A Hesitant Heart

Actually, judging from the behavior of those filial sons and virtuous kings of the Xiao Family from beginning to end, it was only a matter of time before Zhen Country ended up in this situation. However, this did give Li Fan an excuse to come out of seclusion.

"Are you going to Lanling to assassinate Hou Gu?"

"Indeed! Hou Gu has wreaked havoc on the world and harmed countless lives! He must be eliminated! For the safety of the world! For the peace of Penglai! I, Li Datang, am willing to risk my life to slay this fiend on behalf of the sect leader! To act on behalf of Heaven!"

Upon hearing Li Fan's righteous and impassioned words, the Manifestation Dao Lord remained expressionless, calculated with his fingers, and then rejected the idea.

"Hou Gu's death is not yet over... More than that, he just survived the calamity of his demise, seizing all the fortune of the Xiao Family. He might even have the opportunity to prove his Dao through killing. This moment is precisely when destiny has decreed his arrival. Not to mention that no one in the Eastern Kingdom can rival him, even I have to be wary of him. With your meager abilities, what makes you think you can act on behalf of Heaven?"

Li Fan was speechless for a moment after being choked, and then the manifestation stretched out its fingers and pinched it again.

"No need to rush. The ownership of Zhen is still under discussion with Yuntai Peak. Moreover, this scoundrel has a powerful figure behind him. The mere Xiao Family can be wiped out with ease. Let's leave him for now and see what they're up to. We can't touch him for the time being."

Li Fan was also helpless. In fact, he had guessed that the royal families of the Twelve Countries were all puppets now. Some puppets knew it, while some were just brain-dead and didn't. This Hou Gu seemed so powerful, as if no one could control the chaos in the world, but he was nothing more than a chicken-killing knife in the hands of the person behind the scenes.

Ultimately, this is still about the Three Great Sects dividing the spoils. Although on the surface the Immortal Palace and the Profound Gate are going to work together to deal with the Divine Cult, it involves the enormous interests of Zhen. The astonishing wealth accumulated by so many powerful families means that none of the Nine Great Xuan Sects or the Three Enclosures will easily give it up.

Now you see, even the Manifestation Dao Lord himself said that Hou Gu cannot die yet. It's really hard to say which force is behind the sudden overthrow of the Ruler Xiao's Country. It might just be like the Ruler of Xun Country's situation, where the heavens and earth are all in favor...

Seeing that Shenming was unwilling to agree, Li Fan had no choice but to change his tactics. "But patrolling the sea from nine to five every day is exhausting, and the pay is really too low. Sect Leader, do you have any high-risk, high-reward missions for me? The kind that reward Divine Transformation magic treasures?"

The manifestation indicates understanding. "Since you're too lazy to do stable jobs, then I do have some tasks I can use you for."

He flipped his hand and pulled out a four-foot-long magic sword and a golden skull. However, it had already been broken apart.

Li Fan was taken aback.

"What, you've seen him before?" Manifestation glanced around.

Li Fan was panicking and blurted out, "I've seen them, longswords and human bones, what's so special about that? Oh, but I've never seen anything inlaid with gold and diamonds..."

Manifestation glanced at him sideways, but remained noncommittal. "These two items are the hidden arrangements of the Ten Absolutes God Sect within the Yulin Manor. I've already retrieved them. This skull is a demonic Magic Treasure made from a skull, quite famous, you see?"

Manifestation grasped the golden skull with one hand, raised it, and with a casual gesture, a flash of golden light appeared in the skull's eyes. Then, it opened its mouth and spat out a flying sword with astonishing power! Like a stream of golden fire, it flew through the air in an instant, directly severing a corner of the roof of the Zhizhen Dao Palace! This startled many of the attendant protectors who came out to investigate.

"This, this is..." Li Fan exclaimed in shock. He had seen similar things before...

The manifestation looked at the golden skull in its hand, "This is the method of skull crushing and head control, a demonic sword-wielding evil technique. It kills the master to refine his head, binds his soul, seizes the flying sword, controls the head to control the soul, and controls the soul to control the sword. This is the signature Cultivation Method of the Northern Demonic Sect, the Genshan Death Gate Dao Sect."

This "Death Gate Dao" belongs to the ancient Daoist sects, mainly active in the northern kingdoms of Gen and Kan. Many of their views and techniques are biased and extreme, such as the "Closed Death View," the "White Bone View," the "Sword Forging by Drawing One's Head," and the "Enlightenment in the Death Realm," all of which are intolerable to the world. Unexpectedly, amidst the chaos of the world, it has reappeared in the human realm.

