Shang Li

Li Fan opened his eyes, returned to his original form, clenched his fist, and gathered evil energy around his body using the Heavenly Garment Technique. A layer of fine ice shards covered his body like snake scales, and the black ice on his ten fingers coalesced into a huge ghost claw resembling a gauntlet!

The claws were as sharp as steel knives, slicing through the ice with a single sweep, leaving five deep, ravine-like claw marks. When Li Fan used the Ghost Hand to power his Dao body, a mere grasp of his hand was enough to crush the nearby black glacier in mid-air with terrifying Ghost Hand! With a deafening boom, it exploded into a shower of ice flowers, black ice and snow collapsing down, the air filled with ice shards stained with malevolent energy, like a crematorium exploding, spraying black ash skyward...

Well, not only have his basic attributes skyrocketed, but his pure strength and understanding of the Dark Underworld Dao have almost doubled. Moreover, after violently suppressing Gonggong's rebellion, he can now fully utilize the power of Gonggong Dao Body. All other Dao Bodies no longer dare to hold back!

This is the true fighting power that the Seven Nascent Soul Stage should possess when he Tai Su Dao!

But he also understood that all of this was temporary.

Although the Tai Su Transformation Method is extremely fast to cultivate and has extremely strong combat power, making it very suitable for the current environment and with unlimited potential, the risks are also increasing day by day and are always by one's side.

Even though the Taiji Xian Dao is prone to the dangers of death from tribulations and lightning strikes, once you survive one, as long as you don't actively invite tribulations, you can maintain peace for hundreds of years.

However, the Tai Su transformation is not like that. Although there are no bottlenecks or obstacles in cultivation on this path, the tribulations are endless. Moreover, the more a cultivator's primordial spirit is burdened and their strength weakens, the greater the probability that those Tai Su inner demons will jump out and devour their body.

Last time it was Qiongqi, this time it's Gonggong. Both times it's because their strength has increased and their stats on paper have caught up with those of the Gui Xu Nascent Soul. So whenever Li Fan's primordial spirit is depleted and he is mentally exhausted, they will jump out to challenge him.

However, if we were to completely kill them, it would be tantamount to cutting off our own arm. In the end, we would still have to nurture them to gain stronger combat power. If these Dao bodies were all forcibly broken through and evolved, they would inevitably seek opportunities to rebel again and again.

However, Li Fan wasn't worried. The Five Mountain Gods Divine Body had a limited upper limit, at most reaching the Divine Transformation. He was aiming for enlightenment, so he could just subdue any rebellion he encountered. He was cautious, in case he was beaten down to the second or third stage and his Three Flowers were exhausted, he would have to guard against the backlash from his inner demons. Otherwise, there was nothing else to worry about.

Li Fan used to feel that he had overused his abilities and was a little embarrassed to bully others, but now he thinks that high returns come with high risks, and high difficulty should come with high rewards! That's fair!

Li Fan felt much more relieved and started to torture his opponent!

With a leap, it soared into the air, its icy path leaving a terrifying black glacier in the sky! Like an enormous ice dragon, it roared and pierced the clouds, carrying an immense and malevolent aura! In an instant, it arrived, heading straight for the direction the demonic wolf had fled! In the blink of an eye, it caught up with its prey, which was running wildly across the icy plain!

"Ghost Hand--!"

Li Fan wanted to test his fighting strength, so he went all out, unleashing the full power of all seven of his Nascent Soul Stage bodies. From his high vantage point, he reached out and grabbed at the fleeing demonic wolf on the snow! With a loud bang, the iceberg shattered, exploding like a heavy bomb, sending up huge shards of ice!

The demonic wolf god charged with all its might, barely managing to escape the Ghost Hand's reach. Seeing the black ice around it blasted several feet deep with clearly visible claw marks, it was utterly terrified! It lost all will to fight and fled for its life without looking back!

Li Fan nodded. After all, he was a powerful monster at the Transformation Stage, so his escape speed was quite fast... Then break his legs!

"Ghost Hand!"

Li Fan used an ice escape technique to flash to the side of the demonic wolf, and swung his ghost claws with both hands. The gale force generated by the claws was wrapped with ice shards and evil energy, like ten steel blades, densely intertwined and slashing towards the demonic wolf!

He was a beast after all. Seeing a gust of claws sweeping towards him and blocking his path, he instinctively jumped up to dodge!

