Before departing, Li Changshou solemnly entrusted the final gift from the Heavenly Court to Great Yu, who would pass it on to Suiren-shi.

Elder Suiren had no family members in the Fire Cloud Cave, and Li Changshou could have kept this final gift for himself, but that wouldn’t have been proper. Moreover…

As a Fourth-Rank True God of the Heavenly Court, a Dao listener in the Tusita Palace, and the Sea God favored by the Jade Emperor, would he lack Peach of Immortality?

Yes, he would.

The fruits born from Primordial Spirit Roots – one could never have enough!

Unfortunately, Li Changshou had carefully considered this earlier. To maintain his image as a “human dao expert,” he couldn’t show too much desire.

He truly wanted to eat those peaches.

According to Heavenly Court rumors, the Peach of Immortality could extend the lifespan of cultivators below the Golden Immortal realm. He wasn’t sure if it would work for his master, who was an Impure Immortal.

Ling’e hadn’t achieved immortality yet, and eating the peach would do more harm than good – it would be like “taking tonics when too weak to benefit from them.”

Bidding farewell to Fire Cloud Cave, he set course for the Heavenly Court.

Li Changshou didn’t immediately go searching for his “destined spiritual treasure.”

Though he deeply respected the former Human Sovereigns, prudence demanded he investigate… several times.

One shouldn’t be completely distrustful, but neither should one trust blindly.

Moreover, although Great Lord Fuxi hadn’t divined his true body’s origins and only gave him a map if the “destination” was exposed, the previous location of his true body would also be revealed.

Li Changshou needed to carefully consider how to retrieve this treasure.

He carefully reflected on everything he had seen and heard during this visit.

Among the seven human ancestors he’d visited, the most memorable was naturally Great Yu, with whom he was most familiar.

After all, they had stood together on a small boat for three days and three nights – or as Great Yu put it, they had shared in hardship together.

With Elder Great Yu’s Water Pattern Treasure Map and Sea-Calming Divine Needle, Li Changshou now owed him a debt of karma.

Elder Fuxi had given him clues to find the treasure, but Li Changshou couldn’t be certain whether it was the Treasure-Locating Copper Coin.

He felt that Elder Fuxi had predicted his predictions…

The treasure pearl from Elder Shennong was likely a Five Elements treasure. Though he couldn’t yet determine if it was primordial, he could use it later to increase production for the Heavenly Court’s bean-growing enterprise.

Taking it back to Little Qiong Peak wouldn’t be possible – if the pearl was recognized, the inconsistency would be too obvious.

Li Changshou maintained sufficient respect and vigilance toward each retired Human Sovereign.

Those who had become Human Sovereigns in ancient times were certainly not simple-minded individuals.

He wasn’t sure if he would have future interactions with Fire Cloud Cave, though it was highly probable…

Clouds drifted into the misty distance, unimpeded by heavenly winds.

Before long, the Middle Heaven Gate came into view. As Li Changshou approached his cloud, guard soldiers came forward to salute and verify his identity, carefully checking his entry and exit jade tablet…

Seeing the soldiers’ meticulous attention to duty, Li Changshou felt much more at ease.

He gave a mental thumbs-up to Hua Ritian, the “Heavenly Court Discipline Commissioner”!

Ascending to the Lingxiao Treasure Palace, Li Changshou reported his mission complete, presenting the jade tablet received from Elder Fuxi. The Jade Emperor formally decreed the implementation of “Heaven and Earth Worship” in the Southern Jambudvipa Continent.

With Li Changshou’s Sea God Religion as a foundation, getting started wouldn’t be too difficult. However, guiding mortals to worship Heaven and Earth could easily affect the Dao School’s incense offerings…

This matter would later require Li Changshou to take the lead, using the Human Dao’s name to negotiate with the senior disciples managing religious affairs from both the Enlightenment and Severing Schools, thus avoiding accusations that “the Heavenly Court disrespects the Dao School’s Sages.”

For this matter, Li Changshou wanted to request the Great Master’s help. Since the Jade Emperor’s decree hadn’t yet solidified, there was no rush.

