The Secret Realm

Li Fan was considering a serious question.

Are there any truly good people left in this world?

Those kind, pure-hearted people, free from base desires, who dedicate their entire lives to saving humanity—good people?

Okay, if Xuan Tian were standing there, without a doubt, he would say, "I told you long ago, there are no good people in this world! Strike first, kill him first!"

Li Fan also found it hard to believe that such a rare saint truly existed in the world, and that he was so lucky to have encountered him.

So he was genuinely confused.

Ultimately, is the True Yang Dao Fire truly the Holy Flame of the Divine Cult?

Although Duan Ye was a blind and useless person who even mistook the Wisdom Dharma King, she probably didn't know what the true Holy Flame actually looked like.

But Li Fan himself had experienced the enhancement that the True Yang Technique provided to the Blood Talisman Sword. Could he have been mistaken? Did he really need to engage in dual cultivation with that giant gemstone to carefully discuss which fire, his or hers, was hotter?

But what if it's discovered that the True Yang Dao Fire is truly a 'rekindled Holy Flame '?

What happened with the previous Holy Flame? Who extinguished it? Who lit it? If the True Yang Dao Fire is the Holy Flame, then is True Yang Dao connected to the Divine Cult, or is Lou Guan connected to the Divine Cult?

Or perhaps, is there a connection between the abbot of Lou Guan Daoist Temple, Feng Qingniu, and the Wisdom Dharma King of the Divine Sect?

Besides Li Fan, is the only other person who can still ignite the True Yang Dao Fire —the Abbot—the same person as the Wisdom Dharma King is lurking in the Central Plains, attempting to reignite the Holy Flame?

If they were 'one person', then when did they become 'one person'?

Did he transform from 'Wisdom Dharma King' into 'Master of Insight'? Or did he transform from 'Master of Insight' into 'Wisdom Dharma King'?

Does the mountain lord know this? Is the mountain lord truly the mountain lord?

Are Li Fan's repeated acts of sabotage against the Divine Cult over the years merely a competition between Dharma Kings?

Was the abbot's repeated rescues of him truly motivated by a desire to cultivate a disciple to spread the Dao?

Or is the Wisdom Dharma King preparing a clone that can dissolve and possess another body?

So far, why hasn't the Wisdom Dharma King made a move against him? Is it because Li Fan's leveling up has been too fast, far exceeding his expectations? Or is it Li Fan's destiny that makes him hesitate? Or perhaps Li Fan's rise has truly piqued the other party's interest, making him want to see just how far Li Fan can grow?

Upon careful review, many things are worth examining. In particular, upon closer examination, Ink Bamboo Mountain, Lou Guan, and the Nangong Family have always been connected to the Divine Cult!

When she assassinated Nangong Wuqing, didn't she say that the Nangong Family's three reincarnation methods were successfully deduced by the combined efforts of two generations of Lou Guan abbots, the previous immortal kings of the Nangong Family, and the protectors of the Divine Sect, using the inheritance of the three sects?

Now the Divine Cult is summoning the Devil Embryo Dao Ancestor to descend everywhere, but wasn't the Oldest One Thousand-Faced Immortal summoned to the mortal realm by the former Lou Guan and the Lord of Moshan Mountain?

The influence of the cult had already infiltrated Ink Bamboo Mountain long ago.

No, infiltration isn't the right word. Rather, it's more accurate to say that the alliance currently surrounding Ink Bamboo Mountain —the alliance between the Divine Sect, Nangong, the independent cultivators of Li Country, and Hengshan—has obviously been secretly in place for a long time, and Ink Bamboo Mountain has always been a key link in this grand alliance.

Until one day, the abbot suddenly parted ways with the Nangong Family and led Ink Bamboo Mountain to break away from this secret alliance.

That's why we've ended up with enemies on all sides.

Because they were, after all, the core members!

So the question comes back again.

Are the Abbot and the Wisdom Dharma King really the same person?

Is Ink Bamboo Mountain's refusal to help its disciples awaken to their past lives a statement of stance?

Is the abbot truly a handsome leader of Ink Bamboo Mountain who has betrayed the Divine Cult?

Or is all of this another grand conspiracy, a scheme and arrangement by the Wisdom Dharma King from beginning to end?

So, once the Wisdom Dharma King reignites the Holy Flame, what earth-shattering events will occur?

In fact, if we continue to speculate like this, we will probably never reach a conclusion. As long as we confront each other and clarify everything, the truth will immediately come to light.

So ultimately, it boils down to this: how much trust does Li Fan actually have in the Abbot?

