[Petition:

From: Sea God Changeng

To: Your Majesty the Jade Emperor

Your humble servant, following Your Majesty’s command to observe maritime affairs and patrol the Four Seas, has recently made some discoveries.

While the Dragon Clan’s loyalty to the Celestial Court grows daily, they still face both internal strife and external threats. Therefore, subsequent matters should be handled with patience rather than haste, seeking advantage through stability.

Your servant proposes a strategy: invite the Dragon Clan to deploy troops under the pretense of Celestial Court military exercises, jointly suppressing the demons of the Four Seas.

This would benefit the Celestial Court in three ways…]

“Hmm?”

In the Celestial Court, within the study of the Sea God’s mansion.

Li Changshou, who had been carefully composing the petition, suddenly stopped writing. He sensed someone breaching the outer formation of Little Qiong Peak, and his consciousness immediately returned to his paper avatar stationed there.

A patrol disciple had arrived riding a white crane, hovering in the air while surveying Little Qiong Peak, holding a mountain gate token in hand.

Li Changshou’s divine consciousness swept over the sect entrance. He blinked, then unconsciously tilted his head as a mushroom-shaped question mark slowly appeared on his forehead.

He understood most things…

No, this time, even he didn’t quite understand!

Why had Ox Head and Horse Face come to the Degree Immortal Sect?

They couldn’t fool him just by removing their masks – that round belly hadn’t gone away, the color difference on their necks was obvious, and the unique battle rhythm of the Wu Clan was hard to imitate.

Had Ox Head and Horse Face discovered something?

The disciple on the white crane called out: “Senior Brother Changshou, are you on the mountain? You have friends here to see you!”

So they were looking for him…

At this moment, ‘Li Changshou, Yuan Immortal Realm disciple of Degree Immortal Sect,’ was sitting on a white cloud returning from South Jambudvipa to East Victory Divine Continent.

Immortal Wangqing was steering the cloud, while Ancestral Master Jiang Liner was listening to Ling’e play the zither alongside the reincarnated young girl of Master Wanjiang Rain. Qin Xuanya and Jiu Jiu were keeping them company.

Master Qi Yuan sat with his back to them, meditating alongside Li Changshou…

Li Changshou pondered that he couldn’t show any flaws.

The patrolling disciple on the white crane circled the lake, finding several thatched cottages protected by formations, with ‘Away’ signs hanging outside.

Fortunately, the cries of spirit beasts led the patrolling disciple to discover the iron tower-like young woman who was wrestling and playing with the spirit beasts in their enclosure.

The disciple shuddered, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he carefully flew over on the white crane.

In the spirit beast enclosure, Xiong Lingli had just taken down a black bear two zhang tall. Looking at its plump bear paws, she immediately had to hold back tears.

She could slaughter it!

When Cousin and the others returned, they could steam the bear paws together!

This bear was so sturdy and cute, that simple steaming would be too wasteful, they could also…

“Excuse me…” the patrol disciple asked in a gentle and polite voice, “Senior, is Senior Brother Changshou on the mountain?”

“Huh? Why call me senior? I’m not that old!” Only then did Xiong Lingli notice someone was there. She turned her head, her small face full of curiosity.

The patrol disciple was clearly stunned for a moment, remembering the rumors in the sect. He quickly said: “Oh, it’s Uncle Xiong. This disciple came looking for Senior Brother Changshou – two of his friends are at the mountain gate seeking him.”

Just as Xiong Lingli was about to speak, Li Changshou’s voice had already landed in her mind.

Wasn’t Cousin away?

Indeed, the Sea God was omnipresent.

Xiong Lingli coughed and said word by word: “My cousin says he’s not at home.”

The patrol disciple and Xiong Lingli blinked at each other.

Xiong Lingli raised her hand, which was even more massive than a bear’s paw, and forcefully smacked her cherry-small mouth, anxiously stamping her feet.

“No, what I mean is, my cousin isn’t home, he’s gone out on business!

According to what my cousin said, he’ll be back in at most a few hours.

Anyway, just relay this to cousin’s friends.”

“Very well, this disciple will do so.”

The patrol disciple didn’t dare linger, hastily departing on his white crane. Xiong Lingli awkwardly scratched her head.

She hadn’t expected that someone as clever as her would have such a moment of verbal clumsiness!

Li Changshou laughed and said: “It’s fine, just pretend nothing happened and go about your business.”

Xiong Lingli immediately agreed obediently.

