In Motion

Lou Guan is finally going to make his move? Yay! The all-out war is finally about to begin!

Lou Guan is undoubtedly very strong, having been recognized and accepted by the Twelve Countries Nine Great Xuan Sects and rising to power under the pressure and attacks of the Nangong Seven Friends. Moreover, to be fair, this strength is mainly due to the management of the sect leader and has nothing to do with Li Fan, who has suddenly risen to prominence in the last ten years or so.

However, like most old Xuanmen sects, the Lou Guan sect, a typical traditional cultivation sect, is usually difficult for outsiders to truly appreciate in terms of its war potential.

After all, unlike Li Fan, who was always causing trouble and never staying still, Lou Guan seemed to have very few people. Apart from the abbot, supervisor, and dean, who were high- Cultivation Method with official positions and frequently engaged in sect operations, it seemed like there was no one else. However, it wasn't that there was no one; rather, most of the guardian cultivators were indeed 'guarding' the sect.

After all, excluding extreme cases like Li Fan, the Nascent Soul Realm to the Transformation Stage cannot be rushed. Therefore, many cultivators in Lou Guan truly spend day and night in their assigned Daoist temples, practicing breathing Qi Refinement Stage and refining Qi, engaging in secluded cultivation, and rarely organizing any group activities.

There are many such people in the Xuanmen sect who practice legitimate cultivation. Some of them may stay at home for decades or even centuries without ever leaving their caves. You might never even see them once. You have no idea when they have achieved great mastery of their skills or whether they have already died in their caves...

In other words, people in the mountains really do spend most of their time cultivating immortality. Unless it's absolutely necessary, such as when they're undergoing tribulation, breaking through to the next level, refining pills, or crafting treasures—when the "time has come"—they rarely go out to do anything for the sect or contribute any productivity.

Even the group that recently went on a trip to the Central Plains for the Peach Banquet, and incidentally broke through the Ten Ultimate Formation, was basically just the abbot leading a group of people who were in a standby state. After all, everyone here is a cultivator, and it's rare for someone to break through to a critical juncture. You kick the door open and drag them out, saying, "Come on! What are you lying down for? Get up and have some fun! Let's eat peaches together!"...

The situation is the same now. The call to destroy mountains and temples has been going on for a month or so, but there are very few people responding. Only Real Person Huang's few Daoist temples, which were originally located in the Ten-thousand-mountains, are more proactive. The others who have been cultivating immortality in the mountains and valleys of various parts of the Li Country all year round are too lazy to move.

This time, the Blood Demon was finally born, causing a massive explosion that shook the heavens and earth. Everyone was awakened by the explosion. Only then did the Abbot have the opportunity to summon all the high- Cultivation Method of Lou Guan Li Fan a general mobilization. He personally delivered the order, and a group of old men stuck at Nascent Soul Stage Perfected Realm reluctantly obeyed the decree.

Specifically, the abbot forcibly assigned tasks: each guardian master had to kill a Divine Transformation demon king or conquer a mountain temple to fulfill the sect's obligation of destroying mountains and temples. Each of the Inner Sect the Real Persons masters also had to kill a Nascent Soul Stage level demon to be considered qualified.

If these sect targets are not met, then Heavenly Treasure or sect missions must be completed to offset the losses with contribution points.

Of course, there are rewards for exceeding the task requirements. For example, when Li Fan came up, he threw out a handful of fairy silk, which made the old men drool with desire.

Moreover, this event was a double whammy of mountain destruction and temple raiding, as well as a major calamity for the sect. Ultimately, it was a good opportunity for cultivators to fight for their destiny and defy fate. Therefore, the Lou Guan cultivators were not reluctant to participate in the event and brought their disciples to the Ten-thousand-mountains to try their luck.

Thus, in the vicinity of Lou Guan Tower these days, one can often see a group of old Daoist Nascent Soul Stage in black robes who are Nascent Soul stage cultivators, followed by two or three young Daoist priests or Daoist boys in Golden Core stage. They carry banners and divination flags, carry swords and ring bells, hold compasses in their hands, and make calculations while traveling south through streets and alleys, flying through the clouds and disappearing into the ground.

