The Eye-Obscuring Talisman

Host, don't waste your energy on nobodies. Hurry up.

"Nobodies? A Golden Core cultivator who killed a Golden Core-level fiend corpse with one punch is a nobody? Then what am I supposed to save my energy for? And hurry up? Hurry up and do what? What earth-shattering scheme are you hatching, you mental health system? Contribute my part to the mental well-being of humanity across the multiverse?... System? System! Hey, are you trying to get me killed? Who can stand it when you leave me hanging like that? What exactly am I supposed to hurry up and do?!"

But the system didn't answer. Maybe it was deliberately keeping something from him, or maybe it had one of those "the host lacks sufficient permissions" settings.

Li Fan was genuinely speechless. He was practically on the verge of a breakdown. The system had all kinds of hidden information it wasn't sharing. At this rate, there might be some huge conspiracy lurking behind it all. If he didn't want to be led down the wrong path, he'd better raise his cultivation as quickly as possible and unlock more permissions to obtain information from the system!

Profound Heaven Sword Intent says: hurry up and kill Thunder Monkeys to temper your mind, host. Your Foundation Establishment-stage true qi is unstable, and the talisman has a time limit. Your spiritual qi will dissipate within the time it takes an incense stick to burn.

Then Kun licked the yellow talisman, took it in his beak, and hopped up. With a slap, it stuck to Li Fan's back.

You two, stop interrupting me! Huh? Wait... Sword Intent! What kind of talisman did I just draw?!

Profound Heaven Sword Intent says: it's an Eye-Obscuring Talisman, a common kind of illusion magic among the people.

Li Fan was stunned. He didn't even have time to think through all the system's baffling remarks from earlier. Before him, emerging in groups from the bamboo grove, were those clean-shaven eunuch demon priests! There were more than a dozen of them! They were the Thunder Monkeys from before, transformed! No, that wasn't right—Li Fan was seeing the monkeys as demon priests!

"An illusion... tempering my mind..." He got it. The talisman made him see monkeys as people, to train him to kill. That way, the initial psychological hurdle would be smaller. Once he had enough practice, he wouldn't hesitate to kill when fighting people in the future. He wouldn't be held back by the kind, humane values he'd developed in his previous life. But...

"This illusion is awful!"

Only the faces of the "demon priests" before Li Fan looked like that. From the neck down, they still had the Thunder Monkeys' muscular bodies—the kind that could crush a shipping container with one punch. They looked even more revolting this way...

Profound Heaven Sword Intent says: this spell was designed especially for a young child like you. It progresses in stages, and the illusions grow more realistic as you go. Start by getting some practice and familiarizing yourself with the sword forms.

The Sword Intent perched on Kun's head and made him swim over to a bamboo leaf to watch.

All right. At least he could bring himself to attack these strange, human-faced, monkey-bodied monsters. He'd just treat it like a VR game.

Li Fan silently recalled the sword diagrams, meridian map, and killing techniques in the Revised Profound Heaven Sword Method. He set his left foot forward in a false stance, shifted his weight onto his right foot, and stepped laterally. Holding the wooden sword upright in his right hand, he gathered Returning Dust Sword Qi along its blade. With his left hand, he formed a seal, hooking his ring finger inward and drawing the qi into motion. He took the opening stance of the first sword form.

The "demon priests" let out furious shrieks. Seeing their monkey companions slaughtered by the Qiankun Flying Dragon Sword, they pounded their massive chests, flexed their bulging arms, and leapt at him! They crossed three zhang in a single bound! More than a dozen attacked at once, as if in a battle formation, filling the air from every direction! Their shrill cries and furious howls were terrifying!

No wonder the Qi Refining disciples had all huddled in the dining hall to drink soup... Who could normally stand up to these monkeys?

There were so many of them, too, spread out in a broad fan. If they surrounded him from above and below, the Qiankun Flying Dragon Sword could only strike along a narrow line. It wasn't suited to dealing with them, and it would waste far too much Sword Qi. Not efficient at all.

As he thought, Li Fan closed his eyes and swept his Divine Sense across the area, instantly locking onto the "demon priests" rushing at him. He snapped his eyes open, his pupils tracking them like shooting stars. Qi surged through his body, and his eyes shone brightly. He pushed off with his right foot, twisted his waist, and thrust the wooden sword forward. At the same moment, he flicked the seal formed by his left hand against the blade, channeling his true qi into it.

The flick didn't affect the wooden sword itself, but it disrupted the sharp edge of the Sword Qi clinging to it!

