The Outsider

When Yang Sheng woke up, not much time had actually passed. It was just dawn, the sun hadn't fully risen yet, and it was overshadowed by the dazzling light on the horizon. The wind and clouds were polluted by various divine lights, turning them into a kaleidoscope of colors, making him dizzy and nauseous. But he couldn't move. He was wrapped up like a mummy, and seeing the skilled bandaging technique, Yang Si'an knew that he had been saved by that person again.

"You've come to avenge your senior brother?"

Hearing the sound, Yang Sheng glanced sideways and saw half a person lying beside him. "Wow, you're still alive even like this! Ouch, it hurts so much..."

Xie Mingchen rolled his eyes. "Likewise, but I've avenged my great grudge, so I have no regrets... Didn't you come here to avenge your senior brother? I killed Gu Mo. If you don't act now, you won't have a chance."

Yang Sheng rolled his eyes at him. "I was bluffing. I don't know Gu Mo at all."

Xie Mingchen frowned. "But you said he is..."

"He's not Jiajia, I am! I remember now, I am Senior Brother Yuntai Peak, the Pen-Holding Boy Jiajia..."

Yang Sheng turned his head to look to the side, where his box, the broken jade tablet, and a jade pendant riddled with cracks and corroded by malevolent energy lay. He stared at it, lost in thought, and murmured to himself...

"In my youth, I received a divine favor and could have entered the Xuanmen (Grand Tutor Manor's tutelage. The Grand Tutor even personally divined my fate, saying that I would have at least thirty years as a prime minister in the Li Country. He instructed me to first serve in a foreign vassal state, accumulate local experience, and then return to the Three Palaces to become prime minister and take charge of the central government. Who knew that my career in the Li Country would be cut short before it even began..."

Later, I met Central Guard, who told me that the fortunes of the past few years had changed drastically, the universe had been turned upside down, and fate was unpredictable. He advised me to return to the Three Palaces and become a Gentleman Attendant to avoid trouble. I didn't want to receive a reward without merit, so I asked him for this post in the Xun Kingdom. I never imagined that life would be so unpredictable. My luck had suddenly turned, and I encountered the resurgence of demons. Now, my ambitions have been thwarted, and I'm going to die here. I'm truly unwilling to accept this..."

Xie Mingchen paused for a moment, then said, "I am Xie Mingchen, originally from the Xie family of the previous dynasty..."

But Yang Sheng interrupted him, "Alright, alright, stop talking. You've been yelling about your family's misery all night, that's enough."

Xie Mingchen choked for a moment, then retorted angrily, "Then what do you mean by telling me your business! Humph!"

"I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to him..."

Yang Sheng turned to look at Li Fan, who was approaching with Wu Hook in his hand. Having just used his full strength, he had regained Qingyue's true form.

"Real Person Li, I am truly grateful for your help this time. I have no way to repay you. I can only ask that you help people to the end. After I die, please record Yang Si'an's self-sacrifice in eliminating demons and saving the common people. Have it engraved on a stele. It would be even better if a temple could be built to commemorate him and spread the word to the people. That way, I might even have a chance to become a city god after I die. I still have some connections on Yuntai Peak and Sanyuan. Who knows, I might even be appointed as a mountain god or judge after I go down to the capital."

"... You really are determined to become an official, even if it means dying..." Li Fan couldn't help but roll his eyes at him. "It's a pity that this will delay your career advancement again. Judging from my skilled medical techniques, you won't die anytime soon. However, your maid was seriously injured while protecting her mistress. She probably won't be able to speak again for at least a hundred years. If you still want to see her, just rest and recover. Don't keep trying to kill yourself."

Yang Sheng sighed, nodded, closed his eyes, and remained silent, it was unclear whether he felt lucky or disappointed.

Seeing that this guy was still able to chatter on and on so energetically, Li Fan knew that he was not in immediate danger of death, so he directly placed Wu Hook next to Xie Mingchen. "Brother Xie, your body has been severely damaged, and you will eventually perish. But for you, reincarnation might not be a bad thing, right?"

Xie Mingchen nodded to Li Fan, "Thank you for saving me, Brother Xie Mingchen. I will remember this."

Then he grabbed a pearl and handed it to Li Fan, saying, "I don't know when I'll wake up. I've sent my adopted sons to Luo Feng Cave Heaven before they came to take revenge. I entrust them to you."

