The Salty Fish

Li Fan held the tofu ticket in his hand, examining it from all angles.

Talismans and incantations are indeed quite idealistic. As the 'talisman master' himself, he couldn't feel the power of the talismans at all. To put it bluntly, he used 'his own power' from beginning to end. Although he had a little bit of a cheat code, his power came from his own cultivation, comprehension, and fighting, not from praying to gods and Buddhas.

For cultivators, although the 'talisman master' may inscribe the names of senior Dao Lords, the talisman is drawn by themselves, the incantation is cast by themselves, and even the Dao Breath energy is provided by themselves. To put it bluntly, it is still their own method, more of a self-suggestion. By using the established format and norms of the talisman, they can increase their focus and maximize the effectiveness of the incantation. It is merely an auxiliary tool to avoid deviations in hand seals and incantations.

So, even with the same invisibility technique, some people might not be able to hide properly without using talismans or chanting incantations. They might even slip up and be caught red-handed. But others can remember everything they see. They don't need to draw talismans at all. Their hand gestures are perfect and foolproof, making it impossible for them to be discovered while tailing someone.

However, it cannot be denied that the mechanism of faith in gods and Buddhas does exist in this world. The 'Wusheng Laomu' really does respond to the call of believers and create a 'Vacuum Home' to protect them from all suffering. Li Fan has seen that scene several times.

The current expectation of the Luo Sect followers for tofu tickets is that they can be like the Wusheng Laomu, protecting them and ensuring their safety when they are in danger.

But this is just an IOU! I can't do this... Hmm? Wait a minute, maybe it's not that I can't do it...

Li Fan suddenly had a flash of inspiration and took out Cangsong Dao Notes to read them.

In fact, borrowing the power of others through talismans is a very sophisticated use of talismans developed by the Confucian scholars of this world.

Yes, talismans originated from shamans. Guess what else originated from shamans? Confucianism.

When the civilization of the Central Plains people was still in a barbaric tribal era, like that of the Hu Barbarians and Mountain Ghosts, the Confucianists were originally sorcerers who performed rainmaking rituals, similar to shamans.

A talisman is a book, and at least in this world, there is indeed 'power' in writing. Because agricultural civilizations rely on the heavens for their livelihood, talismans originally originated from the rain-praying documents written by shamans and Confucian scholars to 'heaven'. Although cultivators simplified the way of talismans and developed it in another direction, Confucianism has never abandoned its original profession of 'writing books and performing sacrifices'.

Ultimately, the Oldest One goals of wizards, sorcerers, shamans, Confucian scholars, monks, and researchers are the same: to explore the order and laws that humanity can live in amidst the chaotic, unknown, and dangerous natural world. However, in that era of exploration where everyone was confused and uncertain, their ways of life differed greatly, and their interpretations of the 'Tao' naturally varied.

By uniting everyone together and establishing an orderly class society, Confucianism aims to ensure that, externally, the leader can mobilize the entire community's resources to plan production and respond to disasters with maximum effectiveness. Internally, it seeks to build a shared value system of "rites" to gain the support of its members and maintain the group's cohesion.

When the priests of the primitive era wrote such doctrines on their sacrificial texts and presented them to the heavens for review, they must have been very confused, hoping to receive a response from the heavens.

If the 'Heaven' of this Taiji Realm also fails to respond to the order written by Confucian scholars, then the Confucian scholars of this world will eventually realize that there are no 'gods' in the world, and 'Heaven' cannot be relied upon; we can only rely on 'humans' to create our own world.

But fate, of course, responded.

Thus, the core divine system of the Immortal Palace lineage was born. This system was originally a posthumous title conferred by the Celestial Venerable to commemorate soldiers who died in battle. As the territory of the Immortal Palace expanded rapidly, it developed to its extreme and formed a man-made heavenly book of thirteen volumes, consisting of the Three Enclosures Twelve Countries, known as the Investiture of the Gods.