Li Fan roughly calculated in his mind that Lou Guan really had a lot of people. He saw sixty or seventy Nascent Soul Stage on the spot, and more were constantly being trained by the abbot after Lu Hansheng.

Why are there so many people?

In fact, there are definitely many. As mentioned before, the descendants of Lou Guan have established temples and monasteries throughout the Li Country. Not only do aristocratic families have Lou Guan in their charitable estates, but local land temples also have Lou Guan.

In Li Country, as long as there are suitable young people for cultivation, they will be selected and tested by the local guardian deity. Moreover, after the death of a disciple of Ink Bamboo Mountain, he can be brought back to the sect. Those who successfully undergo the dissolution of the body are often more talented. Over time, many people will be able to survive the Golden Core Tribulation.

After passing the Golden Core Tribulation and becoming an Inner Sect disciple of Lou Guan, one receives instruction in all techniques. Moreover, there are often two or three Guardian True Persons who personally guide the Inner Sect disciples. Apart from lacking the sect's foundation and magical treasures, these disciples are not much different from ordinary Xuanmen disciples in terms of cultivation methods, skills, and knowledge.

Moreover, even newly recruited disciples at the Golden Core stage can receive tribute from Li Country government of a city or county in the Li Kingdom. Although the sect's salary is small, the Li Country has been peaceful for a long time, and the people are wealthy, so the tribute is quite substantial. As a result, the sect does not need to contribute too many resources to the Divine Transformation, and fellow disciples from Ink Bamboo Mountain often sacrifice themselves to share their flesh, so the authentic cultivators of Lou Guan naturally grow up very quickly.

At least the Inner Sect disciples of Lou Guan have a very high probability of breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm. These new generation Nascent Soul Stage can continue to graduate, and in this way, batches of cultivators grow up, not only accumulating considerable strength, but also penetrating deep into the common people and completely controlling most of the region and population of Li Country.

Watching the groups of black-clad Daoist priests head south, Li Fan sighed, realizing that the strength of Lou Guan's lineage was indeed the main factor in determining the success of Ink Bamboo Mountain.

Compared to them, the Fourteen Peaks are really sparsely populated, and they haven't mastered the new techniques yet. They're basically just cheerleaders waving flags and shouting encouragement on the sidelines, basking in the experience and leveling up.

Expecting these Bamboo Mountain cultivators, who are only slightly stronger than ordinary rogue cultivators, to wipe out the Demon Race's long-standing lair and achieve some epic victory is asking too much of them. After all, the battle lines don't lie; even though the Demon Race's main army was diverted to besiege Luo Feng, Bamboo Mountain still didn't make much progress.

Li Fan got a general idea of what was going on. It had been almost two months; he had already overcome his tribulation, while the Bamboo Mountain group had only managed to conquer two mountain peaks...

What's worse is that, strictly speaking, there was only one. The cultivators of Bamboo Mountain launched a series of battles to defeat the demon horde entrenched in Fei Mountain, kill the demon king, reclaim the mine, and set up a magic array. Many disciples are still searching along the mine tunnels and pits for any remaining scattered demons; they haven't completely suppressed the Fei Mountain area yet.

There was also Mount Fashuang, which Lu Qi fought back alone with just a dog...

Hmm... this battle report does look rather difficult to understand...

Judging from the reply, it seems that Lu Qi got lost while chasing demons in the Fei Mountain Mine, and he just followed Gouzi around aimlessly, probably thinking that Gouzi knew the way back, or at least could smell it?

However, the silly dog didn't recognize it either, and was misled...

Finally, in the pitch black, the man and his dog wandered around aimlessly, somehow managing to bypass Mao Mountain to the west and emerge from Fashuang Mountain!

