Clear Tea

The soldiers of Xun Kingdom probably never imagined that there would be such a flamboyant thief as Li Fan. He had just caused a great disturbance at the Marquis of Jianchang's Mansion yesterday, stole the goods and ran away, and yet he had sneaked back the very next day.

But that's what they call the most dangerous place being the safest place; you often see this kind of plot development on TV.

So Li Fan found an inn to stay at and treated Lin Chen's injuries first.

"Thank you for saving me, senior." Lin Chen looked at the severed arm with a hint of dejection.

"You only have superficial injuries. If we can retrieve your severed arm, we can reattach it. If you lose it, it's not a big deal. We can add a mechanism later, or use a bone-regenerating pill. Anyway, you can have as many hands as you want, and any kind of hand you want. It's not important. Just bear with it for now."

Lin Chen, "... Yes."

Li Fan waved his hand and patted the coffin beside him. "You don't need to thank me. I've seen your aptitude. To be honest, it's trash. But your sister's aptitude is quite good, very attractive. It doesn't matter if she's dead; she can still cultivate to the Divine Transformation even after death."

Lin Xiang sat up with the coffin lid on her head, squinted and glared at Li Fan, then smiled at her brother.

Lin Chen, "Uh... thank you for your... comforting words, senior."

Li Fan continued, "In short, since you have passed my test, I will not pry into your karma. This is your own tribulation. I can help you for a while, but not forever. Ultimately, you must rely on yourselves. As long as you remember to uphold your conscience, physical disabilities are not a major obstacle. There are three thousand paths to enlightenment; there is always a way for you to survive."

Lin Chen struggled to his feet and bowed, saying, "Yes, senior, I will remember your teachings."

Lin Xiang also bowed her head in thanks, and then slammed the coffin lid shut with a 'bang!'.

Of course, despite saying he wouldn't ask about the cause and effect, out of curiosity and to check what exactly was going on with Lin Xiang, Li Fan still roughly confirmed with Lin Chen what the situation was like at Lin Baihu's house.

Turns out this kid's a bit dim-witted; he can't even remember how he broke his hand, can you believe it...?

In short, Lin Chen lost the Well Lodgings Guard Grand Competition and failed to receive the Foundation Establishment reward from the garrison three times. Frustrated, he went out to practice martial arts to vent his anger. Upon returning home, he was attacked and knocked unconscious. When he awoke, he discovered he had lost an arm and his family was destroyed. His father, elder brother, and the entire family had been torn apart, and his sister had turned into a demonic corpse. The young man assumed his sister was responsible for his family's death and fled on her back...

"... Do you remember?" Li Fan glanced at Lin Xiang outside, who was still covered by the coffin lid and peeking out with her eyes.

Lin Xiang quickly shook her head and hurriedly hid in the coffin again.

"The Imperial Guards..." Li Fan stroked his chin.

He asked Lin Chen about the general situation of the Imperial Guards. In order to select outstanding young men, the garrison organizes a competition for young people at the Qi Refining stage every year. Of course, the legitimate sons inherit the military status and family business, so it is mostly the sons of illegitimate children and private soldiers who participate. Each person has three chances, and the outstanding elites will be given a mid-grade Foundation Establishment of the fourth to sixth level.

If someone is exceptionally talented, they might be favored by generals and commanders, promoted to a close personal guard, or even taken in as a son-in-law, receiving special training and possibly even a high-grade Foundation Establishment. Of course, if you can't win three times, the resources of the Imperial Guards aren't easily obtained; you'll have to buy low-grade Foundation Establishment Pills yourself, or simply give up on the path of the Immortal Army.

As an aside, in ancient times, the immortal techniques of the Xuanmen sect were monopolized by the direct lineage of the Immortal Kings of the Immortal Palace. The Xuanmen sect improved upon the immortal techniques of the Immortal Venerables to create proper methods for cultivating immortality through tribulations, including tribulations of killing, tribulations of lightning, and tribulations of death.

For example, when Li Fan Foundation Establishment, he consumed the Five Elements Treasures and used Immortal Spirit Jade Marrow to moisten his throat, instantly maxing out all his attributes. That was naturally the best introductory method, leading him directly to the Great Dao. Generally, independent cultivators of the Immortal Path only use one to three rare Heavenly Treasure that match their own innate attributes.

In stark contrast to the cultivation of immortality, the upgrade system designed by the Immortal Palace for its celestial soldiers and generals is an External Alchemy cultivation method. It does not require tribulations, enlightenment, or fortuitous encounters; it only requires the consumption of resources to improve one's realm.

