The Fishing Grounds

An incident at the fish farm branch base is a major event. Li Gan from the twin system was also summoned by Li Fan to inspect the fish farm's technological oversights.

"It shouldn't have anything to do with the clients. When we modulate genetic code to create Bio-Human and synthetic beasts, we attach genetic lock codes and self-destructing virus groups. These artificial organisms lack key pheromones and cannot naturally hybridize with Creatures from another world to produce offspring. Even if they die, their corpses are difficult to degrade, so there shouldn't be a biochemical crisis like a virus leak or mutation."

As for our customers, they have indeed bought quite a few fishing vehicles, but those things aren't for experiencing life; they're for making meat machines."

"McGrown chicken?"

"It's Puppet Terminal, a human robot, an electronic ghost, a hacker's special prosthetic body. You know that hacking into private terminals and launching puppet attacks is illegal, right? It's inevitable that it will leave a link path. If the Public Security System traces it back and finds it, it will revoke the citizenship. So when hacking into the system, you need to prepare several Puppet Terminal to disguise yourself."

When linking Quantum Network, a large number of botnets are used to bridge and hide their tracks. Some Deep Web websites even use subsystems of botnets as servers. This way, if they are tracked down by Nine Departments, they can immediately physically shut down the botnets, terminate their brains, cut off their links, and erase all data records. It's very convenient.

Look at this desolate area, even the virtual Quantum Network connection has a slight delay. Moreover, it's an internal test plane that the company doesn't open to the public. It takes the Public Security System a while to check, and even if they find it, they have to apply for an investigation through the Seven Departments and the company's law firm. It's a natural safe haven.

Moreover, our puppets are at the Nascent Soul Realm, with enormous brain capacity and off-the-charts link strength, making them top-tier puppet bots. Even if they're not used for link intrusion, they're highly efficient for mining. We've already converted the bots that aren't selling yet into mining farms, and the profits are pretty good."

"... Mining? Mining farm?"

"Algorithm data collection, hey, it's basically money laundering. It uses cumbersome, complex, and hard-to-trace virtual transactions to create fake money chains, a method to evade the Tax Bureau. Companies all have these virtual ledgers... Oh, I think I've discovered a security vulnerability."

A screen flashed before Li Fan's eyes, displaying footage captured by a monitoring drone at the fish farm.

It turns out the problem really did lie with the feed factory. The fish feed produced by the system was made primarily from 'Non-Thing' like the Evil Coral, combined with some Heavenly Treasure and secret recipes from the Ink Bamboo Mountain. Of course, the fish feed itself was under strict supervision.

Although the waste from the production process was processed, some residue was always left behind and dumped at the base of the Evil Coral. The intention was for the coral to absorb the waste, but now it seems that some of it has been consumed by fish and shrimp.

"Your site doesn't meet the environmental impact assessment standards."

"Hey, industrial production always produces byproducts. As long as they don't decompose naturally, it's fine, right? Why build a separate waste disposal site? That would attract too much attention. Burying them directly under the coral is the safest option. Besides, look, they've still come looking for you. Looks like someone's watching you."

Li Gan fast-forwarded the video and, sure enough, saw someone sneaking under the cover of night, swimming to the seabed to steal the waste dumped by the system. Moreover, this was clearly not a random underwater treasure hunt; this person had a special magical artifact to conceal their presence, avoiding interference from the outer island protection array, and skillfully navigating the seabed coral to dig and collect the materials from the bottom. It was obvious that they had come prepared.

Li Fan immediately paused the video, scanned the system data, and frowned.

He wasn't a monster, but a cultivator from the South China Sea. Moreover, the Cultivation Method he used when he submerged to the bottom of the sea was the <Gui Xu Profound Darkness Inner Breath Circulation>, which Li Fan had helped improve.

They are members of the Mo family.

This <Gui Xu Profound Darkness Inner Breath Circulation> was originally the Cultivation Method of the North Sea Navy of the Kan Country. The ancestors of the Mo family of the Kan Country fled to the South Sea, and the Mo clan used this method to cultivate their inner breath and go deep into the sea to collect pearls. It also became a family-inherited naval Cultivation Method.