The skull's mouth contained a Nascent Soul Stage Rank 4 Kun Gen Sword of Life and Death, and I recognized the primordial spirit sealed within it—it was none other than the Five Integrity Demon Lord of the Death Gate Dao of Gen Mountain. Back then, I was still at the True Person Realm, while he was the long-established Divine Transformation Ancestor, wreaking havoc in the north that no one could control. However, he later disappeared without a trace for some unknown reason. At that time, the Luo Sect suddenly rose to prominence, and people simply assumed that the old demon had gone into seclusion, so gradually no one paid any attention to him anymore.

Since then, the Death Gate Dao has rarely appeared in the martial world. I never expected it to suddenly appear in my own backyard today. Judging from the arrangement of the magic array, it seems that the Divine Cult wants to help him resurrect. With the Death Gate Dao's unpredictable and demonic arts, this old demon might have even had a chance to attain enlightenment."

After a moment of reflection, Manifestation tossed the golden skull flying sword to Li Fan, saying, "You also contributed to preventing the resurrection of the Five Demon Lords this time. Here, have some fun."

Li Fan stood there dumbfounded, "Huh? This... this is too much..."

Manifestation chuckled, "What's there to be embarrassed about? Did you give me my things for free?"

As he spoke, he took out three more talismans, casually tossed them, and they transformed into three fine steel daggers that landed in front of Li Fan. "I want you to do three things. First, there is a Cheng Chengzhi of the Supreme True Sect, Cheng Chengzhi, who colluded with the Demonic Sect and betrayed his sect. I have calculated that he has already fled to the Gen Country. The Inner Sect secrets of the Nine Truth Sect cannot be passed on to outsiders, so go and cut off his head."

Secondly, the reappearance of the Five Demon Lords suggests that the Ten Absolute Demonic Sect and the Death Gate Demonic Path have colluded and have grand ambitions. I want you to go to the old site of the Death Gate Dao in Genshan to investigate the traces of the demonic path. If you find any clues about the demonic sect members, kill them all without exception.

Thirdly...

Manifestation Dao Lord suddenly changed the subject, "Remember Xiantong? The one in prison who colluded with the Luo Sect."

Li Fan immediately became alert, shaking his head repeatedly, "I don't remember, I don't remember anything Xiantong or Luo Sect. This disciple would never dare to cut off the head of Daojun, my grandmaster uncle..."

Manifestation rolled his eyes at him. "Who told you to cut off his head! The sect is short-handed right now. My junior brother is capable, but he's too stubborn and keeps thinking about his sworn brother. Since you have a connection with the Luo Sect and are going to Hebei, you might as well take a trip to Kan Country and find his sworn brother. Make him give up on that idea."

Li Fan: "... Who are you looking for?"

"Yan Xingyun." Manifestation pointed to the third dagger. "I did a divination. He should have died along with the entire Beichen family in the North Pole Ruins of Kan Country long ago. But these days, all sorts of strange things are popping up, so it's hard to say..."

The Arctic is a place teeming with demons and sparsely populated. Yuntai Peak has never been able to find all the remains of the Sword Sect. On your journey, cross the Gen River, exit the pass at Shuofang, travel north along the ice plains, follow this sword in search, and try your luck. If you really can't find them, just collect the remains of a Sword Sect disciple wherever you are and bring them back to Xiantong.

In short, we must see the person alive or dead.

After assigning the tasks, Manifestation waved his sleeve and shooed Li Fan away. He didn't know what was wrong with this guy; he always had to assign tasks in groups of three...

Moreover, Li Fan now suspects that he may have dug a hole for himself. He impersonated Yan Xingyun only to undermine Shi Zai's Dao heart, but it seems that revealing his deep scheming has only created some unnecessary misunderstandings.

Oh well, as long as we can sneak out of Penglai openly, that's best. This time, I'm on the sect leader's orders to go out of the mountains to retrieve the remains from the icy plains. It's quite normal for me to be gone for a hundred or two hundred years. So, I don't need to figure out how to escape with Xiao Yushi and the whole family. After all, the world is vast, but if the Xuanmen (mysterious sect) sets their sights on us and hunts us down, where can we really escape to?

Besides, Li Fan certainly wouldn't be taking Xiao Yushi with him on this trip. Following him would be far more dangerous than staying in Penglai. In any case, with the title of 'the concubine of the True Disciple Li Datang,' the help of the Ling sisters, and a group of Huan family maids to accompany her, and with Li Fan having left her a gourd of Nine True Donghua Changchun Pill, she could easily exchange one Divine Infant Pill for a Nascent Soul cultivation to the Immortal Palace Nascent Soul Realm, ensuring she would have no worries about food and clothing.

