Interests

After all that had happened, they had lost quite a bit of time.

So Yao Xuanzhou stopped dawdling and flew into the sky with Li Fan, landing in the courtyard of Luo Temple. In the garden behind it stood a small building surrounded by nine coiling bronze pillars, dragon heads emerging from their tops with mouths facing inward. To the naked eye, there was nothing impressive about them; they were just nine pillars. But through Divine Sense, Li Fan saw blazing golden-red flames, like a huge bell covering the building. It was probably the famed Nine Dragons Divine Fire Cover.

The tall, thin, dark-skinned Real Person Wei impassively formed hand seals as he calculated the formation's workings, stepping in the Yu Bu pattern and circling the nine bronze pillars. Roughly every three steps, a pillar shuddered; every five, one swayed. Once he had completed the Seven Stars, a pillar would rumble as it rose three feet from the earth. He was unsettling them one by one, making it obvious that he was breaking the formation. But the nine pillars had to be moved and pulled out in sequence, so there was no rushing it.

After watching for a while, Li Fan found it incredibly dull...

Master Yao explained leisurely, "This magic treasure is meant to trap people. If those inside don't understand formations and have no magic treasure to protect them, they'll naturally be helpless. Once all nine bronze pillars are buried in the earth, leaving only the nine dragons visible above, they'll spew blazing flames and reduce anyone trapped in the formation to ashes.

"Heh, honestly, this isn't some extraordinary formation. The Nine Dragons Divine Fire Cover is the Nangong Family's trademark, and Ink Bamboo Mountain has long kept records of how to break it. Anyone who recognized the formation and saw it broken this far should know it's safe outside and simply walk out.

"Unfortunately, these days everyone flies around on their swords, and hardly anyone studies formations in seclusion. Just look at these fools. Once trapped, all they can do is sit there and wait stupidly for someone to rescue them. Sigh, no wonder they're all stuck at the threshold..."

Perhaps thinking that his sect was full of either spies or blockheads, Yao Xuanzhou felt deeply concerned for Ink Bamboo Mountain's future.

Li Fan was speechless, too. Someone like Yuan Xuanbao, who had charged forward howling when he saw his Dao Companion die, only to be tricked back and forth, certainly hadn't seemed like he knew anything about formations.

So Master Yao and Li Fan could only stand by and wait. After a while, Real Person Yan and some thirty Foundation Establishment disciples, including Lu Xing, arrived by flying vessel to offer support. Zhang Jiugao had already swept through all of Tiantai Mountain, but plenty of magic-treasure fragments remained, along with the ill-gotten wealth the demonic cultivators had plundered from the people. The disciples scattered to search the battlefield.

Li Fan spotted Fuling standing at the bow of the ship in the distance. He bade Master Yao farewell and went over to check on her.

"I'm fine." Seeing that Li Fan had come over on his own, Fuling shook her head with a wry smile. "Sorry for worrying you. What, did that meddlesome Zhang Jiugao bring you here? Where is he?"

Li Fan stiffened, swallowing back all the things he wanted to say. After a moment's hesitation, he asked, "Sister Fuling, are you close with Master Zhang? I thought I saw you arguing earlier. Was there some misunderstanding?"

"Arguing? Oh, don't read too much into it. There's no misunderstanding. I had an elder in my family who established his Foundation in the same period as him. They were close, but it seems they incurred some grudge that brought trouble down on my family. I heard from Miss that he was the one who rescued me back then. He wrapped me in my swaddling clothes, fought off our pursuers all the way here, then brought me to the mountain and asked Miss to take me in!

"But I don't know the details. He refuses to talk about it when I ask. Hmph, he's getting on in years, yet he's still so shy.

"Because of that connection, Zhang Jiugao has always treated me like an elder and looked after me. All these years, he's still the same, telling me what I can't do and what I'm not allowed to do.

"Sigh, I can only blame my own dull aptitude. If I'd reached the Golden Core stage sooner, I wouldn't have to put up with that old cow-nose's restraints. What, isn't he here? I thought he'd lecture me again for taking risks."