Li Fan recognized the pearl as the one the other party had used to summon moths, so he nodded and took it. "Okay, I'll take care of it for you."

The two of them did know what Qingyue looked like, but Li Fan didn't care. They were brothers who had risked their lives together to fight demons, so there was no need to be petty.

However, for the sake of convenience, after he regained some of his true energy, he transformed back into the appearance of Li Yaoshi and released the Moon Soul Sword Light, which enveloped Xie Mingchen and Yang Si'an and took them into the air.

He had just circled around, searching for any survivors, but unfortunately, he arrived too late. This forbidden garden banquet had already been repeated several times, and most people's souls had been devoured. Coupled with the massive explosion following the birth of the Beast's Child, apart from the Chosen One who clearly carried the plot, there wasn't a single living person left around. Perhaps some of those Xuanmen True Cultivator had their primordial spirits leave their bodies, but Li Fan wasn't sure of the specifics.

The fighting is still going on in the west, and it's a fierce and earth-shattering battle. It seems the Beast's Child is still struggling desperately and resisting with all his might. I wonder what the situation is like in Xingye City. So Li Fan first headed east with his Sword Light to find a place to stay in Jiujiang Prefecture, and let these two burdens recuperate first.

"Sigh, it's you again..." Fa Jue from Iron Buddha Temple looked up and saw Li Fan's Sword Light descending, his face darkening.

His two junior brothers, one with both hands broken and the other with both arms broken, were both lying paralyzed on the bed staring at him.

"Hehe, I don't know anyone here, and I only recognize the three of you. Oh, you bought medicine to treat your injuries, right? What a coincidence. I have two more wounded people here, let's treat them together as well, monks are compassionate, after all."

Li Fan tossed the two wounded men to the young novice monk beside him, then gave him a basket of gold ingots, added a few pills, and stuffed it into Fa Jue's arms. "Alright, alright, I'll pay for the medicine. By the way, your Phantom Moon Treasure Mirror was destroyed by the Ruler of Xun Country, and your prayer beads and purple hairpin also fell into his hands. The grievances have their perpetrators, the debts have their debtors, it's not my fault, so please accept my condolences..."

However, this time Fa Jue grabbed him, pulling Li Fan angrily, "Don't go too far, benefactor. It's one thing if you're inferior in skill and you injure the three of us brothers, but you've destroyed our temple's magic treasure! How am I supposed to explain this to the abbot of Zhen? You have to pay compensation!"

Just then, a young novice monk ran in, shouting, "Abbot! Abbot, something terrible has happened! The abbot is gone!"

"Ah, ah!" Fa Jue in surprise.

Li Fan shrugged and spread his hands. "This really has nothing to do with me. Keep an eye on these two, make sure they don't die. I still need to go west to find someone, and while I'm at it, check on how the fight is going..."

Fa Jue couldn't care less about him for a moment. He grabbed the novice and asked, "What happened! Explain yourself! Which upper courtyard is gone?"

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Li Fan stole a pot of tea from the monk to rinse his mouth and throat. Just as he summoned Yuepo and his flying sword took off, he heard the novice monk crying out.

"They're all gone! Hou Gu has rebelled! He burned Lanling to the ground! The fate of Ruler Xiao's Country is unknown! The Zhen Country is in chaos!"

"What?!"

Not to mention Li Fan 'Sword Light flashed and he turned back, the three monks and Yang Sheng, who were on their deathbeds, were startled awake and almost jumped out of bed. Only Xie Mingchen calmly asked, "Who is Hou Gu?"

"Hou Gu is a traitorous general of the Gen Country. He failed in his rebellion and attempt to seize the throne in the Gen Country and then submitted to the Zhen Country's ruler. What happened?! Although he is at the Transformation Stage, his troops are all remnants of defeated soldiers. How could he possibly have the strength to take Lanling? And why haven't I heard a single word about it?! Where did you get this information from?!" Yang Sheng was so shocked that his bandages bled.

It seemed that Fa Jue had pinched him too hard, because the little novice cried out, "Iron Buddha said so..."

Fa Jue frowned, released his hand, chanted "Southern Immovable Tathagata," took a deep breath, and explained, "The abbots of all the branch temples of my Iron Buddha Temple can use the iron Buddha statues they carry to deliver urgent messages and communicate with each other in case of unforeseen circumstances. Since this method has been used to seek help, it seems that this matter must be true. Such a big matter will be reported very soon."