After lingering for a few more days, and spending a few days cultivating with the three women as a way of comforting and bidding farewell, Li Fan set off from Penglai for the Central Plains.

Actually, it's only a matter of time before we go north to pay respects to the predecessors of the Beichen Sword Sect, collect their remains, and bring them back to the ancestral temple of the sword sect on Yuntai Peak for a proper burial. However, the Beichen Sword Sect has not yet been rebuilt, and we have never actually been to the real Nine Yin Mountain, so there's no rush.

Therefore, Li Fan was not in a hurry to go to the Northern Border. He planned to cross westward to the Central Plains first, away from the Penglai sphere of influence, and find a place to cultivate for a while. Now that he was in a good mood, he could go to the Moon to work on the Ink Mountain Primordial Spirit Technique again, and then refine the Five Mountain Gods Divine Body. Otherwise, with his cultivation greatly damaged, he would have no confidence in doing anything.

However, in comparison, it's clear how difficult it is to learn some esoteric Cultivation Method.

Li Datang performed so many great deeds, and was even a disciple of the sect leader, specializing in doing dirty work, yet all he got was a brick, some pills, and a flying sword made of dead bones to play with. He couldn't even get a proper Inner Sect cultivation Cultivation Method from Penglai. The Xuanmen sect is truly cautious in transmitting its teachings...

However, to be fair, even if the manifestation had actually passed on the cultivation method of the Lotus Body Protection True Qi to Li Fan, he wouldn't have focused on it. Just like now, Li Fan has a series of Cultivation Method from Qingcheng Mountain, as well as the Taiyin Ice Wheel True Explanation from the Beichen Sword Sect, but he still hasn't started focusing on Yuqing and Taiyin Nascent Soul.

Laziness is one reason, but the real reason is that Li Fan doesn't have enough resources.

The ancient immortal techniques of the Xuanmen sect are not simply about refining Qi or having aptitude and understanding. The reason why that model appeared in Penglai is already very clear: old-school cultivators need a lot of cultivation resources! Although Li Fan has collected a lot of scraps here and there, these specific Cultivation Method that combine Yuqing and Taiyin, for cultivating the Nascent Soul Stage or the Divine Transformation Divine Transformation, require rare and high-grade Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. It's not easy for an individual to gather them all; only sects can afford to support them!

Even if Li Fan could cultivate with his comprehension and generate a small amount of Yuqing Zhenyuan or Taiyin True Essence for use without much problem, what about after forming the Nascent Soul Stage? And after Nascent Soul Stage, where would he get the resources to break through to the Divine Transformation stage?

For example, the Beichen Sword Sect didn't just use their Nascent Soul to Nascent Soul Stage bone sword and then throw it out to fight. After all, who has as many Nascent Souls as Li Fan to throw around? That's just an extraordinary method for extraordinary circumstances. The Taiyin Sword Infant cultivated by a legitimate sword sect is only the Oldest One basic sword embryo. Afterwards, it needs a large amount of Moonfire Refined Gold to forge the sword body, as well as various Heavenly Treasure, all of which are hard to come by. The better the materials and the more refined the crafting, the sharper the sword intent will naturally be. Look at how the Sword Ancestor Xuantian could be arrogant in front of the Void Star Dao Ancestor for five hundred years. Could someone with a weak foundation possibly do that?

If Beichen's own Cultivation Method is like this, then Qingcheng Mountain's is the same. Although the Yuqing Zhenyuan and the Thousand-Faced Immortal's Thousand-Faced Immortal Body are quite compatible, Li Fan was seriously injured twice when he was on the verge of death. He is really still afraid and, to be honest, he doesn't dare to cultivate too deeply.

So after much thought, Li Fan concluded that the Daoist Tradition of Ink Bamboo Mountain was the most stable. Although the cultivation method seemed to have been guided by the Thousand-Faced Immortal, Lou Guan's Gui Xu Nascent Soul and Mozhu Mountain's Tai Su Dao Body were both so simple, practical, and in line with the times. One could easily create a Dao Body by simply adding some evil energy, making the cost-effectiveness practically perfect.

Focus on cultivating Tai Su Dao first, and stop being distracted. Once you've solidified your basic skills, then you can try some other fancy tricks.

