Li Family Village

Having gained a basic understanding of the Supreme Righteous Zhenyang Technique, Li Fan had a general idea of his future cultivation plan.

There's no need to worry about the True Yang Dao Fire; there's no point in rushing it anyway. Just let it burn slowly on its own. Although the flame is still small, he has now transitioned from the modern method of 'Divine Transformation to comprehend the Dao' to the ancient method of 'refining the void Dao Integration.' His future cultivation advancement is now a smooth path, free from any life-threatening obstacles or shackles that limit his cultivation.

The Huashu and the Book of Primordial Changes go without saying. One of them is a Daoist method that uses evil energy to refine true essence, while the other is a book that uses evil energy to sacrifice to the Daoist body. Both are not only used to shape the mind and body, but they are also the fuel for the fire of the Tao. Now, we need to cultivate them more vigorously.

The "Wuji Guidao" technique can directly increase the cultivation speed of the "True Yang Technique," so it can't be neglected either. Of course, Li Fan is currently in a state of shattered Nascent Soul Stage and collapsed Dao body, neither Nascent Soul Stage Divine Transformation nor Divine Transformation, so there's no rush to accelerate the True Yang Dao Fire for now. But once the nascent Nascent Soul Stage and Dao body are reconstructed and the Divine Transformation body is stabilized, then the Wuji Zhenyuan will definitely need to be repaired to avoid affecting the cultivation progress of the "True Yang Technique."

These four Cultivation Method, the orthodox direct lineage of Ink Bamboo Mountain, complement each other and are indispensable. I've already said a lot already, so I won't dwell on it any further.

As for the other top-tier true teachings of the Three Great Sects —Shangqing Gong, Yuqing Gong, Tianyi Gong, and Body Domination Technique —in Li Fan's hands, they were already trash. Practicing more of them would only distract him and waste his time, and they wouldn't enhance his True Yang Technique. So Li Fan was too lazy to bother with them anymore; at most, they would be used as extra reading material to relax.

However, there are a few top-tier Cultivation Method that, in retrospect, seem somewhat useless—tasteless to use, but a pity to discard.

First and foremost are the Beichen Sword Sect lineage, including techniques like the Taiyin Sword Art, the Ruyi Sword Scripture, and the Tai Sha Sword Embryo.

The <Tai Sha Sword Embryo> can be refined during the Moon Worship in the Tai Su Realm. After all, I promised Xuan Tian to revive the Sword Sect, and according to the fortune teller from the Emei Old Elephant, this sword will be the future of the sect, and it will be very powerful in dealing with people. It would be a waste not to refine it.

However, the Sword Sect's Cultivation Method require relentless killing to advance, but Li Fan follows the righteous path of the True Yang Technique. He can become invincible simply by staying in the mountains, watching the Moon and the sun. There is no need for him to risk damaging his cultivation by wandering Fourth Department.

Honestly, Xuan Tian is probably out of his mind; he gets pleasure from killing people. But Li Fan doesn't have antisocial tendencies. How many people are born liking to kill? If it weren't for some bastards insisting on making him kill them, Li Fan really wouldn't want to take action...

However, this is a chaotic world, and there's no shortage of people willing to court death. Li Fan estimates that even if he practices swordsmanship "at his own pace," his progress in the Sword Sect probably won't be too slow...

Secondly, there's Daoist Qiongqi's clone, located far north of Yinshan Mountain. Leaving it unattended is not an option, but it's also become a waste of energy and a useless asset.

Moreover, upon discovering that the True Yang Dao Fire used Returning Void True Essence as nourishment, Li Fan realized that this fire possessed the characteristic of devouring the primordial spirit. Therefore, Li Fan conceived of a cultivation method.

For example, one could cultivate a Dharma Body using the Primordial Transformation to strengthen their Dao Body, and then throw the Demon God's soul into the Dao Fire to burn it. Wouldn't that be like getting a Tai Su Dao Body for free, while also eliminating the potential for backlash from the Demon God?

Li Fan wasn't sure if he could do it this way, but right now Daoist Qiongqi and Xueying were still at the bottom of the North Sea, programming those Nascent Soul Stage robots. After that, he still needed to retrieve the medicine from the Divine Sect and bring the pot back to pay for it.

