Chapter 78 – The Cloud-Water Celestial Palace Opens

“I’m sorry. There’s truly nothing I can do about this. I sense a breakthrough is imminent, and within the next two years I’ll need to venture out seeking opportunities. I won’t be able to guard Glazed Glass Island for much of that time.”

The Cloud-Water Celestial Palace was set to open in just over a year. Li Fan certainly wasn’t going to miss the chance to enter it ahead of others for the sake of a few contribution points from guard duty.

And so he could only flatly refuse He Zhenghao.

“I see. Then I’ll have to find someone else. I wish you an early Foundation Establishment, fellow Daoist!” He Zhenghao replied with regret.

No further messages came through the communication talisman.

Li Fan paid it no mind and spent contribution points to activate the assisted cultivation mode.

He began cultivating the Shadow Trace Technique.

Being merely a supplementary technique, the Shadow Trace Technique was far simpler to cultivate than his other two techniques.

Under the dual enhancement of Spirit Awakening and the Exquisite Glazed Pearl, it took Li Fan less than ten days to cultivate it to the late Qi Refining stage.

At this moment, Li Fan was testing the effects of the Shadow Trace Technique.

He spent 100 contribution points to simulate a pursuit battle against a late Qi Refining stage cultivator within the Celestial Mystery Mirror.

The surrounding space transformed into a stretch of rolling mountains.

In the mountain forest, a figure was fleeing at high speed toward the distance.

That was the designated pursuit target.

Watching the target’s back grow ever more distant, Li Fan stirred his spiritual sense, and his form suddenly darkened.

As if draped in a veil of shadow, he became even harder to detect amidst the omnipresent darkness.

Just as the target was about to vanish entirely from sight, Li Fan surged forward with explosive speed, flying after them.

Compared to his previous simple wind-riding flight, Li Fan’s speed had improved dramatically.

Moreover, a faint connection had formed between himself and the locked-on target.

As the target’s speed increased, Li Fan’s speed correspondingly quickened as well.

It truly was as if Li Fan had become the other’s shadow, making it impossible to shake him off.

He could even continuously shuttle and leap through the shadows cast upon the ground.

Before long at all, Li Fan had caught up with the fleeing figure ahead.

The surrounding scenery blurred, and the illusions of mountains and the cultivator vanished simultaneously.

Everything reverted to a pitch-black void.

The pursuit battle concluded, and Li Fan was quite satisfied with the Shadow Trace Technique.

Its inherent ability to conceal one’s presence was already impressive. If paired with a Form-Concealing Talisman, it would be even harder for others to detect him.

That Si Kongyi might be somewhat mysterious, but his cultivation should definitely be at the late Qi Refining stage.

Having made so many preparations in advance, and striking with intent against the unaware—

Seizing 《The Cloud-Water Chart》 shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Now everything was in place. He only needed to wait for intelligence from Jiao Xiuyuan’s side and for the Cloud-Water Celestial Palace to officially open.

Within the Celestial Mystery Mirror, Li Fan gazed into the distance, his eyes deep and contemplative.

……

Two months later. Ten Thousand Immortals Island, Thousand Miles Hall.

Having received Jiao Xiuyuan’s message, Li Fan activated a Form-Concealing Talisman and hurried over.

The moment he encountered Jiao Xiuyuan, he feigned anger: “What kind of operation is your Thousand Miles Hall running? It’s just one measly Qi Refining cultivator—how did gathering intelligence take this long? I was starting to think you’d forgotten about it entirely and was about to find someone else!”

Jiao Xiuyuan looked somewhat embarrassed, but he quickly pulled Li Fan inside and activated the shop’s protective formation to block outside observation.

Only then did he explain in a low voice: “Keep it down! There’s a good reason for the delay.”

“Oh?” Li Fan’s expression shifted slightly as he waited for the explanation.

“Heh heh, I won’t hide it from you—the difficulty of this job far exceeded my expectations. The fifty contribution points we agreed on last time is really too little! You should know that I had to ask a senior at the late Foundation Establishment stage for help to get this done…” Jiao Xiuyuan looked at Li Fan with pleading eyes, his meaning abundantly clear.

