Sea Bream

' Li Fan, having consumed the flesh and blood of demon gods, has reached the Golden Core Perfection stage. He currently lacks a matching Purification Seed. Would you like to consume 200 points of his Morale cap to suppress his Dao Heart and force a breakthrough?'

'Breakthrough confirmed.'

' Li Fan, the Mountain God of Nanshan has broken through to the Golden Core stage, and his current mood cap is 7.7k.'

' Li Fan, Zhongshan Mountain God Body has broken through to the Golden Core Perfection stage, current mood cap 7.5k'

' Li Fan, the Mountain God of West Mountain has broken through to the Golden Core stage, and his current mood cap is 7.3k.'

' Li Fan, the East Mountain Mountain God Dao Body has broken through to the Golden Core stage, and his current mood cap is 7.1k.'

' Li Fan, Qiongqi Dao Body broke through to the Golden Core Perfection stage, consuming 500 points of his maximum mood; current mood cap is 6.6k.'

' Li Fan, through dissection, has mastered the Guiche Body (Beginner Level). His mood cap has been increased by 200 points; his current mood cap is 6.4k.'

' Li Fan, having devoured the Guiche, obtained the Seed of Purification for the Guiche Body; the Golden Core of the Guiche Body has reached perfection.'

' Li Fan, the Gonggong Dao Body, the Mountain God of Beishan, has reached the Golden Core stage and can break through to the Nascent Soul Realm. He has not yet learned a matching Cultivation Method. Do you wish to consume 500 points of your maximum mood to suppress your Dao Heart and force a breakthrough?'

Breakthrough confirmed. Li Fan, Gonggong Dao Body Nascent Soul Realm, current mood cap 5.9k.

Damn, he's gone berserk... Now he's truly invincible at the Nascent Soul Realm...

After finishing the Guiche and using up 2000 points of his mood cap, Li Fan was truly stuffed. Having feasted on flesh and blood, his entire body was filled with surging demonic power, transforming him into a giant like Revered Heavenly Demon, even tearing his protective suit apart.

Now he could barely suppress his human form. His lower body was Gonggong's snake tail, his abdomen had Qiongqi's tiger mouth, his back had Guiche's wings, and four mountain god heads had appeared on his shoulders, each spewing out flames of four colors: Crimson Fiend, Return to Dust, Divine Hardness, and Purple Radiance, which could not be taken back.

The Inner Landscape inside the Divine Court was even more chaotic.

Besides the Gonggong Dao Body, the Chiyou cultivation method, and the North Mountain God Dao Body who consumed the Demon God's egg, the other four mountain gods also reached the Golden Core Perfected Realm by consuming the flesh and blood of the Demon God. Each of them had a form: a rhinoceros body, a bird body, a dragon body, and an ox body, forming four primordial spirits. They were only a hair's breadth away from the Nascent Soul Stage. They separated from the Gonggong Dao Body and formed the Mountain God Team, no longer able to be controlled by the Gui Xu Nascent Soul with one hand.

Even the Gui Xu Nascent Soul had no time to deal with them; he had to hold the Nine-Headed Guiche with his left hand and the Winged Qiongqi with his right, keeping the two ferocious beasts in check to prevent them from causing trouble.

Only the Kun was leisurely wandering around, lying flat like a salted fish, showing absolutely no intention of super-evolution...

It's not that Li Fan wouldn't feed it; if it weren't for the Kun's stomach, how could it have swallowed such a huge demon god? But unfortunately, the system also said that the Kun's leveling up has nothing to do with the 'quality' of the food it eats, but rather with the 'quantity'.

The result was that he absorbed the power of a demon god, and all his Dao bodies upgraded, but Kun didn't react at all. Li Fan was truly at a loss. Did he have to drink eight tons of water from now on??

"Huff... huff... huff..."

After catching his breath for a while, Li Fan gradually came to his senses.

He knew that forcibly increasing his Dao Body by so much at once was not good and would definitely cause hidden dangers to his Dao Heart, but there was no other way. According to the setting of the Guiche, it had to be consumed in one go. Without upgrading his Dao Body, he could not withstand the power of the Nascent Transformation Stage Demon God, even if this was a weakling that had been sealed for who knows how long. After all, there was a difference of one realm, and he needed to digest it for a while.