Later, through dual cultivation and exchanges between Mo Hainiang and Qingyue, and by learning from each other and deducing the techniques, Li Fan incorporated the principles of meridian circulation and the Foundation Establishment of the Overlord Body, thus improving the Cultivation Method to a certain extent.

Now that he's trying to win over the Mo family to manage his fishing grounds, Li Fan naturally doesn't trust their amateurish skills as independent cultivators. So, in addition to giving them the Huan family's secret manuals, he personally taught them some Ink Mountain Fist, and shared some Immortal Emperor's Records and Ling Shu Suwen and other secret manuals. In this way, the upper limit of the <Mo Family Gui Xu Profound Darkness Skill> Cultivation Method has been raised from the Golden Core realm to the Nascent Soul Realm.

Mo Hainiang has now broken through to the Nascent Soul Realm by cultivating this method, while Mo Qiongya has reached the Golden Core Perfection Realm. There are also members of the Mo family who have learned and improved the Cultivation Method and broken through to the Golden Core Realm.

There is now video evidence showing that someone within the Mo family secretly dug up waste materials and sold them through maritime trade.

After a quick examination, Li Fan discovered that as soon as the waste materials left the South China Sea, someone had obscured their whereabouts and interfered with their journey. Now that they could block his view, he knew that these things had probably fallen into the hands of the Three Great Sects. It seemed that the fishing grounds were indeed being secretly watched.

A mole...

In fact, Li Fan was not surprised at all by this situation. The Three Great Sects, especially the Xuanmen, were the most fond of planting traitors. Don't be fooled by those old Xuanmen who stayed in the mountains all day long. They were not oblivious to the outside world. Most of them were cunning old men who were secretly passionate. When they could no longer comprehend their own Dao, they would undergo physical transformation and reincarnate, pretending to be stupid and young, and go to other sects to steal secret manuals and true teachings.

Li Fan currently riding high, and with E Shenyu being a new power with a constant flow of people, it's perfectly normal for other factions to send spies. Moreover, it's not just the fishing grounds; since Ink Bamboo Mountain joined the Xuanmen, so many refugees and rogue cultivators have come from the north, and Tianyu Peak has been completely reorganized, so there are probably many traitors who have infiltrated the area.

However, Ink Bamboo Mountain's foundation was too shallow, and its sects were limited by the timing of events, using ancient methods that the Xuanmen (Daoist sects) looked down upon. The sect leader's reputation was not great in the past, so naturally, people looked down on his little tricks. But now, with the help of Hengshan and the Divine Sect, Qingyue's name is gradually spreading throughout the world, and more and more old Xuanmen are starting to scheme against his origins. It seems that those powerful figures are also gradually eyeing his teachings, trying to secretly steal his opportunities.

Li Fan thought about it and felt that this was indeed an opportunity.

Now that the rise of the Tai Su Dao is so obvious, cultivators all over the world must be looking for a way out. Ink Bamboo Mountain is still very weak. Instead of hiding it and engaging in some pointless internal strife and suppression, it would be better to teach others how to fish and spread the Tai Su Dao.

After all, the more Li Fan studied his system chip, the more he realized how terrifying the generational gap between civilizations was. Even if he had a bunch of cheat codes and reigned supreme in the Taiji Realm, in the company's eyes he was at most just a tiger in a zoo.

Only by having as many talented people as possible join the exploration of the Tai Su Dao can we possibly overtake others and avoid being destroyed by the civilization on the other side of the gate in the blink of an eye.

Such top talents are indeed rare, and most of them have already joined the Three Great Sects. Rather than killing these Transformation Stage and only to feel a little better, it would be better to pass on the Tai Su Dao to them and transform these old men of the old era into pioneers of the new era.

If these people learn the Way of Tai Su and can integrate it with the methods of the Xuanmen (Mysterious Sect), that would naturally be the best outcome. While there might not be many geniuses like Xuan Tian, they'd still be better than those weaklings who couldn't even defeat a single opponent, right?

Of course, if you simply hand over the secret book you have, people probably won't dare to take it. As the saying goes, buying is not as good as robbing, robbing is not as good as stealing, and stealing is not as good as not being able to steal at all...

