A Regrettable Regret

People often say that spiritual practice requires a pure and desireless mind, free from all wants and desires.

This is actually a fallacy. Who in the world can be without desires and wants? Not to mention cultivators. Their desire for the Dao is more intense than the scorching sun. Their desire to attain the Dao cannot even be contained by the heavens. How can they be called without desires or wants?

Therefore, according to Li Fan's understanding of this statement, it means that one should strive for excellence in everything, refine and perfect one's own field of cultivation to the extreme, and seek perfection. Other unorthodox paths, hobbies and interests should be regarded as distractions that interfere with cultivation and should be eliminated. This can also be considered as being without desires and seeking only the Tao.

Of course, to be frank, Li Fan is far from reaching that level yet. Let alone encountering a Dao Venerable or Demon Ancestor, he would still feel inexplicable fear. Even if he occasionally catches a glimpse of a large-breasted woman, he can't help but feel a little emotional. His level is really far from that.

However, manifestation has probably already entered this pattern.

Even the position of Yuntai Peak and leader of the Xuanmen can be handed over, and Penglai can also give up its interests and resources in various states of the Central Plains. It's not that he suddenly stopped fighting. On the contrary, his manifestation clearly indicates that he intends to abandon the 'distractions' of the Xuanmen, close the mountain gate, and concentrate on deducing the Dao of Tai Su.

But now, thanks to the years of accumulation in the Immortal Palace, the guidance of the Nangong Seven Friends from the Heavenly Demon, the advance experiment of the Ruler of Xun Country and the traitor Hou Gu, and the arrival of his own tribulation, the Grand Tutor has actually managed to manifest half a step faster and has reached the threshold of the Tai Su Dao.

Can you tolerate someone being so petty? Absolutely not!

Of course, Li Fan had no interest in competing with Xianhua for the title of the First Ancestor of the Primordial Chaos, especially since he simply couldn't win. Xianhua had already mastered all nine Heavenly Books, possessed the Void Star Technique, and had mastered all five arts. He even had the audacity to have practiced the Gang Fist to over 480 levels—can you believe it!?

Judging from this, this bastard has already attained the Great Perfection of Dao, and could ascend to immortality anytime, anywhere. However, he simply looks down on the upper limit of those insects' Daoist Tradition, which is why he has been holding back until now, waiting for the opportunity of the Tai Su Dao.

To be honest, Manifestation was also tricked. After all, if someone hadn't suddenly brought down the 'heaven,' the Tai Su Dao probably wouldn't have opened so quickly. Perhaps Manifestation could have gathered the Ancestor Luo's Heavenly Book and comprehended the Dao ahead of time, while the Grand Tutor was still embroiled in internal strife with the Ziwei Yuan Enclosure. He really wouldn't have had the chance to escape this calamity. It can only be said that it's all fate after all... cough cough...

In short, now that the top leader of the Three Great Sects, the head of the Xuanmen sect, and the invincible big boss has revealed his bottom line, Li Fan has no choice but to go to the Grand Tutor as the representative of the Xuanmen sect to negotiate.

If they can reach an agreement, that would be ideal. The Grand Tutor would come and become the Dao Lord Wuyang of the Xuanmen sect, head of Mount Song, command Yuntai Peak, suppress the Three Enclosures, and continue the love-hate relationship with the Divine Sect.

If they can't reach an agreement, it depends on whether the Grand Tutor can survive this ordeal. If he dies directly, then all the efforts in this ordeal will be in vain.

But if the other party really seizes this opportunity to transcend tribulation and ascends to become the Tai Su Celestial Devil Emperor, becoming the fourth person after the Immortal Xuan Girl God Lord, the Mysterious Goddess, and the first Demon Emperor/Demon Venerable of Tai Su Creation, then the Immortal Palace —no, the new Tai Su Demon Palace—and the Mysterious Gate will truly have to fight.

