Three Moves

"It was my oversight. I need to eat meat for my cultivation, so the kitchen prepares extra. I saw this girl craving chicken soup but didn't pay attention, letting her eat slowly. Who would have thought she'd finish the whole table of dishes? Eating so much meat and fish is definitely indigestible. She doesn't look like she grew up in a poor family; she seems like she's never had any oil or fat before... Oh well, she'll drink some congee for a few days to help her recover, and it should be fine. But..."

Real Person Wei took Li Tangyuan's pulse, told her to lie down and sleep, glanced at the sword talisman between the girl's eyebrows, and then came out to question Li Fan.

"Her features bear a resemblance to yours, could it be...?"

Li Fan rolled his eyes. "I picked it up on the street."

Real Person Wei stared at Li Fan expressionlessly, "You picked him up on the road, sealed his primordial spirit, and hid him, bringing him all the way back to Ink Bamboo Mountain?"

Li Fan shrugged. "Isn't it a tradition of our sect to kidnap children for cultivation? Let's not talk about whether it's right or wrong, let's talk about whether she has good aptitude or not."

Real Person Wei hesitated for a moment, then finally pursed his lips. "She does indeed have top-grade aptitude... but she is still a mortal and cannot withstand traveling day and night. Since you intend to take her as your disciple, don't be impatient. Let her rest for one night. Tomorrow morning, a caravan from Changsi City will deliver goods, and you can take a flying boat back to Ink Bamboo Mountain."

"I'm sorry to have troubled the dean."

Li Fan scratched his head. This was the only way. Li Tangyuan hadn't even started Qi Refinement Stage yet. She was carried in a basket over mountains and valleys and had an upset stomach. If it were an ordinary child, she would probably have died halfway through her life. But Li Tangyuan had a strong foundation, a healthy body, and could eat and drink well. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

But that'll take several more days... What a hassle. Killing someone is definitely the simplest solution...

"Hmph... Hmph..."

Li Fan rolled his eyes, turned around and glared at Li Tangyuan behind him. This guy was still snoring. Fools sometimes have all the luck...

After setting up a magic array for Li Tangyuan to recuperate, Li Fan went to the Lou Guan courtyard to look at the backyard, where a refined dwelling was isolated by a magic array of talismans.

The place was brightly lit, and black- Unknown Face Daoist priests from the Discipline Institute, their faces obscured, constantly came and went, carrying hot medicinal soup in golden basins. Strange, beast-like roars echoed from the hermitage, and bizarre shapes were projected onto the window frames. Every now and then, a figure would flash by and slash at the strange shadows, splattering blood across the windows. A moment later, disciples from the Discipline Institute would carry golden basins, their mouths covered with silk cloths inscribed with talismans, and quickly leave as if they were filled with something.

Yes, the room contained Huang Hai and a group of traitors from the Outer Sect whom Li Fan had brought back from Nangong. Because of their close contact with the Thousand-Faced Immortal, they were all brain-dead. During the day, False Moon shone and the evil energy surged, these things began to change uncontrollably, decay, melt, and even evolve. Various bodily tissues struggled and roared desperately under the moonlight, as if begging the immortal to return their stolen souls or to grant them true death.

Although he had told Wei Hu that Huang Hai and his men were doomed to die no matter what, Li Fan now didn't want to kill them anymore.

Killing them with a single sword strike now would be too lenient, wouldn't it? Since they want to atone for their sins, they should contribute the remaining remnants to Lou Guan's research on the Great Dao. This would be considered a pioneering effort in exploring the Great Dao, making a small contribution to the evolution of humanity, wouldn't it?

Yes, that's how we'll handle lawbreakers from now on; it's a way of making use of waste.

To avoid interfering with the research at the Discipline Institute, Li Fan left the Daoist temple to Moon Worship and cultivate. He didn't fly far before finding a well-established altar for the Venerable Heaven Ink Dharma nearby. It's so good to be back on the territory of Ink Bamboo Mountain; not only can he openly Moon Worship, but the infrastructure is also all in place.

The grotesque demon on the altar had the head of some kind of badger-like animal, four eyes, four limbs, each holding a sword, axe, or fork, and was a human-shaped warrior clad in armor, with a huge crescent-shaped scimitar on its back, which upon closer inspection appeared to be a tail or something similar.

It's unknown which immortal established this altar. However, it shouldn't be a cultivation altar created by a cultivator's own transformation of their Dao body, directly targeting a secluded cultivation cave. Rather, it's a local altar that mirrors the Primordial World, where anyone can gather evil energy.