Now that her cultivation level was higher, the error tolerance had also increased linearly. Li Changshou wouldn’t criticize Xiong Lingli over such minor details.

His divine consciousness tracked the patrol disciple all the way back to report at the mountain gate, then heard Ox Head and Horse Face muttering and discussing…

He didn’t know what these brothers had come for, they just said they would wander around the Degree Immortal Sect mountain gate area and come back to look for Li Changshou after half a day.

The few old masters guarding the mountain gate had also sensed these two Wu Clan experts’ extraordinary nature and very politely agreed, promptly reporting this matter to Hundred Ordinary Palace.

Naturally, they hadn’t recognized these were the soul-collecting envoys of the Netherworld.

Without their masks, Ox Head and Horse Face just looked like ordinary Wu Clan youths.

An ancient poem praised:

The Wu Clan maxes strength stats,

Humans invest in intelligence,

When neither shows their hand,

Who can tell Wu from a human?

Li Changshou couldn’t be certain why these two Wu Clan experts would come directly to Degree Immortal Sect looking for him.

Could it be that they were deeply hidden, actually profound in thought, and had already seen through his arrangements?

That shouldn’t be possible…

Alas, facing the Bear Village Divine Envoy and Netherworld Wu Clan, he truly felt somewhat restrained.

Since he didn’t understand, Li Changshou naturally had to figure it out;

These were two moderately important bigshots, with combat power several times that of the ordinary Golden Immortal Ji Wuyou. Coming so inexplicably close to his fundamental background, he had to take it seriously!

At present, Li Changshou carefully observed for a while.

Ox Head and Horse Face moved within several thousand li of Degree Immortal Sect for two hours, whenever encountering spirit beasts that looked edible, they would directly knock them unconscious and stuff them into bag-like storage treasures.

They seemed to be simply hunting…

But looking at their movement trajectory, they had carefully surveyed several excellent positions for attacking Degree Immortal Sect!

For a moment, Li Changshou’s confusion grew even stronger.

As luck would have it, after hunting for two hours, Ox Head and Horse Face returned to a dense forest in front of the Degree Immortal Sect mountain gate, sitting down on a tree stump.

And beneath them, ten zhang down in the tree roots, one of Li Changshou’s [Coachman] paper avatars was silently maintaining wood escape arts.

In other words, Li Changshou’s main body was hidden right here.

—Previously his main body had been outside the mountain gate, attempting research on paper avatars breaking through to half-step Golden Immortal, while the paper avatar substituting his identity in the mountain had been temporarily called away by Ancestral Master Jiang Liner.

He hadn’t completely given up on subsequent research, there were still a few not-so-bold ideas to try one by one.

Therefore, his main body had been hiding here, preparing to continue working on spirit explosions when nothing else was happening.

Sitting on the tree stump, Ox Head and Horse Face first counted one, two, three, four, five, taking inventory of the ingredients they had obtained this time.

Ox Head, without his mask, muttered: “The Sea God is so generous! So much meat, enough for us to eat for quite a while!”

“The Sea God is naturally beyond reproach, speaks kindly, and is courteous to us, completely lacking the airs of Celestial Court ministers.”

“Yes, so much better than those waste demons from the Demon Court back then, who liked to look down their noses at people!”

Horse Face sighed lightly. Without his mask, he had somewhat of a delicate handsomeness.

Back in the day, in the Wu Clan tribe, Horse Face had been the handsome youth of ten villages, how many Wu Clan girls had wanted to knock him unconscious and carry him back to their tents…

Horse Face sighed: “If only the Sea God could go to the Netherworld and bring the Blood Sea under divine authority too.”

“Is the Blood Sea even a sea? It’s a polluted spring!” Ox Head cursed irritably. “To rule the Blood Sea, you can’t be a Sea God, you’d have to be a Pollution God!”

“Then Sea Pollution God, or Polluted Sea God?”

Li Changshou: …

If you’re just chatting, why include insults?

He was now a Pure Yang cultivator of no shallow experience, how had he gotten associated with pollution?

Subsequently, Li Changshou heard an important piece of information.

Ox Head sighed: “Stop imagining things, no one knows if Blood River Ancestor is really properly dead or not, who knows when he might pop up like a zombie again, let’s not get the Sea God in trouble.”

Horse Face agreed with a couple of words, and the two brothers sat there muttering again.

Soon, they got to the main purpose of this trip.

“Horse, how should we say it later?

We can’t just directly say we want to trade Netherworld convenience for a few jars of seasoning, right?”