Beneath the Fanshui River in the Fashuang Mountains lies Yaoguang Cave, the lair of Jade Toad Granny, where a large number of water monsters gather. Meanwhile, the army of land demons is concentrated at the Maoshan South Valley Dojo, confronting the peak masters of Zhushan. After all, the demons know that Fashuang Mountain has the powerful Jade Toad Granny guarding it, and even Mozhu Mountain can't do anything about it. So, brave souls, be brave!

But unfortunately, Jade Toad Granny wasn't actually in her cave at the time! She had teamed up with Li Fan to steal the eggs from Kunlun, and had long since disappeared to digest them somewhere!

As a result, the isolated peak of Fashuang Mountain was left unguarded by any major demons, allowing Lu Qi to swing his club and smash a group of lesser demons to death, set up a magic array, establish a Daoist temple, and achieve the merit of being the first to conquer the mountain!

Well, to put it this way, fate is sometimes quite mysterious...

Regardless, Bamboo Mountain's original plan was to steadily and methodically eliminate the demons one mountain at a time. But now that Lu Qi has bypassed the Demon Race and cut off their retreat, putting himself in danger, it's impossible to let him die.

Thus, without either their own preparations or those of the Demon Race, the cultivators of Bamboo Mountain launched a fierce attack on the Nangu Valley, sending reinforcements to Lu Qi and his dog, aiming to wipe out the demons of both mountains at once.

Now that Lou Guan's cultivators are free to focus their efforts, they can launch a fierce attack on both Mao Mountain and Fashuangshan. Strategically, they should be able to push westward without any major problems.

With so many of Lou Guan's old masters gone, Li Fan felt there was no need for him to join in. Even a trump card should have its own style. Besides, the amount of immortal silk and merit he had given was already excessive; he had to give those Old Taoist a chance to reach their targets.

He could easily kill those trash monsters in the Ten-thousand-mountains with one move, but it wouldn't be very rewarding. It's better to let newcomers like Lu Qi gain experience. He should stay in Ink Bamboo Mountain and focus on infrastructure development, rather than leaving and having his hometown ransacked.

However, since it's rare for the abbot to speak up, Ink Bamboo Mountain has launched a full-scale attack, the Moshan sect certainly can't remain silent.

So Li Fan also acquired a large treasure ship and sailed around Moshan, Lunzhě Mountain, and Lei Marsh, gathering a large group of his Moshan disciples. Roughly speaking, there were quite a few people.

Li Family Village Elementary Class

Lin Chen, Lin Xiang, Li Tangyuan, Song Dayou, Xiang Kong, Xiang Xiaoyu, Nie Feilian, Yan Xiaozhong, Xiang Kong Xiaozheng, Xiao Ling, Kun, Bao

Lei Marsh Advanced Class

Li Moyun, Li Sheng, Chen Asha, Fuling, and other Outer Sect Disciple of the Moshan Gangquan sect who had mastered the Moshan Gangquan.

Nannies and support teams,

Liuyun, Jiyue, Duan Ye, Mountain Master Hua Nu, Xiao Hanzhen (She voluntarily joined the Yan sisters' ranks to do odd jobs; Li Fan doesn't know exactly what she does, maybe serving tea and water...)

This large group of people, led by Liuyun, joined the western expeditionary army in the name of the Moshan Clan to gain experience, increase their combat skills, and pick up some Heavenly Treasure.

Just in case, Li Fan not only arranged for a team of Moshan Iron Guards to protect him, but also lent the Golden Dragon White Star to the Yan sisters for self-defense. He also made hand seals and exhaled pill breath to create the Twin Dragons of Heaven and Earth using the Tai Su Qiankun Universe, allowing the twin dragons to coil up on the treasure ship to guard it.

He originally intended to imitate the Qiongqi Guiche, creating the Qiankun Twin Dragons to protect him. However, after trying it, he found that these two dragons were merely inanimate objects, not living souls. He could only set up an additional magic array on the flying boat to house the twin dragons, essentially creating a simple magic weapon.

