Duel of Magic

Seeing how cautious the abbot was, with his attempts at killing, riddles, and concealment, all resembling the sinister Profound Heaven Sword Intent, Li Fan knew that this time, it was most likely that he was going to attack the Xuan Sect.

Just now, the abbot even named and openly explained the backgrounds of five of the "Seven Friends," and did not shy away from mentioning the Wisdom Dharma King and the Holy Flame. However, he did not mention the identity of the last person at all, nor did he make any guesses.

Clearly, it wasn't that the abbot couldn't foresee it; rather, he had already made some deductions.

Actually, Li Fan had pretty much guessed it: Hengshan.

Nangong Wubu has been suppressed, and the other leaders have also been killed or wounded and eliminated. The abbot did not truly inherit Nangong Wubu's legacy, but instead was guarded against and suppressed from beginning to end.

Judging from the current actions of the Divine Cult, it seems that the Legion is mostly behind the scenes devising strategies and implementing its own tactics. There is no strategic cooperation with the Nangong Family, nor has the 'Lost for Many Years' Wisdom Dharma King been seen commanding the power of the 'Seven Friends' to support and coordinate the Divine Cult's actions.

Then, considering the Nangong Family's repeated fawning over Hengshan, it's obvious that now, the one who truly inherits the legacy of the "Nangong Seven Thieves," succeeds Nangong Wubu, and takes the lead in this rebellion group is undoubtedly the "Seventh Friend"!

It may be difficult to say exactly who this person is, but one thing is certain.

This "Seventh Friend" must now be hiding in the upper echelons of Hengshan!

No, it's not necessarily 'hidden'! It's very possible that the other party is a legitimate disciple of Hengshan!

After all, back then, Nangong Wubu also started a rebellion in Ink Bamboo Mountain, right under Hengshan's nose!

Without Hengshan's tacit approval, would Emei have even bothered to travel all this way to subdue demons? No, it should be said that the fact that Nangong Wubu's team was able to grow so powerful before the descent even occurred was already highly questionable!

Even if we can't accuse Hengshan based on this speculation, given the old Xuanmen's way of doing things, it would be perfectly normal for them to send an undercover agent to the bandit leader Nangong Wubu's side!

Considering Hengshan's ambition to "unify the world," or even from a more conspiratorial perspective, it wouldn't be unreasonable to view the Nangong Wubu Group as a "second immortal Immortal Palace" deliberately cultivated by Hengshan!

However, the idea of a Thousand-Faced Immortal appearing out of nowhere was indeed beyond the imagination of the Hengshan Dao Masters, so Hengshan made many changes to its plans for Nangong.

Although the Tai Su Dao is somewhat peculiar, intrigue and scheming are still innate human abilities, and the overall situation should remain the same.

Hengshan will certainly not miss the opportunity to seize control of the 'Tai Su Dao'!

Upon closer reflection, the various coincidences that befell this small group of "Seven Friends" back then— Mo Chanzi's betrayal, the massacre of the Emei sect, the Nangong Wubu, and the sudden death of Lu Hansheng —already hinted at a conspiracy.

Later, it seemed as if Ancestor Luo and Wusheng Shengmu were working together to spread the Dao of Taisu through two routes: one in the Xuanmen (Daoist sects) and the other among the common people. They attracted attention while causing chaos in the Central Plains, and they also deduced the Great Dao. Not only did they consume a large number of elites in the Xuanmen, but they were also cleanly and efficiently eliminated. Was this also purely a coincidence?

Finally, only Nangong Wubu remained as a puppet leader. Everything was ready, and he could rebel at any time. If this guy hadn't been so foolish and been tricked to death by the abbot and the grand tutor, who knows what kind of trouble he might have caused in the end.

Perhaps Nangong Wubu's defeat and death truly caught the hidden "Seventh Friend" off guard, allowing for many years of peace afterward?

But considering the current situation—the rebellious alliance has made a lightning-fast return, and has even introduced new forces such as Demon Race and cultivators; the Nangong rebellion group of yesteryear has become merely an embellishment; and leadership has completely shifted from the Nangong to Hengshan—it can be said that this 'Seventh Friend' has achieved final victory and completely usurped the foundation built by Nangong Wubu.

Thinking about it this way, the 'Long-lost Wisdom Dharma King' is probably in grave danger as well.

As for Nangong Wubu, he ultimately failed to accomplish any of the great things his father had hoped for, ending in such a hasty manner and becoming nothing more than a foil for others.

However, this result is quite normal.

After all, they are elites from one of the Nine Great Xuan Sects, the prestigious Hengshan Sect.

