Chapter 1436: Hidden in the Sea of Stars
Ideals are good.
But Li Fan had been observing for several days, but still couldn't find any trace of the so-called [Tao Network]. It seems that it is more uncertain than the Great Avenue of Heaven and Earth itself.
But Li Fan was not discouraged. From the current point of view, the Dao Network is likely to be Fang Shuo Xinghai's trump card against the true immortal forces. It can even compete with the nameless true immortal, but how can it be so easily cracked by a newcomer like Li Fan?
"No matter how strong a fortress is, it can be broken from the inside."
"Since we can't forcibly invade the Dao network for the time being, we can simply lurk and sneak into the Shuo Xing Sea first. We can't completely count on the Emperor San Tapir..."
Li Fan shook his head slightly, and first carefully used the power of dreams to make a "rubbing" of the remaining traces of fluctuations in this place. Then he continued to explore towards Shuo Xinghai.
Although on the surface, all traces of the war have been eliminated by the white-clothed monks' [Mending the Sky] method. But Li Fan knows very well that there are no absolutes in the world. As long as everything has happened before, it will leave traces. I can't detect it now just because I don't have enough ability. But it does not prevent Li Fan from recording it first and studying it again in the future.
Not every place in the distant Shuo Xing Sea contains life. Rather, it is like an island, forming many gatherings. The aura revealed by these gatherings is not strong or weak depending on its size. Each has its own distinctive characteristics.
"To be able to survive in this starry sky till now, I think they are some extraordinary characters."
Li Fan watched from a distance, discerning some familiar scents.
The Sword Domain was discovered one after another, which was suspected to be the gathering place of the ten immortal sects of the Xuanhuang Realm in the past. But the holy merchant in Qin Zhuang's memory was never found.
"Xuanxianzhou can still sense the existence of Shangxianzhou outside the wall, so Xuanxianzhou will not be extinct."
Reminiscent of Qin Zhuang's memory of the strange behavior of the holy merchant: he stopped communicating with the outside world and even began to take back the treasures he had sold. The Dao Stone flashed in the sea of consciousness, and after some deductions, the most likely guess suddenly appeared in Li Fan's mind.
"It is very possible that the Holy Shang discovered something and either avoided the world or simply fled."
Saint Shang is just an entry point, and Li Fan is not obsessed with pursuing the former Shang Xianzhou.
He began to test the weakly protected forces in the Shuo Xing Sea one by one.
As he had sensed, the strength of these forces had little to do with the vitality they gathered.
There are two solitary breaths of life, one large and one small. As if being marginalized, living on the edge of Shuo Xing Sea. But Li Fan hadn't gotten close yet. He just took a look from a distance, and a sense of crisis suddenly arose in his heart. Even the dream tentacles were affected, distorted and alienated. Li Fan could only stay away from him.
There is a huge gathering place where the auras of tens of millions of creatures gather, but it is covered by a huge cloud composed of killing, resentment, greed and many other stinking negative emotions. Even outside this gathering place, there are still many protective measures to isolate Li Fan from the direct erosion of the power of his dream.
But Li Fan looked at the emotional cloud from afar and found a breakthrough for the intrusion of dreams.
However, Li Fan was not in a hurry to take action.
The flaw here may also be a trap specially fabricated by the Shuo Xinghai forces to trap the true immortals.
After exploring all other gathering places, we found that only here is the opportunity to access the dream paradise. Li Fan was very cautious and first accumulated a large amount of dream power to form an additional copy of the dream paradise. Inject one of your spiritual thoughts into this copy, and then disconnect it from the main world of Dream Paradise.
To ensure that nothing went wrong, Li Fan's spiritual mind presided over the invasion of the gathering place here.
There is no one in the copy of Dreamland Paradise here. Just because the copy was cut, the power of the dream was reduced by one point. If the energy is not effectively replenished before the energy is consumed, the dungeon world here will perish.
Although Li Fan only branched out a spiritual thought, he carried nine virtual shadows of the Xuanhuang Realm and the computing power equivalent to a top-grade Dao Transformation Stone.
"If these preparations cannot open a hole, then we will have to find another way."
It didn't go very well.
That invisible layer completely cut off the contact between the power of dreams and the thoughts of living beings. Even the repressed negative emotions of the creatures have become as substantial as they are, stretching across the sky. But there is a layer of film in the middle that cannot be touched.