It's unclear how long he lay there before Li Fan finally reverted to his berserk form and revealed his normal human form.

Of course, it can't be considered normal either. His current human form, Qingyue's original form, has been affected by Gonggong Dao Body, which is also at the Nascent Soul Realm, and has become red-haired, golden-eyed, and snake-like, with sharp teeth and claws, making him look quite like a monster.

Although he could change into Li Yaoshi's appearance, since Gonggong Dao Body had just broken through to the Nascent Soul Nascent Soul Stage and he hadn't practiced Chi You's body-refining technique much, he couldn't fully control Gonggong's form yet, and his hair and eye colors couldn't be changed for the time being. Li Fan had no other choice for the moment, so he just trimmed his claws and teeth and found a bamboo hat to wear on his head to cover them up.

Regardless, having devoured a demon god, six of his Tai Su Dao Body have been upgraded to the Golden Core realm, and one Tai Su Dao Body have been upgraded to the Nascent Soul Realm. His strength has truly increased dramatically. At least in terms of physical combat power, with his Ghost Hand randomly grabbing and tearing things apart, there are probably very few people in the world who can withstand his tearing.

However, even after cultivating the Tai Su Dao Body to this point, Li Fan had to stop. He could clearly feel that the Gonggong Nascent Soul Stage was already the limit of his control. If he were to cultivate a Mountain God Body or a Qiongqi or Guiche Nascent Soul Stage, his Dao Heart probably wouldn't be able to support it.

Before Gu Guan Method's primordial spirit cultivation makes a breakthrough, or before he refines the Limitless Nascent Soul Stage, it's best not to easily refine the Tai Su Dao Body to the Nascent Soul Realm. However, refining a few more low-level bodies to increase parameters is fine. He didn't expect to be able to forcibly break through using his mood limit, which is equivalent to a limit of 300 or 700. He can exchange that for a Golden Core level Dao Body, gaining more strength and more life. He still has so many limits left, refining seven or eight more Dao Bodies shouldn't be a problem.

After getting used to the force and making sure he wouldn't accidentally kill a passerby, Li Fan left the Demon Subduing Platform and, like a torpedo and water arrow, used water escape techniques to head straight for the Golden Scale Golden Scale Palace. He wanted to at least return Old Man Huan's body to the Golden Scale Palace for burial.

You know what, now that Gonggong Dao Body has reached the Nascent Soul Realm, his proficiency with the Dark Underworld Water Escape has improved significantly. The energy consumption of the Wind and Cloud Dragon Ascent Technique and the Profound Nether Ice River Escape has been greatly reduced.

However, upon arriving at Jinlin Isle in a short while, Li Fan realized that something was amiss.

He didn't sense a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, no, not even a Golden Core or Foundation Establishment cultivator! Not a single person! Not even a single fish!

Could it be...?

When Li Fan leaped out of the sea, the worst-case scenario had indeed occurred.

The Golden Scale Palace was wiped out.

Li Fan frowned and flew straight into the Golden Scale Palace to investigate.

The port was littered with charred shipwrecks, clearly indicating that the enemy had arrived extremely quickly, destroying all the ships and preventing anyone from escaping. It was probably not a fleet seeking to expand its influence.

Inside the Golden Scale Palace, ruins and bloodstains were everywhere. The pavilions and restaurants had been burned to the ground, and the entire palace had been looted. Even the magic array that Li Fan had just set up in the side hall had been destroyed. Not only were the pill furnaces and pills stolen, but even the black and white carp in the pond had been taken away without exception...

Yes, all Jin Qing Golden Scale Fish of the Golden Scale Palace were stolen. Were they after the Huan family's fish-raising methods? But why now?

Suddenly, Li Fan heard a sound, but he clearly saw nothing in his Divine Sense. He was so startled that he almost struck out with his palm, but when he turned his head and looked closely, he couldn't help but chuckle.

It's that eight-legged robot. He had followed the system's advice, fully charged it, activated its optical camouflage, and set a path for it to patrol the Golden Scale Palace, filming and recording to secretly learn how to raise fish... Damn! This is perfect!

