Trial of the Sword

Li Fan and the others soon had their chance.

Having just escorted the coffins of the disciples from Ink Bamboo Mountain back to Lou Guan Tower, and was about to set up the soul lamps to facilitate the future reincarnation of these disciples so they could return to Ink Bamboo Mountain to cultivate immortality, they were suddenly approached by someone urgently sending a talisman for help!

Another disaster has struck!

Sigh, there's never a day of peace in Ink Bamboo Mountain. But that's just how chaotic times are; it's all about killing each other. Today the ruler changes, tomorrow the prime minister is assassinated. Even high-ranking officials are constantly on edge, let alone ordinary people. Anyway, Li Fan is already used to it.

So he also went into the tower to take a look at the commotion. It turned out that a village in a deep mountain under the jurisdiction of the Li Country was suffering a disaster. No one knew whether it was caused by a demon god or a monster. More than a thousand people died overnight!

The passing merchants were terrified and fled on horseback for over ten miles along the mountain road to report to the government. Fortunately, the Li Country had been peaceful for hundreds of years, and the loose cultivator alliance of Ink Bamboo Mountain was relatively lenient in its management. Therefore, even without Lou Guan's protection, there were still large and small Cultivation Family and loose cultivator sects stationed in the slightly larger villages and towns.

So the local Golden Core priest, following the prefect's orders, led a group of officials to investigate. As per custom, upon entering the area, they first performed a ritual to summon the local mountain and earth gods for questioning. The result was astonishing! It turned out that the mountain god, appointed by the imperial court, was utterly dead! His soul had vanished!

The rogue monk immediately realized the gravity of the situation. His rudimentary skills were only good for catching a demon, let alone a god or demon. So he immediately sent a letter to Ink Bamboo Mountain, requesting assistance.

Well, this is such a trivial matter that it wouldn't normally warrant Li Fan, the dignified Mountain Lord, personally getting involved. But isn't this just for testing his sword? If I can't defeat a Dao Lord, surely I can defeat a Demon God?

So Li Fan casually went along with it, pretending to crack his knuckles and loudly proclaiming that this matter was destined for him! Everyone, don't try to take it from me! Qin Jianshi, the important task of guarding the mountain gate is entrusted to you!

Then, under Old Man Qin's gaze, which was half contemptuous and half envious, Li Fan drove his new car—cough cough, his new sword—leaving a trail of purple light as he flew away.

After the update of the Golden Dragon White Star's Tai Sha version, the speed of the Sword Light flight is actually a bit slower. It is not as fast as Li Fan's own escape technique sword rainbow rushing forward all at once, but it has the advantage of being elegant and easy, and can be done at will, without having to constantly form hand seals and exert energy.

To use a metaphor, flying on a sword is like speeding through the streets, while a sword flashing in front of someone is like a 100-meter sprint. Although Li Fan, relying on his limitless Dao power, can almost always maintain a combat state, some things cannot be rushed.

When all the main quests were stuck at the same pace as his cultivation level, leaving him with no choice but to patiently work through them rather than make rapid progress, Li Fan's mentality gave up.

After all, whether it's spiritual practice or life itself, it's a marathon that seems to have no end. After climbing one mountain, there's another one; after defeating one monster, there's another one. Running fast for a while is meaningless; the Winner is the one who survives to the end and runs the furthest.

Let's take it slow. Since we can't push through the main storyline enough right now, let's clear some side quests and give it another boost. Once we have a significant data advantage, there will be a time to settle the score...

Then, Li Fan had a sudden thought and discovered that within the Divine Court, the Three Flowers, whose clone had previously withered and died, had bloomed again...

???

Damn... Seriously, is there something seriously wrong with my body? Is it really okay for me to suddenly gain enlightenment so easily...?

However, the secret of Li Yi's body is clearly a major plot point in the later stages of the story. It probably won't be revealed until the storylines involving Emei, Nangong the Immortal Thief, and the Thousand-Faced Immortal have progressed to a significant point.

Well, saving 3600 isn't bad. He still has a 22k mood cap, which is eighteen flowers. Even if he really runs into that Sword Sect 'senior brother,' he can still escape.

