Mount Heng

Originally, Li Fan planned to go to the moon to update the Mo Shan Cultivation Method, but seeing the Heng Shan Sect mobilized en masse, he wondered what major event had occurred, and dared not easily leave his body with his primordial spirit.

However, the obvious impact that Master Wei had on the system when he passed overhead gave him some inspiration.

Even if the company's system is stronger, it is still a system at its core and will likely be affected by cultivators who have attained enlightenment. It's like a flame burning too fiercely making it difficult to notice the candlelight beside it. As one of the four major sects of Xuanmen, Hengshan probably has more than just Master Wei as a Dao Lord. Perhaps he could go and wander around and evade the company's pursuit.

And thinking about it, dealing with companies really does require learning from the Legion. The uniforms worn by that A Xiba squad probably weren't just for increasing team cohesion; they likely had anti-system detection capabilities. It's a pity we didn't cherish them back then and mostly wasted them. I wonder if the system can give away a set of those in a lottery.

Regardless, Yunmengze was bustling with people, and it was right under Hengshan's nose, so Li Fan didn't dare to Moon Worship casually. After resting for a while to regulate his breathing and recover his energy, he continued flying south.

The Yunmeng Great Marshland stretches for thousands of miles, bordering Sili to the north, overlooking Hengshan Mountain to the south, facing the east and west, and connecting to the west. On the surface, it is a shimmering expanse of water with beautiful scenery, making it a great place for leisurely fishing (or even fishing from the air).

But beneath the surface lies a deadly trap, rife with countless calamities. The marshland is filled with battlefields from the past where demons were slain, demon seals, selection restrictions, and immortal relics, making it a place of unpredictable secrets. It is similar to Guigu in Hebei and Lei Marsh in South Border. Yunmeng Marsh is a classic map of the Central Plains, a famous scenic spot for grave digging, exploration, tourism, and sword fighting.

Li Fan doesn't even dare to take out the Si Nan now, otherwise the spoon would probably spin like a propeller and fly straight into the sky...

In short, this terrain is so narrow that only immortals can fly over it, physically isolating it from all directions, making it impossible for large armies to pass through.

Yunmeng Marsh is under the control of Hengshan, but Hengshan is much more humane than Penglai. Apart from the important demons and gods being sealed, and Hengshan disciples guarding the vicinity of Hengshan's own medicinal fields and mines to prevent unauthorized personnel from approaching, other wild relics and resources are freely available to anyone, depending on their own destiny. Therefore, it is common for independent cultivators from all over the country to enter the marsh to search for and seize treasures.

Of course, this also means that the resources here are not as abundant as those in Lei Marsh. Only some Golden Core cultivators come here to train, and since Nascent Soul Realm cultivators don't have treasure-hunting cheat codes like Li Fan, most of them just fly directly over the top of the swamp.

However, Li Fan was on the run and dared not fly too conspicuously. Under Xuan Tian's guidance, he stayed close to the lake surface and skirted the edges of various battlefield ruins, deliberately getting involved with unpredictable events. These were necessary measures to avoid being discovered. But even traveling this way, it was still inevitable that he would run into trouble.

"Who dares to trespass into the forbidden area of Hengshan! Prepare to die!"

Li Fan immediately concealed himself and lay prone on the lake surface to observe, but he remained calm, since it wasn't like they were calling his name.

Suddenly, three figures rushed out from the barrier beneath the lake and began to fight. All three were at the Golden Core stage, while the two masked cultivators seemed to have stolen something from the barrier and were fleeing.

The pursuer was a female disciple from Hengshan, wielding the standard Hengshan sword, her sword energy and techniques flying wildly as she chased after the two masked men, loudly calling for the sect's assistance. She was quite imposing and daring, holding her own against the two men. With her relentless pursuit, the two masked cultivators were unable to escape for a time.

So they deliberately lured people out.

