However, the spiritual energy that left his body seemed to encounter a dam, and it was all blocked outside the stone statue.
Like an insulator for spiritual energy and spiritual consciousness, all of Li Fan's conventional means couldn't probe the stone statue.
"Interesting, I wonder what kind of material it is."
Li Fan summoned a water blade and controlled it to swiftly cut towards the stone statue.
Let alone an ordinary stone, even if it was refined steel, it would be split in half by this water blade.
But on the contrary, the water blade couldn't affect this damaged stone statue in the slightest.
The moment it touched it, the spiritual energy maintaining the power of the water blade scattered.
Apart from washing the stone statue, it didn't cause any damage.
"What a precious treasure! It's a pity there are too few pieces, and I can't take them back to reality."
"Otherwise, it could be used to create an absolutely safe secret chamber."
Li Fan imagined the various wonderful uses of this unknown stone material and couldn't help but feel a bit regretful.
Suddenly, Li Fan's heart stirred, and he found a piece of stone on the ground nearby.
Using it as a tool, he forcibly knocked off another fragment from the stone statue.
Then, he fiercely stabbed this fragment into his arm.
Blood immediately flowed out.
Li Fan frowned slightly.
The spiritual energy circulating to the wound caused by the fragment couldn't operate freely.
It needed to detour around it, greatly reducing efficiency.
The fragment was still stuck in his body, and if not removed, the wound couldn't be healed with spiritual energy.
After contemplating for a moment, Li Fan reluctantly extracted the fragment.
He held it in his hand and examined it.
"Perhaps, I can defeat Senior Brother Zhang without resorting to slowly exhausting him to death."
He contemplated inwardly.
While Li Fan was studying this mysterious stone statue, the battle in the sky had reached a fierce stage.
Song Hesong revealed his true colors, besieging Zhang Qianmo along with Chu Liang and the others.
The aftermath of the battle between them brought destruction to Ningyuan City below.
Houses collapsed, and countless mortals died inexplicably.
However, on the side of the small temple, with Li Fan's intervention, no danger occurred.
"Even if it weren't for me, with the existence of this dilapidated stone statue, these children should be fine."
"No wonder after the great battle ended, they were still lively enough to come out and organize relief efforts."
Li Fan thought to himself.
The battle continued according to the predetermined script.
Song Hesong was at a disadvantage, and he slammed their hands towards Ningyuan City.
In an instant, countless mortals were injured or killed.
Their surging blood-colored aura formed the "Sentient Soul Refinement Formation," imprisoning Zhang Qianmo.
Song Hesong, unrelenting, followed with several consecutive strikes.
As Golden Core cultivators, each strike took the lives of tens of thousands of mortals.
One of the strikes happened to be aimed in the direction of the small temple.
Li Fan's eyes flickered slightly as he withdrew his protection and swiftly dodged behind the remaining stone statue.
When the strike hit the stone statue, it had no effect and dissipated into nothingness.
Except for the area blocked by the stone statue, everything else turned into ruins.
It was as if there was a vacuum of spiritual energy, and it didn't arouse any suspicion from Song Hesong.
Li Fan stood up from behind the stone statue and casually cleaned up the surrounding ruins.
He continued to watch the battle in the sky.
When Zhang Qianmo broke through and entered the purple core state...
Li Fan thought for a moment, then pushed aside the stone statue and entered the underground chamber.
The children in the secret chamber were initially nervous when someone entered.
But after seeing it was Li Fan, the "good person," they breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's better to come in and take shelter. It's too scary outside," Li Fan shook his head and sighed.
Lu Ya grinned and didn't say much, just greeting Li Fan and gesturing for him to sit down.
The underground chamber wasn't large, but it was enough for everyone to take shelter.
Inside, there were also some water and food supplies; apparently, it was often used as a refuge.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Li Fan chatted casually with the yellow-haired Lu Ya.
He learned that this temple was originally called the "Xuantian Temple."
The underground chamber was also discovered by them by chance.
As for who was worshipped there, they had no idea because it had been abandoned for many years.
Lu Ya was even less clear about where the missing half of the stone statue had gone.
Just then, a little girl nearby interjected, "I know, I know! It's at Mr. Bai's house! When Mr. Bai took me back to cure my illness last time, I saw it."
"There's half of a body stuck there with no face, it's really scary!"
Lu Ya was taken aback, "You know where Mr. Bai's house is? Then why did you say you didn't know when I asked you last time?"
The little girl blushed and gave Lu Ya a look, "I've been there, but I was sick and confused, so I didn't remember how to get there!"