The disciples of the Imperial Guards do not condense their own cores. Instead, they swallow Foundation Establishment, using these pseudo-pillars as their core for cultivation. These pills are used to hold the true energy they cultivate. Moreover, because Foundation Establishment Pills vary in quality, the purity of the spiritual energy they can hold also varies. Therefore, low-grade Foundation Establishment will always contain impurities no matter how much you refine them, while high-grade ones can be refined even with spiritual energy obtained through dual cultivation. Thus, the advantage of External Alchemy cultivation lies in its convenience and speed.

Although it's weak compared to other cultivators at the same level, it's simple and safe. The Foundation Establishment is the foundation and core of this Foundation Establishment External Alchemy system, and all subsequent pills are upgrades based on it. Therefore, the grade of the Foundation Establishment Pill you can obtain Oldest One basically determines your achievements and the upper limit of your strength.

Therefore, it's not just the Foundation Establishment; there's also the Divine Essence Pill for achieving the Golden Core realm, the Divine Infant Pill for achieving the Nascent Transformation Stage Nascent Soul Realm, and the Divine Transformation Pill for achieving the Nascent Soul Realm... and that's it. The path of Immortal Soldiers and Generals ends at the Nascent Soul realm. However, it's not that the grandmasters of alchemy can't prepare higher-level Divine Transformation and Enlightenment Pills; rather, the resources required to refine external pills are simply too numerous. Even for the Immortal Palace of this size, mass-producing Divine Transformation Generals is neither cost-effective nor realistic.

Taking the basic Foundation Establishment as an example, even if the five thousand Cultivation Family of the Imperial Guards pooled their resources together, they would still need to hold an annual grand competition to barely provide some mid-grade Foundation Establishment for the elite disciples of the Imperial Guard to make do.

To obtain the Divine Hardness Golden Core, one must at least have rendered meritorious service in a sect, army, or battlefield. The Divine Infant Pill can only be prepared by a nation as powerful as the Twelve Countries, and is basically only bestowed upon high-ranking civil and military officials with titles and honors in the imperial court. The Divine Transformation, a legendary item, can only be obtained by aristocratic families of the size of the Four Great Clans, who can exhaust their resources to acquire one for their patriarch.

And this is a positive result after the False Moon and cultivation resources exploded. Before, these resources had to be obtained through fighting, conquest, and plunder.

Ahem, getting off topic, Li Fan was a little puzzled. He had only heard the shouts of the pursuers and then saw that Lin Xiang had used a pill to transform into a demon. He had a preconceived notion that a poor family was selling their daughter and that this sister-obsessed man had gotten angry and killed his father and brother. But it seemed that something was not quite right.

Regardless, the Lin Family is a legitimate centurion-level military family under the Well Lodgings Guard, which is considered Cultivation Family. They might not be able to get Divine Infant Pill, but surely obtaining a low-grade Foundation Establishment wouldn't be difficult? Why would they resort to selling their daughter? And where did Lin Xiang get that Corpse Refining Pill? That's not something a mere centurion-level family could obtain, is it?

There's definitely something fishy going on here. Don't be ridiculous, do you think a real zombie would act cute? You dare smile at it and it'll twist your head off...

In short, this mutated corpse girl is indeed quite rare; she's actually able to control her sanity. Whether it's due to a problem with the corpse-refining pill she took, or whether her flying immortal technique truly has unique advantages, Li Fan isn't quite sure. When he returns to the Luo Feng Immortal Palace, he can take a look at her with the professional corpse-playing experts. Speaking of which, he doesn't have enough coffins; he'll need to buy a couple more...

"Well... anyway, you guys stay at the inn and recover for now. Just in case you activate the invisibility talisman, you can escape. I have some things to take care of, I'll be right back."

Li Fan glanced at the sky, then took out a stack of ten-tael gold ingots from Xun Kingdom and gave them to Lin Chen for emergency use. He then temporarily put aside the side quest involving the siblings and left the inn to go to Iron Buddha Temple to complete the time-limited Heavenly Book quest.

Iron Buddha Temple is indeed a thriving and prosperous temple, bustling with activity and a constant stream of devout men and women. Perhaps it's because it has no competitors. The Three Great Sects are either high-ranking official institutions or secluded hermitages deep in the mountains, preferring to keep their secrets hidden. Finding them is a matter of fate, while not finding them is seen as a sign of their high status. Unlike these orchards that Door Opening offer spiritual solace to ordinary people.

This can't be considered a bad thing. After all, the consecrated Buddha statues, prayer beads, and jade ornaments sold at Iron Buddha Temple do have some effect, and can ward off low-level evil spirits. Of course, they are a level below the proper rogue Magic Treasure's magical artifacts from Ink Bamboo Mountain, and are basically disposable items, but at least they are priced for the mortal market.

