Night Banquet

Inside the forbidden hunting grounds, the Imperial Guard, unfurled dozens of colorful flags and curtains, setting up an open-air banquet camp around the hunting grounds that encircled the hilltop.

Banners fluttered across the mountain, silk ribbons adorned the fairies, and beauties in flesh-colored palace attire, some carrying gold and silver wine vessels, others holding pearl and jade platters, moved among the curtains, continuously offering various delicacies and rare foods. Amidst the melodious songs and dances, laughter and joy, a harmonious banquet was held for the nobles.

It was as if this was just another ordinary banquet for high-ranking officials, with all the courtiers intoxicated by the revelry and singing, indifferent to the fate of the nation and its people. Even the nearby chaos and slaughter at the foot of the mountain seemed like something from another world.

But that's not what the system says.

'A spiritual attack from the Beast's Child has been detected!' Li Fan's mood soured slightly!

'A spiritual attack from the Beast's Child has been detected!' Li Fan's mood soured slightly!

'A spiritual attack from the Beast's Child has been detected!' Li Fan's mood soured slightly!

Li Fan's mood improved slightly.

A wide-ranging mental attack? Even someone with his strong resistance to illusions was affected, his mood was dropping every second. I estimate it's about every five or six seconds, but due to the effects of the Gui Xu Nascent Soul, the mood drop caused by the baleful energy would reverse and rise again. In other words, the concentration of baleful energy in this calamity is roughly the same as that of the ordinary Void Abyss's Primordial World, and it has already begun to reshape the environment and reshape the ecosystem.

Li Fan closed his eyes and used the mind's eye of Blind Person to observe the world, and thus he 'saw' it.

The entire hillside of the Forbidden Garden was covered with a layer of mercury that looked like asphalt but felt like metal.

The mercury of this evil spirit covered the earth, shrouding vegetation and buildings beneath a thick, flowing black metal, and leaving behind many spindle-shaped cocoons on the ground.

Everyone was encased in cocoons of mercury. One could clearly feel the cocoons continuously absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth through human flesh and blood. This energy, after being transformed by mutated organs, produced malevolent mercury, which was then transported to the mountaintop as if alive. It seemed the true form of the 'Beast's Child' was in that direction. With such a grand spectacle, even creating an illusion with their minds, it seemed that if they delayed any longer, it would be allowed to fully develop...

Li Kun leaped up and swept his tail, opening a small piece of the cocoon. Inside, he saw an old man, a Fake Nascent Soul, but like a corpse trapped in a swamp, his blood vessels were filled with Fiendish Mercury, and his pupils were cloudy. Although he wasn't dead yet, he was clearly trapped in that illusion and couldn't extricate himself.

Palace maids and guards, high-ranking officials and nobles, assassins, kidnappers and traitors—no matter how illustrious your status or how noble your origins, at this moment, you are stripped of your titles and pretenses, leaving only pure 'humans,' mortals utterly powerless to fight back.

However, Li Fan is no longer human, he is a fish, oh wait, no, he is a Kun.

So Li Kun rolled over like a mudfish, coating himself in a layer of malevolent mercury and mingling with the flowing metal. At the same time, he closed his inner eye again, opened his physical eyes, and entered the spiritual world of the Beast's Child.

As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw a rabbit circling around me in a daze, seemingly startled by Li Kun's sudden disappearance.

It seems even a spirit like Yuepo has been affected. But things have some resistance to Non-Thing. It clearly knows that this is an illusion and everything is abnormal, but it cannot see through the illusion like Li Fan did through the Gu Guan Method.

However, it is indeed quite serious that even a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator's spirit can be affected. I remember seeing a lamb in the Ten-thousand-mountains before, which could bewitch monsters like a pitcher plant for dual cultivation and sexual exploitation. It seems that this so-called 'Beast's Child' is a further stage than the lamb, and even Nascent Soul Stage cultivator and a spirit cannot escape its mental control.

Li Fan opened his mouth and swallowed the rabbit's primordial spirit back into his mouth. He also stored the Moon Soul Sword Pellet in his divine court, protecting it under the illumination of his Crimson Eyes to prevent it from being corrupted by the spirit of the 'Beast's Child'.

With a Tai Chi artifact, it seems unlikely to sever the Tai Su beast. Looks like I'll have to fight to the death this time...

