Playing Dead

From Kun's perspective, only a moment had passed before the blood talisman, which seemed to be an inescapable net covering the Inner Landscape of the divine court, crumbled and scattered into countless stardust fragments, falling like scarlet petals and raining down blood.

In this gust of bloody wind, the clones of blood demons scattered with a whoosh. The out-of-control, festering flesh and blood, mixed with the bones of countless humans and beasts, surged forth like a mountain torrent and a mudslide, spreading across the divine court, creating a scene resembling a hellish inferno.

Amidst this blood-soaked mud, the headless demon body, which had been raising its right hand to its heart like withered tree branches and coral skeletons, suddenly stretched out its left hand, resembling a withered fork, from between its bones and grasped at the void.

The stalemate was broken in an instant, and the Tai Sha Sword Embryo was swiftly seized by the blood-red palm!

Kun was shocked! Kun inhaled a super blast of air!

However, aside from almost sucking up a bloody sludge, it was of no use. This time, the sword embryo actively obeyed the summons and flew into that bloody hand.

Then, with its withered left hand, it reversed its grip and plunged the black sword it was holding into the body's torso.

A silent, demonic roar suddenly erupted, and with a whoosh, blood gushed from every pore of the withered body! Like a red tide, it swept the surrounding blood, mud, and flesh far away.

As a result, the deep purple orb on the crown of this body lost its blood supply and vanished in an instant. The vacuum field disappeared along with it, and the raised right hand twitched, pulling its hand back and stuffing the half-rotten True Yang Heart into its bosom.

And so the withered tree came back to life, its dry, blood-red form became plump again, new buds slowly sprouted on its branches, bloomed with night-blooming cereus, bore fruit, and grew a new human head.

Blood essence was reconstituted, and the Dao body was rebuilt. What finally appeared before Kun was a boy covered in blood, emaciated, as if he had just crawled out of a blood-soaked hell.

Li Fan won.

The nervous Kun finally rolled its eyes, leaped onto Li Fan's shoulder, and panted with its tongue lolling out.

Li Fan was also exhausted, not only mentally, but also physically. His True Yang Heart, Great Dao Body, and Tai Sha Sword Embryo were all completely worn out, and his Dao Breath was depleted. He didn't have time to clean up and rebuild the blood demon flesh in the Divine Court, so he just slumped there panting.

In the battle within that subconscious space, he managed to destroy Lu Ya's primordial spirit.

Of course, to outsiders, it seems that the Wisdom Dharma King went through so much trouble and made such a big scene, but in the end, he failed at the last minute, his possession failed, and his soul was scattered in an instant, just like a mentally challenged person.

As the person directly involved, Li Fan truly died seventeen or eighteen times, seizing every opportunity to stab Lu Ya countless times before finally killing him.

To be honest, it had been a long time since he had been knocked out of the second stage. Being suddenly defeated was quite disorienting. Now that he had returned to the Divine Court and felt the lost power, Dao Breath, and true Qi flowing back into his body, Li Fan couldn't help but touch his neck, feeling utterly exhausted.

While regulating his breathing, Li Fan turned his head to look at his side. His divine court was a swamp of blood. The last memory illusion involving 'Xuantian' that Lu Zhihui had shown him earlier had disappeared.

Unfortunately, he still didn't know the true identity of Seventh Friend.

Because Li Fan did not integrate Lu Ya's soul at all.

After all, the other party's intention was to merge their primordial spirits and seize dominance. Li Fan naturally couldn't bear to let such a hidden danger be integrated into his own soul. So, in the end, he was blinded by rage and ignored the other party's cries and pleas, only stopping when he had completely destroyed the beast.

Actually, Lu Ya also involved a flashback, likely due to the dissipation of his primordial spirit, reflecting many memories. However, Li Fan had no time for such distractions; he was focused solely on stabbing, relentlessly stabbing until Lu Ya died. He probably missed many crucial plot points...

But now is not the time to relax and enjoy the plot. The calamity of death is the time for our doom to come, the kind where we might actually die. And this is only the beginning.

