The Primordial Spirit's Secret Art

Li Fan landed at the factory, grabbed a robot and examined it closely, gradually discovering its ingenuity.

Monsters can disguise themselves as humans to deceive mortals, or go three to five days without eating blood and use herbs or excrement to mask their odor, but their true nature remains unchanged. But these things are different. Li Fan scanned them with his Divine Sense and glanced with his electric eyes, and lo and behold, under the human skin were still a bunch of dead bones!

Moreover, the scent of the corpse demons was completely sealed by the metal sheet, so unless you touched them to feel their pulse and probe their aura, you really couldn't tell what they were.

And the most incredible thing is the metal canisters that the monsters stuffed into the chest cavities of these machine-made mummies. These canisters weren't produced locally; they were all transported from other places.

Li Fan unearthed a mummified corpse, disassembled it, and was astonished to find the container riddled with pipes, clearly the power source for this mechanical mummy. Inside was a container of a black, viscous, oil-like liquid. He tasted a little and confirmed it was indeed a highly concentrated form of malevolent liquid, with a hint of engine oil, and possibly some other substances...

So Li Fan reached in and pulled out a hard, solid object.

It's a stone.

Holy crap, Hearts of Stone is already in mass production...?

"Ahem, sorry to bother everyone, my Demon Lord is just very curious..."

Zhang Yanzhi explained with an awkward smile to the large group of demons and monsters who surrounded him.

Then two people emerged from the group of demons... demons.

On the left is a mummified corpse king, four zhang tall, wearing golden armor and holding a scepter. He is naturally the master of the local Demon Cave Corpse City, and was probably a noble or cultivator such as General Wang in his previous life.

On the right was a muscular robot, also about two zhang tall, wearing military-style civilian exoskeleton armor, carrying a quadruple rocket launcher on its shoulder, and holding an electromagnetic rifle aimed at Li Fan.

Yes, they are robots, remote-controlled drones. The Legion Apostles in this factory are quite cautious, probably hiding behind some electronic screen, observing these uninvited guests.

"Saintess of the Northern Court, you are too kind. Your presence in my Shanshan Kingdom is an honor. As the local altar master, Kuro Laina should do his best to be a good host. Please feel free to ask for anything you need. We are all brothers in the sect and should help each other."

The mummified king Kuro Laina, was quite polite, waving his hand to signal the surrounding workers... demons to go back to work, while he stood by and watched Li Fan dismantle the robot.

What else could we do but watch? Go and fight the demon?

Li Fan ignored them, grabbed the Heart of Stone, held it in his hand, and tossed it at the demons.

"What is this thing?! Where did it come from?! Get some!"

After saying that, he stuffed the stone heart into his mouth and chewed it, then casually pulled a robot over to disassemble it, as if it were peeling longans.

With a clatter, the electromagnetic rifle in the legion robot's hand fell to the ground.

The Mummified King coughed twice.

"Demon Lord, Saintess, these are iron-clad corpse soldiers forged on the orders of the Dharma King. Their core demonic energy is priceless. I cannot bear the loss of too many of them. Please, have mercy!"

Zhang Yanzhi sighed inwardly, then approached with a forced smile to offer his advice.

"Demon Lord, don't we still have important matters to attend to?"

Li Fan, seeing that he had succeeded, took another stone core and stuffed it into his pocket before nodding, "Then let's get down to business."

Zhang Yanzhi hurriedly said, "Master Shanshan, listen up! I need to set up an altar and summon my fellow disciples for a meeting. You must prepare Blood Puppet Dharma Body for me and protect me. Any objections?"

The Mummified King hurriedly replied, "No objection! No objection! Please come to my palace to rest for a while, and I will arrange the ceremony immediately!"

