“Don’t overthink it, this Junior Aunt just happened to have a moment of weakness and needed to lean on your shoulder!” Jiujiu patted Li Changshou’s shoulder, “There, I’ve cleaned it off for you!”

Li Changshou smiled calmly, while Jiujiu shrank her neck somewhat guiltily, then remembered her status as Junior Aunt and gave a light snort, pretending nothing had happened.

Who knows why she had leaned on him!

After sending Master-Uncle Wan Jiangyu into reincarnation, Li Changshou and Jiujiu didn’t linger in the Underworld.

Before parting, Li Changshou took out the ‘generous gift’ he had prepared for Ox-Head and Horse-Face.

It was one hundred spirit fish and sixty-six fattened spirit beasts ready for slaughter.

Ox-Head and Horse-Face initially declined, but Li Changshou’s thank-you gift was like a spirit cat that had crept into their hearts, constantly scratching…

They were truly craving it.

Besides cultivators, there were no living things in the Netherworld, and they rarely could go outside. It had been many years since they had eaten hot meat.

The Shaman tribe particularly enjoyed this.

There was a saying that the great war between the Shaman and Demon tribes initially started not because the Demon tribe wanted to rule the earth, or the Shaman tribe wanted to dominate the sky.

Rather… it started with food…

Many powerful demons who hated the Shaman tribe had originally been their hunting targets.

— One could only say the primordial world was too marvelous, and the food chain unreliable.

After sending Li Changshou and Jiujiu off, Ox-Head and Horse-Face sneakily returned to their duty post — atop that high mountain.

[The two deployed their expertise, setting up a barrier to block external detection, then built a fire and took out two spirit beast spheres, looking at the two lines written on them:

【Best cooked over mortal fire, the meat is delicious when the skin is slightly charred】

Opening the spirit beast spheres, two-spirit beasts the size of suckling pigs fell to the ground, their limbs bound by rope…

Ox-Head and Horse-Face immediately got busy, quickly processing the spirit beasts and putting them over the fire to roast slowly.

“What’s this?” Ox-Head looked at two sachets that fell from the spirit beast spheres, picking them up to look at the labels…

【Secret seasoning, mildly spicy】

【Secret seasoning, cumin-flavored】

“Are humans this particular? Isn’t it just cook and eat?”

“Let’s try it, let’s try it. Today we’ll act refined like humans!”

Moments later, the two Shaman experts squatting by the fire both called out “Delicious! Delicious!”

An hour later, they finally got to taste it…

Ox-Head tore off a small piece of meat and took a bite, closing his eyes to savor it carefully.

He suddenly turned and knelt on the ground, his fist pounding the earth so hard that the mountain below flashed with light, activating layer upon layer of restrictions.

Horse-Face frowned, suspicious at the sight. He tore off a small piece of hindleg meat, put it in his mouth, and chewed slowly.

In an instant, his mane stood straight up, his whole body trembled as if electrified, and two streams of tears fell from the old horse’s large eyes…

“Niu, this is too delicious!

Ah, all my muscles and bones feel like they’re stretching open, but I’ve had the shameful thought of not wanting to share such delicious food with our tribesmen.”

“Ma, I hate it! I hate that we never paid attention to how humans eat all these years, missing out for so long!”

Horse-Face’s hands trembled as he tore off a second piece of foreleg meat. After chewing, he softly praised:

“These deep-scheming humans, are they trying to mock the former lords of the earth with this method?

Ah… no good, can’t bite too much at once.

These seasonings left by the human Celestial Immortal are too powerful!”

“Uh, Celestial Immortal? Isn’t he just a Yuan Immortal? I didn’t look carefully.”

“He’s hiding his realm… but now’s not the time to discuss this!

Niu, we need to divide what he left equally.”

“Impossible, unless you can beat me,” Ox-Head firmly shook his head. “You know I usually like to take advantage of you, I definitely can’t give in this time.”

“Want to practice after eating?”

“Savor it slowly, slowly… oh, this cursed flavor!”

Soon after, the great mountain beside the Single Thread of Sky began to shake continuously, its restrictions flashing with light, two powerful blood energies terrifying ghosts for thousands of li!

Several human cultivators passing by frowned at the sight, and after paying their passage fee, couldn’t help but worry about proceeding forward.

This… was it reliable?

“Go ahead, don’t worry, the two lords are just exercising, they won’t hurt you!”

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of li east of Fengdu City.

