[Li Sansui (Identity: Daoist disciple) enters the Dao Impartment Platform.]
[Mo Ju (Identity: Confucianism disciple) enters the Dao Impartment Platform.]
[Sima Qingshan (Identity: A poor painter from Nanjin City) enters the Dao Impartment Platform.]
…
Lines of system messages rolled by in front of Lu Fan’s eyes.
Accustomed to the system prompt, Lu Fan read the news casually.
The Dao Impartment Platform had been quiet for a while ever since its last recruitment. Now, it had started to bring in new people again after he made a breakthrough and rose to the third Refined Qi Level.
It made Lu Fan wonder. Did a new round of recruitment start every time he leveled up?
Of course, that was only Lu Fan’s speculation. This might very well be a coincidence.
Lu Fan recognized two out of the three names he saw.
“Li Sansui, the young Daoist Nun from the Daoist School?”
“Mo Ju…? A Confucianist disciple? This guy… Wasn’t he a Mohist and Tantai Xuan’s advisor? How did he become a Confucianist disciple?
Lu Fan recognized the first two names. He had some recollection of Li Sansui. It was surprising that the Dao Impartment Platform brought her at this time.
Li Sansui already had an Immortal encounter and a pretty impressive one at that.
Lu Fan didn’t expect that she would be brought in by the Dao Impartment Platform.
Nevertheless, Mo Ju’s identity came as an even bigger shock to Lu Fan.
“A Confucianist disciple… This guy was neither honest nor trustworthy,” Lu Fan ruminated.
Mo Ju, Tantai Xuan’s advisor, had come from the Mohists. Somehow, he became a Confucianist.
Lu Fan didn’t think the Dao Impartment Platform would choose the wrong people. It meant that Mo Ju was likely to have been a mole planted by the Imperial Advisor of the capital city.
Lu Fan smiled and stopped thinking about it.
His consciousness entered the Dao Impartment Platform.
Three blurry figures slowly appeared in the center of the Dao Impartment Platform. Their faces were indistinct.
Li Sansui frowned. She looked down at her blurry body. It was obviously not her real body, yet it felt exactly the same as her real one.
Two people were next to her. One person looked like a scholar with one hand behind him and the other near his abdomen.
On the other side, the other person was filled with dread. He collapsed on the ground the moment he entered the platform.
“Where is this?”
Li Sansui was curious.
Was she inside the Dragon Gate Secret Realm?
It didn’t look like it. The Spirit Qi at the Dragon Gate Secret Realm wasn’t this dense.
An Eight Trigrams on the platform floated in the middle of the space where the immortal energy was coalescing. Eventually, a slender figure with an ethereal bearing appeared.
He sat upright in the middle of the formation, wreathed in Spirit Qi.
“New people are coming…” Lu Fan said softly.
His voice lingered in the edges of the Dao Impartment Platform. Li Sansui and Mo Ju had a touch of surprise on their faces. The poor painter named Sima Qingshan, on the other hand, was panic-stricken.
It seemed like something strange would always get dragged in whenever the Dao Impartment Platform was open.
It wasn’t too bad this time.
“Even if this Sima Qingshan was a painter, why did the platform specifically introduce him as a ‘poor’ painter?” Lu Fan complained to himself in disapproval.
Lu Fan spoke to the three of them, “This is the Secret Realm of the Dao Impartment. You will all have an Immortal encounter here. Remember, do not disclose your identity to avoid being harmed by the natural law and falling into the Nine Obscurities Purgatory.”
It was the standard opening speech that Lu Fan had practiced over and over again.
Even so, the effect was always fun to watch.
Li Sansui and Mo Ju became restless.
Sima Qingshan’s face turned white as a ghost. He immediately threw himself flat and hit his forehead on the ground in front of Lu Fan, who was sitting up straight on the Eight Trigrams Platform.
“Immortal, please let me go! I’m only a penniless painter. I don’t have money. I don’t have anything. Please let me go!”
Li Sansui didn’t pay much attention to Sima Qingshan’s groveling.
Sima Qingshan’s reaction was a natural one for an ordinary person.
Mo Ju was intrigued.
He raised his head and looked at Lu Fan on the platform.