Li Fan narrowed his eyes, "The Ruler of Xun Country just fell into demonic possession, and the ruler of Zhen Country was murdered by the rebels?"

Broken Eyebrow and the Black Monk were shocked. "What! The Ruler of Xun Country has fallen into demonic possession!?"

Yang Sheng suddenly exclaimed in shock, "The Divine Cult! It must be the Divine Cult! It was all planned! Something must have happened in Kun Country too!"

Fa Jue frowned and said, "Calm down! You all take good care of your injuries. This humble monk will go to see the Iron Buddha and find out what happened."

Li Fan nodded and said, "You bunch of patients, don't be so alarmed. Just stay here with the monk and recover. If the sky falls, someone taller will hold it up."

Of course, Li Fan was also very curious about the current situation, so he took out the battle report containing Doraemon from his Blue Fatty pendant. He had looked at this report once before and remembered that it contained an advertisement for Blue Fatty...

Found him! Tang Jiyao of the Qingwu Sect. As long as we use the treasure vault of Yuntai Peak to transmit messages, we can get information for just one Spirit Coins. This Tang Calculator has the most information sources on Yuntai Peak. We can just buy the intelligence about Hou Gu's rebellion from him.

So Li Fan wrote to Blue Fatty to order intelligence on Zhen Country and Xun Kingdoms, temporarily putting aside all this messy plot. Now that the two seriously wounded men were being cared for, he immediately returned to Xingye City and headed west along the Li River to find the Lin Family siblings.

Even though the Moon Soul Sword Light was extremely fast, by the time he returned, it was already broad daylight, and those Nascent Divine Transformation were still not finished fighting.

The Ruler of Xun Country was truly brutally beaten and was struggling in his death throes. Along the way, he was covered in dragon scales, blood, mercury, and demonic blood, and his malevolent aura permeated the air, polluting countless places. Coupled with the demonic corpses and monsters released the night before, it is feared that Xun Kingdom will be plunged into chaos from now on, with evil spirits Fourth Department and the kingdom unstable...

Li Fan truly had neither the time nor the energy to clean up the pollution from this malevolent energy. He circled the top of Jingji Xingye City with his Sword Light, and from afar he could see that this former royal capital had been completely ravaged by the wind and fire.

The once bustling banks of Rouge Pool are now completely deserted. The area around Jiangbei Tiger Crouch Palace is filled with malevolent energy and demonic forces, with rampaging monsters Fourth Department.

Because the birth of the Beast's Child caused such a huge uproar, the internal strife between the two palaces' loyalists in the south of the city was forced to a temporary halt. The situation is currently chaotic, and it's unclear who has won or lost; both palaces have likely already fled the city under the influence of their confidants. However, the damage has already been done; both the Crown Prince's residence and the Prince of Lu are in ruins, with countless dead and wounded. Countless remains of private soldiers and the corpses of civilians caught in the crossfire have yet to be collected, and it's likely that those who committed suicide are no fewer than those infected by the evil energy.

Of course, many more people fled in panic. Xingye City was reduced to Devil Domain overnight, so it was impossible to stay there. Li Fan could see countless refugees from afar, gathering like ants seeking shelter from the rain on the plains, as the refugee procession fled the city.

Because there was a great river to the north, Mountain Ghosts to the south, and the Beast's Child and a large group of Divine Transformation cultivators attacking from the east, most people were probably forced to flee westwards to Li Country.

Li Fan searched around to the river mouth for a while, but the Xun Kingdom's navy, which had originally been stationed there, was nowhere to be found. Only a large number of sunken ships remained, many of which had been burned to ashes. He didn't know if it was due to the huge explosion or the subsequent internal strife where the two sides fought for their naval forces, causing the war to spread to this area. But what was troublesome was that the merchant ship where the Lin Family siblings lived on the shore was also gone.

Li Fan searched around but didn't find any sunken merchant ships nearby, suspecting that the caravan had been scattered by the warships. He wondered if they had missed it because they were flying too fast along the river, or if their trip to Jiujiang had taken too long, and they had already fled to Li Country by waterway.

