156: The system undergoes a major transformation, the alliance begins to form, and the geniuses emerge

"Ding!"

"The System is undergoing an unprecedented massive upgrade..."

"Upgrade complete!"

The cold, mechanical voice in Lin Fan's mind transformed into streams of clear, visible data flowing with golden light.

Before his eyes, a brand-new, translucent light screen, visible only to him, appeared in the Void Realm.

The interface of the light screen was no longer as rudimentary as before.

At the very top, there was a startling dark-red progress bar, labeled with four ancient characters: "Era Calamity."

The progress bar currently showed an almost imperceptible 0.01 percent.

Next to it was a new panel: "World Luck."

On the panel, the words "Flowing Light Realm" flickered slightly, and its status displayed: Luck declining, Heavenly Dao unstable, rules chaotic.

Below, several highly practical functional modules had been added.

"Immortal Dao Cultivation Technique Analysis."

"immortal realm fragment Purification."

The "Quest List" also became more detailed, and the rewards had been elevated by several tiers.

Lin Fan's heart pounded violently due to this immense surprise.

This was the Golden Finger configuration a Transmigrator should have.

However.

Just as this surprise arose, an unprecedented sense of exhaustion, originating from the depths of his Divine Soul, surged like a breached dam, instantly engulfing him.

His Immortal Grade Nascent Soul's light had dimmed considerably.

The chaos bell phantom, perched deep within his Nascent Soul, also fell silent, as if it had consumed a massive amount of Origin in the previous battle to purify the demonic Dao Protector.

His face turned somewhat pale in an instant.

Only then did Lin Fan deeply realize a problem.

"Immortality" did not equate to "no consumption."

Facing an enemy of the Soul Transformation Stage, even if it was just a corrupted Dao Protector, each death and resurrection, each activation of the chaos bell's Origin power, was a tremendous drain.

If he had a few more battles like that, his Immortal Grade Nascent Soul would likely fall into a long period of slumber.

He had to find a more efficient and safer method.

He couldn't continue fighting alone and courting death by himself, as he had before.

He needed... help.

This thought had just emerged from the bottom of his heart.

Three figures, carrying three distinctly different auras, had already surrounded him.

The battle was over.

The real "battlefield" was just beginning.

"Senior Brother Lin Fan."

Zhao Linger spoke first. Her clear eyes reflected Lin Fan's slightly pale face, and beneath her gentle demeanor, there was unconcealed heartache and shock.

"You... you just now..."

Her words were a bit jumbled, as if she didn't know where to start asking.

Was she asking about his astonishing immortal body?

Or about his terrifying strength, capable of directly confronting a Soul Transformation Stage Dao Protector?

Or why he had to endure the pain of his body being torn apart time and again?

Her fingertips trembled slightly.

On the other side, Li Hanyue's gaze, like the sharpest ice blade, moved inch by inch from the "glazed key" in Lin Fan's hand to his face.

Her voice was as cold as ever, but it carried an undeniable pressure.

"The secrets on you are even more numerous than I imagined."

"What is this thing?"

"Why did you come to the Flowing Light Realm?"

She asked directly and sharply, cutting to the core.

Su Meier didn't speak.

She just silently walked behind Lin Fan again, her enchanting fox-like eyes, capable of captivating all beings, vigilantly scanning Zhao Linger and Li Hanyue.

Her small hand quietly grasped a corner of Lin Fan's clothing.

That slight force carried dependence, declaration, and a hint of inquiry.

Master, should I tell them?

The gazes of the three women, like three invisible nets, firmly locked onto Lin Fan.

This time, he couldn't simply dismiss it as "a chance encounter."

Nor could he muddle through with jokes.

Lin Fan took a deep breath, suppressing the exhaustion from the depths of his Divine Soul.

He knew he had to give an answer that would convince them.

Otherwise, this nascent idea of an "Alliance" would instantly die in its infancy.

Lin Fan's face no longer held its previous playful and helpless expression.

Instead, there was a profound, weary, and weathered look, unbefitting his age.

He raised his hand, displaying the "glazed key," which emitted a pure immortal Dao light, before the three women.

"Everything you want to know is here."

His voice was soft, yet it carried a strange penetrative power.

"I did not come to this realm of my own volition."

"Rather... I had no choice."

Lin Fan's gaze slowly swept over the faces of the three women, finally looking towards the sky, ravaged and scarred by the battle.

"You all must have felt it."

"This world is undergoing some undesirable changes."

"Spiritual Qi is becoming chaotic, natural disasters and strange phenomena are frequent, and even ancient ruins are inexplicably reviving."

Zhao Linger and Li Hanyue both nodded subconsciously.

They had clearly felt these changes the moment they entered the Flowing Light Realm.

"This is no accident."