"If we ignore the consequences and consume all the power of this copy at once, we may be able to forcefully open a gap. But it will definitely arouse the collective vigilance of the Shuo Xinghai forces."
“The gain is not worth the loss.”
After some research, Li Fan finally chose not to alert the enemy. Instead, choose to wait patiently for the opportunity.
In Shuo Xinghai, there will be monks who leave their gathering place and walk among the stars. Li Fan didn't believe that all these "passers-by" were so powerful that he couldn't get close to them.
Facts have proved that Li Fan's judgment was correct.
Although the target he is targeting does not travel as frequently as other forces. But it's not nothing after all.
Li Fan had been watching for half a year, and finally a ray of light flew out of it.
Its destination seems to be the direction of the sword domain.
As the light burst out, it brought with it a large cloud of emotions. His mood swings were so obvious that Li Fan could clearly feel his thoughts without actively eavesdropping.
"Let me run errands again!"
"I, Ma Tiande, have passed the exam and obtained the certification of the [Tao Master] from Shuo Xinghai. Although I have only just begun to learn, I can at least coordinate and manipulate the Dao network patterns in a unit area!"
"You ask me to do those trivial things every day, which is simply a waste of my life..."
The cultivator named Ma Tiande rushed through the starry sky with a strong resentment.
Li Fan never took action, but just watched this person enter the gathering place adjacent to the sword domain. He stayed there for three days before returning slowly.
It seemed that he had been vented, and his resentment had disappeared. He hummed a little song happily and returned slowly along the original path.
Seeing that Ma Tiande was about to enter the protection. Li Fan launched it brazenly.
Ordinary means of possession and lurking are likely to be discovered by the protective layer of the gathering place. Even any power related to immortals may cause an alarm.
Therefore, Li Fan adopted the "Dao Dan" technique of Xuanxianzhou. Ma Tiande, who was flying in the void, just paused slightly.
But he had been refined by Li Fan into a "human pill" that could be swallowed at any time. Li Fan swallowed the pill silently with his mind, and turned into Ma Tiande in an instant.
Temporarily interrupting the connection with the Dream Paradise copy, Li Fan sorted out the information in Ma Tiande's mind while flying straight to the gathering place.
"【Paradise City】?"
"Interesting."
In theory, this body is still Ma Tiande. It's just that there is one more thought in his mind than before.
Any living creature will inevitably have such ups and downs in thoughts.
Moreover, the art of Daodan is unique to the Xuanxianzhou. It has not appeared in this starry sky before.
Although the layer of protection outside the Paradise City is strong, it is difficult to guard against such unpredictable means.
Without twists and turns, "Ma Tiande" flew into the Paradise City smoothly.
Unlike the foul-smelling mood clouds seen from outside, what Li Fan saw was a scene of peace and prosperity.
The colorful lights stretched to the horizon. Unbridled laughter, lewd moans, and unrestrained shouts...
Filled every corner of the city.
"In Paradise City, three years of day, three years of night, and six years of reincarnation."
"At night, indulge in pleasure and worry-free."
"During the day...kill without punishment?"
Li Fan sorted out the information in Ma Tiande's mind while reporting back.
Ma Tiande went to [Knife Island] this time to send an invitation for the Lord of Paradise City.
Thirty days later, it was the time when Paradise City changed from day to night.
Invite everyone from Knife Island to come and watch the grand occasion.
...
The information flashed in his mind, and Li Fan came to the center of Paradise City calmly.
Compared with the prosperous and lively scene around, the mansion in the center was so deserted and gloomy. A strong sense of contrast was formed, making everyone who set foot here feel a little creepy.
Even though it was not the first time that Ma Tiande came here, he instinctively felt fear.
Li Fan did not get rid of the feeling in his heart, and his expression changed accordingly.
He followed closely and came to the Lord of Paradise City and reported the situation to him.
"Master Zhu, I have sent the invitation. But it is hard to say how many people can come from Dao Island."
Li Fan looked embarrassed and said everything: "As soon as I entered, the people on the island invited me to spar. They also threatened that if I did not accept, they would tear up the invitation. I really had no choice but to agree."
"It's called sparring, but I was just beaten unilaterally..."
Li Fan secretly complained to the Lord of Paradise City about Ma Tiande's original behavior.