So Li Fan was invited to dine in the ancient city's palace. The Corpse King knew what the demon god wanted to eat, so he presented large pots of mixed stews of demons and monsters. Every spoonful he scooped up was filled with strange and bizarre things, which Li Fan couldn't quite make out. However, since Qiongqi, Guiche, and the others were getting hungry, Li Fan didn't stand on ceremony and released their heads so everyone could have a meal together.

Zhang Yanzhi was unfazed by such a horrific scene, and even took two steamed buns to eat. The Corpse King also thought it was alright, except that with a 'bang,' the robot knelt down again...

Knowing that the Legion's apostles couldn't handle such a scene, the Corpse King suggested...

"Demon Lord, please enjoy your meal. Saintess, shall we begin preparing for the ceremony?"

Zhang Yanzhi nodded, grabbed a handful of raisins, and took it out. The robot also trembled as it crawled out of the restaurant.

Seeing them leave, Li Fan opened his mouth and exhaled some white baleful energy, which gathered into a white humanoid clone. His main body continued to eat and drink, while his primordial spirit attached itself to the clone, transforming into a gale that swept out of the palace and silently infiltrated the legion's underground base. There, he found the legion hacker, who had been searched by his Gu Guan Method, and was lying on the bed wearing GS Ghost Shell electronic helmet and a rubber suit.

This guy's cultivation level is only at the Qi Refining stage, he's really too weak. It took me quite a while to find him...

So Li Fan flew directly in front of the legion's apostle and materialized into human form.

Just then, the Legion Apostle, who was remotely controlling a drone, witnessed a breathtaking and unforgettable scene. He was about to take off his helmet and vomit when he looked up and saw Li Fan's pale-faced, black-eyed, demonic clone with a ghostly face right in front of him.

"Ah--!!!"

The apostle roared, kicked his legs, rolled his eyes, foamed at the mouth, and fainted.

"..."

Li Fan checked his breath, and... well, he was terrified.

With a soft "poof," the Legion Apostle's clothes automatically injected some kind of emergency medication, pulling him back from the brink of death. However, this guy's mental resilience was too low; he'd have a hard time surviving in this world.

So Li Fan patted the apostle's head to erase his memory, then patted the apostle's face, then patted his own face to make his head look exactly like the apostle's, and then picked up the helmet and put it on.

However, the virtual screen in front of me displayed messages such as "No user's brainwave detected, unauthorized user," indicating that logging into the Legion's network wouldn't be so easy.

However, Li Fan wasn't in a hurry. As long as the device was connected to the network, that was enough. So he imitated the voice and said,

"Drip drip drip drip"

After about three seconds, the Legion's interface was unblocked.

Li Fan instantly entered the electronic illusion.

This is a 3D electronic map of the machine factory in the Shanshan Kingdom. Hidden cameras, machine guns, and landmines are everywhere, monitoring the factory's production lines and the physical characteristics and production efficiency of all workers.

"Drip drip drip drip?"

Synthesized electronic sounds rang in Li Fan's ears.

"Okay, no need for the beeping anymore, we're connected now."

"What's the situation now?"

"You've cracked."

"What?"

"Literally, you split apart. Your main body flew to the mountainous area in the Border Prefecture and stayed there motionless. But another part of your body, your heart and your blood, turned into the Blood River and rushed south."

"So the Thousand-Faced Immortal has taken over most of the body? What's with the immobility? We can ignore it for now and head south? Could it be towards the Southern Town defense line!"

"They've already broken through. That Blood River flows south along the army's supply lines and has just entered the canal used for transporting grain. It looks like..."

Recalling the route he had taken once before, and his experience in Changsi City, Li Fan suddenly understood everything.

"The Li River! This is the Wisdom Dharma King's goal! It wants to enter the waterways! Through the Li River, it wants to infect the entire Li Country, no! The entire water system of the Southern Country! Then half the people in the world will be its Blood God Child clones!"

The system went silent for a moment, it was unclear whether it was shocked or had lost connection.

"Is there any way to stop it? Can we still use the firewall again?!"