In an instant, the Returning Dust Sword Qi at the tip of the blade rippled outward like leaves caught in the wind. At first glance, it looked like a cluster of palm fronds sweeping out along the thrust of the sword. Though he made only a single thrust, the Returning Dust Sword Qi clinging to the blade shone with a blue-green light, linking together in a haze of sword shadows. As Li Fan advanced with the footwork from the sword diagram, twisting, leaping, rising and falling as he swung his sword, the swath of blue-green light formed a spinning sphere of sword light, bristling with sharp edges. He seemed to transform into a cactus, rolling forward with a whir.

It swept up the human-faced demon monkeys charging toward him, severing limbs and tearing open their bellies on contact. Skin, flesh, and bone were shredded by the sword light. In an instant, it carved a bloody path through them, cutting down a swath of bamboo along the way.

When Li Fan finished the sequence and lowered his sword, he turned to look behind him. A broad swath of crimson stained the ground. The monkeys lay everywhere, their bellies torn open and their limbs mangled. Once dead, their faces had returned to normal.

The real cactus sword style...

Ahem, just kidding. In the Profound Heaven Sword Method, this move was called "Striking All Directions." It was specifically meant for chaotic fights with enemies attacking from every side. It was perfect for dealing with mobs who swarmed him.

But all that leaping, spinning, thrusting, and swinging was exhausting. He had to keep his attention focused and channel qi to support each movement. If his physical stamina hadn't improved so much after Foundation Establishment, he wouldn't have been able to pull off such a demanding move more than a few times.

Profound Heaven Sword Intent says: your movements are still sluggish, host. Your right-handed thrust was a little slow, and your sword path strayed when you swept to the right. That's because of your old injuries, but it's nothing serious. Keep moving and work out the accumulated baleful qi. Still, you were pretty ruthless. I suppose you've overcome some of your inner demons, haven't you?

Was not wanting to hurt people really an inner demon? To be honest, once he started dancing with the sword, spinning left and right until he was dizzy, he had to stick to the sword forms and coordinate them with the qi flowing through his meridians. Then he had to swing at enemies based on where they were. He was already using all his concentration. How was he supposed to keep track of what he was cutting down?

Profound Heaven Sword Intent says: the talisman won't last forever. Don't dawdle; keep going! There's another group one li to the northwest. Go kill them! Hurry, hurry, hurry! Run!

This guy really was starting to sound like a sadistic personal trainer...

Li Fan glanced sideways at the string of "Li Fan's mood +1" notifications on the system panel. At least he knew this method of grinding cultivation and points worked, so he didn't mind continuing to level up by fighting monsters.

He slung his sword over his back and hurried off, darting through the bamboo grove. Dense stalks swept past his face, then a bright light flared, revealing an open patch in the woods.

The sudden change in light left him unable to see clearly at first, but he closed his eyes and used his Divine Sense to lock onto his enemies' positions.

"Hah!" Li Fan followed the sword diagram's technique for taking the initiative and killing an enemy by surprise. He gathered qi, raised his sword, and leapt into a sudden attack, bringing it down on the monkeys huddled together for a nap!

This was one of the five remaining sword diagrams: the "Rising and Falling Form." Put simply, it was a powerful leap and downward slash, like splitting bamboo—swift and unstoppable, cutting an enemy in two.

Of course, it was only one strike. It sounded simple, as if anyone could do it, and similar moves could probably be found in most martial arts. But the results varied greatly from person to person. One person might leap and kill an enemy with a single slash; another might leap, fail to dodge in time, and be stabbed to death in return.

The reason was that, when performing the Rising and Falling Form, a unique qi-circulation route passed through specific meridians and acupoints, stimulating the muscles in the hands and feet. Combined with the proper breathing and exertion technique, it brought the first strike's power, speed, and accuracy to their peak. These invisible secrets were what made the difference between a martial art dismissed as "garbage" and one judged to be "interesting."

The group of Thunder Monkeys eating bamboo shoots in the woods had no idea what was coming. They only heard Li Fan's furious shout as he exhaled, and instinctively turned around.

Just as the blade was about to strike them head-on, about to kill the largest monkey in the group with a single blow—

Li Fan's pupils suddenly contracted. His hand trembled, and his sword veered aside. The centered downward strike became a slanted cut, dragging diagonally across the monkey and slicing against its muscles and bones. The blow tore away most of its shoulder, and it let out a terrible shriek. The other monkeys nearby were terrified.

Li Fan stared, breathing heavily, the veins in his neck standing out.

He'd hesitated.

The monkey turning around had, in an instant, become the innkeeper from the Dragon Gate Inn! It wasn't just his head—the whole body wore the same clothes! He looked exactly as he had in life!

