Back at Little Jade Peak, Li Changshou entered his pill-refining chamber.

Using his immortal perception, he took a few moments to admire the ‘tower defense formation’ he had crafted for his Junior Master Jiu Jiu. Indeed, without the ‘backdoor’ he had left behind, even he would be unable to see through those layers of light barriers. After this ordeal, his Junior Master’s safety within the sect had improved considerably. Though the precious materials used were substantial, the value of a life far exceeded any material worth!

Taking stock of his current ‘friends’ – Junior Master Jiu Jiu, Elder Master Jiu Wu, Elder Wan Lingyun… and counting his half-toxic Junior Sister – the number of ‘friends’ had already exceeded his expectations. Moving forward, he would need to be more cautious, lest he become entangled in strange affairs due to having too many dao companions.

Afterward, he checked the formations across Little Jade Peak and observed the activities at various peaks within the sect. He sensed the dao resonance emanating from his Junior Sister’s cultivation and secretly glimpsed his Master cultivating diligently in his thatched cottage. After confirming everything was normal, Li Changshou activated the maze and containment formations outside the pill chamber, left a strand of consciousness guarding his body, and manifested most of his consciousness in his paper avatar.

Currently, his most urgent task was to resolve the matter of the South Sea God, absolutely preventing the Sea God Church from growing unchecked and expanding wildly.

In the cavities of underground rock veins, he slowly opened his eyes. Li Changshou checked the sensing stones on this paper body and the simple formations arranged around him. Good, he hadn’t been discovered.

Stabilizing the paper avatar’s aura, Li Changshou used his tunneling technique underground, rising from a depth of one thousand zhang to one hundred zhang. This hundred-zhang depth was carefully calculated by him. At this depth, earth-tunneling speed was relatively fast, wouldn’t leave aura disturbances on the surface, and wouldn’t result in collisions with hard precious material ore veins… though if he did hit one, it might result in unexpected wealth.

Li Changshou was currently at the border between the East Victory Divine Continent and South Jambudvipa Continent, passing through some minor demon territory, and rapidly approaching the mortal realm of the South Continent. To increase his safety coefficient, Li Changshou chose the same path he had traveled before.

His immortal perception swept past, mountains and waters seeing him off, coming and going in haste. With a slight thought, he encountered familiar sights once again. Such as the frequent battles between qi cultivators, and the not-uncommon fights between mountain spirits and elementals. The warfare at that fortress had finally ceased, its walls stained dark red. As for that uncle and sister-in-law who had run away for love and freedom, Li Changshou coincidentally found their traces at the edge of a forest. However, while the uncle remained, the sister-in-law had vanished, replaced by a young man chopping wood and building fires nearby… This, perhaps, was the nature of the mortal realm.

After two days of earth-tunneling, Li Changshou found a hidden corner beneath a certain major city in the mortal realm and switched to a fresh paper avatar for traveling. Since a paper avatar’s immortal power couldn’t regenerate naturally, it would be inefficient to waste one avatar’s combat potential merely on travel.

Traveling non-stop this way, Li Changshou spent another seven or eight days slowly approaching his… What nonsense about approaching himself! The South Sea God Church matter had nothing to do with him originally! If he could return these merits from worship in exchange for the South Sea God Church’s disappearance without consequences, Li Changshou would certainly raise both hands in agreement.

The South Sea God Church wasn’t particularly large at this time, mainly distributed among coastal towns and villages along the South Sea’s edge, where most fishermen would worship the Sea God.

Li Changshou’s first chosen landing point was at the edge of the South Sea God Church’s influence, an ordinary town situated on the plains. With about five to six thousand households and many merchants stopping to rest, it was relatively prosperous. On the main road running through town, one could see some docile ‘walking beasts’ like oxen and horses pulling carts, transporting people and goods.

A temple of the Sea God Church was built on the town’s south side, adjacent to the main road. The temple enjoyed prosperous worship, with travelers both departing and returning home stopping by to light incense and pray for a peaceful journey.

After finding an uninhabited corner and secretly observing for several hours, Li Changshou finally emerged from the ground in a dense forest. At this time, this paper avatar took the form of an elderly Daoist priest with white hair and beard, and kind features. Wearing a clean gray-white robe, a Daoist headband, and holding a duster, he seemed to float rather than walk, appearing as an otherworldly expert full of immortal presence.

Li Changshou first strolled around the town, drawing many glances from mortals. This area was considered the edge of the human mortal realm, with simple folk customs, and people had seen few cultivators of this appearance, their eyes showing curiosity. Beyond curiosity, the townspeople also displayed their enthusiasm.

Passing by a bun shop, a merchant offered steaming hot buns. Walking past a teahouse, a young waiter brought over a cup of hot tea with a smile. Occasionally passing an elegant wooden building, a window was pushed open, and a window prop accidentally fell, with the young lady behind the window covering her mouth in laughter…

Li Changshou paid no attention to any of this, walking slowly closer to the Sea God temple. The temple wasn’t particularly grand. It was just a square courtyard with a zhang-tall stone statue erected in the center. Entering the courtyard gates, Li Changshou looked up at this statue, whose face and figure closely resembled his true form, and sighed inwardly.

It was due to his insufficient abilities that he hadn’t yet mastered the divine ability to make people forget his appearance. When he was struck repeatedly by heavenly tribulation and punishment, severely injured, and caught in enlightenment about ascension, Li Changshou truly couldn’t attend to these details… He could only try to remedy the situation now.

