Westward

The Hermit of Sheyang once wrote a poem, which is quoted here from the poem in Chapter 72 of Journey to the West.

The scene Li Fan witnessed was roughly like this: the four female demons in the pool below were frolicking in the water. At first, they looked quite human and were very attractive. For a moment, he hesitated, unsure whether they were demons or real people. He was also worried that using his Divine Sense to scan them would alert them, so he simply rode the rain clouds closer and hid in the sky to observe, waiting to see how things went before immediately drawing his sword to attack.

But he wasn't allowed to watch for long before these demons, playing around with each other, couldn't control themselves and revealed their true forms. They probably felt that being wrapped in human skin was ultimately uncomfortable, and they didn't want the magic Magic Treasure to tear their disguise, so they pulled on the hoods one after another, ripped them open, and peeled off the skin layer by layer.

They were all scaly, horned, and smooth-skinned snakes and insects with fangs and long tails. Because they had all become inner cores, they had taken on a roughly human shape. It was unclear whether they were pythons or snake spirits that had transformed into hands and feet, or lizards that were originally giant salamanders or four-legged lizards. But they were all clearly aquatic and amphibious spirits, the kind of creatures often found in swamps and marshes.

These four monsters, now in their true demonic forms, were still hissing, giggling, and frolicking below. They were no longer alluring, but rather nauseating.

Fortunately, the system provided Li Fan with a concise translation of the strange noises they were making.

After filtering out the useless information, the monsters revealed about three useful pieces of information.

First, the female demons discussed. "Your skin is fair, its skin is tender, but the skin I bought is the biggest. Look at the soldiers of the Nangong Family, they all like big ones, they pounce on them as if the demons have seen a human. So, it can be deduced that from now on, spending money to buy big ones is the easiest way to hunt men, the most cost-effective..."

Li Fan agreed with this point. Of course, the useful information wasn't what the monsters were discussing—which brand and model of human skin was the best to buy—but rather what methods they had used to get all the way from the Nangong Family's territory.

Long stationed on the frontier, isolated and far from home, border soldiers who might not even see Mother Goat for centuries, felt a fondness for a passing female demon. Unable to bring themselves to kill her according to protocol, they decided to become friends, exchange information, and occasionally meet up for mutually beneficial and interesting activities. From a man's perspective, Li Fan could understand this behavior...

Secondly, the group of female demons complained that this trip to do things for their grandmother was a real ordeal. They flew 1,300 miles without finding a single pool of water, and had to fight against the celestial army in turn, getting themselves all dirty and disgusting.

This confirms Li Fan's previous guess: they are probably water demons under the command of Jade Toad Granny of Yaoguang Cave. According to the sect's map information, it is about that far from Fashuang Mountain to Yangjia Mountain, and there is indeed no water source for these water beasts to bathe in Mao Mountain, which Fei Mountain.

Thirdly, the group of female demons complained and insulted a maid named "Cui'er," calling her a "beach girl" who liked to endorse green tea (a derogatory term for women who are manipulative and manipulative), saying things like she was arrogant and domineering because of her grandmother's favor, forcing the demons to work during the day and sleep at night, traveling in the sweltering heat without letting them rest or bathe to avoid attracting attention, and so on...

This 'Cui'er' probably refers to the crocodile that was ostracized and left alone. It's unbelievable; these female demons are like college dormitories, maybe five of them could split into a dozen little gangs...

What? What do you mean by "other useless information"? Oh, it's probably like which immortal weapon is dark, which is strong, which is big, which is smelly—useless information that can be ignored, cough cough cough!

In short, Li Fan roughly analyzed these three pieces of information that were somewhat useful through the system's translation.

So he watched from the side. The four monsters had finished their bath and started putting on human skin. The skin covered their heads and tails, which took up their limbs. They were in a vulnerable and unprepared state, so he gave 'Demon Slayer' a look.

"Destroy the Ghosts" indicated receipt, and a flurry of Sword Light flew down, resulting in a single kill! A double kill! A triple kill! A massacre! A total wipeout!

So the four demon heads tumbled into the pool almost simultaneously, and the battle ended in the blink of an eye, without any suspense.

Well, as everyone has seen, using a flying sword is so boring. Now Li Fan has experienced the state of mind of the Profound Heaven Sword Intent.

