Rumors on the Street

Although Li Fan passed the arithmetic master exam, and with the added boost of the system's computing power and his own inspiration, his computing power had actually reached the grandmaster level, and was faster and more accurate than that of ordinary grandmasters. However, parameters were also very important in calculation and deduction.

The situation in Sanyuan, in particular, involves too many people, too many forces, and too many variables. It would take forever to figure out the details one by one.

There's a joke in the Yuntai Peak mathematics community: a certain grandmaster of mathematics was defeated by the Northern Star Sword Ancestor, who stole his immortal destiny and ruined his path to immortality. He vowed revenge, diligently cultivating while simultaneously evading the Sword Ancestor's pursuit and engaging in secluded divination. Finally, he calculated the Sword Ancestor's calamity and was about to emerge to seek revenge! Then, upon stepping outside, he discovered, "Holy crap, the Beichen Sword Sect is destroyed!" Hahaha, hahaha, ha, ha... cough cough...

In short, referencing and learning from others is still very important. To put it more bluntly, it's very difficult for one person to solve this problem from beginning to end. Everyone pooling their wisdom and efforts, sharing formulas, and copying answers from each other can speed things up considerably. This is why, after so many years of infighting within the Xuanmen sect, Yuntai Peak has become harmonious after its establishment. After all, everyone has their own sect projects and lecture quotas. Copying papers and having a single lecture handout circulate Nine Mountains —who wouldn't be happy about that?

So Li Fan started looking for connections. Now he's no longer the clueless newcomer he once was; he has connections now.

"Hey Blue Fatty."

"Who are you calling 'Blue Fatty'?!... Oh, Lord Li, you've already reached the Lord realm and passed the exam, so why are you hanging out with us?"

"Don't say that, Master Tang. You know I'm still young. I can't connect with those old men and women. It's much more comfortable to interact with people my own age."

Blue Fatty gave him a look that said, "Who the hell is your age, you pervert?"

Blue Fatty, cough cough, Tang Jiyao of the Qingwu Sect is indeed here as well. Such a big event as the Grand Tutor's tribulation has naturally attracted a group of fortune tellers to leave their bodies and gather at Yuntai Peak to watch the show.

These were mostly Nascent Soul Realm cultivators who had passed the examinations for Mathematical Masters, and most of them were secret disciples of the Hidden Immortal Sect of the Xuanmen. Although they cultivated superior Xuanmen Daoist methods and were skilled in calculation, they were all Xuanmen people with excellent aptitude.

However, due to the weakness of their Daoist Tradition or the fact that they are not direct successors of their sects, they have limited resources. Although these resources can support their cultivation, they are severely lacking in the ability to hone their skills in alchemy and weapon crafting, forcing them to specialize in only one area.

Therefore, these people often gather together to form groups. In addition to studying for exams together with Li Fan and exchanging notebooks of wrong questions to improve their calculation skills, they also collect, organize, and sell all kinds of gossip, from the major national affairs of the Three Great Sects to the rise and fall of local powerful families, all of which are used to exchange for resources.

If one's divination skills accumulate reputation and attract the attention of the Three Great Sects, gaining their appreciation, one will have the opportunity to be recommended by Yuntai Peak to participate in the Grandmaster Examination. After passing the examination, one will receive numerous offers, cough cough, invitations from guest elders and honorary elders. At that time, the sect will provide cultivation resources and a place to stay, giving one a stable opportunity to cultivate to the Nascent Divine Transformation stage.

To use Li Fan's analogy from that other world, to put it nicely, they're like professional institutions researching global trends, think tanks, and information brokers. To put it bluntly, they're like amateur science blogs or gossip forums for village gossip-loving folks.

Of course, they may appear to be a group of weak people huddling together for warmth, but these people actually possess considerable hidden strength.

After all, being an information broker isn't something a socially awkward nerd who only knows how to do math problems can do. To collect so much inside information, one must have hidden forces such as independent cultivators, gangsters, and secret agents under their command. The transactions between the Three Great Sects are all first tested and vetted by these people.

Moreover, they frequently spread rumors, such as about certain secret realms, blessed lands, or the opening of certain seals, stirring up the world's affairs. They are likely secretly connected with the Nine Great Xuan Sects and acting under someone's orders. Don't be fooled by their current gatherings of drinking tea and chatting; when the sects are fighting amongst themselves, these people are the pawns fighting in the Night Curtain.

Do you want to join the Xuanmen sect? Then give it your all and show your worth!

"So, what does the Divine Lord wish to ask?"