After some deliberation, Li Fan made up his mind to go find Mo Hainiang and tell her that something had gone missing from the fishing grounds.

Now, Mo Hainiang, who was still young and charming, was naturally shocked. She knew that the Mo family's success today was entirely due to the help of the "Little Brother of Ink Bamboo Mountain" whom she had met by chance. She never expected that someone in her family would be so audacious as to steal the God's things and cause chaos in the world. She immediately called her daughter to ask her about it.

Mo Qiongya has grown up, well, she's grown even bigger. She's tall and strong, with long legs and feet, and a tanned eight-pack, which is quite aesthetically pleasing. Not only is she skilled in swimming, a family tradition, but she's also quite proficient in the Ink Mountain Fist. Perhaps her frequent diving and fighting sea monsters in the big waves has helped her physical training. Now, she seems to have even improved some of the variations in the Ink Mountain Fist, allowing her to grow magical powers in her hands and feet, and gills under her ribs, mimicking the transformations of merfolk. She certainly has some talent for it.

"Qiongya, do you know who is stealing Mountain Lord's things?"

"Steal something? Steal what?"

"It's not necessarily stealing. My fish farm dumps some waste on the coral reef. Do you know who regularly dives in this area?"

Li Fan had already calculated it beforehand and knew who in the Mo family was stealing those scrap materials. At this moment, he pretended not to know and pointed out the sea chart around E Shenyu, asking questions.

"Oh, Uncle Liu's sea lions often come here to collect coral."

Mo Hainiang angrily retorted, "Didn't the Divine Lord forbid anyone from entering or leaving the forbidden areas within the island's array? And how could the sea dog enter the coral array? Don't the merfolk care?! Don't you care?!"

Mo Qiongya felt a little wronged. "We only fish on the outskirts. Sometimes sea monsters sneak in, and the merfolk can't keep up, so we divided up the sea area to help. I didn't know he stole anything."

Li Fan smiled and said, "It's alright. I have no intention of pursuing this matter. Go and call that Mo Haigou here. Those things aren't Heavenly Treasure. It would be bad if they were to pollute the environment if they were to leave." He simply asked Mo Haigou to return what he had stolen, and the matter was considered closed.

"His name isn't Mo Haigou, it's Mo Qiongtian. I'll go and capture him right now to apologize to the Divine Lord."

Mo Qiongya went to arrest the person himself, and Mo Hainiang apologized again. Finding that Li Fan did not intend to blame her, she took the opportunity to ask Li Fan some questions about cultivation, but we will skip that for now.

Meanwhile, Mo Qiongya jumped onto a killer whale mount and rode the waves. In a short while, he left the outer island of E Shenyu and saw a group of Mo family boys grilling fish and drinking alcohol on the reef. They were quite drunk, and Mo Qiongya was immediately furious.

"Fine! You guys went drinking without me!"

"The competitive eater is here!"

"Who are you calling a glutton?! You're asking for it!"

"Hey, Big Sister!" "Hey, Big Sister, eat slowly! Leave some for us!"

Mo Qiongya didn't stand on ceremony; he immediately devoured the grilled fish and shrimp with sweet wine, wiped his mouth, and pointed at the group of youths, saying...

"Where did the sea lions go?!"

The hungry boys chattered amongst themselves, each offering their own interpretation.

"Brother Qiongtian is still practicing his skills underwater and hasn't come up yet."

"The fish is all grilled but hasn't been served yet?"

"Brother Qiongtian sold pearls a few days ago to buy Heavenly Treasure, saying he's preparing to break through to the Golden Core realm."

"Heavenly Treasure?" Mo Qiongya raised an eyebrow, looked at the wine jar in his hand, and then smelled it. "Did he buy this wine a few days ago?"

"Yes, yes, the wine from the Central Plains is truly exceptional." "Brother Qiongtian is truly generous."

"Hmph! Fool!"

Mo Qiongya eyebrows shot up, and he leaped into the sea in a few steps, heading straight for the underwater spiritual vein. Sure enough, there was a brown-skinned youth tempering his bones and strengthening Foundation Establishment body in the underwater spring.

