With the assistance of "Return to Reality," Li Fan could undergo infinite reincarnations. Besides the Wan Xian Alliance, in the future, Li Fan would certainly explore other organizations like the Five Elders' Society. He believed that they should also have means similar to the Questioning Heart Platform.
To prevent exposure and being targeted as a spy, finding a technique that could conceal one's intentions was necessary. Moreover, for Li Fan, who possessed "Return to Reality" in his heart, a method to hide secrets was particularly crucial.
"I hope you really are a spy, Zhou Fellow Daoist," Li Fan thought back to the scene when he first met Zhou Qing'ang.
Soon after, he sent messages to acquaintances such as He Zhenhao, Gao Yuan, Chen Ying, and others, inquiring about Zhou Qing'ang.
After most of the day had passed, Li Fan gradually received responses. Excluding those who didn't know much about Zhou Qing'ang, the other replies were quite consistent.
Originally, Zhou Qing'ang was a wandering cultivator. Over seventy years ago, during the Foundation Establishment stage, he joined the Wan Xian Alliance. After advancing to the Foundation Building stage, he successfully passed the assessment held every ten years and became the guardian of Tai'an Island.
Zhou Qing'ang was usually diligent and responsible, spending most of his time on the island and rarely going out.
...
With this information, Li Fan became more convinced of his judgment. The next step was to find a way to expose Zhou Qing'ang's true colors.
Having infiltrated the Wan Xian Alliance for so many years without being detected by others, this person must be extremely cautious in his actions. It might be challenging for others to find his flaws.
However, for Li Fan, who possessed the intangible killing intent, as long as this person was indeed a spy, exposing him under 24/7 surveillance, all-around and year-round, was only a matter of time.
Wearing a friendly smile, Li Fan left the Heavenly Mirror and arrived at Tai'an Island through the teleportation array. Having served as the acting guardian for several years, Li Fan was quite familiar with the island.
Above the city where the mysterious human-faced fruit tree lived, Li Fan met Zhou Qing'ang and explained his purpose.
"Tai'an fruits, fellow Daoist, you've come at an unfortunate time. All the remaining fruits have been sold, and there are none left," Zhou Qing'ang shook his head, apologizing.
"Ah, luck is truly not on my side. Just heard that there is such a cheap and life-extending treasure, but I couldn't obtain any from the Heavenly Mirror. I wanted to check if you still had any stock," Li Fan sighed, looking regretful.
While speaking, he directly activated the intangible killing intent, locking onto Zhou Qing'ang.
The intangible killing intent was already extremely mysterious, and Li Fan's cultivation level surpassed Zhou Qing'ang by a small realm. Naturally, Zhou Qing'ang had no awareness of it and enthusiastically suggested, "Fellow Daoist, don't worry. If you really need it, I will reserve one for you in the next Tai'an fruit harvest."
Li Fan was overjoyed, "Thank you, Fellow Daoist!"
As he spoke, he took out a communication token with the character "万" (Wan) and sent a friend request.
"I currently serve as a Formation Maintenance Officer in the Strategy Formation Hall. In the future, we can contact each other and move around!" Li Fan said.
"Do you happen to be acquainted with He Zhenhao, the guardian of Liuli Island? I have a good relationship with Fellow Daoist He," Zhou Qing'ang's eyes lit up and promptly accepted the friend request.
"Hehe, my relationship with Fellow Daoist He is also good. It turns out we all know each other!" Li Fan continued the conversation following Zhou Qing'ang's lead.
Afterward, he returned to Wan Xian Island.
Inside the Heavenly Mirror, Li Fan directly transferred a hundred contribution points to Zhou Qing'ang.
"Fellow Daoist Zhou, I've transferred the contribution points to you first. Please remember to save a Tai'an fruit for me."
Soon, Zhou Qing'ang replied, "Fellow Daoist, rest assured. Even if I can't complete the annual contribution tasks, I will save one for you!"
"Fellow Daoist Zhou is truly straightforward!"
While praising, Li Fan observed Zhou Qing'ang's every move through the Heavenly Mirror's perspective.
His expression remained normal.
Li Fan didn't expect to find his flaws quickly. With the intangible killing intent watching, it was only a matter of time before he exposed himself.
This matter was temporarily put aside for now.
After transferring the 15,000 contribution points to He Zhenhao, Li Fan began the formal selection of merit tasks. He planned to first increase his authority level and then see if he could find any techniques related to dividing the mind into multiple uses. This was quite important for him.
In the twelfth lifetime, he encountered the problem of "not enough brainpower." As the lending scale of the Mingyue Palace gradually expanded, Li Fan had to maintain the array cultivation of both his true self and avatars while constantly monitoring nearly a hundred borrowers. Although most of them left only a trace of consciousness, an increased external focus on consciousness affected his true self unavoidably.
The specific manifestation was occasional brief pauses in brain thinking, with a decrease in normal thinking speed. In simple terms, Li Fan would sometimes feel that his brain was "stuttering."
To solve this problem, there were two ways: increase the total strength of the consciousness or enhance the multitasking capability of consciousness, also known as "many uses for a single mind."
Li Fan's spiritual awareness intensity was already strong compared to ordinary cultivators. The late Foundation Establishment stage was equivalent to the late Golden Core stage, surpassing an average cultivator by a significant realm. Now, having found a method to enter the Meteor Immortal Realm and absorb the physical shells of possessed individuals, enhancing spiritual awareness, he temporarily didn't need to seek other methods to increase spiritual awareness intensity.
So, what Li Fan needed to do now was to improve his weak point: finding a method to multitask with a single mind.
In the twelfth lifetime, although Li Fan possessed a vast fortune, there was no such technique in the Heavenly Mirror. He could only reluctantly manage it.
Since he had joined the Wan Xian Alliance system in this lifetime, he naturally wanted to take this opportunity to find a technique that could enhance multitasking capabilities.
Previously, Li Fan searched a bit, but with the authority level of "衍一" (Yan One), he had not found a suitable technique yet. However, Li Fan believed that as his authority level increased, satisfactory results would emerge.
Currently, Li Fan had the cultivation base of the Foundation Establishment stage. The merit tasks he could undertake mostly corresponded to the "丙功" (third-class merit). Occasionally, there were one or two tasks classified as "下等乙功" (lower-class second-class merit), marked with the word "high risk."
Li Fan's target lay among these high-risk tasks. The so-called high risk was, in fact, relative to each individual. For ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators within the Wan Xian Alliance, tasks designated for the Golden Core stage were evidently beyond their capabilities. However, for Li Fan, who possessed various supernatural abilities, the risks of these tasks were not as high as they seemed.
For example, one of the tasks required Li Fan to clear the exotic beasts in the Wanlai Island of the Congyun Sea together with a squad from the Martial Arts Hall. According to the task description, these exotic beasts fed on sound, multiplied rapidly in large groups, and needed to be cleared regularly.
Although the exotic beasts were rampant, their individual strength was relatively weak, with basic combat power equivalent to the early Foundation Establishment stage, making them suitable for Li Fan.
(End of this chapter)