Chapter 54 - 54: 54: Heaven and Earth Set a Kill Trap
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“What’s going on?”
Caught in a state of terror and shock, Li Fan’s Water Mirror Technique shattered abruptly.
His mind was in a state of turmoil, thrown into temporary chaos.
After a while, Li Fan slowly regained hisposure.
“Could there be something wrong with ‘The Golden Seal of the Jade Realm of a Thousand Mechanisms’?”
His first reaction was that there was an issue with this technique.
The so-called “machine identification” could have already be inapplicable in the Immortal Cultivation World after the tremendous changes in Heaven
ana Eartn.
After all, Li Fan was currently within the Ind Protection Array of Taian Ind.
Moreover, Taian Ind was situated in the central region of the Misthaven Ocean, under the jurisdiction of the Alliance of Thousands of Immortals.
Everything had been running smoothly before, how could it be that disaster would strike just as he was in seclusion?
However, sensing the densely lingering death energy around himself, Li Fan couldn’t convince himself with such a simple exnation.
His unease gradually intensified.
Li Fan made a decisive move. Regardless of whether it was true or not, he decided to go to Ten Thousand Immortals Ind to avoid disaster.
He intended to activate the Teleportation Array immediately, to head towards Ten Thousand Immortals Ind.
But to his dismay, there was no reaction from the Teleportation Array!
Li Fan’s expression turned dark.
He took out the Communication Talisman that He Zhenghao had given him and tried to get in touch with He Zhenghao.
After infusing spiritual energy, there was still no response!
Things were bing clear. Some strange and mysterious incidents had indeed urred.
Staying on Taian Ind was a dead-end. He couldn’t just sit and wait for death!
Li Fan summoned the Tai Yan Boat, took out the “As of the Cloud Sea”, and prepared to eschew the Flying Boat himself.
The Spirit Stones that originally served as power for the Tai Yan Boat were almost exhausted. Luckily, when Li Fan had been shopping recklessly before, the “Essential Set for Lone Cultivators” included a considerable amount of Spirit Stones.
Li Fan calcted that the journey from Taian Ind to Ten Thousand Immortals Ind would take about two to three months.
The Spirit Stones should be enough.
Given the circumstances, Li Fan didn’t care about his mission of guarding the ind anymore. He immediately steered the Flying Boat, preparing to leave.
Just as the Tai Yan Boat was about to fly out of the Ind Protection Array, Li Fan suddenly sensed endless murderous intent from outside.
It was like countless sharp swords spread out between Heaven and Earth.
Li Fan’s heart skipped a beat, promptly ceasing the Tai Yan Boat.
A premonition told him that he was doomed to die if he stepped outside the Ind Protection Array!
Li Fan squinted, looking at the calm sea, not knowing where the danger wasing from.
In the end, Li Fan decided not to take a gamble.
He put away the Tai Yan Boat, preparing to first inquire the mortals on the ind about recent urrences.
However, after scanning the entire ind with his divine consciousness, he was taken aback again.
It turned out that the ind’s poption had decreased by one third.
Those who remained had be gaunt and pale, looking as if they had not eaten for a long time.
Knowing that something significant must have happened while he was in seclusion, Li Fan wore a gloomy look as he made his way towards the mansion of the ind’s master.
Since assuming his role as the acting guard, Li Fan had mostly been focused on his secluded cultivation, hardly interfering with the affairs on the ind.
He had met the ind’s master only a few times.
The ind’s master replied upon seeing Li Fan, he fell onto his knees, continually knocking his head on the ground in a wail.
“What happened, and when? Speak quickly! ” Li Fan’s face was a picture of grimness.
“Esteemed Immortal Teacher, we are really at our wits’ end. The heavens have not granted us rainfall for more than half a year. The ind’s fresh water and food have been nearly depleted. If we continue like this, we will all starve to death!” The ind chief sobbed as he pleaded, prostrating himself before Li Fan.
“No rain for half a year?” Li Fan recalled the words Zhang Haobo had spoken to him years ago.
“So, the drought hase. But why did the Tianxuan Mirror tell me that there would not be any significant issues? Does a drought of this scale not matter in the eyes of the Tianxuan Mirror?”
The ind chief continued his wailing, “All the fish in the nearby sea have been fished out. The weather is unbearably hot, and not a single fishing fleet that went out into the deep sea hase back alive. We are all going to starve to death! Immortal Teacher, have mercy… Please save us!”
Li Fan was irritated by the man’s crying. Seeing his still plump, albeit somewhat thinner body, Li Fanshed out in anger: “Half of the ind’s mortals are starving to death, and yet you are still not thin?”
The ind chief turned pale, but before he could defend himself,
Li Fan, having scanned the expansive kitchen in the ind chief’s residence with his divine consciousness, was even more incensed.
Without letting the ind chief defend himself, Li Fan swatted him into a pulp with a single p.
“You upied this post without taking responsibility. You deserve to die!”
Li Fan coldly snorted, then using the power of the Great Array, he broadcast his message across the ind.
“The ind chief has been in by me. The rest of you in charge report to the chief’s residence immediately!”
After a moment, several trembling mortals came before Li Fan.
Seeing that they too were malnourished, Li Fan suppressed his murderous intent.
Listening to their tearfulints, Li Fan finally understood what had happened during his year of seclusion.
The drought began six months ago.
In the beginning, when many days passed without rain, no one thought much of it.
Only when two whole months had passed without a single drop of rain did the inders begin to panic.
The ind did have a freshwater source, but as the persistent drought wore on, it gradually dried up.
Initially, food could be obtained by fishing in the nearby sea, but as the heat intensified and the surrounding waters were bereft of fish, with all the fishing fleets that ventured deeper never returned, Taian Ind was plunged into a famine.
In just a month, a third of the ind’s poption had died, countless tragedies urred.
Those who survived were just clinging to life.
If Li Fan hade out of seclusion anyter, he might not have been able to find any survivors.
Now that things hade to this, Li Fan had to help.
When he left Da Xuan, besides gold and silver treasures, the Tai Yan Boat was also filled with grain.
It had been a cautious habit of his, as he prepared for exploring the unknown Immortal Cultivation World.
He hadn’t thought that, after about ten years, it would finallye into use.
The Tai Yan Boat was equipped with a Dust Cleaning Array, so the grain naturally didn’t deteriorate.
Li Fan immediately ordered the mortals on the ind to carry a portion of the grain from the Tai Yan Boat for emergency use.
Seeing the Immortal Teacher bring them life-saving food, all the inders knelt down in gratitude, endless thanks pouring from their mouths.
Li Fan didn’t intervene, leaving them to their celebration.
If they rationed the grain from the Tai Yan Boat, it should suffice to sustain them for a few months.
The most important thing, however, was to solve the problem of freshwater.
With water, they could survive.
Li Fan headed for the ind’s main freshwater source, a medium-sizedke in the center of the ind.
People had already been assigned to guard the area around theke, preventing ordinary citizens from approaching.
Due to the prolongedck of rain, theke had significantly shrunk and was almost dried up, leaving only about a tenth of its original size.
“When the Ind Protection Array was built, I didn’t think there would ever be a water shortage…”
Self-mocking, Li Fan shook his head, holding onto the Taian Ind Command Token.
“It seems, I will need to build a Seawater Purification Array after all..”