[At Azure Void Palace, just leaving the bath pool.

The water temperature was just right, the pool bottom was lined with fine jade stones that felt comfortable to step on; thoughtfully floating white mist surrounded us, helping salvage some dignity from bathing outdoors.

Heaven and Earth’s spiritual qi rushed toward my body, with Sage’s dao resonance nearby, available for casual contemplation, though whether one could gain insight into specific great days still depended on personal enlightenment.

This was one of the five great sacred grounds between Heaven and Earth, with many beautiful immortal maidens, though of course, they didn’t provide any form of service, and instead favored combat arts and divine abilities.

It must be mentioned that Azure Void Palace’s master was very hospitable.

He had no airs about him, none of that elderly pompousness that beings born since the opening of heaven and earth typically had, and his appearance looked like someone of my age, a young immortal just a few hundred years old – this point deserves praise.

It’s just that when scrubbing this smooth Sage’s back, my dao heart trembled a bit, worried about scrubbing Azure Void Palace’s master’s skin raw and him waving his hand to give me a sword strike.

That would be a sword strike that even certain Sages might not be able to block.

Though somewhat nervous, and despite being a guest yet having to do the work of a serving immortal, the overall experience was quite excellent, counting as one of life’s more memorable bathing experiences, quite different in sensation from the last time bathing in my junior sister’s wooden tub.

No more thinking about it, Azure Void Palace’s master wants to continue chatting.

Looking forward to a more beautiful Primordial Chaos, yearning for a more authentic future.

–Heavenly Court’s Chief Experience Officer, Changgeng.]

In a corner of Azure Void Palace, in the treasure pool atop the immortal mountain.

Amidst the swirling clouds and mist, with the continuous sound of splashing water, Li Changshou sat properly in the treasure pool, diligently helping scrub the back of the big before him.

“Changgeng, that method you mentioned earlier, I’ve carefully analyzed it several times. It’s indeed feasible, and should have a fifty to sixty percent chance of success.”

Li Changshou praised: “Uncle Master is still more capable. If I were to do it, there would only be a ten percent chance of success.”

“Hahaha,” Sage Tongtian laughed lightly, his finger tapping the water’s surface gently a few times, “But there’s one point – where to find such a soul that can bear the Red Lotus’s karmic force and also be accepted by the Red Lotus?”

“Well…, by coincidence, I happen to have brought one.”

Li Changshou said seriously: “Previously when River of Forgetfulness Elder devoured human souls in front of a disciple, for revenge, when encouraging Princess Asura to rebel against River of Forgetfulness Elder, to ensure success, the disciple used a human soul to balance River of Forgetfulness Elder’s remnant soul.

Unexpectedly, this soul afterward began to merge with the Red Lotus’s power.

At that time, the disciple had such a thought.

If what needs to be destroyed is River of Forgetfulness Elder’s remnant soul, then to preserve the Red Lotus, why not perform a switcheroo?

Let this soul compete with River of Forgetfulness Elder’s remnant soul for ownership of the Red Lotus.

As long as we compress River of Forgetfulness Elder’s connection to the Red Lotus, turning him into a mere blemish on the Red Lotus, finally losing just a bit of the Red Lotus’s power, we can cut River of Forgetfulness Elder out without causing the Red Lotus to collapse.

Then, by using this soul as the Red Lotus’s spirit, and putting in some effort to nurture the Red Lotus, perhaps it truly could become a treasure to stabilize the sect’s destiny.”

Sage Tongtian praised: “Truly brilliant!”

“Uncle Master overpraises. This was also from Master’s hint to disciple.”

Li Changshou’s words weren’t merely modest – he had indeed gotten inspiration from the future event of ‘transforming barbarians into Buddhists’ that he didn’t know when would happen, if it would happen, or exactly how it would happen.

The original intent of transforming barbarians into Buddhists was to compete for destiny with the Western Religion. The West was destined to prosper greatly, but what prospered didn’t necessarily have to be the Western Religion.

—The calculations here were too complex, another great game among Sages.

During those eighteen days sitting beside Supreme Clarity Sage, Li Changshou’s thoughts had continuously wandered, and he had suddenly thought of this method.

He had originally thought that with Sage’s abilities, resolving the River of Forgetfulness Elder’s remnant soul and protecting the Red Lotus shouldn’t be too difficult;

But… ahem!

Mainly, River of Forgetfulness Elder was too crafty – one couldn’t say Uncle Master Tongtian was weak in this aspect.

Sage Tongtian said: “Call forth this soul to take a look?”

“Please wait a moment, Uncle Master,” Li Changshou said softly, wading through the pool water to his clothes.

From within the Daoist robe sewn by Ling’e, he took out a treasure pouch, retrieved a soul-nurturing treasure, and brought the sealed soul to his palm before Sage Tongtian.