Secretly escorted out of Yuntai Peak by the two elders of Songshan, Li Fan naturally threw his Micro Dust Dao Body into the shadows, transforming into a shadow like the Thousand-Faced Immortal's clone, and hid in the shadows of Yuntai Peak under the slanting rays of the evening glow.

Looking out at the city walls and celestial Immortal Palace of the Wang Jing, at this point in the world when the False Moon was about to rise from the horizon, Li Fan suddenly had a profound realization.

This time, he truly stood at the crossroads of this dimensional world line, at the crossroads of fate's storms.

Moreover, he is no longer merely a pawn that can only cross the river and advance forward. He has the real opportunity and ability to intervene in the outcome of this game and guide its future direction.

He could approach the Grand Tutor beforehand and persuade him to cooperate with the Xuanmen sect, or he could persuade him not to cooperate.

It can either help the Grand Tutor ascend to demonhood, or it can help him perish.

It can assist the new Tai Su Demon Palace in changing the world and sweeping across the land.

It can also represent the mystical sect, the Moon, exorcising demons and protecting the righteous path, and safeguarding all living beings.

Although there are many variables and disagreements, he has every opportunity and ability to steer the wheels of history in the direction he desires, if he so chooses.

The feeling of being in the middle of a whirlpool yet being able to control the storm with one hand is quite subtle.

Aside from the lack of realism, there's a tiny bit of secret satisfaction.

No matter how powerful your manifestation is, you're still just sitting on Penglai Mountain, aren't you?

No matter how cunning you two elders of Mount Song are, aren't you still holed up on Yuntai Peak?

No matter how cunning and scheming you are, Grand Tutor, aren't you still hiding under the Three Palaces?

You have all thrown the dice and are awaiting the pronouncement of fate.

But this die of destiny is now in Li Fan's palm.

So Li Fan wasn't in a hurry to enter the tribulation. Looking at the sky, he estimated that there was still a little time left, so he took out a cloud-script talisman from his pocket.

Whether it's alchemy, talismanic arts, or arithmetic, all masters, grandmasters, and great grandmasters rely on their own inspiration and talent as necessary conditions. Ultimately, they are all products of a sea of practice problems and massive amounts of training resources. Just look at the alchemy methods at Penglai; they use all the alchemy furnaces on the entire mountain to refine pills. How could they not be amazing?

Li Fan was the same. His progress in talisman making was fast, mainly because he practiced directly with cloud seal script. After all, the quality of talismans was vastly different. Paper talismans were not only different in power, but also in their drawing and making methods. Moreover, Li Fan had too much immortal silk in his hands to withstand the waste. So, while he dared not speak of other talisman-making or flag-making methods, Li Fan dared to boast that he was a master of cloud seal script in terms of experience.

In short, after a lot of experiments and trial and error, in addition to the clone talisman, Li Fan also developed a special space teleportation talisman based on his understanding of membrane jumping. The talisman owner directly states his own name, and as for the effect, it is to use his own magic power to teleport the target to his side by membrane jumping.

"It's you I've chosen! Flying Kun Cloud Seal!"

Then the cloud seal exploded into stardust, and the Kun with a bump on its forehead leaped out from the ripples of the membrane!

Kun,???

Yes, that's it, that's all there is to it...

Well, so far, only Kun has been successfully summoned. Li Fan isn't sure if it's because Kun is bound to his own soul, or if this guy is originally an extraterrestrial divine Divine Beast from a higher-dimensional universe that can hop around on the membrane at will. In any case, most of the other test subjects simply disappeared into another dimension.

In short, ten years have passed. The Three-Eyed Kun has grown up and is no longer a short mudfish. It has evolved to... about a meter long, right? Anyway, Li Fan hugged the Kun around the waist, as if he were hugging a shark body pillow from BBS. You can imagine for yourself.

Before the fish could react, Li Fan had already slapped a bunch of talismans all over its head and dorsal fin, covering its entire head.