Lin Fan's voice became incredibly solemn.

"This is a catastrophe sweeping across all the heavens and myriad realms, from which no one can escape."

"A reckoning, named the 'Era Calamity.'"

"Era Calamity..."

Zhao Linger and Li Hanyue simultaneously murmured the term in their hearts.

This word was too grand, too distant, yet it subtly aligned with Old Ancestor Xuan Ming's reaction earlier and everything Lin Fan had done.

Lin Fan looked at their shocked expressions and continued to reveal his "truth."

"I am not from this realm, but due to a certain fate, I have been drawn into the vortex of this great calamity."

"I have been given an identity—the Person Destined to Face the Calamity."

"Or rather, a 'Dao Protector.'"

He sculpted himself from a mysterious intruder into a tragic hero burdened with a heavy mission.

"My task is to find a way to purify this world before this great calamity fully erupts, to find a ray of hope for all living beings."

"And this 'glazed key' is the key to purifying the immortal realm fragment of this world and delaying the arrival of the great calamity."

His words were designed to avoid the crucial points.

He perfectly explained why he came and why he fought, yet cleverly concealed the existence of the System.

He was merely a pitiful person forced to bear the fate of the entire world.

The air fell into a long silence.

Zhao Linger and Li Hanyue were both digesting these astonishing statements.

Zhao Linger's eyes, from initial shock, gradually transformed into a more complex emotion.

She looked at Lin Fan.

Looking at his feigned profundity, which could not hide his weary eyes.

She suddenly understood.

She understood why he possessed an immortal body, and why he had to endure the pain of death time and again.

It turned out that he carried such a heavy fate.

In her heart, those grievances about "a chance encounter," those jealousies about Su Meier, were at this moment replaced by a grander sense of mission.

She suddenly felt that her previous girlish thoughts were so insignificant.

"If this is your destiny..."

Zhao Linger took a step forward. Her voice was gentle, yet incredibly firm.

"Senior Brother Lin Fan, I will accompany you."

She no longer pressed for the secret of his immortal body.

Nor did she inquire further about his relationship with Su Meier.

She chose to believe.

She chose to stand with him before this torrent called the "Era Calamity."

Li Hanyue still frowned.

Her rationality told her that Lin Fan's words surely held hidden truths.

But she also couldn't deny the demonic Dao Protector she had witnessed with her own eyes, the "glazed key" she had seen, and the resolute determination in Lin Fan to complete his mission at all costs.

This man was much stronger and much more complex than she had imagined.

Cooperating to uncover deeper secrets and simultaneously gain power to resist unknown crises.

This was the most rational choice.

"I can help you."

Li Hanyue finally spoke, her gaze sharp as a sword.

"However, from now on, I hope there will be no more hidden truths."

Her agreement came with conditions.

Su Meier looked at Lin Fan, her eyes filled with undisguised adoration and pride.

She didn't care about any calamity or Dao Protector.

She only knew that her master was the most unique man under heaven.

She was genuinely happy that he was willing to share these secrets.

"My life belongs to Master."

"Whatever Master does, Meier will do."

Her declaration was simple, direct, yet heavier than any oath.

Lin Fan finally breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

He knew he had made the right bet.

"Good."

He nodded heavily, a genuine smile spreading across his face.

"From today on, we are the 'Dao Protector Alliance.'"

"I am responsible for guiding the direction and providing resources."

"You, then, are my most reliable assistants and comrades."

To solidify this newly formed, makeshift Alliance.

Lin Fan decided to immediately demonstrate the Alliance's value.

He looked around, his gaze locking onto a broken stone pillar nearby that still emitted faint Devilish Qi.

"Follow me."

He led the three women to the stone pillar.

"System, use the 'immortal realm fragment Purification' function."

Lin Fan silently recited in his mind.

He reached out and placed his hand on the stone pillar.

The next moment, the "glazed key" in his hand suddenly lit up.

A soft white light shot out from the key, enveloping the entire stone pillar.

"Buzz—"

Under the shocked gazes of the three women.

Wisps of black Qi were forcibly stripped from the pitch-black stone pillar, then thoroughly purified and dissolved in the white light.

The stone pillar returned to its original white jade color, even emitting a pure immortal Dao aura, devoid of any Impurities.

And what shocked them even more was yet to come.

In Lin Fan's palm, as the fragment was purified, a fist-sized, milky-white, almost liquid energy orb appeared out of thin air.

That was Origin energy condensed from the purest immortal Dao aura.

"This is the Immortal Dao Origin obtained after purification."

Lin Fan's voice carried a hint of temptation.

"It will greatly benefit your Cultivation."

As he spoke, he flicked his finger.

He divided this Immortal Dao Origin into three portions, accurately flicking them into the foreheads of the three women.

