Zhou Qing'ang hesitated as he explained, "Given the trend of Spirit Mist Grass prices at that time, who could resist the temptation? It spread like wildfire, and almost every island guardian in the Congyun Sea Archipelago was involved in the speculation."
"If I had acted alone, it would have been easy to expose myself. Who knew the price would collapse so quickly..."
Then, as if realizing something, he looked at the face on the broken stone with suspicion, "Head, you didn't speculate too, did you?"
The face avoided the question and scolded, "Stop the nonsense, how much do you need?"
After some hesitation, Zhou Qing'ang whispered, "One hundred thousand..."
"One hundred thousand?!" The face's voice suddenly raised.
"No! Now funds are tight, and none of you, who have been lurking for so long, have produced any tangible results. What can I use to request funds from above?" The face decisively refused.
Seeing this, Zhou Qing'ang quickly said, "There are results, there are results! I've deciphered the outer layer of the Heavenly Origin Life Formation. In another seven or eight years at most, I will be able to completely decipher the core of the formation."
"This time, even that He Zhenghao suffered heavy losses. I'm applying for these one hundred thousand contribution points to deepen my relationship with him."
"This person is proficient in formation, and he has participated in the arrangement of the island protection formation. With his assistance, we will surely be able to completely master the formation soon."
The face, upon hearing this, eased its expression slightly.
After pondering for a moment, it slowly said, "In that case, send me the deciphered formation data first."
Zhou Qing'ang nodded, and his palms imprinted on the broken stone again, his eyes slightly closed.
The earthy-yellow light continued to flicker, and after a while, he released his hands.
Seemingly exhausted, his face turned extremely pale.
The face remained expressionless, seemingly verifying the authenticity of the data.
"Well, not bad." After a while, the face nodded.
"However, one hundred thousand is indeed too much. Fifty thousand!" The face suddenly changed its tone.
Zhou Qing'ang's face turned bitter, "Head, fifty thousand is really too little! Seventy thousand, or even sixty thousand would be acceptable!"
The face completely ignored him, "Fifty pieces of top-grade spirit stones, go to the usual place to collect them in a month."
"That's settled!"
As the words fell, the light and shadow on the broken stone disappeared, reverting to an ordinary rock.
Zhou Qing'ang, with a gloomy face, slapped the broken stone into pieces.
Returning to his original appearance, he went back to Tai'an Island in silence.
He stayed within the island protection formation, acting completely inconspicuous as a spy.
"It seems that, aside from Zhou Qing'ang, there are quite a few people infiltrated through this line of his superiors."
"However, the spies on this line should not hold high positions within the alliance, and their current task level is only to obtain the island protection formation."
"Besides, their method of communication seems to be reset with each contact. Although troublesome, it reduces the risk of being exposed through a single contact."
Seeing that Zhou Qing'ang had settled down and had no further actions, Li Fan withdrew his attention, considering how to maximize his benefits from this situation.
"In addition to being able to deceive the White Jade Questioning Heart Platform, Zhou Qing'ang's method of changing appearance is also very useful for me."
"It would be best to obtain these two methods, report them, and earn merits."
"Unfortunately, so far, I still haven't found the rumored method of soul searching."
"It seems that the alliance is extremely strict in controlling this method, and with my current level of authority at Stage Eight, I haven't found any relevant information."
"I wonder if there's a chance in the Fallen Immortal Realm."
Not long ago, Li Fan inexplicably felt a connection, able to enter the Fallen Immortal Realm once again.
However, at that time, he was busy with the merit tasks of hunting down defectors and didn't enter again.
Now, with some free time, Li Fan once again considered exploring the Fallen Immortal Realm.
Currently, he began arranging the ritual once more.
"Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianzun!"
As the final incantation was silently recited, countless noisy and miscellaneous sounds entered his ears.
Li Fan entered the Fallen Immortal Realm once again.
"Junior Brother? Junior Brother?"
When Li Fan saw the surrounding scene clearly, his heart couldn't help but sink a little.
Chapter 196 Returning to the Fallen Immortal Realm
"Junior brother, what are you thinking? Why have you been in a daze for so long?" A cultivator in a purple and white Daoist robe, with a purple lightning mark between his eyebrows, asked.
Li Fan was not unfamiliar with this person. He was none other than Zhang Qianmo, whom he had encountered in the Fallen Immortal Realm the last time.
"Why is it here again?" Numerous question marks flashed through Li Fan's mind.
According to Chen Ying's introduction, each time one entered the Fallen Immortal Realm, they should appear randomly in different places. Why was the location of his second entry exactly the same as the last time, even down to the minute?
Could there be a special reason for this?
Thinking about the peculiar aspect of having two lives in the Fallen Immortal Realm, a name flashed in Li Fan's mind.
"Could it be because of the Xuanhuang Heart Refining Curse again?"
Li Fan subconsciously made this guess.
"Last time, I revealed my spiritual consciousness avatar and was defeated by Zhang Qianmo, getting killed by him."
"If I defeat him this time, will the outcome be different?"
"However, Senior Brother Zhang is not so easy to deal with."
"Or perhaps, if he doesn't discover me, the true me beneath Li Chen's shell..."
In an instant, several thoughts surged in Li Fan's mind.
However, he did not forget to respond to this somewhat indifferent-looking senior brother in front of him.
Thinking about what would happen next, Li Fan's thoughts shifted abruptly, "Uh, Senior Brother, I don't know why, but suddenly I feel a bit uneasy. It seems that this trip to obtain the Longevity Fruit won't go smoothly."
Zhang Qianmo was slightly stunned, not dismissing it with a smile but attaching great importance to it.
Pinching his right hand slightly, it seemed that there was a purple cloud floating in his eyes.
"Huh?" After a while, Zhang Qianmo's expression became serious.
"Junior brother, your intuition is correct. There is indeed something strange about this Ningyuan City!"
"Really?" Li Fan looked very surprised, "Then, Senior Brother, what should we do next?"
Zhang Qianmo pondered for a moment and said, "The divination shows that although there is some risk, there is no threat to our lives."
"The Longevity Fruit must be obtained. If we don't even go into the city to check and instead return to the sect to ask for reinforcements, wouldn't we be laughed at by our fellow disciples?"
"It's better for the two of us to secretly enter the city, investigate the situation, and decide afterward."
Li Fan agreed without hesitation, "Senior Brother is right!"
Zhang Qianmo activated some kind of technique. The lightning mark on his forehead gradually receded, and his entire aura was completely concealed.
Watching this scene, as if acting on instinct, Li Fan also concealed his own aura perfectly.
"So, it's the Breath Concealment technique from the Purple Sky Thunder Mastery..."
As if controlling a character in a game, Li Fan could now use various techniques and moves of Li Chen, but he didn't have much understanding of the techniques themselves.
(End of this chapter)