Reunion

"Ah! Ah! Awoooooo!"

"Aaaaaah--!!!"

"Ah..."

"Awoooooo!"

The four Nascent Soul Stage cultivators were each held in mid-air by four black, malevolent claws. They screamed as the claws tightened their grip, causing their eyes to bulge out and their turbid blood, filled with malevolent energy, to be squeezed out like bean juice. This made the black claws grow larger and stronger, their grip becoming stronger and stronger. The claws gradually retracted, gripping their flesh, breaking their bones, and squeezing out their internal organs and eyeballs.

The gaunt young Daoist priest leaned against a gourd, one leg crossed beneath him, the other dangling, sitting atop a mound of corpses made of enormous demonic beasts and giant warriors. From his back sprouted a nine-headed monstrous bird, its feet entwined on the priest's shoulder blades. With its wings spread wide and its vulture-like head held high, it bathed in the dripping blood and gore from above. Some heads drank heartily, while others pecked at the flesh and blood of the demonic beasts beneath it.

Tens of thousands of mortals, whether Hu Barbarians or vassal soldiers, all prostrated themselves in the shadow of this mound of demons, worshipping this newly born demon god.

"That's about enough..." Li Fan rested his chin on his left hand, listlessly leaning against the mountain of corpses, while his right hand made a hand seal and flicked the pillow twice.

Four menacing hands suddenly exerted their power, crushing the four Nascent Soul Stage in mid-air. They then fed the flesh and blood in their palms to Guiche. A black wind swept around Li Fan, transforming him into a black Daoist robe. The corpses of the four Nascent Soul Stage and the nine-headed monster bird vanished without a trace, leaving not a single drop of blood on the robe.

"I said... that's enough!" Li Fan yelled, grabbing his collar. "You think you're tough? Just hiding in your turtle shell and playing dead?! Are you the Turtle King or the Hu Barbarians King?! What?! You think I'll let you go just because you've worn me out?! You're deliberately trying to disgust me, aren't you?! Damn it!"

Li Fan was right. The eleven Nascent Soul Stage cultivators he found in the camp were all severely wounded from the great battle, who had survived and were left behind to recuperate. How could they possibly stop him? In fact, when Li Fan instantly killed the Left Prime Minister and his group and stormed into the camp, many of them were still in meditation to heal their wounds!

Li Fan, of course, wouldn't miss the opportunity at the buffet, and went on a rampage.

Four of them had worshipped Tai Su, but their Dao hearts were unstable. They were all crushed and each given the maximum of 200 points.

Two warriors, nearly hacked to pieces and on the verge of death, were given a peaceful slap by Li Fan, who took pity on them.

Five more large demonic beasts, missing limbs and exhausted of their demonic energy, were also easily defeated by Li Fan with a few punches and kicks. Since they were all trash with a maximum of 100 points, he just piled them together casually.

It seems these northern miscellaneous fish are really no good; the difficulty is too low and the rewards are limited, unlike the lucrative Xuanmen (mysterious sect).

Fortunately, there were many flags, magical artifacts, demon Magic Treasure, octopus strips, and other blood sacrifice items around the military camp, which greatly replenished the evil energy.

With these additions, Li Fan's mood cap has reached 10.4k again.

There is still one dignified Nascent Transformation Stage left, but he is hiding in the royal tent, activating what is probably a shield-like magical artifact for protection. That artifact is really like a tortoise shell. The entire royal tent looks like nothing is wrong, but no matter how much Li Fan punches, kicks, slashes, burns, wind blows, or rains, it doesn't budge an inch!

The malevolent energy? The malevolent energy is effective, but not very efficient. It can only burn a black handprint into the felt of the royal tent. However, the parts corrupted by the malevolent energy will be repaired after a while!

Clearly, this tent is likely a defensive magic treasure at the Nascent Soul Stage or even Divine Transformation level. Moreover, the Turtle King, with his Deity Divine Transformation cultivation, actually hid in his shell and dared not come out to fight!

Li Fan was quite speechless. His opponent was likely injured and frightened by the instant defeat of the Left Prime Minister group; it was understandable that he was hiding and afraid to come out. Shamelessness is invincible, after all...

