The Seal at the Golden Scale Palace

Old Man Huan's mission came at just the right time, because Li Fan happened to feel that he was currently at a bottleneck in his cultivation.

This wasn't him faking it. He didn't spend much effort on the early stages of Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, and even breaking through to Nascent Soul Stage. The reason he progressed so quickly was not only due to his various comprehension skills and cheat codes, but also because the actual gap between each realm in the early stages was very small. The cultivation level and spiritual energy required for leveling up were not a problem at all compared to the current illusion of the False Moon shining brightly and spiritual energy reviving. This was also a major factor.

The main factors hindering breakthroughs in the early stages were primarily personal factors such as the cultivator's comprehension, aptitude, Cultivation Method, and resources. However, Li Fan had others directly address these external constraints. For example, when he Foundation Establishment, Fuling prepared a powerful Foundation Establishment treasure for him, eliminating the need for him to spend time and effort on tasks, monster hunting, and other expenses. Thus, a process that might have taken others several years was skipped for him. Furthermore, he overcame the countless trials that blocked his path to the Golden Core realm, and by using the shortcuts of Tai Su's Daoist methods, he reached the Nascent Soul Realm without any problems.

However, after officially entering the world of cultivators from the Nascent Soul onwards, Li Fan discovered that his cheat system had expired and he needed to spend money and grind to renew it.

Since very few people in the Taiji Realm can truly cultivate to the Nascent Soul Stage, even if Ink Bamboo Mountain values and promotes him, now that he has reached the Nascent Soul Realm, the sect leader cannot preferentially give all the cultivation resources that other disciples also need to Li Fan. Therefore, from now on, he will need to spend his own time and energy to collect many resources; no one will prepare them for him in advance.

Furthermore, the Nascent Soul Stage cultivating from Divine Transformation is also a process that requires time and accumulation. At this stage, Nascent Soul Stage cultivator can already communicate with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and the concentration of spiritual energy in the environment has little impact on cultivation progress. Taking Li Fan's current Gui Xu Nascent Soul as an example, he absorbs baleful energy to refine Returning to Emptiness True Essence to shape his Nascent Soul Stage. The speed of refining True Essence depends on his Cultivation Method and Nascent Soul Stage, in which he has already reached the top level. As for how large and solid the Nascent Soul can be shaped, that depends on the strength of his Primordial Spirit. With the Mo Shan Gu Guan Method reaching its peak, and with so many pioneering predecessors of Mo Shan paving the way, achieving the Primordial Spirit should not be too difficult. According to Li Fan's previous estimate, if he focuses solely on cultivation, it should take about twenty to fifty years.

The problem now is that he doesn't live in an era where he can cultivate peacefully. Putting aside the various system quests, faction quests, and NPC quests, this chaotic world inevitably involves fighting and killing other people. And once he gets into a fight, he will inevitably have to consume the true essence he uses to shape Nascent Soul Stage nascent soul, slowing down or even damaging his existing cultivation.

If one is seriously injured in battle, not only will one's Dao Body be affected, but one's primordial spirit will also be damaged. Just like this time, he overused his eyes and damaged his primordial spirit. After eighty-one days of healing, he discovered that his Gui Xu Nascent Soul had developed fine cracks and even had the potential to collapse. The Qiongqi, which was being ridden under his mount in the Divine Court, also showed a tendency to break free from Shu's suppression.

Although he carefully used his true essence to repair the cracks and restore his Gui Xu Nascent Soul, there was no guarantee that if he were to suffer serious injuries in future battles against demon gods, Dao Ancestors, or cultivators from the Three Great Sects, his cultivation might still be diminished. This would directly affect the time it would take for him to reach the Transformation Stage.

Fighting and strife are unavoidable; getting injured in a fight is better than losing your life. So, if cutting expenses is impossible, then the only option is to increase revenue.

From an open-source perspective, the evil energy of Moon Worship is inexhaustible, but Li Fan's speed in refining the True Essence of Returning to Emptiness has reached its limit. Every time Moon Worship, he absorbs all the evil energy, but he can't convert the True Essence any faster. He has to replenish it layer by layer to his Nascent Soul Stage in order to stabilize his realm and leave no hidden dangers. This is a slow and steady process that can't be rushed.

