According to Zhou Qing'ang's memories, the territory under the Five Elders Council was divided into five great Celestial Domains, each governed by a different Heavenly Venerable.
Each Celestial Domain possessed distinct, vivid characteristics utterly unlike any other place.
His homeland was called the Land of Gentlemen.
It earned this name because everyone within its borders was incapable of telling a lie.
Of course, that was what the people of the Land of Gentlemen called themselves.
Cultivators from other regions of the Five Elders Council preferred to call it the Land of Truth.
Regardless of the name, it did not change its beautiful nature.
There, people were always honest with one another, constantly revealing their truest selves.
While conflicts and killings inevitably occurred from time to time, compared to the external world brimming with falsehoods, Zhou Qing'ang loved his homeland dearly.
To the north of the Land of Truth lay the dreamland for countless cultivators, the Paradise of No Troubles.
As for the other three domains, Zhou Qing'ang had been selected for spy training before he learned about them.
***
Before the evolving dreamscape shattered, Li Fan replayed the dream once more to ensure the accuracy of the information obtained.
He repeated this process three times.
After collecting some biological material from Zhou Qing'ang, Li Fan used it as a template to refine an avatar.
Several days later, a body identical to Zhou Qing'ang's appeared.
Li Fan gave a slight nod, then proceeded in the same manner, activating Arcana True Spirit Transformation to change his own appearance to match Zhou Qing'ang's.
A rather odd scene unfolded within the small, sealed chamber at the bottom of the sea: three bodies with completely identical features, yet each wearing a different expression.
"Marvelous, simply marvelous!"
Li Fan remarked with satisfaction.
Gazing at the still-unconscious Zhou Qing'ang, whose lips were curled in a faint smile, a strange light flickered in Li Fan's eyes.
I won't kill you in this lifetime, lest I leave any clues.
To be forever lost in an illusory dream... for you, that might not be such a bad fate.
Using materials found nearby, Li Fan fashioned a stone coffin for Zhou Qing'ang.
After placing him inside, he threw in a pile of spirit stones to sustain his vitality.
With the Cloudwater Dream Illusion at its core, Li Fan then set up an array capable of maintaining the illusion for at least twenty years.
He then sealed the coffin shut with a massive stone and buried it deep beneath the seabed.
This way, aside from me, no one in the world should ever discover your disappearance.
After meticulously covering his tracks, Li Fan's gaze seemed to pierce through the ocean floor, settling upon Zhou Qing'ang slumbering within the illusion.
His actions were inspired by the Eternal Immortal Wall.
When a cultivator of the Xuanhuang World died, heaven and earth would sense it, manifesting strange phenomena in the sky.
Li Fan had not yet mastered a method to prevent these phenomena from occurring. Yet for now, he could not allow anyone to discover that Zhou Qing'ang had been replaced.
Thus, this method was perfectly suitable for his needs.
Having completed all this, the avatar returned to Tai’an Island to continue serving as a guardian of the Myriad Immortals Alliance.
His true self set off towards the rendezvous point in Zhou Qing'ang's memories to meet his handler.
Zhou Qing'ang actually knew very little about his own handler, as contact had always been largely one-way.
Furthermore, the meeting location would change after every rendezvous.
Li Fan arrived at a deserted island, searched it, and indeed found an ordinary-looking stone with a few inconspicuous small holes at specific positions. These holes represented certain coordinates in the Congyun Sea.
Based on the coordinates, Li Fan determined the location for their rendezvous. Then, he crushed the stone and flew directly towards the destination.
One day later, within an underwater ruin, Li Fan found the target: a seemingly ordinary fragmented slab of stone.
Li Fan placed both hands on it and activated a secret technique. Instantly, his palms began emitting a yellow light.
Simultaneously, the same pale yellow glow surged from within the stone fragment, swiftly scanning Li Fan's entire body.
The verification was a success, and the light retreated back into the stone.
Not long after, the surface of the stone fragment became smooth as a mirror. A blurred image of a human face appeared within it.
"What's going on? Didn't I tell you to lay low and not make contact for now?" The other party's tone was icy.
Li Fan imitated Zhou Qing'ang's tone: "Boss! I have important intelligence to report this time, that's why I'm breaking protocol to contact you!"
"Important intelligence?" The other side was clearly skeptical, their tone unfriendly. "Let's hear it."
Li Fan lowered his voice, leaning closer. "A Fellow Daoist I've befriended claims he can get his hands on the exam papers for this Myriad Immortals Alliance entrance recruitment examination."
The face was first stunned, then immediately cursed. "Another swindler? You believe something so outrageous? And you specifically reported it to me? Zhou Qing'ang, oh Zhou Qing'ang, have you been in Congyun Sea so long that your brain's filled with seawater?"
Li Fan immediately put on an expression of great grievance. "Boss, this time it's as true as it gets! I guarantee it!"