What was happening tonight?
At Du Xian Sect, Junior Sister You Qin was sneaking around Little Qiong Peak;
In the Sea God Temple of An Shui City, Celestial Yun Xiao appeared silently in her flowing white dress, strolling with her hands behind her back in the empty main hall, admiring the murals on the walls…
Was Li Chang Shou really that charming?
Well, it was just a coincidence…
The four great illusions of life — “I’m very charming,” “My parents must be hiding their wealthy status to build my character,” “This investment is profitable,” and “The man before me surely isn’t a paper person.”
Li Chang Shou certainly wouldn’t deceive himself.
Suddenly, Celestial Yun Xiao spoke softly in the Sea God Temple: “Is he so young?”
There seemed to be a hint of teasing in her voice.
Li Chang Shou immediately felt a headache, certain that Celestial Yun Xiao had discovered some of his background…
Though You Qin Xuan Ya might be troublesome, to Li Chang Shou, she was merely a minor concern in his small social circle.
But Celestial Yun Xiao was a true powerhouse who could crush him with a single hand!
Therefore, Li Chang Shou didn’t hesitate and decided to deal with the trouble at the Sea God Temple first.
Just as You Qin Xuan Ya flew near the pill room, she heard Li Chang Shou’s transmitted voice:
‘Junior Sister You Qin, please wait in the pill room for a while. I suddenly have some insights I need to process.’
After speaking, Li Chang Shou lay in the rocking chair before the pill room, closed his eyes in concentration, pretending to be enlightened, with not-particularly mysterious Dao rhythms floating around him.
You Qin Xuan Ya immediately nodded in agreement, quietly landing before the pill room, gazing at Li Chang Shou in meditation…
Then, she took out her meditation mat, and sat down a zhang away, feeling the gentle night breeze, quietly waiting for Li Chang Shou to finish cultivating.
Li Chang Shou kept part of his attention on You Qin Xuan Ya and noticed…
She was lost in thought gazing at the moon, her eyes showing traces of confusion, her expression somewhat melancholic.
Ah, he should have a good talk with this Junior Sister later.
If necessary, he would become You Qin Xuan Ya’s guiding light…
Then, Li Chang Shou activated the paper person underground in the Sea God Temple, and through the main deity statue, continued to secretly observe Celestial Yun Xiao’s every move.
Soon after, he heard Celestial Yun Xiao speak softly again:
“These stories are quite interesting indeed.”
Li Chang Shou immediately began analyzing the multiple layers of meaning in the celestial’s words, her tone, her manner of speaking, and what feelings they conveyed.
Soon, he concluded—
Celestial Yun Xiao… seemed to be in a good mood.
Li Chang Shou felt slightly relieved.
The murals Yun Xiao was looking at weren’t randomly made by Sea God cult followers; they were Li Chang Shou’s handiwork.
In the early days of the Sea God cult’s development, to increase the cohesion among followers, the “Iron Arm Racing Horse Divine Messenger Money-Making Gang” led by Elder Bear Village Chief had fabricated all sorts of plot-hole-filled “Sea God Stories.”
Stories like “Ten Must-Know Tales of the Sea God” and “That Night, The Sea God Slept With Me” had once been popular throughout the Southwest of South Jambudvipa.
When Li Chang Shou took full control of the Sea God cult and reorganized internal affairs, he specifically addressed this issue with a series of arrangements.
He cut out most similar stories and legends, removing useless tales like “Sea God’s Three Comforts to Widow Wang of West Street” and “Sea God and the Seven Sea Fairies.”
Then, Li Chang Shou selected twelve parables from the circulating stories, continuously refined and vivified these stories to make them more reasonable, and actively promoted them widely using the Sea God cult’s influence.
In this matter, Li Chang Shou’s thinking was as clear as ever—
If one cannot resist fate, then lie flat and accept mockery, take hold of fate, and shape its form!
Since he decided to manage the Sea God cult, he would grasp every aspect of it in his palm, reducing the possibility of risks!
The Sea God’s reputation couldn’t be tarnished for nothing!
The twelve massive murals on the walls of the Sea God’s main hall in An Shui City corresponded to those twelve parables.
Each mural here was based on Li Chang Shou’s manuscripts, created through months of hard work by many skilled mortal craftsmen. They had high artistic value and became templates for Sea God temples elsewhere.
Among them, “The Old Man and the Sea God,” “Sea God’s Three Persuasions to Jing Wei,” and “Sea God Sells Cattle” were most beloved by worshippers and followers, spawning many sequels…
Yun Xiao viewed the murals one by one, occasionally nodding slightly, sometimes letting out a soft laugh, as if she were just here for sightseeing…
In the vast main hall, only her figure moved slowly.
