Palm strikes, giant axes, muscular arms…

This…?

Li Changshou had always known that the Primordial World was vast and full of extraordinary beings, while he was just an ordinary human cultivator.

But he truly never expected that he could be so completely blindsided!

At the side of the deity statue, a burly man opened his massive mouth and spewed forth a beam of earthen-yellow light.

This beam coalesced into that giant arm wielding a great axe, easily dispersing Li Changshou’s palm strike!

In that instant…

Li Changshou’s understanding of Bear Village completely collapsed.

Though he had initially noticed something unusual about Bear Village, he had been busy stabilizing his cultivation realm after ascending at the time. After observing for a while, he quietly left.

Later, Bear Village began its money-making scheme of promoting the Sea God Religion, developing it to its current scale.

During this process, Li Changshou would occasionally observe the villagers.

But these people who appeared to be just physically strong – Li Changshou had never spotted any flaws in them, merely thinking they were somewhat greedy for small profits.

Sometimes, seeing their simple and honest demeanor, he would even think that some people were naturally pure, simple, and kind…

He never expected;

Never in his wildest dreams expected!

That he had been deceived by these seemingly simple folk for so many years!

Li Changshou admitted that sometimes he might hide things too deeply;

But compared to the people of Bear Village, he was utterly outmatched, instantly acknowledging defeat!

This South Sea God Religion might as well be renamed the “Unfathomable” Religion!

These men, women, elderly, and youth of Bear Village had worked together to perform such an elaborate act. That strange fish that had carried him years ago was probably deliberately caught by them…

At this moment, Li Changshou’s mind was filled with just two words—

Calculation.

Yet Li Changshou didn’t panic. Though shocked internally, it didn’t affect his judgment of the situation.

Li Changshou controlled his paper avatar to quickly retreat at incredible speed. But that giant arm, after cleaving apart his palm strike, gripped the great axe and chopped down again.

The scene was indescribably bizarre…

A muscular man spewing earthen-yellow light from his mouth, the light condensing into a giant axe and arm, pursuing and chopping at Li Changshou like a living thing.

This strike appeared very slow, but Li Changshou sensed the faint and mysterious Dao rhythm within it.

Seeming slow but fast, appearing light but truly heavy!

This force was completely different from any Dao techniques or divine abilities Li Changshou knew!

Li Changshou couldn’t sense the power contained within, but he dared not underestimate the might of this axe strike.

He swiftly moved horizontally through the air, barely dodging this axe blow;

But behind him, a crack several hundred zhang long silently appeared in the hillside…

His divine sense suddenly detected light flaring from the side!

In a flash, Li Changshou’s form shot skyward, an arrow grazing past his feet at extreme speed – its power capable of piercing through his paper avatar despite its celestial energy protection!

Looking down, he saw another burly man manifesting strange changes;

This one didn’t perform the trick of transforming axes or spitting out arms – his originally massive arms had shrunk to normal human thickness…

But these arms now coursed with light that resembled glazed glass.

Then, this person made an empty “drawing bow and shooting” gesture, the light on his arms naturally coalescing into a longbow and arrow.

Li Changshou flashed toward the clouds, immediately beginning to weave left and right, barely dodging another arrow from the opponent…

This arrow pierced through a white cloud above, exploding at a high altitude.

Li Changshou continued flying upward, reaching the height where the arrow had exploded, and the threat from below instantly vanished.

Looking down…

A group of iron tower-like men in black clothing were waving their weapons at Li Changshou’s paper avatar, making “wo wo” sounds from their throats, seemingly mocking and ridiculing him.

Over the years of developing the Sea God Religion, the men and women of Bear Village had traveled far and wide, becoming quite worldly.

They were no longer simply the iron towers of Bear Village.

In the past, seeing a cultivator fly would make them believe it was a deity or immortal, dropping to their knees in worship.

Now, they had driven their own Sea God’s avatar high into the sky where it didn’t dare descend while jeering and cursing below:

“Come down, coward!”

“Playing at being divine!

If you’ve got the guts, come down and arm wrestle, test your strength!”

At this moment, not only was Li Changshou bewildered, but the sea of mortal followers below was also dumbfounded…

The Bear Village Chief, dressed as a Black Bear Spirit, reacted very quickly.

