Polite Conduct

As the Supreme Plain Heavenly Dao Child, the holder of the system cheat, the expert in handling Non-Thing problems, the Xuanmen certified arithmetic master, the mountain lord and giant of Mo Mountain, the Marquis within the pass, and the inheritor of the sword way and kidnapping way of the Beichen Sword Sect.

Li Fan quickly calculated and saw through the scheme involving the turtle jelly.

It wasn't complicated. He kidnapped the Anyang Ting Hou, then volunteered to the Duchess of the County, claiming he could rescue the captor himself. He used this as a stepping stone to advance his career and impress the Grand Tutor. Perhaps it was to get ahead, or perhaps he had ulterior motives and infiltrated the Grand Tutor's inner circle. So far, it seems he has succeeded.

You know, the old Xuanmen's thinking is indeed quite ingenious. The Grand Tutor's divination skills are probably even slightly superior to the Abbot's. Arranging things for him in the Taiji Realm would be as difficult as ascending to heaven, but now that these methods have been deployed to the Tai Su Realm, the Grand Tutor doesn't have Li Fan's ability to roam freely in the Taisu Realm, nor does he have the system's intelligent assistance or the support of Taisu's big data to deduce and calculate the gap planes. He is indeed powerless.

Seeing the turtle jelly bobbing on its head, its eyes darting Fourth Department expectantly, Li Fan sighed.

Alas, although he has mastered great skills over the years and is invincible below the level of enlightenment, he remains cautious and prudent; this is the principle behind playing dumb to outsmart others.

If even the mama's boy Anyang Ting Hou fell into this trap so easily, what can be done about those weaklings of Ink Bamboo Mountain who are easily wiped out generation after generation?

If he still cares about the safety of his fellow Dao Companion and friends, and doesn't want to see them suffer the same fate as Ping'er, then his current abilities are still not enough to protect those around him.

That's just how the world is; when the Three Great Sects fight, they have no bottom line and will stop at nothing.

Who cares if your wife and children aren't implicated? If you reveal a weakness, even if you die, we'll beat you to a pulp without hesitation.

If a lion is even slightly injured, jackals, vultures, and even flies will swarm to it and feast on its flesh.

Once you reach the pinnacle of power like the Grand Tutor, becoming the target of everyone's wrath, all the Conspirer in the world will swarm to attack you. Even if you can defend against the Divine Cult, Hengshan, and Nangong, there are still so many sects and families, various new and old forces, and even the extraterrestrial demon god system all vying for your attention. It's impossible to defend against them all.

Of course, Li Fan had also seriously calculated that if he were to become a heartless and ruthless emperor like Nangong Wubu back then, caring about nothing, he might already be able to use his current abilities to ruthlessly suppress and sweep away the world in a short period of time.

However, that wouldn't be 'peace and tranquility,' but rather 'the battle against the Demon Ancestor.' In the end, there would probably be very few survivors left on this land.

The process and the result are closely related.

To find a path to survival that as many people as possible can climb amidst the competition among various forces is truly a difficult, arduous, and impossible task...

Since he was already there, Li Fan took the opportunity to deduce the layout of the sword formation and try to reverse-engineer the current level of the Tai Su Dao at the Xiandu Temple on Magu Mountain.

Since the rise of the Luo Sect, the Tai Su Dao has spread Central Plains. Although the Luo Sect was later brutally suppressed, various Daoist scriptures have been scattered throughout the world. Although the orthodox sects of Xuanmen do not acknowledge them, just look at that cunning old man who manifested in Penglai and you'll know that they are the ones who are most fiercely fighting for the scriptures.

The Xuanmen, well, how should I put it, are those bastards who want to have their cake and eat it too, wanting both reputation and substance.

They are by no means conservative old fogies; on the contrary, most of them are like Xuantian, who have seen through the vanities of the world and are antisocial psychopaths who can no longer be restrained by morality or law. It's just that most of them are not as outrageous as Xuantian.