Moreover, when poor people who are truly tainted by something unclean and cannot afford Magic Treasure come to the Iron Buddha Temple to worship and seek protection, the monks in the temple will readily help them remove the evil spirits, just like leveling up.

Before the False Moon shone brightly in the sky, it might have been a hundred or two hundred years before any demons or monsters were seen in the mortal realm. But now, strange changes are happening everywhere. Not to mention the monsters in the mountains and seas, even pots and pans are starting to level up and become spirits. Yet, the Three Great Sects are still scheming and fighting for supremacy, killing each other on the battlefield every day, vying for Heavenly Treasure, completely indifferent to the suffering of mortals. It's not hard to understand why unorthodox institutions like the Iron Buddha Temple are so popular among the people, becoming a source of spiritual sustenance.

The monks in charge of receiving guests at Iron Buddha Temple had probably been instructed in advance. As soon as Li Fan mentioned that he had something to return to Fa Jue Fajue, the abbot didn't care about his old beggar appearance and led him straight into the pagoda forest in the backyard, where he saw Fa Jue meditating in front of the Iron Buddha.

"Fellow Daoist, please have a seat. This humble monk thought there might be some trouble, but I didn't expect you to return the items a day early. I only have some tea from Jiujiang Prefecture on hand. Please forgive my poor hospitality."

Li Fan didn't stand on ceremony, picked up his teacup, and pretended to take a sip... What flavor could water possibly have...?

"Thank you for the fine tea, Master. I've come to return the precious artifacts from your temple, but I have a few questions I'd like to ask." Li Fan didn't even take out the box; he simply held the cup and looked at the other person with a half-smile, asking, "I once met a high-ranking monk named Faji. Was he a fellow disciple of the abbot?"

"Faji." Fa Jue thought for a moment, then shook his head. "This humble monk does not know this senior brother, but since he was bestowed the name 'Fa,' he probably also participated in the Water and Land Dharma Assembly where the King of Zhen Country sacrificed himself to serve the Buddha, and has a monastic certificate bestowed by the Zhen Country."

Li Fan asked curiously, "To sacrifice oneself to serve Buddha?"

Fa Jue nodded and explained, "The King of Zhen Country admires the Buddhism path and sincerely renounces his worldly life to become a monk. However, he is, after all, the ruler of a nation. How can I, because of my Buddhism blessings to the people?"

Therefore, the various schools of Buddhism held a Dharma assembly, and the abbots of various temples and monasteries debated the scriptures with the king, persuading him to return to secular life. Of course, debate alone was not enough; they also had to raise some money to redeem him from his monastic status.

Therefore, the eminent monks and disciples who participated in the first Water and Land Assembly and paid a huge sum of money as a gift were all granted a title and received a monk's certificate from Zhen Country, which allowed them to travel to Twelve Countries to spread the Dharma. This senior brother has the title of 'Dharma,' so he should be of the same generation as this humble monk."

Li Fan's lips twitched. "Wanwanqian... first time?"

Fa Jue smiled and said, "Judging by the time, it will probably be a few years before I sacrifice myself for the fourth time."

Holy crap, 100,000 strings of cash in protection fees for just one temple! And they come every few days! Xiao Feiyang really knows how to make money! No wonder he's the money bagger of the Immortal Palace...

Fa Jue shook his head with a wry smile, "The Buddhism temples receive a lot of donations from believers on a daily basis, and we also own land and make offerings, so we can afford some extra money. However, since our temple has paid its share to Zhen, we can't not pay our share to Xunzhou either. So, despite the apparent prosperity, we're actually quite strapped for cash. My two junior brothers are currently staying with me to save money."

Sigh, life is really tough for independent cultivators. They can't escape the offerings from the Three Great Sects... Speaking of which, no wonder you three are so stingy. A broken mirror is chasing after him relentlessly... Damn, so this really is just plain tea!

Li Fan coughed twice, took out the box, thought for a moment, and then took out a stack of gold ingots from his pocket. "Thank you for the fine tea, Abbot. By the way, what exactly is the Phantom Moon Treasure Mirror? Could you please explain it to me?"

"Fellow Daoist, you are upright and honest, and always keep your word. You are truly True Cultivator has attained the Dao. It is not unreasonable for me to explain to you." Fa Jue glanced at the stack of gold ingots and explained without hesitation, "It is a door."

"Door?"

"Fellow Daoist should know the principles of Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land, right?"

In truth, Li Fan had no idea, but he still feigned sudden realization and drawled, "Oh... you mean..."

