Robot

It's alright, it's just a technical adjustment, the situation isn't serious.

Li Fan wiped away the cold sweat, checked the condition of his Dao body and divine court, and calmed down a bit.

Qiongqi God and Guiche stood quietly to the left and right of Qingxu Primordial Spirit, while the Qiankun Twin Dragons swam over from the corner and affectionately coiled around Li Fan's arms, just as they always did when Li Fan's primordial spirit came to inspect. If there was any difference, it was that the Blood Infant Devil Embryo was nowhere to be found, and Li Fan sensed that the link between his clone and his main body, established through Qingxu Second Yuanshen, had also been severed, probably because that second primordial spirit had been destroyed.

Well, the Thousand-Faced Immortal and the Wisdom Dharma King suddenly joined forces to rebel, which startled him and they might have even seized 'Qingyue's' true form, but the damage to Li Fan's primordial spirit was actually not significant.

At least he didn't feel the drowsy, exhausted feeling he had when he was seriously injured before. Moreover, he could still suppress the demon gods like Qiongqi Guiche and Qiankun Shuanglong, and easily gain control of his clones. Clearly, he hadn't lost everything yet.

It seems that it wasn't just Kun who helped; the mood system and the Three Flowers also played a role in protecting him from calamity and disaster, and resisting the damage and erosion that his primordial spirit had suffered.

The only problem is that Qingxu Second Yuanshen on the main body has been destroyed, which means that his primordial spirit has been exiled and imprisoned in this clone, and he can no longer return to control the main body.

But looking at it from another perspective, he actually still has the advantage.

Whether it's the Wisdom Dharma King or the Thousand-Faced Immortal, they only have the ability to sneak around and scheme against people; they can't openly rebel and fight for the body. Therefore, as long as the primordial spirit finds a way to return to the original body, it can reclaim the body.

Of course, if it drags on too long and the two of them decide the winner, going back might just mean being sent to their deaths.

This was probably also part of the scheme of the Wisdom Dharma King and his followers, to kick the real master far away and seize this opportunity to steal his true body.

Li Fan thought for a moment, then turned to look at the Saintess squatting beside him, "Lend me your phone."

Zhang Yanzhi, "Huh?"

"Sound Transmission Jade!"

"Oh, be careful not to fall!"

Having snatched the Saintess's phone and flown high into the sky, Li Fan gazed at the surrounding yellow sand under the scorching sun, holding up the phone to search for a signal.

In the past few months, Qiongqi's clone has been completing a lot of tasks in Duizhou, accumulating a large amount of reputation and merit, which has barely earned it the right to participate in the selection of Dharma Protectors. Therefore, under the guidance of the Saintess, it is on its way to the Tianshan region, to the headquarters of the Divine Sect, to pay respects to the high-ranking members of the Divine Sect, including the Light Dharma King. Geographically, it has already left the important pass to the west, far away from the traditional territory of the Twelve Countries.

If he were to fly away in his physical body, traversing the Tianshan and Kunlun Mountains, and return to Li Country to seize the Dao Body, it would be too late.

Moreover, putting aside whether Qiongqi's clone can defeat the current 'Qingyue', does the other party really think she can just sit in Li Country and wait for him to come for the final battle? With the Wisdom Dharma King's insidious and patient nature, if he were to use 'Blood Shadow Godly Movement', he would be sent flying beyond the heavens, and even the gods wouldn't be able to find him.

However, it's not entirely hopeless.

Yuanshen things, Yuanshenjue.

As long as the primordial spirit leaves the body, it can travel thousands of miles in an instant and immediately return to reclaim the true body.

Just the thought of returning to the Divine Court and getting the Tai Sha Sword Embryo into his hands was enough for Li Fan to be confident that he could disembowel and behead those two rebels.

Therefore, the most urgent task is to re-establish contact with the system and confirm the coordinates of the entity.

Yes, it's difficult. The system is so well hidden, and 'Qingyue' is also protected by destiny. With his intermediate-level arithmetic skills, it's very difficult for him to find out.

But if Li Fan can't be found, the system can find him!

At the very least, the system has definitely been monitoring Qiongqi's clone the whole time! He's still carrying that pot he's been so obsessed with!

Although he hasn't signed a contract and the system can't contact him, he can still speak so the system can hear him!

The Legion has developed this amateurish communication system; surely it can be easily eavesdropped on by hackers who can easily monitor and hack cruisers!

