Chapter 184 Taian Undercover Spy

In addition to the Daoist robe uniform and identity jade slip, there was also a special communication talisman.

The talisman was circular, with intricate patterns carved around its edge, and a 'Wan' character in the center.

As his Divine Sense immersed itself, he felt as if he had appeared in a sea of stars.

Countless dim stars were faintly visible all around him.

These were all members within the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance system.

He Zhenghao's figure flashed through Li Fan's mind.

In an instant, he found the star representing He Zhenghao among the countless others.

Li Fan sent a friend request.

After a while, that dim star brightened.

It was strikingly conspicuous among the dark multitude of stars.

"Fellow Daoist, you move fast. You've already successfully joined? Congratulations!" He Zhenghao's message notification immediately came through.

"I must thank Fellow Daoist He even more!" Li Fan replied with a message.

There was no further reply from the other side, evidently he was once again immersed in his research on the Mountain and River Array.

Li Fan then sent friend requests to Chen Ying, Zhang Zhiliang, Gong Boyu, and others.

Afterward, his Divine Thought withdrew from the communication talisman.

Li Fan then searched for meritorious missions in the tianxuan mirror.

Unlike missions that earned contribution points, meritorious missions were basically issued directly by the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance official.

The types of missions ranged from collecting resources to participating in maintaining the daily operations of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, covering everything imaginable.

There was also a special type of mission: reporting and exposing spies from the Five Old Men Association or other Cultivation organizations who had infiltrated the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.

Such missions awarded different merits based on the spy's Rank.

Currently, Li Fan's authorization Rank was Derivation One.

Basically, completing any single meritorious mission would allow him to advance to Derivation Two.

However, there was a limit to the number of times one could accept and complete meritorious missions.

A maximum of three times per year.

Li Fan was not in a hurry to accept one.

Besides missions, there were other ways to gain merit.

For example, like He Zhenghao earlier, recommending Cultivators to join the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.

Or providing valuable intelligence.

These had no restrictions; all were welcome, the more the better.

What interested Li Fan was that the merit required for an authorization Rank increase was not a fixed value.

Instead, it was displayed as a progress bar.

This was because the tianxuan mirror would adjust the merit based on its real-time value.

For example, a meritorious mission to submit [Crimson Cloud Ice] was always available.

Upon completing the mission, one would consistently receive a low-Rank C-merit.

However, the value of the [Crimson Cloud Ice] itself fluctuated constantly.

While generally, the value of these collected resources would not fluctuate too wildly.

But in the history of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, there had been instances where certain resources depreciated significantly.

Therefore, the tianxuan mirror would adjust it in real-time based on its value, precisely controlling it.

Li Fan's attention was drawn to a meritorious mission with a reward of a medium-Rank C-merit.

A small progress bar immediately appeared next to the mission description.

Above the progress bar, there were also small numerical annotations.

One and forty-three.

This meant that the medium-Rank C-merit Li Fan would gain from completing this mission would be enough to raise his authorization Rank by one level, plus forty-three percent of the progress.

The Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance's authorization Ranks totaled forty-nine, based on the concept of the Great Dao's fifty, and the Heavenly Derivation's forty-nine.

It was easy to advance at first, but became increasingly difficult the higher one went.

After understanding the operational mechanism of merit and authorization Ranks, Li Fan then began searching for Cultivation Techniques.

Immediately, Li Fan noticed the difference from before.

Some search results were prominently marked in gold text.

This indicated that these Cultivation Techniques were only visible to members within the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance system.

Moreover, such Cultivation Techniques could only be exchanged for and practiced by oneself, and could not be given to others.

If they were "lost" and learned by others.

Personnel from the Guardian Hall would be responsible for their recovery, and the original exchanger would also be punished.

A certain amount of merit would be deducted.

Li Fan carefully examined these restricted Cultivation Techniques.

Some of the gold text for these Cultivation Techniques was bright gold, meaning they could be exchanged with Li Fan's current authorization Rank.

However, some were dull gold.

The authorization Rank required to exchange for these dull gold Cultivation Techniques exceeded Li Fan's current authorization Rank.

Li Fan could only see their descriptions but could not exchange for them.

Generally speaking, one could see search results within three authorization Ranks higher than one's own.

This served as encouragement.

Li Fan casually checked a dull gold Golden Core Stage Cultivation Technique.

[Geng Metal Sword Nurturing Technique].

Sixty-five thousand contribution points, and requires authorization Rank Derivation Three to exchange.

"Absorbs Geng Metal Qi to nurture Sword Intent within the body. Can be used for sword flight and as a Magic Treasure to kill enemies."

"Its power is indeed much stronger than what I've seen before, and its price is also considerably higher."

Li Fan checked several other dull gold Cultivation Techniques, and they were all similar.

"That derivation law jade, constantly deducing Cultivation Techniques day and night, will surely give birth to many astonishing Divine Techniques."

"They might even be comparable to the Sect-suppressing ultimate arts of ancient Sects and great factions."

"If I can't exchange for them, even just seeing them to broaden my horizons is good."

"It's just a pity my authorization isn't high enough."

"Authorization, authorization…"

Li Fan recalled the several ways to obtain merit.

A figure suddenly flashed through his mind.

The Taian Island Town Guardian, Zhou Qingang.

In his subsequent two lives, this person withdrew before the Crimson Flame Burning Sea arrived.

In Li Fan's view, there was something quite peculiar about this.

There were only two possibilities here.

First, Zhou Qingang had a backer, and a very powerful one.

In the tenth life, even the two Soul Transformation Immortal Lords of Wanxian Island failed to detect the arrival of the Crimson Flame in advance.

Yet Zhou Qingang managed to do so.

This indicated that Zhou Qingang's backer was even more formidable than a Soul Transformation expert.

Was it a Combined Dao Immortal Venerable?

In Li Fan's opinion, this possibility was very low.

If Zhou Qingang truly had a Combined Dao Immortal Venerable backing him, he could have just left directly in advance.

Why would he bother with the excuse of going out to seek an Opportunity and find someone to act as the Taian Island Town Guardian?

Therefore, the remaining possibility greatly increased.

Zhou Qingang was a spy planted in the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance by another organization.

Li Fan believed that when the Crimson Flame descended, the top experts of this world must have sensed it in advance.

Although he didn't know the reason, the Immortal Alliance Headquarters did not warn Congyun Sea's Wanxian Island.

But other organizations should have somewhat sensed the signs.

For example, the Wanhua Merchant Guild at that time issued an order for a complete evacuation from Congyun Sea before the catastrophe struck.

This Zhou Qingang received an internal notification from his organization, which is why he used the method of 'golden cicada shedding its shell' to escape from Congyun.

Of course, this was currently just Li Fan's speculation.

To confirm this, further verification was needed.

If he was wrong, then so be it.

But if Zhou Qingang was indeed a spy, then Li Fan would gain greatly.

Not only would he acquire a large amount of merit and contribution points.

More importantly, Li Fan also wanted to find a way to deceive the Heart-Questioning Platform from him.