Upon hearing this, Liao Pantao nodded. "That makes sense."
"So capturing Wan Wan Tong's spies for now shouldn't be much of a problem," Lin Xiao continued. "As for those major sect cultivators..."
He cleared his throat dramatically before saying in a relaxed tone, "Elder, you might not know this, but our sect recently welcomed a new member named He Yi."
Liao Pantao was puzzled as to why Lin Xiao suddenly brought up a new disciple. "I know. Isn't he quite skilled at making talismans? By the way, where did he come from? I don't recall you mentioning that. How did a Golden Core talisman master just suddenly join the sect?"
Lin Xiao winked at him. "Do you remember? The Talisman Master Tournament, He Yi, the first-place winner."
Hearing this, Liao Pantao finally remembered. "So this He Yi is the same He Yi who won first place in the Talisman Master Tournament?"
It wasn't surprising that Liao Pantao didn't have a strong impression of He Yi. He had been recuperating in his Soul Pendant during the tournament and didn't personally witness it. His only recollection of the event was hearing that a contestant named He Yi had won first place.
Due to Lin Xiao's busy schedule, he hadn't had time to properly introduce He Yi's background to everyone. Only Liu Yun had a rough understanding, so most of the sect merely knew that a disciple named He Yi had joined, seemingly from the Immortal Realm, but not much else.
Lin Xiao nodded. "Not only that, but he came to the mortal realm with those other major sect cultivators. He's from the Talisman Sect. So, I figured that if we can't keep things under wraps with the major sects, we could send He Yi back to tell them there's a lead, but it's not clear yet, and they need more time to investigate. That way, we can stall for quite a while."
Liao Pantao was left speechless by the roughness of Lin Xiao's plan. After a moment, he asked, "Where exactly do you plan to detain all these people? You can't just bring them into the sect; even if you used the Heart-Washing Path on them, managing that many would be impossible."
Hearing this, Lin Xiao grew excited as if he had been injected with energy. "Detaining them is too boring! My actual plan is to invite them to Shuishui City as guests. We'll give them a few empty rooms to stay in, but they'll be temporarily restricted from leaving the city."
Liao Pantao raised an eyebrow, skeptical. "That's it? You're going to bring them to Shuishui City and just keep them there?"
Lin Xiao shrugged and grinned. "Well, of course, they can't stay in Shuishui City for free, can they? And I figured they'll still need to cultivate, right?" He chuckled. "So I'm thinking of having them help us clear land behind the trade center."
He explained, "Our sect's spiritual fields have been producing great yields, and we have plenty of high-quality seeds. After planting for ourselves and selling or lending some to others, we still have a surplus, but we're running out of land. Since they'll be our guests with nothing else to do, why not have them help us clear some land? After deducting their rent, we'll even pay them a bit. That way, their time won't go to waste, right?"
The original hundred acres of land donated by the village had long been fully planted. Beyond those fields lay boundless wilderness and dense forests.
For mortals, clearing those areas was nearly impossible. But for the spies of Wan Wan Tong and the cultivators from the Immortal Realm, while it wouldn't be easy, it was certainly doable.
Lin Xiao thought this plan was incredibly reasonable.
After hearing it, Liao Pantao actually gave it some thought before responding, "It's not a bad idea."
After spending several years in Lingxian Sect, Liao Pantao had become more interested in farming. He had come to realize the importance of land; after all, one can never have too much grain.
Seeing that Liao Pantao agreed, Lin Xiao beamed. "But for now, this is just a preliminary plan. We still need to communicate with the surrounding sects and royal families to gather more details before finalizing anything."
Liao Pantao wasn't one to hesitate. Having decided that the plan was feasible, he slapped his thigh and said, "Let's go with that for now. Once the plan is confirmed, let me know, and I'll help catch those hard-to-get ones!"
And so, in the beautiful flower fields of the Medicine Garden, the two of them roughly settled on the plan to capture the spies.
After receiving Elder Liao's approval, Lin Xiao immediately contacted several friendly sects and royal families.
Upon hearing that Lingxian Sect was inquiring about the Immortal Realm's spies, the sects and royal families were somewhat surprised. They didn't understand why Lingxian Sect was suddenly asking about something that everyone knew but tacitly avoided mentioning.
However, given that they were now doing business with Shuishui City and relying on it to deliver their orders in exchange for spirit stones, they saw no reason to withhold information about something so well-known.
As a result, they shared everything they knew with Lin Xiao, holding nothing back.
While the sects and royal families of the mortal realm didn't know much about "Wan Wan Tong," they were well aware of the foreign cultivators within their territories. They had been observing their every move and could describe them in great detail.
It was a clear sign of Wan Wan Tong's disdain for the mortal realm. They didn't bother to conceal their movements or the identities of their spies.
To the spies of Wan Wan Tong, the mortal realm was nothing more than a plaything firmly within their grasp. Whether the mortal realm flourished or perished was entirely up to Wan Wan Tong; the mortal realm could never escape their control.
This very arrogance allowed the mortal sects and royal families to have a precise understanding of the identities and numbers of the Wan Wan Tong spies.
Armed with this information, Lin Xiao now had a general idea of the number and cultivation levels of Wan Wan Tong spies in the surrounding regions.
He also reached out to the Li family patriarch, Li Zhan Ying, for additional help.
Lin Xiao asked Li Zhan Ying to assist in gathering detailed information on all the spies in the mortal realm, including their numbers, cultivation levels, and hideouts.
To aid in this effort, Lin Xiao personally delivered ten jade slips to Li Zhan Ying in the capital of the Pusi Kingdom, instructing him to record the specific details of the spies into the jade slips. If ten slips weren't enough, Lin Xiao promised to deliver more.
Receiving the jade slips personally delivered by Lin Xiao, Li Zhan Ying was left puzzled, unsure why Lin Xiao needed this information for the entire mortal realm.
However, Li Zhan Ying had a hunch that Lingxian Sect was about to make a major move.
The mortal realm's sects and royal families had long been aware that the spies served as a tool for the Immortal Realm to control them. Naturally, they had no fondness for these spies.
But due to the vast power disparity between the two realms, they had no choice but to endure the presence of these spies, suppressing their resentment and refraining from taking action.