"What else can we ask? Ask the Grand Tutor, the Xuanmen sect, and the world! What's the situation now? What are the plans of those sect leaders and bigwigs?"

Li Fan knew these people's style; they were all the type who wouldn't act until they saw a clear benefit. He smiled, took out Pixiu from his sleeve, and shook it. The little beast choked and spat out a bunch of Spirit Coins, attracting all the fortune tellers around. They chatted and made quick money.

"There's no definite news yet, but it's highly likely that a major meeting will be held."

"Yes, Emei has left too. The Nine Great Xuan Sects can't be left vacant; it's only a matter of time."

"Hold a big meeting?"

"The Grand Assembly of Ten Thousand Immortals at Yuntai Peak is convened by the head or acting head of the Nine Great Xuan Sects. With the consent of the deacons of the other Nine Great Xuan Sects, an invitation can be issued to summon the heads of each sect."

As long as they are the head of the Profound Maiden Daoist Tradition, their personal disciples will be invited to participate. In addition, reclusive immortals who have retired to the mountains and forests, key elders of various Xuanmen sects, and renowned righteous people will also be invited to attend and witness the event.

"If there is a direct disciple who possesses the token of the sect leader or acting sect leader, they can participate in the voting to decide important matters of the Xuanmen."

"By the way, even those who have retired to the mountains can participate in the voting as long as they have the title of Grandmaster of the Five Arts, which is recognized by Yuntai Peak."

"Hmm?? What if one is a master of all five arts..."

"That'll give us five more votes then."

Wow, this is amazing! No wonder you guys are scrambling to get in! Just think, at the crucial moment, this vote is worth so much Heavenly Treasure! You really have to stay up all night to pass this exam!

"It should have been held long ago, but now the Divine Cult has suddenly sent troops, and the Immortal Palace is inexplicably making a fuss. I wonder how long the Grand Tutor can hold out to run for election. Surely he doesn't really want to change the dynasty and become some kind of Immortal Emperor?"

"It won't be delayed for long. This time, there will definitely be another re-election of the Nine Great Xuan Sects to fill the vacancy of Emei. If another mountain is to be promoted, it will probably be Great Yi Dao. Shangqing has no chance."

"Well, everyone can see it clearly. The reason Songshan is dragging its feet is that it wants to wait for the Grand Tutor to overcome this tribulation so that he can directly take over as the head of Songshan and replace Nine Great Xuan Sects with their Great Yi Dao lineage. This would give them a greater chance of leading Yuntai Peak. It's just that the Divine Sect is also launching its attack at this time. Heh, trying to sabotage us."

"However, Penglai has also closed its mountains. I wonder if the old man who manifested still intends to come out and choose. Penglai is rich, those old ghosts all have pills and treasures and are considered three-level masters, their strength is quite formidable."

"No way. Manifestation is so cunning; it never takes the initiative. It's definitely waiting for Taiyi and Shangqing to fight to the death, then laughing to itself. The Nine Truth Sect doesn't need to seize the destiny of heaven and earth."

"However, Shangqing is in a bit of trouble this time. Hengshan has suffered a major blow in the south, and its sect leader seems to be in seclusion. Now, among the Nine Mountains, besides Hengshan Mao Mountain, five mountains have openly or secretly sided with Songshan. I'm afraid Songshan is really going to lose this time."

"But the Shangqing and Taiyi lineages have been fighting openly and covertly for so long, and no one can say for sure until the very last moment. I've heard that since Mount Heng can't hold up, many of the old cultivators from Shangqing have come out of seclusion. There might be a lot of unpredictable changes then."

Li Fan frowned upon hearing this and couldn't help but ask,

"Grand Tutor... isn't he the leader of the Immortal Palace? Can he also serve as the head of the Songshan Sect? And lead the Nine Great Xuan Sects of Yuntai Peak? Don't the Xuanmen sects care about the Three Great Sects? And what's the deal with Taiyi Shangqing?"

Seeing that Li Fan was unaware of these ancient immortal secrets, the Blue Fatty explained,

"The Grand Tutor isn't a member of the imperial family. He can simply resign from his post in the Immortal Palace and leave the world. What's wrong with that?"

As for Great Yi Dao and Supreme Purity Dao, these are just rumors circulating among the people. Both of these are ancient Daoist sects that existed in the world before the appearance of the Profound Maiden. Although they both cultivate immortality, there are bound to be differences between them. Over time, the two sects often clashed and debated, hence the saying that Shangqing and Taiyi are the Great Dao contenders.