Their claims of acting on behalf of Heaven, eliminating demons, and saving the world are just a facade. Don't be fooled by their vehement attacks on the cult; they're all incredibly skilled at wielding the Blood Talisman Sword. And all those ancient demonic sects that have been wiped out throughout history are essentially doing the same thing.

If your entire family is wiped out, you'll be condemned to the demonic path; but if you win, you'll be on the righteous path!

The Xuanmen (Daoist sects) won't stubbornly refuse to learn or acknowledge your teachings just because they think yours are better than theirs. On the contrary, they'll secretly learn your teachings, then kill you and say, "Hey! Your teachings are great, but they're mine now!"

For example, the style of this sword formation is clearly not based on the framework of Xuanmen arithmetic.

Mathematics is the foundation of Daoist magic. Mathematical scriptures of completely different systems will have completely different arrangements and variations in formations. For example, the ancient method of the <Tai Xuan Scripture> is One Mystery, Three Directions, Nine Provinces, and Twenty-Seven Departments, while the modern method of Xuanmen is Two Forms, Four Symbols, and Eight Trigrams.

By analyzing the arrangement of the 343 longswords, Li Fan realized that this array, based on the variable number 777, was clearly based on the Luo Sect's grand formation. The reason it was a base-7 system might be related to the fact that the 'Nangong Seven Thieves' were the ones who witnessed the Thousand-Faced Immortal's descent.

Indeed, whether it's the Luo Sect's methods, the former Moshan Dao, or even the Ink Bamboo Mountain disciples' initiation tradition of Moon Worship before the First Celestial Devil Statue upon entering the mountain, the number of people is always based on forty-nine.

Therefore, it is quite obvious that this sword formation is the result of the study and acquisition of the Luo Sect's Heavenly Book by Magu Mountain, and the evolution of the Tai Su Dao's sword formation based on it. These swords, used as the final formation techniques, have also been modified with the Luo Sect's incantations.

Although it did not directly evolve and utilize evil energy like Emei's Tai Su Qiankun, it seems that Magu Mountain has already deciphered the Luo Sect's incantations and immortal talismans, and has cultivated special wood to make magical sword artifacts that can be used in the Tai Su Realm, and even set up a considerable-scale demon-sealing Magic Treasure!

Wow, the Xuanmen (mystical sects) are really quite skilled at this kind of research into the Great Dao. Indeed, the wisdom of the people of the world should not be underestimated!

Li Fan was greatly inspired by this and simply memorized the sword formation. He also used the Tai Su Dao technique to imitate and improve the Tai Su talisman, which benefited him greatly. He developed a great admiration for this master from Magu Mountain and wanted to learn the Dao from him in person. So he simply revealed himself, casually pointed, and took the initiative to enter the formation to test his sword.

Three hundred and forty-three secret swords were activated instantly, their Sword Light soaring into the sky, showering down like a rain of stars. The entire void was cleaved into a silver river by the crisscrossing sword energy, the Sword Light cascading down like rain from the Milky Way. Li Fan strolled leisurely through the formation, admiring the sword stars. Every now and then, he would flick his sleeve, hurling the Blood God Child like a crimson meteor, shattering the sword Sword Light that crashed down upon him. In an instant, the rain of sword light covered forty-nine steps, breaking through all three hundred and forty-three swords, and he experienced the wonders of this formation.

Impressive! This sword formation is already in its initial stages and can be used immediately. If placed in the Taiji Realm, this formation might not be superior to the sword formation of the Beichen Sword Sect. However, if placed in the Tai Su Realm, those who do not understand the Luo Sect's methods and cannot calculate the changes within the formation would likely suffer severe consequences, even for cultivators at the Divine Transformation stage.

Of course, there is still room for improvement. First, the materials of the magic sword are of poor quality, and it can only hide one Sword Light. It will be destroyed after one use. Second, the Tai Su talisman that improves the Luo Sect incantation is only a preliminary translation. It can only seal the Sword Light and cannot use the evil energy of the Tai Su Realm for its own use. Its power is limited, so it shattered as soon as the Blood God Child touched it.

