An Old Acquaintance

Li Fan wasn't sure if capturing only Lu Chai would be enough to stop this catastrophe.

The weapons distribution has already been arranged like this; there's no question of anything being unexpected or caught off guard. It seems everything has been planned out.

Moreover, even if he could actually stop it, Li Fan wouldn't do it based on his personal preferences.

He wasn't there to take sides. It's inevitable to have double standards, but you can't be too extreme. What, are you allowed to hit someone while you're not allowed to fight back?

Of course, Lu Chai and his group weren't exactly respectable commoners either, but even if he harbored many schemes and plots behind his back, with impure motives, so what? Were the lowly people he armed not also oppressed commoners?

Isn't our current predicament the result of the people in Li Country Imperial City of Liguo's own actions? We're all adults; we have to take responsibility for our own deeds. Stop begging for divine intervention all the time. These damned bastards need to learn what fucking fairness is!

Of course, this calamity will inevitably cause widespread death and destruction. But honestly, given the current situation of these commoners in the Li Country, isn't it no different from such a catastrophe? So what's there to hesitate about?

Rebel! Rebel against the hell!

Rebellion is a traditional skill of the Central Plains! It's ingrained in our genes! Do you think we're all like barbarians, practicing non-violent non-cooperation and hoping to be reborn into a better life to continue being slaves? Go to hell!

People always say there are many rules in the Central Plains, but isn't the biggest rule that, regardless of whether you're surnamed Li or Nangong, if some emperor makes life unbearable for everyone, then your peasant grandfather has to die?

Therefore, Li Fan's view is that in the end, it depends on who the people are willing to choose. There's no need for any gods or bodhisattvas to make the decision; at most, they can lend a helping hand and push the wheels of history forward.

However, on the other hand, whether Lu Chai succeeds or fails is actually meaningless.

Regardless of how the Four Young Masters, the Southern Faction and Northern Faction, or the second and third sons fight, it doesn't matter who wins. Whether it's the Three Great Sects or the Luo Sect of Ink Bamboo Mountain, the interests of immortal sects are not the most important thing.

Because now is a world where the False Moon in the sky and the Tao is attained through simplicity.

Li Fan's first priority was to eliminate the lamb hiding in the neighborhood. And that lamb was likely one of Lu Chai's trump cards.

These natives have no idea about the meaning of those 'Non-Thing'. In the eyes of these strategists plotting against Ink Bamboo Mountain, whether it's Non-Thing or object, it's just a tool like demons, monsters, or time bombs. It's just a card that can be played at will to achieve their selfish goals and objectives, a pawn in their hands to control Ink Bamboo Mountain.

But they were wrong. The lamb was not a pawn, or at least it was not up to the Three Great Sects of natives to use as their pawns.

Once that thing matures, it's capable of annihilating the Beichen Sword Sect. It could drive Ancestor Luo insane and cause the once-great Luo Sect to crumble.

At least this game isn't between Three Great Sects, but between three systems.

Currently, besides these lambs, only Li Fan is qualified to be a pawn in the system.

Even without system reminders, Li Fan knew very well that once the lamb in Da'an Fang conceived Devil Embryo and manifested the Dao Ancestor, then in the 3,600 hectares of Changsi City with its 2.4 million inhabitants, probably only a few would survive.

Straw sandals or boots, mortal or immortal, status or position, desires or wants.

Once a person dies, none of that matters anymore.

With a genuine Dao Ancestor appearing in the world, there are probably only two people in this city who can truly survive.

One Li Fan, and one Abbot.

Referring to the power of his two scriptures during the sword duel at Tiantai Mountain, the natives below the Divine Transformation Realm, with their lifespan cap of a few hundred points and without the system's calmer support, would probably not be able to withstand the influence of a Dao Ancestor-level 'Non-Thing' being.

So this is no longer a question of what shoes to wear, what religion to follow, or whether to sit facing south or north.

It's not a simple matter of natural disaster; the environment changes, affecting the overall survival of the race.

Enough with the nonsense, if you want people to live, you have to kill sheep first.

At this point, Lu Chai finished his impassioned and inflammatory speech and was about to return to the teahouse.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. At this crucial moment, Li Fan had to decide whether to make his move. The teahouse was heavily guarded; it would be difficult to sneak in silently any longer.

