Cooperation

Li Fan once believed that one cannot gain anything without sacrifice, and that to obtain something, one must pay an equal price.

But later I found that it was considered lucky if you could get something in return after making sacrifices; most of the time, even if you made sacrifices, you would get nothing in return.

From this perspective, the dark gray humanoid figure was actually quite reasonable; at least it took the Rubik's Cube and spared Li Fan's life. Otherwise, let alone Golden Core cultivator, even an enlightened immortal like the one from Qingcheng Mountain probably wouldn't have been able to escape from that thing.

The greatest favor the strong can bestow upon the weak is to spare their lives.

Li Fan wiped the blood off his face, stuffed a handful of Donghua Changchun Pill into his mouth to help his blood flow, and felt utterly exhausted.

This suspended dimension is incredibly dangerous. All he wants now is to leave this bizarre place and go back to his coffin to get some sleep...

Struggling to his feet, Li Fan discovered that the spaceship's passageways had been opened, and the gravity seemed to have shifted; the vomit he had just vomited was now flowing all over the spherical mirror.

Li Fan dragged himself out of the passage and returned to the central octagonal cabin. Sure enough, all the passageways were open, and the gravity system seemed to be shut down. It seemed that with the departure of the black and gray humanoid figure, all the ship's functions had completely stopped operating.

"System?"

Li Fan tried calling out, but the system still didn't respond. He didn't know if the signal jamming was still in effect, or if the system had been completely wiped out.

Well, he messed up his own system halfway through, so he's probably the first transmigrator to do that...

Suddenly, a beam of light flashed before Li Fan's eyes. A shimmering silver bamboo leaf passed through the passage and spun around Li Fan, making his eyes dizzy.

"Alright, Sword Intent, it's only been a short while, I'm not dead, don't act like a dog..."

Li Fan made a move, allowing the sword intent to penetrate his palm.

The Profound Heaven Sword Intent probably sensed the dark humanoid figure from before; since it was able to fly in, it seems that the thing has indeed left.

"Where's the toad? Is it still outside?"

The system has temporarily crashed and can no longer provide simultaneous interpretation for Li Fan and Jian Yi, so he can only look at his right hand and gesture, trying to guess what it means.

"The toad... pop... exploded?"

Is this for real...? It's that simple?

But perhaps it really is that simple. Li Fan climbed out of the passage and saw only a pile of black ash where Jade Toad Granny had stood before.

Jade Toad Granny, the Divine Transformation stage demon who wreaked havoc on Ink Bamboo Mountain for so many years, just died like that? All those years of scheming, plotting, grudges, and passions, just ended with a 'snap'?

A strange feeling welled up in Li Fan's heart. He couldn't help but raise his head and look at the dark rock formations above him, as if he were staring at the immortals who had turned into stone statues some distance above. An overwhelming sense of absurdity and emptiness welled up in his heart.

What's the point of all this desperate, arduous cultivation, competition, and scheming?

Anyway, hundreds or thousands of years of cultivation are completely meaningless; they just vanish in an instant...

'Smack!'

"Ouch! Why did you hit me on the head?!" Li Fan was stunned when he was suddenly slapped on the head with his right hand.

His right hand was occupied by the Profound Heaven Sword Intent, gesturing and opening and closing like a duck's head. It was unclear what it was saying, but it was probably some kind of inspirational quote.

Sigh, forget it. Even his mental health maintenance system has failed, so don't bother trying to comfort him, Sword Intent...

'Smack!'

"Holy crap, are you ever going to stop?! Stop hitting me! Ouch! Okay, okay, I won't be depressed anymore, alright?!"

Well, the old madman Profound Heaven Sword Intent's Dao heart is still firm, after all, he has experienced great ups and downs... and he's still a mentally sharp lunatic.

It must be said that its positive and optimistic attitude towards life, as well as the strength with which it hit people, really moved Li Fan, leaving him no time to doubt life or question the path of cultivation.

Since things are already like this, there's no point in thinking too much. Let's just live in the present.

