Li Changshou looked down at his appearance, then transformed into the image of ‘Water God Changsheng.’

Through the misty clouds in the Grand Magus’s palm, hearing Bull Head and Horse Face’s muttering, learning that the Underworld’s Demon Tribe had such high awareness that they wanted to directly join the Heavenly Court…

Li Changshou sank into another layer of worry.

This was a bit too proactive.

If the Underworld was true as Bull Head and Horse Face said, not only not resisting the Heavenly Court but wanting to join the Heavenly Court system early, then he as Water God would transform from the schemer to a puppet ‘bought’ by the Underworld.

The nature of this matter would fundamentally change, and could easily cause the Jade Emperor to become suspicious.

His Majesty the Jade Emperor wasn’t as free-spirited and unrestrained as the Grand Magus…

Moreover, if he didn’t expend much effort on this Underworld matter, how would the Heavenly Dao Lord bestow great merit upon him?

Currently, he barely had enough merit to form half a Golden Body. He couldn’t make a ‘disabled Golden Body’ that only protected vital areas during combat, could he?

Of course, this was just a joke – the Heavenly Dao wouldn’t allow such a merit-based Golden Body to exist, as a merit Golden Body implied complete perfection of merit.

In short, any Heavenly Court errands not aimed at achieving a Golden Body were just messing with him, Li Changshou!

Hmm, the script of “Dragons Ascending to Heaven” clearly wasn’t suitable for the Underworld; he needed to dig up new points of conflict.

He had to overcome all difficulties to help the Underworld join the Heavenly Court system, assisting the Heavenly Court in establishing its foundation of control over the Three Realms.

If there were no difficulties, then he would create difficulties to overcome!

Just as he was pondering how to handle the Underworld situation, a faint fragrance entered his nostrils, and Li Changshou instinctively looked up toward the inner hall’s doorway…

The subtle fragrance hadn’t yet spoken, but the beauty arrived gracefully.

How could even a simple white long dress look so becoming on her? Though revealing not even three parts of her curves, her immortal charm overflowed, making one’s heart secretly sigh:

‘Is this not the person from my heart’s dreams?’

Yunxiao had arrived.

Li Changshou stepped forward with a smile and made a Daoist bow, which Yunxiao quite tacitly returned with a slight bow;

Afterward, their gazes met, and Yunxiao’s typically cold immortal countenance became somewhat livelier, like a beautiful plum blossom on a cold branch.

Li Changshou took the initiative to speak, saying: “I trust the Immortal Lady has been well.”

—This was no longer the peach grove, and the Grand Magus was present, so he couldn’t directly call her name.

Yunxiao also said: “Has Fellow Daoist been well lately?”

“No major matters near or far, just busy traveling for cultivation,” Li Changshou said warmly, then suddenly spoke seriously, “These five hundred years have passed so quickly, truly one doesn’t notice the passage of time.”

Unexpectedly finding that Li Changshou would actively joke about this matter, Yunxiao pressed her lips together and laughed, truly melting away her cold loneliness this time.

The Grand Magus, watching from the side, could only secretly give a thumbs-up behind their backs.

The Tower Lord protecting Li Changshou shuddered several times, muttering in Li Changshou’s heart:

“Face ah, face ah, little Changshou!

How can you stop in your tracks every time you see a woman? This is karma ah, karma!

Eh? Why is there Sister Golden Dipper’s aura… Oh? This is Immortal Yunxiao?

Woah—

Amazing, Changshou, you dare to flirt with Immortal Yunxiao! Quick, quick, bring Sister Golden Dipper into our Human Path family!”

—Spirit treasures could only transmit spiritual thoughts, the specific words were Li Changshou’s interpretation, hence Tower Lord had some ‘loose talk.’

Li Changshou had no time to deal with Tower Lord, as after Yunxiao finished laughing, she deliberately put on a stern face and said softly:

“Then I shall return now, let’s pretend we haven’t met, how about waiting another four hundred and eighty-two years?”

Li Changshou hurriedly made a welcoming gesture, “Since you’re already here, let’s start the count anew. Please come in, Immortal Lady, as it happens Mystic Capital… Senior Brother is also here.”

“Mm,” Yunxiao responded, then stepped forward to greet the Grand Magus with a bow.

Yunxiao said: “Senior Brother Xuandu.”