"Ah Kun! I have important business to attend to, concerning the lives of all people. I can't spare the time right now, and you're the only one I can rely on! My disciples and old friends are on that mountain; go and rescue them! Go!"

Then Li Fan grabbed the Kun by the tail, spun it around, and threw it into the restriction of Yuntai Peak.

Kun,!?!?!?

Before Kun could even rehearse its lines, it plummeted into the clouds and disappeared.

Alright, Qin Jiu can be left to Kun. That kid's incredibly resilient, and he even has the Blood Refining Technique that brought him back to life. He'll definitely be fine. Now he really needs to prepare to save the world again.

Yes, Li Fan neither intends nor has the time to calculate the strategies for each world line. He decides to trust his manly intuition to determine which future to advance into.

In principle, the fewer deaths, the better. Although from the perspective of the development of the Ink Bamboo Mountain forces, the optimal solution would be for the Demon Palace and the Xuanmen to fight to the death and then take advantage of the situation, Li Fan also had to consider the reactions of the company, the legion, and the Thousand-Faced Immortal, as well as the local cultivation forces, which could suffer too much damage. Otherwise, all sorts of messy things would take advantage of the situation and rise up, leaving no room for a good research environment and development.

So if all else fails, then sacrifice the Grand Tutor to appease the world. After all, he's been the big boss for so many years, enjoying all the riches and honors. What's the big deal about being reincarnated for the sake of the people? For Madam Zhang's sake, Li Fan promises to plant the Grand Tutor's head well and fertilize it thoroughly.

Of course, no matter how things are pushed forward, the first step is still to find the Grand Tutor. Is this his doom, or is it his bottom line? Does he seek a hereditary empire, or does he want to compete with Xianhua for supremacy? Perhaps the Grand Tutor is quite reasonable?

So, following the direction where Amao and his group of wives Dao Companion had previously gone through the tunnel, Li Fan once again sneaked into the underground rat hole, not bothering with anything else, but focusing solely on finding Amao's location.

Last time, he helped Amao fend off a group of assassins. He didn't know if the Grand Tutor had sent anyone to hunt him down afterward, but he could still sense it now. Amao was probably alright. Moreover, after some calculations, Li Fan was quite surprised. He found that even in this chaotic situation, with death looming everywhere and the Demon Emperor about to be born, Amao, being in the midst of it all, showed no signs of danger. After calculating for a long time, he could only come up with the conclusion that Amao would have more regrets.

Trapped in the vines, in a precarious situation, it is said that action will bring regret, but going forth will bring good fortune.

This means that being trapped in thorny vines, entangled by tangled tendrils, and on the verge of collapse, one cannot take any action—any movement would lead to regret—it is not a smooth journey. But as long as one takes action and overcomes numerous difficulties, a turning point will appear, and ultimately, one can escape the predicament.

In reality, the results of divination are nothing more than good fortune, misfortune, regret, and remorse. Misfortune is extremely bad, regret and remorse are minor bad fortune, and even the most severe calamities are not good words. Almost nothing good comes from divination. This is to be expected, since if one is confident and assured from the start, why would one need divination? It's nothing more than last-minute cramming, seeking solace, and looking for peace of mind.

Of course, there are also those lucky bastards like Amao who step in dog poop everywhere they go, open lucky bags everywhere they go, and win big with every fortune slip. But looking at it from another perspective, even someone as lucky as him got a hexagram that said "regret upon regret," which shows how dangerous the current situation is.

However, the book also says that good fortune, misfortune, regret, and remorse arise from action. Ultimately, if you don't work hard, don't do anything, and don't take action, even the best luck is useless. You won't know the final result until you roll the dice.

Therefore, Li Fan wasn't too concerned about how this final tribulation would unfold; he would just do his best based on the current situation.

This time, when Li Fan sneaked into the Sanyuan underground tunnel, he immediately realized something was wrong.

Little by little, his mood began to improve.

