Dreaming Awake

If Foundation Establishment is the full realization of the human body's potential, then Golden Core is breaking through the physical limits of the human body's structure, while breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm is an additional breakthrough, completely advancing the concept of the soul to a new stage.

It unites with heaven and earth, and as the 'chief of spirits,' it was truly born under this boundless sky.

That's it.

The Realm of True Humanity!

Li Fan could feel his Divine Sense was boundless, everything was so clear, everything was so distinct. He could feel the frost and snow on the pine branches melting in the early morning, he could feel the flow and surging of his blood, he could blast a mountaintop flat with a single slap, he could trace the trajectory of every flying fragment of stone, and he could clearly hear the small animals awakened from hibernation running for their lives, their hearts pounding like thunder before they could even recover from their shock.

"Ho ho ho ha ha ha! Wow--hahahahahaha! Master--so--strong--!!!"

Although his cultivation level and magical power are still improving, and his Inner Landscape dantian has not yet been fully filled as his spiritual energy circulation and breathing techniques continue to strengthen, the increase in his physical strength is real.

Li Fan could sense that at the Golden Core realm, he was merely suppressing the power of many of his Dao bodies, borrowing a little strength from one and a little speed from another, piecing together a ferocious beast in human form, but in reality, he wasn't fully utilizing the power of each Dao body.

But now that he has reached the Nascent Soul Realm, his Dao Heart and Primordial Spirit have completely overwhelmed many Dao Bodies, and he can now utilize the power of each Dao Body to the fullest extent—no, at least 600%!

Whether it's Qiongqi or the Five Mountain Gods Body, they have completely submitted to Li Fan's command. Now they are no longer distractions that could compete with Li Fan for his body, but simply tools for him to use his physical energy.

A simple physical fitness test reveals that his strength, endurance, stamina, speed, and explosiveness all reach superhuman levels. Each punch is equivalent to a full-force attack from a stack of demonic beasts. Furthermore, if he uses Emei's <Pifeng Biyue Palm>, the Cultivation Method can further enhance the palm's power with Dao power!

That's invincible!

This move was incredibly powerful; it flattened the mountain with a single slap, far surpassing the Qiankun Flying Dragon Sword!

Indeed, although Li Fan's Qiankun Flying Dragon Sword had been greatly enhanced by Zhang Jiugao's instruction, its power depended more on his cultivation level and the quantity of Qiankun Qi. However, his Wuji Nascent Soul Stage was not yet fully formed, and his Wuji Zhenyuan Essence was limited, thus limiting the improvement in the power of the Qiankun Flying Dragon Sword.

Conversely, Emei's palm techniques, though consisting of only two moves—the Wind Splitting Palm and the full-force bombardment of the Obscuring Moon Palm —directly utilize the power of the Dao body. This allows them to fully unleash the monstrous strength of the Qiongqi and Wushan Divine Dao bodies. Furthermore, the transformations of the Moshan Taisu are mostly focused on colossal beings, gods and demons of the heavens—the kind that can conjure hundreds of tentacles capable of destroying the world. Such destructive palm techniques could indeed unleash the power of the Tai Su Dao Body. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to acquire a couple of exquisite and superior palm techniques to enhance their combat strength.

Besides the significant improvement in breaking through force, there's also the improvement in movement technique.

While escape techniques like the "Profound Nether Ice River Escape" and the "Azure City Wind and Cloud Dragon Ascension Technique" rely on magical power to activate, they also place a severe burden and cause damage to the body. Often, this is due to excessive physical fatigue, leading to an excessive depletion of magical power and spiritual Dao Breath.

But now that he has completely controlled many Dao bodies and gained a huge boost, Li Fan tried to fly away and found that his escape technique was significantly less consuming.

His magical power is still increasing rapidly with each breath, so it's impossible to estimate how many times he can use the Escape Technique. However, based on his daily experience sensing the magical power of those True Immortals like Lou Guan, it must be at least twenty times greater than that of the Golden Core realm, right?

Finally, there was a significant improvement in Divine Sense.

Li Fan landed on a deserted mountaintop, used his palm strike to flatten the rubble, and sat cross-legged.

Li Fan is still not used to the new range and precision of his Divine Sense. He can sense too much information and intelligence. At first, it was quite novel, but after hearing and seeing too much, he felt dizzy and nauseous. After all, he is now only in the form of a 'human', but in fact, he is a life form of another realm. He needs time to digest and adapt.