The hall doors were tightly closed, and the few Bear Village divine messengers on duty outside naturally couldn’t detect this powerful being’s presence.
While preparing the paper person, Li Chang Shou secretly observed Celestial Yun Xiao through the deity statue for a while, inwardly exclaiming in admiration:
Elegant, beautiful, and extraordinarily distinguished.
She wore a plain white flowing-cloud light-sleeved dress, its hem falling to her feet, moving like floating white clouds when she walked, creating an elegant artistic conception of natural comfort.
Today, Yun Xiao hadn’t arranged her cloud-like hair in a bun, but simply tied it back with a hairpin, appearing less imposing than during her previous appearance at Three Immortal Island, with a touch more elegance.
Just like this, with her hands behind her back, she walked slowly before the candlestick racks, her wonderful eyes bright and penetrating, as if able to see through human confusion…
‘What has Celestial Yun Xiao come to do?’
Li Chang Shou couldn’t afford to admire this beautiful scene further, constantly pondering in his heart.
Coming to give thanks for the previous matter?
There should be some deeper meaning behind this… or perhaps Yun Xiao intended to draw the Human Dao closer through him?
As both the Sea God cult leader and a minor Human Dao priest, Li Chang Shou had to consider this question.
Though he admired Yun Xiao, it wouldn’t affect his judgment. After all, Yun Xiao was a top-level powerhouse just below the Sage level; her every word and action must have a deeper meaning.
Their friendship was shallow, having met only once, and Li Chang Shou didn’t think he had the chance to befriend such a powerful being…
Characters like Old Man Zhao were small accidents in the primordial world;
What the primordial world had most were schemes and calculations.
…
Li Chang Shou didn’t dare keep Yun Xiao waiting long. His paper person, disguised as an old immortal, appeared in the Sea God Temple’s back courtyard and immediately flew to the main hall, saying to the divine messengers:
“You may withdraw.”
“Yes!”
The Bear Village divine messengers immediately obeyed, each retreating with lowered heads.
Then, Li Chang Shou shook his whisk, and the several vermillion-lacquered great doors of the main hall slowly opened.
Li Chang Shou entered with a smile, immediately performing a Daoist salute;
The celestial who had been admiring the murals turned around naturally, giving Li Chang Shou a slight nod.
This detail…
Celestial Yun Xiao had confirmed that he should be a junior of the Dao sect.
Li Chang Shou accordingly said: “I wasn’t aware of Your Excellency’s visit and failed to welcome you from afar. Please forgive my offense.”
“Fellow Daoist is too polite,” Yun Xiao responded softly, stepping forward, “Rather, I’ve been presumptuous, coming here without informing Fellow Daoist beforehand.”
Li Chang Shou nodded with a smile, inwardly sighing.
Truth be told, Celestial Yun Xiao’s gentle voice when speaking was truly pleasant to hear…
Unfortunately, he truly dared not have much interaction with the Three Xiao Sisters.
“Has Your Excellency come at night for some urgent matter?”
“Nothing urgent,” Yun Xiao said softly, “Last time Fellow Daoist acted promptly to save my elder brother and third sister. I am quite grateful and wish to repay this favor.”
Li Chang Shou gave this celestial another mental approval.
Obviously, Yun Xiao also had a disposition of not wanting to be entangled in karma with others, somewhat similar to him in this regard.
That she would come personally to settle karma was a good thing.
“Your Excellency’s words are too heavy,” Li Chang Shou said seriously, “Your Excellency’s visit already gives this junior a great face. Let’s not speak of the previous favor.”
Yun Xiao slowly shook her head, saying: “If Fellow Daoist doesn’t accept this gift, I fear my heart won’t be at peace. Please do me this favor.”
“Well… then this junior shall not decline,” Li Chang Shou made a Daoist salute while wondering inwardly.
What kind of thank-you gift would Yun Xiao give him?
Well, as long as it wasn’t some great karmic treasure like the Mixed Element Golden Dipper or Golden Scissors, he could… reluctantly accept…
Then, Yun Xiao stretched forward her jade-white hands, and a foot-long scroll appeared in her palm.
Yun Xiao smiled and said:
“I heard from your Sea God cult’s Second Leader that you enjoy paintings.
I’m not a particularly refined person, only knowing matters of cultivation, but I have collected a few scrolls.
This painting is my gift to Fellow Daoist, which should repay this favor.”
