Rolling Up the Mat

Having gained experience from the battles in Changsi City, Li Fan now has a better understanding of his current skills. Gone is the lazy slacking off he used to be. So he began to refine and study various Five Elements Escape Method, Indestructible Body Divine Skills, Motian Huasheng Dafa, Qiankun Flying Dragon Sword. In addition, he also focused on practicing Emei's <Pifeng Biyue Palm>.

This palm technique is clearly a basic palm technique of Emei, just as Qin Nanxin said, Cultivation Method channels in both hands. It must be said that Emei is indeed Emei, as the key points and essentials of various Cultivation Method are explained in great detail, which is completely different from the teaching style of some people who say "you will learn it by yourself".

This method of immediately giving you the correct answer was perfectly suited to Li Fan's level of comprehension. He learned the Wind-Splitting Hand and Obscuring Moon Palm completely after just one look. Then, with a flick of his left hand, he unleashed a crescent-shaped arc of light, cleaving the surface of the Cold Pool lake. With a flip of his right hand, a burst of Dao power erupted, shattering the water curtain into a spray of dense steel needles! The rapidly flying Profound Nether Pill Liquid, amplified by the power of the Dao Breath energy, condensed into a layer of ice cones, directly blasting down rows of trees along the shore! Leaves flew everywhere, and tree trunks were riddled with holes!

One palm strike can completely deplete a Dao Breath's Daoist energy! This move is practically capable of blasting mountains!

However, the <Pifeng Biyue Palm> manual also clearly states that this move was originally intended for Outer Sect Disciple to learn how to utilize their entire body's Dao Breath —a technique similar to a powerful ultimate move. Li Fan's palm strike was powerful not only because his cultivation and Dao body had already reached the Golden Core realm, but also because he used Profound Nether Pill Liquid, not ordinary water. In the environment of Wangshu Residence, where true Qi was abundant, the power of the Cultivation Method was enhanced.

Moreover, the key to this palm technique lies in 'receiving' rather than 'sending,' in learning to control the force of one's palm strike. After all, cultivation isn't about blasting mountains. There are many Cultivation Method that can unleash full power in a single strike, but to kill someone, there's no need for a profound Cultivation Method. For explosive output, just spend some money on a flying sword. Cultivating Qi and regulating one's breathing, mastering one's body, is the core of this type of body-refining technique.

So Li Fan began his own practice. With a sway of his shoulders, eight arms appeared. However, this time it wasn't just a skin that could only throw lime. He deliberately grew several meridians from his energy points, so that these three extra hands could also perform hand seals and control energy. This would also be perfect for training in conjunction with this special palm technique for body tempering.

Then Li Fan simultaneously used the Five Luo Sword Ghosts Demon to practice the <Pifeng Biyue Palm> while splashing water. At the same time, he also tried to practice the most commonly used fire-avoiding, water-avoiding, and metal-avoiding techniques using finger pinches, flames, water droplets, and coins.

At first, things got a bit chaotic, and before I knew it, I had burned holes in the floor.

However, if he were to achieve great success and become incredibly powerful, imagine him shaking his body, wielding the Indestructible Body Divine Skill, becoming impervious to swords and spears, and immune to water and fire. Five flying swords would lash out from above his head, laser beams would sweep across his face with the blink of an eye, and sword flowers would whistle from his mouth. With a sword in his left hand and a palm in his right, he could split the heavens and the earth. I ask you, would anyone in the world be his match?

"Hahaha! Aha! Aha! Ahahahahahaha!"

Then Kun and the leopard floated in the sky, watching Li Fan below laughing wildly and splashing water with his arms and legs.

Kun said, "He's always acting so crazy; he'll be fine after a while."

'If you follow the path of the leopard, your mind will return to normal?'

"Kun said, 'It's nothing unusual. Come on, I'll take you to eat some tofu.'"

'Leopard,??'

So the two of them went out to forage for food, while Li Fan cultivated himself at Wangshu Residence.

The good news is that he has gained some insight into the Motian Huasheng Dafa and is gradually able to control his qi through hand seals.

The bad news is that he lost control and unleashed all eight of his attacks, blasting the roof of Wangshu Residence off its roof.

Then, the next day, Fuling was startled and returned.

"It's all my fault. Here's 10,000 strings of cash as compensation." Li Fan knelt on the messy floor and apologized.

The satiated Kun and the hungry leopard squatted to the side and watched.

Fuling rubbed her temples. "We don't need that much. It only cost a thousand strings of cash to build. But Qingyue, I've thought about it, and I think you should move out."

"Kid, you know you were wrong! Here's 100,000 strings of cash!" Li Fan and Kun knelt down and begged for mercy. Leopard was taken aback, then quickly jumped over and squatted down as well.