"Ugh, where did the reinforcements from Ink Bamboo Mountain go? Can't I at least get a break during halftime...?"

Li Fan flicked the Kun off his shoulder with a 'humph,' pulled out the sword embryo stuck in his liver, gripped it in his hand as if it were a sharp knife, and stared fiercely at the demon gods' sons who had fallen from the sky like meteorites, invading his divine court and plunging into the sea of blood.

One, two, three... Good heavens, every single one of them is a demonic disciple at the Nascent Soul Realm. A whole dozen of them came in and even circled around him. Taking advantage of Lu Ya's death and the collapse of the blood sphere formation outside, they seized the opportunity before Li Fan had time to control his Dao body, abandoning their demonic bodies and sending their primordial spirits out of their bodies to rush in and compete with him for his Dao body!

That makes sense. The Blood Demon Great Path Body is immortal and indestructible. As long as he doesn't want to die, no one in this world can kill him. So naturally, the only way is to destroy his primordial spirit!

"Don't be afraid! Let's attack together! No matter how powerful he is, he can't kill us all!"

The demons brandished purple lightsabers, each wielding a sword, and cautiously approached Li Fan from all directions as they trudged through the blood swamp.

Li Fan examined the lightsabers they were wielding closely. "Exorcism Sword Intent... You were really trained by 'Xuantian'?"

None of the demons answered him. These demons were in human form, made of black charcoal, and held Sword Light that slayed demons. Some held them high above their heads, some held them horizontally in front of their chests, and some hid their swords behind their backs. Perhaps not all of them were skilled in swordsmanship, but each of them clearly had their own set of refined swordsmanship that they could use to fight desperately in critical moments.

Li Fan glanced at the dagger-like Tai Sha Sword Embryo in his hand, smiled, switched to his right hand to grip the sword embryo, and bent over.

"Fine! Come on, die!"

"A Sword Prison of Ten Thousand Feet!"

"Heavenly Net Secret Sword!"

"Sword Formation in All Directions!"

There's no need to doubt this or that anymore; the one impersonating 'Xuantian' must be one of the Beichen Sword Sect! Because these twelve demonic disciples actually set up three Beichen Sword Array! Sword Light filled the sky and the ground, in all directions, first blocking off any escape routes to prevent Li Fan from escaping using Blood Escape Technique, then the layers upon layers of interwoven Sword Light launched a coordinated attack! The demonic disciples also wielded the secret sword intent of the Sword Sect, the divine and demon-slaying primordial spirit sword intent, directly piercing towards Li Fan's vital points, leaving him no way to avoid it!

"Vacuum Home! Black Hole Sword Breaker!"

Li Fan roared, copying the moves on the spot. He raised his left hand high, and the purplish-black spherical force field in his palm unfolded once more! In an instant, it bound the myriad Sword Light were slashing towards Li Fan's head and neck, preventing them from escaping!

None of them had ever seen such a bizarre move before. The demons, who were charging forward with their swords, were momentarily startled. At the same time, they felt a tremendous gravitational pull, and instinctively stopped in their tracks, sheathing their swords to protect themselves. They paused for a moment! And this was exactly the moment Li Fan had been waiting for!

"Die, die, die--!"

The Vacuum Home flashed by in his left hand! Li Fan seized the opportunity to charge forward, his right sword embryo piercing the throat of the fearsome demon, killing one first!

"What are you afraid of! Kill him!!!"

"Let's give it our all!!!"

The demons reacted quickly, roaring as they leaped forward in unison!

"Vacuum!"

Li Fan stretched out his left hand and roared! Sure enough, he startled another one, so he rushed forward and ripped open the demon's belly with his sword, killing another one!

"His magic is useless now!"

While the sword embryo in Li Fan's hand was still being opened, the third demonic disciple swung his sword straight at Li Fan's throat.

"Hometown!"

