Chaos

At the main altar of Zhenyang Temple on Ink Bamboo Mountain, Li Fan reported to the temple master on his experiences attending the National Emperor's Ceremony in Changsi City over the past two days.

"... Therefore, I surmise that Nangong's 'Seven Friends' are now being added to, and there are definitely more than 'seven' people. If I am the 'nineteenth' they created using some secret method, then there are at least twelve people before me, all born in accordance with the Tai Su Heavenly Time, cultivating the Thousand-Faced Immortal Method, and roughly having grown to the Nascent Soul Realm stage."

And after me, such demonic offspring will likely continue to be born. No, they will inevitably continue to be born. Right now, the Immortal Nangong is directly feeding secret medicines to the common people at the bottom of society, selecting those with the potential and throwing those who fail to be chosen to the Black Lotus Sect. At the same time, he is secretly spreading the Yuan Shi and Taisu methods to those poor but literate young masters under the guise of studying calligraphy and painting, secretly training and selecting those suitable for cultivating Taisu methods and comprehending and spreading the Way of Taisu.

Because neither ordinary people nor princes from humble backgrounds have the secret techniques and protection of the top aristocratic families, nor do they receive as much attention. Over time, many people may have been influenced by them, becoming deeply demonic and going astray. It would not be surprising if they were to become demonic at any time.

The fellow disciples of the Discipline Institute have now settled the followers of the Black Lotus Sect in the western wards of the city. The disciple has also sent an avatar back to find Wen Zhang, the Sili Xiaowei, and obtained from him the list of scholars who were associated with the Mysterious Opportunity at Xianyi Temple. They are now following the clues, dispatching officers to capture the thieves and searching house to house for Yuan Shi.

But I worry that it's too late now. In recent years, as many as a million people have moved out of the Jingji to cultivate land in Bamboo Mountain. I'm afraid that even more people have already taken advantage of the situation and spread to Li Country.

Even if the whereabouts of the twelve demonic children can be traced through the land deed, they seem to possess some kind of secret technique or informants who can predict my movements in advance. If they escape this time, they will likely wreak havoc on the world. I implore the Abbot to perform a divination to see where I can capture these demonic children."

The abbot listened while setting up his counting rods, and after a short while, shook his head.

"The rise of the Tai Su Dao is inevitable. They are demonic children in the Tai Chi Dao, but Dao children in the Tai Su Dao. Each of them is protected by destiny, and you are all disciples favored by the Thousand-Faced Immortal. Your fates and fortunes are closely intertwined. I'm afraid that if that immortal is unwilling, 'Qingyue' will never be able to capture them."

After hearing the abbot's calculations confirm this, Li Fan frowned, feeling a sense of unease.

He wasn't bragging; if everyone were to team up for a chicken dinner, he could easily take on twelve opponents. If Li Fan even frowned, he'd consider it a loss. Whether it was twelve or twenty, he'd just slash them all away.

But this time, the enemy went to the other extreme, refusing to even engage in combat! Imagine all those years of setup in Changsi City, the Heping Fang, the Taiping Temple, all those businesses and connections—they just abandoned them like that, turned around and ran, turning the game into a game of hide-and-seek. Who could possibly handle that? Li Fan didn't have time to chase after these people all over the world!

Moreover, just as the abbot said, if even that Thousand-Faced Immortal is secretly protecting those demon children, there's no way he could catch this group!

"But we can still give it a try. Your clone managed to catch them once, so there's always a chance to try again. If it doesn't work the second time, we can try a third. If we fail three times, then we can consider other methods."

After pondering for a while, the abbot made a decision. "First, collect as much of the Yuan Shi as possible from Changsi City. I will personally perform the ritual three times to see if they really have such high abilities that they dare to harm people in my Li Country and still think they can escape."

Li Fan nodded, "Yes, disciple will arrange it immediately."

That's true; you only know the outcome after you've done it.

If the abbot can't figure it out after three calculations, Xuan Tian can calculate it three more times. Keep calculating and keep trying to catch them; eventually, they'll catch them red-handed.

"There's no rush. I need to prepare the rituals first, and collect the Yuan Shi to prevent the Taisu Dharma from spreading outside. Now that I'm leading the Li Prefecture Governor, as long as they're still within the territory of Li Country, they can't escape."

"But what are your plans for resettling the newly relocated residents of Moshan?"

Li Fan was also prepared, so he took out the seed for the system development and handed it to the abbot.

"When I went to the Tai Su Realm to Moon Worship, I discovered that some plants could be transplanted to this realm. These seeds are wheat from the Tai Su Realm. I plan to raise the people who have moved here as disciples of the Mo Shan Sect, let them learn the Mo Shan Sect's methods, and conduct a pilot program at Five Sons Peak to plant, refine, and consume the spiritual plants from the Tai Su Realm."