The Lord of Paradise City, that is, Master Zhu in Ma Tiande's mouth, seemed to be extremely old from the outside.
The body hunched over and curled up in the wide robe looked quite funny. But the evil spirit on Zhu Xueshi made Li Fan dare not underestimate it.
Li Fan even vaguely realized that the huge emotions accumulated above the Paradise City were hidden, and nine out of ten were maintained by Zhu Xueshi.
Facing Ma Tiande's endless complaints, Zhu Xueshi did not interrupt. He just stopped quietly, tapping the table with his bony fingers. From time to time, he scratched the long table with his nails, making an extremely harsh sound.
Li Fan saw clearly that the long table in front of Zhu Xueshi was made of human skulls piled up and polished.
Even the remnant on the skull had not completely dissipated. As Zhu Xueshi's fingers gently scratched, there was a faint sound of pain and wailing.
"Ma Tiande" had cold sweat dripping from his forehead. But he did not stop talking, and completed the report from beginning to end.
After speaking, he stood respectfully under the long table, waiting for the city lord's instructions.
The mansion was quiet for a long time.
From time to time, there were noises outside the house.
Zhu Xueshi, who was curled up in his robe, pressed his fingers on the long table. Every time he pressed, a sound outside the house stopped abruptly.
Until the scene was completely quiet and no more noises outside could be heard, Zhu Xueshi spoke.
It didn't sound like the sound of an old man. It was the voice of an innocent child.
"You've worked hard on your journey."
"Go back after dinner."
Along with the other party's words, a ghostly figure floated out of the darkness. Came in front of Li Fan.
There was a rustling sound, and a bowl of steaming red soup appeared in front of Li Fan.
Ma Tiande's body trembled slightly.
It was not only the instinctive reaction of this body, but also represented Li Fan's emotional fluctuations to some extent.
The red soup in the bowl was filled with countless meat and blood.
And floating in the bowl were eyeballs.
They seemed to have their own thoughts, staring at Li Fan outside the bowl.
Although Li Fan had destroyed the world several times and regarded all living things in the world as nothing, he had never done such a "disgusting" thing.
"Mr. Ma, drink it quickly. Why don't you drink it?"
Seeing that Li Fan was a little hesitant, Zhu Xueshi's voice became a little impatient. It was like a naughty child who suddenly lost his favorite toy. A strange breath began to spread on Zhu Xueshi's body.
"Are you not hungry? Or are you not satisfied with this bowl of soup?"
"It doesn't matter, I'll ask the servants to prepare a better one."
In Li Fan's mind, Ma Tiande's understanding of the Lord of Paradise City flashed through.
"It will show many temperaments."
"Old people, children, charming women, cruel butchers..."
"Children are the most unstable among them."
He made a decision in his heart: "No need to bother Master Zhu. This bowl of soup tastes very good."
As he said, Li Fan took the red soup and drank it all.
To his surprise, it was not as bloody as it looked. There was not even a trace of blood and flesh.
On the contrary, it was indescribably delicious. Even with Li Fan's experience of reincarnation in the Xuanhuang Realm for hundreds of times and almost digging out its secrets, it was difficult to find someone who could match it in taste.
After a bowl of red soup went into his stomach, looking at the empty bowl, Li Fan actually had the idea of not wanting to leave.
"Why, do you want another bowl?"
Master Zhu also noticed Li Fan's emotional changes before and after, and became a little excited as if he had found a soulmate.
With great perseverance, Li Fan shook his head and refused.
"Such a delicacy must be savored."
"It is better to eat less than more." He said seriously.
Upon hearing this, Zhu Xueshi immediately laughed.
The voice changed from a child to an old man.
"What you said makes some sense."
"In that case, you can go down first."
Li Fan bowed and said goodbye.
When he was about to leave the mansion, Zhu Xueshi's words came to his ears.
"I will also prepare a seat for you in this day and night ceremony."
Li Fan showed a happy face and bowed again: "Thank you, Lord Zhu!"
The light and shadow in front of him changed, and the city lord's mansion disappeared.
A red building with constant obscene sounds replaced it.
Li Fan licked his lips.
Ma Tiande's memory data reappeared: "Zhu Xueshi, a member of the Shuoxinghai Governing Council."
"Once a true immortal, then a mortal!"