There was no malevolent energy in the altar at this time, so there should be no one cultivating on the other side. Li Fan picked up the yellow book in front of the shrine and glanced at it. The book had the words "Zheng Gong Tian Ku, Fu Yao Tian Ren, Purple Radiance Tian Que, Da Li Divine Hardness" written on it.

Li Fan had learned these basic concepts from the notes and annotations in the Ink Mountain Centipede Heavenly Book. The first two sentences, "Main Palace and Secondary Stars," refer to Lou Guan's calculation of the Eighteen Flying Stars, a method of counting star positions. In other words, the Tai Su Realm opposite the anchor point of this Revered Heavenly Demon Altar corresponds roughly to the star region of the Heavenly Blade Star in the Heavenly Treasury Palace. The last two sentences are also easy to understand: the Tai Su Realm there does not have Purple Void True Qi, but it is suitable for collecting and cultivating Divine Astral Zhenqi.

Of course, Li Fan didn't care; as long as it was the Tai Su Realm, he was fine with it.

So, with a blink of an eye, Li Fan flew across the Void Abyss and arrived in a new world.

This is a desert, a desert of steel, filled with iron sand and shavings. When the wind whips up the iron sand, it's literally like steel knives slicing noodles and iron wheels grinding meat—it's practically uninhabitable. However, the malevolent energy is abundant, in fact, too abundant, radiating an inky black color from the iron sand. This extremely malevolent desert should contain creatures Celestial Devil Statue, but Gu Guan Method hasn't seen them yet; they've probably been wiped out by the cultivators of Ink Bamboo Mountain.

So Li Fan sat on the steel sand dune, his physical body absorbing the baleful energy to replenish his mind while entering a meditative state, and went to the Divine Court to check on the Gui Xu Nascent Soul.

Previously, it was shattered by a pat on the shoulder from the Thousand-Faced Immortal. Now, the entire Nascent Soul Stage resembles a shattered porcelain doll glued back together, its body covered with cracked spiderweb patterns.

However, the Thousand-Faced Immortal probably didn't intentionally scatter his cultivation, because after examining him, Li Fan found that the spine of his Returning Void True Essence was not shattered, and the Tai Sha Sword Embryo was intact; only the outer 'muscle skin' had crumbled and peeled off. And most of this Returning Void True Essence was hastily converted to advance his cultivation level.

Was the Thousand-Faced Immortal reminding him that his foundation was unstable? Was he being so kind?

Li Fan couldn't help but imagine his own shadow standing up, putting his arm around his shoulder, and whispering in his ear, "Li Yi ~~ your foundation isn't solid~~", and he couldn't help but shiver, his mood dropping a little...

Well... it's not a subjective reminder, but objectively speaking, the foundation is indeed weak. So these mediocre practitioners, or rather, lack the patience to hone their skills, simply copying the changes in the human body's structure. This isn't actually the correct direction for cultivation, and they can't withstand even a tap from the Thousand-Faced Immortal...

Li Fan thought for a moment, then took out the four-sided crystals the other party had given him, two of them. He also took out his own Tai Sha Sword Embryo and compared them with the crystals.

The Tai Sha Sword Embryo was even blacker and purer, a thin sheet that seemed to absorb all the light, while the Thousand-Faced Immortal's crystal had a multicolored black appearance, as if something else was hidden inside that tetrahedron.

Li Fan desperately wanted both, but he couldn't. Back then, even with all his efforts, he could only refine a tiny fraction of the Tai Sha Sword Embryo. Whether it was the Thousand-Faced Immortal's Dao or Xuan Tian's Tai Sha Sword Dao, both required massive amounts of Sha Qi. At least for now, Li Fan didn't have the leisure to cultivate both at the same time.

Alas, two directions of evolution, and with no idea what the end will be, blazing a trail that has never been trodden before is truly difficult; we can only keep trying and making mistakes...

Considering that the Tai Sha Sword Embryo takes a long time to form and does not conform to the 'human form', Li Fan thought about it for a while and felt that thinking about it was useless. He decided to try it first. Since his nascent Nascent Soul Stage was already broken, he might as well rebuild it.

The desert Fourth Department with iron sand gave Li Fan inspiration, so he visualized the two crystals and tried to transform the evil energy into true essence, shaping it into a tetrahedron on a microscopic scale, like building blocks of sand and gravel stacked together to form flesh and blood. In short, it was an extra step in shaping true essence, completely dismantling the Nascent Soul Stage, reconstructing the true essence, and then piecing it back together to form a new Gui Xu Nascent Soul.

Of course, rebuilding the entire Nascent Soul Stage would be very time-consuming, but Li Fan could imitate the Heavenly Robe True Qi, first wearing the disassembled part of the true essence on his body like a robe, and then slowly reassemble the human form under the robe.