Because there was a lookout hiding outside the barrier, taking advantage of the Hengshan female disciple's unpreparedness, he suddenly threw out a green nail. The nail was actually a high-grade Golden Core magic weapon, and it was extremely fast. It pierced through the Hengshan female disciple's back in one strike. Moreover, it was extremely vicious. At the moment of impact, the wound also burst out with eerie green Dao fire to add damage. The female cultivator screamed and immediately fell into the mud, covered in blood, her life hanging in the balance.

Li Fan squatted to the side and watched the whole thing. To be honest, he didn't have a good impression of the Three Great Sects anymore. Quite a few people from Hengshan had died at his hands. They were going through a life-threatening ordeal, so it was best not to interfere and cause trouble.

The cultivator who had secretly made a hand seal, about to finish off the female disciple, when the other two masked men suddenly shouted.

"Hold your fire!" "Don't kill her!"

Huh? What the heck is this? Isn't this supposed to be a life-or-death ordeal?

"What the hell is going on!" The one who launched the sneak attack was also bored, so he put away his magic weapon and came closer to talk.

Li Fan, being a bit gossipy, also went over to listen, and heard the three of them talking.

"That's the widow from White Cloud Cave."

"White Cloud Cave?"

"Lord Baiyun, a few years ago his junior family won a sword for the mountain in the South China Sea."

"Oh, from the Bai Family. But what's she doing here? Isn't she on duty today?"

"Whoever it is, why did you hit them so hard!"

"I... I just wanted to hurt her a little. The items were all stolen goods swapped from there, who knew they had hidden inscriptions on them..."

"Alright, what's the point of saying all this! The three of us can't show our faces in the mountains today, are we just going to let her die here!"

"Can we get someone to help?"

"We don't have time for that! If those cultists think we've stood them up and run away, where will we get the ore our sect needs?"

"Then how about I help you send them back?"

The three of them turned their heads sharply and saw Li Fan, who had silently approached them and was wearing the mask of the God Lord. Even the Golden Core cultivators couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

Li Fan smiled at them, "You all have important matters to attend to, right? Seeing that you can't bear to see your fellow disciples die and cause any delays, how about I do it for you? I guarantee delivery to your door; our service is professional."

"You... this protector has been secretly monitoring us! I swore an oath to give you the Demon God Bone, I won't just give you some random cow bone!" The masked man opposite gritted his teeth.

Li Fan shook his head and explained, "I just happened to be passing by. Don't take it to heart. I don't understand any of that 'demon bone' or 'ox bone' stuff."

He probably said that the three of them absolutely did not believe him, but faced with such a clear and overwhelming difference in strength, they had no choice but to accept it or not.

"You... can you really guarantee that she will be sent back to Hengshan alive?"

Li Fan shrugged. "No way! If she dies halfway there, am I supposed to take the blame? You guys need to decide quickly, I think she's about to sink."

"Alright! Thank you for your help, Dharma Protector! Let's go!"

The three masked men gritted their teeth, carried the stolen goods, and fled.

Li Fan shrugged, scooped up the widow from White Cloud Cave, stuffed half Changchun Pill into her mouth to prolong her life, and then put it directly into his Heaven and Earth Sleeve.

He remembered that when they fought the Qingyang Old Demon, Hengshan disciple Bai Jianqiu also resolutely intervened, saying that he had stolen a sword from the South Sea, which was probably from the same Bai Family. Originally, he wanted to directly kill the three masked men before rescuing the people, but a certain Xuantian made a suggestion.

"Go show your face, chat for a bit, make a connection, and then let them go. Maybe that will help you shift the blame."

Let's give it a try then; Li Fan n't lose anything anyway.

So he stopped beating around the bush and took the Bai Family's wife directly to the nearby Hengshan Shangqing Palace lineage's Daoist temple, claiming to be a rogue cultivator who had found a seriously injured Hengshan disciple in Yunmengze, rescued him, and returned him, hoping to exchange him for some Storage Jade, pills, Cultivation Method, or other rewards.