So Li Fan flew into the sky and finally caught the crackling electrical signal coming from the communication wall.

"Hey! Can you hear me? Can you hear me? If you can hear me, press 1! If you can't, press 2!"

Li Fan held the jade disc to his ear and faintly heard a soft rustling sound followed by a soft beep!

Good!

Before he could even speak, he heard a series of...

"Drip-drop-drip-drop"

"Huh? What?"

"Tick-tock tick-tock, tick-tock tick-tock, tick-tock tick-tock"

Damn, Morse code? But I don't know it...

Li Fan broke out in a cold sweat. Oh well, at least the other person could hear him.

"Have you confirmed the situation now?"

"Drip-drop-drip-drop"

"I need my soul to go back! Find a way to send me my location! Otherwise, things will go wrong! Got it?"

"Drip-drop-drip-drop"

Stop banging and get to work!

"Da di da di, di di da, di da di di"

What the heck... But with all those beeps and taps, the message must have been conveyed. This Qiongqi clone has limited talent; even if it prays to the Moon all night, it still can't reach the Tai Su Realm. Now, all we can do is hope that the system can pull off some crazy tricks to turn the tide.

"Who's shouting like that on the public channel?"

A voice, probably from a Legion Apostle, came through the rustling sound. The system immediately stopped beeping. Li Fan was in no mood for messing around with the Legion, and cursed angrily, "Your daddy! You son of a bitch! Get lost!"

"Uh, hey, why are you swearing at me...?"

Li Fan ignored him, hung up the phone, landed on the sand dune, and tossed the communication disc to Zhang Yanzhi.

"Sarilang! Can you contact the octopus... protector who came to kill you last time? Or are there any branch altars of the cult nearby?"

Li Fan couldn't rely entirely on the system. The two fish had limited access to technology, and it would be difficult for the other party to contact him alone in the vast desert with only a mobile phone. However, if there were Legion spaceships, signal towers, research bases, or other Legion-level equipment nearby, given the system's hacking capabilities, it was entirely possible that the other party could make direct contact.

The Demon Lord he served had given instructions and assigned tasks. Zhang Yanzhi, couldn't just shrug and pretend to be stupid. He immediately took out a six-hole ceramic ocarina from his pocket, held it in his hand, first played a glissando, then a vibrato. He seemed to have used some kind of spiritual technique to activate the incantation on the Magic Treasure, sending the ocarina's sound flying with the wind and sand, spreading throughout the world.

Then, from afar, like an echo or the howling of the wind, it returned with the swirling yellow sand. Zhang Yanzhi ran to the sand dune, stood on tiptoe and listened for a while, then returned to report.

"One hundred and fifty miles to the northwest, there is an ancient city occupied by demons. The leader of the city is a dried-up skeleton king who has joined my divine sect and been taken in as a protector. He is at the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage realm. If the Demon Lord wishes, you may go there to rest temporarily."

Li Fan stared at her and the xun (a type of ancient Chinese wind instrument) with wide eyes, "Did you play all of this just now?"

Zhang Yanzhi shook his head. "I had already inquired about the information from the Cao brothers about the route from Shazhou to Tianshan. I just asked the Corpse King if he would let us rest, and he agreed."

"If the Demon Lord wishes to meet that person again, we can go to that ancient city, set up an array, and send a message to the nearby altar master, asking that protector to use his blood puppet clone to come and meet us."

Li Fan naturally agreed, immediately turning his body around so that his neck and below transformed into Guiche, carrying Zhang Yanzhi straight to that ancient city.

He swept across the sand and observed from afar that the demonic aura was soaring to the sky and the demonic energy was overflowing. The whole city was filled with jackals and wild beasts that Moon Worship, and lonely, ancient souls. It was basically a demonic cave in the desert.

Zhang Yanzhi was on Li Fan's back, was also acting as a tour guide, pointing out the origins of the city to Li Fan.

The story is actually quite simple. This place was once a vital trade route between the Central Plains and the Western Regions, a wealthy and prosperous foreign land, and a vassal state of the Dui Country. However, the God Lord fled here to live in seclusion, and the local king assisted the assassins from the Immortal Palace in hunting down the God Lord, which became a 'calamity' on the God Lord's path, and thus the entire place was destroyed.

"This is actually the place where the God Lord once stayed?" Li Fan narrowed his eyes. "Could there be a Heavenly Book here?"