Disciples of such prestigious sects typically undergo two or three reincarnations before truly entering the sect. To be sent out as an undercover agent—what a cunning old fox! For Nangong Wubu dimwit like Nangong Wubu to think he can fight them is simply too naive...

Now, it's the abbot and Li Fan's turn to fight them.

The abbot waved his hand, clearing away the teacups on the table and setting out an incense burner, a lamp, and a cherry-like red pill, giving his instructions.

"I'll make the first move. Once a third of an incense stick has burned out, but the lamp is still burning, you should take the elixir into your mouth, guide the talisman, and follow. Kill anyone you see; don't let a single one escape."

"Yes."

Li Fan bowed once, but when he looked up, the abbot was already gone. He really had left just like that...

Despite his extensive experience, Li Fan couldn't help but swallow hard as he looked at the items on the table, his eyes glued to the incense's burning progress. This incense wasn't just a timer; the abbot had also cast a spell to speed up or stop the burning process as needed.

As for that lamp, yes, it's the abbot's soul lamp, which is quite simple to understand. If the abbot had broken it right away, Li Fan naturally wouldn't have needed to deliver it.

The 'Dan Ying' is held under the tongue and is also a pseudo-primordial spirit. It can be used to shield someone from death, or to boost one's spirit when one's primordial spirit is depleted. It is similar in nature to the Three Flowers, but it is a treasure made by alchemy. It is used for fighting, especially when the primordial spirit leaves the body, and is used to fight desperately.

This time, it's a real, serious battle between the Xuanmen sects, a fight to the death.

In fact, the battle of wits had already begun from the very beginning of the preparation stage, when they were exchanging cryptic words.

To deal with the Xuanmen, especially an old Xuanmen like Hengshan, you must be prepared to be wiped out if you reveal a flaw. Then you must be prepared with arithmetic skills that they can never figure out. Only then can you prepare the specific rituals for the battle.

When it comes to magical combat, it is completely different from sword fighting, strength fighting, and slashing and exploding.

A perfect duel isn't about everyone hacking and slashing to determine a winner and whoever creates the biggest pit wins. Rather, it's about me performing the spell, you dying, and no one being able to find out the cause of your death, let alone the murderer. They'll just assume you died because your time had come.

This requires various advanced mathematical skills, wits, Daoist cultivation, magic, and magical treasures; in other words, the accumulation of time.

So to put it bluntly, this was actually a battle of wits between the abbots, Li Fan was just a protector.

Of course, even Dharma protectors need to have some basic knowledge of magical combat.

For example, firstly, magical combat usually takes place outside of visual range and beyond the range of Divine Sense, so you must at least be able to calculate the target's exact location, understand the opponent's cultivation level, and identify their weaknesses and shortcomings.

Then, the higher the level of cultivation of the target you intend to attack, the more complex and profound secret techniques and supernatural powers you will need to use to achieve the desired effect.

Such high-level magical abilities would inevitably require complicated steps and materials. For example, it would certainly involve setting up an altar, arranging formations, preparing items, and undertaking other preliminary tasks.

Although after reaching the Nascent Soul Stage, it's unlikely that the embarrassing situation of a spellcaster chanting and dancing for a long time only to have the spell fail, or misremembering the words, biting their tongue, or twisting their ankle and falling off the altar, breaking their neck and burning themselves in the process, will still occur.

However, overly common and ubiquitous supernatural powers and spells are definitely useless. What if your opponent is a top student, or you have a fellow Dao Companion by your side who senses the danger and intervenes to break your spell?

Moreover, with the advancement of alchemy these days, and the mass production of the Changchun Pill, one can simply take the pill and try to revive oneself.

This is why the various schools of Daoism cherish their secret manuals so much and do not easily pass on their methods.

Secret manuals are fine for personal cultivation, but if you keep using them, they'll eventually become commonplace. If they're thoroughly researched and deciphered, and everyone can decipher them, how will you cast your spells?

Besides, if everyone knew that you were a treacherous fellow who stayed in the mountains all day, casting curses and harming people, how could you possibly survive in the martial arts world?

Therefore, the ultimate secret techniques are only effective when used to curse the enemy to death at crucial moments!

Furthermore, there's a crucial issue, especially since performing a ritual to eliminate a True Lord or Divine Lord level being inevitably requires drawing upon a massive amount of spiritual energy, which certainly cannot be concealed. Not only will there be a physical and mental connection between the two parties during the ritual, but the process will also take considerable time!

So here's the problem: even if you could really perform a spell to curse your enemy with 100% certainty, the fact that you have to chant incantations and use acupuncture for 49 days to succeed is just too outrageous!