The Chief’s eyes turned, and he immediately shouted:

“The Sea God manifests!

The Sea God has manifested and bestowed divine power upon the divine envoys! Thanks be to the Sea God’s protection!

The Sea God’s might cannot be violated!”

Instantly, the surrounding followers began shouting in unison, their voices like mountain calls and ocean waves;

These followers once again kowtowed to the deity statue, many with fanatical looks in their eyes, creating a magnificent scene…

Does this work too?

Li Changshou was torn between laughter and tears internally. He had come with his paper avatar to tell these followers that no Sea God existed;

But today, he had made thorough plans, even protecting the local followers by killing two groups of great demons that had attacked…

In the end, he had been chased and chopped at by the divine envoys of his religion!

What absurdity was this?

It was utterly ridiculous!

He was probably the most undignified ‘incense deity’ in history…

Originally, Li Changshou had only thought that the Sea God Religion would become his future hidden trouble, potentially bringing a karmic burden, so he needed to resolve this matter quickly.

Now it seemed he had possibly just been used by the Bear Village people.

These iron towers’ hearts were quite dark too!

High in the sky, Li Changshou’s eyes flashed with ruthlessness as he gripped two porcelain bottles…

But he immediately realized that if he did this, he would only needlessly attract a karmic burden.

Moreover, the people of Bear Village likely had some terrifying existence behind them.

He had to first understand these people’s backgrounds.

Li Changshou quickly caught a small detail – the burly man who had spewed out the arm and great axe was now sitting listlessly beside the deity statue;

And that man whose arms had shrunk to normal thickness now had his arms hanging down, unable to lift them…

Could it be bloodline power?

How could humans possibly have such bloodline power?

A small lightning bolt suddenly flashed through Li Changshou’s mind as he looked at the group of iron tower figures showing off below, recalling several records from ancient texts.

…

After Pangu opened heaven and earth, his primordial spirit transformed into the Three Pure Ones, while his corpse gave birth to a race—

The Wu.

The Wu tribe slowly developed in ancient times, blessed with merit and protected by the slight divine power remaining from Great Deity Pangu. The Twelve Ancestral Wu commanded wind and rain, controlling ancient rules of power, with Great Wu and War Wu emerging endlessly within the tribe.

After the Dragon-Phoenix War, the Wu became the strongest of the hundred races;

Growing arrogant, they oppressed the hundred races.

The hundred races would not submit, gradually uniting under the powerful Golden Crow tribe beings Dong Huang Taiyi and Di Jun who were born from the sun star, calling themselves the Sacred Race, waging years of war with the Wu tribe.

Later, the Sacred Race gradually became known as the Demon Race, with Dong Huang and Di Jun establishing themselves as Demon Emperors, founding the Demon Race’s Heaven Court atop Mount Buzhou…

Three great wars between Wu and Demon exhausted both races’ fortune, allowing the Human Race to gradually rise.

Because the Human Race and Demon Race had irreconcilable genocidal hatred, during the long years before the third decisive Wu-Demon war, the Wu tribe gradually intermarried with humans, producing the ‘Wu-Human’ race.

After the Wu-Demon conclusion, the Wu tribe was sealed in the North Uttarakuru Continent, the Demon Race retreated to the continental boundaries, while the Wu-Human race had human momentum and half-Wu abilities, once achieving considerable power.

But during the Human Race’s rise at the end of high antiquity, the more ferocious Wu-Human tribes were gradually suppressed;

Among the more famous incidents was the destiny struggle between Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan and Chi You.

After that, the Wu-Humans gradually disappeared.

‘Could it be…’

Li Changshou watched these lively iron towers below, such doubts arising in his heart.

Were these truly a line of ancient Wu-Humans?

Having avoided the Wu-Human catastrophe by ancestral dwelling in a corner of the South Sea, thus surviving until today?

The more he looked, the more likely it seemed…

Li Changshou put away the porcelain bottles in his hands, frowning as he observed the situation below.

Things were getting more and more troublesome.

During the long years of the Wu-Demon wars, living beings died batch after batch in the world, and countless lonely souls wandered between heaven and earth, gradually dispersing;

The Wu tribe’s Ancestral Wu, the greatly virtuous Hou Tu, could not bear it in her heart, actively sacrificing herself to transform into the Six Paths of Reincarnation;

Therefore, today’s living beings mostly owed the greatly virtuous Hou Tu a karmic debt, and some Wu tribe remnants also went to serve in the Underworld.