“Ox, the key is the seasoning recipe.”

“Isn’t asking for the recipe too unreasonable? That should be Li Changshou’s closely guarded secret, right?”

“Well…”

Horse Face pondered for a moment, also finding himself in difficulty. He raised his hand to habitually stroke his mane, only to realize he wasn’t wearing his mask.

Ox Head suddenly jumped up, shouting: “On that cloud to the south!

Quick look, isn’t that Brother Changshou! Hasn’t he returned?”

“Let’s go, remember to wear the masks, and make ox and horse sounds. Today we’ll have to be thick-skinned to get some of that seasoning!”

“If that doesn’t work, we’ll offer him some of our Netherworld specialties!”

At once, Ox Head and Horse Face put on their masks, resuming their identities as soul-collecting envoys. One ‘mooed’ twice, the other gave a gentle ‘neigh, neigh,’ trying to get back into character.

A blood-colored cloud formed beneath their feet, lifting them slowly into the air, their flying speed was rather… touching.

Underground, in the clouds, in the Celestial Court, in Anshui City;

Li Changshou’s main body and paper avatars were all face-palming.

He never imagined that Ox Head and Horse Face had come to Degree Immortal Sect for… for…

Barbecue seasoning.

Li Changshou’s paper avatar on Little Qiong Peak immediately began busy work in secret;

He didn’t dare let Ox Head and Horse Face linger at Degree Immortal Sect, sending them away quickly would put his mind at ease.

…

Two hours later, in front of the Sea God’s mansion in the Celestial Court;

Li Changshou’s Sea God paper avatar rode out on a cloud, leisurely and seemingly in excellent spirits.

Two squadrons of celestial soldiers immediately moved to escort him, but Li Changshou smiled and said: “What need is there for guards while walking in the Celestial Court? Everyone rest for now, I’m going to seek an audience with His Majesty at the Lingxiao Treasure Palace.”

The celestial soldiers hurriedly bowed in acknowledgment, watching this elderly immortal ride his cloud slowly toward the center of the Celestial Court.

Li Changshou inwardly recalled the previous events, still feeling both amused and exasperated.

Ox Head and Horse Face had indeed come seeking seasoning.

The two soul-collecting envoys suddenly intercepted the “Picking Up Senior Uncle” squad, giving Qin Xuanya, Ling’e, and the retrieved young girl quite a fright – they thought they were being ambushed by demons.

Fortunately, Jiang Liner, well-versed in human relations, quickly stepped forward to the bow, identifying Ox Head and Horse Face as the Netherworld’s soul-collecting generals, and hastily asked what business brought the two generals to Degree Immortal Sect.

Ox Head and Horse Face immediately became hesitant and stammering, finding it difficult to speak with so many people present, only able to gaze at Li Changshou with deep feeling.

At that moment, Ling’e keenly caught this look, her heart crying out ‘Could it be!’

Then she raised her hand to cover her eyes, deeply impressed by her imagination.

After the previous wall-pinning incident, Ling’e had come to understand—

Senior Brother did like women, but the women he liked had to be sufficiently steady, unable to add too much karma to Senior Brother’s life.

As Ox Head and Horse Face continued their vague explanations, unable to clarify, Li Changshou took the initiative to step forward, smiling and saying: “How have you been, elder brothers?”

Ox Head and Horse Face immediately nodded heavily.

Li Changshou said to Immortal Wangqing: “Grand-Uncle Master, these are old acquaintances of your disciple.

Please lead everyone back to the mountain first, disciple will return after speaking with them briefly.”

“Very well,” Immortal Wangqing didn’t ask further, steering the cloud to take everyone back to the mountain gate.

The immortal maidens, almost-immortal maidens, great immortal maidens, and mortal girl on the cloud all looked at Li Changshou with varying degrees of curiosity.

Only Old Daoist Qi Yuan, currently absorbed in meditation, remained completely unaware of what had transpired from start to finish…

When Li Changshou personally handed two jars of seasoning to Ox Head and Horse Face, saying:

“If you run out, you can mention it to the Sea God, and I’ll make some more seasoning to leave with him later.”

At that moment, the grateful look in Ox Head and Horse Face’s eyes…

They nearly pulled Li Changshou into a three-way “Ox-Horse-Human” brotherhood right at the mountain gate!

These two Wu Clan members were quite interesting when leaving, one calling for Li Changshou to come to visit the Netherworld sometime, the other wishing Li Changshou early immortality and no name in the Book of Life and Death.