"... No. Our world doesn't have the concept of a primordial spirit. Cultivators at the Transformation Stage and above are beyond the scope of living beings that civilian equipment can handle. Now that even a cruiser has been destroyed, we no longer have the equipment to deal with it."

"Why not! How did you manage to subdue that Dharma King back then!"

"... It wasn't us who subdued it in the first place; it was subdued first, and then we came... Sigh, don't ask anymore. If we could tell you, we would have already. Just wait for enlightenment. But I think you'll be there soon..."

How could it not be fast? Li Fan thought about it carefully. Back then, it was probably because he had merged too much with the Blood Demon Great Path Body and leveled up too quickly, breaking through all the way and possibly even surpassing the realm of his original body, that he lost control and was instantly attacked!

If the Wisdom Dharma King were to actually enter the Li River and melt the blood of all living beings in the entire Li Country, turning them into one, wouldn't he attain enlightenment and ascend to heaven?

"The moment you got into trouble, the abbot started making plans. He's already flown over there with many Lou Guan masters from Louguan. I think they might be able to seal that clone in time?"

Li Fan shook his head and paced back and forth. "How could it be that simple? The Wisdom Dharma King has now stolen my True Yang Heart and cultivated the Blood Demon Great Path Body. He is already immortal and indestructible! Even a Nascent Soul Stage with ordinary skills would probably be directly possessed by him!"

If he were even more cunning, using only a portion to attract attention while sending out clones via tributary waterways and underground sewers, how could he possibly intercept them all! Sooner or later, they would spread and destroy the world! And what if there were other people interfering...?

"Uh, the clone's signal is lost, no, it's been blocked. A bunch of interference sources suddenly appeared near the Blood River clone and started fighting."

Damn! Only an interference source at the Enlightenment level could cause the system's signal to be blocked! Doesn't that mean a major battle has already begun?! And he's trapped in this desolate wilderness! Besides, these robots in this place are clearly going to cause a major disaster if they're not dealt with properly!

Li Fan was completely dumbfounded. He knew that 'Qingyue's' body was abnormal. Normally, any clone she cultivated would be a demon god-level being like Qiongqi, Guiche, or Guiche. Now, her main body had split in two, and a Thousand-Faced Immortal and an Undying Blood Demon jumped out...

What to do?

What should we do now?

Did the primordial spirit leave the body and fly back?

However, the plan for the primordial spirit to fly back and reclaim the Dao body was based on the premise that the Thousand-Faced Immortal and the Wisdom Dharma King were still locked in a stalemate over the Dao body! But who knew that the Wisdom Dharma King would be so decisive! He simply abandoned the physical body! He grabbed the heart and immediately split it open!

That's really cunning! Blood River has probably merged with quite a few people by now, right? Its primordial spirit flies directly back; is it really a match for the Wisdom Dharma King? Besides, since there are so many powerful figures going all-in over there, if it flies back and gets swept away by a wave of attacks, its primordial spirit will be reduced to ashes...

How about we talk to the Thousand-Faced Immortal first and join forces to suppress the Wisdom Dharma King? But the chances of that happening are slim, aren't they? The Thousand-Faced Immortal has been so vehemently criticizing us, and now he's just holed up in some remote mountain village, clearly not wanting to get close to the Wisdom Dharma King! Damn it...

"That's right! The sword! Where's my sword?! Where's the Tai Sha Sword Embryo? And where's my Kun?"

"The sword embryo is still inside the main body. Kun was swept away by the Blood River, and now we have lost its signal."

Wow! If we mess this up, even Kun can't save us!

"Anyway, I've sent you the coordinates from both sides. Figure out how to handle this mess, Li Fan! I'm confident you can handle this small matter!"

"The Legion's signal is approaching! Rat-a-tat-tat, tat...-tat!"

"Beep beep!"