However, we shouldn't take Daoist Tradition too seriously. Actually, there were many ancient Daoist sects, but these two have the most descendants now. Ultimately, the interests of each mountain sect and master-disciple lineage are paramount.

A bystander said,

"This is not a rumor. Mount Song is now the leader of the Great Yi Dao lineage. It is said that the Grand Tutor also entered the Dao after receiving the Heavenly Book of the Taiyi Immortal Nan Hua. He is a true direct descendant of Taiyi and, according to seniority, is the junior brother of the two elders of Mount Song. Even the current Nine Palaces Dao Lord the Great Yi Dao of Mount Song has to call him Uncle-Master."

There were long-standing rumors in Songshan that the two elders of Songshan had intended for the Grand Tutor to enter the mountain and take over as the head of the Great Yi Dao sect, entrusting him with all worldly affairs. Meanwhile, the Taiyi Nine Palaces Dao Lord and the two elders went into seclusion to emulate Emei and study the secret methods of ascension to the Golden Summit."

"If it really comes to that, nominally, the Grand Tutor would naturally have to retire from the Immortal Palace before he could come out and take charge of the Xuanmen. However, now that his eldest son is serving as the Guardian General, his power is already considerable, and his disciples and followers are all over the court and the country. It would be very difficult for him to rise to the next level. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he is the sole leader of the two major sects."

Li Fan was silent for a moment, then asked quietly, "Is this Taiyi Nine Palaces Dao Lord one person, or nine people?"

The Blue Fatty rolled his eyes. "Taiyi Divine Art, the Nine Palaces Secret, the first of the three styles, reshaping Yin and Yang, defying fate, and creating the universe. Such a secret technique naturally requires all nine to be gathered before it can be used!"

However, the two elders must have taken this into account as well. They will each take charge of a palace. With the Grand Tutor's skills in divination and array formations, he might even take charge of a palace or fill a vacancy.

Holy crap! The Three Elders and Four Ancestors are already ridiculous! But Mount Song has nine Dao Lords? Is that even more outrageous? Even if you include the Two Elders of Mount Song and the Grand Tutor, there should be at least six Dao Lords, right? What the hell is this?

Blue Fatty understood Li Fan's shocked expression and said, "The Taiyi Nine Palaces and Sixteen Gods are not so easy to gather. It's not as simple as just nine Dao Lords and sixteen God Lords. Moreover, they must at least be masters of both array formation and Daoist arts. Especially the Taiyi Nine Palaces, it is impossible to preside over without the realm of a Grandmaster."

"Emei is powerful; a few people can ascend as a sect. But the two elders of Songshan don't have that ability yet. If Great Yi Dao also wants to ascend, it will definitely invite fellow cultivators from the Xuanmen (Daoist sects) widely. That's why they're so interested in Yuntai Peak."

Holy crap, there are sixteen gods too...

However, Li Fan also understood a bit. The Great Yi Dao of Songshan Mountain certainly couldn't gather enough materials for such a grand ascension formation that could shatter the void. No wonder they were actively trying to win over Yuntai Peak and the Immortal Palace clans to form a united front. This was equivalent to the Tai Su Dao descending, the Taiji Realm's great building about to collapse, Emei Mountain escaping with one ship, Penglai Mountain probably hiding another one, and Songshan Mountain and the rest of the group banding together to build a large ship.

As for the Divine Sect, Shangqing Hengshan, and Ink Bamboo Mountain, they stayed behind to fight for the abandoned world.

After communicating with these intelligence brokers for a while, I only heard some gossip about the Grand Tutor and Songshan, Shangqing and Taiyi sects. However, since they were not direct descendants of the Three Great Sects, they did not have any more detailed progress and did not know the current calculations of the Three Great Sects. They were even more at a loss about the situation of the Divine Cult.

Fortunately, Li Fan now has a bunch of spies and informants within the Divine Cult, so he used magic to create clones to gather intelligence on the Divine Cult's situation.

Logically speaking, the situation on the Divine Cult's side is much clearer, since everything the Divine Cult wants to do is posted on the mission list. Besides, there's Sarilang, who's quite the chatterbox. At first, she was cautious when asked to gather intelligence from the inside, but now she's aggressive and spills the beans with every question. I guess now that she's True Saintess, she can't go out and play Fourth Department, and being guarded by a group of bodyguards at the altar all day long must be quite boring.

Unfortunately, this surprise attack prevented Sarilang from gathering much intelligence. The Divine Cult's absurd decision not to include it in their official missions is no wonder they caught the Xuanmen completely off guard!