The saying goes, "What you say, you must do."

In fact, judging from the abbot's words and deeds over the years, Li Fan felt that it didn't matter if the abbot really was a Dharma King. After all, the mortals of Li Country did have a way to survive, which was much better than the current Central Plains where people were fighting and killing each other and human life was as cheap as grass.

But facing a confrontation does require a bit of courage.

The thought of the cliché plot where the person you trust turns out to be a corrupted boss is particularly unbearable. It wouldn't matter in a game; Li Fan usually skips parts of the story. But this isn't a game, and he fears it might truly shake his resolve...

Therefore, Li Fan decided to wait and gather more information before drawing conclusions based solely on Duan Ye's account. First, he needed to confirm the 'Holy Flame'; perhaps it really was just unfounded worry in the end?

Therefore, since it concerned the 'Holy Flame,' a matter that sounded like a secret of the Divine Cult, Li Fan naturally immediately fled to the Ink Bamboo Mountain Grotto-Heaven to find the all-knowing old man, Xuan Tian. Presumably, with Sword Ancestor Xuantian's vast knowledge and mastery of the Divine Cult's secrets, he would surely...

Xuan Tian: "What? True Yang Dao Fire? Holy Flame of the Divine Cult? What is that? I don't know anything about it?"

Li Fan covered his face.

Xuan Tian said, "Hey! Do you really think I'm some kind of cult?! You ask me about every little thing! We're one of the Three Great Sects, how could we not have some unique secret techniques! Besides, there are so many Cultivation Method for Dao Fire throughout history, this Holy Flame, that Divine Fire, I'm a sword cultivator, okay?! Who knows which one you're asking about!"

Sigh... I never expected that Xuan Tian would also be infected by the system, becoming intermittently unreliable... But it's not surprising that Xuan Tian doesn't know. If he knew that the Holy Flame and the Dharma King were hidden in Ink Bamboo Mountain, he would have come to kill them back then, right?

Xuan Tian said, "I'm not that idle, you know. When I was the Western Enforcement Venerable, I mainly focused on accumulating merits in Kunlun to exchange for Heavenly Books. I didn't care about all this nonsense. The Four Dharma Kings each have their own religious districts. I heard that the Wisdom Dharma King is often in the Central Plains, secretly plotting to plant spies in the Immortal Palace and Xuanmen. I've never met him, and I have no idea what he's doing."

However, I don't think that Guanzhu Feng is the Wisdom Dharma King.

Huh? Why?

Xuan Tian said, "Think about it, they've been to the Golden Summit Peach Banquet and paid homage to the Nine Mysteries Sect on Yuntai Peak. So many people have expressed their agreement for Ink Bamboo Mountain to return to the Mysteries Sect. If they still can't see the origins of the Divine Sect, that's just too outrageous! Are all those sect Sect Leader blind?"

So... the protector admitted his mistake?

Xuan Tian said, "That protector's surname is Duan? And he's red-haired? He should indeed be a descendant of the Light Dharma King. Their Duan family of Tianshan has a very powerful demonic art called Blood Flame Overlord Blade. When they attacked and destroyed the main altar back then, they killed many of our experts. Perhaps because of this family tradition, they are quite familiar with things like Holy Flame and Dao Fire."

Could the True Yang Dao Fire really be Holy Flame?

Xuan Tian: "Who knows! Who cares! There are plenty of people in this world who boast about their divine skills and claim to be invincible once mastered! My Sword Sect has so many sword manuals, and every single one of them makes you invincible! What's so special about the Holy Flame! If the Holy Flame is so amazing, why didn't anyone from the Divine Cult burn me when I wiped out their entire sect?"

Reignite the Holy Flame? Bah! So what if it's reignited! You'd be better off thinking about how to rebuild my Seven Peaks Star Stream Sword Tower! That's guaranteed to borrow star power, slay gods and demons, and destroy the heavens and the earth!"

Okay, well, the levels are different now. Sometimes, after being exposed to so much holy and divine stuff, you do get a bit numb. Just let it be...

Unable to get any constructive advice from Xuan Tian, Li Fan could only scratch his head. After confirming that Qin Nanxin was out of danger, he first called back the Blood Infant, preparing to go find some Saintess of the Divine Cult to torture and search her soul later.

At this moment, Silver Leaf also emerged from the alchemy furnace, circled around, and then smacked its face onto Kun's head. "Alright, alright, this girl Qin's primordial spirit and Dao body are fine now. She should wake up in a few days. Let's go! To the sword furnace and see how Moon Soul's cultivation is going."