By this calculation, this team that was essentially gaining experience had quite a few Nascent Soul Realm warriors. Moreover, each person on the ship was given a Kun Ticket for protection, which could be used as a coordinate for teleportation on the membrane at any time. They were practically armed to the teeth.

Actually, Li Fan originally wanted Qin Nanxin to lead the team, but she had already made up her mind.

Originally, the Emei disciples had the fastest cultivation progress. After surviving the tribulation, receiving the power of the four patriarchs, and cultivating together at the Qiankun Gathering Place in Li Family Village, they accumulated a large amount of cultivation. Qin Nanxin had already recovered to the Golden Core Perfection cultivation level and began to cultivate the first stage of the Heavenly Silkworm Skill, using this opportunity to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm.

Since it was rare to find someone who could keep up with his progress and offer some small assistance, Li Fan naturally wouldn't delay his Dao Companion's cultivation opportunities. So, he arranged for the Yan sisters to lead the Moshan disciples to the Ten-thousand-mountains for training.

With everyone in Moshan gone and the system still out of contact, and Xuantian busy forging swords, Li Fan was bored and went to find Lu Xing to complete the quest and return the mecha weapon he had pulled out of the Kun's belly.

"This divine weapon has been used up too much in a hundred battles and was also controlled by the Blood Demon. When I found it, it had fallen into a deep sleep. However, I think the War Martial God in this armor is quite easy to talk to. He is not the kind of madman who goes berserk at the drop of a hat. If we can win him over, he will be a fighting force and can also help my Ink Bamboo Mountain train troops."

"It's rare that you, Junior Sister Lu, have the ability to reforge a divine weapon. I wonder if you could help it reshape its Dao body?"

Lu Xing has already started using those multi-legged Mechanical Puppet that are convenient for production and research. The upper body is a puppet, and the lower body is a mechanical assembly, making it look like a half-spider succubus, which is quite bizarre.

Of course, with Lu Xing's resume, and now working as a mechanical arts trainee in the Celestial Immortal Secret Realm under Du Gongshi, he was not lacking in divine weapons and combat physique, so he nodded in agreement.

"Since the Grand Master has spoken, I will help maintain and repair it, and reshape this Shangfang Divine Weapon."

"Thank you. By the way, I wonder where the Lu Family obtained this divine weapon? Are there any other remnants of Martial God souls that can be repaired? I have many parts of Immortal Tomb Guards that I picked up on the road that I can use. There are plenty of materials!"

Lu Xing, "Is this something you can just pick up anywhere...? This remnant of the Martial God was obtained by my elder brother from the Liqiu Palace, so it should be unique, right?"

Li Fan was taken aback. "Did you get this from the Liqiu Palace?"

Lu Xing, "Yes, back then, the Sanyuan supported the Li clan's maternal relatives and usurped the throne of Li Country. The Li family line replaced the Nangong and became the royal family of Li Country. This divine weapon is the Li clan's family heirloom, the helmet used by their ancestor and such."

A few years ago, when the Liqiu Palace was being rebuilt, many ancestral halls were demolished. The armor enshrined in the Ancestral Hall was taken out and sold by the eunuchs on duty. My elder brother recognized it as the divine armor of the Three Enclosures, so he bought it and modified it into the outer shell of Mechanical Puppet. I think it cost eight thousand strings of cash. Little did he know that there was a remnant soul of Martial God inside."

Li Fan, "..."

Oh dear, after all that, they ended up bringing back an ancestor...

"By the way, senior brother, ah, the Grandmaster..."

"It's alright, it's alright, let's each do our own thing. Junior sister, if you have any other tasks, just let me know."

"Yes, I heard that Senior Brother suppressed the Blood Demon this time?"

"What? Junior sister wants fairy silk too?"

"No, to be honest, my elder brother told me some secrets about the Lu Family. In fact... my father, my brothers, and the ancestors of the Lu Family were actually disciples of the Divine Cult!"

"... That's for sure..."

Lu Xing's face remained expressionless, but her Divine Sense fluctuations clearly revealed her shock.