Let's decide what to do with this clone once the items are delivered.

Finally, there are other supplementary knowledge to cultivate, which is also a big issue, or more accurately, it's not a question of whether or not to cultivate them, but how to cultivate them; it's a matter of time management.

Li Fan had already experienced firsthand how disruptive these technological elements—companies, legions, the Zhu Long cruiser, the Blood Infant, and the Gate—were to be. Now that he had such deep contact with the system, it was clear that relying solely on his knowledge of cultivation was far from sufficient.

Knowing yourself and your enemy is the key to victory. Li Fan still had to learn the programming encyclopedia, hacking knowledge, and cruiser piloting skills—knowledge completely useless for cultivating immortality.

But at the same time, the five basic arts of alchemy, talisman making, weapon crafting, formations, and divination, as well as advanced skills like sword forging, the related mechanical contraptions, and some unconventional Divine Beast breeding—all of these, though side quests, are indispensable skills. Shouldn't I also put in the effort to learn them? Damn, just thinking about it now, I haven't done any of my practice problems in ages...

There's just so much to learn! Not only do he have to cultivate, Moon Worship, but he also has to read books, do exercises, forge swords, complete sect missions, patrol the mountains, exorcise demons, fight Nangong, fight monsters, fight the Divine Cult, raise Kun, raise carp, and collect tofu tickets. Plus, there's always a group of people who want to drag him out and make him emperor. Damn it, how can he possibly have that much time to be emperor?

This is absolutely outrageous!

Ugh... Calm down, calm down! If I keep thinking like this, my Dao heart will start to waver! Quickly calm down!

With so much to do, stop overthinking and get to work!

Roll it up! Roll it up for me!

So Li Fan rolled up his sleeves and transformed into a beam of light, disappearing into the cave. He rushed straight to Wangshu Residence, taking with him the drowsy, drooling Kunbao Tangyuan and Lin Xiang's coffin. Then, the beam of light shot out of the Ink Bamboo Mountain Grotto-Heaven and flew straight to Li Family Village in Moshan.

You know what, the Dao Breath has really changed since it was upgraded to Dao Qi. Now even the technique of stealth is like a normal skill; he can escape anywhere at will. The ultimate move that he used to use to save his life and count the number of uses can now be used by Li Fan to travel. He's thrilled!

Sigh, what a waste of money to buy this mount. I've barely ridden this useless leopard. It's such a big but useless thing, only good for serving as food for the Kun...

They quickly arrived at Moshan. Li Fan first went to Xiangzi Peak for a walk, then left the few still-sleepy little creatures in the Xiangzi Peak halfway up the mountain. After that, he personally went to Li Family Village for a quick look.

Just as Kun said, Li Family Village is now occupied by the Epiphyllum. The spiritual veins from Xiangzi Peak to Xiezi Peak are completely covered by a plant with black stems and leaves.

It was daytime, so not a single flower bud could be seen. The blood-red flower stems were deeply embedded in the ground, some even growing as tall as corn stalks. Li Fan, who was seven feet tall, couldn't even stand out when he fell into the thicket. The black leaves, like giant umbrellas, stretched across the mountains and fields into a black ocean, following the spiritual veins and covering the entire mountain. Not only did other vegetation fail to grow, its nutrients depleted, but the black petals that had just withered the night before also fell into the soil. It seemed that every night, flowers bloomed and withered, accumulating into a thick layer up to knee-deep, gradually rotting, eroding and transforming the land, and emanating a sinister purple miasma from between the leaves, turning the entire forest into Devil Domain.

And indeed, he was right. These were the epiphyllum flowers he brought back from the Tai Su Realm and casually planted in Li Family Village. They were an invasive species...

Li Fan initially didn't understand why Ink Bamboo Mountain allowed these demonic creatures to grow right under its nose and even occupy his estate.

But when Li Fan flew over to take a look, he discovered the magic talisman that Ink Bamboo Mountain had left for him, and thus he understood the reason.

This is a line of defense.