Sage Tongtian’s eyes lit up as he smiled: “You truly came fully prepared. Then why play coy? You could have brought it out earlier.”

Li Changshou: …

He could hardly say he hadn’t expected the Sage to be unable to handle it.

At this time, it was necessary to employ the art of language.

“Disciple seized the Red Lotus for the Dao School, and delivered it due to Master’s orders,” Li Changshou said seriously, “Preparing these things was due to personal feelings. Please don’t blame me, Uncle Master.”

“Hahaha! Well said about personal feelings!”

Sage Tongtian laughed heartily, then sighed with feeling: “Not only did you help this Uncle Master keep my good disciple Yunxiao in check, but you also taught my straightforward good disciple Gongming the way of flexibility, and now you’ve gone to such lengths to arrange things.

Shall this Uncle Master help you by knocking out good disciple Yunxiao and sending her here?”

“This,” Li Changshou’s Adam’s apple trembled as he said softly: “Uncle Master, let us develop naturally, naturally.”

“Hahaha! You’re even blushing! I’m just teasing you, this Uncle Master…”

Sage Tongtian’s smile paused as he sighed somewhat dejectedly: “How would I dare… Let’s unlock this soul’s restrictions and have a deep discussion with him since we need his help.”

“Right here?”

Li Changshou glanced at the clouds of mist around them.

“We’re all men, what’s there to fear?”

“Yes, disciple obeys.”

So, Li Changshou timidly awakened this soul.

The scholar emerged from his daze, first transforming into a human-sized shadow, which gradually became more substantial.

Sage Tongtian completely suppressed his Sage’s pressure, not even revealing his aura, fearing that a single glance might shatter this hard-to-come-by helper.

Compared to his appearance when conversing with Li Changshou last time, the scholar hadn’t changed much now, just having darker circles under his eyes, with wisps of pink qi floating around him, though his face was somewhat paler.

The scholar blinked, gradually regaining his senses, looking at the two “completely exposed” young Daoists before him, and couldn’t help but tilt his head.

“Eh?”

What was this situation?

When the scholar was still alive, he had heard that several wealthy merchants in the city kept male companions, and when he was desperate, because of his slight handsomeness, he had almost agreed to the brothel keeper who came to persuade him.

Before him, this… this…

Then he heard these two immortals conversing in front of him.

The completely unfamiliar immortal on the left frowned and said: “Nephew Changgeng, this soul is so weak, can it work?”

The immortal on the right, who was also completely unfamiliar yet somehow familiar, smiled and said: “If Uncle Master wants him to work, he naturally will work.”

The scholar trembled a few times and said with a shaking voice: “What… what do you want to do? I have nobody, I’m just a ghost!”

Sage Tongtian revealed a gentle smile: “Don’t be afraid, I want to discuss something important with you.”

The scholar’s eyes showed a hint of despair: “Immortal, you won’t even spare a soul?”

“Changgeng, this…”

“Don’t worry, Uncle Master, let me discuss with him.”

Li Changshou made a Daoist salute to Sage Tongtian, pulled the scholar’s soul aside in the pool, and said softly:

“What? Don’t recognize me?”

The scholar nodded honestly, but when Li Changshou transformed into the Water God’s appearance and released a thread of his aura, the scholar immediately relaxed.

“Old Immortal, it’s you! Thank you, Old Immortal, for saving me from being devoured by that evil ghost!”

The evil ghost presumably referred to River of Forgetfulness Elder.

Li Changshou smiled and said: “Your dangerous encounter was because I brought you out from the eighteenth level of hell. Otherwise, if you had been properly enjoying your tortures in the eighteenth level of hell, you wouldn’t have had to make this journey outside.

No need to thank me, no need to thank me.”

The scholar suddenly thought of something, his face falling as he quietly pleaded:

“Could you… not send me back to hell?

In my life, I was… passable, and truly never did any great evil. Even the judge said many of the karmic debts were shared with me!”

“You don’t want to go back to suffer?”

Li Changshou pondered for a moment: “This is somewhat difficult to arrange, as it doesn’t comply with Heaven’s rules. Though I am an immortal, I can’t make an exception for you without reason, unless…”

“Please say it, please say it,” the scholar hurried to say, “I’ll do anything.”

“There are three choices before you now,” Li Changshou said, “I know making choices is difficult for you, but I must explain these clearly to you.

The first choice is I send you back to the eighteenth level of hell and plead with the underworld judges to reduce your sentence somewhat.

That way, after you’ve cleared your karmic debts in the eighteenth level of hell, you’ll still have a chance at reincarnation, though you might have to spend several lifetimes as insects, beasts, birds, or fish.