Li Fan first crawled back into the spaceship and explored it again, holding the Si Nan in his hand to confirm the warehouse he had previously scouted with his clone. Unfortunately, he didn't find any ancient treasures; all the rooms were covered in black ash. But adhering to the principle of never leaving empty-handed, Li Fan went back to the crystal ball-like room, cut off a few pieces of crystal, and grabbed a handful of ash from the ground, putting them into his Storage Jade pendant for safekeeping. After all, who knows when it might come in handy?

He then left the spaceship and the area marked by the three outer rings of magic circles, sat on the ground to regulate his breathing and focus his mind on the condition of his body.

Needless to say, this time it almost collapsed.

To use a vivid metaphor, his physical body was like glass that had been shattered and then glued back together, with fine cracks appearing. His meridians and internal Inner Landscape were riddled with holes, as if they were leaking air, and he was only one step away from collapsing.

In this state, he had to be extremely careful even with his breathing, lest he overdo it and disintegrate his flesh and blood. How could he possibly use escape techniques or transformation spells?

Now Li Fan must consume the Donghua Changchun Pill one by one, using the pill's power to maintain the vitality of his Dao body, carefully repairing the damage to his Dao body, and leaving hidden dangers behind by closing his eyes.

At this moment, sword intent flew out from his palm again, writing "<Jade Pure Return to Dust Primordial Qi Technique>" on the ground.

Li Fan understood it immediately and grasped its meaning.

Now that he is deep underground, the only available true energy is the Return to Dust attribute. He can then cultivate the Return to Dust attribute Cultivation Method carved on the stone wall by the immortal of Qingcheng Mountain to repair his Dao body. Since there is a communication barrier with the Profound Heaven Sword Intent now, it is not the time to ask too many questions; he should just trust its recommendation.

So Li Fan closed his eyes and recalled the mountain wall he had glanced at, and quickly found the Daoist technique indicated by the sword intent. Moreover, it was much easier to find than the thunder technique, because it was actually a Qi refining technique, in the most conspicuous position, and it seemed to be the basic introductory Cultivation Method of Qingcheng Mountain.

Li Fan tried using this method to cultivate Qi and immediately discovered its secrets. The basic sword Qi of Ink Bamboo Mountain that he had cultivated could refine the five elements of true Qi into sword Qi for use, but it was only a Qi cultivation technique that was compatible with the five elements and had no other additional effects.

This Return to Dust Primordial Qi is a Qi-refining technique of the Qingcheng Mountain with the Return to Dust attribute. However, it is not a simple Qi-refining technique. It also contains a secret method to directly temper the physical body with Return to Dust True Qi and condense the Primordial Dao Body. It also has the miraculous healing effect. To use an inappropriate analogy, it is like using clay to glue a shattered and disintegrated human body back together.

However, the immortal from Qingcheng Mountain did write down the drawbacks: if the injury is too severe, or if too much of the Return to Dust True Qi is absorbed into the body, a slight mishap could lead to a qi deviation and backlash, causing the body to be petrified... Damn it! That's exactly what will happen to you! How can the Xuanmen teach such a do-or-die mentality?!

But there aren't any better options right now, so this will do.

Therefore, Li Fan dared not be careless this time and concentrated on his breathing exercises to temper and reshape his damaged body.

However, to Li Fan's great surprise, when he entered into deep meditation, he clearly discovered that not only was the surrounding Return to Dust True Qi being absorbed into his body, but also dark dust was gathering from the flying boat not far away, mixing with the Return to Dust True Qi and being tempered in his body!

Holy crap! They sucked in the ashes of a dead person too!

Li Fan was utterly disgusted, but fearing petrification, he dared not stop the incantation. He had no choice but to continue refining, using both human and demon ash to mend the cracks in his body. Little by little, thread by thread, again and again, he didn't know how long he cultivated until all the wounds on his body were healed, to the point where he wouldn't collapse even without taking medicine. Only then did he disperse his power and stop.

When Li Fan opened his eyes again, he looked at his hands.

Well, it's turned black... cough cough, ink-colored skin... no, it can't really be called skin...

Li Fan could clearly feel a layer of charcoal-like tissue adhering to the pores, no, the cells, of his entire body. He could summon this 'charcoal' and cover his entire body as if dyeing it, even turning the whites of his eyes completely black. He could also retract this 'charcoal' into his skin and pores, restoring his human form, making him appear completely normal.

Another skill has been added, the purpose of which I have no idea...

