“Sir, you jest! Our melons are grown in sandy soil. Not ripe? How could I sell them if they weren’t ripe?”

The powerful demon disguised as a melon vendor responded quickly, his eyes darting as he bowed and scraped while answering.

“So you’re guaranteeing this melon is ripe?”

Li Changshou gave a cold laugh, lightly tossing the large melon in his hand as he smiled and said:

“If this melon isn’t ripe, then what?”

“This… this… Sir… I’m just an honest melon seller, how could I possibly sell you an unripe melon!”

Cold sweat appeared on the demon vendor’s forehead, his hands and feet trembling slightly.

The demon himself didn’t know why he felt such fear toward a Wu Person; they had come here to eliminate these Sea God Religion’s Wu People spirit envoys…

But now, just over a single melon, just hearing a few measured questions from the other party, it was as if he’d been cursed, causing this powerful demon to nearly lose his composure!

The demon vendor asked softly, “Sir, about this melon… can I… not sell it?”

“Oh? Not selling? Are you implying I’m bullying merchants?”

Li Changshou’s [Bear] paper clone widened his eyes, his left hand moving faster than an illusion, directly grabbing the demon vendor’s collar and yanking upward.

The demon vendor’s reaction came half a beat too late. By the time he tried to dodge, everything before his eyes had become muddled, completely losing his sense of demonic power!

Demon soul sealed!

Li Changshou released the other’s collar with his left hand, following through with a palm strike.

This palm seemed to use no force at all as it pressed against the vendor’s chest, but faint cyan ripples spread from the vendor’s chest, and a black shadow burst out from the vendor’s back, crashing into the pile of melons.

The vendor’s body immediately wilted, devoid of breath and soul, becoming nothing more than a cold corpse.

That black shadow, now restrained by Li Changshou’s immortal power, revealed its true form atop the melon pile—it was a badger-like demon beast…

“Demon? Seize it!”

Li Changshou shouted, and the spirit envoys behind him immediately charged forward. Several arms thicker than normal human thighs reached out and grabbed, nearly tearing the powerful demon apart!

—Over these years, possibly due to excessive nutrition, the Bear Village spirit envoys had all improved their divine power to some degree;

Of course, their strength still lagged far behind Little Clever, who “gets beaten by dad at midnight.”

In that instant, the powerful demon—who had revealed his true form, had his demon soul sealed, and was now pinned down by several Bear Village strongmen—suddenly understood!

Whether the melon was guaranteed ripe or not seemed like a simple ‘mortal farming question,’ or perhaps a more complex ‘merchant credibility issue.’

It might have been a philosophical question, or more likely a local human code phrase…

Whatever it was, he had fallen for it!

His attention had been diverted, and he hadn’t gotten even half a chance to counterattack!

Humans were truly cunning!

Li Changshou flicked his finger again, and the powerful demon’s cultivation was immediately crippled. The surrounding mortals, three beats slow to react, now began screaming continuously.

Though the atmosphere seemed a bit off…

“The Sea God has shown his divine power!”

“The Spirit Envoy has caught a demon!”

“Wow, such a big demon beast—how many meals could we get if we roasted it?”

Li Changshou’s mouth twitched.

How had these mortals of Anshui City become more and more unreliable?

This was a Celestial Immortal realm powerful demon!

Without several capable human cultivators present, this demon could destroy a town in moments!

Although doing so would entangle the demon with karmic retribution, inevitably ending in death by heavenly punishment…

Forget it.

How could he blame the believers for reacting wrongly? He had given them too much protection.

At this moment, the other powerful demons hiding nearby and mixed into the city were already taking advantage of the chaos to hide in various corners.

Having already taken the initiative to strike, how could Li Changshou let them escape?

Immediately, Li Changshou shouted:

“Tell everyone to stop studying the new doctrines and come out to search the city! Demons have entered the city, there must be others!”

A nearby spirit envoy asked, “Sir! What about this badger demon?”

“Take it outside the city and roast it! Remember to bring some green onions, ginger, and garlic!”

The other powerful demons trembled upon hearing this.

