Earthen Rampart
Li Fan stood on the earthen mound, watching the darkness, deeper than the night, press down from the horizon, as if standing on the edge of the boundary between reality and illusion, torn apart by the closing twilight.
He stared at the churning, black plains illuminated by the faint light of the False Moon, as if the unknown, dark, and mysterious world before him had been torn open, its pitch-black maw gaping wide.
Li Fan did not scream, but those extremely evil and hateful Non-Thing howled at him.
In that instant, he saw it: from the depths of that writhing, rotting, and utterly malevolent horizon, a dark abyss was about to surge forth, a darkness that even centuries of accumulated, desolate bones could not illuminate. It was an army of darkness beyond description, flowing along the faint light of the endless, False Moon, toward him, toward the world of men.
Then a group of 'people' descended from the sky, crossed the clouds, glided through the moonlight, and rushed towards the churning black tide.
Then, the dazzling golden flames spread out, revealing the battle between heaven and earth, between 'man' and 'beast', to Li Fan.
Honestly...
It's a bit like watching a tokusatsu monster movie in an open-air cinema.
The colossal, mountain-like dark beasts clashed with the golden, radiant giants of light, their battle a deafening roar, spewing forth bursts of plasma flames—a truly apocalyptic spectacle! The scene, the sound effects—wow, it was absolutely amazing! If only there were some junk food and sugary drinks, it would be perfect! Okay, maybe I'm asking for too much...
In short, Li Fan was initially very excited, but after observing for a while, he realized that he had experienced similar scenes quite a few times himself. His initial excitement gradually subsided, barely fluctuating by a fraction...
Okay, let's analyze this calmly. From the perspective of cultivating by Moon Worship and comprehending the Tai Su Dao, the Demon Race does indeed have a unique advantage over humans.
Li Fan remembered that when he looked at the Qi during the day, he didn't see many demonic winds at the Nascent Divine Transformation stage. He didn't expect that as soon as False Moon appeared, dozens of demonic gods that were neither objects Non-Thing appeared!
At a glance, foxes with tails that grew into tentacles, lions with whiskers that grew into tentacles, giant pythons with crab legs growing from their scaly bellies, and white bears with mouths like eels—a whole host of bizarre and grotesque creatures danced wildly under the moon. As they shed their skins, these strange forms swelled and grew larger under the night sky, forming Devil Form embryos that no longer existed in this world.
Of course, aside from the dozen or so demonic Devil Embryo that were severely Non-Thing, the vast majority of the demons still retained their terrestrial animal prototypes, simply the gigantic beasts common in otherworldly themes. However, they also possessed many mutated seafood-themed elements, making them look incongruous and strange. For a moment, Li Fan wasn't quite sure whether they had become parasitized from eating too much mutated seafood in the icy northern sea, or whether this Tai Su Realm was simply a theme-based skin for the Youquan...
Well, after all, evolving to adapt to the environment is the purest physiological instinct of living beings, and the False Moon's malevolent energy merely accelerated this process of mutation and evolution. But the evolution of these monsters' bodies was therefore exceptionally rapid, even exaggeratedly absurd, showing that their minds were also significantly affected. Even the Demon Race who still possessed a certain level of intelligence and could obey commands during the day, once illuminated by the False Moon at night, immediately revealed their true forms, howling and roaring like madmen, becoming aggregates of flesh filled with the desire to kill and devour, purely like single-celled organisms, driven only by the instinct to hunt.
Of course, in terms of instinct, the disciples of Moshan were probably similar. Although the heads of the senior brothers wearing masks still maintained a human shape, their heads under the masks were dripping like waterfalls, with saliva flowing everywhere. The parts below their necks were even more proactive, rushing straight towards the feast.
In retrospect, this was the first time Li Fan had truly witnessed the skills of the Mo Shan disciples. To put it simply, they were straightforward, pure, and direct, lacking in finesse; to put it bluntly, they just charged in and attacked.
