In the back hall of Anshui City.

A Water-Fire Taiji appeared from nowhere, carrying water and fire forces as it slowly rotated.

The Grand Magic Master jumped out, his expression somewhat stern.

As the Water-Fire Taiji dispersed, the Grand Magic Master’s sleeve gently fluttered, releasing a pinch of ash that transformed into Elder Li’s form amid spots of fluorescent light.

He still maintained his elderly immortal appearance, with the phantom image of a treasure tower at his chest.

The Grand Magic Master exhaled and sat directly back in his round chair. After remaining silent for a moment, he sighed:

“This Senior Uncle is somewhat too…”

Elder Li stood at the side holding his whisker duster and said softly: “Grand Magic Master, after all, this is the Venerable Sage…”

“Yes, I understand,” the Grand Magic Master nodded slowly and said, “I should have listened to you then and destroyed that cicada’s molt in front of this Senior Uncle.

I had thought it unwise to involve conflicts between the Western Paradise and the Dao School.

But now it seems there’s no need to maintain face with the Western Paradise.

They never cared about face, to begin with.”

To be honest, even when angry, the Grand Magic Master maintained such elegance and courtesy.

Elder Li stood by, unsure how to advise.

That Venerable Sage was truly…

Beyond words.

Moments ago, at the site of the Great Spirit Explosion.

That figure with blurred features, form obscured by sunset clouds—the Western Religion’s Second Patriarch, Sage Zhunti—had appeared, saying this Gold Cicada had fate with the Western Paradise, asking them to stay their hands.

At that time, when Elder Li secretly suggested the Grand Magic Master strike a finishing blow, the Grand Magic Master hesitated, thus missing the opportunity.

This wasn’t because the Grand Magic Master feared confronting a Sage—if necessary, he would likely still confront one.

But today’s matter was already Elder Li’s counterattack against Gold Cicada, with clear cause and effect, reason and evidence.

If the Grand Magic Master had forcefully intervened to kill Gold Cicada, it would directly expose that the Human Dao School sought to destroy the Western Paradise’s rising fortune, thus bringing unnecessary karma to the Human Dao School…

This point wasn’t much concern.

The Human Dao School had only two and a half members in total. At worst, Supreme Clarity Laozi would take action against the Western Religion’s two Sages.

Fear was impossible—they could likely even frighten the Western Paradise…

But in doing so, things would spiral out of control. The primordial world would inevitably face turmoil, the Dao School’s fortune would be affected, and the Grand Magic Master would certainly be recalled to the Supreme Clarity Palace by the Supreme Clarity Sage, confined for several great kalpas…

That would be most unfortunate.

More importantly, the Grand Magic Master had seen Elder Li’s performance today and discovered that this Gold Cicada…

Would hardly pose any threat to the Human Dao School in the future.

By the time Gold Cicada grew strong again, Elder Li wouldn’t remain stagnant. Dealing with him then would probably only require a bit of thought and finger exercise.

Thus, the Grand Magic Master decided then not to forcefully kill Gold Cicada, only attempting to sever this karmic connection.

The Grand Magic Master had said:

“Senior Uncle Zhunti, this primordial fierce beast intended harm to our Human Dao School disciple. It is fitting that our Human Dao School disciple eliminated him.”

The old Daoist in the clouds spoke calmly: “What, is this poor monk’s thin face insufficient?”

The Grand Magic Master’s smile gradually faded as he raised his head to gaze at the sunset clouds in the sky, his form still straight and tall.

The clouds above were like mountains, the person below like a great marsh!

The Grand Magic Master said: “If Senior Uncle puts it that way, this disciple dares not say more. Only, Senior Uncle, how shall today’s karma be resolved?”

The old Daoist said: “Since I have come, the karma can be eliminated.”

“If Gold Cicada strikes at our Human Dao School people again, what then?”

“Fate rises and falls, following its laws,” the old Daoist said leisurely. “Where there is cause, effect naturally follows.”

The Grand Magic Master’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Meanwhile, Elder Li, hiding in the Grand Magic Master’s sleeve, was filled with deep emotion.