The Profound Heaven Sword Intent mentioned that there is a special Yuan Shen technique when one reaches the Nascent Soul Realm. The inheritance of the Mo Shan Mountain Master is probably mainly about teaching this, so the most urgent task is to obtain a Yuan Shen technique for cultivation.

Otherwise, it's like buying a top-of-the-line computer with powerful hardware, ridiculously high specs, and a case full of flashy lights, camouflage patterns, liquid cooling, and laser cutting, only to find upon booting it up that the operating system is DOS...

Furthermore, Li Fan is currently undergoing testing within the Taiji Realm. Although breaking through the Nascent Soul Realm and overcoming level limitations allows him to continue leveling up, the characteristics of the Returning to Gui Xu Nascent Soul have not yet been fully manifested.

Li Fan could see the 'Nascent Soul Stage Li Fan' in his mind through internal vision. It was a small purple figure, just like the one he had sculpted. It was wearing a Daoist robe from Ink Bamboo Mountain, riding a Qiongqi, holding the mane on Qiongqi's neck with one hand, and holding Black Sword against its forehead with the other as if it was about to stab it.

Six more hands emerged from behind, five of which held five mountain god bodies, and one held the Thousand-Faced Immortal's tetrahedral summoning device. Behind his head was a black sphere, like a black sun radiating purple light, illuminating the divine court. The surrounding evil energy was absorbed into the sphere, forming a spiral of dust like a star ring around the little man.

To Li Fan's surprise, his divine court contained not only Nascent Soul Stage but also a red eyeball. However, this eyeball was not located between the Nascent Soul Stage's eyebrows; instead, it was enormous, resembling another crimson sun, even rivaling the black Returning Void Sun, staring directly at 'Nascent Soul Stage Li Fan'.

In addition, there were six gleaming silver flying swords, circling back and forth between the two 'suns', and a Kun fish, which would sometimes swim up to the eyeballs to take a look, sometimes chase the flying swords, and sometimes fly back to rest on the head of Nascent Soul Stage Li Fan...

Why is my head filled with so many random thoughts...?

Li Fan then examined the Qi-storage Wuji Golden Core. It was still the same as before, slowly refining the Wuji Zhenyuan. If there was any change in the Nascent Soul Realm, it was probably that the five elements that had been poured into his Inner Landscape had changed from a water column to a great river, and now it had truly transformed from a pond into a vast ocean.

The two energies of Qian and Kun had already taken on a distinct form, growing into two black and white carp, just like the ones kept in the courtyard. The two fish circled around the Wuji Golden Core in the inner sea of Inner Landscape, growing by absorbing the true Dao Breath of the five colors, and occasionally spitting out black and white light beads, which piled up on the Wuji Golden Core in the center, slowly accumulating true essence.

Hmm, it seems that just having a Gui Xu Nascent Soul is a bit overwhelming when dealing with so many Dao Bodies. I need to quickly cultivate the Limitless Nascent Soul Stage as well to help out.

Watching the two Yang Fish swim, Li Fan was unexpectedly overcome with sleepiness. Indeed, after three months of relentless practice problems, cultivating three Mountain God bodies, and being struck by lightning nine times, even a god couldn't withstand that...

Li Fan then focused his Divine Sense on the Inner Landscape, half-asleep and half-awake, cultivating his spirit while clearing and regulating his chaotic Divine Sense. Only when he felt he was gradually adapting to this newborn body did he regain his Divine Sense, yawn, stretch, and wake up from the Inner Landscape.

Li Fan opened his eyes and was taken aback.

He found himself sitting in a snowdrift, most of his body buried in the snow.

Then I checked my mood... 4550/4550! It's actually full!

No way! No matter how much you cultivate, your mental state improves little by little. Could it be that this short period of deep concentration has actually lasted for several months?

Li Fan hurriedly teleported back to Qingyue Creek, only to find the magic array pavilion empty. However, judging from the newly repaired training room, quite some time had passed. Moreover, the stone box in the sword furnace was gone. Fortunately, Asha had left a message.

Li Fan glanced at it and was immediately taken aback.

The letter said that Li Fan had gone out to test his skills, but hadn't returned for a year. She had also Foundation Establishment Perfection and was about to face the calamity of being killed by the Outer Sect Disciple of Ink Bamboo Mountain...