If demons infected by the evil energy could survive by eating flowers, grass, and wheat, perhaps the problem of the evil energy catastrophe could be fundamentally solved.

The abbot nodded. "Mo Chanzi once tried to find spiritual plants in the Tai Su Realm to supply the disciples of Mo Shan, but he failed in the end. The main reason was that the Tai Su transformation method was intense and required a large amount of high-concentration evil energy to complete the body shaping. At that time, the amount of evil energy in the world was limited, so the main source of the body was the flesh-eating Devil Embryo."

However, the world has changed so much that even plants can be cultivated now. Perhaps there will be new variables. Moreover, you can go to the Tai Su Realm, which is much more extensive than ours. Maybe you really can succeed... Give it a try. No matter what, someone always has to take the first step."

"Yes."

So Li Fan discussed some details with the abbot, and the final plan was that the search for <Yuan Shi> in Changsi City would continue to look for demons who might have been corrupted by evil. The Discipline Institute and the Sili Xiaowei Office would cooperate to arrest them, including the Black Lotus Sect, and send them all to Moshan for custody.

These humans who were the first to begin evolving into Tai Su creatures, due to their bizarre shapes, unstable minds, and strange appearances, were temporarily referred to by Li Fan as the Mo Shan people.

It's indeed not advisable to release these Mo Shan people into the mortal realm so easily. Even if the immortals don't come to exorcise the demons, if they frighten mortals and they start fighting like demons, it won't be conducive to promoting the new methods in the future.

Therefore, Li Fan planned to use the Celestial Devil Statue left by the many predecessors of Moshan on the Five Sons Peak as nodes to suppress the spiritual veins, and to plan a new layout for the entire Five Peaks of Moshan. He also planned to establish a huge Daoist temple that would encompass the entire Moshan mountain range, modeled after his Li Family Village.

At that time, he will use the epiphyllum of the Tai Su Realm and various seeds cultivated by the system to completely begin the transformation of the Tai Su world in this Mo Shan test site. Regardless of day or night, he will continuously draw in evil energy.

The newly migrated people of Moshan will be the first batch of evolved Tai Su demons to adapt to their new environment. It would be best if they could learn the methods of Moshan, rediscover human nature, and control their own power. If not, they will be trapped by the magic array of Moshan and will not go out to harm others or themselves. At least they will have a place to live and will still have the hope of becoming human in the future.

In this sense, although it sounds a bit like a large prison, it's a last resort. We can only wait until the entire environment of the Heavenly Dao changes completely. Perhaps then, the mountain people and demons trapped in Mo Mountain will be able to go out and live freely in the world. On the other hand, the remaining inhabitants of the Taiji Realm, if they don't find Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land like Yuntai Peak or Penglai Mountain, will they be unable to survive in the world?

The way of nature is irreversible; all humans can do is adapt to it.

To be honest, judging from the various elixirs, the Yuan Shi, and the black technology of artificial humans—cough cough, black magic—those numbered immortal thieves from Nangong have already mastered a considerable degree of Tai Su magic techniques.

If they were willing to cooperate with Li Fan, it would truly save them a lot of trouble and prevent many deaths and injuries caused solely by 'ignorance' and 'the unknown'.

Unfortunately, the other party not only avoided him from the start, but had probably made up his mind a long time ago, perhaps even since the time of Nangong Wubu.

They are different from the abbot.

The Tai Su Method passed down by the Thousand-Faced Immortal will only be used for their own selfish interests. They will never voluntarily share it to benefit all people. Instead, they will use it as a trump card, a secret manual, or even as a weapon to dominate the world, overthrow the old order, and realize their own ambitions!

They would never care how many innocent and unnecessary sacrifices and deaths occurred in this process.

After all, they have already abandoned people's hearts.

Those who walk different paths cannot make plans together; in this case, only swords and spears can prove their principles.

So Li Fan went to the Celestial Realm again.

Unfortunately, Xuan Tian was nowhere to be seen. The guy had been holed up in the sword-making workshop, completely ignoring the messages Li Fan sent through the system. He was probably at a crucial moment in his invention and couldn't leave the sword furnace for even a moment.

He's truly elusive, appearing only briefly and never returning. No wonder none of the Sword Sect's disciples knew their sect leader had gone missing.

So Li Fan contacted the systems Pisces and Kun, saying, "My Li Family Village is in dire need of manpower, so you aquatic creatures, stop being lazy! Get up and help! We're going to distribute tofu coupons to the people of Mo Mountain! Install an independent system! We're going to launch a major development project for Mo Mountain!"