So this was a Sage?

Flowery words came effortlessly, completely disregarding any practical meaning, purely making it clear—

[Today I, Zhunti, am protecting this Gold Cicada, do what you will!]

This was with the Grand Magic Master present. If it were Elder Li alone, Sage Zhunti would likely not even give him a chance to speak before sending him a strike from the Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree.

At this point, the Grand Magic Master could only retreat. Continuing to speak would likely just result in Sage Zhunti casually dismissing him with more empty, grandiose words.

At this moment, Elder Li pressed against the Grand Magic Master’s arm and transmitted:

“Grand Magic Master, your disciple dares to suggest.

You could ask why the Western Paradise needs Gold Cicada. Such a primordial fierce beast, even cleansed of karmic obstacles, should not catch Sage’s eye.”

— Since they couldn’t kill Gold Cicada, they could at least spoil his chance of becoming Sage’s disciple, minimizing future trouble.

The Grand Magic Master’s eyes lit up, and he followed the suggestion.

Sure enough, Sage Zhunti changed his approach…

The old Daoist was heard saying: “This Gold Cicada once attacked my Senior Brother’s golden body, thus owing our Western Paradise karma. In the future, there will be a fateful connection for him to contribute his dharma body to our Western Paradise’s great rise.

Now that this poor monk has personally come, could it be that my nephew thinks this poor monk’s face insufficient?”

The Grand Magic Master smiled: “Senior Uncle’s words are too heavy. Since you have given your golden word, this disciple naturally won’t trouble this cicada today.

However, this cicada is a primordial fierce beast with accumulated evil fruits. Senior Uncle, as an honored Sage, personally appearing to take him away might damage the Western Paradise’s reputation.”

Zhunti was silent for a long time before saying: “This cicada’s fierce nature is hard to find. This poor monk will take him back to Spirit Mountain to be suppressed in the Merit Pool and temper his divine soul.

My nephew worries too much. Leave now.”

Having received these words, the Grand Magic Master cupped his hands and said nothing more, turning to stride away. His form vanished between heaven and earth, returning to the Sea God Temple’s back hall.

This was a Sage.

They need not speak of reason. Once their golden words were given, even the Grand Magic Master could only temporarily retreat, returning home to seethe in private.

In the Sea God Temple, the Heaven and Earth Linglong Xuanhuang Tower slowly emerged from Elder Li’s chest, transmitting spiritual thoughts to both the Grand Magic Master and Elder Li.

What voice and tone these spiritual thoughts became in the Grand Magic Master’s heart, Elder Li naturally didn’t know.

But in Elder Li’s heart rang:

“Fight him! Big disciple, what are you afraid of? Zhunti is just a fraud, in a real fight he might not be your match!

Could his Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree affect us? We tried it in ancient times, but that tree is useless, only bullying some Quasi-Sages without precious treasures and minor Primordial Spirit Treasures.

Call Old Tu and the others over, face him head-on, no problem, absolutely can’t lose!”

The Grand Magic Master pondered briefly and said:

“My Dao may follow my heart’s desires, but cannot exceed bounds.

If I struck at Sage Zhunti, it would sweep away Master’s face. Moreover, Sage’s divine abilities are unfathomable, merged with Heaven’s Way, connected to heaven and earth—victory cannot be achieved simply by having more precious treasures.”

The little tower trembled, immediately withdrawing its sunset clouds, seemingly sulking.

Elder Li quickly said from the side:

“Grand Magic Master, it was your disciple’s insufficient consideration, only thinking of how he might slip away like a cicada, not considering his life-saving divine ability would be like this.

If some paper avatars had been hidden to the side then, adding another strike at the end of the spirit explosion, there would have been no aftermath.”

“This is not your fault,” the Grand Magic Master said warmly. “You have already done excellently. If I had your cultivation to carry out such matters, I certainly couldn’t have done it so cleanly and neatly.

However, after this matter, Changshou, you can rest assured—Western Paradise people will not dare to directly move against you again.”