Each of the Jade Emperor’s decrees took several decades or centuries to materialize.

Perhaps because of Li Changshou’s return as Sea God and the dragons receiving some lower-ranking divine positions, the connection between the Heavenly Dao and the Heavenly Court had deepened somewhat.

According to reports from the Tongming Palace officials, the speed at which the Jade Emperor’s decrees manifested had increased by a full… tenth.

Li Changshou’s trip naturally wasn’t “for nothing.” Although he had already received many benefits in Fire Cloud Cave, the Jade Emperor’s rewards were still forthcoming.

The Jade Emperor bestowed several treasures for decorating his mansion, which could be ignored.

The merit bestowed by the Heavenly Court was less than what he’d received after succeeding in clearing demons from the South and West Seas.

This matter was just the beginning – there would be plenty more merit to earn later…

Li Changshou requested leave to return to his mansion to await further summons, and the Jade Emperor watched him depart with a smile.

General Hua Ritian was already waiting near the Lingxiao Palace. After “coincidentally encountering” Li Changshou, they rode clouds back to the Sea God Mansion together.

The two avatars faced each other on their clouds, simultaneously employing the traditional Heavenly Court technique – face-to-face voice transmission.

Hua Ritian asked, “Sea God, during your visit to Fire Cloud Cave, did you meet Human Sovereign Suiren-shi?”

Li Changshou replied, “Does Your Majesty have business with this elder? This elder seemed to be recovering from injuries – this minor god did not meet him.”

“Before becoming Heaven’s Emperor, I once followed my master’s orders to experience mortal reincarnation and served under Suiren-shi.”

The Jade Emperor’s gaze showed slight emotion as he sighed, “I never expected his injuries would remain unhealed even now.”

Li Changshou pondered before asking, “May this minor god boldly inquire about Your Majesty’s current cultivation level? Your Majesty, please don’t misunderstand, this minor god is concerned…”

“Haha, beloved official, no need to be nervous. Such questions are reasonable, given how many complicated matters you must consider.”

The Jade Emperor laughed, “Let me put it this way: As long as I remain within the Heavenly Court unless my master and several senior fellow disciples personally arrive, none can harm me.”

The Jade Emperor’s strength was indeed unfathomable, with the power of the Heavenly Dao’s protection making him different from other experts…

This helped Li Changshou feel somewhat more at ease.

The Jade Emperor then asked about dealing with Daoist Lu Ya, inquiring if Li Changshou had thought of any good strategies.

Li Changshou had been busy searching for the Treasure-Locating Copper Coin lately and hadn’t given much thought to this matter. He could only respond perfunctorily, tactfully expressing his concerns to the Jade Emperor.

There was likely a Sage standing behind Daoist Lu Ya. Unless they could grasp Lu Ya’s weakness, leaving him speechless and immediately destroying him on the spot, elimination would be difficult…

Simply put, the difficulty was immense.

This emperor and official continued their voice transmission discussion until they reached the Sea God Mansion, where Hua Ritian finally took his satisfied leave.

‘The Jade Emperor is quite concerned about the Lu Ya matter.’

Li Changshou smiled and raised an eyebrow.

Returning to the Sea God Mansion in his paper avatar, he took out the two treasures received from Elder Great Yu and carefully considered them.

For him, the greatest use of this Sea-Calming Divine Needle was its merit power.

But extracting merit power wasn’t easy. Li Changshou didn’t know exactly how to operate it and could only temporarily store this iron rod away.

It did match that saying…

What use have I for this iron staff?

As for this Water Pattern Map, Li Changshou quite liked it.

But after some calculation, he felt this treasure map might still be useful for dragon-related matters, so he wasn’t in a hurry to refine it into a combat treasure.

Putting away the map and preparing to return his consciousness to his true body, Li Changshou suddenly realized:

Later, guided by this map, he could enfeoff many dragons as “Water Gods” of rivers, lakes, and seas!

Another huge amount of merit that could be claimed – but wasn’t yet in hand.

…

Consciousness returning to his true body, Li Changshou stood before the pill furnace, slightly lost in thought.