Fuling could only smile wryly, "That's not what I meant. The reason for letting the children live in the Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land is because the spiritual energy here is abundant, which is convenient for them to Foundation Establishment. You have already reached the Golden Core realm, and sooner or later you will have to find your own place of cultivation and open up your own cave to cultivate."

The fairy needs the Xuanming Zhenqi to cultivate, which is why she chose to build her building on this Cold Pool. However, she is lazy by nature, as you can see. This residence is merely for her carefree living, so that she can lie down on the ground whenever she wants. It is not a proper place for cultivation.

Since you have 100,000 strings of cash, why not go to the Fourteen Peaks and find a spiritual vein and energy point to set up your own cultivation ground? Then you won't be so restricted when you're in seclusion."

"Oh, I see..." Li Fan thought about it and it didn't seem like a bad idea. He needed a cave dwelling—a place to live, a companion, and a suitable environment. After all, who wouldn't want a house and a piece of land? The important thing is a sense of belonging!

Besides, if Nanxin were to come for dual cultivation one day and find him taking advantage of Fuling and clinging to Fairy Wangshu's leg... well...

"Sister Fuling, you're right. I've had the same idea for a while now."

Kun stared at him.

What are you glaring at me for? You're a grown-up Kun now, stop trying to take advantage of others all the time. You need to learn to find your own food, understand?

Kun humphed!

"By the way, Qingyue, do you have any requirements? What kind of Daoist temple are you looking for? One with superior spiritual energy? One with many birds and beasts? One with abundant water and grass?"

"Hmm... I don't particularly need anything. Is there any special significance to the Fourteen Peaks?"

He can absorb evil energy by Moon Worship. In fact, as long as there is Revered Heavenly Demon temple nearby that Moon Worship, he can live anywhere. He doesn't care about the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

The two energies of Qian and Kun require special Cultivation Method to refine, as they cannot be generated spontaneously by heaven and earth. Moreover, Li Fan can now use the Gui Cang Dual Cultivation Technique to greatly enhance his cultivation, so there is naturally no need for him to use that little bit of spiritual energy to refine his true essence. The advantages of the location can no longer provide much improvement for his cultivation.

However, what Fuling said is also true. Whether it is the Splitting Wind and Covering the Moon Palm or the Qiankun Flying Dragon Sword, they are both powerful destructive Cultivation Method. For daily practice, it is best to find a flat, open place with no one around to blast mountains, so as not to damage the neighbor's flowers, plants, bottles and jars and have to pay for them.

"The Fourteen Peaks refer to the Nine Peaks of Bamboo Mountain Qixing, Tianmen, Tiangong, Canglong, Yangyuan, Yangshuo, Heshou, Moyun, and Qingting, and the Five Peaks of Moshan Shenzi, Shengzi, Xiangzi, Xiezi, and Fuzi."

Among them, the five peaks of Moshan are the Daoist temples of the Mountain Lord lineage. In the past, the Mountain Lord lineage was the leader of the rogue cultivators and the main force in opening up the South Border. Therefore, they also suffered the greatest sacrifices. Now, their population is sparse, so they all live in the cave heaven.

The Nine Peaks of Bamboo Mountain were named in honor of the first group of independent cultivators who made the greatest contribution to the development of the South Border. However, to this day, only the Seven Stars and Tiangong Peaks are thriving and have a strong lineage, while the Tianmen, Yangyuan, Yangshuo, and Moyun Peaks can only maintain a single lineage. As for the old lineages of Qingting, Heshou, and Canglong, they have been lost due to various reasons or merged into other sects. The people living in these three places now are all independent cultivators who moved here later.

Of course, the Ink Bamboo Mountain area is so large that there are not only fourteen peaks to live on. There are also many caves, Cold Pool and deep ravines in the mountains that can be used as training grounds. As long as one has reached the Nascent Soul Realm, one can settle down in the Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land.

"Ink Bamboo Mountain still has too few people. In fact, there are no sects settling on the five peaks of Mozhu Mountain in the south anymore. Only the five True Persons of the same lineage under the current Mountain Lord have built a temple to keep order. Other independent sects and families usually live near the nine peaks of Bamboo Mountain in the north for easier trade with the Central Plains."

As Fuling explained, she casually released a bunch of Mechanical Puppet. These wooden figures automatically jumped up to clean up the mess around them, rebuild Wangshu Residence, and even started feeding Kun and the leopard.

The leopard was given a large bowl of meat, and thus the Cloud Hidden Leopard updated the hierarchy of the group. It showed its belly to Fuling as a sign of respect.