"I only knew that the Lu Family had been officials of the craft for generations. I never imagined that they were also involved with the Divine Cult. I heard that my senior brother was asked by me to go and capture the divine weapon, which is why he was almost possessed by the Blood Demon!"

I thought about it again and again, and realized that if I had told my senior brother about this matter immediately, perhaps you wouldn't have been tricked like this. I feel really bad if I don't tell you."

"... It's alright, it's alright, don't worry about it. Junior sister, you are a disciple of the Heavenly Craft Peak of my Ink Bamboo Mountain. These things have nothing to do with you."

Blood Demon is nothing compared to this; he just got too carried away and crashed...

"Senior brother is so magnanimous, Lu Xing is truly ashamed."

Feeling even more ashamed, Li Fan quickly changed the subject.

"By the way, the Craftsman? The official in charge of the Heavenly Crafts? I've heard of him, the Imperial Order, right? It seems that many cultivator families on Heavenly Craft Peak migrated from the Three Enclosures to the Heavenly Crafts."

Lu Xing nodded and explained, "My Lu Family can also be considered part of the Heavenly Crafts lineage, but we are not the Heavenly Craftsmen of the Imperial Household Department Imperial Order and the Imperial Workshop. They are mainly responsible for the Wang Family supplies, ceremonial objects, ceremonial weapons, precious swords and armor, and precious carriages and palanquins of the Ziwei Yuan. My family was the Arsenal Manager of the Taiwei Yuan Enclosure back then, supervising the manufacture of heavenly soldiers and weapons for the celestial army."

It is said that the Lu Family once built siege weapons for the Immortal Venerable, breaking through the Demon Emperor's royal city and making unparalleled contributions. However, later, the clan members were involved in the internal strife of the imperial court, and were reduced to having their property confiscated, being exiled, and their wives and children separated. Only one orphan survived from the huge family. In order to avenge the Immortal Palace, he became a disciple of the God Lord. It is said that he is one of the God Lord's personal disciples and a figure of the level of the Ten Ultimate Venerables.

Lu Ya's background is so powerful...

Lu Xing said, "In the past, Father only taught us the art of mechanisms and never told Lu Qi and me about the family secrets. It was because, according to the rules, we illegitimate children were to be offered to the ancestor as blood puppets to become the reincarnation of the Dharma King. Lu Qi was his legitimate son and was to carry on the family line. He was afraid that if Lu Qi's cultivation was too outstanding, he would be targeted by the Blood Demon."

Sigh, now I don't know whether I should thank him or resent him...

However, I heard that Lu Qi has recently rendered meritorious service to his sect, which is largely thanks to his teachings. Although I have inherited the family's art of mechanical weapon construction... it's just a pity that Lu Xing can only barely repair some well-preserved mechanical puppets now. Many blueprints and classic texts are missing, and many Ancient Immortal Palace divine weapons cannot be restored or recreated."

"Ancient books?"

"Yes, the Lu Family's collection of engineering knowledge is already quite comprehensive, but regarding the military equipment of that time, dozens of volumes of secret manuals on mechanisms, such as <The Azure Pearl of Things>, <The Origin of Things>, and <The Craftsmanship Classic>, have been lost. Many of these contain illustrations of divine weapons from the Immortal Palace era and secret methods for manufacturing large-scale military equipment. It is likely that they were scattered when the family was raided and did not survive, which is truly a pity."

"Oh, now that you mention it, I've collected tens of thousands of books. You can go and see if there's anything you want."

"... How many?"

"Seventy or eighty thousand books, they've all been thrown into the academy, I think they're ancient books from the Xiao Family's collection..."

"The Xiao Family? The Xiao Family of Lanling! The Xiao Clan that produced the first Grand Tutor of the Three Palaces?! Their collection of ten thousand books?! Isn't that the Lantai Library of Duke Xiao Zan?! You think you can just pick them up like that?!"

Lu Xing leaped up, her eight legs kicking wildly, and she scrambled through the ceiling to escape the secret realm, probably heading to the library to reserve a spot...