Unless your adversary is truly a brainless idiot who can't sense any danger at all, or a complete fool who can't even figure out where their enemy is cursing them, they will definitely be on guard and might even form a gang to come and fight you to the death!

Therefore, the Profound Heaven Sword Intent was particularly reluctant to teach Li Fan, nor did he want to personally engage in combat. After all, it was just too damn troublesome. Why drag it out for a month when it could be resolved with a single sword strike?

However, it's clear that not everyone has the courage and determination to take a knife and confront their enemy head-on. Such swordsmen and warriors have been extremely rare throughout history, which is why the Beichen Sword Sect is so famous.

Therefore, the old Xuanmen (Daoist sects) used the art of talismans to compensate for the various deficiencies of forbidden spells and secret techniques.

The principle of talismans has already been explained: the spells and supernatural abilities that normally require hand seals and incantations are written on the talisman's body and prepared in advance. When it comes to combat, they can be thrown out directly, avoiding the embarrassment of being flustered and making mistakes in the heat of battle, or having the casting interrupted.

Although not as powerful as a proper ritual, a talisman can be activated once used, allowing one to catch an enemy off guard and kill them with a curse.

At this moment, the abbot took out Huixing Cloud Script for Li Fan, which was a third-grade Transformation Stage artifact.

The so-called Cloud Seal, also known as Cloud Script, is the highest level of talismanic arts. It is called Cloud Seal and Cloud Script because the talisman held in one's hand is not actually the real thing, but a sealed 'compressed package'. Only after the seal within the talisman is released will it gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth from the spiritual veins, forming the 'Cloud Seal Heavenly Talisman' real thing, which is like a cloud of the Qi Sea. Only then will the Daoist magic written in the Cloud Seal be unleashed.

It can be said that this cloud script is indeed a talisman that elevates the natural way of Tai Chi to its highest level.

Taking the Huixing Cloud Script in Li Fan's Lou Guan as an example, what is sealed within the Cloud Seal is Lou Guan's <Radiant Star Shifting and Dipper Reversal Avatar>.

This method transforms the user's primordial spirit and power into a radiant star-powered clone. Its unique feature is that the clone can gaze upon the stars and project its image directly onto the towering stars. Then, by using the reflected power of the stars, the clone can shift and change its position, projecting its image back onto the earth. In this way, it can travel thousands of miles in an instant, changing in countless ways, unpredictable and beyond the comprehension of gods and ghosts.

This magical ability to create clones is somewhat similar to the Emei clone technique that suddenly appeared in Shuofang and severely injured the mountain lord last time. Li Fan also found that Emei Daoist technique in the talisman guide given by Cangsong; it was the Emei Micro Dust Cloud Script.

Although both are methods of manifesting external avatars from primordial spirit and magical power, their principles differ slightly. The Microcosmic Cloud Seal involves exhaling a Dao Breath, mixing it with microcosmic pill fragments, and forming an avatar. It can also be used to escape into the earth and fly into the sky, traveling thousands of miles, but naturally it is not as fast as the Huixing Cloud Script's teleportation.

Both of these supernatural abilities that create clones using magical power can serve as a vessel for one's primordial spirit. However, compared to the latter, the Microcosmic Cloud Seal allows you to project as much power as you exhale, and the clone is only destroyed if you are defeated head-on. In contrast, the Huixing Cloud Script can project power depending on the celestial phenomena at the time and the grade of the talisman. Moreover, each time you project starlight, you leave behind a clone. Therefore, you must maintain the connection with the star power. If the star power is blocked by magic or the clone is broken, the technique will be destroyed.

Of course, at this point, the Cloud Seal of the third rank of the Divine Transformation was fully capable of supporting Li Fan's cultivation level. Moreover, the target of this surprise attack was clear, and they could be directly teleported a thousand miles away without much transit. The abbot also personally concealed the secrets of heaven, making it difficult for others to investigate the origins of the attack.

Ultimately, Li Fan's mission was simple: receive the code, storm the location, and kill people. It didn't require many special effects and suited his preferred fighting style.

Unfortunately, these Divine Transformation talismans, in terms of their complexity of production and the preciousness of their materials, are completely equivalent to Divine Transformation magic weapons. Moreover, they are single-use items, and the Abbot certainly doesn't have that many. Otherwise, by throwing out hundreds at once, he could easily summon a mobile force to wipe out whoever they catch! Indeed, war is all about financial resources...

So Li Fan waited for the abbot's signal while repeatedly rehearsing the many key points of the <Radiant Star Shift and Dipper Reversal Clone Technique> in his mind.

At that moment, Li Fan suddenly noticed that the incense was burning fiercely! It was already a third of the way burned! But the soul lamp was completely unharmed!