Li Fan's heart had jolted. He'd instinctively changed the direction of his sword and missed the killing blow!

When he looked up again, the monkeys around him had all changed appearance. One by one, they became the travelers and drinkers who had been killed by the fiend corpse and the Mountain Patrol Guards at the inn. They all wore the same panicked expressions they'd had at the inn when they died!

The Eye-Obscuring Talisman was taking effect! Tempering his mind... This was what that meant...

Profound Heaven Sword Intent says: life and death follow the Heavenly Dao! All things are straw dogs! Why should humans be exempt from killing?

Li Qingyue! If you can't even get past the basic barriers of fleshly appearances and white bones turning into lotuses,

if you can't see through even the slightest attachment, don't talk about cultivating immortality or seeking the Dao!

Profound Heaven Sword Intent's stern rebuke hit him like a rod to the head. A stream of ice seemed to burst through Li Fan's spine, making his scalp tingle.

Before he could react, the monkeys—or people, or manifestations of his inner demons—bared their teeth and lunged at him like demons dragging souls to hell, just as the Sword Intent had said.

Li Fan panicked and instinctively drew his sword to stab at the attackers. But because they looked like "people," he was a fraction too slow. One grabbed the wooden sword, and a surge of force traveled through his wrist! In an instant, the sword was about to be twisted out of his hand and snapped in two. The skin on his palm was scraped raw!

The sting of his torn skin snapped Li Fan back to his senses! These weren't merely phantoms born of his inner demons! They only looked like "people," but they were real Thunder Monkeys! The muscles in their arms were even tougher than those of the fiend corpses! If they got hold of him, they'd tear him to shreds in an instant!

Profound Heaven Sword Intent says: attack! Do you actually want to die, you good-for-nothing, thickheaded blockhead of an idiot?!

"Ahhh!" With that reminder, Li Fan roared and unleashed his Sword Qi. He twisted his sword, shredding the "person's" fingers, arm, and head. Then he shouted and swung his sword, instinctively using the "Striking Form," the sword diagram he had memorized for close-quarters fighting.

There was nothing especially mysterious or complicated about the Striking Form. It was simply a close-combat technique for fighting within the enemy's reach, where swords and blades clashed as he hacked away at them. The route of Dao Breath through his body also differed from the previous two forms. This one favored short, fast movements, unleashing the strongest Sword Qi in the shortest time to swiftly kill nearby enemies. It even included techniques for blocking and parrying, as well as close-combat moves that concentrated Sword Qi in his fingers and claws to disarm an opponent or gouge out their eyes.

The "crowd" was right on top of him, charging again and again without giving him a moment to breathe. Now Li Fan had no chance to hesitate. He shifted back and forth with the Three Powers footwork, advancing and retreating as he alternated between sword strikes and clawing attacks. For a moment, the air was filled with flashing blades, sweeping Sword Qi, and a surge of blood.

In the blink of an eye—no, he didn't even have time to blink—the dozen or so "people" had been killed by Li Fan's hands. One by one, their heads and arms were severed. They didn't even have time to flee in terror before they were hacked into bloody pieces that hit the ground and revealed their monkey forms.

"Pant... pant... pant..." Li Fan was drenched in cold sweat and covered from head to toe in warm liquid that he couldn't tell apart as "human" blood or monkey blood.

Profound Heaven Sword Intent says: that's about one talisman's worth. Take a break, host. How are you feeling?

Kun swam over and sucked at the monkey corpses, gulping down the Thunder Crystals in their heads.

Li Fan glared irritably at the Sword Intent, which had stayed behind in the treetops. "What do you think? It stinks, I'm exhausted, and I'm covered in blood. What, I'm supposed to keep practicing until I get so used to it that I cut down everyone I see with one stroke, and then I'll count as an immortal cultivator? That's just going berserk!"

Profound Heaven Sword Intent says: don't get hung up on this, host. I'm not teaching you to kill people. If you wanted to kill people, you could just spit out a blast of Sword Qi and cut down ten or a hundred of them. Why go to all this trouble? I'm teaching you to make sure you can survive first. Only then will you have the leisure to worry about anything else.

You should know that the Eye-Obscuring Talisman isn't some great spell. There are plenty of even more bizarre demonic arts now, involving transformations of the body, possession, and the like.

When cultivators fight with swords, life and death are decided in an instant. Never hesitate like you just did, because of nothing more than the skin you see with your own eyes. If your enemies realize that you have a weakness—that you can't bring yourself to kill—what low tricks won't they use against you?