Li Fan looked at his hands, which were covered in a layer of charcoal, and tentatively tried to control the area of skin covered. At this moment, the Profound Heaven Sword Intent flew over and suddenly poked his palm.

"Ouch—what are you doing?! That hurts!"

Then, the Profound Heaven Sword Intent wrote on the ground, 'Can block Golden Core flying swords.'

Holy crap?

Yes, yes! This substance was originally attached to that spaceship, and wasn't it supposed to be impervious to swords, bullets, water, and fire? Wouldn't that make it invincible??

However, it didn't work. Li Fan tried it, and while the layer of ink ash could indeed isolate Dao techniques, it was a two-way isolation. Li Fan himself couldn't unleash sword energy anymore. But at least it could be used as an effective tortoise shell for self-preservation... Right! Not all energy can be isolated!

Li Fan tried it and succeeded. Lightning snakes of Kui Shui Yin Lei flickered and danced between his dark fingers!

Sure enough, the conductive lightning magic could penetrate this layer of dark gray, but it would block and isolate the other five elements of true energy, as well as the energy of heaven and earth. However, it would also affect his daily cultivation of spiritual energy, so he could not keep it covering his body indefinitely.

Li Fan tentatively approached the spaceship again to cultivate, and found that he could only absorb a certain amount of black ash into his body when he cultivated with the <<Jade Pure Return to Dust Primordial Qi Technique>>, but there was no reaction when he used the Returning Dust Sword Qi alone.

Moreover, this black ash must be adhered to his flesh and blood, and can only be the flesh and blood of his own body. He tried to grow a fleshy hand using the Motian Huasheng Dafa, and carefully controlled the distance to transform into the Qiongqi Dao Body, but he was unable to absorb the black ash as a layer of armor. It would only fall to the ground.

I really don't understand...

The exploration had reached a bottleneck. There was no point in dwelling on it any longer, so Li Fan rested for a while, felt he had recovered his strength, and then flew through the air on his sword, attempting to leave the abyss.

It has to be said that this place is really deep. It took the demon-slaying flying team half a day, and they finally had to switch to the Ice River Escape Technique to finally return the way they came.

The platform of the immortals of Qingcheng Mountain was also a magical artifact, but Li Fan didn't have the energy to collect it right away. He simply looked at it several times, memorized the inheritance of Qingcheng Mountain, then went out of the cave, snatched the Persian cat that was licking its fur, put it in his sleeve, and flew out of the underwater immortal's cave, seeing the light of day again.

Well... we still haven't seen the light of day.

Li Fan looked up and saw thunderclouds covering the sky, a howling wind, and lightning flashing between the clouds. It was clear that the Lei Marsh was about to close again!

It seems he spent a lot of time cultivating in the dark, reshaping his Dao body, and even the Lei Marsh is closed! Now that the thunderclouds are gathering, the thunderclouds in the north will close first. Even Nascent Soul Stage can't withstand this heavenly lightning, and his new skin can't withstand the electricity either, so naturally he can no longer return to the Middle Valley Dojo.

However, Li Fan also remembered that in Jade Toad Granny's escape route, the southeast direction led directly to the South China Sea. By going around the South China Sea, it wouldn't be difficult to return to Ink Bamboo Mountain.

So he transformed into Gonggong Dao Body again and urgently used his escape technique to travel south, swallowing pills and medicines along the way, and using his escape method to travel by water, so as to leave the Lei Marsh area before the thunderclouds closed and follow the flow of the river.

The system hadn't contacted Li Fan at all along the way; it was as if the entire group had been wiped out. He had no idea how things had progressed with the various matters concerning Ink Bamboo Mountain, the Nangong Family, Taiping Temple, and the Immortal Palace Xuan Sect God Sect. The only creatures they encountered along the way were unintelligent demonic beasts, which could only be used to fill their stomachs, and they couldn't glean any information from them.

Li Fan had to avoid the thunderclouds in the sky and had no time to think, so he simply covered his head and fled south with the current. After traveling for several days, he finally used his Divine Sense to observe the cluster of ships that had gathered together in the sea market.

Have they arrived in the South China Sea?

Gonggong Dao Body couldn't be exposed to the light, Li Fan naturally transformed back into human form and flew towards the sea to inquire where he had ended up again.