“Thank you, Your Excellency.”
Li Chang Shou bowed forward, accepting the scroll with both hands, feeling relieved inside.
Just a painting… then there wouldn’t be too much karma.
He intended to put it away directly, but unexpectedly, Yun Xiao spoke softly again: “Don’t you want to open it and take a look?”
Li Chang Shou gave a light laugh. This was just a paper person, so he wasn’t too worried about life safety issues—at worst, he’d just sacrifice this bit of divine soul power.
At that moment, Li Chang Shou put away his whisk, using immortal power to hold the scroll, carefully untied its cloth string, and slowly opened the scroll.
It was an ink landscape painting.
At first glance, he only felt the brushwork was rich, the ink was full, fresh, and elegant, with continuous artistic conception, but then Li Chang Shou’s spirit was drawn into it.
Marvelous!
Looking at the water, the waves rippled gently, flickering with faint light.
Looking at the mountains, the peaks were layered upon layers, making one mistake of touring the mountains on clouds…
But as he kept looking, Li Chang Shou suddenly felt the water seemed to move, with streams of light flowing within, and white clouds flew out from the mountains, entering his heart through his eyes.
A strand of Dao rhythm flowed out from this ink landscape scroll, surrounding Li Chang Shou’s paper person body.
At the same time, Li Chang Shou’s true body in the underground chamber of Little Qiong Peak was also enveloped by a Dao rhythm.
This was…
Li Chang Shou suddenly had this scene appear in his mind:
A tall figure stood in the vast universe, raised its hand, and slashed a sword toward the sky, and within the sword light, a small world evolved…
This, this is…
Suddenly, layer upon layer of enlightenment appeared in Li Chang Shou’s heart, streams of inspiration gushed out like mountain springs, and his realm rapidly rose!
Not only that, Li Chang Shou’s main battle divine ability [Scripture Writing Becomes Law] was now spontaneously changing, seemingly directly merging with that figure’s sword slash toward the sky!
What was the origin of this scroll!?
In the Sea God Temple, seeing this Dao rhythm appear, Yun Xiao was slightly surprised.
She thought to herself: ‘This Sea God has such amazing comprehension ability.’
This landscape scroll was bestowed by her teacher, the Three Pure Ones Sage and Sect Master of theSevering Sect. It was a proud work of Patriarch Tong Tian, though it didn’t contain any divine abilities, it carried a strand of Patriarch Tong Tian’s Great Dao rhythm.
Celestial Yun Xiao gave this painting to the Sea God only because she heard from Ao Yi that this Sea God particularly liked paintings;
She hadn’t expected that this mysterious Sea God would be able to perceive the Dao rhythm left by her teacher just from appreciating the painting for the first time…
Suddenly hearing what seemed like thunder from within this avatar of the Sea God, Celestial Yun Xiao immediately showed a gentle smile…
This was a sign of realm breakthrough.
…
In the underground chamber of Little Qiong Peak, Li Chang Shou suddenly opened his eyes, cyan light flashing around him, twelve-petaled lotus flowers formed one after another in the cyan light, blooming continuously around him.
Under the effect of that Dao rhythm, he directly perfected the Celestial Immortal way!
But at this moment, those strands of profound and obscure Dao rhythm were still continuously giving him enlightenment, constantly stimulating the spiritual light in his heart, his cultivation still breaking through barriers, heading straight toward the peak of the Celestial Immortal realm!
What kind of scroll was this?
Rushing straight to the peak of the Celestial Immortal realm, wouldn’t he have to face the Golden Immortal tribulation directly?
Wasn’t Lady Yun Xiao just causing him trouble?
He had just started preparing for the Golden Immortal tribulation, leaving a three-thousand-year preparation period, and knew nothing about the Golden Immortal tribulation!
Going through the tribulation now, he would have at most a seventy percent chance of success, whereas in the future he could have had a ninety-five percent chance—wouldn’t going through the tribulation now be equivalent to throwing his life away?
How could this be acceptable?
Li Chang Shou frantically tried to stop in his heart, but that Dao rhythm was too overwhelming, forcefully trying to drag him before the Golden Immortal tribulation…
What kind of situation was this?
Li Chang Shou steeled his heart and immediately activated his emergency plan, his hands quickly forming a divine seal, bursts of immortal power erupting, instantly destroying the desk and bookshelf in the underground chamber!
Li Chang Shou floated three feet above the ground while sitting, shouting:
“Tai Qing Path Severance!
Urgent as the Law Commands!”
A cyan great sword suddenly formed before him, with a Taiji diagram in its center.
