247: Moonlight Rendezvous, the Core Secret

The scene completely turned into a frenzy of bidding.

The Elders of various major powers, who had previously been high and mighty and wary of each other, were now like the most enthusiastic street vendors in the mortal world, rushing forward to offer Lin Fan one tempting price after another.

"Senior Lin, my Wanfa Sect is willing to gift you a copy of our Sect-Protecting Divine Technique, the 'Wanfa Guiliu'!"

"Senior, please consider our Tianji Pavilion! The ancient secrets and extraordinary tales within our pavilion can be read at your leisure, as long as you are interested!"

The position of an Elder.

Massive amounts of resources.

Top-tier Immortal Caves.

Divine Abilities and Daoist techniques.

They were eager to place all the benefits their Sects could offer before Lin Fan, just to exchange for a single nod from this excessively young Void Refining powerhouse.

The value of such a young Void Refining powerhouse with unlimited potential could no longer be measured by any resources.

As long as they could recruit him to their side, the prosperity of their Sect would have the most solid guarantee for the next several thousand years.

Yao Tianqi and the others, squeezed into the outer circle, watched this scene blankly.

Looking at the man who was frantically pursued by countless big shots yet still maintained a calm expression, only numbness remained in their hearts.

A single step to the heavens.

This was a true single step to the heavens.

However, facing this recruitment that was enough to drive any Cultivator crazy, Lin Fan's face did not show the slightest emotion.

His gaze calmly swept across the crowd, and his voice was not loud, yet it clearly suppressed all the noise.

"Thank you all for your kind regard."

"It's just that I am used to being a free spirit and have no plans to join any Sect for the time being."

A single sentence instantly poured a bucket of cold water over the enthusiasm of the entire venue.

All the Elders were stunned.

He refused?

He actually refused them all?

This defied common sense.

Just then, the Elder Jieyin of the Lunar Divine Palace, a beautiful woman in palace attire who still retained her charm, stepped forward with graceful steps.

She was not as urgent as the others; she simply gave Lin Fan a graceful bow and said softly, "Fellow Daoist Lin's presence is peerless, and you are unwilling to be bound by a Sect; I can understand that."

"However, Fellow Daoist and our Palace's Saintess Yue Xi are life-and-death friends who have shared hardships, so you are not considered an outsider."

She paused, her gaze looking at Yue Xi beside Lin Fan with deep meaning.

"If Fellow Daoist is willing to come to our Divine Palace to serve as a Guest Elder, the Sect will never interfere with any of your freedom. Moreover, you can often discuss the Dao and practice with Saintess Yue Xi; wouldn't that be wonderful?"

These words were spoken with great skill.

It both elevated Lin Fan and pointed out his relationship with Yue Xi, finally using Yue Xi as a bargaining chip to throw out a hint that no young man could refuse.

For a moment, everyone's eyes were focused on Lin Fan, filled with envy, jealousy, and an expectation of watching a good show.

Even Yue Xi's body stiffened slightly, and an imperceptible blush appeared on her beautiful cheeks.

However, Lin Fan only gave the beautiful woman a calm look.

"Thank you for the kind offer, but my mind is made up."

Still a refusal.

Clean and crisp, leaving no room for maneuver.

The smile on the face of the woman in palace attire completely froze.

The several Lunar Divine Palace Disciples behind her even showed displeasure.

This kid is too ungrateful! What is the Saintess's status? She was used as a stepping stone for you, and you still dare to refuse?

The atmosphere in the field instantly became somewhat awkward and subtle.

"Elder."

At this moment, Yue Xi took a step forward on her own initiative, her cold voice breaking the deadlock.

"Fellow Daoist Lin is my savior, not a vassal of my Sect. We should respect his wishes; please do not force him, Elder."

Her words both resolved the situation for Lin Fan and stated her own position.

The woman in palace attire looked deeply at Yue Xi, then at Lin Fan, whose expression remained unruffled, and finally could only suppress the displeasure in her heart, forcing a smile: "I was being abrupt; the Saintess is right."

This farce finally came to a temporary end... That night.

Lin Fan was arranged in an independent quiet room on a spirit boat.

He sat cross-legged, not immediately starting to study that piece of the world core, but replaying everything that happened today in his mind.

Refusing all powers was the result of his careful consideration.

Joining any side meant being bound and scrutinized. His secrets were too many, and his trump card of resurrection absolutely could not be exposed under the eyes of any old monsters above the Void Refining stage.

Maintaining his freedom was the choice that best suited his Dao of Survival.

While he was thinking, a cold and pleasant voice with a strange penetrating power rang directly in his Sea of Consciousness.

"Fellow Daoist Lin, may we meet?"

It was Yue Xi.

Lin Fan's pupils contracted slightly.

This was not an ordinary voice transmission, but a secret technique that acted directly on the level of the Divine Soul.

"Where?" he responded in the same manner.

"The starry sky, coordinates..."