Because of the surging demon tide in the Ten-thousand-mountains, the Ink Bamboo Mountain was short-handed. The Nascent Soul Stage level demons could still be guarded by the Real Persons and kept outside the four remaining mountain dojos, but the Golden Core level lesser demons had already infiltrated the ancient dojos in large numbers, numbering in the tens of thousands. It was impossible to capture them all. The only option was for the Golden Core level and even many Foundation Establishment level disciples to form teams to patrol and exterminate them every day, killing as many as they could.

Of course, many still managed to slip through the net, possibly traversing mountains and rivers, swimming and burrowing underground, heading north towards Moshan. Meanwhile, a large number of northern refugees had already arrived at the foot of the nine peaks of Bamboo Mountain in the north to cultivate and reclaim the land. Although Ink Bamboo Mountain provided the refugees with swords, bows, and crossbows, enabling them to organize themselves and even giving them many handwritten copies of Qi Refinement Stage and body-strengthening Cultivation Method for self-defense against the various wild beasts in the mountains, the demons still held an overwhelming physical advantage over these mortals who had not yet formed their core.

Therefore, in order to prevent a large number of demons from infiltrating the territory of Ink Bamboo Mountain and harming people, the Epiphyllum Forest on Five Sons Peak unexpectedly became a barrier to keep out demons.

After all, the modifications and pollution caused by these primordial demons were indeed too severe. Such dense malevolent energy was unbearable for ordinary demons, especially when the flowers bloomed at night. Li Fan was unfazed, but other life forms would probably go mad on the spot. Any living creature that entered this forest simply became fertilizer for the flowers. Thus, the Five Sons Peak, with their high mountains and deep forests, the Ink Mountain Formation, and numerous Revered Heavenly Demon forming a seal, were difficult to cross. The passage between Xiangzi Peak and Xiezi Peak was now blocked by the Sea of Ephemeral Blossoms, which had even given rise to Non-Thing like flower spirits, making it impossible for ordinary demons to pass.

However, supplies and personnel between Ink Bamboo Mountain and the ancient Daoist temple can be transported directly across the flower field via mechanical flying boats. As long as it is not to cross at night, there will be no problem. Therefore, Ink Bamboo Mountain left a talisman instructing passing disciples not to clear out this flower forest for the time being, and to leave it for now.

This only made things difficult for Kun, who couldn't have a barbecue and had to end up eating tofu in Ink Bamboo Mountain.

Li Fan didn't care. He landed directly in the flower field, took a deep breath of the evil energy, casually picked up a handful of petals, chewed them, and thought, "Hmm, it really tastes like that. It's like fresh meat, full of rich juice. It's quite delicious and very nutritious. This way, I can collect evil energy during the day too."

Since Ink Bamboo Mountain needs this flower field to ward off monsters and it's also beneficial for cultivation, there's no need to know everything. Of course, his residence still needs to be prepared.

So Li Fan roughly planned it out, spat out a mouthful of True Yang Dao Qi, drew a demon-repelling circle outside the Daoist temple, burned a patch of Epiphyllum flowers, swallowed up all the evil and miasma, and first marked out the approximate area of the Daoist temple in Li Family Village.

Then, based on the Five Mountain Gods Revered Heavenly Demon Gathering Spirit Array that he had set up before, he quickly disappeared and traveled between Li Family Village and Five Sons Peak to retrieve six Celestial Devil Statue. He then set up the Six Gates of Life, Death, Illusion, Annihilation, Obscurity, and Light inside the statues, preparing to arrange the entire Daoist temple into a simplified Yin-Yang Array, making it a blessed land for the cycle of the Qi of Heaven and Earth, for the purpose of cultivation.

Finally, he uprooted and ate all the night-blooming cereus flowers near his former residence, alchemy room, and warehouse, and cleaned up his dwelling.

What Li Fan didn't expect was that when he transformed into Si Niu and other Tai Su Dao Body to do construction work, chewing flower stems and nibbling on petals, two huge heads suddenly popped out of the pond in Li Family Village with two splashes and stared at him.

They were two golden-scaled fish, one black and one white, that he had kept in the pond when he was at the Golden Core stage! Their heads had already grown as big as water buffaloes!

Li Fan was shocked. He thought that since Asha wasn't around, the two fish had been neglected and died long ago! How could they have grown like this? The two he was feeding with the system's fish food had only grown to the size of his forearm!

