My Longevity Simulation Chapter 1049: The Defected Dharma-Transmitter

“Spending two hundred thousand contribution points just to acquire her image; it appears this Jia Yiyuan was also a beneficiary of the [Savior Immortal Fairy].”

“His prowess is quite formidable, and he possesses immense self-assurance. He clearly believes he can handle any traps hidden within the statue...”

“Regrettably for him, he crossed paths with me.”

Li Fan sensed the various wards and trackers he had embedded in the statue being methodically dismantled, causing the mental image he received to grow faint and hazy.

Nevertheless, those techniques were merely surface-level decoys.

The authentic link between himself and the sculpture was forged through the source power essence of the Faceless True Immortal.

That energy belonged to a realm far beyond the mortal world; Li Fan harbored no fear that anyone possessed the capability to sever it.

Even though the vision was obscured, Li Fan could still perceive the general surroundings of the statue.

He observed Jia Yiyuan arriving at a residence within the Nine Mountains Prefecture, where he settled into a meditative stance inside a secluded chamber.

With a grave countenance, the man began whispering secret incantations under his breath.

Suddenly, a ripple materialized from nothingness, carving a spatial fissure; Jia Yiyuan stepped through it without hesitation.

The connection immediately grew even more tenuous.

Only flickering shadows remained visible, accompanied by fragmented echoes of conversation.

“Senior Zhou's cover has been blown for some reason; go and find out why.”

“There is definitely something suspicious about that establishment.”

“Senior Zhou has rescued dozens more individuals recently; I never imagined that even after all this time, the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance would still be so obsessed with hunting us down.”

“An undeserved calamity? What is the point of complaining now? Regardless of the past, we are now locked in a mortal blood feud with the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance!”

The voice dripped with profound malice, drawing a chorus of fervent agreement from the others.

“They treat the lives of us cultivators like worthless weeds, pruning us as they please. They have no regard for justice or truth... Those monsters are unworthy of being called Dharma Transmitters!”

“Precisely! Only a person like Senior Zhou deserves the title of a true Transmitter!”

...

“A Transmitter by the name of Zhou?” The revelation transmitted through the statue caught Li Fan by surprise.

Reviewing the intelligence provided by Mo Rubin in the past, there was no mention of such an individual among the high-ranking Transmitters of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.

“It makes sense why Senior Zhou chose to separate from them back then; she simply couldn't stomach their cruelty.”

“Sigh, if she hadn't abandoned the Immortal Alliance, perhaps she could have used her influence to challenge the extermination order and change things from within.”

As the various voices continued their discussion, Li Fan managed to piece together the history of the situation by eavesdropping.

It turned out that five centuries ago, this Dharma-Transmitter Zhou had walked away from the Dharma-Transmitter Council due to a fundamental clash of values with the ruling faction, specifically those like Transmitter Jiang.

Though she had relinquished her seat at the peak of the Alliance's power structure, her status as a Transmitter remained intact.

She still commanded vast resources that were beyond the reach of the average person.

The sanctuary where these survivors resided was actually a private minor world belonging to Dharma-Transmitter Zhou.

“No wonder the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance came up empty-handed despite scouring every corner of the land.”

“Against a Dharma-Transmitter’s personal realm, even their investigators would be completely helpless.”

Li Fan mulled over the situation, deciding not to alert them to his presence just yet.

While he had successfully tracked down the survivors, the involvement of a figure at the Dharma-Transmitter level forced him to be cautious.

Having been outmaneuvered by Mo Rubin previously, Li Fan was well aware that anyone who had survived for a millennium in the Xuanhuang Realm was a dangerous adversary.

This was doubly true for the Dharma-Transmitters, who occupied the very summit of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.

"Still, if her character is truly as they describe..."

"Our goals might actually coincide. I could attempt to open a private line of communication first."

Based on his five years of investigation, Li Fan was certain that Mo Rubin had fled with the Tianxuan Mirror on that fateful day.

This was evidenced not only by the Alliance's violent crackdown afterward but also by the frequent glitches the Tianxuan Mirror had suffered during these past five years.

Initially, the commerce system began to fail without explanation, causing massive errors in the accounts of millions of cultivators.

When the cultivators demanded answers, the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance simply ignored them and announced the permanent cessation of the Tianxuan Mirror’s trading functions.

Recently, fresh rumors had begun to spread. Word was that the residential spaces within the Tianxuan Mirror were also slated for deletion.

This sparked a wave of hysteria among the Alliance's members, who began desperately buying up every available cave abode in the various prefectures.

The cost of real estate in standard prefectures had doubled in just three months, and even this isolated region of the Congyun Sea was seeing the same trend.

The situation in the four central prefectures was naturally even more extreme.

Even though the Alliance's official spokesmen issued swift denials, they had done the same right before the trading functions were terminated.

This only made the public even more convinced that the rumors were true.

As a result, the price of cave dwellings continued to skyrocket with no sign of slowing down.

"The Tianxuan Mirror's avatar once mentioned that upon its escape, it would leave a sub-body behind to mimic the original and manage daily operations."

"It is now clear that a mere copy cannot compare to a genuine immortal artifact. As time passes, the flaws are becoming impossible to hide."

Li Fan reflected silently.

"Or is it possible that something has happened to the primary body of the Tianxuan Mirror, causing these ripples in its replica?"

He quickly discarded that thought.

The Final Dissociation Disc within his own sea of consciousness remained perfectly stable and unaffected.

"Mo Rubin and the Tianxuan Mirror have essentially vanished from the face of the Xuanhuang Realm over these five years."

"I am not the only one searching; the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance is also hunting for them."

"And yet, they have managed to stay completely off the grid."

A flicker of skepticism rose in Li Fan's mind.

He even began to wonder if they had managed to depart from the Xuanhuang Realm entirely.

"Their objective is to locate the Xuantian King."

"If they have already reached his sanctuary, that would explain their disappearance."

"The Xuantian King has remained hidden for centuries. If he truly lives, he must be tucked away in an incredibly well-hidden location."

Inside Li Fan's mind, the Dao Deviation Stone crystal whirled at high speed, analyzing the mountain of data he had collected over the past five years.

He was trying to find a single loose thread to pull.

"Nothing can exist without leaving some sort of footprint. I refuse to believe you can remain concealed forever."

"If all other methods fail..."

A cold, predatory light gleamed in Li Fan's eyes.

In response to his intent, the phantom of the Du’e Book manifested in the air before him.

Beyond the swirling, chaotic shadows, small spheres of heptachromatic light drifted slowly.

Inside those orbs, a strange yellow liquid seemed to pulse with a life of its own.

Sensing imminent peril, the Du’e Book began to flip its pages frantically, shifting its form in a desperate attempt to adapt.

"Young friend, let us stay calm and talk. Why must you reach for such lethal intent again?"

A paper figure suddenly emerged from within the Du’e Book, casting a terrified glance at the rainbow-colored orbs before offering a cautious plea.

Li Fan gave a thin smile, offering no reply.

The paper figure let out a long, weary sigh, his expression full of misery as if he had grown accustomed to this recurring threat.