However, Li Fan blocked with his left hand, and the Vacuum Home bloomed. The purple sphere flashed for a moment, absorbing the incoming Sword Light into it, and even the demon's arm was pulled into the void and directly strangled! Li Fan retaliated and struck the demon with two more sword strikes, killing him instantly!

Unfortunately, Li Fan's magical power was now depleted, and his sudden attack only resulted in the killing of three people.

At this moment, the other demons had already charged forward with their swords, one slashing and another stabbing, completely surrounding Li Fan. They even went so far as to grab his waist and pull his legs, not giving Li Fan any room to move or dodge!

"Seal his hands!" "Take his knife!" "My damn horse!"

Li Fan roared and fought fiercely with the nine demonic disciples who rushed at him! They rolled and fought in the blood swamp! Stabbing, stabbing, stabbing!

When ten demonic disciples engage in such close combat, sword techniques and formations become utterly useless; it's all about stabbing and thrusting! Stabbing and stabbing! Killing the enemy with swords, knives, fists, and teeth!

There was no elegance of sword fighting, no grace of magical duels, only pure, life-or-death slaughter, screams and rolling in the blood. Stab! Stab! Stab! Kill! Kill! Kill!

Kill! Kill! Kill!

Kill! Kill! Kill!

"Kill! Kill! Again! Again, fuck the hell out! Anyone who wants to kill me, come at me!"

Li Fan stabbed the last demon son to death and struggled to crawl out from the pile of corpses.

His body was covered in countless sword wounds, and his head was pierced through countless times. But to be honest, although the Exorcism Sword Intent cultivated by these demonic children could injure his primordial spirit, it was still a bit too weak to kill his primordial spirit with just a few moves.

To be honest, being stabbed around by a few demons only slightly dampened Li Fan's spirits, but being killed by Lu Ya several times probably lowered his limits...

"Hoo hoo... Is there any more? Bring it all on! Damn!"

Li Fan was sitting on a small hill made up of the corpses of the demons, meditating and preparing to absorb the primordial spirits of these demons who had inexplicably come to his door and died, as nourishment to replenish himself, when suddenly Li Fan felt a chill and an overwhelming sense of crisis arose!

What's going on? What's with this sense of crisis? Is someone lurking in the shadows? But it was clearly twelve demonic children who infiltrated...

Li Fan was puzzled for a moment. He stared carefully at the group of demon children's corpses in the blood swamp for a while, and suddenly realized that these demon children's 'corpses' were not soaked in the blood, but were surrounded by blood mud, which did not come into contact with the demon children's corpses at all.

What's going on? Logically, shouldn't the Blood Demon's body have dissolved the demon children's corpses...? Wait, isn't this his divine court? Aren't these demon children in their primordial spirit state? If their primordial spirits are dead and their souls have scattered, where would the corpses come from? And speaking of which, all this flesh and blood on the ground... is also the Blood Demon's...

"Return to Emptiness Heavenly Finger!"

"Blood Talisman God-Sealing Palm!"

Suddenly, the corpses of the demons raised their faces together, and twelve faces emitted brilliant light from their five orifices, transforming into a white palm that pointed a finger at Li Fan's brow!

The blood and flesh scattered on the ground roared and boiled, congealing into a blood-red hand that slammed towards Li Fan's back!

These two moves were incredibly fast and powerful, truly top-tier techniques unleashed by cultivators at the Transformation Stage! Even though Li Fan had a premonition, his body was too exhausted to react in time. He was struck from both ends by the combined finger and palm strikes! He was sent flying, spinning wildly, severely injured and unable to rise again!

Then the demon's corpse on the ground and the blood and mud all over the ground gathered together, forming two opposing human figures, one black and one red.

"Oh, so the Dharma King wanted to escape this calamity. Great minds think alike!"

"Hehehe, likewise, Abbot, it's been many years, how have you been?"

... Holy shit...

Li Fan lay on the ground, tilting his head to stare politely at the two deities. After a while, he understood everything.

Lu Ya! He's not dead!

What Li Fan killed was still the Blood Demon's clone!

