Li Changshou took decisive action for once, immediately executing his plan against Jin Chan after finalizing it.
In the spiritual dream realm, Li Changshou spent half an hour carefully instructing Ao Yi, while the young dragon pondered and nodded along. Perhaps due to reading that scripture, Ao Yi now carefully contemplated before responding to anything said to him.
This gave Li Changshou additional peace of mind.
“Elder Brother Sect Leader, is there anything else you need to instruct about this matter?”
“There’s no need to rush the Jin Chan situation,” Li Changshou said. “We just need to proceed steadily, ensuring as many beings as possible learn of this matter. Jin Chan was previously injured by the Grand Master, and it will likely take thousands or tens of thousands of years for him to recover his essence.”
“Mm,” Ao Yi nodded heavily but seemed to have something else on his mind, his gaze flickering.
“Just speak if you have something to say.”
“Elder Brother Sect Leader,” Ao Yi sighed heavily with concern, making a Daoist salute to Li Changshou before asking: “About the Peach Banquet… are there any hidden implications? Will the Jade Emperor take direct action against the Dragon Clan…”
Li Changshou clasped his hands behind his back and sighed softly:
“Let me tell you something privately, but don’t speak of it to others. The other day in the Western Sea, the heavenly general who injured Jin Chan was the Jade Emperor himself, just concealing his tracks.”
“What?”
Ao Yi was startled.
Li Changshou continued: “Do you know how high the Jade Emperor’s cultivation level is? His divine abilities and magical powers are likely no weaker than any of the renowned masters within the Three Schools, and he also has the power of the Heavenly Dao supporting him, making his true strength unfathomable. Don’t forget, the Jade Emperor originated from the Purple Void Palace, cultivating for countless years before the Dao Ancestor.”
Hearing Elder Brother Sect Leader’s words, Ao Yi nodded repeatedly.
Li Changshou added: “That day, His Majesty discovered that among the Western Sea Dragon Palace experts who appeared on the sea surface, more than half had anomalies in their divine souls.”
“What!?”
Ao Yi was greatly shocked, “How could this be? I must go find Father immediately!”
“The Dragon Kings likely acquiesced to this matter,” Li Changshou said. “Why are you getting agitated again? Take that scripture I gave you and copy it three hundred times when you return. Remember to burn the papers and silk after you finish copying.”
Ao Yi was puzzled but still nodded in agreement.
“Elder Brother Sect Leader, how could my father and uncles have acquiesced to such a matter?”
Li Changshou smiled and said: “First, the Dragon Kings are no ordinary beings. How could they have survived from ancient times until today if they could be so easily manipulated? Second, the Dragon Clan’s true foundation lies in the sea eye, not within the dragon palaces. Even if everyone in the Western Sea Dragon Palace had their minds controlled, they could rebuild at any time. Third, dragon eggs shouldn’t all be kept in one nest – I believe the Dragon Clan has such a saying.”
“This…”
Ao Yi pressed his lips together, seemingly questioning dragon life itself.
Li Changshou smiled and said: “You’re still young, very green. Let me test you again – what do you think His Majesty the Jade Emperor thought when he saw this situation?”
Ao Yi quickly replied: “Could it be that His Majesty is worried that over time, all four seas’ dragon palaces would be controlled?”
— A certain unnamed Heavenly Emperor found this quite praiseworthy.
“How could it be so simple?”
Li Changshou sighed and said: “The Jade Emperor is quite dissatisfied with the Dragon Clan’s way of playing both sides! The Dragon Clan thinks that by maintaining the status of victims, they can cover up their acquiescence to the Western forces infiltrating the Western Sea Dragon Palace since the Dragon Clan is the party being manipulated. But how could such matters escape the Jade Emperor’s notice? His Majesty’s wisdom and insight far exceed my own.”
— A certain unnamed Heavenly Emperor strongly approved.
Ao Yi suddenly understood the cause and effect, showing worry on his face as he paced anxiously before Li Changshou.
“Elder Brother Sect Leader, what… what should we do? Father and the others…”
“It’s only natural,” Li Changshou said. “Since you have such concerns, today I shall be completely frank with you about everything. Ao Yi, the Dragon Clan needs you to step forward now.”
Hearing this, Ao Yi held his breath and focused, leaning slightly forward to listen carefully.
