Me and countless me.

Chapter 518 The Split of the Free and Unfettered Sect (5k)
"Well... since the young duke wants to know, I can only tell you everything I know."

Madam Wang, or rather Li Qingluo, was somewhat reluctant to say it, but ultimately she did.

After her explanation, Li Ke gained a clear understanding of the division within the Free and Unfettered Sect in this world.

Just as he had thought, it was indeed very abstract.

In the beginning, there was only one Li Canghai. Li Canghai, along with Xiaoyaozi and several other predecessors, searched for immortality, but ultimately failed because everyone's circumstances were different.

Therefore, Li Canghai proposed that if various internal energy cultivation methods could be continuously tested on one person, the final answer could be found.

Thus, Li Canghai sacrificed himself, becoming the original body, and was sealed in a crystal that gathered the wisdom of the cultivators of the First and Second Laws. Moreover, as long as enough nutrients are put in, a sister named Canghai, just like Li Canghai, can be produced in the crystal.

After the other cultivators died of old age, Xiaoyaozi, nearing his own death, decided to try a new path. So he created two Li Canghais and took Wuyazi as his disciple. He adopted a strategy of attracting high-end talent with wealth and honor, and then died not long after passing on his martial arts.

He also has plans for three routes.

The first one was Wu Xingyun. He had her cultivate the Eight Desolations and Six Harmonies Supreme Technique, which could reverse aging, and try to see if she could truly achieve immortality by continuously cultivating this technique from a young age, hoping for new changes. After all, this was his main research direction in life, and he wanted to see if it was feasible.

The second is Wu Yazi, who cultivates the Beiming Divine Art and attempts to achieve immortality with his absolute power.

The third is Li Qiushui, who cultivates the Lesser Formless Skill and mainly serves as an assistant and protector, as well as maintaining the purity of the Free and Unfettered Sect.

However, Wu Yazi fell in love with Wu Xingyun, and Wu Xingyun felt that since Wu Yazi liked him, he should use his charm to motivate Wu Yazi. So he changed Xiaoyaozi's plan and wanted to become an adult completely.

Then he was interrupted by Li Qiushui, who wanted to maintain the original path, which even resulted in his incomplete cultivation and inability to freely rejuvenate. Li Qiushui was also injured and disfigured, and lost the ability to inspire Wuyazi.

Therefore, Wu Yazi lost interest in Wu Xingyun and instead began to study things related to Li Canghai. Then, during his research career, he was attracted by Li Canghai's spirit of dedication and became obsessed with studying Li Canghai, wanting to free Li Canghai from the crystal.

Li Qiushui was naturally unwilling to accept this behavior, so she broke off relations with Wuyazi and defeated Wuyazi together with Wuyazi's disciple Ding Chunqiu. However, Li Qiushui believed that Ding Chunqiu's research direction was still the second method and was useless for the third method, so she abandoned Ding Chunqiu again.

However, Li Qiushui was also found and attacked by Wu Xingyun, who still wanted Wu Yazi to continue his research, and was disfigured. Many strongholds and supplies were also destroyed.

Thus, Li Qingluo was born, serving as a tool to replace Li Qiushui in motivating and recruiting young talents. She herself went to Xixia to become the empress, using Xixia's national strength to gather enough resources for the Xiaoyao Sect to continue their research.

However, Ding Chunqiu did not give up his ambition to become the leader of the Xiaoyao Sect and take over the 'Canghai' sisters. However, he was simply not capable enough and could only rely on the praise of others to give himself the confidence to become the future leader of the Xiaoyao Sect. Therefore, he became more and more like a clown.

Therefore, the Xiaoyao Sect is now severely divided. Wu Xingyun, holding all the original version of the Xiaoyao Sect, continues to develop its power for research and renamed it the Tianshan Sect to avoid direct conflict with Li Qiushui again. However, she is also extremely disappointed with Wu Yazi, who is not doing his job properly, and chooses to conduct research on her own.