Li Fan had anticipated this dodge, and simultaneously leaped forward, gathering his strength! He swiped at the wolf's head with one claw!

Seeing that there was no way to avoid it, the demonic wolf was also aroused and howled angrily. Its still intact wolf head opened its huge mouth and spewed out a black icy flame! It blasted straight at Li Fan!

However, it was completely useless!

At this moment, Li Fan's hands were completely covered in solid ice! His two large gauntlets looked like door panels. With a single, Ghost Hand claw, he grabbed down directly, completely ignoring the icy flames and fiery aura. He let the icy flames strike his palms, forcing the fiery auras away with the force of his claws! He continued to grab straight up despite the fiery aura shooting towards him! He swung his hand, scattering the icy flames! His claws swung wildly, tearing the wolf's mouth apart!

The wolf howled and struggled, its other head tearing at Li Fan's side and biting down on his waist!

However, the wolf's claws were blocked by layers of dense, snake-scale-like ice armor and the underlying carbonized skin, and were unable to bite through Li Fan's defenses!

Instead, they came to his doorstep only to be beaten senseless by Li Fan with a few punches and kicks, their teeth broken, their faces bruised, and their brains shattered!

In an instant, the wolf and the human were locked in a fierce battle, claws snarling, teeth biting, fists punching, and legs kicking. The two demon gods were locked in a bloody struggle! And surprisingly, Li Fan had gained an absolute advantage! Completely ignoring the demon wolf's attack methods, he was using the demon god's body to practice his fists and feet, causing ice to scatter and flesh to explode!

While it may seem that Li Fan's seven Nascent Soul Stage cultivators are using their combined strength to fight like brute force, that's not actually the case.

During the last battle, Li Fan couldn't break through the black ice's defense head-on, and he really can't now either. Although his cultivation and strength have greatly increased, this wolf-bodied black ice is condensed from the power of a demon god, and it's incomparable to the surrounding glaciers. If Li Fan really wanted to shatter it head-on with his strength, although he could do it, it wouldn't be so easy.

But Li Fan not only increased his basic attributes, but also improved his comprehension of the Dark Underworld Dao and his perception of the surrounding black ice structure. He even restructured the body of the Fuli Demon Wolf within his own body.

Therefore, every punch and claw he threw was not random, but aimed at the opponent's weaknesses. He wasn't breaking ice, but dismantling it.

Indeed, while black ice is unbreakable, it always has joints, gaps, and flaws.

Therefore, Li Fan's own understanding was to miniaturize those ice armors, condensing them into snake scales, layering them like leaf scales, intertwining and overlapping, so that the wolf fangs naturally could not penetrate them all.

But the demon wolf didn't have his idea; it simply used divine power to stick large blocks of solid ice to its body. So, as long as you attack its weak points, you can easily peel off its pelt without much difficulty.

But the Demon Wolf was unaware of this technique; it was already terrified. Its desperate counterattack was its last ounce of courage. Now, both its body and spirit had been utterly crushed by Li Fan.

After all, it's not a game boss based on data, nor is it human. Rather, it evolved from a wild beast or monster due to changes in the seasons and was worshipped as Divine Beast by the Fuli tribe. Although its appearance has changed in various ways, it is essentially a living being, and living beings are afraid.

Yes, the instincts of wild beasts are the most straightforward: if I am strong, I hunt; if I am weak, I flee. Unlike humans, they have no room for hesitation or deliberation.

At this moment, the enormous demon god was overwhelmed by the terrified beastly heart. It howled and wailed like a stray dog, having completely lost the courage to continue fighting. It dared not fight back anymore and only cared about running away for its life.

However, there was no escape now. The Blood Infant could barely manage to eat a demon god, but this demon god had curled up and become withdrawn like a puppy, so it naturally didn't hold back.

Thus, the demonic wolf's body and spirit were both breached. It shuddered violently and collapsed to the ground, allowing Li Fan's Ghost Hand to wreak havoc on it. Its primordial spirit also shrank into a ball, being torn apart, sucked, and devoured by the blood infant parasitizing it, losing all will to resist.

Li Fan easily tore open the wolf's belly and, based on his deductions, found the Non-Thing demonic core of the wolf's Dao body. At first, Li Fan thought it was some special demon core capable of refining malevolent energy, but upon closer inspection, it was...