The Hengshan disciples at that dojo immediately made arrangements to send the Bai Family back to their home mountain. They were quite polite to Li Fan, not looking down on him just because Li Fan claimed to be a rogue cultivator, nor detaining him for questioning. They simply invited him to stay a few more days, since someone dared to commit violence on Hengshan territory, and the mountain naturally had to pay extra attention.

Li Fan understood, as he was looking for a quiet place to cultivate his primordial spirit, so he readily agreed.

The Daoist priest from Hengshan thanked Li Fan for his cooperation, and not only immediately delivered the Storage Jade pills and other miscellaneous items he had requested, but also gave him one hundred Spirit Coins, as well as three Thunder Talisman, three array talismans, and three escape talismans to repay his life-saving grace.

In addition, another document was issued, along with a wooden plaque from the Supreme Purity sect. This made the rogue cultivator Li Yaoshi a friend of the Hengshan sect, granting him unimpeded access to Hengshan territory and the right to stay overnight at the Supreme Purity Dao lineage's descendants.

You know what, Hengshan's style is different from the other major schools.

While Emei Mountain was closing itself off and contemplating fleeing, Hengshan Mountain actively sought to make connections and win over cultivators from all over the world.

Penglai, in its self-preservation, squeezes all resources to support its Inner Sect, while Hengshan treats all mountains and branches equally. Although Shangqing Palace is the most powerful, Yellow Court Palace and White Cloud Cave, among other Daoist sects, are also regarded as close allies.

The disciples of Hengshan also seem to come mostly from the common people, carefully selected by their elders according to the rules of the Xuanmen (Daoist school). This is significantly different from the "power of connections" in places like Songshan, where aristocratic families gather.

It's clear that, on the surface, Hengshan does indeed seem to have the world in its heart, just as Liu Daoming, the candidate for sect leader, said.

However, let's not get into too much empty talk. Although it sounds good and the ambition is lofty, it still needs the corresponding strength to support it.

Through this brief interaction, Li Fan was already able to discern Hengshan's biggest weaknesses and shortcomings.

There's no need to even think about it; if everyone's happy, there definitely won't be enough cultivation resources to go around. It's a very simple principle: Hengshan disciples don't even have uniforms. That Hengshan sword is standard issue, but Li Fan could tell at a glance that the Bai Family woman's sword wasn't newly forged either; it was probably passed down through generations of the Bai Family. Compared to the level of those from Penglai who are armed from head to toe, with their Storage Jade gourds overflowing with pills and other items, there's definitely a difference...

Looking back now, if Emei hadn't died out midway through its lineage, there would probably be more than just the Three Elders and Four Ancestors to support now. Where would they have found the extra resources to carry out the Golden Summit escape? No wonder that the so-called number one sect in the world, while its Inner Sect is so busy from the Golden Core stage onwards, has been relatively inactive in the wider world. It's true that they simply don't have enough financial and human resources.

Mount Song should be the second strongest in terms of overall strength right now. After all, it has the two elders in charge, the Dao Lord of the Xu family, and a large group of old noble families such as the Grand Tutor, Yuntai Peak, and the Three Enclosures Immortal Clan investing in it, giving it the foundation of an old power. In a sense, this Xuanmen sect has actually been jointly acquired by the Immortal Palace. If this continues, there will probably be no more Xuanmen master-disciple inheritance, and the number of disciple slots will be monopolized by the Immortal Clan.

Thirdly, naturally, is the old friend Manifestation leading the Nine Palaces and Three Mountains of Penglai.

Although everyone curses Manifestation, and although it came at the cost of exploiting the entire East Sea of rogue cultivators Demon Race, the Penglai forces, after their reforms, have risen from being insignificant to now holding a dominant position. Manifestation's contributions are tangible and visible. No wonder the hordes of Dao Lords and Divine Lords in Penglai are so obedient to him.