One powerful demon couldn’t restrain himself any longer, directly tearing apart his borrowed shell to reveal his true form as a silver eagle, letting out a fierce screech in the air before spreading his wings and flying toward the outside of the city!

One stone caused a thousand ripples!

The main gate of the Sea God temple was pushed open, and hundreds of strong Sea God Religion spirit envoys, carrying iron hammers, large sabers, clappers, and various other immortal treasures, shouted chaotically in various directions.

Some shouted for mortals to immediately crouch down and then quickly return home.

Others shouted not to let the demons escape, saying that the silver eagle was at least several thousand years old—eating it would surely be greatly nourishing!

The remaining three powerful demons immediately panicked.

Especially since among these Sea God Religion spirit envoys were dozens of unconcealed murderous auras that were very strange, like natural enemies of their demon kind, making these demons’ hearts tremble!

“Run quickly!”

Those few powerful demons each tore open their disguises, revealing their true forms, frantically fleeing toward the outside of the city.

A small area of Anshui City immediately fell into chaos.

Several powerful demons fled hurriedly in front, while hundreds of the strongest Sea God Religion spirit envoys chased after them with various weapons, each running like the wind.

To avoid killing mortals, the men and women of Bear Village especially jumped onto the rows of rooftops, sprinting at full speed.

And the mortals in the city… were a bit excited, even a bit thrilled.

They spread the news and called their friends, miraculously overcoming their instinctive fear, and under Li Changshou’s black-lined gaze, they followed the spirit envoys on the rooftops one by one, laughing and making noise.

This…

It seemed the Sea God Religion’s domain needed a large-scale safety knowledge education campaign!

Moments later, hundreds of spirit envoys rushed out of Anshui City.

Those few powerful demons had received orders and were flying unhurriedly, like fish bait, leading the Sea God Religion spirit envoys toward a dense forest outside the city.

There were naturally demon traps ahead, but with the Sea God’s constant voice transmission, these spirit envoys felt not the slightest fear!

Several dozen pure-blooded Wu tribe members, their forms closer to primordial dao bodies, quietly mixed into positions near the front, using the Wu People’s chaotic qi to conceal their existence.

In the dense forest, demonic qi was thick;

Outside the city, the Wu People were fierce.

Li Changshou calmly followed the plan, having already secretly arranged several paper clones in ambush beneath that dense forest;

Sprinkle a little sleeping powder, and spread a little loneliness.

This batch of hired killers sent by the Western Religion had set up a simple encirclement in this dense forest, with the few strongest powerful demons hiding at the back, having already agreed upon the timing to strike.

They planned to wait until the Sea God Religion spirit envoys charged into the center of the ambush, then surround them from all sides and strike simultaneously, resolving the battle as quickly as possible before retreating to claim their reward.

Seeing how these Wu People seemed to foolishly only know how to charge into battle, these demons couldn’t help but grow contemptuous.

Wu tribe, ancient iron-headed fools!

However, these powerful demons soon wore bewildered expressions…

The changes came too quickly for the demons to react!

Just as the hundreds of Sea God Religion spirit envoys had charged into the forest, reaching the outer edge of the demons’ encirclement, a black bear demon suddenly sprang out from behind a large tree, turning his head to shout:

“This little one obeys the command! I’ll charge at the front!”

After speaking, he ran wildly, charging toward the hundreds of spirit envoys!

Several hundred zhang away, a white-robed demon man jumped out from the tree canopy, shouting:

“Kill!”

The demons hiding in various places immediately rushed out, twenty or thirty of them, chasing after the black bear demon and charging forward!

Seeing companions charge out, the majority of demons had no time to judge further and immediately revealed themselves, instantly gathering into an ‘army’ of over three hundred demons!

They either flew through the air or burrowed through the ground, or ran at full speed, meeting the Sea God Religion spirit envoy group in battle!

The remaining minority of demons either sensed something was wrong and had thoughts of retreating,

or were sound asleep, having completely passed out.