Being invincible is lonely~~~

Li Fan waited a while longer, confirming that the system had added four more points to his mood, and seeing no ambush nearby, before applying an invisibility talisman to hide himself and leaping down from the clouds to sweep the ground and loot the corpses.

With the Si Nan's guidance, they retrieved four more jade pendant bracelets from the pond. However, only one demon's bracelet contained five jade beast pendants; the other three demons each had three jade pendants. Moreover, the jade pendants were filled with miscellaneous items, unlike the mother crocodile which carried a large money box.

However, each demon did indeed carry a lot of Divine Astral Coin, which together amounted to two or three thousand strings of cash. If demons usually had various 'exchanges' with the Immortal Palace, it was normal for them to carry this amount of money.

It seems that Yaoguang Cave is indeed colluding with spies from Li Country, and also has unclear ties with the Nangong Family. However, it is not yet certain whether this is the work of the Immortal Palace, or an isolated act by the Nangong Family's border troops Fei Mountain the mountain mine.

Furthermore, it's clear that these four fairies are a level below the crocodile Cui'er; they were probably just brought here to serve the Nangong Family's celestial army. And the crocodile, who is in charge of managing the money, is most likely Jade Toad Granny's trusted maid.

It's a pity that Li Fan killed it so easily when he came up, otherwise he could have interrogated it about the secrets of Yaoguang Cave. I wonder if spells like Soul Binding are effective against demons; I might learn some in the future.

Li Fan quickly cleaned up the battlefield, dug out the demon core, and used his sword energy to destroy the demon and erase all traces. Then he looked at Si Nan.

It still points westward, indicating that there is still a chance.

But further west, that should be the Fei Mountain territory of the Nangong Immortal Family.

Li Fan made a very quick decision this time, almost without hesitation, and flew up again, continuing to ride the wind while hiding in the clouds.

After these two trials, Li Fan knew his own strength. The advantage of righteous cultivators wielding magical treasures over these inner core realm demons was like the difference between a firefly and the moonlight—a world of difference, an overwhelming gap. With flying swords right in their faces, how could they possibly lose?

If this were a dungeon adventure, he would have cleared it without taking any damage, the kind of solo run. Look, he just cleared a wave of mobs and made a net profit of 102,000 coins, without even breaking a sweat, getting a drop of blood, or messing up his hair. What's stopping him from continuing? Push! Just keep pushing!

Ahem, enough bragging. The main issue involves the Nangong Family's immortal soldiers in the Fei Mountain Mine, and it's actually quite serious.

If these celestial guards stationed in the middle of the Mozhu Mountain dojo were to betray the human race and collude with the demons like Granny Yuchan, and suddenly turn on us with a surprise attack, it would likely cause enormous losses to the Mozhu Mountain dojos in Maoshan and Yangjiashan.

Both morally and logically, Li Fan had to risk crossing the border to investigate. He needed to obtain as much solid evidence as possible before reporting to the Zhenshan Real Persons.

Based solely on his subjective reasoning and the heads of a few monsters, he himself cannot be certain, so it is certainly insufficient to prove anything against the Three Great Sects.

So Li Fan continued westward, and soon he could no longer see many Spiritual Spring and lakes. The terrain turned into a jumble of rocks and boulders, and he had entered Fei Mountain area.

According to the map of Ink Bamboo Mountain, it Fei Mountain rich in gold and jade, but it lacks water and is infested with vipers underground. In short, it is not a suitable place for people to live.

When the previous Immortal King Nangong divided the mountain factions, he abolished the garrisons of ten mountains in one go and bestowed them upon Ink Bamboo Mountain as a training ground. Fei Mountain Garrison was one of the remaining four mountain garrisons. The Nangong Family stationed troops on this mountain not only because there were gold and jade veins in the area, but also, clearly, to plant a spies in the middle of Ink Bamboo Mountain's training ground, to prevent the forces of Bamboo Mountain from becoming a unified whole, so as to keep an eye on the development of independent cultivators.

However, the Nangong Family later declined, and this place, neither here nor there, was not as important as Phoenix Nest. The Nangong Family did not lack a mine, so even fewer people were willing to guard it.

If we follow the theory of the garrison system when the Immortal Palace was at its peak, there should be a Nascent Soul Stage level garrison commander leading a group of about fifty Golden Core level officers, serving as mid-level commanders such as captains, commanders of thousands, and commanders of hundreds, with a massive force of more than five thousand Foundation Establishment level immortal soldiers below them.