"Mr. Bai..."
Listening to the conversation between the two children, Li Fan pondered.
...
Above Ningyuan City, Zhang Qianmo, who had killed all his assailants, hurriedly searched for the whereabouts of his junior brother, who had issued a warning for him.
However, despite searching Ningyuan City multiple times with his spiritual consciousness, he couldn't find his junior brother.
Thinking that his junior brother had met a tragic fate, Zhang Qianmo felt remorse in his heart.
Undeterred, he searched several more times, hoping to at least find his junior brother's body.
However, he still found nothing.
Zhang Qianmo had no choice but to take a Longevity Fruit alone and leave Ningyuan City in deep sorrow.
Shortly after he left, a petite figure cautiously emerged from the ruins of the small temple.
After observing carefully for a long time, she finally shouted boldly, "It's safe now, come out!"
Immediately after, Li Fan followed a group of children as they emerged from the underground chamber.
The children looked at Ningyuan City, now a wasteland with corpses strewn about, feeling somewhat lost.
However, being orphans who survived alone outside, their psychological endurance was quite strong.
Surprisingly, Li Fan didn't see fear or apprehension in their eyes.
They were just a little lost and didn't know what to do for a moment.
"This Mr. Bai should be coming soon."
At this point, there were no more cultivators left in the city except for him, so Li Fan had no reservations.
He immediately used his spiritual consciousness to search for the trace of "Mr. Bai" among the survivors.
He should be easy to find by following the description given by the children.
A young, gentle, extremely handsome, and weak scholar.
But...
Li Fan's expression changed slightly.
He didn't find a matching individual.
Li Fan searched several more times, but the result remained the same.
"Could it be that the children's description of 'extremely handsome' is just their glorification?"
Li Fan couldn't help but speculate.
With no other choice, he could only wait for Mr. Bai to arrive at the small temple.
However, what surprised Li Fan was that even after waiting until the duration of this Immortal Falling Realm ended, he still hadn't seen this "Mr. Bai."
As the surroundings became hazy, when Li Fan was about to leave the Immortal Falling Realm...
He faintly heard the excited shouts of the children: "Xiao Bai! Xiao Bai is here!"
"Mr. Bai! Mr. Bai!"
Li Fan suddenly turned his head to look, but he only vaguely saw a blurry figure.
However, the spiritual energy that left his body seemed to encounter a dam, and it was all blocked outside the stone statue.
Like an insulator for spiritual energy and spiritual consciousness, all of Li Fan's conventional means couldn't probe the stone statue.
"Interesting, I wonder what kind of material it is."
Li Fan summoned a water blade and controlled it to swiftly cut towards the stone statue.
Let alone an ordinary stone, even if it was refined steel, it would be split in half by this water blade.
But on the contrary, the water blade couldn't affect this damaged stone statue in the slightest.
The moment it touched it, the spiritual energy maintaining the power of the water blade scattered.
Apart from washing the stone statue, it didn't cause any damage.
"What a precious treasure! It's a pity there are too few pieces, and I can't take them back to reality."
"Otherwise, it could be used to create an absolutely safe secret chamber."
Li Fan imagined the various wonderful uses of this unknown stone material and couldn't help but feel a bit regretful.
Suddenly, Li Fan's heart stirred, and he found a piece of stone on the ground nearby.
Using it as a tool, he forcibly knocked off another fragment from the stone statue.
Then, he fiercely stabbed this fragment into his arm.
Blood immediately flowed out.
Li Fan frowned slightly.
The spiritual energy circulating to the wound caused by the fragment couldn't operate freely.
It needed to detour around it, greatly reducing efficiency.
The fragment was still stuck in his body, and if not removed, the wound couldn't be healed with spiritual energy.
After contemplating for a moment, Li Fan reluctantly extracted the fragment.
He held it in his hand and examined it.
"Perhaps, I can defeat Senior Brother Zhang without resorting to slowly exhausting him to death."
He contemplated inwardly.
While Li Fan was studying this mysterious stone statue, the battle in the sky had reached a fierce stage.
Song Hesong revealed his true colors, besieging Zhang Qianmo along with Chu Liang and the others.
The aftermath of the battle between them brought destruction to Ningyuan City below.
Houses collapsed, and countless mortals died inexplicably.
However, on the side of the small temple, with Li Fan's intervention, no danger occurred.
"Even if it weren't for me, with the existence of this dilapidated stone statue, these children should be fine."
"No wonder after the great battle ended, they were still lively enough to come out and organize relief efforts."
Li Fan thought to himself.
The battle continued according to the predetermined script.