But Li Fan was also unable to enter the royal tent.

Although his 'Blind Observation' grants immunity to illusions and '<Against Fate>' grants immunity to spells, and even allows the Kun to jump into the barrier array, it's of little use against this royal tent treasure.

While one can use malevolent energy to defile magical artifacts, defilement of flying swords involves corroding the sword seal with malevolent energy, rendering the flying sword unusable. Therefore, defilement of shields would be less effective.

At least in Li Fan's experience, the resistance of 'things' to 'Non-Thing' is far greater than that of humans.

When the Xun Kingdom was fighting the Beast's Child, those Divine Transformation magic treasures and 'objects' were able to resist the influence, and it took them an entire night to lose their effect.

Li Fan is currently only at the Nascent Soul Realm, and his Taiji Realm's baleful energy is insufficient. In a head-on confrontation, he really can't break through a magic weapon at the Transformation Stage. At least, it's unlikely that he can resolve the situation before the time limit for the killing tribulation he set up expires.

Of course, Li Fan tried to let the Blood Infant infiltrate, but failed.

Through the blood infant's eyes, one could see that the felt tent was covered with densely packed runes, making it impossible for the primordial spirit to approach.

He had waited for a long time, hoping that the Blood Infant would go around underground, find a weakness, and sneak in. But he failed. The Blood Infant said that the ground was quickly covered with runes.

The mighty king of the Hu Barbarians, the divine ruler Divine Transformation, is hiding in his tent casting spells on the ground...?

"Damn it... By the way, can the killing spree be repeated continuously...?"

Li Fan realized things were getting a bit tough. His killing tribulation could only be activated for the duration of an incense stick, and three-quarters of it was already over. Just as he was at a loss, considering whether to continue activating another killing tribulation to wear down his opponent, or to expose an opening, let his opponent escape, and then wait for an opportunity to pursue and kill him.

Suddenly, the system beeped.

"What? System, what kind of trick are you up to now?"

'The system detected the contracted worker rapidly approaching.'

What? A system-contracted worker? That guy from Emei? Wasn't he dead...? Oh! Could it be!

"Qingyue! It really is you, kid! Instead of cultivating in seclusion on Ink Bamboo Mountain, why did you run off to this godforsaken place to start a killing spree! Holy crap! You're already at the Yuan... Holy crap! You've become several Nascent Soul Stage! Holy crap! Three Flowers! Holy crap! What the hell is that! Holy crap! And what the hell is that! Holy crap! Holy crap!"

A silver leaf flew over and entered Li Fan's palm. Then, it circled around the Five Mountain Gods, Kun, and a whole bunch of other messy Dao bodies in Li Fan's divine court. Holy crap.

Li Fan was also startled and jumped up, his anxiety rising slightly.

"... Really... Wow! Xuan Tian! Your appearance was so sudden! There wasn't even any foreplay! I wasn't ready for you to come in! By the way, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I figured since we're already in the Central Plains, I'd ask Xiao Yao to take me on a detour to the north, but halfway there... Holy crap! This kid seems to be a member of a cult!"

The Profound Heaven Sword Intent swirled around the blood infant, seemingly intent on severing its head.

"Xuan Tian? What Xuan Tian? Wait! Is that really the aura of the Sword Ancestor?"

Sword Pellet, who was hiding in the clouds and guarding the royal tent, heard the news and darted back to Li Fan's divine court, transforming into a rabbit and chasing after Silver Leaf. Chaos erupted in the divine court.

Just moments ago, Xuan Tian was enthusiastically exclaiming "Holy crap!", but suddenly his tone changed, transforming into a deep, magnetic baritone voice, "Yes, I am Xuan Tian."

"Sword Ancestor!? Impossible! I, the leader of the Beichen Sword Sect, am invincible! You, a mere remnant soul, dare to impersonate the seventeenth leader of my Beichen Sword Sect! The Sword Ancestor Xuantian!"

The rabbit bristled, turning into a ball of fur, and chased after the silver leaf in Li Fan's divine court. However, no matter how the Moon Soul darted left and right, dancing wildly like a radiant light, it could never touch the silver leaf even a fraction.