"Boom!"

Su Meier's body reacted first.

Her Bloodline, belonging to the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox, let out a joyful cry under the cleansing of this pure Immortal Dao Origin, and her Cultivation Bottleneck visibly loosened.

Zhao Linger felt a warm and pure power surge into her limbs and bones, washing her Dao foundation. Her Spiritual Qi, which had been slightly impure from practicing Alchemy, instantly became incredibly refined.

Even on Li Hanyue's face, like an iceberg that had stood for ten thousand years, a trace of emotion appeared.

She felt that her Sword Heart, nourished by this power, became even more transparent and sharper.

Just the purification of a small fragment brought such immense benefits.

Their gazes towards Lin Fan had completely changed.

Shock, admiration, and... anticipation for the future.

This "Dao Protector Alliance" seemed to truly have something special.

In the following days.

Lin Fan began to establish the embryonic form of this Alliance.

Using the sensing ability of the "glazed key" and the newly unlocked map function of the System, he found several more contaminated ancient ruins in the ancient city's ruins.

He unhesitatingly distributed the purified Immortal Dao Origin to the three women, helping them consolidate their Cultivation and enhance their strength.

At the same time, he also began to use his title as "Immortal Ancestor" and the abundant resources he possessed to recruit some Loose Cultivators and demon cultivators who were oppressed by major Sects and had nowhere else to go.

A secret organization, with Lin Fan at its core, the three women as his assistants, and aimed at collecting "calamity" intelligence and finding and purifying immortal realm fragments, quietly began to operate in the shadows of the Flowing Light Realm.

And all of this, naturally, could not escape the Spirit Transformation Old Monster who were constantly observing this place.

Nine Heavens Immortal Palace.

Inside the grand hall on the cloud-shrouded mountain peak.

Old Ancestor Xuan Ming's face was terrifyingly grim.

The water mirror before him clearly showed Lin Fan and the three women Cultivating together and distributing resources.

"This Lin Fan is not only a monster himself."

"The three female cultivators around him are also Prodigies rarely seen in ten thousand years."

"Now, they have even united and are secretly recruiting forces..."

Another Soul Transformation Stage Elder in the hall said worriedly.

"What exactly does he want to do? Does he really intend to establish the fifth major Soul Transformation Stage power in this Flowing Light Realm?"

Old Ancestor Xuan Ming remained silent.

What he felt was a deeper threat than anyone else.

Lin Fan's goal seemed to be not about dominance at all.

He was like a chess player, setting up a very, very large game.

And the entire Flowing Light Realm was just his chessboard.

"Monitor closely."

Old Ancestor Xuan Ming finally uttered only these four words.

"Before we figure out his true trump card and objective, we must never engage him in direct conflict."

Within the ancient city.

Lin Fan held the "glazed key" and stood on the purified altar.

Relying on the key's guidance and the information from the upgraded System.

He had already confirmed his next target.

The Heavenly Dao Forbidden Zone.

A place that even Spirit Transformation Old Monster dreaded, known as a "forbidden zone of life."

There, the Heavenly Dao rules were completely broken, spatial rifts were everywhere, and it was filled with larger and more dangerous immortal realm fragments, deeply contaminated by Devilish Qi.

But similarly, it also contained deeper truths about the "Era Calamity."

Perhaps, the clue to the next "key" lay within.

He began to formulate a preliminary plan for entering the forbidden zone in his mind.

However.

For some unknown reason, as Lin Fan looked at the key in his hand, a faint sense of unease rose in his heart.

Although the process of obtaining the "glazed key" this time was dangerous, looking back, it always felt... too smooth.

From the Tianji Pavilion's letter, to Old Ancestor Xuan Ming's probing, to the appearance of the demonic Dao Protector.

Everything seemed like a pre-arranged script.

As if an invisible big hand was secretly, step by step, pushing him towards this so-called "Heavenly Dao Forbidden Zone."

Just then.

A bright red, urgent System prompt suddenly popped up before his eyes.

"Emergency Side Quest Issued!"

"A powerful aura, originating from the same source as the Dao Protector's Origin, has been detected deep within the 'Heavenly Dao Forbidden Zone'!"

"Warning: This aura has been severely eroded by Devilish Qi and is extremely unstable!"

"Quest Objective: Dao Protector, you must investigate and confirm its identity."

"Hint: Perhaps it is... a 'companion'?"

Lin Fan's pupils suddenly contracted.

Same source aura?

In the Heavenly Dao Forbidden Zone?

A "companion" severely eroded by Devilish Qi?

Could it be that he was not the only Person Destined to Face the Calamity?

Or, would this so-called "companion" be an even more terrifying crisis than the demonic Dao Protector?

The truth of this world seemed far more complex than he had imagined.