In the eyes of Madam Wang and the others, Wu Yazi was hiding somewhere, preparing for revenge. However, he was the legitimate leader of the sect. Therefore, although the Canghai sisters, who did not have much authority, did not have any hostility towards him, they did not have any good feelings towards him either. So they just tried their best to maintain the manpower of the Xiaoyao Sect in the Central Plains.

Li Qiushui simply went to Western Xia to open a branch base.

Wu Yazi, needless to say, is in fact preparing for revenge, but his target should be Ding Chunqiu, not the other Canghai sisters, since only Ding Chunqiu truly wants to take everything from him. Li Qiushui and Wu Xingyun, on the other hand, both hope he can pull himself together. It's just that his loyal disciple's skills and aptitude are too poor; he doesn't even have the ability to attract the attention of the Canghai sisters.

As for Ding Chunqiu, he was disliked by everyone. Only Madam Wang would contact him because she needed supplies and other conveniences. But Ding Chunqiu was pitiful.

He now believes Li Qiushui is Li Qingluo's mother, completely unaware of the true secrets of the Xiaoyao Sect. Even the memory of sleeping with Li Qiushui in his mind is the same as that of Prince Duan, achieved through drugs.

Therefore, it's difficult to say that he belongs to the Xiaoyao School; you can only say that he is a fan-made re-creation of the Xiaoyao School.

What Li Ke wanted to complain about was that Xiaoyaozi and the group of cultivators originally intended to free everyone in the world from the suffering of birth, old age, sickness and death, so that they could be liberated and live a carefree life in the world.

It can be said that Sister Canghai was just an assistant and supporter, but it seems that the disciples starting from Wuyazi have all become love-struck, paying more attention to Sister Canghai and those assets and martial arts, and no longer caring about the Third Law.

Even the people these "Canghai Sisters" found were a bunch of oddballs, basically none of them were human, and nobody cared about this third method.

So after hearing all this, Li Ke complained.

"Although they all match up, they're completely different now..."

Although the problems in the original work were also caused by Wu Yazi's obsession with love, Li Qiushui was truly a despicable person, while Wu Xingyun was more normal.

But now Li Qiushui has become the 'positive character', which makes Li Ke want to complain. However, it is likely that Wu Yazi does not think so. He probably thinks that Li Qiushui is jealous of Li Canghai, which is why this situation has occurred.

Therefore, Wu Yazi's feeling is somewhat like that of humans in Warhammer facing out-of-control servants, as well as the clone rebellion described in some novels.

"But it doesn't seem to make much difference?"

Looking at the two Canghai sisters, who were called Wang Yuyan and Li Qingluo, Li Ke felt that her thinking was not wrong. After all, for an ancient person like Wu Yazi, these things were still too advanced.

Seeing Li Ke deep in thought, Madam Wang grew increasingly anxious and couldn't help but try to persuade him again.

"So, young duke, would you be willing to join the Free and Unfettered Sect? If not, that's fine too. As long as you are interested in the profound longevity martial arts, we can still give you the assets and power we have at our disposal, and we are willing to be your help. It doesn't even matter whether you are willing to share after you have mastered it, because we just hope that the third method can be completed."

She became even more humble, because she had truly lost all hope and only wished that Wang Yuyan could carry on the legacy of the Xiaoyao Sect.

However, Li Ke's sudden emergence gave her hope of successfully completing the Third Law in this generation, which is why she made such a big fuss in an attempt to attract Li Ke's attention.

She had even prepared to accumulate enough prestige to marry Wang Yuyan to Li Ke as a concubine, but she never expected that Li Ke would actually come.

After thinking for a moment, Li Ke nodded.

"I don't seem to have any reason to refuse."

Putting aside Wang Yuyan and Madam Wang, the wealth accumulated by the Xiaoyao Sect over the years was enough for him to agree. After all, he was going to rebel in thirty years, and the more assets and manpower he had, the better. With Sister Canghai as his rear, he didn't need to worry about loyalty.