Of course, seeing how vicious you were once you got serious, I'm not worried about you in a sword fight. I'm worried that one day you might let a hidden demonic cultivator go out of misplaced compassion. If that leads to a terrible disaster, and you realize you brought harm to the world through your own mistake, that's when you'll truly go mad.

If you let yourself dwell too much on right and wrong, it's easy to stray from the proper path. I had two good disciples once, and that's how I lost them...

Li Fan wiped the blood and sweat from his face and frowned in silence for a while. He'd spent so long distracted by slaughtering monkeys that he could finally take a break. Only then did he remember some of the hints the system had given him earlier. "Sword Intent, what exactly are demonic cultivators? Are they the same as Devil Embryos?"

Profound Heaven Sword Intent flashed in the bamboo canopy.

Profound Heaven Sword Intent says: demonic cultivators... Back then, the Three Great Sects used to point at one another and call each other demonic cultivators, the demonic path, and fiends. But these days, the term refers specifically to cultivators who have lost control after being affected by the Innate Great Dao.

Well, you should learn this sooner or later. To cultivators like us, if someone loses control while Moon Worshipping, or is tainted by baleful qi and can no longer control the changes to their Dao Body—if they still haven't returned to normal by the next morning, when the sun is high—then they're considered to have entered Devil Form and become a Devil Embryo. They must be killed immediately.

But that doesn't mean the cultivators who fall to demonic transformation are already dead. Although they can't control their power and most lose their minds after their bodies mutate, it's only temporary. Some can regain their sanity after a while, even after three or five hundred years.

There are even some who have returned to human form, but whose monstrous transformations are merely concealed. At first glance, nothing seems amiss, but in essence, they've already been completely transformed into Devil Embryos and are hiding it.

These are the Innate Demonic Cultivators under the Supreme Plain Heavenly Dao.

Li Fan froze, his brows drawing together. "Innate Demonic Cultivators..."

Profound Heaven Sword Intent says: Innate Demonic Cultivators turn the spiritual qi of the Human Dao into baleful qi simply by existing, even if they do nothing but breathe. If they injure someone or draw blood, they might infect other living beings as well. So they absolutely must not be allowed to roam freely and undermine the foundations of the Human Dao.

Powerful Nascent Soul Realm and Golden Core Realm cultivators tend to have astonishing manifestations and tremendous power. If they fall to demonic transformation, it's hard to hide, and nearby cultivators keep an eye on them. As a result, they rarely cause trouble.

Among cases of transformation and hidden Devil Embryos, it's usually low-level cultivators, such as fiend corpses, who are most common. People assume that because fiend corpses have "corpse" in the name, they're dead bodies infected by baleful qi and turned into monsters. That's not true.

When a person dies, the flame of life goes out, leaving nothing but a mound of earth. Baleful qi isn't some insect or parasite that can manipulate a corpse like a puppet and bring it back to life.

Fiend corpses aren't really corpses. They're closer to living people in a state of temporary death.

Li Fan was shocked. "Living people! Then what about that vassal prince in the tomb?"

Profound Heaven Sword Intent says: exactly. The fiend corpse king in that tomb wasn't dead and then suppressed, with its corpse transformed after being infected by baleful qi. It was infected with baleful qi while still alive and became a fiend corpse. Then it was suppressed in the tomb, where it continued to be nourished by baleful qi and cultivated. That was why it never died.

If a demonic cultivator suppressed for who knows how many years like that escaped, it might have caused endless harm. Better that we killed it.

Li Fan felt cold sweat break out across his face. "Then... could that Fourth Young Master from the inn still be alive? And what about Xuan Niang—could she have been infected by baleful qi...?"

Profound Heaven Sword Intent says: don't make too many leaps, host. Fiend corpses aren't formed just because someone gets tainted by baleful qi. Besides, I scanned that woman with my Divine Sense. If she really had been hiding a Devil Embryo, I would have dealt with her then. You wouldn't have been able to stop me, either.

Li Fan swallowed. "No, but the system clearly said... Sword Intent, think about it again. Could there be some other possibility? What if the fiend corpse Fourth Young Master that I killed with the Qiankun Flying Dragon Sword wasn't completely dead, and then he revived through Xuan Niang, but you didn't notice at the time?"

Profound Heaven Sword Intent impatiently circled once, severed a clump of bamboo leaves, and sent them tumbling down onto Li Fan, who ran off with his arms over his head.

Profound Heaven Sword Intent says: could I have missed something? I'm the dignified sect master of the Beichen Sword Sect! You think I wouldn't recognize a Devil Embryo? Or that I'd let it slip right past me? Ha! That's the most ridiculous thing in the world... Oh... Uh... Well, it should be fine. Trust me.

Who could trust you when you were hesitating like that?!