What else could the war between predator and prey in nature look like? Pounce, tear, pure violence. Only occasionally will a few predators fire beams like in Ultraman vs. Goblin, or use some awkward joint locks or chokeholds. Most of the time, the two sides, 'human' and 'beast' transformed into something other than pure matter, are biting each other like two rabid Non-Thing, claws, teeth, fur, scales, tentacles, and flesh flying everywhere. They kill and gnaw at each other simultaneously; the scene, disgusting and bloody, is actually quite exciting to watch. That's probably the appeal of B-movies, cough cough...
However, while 'watching the movie,' Li Fan noticed something: there was a clear difference in the Tai Su transformation abilities of the eight senior brothers and sisters from Mo Shan.
First, the group led by the Five Mountain Gods in their masks is the easiest to identify. It's clear they are truly in sync; in a group fight like this, they form a cohesive unit with excellent teamwork. Especially when facing particularly troublesome giant beasts or demons, they swarm in, one binding their legs, another blinding them, leaving them wide open. Then, with their horns and claws, they poke out their bellies and groin. After a few bites, the five of them devour the entire mountain of flesh...
This also shows that the Mountain God Dao Body they are currently using seems to have reached the Transformation Stage. It's unclear whether they were hiding their strength before, or if they were recently taken in by the Mountain Lord for special training, such as water-walking...
However, there is a problem: they do not seem to use any Daoist body other than the Mountain God.
In close combat with such a giant monster, injuries are inevitable. Only Senior Brother Xiezi Peak Xiao Zi, who cultivates the Mountain God of the East Mountain, and Senior Brother Xiangzi Peak, who cultivates the Mountain God of the South Mountain, can use the Mountain God Transformation Methods corresponding to all three Dao Bodies that they guard in the Mo Mountain Cave. They skillfully switch Dao Bodies to fight, maintaining their combat strength to contend with the Divine Transformation stage monster throughout the battle.
The other three, Xiao Jin, Xiao Qing, and Xiao Bai, were noticeably weaker. They all seemed to have only cultivated one type of Mountain God Body to the Nascent Soul stage. If they got injured in battle, they would transform into a weaker Mountain God Body, deliberately avoiding the fray for a while, fighting some weak monsters, or, under the tacit cover of others, focusing on eating and healing their wounds. Once their wounds had healed at a visible speed, they would revert to their primary body and rejoin the battle to support the others.
But generally speaking, each of the five members only cultivates a single attribute of Mountain God Transformation; it seems no one else cultivated all five Mountain Gods simultaneously like Li Fan... Damn, they probably messed around with it again...
Besides the five- Human Race battle group, another notable one is probably Yue Lanzi, the second senior sister whom Luo Feng Patriarch still fondly remembers.
She was the only one who didn't join the banquet, and she used only one variation throughout the entire event.
This is some kind of celestial horse with a human face. Its upper body is human, though not the kind with a defined, muscular physique, cough cough. Its lower body is a horse. Behind its head, on its shoulders, and on its back, there are four pairs of swan-like wings, with a wingspan of forty or fifty feet. On those wings are terrifying patterns that seem to make one's pupils tremble with fear. This divine being soars through the clouds high in the sky, as if strolling leisurely in its own garden.
She surveyed the entire battlefield from her high vantage point, occasionally raising her hand to toss down a mountain, smashing the demons on the ground into bloody foam and dividing the battlefield to prevent the five-person battle group from being flanked and surrounded. And every now and then, she would flap her wings, hurling down javelins of iron feathers that cleaved flying demons into pieces, or let out a piercing 'screech—' as a slit opened from the navel of a human body, like an eye socket, shooting out beams of golden light that swept away or reduced to ashes those troublesome large demons that had injured her fellow disciples. These ashes transformed into strangely shaped burning bonfires, emitting a fragrant aroma that tempted the mouths of onlookers.
As for Senior Brother Tianyu, he was not easy to identify. He was charging alone at the forefront of the demonic tide, like a reef, cutting the endless, surging sea of beasts to pieces.
He constantly transformed, sometimes into a leopard, sometimes a wolf, sometimes a lion, sometimes an ape, but more often into strange beasts and spirit birds that Li Fan had never seen before, sometimes making it difficult to distinguish him from the surrounding monsters. But a rough count showed that he had transformed into seventeen or eighteen different forms in an instant. Rather than saying that he was changing forms due to injuries, it would be more accurate to say that he had probably created a unique Daoist combat style. He charged around, pounced and tore apart, dodged and evaded, and seamlessly switched between each move and even each action, changing into the most suitable Daoist form to act.