Zhang Yanzhi, "The Blood Record Heavenly Book that I taught was completed before the God Lord ascended to heaven. It has been kept by the Awakened Saintess of each generation and stored in the main altar. There are at most some places like the God Lord's former residence here. So many years have passed, even if there were any Cultivation Method available, they would probably have been destroyed by the Immortal Palace and demons long ago."

Li Fan thought for a moment, then tentatively asked, "I've heard that the God Lord has a deep-seated hatred for the Immortal Palace? Do you know anything about his background?"

Zhang Yanzhi didn't seem to mind the founder of the Bagua Divine Sect much.

"There's nothing secret about the God Lord's background; all the disciples of my God Cult are familiar with it. He was originally from a prominent family in the Central Plains, but he wasn't born to the principal wife, and his parents died early. It seems he was too outstanding, which made him the target of jealousy and sabotage. He was disfigured, crippled, and imprisoned in the Immortal Prison awaiting execution in the autumn."

However, just then, an internal power struggle broke out in the upper echelons of the Immortal Palace, and a group of prisoners escaped from the Immortal Prison. The Divine Lord also escaped from Duizhou, and then went through many tribulations in the Tianshan and Kunlun regions, collecting opportunities and Heavenly Treasure. Finally, he mastered his divine skills, returned to the Central Plains to take revenge, and ascended to immortality.

"... That's it? So ordinary..."

Zhang Yanzhi and said, "The experiences of cultivators are all pretty much the same. In the end, it's all about achieving great divine skills and taking revenge."

However, it was also because the God Lord's journey from a suppressed rogue cultivator to a powerful and legendary figure—who diligently cultivated, comprehended the Dao, slew all his enemies, and ultimately ascended to immortality—was so inspiring and legendary. Furthermore, the God Lord himself was moved by the hardships faced by rogue cultivators at the bottom of society, so he specifically established the Divine Cult to assist them. This is why he gained widespread support and rose to prominence so rapidly.

Li Fan rolled his eyes. "So, do the current Sect Leader of the Divine Cult, the Four Dharma Kings, and the Four Venerables have similar experiences? Do you know which of these people has the most powerful skills and is the most worthy of serving?"

Zhang Yanzhi, being Saintess, immediately perked up and became very interested when the topic turned to the power struggle among the Ten Venerable Ones.

"Demon Lord, you've finally come to your senses! I've always told you, it's good to take shelter under a big tree. No matter how capable a person is, there are always unexpected events in the world, and there will always be times when you're overwhelmed and can't handle everything. That's why you must join an organization. With someone to assist you and help you, you can unleash your full potential without any worries!"

However, there's no need to directly pledge allegiance to the Sect Leader or Dharma King; simply maintaining good relations with their respective families is sufficient.

Li Fan frowned immediately. "Family? Clan? Doesn't the Divine Cult value merit? How come they have this?"

"Of course there are, but they're quite different from those in the Central Plains."

Zhang Yanzhi explained,

"In fact, back then, our Divine Sect had countless capable people and many heroes. Those who led the Divine Sect were all outstanding talents who had worked their way up from humble cultivators."

However, later on, my sect was repeatedly decimated by the masters of the demonic sect, and the spies and assassins of the demonic palace were also hunting down my disciples everywhere. Although those seniors were extremely talented and capable, without the support of their families, if they were to be killed by the masters of the demonic sect with a single misstep, even if they were to be reincarnated and escape with their lives, they would have no one to protect and support them, and they would not be able to recover their strength in peace. They would be forced to flee everywhere, repeatedly hunted down by the masters of the demonic sect until their souls were scattered.

Therefore, many of those predecessors who did not have the support of powerful families have already disappeared without a trace. And now, most of the leaders in the cult have received the support and loyalty of some powerful local families.

For example, when the current Sect Leader the Divine Cult and my godfather were serving as the Great Strength Dharma King, they received support from the Zhang family because they could not find a good Dao body for reincarnation. They used the disciples and children provided by the Zhang family to perform Dao body dissolution and cultivate to the Nascent Soul Stage. The Zhang Family protected them before they were able to achieve this.

Furthermore, due to certain cultivation reasons, some family members possess bloodlines and innate talents that are exceptionally suited for cultivating certain secret techniques. For example, the Light Dharma King are mostly from the Duan Family and cultivate techniques like the Flame Blade. The Wisdom Dharma King also seem to frequently select people from the Lu Family.