"Mo Qiongtian! You come here right now! Where did you get the money to buy some elixir?! Did you steal it?!"

Relying on her authority as the leader, Mo Qiongya dived down to arrest the person directly, but unexpectedly, Mo Qiongtian suddenly opened his eyes and punched her in the face. The fist energy, mixed with ocean currents, came crashing down, clearly indicating that Qiangqiang had broken through to the Golden Core realm!

"Fur seal!"

Mo Qiongya also threw a punch backhand. As Golden Core cultivator at its peak, she was naturally not afraid of this newcomer. However, Mo Qiongtian took advantage of the turbulent current created by the clash of their fists, turned around, and darted away like an arrowfish, fleeing along the seabed!

"Idiot!"

Mo Qiongya was both surprised and furious to see that the boy had actually run away. He gave chase, but every time Mo Qiongya was about to catch up, Mo Qiongtian would take a secret medicine to speed up his escape. So the two chased each other among the seabed rocks and ended up swimming all the way to the E Shenyu Coral Array.

"There's a large formation ahead, sea lions! Don't run!"

Mo Qiongya abruptly stopped the pursuit, but Mo Qiongtian took out a precious pearl. As soon as the pearl shone, the Evil Coral opened and closed, actually making way for him in the great formation, allowing him to slip into the formation and disappear without a trace.

"You bastard! Don't even think about escaping! Sixteenfold Punch! Activate!"

Mo Qiongya refused to give up so easily. Seeing that the coral was about to close, he gritted his teeth, accelerated at full speed, and rushed into the coral formation.

She knew that the Divine Lord Qingyue had hidden something within the coral formation; ordinary sea monsters that charged into the formation would be reduced to dust and die without a burial place.

At this moment, Mo Qiongya also acted rashly and followed her in. Who would have thought that the terrain inside the formation was so complex that he soon lost sight of Mo Qiongtian. Fortunately, the formation was not activated, and instead, Coral swayed, seemingly pointing her in the right direction.

Mo Qiongya knew that the Divine Lord was protecting her on the island, so she simply put her mind at ease and continued searching along the array path. She discovered that within the coral array was an underwater demon-sealing altar.

Mo Qiongya landed at the entrance of the Demon Sealing Altar, momentarily confused, when suddenly she noticed a flash of light behind her. It turned out that Mo Qiongtian had broken out of the formation and landed behind her.

"Mo Qiongtian! What are you doing! I'm really getting angry!"

Mo Qiongya clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles cracked.

But to her surprise, her former underling now looked at her with extreme indifference and ruthlessness, as if she were looking at an ant.

"... fur seal..."

Mo Qiongya wasn't stupid, just a little dim-witted. No matter how unwilling she was to accept it, she now understood that the young man standing in front of her was no longer the same person.

"Give the seal back!"

Mo Qiongya roared and, accelerated by the Ink Mountain Fist, slammed a high kick into the boy's shoulder, intending to cripple him and capture him alive in one blow.

With a single sidestep, Mo Qiongtian dodged the earth-shattering kick. At the same time, he formed palms with his hands, his Dao Breath energy wrapping around his ten fingers to form ripple-like Qi blades. Then, with a tap of his toes, he flipped over and rushed into Mo Qiongya's close range. His palms flew, slicing through the ocean currents layer by layer. His palm blades danced wildly like knife shadows, and in the blink of an eye, he had cut Mo Qiongya into a bloody mess with his skin torn open.

With a single move, they passed each other, and the outcome was already decided.

Mo Qiongya, his body mangled and bloodied, lay on the seabed, swept away by the current. All his muscles, meridians, and joints had been neatly severed and dismembered, leaving him unable to move even a single finger.

Mo Qiongtian didn't kill her to avoid alarming E Shenyu. Instead, he calculated with his fingers, taking steps that were sometimes high and sometimes low, sometimes deep and sometimes shallow, and stepped into the Demon Sealing Palace.

Li Fan stood in the shadow of the coral reef, glanced at Mo Qiongya had been instantly killed, sighed, and flicked his finger to release a burst of true qi to protect her heart meridian.

The same goes for this one; if you want to take it out into the world, you'll have to train it for hundreds more years.