Civil and military officials, dukes and marquises, spirit officials and heavenly kings, city gods and earth gods—these officials of the celestial Immortal Palace, though they themselves do not possess the power of cultivators and martial artists, can be officially appointed and certified by the Three Enclosures Twelve Countries, and listed on the Investiture of the Gods of the Gods. After death, they can become guardian deities of specific regions or spirit officials in specific positions, and gain supernatural powers and magic.

At the same time, those who are granted divine Investiture of the Gods will also be bound by the Investiture of the Gods, and will have to fulfill their corresponding duties and obligations. If they can protect the people, the people will naturally repay them with faith and divine power. However, if they do not perform well, the Immortal Palace can simply replace them with an imperial edict.

The most typical example is Zhang Dali. He was just a county magistrate. When he was surrounded by a large army and had no reinforcements, he sacrificed himself to protect the peace of the area. He remained steadfast in his commitment and became a city god. With the support of the people's faith, he managed to stop the Northern Expedition Army. The power of faith is undeniable.

But he was able to do all of this not by his own strength.

Of course, the power of the divine way does not originate from the Immortal Palace or books, but from the people.

God lists, immortal registers, imperial edicts, and laws are all talismans. Although their formats differ, they are essentially means of communicating and utilizing the unique supernatural power of this Taiji Realm.

True power comes from people who grow up on this land and share common values. The Investiture of the Gods merely transfers and amplifies this power to a specific individual through specific rules.

Moreover, it wasn't just about strengthening; besides the God Ranking System, after the Immortal Palace established its dominance over the world, it also created thirteen volumes of Immortal Registers.

However, the Immortal Register is not an official title. It is a register used to record and document individuals who cultivate independently and obtain power beyond the established order, outside of all the Immortal Palace systems.

The management and control of cultivators through the Immortal Register not only limits their power and realm but also tracks their location and strictly regulates their movement, preventing them from roaming freely within the country. It is said that the Immortal Register of the Three Enclosures can even trigger a heavenly tribulation. Those rogue cultivators who refuse to accept the management of the Immortal Register are naturally treated as demonic by the Immortal Palace, hunted down and eliminated by the army, their entire sect wiped out.

As we all know, the ultimate result of this high-pressure policy was the birth of the Xuanmen (Daoist sect).

This is also the main reason why the Confucianists in this world so vehemently dislike cultivators. After all, the order and world they so desperately wanted to establish were overthrown by the cultivators.

Of course, the applications of the Immortal Register are unrelated to the tofu ticket system. Li Fan wants to create a tofu ticket system modeled after the Investiture of the Gods.

However, the direction was reversed. Instead of the Luo Sect members providing him with power, Li Fan transferred his magical power to the other side.

After all, what they crave is protection, isn't it? So let's protect them. As long as they ask for help, we can use tofu tickets to create a protective shield or something similar to ward off demons and monsters at the Golden Core level. That shouldn't be too difficult, right?

From the perspective of talismans, it is feasible. After all, Cangsong once used talismans to locate and track, and he also suggested that the little devil's method of repaying debts by moving things.

In terms of magical power, it's actually feasible, because Li Fan has now upgraded to True Yang Dao Qi, and his magical power is practically limitless!

That's right! True Yang Dao Fire!

Perhaps we don't need to go through all that trouble. We can just transfer the True Yang Dao Fire directly! That fire is so domineering; it can directly ignite evil energy, making it a natural counter to demons and monsters! Maybe it'll be worthwhile!

With a plan in mind, Li Fan became interested and began to research how to transfer True Yang Qi to the tofu ticket. Ideally, it would be like Magic Treasure for warding off evil spirits, so that it could fly out and attack and burn any demons that appeared. Adding a protective array and skills to disperse groups of demons would also be good. In short, with a few tries, it shouldn't be too difficult...

Li Fan was lost in thought for a moment, until Li Tangyuan, with a Kun on her head, came running and banged on the door to complain, which brought him back to his senses.