The second choice, you help me do something with a passive attitude, which is to beat up that evil ghost who wanted to eat you. Of course, I will use methods to ensure your victory; you just need to do as I say.

If this succeeds, you’ll be half an immortal in the future, even achieving immortality, though relatively speaking, you won’t be able to move about freely.

The third choice, you help me with all your effort this time, and I’ll help you with all my effort too. With this great person present, we’ll surely keep you from death.

Even if this fails, I’ll still ensure you become a minor god, how about that?”

The scholar’s voice trembled, though this time he was quite straightforward: “Aren’t you suggesting I choose the third option?”

Li Changshou revealed a slight smile: “This is what we call destiny, young man.”

“May I ask, which immortal are you?”

“Me? The Water God of the Heavenly Court. Everything related to waterfalls is under my jurisdiction,” Li Changshou said gently. “You’ve heard that rivers, lakes, and seas all have Dragon Kings, right?”

The scholar nodded honestly.

“If they want to become River Gods or Lake Gods, they need my approval.”

The scholar asked, trembling: “The immortal isn’t… isn’t lying?”

Li Changshou’s eyes were full of solemnity as he said seriously: “I won’t deceive you.”

“Then,” the scholar gritted his teeth, his eyes gradually brightening, “I’ll give it my all! Whatever you say, I’ll do it!”

Li Changshou immediately revealed a faint smile, looking toward Sage Tongtian to the side, who was standing by the pool at some point, hands behind his back, looking up at the sky.

Uh, could it be that Uncle Master Tongtian somewhat disliked his method of ‘patient guidance’?

Then Sage Tongtian sighed softly: “Changgeng.”

“Disciple is here.”

“Open a Wood Flower Academy in my Azure Void Palace. I’ll give you the position of Vice Principal, to properly teach these disciples of this Uncle Master.”

Li Changshou: …

Sure enough, the mortal love story of the Queen Mother and the Jade Emperor – the Sage had watched the live stream!

…

Though the position of Vice Principal sounded very tempting, Li Changshou resolutely dared not accept.

Not only was the Severing Sect currently “declining like the western mountains,” but the Supreme Clarity Master likely wouldn’t allow it either.

He was a disciple of the Human Sect – how could he guest star as Vice Principal in the Severing Sect?

Naturally, Sage Tongtian was mostly joking, not directly issuing a Sage’s decree.

If one could say that Supreme Clarity Master perfectly exemplified what it meant to be the peak of the Dao, then Upper Clarity Uncle Master was demonstrating how to ‘control the Dao’ with true nature.

After they each tidied their robes and left the treasure pool, Sage Tongtian indicated to Li Changshou not to reveal the solution yet, taking the opportunity to test the Severing Sect disciples.

The result left Sage Tongtian… not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

After the Treasure Master led the Severing Sect immortals in discussion for a while, they came up with several methods.

For instance, the most supported plan was to destroy the River of Forgetfulness Elder’s remnant soul’s memories and transform them into the treasure’s spirit.

The drawback was that if River of Forgetfulness Elder was pretending to be foolish, this would be a huge hidden danger.

Another example was Zhao Gongming’s method – to go as a group and lie down in front of Spirit Mountain’s gate, throw the Red Lotus on the ground, and claim Spirit Mountain destroyed their Severing Sect’s supreme treasure, demanding they compensate with an identical one. If they didn’t agree, they’d cover Spirit Mountain with the Four Demon-Slaying Swords!

The drawback was that it could easily trigger a battle between Sages and destroy the Five Continents of Primordial Chaos.

In short, the Severing Sect immortals pooled their wisdom and offered various strategies, but could never break through the current impasse.

However, nearly half of the Severing Sect disciples were indifferent to this, feeling the Red Lotus was dispensable – their Severing Sect had gotten by all these years just fine and was still the largest sect with ten thousand immortals paying court.

When the refreshed Sage Tongtian led the refreshed Li Changshou refreshingly back to Azure Void Palace’s main hall, and refreshingly sprawled sideways in his most familiar position – on the steps before the throne, Sage Tongtian smiled and said:

“Everyone speak up, do you have any good methods?”

Several senior Severing Sect disciples offered their strategies one after another, and Sage Tongtian kept nodding as he listened, while continuously pointing out inappropriate aspects.

Before the steps, Celestial Maiden Yunxiao curiously glanced at Li Changshou beside her, seemingly using her gaze to ask what had happened earlier.

Li Changshou calmly smiled, and winked his left eye – everything was understood without words.

Just then, Sage Tongtian said:

“Changgeng, come tell us your method, let your senior brothers and sisters see what true strategic planning is.

They are far inferior to you in matters of planning and calculation.”