And speaking of which, my mood is almost full! I hope the boss of this side quest is a stronger demon god so I can boost my mood and draw some prizes!

So, hoping to level up, Li Fan flew over on his sword with high expectations, and he didn't leave empty-handed.

It was past noon, and the area around the mountain city illuminated by the Bright Light Talisman still showed signs of gathering malevolent energy that had not completely dissipated. This was because demons had recently appeared in the vicinity, causing even the natural spiritual veins to begin to transform. The sun could not completely dispel this malevolent energy. If left unattended, who knows what kind of evil spirits might be nurtured.

Li Fan wasn't in a hurry to unleash his Sword Light. He first hid in the clouds, circled around the mountain city, and took a general look at the surrounding scenery.

This place is Zhuti Prefecture in the Li Country. Actually, if you look at the map, it is already very close to the direction of Kunlun Mountain and Kun Country. However, because it is a typical deep mountain forest of Li Country, the road to the north is blocked and the mountains are dangerous and difficult to travel. Instead, it has become the 'heartland'. Moreover, there are cinnabar, iron, tin, silver, copper and jade mines on the nearby Zhuti Mountain. Therefore, there are many mining villages scattered in the mountains to mine various mineral veins.

It's inconvenient to go in and out of the mountains. Usually, mining teams are only escorted once a quarter. Daily necessities such as firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea are transported to the prefectural city by large caravans and then transferred into the mountains by local merchants.

This incident occurred in a silver mine village deep in the mountains. No one knows how long the people have been dead, but it's truly difficult to foresee demonic disturbances. Although such mines have complex terrain and treacherous mountains, to prevent attacks from demons and bandits, there are not only mountain gods appointed by the imperial court to guard the mountains, but also resident patrol guards who constantly patrol. If anything seems amiss, within a week, thousands of armored, crossbow-wielding, and archer-drawn men will rush in to deal with the situation.

However, given the current situation, the garrison troops of Nanzhong Road had been completely redeployed to border islands for defense several years ago. At this time, only a few hundred constables and policemen remained in the entire prefectural city to manage dozens of surrounding towns and villages, which was indeed a shortage of manpower. It was not surprising that demons and monsters would choose such an undefended place to cause trouble.

After quickly surveying the nearby villages at the foot of the mountains, Li Fan made some discoveries; this monster was causing quite a stir.

Not just one village, but three villages in total are empty! In one local mining village, there were hundreds of mining households, and probably three to five thousand people have been killed!

Moreover, Zhuti Prefecture had probably been attacked once before. People in the city were dressed in mourning clothes, and every family was holding a funeral. Even among the wealthy families near the prefecture, more than a dozen households were holding funerals. Fortunately, Zhuti Prefecture was a prefecture and had a border defense warehouse. Moreover, because it was a mining area, many wealthy families also kept their own troops to suppress the miners. So the local prefect gathered the landlords and assembled about two thousand militiamen to defend the city. They even brought out flags, bows, and crossbows from the warehouse to hold out.

Moreover, Li Fan also discovered traces of malevolent energy in several other villages that had not been massacred.

Li Fan was also experienced enough that he didn't need to use his Divine Sense to cleanse the ground; he could just look at the terrain and make a quick calculation to figure it out.

This demon is probably hiding in the deep mountain mines, avoiding the sun. It will come out to wreak havoc as soon as it gets dark. Zhu Ti City is probably using some minor magic to restrain it, scaring the people of the city into hiding inside for self-preservation. Meanwhile, the demon itself is going out from village to village to forage for food, gradually increasing its strength. Once it has eaten most of the miners in the mountains, or when it is strong enough, it will attack the city.

If he's right, this demon was probably quite weak in its early stages, hiding and eating in secret, one from one village, one from another. The villagers probably thought it was some kind of roaming beast and didn't pay much attention.

Now, this guy has already passed through the initial stage in hiding and has broken through to the 'Demon Child' level. Only with the Nascent Soul Stage level can he kill the local mountain god and slaughter a village of more than a thousand people in one night, which is why he was discovered. If there is no time to deal with him, it is not impossible for him to devour the population of this prefecture and province and raise a demon god.