The people this time were rather arrogant, compared to Bai Qingniao’s cohort who had a good sense of self-awareness.
Li Sansui was already a cultivator. She stared directly at Lu Fan fearlessly.
Mo Ju was also more curious than scared.
Lu Fan cracked a gentle smile.
He flapped his sleeves slightly.
Bang!
A terrifying force exploded through the Dao Impartment Platform.
Mo Ju and Li Sansui couldn’t resist the force and were pushed down. Their knees hit the ground and rippled the Spirit Qi inside the Dao Impartment Platform.
Pavilions, waterfalls, dragons with five claws, and many other mystical images appeared behind Lu Fan.
Entering the Dao Impartment Platform was an Immortal encounter for them.
Lu Fan was not in the mood to spend his time talking.
He kept flapping his sleeves.
Trigram labels jumped around him at full speed and metamorphosed into a fuzzy yet magnificent world.
Li Sansui prostrated herself on the ground. She raised her head and opened her mouth, attempting to say something.
However, she didn’t get the chance to speak.
A ray of white light shot into the space between her eyebrows and made her feel like her head was about to explode.
“Go,” Lu Fan said softly.
Li Sansui’s body lit up and disappeared.
Lu Fan’s eyes fell on Mo Ju. A Confucianist disciple?
Lu Fan constructed a cultivation method with trigram labels that specialized in cultivating the Confucianist Righteousness Qi and passed it to Mo Ju.
Mo Ju sensed the manual emerging in his head. His expression became strange.
He opened his mouth, but Lu Fan sent him away before he could speak.
Finally, there was only Sima Qingshan left in the Dao Impartment Platform. He bowed low to the ground and was frightened to tears.
“Anyone who enters this place can ask for an Immortal encounter. What kind of Immortal encounter do you want?” Lu Fan said. His voice was dreamlike and lingered around the mystical pavilions.
Sima Qingshan trembled.
He was so nervous that he couldn’t make a sound.
The Dao Impartment Platform became quiet in an instant.
Lu Fan remained silent.
Then, before Sima Qingshan could speak, Lu Fan waved his hand and constructed a cultivation method with the trigram labels and shot it into Sima Qingshan’s head with a wisp of Spirit Qi.
Subsequently, Sima Qingshan’s body broke into pieces.
“Finished.”
Lu Fan curled up his lips. His consciousness exited the Dao Impartment Platform.
A fragrance permeated the room.
Lu Fan opened his eyes and picked up the bronze cup in front of him. The wine inside was getting cold. But Lu Fan didn’t care and drank it up.
It was still pouring outside.
The sky was gray and murky as if it was covered with a thick layer of ink.
He took out the Spirit Pressure Chessboard again.
With the black and white chess piece boxes in place, Lu Fan caressed a white piece with his fingers.
“The Heavenly Go Manual has nine games. I already tried the Mountain River Strategy. Maybe I can try a new Go strategy now that I have reached the third Refined Qi Level,” Lu Fan muttered to himself while holding the chess piece.
After that, he reached out his slender hand and gently touched the spotless Spirit Pressure Chessboard.
He placed the white piece on the board.
“Second game of the Heavenly Go Manual. Wind Rain Strategy.”
In the relaxed and comfortable pavilion, Lu Fan sat upright in the wheelchair with the Spirit Pressure Chessboard laying in front of him. He placed the chess pieces down one by one.
Eyes sparkling in wonderment, Lu Fan concentrated on the game.
His Go skills were already impressive after finishing the Mountain River Strategy. The Wind Rain Strategy made him even more amazed.
Lu Fan’s Soul Strength improved while he played.
…
In a bamboo house at the Daoist School.
Li Sansui opened her eyes.
There was a chill in the air of the bamboo forest. The sun shone through the bamboo leaves, yet it couldn’t dispel the bone-chilling coldness.
“Immortal encounter…”
“This is…”
Li Sansui was astonished. Her red lips parted as if she noticed something beyond comprehension.
She stood up and paced in the bamboo house.
What Lu Fan passed to her wasn’t some immortal cultivation method, but a peculiar Daoist method.