Li Changshou carefully considered his heart;
Although this was also a step he had planned beforehand, this step required being candid with Ao Yi, clearing away some previously buried concerns.
If he and Ao Yi couldn’t work together wholeheartedly, the twelve years before the Peach Banquet would certainly be difficult to manage.
“Ao Yi, do you know that when the Sea God Church was first established, I was only a Heaven Immortal realm cultivator, and I didn’t intentionally establish the Sea God Church.”
Ao Yi was somewhat puzzled, not understanding why the Sect Leader brought this up.
But then, Ao Yi caught the key information—
Heaven Immortal realm!
When he had sparred with Elder Brother Sect Leader at the Crossing Immortal Gate, was Elder Brother Sect Leader just playing with him?
Li Changshou spoke in an even tone, recounting the events of those years:
“At that time, I only had one identity – a disciple of the Human School, Li Changshou of the Crossing Immortal Gate. It was by coincidence that the bear village shamans encountered me while I was comprehending the Dao, worshiped me as the Sea God, established temples to make offerings, and then things spiraled out of control. You might not believe it, but when we met at the South Sea shore that day, I went there to destroy the Sea God Church, mainly worried that it would bring me trouble by offending the Western School. But because the Dragon Clan appeared and you saw through the Sea God’s identity, I had to change my approach and try to bring the Sea God Church under my control. Unexpectedly, the Sea God Church became my opportunity.”
Ao Yi listened intently and couldn’t help asking: “How was it an opportunity?”
“Because the Sea God Church gained the Dragon Clan’s support and its influence gradually deepened, this attracted the Western School’s schemes and the Jade Emperor’s attention, leading to my first interaction with His Majesty. It was precisely because of the influence of the destiny of the Jade Emperor, Heaven, and the Dragon Clan that I was chosen by the Sacred Master as the treasure person- ahem, as the agent for this matter. And my ability to gain the Grand Master’s appreciation came after the Sea God Church’s rise… Step by step, this led to today’s Sea God.”
Li Changshou smiled and said: “When the Sea God Church first started, I was on tenterhooks every day, afraid of being targeted by the Western School or torn apart by the Dragon Clan. I truly had to consider every step ten times over, as if treading on thin ice.”
Hearing this, Ao Yi’s expression first showed embarrassment, then he frowned and pressed his lips together, making a Daoist salute to Li Changshou.
“Yi has caused trouble for Elder Brother!”
“Perhaps this is the fate between us, no need for formalities.”
Li Changshou gently supported Ao Yi, then turned to look at the figure that had been standing in this spiritual dream realm behind him, and said softly:
“Ao Yi, come look.”
Ao Yi looked up, and Li Changshou waved his sleeve, dispersing the surrounding mist. The huge divine statue slowly revealed the Grand Master’s countenance.
Then, the countenance changed again, returning to Li Changshou’s appearance.
Li Changshou smiled and said: “During that period, I could only rely on myself, constantly seeking balance points among the three forces of the Western School, Dragon Clan, and Heaven. You’ve asked me many times before why humans can become strong on their own. Perhaps it’s because… we’re rather bold.”
“Elder Brother!”
Ao Yi was full of remorse and sighed despondently: “I didn’t know any of this, putting everything on Elder Brother’s shoulders, and always…”
“Ao Yi, I’m telling you all this today not for any other reason, but just to let you know that the Dragon Clan’s ascension to Heaven isn’t solely my calculation, nor is it the Jade Emperor’s scheme. Such is the power, such is the fortune, such is the fate.”
“Power… fortune…”
Ao Yi lowered his head in contemplation, his youthful countenance now bearing many more worries than before.
Just as Li Changshou was about to continue speaking, Ao Yi suddenly stepped back twice, lifted the hem of his robe, and knelt directly.
“What are you doing?”
Li Changshou stepped forward to help him up, but Ao Yi had already made a deep bow to Li Changshou.
“Ao Yi was previously ignorant and reckless, unaware of Elder Brother Sect Leader’s difficult circumstances. Please forgive me! Now the Dragon Clan stands at the edge of a cliff – one wrong step could mean destruction. Please, Sect Leader, help save my Dragon Clan and guide us to serve the Heavenly Court! Today, Yi swears to entrust my life to the Sect Leader!”