But ever since the great demon Jade Toad Granny, who had reached the Divine Transformation hundreds of years ago, caused trouble and devoured the previous commander and thousands of soldiers, the Nangong Family has had no Nascent Soul Stage cultivators willing to garrison this extremely dangerous and desolate mountain territory. The Nangong Family is also short-handed, so naturally they can't waste their elite troops on the Ten-thousand-mountains again, and for many years they haven't replenished their battle-worn personnel. Even the remaining Foundation Establishment stage immortal soldiers have either died in battle or from illness, or deserted.

Therefore, at this time, the Nangong Family's force guarding the Fei Mountain Mine consisted of only a captain at the peak of the Golden Core stage, leading about thirty officers who were stuck at the Golden Core Stage and making no progress. Moreover, they were all veteran soldiers who had made mistakes or offended people and had been demoted and ostracized. Because their families were in the Central Plains and they could not escape, and they could not cultivate to the Nascent Soul Realm, they could not even obtain a nominal title of Guard Commander. They had never fought a battle in years, let alone received any military honors. Their situation was quite miserable.

Why Ink Bamboo Mountain know so much about it?

Because the mineral veins in Fei Mountain are also contracted out for mining by the Ink Bamboo Mountain Tiangong lineage.

The ore from Fei Mountain needs to be transported to Nanyu Mountain the Nangong Family's territory. The journey is too long, involving crossing mountains and rivers, and the cost of transportation is greater than the manpower and resources required for mining. In the past, when a large number of troops were stationed in the south and warships frequently traveled back and forth, the ore could be transported along with them. Now, there is no need to send people to mine it.

The Nangong Family wasn't stupid. They had already ceded the mountain to Ink Bamboo Mountain for defense, so of course they wouldn't do such an unprofitable business as venturing deep into the Demon Mountain to mine. They didn't even bother with daily supplies, letting Fei Mountain seek supplies from Ink Bamboo Mountain nearby.

Therefore, the captain from the Nangong Family reached an agreement with Ink Bamboo Mountain, allowing Ink Bamboo Mountain to mine in the mountains in secret. Ink Bamboo Mountain was responsible for the monthly mining, washing, and transportation of ore.

Moreover, there's no need for the hassle of converting Divine Astral Coin, since there's nowhere to spend money in the Ten-thousand-mountains Mountains anyway. These immortal soldiers from the Immortal Palace can directly exchange for magic treasures, elixirs, talismans, cultivation Cultivation Method, and the like from Ink Bamboo Mountain. Every time they come to haul ore, the caravan just needs to provide cultivation materials for the Golden Core immortal soldiers stationed at Fei Mountain to cultivate.

Of course, this guard still outwardly submits to the Nangong Family. After all, although these immortal soldiers were squeezed out, they still have family members as hostages in the Li Country. Perhaps one day they can break through from the Golden Core stage to the Nascent Soul Realm and have a chance to return to the Twelve Countries to serve. At least there is some hope, isn't there?

The Nangong Family was aware of this matter. Theoretically, they should prevent their border troops from colluding with Ink Bamboo Mountain, but those stationed here were essentially exiled. The Immortal Palace's Cultivation Method were only taught to its direct descendants, not to these unruly soldiers. If they were to further prohibit the border troops from exchanging Cultivation Method materials from Ink Bamboo Mountain, thus cutting off their path to cultivation, even the few people nominally guarding the mountain and monitoring Bamboo Mountain would likely all defect.

Therefore, the relationship between Fei Mountain, the Nangong Family, Ink Bamboo Mountain, and the Fei Mountain Immortal Soldiers is a delicate balance of coexistence.

Therefore, Li Fan was certain that even if he headed west and ran into the Nangong Family's patrolling border soldiers head-on, they wouldn't dare to actually fight him. Of course, with his two flying swords capable of cleaving through the heavens and slaying ghosts, he wouldn't be afraid of them in a fight.

However, Li Fan still found it rather strange that the guards of Fei Mountain would choose to collude with monsters.

These ruffians, at least they understand the principle that those who are not of our race will surely have different intentions, right?