The cultivation of the Limitless Nascent Soul Stage cannot be forced. He hasn't used the Qiankun Flying Dragon Sword for a long time, just to use the Qiankun Qi he had painstakingly extracted to forge the Nascent Soul Stage. Besides, Qin Nanxin is currently taking the postgraduate entrance exam in Emei, so this can't be rushed; it can only be done little by little.

The only remaining path is to nourish the Tai Su Dao Body. Since he cannot return to the Five Sons Peak of Mo Mountain to cultivate a new Dao Body for the time being due to the covetousness of his enemies, he can only continue to cultivate what he already has.

To put it bluntly, cultivation is just eating. Eating demon gods, eating demonic beasts, eating lambs, and eating highly nourishing foods. Although this kind of nourishment has its risks—it might over-nourish the Tai Su Dao Body, making it difficult for the 'human heart' to suppress the 'beast heart'—it's still much faster than slowly grinding away at cultivation. Unfortunately, the last few times he Moon Worship, he kept ending up in a world that had been purified into ruins, with nothing to chew on, which is why his Tai Su Dao Body cultivation hasn't progressed, and it's quite frustrating.

After all, you can't go without food. People need food to survive; you'll get hungry if you miss a meal, and where will you get the strength if you're not even full? Li Fan was exhausted from tearing apart the Beast's Child before, and although he repaired his Divine Sense, Li Fan was still starving. So Li Fan was truly grateful to Old Man Huan for bringing out the demon god that his family had guarded for generations to treat him to a meal.

Last time, the Gonggong egg guarded by the Nangong Family made him so full he burped, and the Super Greater Chi guarded by Luo Feng also had its upper limit greatly increased. I wonder what kind of wild game the Golden Scale Palace is suppressing this time. slurp

Old Man Huan glanced at him sideways, "... What's wrong, Island Master? Are you hungry? A great battle is imminent, this won't do. Here, I have two steamed buns."

Who wants your steamed bun! I want meat!

Li Fan said awkwardly, "Ahem, my apologies, my apologies. I was just thinking about the taste of sea bream and couldn't help myself."

Old Man Huan chuckled, "Indeed, those sea bream are delicious. It's a pity we can't catch too many; just a few to taste."

Li Fan asked curiously, "Can't we catch more?"

"Alas, all the delicacies of the East Sea have been monopolized by Penglai Mountain. They even raise these sea bream. The younger generation can take a few without them noticing, but if we Nascent Soul Stage take too many, someone will investigate and hold us accountable. We can't afford to offend them..." Old Man Huan suddenly stopped speaking, pointing to the rising column of smoke in the distance, "That's it. The demon god my family is responsible for guarding is sealed in that underwater volcano. Recently, that volcano has shown signs of erupting, and there are quite a few mutated demonic beasts near Jinlin Isle. I'm worried that the seal has loosened, so I have to go down and check it out."

Li Fan used his blind eyes to investigate and nodded. "There are indeed many mutated demonic beasts nearby. I wonder what kind of demon god is sealed here?"

Old Man Huan shook his head and said, "I don't know either. They're probably some kind of ancient demons or monsters suppressed by the Immortal Palace. When my family was destroyed, many of our family heirlooms were scattered and lost. The stories of these forbidden demons are passed down orally from the older generation. Our ancestral teachings say that these demons have the ability to capture people's souls, and only cultivators who have reached the Divine Transformation stage can directly enter the seal to investigate. This time, I'm just checking the situation from the outside. If anything seems amiss, I'll have to trouble you for help, fellow Daoist."

Soul-capturing magic, it's not an illusion, it's just a gradual process. But Li Fan was curious, "Why does the Immortal Palace always suppress the demon gods instead of killing them outright?"

Old Man Huan knew this, "Those who can be killed will naturally be killed. The Three Enclosures Slay Demons, Immortals, and Gods are what the Three Platforms do. However, there are always some naturally created demons and gods, which are primordial alien species that have existed since the beginning of chaos. They are even older than the Taiji Realm and carry great fortune and karma. Killing them directly would diminish their destiny. Only cultivators at the Enlightenment Stage can personally carry out the task."