Li Tangyuan exclaimed indignantly, "Two fish are stealing our food!"

Kun got angry too, 'There's still sauce!'

So Li Fan went to the kitchen and saw two monsters, their bodies wet and greasy, with human-shaped limbs and scales, but their heads mostly resembling carp heads, drinking and eating large chunks of meat. Each of them was holding a rice bucket and eating rice with soy sauce, completely emptying the ingredients they had bought during the day.

Ah Xiang hadn't even gotten up yet, and the leopard was already puffing up its fur behind the door. It's completely useless...

"What kind of aliens are you two transforming into?! Such heavy tastes, are you trying to pickle yourselves into salted fish?"

Li Fan picked up one carp in each hand and threw the two carp spirits into the flower field to eat the petals.

The two carp ate a large meal, then rolled on the ground and transformed into human form. It was clear that they had transformed in the shape of the Yang Fish Child, but their eyes were devoid of any spirit, staring blankly like dead salted fish. Their expressions and movements were also dull and stiff, like lifelike wax figures, with the uncanny valley effect at its peak.

"Hey, how's it going? Did it work? Say something!"

Li Fan took out two sets of Lou Guan's Daoist robes and put them on the two boys, then poked their cheeks.

"Feed!"

The two creatures opened their mouths and screamed in unison, probably not yet in control of their bodies; the sound was like a broken gong.

"Here you go, it's all yours, damn it, we're not going to fail, are we...?"

The two boys ate the remaining feed in their hands, finishing it in no time. Their eyes were still wide open like salted fish, but they could already speak.

"Success."

"Yay!"

Li Fan squinted at the two of them, and could vaguely make out that one had fairer skin, probably the Yang Fish, and the other had darker skin, probably the Yin Fish.

"You guys look like monsters; it's obvious at a glance."

"It's alright."

That's enough.

"Your Divine Sense is too weak."

"It carries too much."

"To recuperate, for a period of time."

"Then, you can move freely."

"But the experiment was a success."

"Now, we can..."

"Wait, wait, wait, the way you guys talk, it's so damn annoying!" Li Fan got goosebumps. "Can't we wait until I celebrate the New Year first, then you can finish it all at once?"

"OK."

Then the two boys rolled on the ground and transformed into two large carp, splashing around in the flower field.

Li Fan sighed; the number of strange things he was raising was increasing...

Li Fan carried the two large fish back into the Qiankun Dan Pool, Moon Worship to meet the two boys.

These two were in high spirits, still raising their glasses in a banquet; they seemed to be the very things that had just stolen the Kun...

"Cheer up, Li Fan! We've also gained Dao bodies, so we can go down to the mortal realm to help you!"

Li Fan couldn't help but roll his eyes. With your skills, you're only good enough to be skewered, okay?

"All we need to do now is expand the fishpond!"

Li Fan couldn't hold back any longer, "Wait a minute, aren't those two enough? Do we need to find you two more females to mate with?"

"No need for that," Yang Fish Tongzi snapped his fingers, demonstrating the creation of the carp's body and its DNA helix. "The first step is always the hardest, but now that we've crossed the threshold and collected the data, we can just prepare for the cloning farm."

Li Fan was dumbfounded, "Clone?"

Yin Fish Tongzi downed a glass. "Yeah, yeah, cloning humans is illegal, but cloning fish is no big deal. Now we can start a side business too!"

Li Fan remained completely bewildered. "A side hustle? Selling fish?"

Yang Fish Tongzi laughed, "No, smuggling. We can arrange for customers from the other side of the 'door' to be smuggled over."

Li Fan was speechless for a long time. What? Smuggling? Illegal immigration?

"Yes, being reincarnated into another world is not an entertainment activity that ordinary people can afford. Moreover, the new worlds that are currently being bid on have been monopolized by a few top companies."

