Great and invisible

Although Li Fan didn't actually know what the “Xuantian Sealing Spirit Array” the other party mentioned was, it wasn't hard to guess that what he was referring to was probably the Xuan Net, which had just shown its prowess on the Tianling State battlefield.

Li Fan remained calm, merely probing, "According to our predictions, even with the aid of the Xuantian Sealing Spirit Array, the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance shouldn't have caused the Five Old Men Association to retreat so steadily and reveal such a complete decline."

The other party sighed, "This time, we truly miscalculated. No one expected the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance to replicate this ancient Formation so quickly."

"And it seems to be even more overbearing than what was recorded."

The Five Old Men Association Cultivator's tone was somewhat helpless, "Our Five Old Men Association's countermeasures are not yet fully prepared. So, on the Tianling State battlefield, the situation is temporarily a bit difficult."

"Therefore, we urgently need a way to weaken the opposing Formation."

Li Fan didn't reply, but instead, his fingers tapped the table rhythmically, as if he were deep in thought.

"Even with our strength, obtaining the Formation diagram of the Xuantian Sealing Spirit Array would require an enormous price. Some Fellow Daoists who have already infiltrated the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance might even have to sacrifice their lives for it."

"Moreover, success isn't even guaranteed…"

After a long while, Li Fan finally spoke, looking very hesitant.

Seeing that there seemed to be a chance, the Five Old Men Association Cultivator quickly struck while the iron was hot, "Daoist Zhou, rest assured, as long as you can get the Formation diagram, everything else is negotiable!"

Li Fan was noncommittal.

After a moment of contemplation, he said in a deep voice, "This matter is too important, and I cannot make a decision on my own. How about this: I will return here in three days to give you an answer."

Although the Five Old Men Association Cultivator was anxious, he knew that what the other party said made a lot of sense, so he could only nod helplessly.

"Oh, and next time we meet, let's change the location. It's a time of trouble, so it's better to be careful." With that, he informed Li Fan of the location of another island.

Li Fan cupped his hands, flew away, and returned to Congyun Immortal City.

"Tianxuan Locking Spirit, Xuantian Sealing Spirit."

"Ancient, tianxuan mirror…"

"Xuantian Sect?"

In the secret chamber, Li Fan's eyes flickered as he fell into deep thought.

"The scene of thousands of Cultivators instantly falling from the sky to the ground seems a bit familiar…"

"That's right, Nine Mountains State!"

The nine mountain ranges stretching across Nine Mountains State also shared the characteristic that Cultivators could not fly over them.

In his previous life, when Li Fan traveled far to the Myriad Laws Business Association in Nine Mountains State for procurement, he had witnessed the tragic sight of several Cultivators who didn't believe in the evil, falling to their deaths.

"Could it be that there's some connection here too?"

Li Fan then recalled various pieces of information he had read in his mind.

Suddenly, some previously overlooked information caught Li Fan's attention.

Legend has it that the nine great mountains in Nine Mountains State were formed from the Meridians of an ancient exotic beast after its death.

The Nine Mountains were named: Everlasting, Short, Void, Hasty, Knotted, Substitute, Prison, Moving, and Fine.

The Nine Mountains were clearly divided into solid and empty, subtly forming a Formation. This caused the space in Nine Mountains State to be unstable, preventing even teleportation Formations from being used.

…

This was all information Li Fan had known before.

At that time, Li Fan had no concrete concept of the image of a Yao Beast in his mind.

He just felt that the idea of a Yao Beast's Meridians turning into mountains after its death was very much in line with the ancient legend, and there was nothing particularly special about it.

But after personally visiting the Yao Beast Holy Land, Nanming Mountain, in the Fallen Immortal Realm and seeing numerous Yao Beasts renowned for their ferocity since ancient times, Li Fan realized there was something amiss in this myth.

Nothing else.

If the myth were true, then the size of this exotic beast would be simply too enormous.

Nine Mountains, a single state's territory; it took Li Fan more than half a year to travel back and forth.

If its internal Meridians could span the size of an entire state, just how colossal an existence would this exotic beast have been in its lifetime?

Compared to it, what were Scarlet Nine-Headed, Zi Wushou, Azure Divine Dragon…

They were probably all like ants.

Although size doesn't necessarily correlate directly with strength, if one were to insist that this exotic beast, whose body transformed into the Nine Mountains, was weak…

Li Fan certainly wouldn't think so.

"Perhaps, from this unknown exotic beast, I can ascertain the origin of this so-called 'Xuantian Sealing Spirit Array'."

Even from the name, Li Fan was almost certain that this Formation was inextricably linked to the ancient Xuantian Sect.

But nothing is absolute; it could also be a mere coincidence.

It's not wrong to be more rigorous.

So Li Fan searched for related information in the tianxuan mirror using "exotic beast that transformed into Nine Mountains State" as a keyword.

The time was too long ago; it was simply impossible to verify.

There were many differing opinions, with no definite answer.

Li Fan looked through them one by one, seemingly finding none reliable.

Just as he was reluctantly preparing to give up, a painting titled "Dream Encounter with an Ancient Exotic Beast" caught Li Fan's attention.

This painting was not created by a contemporary, but rather a casual sketch by a former Disciple of the Divine Brush Sect.

After the Divine Brush Sect was annexed by the Dianhua Sect, its internal items scattered everywhere.

This painting was accidentally obtained by a Loose Cultivator. The Loose Cultivator perished in the great tribulation of heaven and earth, and the items carried in his storage ring were plundered completely.

Only those seemingly worthless items, which were considered a nuisance to carry, remained quietly in place.

The useless storage ring was discarded like trash, casually tossed by the roadside.

It lay dormant for thousands of years, then was discovered by a passing Cultivator.

According to this Cultivator named Tang Bohu, he learned of the past events precisely by relying on a wisp of resentment that had not dispersed for a thousand years within the storage ring.

Of course, these claims were likely fabricated by Tang Bohu to inflate the price of "Dream Encounter with an Ancient Exotic Beast."

But regardless, this painting indeed came from thousands of years ago.

It depicted hundreds of Yao Beasts of various forms, many of which Li Fan had seen in the Fallen Immortal Realm.

What attracted Li Fan to this painting was that, in addition to the obvious Yao Beasts, the painting also secretly contained another exotic beast.

At the very edge of the exotic beast illustration, one could vaguely see that these hundreds of Yao Beasts seemed to be standing on the body of some colossal existence.

But precisely because its body was too massive, it couldn't be fully depicted.

Only the hundred or so Yao Beasts on its back could be used as a backdrop.

"Great and formless, its name is Tian."

In the corner, this sentence was also left behind.

This blank-space style of creation naturally attracted many Cultivator comments.

Some well-informed individuals revealed the heavenly secret in one sentence.

"I know this, isn't it that big turtle that turned into Nine Mountains State after it died?"

The tone was quite mocking, but it was not actually baseless.

It was indeed the two characters 'Wang' and 'Ba'.

Its name is 【Tian Beast】.

Its name is Tian.

"Tian Beast…"

A glint of light flashed in Li Fan's eyes.