Regarding the old fortune teller’s midnight meeting with the ‘crow demon’, Li Changshou was only slightly surprised, not overly astonished. After all, he understood from his previous life that the second most complex thing in this world was the human heart.
Calling this figure that appeared in the deep night a ‘crow demon’ wasn’t strictly accurate. At this moment, Li Changshou was only observing the place through his dual-pupil spider silk, with a strand of immortal awareness watching from afar. Beyond knowing that [this thing] had early True Immortal realm cultivation, he couldn’t directly determine whether the other party was a demon cultivator. It was also possible that the earlier crow was merely an illusion or transformation technique.
After listening to the old fortune teller’s report for a while, this figure quickly nodded, threw down two gold ingots and a paper talisman, then transformed back into a crow and silently flew away, vanishing in an instant…
Li Changshou pondered briefly and, out of caution, didn’t pursue. After another half-hour, Li Changshou used earth tunneling from a hundred li away in the forest, quietly arriving beneath this temple.
Looking at this matter from another angle:
[Shocking: Deep in the night, a certain Sea God secretly tunneled into his temple, extending his dark hand toward the old temple keeper!]
It was somehow a bit thrilling.
Because he had to consider that earlier might have been the other party putting on a show for him, deliberately trying to lure him in, Li Changshou’s current actions were extremely careful. He didn’t directly appear but instead, from underground, used his fingernail to draw out a tiny bit of Soft Immortal Powder, thoroughly sedating the old fortune teller who was sleeping while hugging his gold ingots.
Afterward, Li Changshou took out a hair-thin string artifact. This fine string extended itself, quietly penetrating the surface and wrapping around the old fortune teller’s forehead.
Soul-searching minor technique: Bewildering Dream Formula.
This technique could make the target fall into a dream state, actively revealing their memories in the dream. Its drawback was that it could only be used on those of lower cultivation, hence being called a minor technique.
Moments later, Li Changshou finished reading this old fortune teller’s ‘difficult life’, and used earth-tunneling to quietly slip away, not lingering in this place. Incidentally, before leaving, he didn’t forget to disperse a trace of ‘sobering medicine’ to neutralize the Soft Immortal Powder’s effects, allowing the old fortune teller to wake normally tomorrow…
He came and went silently, leaving not a trace behind.
Afterward, Li Changshou found an old forest in a desolate mountain area, had his paper avatar stop activities underground, and began organizing the various intelligence he had obtained from the old fortune teller.
This old fortune teller…
His overt identity was a [temple keeper] of the Sea God Church, but in reality, he was also a spy for seven different sects within three thousand li: the ‘Crow God Church’, ‘Male-Female Church’, ‘Old God Church’, ‘Great Evil Church’, and others!
Toward such a double-crosser, Li Changshou, as the Sea God, felt… deeply moved. If there could be more talents like this, would he need to work so hard coming here to personally dismantle his sect?
That crow from earlier was a divine envoy of the Crow God Church, who had ordered the old fortune teller to monitor any ‘extraordinary people’ appearing in this area…
The sect conflicts Li Changshou had sensed earlier were between the Crow God Church and Sea God Church fighting over worshippers and territory, with the Crow God Church initiating the offensive.
Li Changshou had to consider a very serious question. The core of the entire Sea God Church was actually the villagers of Bear Village, with the entire village now being ‘divine envoys’, several hundred strong villagers rushing east and west. They used the ocean to express the Sea God’s magnanimity, muscles to spread the Sea God’s teachings, and fists to demonstrate the Sea God’s power…
Li Changshou had never managed this place, hadn’t even done dream guidance or sensory direction half a time. What exactly were these iron-headed fellows from Bear Village relying on to contend with these sects that had ‘True Immortal realm divine envoys’?
Li Changshou was quite puzzled by this, and couldn’t help but suspect that someone was trying to fatten up the Sea God Church before slaughtering it!
The old fortune teller knew quite a bit about the Sea God Church’s internal information. Although he was now just a minor temple keeper with seven part-time jobs, he still had ambitions to climb up and become an official divine envoy!
Regarding this… Li Changshou even considered manifesting once to actively promote this old fortune teller, putting him in a position where he could more easily collapse the Sea God Church.
