Chapter Twelve: The Nine Palaces Above and Below

  One hundred tigers and one hundred sheep obviously cannot coexist peacefully, as the tigers will eat the sheep and then turn on each other until they become extinct. One tiger and one hundred sheep can maintain a mutually beneficial existence, thus breaking free from the cycle of life and death. Those who achieve enlightenment are extremely rare; even if they do, it's likely that they still haven't transcended all living things but have simply become the supreme being among them.

  Gu Yan and Gong Zhu were still in a friendly yet intense debate, while others retreated to the side not participating in such a dull argument. Lin Fan curiously asked Gong Zhu's maid, Short Skirt Girl: "Who is this Xi Men Shuai?"

  The short brown-haired woman replied: "This Ximen Shuai has a great background. After the war of evil paths, the Demon King was seriously injured and the Demon Sect suffered greatly. The Demon King passed on his position to a disciple with extremely high talent, but the Demon King only saw his talent and didn't think that the new Demon King was not good at handling the affairs of the Demon Sect, leading to internal conflicts and chaos within the sect. The elders calmed down the conflict and then believed that the new Demon King had no power to lead the sect, so they abolished the new Demon King and re-elected a new one. The Demon King naturally regarded them as rebels and led his loyal followers and the nine palaces in a war, but ultimately lost and could only retreat to the Western Continent to live in seclusion. A few years ago, Ximen Shuai appeared, claiming to be the direct disciple of the former Demon King, and demanded that he return the former Demon King's object: the Weeping Blood Sword. The Weeping Blood Sword is one of the four great protective artifacts of the Demon Sect, not the former Demon King's object. The Demon King resolutely refused, but didn't expect Ximen Shuai to rely on the methods left behind by the former Demon King to steal the Weeping Blood Sword. The Demon Sect immediately launched a manhunt for him, and since he couldn't stand firm in the Western Continent, he could only wander around."

  "Is it a divine artifact of protection?"

  Bai Mu said, "We have a mountain-protecting artifact in Yun Qing Mountain: the Purple Cloud Screen. It resonates with the various sects' array formations set up around Yun Qing Mountain and activates the Purple Cloud Screen to completely seal off Yun Qing Mountain. Outsiders who want to enter must extinguish the Purple Cloud Screen; there's no other way. Miss, from what I know, mountain-protecting or faith-protecting artifacts require array formations to support them. The Nü Bei Sword only works in Demon Mountain; elsewhere, it's no different from any ordinary object."

  "Yes, the Blood Tears Sword is activated. Outsiders who enter the Demon Mountain and get injured will bleed endlessly and cannot be cured, they can only leave the Demon Mountain to receive treatment. The Blood Tears Sword has left the Demon Mountain, without the array's support, it is useless. The Demon King is also puzzled, wondering why the previous Demon King wanted the Blood Tears Sword, but after searching everywhere, he couldn't find any trace of the previous Demon King and General Ximen, didn't expect that this thief would hide in the Eastern Continent."

  Ye Wushuang asked: "What is the Upper Nine Palaces?" In fact, she wanted to ask, it sounds like the Devil Sect's Palace Master and the Sect Master of Yunqing Mountain are about the same, but this Palace Master is a bit too weak.

  The short brown woman explained: "The founder of the Demon Sect, Leng Ao Tian, had nine disciples. Xizhou was originally a gathering place for evil people. Leng Ao Tian and his nine disciples drove out the evil people to the desolate land of Cang Mang, and established the Demon Sect on Mo Shan. The Lower Nine Palaces are the descendants of the nine disciples' families, with superior qualifications being prioritized for inclusion in the Upper Nine Palaces. There are also mediocre families that have lasted for a thousand years, just like ordinary people."

  The Lower Nine Halls is a gathering place for family members. Like the Demon Sect and the Cloud Clear Sect, it does not prohibit marriage and childbirth. If the children born have poor qualifications, they will stay in the Lower Nine Halls and not enter the Upper Nine Halls. All the strong physical training methods are available, so the population base is getting bigger and bigger, so there are palace masters to manage these people. The Upper Nine Halls was created by Cold Aotian's nine disciples, with strict rules and regulations, and strict recruitment. Everyone competes for the top spot, and those with poor innate abilities cannot adapt at all. Therefore, both the Upper and Lower Nine Halls have their own palace masters, who are completely different from each other.