These two fish were quite silly; they weren't afraid of Li Fan at all, so they splashed to the shore and tore off and ate the flower petals and stems around them.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Li Fan stealthily approached and carefully examined the fish to confirm its physiological condition. He also compared it with the two fish in his own fish tank and discovered that these fish could no longer be considered the same species.

Suddenly, Li Fan had a flash of inspiration and, combining it with his own cultivation progress, immediately understood.

Although they were Oldest One fish belonging to the Huan family, the two they obtained from Penglai have been eating the system's fish food and undergoing systemic transformations. However, they are still essentially fish. Even if they are fed food and pills, it will take at least a hundred years for them to cultivate into demons and then transform into humans.

However, these two fish from Li Family Village have been feeding on the petals and stems of the Epiphyllum oxypetalum. The water quality has also changed due to the evil and miasma environment created by the Epiphyllum oxypetalum, and they are now considered evil fish demons!

It can be said that in the past two days, the giant evil fish, just like the monsters of the Ten-thousand-mountains, has mutated under the influence of evil energy, cultivated at a rapid pace, formed a demon core, and its Dao body is only one step away from transforming into human form!

But it was just one step away!

Because those monsters first possessed a spirit, and then they Moon Worship and inhaled malevolent energy to cultivate.

However, because of the night-blooming cereus flowers surrounding them, which bloom every night, even cultivators would be driven to madness, so it was even less likely that these two fish would develop rational demonic consciousness and take human form like the Spirit Race!

Therefore, even though his cultivation level has long since reached, or even surpassed, he is still a pure demon with a wildly growing demonic body and no spirituality!

So just feed his fish food petals, or feed the petal fish fish food...

'No, no need! Just feed it to the fish!'

Oh, System, you're awake too? Hmm? Feeding the fish? You mean...

'Feed the ones that eat feed to the ones that eat flower petals! Make sure to feed the white ones to the black ones, and the black ones to the white ones. It should be working soon!'

'Give us more Qi of Heaven and Earth! Everything's set up; let's try descending tonight!'

Wow... It's about to happen? Could it be that this quest, which has been dragging on for hundreds of chapters, is finally going to be completed?!

Li Fan was greatly encouraged. He could finish as many tasks as he could! He immediately caught the feeder fish and threw them into the mouths of the two giant evil fish. He also stuffed a pile of epiphyllum petals and stems into the mouths as a way to nourish the two evil fish.

Then Li Fan thought for a moment, calculated the positions of the Qiankun Formation he had designed, and simply went a step further. He used his palm force to blast out a fishpond with yin and yang positions outside his residence, drew water to separate the two large fish into the two ponds, and put in the Qiankun Qi Pill to dissolve the pill liquid and directly cultivate it into a Taiji Dan Pool, allowing them to slowly digest and mutate.

After absorbing all the surrounding evil energy, dispelling the demons, and activating the inner and outer universe array, pure black and white Dao Breath gradually emerged, overflowing from the Dan Pool and enveloping Li Family Village in thick fog, making it resemble a fairyland and habitable. Only then did Li Fan nod in satisfaction.

The ritual site at Li Family Village is now almost set up. We'll see who comes out on top with those two fish tonight.

Speaking of which, if these two fish were to take shape, wouldn't they be just like him, possessing the primordial essence of the Dao and the condensed Dao Breath of the universe? Perhaps they could even awaken true yang in the future and become true disciples of Lou Guan...

After quickly cleaning up, Li Fan used his magic to bring the adorable creatures back to Li Family Village to live.

"Wow! The sun's high in the sky and you're still sleeping!"

I've already mastered a divine skill, broken through a realm, completed a main quest, and even cleaned the house thoroughly!

Wake up! Dinner's ready!

When they heard that dinner was served, Kun, Leopard, Tangyuan, and Lin Xiang woke up and stared wide-eyed at the flower petals on the plate.

The black petals, stained with scarlet ginger juice, resembled rotten, foul-smelling raw meat.

Kun, "Pah!"

Leopard, "Ugh..."

Tangyuan, "Eek--"

Lin Xiang, "Smack smack smack..."

What a bunch of clowns...

Li Fan sighed, patted the corpse girl's head, and said, "Ah Xiang is still the most obedient. I'll pass on the Ghost Hand technique to you later."