A Bond from a Past Life

From within the epiphyllum, a faint hissing sound, like the wind, could be heard.

Qin Nanxin held the seven-foot jade-hilted sword diagonally across his right shoulder, his hands gripping the guard and hilt, one forward and one backward. His back was slightly bent, and his long legs were positioned one in front of the other. His left toes moved forward in a false step, while his right foot firmly planted itself on the ground. At first glance, he looked like a mantis raising its hand, waiting for the right moment to pounce on a sparrow.

However, the sword that was ready to strike did not come out. At this moment, Qin Nanxin was just maintaining the sword stance, practicing swordsmanship, assuming the sword posture, maintaining the center of gravity, and training her strength, muscles and bones, and breathing.

After all, how to strike with this sword, what kind of result it should produce, and how the sword path should evolve afterward are all clearly written in the transmission sword manual. Emei's sword techniques and martial arts rarely rely on the individual talent of the disciple to comprehend them. Moreover, given its long history, it would not simply say, "Kill a few more people and you'll get it."

After all, the secret sword techniques and accumulated experience of our predecessors, no matter how dazzling or astonishing they may be, are meaningless if a disciple cannot learn or use them. Skills must be cultivated through daily practice, through the refinement and polishing of each move. Once you've learned a move, that's it; if you can't learn it, don't use it. Just focus on one move at a time, and that's enough.

After nurturing the sword for a thousand days, its strikes will naturally become as powerful as the wind.

Having received such teachings since childhood, Qin Nanxin, despite having practiced swordsmanship for many years, still doesn't use a sword much in combat. Instead, he prefers the basic palm techniques of Emei to aid in Qi Refinement Stage. He was injured a few days ago, but has now recovered under Li Fan's care, so naturally he needs to catch up on the lessons he missed.

But suddenly she raised an eyebrow, sheathed her sword, and turned to look at the other side of the flower field.

What brings you here?

"The sword sweeps across the stars, revealing the dragon's light. Fellow Daoist Qin's 'Jian Long Style' is truly terrifying. It seems your sword aura has been perfected. As expected of a Daoist disciple of Emei."

Liuyun walked out of the flower bushes carrying a food box, smiling gracefully. She casually tossed a brocade handkerchief onto the ground, knelt down, and placed the tea, snacks, and pills from the food box on the handkerchief.

Qin Nanxin frowned, somewhat surprised. "You actually recognize this sword technique?"

Liuyun laughed and said, "I saw people use it when I was a child. After all, the Emei sword technique is very famous and unforgettable."

"By the way, fellow Daoist, you are now able to get up and cultivate, and your breathing is flowing smoothly, so your hidden injuries must have healed by now, right? When do you plan to leave the manor? I'd like to prepare some snacks for you to take on your journey."

Qin Nanxin and looked at her, "No need for that."

Yan Liuyun exclaimed in surprise, "I've heard that Emei is going through a turbulent time, with internal divisions and many disciples being killed. Aren't you going home to check on things?"

Qin Nanxin turned her head away and said coldly, "You don't need to rush to send me away. I will leave naturally once I break through to the Nascent Soul Realm."

Liuyun covered her mouth with her sleeve and smiled, "Fellow Daoist is joking. I sincerely wish to be your sister. However, I can see that you have lofty ambitions and a heart that soars to the heavens. You also possess great skills and have cultivated for many years with great aspirations. You are quite different from a humble woman like us. In the end, our meeting with you will only be a once-in-a-lifetime encounter."

Anyway, we'll always be here to serve you, so there's no rush. Whenever you have time to come back, just let me know in advance, and I'll prepare another side room for you. There's always a place for you in Li Family Village."

Qin Nanxin glared at her coldly, "No need for this sarcastic tone. There are plenty of women like you who want to use his position to cultivate, and it's none of my business. But I advise you not to be so spineless. You're not satisfied with just having his protection. If I find out you're causing trouble and trying to mess with his mind or ruin his plans, I'll use this sword to chop off your entire brood! Understand?"

Upon hearing that the entire group would be wiped out, Liuyun couldn't hold back any longer and jumped to his feet.

"Fellow Daoist, you've gone too far! We treated you with courtesy and had no intention of competing with you! You missed your chance, yet you're still being so aggressive! If you really did that, would our master still tolerate you?"

Qin Nanxin, sword at his side, sneered, "That's enough. You'd better watch yourselves."

"Hmph! This is outrageous! Do you really think I'm afraid of you?!"

Liuyun was so angry he almost fell over. He grabbed the jade chopsticks from the food box and used them as a sword, first stabbing upwards to the left, then flicking the chopsticks upwards to the right halfway through.