Having bid farewell to their ‘Moo-Neigh’ masked friends, on the large gourd flying toward the Netherworld’s border, Li Changshou wore a faint smile as he studied the alchemy scripture in his hand.

Because he was concerned about Junior Aunt Jiujiu’s safety, most of his attention was focused on guarding her.

After all, his Junior Aunt belonged to the rare protected category of women, so naturally nothing could go wrong.

Jiujiu asked: “Changshou, are we heading straight back now?”

Li Changshou smiled and said: “Since we’ve come all this way, let’s go see the family Master-Uncle Wan Jiangyu will be reborn into, then head back to the mountain.”

“Alright!” Jiujiu grinned, happily agreeing.

However, after flying for a while, Jiujiu hummed twice before asking: “Um, where is this family?”

Li Changshou: …

So she also has that ‘forget after seeing, gone after turning away’ trait.

“Let’s first leave the Netherworld and go directly to the Southern Continent. We’ll locate them then. I remember the general location, we shouldn’t get lost.”

Jiujiu raised her eyebrows and praised: “Tsk, following Little Changshou out, this Junior Aunt doesn’t need to worry about anything. I’ll leave it all to you then!”

Li Changshou smiled without speaking and continued reading the alchemy scripture, mentally calculating how many more small tribulation-passing items he could prepare.

They flew east, exited the Netherworld, and took the route to the Southern Continent.

Jiujiu drove the large gourd for two days total, arriving near a large city on the eastern coast of the Southern Continent.

The family Wan Jiangyu would be reborn into was that of the city’s Defense General.

His immortal consciousness swept across, taking in the prosperous scenes of the city.

Suddenly, Li Changshou felt some insight stirring in his heart, as if a voice was telling him he could take this opportunity to walk through the mortal world, to complete his dao heart that was just a hair’s breadth from perfection.

At this time, his confidence in passing the tribulation was only ninety-seven percent. No matter how many things he prepared, he couldn’t reach the ideal state of ninety-eight percent – there was still that tiny imperfection in his dao heart.

Li Changshou said: “Junior Aunt, let’s walk around the mortal world.”

“Alright,” Jiujiu shouldered her Evil-Subduing Sword and together with Li Changshou landed in a peach blossom grove outside the city, both concealing their auras as they headed toward the great city.

Only now that Jiujiu was walking on the ground did Li Changshou notice she was still wearing those comfortable grass shoes.

Li Changshou only pursued ordinary cleanliness in his dress and appearance.

Jiujiu didn’t care about this at all, thankfully immortals had immortal bodies that were naturally pristine.

Entering the city, Jiujiu curiously examined everything around her, while mortals also curiously examined this young woman…

So big…

How did she grow…

The gourd on her back!

Though Jiujiu had cultivated for over a thousand years, her visits to the mortal world were few, as she mostly stayed in the mountains.

Today in the mortal world, she was quickly attracted by its liveliness, looking here and there, observing strange mortals, and would stop before roadside beggars to take out two spirit herb pills.

Only to be cursed by the beggar: “Don’t put random things in my bowl! What, trying to poison me?”

Jiujiu spat and didn’t bother arguing with the mortal, continuing with light steps, seeking the most prosperous areas.

She would buy a colorful mask to wear, then secretly sneak up beside Li Changshou, suddenly appearing with a “Wa!”;

She would also stop before sweet tanghulu candies, unconsciously wiping her mouth corner, asking if she could trade jade stones for two sticks.

Li Changshou watched from the side with a smile, his gaze carrying a hint of peace, this was so…

Like an old father taking his little daughter shopping.

After playing around on the street for a while, Jiujiu attracted many stares but remained completely oblivious;

She then caught the scent of food wafting from nearby and pulled Li Changshou to run to a restaurant not far away.

But soon, Jiujiu went with excitement but returned disappointed.

Having grown used to eating spirit beasts from the mountain, these mortal flavors were indeed somewhat boring.

At this time, Jiujiu also noticed that Li Changshou seemed to be in an unusual state.

His gaze was hesitant and unfocused, his dao rhythm faintly manifesting…

This was a sign of having some insight.

Though Jiujiu usually liked to fool around, at such moments she was quite serious;

First, she retreated half a step without leaving traces, following behind Li Changshou, then took out a sheathed short blade to hold in her hand, releasing a thread of immortal pressure to intimidate the surrounding mortals, protecting Li Changshou as he comprehended.

At this time, Li Changshou’s heart was filled with threads of dao rhythm…

[Is my dao truly the dao I aspire to?]