There are several other families as well, all of whom are powerful clans from the Central Plains, generations of cultivation families, and some even have distant relatives who are still cultivating and serving in the Demon Palace and Demon Sect. But it is said that their ancestors had close ties with our sect since the time of the God Lord, and secretly supported our sect.

Although the followers and people of my religion have a tradition and awareness of cultivating disciples with exceptional talent and outstanding aptitude to serve as vessels for the bodies of the Sect Leader and Dharma Kings.

However, these families not only cultivate themselves and use secret methods to train disciples, but also have been intermarrying with candidates for Saintess for many years. They have selected people with exceptional talent and superior physiques to serve as vessels for the venerable ones of the divine religion.

Over time, these families gained immense prestige and influence within the territory of our religion. Many Dharma protectors and altar masters hoped to cultivate good relations with them, hoping that they might be able to possess a member of their family in their next reincarnation."

Li Fan was startled. "Others are one thing, but I've heard that the Wisdom Dharma King has been missing for a long time. How do you know these secrets?"

Zhang Yanzhi couldn't help but roll her eyes. "What kind of secret is this? I'm Saintess! I was originally going to be fostered in these families, and after I retire, I'll have to marry into one of them. Of course, I need to make sure I've made the arrangements and figure out which family's power I can rely on."

Sigh, I didn't really care about these things. After all, I was chosen by my adoptive father when I was young, and if nothing unexpected happened, the Sect Leader and Zhang would protect me. Who would have thought that something unexpected would actually happen?

It seems that in recent years, the Sect Leader has suffered a major defeat in the Ten Ultimate Formation, with countless casualties within the sect. He hasn't won a single battle, and his prestige has been severely damaged, making it impossible for him to continue. The Zhang family's power is probably not what it used to be either; for them to dare assassinate me, it must be because my backers at the main altar have fallen.

Therefore, Qiongqi Demon Lord, you should choose either the Duan Family or the Ban Family, who are currently at the height of their power. Gaining their support would make things much easier within the cult."

Li Fan narrowed his eyes. "What about the Lu Family? The Wisdom Dharma King... He sounds so wise. I wonder what abilities he has? What special skills does he possess? And how did he disappear?"

Zhang Yanzhi shook his head. "I don't know much about the Wisdom Dharma King, but that lineage is responsible for the Central Plains, deep behind enemy lines, and has to outwit and outfight the Demonic Sect and Demonic Palace. People of average intelligence can't handle that. The situation in the Central Plains is especially dangerous. Originally, the communication between the Dharma King's altar and its followers was one-way, and it wasn't very convenient for them to gather together for elections. So the main altar doesn't ask too much of them. As long as the Central Plains continues to develop and there is intelligence coming back, and they can cooperate with the main altar's actions, that's enough."

Moreover, it's quite normal to not know whether someone is alive or dead for a while. In our sect, there are at least seven or eight Venerable-level figures whose fates are unknown and whose whereabouts are unclear. Who knows if they are in seclusion or have been captured and sealed away...

Anyway, if you're not selected, you'll automatically be demoted to a protector. Once you get to the main altar, you'll address everyone as "protector," which isn't bad at all.

Wow, your cult is pretty well organized...

In fact, Li Fan had many more questions he wanted to ask, but as he flew into the ancient city, he suddenly found himself speechless.

He was so shocked by what he saw that his jaw almost dropped.

Thousands of demons, who had just formed their demon cores and still retained their fur, scales, and claws, barely resembling human figures, along with countless skeletons and desiccated corpses, were working on the assembly line.

They repeatedly perform mechanical labor, polishing metal parts—simple jobs that anyone with hands can do. They also possess the stamina of monsters. Looking at their vacant, lifeless eyes, clearly bewitched by magic, they are nothing more than biological machine workers who never need rest.

Then look at the parts being assembled on the assembly line, and the final product... it's actually a robot!

It was one of those very crude robots, looking like a skeleton of a mummified corpse wrapped in sheet metal...

Damn! It looks like they just wrapped the mummified skeletons in the ancient city in sheet metal and then added some metal exoskeleton-like equipment so they could stand up!

Then some seemingly intelligent monsters carefully installed metal tubular containers, as if they contained some kind of liquid, into the bodies of these robots. Then, chanting incantations and dancing, they carefully draped human skin over the robots...

Finally, a group of 'people' with blank stares were produced.