Upon hearing that the target was merely a mid-stage Refining Qi cultivator, Jiao Xiuyuan immediately relaxed.
He quickly took charge, saying, "Don't worry, just a small Refining Qi cultivator. I guarantee I will uncover all his details for you. However, about the price..."
Li Fan smiled and replied, "Since it's just a small Refining Qi cultivator, it shouldn't be too expensive, right?"
Jiao Xiuyuan felt like slapping himself and awkwardly said, "In this line of work, there are always some risks involved. How about you offer this amount?"
He gestured with his hand to indicate the number eight.
"Forty contribution points, no more," Li Fan shook his head.
"Ah, you're haggling too much! Sixty points is still reasonable, right? Otherwise, it will be another loss-making deal!" Jiao Xiuyuan exclaimed in pain.
Li Fan turned to leave.
"Wait, wait!" Jiao Xiuyuan quickly stopped Li Fan.
"Fifty points, I really can't go lower," he said, looking pained.
Only then did Li Fan stop.
"Please give a ten-point deposit first," Jiao Xiuyuan said, handing Li Fan a communication spirit talisman. "Once I have results, I will notify you through this talisman."
Li Fan accepted the talisman and took out a mid-grade spirit stone to give to Jiao Xiuyuan.
He didn't rush to leave but instead began to examine the other items for sale in the shop.
Seeing that he had a big client today, Jiao Xiuyuan became even more enthusiastic.
"Is there anything else you need?"
"Do you have any cultivation methods for sale? Preferably a movement technique, or something similar to the Concealment Talisman," Li Fan inquired.
Jiao Xiuyuan's expression froze immediately.
"Heh, are you joking with me? Why not take a look at something else? How about this Misty Array Diagram? It's definitely a top-notch item. Once deployed, it can trap a Foundation Establishment late-stage cultivator for a day."
"This set of Ice Symbol Swords is also good, suitable for surprise attacks..."
"Hey, don't go!"
...
After leaving Qianli Hall, Li Fan returned to the Profound Mirror.
He planned to cultivate the Underworld Phantom Art to the late stage of Refining Qi before proceeding.
Once the Blue Flame Phantom Spirit was fully stabilized, he could unleash it to kill.
With the auxiliary cultivation mode activated, Li Fan entered closed-door cultivation once again.
...
A month later, in the eastern region of Yan Crystal Island in the Congyun Sea.
In the deep sea, Li Fan concealed his aura and followed a group of Red Flame Sharks.
There were about a dozen Red Flame Sharks surrounding a lone Red Seat Whale.
The Red Seat Whale was massive, feeding on seabed Yan Crystals for years, and its skin resembled a layer of hard rock.
The Red Flame Sharks had sharp teeth and swift movements, working seamlessly together.
Although they couldn't inflict significant damage on the Red Seat Whale immediately, they could gradually wear down its vitality like a dull knife cutting flesh.
The Red Seat Whale attempted several times to break through the blockade of Red Flame Sharks but failed each time.
Gradually, its resistance became weaker.
Li Fan watched this scene and knew it was time.
The Blue Flame Phantom Spirit manifested.
It transformed into a thin blue light, swiftly darting between the dozen Red Flame Sharks and the Red Seat Whale.
Moments later, it returned to Li Fan's sea of consciousness.
The Red Flame Sharks and the Red Seat Whale suddenly halted their movements.
Then, a chilling aura surged from within them, freezing them from the inside out.
In an instant, bizarre ice sculptures appeared on the seabed.
Their expressions and movements resembled those in life, but they had long lost their life force.
"The power of the Blue Flame Phantom Spirit is indeed remarkable."
"These sea beasts are mostly equivalent to the Refining Qi stage, and their tough skin makes them hard to hunt with ordinary methods. After using the Blue Flame Phantom Spirit for a divine sense attack, they became like lambs to the slaughter, offering no resistance whatsoever," Li Fan nodded, satisfied with his initial test of the phantom spirit's lethality.
Not long ago, after spending over twenty days, he finally succeeded in breaking through the Underworld Phantom Art to the late stage of Refining Qi.
To test the phantom spirit's power and earn some contribution points, he accepted the task of "hunting Red Flame Sharks to obtain their beast cores."
Each beast core was worth 5 points of contribution, and he could earn around sixty points in total. Adding the materials from the Red Seat Whale, he could expect to gain over eighty points of contribution from this trip.
Well, it was better than nothing.
In the past, he had always earned contribution points in the thousands; this small amount hardly stirred Li Fan's heart.
As he thought this, he was about to collect the beast cores from the Red Flame Sharks.
Suddenly, he sensed an extremely large figure approaching from the depths of the seabed.
Li Fan's expression changed, and without caring for the beast cores nearby, he quickly retreated.
A deep brown, hideous-looking sea monster, with a grotesque protrusion on its forehead, resembling neither a dragon nor a fish, suddenly emerged from the shadows of the seabed.
Its massive jaws opened wide, swallowing the dozen Red Flame Sharks along with the Red Seat Whale in one gulp!
With a sudden movement, the giant beast swam in a circle, then began to head in a certain direction.
Li Fan, barely avoiding the giant beast, could only watch helplessly as his prey was snatched away.
Could he endure this?
Li Fan's anger surged.
But soon, the Xuanhuang Heart Refining Mantra activated, calming him down slightly.
Wait a minute, this giant beast seems to be the one that previously destroyed the Spirit Mist Grass island?
Suddenly recalling something, Li Fan froze.
When he accepted the task to hunt the Red Flame Whale, he had also caught a glimpse of another bounty task.
Since this task was somewhat related to him, he had examined it carefully.
It turned out that those who had speculated on the Spirit Mist Grass had suffered heavy losses, nearly going bankrupt.
With a grudge boiling in his heart, they found it hard to calm down even in their cultivation.
Yet, they didn't dare to confront the True Monarch Qingmu Huasheng or the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, so they could only vent their anger on the beast that destroyed the Spirit Mist Grass island.
According to witnesses, the attacker was a Dragon Whale, roughly at the Foundation Establishment stage.
The island was guarded by Foundation Establishment cultivators.
However, the Dragon Whale was massive, and the guards' attacks were like mere tickles to it, having no effect whatsoever.
The Dragon Whale directly ignored the guards, broke through the Island Protection Array, rampaged on the island, and devoured most of the Spirit Mist Grass.
Afterward, the Golden Core cultivators of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals finally arrived.
And this Dragon Whale, after taking a hit from a Golden Core cultivator, surprisingly didn't die; it was only heavily injured and escaped back into the deep sea.
The Congyun Sea was vast, and this group of people searched for the Dragon Whale for over ten days without success.
In desperation, they pooled together their remaining contribution points and jointly issued a bounty task.
Whoever killed the Dragon Whale would receive two thousand contribution points.
Since the Dragon Whale was beyond the reach of even Foundation Establishment cultivators, Li Fan, as a mere Refining Qi cultivator, naturally did not accept the task before.
However...
Now the situation was different!
(End of Chapter)