In this chaotic situation, Li Fan took out his Si Nan and saw the spoon spinning rapidly. Opportunities were everywhere, and after some calculations, he could only determine that the Lin Family siblings were not in immediate danger. However, with malevolent energy and refugees everywhere, it would be difficult to accurately pinpoint their location.

The celestial order is becoming increasingly chaotic, and the world is accelerating its descent into an abyss of disorder. Under the great tide of generations, everyone's life is like a floating duckweed, which may be crushed, overturned, and submerged by the waves at any moment. Li Fan couldn't help but feel powerless.

He was already exhausted from merely preventing the Beast's Child from attaining enlightenment, but was that really enough? Now, the malevolent energy is spreading rapidly throughout Xingye City, and who knows how many malevolent corpses and demons have been dispersed. And in Zhen Country, something similar is likely to happen. The Central Plains may be vast, but where is there still a pure land...?

Li Fan shook his head, deciding not to think about these irrelevant things. For the time being, there was no need to continue chasing westward. When he was looking for people earlier, he used his blind Divine Sense to scan the city and found that there were still a few people who hadn't managed to escape. So he immediately used his Sword Light to rescue them.

He wasn't really confident he could win a head-on sword fight against the Beast's Child, but he could easily cut down the demons and monsters below. As long as the trapped people hadn't undergone significant mutations and didn't have a tendency to tear people apart indiscriminately, he would help them out of the city; he would save as many as he could.

This delayed things for a while, and the light pollution from the great battle of the Divine Transformation on the horizon gradually dissipated, but it seemed that the battle was moving further and further away, and the source of the evil aura did not seem to have completely disappeared.

Seriously, what's going on? Eleven of them have been fighting one all day and they still can't take him down? Are they even capable?

"Li Daoyou, you're really something! I arranged so many people, and you're the only one still alive and kicking."

Li Fan was standing on the Rouge Pool, using his Gu Guan Method to examine for traces of the previous explosive device, when suddenly Zhang Chongyang's voice rang in his ears again.

"Oh? They're all dead?" Li Fan stroked his chin. "Why aren't those four brothers from the north under your jurisdiction?"

Zhang Chongyang laughed, "Hehe, the four spirit officials came specifically to slay the demon, but they never expected that even the senior brother of the Beichen Sword Sect couldn't do anything to a Ruler of Xun Country."

Li Fan sneered, "How could I not take it? I sent it to Yuntai Peak. What business is it of mine if you can't keep an eye on it?"

Zhang Chongyang laughed heartily, "So you really did throw that demon into the Purple Hairpin Courtyard? This has caused quite a stir. If Lord Liang finds out, he'll probably be furious."

Li Fan laughed heartily, "What's there to be afraid of a mere Divine Lord? I wouldn't even give a demon god a second glance, let alone this is all your orders, Commander Qian, how could I not obey!"

Zhang Chongyang's voice turned cold, "Brother Li, that's not quite right. I told you to bring Sun Zhonghu to Sanyuan. Did you do that?"

Li Fan's voice also turned cold, "Anyway, I've already tied you up once. Brother Zhang, remember to transfer the money to my account. If it's even a penny short, I'll go to the Grand Tutor Manor to demand it from you in person."

Zhang Chongyang paused for a moment, then laughed, "Hahaha, Brother Li truly lives up to his reputation as a top disciple of the Beichen Sword Sect. I believe you will definitely be able to carry on the sect's glory. Hehehe."

He laughed, and Li Fan laughed too. "Hehehe, Commander Qian is indeed a trusted confidant of the Grand Tutor Manor. I think you will surely bring glory to the Grand Tutor Manor as well, hahaha."

The two of them chuckled awkwardly for a while, then stopped laughing.

Zhang Chongyang asked in a cold voice, "What's going on with the Forbidden Garden?"

Li Fan also asked sternly, "What's going on at Rouge Pool?"

Zhang Chongyang replied, "I don't know. I only heard that the Prince of Lu died, and that he was killed by a sword immortal from Hengshan, but I didn't arrange for him to do it."

Li Fan replied, "I don't know, but I heard that someone named Hou Gu has rebelled and has already captured Lanling."

A gust of cold wind swept up, and Li Fan looked Fourth Department his eyes closed, no longer able to sense Zhang Chongyang's presence.

Hmph, so they ran away... It seems there are always things in this world that are beyond the Grand Tutor Manor's control...