Li Fan carefully searched the area and, sure enough, while all the immortal herbs and spiritual materials containing spiritual energy had been looted, the electronic devices had been ignored as if they were large pieces of junk... Well, this at least proves that the attackers weren't apostles from the cult...

Li Fan took out the Ghost Shell helmet, put it on, and quickly connected to the drone to review past recordings and videos.

You know what, this ghost octopus head is pretty high-tech. Wearing it feels like entering a virtual game. Li Fan can move around like a ghost in the images stored in the drone's database, analyzing various audio and video signals, capturing and analyzing them at any time, tracing and replaying them to reproduce past images.

Not only can the secret chambers concealed by illusion arrays be reconstructed using sonar and electromagnetic wave scanning, but even the illusion itself can be analyzed, reconstructed, and replayed to display the scenes within the illusion. Even more impressive is its stealth capability, specifically designed to counter cultivators' Divine Sense scanning. If it weren't for the requirement to return to this courtyard to change the batteries, even Li Fan wouldn't have detected the drone's presence. It's truly remarkable...

Li Fan paused his exclamation for a moment, then checked the drone's mission logs and confirmed that three months had passed since he and Old Man Huan went out to sea to inspect the restrictions!

Sigh, it's probably because he ate too much and lost control of his body, which tore his protective suit. As a result, when he was digesting under the Demon Subduing Platform, there was no motor to remind him, and he got too engrossed in his thoughts for too long.

The attackers arrived and raided the Huan family approximately a month after they left. The drone's recording range was extensive, including holographic effects across the entire island, and the Ghost Shell had been specially upgraded and modified by Xiba to identify various true qi frequencies and signals. Therefore, Li Fan could clearly see that there were three Nascent Soul Stage cultivators and six Golden Core among them. However, these people were all genuine experts, and judging from the gleaming blue light of their Sword Light, if they weren't deliberately framing someone, they simply didn't bother to conceal their identities.

Yes, they are all True Cultivator of the Xuanmen sect from Penglai Mountain.

Although the Huan family had fifteen Nascent Soul Stage on the island at the time, these dual-cultivation rogues were no match for the Xuanmen sect. With a surge of blue light, they instantly slaughtered all the Nascent Soul Nascent Soul Stage, including the sect leader and elders of the Golden Scale Palace, and even used secret techniques to bind their souls for interrogation. Moreover, these cultivators were incredibly ruthless; anyone who answered "I don't know" was immediately slaughtered, along with any Golden Core Stage cultivators from the Jinling Scale Palace captured on the island, whether human or fish, showing no mercy. Even Li Fan was taken aback by their actions.

However, this reconnaissance drone and electronic ghost shell are quite powerful. They can even collect and analyze signals, remove the noise of burning, killing, and screaming all around, and listen to the communication between the primordial spirits of Nascent Soul Stage cultivators and Huan family cultivators.

After repeatedly confirming and listening carefully to the recording for a while, Li Fan understood everything, and it was not much different from his previous speculation.

They came to Penglai Mountain to follow the cult.

The troubles in Xun and Zhen Country were indeed caused by the Asiba squad from the Divine Cult. He was predicted and they came after him.

This Penglai Immortal Mountain, located in the East Sea, is undoubtedly the power behind the Zhen Country's ruler. It cooperates with the Lanling Xiao Family to control the country and also participates in the turmoil between the two palaces in the Xun Kingdom. Originally, it was the behind-the-scenes force supporting the Xiao Family's nephew, the Marquis of Jianchang, but later it turned to support the Prince of Lu, who inherited the power of the Marquis of Jianchang.

This time, not only did their plan to control the Xun Kingdom fail, resulting in a betrayal and the loss of many disciples, but even the Zhen Country's own territory was in trouble. They were caught off guard and allowed Hou Gu, a mere traitorous general, to capture Lanling and besiege the Ruler Xiao's Country! The Xiao family was used to this, but Penglai had truly lost face!

As one of the Nine Great Xuan Sects, Penglai Mountain is not a pushover. They could see that the Divine Sect was behind it all, so they set up a grand formation to calculate and vowed to find and kill the culprit!

So they calculated it out to be three months, and that's how they arrived at the Huan family.