This guy knew it would be difficult to escape from the four Dao Lords! To comprehend the Dao under their noses was a pipe dream! So he simply faked his death! He disguised himself as a piece of disintegrating blood and mud, intending to continue to lurk inside Li Fan's body when Li Fan reconstructed his Dharma body, thus escaping the watchful eyes of the four Dao Lords in the sky!

The other one, the one called the Abbot, was not bald, but an old Daoist priest in black robes with white hair and a youthful face. He had a string of twelve fleshy bumps on his neck, which at first glance looked like Buddhist prayer beads, but upon closer inspection, they turned out to be the faces of demons!

This guy, could he be...?

As if he had heard everything, the fleshy-tumored Daoist priest turned his head, bowed to Li Fan, and

"I am Lu Hansheng, the former abbot of Lou Guan."

Holy crap, who else could it be!

It really is Lu Hansheng, Nangong Seven Thieves!

This guy clearly had the same plan! He wanted to pretend that the demon child was defeated by Li Fan, and then hide inside Li Fan's body to seize control once the Devil Embryo was absorbed!

How come none of those damn guys are dead?! And why are they all popping up again now... Ah! Isn't that guy's look like...?! Turns out he's not a monk! He's a Daoist priest!

Lu Hansheng nodded.

"Fellow Daoist Qingyue is not mistaken. I secretly hid a fragment of my soul within a magic treasure and gifted it to the peak masters of the nine peaks of Bamboo Mountain, so that in case of emergency, I could borrow the power of my sect's disciples to dissolve their souls."

The sword pellet in the hands of Zhao Jingtai, a disciple of Qingting Peak, is one of my treasured possessions. Unfortunately, that junior would rather Daoist Tradition severed than help me, and even committed suicide, causing my remnant soul to be sealed for too long and become incomplete. That bastard Feng A then resealed it, almost delaying many important matters.

However, fortunately, Fellow Daoist Qingyue helped me break the seal in the end. As expected, you are the Dao Ancestor who will greatly revive my Dao!

Li Fan was stunned. "I'll help you?... Lao Liang! What did you do to Lao Liang?! No, that's not right... Lao Liang was the only one who survived... Could it be...?"

Lu Hansheng smiled. "That's right. Actually, it's always been me. Now, with the help of Fellow Daoist Qingyue and the Nangong Family, I have finally awakened. Now, it's time to help Fellow Qingyue awaken."

So that's what the abbot was sealing when he touched Old Liang's head...

Lu Ya coughed twice. "Master Lu, are you perhaps going to try and take this Dao body from me? We had an agreement beforehand that this Demon Child Dao body would be mine to use."

Lu Hansheng looked at Lu Ya, "Your Majesty, our original agreement was that the Divine Sect would assist my general in seizing the Immortal Palace's territory. In return, we could give you one of the descending demonic children to use."

"My Nangong Family has plenty of demonic offspring now, as many as you want, so why should you compete with me for the nineteenth one?"

Lu Ya laughed, "We're all sensible people, so let's not waste time on this nonsense. Our Divine Sect will definitely have the Tai Su Dao firmly in our grasp. As long as the Abbot supports us, I will definitely Sect Leader and all the Dharma Kings to help rescue your general from the Three Realms Immortal Prison. What do you say?"

"No need to worry, the general has been rescued! Luo Sheng Jimie!"

Lu Hansheng loudly, and all thirteen faces opened their eyes and mouths at the same time, releasing a blinding white light, and then rose up together! They blasted towards Lu Ya!

"Blood God Child Great Law!"

Lu Ya also let out a long roar, using his Blood Shadow Godly Movement Speed to escape!

Two humanoid figures, one white and one red, flew and chased each other within Li Fan's divine court, their dazzling light striking the ground with the speed of shooting stars!

Li Fan gritted his teeth, straightened his broken neck, pushed himself up, and bit his gums, his whole being ignited by suppressed rage!

"Kill you... kill you all... True Yang Transforms Evil!!"