He asked himself this question, walking aimlessly through the great city, thinking, savoring, listening, watching, remembering…

“Steamed buns, four for one copper!”

“Vegetables, cheap sale! Cheap sale, all vegetables!”

“Mother, I want roasted melon!”

Without realizing it, he had walked to a marketplace. Li Changshou’s feet moved randomly, going with the flow, seeking his opportunity.

He wasn’t thinking of any classical references, nor did he have any concerns at this time. The only thing he thought about was that for safety’s sake, if he had insights and found direction, he should suppress them a bit.

Jiujiu quietly followed for a while before quickly discovering a small problem…

How come she couldn’t understand the dao rhythm on this little nephew at all?

What was this?

Jiujiu blinked. This was the first time she had sensed Li Changshou’s dao rhythm, and this dao rhythm was obscure and difficult to comprehend. Though it shared the same origin as her cultivation path, it was not at all similar.

One tree blooms a thousand flowers, each with different cores.

But that she, as his Junior Aunt, couldn’t comprehend Little Changshou’s dao rhythm said something!

‘What’s going on? Has Little Changshou broken?’

Jiujiu’s mouth twisted, inexplicably feeling competitive. The more she couldn’t comprehend it, the more she tried to understand with her heart.

And so…

She also gained insight.

As Li Changshou walked, he had already roughly understood where his dao heart was lacking and broke free from his comprehension.

[I came from the mortal world, seeking the dao for immortality.]

He was just an ordinary person, with no need to suppress the thoughts in his heart, no need to feel ‘this matter has no benefit for cultivation’ and suppress his natural disposition.

Mm… stability was already written into his character, occupying quite a core position.

In his previous life, he often heard people say that wherever there are people, there is jianghu;

And what he needed to understand now was actually — all living beings have ‘human nature’, and wherever there is human nature is within the mortal realm.

The dao is not one’s original self, nature is one’s true self.

Today, he had finally supplemented that last thread of dao rhythm.

Li Changshou’s heart smiled peacefully as if he could already see a great door before him.

Just half a step forward to push open this door, and he could reach a completely new level of life…

Immortality was within reach.

The tribulation had entered the pre-activation stage.

Li Changshou contained his state of mind, returning from his insights, preparing to begin the final preparations for passing tribulation after returning to the mountain.

Just then, a thread of dao rhythm surged from behind;

Looking back at Jiujiu, he found his Junior Aunt surrounded by dao rhythm, immortal power surging within her body, her large eyes carrying some confusion…

How come Junior Aunt was about to break through realms too?

Was the [Mortal World Dao Comprehension] method this effective?

Li Changshou calculated with his fingers and immediately understood – it was the dao rhythm he had inadvertently leaked while comprehending his dao heart that had affected Junior Aunt Jiujiu.

Junior Aunt Jiujiu was already at the peak of the True Immortal realm. Taking a step forward now, she might directly enter the Celestial Immortal realm.

His Junior Aunt’s breakthrough also couldn’t be taken lightly.

Li Changshou’s immortal consciousness searched throughout the city, quickly locking onto a general’s mansion, seeing a young madam with a slightly swollen belly being supported by maids as she walked in the courtyard.

Two paper people jumped out from Li Changshou’s sleeve, disappearing directly into the ground at his feet.

Then, clouds appeared around Li Changshou, wrapping Jiujiu, who was lost in comprehension, in immortal power as he used earth traversal to take her away from this place, hurrying to the East Sea nearby.

This place had mixed impurities – breaking through here would easily pollute his Junior Aunt’s pristine immortal body.

This could be considered an unexpected success.

Finding a small island in the East Sea, Li Changshou set up two layers of formations and softly said in his Junior Aunt’s ear:

“Junior Aunt, you can seclude yourself here, I’ll guard nearby.”

“Oh,” Jiujiu agreed, quickly closing her eyes to concentrate, sitting down in the formation, inexplicably feeling secure.

Li Changshou divided his attention, using paper people here to protect his Junior Aunt while his main body was in the secret chamber under the alchemy room, beginning to check his [Crossing] treasure pouches.

Treasure pouches flashed and disappeared one after another in his palm, the treasures, magical items, pills, miniature formations, and other tribulation-passing necessities inside all fully prepared.

When Junior Aunt Jiujiu completed her breakthrough, he could just ask the Great Law Master to descend to the mortal realm to protect him during his tribulation.

This was his ‘outstanding employee benefit’ for long service to the Human Dao School, slightly more high-end than the protection team Wang Qing had during his tribulation…

Just a little bit.