Chapter 529: Chapter 501: Unfree in Body and Mind

The underlying construction of array techniques may differ, but the sense of confinement and sealing off everything is identical.

Li Fan even dared to guess that the inspiration source for the Tianxuan Spirit Locking Array may be this [Xuan Tian Ghost Binding Array].

The word “Tianxuan” is hard for Li Fan not to associate it with the Mystic Sky Sect, which disappeared in the river of history long ago.

“Is it possible that the bizarre traces can be traced back to the period when the Mystic Sky Sect still existed?”

“Doesn’t that mean that I might also encounter oddities in the Fallen Immortal Realm?”

Li Fan contemplated the array diagram and let his thoughts wander.

The array diagram is made by some special methods. After a few kinds of prohibition encryption, outsiders cannot observe the full structure of the Locking the Abyss Formation.

It allows those who are not proficient in the array technique to output the array method through foolproof operation.

“This thing is fascinating!” After studying for a long time, Li Fan temporarily gave up the idea of obtaining the full structure of the Abyss Locking Formation and sighed slightly.

During the daily inspection of the construction progress, Li Fan took advantage of the time when no one was paying attention to engrave the [Xuan Tian Ghost Binding Array] into the slowly forming Misthaven Elysian City.

Just when Li Fan was exhausting his mind and energy to build the Suspended City, thousands of miles away in the Five Elders’ Territory, the consciousness attached to the puppet body also suffered considerably.

Ever since he came to the bamboo house and listened to the scholar’s lectures, almost two months had passed.

There wasn’t much insight added about the Five Elders Organization.

On the contrary, he was forced to memorize many legends about the Human Dao Sky Realm, where cultivators can change Heaven and Earth.

Wang Linlang loved beauty, vowed not to “allow her hair to white in her lifetime”, so even the elderly mortals in the Human Dao Sky Realm maintained bright black hair.

Yue Chengjin was abandoned by his beloved, harboring resentment, so he cursed that “all lovers in the world would eventually become siblings”, causing various tragedies of love affairs in the next decades. Fortunately, under the wish of a genuinely loving couple, the rule of “finally becoming siblings” was reversed.

Qu Su loved fishing, but often returned empty-handed. He made a sincere wish that all fishes in the world would bite when they see bait. Thus everyone became a master fisherman.

…

All these and more, too many to count. It was interesting to listen to at first, but after three straight months, it naturally became unbearable.

However, just like the cultivators in front of the bamboo house, Li Fan could not control his body.

He couldn’t manage to block out the scholar’s voice and had to accept it forcibly.

Moreover, Li Fan found that everything the scholar said was deeply engraved in his brain as if he couldn’t forget it even if he wanted to.

So, everyone suffered in silence, accepting the brainwashing by the scholar.

On this day, the scholar who had been lecturing for a long time finally felt a bit tired.

He stood up and stretched his body.

“The old saying goes: seeing is believing. My words, no matter how many times repeated, can never compare to your personal experience.”

The scholar looked at the cultivators of the Immortal Alliance present and showed a gentle smile, “I will give you three years. During this time, you can freely visit any place under the jurisdiction of the Five Elders Organization.”

“After three years, you will come back here. By then, I hope you will tell me your opinions about the Five Elders Organization.”

Having said that, the scholar turned around and walked slowly into the bamboo house.

As the bamboo door slammed shut, the bond on everyone disappeared.

“What does he mean by letting us leave like this?”

The people of the Immortal Alliance were incredulous.

“Is there any conspiracy?”

“This fellow really got scared. Look how jumpy he is. Now aren’t we just meat on chopping boards, ready to be slaughtered? Do they need to resort to any conspiracy to deal with us?”

“Hmph! Why encourage others and destroy our own spirit!”

“Haha, in my opinion, although what Lu Fan said was unpleasant, it makes sense.”

…

Although everyone was talking incessantly, no one dared to get up and leave the valley.

Li Fan shook his head slightly, not paying attention to them.

He went straight to where he had come from, which made everyone look at him carefully.

The farther away from the bamboo house, the more his compressed body slowly returned to normal.

Moreover, there was no impediment.

Walking out of the long tunnel and arriving outside the cave, Li Fan found that the armored guards who had been guarding the place were no longer there.

He took to the sky, trying to locate the Ten Thousand Immortals Island.

But the place where the island once was was already empty, with no trace left behind.

“I don’t know if the Five Elders Organization has found what they wanted.”

Li Fan glanced around and couldn’t help but feel a sense of loneliness, as if the world were so vast, but he didn’t know where to return.

While he was feeling upset, he suddenly became aware of something wrong.

He wasn’t the type of person to feel sad for the sake of it, so why did this thought suddenly arise?

The image of the scholar flashed in his mind.

Was it him?

Just as Li Fan was secretly surprised, he suddenly heard a yell from below, “Brother Jiao, Brother Jiao!”

Li Fan was stunned for a moment before realizing that they were calling him.

Looking in the direction of the sound, Li Fan saw Lu Fan, the cultivator who had called him.

“Brother Jiao, where are you going to? Why don’t we travel together?” Lu Fan left the cave, looked around, found Li Fan, and hurriedly followed him.

Seeing that Li Fan was looking at him without a word, Lu Fan explained, “The territory of the Five Elders Organization is vast and beyond the scope of the Immortal Alliance. In a foreign land and unfamiliar environment, it would be better for us to travel together. At least we can take care of each other.”

“I heard that among many territories of the Five Elders Organization, the [Realm of Blissful Ease] is the most coveted. Not only does it have all sorts of enjoyable wonders, but it also has special treasures like ‘the Carefree Crystal Grid’. Consuming it will make you feel like you’re floating and about to ascend to paradise…” Lu Fan’s voice held a trace of excitement.

Li Fan stared at him for a while and then asked, “As far as I recall, you were a scribe in the Misthaven Maritime Governance Hall. Now that you have regained your freedom, why don’t you want to return to your hometown? Instead, you seem eager to join the Five Elders Organization?”

Upon hearing this, Lu Fan froze.

Then, beads of sweat dripped from his forehead as his face turned pale.

Seeing this, Li Fan realized something.

“It’s that scholar indeed.”

“The Five Elders Organization surely knows how to manipulate people.”

Lu Fan muttered to himself, “What a method! If not for Brother Jiao’s reminder, I might not have noticed.”

After a while, Lu Fan sighed deeply.

“No wonder the Five Elders Organization let us leave without any worries. Even though I am aware now that my reasoning was influenced, I still can’t manage to make any changes.”

“Even though I know that the Immortal Alliance is my home, I still can’t muster the desire to return…”

While Lu Fan was chattering incessantly, he suddenly realized that Li Fan had already flown towards the distance.

“Brother Jiao, where are you going? Take me with you!”

“To the One Heart Immortal Sect!” Li Fan replied without looking back.