This fleet is quite large, and there's even a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator at the level of a South China Sea island lord in charge. It seems that these were some rogue cultivators from the South China Sea who recently entered Lei Marsh, obtained some opportunities, and gathered together to trade.

Li Fan entered the ship's tavern, where many rogue cultivators were boasting about their experiences in Lei Marsh, and he easily gleaned a considerable amount of information.

The biggest event was naturally the opening of the Demon God Palace, which sparked a great war Human Race and Demon Race. Although a large number of Demon Race were killed, unfortunately, a princess from the Nangong Family and two disciples from the Hengshan Xuanmen sect seemed to have perished in the battle.

In addition, Ink Bamboo Mountain also made a great splash. The abbot, Yao Xuanzhou, had superb swordsmanship, which was on par with Xu Daochong of Hengshan Sect. The two of them were the most outstanding in this battle. Moreover, the current opinion is that Yao Xuanzhou's swordsmanship is superior to Xu Daochong's.

Because Xu Daochong was ambushed while chasing the Wolf-Headed Demon King alone, Yao Xuanzhou cut off one of the Wolf King's arms, saving Xu Daochong's life. The Hengshan Sword Immortal wanted to repay this life-saving grace, so he helped the disciples of Ink Bamboo Mountain severely injure a toad demon, but the toad escaped.

Yao Xuanzhou's title as the number one swordsman of Ink Bamboo Mountain was already recognized Li Country. Now, even the True Cultivator of the Central Plains Xuanmen have surpassed him. As a result, the rogue cultivators in the south are also proud, saying that Yao Xuanzhou of Ink Bamboo Mountain is the number one sword immortal in the Southern Country. They even fear that the reincarnation of the Beichen Sword Sect would be inferior to him...

Humans themselves are the inheritors of the Sword Sect, okay... But wait, another toad spirit? So many toads have become spirits?

Li Fan frowned, suddenly sensing something was wrong. After inquiring around, he discovered that more than one person had witnessed it, saying that a group of Golden Core Stage disciples from Ink Bamboo Mountain had chased after a Transformation Stage toad spirit, even using Sword Light formations to surround and intercept it, causing quite a commotion. Some more knowledgeable people even directly mentioned the name of Ink Bamboo Mountain's formidable enemy, Jade Toad Granny.

No way, is Jade Toad Granny still alive??

At this moment, the Profound Heaven Sword Intent inscribed on the table, 'Spiritual Essence Astral Projection'.

Hiss... Its physical body is separate!? When the human body is destroyed, its primordial spirit leaves the body and takes on a demonic form!?

This is really troublesome... But I have to say, that toad is really something. When it encountered that thing in the spaceship, Li Fan lost most of his life, the system was wiped out, and even the Enlightenment Dao failed, but it's still hopping around happily! It's incredibly resilient...

"The Profound Heaven Sword Intent said, 'After reaching the Nascent Soul Realm, merely destroying the physical body doesn't mean death is so easy; one's lifespan hasn't ended. That Jade Toad Granny probably not only possesses the ability to transform herself, but she also refined the medicinal toads of the Qingcheng Mountain cultivators into their second bodies through the process of self-disintegration.'"

I see... Huh??? Translation system, you're back online? You guys are still alive!?

'Who is the translation system? Who is the mental health maintenance system...?'

'But it was indeed dangerous; we almost lost our mental health...'

What's going on now?! Didn't that thing catch you guys?

'Actually, you were caught after all... But we originally wanted to find it, we just thought you'd at least reach the Nascent Soul Realm, become a disciple of the Mo Mountain sect, or even become the next sect leader before you'd have a chance to make contact with it... Speaking of which, your exploration progress is a bit too fast...'

Anyway, we had a chat during this time, and the atmosphere was quite pleasant...

... The atmosphere seems pretty pleasant? Oh! You guys surrendered?

'Surrender sounds awful...'

We prefer to call it, "We're working together towards a common goal..."

So what exactly is your shared goal with that thing?

'Go to Earth.'

Don't worry, it's not yours.

Oh, so that's where they went... Holy crap!!

'The Profound Heaven Sword Intent Dao... What is Earth?'