Nine Heads

Li Fan did not know how long he vomited. Only after he had thrown up even stomach acid did he see a pair of Jade Feet land before him.

When he looked up again, Fairy Wangshu had already changed into clean clothes—a pale yellow long dress. Though she disliked restraint, she probably did not find being sticky and damp comfortable either.

"...Thank you for saving me, Fairy." Guessing that she had pulled him out of the dream just now, Li Fan endured the churning in his stomach and spoke.

But looking at this fairy now, he truly could no longer summon any excitement over thoughts like regretting not watching her change clothes, or how well her little bellyband had fit. There was considerably more wariness and estrangement in his eyes.

Of course there was. The beauty he had been holding and kissing suddenly turned into an electric dragon with Justin Bieber's face. Would you still be hard after that? Well, maybe some people could, but Li Fan was pretty normal. He could not take this kind of treatment. He would be played to death sooner or later. Goodbye!

"Hehe, Qingyue, your Dao heart truly is firm. I remember when Fuling first saw my true form, she was frightened insane. I had to ask Xianzhi to save her. Even after two years of nursing, she still did not dare look directly at me. Yet you can still speak? Not bad. Truly not bad."

Yet Fairy Wangshu, being regarded coldly, only giggled without stopping, as though being seen as a monster genuinely made her happy.

"..."

Li Fan had no response. Honestly, he felt he ought to have been scared mad long ago too. But for some reason, his state of mind was... fine. He merely tried not to look at Real Person Wanshu's neck, though he could not entirely help himself, and he looked behind her with lingering fear.

That enormous malformed Devil Form had been placed on the altar just now. Now it had been moved down and stood beside him. The knotted masses of fleshy intestines still slowly squirmed and rolled, but the pale, star-worm-like outer skin of those throats was gradually blackening, forming a horny layer like scarred stone walls. Even the shadow cast by that huge monstrosity, whose full shape could not be seen clearly, seemed ready to pounce at any moment, as real as the serpents and pythons in the dream that had nearly wrapped around and strangled him...

"Do not be afraid. This Revered Heavenly Demon is the outer body I shed. Look, without baleful qi, it cannot move."

Fairy Wangshu gave a charming laugh. Her five fingers curled slightly, then flicked as if plucking strings. A plume of black smoke rose from the ground, whirling like a tornado and binding the malformed Devil Form's outer body like chains, slowly lifting that worm-like mass and moving it back to the center of the altar.

Fairy Wangshu did not look at that incarnation. With a casual gesture, she summoned another meditation cushion before Li Fan. She folded her legs together to one side and sat down in a crane-riding posture. Though her eyes still smiled, her expression turned solemn as she formed a Dao seal and saluted him. "Please discuss the Dao."

Was this an exchange of learning experiences?

Li Fan hesitated, then sat cross-legged as well and copied her salute. "Please discuss the Dao."

Fairy Wangshu nodded. "What I guided you to see this time was the Tai Su Dao Field I have been comprehending.

"What was seen is called Nine Mountains Source Marsh. It lies north of Kunlun, in the lands of the Great Wilderness. Marshes and streams connect there, and no beasts can live within it. Its springs are bitter and cannot support the planting of the five grains. In one corner lies a serpent, with nine heads and human faces, green backs, gray scales, and a body coiled around itself."

Li Fan's mood decreased by 1 point. Attention! Li Fan, mood: 34/100. Extremely dangerous!

Li Fan frowned slightly. Why did those words sound like something he had heard somewhere before? And...

"Nine heads? That was far more than nine heads, wasn't it?"

Fairy Wangshu smiled. "Nine is the ultimate number. Though its heads number in the hundreds and thousands, how could there be merely nine? It is simply named with the ultimate number. It is called the Nine-Headed Serpent."

"Ohhh." Li Fan understood. "Xiangyao."

Li Fan's mood decreased by 1 point. Attention! Li Fan, mood: 33/100. Extremely dangerous!