Moreover, Lu Chai's appearance in this setting, still using a puppet, makes it hard to say whether Lu Qi's real body is actually in the teahouse. It's possible that Li Fan might grit his teeth, rush out, and wreak havoc, only to end up capturing a puppet double while the real one escapes again.

What Li Fan was most worried about was not losing the clue to the lamb again, but that he still didn't quite understand how Lu Chai controlled the lamb for his own use.

What exactly is the mechanism behind this sheep? Is it a time bomb, a remote-controlled bomb, or simply a dud that hasn't been prepared yet?

If they rush out but fail to catch Lu Qi immediately, not only will they miss their prey, but they might also alarm him and cause him to launch the plan prematurely, which would be too risky.

Li Fan narrowed his eyes, hesitatingly looking at the disguised woman that Si Nan was pointing at not far in front of him. This person was not Lu Xing, and after Lu Chai appeared, she was breathing heavily, her breath was tense, and she was gritting her teeth. She was probably Lu Chai's enemy who wanted to assassinate him.

Perhaps we could push her out first to bluff our way out and see if we can get Lu Qi to reveal himself?

Just as Lu Chai was about to leave, a man in black suddenly jumped out from the other side, leaping over the crowd and rushing straight to the teahouse, shouting, "Lu Qi! Give me back my belongings!"

It's Lu Xing! She actually jumped out first!

The group of black-robed assassins in the teahouse tensed, ready to intervene, but Lu Chai laughed and waved his hand, "This is none of your business. Each department, proceed according to plan! I'll just play with my sister!"

He leaped out of the teahouse in a flash. Two puppets, one black and one white, circled the teahouse, advancing and retreating rapidly, their hands flying and throwing. In their swift exchanges, at first glance, they seemed to be dancing like two butterflies fluttering about, quite beautiful. But upon closer inspection, they were actually throwing poisoned needles and hidden darts, which he caught. It was clearly a series of mechanical techniques, though extremely dangerous.

But since both are puppets, the brother and sister are probably not in any serious trouble. Moreover, Lu Chai was clearly intentionally guiding Lu Xing away from the chaotic center of the square, seemingly wanting to get away from the people around them and have some private conversations.

Should we chase after them and find out what they're saying? Lu Xing's move was really ill-timed; now the assassins in the teahouse are on guard... wait a minute?

Li Fan glanced at the teahouse and immediately understood.

He glanced at her and saw the woman beside him tense up, looking as if she was about to leap out to help Lu Xing and join forces to kill Lu Chai. He immediately lunged forward, grabbed the woman's wrist, and pinned her down.

In a flash, Li Fan discovered that the woman was actually a martial artist with the Divine Essence Body cultivation level. He was somewhat surprised, but estimating that her combat strength could be of some use, he whispered rapidly in her ear before she could cry out in surprise.

"Look at the rooftop! The first person those assassins protected was the third short guard from the left next to Lu Chai! That's Lu Chai himself! If you understand, blink and I'll send you to assassinate him!"

The woman was startled when she was suddenly grabbed. Before she could draw her sword to resist, she instinctively looked up and saw that the assassins in the teahouse had been startled by Lu Xing's sudden attack. They instinctively stepped forward to protect the short guard that Li Fan had mentioned! Then, realizing that the attackers were Lu Xing's puppets, they quickly scattered. In that instant, the short man was clearly exposed!

The woman wasn't stupid; she immediately blinked.

So Li Fan followed the woman's pulse point with his Dao Breath, and while everyone's attention was focused on Lu Xing and Lu Chai, he suddenly pushed her, throwing her into the teahouse!

"Lu Chai! Give me back my brother's life!"

The woman stopped pretending, and with a burst of energy, she lifted her robe, drew the sword from beneath, and charged straight at the short man upstairs!

Not only were the assassins, including Lu Chai, shocked, but even Li Fan, who had thrown the person out, was greatly surprised when she showed her face.

Holy crap! Isn't that Xuan Niang from Dragon Gate Inn?! No wonder her butt looked so familiar! And how could a martial arts expert like her break through to the Divine Essence Body after only half a year?!

Li Fan originally planned to wait until the Lu Family's men were all entangled with the female assassin before he could capture Lu Qi's true form. However, Xuan Niang's sudden outburst made him slow down by half a step, and then something even more unexpected happened.

Suddenly, a guard standing next to the short man stepped forward, opened his mouth, and spat out a red pill!

Holy crap! Li Fan almost bit his tongue! It's another familiar face! This isn't Sword Pill Rainbow!