Li Chang Shou recited the [Tai Qing Dao Han], forcefully dispersing that overwhelming Dao rhythm in his heart, taking control of his breakthrough rhythm, then following the momentum, adding fuel to the fire, taking out that jade talisman, displaying the complete [Tai Qing Dao Han] before his eyes, quickly reading it through!
At this moment, Li Chang Shou finally understood why he had so many insights.
That scroll must have been made by Patriarch Tong Tian!
That unreasonable Dao rhythm was Patriarch Tong Tian’s Mixed Origin Limitless Upper Pure Sage way!
Who could he reason with about this?
Lady Yun Xiao was just returning a favor, yet she directly gave away a Sage Lord’s original work?!
At that moment, in his Dao’s heart, two Great Sage Dao rhythms intertwined, Li Chang Shou’s enlightenment was vast as smoke, his cultivation instantly reaching the peak of the Celestial Immortal realm!
Sudden fierce winds arose on Little Qiong Peak, the starry sky was instantly covered by dark clouds, and a vast heavenly might descended!
But!
In the underground chamber, Li Chang Shou suddenly raised his hand to grip the cyan great sword before him, shouting lightly:
“This way still has flaws, today I am unwilling to become a Golden Immortal, only seeking to perfect the Great Way in the future, to achieve Tai Luo!
First slash, where the foundation is flawed!
Second slash, where understanding is obscure!
Third slash, where stability is lacking!”
Li Chang Shou held the great sword, slashing straight down at his forehead, striking out the sound of a great bell!
The Great Way trembled, and thunder roared within Little Qiong Peak’s mountain body!
“Puh—”
Li Chang Shou spat out a large mouthful of blood containing seven-colored immortal light, and with this blood’s expulsion, his realm quickly dropped from the peak of the Celestial Immortal realm to the middle stage of the Celestial Immortal realm!
That mouthful of blood dispersed into strands of smoke, forming a virtual image of Li Chang Shou himself.
Li Chang Shou struck out a palm, directly shattering this virtual image!
In this instant, outside Little Qiong Peak, that vast heavenly might instantly disperse!
Severing the path seeking perfection, the Great Way reveals its true nature!
The enlightenment within his body was still generating, pushing his cultivation up again, quickly entering the late stage of the Celestial Immortal realm, approaching perfection again…
Finally, this time it fell short of perfection by a thread, and the two Sage Dao rhythms quietly dispersed.
Just now…
Self-severing realm, consolidating foundation.
This method was called ‘Path Severance’, its function was to make the foundation tend toward perfection, widely spread in the primordial world, not some powerful divine ability.
In the process of one’s way continuously growing, there would inevitably be oversights and useless parts, and inevitably some hidden dangers remaining.
This was something countless qi cultivators wanted to do but dared not do, yet Li Chang Shou resolutely did it today… he had already deduced that if he couldn’t suppress his realm and needed to self-sever, he would at most drop to the early stage of the Celestial Immortal realm.
For ordinary Celestial Immortal realm qi cultivators, using this method to self-sever their realm might directly drop their major realm, destroying their foundation.
But before Li Chang Shou became immortal, his foundation was solid and stable, cultivating the great way transmitted by the Tai Qing Wu Wei Sage. Using the method of the self-severing realm, he only dropped to the middle stage of the Celestial Immortal realm and quickly recovered to his original cultivation using the two Sage Dao rhythms…
This wasn’t a waste of effort.
At this moment, Li Chang Shou’s foundation was solid as a rock, his realm extremely stable, his divine soul containing strands of cyan light, pure qi surrounding it.
Though his realm was the same as before, his strength had increased by at least thirty percent, and his chances of surviving the Golden Immortal tribulation had increased significantly…
It was a blessing in disguise, unexpectedly discovering a good method for suppressing the realm.
That incense and merit power, compared to his current divine soul power, all seemed somewhat turbid.
Finally…
However, Li Chang Shou had no time to relax, instantly reacting as he sensed the changes occurring in his two paper people.
In the Sea God Temple, that paper person had already fallen to the ground, turning into paper strips, its immortal power rapidly dispersing;
In front of the pill room on Little Qiong Peak, the paper person was the same way, revealing its paper strip’s true form, lying there dispersing immortal power.
Celestial Yun Xiao was now hurriedly calling out “Fellow Daoist,” while You Qin Xuan Ya wore a bewildered expression, at a loss for what to do…
Just at this moment, a golden light shot out from Breaking Heaven Peak, speeding toward the pill room of Little Qiong Peak…
Good heavens, things had gotten out of hand!