As if to confirm Li Fan's predictions, three days later, Li Fan received hush money.
Ten thousand contribution points, plus three middle-grade third-level merits.
This payment was meant to make Li Fan forget everything related to Zhou Qingang and not mention it to anyone again.
Li Fan had no objections and accepted the reward.
Ten thousand contribution points were not a small sum, and more importantly, his permission level successfully rose to the tenth stage, unlocking new privileges.
When searching for information in the Tianxuan Mirror, Li Fan could now preview relevant data that would originally require a cultivation realm one stage higher.
In his case, some secret information only accessible to Golden Core cultivators could now be viewed by Li Fan due to his permission level reaching the tenth stage, even though he was currently at the Foundation Establishment stage.
Li Fan conducted a search as usual, looking for a technique that enhanced multitasking abilities.
This time, he finally got results. However, upon careful examination of the introduction to the technique called "One Person, Thousand Faces," Li Fan frowned with dissatisfaction.
The technique, once mastered, could significantly enhance the ability to handle multiple tasks concurrently. However, it came with an unavoidable side effect: over time, multiple personalities would uncontrollably form within the practitioner, essentially leading to a personality split.
Naturally, Li Fan didn't want to cultivate a technique that would turn him into a mental patient, so he had to reluctantly give it up.
In fact, regarding techniques for multitasking, Li Fan already had someone in mind to consult.
That person was Jiao Xiuyuan, who practiced the Ten Thousand Puppets Dao.
Jiao Xiuyuan's puppets were spread throughout the cultivation world, numbering in the thousands.
Each puppet was vividly lifelike, with expressions, movements, and gestures identical to a real person.
The first few times Li Fan saw him, he couldn't discern any differences.
Controlling so many puppets simultaneously without any lag must involve some special methods.
However, it was unclear whether it was due to the unique techniques of the Ten Thousand Puppets Dao or if there were other methods at play.
Li Fan's clone had tried to contact Jiao Xiuyuan earlier for inquiries but received no response, possibly because he hadn't yet recovered from the massive loss from Spirit Mist Grass. His Thousand Miles Hall was still closed to visitors.
So, Li Fan had to wait again.
With no luck with techniques, Li Fan decided to try out his newly unlocked privileges.
Previously, he couldn't search for information on the Fallen Immortal Realm and had to resort to disguises and indirect questioning to understand how to bring items back.
Now, it wouldn't be as troublesome.
After searching for the Fallen Immortal Realm, countless pieces of information appeared.
Li Fan discovered that all this information came from a relatively independent section called "Seeking Immortals."
In this section, discussions only revolved around matters related to the Fallen Immortal Realm. Any talk related to the real world would be immediately locked and deleted.
One could post in this section using their real identity or apply for a fake account to avoid exposure risks.
Li Fan didn't register but instead started browsing the relevant information in the Seeking Immortals section.
Most of the discussions were about the experiences and encounters in the Fallen Immortal Realm, as well as methods to bring items out.
Some cultivators who had successfully brought items from the Fallen Immortal Realm would publish guides.
You could access these guides by paying a certain fee and signing a confidentiality contract.
Curious, Li Fan searched for information about Ningyuan City.
To his surprise, despite the vast ocean of information in Seeking Immortals, not a single piece was related to Ningyuan City.
Li Fan then searched for information about the Purple Heaven Sect and Zhang Qianmo.
Still, no other cultivators had encountered Zhang Qianmo, and people had only encountered the ruins of the Purple Heaven Sect.
Li Fan browsed through the information, discovering that he and ordinary cultivators were in different time frames within the Fallen Immortal Realm.
During the time when Zhang Qianmo and Li Chen went to Ningyuan City to obtain Longevity Fruits, the new law had just been born and was not yet known to the public.
Most cultivators, upon entering the Fallen Immortal Realm, experienced a different time period.
The dispute between the new law and the old law had long come to an end.
The heavenly rule preventing multiple practitioners of the same cultivation technique had been in place for over thirty years.
Order was on the verge of collapse, and a great slaughter was about to unfold.
"The conflict between the new and old laws will last at least several decades. Afterward, the prosperity of the new law will attract the retaliation of heaven and earth, which will then respond after hundreds of years."
"Being trapped in a separate area is one thing, but how can the time period differ so much from that of ordinary cultivators?"
Countless doubts surged in Li Fan's mind.
So he started searching for information related to the discrepancy in time points.
He found that while such situations were rare, they were not entirely unheard of.
There was once a cultivator who appeared in an area of the Fallen Immortal Realm completely devoid of cultivators.
This particular region seemed to form its own realm, a unique space shaped by the evolution of human civilization over thousands of years after the extinction of cultivators.
This was a possible future time point.
Another cultivator was located in a more distant past at the entry point of the Fallen Immortal Realm.
It seemed to be during a tremendous and earth-shaking battle.
The warring factions were unknown, but the number of participating cultivators was astonishing.
According to the cultivator nicknamed Not Two, "It was densely packed, like ants, present across the entire space."
"The radiance of treasures and techniques shined incessantly."
"At every moment, countless cultivators died."
"Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators could only serve as cannon fodder. Soul Transformation, Dao Integration, and even Longevity Immortal experts were engaged in battles, falling one by one."
"The earth and space were torn apart, and chaotic black lightning struck the battlefield from beyond space, causing cultivators to fall like rain."
"It was truly a terrifying scene, reminiscent of the end of the world."
Because the images described by this cultivator were too bizarre, and only he had ever encountered such a situation, most cultivators believed he was fabricating stories and dismissed his claims.
Not Two, however, swore an oath with a curse that if there was any exaggeration, he would die instantly, body and soul.
This ruthless oath indeed subdued many skeptics.
Nevertheless, a significant number of cultivators remained unconvinced.
Apart from these two individuals, there were many other accounts of strange experiences.
It was only now that Li Fan truly understood what Chen Ying had told him earlier: the Fallen Immortal Realm was a world formed by the consciousness of a True Immortal before their fall.
In this realm, unimaginable events could occur.
"In such a magnificent world, I'm trapped in the small Ningyuan City. It's really hard to accept."
Li Fan couldn't help but sigh.
"I wonder if it will be the same the next time I enter."
Casually glancing at the Seeking Immortals section once again, Li Fan was about to leave.
But his attention was irresistibly drawn to a certain phrase.
"Gathering" and "Exchange."
Li Fan couldn't help but click on it.