After spending an entire night reconstructing his Nascent Soul Stage, Li Fan only completed the skull and spine. The rest of his flesh and blood transformed into a thick black crystalline mist, resembling a black trench coat or cloak draped over him. The outer layer was a hazy, ethereal aura of malevolence, while the inner layer was refined and coalesced true essence. This ghostly figure, appearing and disappearing, gathering and dispersing, at first glance bore a striking resemblance to the Thousand-Faced Immortal's clone.

While the exact intensity is still uncertain, at least this way, if the other party tries to put their arm around her again, the damage won't be as severe.

But to Li Fan's surprise, the impact of fundamentally reshaping the Nascent Soul Stage was greater than he had imagined. He didn't feel anything in the Tai Su Realm, but when his physical body returned to the Taiji Realm, Li Fan immediately felt uncomfortable.

It's like an ordinary person jumping into water—no, into an oil tank.

Li Fan felt the air was thick and murky, filled with a sense of congestion. The space was filled with too many 'unnecessary' and even 'wrong' impurities, making it difficult to breathe. This stuffiness and suffocation in his chest gave Li Fan a strong impulse, both psychological and physiological, to correct this 'incorrect' world, to transform it into a world where he could breathe freely...

Xuan Tian: "Damn it! What have you done now! Look at your face!"

Face?

Li Fan took out a mirror and looked at himself. He saw his face gasping for breath as if he were suffocating. In fact, the shadow was a dark, human-shaped figure with only a mouth, 'gasping for breath' as if drowning.

Does appearance reflect the heart...? But the heart isn't quite there yet... so close, so close...

Fortunately, it was still dark. Li Fan suppressed his Nascent Soul Stage's 'displeasure' with this world and recalled his human form. In an instant, his skin turned from pitch black to pale, and his face reverted to the appearance of 'Qingyue,' as if he were wearing a leather suit.

Is this alright?

Xuan Tian, "... Where's the eyeball?"

Oh right, you have to see it with the naked eye. Okay, okay, it's done.

Xuan Tian, "... Kid, are you really alright? I feel like you've become a different person..."

It's changing, it's changing...

"Tangyuan, let's go back to Ink Bamboo Mountain once you wake up."

Li Fan Door Opening and gave Li Tangyuan a friendly smile.

Li Tangyuan stared wide-eyed at Li Fan with a look of terror as if to say, "Who are you?!" Although it was the same person, it seemed like she only recognized him after staring for a while. She then ran to the basket, squatted down, and covered her head with Unknown Face.

Li Fan didn't mind, and with a smile, he picked up the basket, boarded the flying boat, and sat down at the stern.

None of the other monks, merchants, or boatmen on the same ship approached him to talk, or even dared to glance at him.

It was as if they subconsciously knew that something disguised as a person had boarded the ship, and therefore subconsciously forced themselves not to look over, because they subconsciously knew that this "thing" was not something their minds could observe, understand, or accept.

This is the correct judgment.

Li Fan turned his head to look south, then smiled and asked the basket beside him.

"Tangyuan, do you want to go back to the Nangong Family?"

Li Tangyuan was huddled inside the basket, but Li Fan saw her shake her head.

"Are your parents gone?"

Li Tangyuan remained silent.

Li Fan thought for a moment, "Does the Nangong Family usually not give you good food?"

Li Tangyuan nodded.

"But they must have given you something special... try to remember what it was."

Li Tangyuan was very obedient. Li Fan could see through his blindness that she was drinking a bowl of thick, red soup that shimmered with golden light. It was served in a square box that resembled a wooden incense burner. The maids would use golden spoons to scoop a small bowl of soup for her to drink from. Li Fan was very familiar with that rusty taste.

It's blood.

Phoenix Blood.

Xuan Tian said, "They're feeding her at such a young age! This isn't your average direct descendant! She's being groomed to be a Celestial Empress! They're going to send her to the Ziwei Yuan!"

I see. No wonder she dared to glare at him.

"Tangyuan, once you become a disciple of my Ink Bamboo Mountain, you can eat whatever you want. No one will force you to drink blood anymore, okay?"

Li Tangyuan poked her head out of the basket, looked at Li Fan, and nodded.

"Hehe, okay, go to sleep. You have a long road ahead of you."

So Li Fan covered the basket, drew a circle on the deck to enclose it, and then disappeared from the ship in a flash.

A moment later, he fled south, flying straight up to the clouds, where Nangong, holding a halberd, was waiting for him.

This man was nine feet tall, with a broad back and a powerful build. His hair was bound by a golden crown adorned with a pair of pheasant feathers. He wore a Vermilion Bird Armor that covered his tiger-like body, a plain silk robe with a dragon coiled around it, and a gleaming mirror protecting his chest. A phoenix skirt and golden armor covered his legs. He possessed the true power of a divine lord, displaying the imposing presence of a war god. He clasped his hands in a fist salute to Li Fan, addressing him as "Guan Nei Hou."