Xuandu smiled and replied: “Junior Sister Yunxiao.”

Afterward, Yunxiao said no more, directly looking at Li Changshou.

Yunxiao said: “My journey out this time was also because of Senior Brother Xuandu’s matter. It seems someone in the Five Continents has been maliciously slandering Senior Brother Xuandu, and this matter’s arrow secretly points to you. I was worried you had fallen into a scheme, so I came to warn you.”

“This…”

Li Changshou smiled and said, “It’s just rumors, perhaps someone is fanning the flames behind it, but if Senior Brother Xuandu doesn’t mind, then it’s no great matter.”

“That’s good then,” Immortal Yunxiao said gently, “Seeing you’re fine, I’ll return to my island to cultivate.”

The Grand Magus suddenly spoke from the side:

“Why is Junior Sister in such a hurry to return? Since you’re here, there’s a good show coming up later, why not stay and observe together?”

But Li Changshou said: “Senior Brother Xuandu, it’s not appropriate for the Immortal Lady to be involved in this.”

“Don’t worry,” the Grand Magus smiled, “Just let Junior Sister Yunxiao watch from the side, naturally we won’t let her rashly take action. Speaking of which, every time I follow behind you, Changshou, I keep thinking of helping when you can’t hold on, but every time you fight dangerous battles with strong enemies, you never give your Senior Brother half a chance to help. What, could it be this time you’re afraid of Yunxiao seeing your combat skills, thinking your abilities are insufficient? You’re underestimating Junior Sister Yunxiao!”

Li Changshou: …

Master, absolute master!

The Grand Magus used just two sentences to deploy reverse psychology, the suffering ploy, and the feigned retreat technique in succession!

Why don’t you show such enthusiasm for important matters!?

Immortal Yunxiao had already asked: “You’re going to battle someone?”

Li Changshou smiled and said: “It’s not any great enemy, Immortal Lady need not worry…”

“Changshou!”

The Grand Magus frowned and called out lightly, directly rebuking: “How have you become so ungrounded now? The Western Teaching’s Two Sages of one sect, how can you say they don’t even count as great enemies? This isn’t like your usual character.”

Li Changshou’s heart convulsed frantically, while Tower Lord let out a string of “hahaha” in his heart…

Grand Magus, that’s harsh.

Yunxiao lightly furrowed her brows and said softly: “If Fellow Daoist dislikes me watching from the side, I naturally won’t watch. However, I still can’t help but worry, and will inevitably use mirror techniques to observe from afar.”

Li Changshou said: “Immortal Lady truly need not be tainted by such karma.”

But Yunxiao said: “Then I’ll just watch without intervening, which shouldn’t count as being tainted by karma. If there is trouble then, I can also quickly send word to Doushuai Palace.”

“Very well,” Li Changshou smiled in relief, not refusing too much, and said warmly: “Come sit over here first. Two friends from the Underworld’s Yinsi will arrive soon, let me send them away first.”

The Grand Magus’s eyes immediately curved in a smile;

Immortal Yunxiao didn’t think much of it, she quietly sat down in the wooden chair beside Li Changshou, her form wrapped in clouds.

Just then, Bull Head’s resonant shout came from outside the hall:

“Congratulations, Water God! Felicitations, Water God! The Human Path’s Grand Magus has a daughter! It’s truly amazing for a man to have a child! Moo~”

“Heh!”

A light laugh came from within that cloud cluster, and Li Changshou’s eyes also curved into a smile;

The Grand Magus’s mouth twitched slightly, but he didn’t say much.

Li Changshou hurriedly called out: “Don’t shout, you two, this is just a rumor!”

“A rumor?”

Bull Head and Horse Face, who had just landed at the doorway and were preparing to raise congratulatory red couplets, paused in their movements.

Only then did they see the Grand Magus’s figure, and they both shuddered several times…

Li Changshou frowned and said: “How did such rumors even spread to the Underworld? Where did you two hear this from?”

“Well,” Bull Head scratched his head, “Sometimes when the brothers are bored, we also stop and ask those Qi cultivators going to Fengdu City for business about what new interesting things are happening in the world lately.”

“Neigh!”

Horse Face bumped Bull Head’s shoulder, and these two warrior shamans hurriedly came forward, cupping their fists in respect to the Grand Magus at the inner hall’s entrance.