Song Hesong was at a disadvantage, and he slammed their hands towards Ningyuan City.
In an instant, countless mortals were injured or killed.
Their surging blood-colored aura formed the "Sentient Soul Refinement Formation," imprisoning Zhang Qianmo.
Song Hesong, unrelenting, followed with several consecutive strikes.
As Golden Core cultivators, each strike took the lives of tens of thousands of mortals.
One of the strikes happened to be aimed in the direction of the small temple.
Li Fan's eyes flickered slightly as he withdrew his protection and swiftly dodged behind the remaining stone statue.
When the strike hit the stone statue, it had no effect and dissipated into nothingness.
Except for the area blocked by the stone statue, everything else turned into ruins.
It was as if there was a vacuum of spiritual energy, and it didn't arouse any suspicion from Song Hesong.
Li Fan stood up from behind the stone statue and casually cleaned up the surrounding ruins.
He continued to watch the battle in the sky.
When Zhang Qianmo broke through and entered the purple core state...
Li Fan thought for a moment, then pushed aside the stone statue and entered the underground chamber.
The children in the secret chamber were initially nervous when someone entered.
But after seeing it was Li Fan, the "good person," they breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's better to come in and take shelter. It's too scary outside," Li Fan shook his head and sighed.
Lu Ya grinned and didn't say much, just greeting Li Fan and gesturing for him to sit down.
The underground chamber wasn't large, but it was enough for everyone to take shelter.
Inside, there were also some water and food supplies; apparently, it was often used as a refuge.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Li Fan chatted casually with the yellow-haired Lu Ya.
He learned that this temple was originally called the "Xuantian Temple."
The underground chamber was also discovered by them by chance.
As for who was worshipped there, they had no idea because it had been abandoned for many years.
Lu Ya was even less clear about where the missing half of the stone statue had gone.
Just then, a little girl nearby interjected, "I know, I know! It's at Mr. Bai's house! When Mr. Bai took me back to cure my illness last time, I saw it."
"There's half of a body stuck there with no face, it's really scary!"
Lu Ya was taken aback, "You know where Mr. Bai's house is? Then why did you say you didn't know when I asked you last time?"
The little girl blushed and gave Lu Ya a look, "I've been there, but I was sick and confused, so I didn't remember how to get there!"
"Mr. Bai..."
Listening to the conversation between the two children, Li Fan pondered.
...
Above Ningyuan City, Zhang Qianmo, who had killed all his assailants, hurriedly searched for the whereabouts of his junior brother, who had issued a warning for him.
However, despite searching Ningyuan City multiple times with his spiritual consciousness, he couldn't find his junior brother.
Thinking that his junior brother had met a tragic fate, Zhang Qianmo felt remorse in his heart.
Undeterred, he searched several more times, hoping to at least find his junior brother's body.
However, he still found nothing.
Zhang Qianmo had no choice but to take a Longevity Fruit alone and leave Ningyuan City in deep sorrow.
Shortly after he left, a petite figure cautiously emerged from the ruins of the small temple.
After observing carefully for a long time, she finally shouted boldly, "It's safe now, come out!"
Immediately after, Li Fan followed a group of children as they emerged from the underground chamber.
The children looked at Ningyuan City, now a wasteland with corpses strewn about, feeling somewhat lost.
However, being orphans who survived alone outside, their psychological endurance was quite strong.
Surprisingly, Li Fan didn't see fear or apprehension in their eyes.
They were just a little lost and didn't know what to do for a moment.
"This Mr. Bai should be coming soon."
At this point, there were no more cultivators left in the city except for him, so Li Fan had no reservations.
He immediately used his spiritual consciousness to search for the trace of "Mr. Bai" among the survivors.
He should be easy to find by following the description given by the children.
A young, gentle, extremely handsome, and weak scholar.
But...
Li Fan's expression changed slightly.
He didn't find a matching individual.
Li Fan searched several more times, but the result remained the same.
"Could it be that the children's description of 'extremely handsome' is just their glorification?"
Li Fan couldn't help but speculate.
With no other choice, he could only wait for Mr. Bai to arrive at the small temple.
However, what surprised Li Fan was that even after waiting until the duration of this Immortal Falling Realm ended, he still hadn't seen this "Mr. Bai."
As the surroundings became hazy, when Li Fan was about to leave the Immortal Falling Realm...
He faintly heard the excited shouts of the children: "Xiao Bai! Xiao Bai is here!"
"Mr. Bai! Mr. Bai!"
Li Fan suddenly turned his head to look, but he only vaguely saw a blurry figure.