‘If the Jade Emperor could bypass me as Sea God and secretly eliminate Daoist Lu Ya, that would be perfect.’

This way, he wouldn’t have to bear the karma, nor worry about being “called out” by the Sage Lords.

The Tribulation of Investiture of the Gods would also show some changes – at least that terrifying Seven Arrow Curse Book could retire early.

‘The Heavenly Dao has its balance – such an abnormal evil spell and curse shouldn’t exist.’

Li Changshou calculated with his fingers, searching his memories.

In the story of the Investiture of the Gods, when Zhou’s side wanted to eliminate Zhao Gongming, it was Daoist Lu Ya who gave the Seven Arrow Curse Book to Jiang Ziya, letting Jiang Ziya perform the ritual that cursed Great Lord Zhao to death.

But in the story legends he had heard, there were no tales of Jiang Ziya paying any price.

The destiny of a great tribulation’s protagonist?

The great merit of the divine investiture?

Considering Jiang Ziya’s final fate – merely reaching the highest mortal position in the mundane world and enjoying wealth and glory, rather than severing mortal ties like Li Jing, Nezha, and Yang Jian to become true gods in the Heavenly Court…

Perhaps there was some unknown karmic relationship at play.

“No more overthinking.”

Time to retrieve the treasure first.

Li Changshou patted his cheeks to focus himself, then snapped his fingers at a box on the nearby bookshelf, summoning several thick paper avatars and carefully infusing them with immortal power.

The treasure-hunting paper avatar team, second deployment!

Li Changshou had always wondered one thing – could the tribulation of the Investiture of the Gods be changed?

He only needed to find the “destined treasure” that Great Lord Fuxi had divined for him. Seeing whether this item was indeed the Treasure-Locating Copper Coin would likely provide the answer.

If he obtained the Treasure-Locating Copper Coin, then the future tribulation of the Investiture of the Gods would inevitably differ slightly from what he knew.

Most likely, the main direction would remain unchanged, while small details could be altered.

While his true body sat in meditation recovering immortal power in the pill room, Li Changshou’s consciousness drove the coachman paper avatar, leading over twenty treasure-hunting paper figures rushing southwest.

Sixty-six thousand li south, thirty-three thousand li west – applying the Pythagorean theorem, a straight line would naturally be the shortest path.

The landmark they needed to find was “Headless Mountain” – a great mountain without a peak. Such mountains were common in the primordial world, as a single battle between experts could create many…

The paper avatars used earth-traversing techniques to advance, with the first half of the journey going smoothly. After completing the distance, they easily found the “Headless Mountain” shown in Great Lord Fuxi’s hexagrams.

But upon reaching the mountain’s vicinity, Li Changshou’s brows furrowed tightly.

This place was near the border between East Victory Divine Continent and Central Divine Continent, still within East Victory. Demon qi surged to the heavens for a thousand li around, and he could vaguely sense several fairly powerful pressure auras.

What was this place?

Was the treasure he sought here?

Li Changshou controlled the coachman paper avatar to release a small paper kite. The kite slowly flapped its wings, drilling out of the ground to transform into an eagle, spreading its wings to soar.

Li Changshou projected a strand of consciousness onto it, carefully observing the mountain’s surroundings.

This should be a demon race township.

The mountaintop had apparently been flattened by an expert’s divine ability, with a sturdy fortress built upon it, protected by various formations. The ground’s spirit energy was fully utilized by the grand formation.

Within the township, there were humans, beasts, and flying creatures.

Though some human cultivators operated here, they weren’t numerous. Most were beast-eared… ahem, demon race members who retained partial features from before their transformation.

The eagle broke through the clouds and flew over Headless Mountain, finding a great river.

Following the river downstream for a while, he indeed found a valley enshrouded by a grand formation…

The treasure was here.

The valley was naturally demon territory. Its scenery seemed pleasant, but due to the formation’s isolation, he couldn’t investigate how many experts were inside.

However, based on demon force distribution, the vast majority of powerful demons were gathered at the border between the North Uttarakuru Continent and the Central Divine Continent. This place wasn’t too far from the Ascension to Immortality Gate – if there were powerful demon experts here, the Gate would likely have warned disciples not to train in this area.