The moon spirit wandered around for a long time, but not only did it fail to touch the silver leaf, it was also teased by Xuan Tian like a pet, making it wander aimlessly for a long time. Then it was turned around and stuck to its forehead, making it fall head over heels, leaving the rabbit completely bewildered.

This time, Yuepo was completely overwhelmed by the swordsmanship, her worldview shattered. "Ah! He actually broke my sword path! He really is the Sword Ancestor... This... no way... the legendary Sword Ancestor hasn't even..."

"What kind of crap are you playing! Your moves are so rigid! How come you're still like an animal and can't transform! How did you learn the Exorcism Sword Intent? Who trained you? You idiot! Go kill a hundred of your heads and bring them back!"

The man's angry voice shook the divine court.

"Alas! This disciple knows his mistake!"

The rabbit, startled, leaped out from Li Fan's head again, whipping up a spray of blood and causing heads to roll.

"Gods, spare us!" the crowd cried out, kowtowing in agony.

Li Fan was completely confused by the noise; his head was buzzing.

Xuan Tian was quite pleased. "Hehehe! Qingyue! It seems you've had quite a bit of luck with immortality these past few years! Your basic skills in Moon Soul are quite solid. After all, it's a first-grade sword that I personally forged, hahaha!"

However, it still lacks practical experience, doesn't know how to adapt, and has killed too few people. It lacks momentum. It's a pity that you don't cultivate the Taiyin Nascent Soul, so you can't unleash its full power.

However, relying on the overwhelming power of flying swords from the Nascent Soul Stage is not beneficial for cultivating the Ruyi Sword Scripture!

"Oh, Moon Soul, by the way, I met many of your sword companions on Yuntai Peak, but only Moon Soul could produce them... But to be honest, the <True Explanation of the Taiyin Ice Wheel> is too slow to cultivate. I've calculated that even with all the materials gathered, it will take at least a hundred years to refine it. In that time, I would have at least several hundred Tai Su Dao Body, Gui Xu Nascent Soul would definitely have Divine Transformation..."

Li Fan was also helpless when talking about this. He claimed to be a successor of Beichen, but he had not mastered any of Beichen's unique skills.

Xuan Tian sighed, "Really? The old guys are still around. It's a pity the times are like this; it's no longer our era... But I've been exchanging ideas about the Dao of Tai Su with Xiao Yao these past few years and have gained some insights. I've deduced a new Cultivation Method that can refine Tai Su evil energy into sword energy. His comprehension is a bit lacking, and his luck is a bit bad too. In short, he almost lost his life. Do you want to give it a try?"

"Northern Star Primordial Sword Qi! Roar! Come, come! I may not have much else, but I have plenty of life!"

Upon hearing that a new move had been unlocked, Li Fan disregarded everything else and went straight to the point with Xuan Tian, beginning to discuss the new sword technique.

He had recently comprehended the Emei Daoist arts and the Tai Su Qiankun, and had accumulated experience in controlling evil energy and performing some basic transformations. After communicating with the Profound Heaven Sword Intent, he comprehended the Tai Su Sword Technique.

Just as Xuan Tian said, this is a technique to refine evil energy into sword energy, but evil energy does not exist in the Taiji Realm. Therefore, humans in the Taiji Realm cannot manipulate evil energy and must modify their bodies through 'Non-Thing' means.

But this is no problem for Li Fan. To be honest, having refined Tai Su Transformation to this level, he is no longer the innocent and naive boy he once was. He is now a pure manifestation of evil, only his appearance still resembles a 'human'.

With no hardware conflicts and the assistance of the system, modeling could be done directly, and trial and error could be performed by imitating the deduction method of the <Tai Xuan Scripture>. As a result, it took very little effort to hear about the official certification.

'Li Fan learned the technique of the Tai Sha Sword Embryo'

"This Sword Embryo Technique is our sect's secret method for cultivating the innate Sword Embryo. Although it belongs to the Foundation Establishment method, usually only grandmasters who have undergone physical transformation and rebirth can use this method to directly Foundation Establishment Sword Embryo and then directly break through to condense the Sword Infant. Because it requires extremely high purity of True Qi, only Five Qi Sword Embryo can be refined in the Taiji Realm. Moreover, it is also filled with baleful Qi, hmm..."