Sword Pellet is meant to kill from the moment it appears! It bounces and leaps through the air, leaving a rainbow trail as it falls straight at Xuan Niang's head!

At this moment, the short man who was being protected in the middle suddenly shouted out some nonsense.

The rainbow-like line drawn by the sword pellet abruptly folded and slashed in mid-air, severing Xuan Niang's forearms and cutting off both her swords!

Xuan Niang screamed and collapsed to her knees on the eaves of the teahouse. A group of assassin puppets rushed in from all directions and pinned her to the roof. Her eyes were bloodshot as she roared, "It's you!"

Who was it? What just happened?! Li Fan suddenly stopped and didn't rush out of the crowd.

' Huo Shan Mo Lian said, "Don't kill her."'

Holy crap! It's her!

Then the sword pellet spun around and transformed into a red pellet, flying back into the mouth of the guard beside Huo Hongmian, who was in disguise, or Huo Shan Mo Lian.

It's a religion!

In that instant, Li Fan understood everything.

Behind Lu Chai! It turns out the Divine Cult is behind this! Just as expected! Only the Three Great Sects are so rich! They even feed beggars with extravagant gifts! And they're still so reckless! They even dare to play with sheep!

Then the guard with the sword pellet in his mouth mumbled something to Huo Shan Mo Lian.

Huo Shan Mo Lian also spoke to him in a string of gibberish.

Ha! You think talking nonsense will work, huh? System! Get it! Translate this for me!

Lu Yu said, "Saintess Majesty, this person has recognized you. Now that the uprising is imminent, the arrow is on the bowstring, you must not be soft-hearted and leave room for future trouble!"

Huo Shan Mo Lian said, "I know, but I promised someone I would spare her life. How can I break my promise?"

Moreover, the Blood Lord will soon arrive at dawn, and at that time, our lives and deaths will be decided by the Blood Lord. Before that, if the Altar Master truly considers me Saintess of the Divine Cult, then he must do as I say and not kill her.

Lu Yu stated, "... I obey the divine command."

The cult was indeed efficient; they didn't kill her as soon as they said they wouldn't. The assassin puppets quickly bandaged Xuan Niang's severed arm wound, pressed her pressure points, tied her up, and took her into the teahouse.

Seeing that there was no more excitement to watch, the rebels dispersed and continued their preparations for the rebellion.

Li Fan, hiding in the shadows, quietly watched all of this, his mind in turmoil, his thoughts racing, sometimes seemingly understanding nothing, sometimes understanding everything.

Lu Yu, Senior Brother Lu is not dead.

Not only did he not die, but he was also the leader of the Divine Cult. From the very beginning, he was a spy planted by the Divine Cult in Ink Bamboo Mountain!

The sword pellet, Flying Rainbow, is in his hands, so he and the eunuch Chen Jinu are in cahoots! From that Mu Long incident onwards, it was all a conspiracy!

It's all a damn arrangement by the cult!

Looking at the Si Nan still pointing ahead, Li Fan suddenly had a realization.

The cult is planning some kind of Blood Lord's Descent, which is probably related to the Lamb incident. However, the descent is scheduled for dawn, and there's not much time left. If you want to know what's going on and to kill the lamb before the Blood Lord's Descent to prevent the calamity, then you have to fight now!

Li Fan took a deep breath, found a corner of an alley, sat cross-legged, closed his eyes and began to perform a magical technique. He put his hands together above his head, pulled, and peeled off his scalp!

A humanoid blood-red shadow leaped out from the meditating body!

This was precisely the <Imitation of the Blood Shadow God Travel Great Technique> that Xuan Tian had taught him!

In fact, this is a kind of escape technique called "golden cicada shedding its shell," which is to completely abandon the outer skin and run away, only to greatly damage one's cultivation and escape with a chance of survival.

However, this time Li Fan didn't use this escape technique to flee danger, but rather to actively infiltrate it!

After all, he's so deeply involved in all these things, and things have developed to this point. Asking him to abandon everything and not investigate is like leaving it to be a sequel—who the hell could stand that?

However, if they can return in time to retrieve their detached physical body, the damage shouldn't be too great...

With this thought, the shed body shell on the ground actually flew up, carrying the Storage Jade, sword box, and magic robe, and was directly sucked into the black-purple light bubble behind Li Fan's head. Li Fan tried it and was surprised to find that he could take the magic treasures out of the bubble at will and use them!