Li Fan wasn't in a hurry to turn back into a human. He discovered that although the Kun was weak in its current fry state, it was not bound by any rules or restrictions. In a literal sense, it could transcend the Three Realms and be outside the Five Elements, which was perfect for hiding.

So he continued to dive into the spiritual world constructed by the Beast's Child, first following the palace maids coming and going into the kitchen, and then, taking advantage of the crowd, leaping into a clay pot and sticking out his tongue to disguise himself as a stewed fish head.

These servants were, after all, influenced by the spirit. Even though they looked at the pot of 'fish soup' and felt that something was amiss, they were immediately forced to correct themselves by the spirit of the Beast's Child. So they shrugged, ignored Li Kun, called two strongmen to lift the casserole, and carried him swaggeringly into the banquet through the main entrance.

So Li Fan could use this perfect disguise to observe the people attending the banquet from inside the pot. And you know what? There were all sorts of people there. Many of them were old acquaintances.

Seated on either side of the table, Yang Si'an sat at the head of the table on the left. He was dressed in the ceremonial robes of an official from the Three Palaces, presumably playing the role of an envoy from the Grand Tutor Manor. He held a tablet in his hand, and a treasure box sat beside the table. His expression shifted between confusion, joy, hesitation, delight, a frown, and a smile. Clearly, he vaguely sensed something was amiss, but that was all.

After all, look at Du Xia beside him; she's already reverted to her original form. She can only use the box to emit a precious light, barely enough to protect Yang Sheng's true spirit from destruction. Escaping this illusion is difficult. Below Yang Si'an sit many civil officials and ministers, mostly representatives of the four major clans. The vast majority are at the Nascent Soul Stage, but it's all useless. Under the influence of the Beast's Child's power, none can remain sober; they're all drunk and staggering, behaving recklessly and utterly devoid of manners.

On the right, seated at the head of the table, was an elderly member of the Princess Quan family, perhaps a prince. Princess Quan, whom Li Fan had once kidnapped, also sat to the right, nestled against a general, seemingly drunk, her body almost in his arms. However, her husband was leading troops at Baiyue Mountain, so the identity of this young man was unknown; he was probably just a lover brought along to relieve stress. Those around her dared not say anything, pretending not to notice.

In short, those seated on the right were mostly military officers and feudal lords, roughly representing the royal family, maternal relatives, and military generals of the Xun Kingdom. These people were probably the trusted forces used by the Ruler of Xun Country to support the Prince of Lu, create the illusion of discord between the two palaces, and confuse the Three Great Sects.

The middle-aged man sitting in the head seat was the Ruler of Xun Country —no, he should now be called the Beast's Child.

This man was clearly not an ordinary person. He had a yellow beard and blue eyes, a purple mustache and a square jaw. He was eight feet tall, with a heroic face, a magnificent demeanor, and an extraordinary appearance. At first glance, he did have the air of a ruler of a country. After all, such a nobleman, who was the ruler of Twelve Countries, was the result of genetic selection over several generations. His appearance was certainly not bad.

Of course, in this mental world constructed by the Beast's Child to buy time, apart from his peculiar appearance, there's nothing particularly abnormal about this king. He was probably born looking like this, but he still belongs to the category of human, without any extra roots or tentacles or anything like that.

Li Fan decided to observe further. He couldn't discern anything extraordinary about the Ruler of Xun Country, and he wasn't certain whether this 'ruler' was merely an illusion or his true physical form. Right now, he only saw him drunk, his face flushed red, his neck bulging, loudly joking and laughing with several close confidants and ministers.

You know what, judging from the fact that a ruler of a nation can set aside his airs and speak freely with his close advisors over drinks, he truly is a powerful ruler who can win people's hearts. But the confidants, family members, and important ministers he brought today—the servants who deeply believe in the Ruler of Xun Country —have all already been sacrificed by him as offerings...

Moreover, there were other experts present at this banquet.

The chief eunuch standing beside the Ruler of Xun Country was a master of the Transformation Stage. Several other True Cultivator Nascent Soul Realm were also hidden among the banquet crowd on either side. However, their attention was entirely focused on Yang Sheng and the King, with only occasional glances at the passing servants and maids; they had no spare energy to notice the fish in the pot. Of course, they were completely unaware that they had already fallen into the trap set by the Beast's Child.