Ahem, enough joking around.
Li Changshou came here to make the Sea God Church naturally collapse, shake off this karmic connection, and clear away this hidden danger. This process couldn’t trigger a large-scale religious war in the mortal realm, couldn’t invite karmic retribution, and needed to avoid backfiring and making the Sea God Church grow stronger.
Before coming here, Li Changshou had already considered several plans. Among them, the simplest and most effective one was to find a way to make the South Sea God lose his ‘divine ring’; to make these mortal followers realize they had believed in the wrong god. Pull out the firewood from under the cauldron!
Li Changshou had now learned that in three days, there would be a massive Sea God celebration in the coastal ‘Anshui City’. The old fortune teller, being a temple keeper here and quite far away, couldn’t attend this time. But according to information the old fortune teller had received, many ‘important figures’ of the Sea God Church, as well as tens of thousands of followers, would gather in Anshui City to hold a grand Sea God worship ceremony!
This was quite a good opportunity. At that time, if Li Changshou’s paper avatar appeared, shattered the statue there, and defeated those ‘important figures’ of the Sea God Church in person… it would directly prove the Sea God didn’t exist. Then after doing similar things a few more times, the Sea God Church would naturally fall apart!
Although the steps of the plan were simple and there weren’t any powerful experts to deal with, Li Changshou still didn’t dare have the slightest bit of complacency… He must carefully investigate, meticulously plan, make detailed arrangements, and consider everything thoroughly! Strive to make no move unless necessary, but when moving, collapse the Sea God!
Li Changshou began acting that very night. He first quickly made a round within the Sea God Church’s sphere of influence, using immortal awareness to check the various Sea God temples.
Two days before the start of the grand Sea God ceremony, Li Changshou arrived near Anshui City, thoroughly investigated the divine envoys here, and secretly probed the Bear Village villagers. Li Changshou could now confirm that these ‘divine envoys’ of his were at most ‘ordinary’ people with thousand-some jin of strength, with few having any cultivation, and those who did were only at Qi Refinement or Spirit Formation realm…
Next, Li Changshou continuously checked for gaps and filled holes in his plan. To prevent the Crow God Church from disrupting the Sea God ceremony, he hid two Heaven-grade paper avatars outside Anshui City, ready to intercept at any time. If the Crow God Church came to make trouble, it would trigger sect conflicts, perhaps leading to bloody incidents, adding more karmic retribution to himself as the Sea God. This had to be prevented.
Afterward, Li Changshou also secretly investigated cultivators who might have connections to the Sea God Church. In the end, he only discovered that a daughter of a Sea God Church’s great divine envoy had gone north to the immortal realm and taken an immortal as her master. It should be some girl from Bear Village who had entered an immortal sect in the Central Divine Continent.
Li Changshou couldn’t help but recall the tower-like figure of the young woman named Bear Lingli… But time was too rushed to confirm. A disciple who had just entered an immortal sect a few years ago couldn’t do much… Although this situation had to be considered, there was no need to be overly nervous about it.
Within these two days, Li Changshou continuously caught details and plugged loopholes, striving to make the plan perfect and flawless. He made preventive arrangements for every situation he could think of. This time should be stable… Ahem, such words shouldn’t be said lightly. Now was not the time to be careless, nor to rule out any absurd possibilities…
The night before the Sea God ceremony, in Anshui City. Li Changshou’s paper avatar hid in the small courtyard he had rented, continuously falling into thought.
The ceremony would open at dawn, with celebrations lasting a day and a night. Anshui City was now very crowded due to the influx of Sea God Church followers, the streets particularly lively.
Li Changshou hadn’t been able to detect any threats within a thousand-li radius. He remained highly vigilant through midnight, and unknowingly it was already dawn, the sun rising in the east.
Amidst the clamor of gongs and drums, the entire city was filled with bustling voices, with colored cloths hung everywhere. A two-zhang tall Sea God statue was carried out from the local temple by eight strong divine envoys from Bear Village, beginning its street parade…
Countless followers crowded around the statue, with men and women, old and young along the route competing to offer incense and kowtow. Li Changshou could feel his merits from worship suddenly increase by a small amount!