Kun was overjoyed and leaped!

But Li Fan scooped Kun back up, saying, "I'll take you there. I've never seen a sword furnace before."

After all, Li Fan doesn't have the cheat code to save and load. If the plot really breaks down and triggers a bad ending, and things develop to that worst point, then he has to be prepared. The repair progress of the flying sword needs to be accelerated.

Ignoring Kun's spitting, Li Fan, guided by Xuan Tian, arrived at a workshop within the cave.

This is Qin Jianshi's sword-making workshop, or to put it bluntly, a blacksmith's workshop where the mages of Ink Bamboo Mountain forge various weapons.

Previously, Kun and Li Fan would sneak into the Sword Casting Pool to eat slag every now and then. This was Li Fan's first time here, but now he was guarding the sect on behalf of Yao Xuanzhou, so he could swagger in through the main gate to inspect the place. The Golden Core cultivator in charge of the workshop came to greet Master Li and explain the production situation of the sword-forging workshop.

It was no secret that Ink Bamboo Mountain wanted to forge its own swords. Wooden Black Sword were already circulating in the market, and Outer Sect Disciple carried one. These magical swords, imbued with a Sword Light, were also given to the Inner Sect disciples as protective talismans. Qin Jianshi's workshop was producing sword blank molds, refining gold essence, forging swords, and producing the basic materials needed for sword forging.

As for the sword-forging furnace on Ink Bamboo Mountain, as mentioned before, it is located in a secret realm within the Tai Su Realm, and can only be accessed by Moon Worship through the Thousand-Faced Immortal.

Li Fan had been to the Tai Su Realm quite a few times, and even though he knew there were many strange and unusual things in the Ink Bamboo Mountain Grotto-Heaven, what kind of scene hadn't he seen? He had even shot down a cruiser. So he didn't have any particular expectations; he just wanted to repair his flying sword for self-defense as soon as possible.

But when he lit the candlestick, passed through the crack cast by the silhouette of the Thousand-Faced Immortal, and reached the other side of the door, he was still shocked by the sight before him.

This is a city, a city of steel, a massive complex of buildings at least on par with Yuntai Peak. The architectural style suggests it was the dwelling place of humanoid beings, but the size of the buildings is unusually large, as if... it were the residence of those enormous celestial beings!

Li Fan looked up and could see the city covered by some kind of dark eggshell. He couldn't tell if it was a protective shield or a circuit board, but most of the eggshell dome had collapsed and was damaged, revealing the deep purple night sky. Only some broken remnants remained, like city walls and mountains, obscuring the view outside the city.

Li Fan tried jumping twice and breathing exercises. He could feel that the gravity of this world was extremely strong and he could not communicate with the Taiji spiritual energy. So he rolled on the spot, transformed into the Qiongqi Dao Body, spread his fleshy wings and flew into the sky. He flew out from the crack in the eggshell and looked down at the scenery Fourth Department.

Outside the city stretched an endless, deep purple desert, above which lay an unfathomable starry sky. Fourth Department were sand and gravel formed from malevolent energy, and in the distance were black crystals and faintly visible, broken black eggshells.

As expected, the coordinates linked to the Thousand-Faced Immortal's Celestial Devil Statue were the Tai Su World where the Celestial Immortal and Taotie resided. Inside this eggshell was the city inhabited by the Celestial Immortal, or some kind of gigantic humanoid alien. Taotie Saliva was added to the lamp oil, simply placing it in a different coordinate within the same world.

Li Fan flashed and transformed into human form, landing on the 'eggshells'. It was clear that these black eggshells were probably also made of a substance processed from baleful energy. Judging from the city's distinctly sci-fi style, this extraterrestrial civilization was likely a technological civilization from the Tai Su Realm.

At this moment, Kun emerged from Li Fan's collar and leaped out.

Li Fan grabbed it and pulled it back, "What are you doing?"

Kun is enraged!

Xuan Tian said, "Didn't you insist that it grow up before it can go out to play? Then let it eat sand. The sand and gravel here are of high quality, so it's more efficient at consuming them."

Wow, you're so dedicated to going out and having fun!

Li Fan immediately let go, and the Kun, caught off guard, fell onto the eggshell, bouncing and whimpering like a rubber ball, before finally landing in the desert.

Li Fan, "..."

Xuan Tian said, "The Kun is Divine Beast that can roam freely throughout the universe. It knows its own limits. There are no living creatures outside, so don't worry about it. Let's go, the Sword Casting Pool is inside."