Thirdly, the design of the sword formation itself is not particularly outstanding, lacking in variation and being overly complicated. It was probably just a matter of using some traditional sect techniques to seal the 'turtle jelly'. The expert probably didn't expect that someone from the Tai Su Realm would come to break the formation.

Before the 'turtle jelly' could react, the sword formation around her suddenly broke, and all 343 magical swords around her turned into torches, burning with an eerie blue light under the deep purple moonlight.

The eyes on the top of 'Guilinggao' instantly revealed great joy, and thousands of faceless mouths appeared, rushing straight towards the black-robed humanoid figure that suddenly appeared in the sword formation!

"Hehehe! You've been tricked--"

Then Li Fan flicked his sleeve, opened his robe, and swallowed the 'turtle jelly' whole, feeling a little better.

Having casually devoured another demon god, Li Fan wasn't in a hurry to leave. He reached out and pulled out a bronze mirror from the ground, heading towards the center of the sword formation, where the demon had been trapped earlier.

This bronze mirror is an inanimate object; its surface is broken and covered with a talisman. Originally, there were inscriptions on the back of the mirror, but now a layer of the Luo Sect secret incantations has been written on it with some kind of blood. Clearly, it was a Tai Su magical Magic Treasure, repurposed from a damaged magical treasure or spiritual object of the Xuanmen (Daoist sect). It was likely designed to work in conjunction with the Bagua mirror on Madam Zhang's roof beam, serving a spatial positioning function.

After some deliberation, Li Fan waited in place for about half an incense stick's time. Then, a purple cloud drifted over, circled the ruins of the Demon-Sealing Sword Formation, but did not land rashly.

Li Fan also concealed himself, hiding in the shadows, and secretly observed the cloud.

These clouds are also classic mount-type magical artifacts of the Xuanmen (Daoist sects). Not only are they as fast as Sword Light and can be used for transportation, but they can also change their shape and color to conceal their form. They can also resist Daoist attacks to a certain extent, prevent being spied on and locked by Divine Sense, and even conceal heavenly secrets. Some people also hide Dao Breath energy, spiritual energy, elixirs, and medicinal rain in the clouds for recuperation and healing after battles. They can be described as essential divine items for home, travel, murder, and robbery.

Of course, only in the Xuanmen Cave Heaven can such auspicious cloud treasures be refined. Combined with the arrangement of the bronze mirror Magic Treasure, it seems that the person from Magu Mountain is also a master of weapon refining. He probably has already begun to study not only talisman formations, but also Tai Su weapon refining.

That said, Ink Bamboo Mountain actually has its own grotto-heavens, and Xuan Tian's weapon-forging skills are so advanced that he could even forge a cloud. However, this guy only likes flying swords, and he keeps forging swords. His taste is so incredibly rustic and monotonous...

Li Fan was also envious. He made a hand seal, used his evil energy to create a Demon Claw, and reached out to grab Zi Yun.

The cloud dodged for a while, then realized that the Demon Claw was driven by malevolent energy and was coming very fast, so it couldn't be dodged. Without wasting its Dao Breath to chase it, it directly shot out a bolt of lightning from the cloud, which pierced through the Demon Claw and split it in two.

Li Fan nodded secretly. With such auspicious clouds protecting him and allowing him to perform magic from within the clouds, it would be difficult for outsiders to defend against or interrupt him in time. Moreover, he immediately used lightning magic to suppress the evil energy, demonstrating his exceptional skill. This Divine Lord, with his numerous magical Magic Treasure, was most likely a young and promising member of the sect who had not yet survived many tribulations and whose resources were still intact.

So he spread his fingers apart and made a hand seal, and the split Demon Claw transformed into two bats, attacking from both sides and flanking Ziyun.

The Cloud Person remained calm, dodging three times before throwing out a Golden Rope that firmly bound one bat. He then threw out a blue bead, its radiant light freezing another bat in mid-air.

Li Fan recognized the Golden Rope as the Imprisoning Immortal Rope, but its incantations and materials had clearly been modified, specifically designed to capture Tai Su demons. The blue orb, about the size of a fist, was not a sword pellet, but some kind of spatial magic artifact. The light it emitted created a special subspace, trapping the bat within and leaving it unable to find a way out.