It looks like tentacles, octopus tentacles.

Could it be another Shatentacle?

The tentacle was still alive, located roughly in the stomach area, but the wolf's internal organs had long since been altered. The tentacle now resembled a parasite, a symbiotic new organ transformed by the demon god. All the nerves, bones, and blood vessels were providing nutrients to this tentacle, and the absorption of baleful energy and the conversion of Dark Underworld power also relied entirely on it. In other words, this tentacle was probably like an external core for the demon wolf, similar to Fake Nascent Soul.

If Li Fan's guess is correct, the Fuli Wolf God was originally a normal demon spirit guardian deity, but after eating this disgusting thing, he was transformed into a demonic wolf. However, Fuli Bojin's body doesn't contain anything similar; he cultivated by visualizing the demonic wolf... Could it be that the demon gods of the Nine Banners and Seventy-Two Tribes all evolved using this kind of thing?

Li Fan wanted to get a closer look, but the tentacle suddenly lunged at his head! At the same time, Li Fan's red eyes opened! A flash of red light appeared and then disappeared, exploding the tentacle into a puddle of thick liquid!

This time, Li Fan was also a little surprised. He originally only wanted to dodge and did not activate the Crimson Eyes. It was the eyeball between his eyebrows that opened on its own!

What the heck is this? Does Crimson Eyes recognize these tentacles or something?

To be honest, among all the things living in Li Fan's Divine Court, this Crimson Eyes is the most inexplicable. It hangs above the Divine Court like a sun all day long, and Non-Thing is stared at by it will explode. It is a super weapon, but Li Fan still doesn't know what it is, what its principle is, or what its flaws are.

Ever since Moon Worship in the South China Sea and achieving the Golden Core in the Tai Su Realm, this eyeball has appeared in the Divine Court. It doesn't seem to be Tai Su Dao Body, and it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the system. Li Fan now guesses that it might be some kind of projection of that special Tai Su Realm, a giant eyeball, but he can't see anything using the Gu Guan Method, and he doesn't know how to upgrade it. Perhaps only by going back to the South China Sea to worship the moon again and studying that giant eyeball can he figure it out?

Sigh, although their fighting strength is getting stronger, it seems there are more and more unknown secrets as well.

Getting back to the main point, although the tentacles exploded, the demonic wolf didn't die immediately. However, its body lost the ability to continue converting evil energy and automatically repair itself, and it was quickly devoured by Li Fan. It was a pity that it was a bit difficult to eat the demonic god's primordial spirit and blood infant, and in the end, it wasn't completely eaten even as dawn approached. But there was no rush, there were still many demonic gods in the north that could be eaten.

Although he had enough malevolent energy, Li Fan did not intend to continue upgrading and breaking through the Fuli Wolf Dao Body. The Divine Transformation was just a piece of trash, and it was not worth spending 1200 points to upgrade it. Judging from the Five Mountain Gods Body, just for the basic attribute bonus, reaching the Golden Core stage was enough. Breaking through to the Nascent Soul Stage to take on a human form, and there was also the risk of backlash.

Considering the rebellion of Gonggong Dao Body, Guixu is currently suppressing six Nascent Soul Stage Dao Bodies, which is nearing its critical point. Further breakthroughs in Tai Su Dao Body would only hinder his performance. Before Guixu transforms into Divine Transformation, there is no need to continue upgrading the Nascent Soul Stage. He should just focus on stacking attributes with the Golden Core Perfected Dao Body. Before Gui Xu Nascent Soul Divine Transformation and becomes a Divine Being, the Taisu Transformation Technique will provide little improvement.

However, the Divine Transformation is not that simple. No matter how much evil energy there is or how many changes there are in the Primordial Essence, it only increases combat power. The True Essence of Returning to Emptiness still needs to be refined little by little. If one continues to use the Gui Xu Nascent Soul to fight and suppress the rebellious Tai Su Dao Body, then the progress of Divine Transformation will only be further slowed down.

This situation is perfect now. In the future, there will be no need to return to the Void True Essence. One can focus on cultivating to become a Divine Transformation. When one arrives in Shuofang, one can fight, hunt, and feast with the Tai Su Five Mountain Gods Dao Body, and provide special support for the cultivation of returning to the Void.