A year! Just the blink of an eye? Spring, summer, autumn, and winter have all turned in a cycle??

Li Fan was momentarily stunned, but he calmed himself down and continued reading the letter.

This time, Asha went to the northern Border Prefecture of Li Country to experience a life-or-death ordeal. Many new generation disciples from Ink Bamboo Mountain accompanied her, so they borrowed the flying boat that Li Fan had ordered. Kun and Leopard also went along for fun, so there shouldn't be any problems.

In addition, Asha mentioned that Yao Xuanzhou and Real Person Liang came together once. They didn't see Li Fan, but they gave her a few pointers and took the stone box away, leaving behind Li Fan's two sword boxes and a letter.

Fairy Wangshu and Fuling also came once. Fairy Wangshu had finally stabilized her Transformation Stage. She originally wanted to take Li Fan and Fuling out of the mountain to cultivate together, but unexpectedly, Li Fan had already achieved the Nascent Soul Stage on his own. So she left a message telling him that after his realm was stabilized, he could pay a visit to the mountain lord on his own.

What a pity! Again, because of my rapid cultivation, I almost missed out on the chance to cultivate with the Fairy with the long white legs and Miss Fuling. It's truly regrettable that we never had the opportunity to cultivate together, let alone in a trio.

Looking at Yao Xuanzhou's letter, well, it seems that the experts from Lou Guan are forming a group to leave the mountain and accompany the abbot to the Peach Banquet at Mount Emei, where they will also meet with the Three Enclosures to discuss the important matter of resisting the Divine Cult. Moreover, Jade Toad Granny in their side, has been severely injured this time and has fled overseas, so she won't dare to cause trouble at Ink Bamboo Mountain for the time being. Therefore, the guarding masters, including Real Person Wei Real Person Liang, are also setting off together. Even Profound Heaven Sword Intent said that he hasn't returned to the Central Plains for many years and Li Fan to focus on his studies and strengthen his foundation while he goes to join the fun!

Holy crap... I missed so much of the plot just by dozing off!

Thinking about how he had missed the chance to go to Mount Emei to eat peaches and maybe even kiss Nan Xin, Li Fan felt a sharp pain in his heart!

However, Lou Guan couldn't find out the details of the stone box, which might be a source of trouble for the Divine Lord. Yao Xuanzhou was also worried about leaving such a thing in the mountains for thieves to target, so he took it with him for the time being. The flying sword was repaired and delivered to Li Fan before they set off.

Li Fan inspected it and found that the Golden Dragon White Star had been re-engraved with a sword mark, probably to unleash the power of the Taiyin Sword Art. The Zhu Hong had also been plated with gold, becoming a Golden Dragon. Now it could be used at will, and it should be impossible to tell that it was obtained through murder and robbery.

In addition, the Feihong Sword Pill was returned to Li Fan. The reason why the sword pill refused to submit was also found out, and it was quite simple.

Feihong is a sword pellet of the Divine Sect, so it naturally needs to be controlled using the sect's secret methods. The engraved sword seal is also used to enhance the effect of the Blood Record Sword Scripture, and there are even special restrictions to prevent the sword pellet from being snatched by the sword control method of the Beichen Sword Sect.

Li Fan, using the Ruyi Sword Scripture Sutra of the Beichen Sword Sect to control his sword, naturally could not subdue the flying sword, let alone unleash its power.

Now, Ink Bamboo Mountain has deciphered the sword seal of the Divine Sect and has made many innovations and attempts in the new batch of eight furnaces of flying swords to be simmered. All that is left is to wait for the flying swords to be refined and see how far this batch of flying swords can go.

However, this makes the Flying Rainbow Sword useless to Li Fan. Unless it's a top-tier celestial book from the Divine Sect, he's unlikely to switch to cultivating the Divine Sect's sword-controlling techniques just for a Golden Core sword. In that case, the sword pellet can only be kept in the sword furnace and has purely collectible value.

However, Yao Xuanzhou also said that Li Fan had made many contributions to the sect, especially the meat and weapons obtained from the South China Sea, which relieved the urgent needs of the mountain. Therefore, he reserved a Black Sword for him from the harvest of the Eight Furnaces Sword this time.

Li Fan was pleased, but honestly, a flying sword takes two hundred years to mature in one batch. At his cultivation speed, he might even have attained enlightenment by then. What use would a Golden Core level flying sword be then? Wouldn't it just be something to collect? I appreciate your understanding...