Li Fan smiled at him, "Nangong Wushuang, what brings you here?"

Nangong Wushuang n't waste any words, holding his halberd horizontally in front of him, "Take three of my moves. If you can withstand them, I won't kill you."

Li Fan grinned, pulled a Golden Brick from his sleeve, and said, "Alright, catch it, I won't kill you."

For a moment, the wind stopped.

The next second, a strong wind arose.

"Blazing Sky Soaring!"

"The Tai Sha Sword Rainbow!"

The Fiery Phoenix roared in, its power piercing the rising sun with a terrifying sword rainbow. The black sword rainbow, like an ominous comet, cleaved the Fiery Phoenix's physical form in two with a single strike.

The battle was decided in a single move.

Nangong Wushuang lost.

Firstly, Li Fan had already seen and even been hit by the Nangong Family's Blazing Sky Soaring move before, so it wasn't anything special to him.

Secondly, Xuan Tian also stopped him for half a second.

That half-second was enough for Li Fan to pierce through the breastplate of the peerless Crown Prince of the Nangong Family with his sword, creating a large hole in his left chest.

What? Golden Brick? Oh, Li Fan Golden Brick showed them off to everyone. Why? Perhaps Nangong Wushuang the sword...

In short, Li Fan won, and there's really nothing to say. After all, Nangong Wushuang was just a newcomer who had only reached the Divine Transformation a few years ago. To be honest, the Nangong Family's fighting style wasn't the kind that relied on strategy, but in terms of cultivation, they couldn't compare to those demons and monsters. Among the Divine Transformation cultivators that Li Fan had killed, his strength could only be considered below average.

It's just that this outfit looks rather vibrant...

"No, impossible! How could you... how could you hurt my teeth! You bastard!"

Just like her brothers and sisters, Nangong Wushuang, having tasted defeat, fell into a hysterical and impotent rage.

But the ventricle was punctured, and the screaming was quite loud... What happened?

Li Fan squinted at him. "You have two hearts? A rare talent? Or did you cultivate them through Cultivation Method? Never mind, it doesn't matter."

If one sword strike isn't enough, then strike a second time.

"The Tai Sha Sword Rainbow!"

Yes, it was the Tai Sha Sword Rainbow again! This sword cleaved Nangong Wushuang, who was still in shock, in two at the waist, along with his halberd!

Li Fan sensed it; he had indeed 'changed' and become stronger.

After reconstructing his Nascent Soul Stage and becoming a Tai Su life form, Li Fan could now unleash the Tai Sha Sword Rainbow, a move driven by malevolent energy, at will. To put it simply in game terms, the move's wind-up, cooldown, and cost were all significantly reduced, to the point that Li Fan could now use it recklessly!

Ahem, alright, we can't just throw them around randomly, it does drain our true energy quite a bit. Maybe another seven or eight sword strikes.

"No! Impossible! I am the Crown Prince of the Nangong! I cannot die in a place like this! Phoenix Bathed in Fire!!"

Nangong Wushuang awakened by the excruciating pain of being cut in half at the waist. He screamed as true fire burst forth around his body, and the blood and fire transformed into a phoenix, enveloping the remaining quarter of his body as he flew away!

He's still alive? Okay, I take back what I said earlier. This Nangong Wushuang isn't too weak after all; it's quite impressive that he could withstand two of his sword strikes.

Li Fan then pursued him, about to deliver another blow, but suddenly a thought struck him. He turned to look north and realized he had been tricked. After a moment's thought, he withdrew his sword technique and casually threw Golden Brick at him. With a flash of golden light, the blow knocked off Nangong Wushuang's golden crown, leaving him disheveled, bleeding from his head, and with a dent in his forehead. He crashed down from the clouds and fell to the mortal realm.

"Three moves are up! You're too kind! You all heard me shouting so loudly! If he dies, don't blame it on me!"

Then Li Fan took the Golden Brick, turned around without looking back, and flew north, heading straight back to the flying merchant ship. Sure enough, he saw a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator who had just slaughtered the ship and was flying away with a basket on his back.

This man clearly never expected that Li Fan, who was stopped by Nangong Wushuang, would be able to return so quickly. Caught off guard, he didn't even have time to use any of his skills. He only managed to exchange a palm strike with Li Fan before being struck from his shoulder and arm to his head. Half of his body was blasted to pieces, and <Against Fate> on the spot.

Li Fan tore up the remaining wreckage and snatched the basket back to take a look.

Li Tangyuan was still snoring...