Li Changshou could only smile and wave, sending them quickly on their way.

After returning to the mountain, he inevitably faced a three-way interrogation from Little Qiong Peak’s foodie group, questioning how he had become brothers with high-ranking Netherworld officials.

Fortunately, of Li Changshou’s two visits to the Netherworld, Jiang Liner had been present for one, and Jiu Jiu had accompanied him for the other, making explanations uncomplicated and allowing him to pass scrutiny with ease.

Subsequently, on Little Qiong Peak, everyone began discussing the major matter undecided during the journey—

Who would take Master Wanjiang Rain’s reincarnated form as a disciple?

Jiang Liner had wanted to take another disciple, but felt her cultivation wasn’t particularly high; moreover, Immortal Wangqing had actively expressed that he could take a tenth disciple.

The couple was discussing this matter, mainly because Jiang Liner was hesitant…

Li Changshou didn’t involve himself much, quietly meditating in a corner, attending to some other minor matters.

These minor matters included:

Drafting memorials, liaising with the Dragon Clan, confirming the Dragon Clan’s intentions, having the Dragon Clan first scout out deep sea demon gathering spots…

And so on.

Li Changshou finished writing the memorial while Jiang Liner was still hesitating;

He continued his work, having his paper avatar stationed in the Celestial Court ride a cloud toward the Lingxiao Treasure Palace.

The memorial’s content essentially requested His Majesty the Jade Emperor to deploy troops, joining forces with the Dragon Clan to clear out major demons in the deep seas within the Five Continents’ range, trimming some branches for the Western Teaching.

This step held extraordinary significance.

It could both deepen connections between the Celestial Court and the Dragon Clan and increase the Dragon Clan’s affinity for the Celestial Court;

Li Changshou had already negotiated conditions with the Dragon Clan, having the Celestial Court select a general as commander, with Dragon Clan forces coordinating with Celestial Court troops, establishing an initial hierarchy.

Additionally, it would weaken Western Teaching’s outer circle of influence, actively counterattacking Western Teaching, ending the situation of passively taking hits…

It could truly be called extraordinarily significant.

Entering the Lingxiao Treasure Palace, Li Changshou presented the memorial, standing with East Wood Duke before and after.

The Jade Emperor, wearing a white brocade robe, sat on the high platform throne, finished reading the memorial, his eyes flashing with light, immediately slapped the desk and laughed:

“What an excellent plan, Beloved Official Changeng! Let’s do this immediately! How many troops does the beloved official need? Would fifty thousand be enough?”

“Your Majesty,” Li Changshou hurriedly said, “The Celestial Court’s foundation isn’t thick enough yet, mobilizing fifty thousand troops at once would lead to uncontrollable expenditure.

Better to use ten thousand celestial soldiers as standard, deploying the Celestial Court’s elite, supplemented with bean-soldiers spells, formations, and treasure armor, enough to match several hundred thousand troops!”

“Hahaha!”

The Jade Emperor immediately clapped with delight, “Beloved Official Changeng, what I admire most is how you consider everything thoroughly.

Wood Duke, bring the tiger tally to let Changeng deploy troops!”

East Wood Duke immediately accepted the command: “This minister obeys!”

“Your Majesty,” Li Changshou continued, “Your minister can offer strategies and serve as a military advisor, but cannot be a commander. Please appoint a trusted capable minister and general to lead the army.

This will be the Celestial Court’s first campaign to show its might, we must establish the Celestial Court’s reputation, and the commander should be carefully considered.”

“How thoughtful of you, beloved official!”

The Jade Emperor pondered for a moment, while East Wood Duke beside him swayed slightly, chest out but not daring to raise his head, trying hard to express his presence.

Li Changshou was hinting at this matter…

He didn’t want to monopolize all the credit, only responsible for strategy and mediation, leaving the fighting to East Wood Duke to lead troops.

However, what neither Li Changshou nor East Wood Duke expected was…

“Speaking of army commanders, I do have a suitable candidate,” the Jade Emperor winked at Li Changshou and smiled, “East Wood Duke?”

East Wood Duke suppressed his inner excitement, stepped forward to receive orders, and shouted: “This old minister is here!”

“Go summon Golden Wutong Mixed Heaven General Hua Ritian, he shall be the commander this time.”

Uh…

Li Changshou inwardly chuckled lightly, so the Jade Emperor intended to personally take the field.

Such enthusiasm wasn’t surprising.

Just poor Brother Wood Duke, probably going to be anxious for a while again.