At that exact moment, the smile on Fairy Wangshu's face froze. Her eyes slowly opened. "Xiang... Xiang..."

"Oh, Xiangyao, also called Xiangliu. A Nine-Headed Serpent. It is pretty common in myths," Li Fan said carelessly, showing off knowledge from webnovels he had read before. "Human head, snake body, and Hydra too. They are all nine-headed snakes. Besides Hydra, there is Medusa—snake below the waist, human above, and hair full of snake heads. One look turns you to stone, haha, ha, ha..."

Li Fan gave a few dry laughs, then froze awkwardly.

Because Fairy Wangshu suddenly began to glow! The kind that looked like she was about to explode! Crackling and flashing!

Not only did dazzling five-colored specks and rays burst from every pore of her body, her face also blossomed with blissful ecstasy! Her long black hair spread wildly without wind, like a mass of green snakes dancing madly. No, it truly turned into snakes! No, not snakes! Heads! At the end of every strand of hair, Fairy Wangshu's smiling face grew forth. Countless heads and faces sprouted from her hair tips and rose into the sky!

Li Fan raised his head to follow them, only realizing his neck had nearly locked up that she was not flying upward—she was growing larger!

The pair of Jade Feet that had been folded together before Li Fan had already twisted together like spirals, turning into a snake tail. Right before his eyes, her entire body transformed at a visible speed. In the blink of an eye, she grew into a snake-bodied divine being twenty zhang long. The serpent heads formed from her hair were also twenty zhang in length, spreading across the sky like towering trees and instantly covering more than half the bamboo forest. Dao Breath filled the heavens and formed clouds, shrouding the Dao Field for a hundred li. Even the spiritual qi she inhaled and exhaled from between her scales and pores roared like wild winds, shaking heaven and making ghosts weep!

Holy... so hugeeee—fuck!!

Li Fan's mood decreased by 1 point. Attention! Li Fan, mood: 32/100. Extremely dangerous!

"Ahahahaahahahahahaha!!!"

Fairy Wangshu and the countless heads that had grown from her hair laughed wildly together. The mad sound was like every key of an organ connected to speakers being slammed down at once, a chord of raging wind and storm!

Li Fan's mood decreased by 1 point. Attention! Li Fan, mood: 31/100. Extremely dangerous!

"Help—!" Li Fan covered his ears and shouted. His brain buzzed violently from the shock, while the qi vortex in his Inner Landscape rampaged through his meridians like a tornado!

Then a clear metallic ding— rang out, like tinnitus, as if Li Fan's hearing had been completely sealed off.

He could not help turning his head. Far away, dozens of meteors gathered from all around the forest, dragging golden trails across the sky. With dragon roars and sword cries, they swept in from every direction! It seemed dozens of flying swords and Magic Treasures intended to strike together and reduce that malformed Devil Form to ashes!

But in that same instant! Suddenly, golden light and fiery radiance burst from the eyes of those countless serpent-like heads, releasing ten thousand dazzling rays! Samadhi True Fire also exploded from the divine court of that demonic venerable's heads, vast as the sun. Five-Colored Divine Light erupted from her qi apertures, revolving naturally. With every step, cherry blossoms rained down, accompanied by countless auspicious phenomena!

"Hahahahaha! My Dao is complete! Xiangyao Dao Art!!"

Thus, the vast Sword Light rainbow torrents sweeping in from all directions had just reached halfway through their killing charge when they abruptly halted. Dozens of humanoid silhouettes braked sharply in the sky and revealed themselves. They circled the Dharma form Devil Form that Fairy Wangshu had become twice, then took their positions amid the clouds. Each burst their Dao power through the cloud layer, lights rising like a city in all directions and echoing the five-colored Dao qi divine light blanketing the bamboo forest. Together, they called out in congratulations,

"Congratulations, Real Person, on manifesting heaven and earth and breaking through to Divine Transformation!"

"Hehe! Congratulations to us all!"

Wangshu raised both hands and withdrew her Dharma form.