This is probably another seed planted by the Nangong Family. It's true what they say, what you sow, you reap...

Although you could rush underground, scan with your Divine Sense, and chase after the target to hack and slash, it's unnecessary.

A single glare is enough to subdue the demon; this time, he's relying on this guy to cheer him up. Besides, his True Yang Divine Sense is making too much noise right now, and those demon minions are all so cunning—it would be troublesome if it escaped.

However, this demon prince does seem a bit stupid. Judging from the Si Nan's direction, the demon is still crouching underground and hasn't run away yet. So you're already dead.

Of course, testing the sword is one thing, but since Li Fan had seen through the opponent's tactics and knew how dangerous they were, he naturally wouldn't be so arrogant as to think he was invincible and give this scoundrel a chance to escape.

So he first set up formations around the terrain and veins of Zhuti Mountain, concealing talismans in the spiritual veins. He set up three sets of magic formations to exterminate and trap demons, and then carefully calculated with the help of the Si Nan to determine the mine where the Devil Seed was hiding. He then concealed his aura, made hand seals to hide himself, and lay in wait underground at the entrance of the cave.

After hiding for two hours, as darkness fell and the False Moon rose, a malevolent aura indeed filled the air. Demonic howls, like those of ghosts and vengeful spirits, echoed like raging waves, as if an underground torrent were about to surge forth from the mine. The demonic sounds were deafening, and the cries of ghosts and wolves were deafening!

Then, as if summoned by this enchanting sound, someone came.

Emerging from the forest, a dozen or so ragged mountain miners emerged. These villagers were mostly walking corpses, their bodies and souls decayed beyond recognition. Their eyes had been gouged out, leaving bloody holes, and their bodies and faces were newly tattooed with cursed characters. Trembling, they walked out in long lines of three to five, the back of one person on the shoulder of the one in front, and then bowed towards the cave where the demonic howl and malevolent aura emanated. They chanted loudly, like the howls of monkeys, as if they were reciting incantations in worship of an evil god.

They had probably been too close to this demon for too long. Although their eyes had been gouged out, their mouths and tongues had mutated, their teeth had all fallen out, and their mouths were gradually turning into holes of flesh and blood. They could no longer speak human language and could only make these "ah-ba-ah-ah" noises.

Then, amidst the villagers' calls, the demonic sound grew closer and closer, then suddenly vanished without a trace. All was silent, and the crowd fell silent, kneeling on the ground as if they wanted to bury their heads in the earth.

Has it been released...?

Li Fan's mood dropped a little.

Emerging from the depths of the mine, slowly emerged... a Kunlun Slave?

Oh, well, to be precise, it's a black humanoid figure, probably a Daoist body created by the Thousand-Faced Immortal. However, unlike the true form of the immortal that Li Fan saw with his own eyes, it didn't have that feeling of dust dispersing and ashes drifting. It was just that the skin was simply made black, making it look more like a human...

Moreover, this demon's physique was that of a short, fat, and chubby man, only five or six feet tall, like a ball. His dark fat jiggled, and his skin was wrinkled, exuding thick black oil, making him look at least two or three hundred pounds.

Surprisingly, the demon's steps were exceptionally light, as if he wasn't exerting any force on the ground at all, but rather floating like a balloon.

The demon's head was also strangely shaped, but it was clear that it was trying to imitate the tentacle head of the Thousand-Faced Immortal. However, in the end, it could only pinch a bamboo shoot-shaped tip out of its skin, squeezing and deforming its mouth, nose, and facial features, making its eyes completely unrecognizable.

This description of our kind might not be the best, but at first glance, it's like a black ball with a smear of black poop on it...

Then the demon slowly floated to the top of the first miner's head, shrank its head into a mass of fat, and slowly protruded a face and two hands from its large belly, like a human figure struggling out of a balloon. It reached out and grabbed the kneeling, trembling miner on the ground, and roughly opened its blood-red mouth, revealing a tunnel-like, writhing fleshy passage, as if trying to grab the man and stuff him into its mouth.