‘If I were a Great Luo Golden Immortal now, I would gladly accept these merits. Unfortunately…’
Secretly sighing, Li Changshou didn’t feel there was anything unfortunate about it. Compared to merits, life was fundamental.
Now was still the pre-ceremony parade phase; when the statue was settled outside the city and the followers all gathered… That would be his most suitable time to act!
Continuing to monitor various places, even though he was dealing with mortals, Li Changshou didn’t relax at all.
Meanwhile, in a place beyond Li Changshou’s paper avatar’s immortal awareness…
In the South Sea, two thousand li away from Anshui City, on the sea surface.
A treasure ship surrounded by immortal light floated, shaped like a shell but with a diameter of a hundred zhang front to back.
On the edge of the treasure ship stood a group of dragon-transformed immortal soldiers from the South Sea Dragon Palace. To properly host Ao Yi and Hanzhi, the South Sea Dragon Palace’s Second Prince Ao Mou had brought his ‘personal guard’ as protection. The several hundred dragon-transformed immortal soldiers here were each at the late True Immortal realm!
Such dragon-transformed immortal soldiers were also considered one of the Dragon Palace’s major facades; having True Immortal realm soldiers was a grand gesture that even the Heavenly Court would find difficult to match at this time.
For this half month, Ao Mou had led Ao Yi and Hanzhi sightseeing around the South Sea, having great fun. Exploring immortal islands at sea, admiring underwater spectacles, visiting the Dragon Palace’s treasure pools, and seeking marine race secret grounds; Hanzhi’s mood had also eased somewhat. Losing the master who had raised her was like losing a parent – it would take some time for Hanzhi to fully recover.
Today’s floating in this sea area was just idle wandering. At this time, Hanzhi was discussing music with several female musicians of the marine race at the Element Immortal realm. A group of beautiful sea maidens was dancing gracefully, but the two-second princes from the two dragon palaces stood at the ship’s bow gazing north toward the land, not appreciating these sea maidens’ dance postures…
When Ao Yi spoke of the dragon race’s current predicament, Ao Mou also sighed repeatedly, tactfully expressing some of his views.
Before age ten, Ao Yi felt he was ‘alone in sobriety while all others were drunk’. At eleven or twelve, Ao Yi discovered many clansmen around him were just pretending to be drunk. Now Ao Yi already understood that many clansmen were aware of the dragon race’s problems but were powerless to change anything.
But some didn’t care much about such major matters, truly living in drunken revelry day after day. Ao Mou was just like this.
Ao Yi clasped his hands behind his back, his somewhat delicate youthful face bearing a maturity and steadiness that came from being washed by reality.
“When will our race soar again in the nine heavens, laughing proudly among the hundred races.”
“Second Brother, you worry about too broad matters,” Ao Mou laughed beside him. “Isn’t living like this exhausting? Things we can think of, the older generation must have thought of long ago. What could be done, they must have already done, we’re just worrying needlessly.”
“How can we know without trying?”
Ao Yi sighed softly, about to continue speaking when he suddenly saw a cloud of mist rising in the north. Within the mist was a streak of golden light, silently dispersing in the high sky…
Ao Yi asked curiously: “What’s that?”
“I don’t know either,” Ao Mou turned his head and shouted, “Tortoise Minister, come explain this!”
The Tortoise Immortal waiting not far away quickly responded, carrying his tortoise shell and leaning on a staff, came forward to observe for a moment before answering:
“Reporting to both Your Highnesses, that is the auspicious cloud phenomenon of merit and blessing produced by humans worshipping the South Sea God. In recent years, a Sea God Church has risen in the South Sea area, developing particularly rapidly. We’ve secretly investigated but don’t know exactly what divine being this Sea God is.”
“Destiny and fortune… how wonderful.”
Ao Yi’s gaze carried some emotion, his lips showing a bitter smile.
Seeing this, Ao Mou beside him immediately became furious.
“Even our mighty South Sea Dragon Palace doesn’t dare call itself the South Sea God! Come, muster the troops! Follow me to visit where that phenomenon appeared! I want to see just what this Sea God of the Sea God Church is all about!”
The Tortoise Minister wanted to speak but held back, but several commanders of the dragon-transformed immortal soldiers nearby had already responded in unison.