“Oh? Where do you come from?” A sudden greeting came from the corner of the courtyard, as a short and thin ‘qi cultivator’ wearing dirty, tattered Daoist robes came running over. This person’s cultivation seemed to be only at the third level of Qi Refinement, barely able to use some minor techniques. He had set up a fortune-telling and divination stall in the courtyard corner, selling long incense’ sticks of varying prices on the side, apparently making a living here.

However, Li Changshou dared not be careless. This person could be a Western Teaching spy, or possibly an expert so formidable that even he couldn’t see through… Although the probability of the latter was not high. In any case, upon entering the Sea God Church’s sphere of influence, Li Changshou constantly reminded himself to be careful in everything.

The old fortune-teller approached quickly, and when still three zhang away, Li Changshou had already made a Daoist salute… “Fellow Daoist, this humble priest pays his respects.”

“This?” The fortune teller was stunned for a moment, his small eyes making a circle before he quickly returned the Daoist salute in an imitative manner, smiling and saying: “Fellow Daoist is too courteous, too courteous. Fellow Daoist, where do you come from, and what brings you to our humble temple?”

Li Changshou replied, “This humble priest has traveled far to arrive here, and seeing the prosperous worship at this place, but never having heard of the deity enshrined in this temple, I felt puzzled and came to take a look.”

The fortune teller frowned, “You mean you’ve never heard of the great Sea God?”

Li Changshou shook his head, smiling, “This humble priest has only just arrived in this area…”

“Elder! Do not speak such words before our Sea God!” The fortune teller shouted lightly, stern-faced as he said loudly: “Our Sea God’s name is known throughout the world! Elder, before the Sea God’s statue, please mind your words and actions. Not long ago, that wealthy household in town, just because they offended the Sea God by speaking wrongly here, the next day the master drank one cup of wine and died drunk, leaving his newly wedded young wife a widow!”

Li Changshou: …

“Oh? Is this Sea God so efficacious?”

“Of course,” the Qi Refinement fortune teller smiled proudly, with worshippers nearby chiming in agreement, saying it was indeed so. Then, following this thread, the fortune teller launched into… stories about the Sea God.

More than ten mortals who had come to offer incense gathered around. As the fortune teller told his stories, these mortals constantly chimed in, each speaking as if they had personally experienced the events.

Li Changshou patiently listened to the ‘legends’ springing from the fortune teller’s mouth, his heart continuously twitching. Currently, the most widely circulated stories about the South Sea God near the South Sea were: “Sea God’s Great Battle with the Carp Spirit,” “Sea God’s Six Playful Encounters with the Dragon Lady,” “Sea God Says: What’s This Little Pain in the Wind and Rain,” “Sea God Brings the Fish Schools,” “Believe in the Sea God, Gain Great Strength”…

Whether others believe it or not, Li Changshou didn’t believe even a single onomatopoeia of these stories. He hadn’t done anything! He had never even met the female Carp Spirit or the Dragon Lady! And as for that unmarried girl who became pregnant after being moved by the Sea God, couldn’t someone carefully investigate the cause and effect? He couldn’t bear such unfounded accusations!

The old man spoke for a long while until his mouth was dry, and seeing Li Changshou remaining silent, he let out a light snort. “Have you understood what I’ve been saying?”

“I heard it all, but understanding is another matter,” Li Changshou showed a slight smile, his kind features at this moment carrying some approachability. Li Changshou explained earnestly: “Gathering worship is indeed a method of cultivation. I observe this place seems to have no divine manifestations. Fellow Daoist, might there be some exaggeration in what you’ve said?”

The fortune teller immediately glared, shouting: “Exaggeration?! Hey! I say, Elder, where are you from? What are you doing here? This is the Sea God Church and our Sea God Church’s divine envoys are all incredibly strong!”

Li Changshou’s thoughts raced internally, and he continued: “Incredible strength can be achieved with a little cultivation; you might have been deceived. If the South Sea God is truly so efficacious, I’m standing right here, let him manifest now.”

The surrounding mortals immediately took on a posture ready to strike, while the fortune teller’s face showed extreme distress. “You, you… you don’t understand our Sea God at all! Forget it, leave quickly, leave! Right now the Sea God is still being magnanimous toward you, who knows if he might soon give you a small punishment!”

As Li Changshou was about to speak again, the old man was already pushing him away, his voice carrying some urgency. One retreating, one advancing, with the surrounding mortals also pushing him forward. Li Changshou took advantage of the chaos to leave some spider silk in the corner of the courtyard gate before being driven out by the old Daoists and worshippers…

Standing before the courtyard gate, Li Changshou felt both amused and helpless. Being driven out of a temple enshrining his statue by his believers, could be considered quite an unusual event.

Li Changshou deliberately sighed, and the paper avatar of the immortal elder casually waved his duster a few times before walking south along the main road…

Originally, he had left the dual-pupil spider silk mainly to better understand the Sea God Church. To dismantle the Sea God Church without bloodshed, he needed to understand why so many people would worship him, a Sea God who had never manifested, find those key points, and overturn them one by one.

However, the spider silk he had left there brought him an unexpected small discovery in the dead of night…

In the middle of the night, that old fortune teller slipped out of his side room, took out a paper talisman, lit it, and quietly waited in the courtyard. Soon, under the moonlight, a crow landed in the courtyard, looked around, and transformed into a human figure. The fortune teller kept his head lowered, not daring to look much and spoke tremblingly about the elderly immortal he had encountered during the day…