"That reminds me of the last person I saw use this move; they were beaten to death just like that! Young lady, be careful not to follow in their footsteps!"

After saying that, Liuyun left without even leaving his chopsticks, fuming.

Qin Nanxin ignored her, gazing at the seven-foot-long sword in her hand. After a long silence, she slowly recited...

"... Young chivalry, befriending heroes of the five capitals. Hearts and souls intertwined, hair standing on end. In a single conversation, life and death are shared, a promise is worth a thousand pieces of gold... Ah! Dragon Slayer!"

The sword strike still landed, like a sickle slicing wheat. The wind from the sword swept through, cutting down large swathes of epiphyllum flowers and obscuring the drone's camera.

Inside the celestial realm spaceship, Li Fan Li Gan, and Li Kun silently watched the live broadcast on the screen.

"... I'm telling you, this can't even be called a Shura field, it's already a hellish battlefield!"

While picking his nose, Li Kun repeatedly replayed the scene of Qin Nanxin's murderous aura radiating from him as he slashed down flowers and plants with a single sword strike.

"Stop replaying it!" Li Fan couldn't help but cover his face. "Holy crap, are all those fairy tales about everyone living happily ever after in a crystal palace just fake...?"

Li Kun shook his head and said, "It's all in the Crystal Palace now, how can there be any happiness and bliss? If you can't treat everyone equally, it'll definitely develop into a palace intrigue!"

I think you'd be better off learning from that immortal lord and setting up a few more luxurious homes to keep your mistresses. It'd be much more peaceful if they were all separated by vast distances, rather than living under the same roof and constantly running into each other and arguing."

Li Fan glanced at him sideways, "How come you're so skilled? Could it be that you guys also...?"

"Ahem, alright, let's not talk about this anymore, let's get down to business," Li Gan interrupted. "We checked the system logs and there were indeed no records of alarms being triggered, nor were any signal interference sources at the Enlightenment level detected. However, as you said, the drone collected abnormal energy radiation in the vicinity."

The abbot of Ink Bamboo Mountain has been actively emitting Divine Sense fluctuations, remaining stationed at Ink Bamboo Mountain. He didn't go anywhere last night, so it definitely wasn't him. In other words, there might indeed be two Enlightenment Stage Realm beings who evaded the system's monitoring and were secretly watching you."

Li Fan was shocked. "Holy crap? They can even evade system detection like that?"

Li Kun: "Of course we can do it. Have you forgotten we have anti-detection coatings and signal blocking equipment?"

"Uh, yeah... Could it be those three old fogies from Penglai?"

Li Gan said, "That can't be confirmed. In fact, the company and the legion have been in the Taiji Realm for so many years, there must be some natives who have more or less noticed their existence. It's not impossible that they have some kind of Cultivation Method techniques or magical artifacts to hide themselves."

However, we don't yet have enough data on humans at the Enlightenment Stage for analysis; you'll have to rely on you leveling up first."

"So what do we do now? If we don't find these two guys hiding in the shadows and spying, many of our plans will be difficult to execute."

Li Kun shrugged. "Even if we find it, it'll be useless, won't it? This is something that has reached the Dao. At least a ship-based military weapon would be needed to deal with it."

For a moment, all three of them were scratching their heads.

The biggest advantage of the Mood System team so far is that nobody knows they exist.

The company, the legion, the Three Great Sects —these powerful forces, whether overt or covert, did not seriously target Li Fan as a primary objective. Most of the troubles that ensued were caused by Li Fan himself getting involved. Reaching this point cannot be attributed to him running out of luck, but he has certainly become too much of a target.

It's now clear that even though Li Fan concealed the many crimes he committed in the Central Plains, preventing them from being exposed and attracting enemies, the mere appearances of 'Mountain Lord Qingyue' and her casual killing of two or three Nascent Divine Transformation were enough to draw the attention of the entire world.

It's obvious that when other forces are plotting against Ink Bamboo Mountain, no one can possibly overlook Qingyue.

Therefore, Qingyue's current identity is indeed not as arbitrary as it used to be, like a pawn crossing the river.

He is now a crucial piece on the chessboard, and whether he goes into seclusion, emerges from seclusion, or breaks through to a higher level, he will attract the attention of countless people. Perhaps even the Vermilion Bird clone that he created not long ago has already been seen by those two people hiding in the shadows.

The higher one's cultivation level, the more passive one becomes.

"Alright, we'll deploy drones and radar to continue monitoring the situation near Li Family Village. You just need to stay put for now, and let the clone handle any actions. Let's remain calm and wait for things to change."