Li Changshou’s first thought was to directly use paper avatar immortal bean soldiers to forcefully attack this place – he could both obtain the treasure and gain merit.

But he immediately rejected this idea.

First, as one of the two hegemonies of ancient times, the demon race had its accumulation of power. It would be easy to beat the small fry but attract the old ones.

These demons couldn’t be compared to the deep sea demons.

Second, he didn’t yet know what the treasure was or where it might be hidden. If during a forceful attack, it was carried away by someone from the demon race, that would truly be troublesome.

This matter couldn’t be rushed.

First, collect intelligence, then formulate a plan. Strike like lightning when the time is right – no need to greedily seek both treasure and merit.

Currently, Li Changshou began secretly gathering paper avatars near the Ascension to Immortality Gate, Southern Jambudvipa Continent, and beneath the East Sea, while also moving out a batch of new immortal beans from the Gate.

In just a few days, Li Changshou had already deployed an “army” of 100,000 in ambush around the valley, along with over a hundred paper avatars with strength comparable to the late-stage Celestial Immortal realm, and hundreds of paper avatars responsible for releasing immortal bean soldiers.

Leave other matters aside – surround it first!

Of course, these were just backup plans. Li Changshou wanted to quietly take the treasure and leave with minimal karma and cost.

Intelligence gathering work proceeded in an orderly fashion – Li Changshou had always had good patience…

While doing all this, Li Changshou was simultaneously working on another major project in the pill room of Little Qiong Peak.

Making several Golden Immortal realm paper avatars!

In the days since returning from Fire Cloud Cave, Li Changshou had constantly pondered Great Lord Fuxi’s guidance.

Today, he had finally developed a complete train of thought and prepared to try…

If he could make Golden Immortal realm paper avatars soon, treasure hunting would naturally become twice as effective with half the effort!

Li Changshou thoroughly organized the new approach to improving paper avatars in his mind.

This time, the probability of success wasn’t too high – at most sixty or seventy percent – and he didn’t know how effective the finished product would be…

But without trying, there would never be a breakthrough.

Li Changshou opened the black pill furnace, carefully cleaned its interior, and summoned several paper figures carrying cloth bundles.

The paper figures obediently stood on the wooden table, and following Li Changshou’s thoughts, they each took out piles of medicinal herbs and treasure materials.

The method of external avatar creation that Great Lord Fuxi had pointed out opened up an entirely new approach for Li Changshou.

Why had his paper avatars hit a bottleneck?

The difficulty lay in how his Golden Immortal realm immortal power, when infused into paper avatars, would become extremely unstable after reaching a certain “quantity,” constantly moving toward artistic self-destruction.

Previously, his thinking had been limited to reinforcing paper avatars and improving their restrictions.

However, after Fuxi’s enlightenment, Li Changshou found a new path.

Next, he would attempt to add a [Core] to his paper avatars to stabilize immortal power!

A small portion of immortal power would be injected into the immortal power core, responsible for maintaining the stability of the paper avatar’s total immortal power. When the paper avatar consumed too much immortal power, this small portion could also be used for emergencies.

Though this sounded simple, how to refine this core and how to achieve such effects were each “immortal research” challenges…

The Dao of pills became Li Changshou’s first proposed solution.

The Supreme Clarity Non-Action of Great Dao and the method of Yin-Yang Balance seemed applicable as well.

Combining the Sage’s Great Dao, the principles of Yin and Yang, Great Lord Fuxi’s guidance, the reference divine abilities from Great Master Xuandu, and his own rich experience from years of immersion in paper avatar methods…

There was no reason he should come up empty-handed!

Li Changshou quickly threw portions of medicinal herbs and treasure materials into the pill furnace, beginning the path of refining paper avatar cores.

Half a day later…

Accompanied by a thunderous boom, three thousand li east of the Ascension to Immortality Gate, a mushroom cloud slowly rose as nearly half a desolate mountain was blown away.

Spirit explosion appeared again, but the power was much less.