Speaking thus, the Grand Magic Master took out a jade talisman from his sleeve, gently pushing it forward to give to Elder Li.

“Seeing you use the Water Escape method today, nearly shaking off that cicada, I realized that your highest talent, Changshou, lies in this path of escape.

Take this. I had thought to let you focus on cultivation, not diverting attention to these techniques and divine abilities.”

Elder Li carefully received the jade talisman with both hands, looking into it…

Excited heart, trembling hands!

From now on, what escape technique would he lack?

The Space Escape technique!

The name of this escape technique was very simple, just ‘Space Escape’;

But according to the principle of ‘fewer words mean bigger things’, these ordinary three characters must be extraordinary!

“Thank you, Grand Magic Master, for bestowing this method.”

Elder Li put away the jade talisman, naturally unable to comprehend it immediately.

The Grand Magic Master smiled: “Today you’ve also seen a Sage. Do you have any insights?”

Elder Li said seriously: “Your disciple has no thoughts, and couldn’t see the Sage’s appearance, which is somewhat regrettable…

Grand Magic Master, your disciple feels this matter can still be manipulated, should not end here.”

“What do you want to do? Just say it.”

“Your disciple wishes to borrow the Dragon Clan’s power to spread some news.”

Elder Li pondered for several sounds, carefully considering before speaking slowly:

“For example…

In ancient times there was a fierce beast named Six-Winged Gold Cicada, fierce and cruel by nature, with countless kills to its name, its divine abilities vast, with extreme speed and mastery of space techniques.

If this fierce beast is captured, it cannot be killed directly—its molt can be refined into spirit pills. Those who take these pills, if not already long-lived will gain long life; Golden Immortals can perfect their dao realm.

Use this to pressure the Western Paradise, leaving Gold Cicada no day to turn things around.”

The Grand Magic Master’s eyes lit up, then looked at Elder Li full of praise.

The Heaven and Earth Linglong Xuanhuang Tower that had been sulking also trembled slightly, sunset clouds reappearing as xuanhuang qi continuously descended, two spiritual thoughts transmitted into Elder Li and the Grand Magic Master’s hearts…

“Where did you pick up this treasure from?

This dark heart almost matches our Master’s!”

Elder Li and the Grand Magic Master looked at each other, completely afraid to respond.

Truly, they were frightened.

…

When the Xuanhuang Tower left, it was somewhat reluctant, cursing and grumbling.

It truly wanted to stay with Elder Li, protecting him as he roamed about, wandering the four seas.

Though Elder Li very much wanted to nod in agreement, weighing his courage, he could only repeatedly express gratitude, thanking Senior Xuanhuang Tower for the life-saving grace…

Although in the previous battle, the Xuanhuang Tower hadn’t displayed half its power, it was a guarantee, a reassurance—the sense of security Elder Li had dreamed of!

Moreover, with the Grand Magic Master not by his side, Elder Li’s true form would only cultivate in the mountain, itself having no entertainment, so the Xuanhuang Tower would likely tire quickly.

The Grand Magic Master sent Elder Li back to the Crossing Immortals Gate, while Elder Li watched the Grand Magic Master return to the Tusita Palace in Heaven.

In the underground secret chamber, Elder Li set aside his planned schemes and began to reconsider.

The thickness of ‘Slingshot’s’ face and style of conduct was somewhat different from what Elder Li had previously imagined.

That face was truly thick…

Worthy of being one who could say ‘the primordial world has a fate with our Western Paradise’.

Such a Sage, if directly taking action to crush a small Human Dao School disciple like himself, Elder Li wouldn’t be half surprised.

Especially since today, he had crossed paths with Sage Zhunti, he would need to be more careful in the future.

Yes, stick to staying steady in the mountain for a hundred thousand years without wavering!

Elder Li checked the anti-divination trinkets on his body, carefully feeling the dao rhythms left by the Xuanhuang Tower, then carefully experiencing and detecting another obscure dao rhythm somewhat similar to the Xuanhuang Tower’s.