Those who have attained the Enlightenment Stage are usually among the highest-ranking officials, so they are unwilling to jeopardize their own destiny. Besides, there are so many demons and gods that they can't possibly kill them all, so they just suppress them overseas. Anyway, they won't amount to much. If they escape, we can just send some deities and spirit officials to capture them and suppress them again."

As for destiny, where is there any destiny that lasts forever? Look at the Huan family and the other four great families. No matter how illustrious their ancestors were, aren't they all like this now?

Li Fan shrugged and followed Old Man Huan into the sea, fighting their way towards the barrier.

Old Man Huan used his harpoon to thrust and parry from afar. Li Fan was hungry and couldn't muster much strength with his Ghost Hand, so he relied purely on technique. With one hand, he used the Jade Flute to spread sword energy, and with the other, he used the Heavenly Finger Technique to slash and thrust wildly, which was enough to deal with these mindless sea beasts.

Demons on land are relatively easy to detect, but these monsters in the deep sea, if they were to attain enlightenment through Moon Worship, would be extremely difficult to detect. Li Fan could no longer discern what these things in front of him originally were. It was like a hodgepodge of seafood—fish, shellfish, shrimp, crabs, octopuses, cuttlefish, seals, sea lions, whales, and sharks—a chimera stew glued together. In short, they were bizarre and strange; whether they were acquired through mutation or were naturally so, it was truly difficult to ascertain.

Fortunately, these creatures lack the intelligence of Demon Race and have no cultivation methods; they are simply mutated by radiation, resulting in gigantic monsters. They can be easily killed and torn apart by brute force. A single demon beast is generally manageable for a Golden Core cultivator, but if there are too many, it might be dangerous if Golden Core Stage cultivator exhausts their Qi.

Both Li Fan and Old Man Huan were body-refining martial artists, so they had no worries about their Qi. Instead, they fought their way into the demon horde, slaughtering and eliminating these monsters. Li Fan even took advantage of the blood-soaked water to occasionally grab some slices of meat and chew on them. And you know what? Fresh sashimi was quite sweet and smooth.

Old Man Huan didn't notice Li Fan sneaking a bite behind him; his attention was focused on examining the seal. Seeing that Li Fan was exceptionally skilled in naval combat, not only not requiring his support but also chasing after a group of sea monsters and relieving him of much of the pressure, he also unleashed his full power, charging straight into the demon horde. He quickly fought his way through the encirclement of monsters, reaching the seabed where scorching smoke and limestone billowed from a volcano, and was about to approach...

Li Fan, who was sucking on an octopus tentacle, suddenly felt a jolt down his spine. His Divine Sense detected something, and the moment he turned his head, "BOOM!" the volcano exploded.

Boiling water surged up from the seabed, and huge waves of air rose up, cooking and exploding the rotten flesh of many monsters.

This is the second time a metallic nitrogen bomb has been used.

The bomb was probably buried in the crater like a landmine, and it was triggered the moment Old Man Huan entered the area.

However, Li Fan noticed the signal that triggered the bomb this time. He quickly covered his skin with an ink layer, and with the protective suit on his body and the surrounding seawater cooling him down, he was basically not seriously injured.

But Old Man Huan was unlucky. He had no idea there were metallic nitrogen bombs. Caught off guard, he was blown up along with the surrounding monsters. Li Fan rushed over and rummaged around for a while before finally pulling him out of the mangled flesh. One of his legs had been blown off and was nowhere to be seen. His skin and flesh were completely ripped apart. It seemed he wasn't dead yet, but at his age, being shattered like that probably meant he was gone.

"Old man, hang in there, I'll get you right away..."

Old Man Huan suddenly glared at Li Fan, grabbed him by the collar, and stared at him. Since he had lost his tongue, he couldn't speak, so he just stared straight at him.

Li Fan understood what he meant and nodded. "I'll go check the seal."

Old Man Huan released him; he was no longer breathing.

Li Fan, his face grim, turned to look at the site of the explosion, at the volcano that had been blown open.