Li Changshou hadn’t expected Ao Yi to understand the key points so quickly, nor anticipated such a strong reaction from him.
But having reached this point, Li Changshou pressed forward and asked:
“Even if this causes your clansmen to misunderstand you, or even despise you?”
“What is there for Yi to fear?”
“Stand up,” Li Changshou said. “I will tell you the detailed plans for before the Peach Banquet. Ao Yi, you must remember. Our purpose in doing all this is so that before the Jade Emperor issues his decree at the Peach Banquet, the Four Seas Dragon Kings will voluntarily pledge allegiance to the Heavenly Court, thus allowing the Dragon Clan to gain more fortune!”
Ao Yi jumped up, his eyes full of determination.
Li Changshou began explaining the next steps of action…
“We only have twelve years, and what we can do isn’t actually that much, so we can’t waste a single day.”
…
This spiritual communication session lasted a full thirty-plus hours, giving even Li Changshou a slight headache.
He had made all the efforts he should, living up to those boxes of precious materials from the Dragon Clan.
There would be results;
But how far they could ultimately go wasn’t something he could control – it mainly depended on the Dragon Kings’ own choices.
The Heavenly Naval forces that His Majesty the Jade Emperor said would be assigned to him should be selected soon;
Now they just needed these naval forces in place to officially begin the grand plan to gather in the Dragon Clan.
In the underground chamber, Li Changshou carefully stored the two newly acquired Nine Revolutions Golden Pills close to his body;
As for Ling’e’s pill, he’d leave it with her.
His divine consciousness swept over Ling’e’s thatched cottage by the lake, and Li Changshou detected the Dao resonance left by the Grand Master, knowing the Grand Master had bestowed benefits upon Ling’e…
Could this girl achieve ‘True Soaring to the Heavens’ during this ascension?
Hmm, he should reward her with more scripture copying later, to prevent her power from suddenly expanding and destabilizing her Dao heart.
Since she entered the Dao through the ‘Scripture of Stability,’ writing more certainly wouldn’t be wrong…
“Let’s go find some spirit trees.”
Li Changshou murmured, closed his eyes to focus, and activated the paper person waiting outside the sect gate, beginning the ‘Little Jade Peak Regreening’ initiative.
The primordial world was rich in spiritual energy, and the Eastern Continent was quite spacious with few inhabitants, so finding some aged spirit trees that hadn’t yet gained consciousness wasn’t difficult.
The difficulty lay in the fact that the tree sap needed for the paper-cutting-into-person technique must be full of ‘living spirit qi’ and meet several other requirements…
Li Changshou searched carefully for half a day and only found about ten old trees, carefully moving them from their original living places and secretly transporting them back to Little Jade Peak.
To make them feel more comfortable settling in, Li Changshou’s true body personally appeared and conducted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the old trees.
It was just a bit cold and lonely with so few spectators.
Just as he finished dealing with this batch of old spirit trees, Li Changshou’s divine consciousness detected something unusual in the card room.
Xiong Lingli, Jiang Lin’er, and Jiu Jiu all woke up simultaneously, the three looked at each other, each somewhat bewildered.
After a moment’s daze, Jiang Lin’er and Jiu Jiu stood up at the same time, and Li Changshou’s attention was immediately drawn to Aunt Jiu…
Well, this was gravity, not by choice.
Jiang Lin’er hurriedly said: “Take care of Yushi, I need to go back and enter closed cultivation!”
“What’s going on? How did we suddenly gain enlightenment while playing cards!”
Jiu Jiu called out anxiously, hurrying to the second floor without even thinking about returning to Breaking Heaven Peak to cultivate.
“Lingli, tell Yushi that I’ll be in closed cultivation for about three to five months!
Tell her to cultivate steadily and not force a breakthrough. Wait for me to check her cultivation results when I come out!”
“Oh, oh!”
Xiong Lingli nodded repeatedly, completely confused.
Seeing this, Li Changshou couldn’t help but laugh, arranging for a paper person to go over.
He specially had the paper person take the form of an old woman, and transmitted a message to Xiong Lingli, telling her to also go into closed cultivation for some time, with the old woman responsible for taking care of Jiu Yushi…
Did the Grand Master give out a round of benefits in his backyard?
Then why was his own master still the same as always, sitting in meditation in the thatched cottage with no signs of breakthrough?