"Since they've reached the Enlightenment Stage, they must be a leader of some region; there's no way they'd waste their time here with us."

That's true. Putting himself in others' shoes, Li Fan knew how precious the time of such a great cultivator was. He didn't even have enough time for his own cultivation. If he didn't have a clear purpose, he would never be so idle as to come and see what Qingyue, who was at least 'famous Li Country ', looked like.

So the other party will definitely come knocking. But until they show themselves, we can only wait. After all, they have higher cultivation levels and the initiative is in their hands. To put it bluntly, if Li Fan hadn't upgraded his new skill, he wouldn't have even caught a glimpse of these two uninvited guests. They will show themselves when they want to. Praying to gods and Buddhas is useless. It takes a celestial being to take the initiative to pay attention to you. That's what you call a celestial connection.

Li Fan was also on high alert, guarding the Ink Bamboo Mountain Grotto-Heaven for several days to prevent his opponents from breaking into the sect's forbidden area and causing trouble. He even went to the sword-making workshop to rummage through the trash and actually found a Black Sword and a blood-stained sword, which he hid in his sleeves in preparation for a possible showdown.

Strangely, despite having clearly alerted the other party at a glance, Li Fan did not receive the arrival of these two uninvited guests. Instead, trouble broke out elsewhere first.

Li Country king was assassinated.

Yes, another assassination attempt. Two assassination attempts in quick succession; this time, it's for real.

The abbot summoned Li Fan to Lou Guan Tower and told him all the news, both overt and covert, that had come from Changsi City.

Li You, that kid, his fate is truly sealed. After nearly five years of peace, he can no longer hold onto the throne.

Although he escaped the assassination attempt thanks to the protection of the Guo Family and other wealthy and powerful relatives, he quickly reverted to his old ways. Perhaps having been saved by Li Fan, he had become worldly-wise and no longer took the assassination seriously, continuing his hedonistic lifestyle. Even the inner court felt his indulgence in excessive feasting and hunting and advised him to moderate his behavior, but the king remained unmoved. Thus, although the guards in the Liqiu Palace had increased their vigilance after the last assassination attempt, they couldn't prevent His Majesty from repeating these actions.

This created another opportunity. It is said that His Majesty the King was playing polo with his eunuchs in the Forbidden City, and he didn't return to the palace until dark. As a result, the Black Lotus Sect assassins launched a surprise attack under the moonlight and succeeded.

Therefore, the Li Country's court immediately dispatched envoys to invite the Imperial Preceptor and the Guan Nei Hou Ink Bamboo Mountain to make the decision.

Of course, the Guan Nei Hou is currently too busy with trivial matters to make this decision, so he discussed it with the Abbot.

"Now, the Liqiu Palace has recommended three eligible candidates Li; Li, Li Han; Li. They are all of suitable age to succeed to the throne. Qingyue, you are now the head of your clan, so please choose one of them as your successor."

The words Li Fan spoke to Wei Hu and Wang Lang last time have clearly been forgotten. The royal family of Li Country has always been kept in seclusion, and they wouldn't dare to send someone of a higher generation than Li Fan to cause trouble. Therefore, the three chosen this time are all Li Yi's nephews, and should address him as Uncle Wang. They are all around six, seven, or eight years old now, just like Li Yi back then, royal family members kept confined within high walls. How could you possibly discern their virtue or lack thereof?

"Then let's go with the older ones," Li Fan said casually.

Since Li Fan was so casual, the abbot was naturally even more casual. He nodded, circled the names under 'Li', and sent someone to the Liqiu Palace to make arrangements.

"Qingyue, if you want to go, you can go to Liqiu City to attend the King's enthronement ceremony."

Li Fan really didn't want to go; seeing those unfortunate relatives made him angry... Ah, speaking of which...

"Is this another assassination attempt by the Black Lotus Sect? I heard that the three demons who caused trouble at the mountain gate the other day were hired by the Taiping Temple. Back then, the Taiping Temple was also stirring up trouble behind the scenes, maintaining close ties with the Nangong Family and Hengshan. Now they're even enlisting the Black Lotus Sect's rogue cultivators to cause trouble behind the scenes. Should we eliminate them?"

Li Fan still remembered Chen Jinu, the eunuch under the master of Taiping Temple, who had almost beheaded him with a sword. Now, fortunes change, and one should not underestimate a young man's potential. Just wait and see if he dares to utter a sound when he storms into Changsi City with his sword to behead someone again.