Kun declares, "I'm free!"

Okay, it's eaten two feet of dirt already. By the way, this thing has even grown a pair of fins, which look like two small wings. Flapping them gives it a slight speed boost, so I guess it's... some kind of evolution...

The system provider stated that there might be some minor issues with installing a standalone system. The main problem is that the elderly men sweeping the Lou Guan Tower complain that the signal tower they installed on Lou Guan Tower is unsightly, and the broadcast noise disturbs their morning meditation. In short, no matter how much they pleaded, they wouldn't allow it to be installed, and the equipment almost got knocked down by their brooms...

Sigh, they're all just a bunch of old men...

Although the abbot agreed to help, the resources needed for the development of Moshan would still need to be discussed with the old men like Lou Guan Tower. Li Fan had no choice but to discuss with the system for a while and come up with a compromise.

He packed a bunch of equipment parts, planning to first set up a signal base station at Five Sons Peak. Then, he would collect all the Outer Sect Disciple, servants Dao Companion, spirit pets, and mounts from Li Family Li Family Village —the idle bastards and their mounts—into an independent system, making them Li Fan wings. He would then issue tasks to them to help build the new Moshan Sect.

Well, the era of competing on individual combat strength is over! What follows is a war of power, a stage where sects must compete on their development!

"Hello? Calling the Celestial Immortal, hello? Can you hear me?"

Li Fan shoved the antenna into Revered Heavenly Demon's hand and held it securely. Then he tried to call the walkie-talkie, but all he heard was static; the interference was severe.

That's strange, why is there no signal? Did I install the wrong one? That can't be, the previous two Peak Communications connections were working fine.

On the way from Shenzi Peak and Shengzi Peak in the north, when we reached Xiangzi Peak, we encountered interference... Oh, I see...

Li Fan glanced at his mood system and understood: there was someone powerful enough to affect the signal.

So he went straight back to Li Family Village to take a look, and sure enough, he saw the two foxes revealing their true forms, kneeling trembling at the door. He couldn't tell if they were pretending to be pets or just pretending to be slippers...

"Qingyue, you're back. This is my senior from Emei, Cangbai."

When Li Fan saw this person wearing a topless crown with the inscription "Five Elders of the Five Directions," his unique appearance made him completely numb.

Holy crap! This guy! Isn't this the same Emei Daoist who used the Micro Dust Cloud Seal clone back in Shuofang to not only wipe out their Sword Sect team, but also almost slaughtered the entire Mo Shan sect! And finally lost to the Mountain Lord in one move!

So this guy is the one with the worst relationship with the Sword Sect, Cangbai! He's practically the biggest antagonist to Li Fan in the Taiji Realm! A red-name boss with maxed-out negative reputation! Oh! Speaking of which, when Cangsong said he'd "persuade his junior brother to save your life," could he have been referring to him??

Before Li Fan could decide whether to bow politely and exchange a few words or directly spit out a mouthful of Deng Hua Sword, he glanced down and saw that the other party was holding a sword.

Good heavens! White Treasure Sword Lord!

He's completely numb! He'd just decided to go all out with the Tai Su Dao and create the new Mo Shan Sect, and now the big boss of the Tai Chi Dao is coming after him! Is he here to wipe out his entire sect?

Before Li Fan could react, Cangbai handed the sword in his hand to Qin Nanxin.

"I have taught you all the teachings of Dongshan. You should also take this sword for self-defense. I am about to ascend to the Golden Summit of Emei. It is my destiny to leave behind a lineage of Daoist Tradition in this world and pass it down to mankind. Whether it is the Southern Courtyard or the Eastern Courtyard, it is the same."

"Yes, disciple will remember."

Qin Nanxin knew that this Emei master had come specifically to tell Li Fan something, so she gave Li Fan a look, held the sword with both hands, and took her leave.

"Real Person Li, do you know where your master is?"

Li Fan broke out in a cold sweat, calmed himself down, and bowed.

"Greetings, Cangbai. My master was seriously injured in the last battle and has gone down the mountain to recuperate. I am currently in charge of the affairs of Moshan. Please feel free to ask me for any guidance you may have."

Cangbai stared at him for a while, until Li Fan was sweating profusely, before finally speaking calmly without comment.

"Well, it seems the opportunity hasn't come yet. I came here to see Nanxin. I've already finished explaining the matters of my Emei Inner Sect, but since I have the chance to meet with Real Person Li, I also have some questions for you."

Real Person Li, have you ever heard of the Northern Star Mysterious Heaven Sword Demon?

Li Fan was shocked and almost spat out a mouthful of sword energy, but fortunately he calmed down and managed to attain enlightenment without changing his expression.