Yue Xi gave the precise coordinates of an uninhabited asteroid belt located outside the spirit boat fleet.

Lin Fan did not hesitate.

His figure slowly faded in the quiet room, like ink blending into water, disappearing without a sound... In the cold starry sky, on an asteroid about a mile in size.

Yue Xi, dressed in white, stood quietly at the edge of the asteroid, surrounded by a faint moonlight, like a Fairy who had descended to the mortal world.

Space rippled slightly, and Lin Fan's figure quietly appeared behind her.

"What is the matter you seek me for?" Lin Fan got straight to the point.

Yue Xi slowly turned around, her eyes, which seemed to contain a sea of stars, staring at Lin Fan without blinking.

This time, there was no previous shock or curiosity in her eyes, but a complexity and solemnity that Lin Fan could not understand.

There was a long silence.

Her red lips parted slightly, and she said something world-shaking.

"In the Myriad Realms Small World, I saw you die."

"Not just once."

Boom.

In Lin Fan's mind, it was as if thunder had exploded.

His body tensed to the limit in an instant, and all the power of the Nirvanic Tribulation Lightning he had refined within him was ready to strike.

She knew.

She actually knew his greatest secret!

A cold killing intent rose uncontrollably from the bottom of his heart.

Only dead people can keep secrets forever.

Seemingly sensing the killing intent that burst from Lin Fan in that instant, Yue Xi's body trembled slightly, and her face turned a few shades paler.

But she did not retreat, still meeting Lin Fan's gaze, and said very seriously: "I have no ill intent. If I wanted to expose you, I would have said it on the white jade platform in front of everyone."

The killing intent around Lin Fan slowly receded.

Right, she was correct.

If she were an enemy, just now would have been the best time to strike.

"How did you know?" His voice became somewhat hoarse.

"Because of my eyes." Yue Xi pointed to her own eyes, "I was born with a Divine Ability called 'Dao Embryo Spirit Eyes,' which allows me to see some things... that ordinary people cannot see. For example, the birth and death of a person's Soul Origin."

She did not ask what Lin Fan's secret was.

Instead, she chose to share her own secret.

"I can not only see these, but occasionally, I can also see some fragments of the future."

Yue Xi's tone became more solemn than ever before.

"I saw it."

"I saw a calamity sweeping through the entire Tianxuan Starfield, and even broader worlds. In that calamity, mountains and rivers were shattered, the sun and moon lost their light, countless Sects turned to ashes, and even my Lunar Divine Palace... was in danger of collapsing."

"That is the so-called 'Era Calamity'."

Lin Fan's heart skipped a beat.

Era Calamity.

This term appeared once again.

"So, why are you telling me all this?" Lin Fan asked in a deep voice.

"For an alliance."

Yue Xi looked at him and said word by word.

"Not the recruitment of the Lunar Divine Palace, but an invitation from me, Yue Xi, personally."

"I foresaw countless powerhouses falling in the calamity, Soul Transformation Cultivators like grass, and even Void Refining Cultivators finding it hard to protect themselves. But only you..."

A strange light flashed in her eyes.

"A person with the 'undying' characteristic is the most likely person to survive this calamity, and even... change the course of the battle."

"I need an ally. An ally who can watch over and help each other when the calamity descends, an ally worth entrusting one's back to."

Lin Fan fell into complete silence.

Yue Xi's frankness exceeded his expectations.

She exchanged her greatest secret for his trust.

The risks and benefits of this proposal were rapidly calculated in his mind.

After a long time, he looked up and met Yue Xi's sincere eyes.

"Okay."

He only said one word.

Yue Xi's tense body finally relaxed, and a Soul-stirring smile of relief blossomed on her beautiful face.

"Then, ally." She reached out her hand.

Lin Fan reached out his hand and lightly shook her soft, jade-like hand.

The alliance was formed... After sending Yue Xi away, Lin Fan returned to the quiet room alone.

He and Yue Xi exchanged their exclusive communication seals and agreed to help each other.

This conversation had gained him something far more precious than the resources promised by the major Sects.

Intelligence.

Intelligence about the deeper levels of this world, about that unavoidable Era Calamity.

He took a deep breath, suppressing his chaotic thoughts.

Then, he spread his palm.

That crystal fragment obtained from the World-Ending Black Sun Tribulation, completely crystal clear, quietly floated in his palm.

Myriad Realms Small World Core Fragment.

The moment his Divine Thought sank into it.

A series of cold mechanical notification tones rang out in his mind one after another.

["Ding! Detected a unique world Origin artifact!"]

["Analyzing the best usage plan for the host..."]

["Plan generation complete!"]

["Plan: This item can be used as a core, finding a 'Heaven and Earth Spiritual Vein Node' as a Foundation, consuming specified resources to construct a 'True · Absolute Safety Resurrection Anchor'!"]

["Anchor Effect: Can isolate the Divine Thought probes and heavenly secret deductions of all Cultivators at the Mahayana Stage and below, truly achieving perfection!"]