Could it be that the Grand Master misunderstood and treated all the women on the mountain as his…
Well, just as Li Changshou was about to withdraw his divine consciousness from checking on Old Dao Master Qi Yuan, he noticed something slightly unusual.
His master’s condition seemed off.
Li Changshou became alert, using his divine consciousness to envelop his old master, carefully checked, and immediately showed a serious expression, hurrying towards the lakeside thatched cottage.
Master seemed to be suffering from a heart demon.
It was likely that because of the matter with Jiu Yushi, the master’s heart had developed a demonic obstacle, thus inducing a heart demon!
Turbid Immortals were particularly susceptible to these things, and Li Changshou had made preparations for this beforehand, reading many ancient texts and finding numerous methods to help people clear away heart demons.
Arriving at the thatched cottage, Li Changshou didn’t disturb his master, but merged into the formation barrier of this place, quietly appearing behind his master, raising his hand to point at Old Dao Master Qi Yuan’s neck.
“Master, let disciple help you.”
Li Changshou brought his hands together in sword fingers and stepped in immortal steps beneath his feet, and his fingers moved extremely quickly to point at various places around Old Dao Master Qi Yuan, injecting streaks of immortal light into him.
After a moment, Old Dao Master Qi Yuan coughed twice and opened his mouth to spit out a mouthful of black qi.
Li Changshou waved his sleeve, enveloping this black qi with immortal power, forming it into a ball. Just as he was about to casually purify it, he let out a soft exclamation of surprise.
Master’s… this wasn’t a heart demon?
The black qi condensed into a black shadow, emitting waves of silent roars, seemingly constantly challenging Li Changshou.
A Dao-obstructing celestial demon?
The so-called Dao-obstructing celestial demons weren’t living beings, but rather existences similar to resentment, obsession, and karmic obstacles that attached themselves to the great Dao.
No one could explain exactly how these things originated, but what could be clearly understood was that they were related to cultivators’ heart demons.
If a cultivator’s Dao heart developed a demonic obstacle and it couldn’t be eliminated in time, it would easily grow into a heart demon, and heart demons readily attracted such Dao-obstructing celestial demons, causing cultivators to struggle both internally and externally.
Some immortals who went into closed cultivation never came out again, and a small portion of these cases originated from this difficulty.
Cultivation inherently carried such dangers.
The reason his master was afflicted was probably because Turbid Immortals had insufficient Dao foundations and their Dao hearts were more easily breached, thus attracting this… someone else’s Dao-obstructing celestial demon…
Should he report this to the section leader?
Thoroughly investigate who attracted the Dao-obstructing celestial demon.
Li Changshou considered briefly, feeling that if this matter was exposed, it would be another heavy blow to his master’s face.
And the master was so concerned about face…
“Well, if it takes some effort, so be it.”
Li Changshou first stepped forward and softly said to his master who was still in meditation: “Please continue cultivating in peace, Master. All is well now.”
Then, Li Changshou took this ball of black qi and left the thatched cottage, using his fingers to calculate.
This kind of small matter wasn’t difficult for Li Changshou to divine.
Soon, he found the track of this Dao-obstructing celestial demon’s arrival at Little Jade Peak, and his divine consciousness traced this track backward, finally locking it onto the waist of Breaking Heaven Peak.
“Isn’t that…”
Li Changshou didn’t hesitate much, his form quickly disappearing from Little Jade Peak.
Now, his true body could use earth traversal to silently break through barriers set up by Heaven Immortal realm cultivators, and could also ignore most medium and small formations.
Walking through the earth and mountain body, proceeding smoothly all the way, Li Changshou found the source of this Dao-obstructing celestial demon.
This was a cave-dwelling Li Changshou hadn’t visited before, with a bed, several wardrobes, and several paintings done by Li Changshou hanging on the smooth stone walls…
In the center of the cave-dwelling, on a rush cushion, a female immortal wearing training clothes had her eyes tightly closed, her graceful and delicate body occasionally trembling slightly;
Her long hair was scattered down, and that exquisitely beautiful face was covered in fine sweat as she lightly bit her lip, seeming to be enduring some kind of pain.
You Qin Xuan Ya.
Li Changshou shook his head slightly, and three paper people flew out from his sleeve, each holding… a wooden fish, a wooden block, and a soul-settling bell…