This was certainly not because Li Fan was chuckling to himself, nor because he had seen long, white legs in the cave, but rather a signal that the level of malevolent energy in the environment was rapidly increasing.

Just as the old cunning man had predicted, while the disciples were undergoing their tribulations in the Xuanmen Cloud Platform Grand Competition, the Grand Tutor was also beginning his tribulation.

The deeper he went underground, the more obvious the reaction of Tai Su became. The evil aura was so dense that Li Fan thought he had worshipped the moon and arrived in the Tai Su Realm!

Can you believe that those ancient tombs and cold palaces, those mummy corpses that have been dead for hundreds or thousands of years, can actually knock off their coffin lids and jump out of their graves to dance?

Okay, there's nothing I can't believe anymore. You can't expect all sorts of bizarre things to happen underground. The burial goods of powerful families are simply shocking: all kinds of young boys and girls, beloved wives and concubines, and entire families, as well as all kinds of cats, dogs, unicorns, and rhinoceroses.

But before, you were the master and I was the servant. Now we're all dead, all turned into zombies. We're all the same, so why should you get to sleep in a coffin while I'm stuck squatting in a mass grave?

So the various large and small monstrous corpses in the tombs fought each other, causing the earth to shake violently as if an earthquake had struck, scaring away even the rats in the tunnels.

Li Fan had no time to deal with these immortal zombies and evil spirits. He slapped away any that blocked his way, as if he were going into the eighteenth level of hell. He passed through layers upon layers of densely packed evil spirits and demons, teleporting underground, and finally found Amao's maid Xiao Bai's skin, snakeskin, in a pit filled with evil spirits.

Well, it should be called a snake's molt. It feels slippery to the touch, a bit like dried plastic. Its tail is wrapped around the cave wall, almost filling the entire tunnel, while the front half of its body connects to a narrow tunnel in the rock wall. At this length, the original form of the White Snake must have been at least twenty zhang long, probably almost a dragon transformation.

Judging from the fact that many of the Fiend Corpses were trapped in the tunnel behind them, it seems that when Amao and his group were adventuring underground, they were chased by the gradually awakening Fiend Corpses. So they abandoned their snake bodies to cover their retreat, and the golden 'snake' escaped.

They should be close to Amao, but Li Fan Amao n't chase after them in the direction they escaped.

Because those vengeful spirits didn't continue the pursuit.

By this time, the surrounding malevolent energy was already quite dense, and these malevolent corpses were deep underground, where they had been fully nourished by the malevolent energy. In addition, those whose corpses had been preserved intact until today were at least immortal soldiers who had refined their bodies. If not all of them were the most powerful among corpses, they were at least elite level. Their every move was incredibly strong, capable of splitting mountains and shattering rocks. Logically speaking, they shouldn't have been fooled by such a simple illusion, and wouldn't have stopped chasing after them just because the snakeskin blocked their path.

But now, the ghouls are gathered in the center of the pit, some standing, some lying down, some sprawling on the ground. They don't even instinctively attack or kill each other like their counterparts on the upper levels.

Based on what Li Fan saw when he removed corpses at the Gate of Life and Death in Gen Province, it is speculated that this place is where evil corpses gather, and it is also the place with the most concentrated evil energy, such as the eye of an array or a spring in the earth's veins. There is no need for evil corpses to fight here. In fact, as long as they are tempered in this way, they may even develop some demonic consciousness and refine corpse soldiers.

Amao must have been unable to continue downwards and escaped in another direction.

Judging solely from his divination, although he is temporarily trapped underground, Fourth Department by malevolent corpses and dangers, he should have already headed in the 'correct' direction. He still has the treasure mirror to guide him. If he can escape a little more and make a little more movement, he can escape this perilous situation, turn misfortune into good fortune, and turn danger into safety.

So, continuing to chase after Amao is pointless for Li Fan. He's not here to escape his predicament, but to face danger. Fortunately, Amao's luck has led Li Fan onto the right path.