Li Fan had visited the factory directly, and he was certain that the unified, large-scale production methods of the Penglai Three Mountains, and their ability to mine resources and produce materials, far surpassed those of ancient sects like Hengshan and Emei. They could even rival the conservative forces of the vested interests of Songshan, which had the support of immortal clans.

So what about Hengshan? Besides finding alternative paths for female cultivators to attain Daoist inheritance, and besides befriending and winning over independent cultivators, what other substantial means do they have to change their overall strength?

Li Fan's current assessment is probably difficult. It's likely that the situation he just encountered, where Hengshan disciples were stealing and trading with the Divine Sect, was not an isolated incident. The alliance between Hengshan, the Divine Sect, and the Eight Immortal Armies is not merely for the empty promise of "unifying the world."

More importantly, Hengshan urgently needs to trade with the Divine Sect and the Immortal Palace to obtain various scarce resources for cultivation. If it doesn't join forces with these old rivals and each takes what they need, it would be difficult for such an ancient sect to support its current scale with its financial and material resources.

To put it bluntly, fate is the same for individuals and sects alike. If you don't fight for it, if you back down, miss out, or fall behind, then everything will go to others, and you won't get a single drop. Now that Penglai is so fiercely competitive, if other sects don't want to be eliminated and become just another face in the crowd, they can only build their own brand cohesion and grit their teeth to keep up.

After all, there are only a handful of people who truly deserve the respect of the Xuanmen (Daoist sect). If they all envy the benefits and go to Penglai (the Daoist temple), who will carry on the Daoist Tradition of Hengshan (the Daoist sect)?

Although these matters are currently unrelated to Li Fan, a wandering cultivator, he will inevitably have to consider this issue in order to rebuild the Beichen Sword Sect and inherit the Moshan Daoist Tradition.

Simply finding a talented person to pass on the Cultivation Method isn't enough. This world is so chaotic, with railguns hitting people on the head at any moment. The risk of the technique being lost is far too great.

At least it needs to be like Ink Bamboo Mountain, no, at least like Manifestation, like Penglai, with a stable resource gathering and production supply system. Even if the sect leader is always running off to spy and gather intelligence, the sect can still operate smoothly, and the Divine Lords within won't be exhausted from preparing for their tribulations and lose their strategic value. We can't expect Li Fan to be constantly scouring the land with a Fourth Department to gather materials, can we? Wouldn't he be worked to death?

In the tides of the times, everyone goes with the flow. If you really want to be swept up, you have to sweep everyone else along too, otherwise you will only perish in the chaos of this world.

Xuan Tian asked, "So what are your plans? Before you take back Nine Yin Mountain, where are you going to establish your sect? To be honest, your Five Sons Peak in Moshan is a bit remote, and it's just a barren mountain with lots of rocks. It's not even as comfortable as the caves where those monsters live."

... Sigh, I don't know. Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land and famous mountains in the world have been taken. Although Li Fan's ultimate goal is definitely to reclaim Nine Yin Mountain, there are so many troubles, it's a bit too early to bring that up.

Sigh, I should go back and level up my Enlightenment first, and maybe raise some aquatic creatures while I'm at it...

So Li Fan stayed temporarily at the Daoist temple on Hengshan Mountain, accumulating 10.2k mood points. He first used his body to cultivate a batch of primordial spirit techniques, and then reduced his limit to refresh the Three Flowers to save his life, so as not to waste his mood points.

Of course, Li Fan is the only one on the Moon.

And this time it's for real; there's only Li Fan left.

Even the centipedes on the crater were blasted to pieces, their abdominal cavities lying on the ridge, their bellies rotten, their teeth broken and bones shattered—they were utterly dead.

Fortunately, the shell is quite hard, and although it's cracked, the scriptures written on it are still barely legible.

Li Fan sighed, looking up at the blue planet above. There was no noise from Xuan Tian, just a cold and quiet atmosphere, and it felt exceptionally lonely.

I wonder how you ever grow those heads that are stuck in flowerpots...

Alas, the task of passing on the Dao Flame is truly arduous and the road ahead is long...