Her enormous snake-bodied Dharma body visibly shrank, though she still remained four or five zhang tall. Her snake body, long tail, and countless heads did not return to human form. Yet the expression on her face had clearly regained human clarity, while every head on her hair closed its eyes and withdrew its divine abilities.

Those Real Persons who had flown over with Sword Light flashing around them waited for a while. Seeing that there was indeed no advantage to gain, they all transformed into rainbow lights and scattered, vanishing without a trace in an instant. Only dozens of Sword Light afterimages remained in the night sky.

Fairy Wangshu paid no mind to those people who had rushed over hoping to claim a share. She merely saluted Li Fan, who lay sprawled on his meditation cushion. "Thank you for your guidance, Daoist friend. Only because of you could Wangshu break through to Divine Transformation. Please accept my bow."

Li Fan's ears were still buzzing. He wore the face of a man covered in question marks.

No, wait... she had reached Divine Transformation just like that? Were these people cultivating immortality, or riding rockets? Enlightenment from one sentence?? Was this a game!?

"Hiss—ha—" Fairy Wangshu breathed out clouds and mist, exhaling five-colored Dao Breath. She gathered her snake tail and sat cross-legged again, lowering her head to look at Li Fan. "Xiangyao... so this is the true form of the Great Dao. I was misled by those snakes and insects, unable to understand it all this time. I nearly strayed onto the wrong path. Thanks to Daoist Qingyue's reminder, your kindness is equal to giving me new life. Please accept another bow."

Looking at the enormous Dharma body bowing before him, Li Fan could only click his tongue in amazement.

So Fairy Wangshu's grotesque and disgusting Devil Form had been imitating those heads in the marsh. No wonder she had curled her necks like roundworms... This was much better. He could barely bring himself to pet her now... too bad he could not hug those long white legs anymore...

"Unfortunately, my cultivation is still too shallow. Though I suddenly heard the Great Dao and broke through to Divine Transformation, my realm has not yet stabilized." Fairy Wangshu stroked her snake body. "It seems I must enter seclusion and cultivate for some time before I can withdraw this Dharma form..."

Oh, so she could still turn human?

Li Fan's mood increased slightly by 1 point.

Fairy Wangshu said apologetically, "Qingyue, I cannot guide you personally for the time being either. I can only make you wait a few days until I return to human form, then watch over your Moon Worship cultivation."

Li Fan shook his head vigorously. "No rush, no rush. I am not in any hurry to practice Moon Worship! Fairy, take your time stabilizing your realm!"

"Very well." Fairy Wangshu flicked her finger. The clothes, hairpins, and jewelry that her Dharma form had torn apart and scattered through the forest all flew together and landed in Li Fan's arms. "You can study that Summary of Mechanical Principles on your own over the next few days. Crane Boy can serve you as a mount for now. Fuling should have finished brewing your soup. Go back early so it does not get cold. Mm, just send out a breath of Dao Breath and throw it."

Li Fan looked down at his arms, stroking the close-fitting silk garment that still faintly retained warmth. Waves of alluring fragrance filled his nostrils...

Li Fan's mood increased by 1 point.

Cough, cough! Hold it together, hold it together!

Summary of Mechanical Principles was also a Dharma book made from black bamboo slips. It was probably the foundational course in the mechanical arts taught by Bamboo Mountain.

There was also a Jade Hairpin carved with a crane head. It was the Magic Treasure white crane mount Li Fan had ridden before.

"Thank you for your instruction, Fairy. Qingyue will take his leave."

He stored the bamboo slips and clothing in his jade pendant, then tossed out the Jade Hairpin. It transformed into a white crane, and he rode it into the wind.

Fairy Wangshu nodded to him, then closed her eyes and regulated her breath. Transforming into this Dharma form was apparently already her limit. At this time, she had no remaining strength to care for anything else.

Li Fan rode the crane into the sky. Even amid the clouds, he remained shaken for a long while and could not recover his wits, left speechless and melancholy. Fortunately, the flying crane knew the route itself, so he did not need to worry much. He only had to occasionally send it a breath of true qi.

