"I’ve always been careful, but this time I was accidentally discovered by a spy from the Five Elders Association."

"And Han Yi, who was originally doomed to have his soul searched, managed to escape because of it."

"Those with favorable fortune find everything goes smoothly; those with unfavorable fortune find everything goes wrong."

"This is the power of Fate…"

Li Fan finally began to understand the pain Song Yang experienced in the Fallen Immortal Realm when he sought the Heavenly Fate Mystic Bird from Xu Ke.

Gazing at the rapidly rotating vortex amidst the ruins, Li Fan hesitated for a moment but ultimately decided not to pursue it.

A deep sense of foreboding told him that forcibly chasing it would lead to no good outcome.

The depths of the vortex were absolutely not ordinary small mortal worlds, devoid of extraordinary power, like the worlds of Outer Realm or Great Xuan.

"Forget it, the monk may run, but the temple won't disappear."

The target was locked by the formless killing intent, but he had temporarily lost track of Han Yi.

Once Han Yi returned to the Xuanhuang Realm, Li Fan would immediately be alerted.

He returned to the surface of the sea, where the four cultivators from the Five Elders Association had been utterly annihilated by the Five Elements Annihilation Sword, leaving not a trace behind.

Li Fan took out the Image Recording Stone, capturing the scene in the sky before leisurely heading back to Ten Thousand Immortal Island.

The simultaneous fall of four Nascent Soul cultivators was a spectacular sight, and the strange phenomenon lingered for a long time.

Even though this part of the sea was remote, it still attracted many cultivators who came to observe.

After seeing the vision, they were shocked.

Four Nascent Soul True Lords had fallen at once!

What shocked them even more was that the culprit was the same person.

And that person was none other than the famous deduction master of Congyun Sea, an ancient cultivator of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect, Li Fan!

Their hearts were filled with even more confusion.

Wasn't Li Fan said to have had his cultivation drop to the Golden Core stage after being in slumber for thousands of years?

How could he single-handedly kill four Nascent Soul cultivators?

Wasn't he only skilled in deduction? How could his combat strength be so terrifying?

These four Nascent Soul cultivators were unfamiliar; no one had ever heard of them. Who were they?

And what kind of enmity did they have with Master Li, leading him to kill them?

With countless doubts, they hurriedly spread this explosive news to their friends and acquaintances.

Soon, word of Li Fan's slaying of four Nascent Soul cultivators spread throughout Congyun Sea.

At the Martial Hall on Ten Thousand Immortal Island:

"Are you here to claim a reward?" The receptionist cultivator looked at Li Fan, puzzled. "What reward?"

"I remember that there is a reward for successfully killing spies from the Five Elders Association, right?" Li Fan patiently asked.

As he spoke, he took out the Image Recording Stone and played the footage he had just recorded.

"I killed four Nascent Soul cultivators from the Five Elders Association," Li Fan said seriously.

"Cough, cough…" The cultivator at the Martial Hall immediately coughed violently.

He snatched the Image Recording Stone, watching it repeatedly in disbelief.

After a while, he looked at Li Fan, shocked, and said, "You… please wait a moment!"

With that, he staggered and hurried into the depths of the Martial Hall.

"What did you say?" Voices of astonishment could faintly be heard.

Not long after, Li Fan was respectfully invited into the reception hall of the Martial Hall.

Li Fan sat down casually.

Before long, a group of cultivators poured into the hall.

"Master Li, we have just confirmed that the images in the recording are authentic," said a Nascent Soul cultivator dressed in yellow robes, still with traces of blood on him, standing before Li Fan with some trepidation.

"May I ask, have you recovered your former cultivation level?" he asked, looking at Li Fan expectantly.

Li Fan took a sip of spiritual tea, savoring it before putting down the cup. He shook his head slowly and said, "Recovered my full cultivation? No, of course not! I'm still at the late stage of Golden Core, isn't it obvious?"

The hall fell into sudden silence.

"This…" The yellow-robed cultivator was dumbfounded.

After a moment, he asked somewhat irritably, "Then how did you kill those four Nascent Soul cultivators from the Five Elders Association?"

Li Fan slammed his hand on the table, startling everyone. He swept his gaze over them disdainfully and said, "What era are we living in? Do you think killing someone requires personal combat?"

"During ancient times, sects guarded their resources selfishly, raising prices for their own gain. High-level artifacts, talismans, and such were extremely expensive, and difficult to obtain."

"But now, with the Immortal Alliance controlling half of the Xuanhuang Realm, and the Tianxuan Mirror coordinating everything, there’s no more hoarding of treasures by greedy merchants."

"Nowadays, high-damage, disposable artifacts, formation, and talismans are as cheap as dirt!"

Li Fan shook his head, saying, "Having just woken up from slumber, naturally, I needed to secure my survival. It's only sensible to buy some of these items for emergencies, right?"

After Li Fan's explanation, the yellow-robed cultivator finally understood. He was dumbfounded and said, "So, you relied on external objects to kill these four Nascent Soul cultivators?"

Li Fan raised an eyebrow. "What, you don’t believe me?"

With a casual gesture, he pulled out several Sky-Shattering Gilded Thunders from his storage ring and placed them on the table.

The Martial Hall became chaotic in an instant.

Li Fan, however, didn’t stop.

Furious Flames Annihilation formation, Eight Desolations Silent Thunder, Soul-Fixing Needle, Demon Sealing Banner...

One by one, valuable and powerful killing tools were taken out and piled before the crowd.

The Martial Hall fell completely silent.

The cultivators present turned pale as they stared at the pile of single-use weapons, stacked like a small mountain.

"And with these, is it enough?" Li Fan asked casually.

"If not, it’s fine, I’ve got even more powerful ones," he added indifferently.

The yellow-robed cultivator wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and quickly said, "That’s enough! That’s enough! Master Li, please put these things away! If they accidentally went off here, it would be a disaster!"

Hearing this, Li Fan nodded in satisfaction and waved to store his weapons back.

Seeing this, the cultivators in the Martial Hall finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although these weapons were mass-produced by the Tianxuan Mirror and their power reduced, their high quality and sheer quantity made up for it.

If these were unleashed, not even a Nascent Soul cultivator, maybe even a Soul Transformation True Monarch, would survive!

"It’s said that this man, with his deduction abilities, can easily accumulate wealth. Now I see it’s true."

"Being rich is truly a blessing. This pile of items is worth more than our team’s half-year budget."

"I heard you can invest through He Zhenghao? Maybe we should consider it."

…

For a while, the crowd in the Martial Hall was lost in thought.

"Now that everything's clear, let's discuss my reward."

"I spent quite a bit of money dealing with those black-clothed cultivators from the Five Elders Association. I shouldn’t be left at a loss, right?"

Li Fan took another sip of tea and glanced at the group slowly.