So when Li Fan returned to the Taiji Realm, although there was no change in his appearance, after the Five Mountain Gods Body completely submitted, he could feel that his mana regeneration had doubled!

Li Fan's strength is now vastly different from what it was a day ago. In fact, it could be said that his current combat power has probably reached the peak level of his Nascent Soul Realm. He no longer needs to go through the trouble of tearing apart demonic wolves with his bare hands, and instead dons a black ice armor and demonic aura gauntlets to be fully armed.

With the pure martial power of the Tai Su Dao Body, physical attacks can solve most problems. If combined with flying swords, then even the Qiankun True Qi might not be needed. With the Qi Refinement Stage provided by the Five Mountain Gods Body, it might not take long to refine the Wuji Nascent Soul Stage.

So Li Fan didn't delay any longer and flew north on his sword.

Now his Divine Sense has a wider range, and in broad daylight, he naturally encounters various daily battles in the northern lands along the way.

Xuanmen, demonic sects, immortals, monsters, warlords, Hu Barbarians, bandits, and refugees—all forces fought relentlessly, a zero-sum game where it was either you cutting me down or I cutting you down, leaving fields strewn with bones and corpses everywhere.

Li Fan was speechless, and even somewhat understood the feelings of the Daoist sects of Wangwu Mountain who wanted to live in seclusion and avoid the world.

How can this be managed? How can it be managed at all? Do you expect them to stop fighting just by shouting, "Stop fighting!"? Or do you join in and kill all the disobedient ones, and then the world will be at peace? Perhaps with the extraordinary strength of a cultivator, one could dominate a region and protect its peace. But what about beyond this paradise? It's a wolf's nature to eat meat, and it's a human's nature to strive for profit. Where in this world is there truly lasting peace?

Seeing such a scene for a long time can indeed make one feel disheartened and resigned to one's fate. However, Li Fan had only been in this world for a few years, his blood was still hot, and he had just learned the "<Against Fate>" technique. Therefore, when he encountered such a plot, he would still take action.

Of course, because there were just too many daily tasks, Li Fan didn't have time to manage them all, nor did he have time to listen to explanations or distinguish right from wrong, so he was selective in his actions.

For example, if a monster hunts a mortal, he'll Hu Barbarians the monster; if a barbarian plunders the people, he'll execute the barbarian; if a bandit massacres civilians, he'll suppress the bandit. In short, if someone wearing straw sandals is bullied, he'll lend a hand. He'll swoop down with his flying sword and slap the monster, Hu Barbarians, or vassal army into a pulp, then fly away in a flash, not caring about his feelings at all.

As for battles between bandits and warlords wielding knives, or those being hunted—high-ranking officials, wealthy merchants, powerful clans—or even sword fights between cultivators of the Xuanmen sect, he wouldn't bother getting involved. If they had money, power, and weapons, then let them rely on their own abilities to overcome their fate and fight for their destiny. After all, whose life wasn't earned through their own bloodshed?

With his mind solely focused on getting to the banquet, Li Fan had already tried his best to skip various side quests, but the journey was still fraught with difficulties, as he was stopped again.

Ordinary people would be too afraid to dodge a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator flying by, let alone dare to come up and stop him. And anyone who could actually stop Li Fan was certainly no ordinary person.

This was a Nascent Soul General with a swallow's jaw, tiger's beard, leopard's head, and piercing eyes. He wore a beast-faced, chainmail armor, topped with a black cloud-patterned iron helmet, and wielded a four-zhang-long, bowl-thick, Overlord-like spear, its tip gleaming coldly. On his back was a hundred-stone-strong, full-moon-opening, heaven-shaking bow, its string twanging like thunder. Even his mount, a giant, white-browed, glaring tiger, was a Nascent Soul Stage demon king, riding the wind and lightning, treading on fiery clouds, leaping through the air to block Li Fan's path, its voice like rolling thunder, immediately launching into a tirade.

"Hey! You bald thief! Isn't this flying sword the divine weapon I gave to my nephew? Where did you get it from?!"

Just from the aura emanating from him, Li Fan could tell that this was a genuine Martial God, not some nobody. Hearing his roar, he roughly guessed what was going on, and bowed, saying, "May I ask your esteemed name, General?"

"You damned bald monk! I, your grandpa, am Gao Ao, the vanguard of the Heavenly Soldiers Army! How dare you steal from my Gao family! Prepare to die!"