But the Dao Breath consumption of this Magic Treasure mount was truly excessive by Qi Refining Stage standards. If Li Fan had not gained roughly two hundred seconds of cultivation in that Nine Mountains Source Marsh earlier, he might not have been able to command it at all!

Cough, cough, no more pretending... After this experience, Li Fan truly understood just how absurdly powerful the Innate Great Dao was.

Fairy Wangshu was proof enough. She had been awakened by one casual remark and directly broken through from the Nascent Soul Stage to Divine Transformation. This showed that the Supreme Plain Heavenly Dao had no so-called threshold for cultivation. Even cultivation itself might not be important.

As for Li Fan's own firsthand experience, when he had previously seen Dao Ancestor Void Star and spent roughly a hundred seconds opening his Inner Landscape Qi Sea, he had not cultivated yet and had no intuitive understanding of it.

But later, after personally cultivating for one night with the Heavenly Cycle Qi-Body Circulation and drinking Five Immortals Soup, after properly experiencing the qi refining speed of the Postnatal Immortal Dao, he compared it with the progress from two hundred seconds of cultivation in Source Marsh. Then he understood.

As a transmigrator, Li Fan would just use data to explain it directly.

Before qi refinement, one hundred seconds spent opening the Qi Sea was roughly equivalent to ten years of a mortal's hard work.

After entering the Qi Refining Stage, taking the cultivation speed achieved through the Heavenly Cycle Qi-Body Circulation as a normal baseline—one day of ordinary cultivation counting as one day of cultivation—one bowl of Five Immortals Soup could make the Qi-Body Circulation roughly ten times faster. Drinking five bowls was equivalent to gaining two extra months of cultivation from nothing.

As for those two hundred seconds in the dream of Source Marsh, based on Li Fan's personal experience, even sitting still would have been equivalent to being force-fed a bowl of soup every second! Yet during that time, those Nine-Headed Serpents had dragged him to the bottom of the mud pool to fight, making his true qi circulate even faster!

The most obvious result was the Qiankun Flying Dragon Sword. He had practiced it crookedly and only half-understood it for half a day, but after the tempering of meditation, its power had already taken shape. Now Li Fan could release this sword art from his eight extraordinary meridians anytime and anywhere. He could use it to kill enemies or maneuver, as he pleased, with endless wondrous applications!

Seriously, at this speed, not to mention Foundation Establishment, even forming a Golden Core would probably take less than three or five years. It was simply incomparable to the Postnatal Immortal Dao.

But conversely, fast cultivation meant fast death. If there were no Real Person outside watching over and rescuing him, then the next time he practiced Moon Worship, Li Fan might directly die in the dream and turn into a Devil Form. Both the risks and rewards were too great...

He should wait for Fairy Wangshu. With a Divine Transformation powerhouse protecting him, practicing Moon Worship again would be much safer, right? And Profound Heaven Sword Intent was so unreliable. Before entering the dream next time, he needed to find something else to save his life...

Profound Heaven Sword Intent stated that it was not useless; it had merely suffered severe damage, and the host's comprehension was too high and far too wicked. Sword Intent itself was rather frightened, so it volunteered to remain in the Human Dao and protect the host's physical body.

Oh my, then thank you so very much...

Profound Heaven Sword Intent stated that it was at least more useful than the new thing.

Hm? The new thing? Oh! Right! The system! What was that thing he had drawn earlier?

Then Li Fan felt something cold and slippery fall into his palm, a dark little thing.

It looked like... a catfish less than two inches long...

Li Fan narrowed his eyes and stared at it. The catfish widened its eyes and stared back at Li Fan, then blew a bubble from its mouth.

System lottery reward: Kun, delivered. Current charging progress: 71/100. Lottery cooldown incomplete.

...System, were you screwing with me? This was what Kun looked like??

Profound Heaven Sword Intent stated that Kun really did look like this. Just raise it for a few thousand years and it would be fine.

Fuck... Sword Intent, shut the hell up!