Li Fan ripped off the helmet and put it on the legion hacker's head before flying back into his clone. Just then, the Shanshan altar master, the Saintess king Kuro Laina, the Northern Court saintess Zhang Yanzhi, and a blood puppet slave, who had been subdued by the legion Octopus-headed Sergeant spirit clone, all walked in together.

Blood Puppet bowed respectfully, "Greetings, Qiongqi Demon God. May I ask what brings you here to command me?"

Li Fan's heads stared at him for a while, the anger and murderous aura emanating from him causing the three of them to tremble.

But Li Fan suppressed his anger and pulled a pot out of his pocket.

"Your goal is this, isn't it?"

The sergeant's blood puppet's eyes lit up. "Exactly! I've heard that the Demon Lord desires to be granted the God Lord Jade to establish his own altar and dojo. If you're willing to hand this over to my sect, those things will naturally be within your grasp!"

"There's one more thing to add." Li Fan stared at him, "To prevent you from turning your backs on me after I hand over the goods, and from using your primordial spirit technique to control me, turning me into a slave who obeys your every command, like that old dried corpse."

I need to know how to break the Divine Cult's method of controlling the primordial spirit, so I don't have to worry about being possessed by your Sect Leader, the Dharma King, at any time. This request isn't unreasonable, is it? Don't tell me there isn't such a secret manual! If you're constantly worried about being possessed by those around you and turned into a blood puppet, your Divine Cult simply can't unite and organize!"

Upon hearing Li Fan's request, Zhang Yanzhi and the sergeant exchanged a glance, while the mummified corpse king obediently shrank its neck, saying, "I have important matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave now."

Seeing that the Corpse King had slipped away and the Saintess showed no sign of leaving, the sergeant remained silent for a moment, glanced at the pot in Li Fan's hand, and then chuckled, patting his chest.

"Yes, I wouldn't call it a secret manual, but it's a very useful technique."

Then he held up three fingers.

"Once a body has been tried to be possessed three times without success, it can no longer be used for physical liberation."

Li Fan frowned and looked at Zhang Yanzhi.

The Saintess, observing the situation, took out a blood-red copper coin from her pouch and replied...

"Indeed, Demon Lord, please look. This is the Blood Coin of my Divine Cult. This coin is a magical coin made by extracting the essence and blood of barbarians from the Western Regions and sealing their souls. The initiation ceremony for members of the Divine Cult requires swallowing three Blood Coin and fasting for twenty-one days, during which time they can only drink water. In fact, this is equivalent to being possessed three times."

The sergeant chimed in, "Although there are occasional unlucky ones who get possessed, most of the supernatural beings have weak primordial spirits. At most, they'll be disturbed by the remnant ghosts and have nightmares for seven days, erasing their memories. After repeating this three times, they naturally won't have to worry about being possessed by the elders of the sect in the future."

Li Fan frowned. "It's that simple?"

Zhang Yanzhi nodded and then shook his head. "It is simple, but this fasting is voluntary. Only those who have been selected since childhood, or those who have sincerely joined my religion and worship my god, will voluntarily participate in this ritual."

Those rogue cultivators who come only to trade Cultivation Method, or those who infiltrate the demonic sects within our sect, may possess astonishing abilities, and might even be able to impersonate the supreme beings of our sect without being exposed.

But they don't even deign to worship our religious deity, so how could they possibly observe a strict 21-day fast and know the intricacies of this practice?"

Li Fan beckoned over the Blood Coin, and upon careful examination, he indeed found a tiny bit of remnant soul within it.

But twenty-one days is too much... no, come to think of it, he seems to have already been possessed twice by Zhang Dali and Lu Zhihui, right?

... But seven days is way too long! In seven days, the Li Country will have long since turned into a sea of blood, won't it?

"Are there any other methods? Something faster? Preferably something that works immediately, with immediate results?"

"Yes, I have."

The sergeant suddenly smiled and pointed at Zhang Yanzhi.

"With the protection of the remnant soul of the Saintess, no Venerable Lord can harm you with their primordial spirit technique."