That alone was enough for him to agree. In fact, compared to the wealth and martial arts of the Xiaoyao Sect, these Canghai sisters were far more valuable.

Upon hearing this, Madam Wang was overjoyed. She hurriedly stood up, bowed to Li Ke, and then looked at him with a flushed face.

"In that case, we shall address you as Lord from now on. But Lord, would you like to learn the martial arts of my Free and Unfettered Sect?" Li Ke nodded. He was also somewhat interested in the things the Free and Unfettered Sect had come up with. After all, to be able to create an artificial human like Sister Canghai in this era, it could only be said that the people of the Free and Unfettered Sect were indeed quite capable. He wanted to know the extent to which they had accomplished this.

"Of course, take me to see it."

Upon hearing this, Madam Wang was overjoyed and immediately led Li Ke, along with Wang Yuyan, into their true library, which contained all of Wu Yazi's research materials and martial arts manuals.

After Li Ke entered, he discovered that, just like in the original story, some of the core techniques of certain sects were missing, but there was a great deal of knowledge about herbs and the human body, as well as some so-called first and second methods.

So, under Wang Yuyan's guidance and explanation, he began to watch.

Upon seeing it, Li Ke felt somewhat horrified.

Leaving aside the first method, which involves physical modification and fusion, just by reading the description, one can imagine how many people died and how many monsters were created. In fact, many of the monsters in the Classic of Mountains and Seas in this world were created by this group of people.

The second method was an improvement on the first method, and it could even be said that it developed alongside the first method. It has also caused many people to die or go mad from being eaten, turning them into monsters.

Moreover, many prescriptions, pharmacological information, and methods for these two methods are missing. It is clear that those who followed this path died, and those who came after did not dare to try it, or tried it but did not have time to record it, so it was completely cut off.

However, Li Ke saw many unsuccessful results from the first and second methods, especially the almost 'perfect' results of the first method.

"...This person cultivated using a small cauldron made from a strange tree and many poisonous creatures from all over the world. He could instantly recover from any injury and could freely change his age, appearance, gender, and even grow the limbs of many animals, possessing the power of a hundred beasts."

However, it has extremely severe side effects: desires become incredibly intense, even to the point of madness, rendering normal thinking impossible. Normal food cannot replenish the body's energy; only absorbing fresh blood can maintain bodily activity. Furthermore, it fears sunlight; exposure to it almost certainly leads to death. It claims that more poisons are needed to complete the process, but in its quest to collect these poisons, it indiscriminately kills innocent people, drinks their blood, and recklessly indulges its desires; it is no longer human. Therefore, this work is created to destroy it…”

Upon seeing this, the term "perfect creature" immediately came to Li Ke's mind. Recalling Duan Yu's earlier words about ripples, Li Ke no longer wanted to complain or think about why the Xiaoyao Sect had information on perfect creatures but not on ripples, and even had to resort to a honey trap to deceive Duan Zhengchun.

It's simply that the cultivators of ancient times split up for various reasons. Anyway, all this information was found by Xiaoyaozi, so it's really not a mystery.

But just as he was looking for more information, he discovered that the information about this 'perfect creature' had disappeared, so he subconsciously looked at Wang Yuyan.

"Is there no more information after this?"

Wang Yuyan, who had been staring at Li Ke, took a deep breath to make herself appear less anxious before speaking in the cool, aloof voice that Madam Wang had taught her.

"No, Ding Chunqiu took it. He said he could use this information to create a truly perfect creature, so I let him take it."

Li Ke nodded, confirming one thing: the Divine Wood King Cauldron in the original work should be the same thing mentioned in Ding Chunqiu's cosplay.

But just as he was about to continue watching, Wang Yuyan spoke up again.

"Young master, won't you take a rest? You've been studying for two days already. Besides, would you like to cultivate the Lesser Formless Skill? This manual from our Free and Unfettered Sect is truly powerful. It's just a pity we don't have the authority to teach the Northern Darkness Divine Skill directly to you."