The Gui Xu Nascent Soul even comes with a storage space? Not bad at all!

With no more worries, Li Fan used the Blood Shadow God Travel Great Technique, becoming a blood-red ghostly shadow clinging to the ground, and stealthily entered the teahouse.

Although the Lu Family also set up many Qimen Dunjia and warning Magic Treasure.

But the Divine Sect's escape techniques were not just empty names. In fact, even with the Profound Heaven Sword Intent, a grandmaster's skill, they could escape at will. The Blood Shadow Body Technique was so powerful that it would be a miracle if the Lu Family could stop them.

Li Fan thus easily sneaked into the prison beneath the teahouse and hid in the shadows to check on Xuan Niang, who was bound hand and foot and thrown into an iron cage.

Fortunately, Huo Shan Mo Lian didn't waste any time. The group of assassins withdrew from their guard, and she didn't shy away from Lu Yu, who had been by her side the whole time, and asked directly.

"That woman, didn't the young Daoist priest tell you to find someone to have a child with? Why are you coming here to seek your own death again?"

Xuan Niang glared hatefully at Huo Shan Mo Lian, then turned to look outside the cell, "I didn't come here for you! I'm here to kill Lu Chai!"

"What did he do to you this time?" Huo Shan Mo Lian asked curiously. Seeing that Xuan Niang seemed too lazy to pay attention to her, she added, "Tell me, I'm going to die tomorrow morning too. I guess they'll kill you with me when I die. Then we'll be companions on the road to the underworld. Let's talk about it to pass the time, and we can all get to know each other."

Xuan Niang frowned and glared at her for a while, then said angrily, "We three sworn siblings used to roam the world, living a life of chivalry and vengeance. We accepted Lu Chai's commission to retrieve something from the tomb of the rebel king Li Xinglong."

At the time, my fourth brother was injured by a hidden weapon in the cemetery. We were afraid he would be tainted by evil spirits, so we used the antidote given by Lu Chai to dispel them. But it turned out that the antidote was the real source of the evil spirits! He never intended for us to live from the beginning! He directly caused my fourth brother to turn into a zombie! How can I appease my brothers if I don't take his head?

Huo Shan Mo Lian, curious, turned his head and asked, "Her brother, is he the corpse in the inn? So it was part of your plan?"

Lu Yu, wearing a half-jackal mask on his back, remained silent.

Xuan Niang immediately lost control and roared at him, "Where is my fourth brother's soul! He's dead! Why won't you let him reincarnate!"

Huo Shan Mo Lian could tell that Lu Yu had no intention of paying attention to Xuan Niang, so he chuckled and said in the Hu language, "Hehe, if Sect Leader Lu doesn't want to talk about this, then let's talk about something else."

Were those people who caused trouble just now from the Lu Family? Could they be your daughter?

Oh dear, according to the rules of our religion, if someone is a spy in another religion and their family refuses to join, in order to avoid revealing their identity and ruining the religion's plans, shouldn't they report to the Dharma Protector in time to eliminate them, even if they can't do it themselves?

The altar master alone has restrained Ink Bamboo Mountain and the entire territory of Li Country for my sect. Such a great achievement may well lead to him becoming the Ten Supreme Gods in this generation!

"You wouldn't make such a basic mistake, would you?"

Having been caught red-handed, Lu Yu remained silent for a moment before speaking in the Hu language again, "... At that time, there were too many patrol guards sent by the eunuchs from the Liqiu Palace, making it inconvenient for me to show myself. The demonic corpse had already been taken away by the palace. To prevent the matter from being exposed, I had Ink Bamboo Mountain investigate the details and captured Tian Silang's soul to prevent him from reincarnating. He's just a mortal. I casually threw the soul-sealing vessel into the mountains; it's long gone."

"Answer me!" Xuan Niang roared, unable to find a system translation.

Lu Yu clearly had no intention of revealing any secrets. He was very careful in his actions. With a flick of his finger, Xuan Niang fainted and lost consciousness. He continued to communicate in a foreign language without any encryption.

"Saintess Maiden, this matter has reached its final stage. Let's not create any further complications. I will take you to Blood Lord now."

Then he waved his hand, casting a complex secret incantation that opened a secret passage beneath the dungeon, leading Huo Shan Mo Lian and the blood shadow that Li Fan had transformed into as a human, down there.