"The last sect leader of the Beichen Sword Sect, the Sword Ancestor Xuantian?"

Call...

Damn, this is serious! They even figured out Xuan Tian! We have to get this done! This Cangbai is on par with Xuan Tian. Last time, he was completely helpless against Cang Long. Now that he's come knocking, I wonder if he can win...

Fortunately, Cangbai didn't immediately draw his sword and strike, but instead spoke to himself smugly.

"That's right. The Nine Yin Mountain Sword Sect was originally a fellow practitioner of my Xuanmen sect. However, the previous sect leader, Immortal Lord Heavenly Immortal, went astray and fell into the demonic path, and the sect was wiped out five hundred years ago."

Recently, rumors have circulated that remnants of the Beichen Sword Sect have resurfaced, supposedly by a direct disciple of Xuan Tian, and aspire to rebuild the sect. I initially thought they were just some rogue cultivators showing off with a few sword manuals, but I never imagined I would actually encounter a true disciple of the Sword Sect here in Mo Mountain...

Real Person Li, what do you think?

Damn! You figured it out already! You figured it all out and came looking for trouble! Well, let's fight! Just hack and slash! And you even come here asking me, the head of the Sword Sect, if I know anything about the remnants of the Beichen Sword Sect? And you call yourself the Xuan Tian Sword Demon! Damn! The Three Elders and Four Ancestors are so rude! This is too much! Draw your weapons!

Seeing Li Fan's solemn expression, Cangbai's face darkened, and he nodded.

"As expected, Real Person Li, you noticed something a few days ago, didn't you? That's right, the Dao-enlightened cultivator I encountered when I visited your manor the other day was none other than the true disciple of the Xuan Tian Sword Demon."

Li Fan, "... Huh? What, what? Him? Is it you? No, the True Disciple of Xuan Tian??"

Cangbai nodded and said, "Yes, I was originally going to pay my respects to the sect that day, but I discovered that someone was secretly spying on your residence. So I took action to test him and found that this person not only had the Enlightenment Stage, but also managed to escape after taking a sword strike from me. It seems that he has indeed received the true teachings of the sect leader of the Beichen Sword Sect."

However, Xuan Tian's three direct disciples should have all died in their calamity. I can't figure out which reincarnation this person is or where he received Xuan Tian's inheritance from, but I think he's also eyeing you, the chosen one, and might be detrimental to you. Real Person Li should be careful."

"Ah... I... Ah, this... Ah, it is..."

Li Fan hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping Li Fan; Li Fan looked completely bewildered.

Then Cangbai took out a talisman from his hand and handed it to Li Fan.

"I heard that my senior brother has already passed on his talisman skills to you. You saved Nanxin's life again this time, so I should protect you this time as well."

Within this talisman of dust and clouds, there is a clone of myself. If that demon from the Beichen Sword Sect reappears to assassinate you, you can activate this talisman, which will provide temporary cover. If I am still lingering in the Taiji Realm at that time, I will surely flee to your aid.

Do what you need to do, there's no need to worry about him.

"Ah, ah? Oh... thank you?"

Li Fan looked at the talisman in his hand, and for a moment he didn't even know how to express his feelings...

Cangbai simply smiled at him, nodded, and then gracefully transformed into a beam of white light and flew away!

It just... just flew away like that!!!

What?!

No way! Seriously, what does this mean?! Aren't you going to fight??

Aren't you the boss of this volume???

So why is that?

Why are you old folks so nice to him the moment you meet him?

They're giving away treasures and passing on their skills!

Even the big boss of the opposing faction admires him so much? That's just ridiculous!

They're all either groveling before you or offering you gifts and taking you on as an apprentice, what's the point of fighting?

This "friend of the elderly" cheat code is just too outrageous!!

But before Li Fan could retract his clenched jaw, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest and a splitting headache. Then, countless images and sounds flooded his vision, and the three flowers withered away!

Li Fan gradually came to his senses only after the system's voice entered his mind.

"Li Fan! This is terrible! Just now..."

Ah, he already knows...

Just now, during the brief moment that Cangbai appeared and spoke with him, Li Er, the Vermilion Bird clone, was killed.

The assassin used a sword.

But the Sword Light was too fast, Li Er didn't see anything clearly. He killed more than a hundred people in the entire Sili Xiaowei Commandery, including Wen Zhang, the disciples of the Discipline Institute who came to help, the Jinwu Guard of Li Country, the clerk who was arrested to catch thieves, and the poor nobleman who was arrested and interrogated.

Oh, and the <Yuan Shi> they seized from the entire city were also completely destroyed by the Sword Light.