Hearing the sect leader’s words, the Severing Sect disciples immediately looked toward Li Changshou somewhat indignantly.

Li Changshou revealed a slightly embarrassed smile, made Daoist salutes in all directions, and hurriedly said this was a method enlightened by his ‘Master,’ explaining his ‘raccoon for crown prince’ plan in detail, and pulled out that scholar from the treasure.

Zhao Gongming frowned and said: “This can work?”

“Worth trying,” Treasure Master praised, “Did Junior brother already think of this in the Ancient Asura City then, using the way of balance to shape this human soul as a catalyst?

Alas, why didn’t we think this far ahead when facing River of Forgetfulness Elder’s remnant soul?”

Golden Spirit Holy Mother said irritably: “Think what? Weren’t we all asleep then?”

Treasure Master chuckled, and immediately joyful, relaxed laughter sounded around them.

Said and done.

Sage Tongtian controlled the Red Lotus, and Li Changshou brought that soul over, unsealing the River of Forgetfulness Elder’s remnant soul.

Due to Sage Tongtian’s sword strike, River of Forgetfulness Elder’s remnant soul didn’t have much power left but was still incomparable to this scholar.

Therefore, Li Changshou again employed the great dao of balance, this time not using much effort to balance the River of Forgetfulness Elder’s remnant soul with this scholar’s soul.

Then, Sage Tongtian pointed with a finger, using his Sage abilities to almost completely suppress River of Forgetfulness Elder;

Golden merit surged from Li Changshou’s palm in streams, wrapping River of Forgetfulness Elder’s remnant soul, using this to make the Red Lotus form a kind of rejection toward River of Forgetfulness Elder’s remnant soul.

To be safe, Li Changshou used some spells to make the scholar’s soul agitated, then cast the scholar into the Red Lotus.

Almost instantly, the scholar merged with the Red Lotus, beginning to compete with the River of Forgetfulness Elder for control of the Red Lotus.

Just like a soul possession, with the assistance of Sage Tongtian, Li Changshou, and the Severing Sect’s senior disciples from the side, River of Forgetfulness Elder retreated step by step, finally forced into a ‘corner.’

Although they could continue compressing River of Forgetfulness Elder’s remnant soul’s ‘living space’ at this point, Li Changshou played it safe and said: “Uncle Master, this should be about enough.”

Sage Tongtian’s hand rose and the sword fell, directly cutting River of Forgetfulness Elder’s remnant soul from a corner of the Red Lotus petal!

Before River of Forgetfulness Elder’s remnant soul could curse loudly, Treasure Master acted promptly, deploying a Soul-Destroying Cauldron to directly refine River of Forgetfulness Elder’s remnant soul, then took out the Red Lotus’s essence power that had just been cut away and sent it back into the Red Lotus…

The Severing Sect disciples somewhat nervously stared at this Red Lotus as Li Changshou recited a calming spell to help that scholar’s soul settle his mind.

The Twelve-Petaled Karmic Red Lotus…

Was perfectly fine!

“It worked?” Zhao Gongming called out joyfully.

That scholar transformed into a three-inch-tall little person, showing his head at the edge of the Red Lotus, still trembling from lingering fear.

Li Changshou cupped his hands to him and smiled: “Congratulations, friend.”

A maiden immortal said happily: “Our Severing Sect now has a treasure to suppress destiny!”

Qionxiao also said: “Master, quickly try what effects this Red Lotus has!”

“Hahahahaha!”

Sage Tongtian immediately laughed heartily, holding the Red Lotus in his palm, “This time Changgeng’s merit cannot be overlooked, he must be well rewarded!

Watch carefully, this Red Lotus has the effect of absorbing karmic obstacles and can be used to suppress the sect’s destiny through this.

Rise!”

With the sect leader’s light shout, the Red Lotus slowly rose while rotating, and that scholar’s soul was pulled back to the center of the Red Lotus, merging with it.

In the next instant, streams of black qi surged toward the Red Lotus from all directions, both the karmic obstacles of the Severing Sect immortals and the ‘tribulation’ accumulated by the Severing Sect over this long age.

One wave, two waves…

Suddenly thunder boomed, and large black clouds appeared around Azure Void Palace, immediately pressing toward this Red Lotus.

Zhao Gongming cried out: “Bad, this Red Lotus can’t suppress our sect’s destiny!”

“Where did our Severing Sect get so many karmic obstacles!”

Li Changshou’s expression changed greatly as he frowned and carefully sensed;

Sage Tongtian’s expression was somewhat solemn at this moment, sword light flashing in his eyes, yet he was incomparably decisive as he flew to grab this continuously shaking Red Lotus.

But it was too late!

Boom!

Hum—

A light red tide erupted in Azure Void Palace, spreading far in this small world, collapsing peak after peak…