It seemed she still hadn't gained much from this sword battle. Instead, she had sustained some hidden injuries, and Fuling wore a helpless, forced smile.

Disciples who had established their Foundations in the same period... Lu Yu, Chen Daotong, Yuan Xuanbao, and Senior Brother Gao were probably one group. Li Fan could be considered part of the same group as Lu Xing, Lu Qi, and Zhang He.

So the senior sister who had been killed by the Nangong Family was Fuling's family from the Human Dao...

Li Fan hesitated and was about to speak, but then his Divine Sense stirred. He realized Yao Xuanzhou was watching him from nearby, so he could only sigh. "Master Zhang wiped out the demonic cultivators of Tiantai Mountain. He seemed to have some personal business to attend to, so he left on his flying sword.

"Don't worry, Sister Fuling. In the future... before long, you'll surely meet again."

Fuling chuckled. "Who wants to see him? He's always nagging me. It's so annoying. All right, you don't need to keep an eye on me. I'll rest a bit longer and touch up my makeup. Once I look better, maybe I won't get scolded again later."

Li Fan opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing. He didn't want to disturb Fuling's rest, so he simply nodded and stepped aside.

He went alone to sit in the shadow beneath the treasure ship, staring blankly into the distance. Real Person Wei was circling around, wobbling as he pulled the pillars free. His Yu Bu steps were so uneven that he looked like a drunken rooster. It was pretty funny.

But Li Fan couldn't laugh.

Just then, Lu Xing walked up beside him.

"...What do you want now?" Li Fan was already in a bad mood. He drew his mace and snapped, "What is it?"

"Junior Brother Li, I've thought carefully about what you said earlier," Lu Xing said softly. "There may be some misunderstandings here."

Li Fan rolled his eyes. "Oh, so I misunderstood you. My apologies."

Lu Xing didn't seem bothered by his tone. She said calmly, "I truly didn't tell my elder brother about the plan to seize Tiantai Mountain. Once Real Person Wei breaks the Divine Fire Cover and rescues everyone, we can confront one another in front of them all."

After everything that had happened, Li Fan couldn't be bothered to deal with her.

But Lu Xing's next words caught his attention.

"Because I didn't know we were coming to Tiantai Mountain this time."

Lu Xing spoke to Li Fan, who had abruptly turned his head to stare at her. "We thought the people who attacked the Jiang Trading Company were ordinary bandits. To guard against the possibility that an enemy might be plotting against us, we asked Real Person Yan to secretly watch over us at the last minute.

"We followed the traces at the scene and pursued them all the way here using a secret technique. When we reached Tiantai Mountain and saw these demonic monks committing such heinous acts, I couldn't just stand by and do nothing. So I discussed it with the other Daoists, and we raided the temple at night. We rescued the women these fiends had abducted as witnesses and asked our sect to intervene."

Li Fan stared at her. "Is that true?"

Not only was she telling the truth, she wasn't finished. "I just searched the temple's storehouses, but didn't find the goods stolen from the Jiang Trading Company. As you said, Junior Brother Li, someone really did orchestrate this sword battle from the shadows. They probably wanted to stir up conflict between Ink Bamboo Mountain and the Nangong Immortal Family. And now, it seems they've already succeeded."

Li Fan narrowed his eyes and studied her for a while. "There's one thing you've said that still doesn't add up. And you can't explain it."

Lu Xing nodded. "I know what you mean, Junior Brother Li. On that point, I truly can't clear my name. But since you came to warn me to my face, I think you might be the only person involved in this who hasn't lied to me.

"So I don't mind telling you."

She took a ledger from her robes and handed it to Li Fan. "These are the goods the Lu Family entrusted the Jiang Trading Company to transport."

Li Fan didn't reach out to take it. He only glanced at it and saw that the list contained saws, tools, and mechanical parts. They looked like ordinary goods the Lu Family sold every day. Nothing seemed unusual.

"The goods were switched. What they transported wasn't the ordinary woodworking tools you'd find on the market," Lu Xing said slowly. "They were all secret heirlooms from my father's workshop, passed down through the Lu Family for who knows how many generations.