The Huan family was truly unlucky. They were just raising fish and running a sauna, bathhouse, massage parlor, and the like. Who would have thought they would inexplicably attract such a calamity? When asked, they knew nothing, and were swiftly wiped out by the Penglai cultivators for allegedly colluding with the demonic sect, with everyone above the Golden Core stage being slaughtered in no time!

The remaining Foundation Establishment disciples were all taken away by Heaven and Earth Sleeve. This wasn't because Penglai had any good intentions and left their enemies a way out; it was because they had calculated that the Divine Cult cultivators who were plotting behind the scenes were using Foundation Establishment bodies. Therefore, they suspected that some of the current Foundation Establishment disciples of the Huan family had been taken away by the Divine Cult and wanted to take them back for further interrogation.

As for the Huan family's treasures and Cultivation Method, as well as the Jin Qing Scale Fish that they had carefully fed and trained, the Xuanmen True Person didn't even care about them. They were treated as rewards and allowed to be looted and divided up by the group of Golden Core Stage disciples who had come with their master on this mission.

"...Sigh, this world is really..." Li Fan took off his helmet and remained silent for a long time.

He saw Amao, who was cultivating with seven or eight Huan family disciples. He was being treated as a legitimate heir and was also at the Foundation Establishment stage. He had been taken to Penglai, but it seemed he wouldn't die anytime soon.

However, his adoptive mother, Lady Madam Chi Lin, was unlucky. After all, she was just a fish, and she was immediately cut in two with a sword, her head and body separated, and her primordial spirit was directly destroyed. She was indeed a member of the orthodox Xuanmen sect. No matter how beautiful or charming you were, you could be killed without hesitation.

Such a Golden Scale Palace, and the descendants of the esteemed Grand Commandant, have ended up with such a tragic fate of family ruin and death...

In fact, even if Li Fan and Amao hadn't come for a visit, the fate of the Huan family of the Golden Scale Palace would probably have been pretty much the same.

That bastard from the Divine Cult, wasn't he here specifically to target the demon god Guiche they were guarding? He might have deliberately revealed a flaw, and the bomb planted at the temple entrance was probably prepared for these Penglai cultivators.

Even without the messy affair between Penglai and the Divine Cult, in such a chaotic world, a family like the Golden Scale Palace, which possessed wealth and beautiful women but lacked the corresponding strength to protect its assets, would probably not have been able to escape the devastation of one storm after another.

Li Fan arrived at the back mountain of the Golden Scale Palace, found the Huan family cemetery which had been ransacked after its restrictions were broken, and helped tidy it up before burying Old Man Huan. He placed the fish spear beside the coffin, took out the sacrificial spirit-summoning banner from Ink Bamboo Mountain, hastily performed the ritual for him, and bowed, saying, "Old Man Huan, we have known each other for a while. I, the Li Yaoshi, will go to Penglai to seek justice for you. If I can rescue your two disciples, at least your family will have an heir."

After Li Fan finished speaking, he turned to leave, when suddenly a gust of wind blew up from the flat ground, and a thud sounded behind him.

Li Fan turned his head and saw that the harpoon had fallen, shattering the blue bricks on the ground. Upon closer inspection, he could see a stone box buried under the bricks. It probably contained some kind of Cultivation Method manual.

Li Fan sighed, picked up the harpoon, took out the stone box, and said, "Alright, I will do my best to pass on the Huan family's legacy."

After tidying up, Li Fan took his harpoon, picked up a bunch of electronic equipment, and flew out of the ruins of Jinlin Isle. In the distance, he saw a cherry-red cloud on the sea, like a ribbon soaked in water, stretching for hundreds of miles towards the northeast.

Upon closer inspection, Li Fan recognized them as countless sea bream, each as large as a carriage canopy. Their scales shimmered in the sunlight like cherry blossom petals, and they were heading north, just as Old Man Huan had said. They were leading Li Fan to his destination: the overseas fairy island, Penglai Immortal Mountain.

Then Li Fan suddenly realized something: fate has its own destiny; perhaps there really is such a thing as chance, destiny, cause and effect in this world. It's just a pity that what is a great blessing for some people may not be for others...

Thanks for the reminder, the settings for the Golden Core Dao Body have been modified again.