The abbot shook his head, "No, the Taiping Temple has been in control of the Li Country behind the scenes for many years. It is connected with all parties and has a deep-rooted faction. Although killing her would be simple, it would inevitably cause turmoil. We are surrounded by enemies, and this is not the time to lose our composure."

Moreover, this man is ambitious but incompetent, power-hungry yet self-serving, fond of scheming but indecisive; he is more likely to ruin things than accomplish anything. It's best to keep him around."

"... yes..."

The abbot pondered for a moment and then said, "However, the Black Lotus Sect's unpredictable changes are indeed beyond our expectations. We originally thought that with Senior Brother Liang personally taking action, we should be able to wipe out these scoundrels, but we didn't expect them to actually succeed in their assassination attempt."

Li Fan was momentarily embarrassed. Come to think of it, when Old Liang said he was going to investigate the Black Lotus Sect, he was actually investigating the Abbot's background. This whole thing has caused quite a stir...

He was about to explain when the abbot suddenly spoke up.

"These people were able to assassinate the king, which shows that their power is already growing. I'm worried that the Black Lotus Sect will eventually bring up the old grudges of the 'Seven Friends.' Although the Black Lotus Saint Mother Shi Tong'er is dead, these remnants have regrouped and want to find her descendants to resurrect the Black Lotus Saint Mother."

So Qingyue, you need to be careful.

Li Fan was speechless. "Huh? It's me again? Whose descendant am I this time? How many people have I been reincarnated from...?"

The abbot shook his head and sighed, "I'm not talking about you, but it is indeed related to you. Actually, I was also at fault back then... sigh... where to begin... let's start from the beginning."

Actually, after Master Lu died, when I was rebuilding Lou Guan, Mo Chanzi found me and explained everything. We agreed to join forces to eliminate the Nangong Seven Friends for the sake of all people. So he arranged for me to infiltrate Nangong Wubu agent..."

Li Fan nodded. Although these things weren't explicitly stated earlier, he had a general idea of what was going on.

It's clear that the abbot didn't know his background or the details of the 'Seven Friends' from the beginning. It was probably the Mo Shan Giant who told him. The abbot is Lu Huasheng's disciple and has 'human hearts,' so Nangong Wubu would naturally take him under his wing.

"Later, I assisted in completing the reincarnation method of the Nangong Family. The deceased can be reincarnated three times. If they are reborn through possession by a direct descendant, they can retain their primordial spirit and cultivation, and upon awakening, they will fully remember their past lives..."

Li Fan nodded again; he knew all of this too.

Then the abbot sighed, "Lu Hansheng and Luo Yin were eliminated by the Xuanmen, Nangong Wubu was suppressed by the Immortal Palace, while Mo Chanzi and Shi Tong'er perished together."

I originally intended to help Chanzi Bingjie reincarnate, but he felt that his involvement with the Seven Friends had attracted Celestial Devil, causing endless slaughter and suffering to the world, which violated the principles of Moshan. Therefore, he refused to undergo the reincarnation process again. He also made me swear an oath not to help the disciples of Ink Bamboo Mountain awaken again and to swear an oath to suppress the 'Seven Friends'.

Although I agreed, the "Seven Friends" continued to try to resurrect the Black Lotus Saint Mother.

Qingyue, you don't know, but in the end, all of the 'Seven Friends' lost their 'human hearts' when they cultivated the Heavenly Book, just to varying degrees. Mo Chanzi was able to maintain his Dao heart until his suicide, but the Black Lotus Saint Mother was one of the most deeply possessed by demons. She was no longer the Shi Tong'er of yesteryear, but a pure Devil Embryo beast mother.

To prevent the Beast Mother from awakening one day, I have been secretly controlling the Shi family in Ink Bamboo Mountain. If the worst were to happen, even if it meant wiping out the Shi family bloodline, we must not allow the Beast Mother to awaken."

Li Fan nodded in understanding, "And then?"

"... Then..." The abbot gave Li Fan a deep look, "Then, someone leaked this matter to the Nangong Family. So I sent a group of disciples to fight for the Shi family's bloodline. In the end, only one person survived that massacre and brought back a baby girl."

Li Fan was stunned.

The abbot looked at the golden Jiaotu beast hanging around Li Fan's neck, which was locked with a sachet of Gurong blossoms.

"Over the years, I have used many methods to make her remember the truth and not cultivate the Tai Su Dao. But I'm afraid that when the time comes, fate will be predetermined, and many things cannot be changed by human effort."

"... Qingyue, you are the ninth generation leader of Moshan. You understand what you should do when that time comes."

Li Fan remained silent for a long while, then slowly nodded. "Disciple understands. I will be the one to annihilate the Black Lotus Sect."