  The disciples of Yun Qing Men, who have poor aptitude, can either leave the mountain and enter the mortal world or go to Tian Feng Valley to cultivate some physical strengthening techniques. Tian Feng Valley is similar to the lower nine palaces of the demonic sects, with extremely low combat power, mainly responsible for guarding the mountain gate and purchasing daily necessities from outside.

  Lin Fan was still more concerned about the Qian Kun series, the Qian Kun ring, and the Qian Kun bag. These were good things, but unfortunately, they recognized their master for life, and when the master died, the object would also die. Lin Fan stroked his chin, if he encountered a thousand-year-old spiritual beast, and had the ability to kill it, would he take action? Apart from spiritual beasts, demon beasts were also possible. However, a thousand-year-old demon beast was absolutely not something Lin Fan could contend with. Moreover, demon beasts had internal elixirs, and when they were unable to defeat their opponent, their final move would be to self-destruct their internal elixir and perish together with their opponent. If the internal elixir exploded, then the skin would definitely be unusable. These records were all documented in the literature, so relying on demon beast skin to refine the Qian Kun bag was extremely unrealistic.

  On one side they chatted, on the other side they debated. Today, Gu Yan said more words than the sum of the past two days. Lin Fan knew early on that this debate would have no outcome. If there was an outcome to this debate, it would have been added as a clause in the Demon Dao Alliance Agreement long ago.

  Half a time later, both sides of the debate seemed to feel this way and stopped debating. The palace master originally planned to go to Yunqing Mountain temporarily, waiting for the high-ranking officials of the Demon Sect to escort him back to Xizhou. Now with a belly full of anger, he didn't want to go to Yunqing Mountain either, but was also worried that Xi Men's vengeful spirit would not disperse. Gu Yan was an honest person, and after the debate, asked if they wanted to be escorted to Yunqing Mountain. The palace master took the opportunity to say that there was no need for their escort, they could go by themselves.

  ……

  The next morning, the guests and the boss in the store woke up, unaware of what had happened. However, last night's fierce battle left marks everywhere, especially Lin Fan's room was pierced by Ximen Shuai with a big hole. Gu Yan was still thinking about how to explain it to the boss, Lin Fan understood the worldly affairs, gave the boss a gold leaf to repair, and said: "If you ask me, I will take back the gold leaf."

  The boss immediately shut up, what you did yesterday doesn't matter, even if your parents were made of gold, with this golden leaf, you can dismantle the inn.

  The four of them were tired from traveling all night and no longer flew. They took a boat from Dadu River to Xiaodongzhou.

  Bai Mu asked: "Lin Fan, does your sect still have Golden Leaves?" Yun Qing Mountain didn't have many sources of gold.

  Lin Fan took out a talisman paper, read it quickly, and the talisman turned into golden leaves. Lin Fan threw the golden leaves into the river and said, "Don't worry, I used two taels of silver to create an illusion, which should be enough for the shop owner to repair his store."

  "Why didn't you just give him two taels of silver directly?"

  Lin Fan shook his head repeatedly: "I give him two taels, he must want four taels. I give him four taels, he must want eight taels. If I give him a gold leaf, he can't even want two pieces of gold leaves."

  "It turns out that's the case. Because there were too many gold leaves, the boss didn't dare to cheat us, so he accepted the gold leaves. But if it weren't for the gold leaves, the boss would have definitely cheated us and demanded a large sum of compensation. This trick may have deceived the shop owner, but we escaped easily, and the shop owner didn't suffer any losses either. It's a pretty good method after all. That is to say, not all deception is bad."

  "Uh..." Lin frowned and nodded: "You can think of it that way."

  At the same time, the boss of Du Kou shop shouted loudly: "Kill Qian Dao's cow nose, use golden leaves to cheat me..."

  Bai Mu never thought that someone who had earned a fortune would accept the fact of having only two taels of silver. Lin Fan knew this, but he was just comfortable with himself and didn't take advantage of the weak, so it was fine. You think you can cheat me? No way.