Wu Ninglu accepted the jade talisman handed over by Li Fan but hesitated to speak.
“It’s only three hundred years! I’ll go.”
Li Fan simply waved his hand and said nothing more.
Following the Sun Family Patriarch, he headed toward the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance headquarters.
The jade talisman Li Fan gave to Wu Ninglu, aside from serving as a communication talisman, was in truth a miniature composite formation. It contained one of Li Fan’s split souls.
It could completely monitor Wu Ninglu’s movents, but more importantly, it served as Li Fan’s “eye” in the outside world, allowing him to constantly observe the movents of the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance.
This split soul contained the origin of the Tianxuan Mirror, enabling it to hide within the mirror and supervise the Alliance’s affairs at all tis.
After all, during the period he would be guarding the Derivative Law Jade, he might be in complete isolation, unable to freely use even the Tianxuan Mirror.
His clone, on the other hand, was still within the Great Qi small world and would not leave easily.
It was therefore necessary to leave behind a contingency plan.
Given Li Fan’s current cultivation strength, this split soul’s combat ability was almost on par with an ordinary Dao Integration cultivator.
The only drawback was that, unlike normal cultivators, it could not quickly recover after battle.
Without the support of his true self, every bit of energy used was permanently consud.
As for the “friend” Li Fan ntioned to Wu Ninglu, that was none other than the Holy Blood Embryo he had created.
However, lacking the infusion of the True Immortal Web and Source Power Essence, that embryo had only barely advanced to the Qi Condensation Realm.
Li Fan had sent it into the ruins of the Heavenly Sword Sect, where it was currently subduing the black sword, Heavenly Wonder.
With its previous experience, there should be no problem. It rely required patience and ti.
Patriarch Sun Luyuan of the Sun Family had been in the Dao Integration Realm for over five hundred years.
In his youth, he too had guarded the Derivative Law Jade.
On the way to the Alliance Headquarters, he explained the details of this “duty” to Li Fan.
“The Derivative Law Jade is the foundation of our Alliance. Though it lies at the heart of our headquarters and seems absolutely safe, one must remain constantly vigilant against malicious plots.”
“In the past thousand years, the Five Elders Association has orchestrated no fewer than three assaults against it. They have used every ans possible to approach the Derivative Law Jade and then launched ntal and spiritual attacks upon it with a spell known as the ‘Curse of Malice.’”
“The Derivative Law Jade itself has nearly no resistance to such attacks. Once afflicted, it becos paralyzed for at least a hundred years. The last ti the Five Elders Association succeeded, the Alliance suffered imnse losses. Yet the matter could not be made public. As a result, the exchange prices of cultivation thods in the Tianxuan Mirror nearly doubled, causing great unrest among Alliance cultivators…”
Sun Luyuan sighed as he recalled the events of his youth.
“So, this duty is not as simple as it looks.”
Li Fan asked calmly, “Patriarch, if during my tenure I fail to stop such attacks and the Derivative Law Jade is damaged, what then?”
Sun Luyuan halted his steps, turned around, and looked at Li Fan. After a pause, he replied, “In any case, our promise stands. We will take good care of Ninglu. You need not worry.”
Li Fan was montarily speechless.
He had not noticed before that this Sun Luyuan actually had a subtle sense of humor.
As the light and shadows shifted, Li Fan returned once more to the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance Headquarters.
As before, a phantasmic vision appeared before his eyes.
However, this ti the scene differed entirely from the previous Immortal Ancestor statue he had seen.
An endless field stretched out before him, smoke curling from kitchen chimneys. On the roof of a rustic farmhouse lay a simple, honest-looking boy, gazing blankly at the sky as if lost in thought.
“Goudan, co down for dinner.”
The scene ended abruptly there.
Erging from the illusion, Li Fan was montarily dazed.
Sun Luyuan, thinking Li Fan was shocked by the vividness of the vision, explained, “The Alliance Headquarters retains a trace of the Immortal Ancestor’s aura, so…”
Li Fan naturally understood this.
He was thinking of sothing else entirely.
“That simple boy called Goudan… could that have been the Immortal Ancestor in his youth?”
Recalling the image in his mind, he did find so resemblance to the elder version of the Ancestor.
“Could it be that the Immortal Ancestor was actually born in the Xuanhuang World?”
“No… that doesn’t seem right.”
He replayed the short scene several tis in his mind.
“That boy’s appearance seems completely unrelated to the legendary Immortal Ancestor who once dominated Xuanhuang.”
“The confusion in his eyes, followed by the dramatic transformation in his life… that looks more like…”
A word surfaced in Li Fan’s mind.
Transmigration.
“If my earlier deduction is correct, then this boy nad Goudan must have been the Heavenly Doctor’s soul transmigrated from another world.”
“He ca from the Heavenly Law Realm, with his consciousness slumbering within a fetal body until awakening years later.”
“So this was how he escaped the pursuit of the Ten Immortal Sects and the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao?”
Just as Li Fan was now viewed by the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao as a native cultivator, the Immortal Ancestor back then would have appeared the sa, completely undetectable to outside forces.
Li Fan did not yet understand the exact chanism of such “transmigration.”
But he knew for certain it was very different from re possession.
“Through so secret art, he must have concealed his fate from Heaven and reincarnated as a Xuanhuang native.”
Li Fan’s thoughts continued to turn slowly.
While he pondered, Sun Luyuan casually asked about the illusion he had seen.
Li Fan replied truthfully that he had seen the image of the Immortal Ancestor.
Sun Luyuan nodded slightly. “It seems, Lu’er, that your future achievents are destined to surpass mine.”
Before Li Fan could ask further, Sun Luyuan explained on his own.
“Every cultivator who cos here for the first ti sees a different illusion. It is said to be closely related to one’s true Dao path. Everyone knows that all cultivation thods in the world originate from the Immortal Ancestor. Thus, the closer one’s vision is to the Ancestor himself, the greater one’s future potential.”
“They say that true geniuses can even witness the Ancestor’s very first sermon.”
Sun Luyuan spoke with open admiration.
Li Fan, however, fell silent, his heart growing cautious.
This ti, his rapidly rising power had allowed him to glimpse the Ancestor’s childhood.
If he were to advance any further, it might draw the Ancestor’s direct attention.
The two of them traversed the void within the Alliance Headquarters, using formations for teleportation.
Before long, they arrived at the Hall of Guardians.
“Follow ,” Sun Luyuan commanded softly, forming a hand seal.
An invisible field of power imdiately enveloped them both.
The Spirit-Transforming Stones beneath their feet grew dim, and the suppressed spiritual power within their bodies once again beca active.
“This suppression still affects sowhat, but far less than it used to at lower realms,” Li Fan thought. “If I were to fight now, I would still be unmatched among Dao Integration cultivators.”
With that calm thought, he followed Sun Luyuan into the Hall of Guardians.
Unlike the waiting chamber where one entered with the Derivative Jade Token, this was the true, inner sanctum of the Hall itself.
A circular do stretched above them, filled with countless shimring stars.
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