These Xuanmen True Cultivator are one thing, they're still at the Nascent Soul Stage level, but how come even a Transformation Stage cultivator couldn't realize they were in an illusion? Was it because they were too close and were ambushed first, or is this eunuch a member of the Divine Cult, hiding in the shadows to cover for the Beast's Child...? However, although he's Divine Transformation, this eunuch's aura is rather weak. Could he be a trash Divine Transformation...?

Fortunately, Yang Sheng didn't keep Li Fan waiting for long. Du Xia probably couldn't hold on any longer either. The treasure in the box dimmed, and Yang Sheng swayed his head, seemingly slightly drunk. He laughed heartily, raised his cup, and stood up, saying, "Thank you for the banquet, Your Majesty. I'll drink to that first!"

Then he raised his glass and drank it all in one gulp. Then, as if he wanted to say something but forgot what he was going to say, he scratched his head. Before anyone around him could raise their glasses to toast him, he suddenly smashed the glass on the ground.

"Never mind! Let's do it!"

So, as the banquet ended and the curtains were drawn, several Nascent Soul General suddenly jumped out, brandishing short knives and taking everyone hostage. The servants and maids around them were so startled that they smashed their plates. Li Fan was speechless and could only pretend to be dead, falling to the ground with a thud to watch the show.

"You, what do you want to do!" The Ruler of Xun Country was putting on quite a show, really acting as if he was drunk, and couldn't stand up for a moment.

Yang Sheng laughed heartily, "Grand Tutor misses His Majesty and would like to invite you to visit the Three Palaces. You don't need to worry about the miscellaneous affairs of Xun Kingdom. Crown Prince Rende can handle them!"

"What! The Three Enclosures interfering in the internal affairs of the Xun Kingdom? That's quite unreasonable!"

"The Crown Prince actually intends to rebel! He's unfilial!"

The fight broke out without warning. Most people were drunk, but many had been waiting for this for ages. As soon as they saw the fight finally break out, someone immediately took action.

First, four yellow Sword Light appeared directly from outside the tent, leading more than twenty Nascent Soul Stage Divine Generals who rushed in from behind the scenes. Three or four of them controlled the drunken civil and military officials around them, while the others went up to capture the king.

Li Fan also recognized that the yellow-sword cultivators were all from the Song Mountain Sect. It seemed that they had sided with the Grand Tutor Manor and wanted to take the Ruler of Xun Country hostage. However, the chief eunuch beside the ruler was also a master. He jumped out and single-handedly blocked the attack of a group of sword cultivators and axemen by waving his whisk.

Then, from the left side of the Crown Prince's and aristocratic camp, a group of sword cultivators jumped out. There were three of them, and their swords all shone with a blue light. They should all be from the Hengshan Sect.

Meanwhile, a group of sword cultivators also jumped out from the Prince of Lu's camp on the right. There were three of them, all radiating bright blue light. They were dressed the same as the guys Li Fan had fought at the gate earlier, so they were naturally from Penglai.

While the people of Sanyuan were being held back by the old eunuch, these two groups of people easily disposed of the few low-level Nascent Soul General below them.

Strange... why does this feel like something I've seen before?

But before Li Fan could figure it out, the two groups had already started fighting!

Well, since the Three Palaces have kidnapped the ruler, they still have to choose one of the two palaces to succeed him.

These Nascent Soul Stage were inferior to the True Cultivators Li Fan had seen before, whose Sword Light crisscrossed the sky. Although they were all Nascent Soul Nascent Soul Stage from the Xuanmen sect, they clearly did not possess any high-grade magic treasures, let alone anything of the level of a sword pellet. Most of them were like divine generals and guardians from immortal Immortal Palace, wielding ungraded swords and using sword techniques to fight their enemies.

Clearly, they were also suppressing their sword power, aiming only to kill their enemies and kidnap the drunken officials and the king, without actually killing too many people.

Fortunately, this group of people were all skilled, jumping and dodging around so that no one would make a basic mistake like slipping on a flathead and falling over...

After a fierce battle, it turned out that the Divine Transformation eunuch was indeed the strongest. Although he was surrounded by swords and seemed to be weakening, he was still more skilled and killed many Nascent Soul Stage axemen in a few moves. The people of Songshan were unable to subdue him for a while.