However, since he had already missed so many plot points and opportunities, there was no going back, and no cheat code to reload saves. Li Fan could only shake his head and sigh, "Cultivating in the mountains really makes you lose track of time." But every tribulation comes and goes, and peaches are available every year; there will always be times when events are repeated, so there's no need to worry too much.

Looking up at the sky, it was still early, and the time for Moon Worship had not yet arrived. Li Fan dared not enter into a trance again, lest another year pass by in a daze. So he directly rode the Golden Dragon White Star to the Ink Bamboo Mountain Grotto-Heaven to find the mountain lord and become his disciple.

Now that he has reached the Nascent Soul Realm, and having slept in the mountains for an unknown amount of time, he has indeed absorbed a great deal of spiritual energy. Controlling the Golden Dragon White Star is naturally more than enough for him, and in a short while, his Sword Light flew into the cave.

The mountain lord had broken through to the Enlightenment Stage, and his seclusion period was much longer than Li Fan's. At first, he was unsure of himself, fearing that he would be turned away again. Unexpectedly, when he entered the mountain lord's courtyard again, someone was waiting for him.

Three beautiful maids, whom I had met twice before, appeared in the courtyard and greeted me with smiles.

Li Fan glanced at them, his heart skipped a beat, and then looked around the courtyard, immediately understanding.

Having reached this level of understanding, how could he not see the profound mystery within?

The mountain lord was clearly using Yan Ruyu's illusionary magic array in this courtyard. These three beauties weren't Thunder Monkeys, but they weren't living people either. They were spirits made of plants and flowers, far from being demons. They were just tools to serve people, probably like ornamental bonsai...

That makes sense; at the level of a mountain lord, one would probably want to eat any live meat as a snack with wine.

"Disciple Qingyue has come to pay respects to the Mountain Master..."

Li Fan bowed respectfully, but the three beauties smiled and stepped aside, giving him a deep curtsy, presumably to say they were unworthy of such a formal greeting. Then, with a flick of their delicate hands, they presented three wooden trays to Li Fan.

The first plate contained a black garment, but it wasn't a Daoist robe; rather, it resembled the casual clothes worn by a wandering knight-errant. There were no scriptures or incantations on it, and although it was very simple, it seemed to allow for easy movement.

Li Fan had also read through the "<Ten Theories>" and knew the main viewpoints of the Mo Shan lineage, which emphasized the practical use of resources and opposed unnecessary formalities and extravagance. He estimated that this outfit was most likely the uniform of an introductory disciple of the Mo Shan lineage.

Li Fan naturally accepted the black clothes respectfully and changed into them on the spot.

The second plate contained a Black Sword, which was not a magical artifact either. The sword was made of bronze and inscribed with the words "Respect Heaven and Serve Ghosts".

Li Fan naturally remembered what the abbot had once told him, so he recited it aloud. "When a country is licentious and disrespectful, then tell them to respect Heaven and serve ghosts."

The maid nodded and handed the Black Sword to Li Fan.

This probably completes the ceremony of paying homage to Mount Mo.

On the third plate was a graphite statue. The statue was a black human figure with no sculpted face, but Li Fan knew who it was.

The Thousand-Faced Immortal, the Revered Heavenly Demon.

Li Fan understood, and tentatively asked, pointing at the Revered Heavenly Demon, "Is the Mountain Lord currently in seclusion in this realm?"

The maidservant nodded with a smile.

So, should I wait until the False Moon rises tonight and go directly to pay my respects to the Mountain Lord? Hmm, I'm in a good mood anyway. I have Gui Xu Nascent Soul, and I'm going to see the Thousand-Faced Immortal. Isn't that just like going back to my hometown? I'll go tonight.

But seriously, not only is the abbot absent, but the mountain lord isn't even at Ink Bamboo Mountain? Doesn't that leave the defenses too weak? And what happened to the rule that Moon Worship shouldn't be left overnight...? Oh, right.

"May I ask why the three of you have waited for me here? Is it because Fairy Wangshu informed me that I have already achieved the Nascent Soul Stage?"

The maids nodded with smiles.

So Li Fan cautiously asked again, "How long have you been waiting here?"

The maids smiled and held up one finger.

So it really was a year's wait...

The three looked at each other, then smiled and lowered their hands, with the middle one extending three fingers again.

Li Fan was shocked!

Three years!?