So the silver leaves danced in front of him, and Li Fan transformed into Qiongqi, flapping his wings and flying over the empty city.

Inside the eggshell were countless enormous steel coffins. The entire city was deathly silent and empty, devoid of any life. Apart from the faint stars in the sky, only a few lights could be seen in the center of the eggshell city.

Li Fan flew over and saw that it was a city square. In the middle of the square floated an oval-shaped black sphere, which was probably the spaceship of the Celestial Immortals. Judging from its shape, it was somewhat similar to the exploration ship of the Science Ethics Committee of the system. Of course, it was only somewhat similar. In fact, considering the size of the Celestial Immortals, it was naturally much larger.

Several altars for the Lou Guan ritual were erected around the square, along a ring of light resembling LED strips, and many 'spider' figures could also be seen.

Of course, those weren't spiders, but rather the multi-legged Mechanical Puppet of Chicken Mountain Peak, similar to the Tai Gongshi of Jishan Heavenly Craft Peak. There were at least twenty of them climbing between the Daoist temple altars, weaving a spider web-like structure to build a support network. They really looked like a group of spiders building a nest around the satellite launch center.

Li Fan took a look and understood. The Celestial Immortal civilization appeared to have been destroyed, but for some reason, this city still had a stable energy field and spaceships. Perhaps many technological products and facilities had been preserved intact.

Could this be what the system is most interested in? Alien technology?

That's probably it; after all, who wouldn't be interested in alien technology?

The Real Persons of Heavenly Craft Peak in Ink Bamboo Mountain are clearly also studying the legacy of this Celestial Immortal Civilization in reverse. In fact, using infinite energy to forge swords is child's play. In addition to rows of sword-forging workshops, there are also alchemy workshops, medicine workshops, talisman-making workshops, and silk weaving workshops. In any case, this square is quite large by Celestial Immortal standards, enough for Ink Bamboo Mountain to move most of its core research departments here.

Besides the Mechanical Puppet, Li Fan also clearly saw many masked, black-robed Discipline Institute cultivators transporting Non-Thing samples preserved in bottles and jars into the Celestial Immortal's spaceship. He didn't know if it was for preservation or for further research. However, the gravity of this world seemed to be too much of a strain on Golden Core level Dao bodies, so all the Discipline Institute members used the Tai Chi Transformation Method to change their Nascent Soul Stage level demonic forms, only reverting to human form upon entering the spaceship.

Wait a minute, so every Golden Core cultivator in the Discipline Institute has a Nascent Soul Stage demon body?

At this moment, Xuan Tian interrupted, "This world is free from the interference of the spiritual energy of the Taiji Realm, so the sword forging will not be affected by impurities of spiritual energy. I've already arranged with Xiao Yao to borrow a furnace. Take out the Sword Talismans and the Suihou Pearl, and I'll help Yue Po refine it again."

As Xuan Tian spoke, Yin Yezi darted into a warehouse. A Mechanical Puppet inside then lifted its canvas cover, stood upright, crawled to Li Fan, and turned its head with Yin Yezi's forehead pressed against it. "What are you standing there for? Hurry up!"

Li Fan was stunned. He handed over the things he had looted from Hengshan and watched as Mechanical Puppet Tian skillfully used various tools to assemble the Sword Talismans molds. He was speechless with amazement.

"No... Xuan Tian, didn't you say you didn't know how to use mechanisms? When did you become so skilled?"

The puppet turned its head away, seemingly too lazy to even acknowledge him.

"Are you stupid? Can't you learn it if you don't know how? There are so many books in the Ink Bamboo Mountain Academy, it's not difficult."

So Xuan Tian, holding the Suihou Pearl, rustled and crawled into the workshop to start working.

Li Fan felt ashamed and deeply embarrassed; he hadn't even read that book, "Summary of Mechanical Principles," more than a few times...

So he went into the sword-making workshop for a look, and... well, he couldn't understand it...

Then he wandered out again and strolled around the other workshops, but... well, I couldn't understand them...

Finally, he flew to the otherworldly spaceship, looked around for a while, and... well, he couldn't understand it...

In short, he knew that the Real Persons on Heavenly Craft Peak of Ink Bamboo Mountain, or other peaks, were researching extraterrestrial technology. But he couldn't understand the specifics of their research.

Li Fan felt he was being attacked by an overwhelming sense of shame stemming from his ignorance.

It seems like all he's learned in all these years of time travel is killing people...

Damn! Could it be that the 'Wisdom Dharma King' didn't think he was wise enough, which is why he wouldn't take him away?! What a disgrace!