These Bear Village folk being able to display such divine abilities showed their Wu tribe bloodline proportion was definitely not low…

As Li Changshou’s thoughts continuously turned, he had already derived a method to deal with these bear fellows.

Sleeping drugs and formations could easily achieve the effect.

But the first plan to self-destruct the religion no longer had much use.

Unless he hardened his heart to destroy Bear Village, these Bear Village bears would keep displaying divinity before people, and the Sea God Religion would still rapidly develop and strengthen…

Just then, Li Changshou suddenly sensed another large patch of black clouds pressing in from the sea surface to the northwest.

Within were six great demons, rolling demon qi blocking the sky and sun.

As brazen as ever!

Someone still wasn’t prepared to let this opportunity go, wanting to take advantage of this Sea God Religion gathering to destroy it…

Li Changshou was also somewhat helpless – though their goals aligned, he couldn’t let the mortal followers be needlessly harmed.

Got it, this Bear Village…

Li Changshou suddenly controlled the paper avatar to dive downward, dodging an arrow before immediately flying toward the northwest.

He secretly used the Wind Speech Spell, imitating the voice of that “Black Bear Spirit” village chief below, shouting in the Bear Village people’s ears:

“Chase!

Don’t let him escape!”

In an instant, over a hundred strong men began sprinting madly, their speed truly not slow.

“How did I start speaking?”

The Bear Village Chief was stunned, then hurriedly shouted, stopping most of the tribespeople.

The twenty-some who ran fastest had already circled past the mass of followers, sprinting madly toward the northwest, their mouths making “ao ao” calls…

Their running speed was even slightly faster than ordinary uncelebrated cultivators riding clouds.

The Wu excelled at running, being masters of the great earth.

Li Changshou secretly observed these [suspected Wu-Humans], while preparing to poison those six great demons.

He wanted to see just how much strength these divine envoys of Bear Village had, whether they could give him other ‘shocks’.

However…

Li Changshou’s divine sense discovered another patch of black clouds in the south, leaving him somewhat helplessly speechless.

‘What’s going on today? How has one South Sea Religion gathering provoked reactions from so many forces?’

On the southern sea, a black cloud rapidly pressed toward An Water City;

These weren’t demons – rows of dragon soldiers stood on the black cloud, likely elite troops from the South Sea Dragon Palace.

Li Changshou thought for a moment, simply deciding not to worry too much, continuing to lead the twenty-some Bear Village people below toward the great demons still a thousand li away…

However, these Bear Village men’s endurance wasn’t particularly strong.

They had only chased Li Changshou for several dozen li before starting to pant heavily, their speed gradually slowing.

The demon-killing matter would still have to be handled by Li Changshou himself.

Later deliberately let one great demon through to test these bear people’s battle power?

Li Changshou quickly dismissed this idea – he didn’t need to do such ‘unnecessary’ testing at all…

At An Water City, fighting was about to break out!

That patch of black clouds from the South Sea had already reached the skies above An Water City.

Rows of dragon soldiers looked down from on high, a murderous air permeating heaven and earth, the mortals below once again frightened senseless.

The front row of dragon soldiers stepped back, two figures walking out side by side.

Li Changshou’s divine sense swept past, his spirit tightening, nearly falling from the clouds!

Ao Yi!

Trouble, this fellow recognized his deity statue!

At this moment, Li Changshou suddenly wanted to give up thinking and go with the flow, burn up the paper avatar, and never return to the South Sea.

Could this be his place of misfortune?

However, the development of events continued moving further and further from Li Changshou’s expectations along an unexpected path…

The current ‘protagonist’ wasn’t Ao Yi, but rather the tall, thin, somewhat depleted-looking unfamiliar dragon prince beside Ao Yi…

Ao Mou swept his eyes below, not sensing any qi fluctuations, only detecting two or three human cultivators in the Transformation realm.

At that, he coldly snorted, thinking to show off a bit before Second Brother Ao Yi, said indifferently:

“You dare call yourselves the South Sea Religion?

Men, go smash that deity statue for this prince!”

“Yes!”

Several dragon soldier commanders accepted the order in unison, not knowing what they were about to face.