If these two bats weren't formed from Li Fan's magic, but were demonic creatures born in the Tai Su Realm, they probably would have been captured alive just like that.

So Li Fan changed his hand seal and suddenly pointed. The bats Imprisoning Immortal Rope instantly transformed into malevolent energy, which then coalesced into a sharp and fierce sword aura! It shot straight toward the core of the Purple Cloud!

This sudden move revealed some of the true skills of the Sword Sect, finally exposing the opponent's trump card. Cloud Person also realized that this sword was extraordinary. Seeing that the Tai Sha sword energy was about to cut Zi Yun in two, he directly threw out a sword talisman.

Black and white Sword Light clashed under the purple moon, the sword wind raging wildly, shattering the surrounding mountains. The sword talisman was shattered, and the Tai Sha sword energy was also deflected, grazing past Qing Yun, leaving a huge canyon-like wound on the ground.

"Fellow Daoist, you are truly skilled."

Li Fan clapped his hands to reveal his shadow while simultaneously withdrawing his murderous aura.

The purple cloud swayed, then put away the Imprisoning Immortal Rope and the precious pearl, and then formed a Daoist priest who bowed and paid his respects to Li Fan.

"Not as good as your skills, senior."

Look at them, look at them! The old Xuanmen are so polite! Although they don't hesitate to kill or rob, they are always very proper and courteous in their dealings with others.

Li Fan chuckled, "Young man, your skills are quite impressive. Where do you cultivate? Would you like to become my disciple?"

The Cloud Person politely declined, saying, "Senior, you flatter me. As a disciple of Mount Song, how could I betray my sect? Let's not talk about such jokes anymore. I came to the Demon Realm to cultivate by chance and unexpectedly met you, Senior. It's quite an opportunity. May I ask your name?"

Heh heh, Songshan, you big dummy! Do you think he's blind and doesn't recognize the talisman from earlier?

"Oh, I see. I came to the Demon Realm by chance and was drawn here by the commotion. I thought it was some experts from the Xiandu Temple fighting, but I arrived too late. I wonder what treasures they found in the Demon Realm, so I came to ask you."

The Cloud Person immediately replied.

"Oh dear, no wonder I'm so uneasy. My Dao Companion is a disciple of Magu Mountain, and she even gave me a sword talisman for protection. Besides, Magu Mountain and my Song Mountain are allies. How can I stand idly by while my fellow disciple is in trouble? Please show me the way, senior, and I'll go to help immediately!"

Li Fan seemed to feel a pang of sympathy as well, "So it was your family that suffered a disaster. I hit it off with you immediately, fellow Daoist. I'll go with you."

The Cloud Person bowed and said, "Thank you for your kindness, senior. However, the Demon Realm is dangerous and unpredictable. It is only right that we fellow cultivators of the Xuanmen help and support each other. I would be too embarrassed to disturb your cultivation."

"Alright, they've burrowed underground. Go after them. Oh, it's inconvenient to bring Qingyun along, right? No problem, I'm always happy to help. You go after them, I'll keep an eye on them for you."

"..."

The other party was clearly taken aback by Li Fan's audacity in making such a demand, and was momentarily stunned.

"What! What do you mean by not agreeing! Are you looking down on me! Do you think I'm trying to steal you?!"

The Cloud Person knew the dialogue had progressed to the point where a battle would begin. Even without the ability to save and load, he probably knew that a wrong answer would mean certain death.

But he was, after all, an old Xuanmen with rich experience in the martial world, a hero who had cultivated all the way to the Transformation Stage. What did face matter to him? Let's just ignore it.

Without even a three-second hesitation, the Cloud Person made a decisive choice, using a technique to escape, abandoning the clouds and transforming into a rosy glow as they disappeared into the horizon.

"Thank you very much, senior! I will remember this kindness!"

Hmm, look, he still remembers to say thank you, that's very polite.

Li Fan smiled broadly, "Great! I've got a rideable cloud!"

Moon Soul, "... Sigh."

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!