“What, are you going to break our agreement?” Li Fan narrowed his eyes and fixed Jiao Xiuyuan with an unfriendly stare.

Jiao Xiuyuan scratched his head. “Could you maybe add just a little…”

Li Fan turned to leave.

Jiao Xiuyuan nearly jumped in panic: “Oh heavens, my dear ancestor! My luck has been terrible lately! Two jobs in a row that are nothing but losses.”

“Fine, fine, fine! We’ll go with what we agreed—fifty it is!” he said through gritted teeth.

“Here. Together with the deposit from before, that makes exactly fifty contribution points.” Li Fan said coldly, tossing over four mid-grade spirit stones.

“You think it’s easy earning this pittance from you?” Jiao Xiuyuan caught the spirit stones with a pained expression, and only then handed a jade slip over to Li Fan.

Li Fan took the jade slip and scanned its contents with his spiritual sense. A look of surprise crossed his face.

He then stowed the jade slip and turned to leave.

Watching Li Fan’s retreating figure, the fawning expression on Jiao Xiuyuan’s face vanished abruptly.

He stroked the spirit stones in his hand, letting out a series of cold chuckles.

“One of them is all mysterious and of unknown origin; the other skulks around in secret with dubious motives.”

“I’m rather curious to see what you two are really up to.”

……

Inside the Celestial Mystery Mirror, Li Fan carefully read through the jade slip’s contents once more before finally destroying it.

“Two people?”

Li Fan’s brow furrowed slightly as he immediately felt the situation had become trickier.

As it turned out, according to the intelligence Jiao Xiuyuan had gathered, Si Kongyi kept a very low profile in daily life, rarely making appearances.

He also had a close friend named Baili Chen, also a male cultivator.

Baili Chen was somewhat weaker, at the mid Qi Refining stage.

Si Kongyi and Baili Chen appeared to be extremely close. Whenever they ventured out, the two were always together, inseparable.

Furthermore, the pair seemed to know some kind of combination technique.

When fighting enemies, their coordination was flawless—minds in perfect sync, as if they were one person.

The two generally stayed within Ten Thousand Immortals Island. Apart from completing tasks to accumulate contribution points, they rarely went out.

However, during Jiao Xiuyuan’s investigation, the pair had mysteriously disappeared once.

After leaving Ten Thousand Immortals Island, all trace of them was lost—no one knew where they had gone.

“Who is this Baili Chen? Why do I have no impression of him at all?” Li Fan searched his memories carefully but found no information about Baili Chen.

“It seems this person must have perished within the Cloud-Water Celestial Palace ruins.”

“Still, I didn’t expect there to be one more cultivator to deal with. My current preparations seem insufficient.”

“Fortunately, there’s still plenty of time.”

Thoughts churning in his mind, Li Fan began planning anew.

……

One year later.

Anchor Year Eleven. The central waters of the Layered Cloud Sea.

Thunderstorms that had been brewing for months rumbled ceaselessly across the sky.

Thick layers of spiraling clouds had been stained black, rotating slowly as they continuously gathered power.

The cloud layers rose like towering walls, guarding the center of the vortex.

There, streaks of blue light flickered without pause.

With each flash, this stretch of central waters seemed to undergo some indescribable, ineffable transformation.

This anomaly naturally attracted many cultivators.

Rumors even circulated that an ancient sect’s ruins were about to emerge here.

And so, over these months, more and more cultivators gathered.

Li Fan was naturally among them.

His gaze swept across the crowd, pausing imperceptibly on Si Kongyi and Baili Chen.

Then he spotted Jiao Xiuyuan’s figure as well.

Jiao Xiuyuan was staring at the swirling vortex of clouds in the sky, his expression brimming with excitement.

“This fool probably thinks he’s stumbled upon some great opportunity, some easy pickings to be had.”

“Little does he know, he’s merely walking to his own death.”

A flash of cold light passed through Li Fan’s eyes.