"Among the nine peaks of Bamboo Mountain, Qixing Peak is skilled in weapon crafting, Tiangong Heavenly Craft Peak is adept at mechanisms, and Azure Dragon Peak Canglong Jian were once used to raise dragons. They have gathered many alchemy rooms and medicinal gardens and are the most popular areas. Most of the better spiritual caves nearby have been occupied. If you want to find a cave dwelling, you will probably have to spend a lot of money to ask someone to give it up."

In addition, Qingting has a thunder pool that gathers all year round, which is suitable for cultivating thunder magic, and the spiritual energy is abundant and turbulent. Heshou has many rare and precious spiritual birds and beautiful scenery, which is also suitable for living. Later, many independent cultivators who merged into Ink Bamboo Mountain chose these two peaks.

As for the other four peaks, although the locations are all quite nice, they don't have any special products, so there are relatively few cultivators living there. "Once you find a Spirit Pool, go and pay a visit to the peak master, and you can build your own cave dwelling."

Listening to her explanation, Li Fan suddenly realized, "There's no need to live in such close-knit communities, isn't flying very fast?"

Fuling laughed and said, "These fourteen peaks are all a hundred miles apart. Without superior Sword Light, it would take three incense sticks to burn for a round trip by flying boat. How can it be more convenient to live together and socialize?"

"If we lived on the same peak, we could frequently meet with fellow cultivators, purchase magical artifacts and mechanisms, care for herbs and spirit beasts, and help each other set up formations and barriers. It would be much more convenient. We would also have someone to look after us and more helpers in case of any problems."

Li Fan suddenly realized that Ink Bamboo Mountain really had a shallow foundation, with such a small population. The Nine Peaks alone could accommodate all the rogue cultivators. No wonder he hadn't seen many people when he flew south to patrol the mountains.

But which peak should we choose?

Fuling didn't rush him to decide. "Why don't you take a couple of trips around and check out the places yourself these next couple of days? By the way, where's Sister Liu Qing? Didn't you guys go to Changsi City to do some trading? You even bought a mount, you didn't make that much money, did you?"

Li Fan broke out in a cold sweat. "What... Fuling, have you been in seclusion the whole time?"

"Yes, I came out of seclusion as soon as I sensed someone had broken the restrictions on Wangshu Residence, and I guessed it was you who came back... What happened?"

You guys really should get a telephone...

So Li Fan also joined Kun for a meal, and by omitting some confidential information, he briefly introduced the major events of the past two months to Fuling.

The reaction from Fuling was quite interesting; it didn't react at all!

"Oh," she shrugged. "That's just how the world is. Every day there's fighting and countless deaths. If the Three Great Sects come to the top of Ink Bamboo Mountain, we can just flee south again."

Li Fan was speechless. It seemed the rogue cultivators were all numb. Of course, a chosen one like him could easily turn the tables and kill them. But what could the other rogue cultivators do? They couldn't defeat the Three Great Sects, so they had to run away. Whether it was Ink Bamboo Mountain or the South Sea, that's how people gathered there.

But at least from this perspective, the war in the north gave the Southern Faction the motivation to continue expanding southward; they couldn't just sit and wait to die on these few hilltops.

"I didn't expect something this serious to happen," Fuling wasn't truly indifferent. "I'll go check on Jiang's business and ask my senior sister about the situation. Qingyue, would you like to come along?"

"Ah, I won't go. My cultivation of the Dao Body has reached a bottleneck, and I still need the fairy's guidance on the Tai Su Method."

Li Fan was still unsure of the Southern Faction cultivators' attitude towards him. What if they had another brain fart and challenged him to a sword duel? He didn't even have a sword in his hand right now! And his palm technique wasn't even fully mastered yet. What if he lost control and killed someone again? To avoid making enemies again, he decided to send Fuling to sound out their intentions.

"Alright then, oh, but don't break these Mechanical Puppet again. If you want to practice your skills, jump into the water and practice there." Fuling gave a few instructions and then left.

Kun and the leopard followed along eagerly.

Li Fan was embarrassed; he hadn't even thought of jumping into the water to cultivate. What a blunder...

Yesterday, Li Fan had just made a breakthrough in his palm technique when he was knocked off the roof and had to stop practicing. He figured he wasn't in a hurry to move out, so he decided to take advantage of the current feeling and practice some more. So he dived into the Cold Pool and started practicing the Dark Underworld Inner Breath Circulation as well.

This water combat technique was originally obtained by accident, but he made great contributions in two underwater battles. Sooner or later, he would have to fight against Dao Ancestor Youquan, so he should start cultivating it from now on!