"Mortising drills, precision measuring tools, wire saws, boring machines. These basic tools don't look much different from ordinary objects, and anyone who doesn't know better wouldn't recognize their value. But only these high-precision, high-strength tools can be used to make the mechanisms needed to operate the Object Source Hub!

"But the legitimate wife secretly sent people to transport all these heirlooms to my elder brother in Changsi City. I tried to get them back, only for them to be ambushed along the way."

Li Fan understood. To a mechanical artisan, these tools were more vital than magic treasures. How could she possibly talk about them carelessly?

Put simply, whether it was mechanical engineering or swordsmithing, everyone knew the blueprints and principles, and everyone had the same hands. So why couldn't I imitate your work, no matter how hard I tried? Why could Lu Xing, so young, create a lotus arm that seemed to surpass the work of nature, while Li Fan could spend all day in the workshop and only manage to put together a Bed Crossbow?

The difference lay in the tools—the "tools" in the saying, "To do good work, one must first sharpen one's tools."

If your tools weren't precise enough, the things you made would be crude. If all you could assemble was something as large as a Bed Crossbow, what use was mechanical engineering?

And what good would it do to steal a lotus arm and attach it? With a complete set of these tools, how many lotus arms could you make?

These tools, these extraordinary devices passed down from master to apprentice and from generation to generation, were the Lu Family's true inheritance. Of course they had to fight tooth and nail to get them back!

Seeing that Li Fan understood, Lu Xing slowly broke into a smile. The light of the arrogance and madness hidden deep within her stirred once more in her eyes. "After Junior Brother Li pointed out that the person who stood to gain the most was the prime suspect, I considered who might be behind this. I've formed a theory, and I'd like to discuss it with you.

"My guess is that Liqiu Palace used the unrest caused by the Dragon Head's shepherding of dragons in the Li River to lure my father to Mount Buzhou and ambush him. Then they used my elder brother, Lu Qi, who was in Changsi City, as a hostage to steal the Lu Family's mechanical inheritance. They also used this incident to drive us to wipe out the demonic cultivators of Tiantai Mountain, provoking a conflict between Ink Bamboo Mountain and the Nangong Immortal Family so the court could profit from it, all while pinning the blame on me.

"Heh. Only Imperial Censor Wen Jin of Li Country could have arranged all this, with one scheme leading into the next."

Liqiu Palace was the residence of the ruler of Li Country—in other words, the Li court.

Li Fan was completely bewildered. He couldn't help asking, "But... the court... what could an Imperial Censor gain from doing all this? What would Wen Jin gain by provoking a deadly conflict between the Immortal Families? Does he want a promotion? Or does he have a grudge to settle?"

Lu Xing gave a cold laugh. "The Twelve Countries have never had chancellors. The Immortal Families oversee the office of chief minister, and the position of Protector-General is now technically held by the monastery's abbot. But he's always in seclusion in the Outer Sect and hasn't entered the palace to see the emperor in two hundred years.

"In Li Country's court, meanwhile, the Imperial Censor is the highest-ranking minister, the head of all officials. Wen Jin has already risen as high as he can.

"Planning all this probably does him no personal good whatsoever. Perhaps he has a private grudge, but someone in his position couldn't possibly have a public relationship with the Immortal Families that was too strained.

"But all the things that have happened these past few days—slaying the evil dragon, wiping out the demonic cultivators, and putting the art of mechanical engineering to use for the people—have benefited both the country and its people.

"If he truly succeeds in provoking the Immortal Families into a sword battle and another calamity of slaughter, then every Heavenly Immortal who dies means one less share of taxes to be paid. It could also delay another era of chaos and slaughter like the Black Lotus Sect rebellion. At the very least, it would give the people of Li Country's Human Dao more time to recover.

"You've probably heard this before, Junior Brother Li. It's what those rotten Confucian scholars call 'seeking no petty gain, but the greater good,' 'contending with Heaven for its benefits,' and 'bringing great blessings to all.'"