So Li Fan first crossed the sea to the west and arrived in Zhen Country. His plan was to first follow the official road, cross the Gen River to the north, and go to Gen Country to check out the situation.

He thought the situation was actually not too bad, but in reality, they hadn't even reached the Central Plains yet. Looking at the thousands of sails heading southeast, with the ships crowded with refugees, he realized that chaos had already descended.

How chaotic is the situation in Zhen Country now? Let me put it this way: Ruler Xiao's Country has nine brothers and eight sons. Except for the eldest son who died young and the crown prince Crown Prince became a puppet of Hou Gu, all the other brothers, nephews and sons have royal titles. They are powerful princes who have long been backed by the Three Kingdoms and Zhen Country, and are local warlords who command their own troops.

There were also local powerful clans, governors, and noble families, as well as rebel soldiers, refugees, and cults. Not to mention the infiltration of the Three Great Sects. It was truly a constant battle, fought everywhere, with no one knowing who was fighting whom, let alone who would ultimately prevail.

Therefore, among the core disciples of the Penglai Inner Sect, the 'One Successor Forever' sect, apart from those who went to fight the Divine Sect, those who went into seclusion to break through, and a few who maintained production on the Three Immortal Mountains, the vast majority of the other Nascent Soul Stage cultivators were stationed in towns and ports along the coast of Zhen Country.

After all, as mentioned before, through trade, the governors, prefects, and powerful clans of these coastal towns are now subordinate to Penglai, belonging to Penglai's own territories. To prevent the sect's industries from being affected by the war, with the situation so turbulent, shouldn't you at least station a True Person realm cultivator to guard and protect each city?

However, Penglai's "numerous and powerful" strength is relative to the Nine Great Xuan Sects. In the context of the entire Central Plains, this number of people is simply a waste of resources. The immortals of Penglai can only protect the peace in front of their gates. Once they leave the city, they have no control over the situation. Therefore, there is chaos and war everywhere. Immortal Palace, rogue cultivators, and demons are engaged in small-scale battles everywhere.

As Li Fan flew along, it became increasingly clear that the situation was becoming more and more chaotic. Especially after reaching the outskirts of the city, from his vantage point, he could see what appeared to be a giant octopus on the plains, its dark tentacles stretching eastwards, boundless and reaching all the way to the horizon. And this was neither some Non-Thing nor demonic entity.

It's people.

Most of them were refugees fleeing from war, a dark mass of people fleeing along the official road towards the towns on the eastern coast, hoping to find refuge in Penglai. There were also some marching troops mixed in, their mules and horses laden with supplies and baggage, their destination unknown. Every now and then, large groups of people would fight each other, sometimes it was local armies clashing, sometimes it was the army robbing refugees, and sometimes it was refugee groups fighting amongst themselves.

However, only a minority of those who immediately had the means to escape were able to do so. The majority of people heading west were trapped in inland towns and villages, unable to flee, because the open spaces had been filled by the deployed armies, and the kings of Zhen Country had begun siege warfare and open-field battles, engaging in the brutal annexation of feudal lords.

Li Fan was at a loss. If it were demons running rampant, or cultivators using their power to oppress mortals, he could rush in and intervene. But with two armies vying for control of the world, and the world supposedly belonging to both sides, who could he side with?

So, did killing Hou Gu and the other kings end the war?

Or if two poor people are fighting over a single bun, whose side should you take? What if it weren't just two people fighting, but two hundred? Twenty thousand? Two million? Besides, is all they want just a bun? Is a full meal enough? What they want is peace! But peace has just passed!

We are already in a chaotic world. According to the traditional pace of the Central Plains, if the blood doesn't run dry and the Li River is dyed red, and if everyone dies and the Gen River is filled up, then the next period of peace will not come so quickly.

Although Li Fan understood these principles clearly, witnessing the devastation of the country firsthand still filled him with a burning sense of injustice and resentment.

Now he only hates that his cultivation is too low. He is helpless against those evil demons and monsters who wreak havoc on the world. But the Divine Transformation is far away. There are still so many grudges and obstacles. He himself does not know where the road is. He can only watch the rolling crowd go far east. He flies high on his sword in the howling wind, avoiding the common people on the ground, and roars to the sky like a tiger.

The peaks stand like a gathering of people, and the waves surge like a raging storm.

Tongguan Road, nestled between mountains and rivers.

Looking westward towards the capital, I hesitated.

Heartbreaking places where Qin and Han dynasties once passed.

All the palaces and pavilions have turned to dust.

When a dynasty prospers, the people suffer; when a dynasty falls, the people suffer.

End of this volume

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