Fortunately, he managed to fool him. Fa Jue continued, "That's right, this Phantom Moon Treasure Mirror was originally the natal magic weapon of a senior of our sect. However, because the senior's body was damaged, he fused with the spirit of this magic weapon."

Unfortunately, he still couldn't overcome the ordeal of death. Instead, his enemies came and destroyed his soul. His remaining body was then used by a friend who came to his aid and turned into Magic Treasure for the temple.

The immortal, unable to save his dear friend, promised that if the temple were ever attacked again by enemies and faced imminent danger, it could call upon the treasure mirror for help. At that time, an immortal from Yuntai Peak would naturally descend to save the Iron Buddha Temple lineage."

Because there was so much information in that bald man's words, Li Fan couldn't process it all at once.

Fa Jue said calmly, "Fellow Daoist, you probably didn't find what you were looking for, which is why you came to inquire about the situation in this blessed land beforehand?"

Actually, this humble monk doesn't know either. I only heard my master say that the other side is the abode of Real Immortal, the blessed land of Yuntai Peak, where a group of female immortals live. They are incredibly powerful and have boundless magical abilities, but they are all quite petty and like to play tricks on people. Those disciples who are shallow in cultivation, lacking in spiritual practice, or lacking in concentration should absolutely not look at this precious mirror.

I am a monk, and my Iron Buddha Temple lineage practices the "Boyhood Kung Fu," not the "Joyful Meditation." How could I possibly be entangled with those female immortals? Therefore, I have always kept this treasure in the temple to suppress bad luck, as a memorial to my ancestors, just in case.

"It was only because the Marquis of Jianchang from the neighboring prefecture was in dire straits that this treasure was lent to him to help him through his tribulation, but unexpectedly it still couldn't save his life."

Li Fan was lost in thought for a moment.

Fa Jue didn't even glance at the box, and directly called out, "Puding, place the Phantom Moon Treasure Mirror at the top of the tower."

"Yes, Abbot." A small, bald man walked over and took the box. He looked about the same age as the abbot, but he had already reached the Golden Core stage. It was hard to tell whether the Boy's Skill of Iron Buddha Temple or the Joyful Zen of Tiantai Mountain was superior...

Li Fan hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

Fa Jue gave Li Fan a deep look. "Things will eventually be returned to their rightful owners. Of course, if you still want to borrow the treasure temporarily, that's not impossible. If you borrow and return, it's not difficult to borrow again."

However, if you wish to inquire further about Yuntai Peak, you will have to seek out my senior brother Fahui. He is the only one among my fellow disciples who has entered the blessed land of Yuntai Peak."

Then the abbot fell silent, and Li Fan indicated that he understood.

So he took out another stack of gold ingots and placed them on the coffee table, saying, "Please introduce me, Abbot."

"Very well," the abbot nodded. "My senior brother is now Iron Apricot Temple in Jiangling Prefecture, Zhen. It's not far east of the Xiangdong King's Mansion. I'll send you a letter; you can find Master Cihui."

"Fahui? Cihui?" Li Fan was taken aback, then suddenly understood, "Could it be..."

Fa Jue nodded, closed his eyes, and said, "Namo Acalanatha Buddha..."

Li Fan shivered, took the letter of introduction, Fa Jue Fajue, and walked out of Iron Buddha Temple, wiping away cold sweat. As he stepped out of the temple gate, he swallowed hard, took out the mirror with the talisman stuck to it from his pocket, and glanced at it. Fortunately, the talisman hadn't fallen off. Then he looked at the signature 'Cihui' on the envelope, and suddenly felt a chill, quickly stuffing it back into his pocket.

That's right, there was actually no treasure mirror in that box, but the concubine's severed hand. It could be considered as 'returning the contents of the box'. Li Fan originally wanted to test how stubborn the Iron Buddha was, cough cough.

After hearing the monk's explanation, Li Fan actually felt a chill run down his spine at the sight of the mirror.

Damn, thank goodness I didn't rush in recklessly. So that's Yuntai Peak? That means it's teeming with experts! And these demonesses are so powerful! Not only did Marquis of Jianchang turn into a Cihui wife, but Fahui even turned into Ci Hui! His brother almost got into danger too!

However, Fa Jue probably saw through Li Fan's trick in front of him, but didn't expose him because of the stacks of gold ingots he had. After all, there was still a day left before the agreement, so he simply told Li Fan that the box was at the top of the tower and that he could put it back after using it.

Take the mirror if you want, just don't show it to him... cough

Alright, this monk seems negotiable; borrowing the Phantom Moon Treasure Mirror a few more days shouldn't be too difficult. Just put more gold ingots into the box when it's due...