Upon hearing this, Zhang Deming clasped his hands behind his back and turned to gaze at the scenery outside. "It’s nothing major, to be honest," he said.

"A young man from my family went to the Celestial Spirit Sect’s territory to develop a new district.

A few days ago, he said he’d found someone with immense Qi Fortune and wanted to bring them into the Alliance, so he asked me to come and have a look."

Li Cheng asked doubtfully, "The Alliance?"

Zhang Deming seemed to have a moment of realization. "Ah, look at me. I’ve signed so many contracts that I’m getting used to these quick in-and-outs.

Allow me to introduce myself. I belong to the Blue Sky Alliance’s Yellow Department. I’m in charge of signing the Entry Level Blood Contracts. You can call me Elder Huang.

As for what the Blue Sky Alliance is, you can think of it as an organization similar to the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land. However, we prefer to keep a low profile, so we’re a secret organization.

Furthermore, it functions more like a free platform, unlike the rigid structures of Noble Families or Sects.

You could imagine it as a combination of a Holy Land and the modern Holy Land Business Alliance, but without some of the more restrictive rules. That’s more or less what the Alliance is.

The reason I brought your grandson here today is simply to invite him to join the Alliance. While his Cultivation isn’t anything special, his abundant Qi Fortune should be able to help that young man from my family turn his luck around."

Hearing this, Li Cheng and Li Shifan both fell silent.

Li Cheng looked at Li Shifan. "What do you think?"

In truth, both of them knew perfectly well that in this situation, they had no real choice in the matter.

He was only asking to give Li Shifan an opportunity to ask some questions of his own.

Li Shifan looked at Zhang Deming and chose his words carefully. "I was wondering, what would this Alliance you speak of require of me, Senior?"

Zhang Deming smiled. "The Alliance is managed very loosely. We don’t care if you’ve joined other powers or what you’ve done in the past.

As long as you don’t cross the Alliance’s bottom line, joining is essentially like gaining access to a platform.

To use an analogy, it’s like you’ve joined a marketplace and bought yourself a stall.

Well... the analogy isn’t perfect, but you get the idea.

The Alliance’s tenet is mutual benefit. Even if we have a task for you, we will provide adequate compensation.

Of course, if you’re unwilling to join, I won’t force you. At most, I’ll just have to erase your memories of this."

Li Shifan and Li Cheng exchanged a glance, then said, "In that case, we thank you for this opportunity, Senior."

Given the situation, their host’s intention to recruit them was already glaringly obvious. Neither of them was a rookie, so they chose to ignore his last remark.

’Besides, if what he said is true, this doesn’t seem like a bad thing at all. It’s a heaven-sent opportunity. Given Li Shifan’s temperament, he’s willing to take the gamble.’

Zhang Deming smiled at their response. With a casual wave of his hand, the endless clouds and mist gathered to form a contract.

The movement was so natural, so full of Dao Essence, yet without the slightest fluctuation of Spiritual Power, that Li Cheng’s pupils constricted slightly. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

’In his long life, Li Cheng had never seen a Cultivator who had achieved such harmony with the Dao, whose Skills were one with nature. Such beings only existed in legends.’

A sheet of white paper, inscribed with five simple rules, floated directly into Li Shifan’s hands.

"Since you’ve chosen to join the Alliance, go ahead and sign it."

Li Shifan glanced over the rules and found that, indeed, there were few restrictions. After a moment, he asked, "How do I sign this?"

Zhang Deming smiled. "Out in the world, you’d need a drop of blood. Here, a simple handprint will suffice."

Upon hearing this, Li Shifan pressed his hand directly onto the white paper.

A handprint instantly appeared on the contract, which then spontaneously burst into flames.

Seeing this, Zhang Deming said, "Alright, I won’t keep you any longer. I still have a lot to take care of.

After you return, that young man, Zhang Wu, will contact you."

"Understood, Senior."

"Thank you, Senior."

Li Shifan and Li Cheng bowed in unison.

With a wave of his hand, Zhang Deming tossed Li Shifan out. As for Li Cheng, he transformed back into a scroll and flew into Li Shifan’s consciousness.

「...」

When Li Shifan opened his eyes, he found himself back on Little Hui Peak, within the Celestial Spirit Sect.

He opened his palm, and a scroll slowly materialized there.

Li Shifan gazed at the scroll and asked, "Ancestor, where were we just now?"

A miniature figure of Li Cheng materialized, lying on the surface of the scroll. He said faintly,

"Sigh... I don’t know what realm that was either. But judging by that senior’s methods and demeanor...

...and the fact that he could directly perform a Detaining God on you... I believe it must have been the legendary Grotto Heaven Blessed Land."

Hearing this, Li Shifan murmured, "So that was the legendary Blessed Land Grotto Heaven?"

But Li Cheng shook his head. "It might have even been a Holy Land!"

Li Shifan was shocked. "But doesn’t the Hongmeng Realm only have the Three Great Holy Lands?"

Li Cheng replied in a chillingly faint voice, "But the Hongmeng Realm isn’t the only world under the heavens."

"Ancestor, are you talking about other worlds in the Outer Realm? How is that possible? A feat like that would be several times more incredible than ’Dwelling at Dawn Vast Sun Curtaining Azure Moon’!

What level of Heaven-Reaching Cultivation would one need to possess such an ability?" Li Shifan asked.

Li Cheng looked up at the sky. "Who knows? In all my time between Heaven and Earth, this is the first time I’ve ever encountered such a powerhouse.

You truly are someone blessed with great Qi Fortune. ’Good fortune falls into your lap while you’re just sitting at home’... I’ve only ever read about things like this in storybooks.

Today, I’ve finally seen it happen in real life."

Li Shifan was speechless.

For a moment, they both fell silent, gazing blankly at the sky.

「...」

After hoodwinking Li Shifan, Zhang Deming strolled through the Spirit Nurturing Space. He gazed at the sky full of starlike points of light and fell into thought.

’Excluding the very first one, he had now made formal contact with four people.

Qu Qizhong, Qu Qingxian, Feng Mingyou, and Li Shifan.’