"Your comprehension is first-rate, and you're at the Nascent Soul Realm stage with the Three Flowers protecting you; perhaps you can succeed. Anyway, give it a try. Don't put on any pressure; even I'm not sure if you can succeed..."

It's okay, the system says it's fine anyway.

'Li Fan may have learned the Tai Sha Sword Embryo technique.'

... Give us some encouragement, comrades!

Therefore, Li Fan directly absorbed all the evil energy from the Heavenly Robe into his abdomen and refined it according to the prescribed method.

Within the Divine Court, the Gui Xu Nascent Soul, having formed hand seals, began to visualize a sword. Then, from the void, malevolent energy gathered, tempering the secret sword. From nothingness, a Black Sword was forged, radiating boundless power, attracting the surrounding Dao Bodies to stop and gather closer to watch...

Ping!

Suddenly the sword broke, the blade flew out and severed the head of the Gui Xu Nascent Soul!

Then, with a flash of three flowers, as if a delayed refresh had occurred, one of the epiphyllum flowers fell, and the Gui Xu Nascent Soul returned to its original state.

Li Fan was stunned, touching his neck with lingering fear. This feeling was too realistic...

"... Don't be discouraged, keep trying, you were so close to succeeding!"

While encouraging them, Profound Heaven Sword Intent, along with the Five Mountain Gods, Guiche, Blood Infant, Three Fish, and a whole bunch of other Tai Su Dao Body, ran to a corner of the Divine Court and hid in a ball.

Li Fan, "..."

Okay, let's do it one more time.

So Li Fan cautiously forged the sword once more. This time, he transformed his entire Gui Xu Nascent Soul into armor and added many black hands for protection to prevent the sword from shattering.

This time, the blade was successfully forged again, and success was within reach.

But suddenly the malevolent energy in the void stopped! The small black sword also turned transparent in an instant, and with its tip as the center, it collapsed instantly, engulfing most of the Gui Xu Nascent Soul and silently annihilating it.

The Gui Xu Nascent Soul to its original state the next instant, with only a single flower remaining above its head.

It failed again, but the Cultivation Method itself is fine; it's just that the killing energy was insufficient in the final stage.

Li Fan opened his eyes, took out the gourd from his back, and swallowed it down in one gulp.

"Hmm? I feel like I've seen this gourd somewhere before..."

Before Xuan Tian could finish speaking, Li Fan put down the gourd and, vomiting, spat out three mouthfuls of blood, expelling the three ferocious beasts: Gonggong, Fuli, and Guiche!

Although the Divine Court was emptied, swallowing such a large mouthful of malevolent energy finally made it happen!

In the palm of the Gui Xu Nascent Soul, a small black sword appeared, about the size of a sparrow's tongue, its entire body resembling solidified obsidian, like the sharp edge of a sword that had been cut off.

"It's done! The Tai Sha Sword Embryo complete!"

Li Fan opened his eyes and saw that the surrounding Hu Barbarians were all paralyzed with fear on the ground. They didn't know what had gotten into this demon just now. He had suddenly killed many people with his flying sword, and now he was spitting out so many strange white ghosts. What kind of evil magic was he going to use? The timid ones were almost scared into losing control of their bladders.

Then Li Fan let out a burp and spat out a black, smoke-shrouded sword! With a single strike, he pierced through the curtain and charged into the royal tent!

A moment later, a deafening roar came from the tent!

Then a figure abandoned the royal tent and rushed straight towards Li Fan!

It was clear that this man had once been a burly, fierce warrior of the Hu Barbarians, exuding the ferocious aura of Divine Transformation demon beast! However, he was also severely injured; his bare skin had rotted and turned bluish, and his face had become gigantic, like a drowned corpse, making him unrecognizable. His body also had many cuts and slits from swords and spears, from which purplish-red tentacles resembling large intestines rolled. Clearly, his humanoid body was nearing its limit!

