NOVPUBDark Prison seemed to rob time of its meaning.
Each day presented nothing but unchanging dimness and the seemingly endless sounds of agonized wailing to the ears.
The intelligence of the Black Mist Jailers seemed quite limited. When Li Fan, this unexpected addition to the prisoners, arrived, they merely cackled eerily and then mechanically initiated the Array inside the prison column, attempting to torment Li Fan.
Naturally, all were effortlessly neutralized by Li Fan.
Nevertheless, he cooperated by simulating his own screams of agony, deceiving the Black Mist Jailers into departing, satisfied.
Apart from these low-ranking Jailers, which often roamed the Dark Prison, one could occasionally spot the patrolling cultivators from the Alliance of Thousands of Immortals.
Three in total, they took turns checking in. Their inspections of the Dark Prison were mostly a formality; after all, the Dark Prison had been tranquil for thousands of years, and no chaos had ever erupted.
However, after some time observing, Li Fan discerned that his current hiding place was just the outer layer of the Dark Prison. The Immortal Alliance didn’t seem to value the prisoners held there much. Li Fan even witnessed a neighbor, unable to bear the torment from the Array, perish soul and spirit. No one came to check on this for a long time.
Only when the Black Mist Jailers were conducting their routine patrols did they discover the incident, and then they activated a purification Array to cleanse the black pillar, making it ready for the arrival of the next prisoner.
This situation in the Dark Prison actually pleased Li Fan greatly.
The chance of being discovered was very slim, and no one came to bother him usually.
Enjoying the solitude, Li Fan busied himself preparing for the final End of The World Plan while observing the situation in the Spirit Tree Realm through the Sacred Embryo.
After Li Fan issued the command to prepare for battle and escaped, the outside world remained calm for a long time without the slightest sign of the Immortal Alliance mobilizing for war.
So much so, that doubts arose in everyone’s minds, questioning Li Fan’s judgment.
However, out of fear of the might of the Crimson Compassionate Immortal, they dared not show their skepticism.
Yet Li Fan knew that this was simply the calm before the storm.
As it turned out, Li Fan’s prediction was accurate.
One day, the Sealing Array at the entrance of the Spirit Tree Realm suddenly began to show subtle signs of fluctuation.
The Sacred Embryo Li Fan detected the anomaly immediately.
After concentrating and observing for a brief period, Li Fan snorted coldly, "They do have some skills, it seems. The Arrays I’ve given to the Immortal Alliance have clearly been studied thoroughly by them. Compared to before, their level of understanding of Arrays has improved by at least a hundred years. What a pity..."
"They are still more than a generation behind me!"
"With their slow progress, it will likely take them at least three months to break the Array assuming I don’t repair it. But on the other hand, the Immortal Alliance probably doesn’t have the patience to wait. If they fail to break through the Array, they will likely resort to a forcible attack..."
Li Fan did not believe that a mere Array could withstand an offensive from the massive army of the Immortal Alliance.
"Why not show a weakness and let a group of them in first, to catch turtles in a jar!" Li Fan’s thoughts raced, and he quickly came up with an idea.
For safety’s sake, his true self had already fled. But facing the pressure from the Immortal Alliance, Li Fan hadn’t completely given up on the intention to resist.
After all, amassing the treasures of the Spirit Tree Realm in this lifetime was not an easy feat and had consumed much of his effort and energy.
Now that the Immortal Alliance was attacking, he was certainly going to put up a fight.
"This will be a good opportunity to test the mettle of the Immortal Alliance,"
"To see if they truly live up to their reputation as one of the two major overlord organizations of the Xuanhuang World."
The Sacred Embryo Li Fan notified everyone in the Spirit Tree Realm to prepare for the battle. At the same time, working in coordination with the Alliance of Thousands of Immortals’ Array-breaking techniques, he gradually released the protective measures of the Array Technique.
It looked as though the Array Technique was really being broken.
The flaws became more and more significant, until at the entrance to the Spirit Tree Realm, a small crack appeared.
The Alliance of Thousands of Immortals’ first attack troop instantly came into the Spirit Tree Realm through these fissures.
At the moment of encounter, both sides were slightly taken aback.
On the side of the Alliance of Thousands of Immortals, the surprise was that the people of the Spirit Tree Realm seemed to have discovered their ploy and were already waiting in full battle array.
On Li Fan’s side, the surprise was that the so-called vanguard of the Alliance of Thousands of Immortals turned out not to be elite Death Warriors.
Instead, it was over a hundred arrows flashing with a cold light.
"Sky Petrol Arrows?!" Li Fan was somewhat surprised.
Sky Petrol Arrows were formidable weapons developed by the Alliance of Thousands of Immortals in this world, extremely fast, capable of patrolling a state’s land in just a few breaths. Their power was also remarkably astonishing, almost equivalent to the strike of an ordinary Integration Cultivator.
But this was not the most terrifying aspect. The real power of the Sky Petrol Arrows was that they could form a special formation among themselves, creating a giant net that could even twist and affect the laws of Heaven and Earth.
In the previous battle between the Alliance of Thousands of Immortals and the Five Elders Organization, the Alliance of Thousands of Immortals interfered with the Principle of Heaven and Earth over a vast area through the Sky Petrol Arrows, preventing the Five Elders Organization’s Immortal Sovereign from intervening in the fight.
"It seems the Alliance of Thousands of Immortals intends to implement a decapitation strategy. One hundred and sixty-eight Sky Petrol Arrows. If it were an ordinary Small World, it would probably be completely annihilated by this move. However..."
Li Fan sneered coldly and reacted very swiftly.
First, he disturbed the Sky Petrol Arrows through the Great Array that covered the Spirit Tree Realm, preventing them from completing their formation. Then he sent out Tianyang, who with absolutely overwhelming strength, collected and suppressed the arrows one by one before they had a chance to scatter and cause destruction.
While the Sky Petrol Arrows were fast, Tianyang was even faster!
Tianyang transformed into a streak of Qing light, shuttling back and forth across the Vault of Heaven.
In just the blink of an eye, he had already gained control of all of them.
"Take a few for research and see if these things can be turned around for our use," the Sacred Embryo Li Fan said to the Craftsman.
The Craftsman was very excited to receive the Sky Petrol Arrows and immediately went to disassemble and study them.
On the side of the Alliance of Thousands of Immortals, the unexplained loss of contact with over a hundred Sky Petrol Arrows seemed to have caught them off guard.
Stunned for a long time, they failed to launch the next wave of attacks.
Seeing this, Li Fan’s eyes flickered, pretending to activate the Sealing Array to repair the entrance.
Watching the "hard-earned" cracks in the Array Technique closing slowly, the Alliance of Thousands of Immortals really couldn’t stay calm and promptly initiated another attack.
This time, coming through the cracks at the entrance and appearing in front of the people in the Spirit Tree Realm was a team of Cultivators all clad in golden armor.
Enshrouded in Golden Light, their features were indiscernible. It even seemed as though their exact positions were impossible to lock onto. After entering the Spirit Tree Realm, the Golden Armored Cultivators rapidly dispersed.
Their speed was incredibly fast, even a bit faster than the Sky Petrol Arrows.
What was most troublesome was that they left a trail of Afterimages along their path of Escape.