If you cross this mass grave of corpses and follow the path with the densest malevolent energy, you should soon see the Grand Tutor or the Demon Lord.

From here on, the evil spirit has become like ice and frost, forming layers of black ice on the ground. There is not even a trace of Tai Chi Nine Qi around, and Qingcheng's method of escaping from the ground can no longer take effect. Perhaps even if the Tao Lord and Shen Lord cast immortal spells here, the power will be greatly weakened, right?

Of course, this kind of environment was nothing to Li Fan; in fact, his mood was rising, feeling as warm as if he were home. This punch had at least a 40-50 times bonus, which made Li Fan a little worried.

Damn it, if he loses control for a moment, what if he becomes a demon himself before the Grand Tutor even does?!

I wonder if Kun has rescued Qin Jiu and the others yet. If the dungeon opens later, and Taifu really does become the Demon Lord and touches the Demon Emperor, I won't dare to fight too hard. Maybe I should just teleport Kun over and use him like a shotgun to attack. With a burst of red-eyed fire, I might just get the head of the first Demon Ancestor of the Tai Su Creation...

Li Fan walked past the corpses and reached the center of the corpse pit.

At the center, surrounded by hordes of corpses, the eye of the malevolent energy array resembled a well.

The well not only didn't dry up, but it also accumulated a pool full of black water, which oozed out of the wellhead like oil.

This doesn't seem to be liquid malevolent energy; it seems to be... the Weak Water of the Penglai Mountain-Protecting Array? No, that's not right. It should be said that the Penglai Array uses the water here! The Weak Water of the Ming River! Could it be that we've already reached the River Styx of the Underworld?

The River Styx, a place of bitter poison and soul-destroying power, is clearly designed to work with malevolent energy to first remove the immortal's vital energy and then destroy the Foundation Establishment body.

Even if a celestial being foresaw the change and came to eliminate the demon, they would lose most of their abilities after passing this test.

Li Fan hesitated for a moment. Should he swim across? Back when he Nascent Soul Realm, he had already secretly crossed the Weak Water. This barrier naturally wouldn't be able to harm his Tai Sha core.

The problem is, his ethereal body will inevitably be worn down and depleted by the Yellow Spring Weak Water, and there's no Taiji Qi around to replenish it. I'm afraid there's a real risk that he might lose control...

Just as he was hesitating, Li Fan suddenly 'saw' the ringing of a bell.

This description is rather strange, but Li Fan didn't know how to describe it more accurately.

Someone shook some kind of 'bell' and entered the range of Li Fan's blind perception.

Moreover, with each ring of the bell, the distance suddenly closed significantly, clearly indicating that they were rapidly crossing the outer array of corpses and burrowing underground to reach them.

Clearly, the other party did not hide their true form in the shadows like Li Fan. Their Tai Su acrobatic skills in traversing the horde of corpses required the protection of the bell magic item to expose their whereabouts.

However, being able to move freely within the formation and possessing a magical artifact specifically designed to suppress the fiendish corpses, could this guy be a security guard watching over the formation?

That's right. With the commotion Amao and the others caused, and the White Snake leaving behind such a large pile of skin, they must have attracted this watchdog.

The opponent arrived incredibly fast; the bell had only rung three or five times when they were already upon them. With such a level of stealth skill, they must be at least at the Divine Transformation stage.

Li Fan thought about it and decided he couldn't wait any longer.

It's rare to have gotten lucky like Amao; he's already sneaked this far, probably very close to the Grand Tutor. What if he hesitates again, gets held up, alerts the Grand Tutor, and the Grand Tutor ascends to demonhood prematurely, or disappears elsewhere? Wouldn't all his previous efforts be wasted?

As the hexagram says, "Trapped by vines, in a precarious situation, it is said that action will bring regret, but going forth will bring good fortune."

I've taken the gamble! If I don't regret it, then I have no regrets!

So Li Fan leaped into the well.