute spiritual energy this abundant, why would it even need her care? Any random plant dug up here was top-grade material!
Yet, sensing the faint, unspoken threat in his words, Daoist Baihua could only say bitterly, “It is enough... more than enough.”
“Haha, wonderful. Though this grotto-heaven is somewhat richly endowed with resources, it has been neglected for too long and is slightly overgrown and chaotic. I must trouble Fellow Daoist to put your heart into it. After all, it will serve as the Association's logistical base in the future, so we must not take it lightly,” Li Fan said with earnest gravity.
Looking across the boundless grotto-heaven, Daoist Baihua nodded numbly.
“To thoroughly tend to all of this, even with my current capabilities, will take at least a decade or more, won't it?” Daoist Baihua sighed.
*This Honored Envoy is truly a smiling tiger.*
Yet her true body was already bound by the True Immortal stone statue, and Liuli remained firmly in his grasp. Like meat on a chopping block, she had no choice but to toil away.
Fortunately, she genuinely enjoyed interacting with such spiritual flora, and who knew how many years this grotto-heaven had gone without being disturbed by cultivators? All the spiritual plants flourished splendidly, filling her with fondness at first sight.
As Daoist Baihua tended to one area after another, her mood gradually improved.
An unknown amount of time later, her work was interrupted by a rumble echoing from the sky.
Daoist Baihua looked up, only to see a massive landmass suddenly appear, floating halfway up the colossal tree.
Like a dark cloud, it blotted out the sky.
Li Fan's voice echoed once again: “By the way, another base also has quite a few spirit plants. I brought them all over for you so you won't have to run back and forth between two places.
“If it is convenient, why not transplant everything on it into this grotto-heaven as well?”
With those words spoken, Li Fan's presence vanished once more.
Daoist Baihua was stunned. She flew up into the sky, took one look, and nearly choked on her own breath.
Across the mountains and plains of this landmass grew an unbroken expanse of spirit medicines.
Furthermore, every single one of them was of immense age.
“They are categorized by formations, all having grown for at least several thousand years... absolute top quality...
“Did this Honored Envoy loot an entire ancient immortal sect empty?
“Tending to these will be even more troublesome.
“Will this add another five years to the schedule?”
Daoist Baihua's heart was filled with utter helplessness.
...
Li Fan sensed Daoist Baihua inside his wood-attribute grotto-heaven and nodded slightly.
Although Daoist Baihua appeared to have submitted entirely, she was, after all, a Longevity cultivator from the outside world who had slept for who knew how many years.
Li Fan still could not place complete trust in her.
Suppressing her inside his grotto-heaven while putting her to work organizing the chaotic spirit flora truly killed two birds with one stone.
Ever since Li Fan devoured the Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven, his strength had advanced yet further.
The Five Elements Grotto-Heavens had likewise continued to grow slowly, and the wood-attribute grotto-heaven in particular had fallen into a state of wild, unchecked proliferation.
Daoist Baihua's arrival could not have been better timed!
As for the landmass packed with spirit plants that Li Fan had moved in afterward, that was the Medicine King Sect's secret realm—the Valley of Longevity!
Since it was destined to be his possession anyway, moving it into the wood-attribute grotto-heaven to be dealt with together was only fitting.
*It won't be long before the Medicine King Cauldron returns.*
*The Myriad Realms Association's manpower shortage will soon be relieved.*
Li Fan's gaze seemed to pierce the boundaries of the pocket world, reaching straight toward the sky of the Xuanhuang Realm.
The ripples caused by Daoist Baihua's appearance gradually settled.
A month later, Mo Rubin finally contacted Li Fan in secret.
“Brother Xingwang, the rare treasure capable of deducing formations has been found.”
Chapter 988