"A surprise attack? Has the war already begun? I only know that they are preparing to take action, but I don't know exactly when it will start. It's not even being personally commanded by the Ten Ultimate Venerables."

Hmm, I heard it's people from the Legion this time. Didn't that sergeant leave? That guy was an engineering technician. The Sect Leader is preparing to wage war against the Immortal Palace, so he requested assistance from the Legion. What's this group that's sent this time, military observers?

Anyway, the legion definitely sent a lot of people. The leader was an 11th-level army commander, and there were several 9th-level ones. I heard that they had worked together when Sect Leader went on his expedition to the Western Regions. This time, the Sect Leader gave each of them a God Lord Jade, allowing them to plan within the legion and directly manage the entire army on his behalf.

"Level 11! Isn't that almost the same as Profound Maiden!? The arrival of Feather Transformation Immortal is such a grand gesture!?"

"That's not like the Profound Maiden; it's probably just her spirit possessing the body to act as a professional strategist."

I didn't understand much either, but I knew they had broken up the original Protectorate Army and the personal guards of the various altar masters, and reorganized them into something like "bishitibitiji". They were just giving orders directly, but I didn't know much about the specific plans."

What... using a setup like "B--Si-Ti" and "B--Ti-Ji" to fight the armored warriors exiled from the Immortal Palace's borders? Isn't that a bit too much of a rip-off? Is it even worth it?

Li Fan was a bit conflicted. It seemed that the Divine Cult was also terrified of these double agents from the Xuanmen Sect, and didn't even dare to use their own people to command the final battle against the Immortal Palace. However, that Sect Leader was really quite bold, completely handing over military command to the legion. But in this way, even the Saintess wouldn't know the details, making it even harder for him to gather military intelligence.

Currently, the Divine Cult has been preparing for ten years, launching a full-scale attack along the Tianshan Mountains, primarily targeting the Dui Country. The troops they are using are mostly their direct Sect Leader Chief Duan has brought back from the Western Regions.

Now, Li Fan a clone of Guiche has transformed into a god, and he stays by Sarilang's side as a guardian demon god and Saintess's Pokémon.

Meanwhile, Qiongqi's clone is still in the Kunlun Mountain, undergoing intensive training with other demons, monsters, and guardian Divine Beast, presumably as reinforcements. Even if it goes to the battlefield, it will likely be as a main force on the Kunlun route, following the Pure Dharma King across the Kunlun Mountain to support the battle on the Kun Country's side. Therefore, the intelligence on the Dui Country is completely shrouded in mystery.

"Should I find out about the legion's deployment?"

Sarilang spent all day reciting scriptures, which must have been quite boring.

"No need. The Legion is professional; outsiders wouldn't understand their intelligence anyway, it would only arouse suspicion. If the frontline forces are stretched thin, you can go along with it and send the Guiche there. How's your cultivation going?"

When this is mentioned, Sarilang can only shrug and say, "It's better to just dream about it."

She's still only at the Nascent Soul Realm stage, and her True Yang Holy Flame is still tiny. Unless she personally kills several Saintess to merge with their souls, her awakening progress will indeed be slow. She's only just managed to cultivate a wisp of blood essence in her Blood Refining Technique. Although she's now True Saintess, no one would stop her from cultivating the various secret techniques of the Divine Sect if she wanted to. But the path of cultivation is incredibly difficult; where are there so many geniuses who can master something instantly, have an unparalleled memory, and apply what they've learned to other situations?

By the way, Guiche has already Divine Transformation... Anyway, Li Fan checked her condition and didn't urge her. After all, neither the Blood God Child Great Law nor the True Yang Technique are top-tier divine skills that just anyone can practice. Sarilang is a Saintess is cheating and jumping through realms, so she can't be judged by common sense.

"It's alright. I recently had the good fortune to personally experience the Blood Talisman Ten Ultimate Formation. I've already memorized the scenes within the formation. I can use illusion magic to simulate it for you, allowing you to experience the formation firsthand and see if it can awaken the Saintess's memories."

Sarilang was also taken aback. "Experienced the Ten Ultimate Formation firsthand? In this day and age, can you just pass through the Ten Ultimate Formation chance? And you actually had the leisure to admire the scenery within the formations while you were challenging them??"

"Alright, alright, don't worry about such trivial matters. Look me in the eye, Taiyi Jiuge Gua----!!"

So, does anything look familiar? Does anything remind you of anything?

Sarilang, "... No, ah, but I think I've seen that cockroach before."