You know what I mean, right? Although those board members own hundreds or even thousands of worlds, those are all private and corporate assets, and they won't share them. So the few open public game worlds are already overflowing with players.

"So some company executives will secretly let people into the New World to earn some extra money. I estimate that some managers in this world have given the legion access to infiltrate."

"Being born into a human body would inevitably trigger an alarm due to an increased deviation value. That's why we used to arrange for you to enter the legion by sneaking you in. But being born as a fish and then becoming a human is fine! The company just thought it was a mutation of a wild animal and didn't notice anything unusual at all!"

"Of course, since it's smuggling into the company's territory, especially this border world, the entry fee isn't low, so there won't be many customers who can afford it. Same old rule, this is your world, we'll split the profits 50/50. Anyway, we only offer one reincarnation service, so once you've paid, you can kill me if you want."

"Ahem, of course I still advise you not to do that. People who are willing to spend a lot of money to illegally immigrate here without any systemic protection are just looking for a chance to start over. They won't cause trouble on their own, and the knowledge they possess will definitely be useful to you."

Li Fan hesitated for a moment, "But wouldn't doing this carry a huge risk of exposing us? Just for money? Doesn't that conflict with your goal of secretly collecting the Heavenly Book?"

The two boys exchanged a glance, then looked at Li Fan.

Do you know what money is?

Li Fan couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Of course I know what money is."

"No, you don't know, what I mean is..." Yang Fish Tongzi considered his words for a moment, "The 'money' on this side of the 'door' is a piece of data code, an information flow, a transaction chain that occurs between systems. It does not have any physical resources or energy equivalents. At most, it only represents 'legal transaction records'."

But as long as you have this 'legal record,' your system will function normally, and you can join the economic activities on the 'Gate' side, obtain 'money,' and buy anything—authority, knowledge, equipment, weapons, resources, energy, companies, legions, Bio-Human, clones, everything.

In other words, money is worthless on the other side of the door, but has infinite value on this side. Therefore, given the opportunity, making money is indeed a higher priority than any theoretical knowledge.

Yin Fish Tongzi, resting his chin on his hand and picking his nose, said, "But the Citizen Tax Bureau's system has the highest level and priority access permissions. The bureau will check all transaction records in the system. In fact, even if they find out that we are engaging in illegal activities such as smuggling, they won't care. We are only messing with the company, while they are only responsible for tax audits."

However, once it is discovered that the source of your transaction chain income is unclear and the proportion of problematic transaction chains is high, it is easy to trigger alarms and surveillance. Specialists will keep an eye on you and repeatedly trace and check your transaction chain. Tax evasion, money laundering and other similar situations will be caught very easily. Then, transactions will be restricted, transfers will be prohibited, back taxes, fines and lawsuits will be imposed in one go. Finally, with a "bang", your system privileges will be revoked and your citizenship will be revoked.

Oh ho ho, once you get to that point, you'll be blacklisted by all the systems. You're doomed, screwed, dead."

Holy crap...

"Don't worry, being kicked out of the legitimate system doesn't necessarily mean you can't survive. There are many illegal independent systems. Look at those scavengers in the Legion, they can live quite comfortably, can't they? But you've seen how easy it is for us to burn the brain of an employee who has lost access, haven't you?"

Yang Fish Tongzi patted Li Fan on the shoulder, "So you need as many 'legal transaction records' as possible to appear as a 'lawful citizen.' Trust us, only by being a player who abides by the rules will others not use off-the-books methods against you."

Li Fan swallowed.

"... No, do you really think those corporate oligarchs can accept this?"

Yin Fish Tongzi shrugged. "Of course they didn't want to accept it, otherwise they wouldn't have had to fight over four hundred corporate wars. Unfortunately, the rules are always made by the Winner. So you see, they all ran to another world to reincarnate and escape reality, didn't they?"

Holy crap, what kind of society is this? No wonder some people would rather escape here and become a couch potato...