That was the power of the Taiji Diagram, the Human Dao School’s fortune-heavy treasure that concealed his background and cut off calculations, leaving a slight might!

Elder Li laughed softly.

To think a spirit treasure like the Xuanhuang Tower would have such a personality—he truly didn’t know what temperaments the Taiji Diagram, Wind Fire Rush Mat, and other heavy treasures might have.

If they were all hot-tempered brothers, that would truly be extraordinarily lively.

“Sage…”

Elder Li exhaled softly, taking two copper coins from his sleeve and placing them before himself.

Earlier in the Sea God Temple, taking advantage of the Grand Magic Master’s presence, Elder Li had already secretly tried nurturing these two copper coins with merit, but no unusual phenomena appeared.

Now, the ‘patina’ on these two copper coins had mostly faded, showing an overall bright golden color.

Elder Li pressed both hands against these two copper coins, again drawing out a bit of Heaven’s Way merit from within himself to inject into the copper coins.

Ding~

The two copper coins trembled slightly, making a clear ringing sound as a weak spiritual thought transmitted to Elder Li’s heart…

However, the gap between treasures and treasures was thus intuitively demonstrated.

Like the Heaven and Earth Linglong Xuanhuang Tower, not only could it actively communicate with its wielder, it could also joke and… ahem, was very close to living beings, knowing the Venerable Sage’s command, as lively as a chatterbox who hadn’t spoken for a million years.

These two copper coins Elder Li had originally anticipated for so long could only express closeness and joy to Elder Li. With all their might, they could only leave an insight into Elder Li’s heart.

Still just the simplest instruction manual.

Elder Li carefully experienced it for a while, his brows slightly furrowing.

This treasure wasn’t as magical as he had imagined…

The great dao they contained was the ‘buying and selling’ of the human way.

Namely [any treasure can be priced and bought back using these copper coins].

Because ‘weapons can destroy markets’, the Treasure-Falling Copper Coins could not affect ‘weapon’ class magical treasures.

Since it was buying and selling, the one holding the Treasure-Falling Copper Coins naturally had to pay a price.

The copper coins were just currency, given value, and what gave them value was the power of merit.

Simply put, using the Treasure-Falling Copper Coins to acquire spirit treasures would consume one’s merit.

The higher the grade of the item acquired, the more merit would be consumed from oneself. Heaven’s Way even allowed merit to go negative.

— This also verified Elder Li’s previous speculation that merit and karmic obstacles could offset each other, but the two weren’t as simple as just canceling out.

Elder Li fell into deep thought…

He still needed his merit to condense a Merit Golden Body, it couldn’t be wasted like this.

Looking at it now, the main effect of his taking the Treasure-Falling Copper Coins was helping Old Man Zhao avoid a disaster, reducing the karma of Fairy Yunxiao entering tribulation…

“Forget it,” Elder Li shook his head, speaking a few words of encouragement to the two copper coins before putting them in a brocade box and storing them among his trump cards.

Subsequently, Elder Li took out a piece of cloth and began carefully calculating Gold Cicada’s follow-up matters.

He wanted to wage a public opinion war, preventing the Western Sage from taking Gold Cicada as a disciple.

If Gold Cicada were just a scripture-fetching tool, then he would have more room to maneuver in the future.

Today, the Western Religion had actually lost a round—Sage Zhunti personally appearing to protect Gold Cicada was already losing face.

It’s just that this Venerable Sage’s face was too thick, completely oblivious to this fact, which left the Grand Magic Master and Elder Li feeling they hadn’t gained much…

Seventy-two exploding paper avatars were used…

The inventory was getting tight again.

Elder Li’s divine consciousness swept over Little Qiong Peak’s back mountain—it seemed he would need to transplant some thousand-year spirit trees back.

“Hmm?”

Elder Li blinked, also somewhat slow to realize.

Could it be that the absurd theory about eating Tang Monk’s flesh granting immortality… originated from him?

This subtle sense of participating in mythical history…

Thus, Elder Li became even more confident.