As she spoke, Wang Yuyan moved closer to Li Ke, and a fragrant breeze wafted from her body to Li Ke, making Li Ke's heart itch.

After all, during the few days he spent with Wang Yuyan, Li Ke also discovered that although Wang Yuyan and Madam Wang were physically identical, their personalities and ways of doing things were somewhat different. Moreover, just like real humans, they had their own joys, sorrows, and things they liked.

He was simply extremely persistent in completing the 'Third Law,' so persistent that even when he merely showed interest in and quick comprehension of the information recorded by the Free and Unfettered Sect, Wang Yuyan and Madam Wang practically clung to him.

So Li Ke really wanted to know just how human-like Wu Yazi and Ding Chunqiu were that they could make the Canghai sisters give up on them.
However, Li Ke still gained a lot. At least he learned about many of the special products of this world, as well as some ores that could be used to replace special items in other parts of Li Ke's world. This gave him a lot more confidence in advancing his technology tree to the 20th century within a few decades.

Because this world actually has abstract things like jade that can be superconducted at room temperature, and can even produce things like periodic bursts of biological toxins.

Even minerals that can naturally store internal energy are not uncommon. With the help of these things, it is not difficult to build a civilization powered by true qi.

So Li Ke shook his head and pushed Wang Yuyan away slightly, because he had more important things to do now.

"Let's talk about it after we finish eating. I've found some prescriptions and methods that can be used with the first and second methods. I've also created some internal cultivation techniques that can increase a person's strength and recovery ability three times in an extremely inexpensive way. Write them down with paper and pen, but don't practice them with your mother. Find some monkeys to take them to confirm their effectiveness, and then find some bandits to test them on."

Li Ke was 100% certain about the prescription and cultivation method, but in order to convince others, he still had Wang Yuyan and the others experiment with it.

But Wang Yuyan was overjoyed. She was quite disappointed when Li Ke pushed her away at first, but after hearing Li Ke's words, she instantly showed a look of ecstasy. So she rubbed her legs and picked up a book to write for Li Ke.

Li Ke quickly finished explaining the first prescription. By this time, Wang Yuyan was already a little unsteady on her feet, because with her knowledge of the 'Martial Arts Forbidden Book Catalogue,' she was already 80% certain that what Li Ke had produced was genuine.

As Li Ke continued to talk, Wang Yuyan's eyes and body became increasingly moist. She even took a break to go to the restroom and change her clothes.

Li Ke paid no attention; he simply immersed himself in the ocean of knowledge and recorded all sorts of unique artifacts belonging to the martial arts world.

However, just as he was about to rest, he discovered that today's meal had become even more lavish, and his servant had also arrived with a letter.

It seems that the local chamber of commerce learned of his presence here and sent the information back to his hometown, which resulted in his family sending him a letter.

The letter was long, but it contained only one message: hurry back and marry your cousins, have them give birth to eighteen children within a year, and quickly inherit the title of Duke.

Li Ke tossed it aside after reading it, because he had come out to avoid this. Although marrying these distant cousins ​​was not a problem, since they were all distant relatives, there was no issue of consanguineous marriage.

So he didn't care at all, but Wang Yuyan was not like that. She looked at the letter that Li Ke had casually thrown aside, and at the various materials and cultivation techniques that Li Ke had compiled in the past few days, and decided to take action.

That very night, the seemingly unattainable fairy-like woman in Duan Yu's eyes suddenly became incredibly passionate.
"Miss Wang! No! No! I still want to read! I still want to read!"

“Young master, you can read anytime… but I didn’t expect you to have the Northern Darkness Divine Skill. Alright, I’ll teach you the Northern Darkness Divine Skill.”

However, this was not the end, because the very next night, Wang Yuyan slept in a separate room due to exhaustion—

"My Lord, do not turn around. I am Yu Yan."

Li Ke: "…………"

Someone's treating him like an idiot!
(End of this chapter)