Ah Xiba didn't just wander into the Golden Scale Palace randomly. The apostles all have their own missions to complete. Considering their usual methods, if I'm not mistaken, this time it's probably the same old trick again: releasing the sealed demon gods, giving them the ultimate cultivation methods, turning them into new Beast's Child, and shaking the Immortal Palace's power... It certainly works...

Li Fan's figure flickered, transforming into Li Kun, and swam into the crater, passing through the sealing restrictions and entering the forbidden area of the volcano's interior.

This is a 'Immortal Palace' built inside a volcano, a Demon Subduing Platform. On the rock wall are nine bronze Dragon Head, which spray nine streams of seawater like water taps, pouring it onto the demon god suppressed under the Demon Subduing Platform.

Okay, Li Fan understood. It wasn't a volcano, but rather that the demon god itself was a fire beast of the Crimson Fiend attribute, constantly emitting high temperatures, which is why it was locked at the bottom of the sea to cool down.

But now, one of the nine Dragon Head is blocked. It's unclear whether it's a bomb or something Ah Xi Ba did earlier. In any case, the nine streams of Xuan Shui have become eight, the restriction array has been destroyed, and the area beneath the Demon Subduing Platform is constantly heating up. The demon god is gradually showing signs of awakening.

Li Kun rolled over and transformed back into Li Fan, entering the altar of the Demon Subduing Platform. There, he could see murals and records about the origins of the demon god. The system translated them for him.

The owl, also known as the Guiche or the Nine-Headed Bird, resembles an owl. It is red, with long legs and a spreading tail. Its cry is mournful like the sound of a chariot whistling. Its body is round like a winnowing basket. It is blind by day and scorching at night. It loves to enter people's homes and extinguish their souls.

The Nine-Headed Bird? Li Fan knew of this monster. In the blind temple, he had seen a similar record in the log left by Senior Mo Shan. He remembered that in the Great Wilderness, there was a mountain called Beiji Tianhuan, where the sea lived in the north. There was a god with Nine Heads, a human body and a bird's body, named Jiufeng. This god not only had the Tianhuan Divine Fire protecting his body, which could devour people and steal their souls, but also had an extremely strong regenerative ability. Even severed heads could regenerate. Unless swallowed whole, it was impossible to kill him.

Li Fan leaped off the Demon Subduing Platform, landing in front of the demon god's enormous bird head.

There's nothing to be afraid of. The seal has at most loosened, allowing one of the heads to awaken. But the other eight heads are still being doused with water, and their entire bodies are tightly bound. Even that head's beak is bound tightly; it's like a lamb to the slaughter—no, it should be called a roast chicken...

"... You actually infiltrated the Huan family so quickly and can now enter and exit the barrier?"

To Li Fan's surprise, before he could even speak, the Guiche didn't attack him; instead, it communicated with him using Divine Sense.

What's going on? Did this bird mistake me for someone else? Could it be...? Li Fan looked at his protective suit. Was it the smell...?

"Alright, your religion's method of possession is indeed quite powerful, but first, let me see the medicine you mentioned."

Li Fan squinted, thought for a moment, then took out the red box and a syringe.

Guiche stared at the syringe for a while, "This thing, can it really give me the power to break free from the seal?"

So it really is a drug used to transform living beings into lambs. Li Fan nodded slowly.

Guiche thought for a moment, "If I can truly escape this predicament as you say, and even have the chance to break through and attain enlightenment, then I agree to do three things as instructed by the Divine Cult."

Then it turned its head, withdrew its Dao power, and the scorching temperature suddenly dropped, revealing a small patch of its neck that wasn't covered by feathers between its neck and body. "Just do what you said before, inject the potion. Don't try any tricks. Even if you cut off my head, I can grow another one."

It actually... stretched its neck out and offered itself to you for food! Seriously, I'm going to cry... Well, this is terrifyingly lucky.

So Li Fan stopped being coy and polite, walked to the neck of the Guiche, took a deep breath of the roasted chicken aroma, put the syringe back in his pocket, shook his head to transform into the head of the Qiongqi tiger, opened his jaw, revealed his fangs, and took a bite.