The encirclement these demons had previously set up was inexplicably broken this way, frustrating their demon leaders who stamped their feet and cursed…

Li Changshou, who had just reached the edge of the forest, couldn’t help but laugh lightly at the sight.

These hastily assembled rabble were indeed full of holes.

That black bear demon and white-robed demon man were merely paper clones he had secretly wrapped in demonic qi extracted from the ‘badger demon,’ using escape techniques to mix into the enemy’s encirclement…

Basic operation, there is no need to get excited, just a routine small trick.

Paper figures flew out from Li Changshou’s sleeve, carrying formation bases and using escape techniques to circle to the left and right.

Meanwhile, Li Changshou’s Golden Immortal realm paper clone didn’t join the battle, continuing to monitor various locations, not daring to relax for a moment.

As the front lines were about to clash;

The dozens of Sea God Religion spirit envoys charging at the front simultaneously jumped to the left and right sides!

Ox Head and Horse Face, who had no distinguishing features after removing their masks, led forty-six battle Wu suddenly accelerating, their forms fast as illusions, the ground being blasted into large craters as they released the true Wu tribe’s qi!

Forty-eight streams of blood qi rose to the sky like wolf smoke, even dyeing the remaining sunset glow blood red!

The demons were greatly shocked, their formation falling into chaos!

At this moment, light pillars rose from various places in the dense forest, these light pillars converging toward a central point, instantly forming a great formation that sealed off dozens of li in all directions!

At twelve formation base locations, paper clones with late Celestial Immortal realm power sat cross-legged, ready to inject their immortal power into the formation bases and strengthen the great formation at any moment, determined not to let a single demon escape!

In Anshui City, hundreds of Bear Village Wu People were also running everywhere, searching for any overlooked demons…

As the sun set in the west, blood flowed like rivers in the dense forest, powerful demons were torn apart bare-handed by the battle Wu, and various corpses were visible everywhere.

Those dozens of blood-soaked battle Wu revealed their murderous aura, their blood qi growing even thicker, recreating the glory of ancient battles!

Not only were the demons, who well knew the Wu tribe’s ferocity, affected, but even the Bear Village spirit envoys with half Wu tribe bloodline had pale faces, hiding in corners and forming defensive formations…

Trembling, at a loss for what to do.

Half an hour later.

Forty-eight Wu tribe members each dragged two or three demon beast corpses that they remembered tasting good, surrounded by Bear Village spirit envoys as they went to a beach by the sea.

They took a sea bath, skillfully set up grills and the aroma of meat spread for a hundred li around…

Ox Head and Horse Face had put their masks back on, sitting in a corner of the beach, watching their tribesmen singing and dancing with satisfaction.

As the sea breeze brushed against that wisp of flowing mane, Horse Face said profoundly:

“Ox, do you remember?

Those years when we chased demon beasts, running happily under the sunset.”

“Ah, Horse!”

Ox Head sighed deeply, “These days have finally returned.”

“How did the happiness disappear? Neigh~”

“More than that, I want to know what benefits these demons get from joining certain religions, Moo~”

Then they heard a voice from behind:

“Most of them were probably forcibly converted.”

Hearing this familiar voice, Ox Head and Horse Face trembled and immediately stood up.

Li Changshou squeezed out from the trunk of a large tree nearby, bowing to Ox Head and Horse Face, “Thank you both for coming to help.”

“Sea God, you’re too kind,” Ox Head rubbed his large hands while giggling, “This isn’t worth… ahem, well, forget about rewards. Earlier, Friend Changshou from Mount Durename mentioned you’d have some seasonings…”

Horse Face beside him couldn’t help but roll his eyes, “Your face gets thicker and thicker Ox!”

“What? What spirit beast? What spirit beast raised by Changshou do you want!”

Ox Head’s bovine eyes widened, “How can you be so ungracious, Horse Face!

Nonsense!

We came here to help today, and no matter how distant our relationship with those Wu People is, they’re still a branch of our Wu tribe!

How can you be like this, Horse Face? Do you have any conscience left? You even want those pink spirit beasts raised by Friend Changshou from Mount Durename!?”