Clearly, he was still in the warm-up phase and hadn't yet revealed his true form, which he was primarily focused on refining, but it was already enough to handle the situation before him.
As for the most pathetic one, it was naturally Fairy Wangshu. Li Fan searched for a while before finally finding her transformed into a white snake with a human head that looked like a large intestine, hiding in the Five Mountain Gods Battle Formation, scavenging the monster corpses on the ground...
Well, I guessed it. Fairy Wangshu's cultivation level rose too quickly, and her Dao heart wasn't strong enough to stabilize Xiangliu's Dao Body. The disciples of Moshan wouldn't make the same mistake as Yang Nanying. To avoid losing control of her Dao Body, she simply stopped putting her main Nascent Divine Transformation Body into battle. However, with her senior brother clearing the way and her second senior sister providing support, the five of them were working together seamlessly. It didn't matter if her junior sister joined in to gain experience; they wouldn't lack her output anyway...
However, Li Fan was somewhat disappointed.
He always felt that the potential of the transformation of the Moshan Tai Su was not limited to this, but his senior brothers were still fighting with the Tai Su Dao Body, relying on the godlike power that the Dao Body possessed. Their heads were like an additional component.
As the abbot said, they only valued the human heart and abandoned the human form.
Upon closer reflection, isn't the sword embryo and sword infant sword intent refined by the Beichen Sword Sect also the same, abandoning the human form and choosing the sword form?
In the worldview of Tai Su Dao, are humans truly destined to be nothing more than dust and mustard particles, destined to be eliminated?
But since that's the case...
Why does the Thousand-Faced Immortal need to use a human form?
Can we be a little more immersive when chatting?
Li Fan had an indescribable feeling in his heart, as if there was something wrong with the Tai Su Dao of Mo Shan, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Perhaps Mo Shan possesses even more powerful and profound secret techniques, but is it worth using them all to deal with these small fry?
But it didn't seem so, because the disciples of Moshan were still entangled with the demons in the south, Hu Barbarians experts in the north had also vanished.
With a sharp cry, Second Senior Sister Yue Lanzi clearly also possessed the vast Divine Sense of the Gu Guan Method, had already flown over, like a giant god guarding the sky above the city of Shuofang Town, shooting out golden light that swept across the night sky, forcing those escape lights to scatter.
Although their numbers were not as many as those of the demons, these shamans were, after all, Human Race cultivators, and they fought with considerable skill. On one hand, they split up to encircle Yue Lanzi from a distance. On the other hand, some of them concealed their figures and sneaked into the city at low altitudes to scout.
"Frost Wind Cold Rain!"
Li Fan turned his head and saw that on the top of Shuofang City behind him, Li Wugou had somehow found some strong liquor, drank a whole jar, and seemed to have recovered. With a roar, he threw his two swords, which, along with wind, thunder, ice, and hail, transformed into blue dragons and silver serpents that lashed out at the sky, killing a scout before he could react. The scout's body fell into the moat outside the wall.
"I'll lend a hand! Be careful!" Li Wugou shouted, and flew off to fight with his sword.
Li Fan glanced at it intently; the Blood Talisman Sword still had plenty of power left, but he had no time to worry about that now. He then spoke to the Blood Infant, whose belly was already round and bulging from eating.
"You go help too! Don't hold back!"
The blood infant gave an OK sign, opened its bright yellow eyes, giggled, and vanished into the void.
Li Fan opened his eyes, gripping the Tai Sha Sword Embryo like an obsidian dagger in his right hand, and holding the large gourd in his left. Enduring the stinging pain in his forehead, he used his Divine Sense to be on guard, ready to unleash a devastating attack at any moment.
But with enemies swarming in and his internal injuries so severe, no matter how vigilant Li Fan was, it wouldn't be of any use. Besides, he was standing on the earthen mound with such a large Blood Execution Seal on his head. Only a blind or mentally challenged person would give him another chance.