It seems like things are going very smoothly!

Li Fan immediately performed a ritual, swallowing the nascent soul pill and activating the Cloud Seal. He then concealed his physical body within the ancestral temple of the Zhenyang Temple, while his primordial spirit left his body, transforming into a radiant star clone that escaped to the surface! There, within the Ink Bamboo Mountain, he used the power of stars to shift and teleport, instantly traveling tens of thousands of miles!

Amidst verdant peaks and a sea of clouds, stands a magnificent, radiant flying Immortal Pavilion, perched at the confluence of the spiritual veins and energy centers of heaven and Immortal Pavilion. At this moment, the Dao Breath is thick with Daoist energy, and the gathering of clouds reveals many True Cultivator within the Immortal Pavilion, using the Spiritual Spring here to regulate their breath and replenish their Qi.

The starlight, like rain falling from the Milky Way, sprinkled onto the golden throne atop the celestial pavilion, converging into a faint, shadowy figure standing on the eaves of a mythical beast, a blood-red sword in his hand, looking down upon his opponent who was about to die by his blade.

This was the avatar of the Radiant Star projected by Li Fan's magic power. At this moment, it was in the form of Qingxu Second Yuanshen. It had no mouth or nose, and only a white mask with two thin eye slits covered its face. However, its clothes were slightly modified and transformed into the Bloodstained Robe of the Divine Cult.

After all, if one cannot display the skills of 'Qingyue of Ink Bamboo Mountain' and still has to contend with a mystical sect like Hengshan, then one can only rely on the Blood Talisman Sword for damage output. But honestly, how many of those cults that are wreaking havoc in the Central Plains are truly divine cults...?

As soon as his clone landed, Li Fan looked around and instantly assessed his surroundings.

Just as expected.

Our opponents are Hengshan and Emei!

No, not Emei! These people are the Emei Southern Faction disciples who betrayed Golden Summit, led by Xuan Yunzi!

The others from Hengshan were clearly Yellow Court Palace cultivators who went to provide support and bring them back to Hengshan to join their cause!

It was clear that these Nascent Soul Stage disciples had fought fierce battles to break through the encirclement at the Golden Summit, but many of them had exhausted their Qi due to injuries, which is why they stayed to recuperate for one night.

Meanwhile, many female cultivators from the Yellow Court Palace of the Hengshan Sect were also interested. Disciples from both the Emei and Hengshan Sects were practicing dual cultivation in twos and threes in the meditation rooms of the Jingshe Temple, regulating their breathing and healing their injuries.

Many people sat directly around the large alchemy furnace in the square, healing their injuries with their palms clasped together. The immortal Immortal Pavilion was filled with the steaming energy of alchemy and the pervasive Dao Breath. Most of the disciples in the courtyard were no longer wearing their robes or Daoist garments, but only their close-fitting undergarments for easy changing of medicine and healing. Magical treasures and talismans were mostly not with them!

This is indeed a great opportunity for a surprise attack!

As the old saying goes, "Strike while the iron is hot." Attacking someone while they are recovering is extremely despicable and shameless, so much so that even someone as unconventional as Li Fan had hesitated before. But now that he's here, Li Fan has secretly made up his mind.

Holy crap! There are so many people! And so many of them! They're all beginner disciples at the Nascent Soul Realm!

There are already hundreds of people in this area alone! And there are probably even more people with their own rooms in the Immortal Pavilion!

If so many people recover from their injuries and join Hengshan, how will we ever fight them again?

So Li Fan waved his hand, drawing the Blood Talisman Twin Swords, gritted his teeth, and prepared to rush downstairs to fight to the death.

Suddenly, a demonic howl echoed from the sky.

Li Fan and all the cultivators present looked up at the sky.

Beneath the False Moon, in the sky, suddenly emerged from the clouds a purple-robed Daoist, his hair disheveled, gazing at the moon and howling. His Purple Sash Immortal Clothes, with their ribbons spreading across the sky like ocean waves or clusters of wisteria blossoms, piled up layer upon layer, seemed to be... trying to obscure the starry sky!

But then, from beneath that robe, countless arms sprouted like lotus roots, a dense mass of hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of limbs! On the backs of those arms, fleshy growths bulged like blood blisters, then emitted eyeballs! The fingers also twisted and contorted like limbs, as if they were reborn demons, leaping and dancing with glee!

Then, those tens of thousands of demonic hands ripped and tore apart the sky-covering purple immortal robes! Countless Demon Claw then embraced the Dao Lord's body, instantly engulfing him!

Then more arms and more eyes bulged, as if sensing new prey, and they swarmed down, palms flying, raining down on the people of the Immortal Pavilion below!