Horse Face was immediately speechless, nearly fainting from anger.

“Don’t rush, don’t rush, please don’t rush, you two.”

Li Changshou was already smiling as he took out two treasure pouches, giving them several jars of seasonings, and continued:

“To be honest, I’ve already sent people to Mount Durename and various towns to purchase a batch of spirit beasts.

Please stay here for a few more days with your Wu tribe brothers, the spirit beasts will arrive gradually.

We should also watch if the opponent has any follow-up attacks.”

Ox Head nodded and shook his head, smiling: “Then, we’ll follow Sea God’s orders! Hehe… oh no, Moo, Moo~”

“Get lost! You’ve ruined all the reputation of our Netherworld’s Bureau of Reincarnation!”

Horse Face couldn’t help but curse loudly, raising his long slender leg to kick at Ox Head; Ox Head jumped aside laughing, and the two soul-collecting envoys quickly tumbled into a wrestling match.

In an instant, masks and socks flew everywhere, as the night sky matched the color of the sea.

Li Changshou was also amused, leaving hearty laughter on the beach.

…

Li Changshou chatted idly with Ox Head and Horse Face for a while. Nearby, battle Wu brought over large pieces of excellent roasted meat, and Ox Head and Horse Face weren’t stingy, giving out to the Wu People about… 0.01 percent of the spicy seasoning.

That fragrant and spicy flavor quickly set the beach ablaze, making many Wu tribe members howl wildly while eating.

Ox Head picked the most succulent piece of roasted meat and offered it over, but Li Changshou shook his head in embarrassment and declined.

No help with it, he had some mental barriers.

They ate until the moon hung high in the sky, then Li Changshou called over a hundred spirit envoys waiting in the distance to carry these battle Wu, who had eaten until they couldn’t walk, back to the Sea God temple…

Li Changshou estimated that the Western Religion probably wouldn’t take any more action, after all, the West had already exposed their intentions and lost a small portion of their fighting force.

When the risks and rewards were completely disproportionate, anyone with a bit of rationality wouldn’t continue…

But Li Changshou still played it safe, maintaining the surveillance network covering thousands of li around the Sea God temple, not relaxing for a moment.

Half his attention watched over the Sea God Religion, half focused on inspecting the South Continent’s waterways.

Naturally, some attention was always maintained on Little Jade Peak.

His roots were there, so it couldn’t be neglected.

For the next two months and more, these Wu tribe members continued eating and drinking in Anshui City, experiencing all kinds of mortal delicacies.

Perhaps feeling somewhat guilty about freeloading, these Wu tribe members found themselves something to do—they began training those Wu People’s spirit envoys.

After just a few days of training, these spirit envoys couldn’t get out of bed or walk properly, crying and wailing as if all their muscles were useless…

Li Changshou didn’t interfere much with this, as improving the spirit envoys’ combat power could only be beneficial.

After careful consideration, Li Changshou specially brought Dragon Princess Longji to Anshui City, letting her ‘accidentally discover’ the existence of the Wu tribe and Wu People;

Secretly, Li Changshou gave thirty Peaches of Immortality to the paper clone here, to be taken back to Mount Durename in secret.

How to make everyone happily eat the peaches became a problem Li Changshou had to consider.

Currently, there are three main options…

A: Pretend they were ordinary immortal peaches;

B: Give Sect Leader Empty a hint, saying they were bestowed by the sect leader.

C: Knock out Master and Junior Sister and others one by one, and feed them peaches while unconscious.

To be safe, Li Changshou decided to use the fourth plan.

Turn part of the Peaches of Immortality into wine, saying he accidentally created a type of immortal wine that couldn’t be brewed again, and give it to his martial uncles and ancestors to taste.

As for Junior Sister and Master, he could directly tell them the truth and let them enjoy complete Peaches of Immortality.

“Would such Peaches of Immortality help Elder Wan Linyun?”

Coincidentally, he had previously refined several enlightenment spirit pills, which he could also send to the elder this time.

A Golden Immortal realm great poison immortal…

Tsk, just thinking about it was exciting.