Then a flash of purple light, and with a bang, the black-skinned demon exploded. All the fat and flesh on its body were swept into the sky by the sword wind surging from the ground, leaving only an obsidian-like human skeleton hidden under the fat, its mouth agape like a fool, not understanding what had happened.

Li Fan stood behind it with his hands behind his back, gazing at it with a deep, unsettling look.

What's your number?

The demon skeleton was terrified. It turned around and swung its claw horizontally, unleashing a fierce gust of wind that tore through the rock wall behind it, turning the mine tunnel into ruins.

Li Fan remained behind it, and asked softly,

"Are you deaf? I'm asking you what number you are."

The demonic skeleton let out a demonic howl, its spine rapidly crystallizing and sprouting four bone claws that reached behind it.

Then, from behind Li Fan, a bright purple light flashed, and all four arms were severed. Li Fan then kicked the skeleton away.

"Okay! Let's have some fun!"

The demon bone was kicked and sent flying, rolling on the ground, its body covered in blood and flesh as if it were being smeared with oil and dough. In the blink of an eye, it revived and then launched a rebound straight at him...

A flash of purple light, and the corpse was shattered into countless pieces.

The flesh and blood hidden behind Li Fan also coalesced, baring its fangs and claws as it lunged to rip out his heart from behind.

With a gust of wind from the sword, blood and flesh flew everywhere.

Blood, flesh, and grease littered the ground, while malevolent energy and black bones leaped and coalesced around the demonic bones to launch Devil Form attack. However, they were shattered by the flashing and leaping Sword Light, not even managing to touch the hem of Li Fan's clothes before being skinned, fleshed out, and chopped into pieces on the ground.

Although it has been upgraded and revamped, the Golden Flood Dragon and the White Star, under the control of the Ruyi Sword Scripture, moved freely and perfectly wove a purple sword net around Li Fan, braving the overwhelming demonic roars and evil spirits in the arena!

And it wasn't just a simple strike to shatter the Devil Embryo's fiendish body! It was for sword practice, so with each strike, Li Fan deliberately forced open the core bones of this demonic child! Otherwise, how would it have had so many chances to struggle and revive? It would have been severed with the very first sword strike!

"Hmph! Useless trash!"

Li Fan strode over amidst the sword winds and demonic waves, raised his palm, and slapped the newly formed skull of the demonic child onto its head. With a crisp crack, the skull's demonic bones shattered, scattering on the ground with a crash, unable to move.

Li Fan coldly watched as he casually scattered flesh and bone fragments across the ground.

"Stand up."

No response.

Li Fan suddenly opened his eyes, and a pair of purple swords from the sky immediately attacked. A black light flashed at the tip of the sword, and the sword shadow folded in the void, completely killing and annihilating hundreds of broken bones on the ground!

The demon prince screamed in agony, and the remaining remains shrank back, leaping up like a monkey whose tail had been stepped on. The shattered bones and flesh on the ground gathered together, instantly transforming into three black figures, which turned into black mist and flew away, trying to escape!

But the two swords, the Golden Flood Dragon and the White Star, were already waiting in the sky. They transformed into purple lightning and instantly killed the two figures! At the same time, Li Fan also moved to the side, reached into the void, grabbed the demon's head, and pulled it out of the evil aura and demonic wind, holding it high in his hand!

At this moment, the demon child writhed in panic like a baby monkey whose head had been grabbed. Li Fan slapped him across the face, and dozens of gaping holes appeared between his fingers as he screamed in agony, whether in retaliation or begging for mercy was unclear.

Li Fan stared coldly at it, True Yang Dao Fire gradually overflowed from his mouth, nose, and eye sockets.

"I'm asking you one last time, what's your number?"

"It hasn't been numbered yet, it'll need to feed at least another five hundred people. It could have been full tonight, and then we could probably number it twenty-eight, no, twenty-nine."

Li Fan closed his eyes, withdrew his Dao power, and turned to look at the 'girl' who was standing on the treetop calculating, smiling and revealing two dimples.

"Jade Toad Granny."