So he dived all the way to the bottom of the Cold Pool, where Li Fan revealed his eight arms and used the Pifeng Biyue Palm to strike the water. And you know what? It was just like killing monkeys. He had used the Profound Heaven Sword Method to kill a whole bunch of monkeys, and now he had a feel for how to use it to kill people. Practicing his skills underground in the Cold Pool, the water pressure made it much harder to control his palm strikes than it was on land, which allowed him to experience the changes in the force of each palm strike.

This was another period of selfless cultivation. After an unknown amount of time, a tremendous roar, like a colossal creature crashing into the water, suddenly echoed from above!

Is she the Fairy Wangshu?

Li Fan looked up and his eyes suddenly narrowed!

For atop his head was clearly a White Dragon with golden horns, blue eyes, a purple beard, and frosty scales! Its Dragon Head, as large as a locomotive, roared as it charged straight into the Cold Pool! The contrasting blue and white Profound Nether Pill Liquid! The overwhelming Dao Breath directly condensed the elixir in the icy pool into ice! The entire Dan Pool, like a glacier bursting its banks, was engulfed by the White Dragon's surging waves! It felt as if the very heavens were crashing down upon him!

Li Fan was startled. Then, his eyes swept across the area. Just as the White Dragon was about to pounce on his head, he suddenly stretched out eight arms and swung them in all directions, creating a huge swirling Qiankun Flying Dragon Sword Storm that stirred up a whirlpool at the bottom of the pool!

At the same time, he leaped into the air, riding the current upstream, quickly using the turbulent currents created by the sword mist as cover, and smashed through the ice layer with his palm, managing to leap through the White Dragon's teeth and claws and escape to safety!

In a split second, the White Dragon slammed into the bottom of the pool, coiled up, and stared intently at Li Fan with its icy blue eyes.

Li Fan initially intended to strike, but after glancing at the White Dragon's tail, he withdrew his eight hands, broke the surface of the water, and stood up on the Cold Pool. He bowed respectfully to Jiang Wangshu, who was sitting on the edge of the pool with her bare legs, and said, "Fairy."

"Hey, Qingyue, I didn't expect you to have made such great progress in just two months. You must have had many fortuitous encounters during your trip to the Central Plains. No wonder you passed my trial so easily."

Fairy Wangshu was also somewhat surprised to see Li Fan's appearance at this moment. She stroked her long hair, which stretched into the water and transformed into a dragon's body Dragon Head.

"Oh, so that was a trial... Ahem, thank you for your mercy, fairy."

Li Fan was sweating profusely. He thought that Fairy Wangshu was angry with him for smashing the villa and was deliberately throwing ingredients at his head to vent her anger.

"Hmph, you seem to handle my avatar with ease. Fine, I grant you permission to graduate."

With her legs crossed, Real Person Wanshu easily dodged Li Fan's water manipulation technique, which was incredibly fast. The clone's transformation was impressive and frightening, but he easily found an opening to dodge it, not even managing to grab a piece of her clothing. There was really nothing left to fight.

Li Fan could only lower his head and chuckle awkwardly. He was sweating bullets; should he just obediently let her beat him up to vent her anger, and then he could stay a little longer?

"By the way, fairy, have you finished refining the magic weapon?"

Wangshu's expression darkened further. "Uh... it's better, but I'm still not entirely satisfied, so I'll commission a professional weapon refiner to modify it and add some Fa Yin. Uh, that evil magic sword will be considered payment..."

Isn't that like trading a ninth-grade flying sword for a piece of trash jellyfish head? After all this time, it's still not finished; the jellyfish head must be dead by now!

"Actually, fairy, you don't need to be so polite. I have plenty of magical treasures; I don't need them..."

"No! This matter concerns my dignity! You don't need to worry about it! Trust me, a good magic weapon needs patient refinement; it will be made sooner or later!"

Oh well, whatever...

"... Furthermore, I have some questions about cultivating the Tai Su Transformation and would like to ask the fairy for guidance."

Wangshu's eyes lit up immediately, as if he were experiencing the pleasure of being relied upon and consulted by his disciple, a feeling of being a teacher. "Oh, hehe, I just wanted to say. Is it that you can't transform into a Dao body? Don't be impatient, the transformation into a Dao body lies in the understanding of the Dao heart..."

"Cough cough cough," Li Fan quickly coughed, "I have already successfully transformed. This change in appearance is due to studying the Qiongqi Dao Body. However, I am not yet able to control this Dao Body well, and I would like to ask you, Fairy, for guidance."

Seeing that Li Fan truly had something important to ask about regarding cultivation, Fairy Wangshu also straightened up, stopped her transformation, gathered her black hair, casually tied it up with a hairpin, draped it over her shoulder, stood up, and said, "Alright, let's go then, let's go to Void Abyss to check on your Dao body."