Having cultivated to the Golden Core realm, it's illogical that even a transmigrator like Li Fan would understand that these are merely demons in human form, while the veteran soldiers of the Immortal Palace who have long resided on Fei Mountain wouldn't.

Moreover, these immortal soldiers, who were almost exiled to the south, should understand best that in the Ten-thousand-mountains, only the Ink Bamboo Mountain is the only reliable support they can seek help from. Furthermore, they are located in the heart of the Ink Bamboo Mountain, right under the noses of a large group of Nascent Soul Stage Guardian Immortals.

By betraying their own people and colluding with demons, wouldn't they be courting death if the news leaked? They're only holding on to guard the border for the Nangong Family because they still have family ties; why would they betray them and join the Demon Race? They can't be that stupid, can they?

Are those sorceresses really that powerful? Can they really turn hostility into friendship just by offering their bodies? Let's stop fighting and do something fun instead! Is it really just about skin?

But thinking about it from a man's perspective, holding it in for too long might actually... cough cough cough!

In short, Li Fan followed the Si Nan's guidance and headed west.

Westward, all the way west, all the way west! Oh, there's a demonic aura to the north, I'll go and seize the opportunity... Hmm? Still heading west?

The Si Nan remained motionless, pointing directly west. What was going on? Was the path to the north not his destined opportunity?

Li Fan was a little stunned. He thought that as long as he encountered it, he could just casually say, "This thing is destined for me"...

After hesitating for a moment, Li Fan decided to play it safe and pursue opportunities first.

So he ignored the first demonic aura he encountered in the north and headed west.

Then we let the second, third, and fourth passes through, then the south side, one, two, and three; the north side, five, six, and seven... wait a minute... something's not right...

Why are there so many monsters!?

Upon entering Fei Mountain territory, Li Fan flew hundreds of miles hiding in the rain clouds, already encountering ten demonic auras along the way!

Of course, these monsters all had mixed and unskilled cultivation, and could not see through the True Cultivator. They were unaware that there was a Daoist priest from Ink Bamboo Mountain hiding in the rain clouds above their heads.

Li Fan had spotted these monsters from a great distance.

The demons conjured a whirlwind, whipping up sand and stones. They clearly practiced evil magic and demonic arts; dark clouds rolled in, poisonous smoke filled the air, and their movements were accompanied by ghostly howls and overwhelming force. Some even flew in a manner that resembled the force of farts, sending gusts of foul wind carrying a stench that nearly made Li Fan fall from the sky...

These monsters, however, flew very low and slowly, stirring up sand and dust and making quite a commotion. It was unclear whether they were truly limited to this level of skill or simply didn't care that others would notice.

But Li Fan genuinely surprised. How could there be so many demons in Fei Mountain area? Could it be that something had gone wrong with the Mao Mountain Daoist temple?

And are the guards at the mountain not doing anything at all? Are all the people in the Immortal Palace really busy exercising with the female demons? There's practically no one patrolling the mountain!

However, before he could deduce the cause and effect, the Si Nan shook and pointed out Li Fan's opportunity.

Li Fan could tell at a glance that this was an 'opportunity', because the thing in front of him was so disgusting, unusually disgusting, that it was almost impossible for it to be an ordinary object. Even the system indicated that 'Li Fan's mood dropped a little'.

How to describe it? From a distance, it looks like a group of mating black snakes intertwined, piled up layer upon layer, forming a giant snake ball.

The snake ball seemed to be stuck, wedged in a crevice of an open-pit mine. Many thick, black snake bodies were almost upright, wriggling and stretching outwards in a disorderly manner. However, it seemed that the snake tails were tangled together by the snake ball, so they were tied together like a tangled mess.

I've heard that the Fei Mountain aren't full of vipers; it's more likely that the vipers, in their dens in the crevices below, formed a large group while mating, and got stuck because of the sheer number of them.

Li Fan avoided eye contact and made a reasonable deduction using his brain.

However, the system sent him a message.

That's not a snake.

Not a snake?

Li Fan frowned and took another careful look.

Li Fan's mood dropped a little.

It's not a snake after all... it looks like... tentacles?

It resembles a giant, boundless black seaweed, or a sea urchin with its black tentacles dancing loosely. Most of its body is in the underground mine, with only a faint, wriggling head visible through the cracks in the rock strata.

Li Fan's mood dropped a little.

System, what is this?

'It is a lamb.'