Li Sansui and Nie Changqing had a fight which allowed Lu Fan to witness Li Sansui’s talent. She seemed to have an innate sense of the Daoist method.
She had even created a Cloud Dragon based on the Dragon Gate.
Therefore, Lu Fan had passed Li Sansui a Daoist cultivation method. He didn’t feel like studying the Daoist method himself, so he offered Li Sansui a head start and left it to her to do the rest of the work.
Li Sansui walked out of the bamboo house.
The leaves were falling and piling up in the bamboo forest, exuding a moldy smell.
Li Sansui pondered long and carefully.
Like a child who discovered a new toy, she was filled with joy.
She lifted her hand and applied sealing techniques with her fingers.
“Qian seal,” Li Sansui said softly. The Spirit Qi in her Qi Core surged rapidly.
Bamboo leaves on the ground flew up and swirled in the air. Soon, they formed a small figure.
The person made of bamboo leaves could even practice martial arts and attack under Li Sansui’s control. She wasn’t quite skilled at it yet—it was only her first time.
“A Daoist method. This is a Daoist method…”
Li Sansui was filled with amazement.
The door of the opposite bamboo house opened.
Xie Yunling seemed to have aged.
He had seen how Li Sansui used the sealing technique to transform bamboo leaves into a small person that could practice martial arts.
Xie Yunling was stunned.
“Your Excellency.”
Li Sansui stopped when she saw Xie Yunling. The figure instantly disintegrated into dried bamboo leaves blowing weakly in the air.
An Immortal method?” Xie Yunling coughed and asked.
Li Sansui took a breath and nodded. “I accidentally had an Immortal encounter which told me that this is… a Daoist Technique.”
Daoist Technique…
Xie Yunling smiled and looked at Li Sansui lovingly.
“Sansui,” Xie Yunling said.
“Call me Mo Chou,” Li Sansui responded coolly.
Xie Yunling paused for a moment. “OK, Sansui.”
“I’m going out. If I don’t come back, you shall be the next Philosopher of the Daoist School.”
Li Sansui’s brows knitted. “Why am I the next Philosopher? What about my brother?”
Xie Yunling waved his hand, saying, “You’re more suited to being the head of the Daoist School. Your brother went to the border area. He’s unruly and uninhibited. He loves freedom and is not fit to be the head of the Daoist School.”
Li Sansui pursed her lips together. Indeed, Li Sansi was not entirely reliable.
“Where are you going?” Li Sansui asked.
Shoulders hunched, Xie Yunling stamped on the soft ground covered by leaves and smiled.
“White Jade City has a wild ambition.”
“I’m going to see if they actually have the strength to realize that ambition.”
Xie Yunling cracked a meaningful smile.
“So… Where are you going?” Li Sansui continued to ask, expressionlessly. Why couldn’t he be more straightforward?
Xie Yueling rolled his eyes and glanced at Li Sansui.
“I’m going to gather some old folks and go to Beiluo together.”
Li Sansui’s eyebrows arched. Thinking about how Xie Yunling entrusted the Daoist School to her moments ago, she couldn’t help but say, “Going to Beiluo? Are you looking to get yourself killed?”
Xie Yunling almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
He waved his hand in response, too frustrated to continue his conversation with Li Sansui.
…
North County.
Inside a military tent.
Mo Ju opened his eyes with a strange feeling in his gut.
“Immortal encounter…
“It was different from the Secret Realm of the Hidden Dragon Ridge or the Eight Dragon Gate Secret Realms… This Immortal encounter seemed to be a direct meeting with the immortal. Overlord, Young Master Lu, and the other people who suddenly had the Immortal encounter must have had this kind of meeting,” Mo Ju analyzed in his head.
What about the immortal?
Lu Ping’an of Beiluo often mentioned fighting against an immortal. Was this the immortal he was talking about?
Mo Ju suddenly felt a sense of admiration for Lu Ping’an. Mo Ju didn’t have the courage to resist or fight when he was face to face with the immortal in that eerie place.
Lu Ping’an, on the contrary, had dared to fight against the immortal.
“But why…why did the immortal pass me the Confucianist Righteousness Qi?
“Does the immortal really know everything?”