Upon realizing they were outmatched, the leader of the Songshan group shouted, "The thief isn't poisoned! Send the signal! Call the elders!"

Penglai roared, "Despicable! Luckily we knew you could call for help! Send a signal! Call the island lord!"

Hengshan laughed, "Hahaha! You think we didn't expect you to?! Send the signal! Call him Uncle-Master!"

Seeing that this wasn't working, Yang Sheng turned around and shouted, "Damn! Let's call for help too!"

Then he turned his head and saw that there was no one beside him, only a box. He looked confused for a moment, but then shook his head, took out three command arrows from his waist, and threw them into the air.

Then, one yellow, one green, one blue, along with three jade tokens, shot into the sky and exploded into a large cluster of fireworks.

But nothing happened, they just set off a bunch of fireworks...

The eunuch, who Divine Transformation, burst into laughter, "Hahahaha!" He exclaimed, "It seems you've all made a mistake! The Divine Cult anticipated your reinforcements! Hahaha!"

The sword cultivators were shocked. "What! The Ten Deadly Demonic Sect!"

Li Fan stared at the awkward scene with dead fish eyes, "..."

... What's going on? Something doesn't seem right...

"The Ten Deadly Demon Path Sect is an evil and heretical sect that everyone should kill. There's no need to talk to them about chivalry or honor; let's fight side by side!"

Yang Sheng darted out, rattled off a string of words, then covered his head and scurried away.

Immediately, the sword cultivators from the Songshan, Hengshan, and Penglai sects turned their attention to the same enemy, unleashing a flurry of sword strikes as they charged straight at the eunuch!

The Divine Transformation, also roared, "Guardian, come quickly to my aid!"

If we're going to fight, let's make it fair. No one's reinforcements have arrived, and of course, no cult's protectors are here to help him either...

Then the old eunuch was pounced on and surrounded by a group of Xuanmen True Cultivator. They fought fiercely, but he couldn't withstand the onslaught in an instant and was hacked to pieces by the sword net...

Everyone was watching the battle between the Xuanmen cultivators, but Li Fan, who was lying on the ground like a salted fish, had been paying attention to the Ruler of Xun Country's performance the whole time, and that's when he noticed him.

This king is indeed problematic. Even with the sword immortals of the Xuanmen right in front of him, he didn't move an inch. He just lay reclining beside the table, watching the chaotic fighting below, yawning, and taking a sip of wine.

At that very moment, Li Fan heard the sound of wind.

The sound of blades whistling through the air.

"Grievance Style!"

The man beside Princess Quan drew his sword; his Wu Hook was hidden inside the princess's skirt, and he slashed straight at the throat of the Ruler of Xun Country!

Everyone was shocked!

After all, everyone present knew that the king should not be moved lightly, so so many experts were suppressing their power, and not even the sword wind could touch the king's clothes. Who could have expected that someone would actually slice off his head with a single blade!

Damn! Li Fan was also shocked! Xie Mingchen, you... you actually dyed your hair to use your good looks to seduce someone! And what's going on? Was his strike weak...?

Sure enough, the swift stroke, as fast as a bee's flapping wings, only severed half of the king's neck.

No, its neck split open on its own, and it opened its mouth to grab the blade of the Wu Hook sword!

"What! Cough!"

A mercury-like sharp cone pierced out from the king's sleeve, piercing Xie Mingchen through the chest!

The Ruler of Xun Country sighed, "Almost there, let's try again."

Surprisingly, Yang Sheng was the first to react. He suddenly trembled violently, stared down at the tablet in his hand, then looked up and roared hoarsely, "Kill that Devil Embryo! Once it has devoured our primordial spirits, its path to enlightenment will be complete!"

At this moment, the sword cultivators of the Xuanmen sect around them had already stabbed the eunuch into a bloody mess with their swords. Hearing the sound, they were all startled. Suddenly, they realized something and stared at the Ruler of Xun Country. Those who were close by immediately let out a sword cry and thrust it straight at the Ruler of Xun Country's head!

But the Beast's Child smiled, opened his mouth, and blew out a gust of wind.

Then, the world spun around, and Li Fan found himself back outside the tent, with rabbits circling around him.

Holy crap

Could it be that this banquet had been repeating itself time and time again before he even entered?

... That might mean he only has one chance to turn things around...