So when the Hu Barbarians shaman flying overhead saw Li Fan, he didn't waste any words and immediately threw a bunch of random, trashy magical artifacts and sorcery at him!
Actually, those spells and curses are alright; with the Heavenly Robe of Evil Qi blocking them, even the <Against Fate> can directly resist them. But magical artifacts are really troublesome; they hurt a lot when they hit you!
Moreover, the burly barbarian leading the group was probably literate. Upon seeing the character for "execute" on Li Fan's head, he grinned from ear to ear and raised his broadsword straight for Li Fan's head! Damn it!
Li Fan had no choice but to use his Heavenly Robe to protect his vitals and quickly jump down from the earthen mound he had brought to avoid danger.
But to Li Fan's surprise, he hadn't even taken a few steps down the slope of the earthen mound when he heard a scream behind him. Turning around, he saw the barbarian seem to have missed a step and tumbled down the earthen mound!
What the hell is this? This guy should be at the Nascent Soul Realm, right?
Li Fan stopped abruptly, clinging to the earthen wall in a defensive stance. He saw the barbarian fall between the earthen mound and the city wall. This distance wouldn't kill a Nascent Soul Stage, but he was clearly bewildered. Moreover, he clearly tried to tiptoe and tread the ground a few times, as if he wanted to fly, but he couldn't!
Could it be...?
Li Fan suddenly realized something and took a closer look at the 'earth' in the mound.
Sure enough! The earth contained malevolent energy! It dispelled all the surrounding spiritual energy! And it probably dispelled not only the energy, but also the techniques!
Li Fan was overjoyed. "Good! Mo Shan is really straightforward. He doesn't play any tricks and just directly bans your spell!" However, this spell probably has a certain range of effectiveness. Otherwise, Li Wugou wouldn't be able to fly straight up and down, and Yue Lanzi wouldn't have needed to stay in the sky.
"Come on! Come on again, you coward!"
Hearing Li Fan's taunt, the barbarian sneered and suddenly leaped up! Like a jackal or leopard, he charged straight up, stepping over the earthen mound!
Damn, I almost forgot they also cultivated their physical bodies while bearing the aura of malevolence!
Li Fan quickly picked up the gourd, took a mouthful of murderous energy, and without swallowing, held it in his mouth. He then used the murderous energy to form a layer of black armor on his body. Like a rabbit, he stepped on the earthen mounds and leaped across the walls, dodging the barbarian's slashing blades!
"Agh! I'll kill your head! And make you a marquis of ten thousand households!" The barbarian swung his sword wildly, sparks flying as his sabers struck the earthen mound, but not a single cut was left.
Li Fan was covered in black scales and moved back and forth on the wall like a gecko. This Hu Barbarians's swordsmanship had no skill whatsoever; it was purely a straightforward military style. Now, limited by the space, he could only hack and slash wildly.
If it weren't for the fact that his divine court is damaged and he can't use his flying sword, his meridians are blocked and he can't use his escape techniques, and his limbs are weak and he doesn't have the strength to Ghost Hand, Li Fan would have killed this guy more than ten times over. What a disgrace...
Although he didn't speak, the barbarian, enraged by Li Fan's mocking gaze, yelled, "Die!"
So he pounced on him and attacked him head-on. Li Fan didn't hold back either. He rushed forward with the Tai Sha Sword Embryo in his hand, slashed it with his sword, shattered the saber in front of him, and stabbed it into the barbarian's eye socket. With a quick pull, he flattened half of the skull with one stroke!
Li Fan's mood improved slightly.
So Li Fan stopped looking at the corpse that had fallen into the ditch, reached out and scooped up the skull he had just severed, spat out the white, waxy, malevolent energy in his mouth, and even burped.
"Vomit--"
Li Fan turned his head and saw a Hu Barbarians sorcerer standing in the ditch vomiting. It seemed he had fallen into the ditch while crossing the earthen mound, and he also seemed to have misunderstood something...
Um... so
Li Fan smiled at him and charged across the wall on all fours like a mandrill!
"Ahhh, don't come any closer!"
Li Fan's mood improved slightly.
Hey, this is a great place to rack up points, it's such a shame it's not open for killing...