However, it was clear at this moment that although the Turtle King was severely injured and his body was on the verge of collapse, he still retained a certain level of combat judgment. Seeing that Li Fan had inexplicably gained another cheat and comprehended a move that could break through defensive magic treasures, he immediately stopped cowering and defending, and instead went all out to fight to the death! He held a Zanma Knife in his hand and slashed down at Li Fan!

This strike was incredibly powerful, almost splitting mountains and earth. With just one strike, it blasted the mountain of corpses beneath Li Fan's feet into countless pieces of flesh. Dozens of Hu Barbarians on the path of the blade were also swept up by the blade's energy and turned into minced meat!

Unfortunately, it's useless if you can't cut it down.

Li Fan easily created distance with a single movement, and at the same time, he flicked his sleeve, causing a gust of black wind to transform into a murderous sword, which he then shot out!

The Turtle King dodged it!

"Wow, you're pretty agile! Don't move, let me test my sword!"

It would be a miracle if the Turtle King could hear anything. Seeing that his desperate strike hadn't hit Li Fan, and that the calamity in the sky was almost over, he turned and charged towards the army. With a deep breath, he grabbed a large number of Hu Barbarians soldiers, tore off their flesh and blood, and piled it up layer by layer like bricks on his own body, using the flesh and blood to form armor to cover his body and defend himself! He really is a turtle!

Meanwhile, the Profound Heaven Sword Intent within the Divine Court swarmed around the sparrow-tongue sword, chattering wildly, "Hey! You really succeeded! Wow! The Tai Sha Sword Embryo! Hahaha! My Beichen Sword Sect has also opened up the Tai Su Path! Come, come! I'll teach you a truly powerful move! A sword immortal's ultimate technique!"

Yes, that's the signature move!

Li Fan's eyes flashed, and he landed on the ground. He made a hand seal with his left hand and hid it behind his back, while his right hand formed a sword finger and pointed at the chest of the flesh giant.

"The Tai Sha Sword Rainbow--!"

Li Fan stood there for a while, and nothing happened...

Li Fan, "..."

Profound Heaven Sword Intent: "Is your killing intent insufficient? Try taking another sip. By the way, I really feel like I've seen this gourd somewhere before..."

Li Fan was engaged in his duel and couldn't bother with the nonsense about the Profound Heaven Sword Intent. He raised his gourd and took another big gulp, then roared, "Wah--ya ya ya!"

"The Tai Sha Sword Rainbow--!"

Profound Heaven Sword Intent: "... Why did you have to shout out the moves...?"

But none of that matters anymore.

Li Fan's entire body stretched out, transforming into a jet-black sword rainbow. With a single strike, he pierced through the Turtle King's chest! He severed the core of the Hu Barbarians God-King in two with a single blow! The billowing baleful energy erupted like wildfire, blasting the scattered flesh and blood into ashes!

"Awoooooo!"

Severely wounded by the Tai Sha Sword Rainbow, the Turtle King, now only a head remaining, screamed in agony as it mustered its last bit of strength and fled towards the horizon.

Just as Li Fan was about to finish off the attacker, he suddenly felt nauseous, looked down, and vomited up three fish...

Then a woman dressed in a white robe with a blood-stained shawl burst into the carnage with a strange howl. She was met head-on by a ghost-like creature that lunged at her. Staring in disbelief and fury, she made a sword gesture, and divine light shone from behind her head. In an instant, four flying swords shot out, slashing wildly at the turtle's head, reducing it to ashes!

Li Fan was stunned.

Profound Heaven Sword Intent: "Oh, this person Li Wugou. She seems to be a descendant of our Sword Sect's outer mountain lineage. I had Xiao Yao teach her a couple of moves. Her aptitude is so-so, but her luck is indeed quite good. A few days ago, she stumbled upon a divine opportunity and obtained four newly forged superior flying swords! Thanks to her, we also managed to snatch a top-grade sword furnace! Haha, we've made a killing!"

Wow, these days, even top-grade Nascent Soul Stage flying swords go unnoticed. I wonder who's got the money to burn! Hahaha!