The Grand Magus nodded with a smile, not speaking.

Li Changshou smiled and took out a treasure pouch from his sleeve, saying: “Though it’s just a rumor, you two are still thoughtful. The usual rules, everything’s inside.”

Bull Head called out: “How can this be, we can’t just take Water God’s benefits for nothing!”

Yet his hands had already respectfully accepted the treasure pouch.

Horse Face rolled his eyes beside him, looking at this scene with complete disdain.

Just then, the Grand Magus lowered his head to calculate with his fingers, slightly furrowing his brows.

Li Changshou’s immortal consciousness caught this detail, and he directly said: “Fellow Daoists, I have matters to attend to…”

“What matters?”

Bull Head seemed not to have received Li Changshou’s signal to leave and asked:

“Is there anything we brothers can help with?

Don’t mention matters of scheming and divining, our primordial spirits aren’t that good, but fighting, killing enemies, and ambushing—those are our Demon Tribe’s specialties!”

“Indeed,” Horse Face chimed in from the side with an eager gaze at Li Changshou.

Li Changshou pondered in his heart for several moments.

Bull Head and Horse Face’s current enthusiasm was naturally due to the result of their discussion on the road—trying their best to curry favor with him, the Water God, in hopes of getting the Underworld into the Heavenly Court too.

Setting aside other matters, if high-ranking experts from the Underworld appeared to help in the Dragon Clan matter, it would indeed be a good thing for the Underworld.

No matter how he later schemed for [The Underworld’s Submission], this would be a stable first step.

Thus, Li Changshou said: “Fellow Daoists, do you know that the Four Seas Dragon Clan has submitted to the Heavenly Court?”

“Of course, we know that,” Bull Head smiled, “Water God, you single-handedly schemed and helped the dragons ascend to heaven, this news has spread throughout the Underworld. Our Great Shaman Chief has never praised anyone in his life, but he praised you three or four times! Said you’re full of schemes and have deep machinations, that even so many old dragon spirits were no match for you!”

“Get lost!”

A horse hoof flew from the side, kicking Bull Head away.

Horse Face angrily cursed: “The Great Shaman Chief said that Water God is wise and resourceful, having everything planned out before taking action! Even the Dragon Clan, those ancient overlords, were perfectly arranged by the Water God!”

Bull Head glared with his cow eyes, “Isn’t that the same meaning?”

Li Changshou hurriedly said: “You two, you two don’t argue, let me ask Senior Brother Xuandu if we can bring you along.”

Just as he finished speaking, the Grand Magus had already risen and said:

“You make the decision. There’s Great Dao fluctuation at the Western Sea Dragon Palace, it seems experts are battling. Junior Brother Changsheng, shall we go take a look?”

Hearing this, Li Changshou pondered briefly, then immediately nodded.

“They must have started moving against the Western Sea Dragon King. The situation likely isn’t optimistic. Please help, Senior Brother.”

“Good.”

The Grand Magus’s sleeves fluttered, and from within flew out water and fire, condensing into a human-height Yin-Yang Water-Fire Taiji Diagram.

The Grand Magus stepped into the diagram first, while Immortal Yunxiao also walked out from the clouds, standing to the side waiting for Li Changshou to come over, entering together with him.

Bull Head and Horse Face exchanged glances, their eyes full of shock.

Though they didn’t recognize Immortal Yunxiao or see her appearance, the warrior shamans’ instincts gave them unmistakably accurate information.

This immortal lady was an expert;

Perhaps only one or two degrees weaker than the Human Path’s Grand Magus!

Two great experts of the Dao School moving together – were they going to Spirit Mountain to lecture on Dao principles?

Bull Head and Horse Face each felt some trepidation, but having already spoken their piece, they could only lower their heads and follow behind Li Changshou, thinking that if things went badly later, they would use their Demon Tribe’s secret technique that was never taught to outsiders.

[Head Cover Escape]: In the chaos of battle, just remove the head cover, lie down in a pile of corpses, and instantly succeed in executing the technique.

However, to Bull Head and Horse Face’s relief, when they stepped through the Water-Fire Taiji Diagram, they didn’t appear on the golden light-surrounded Spirit Mountain but were instead enveloped by cold seawater…

Though the Demon Tribe wasn’t skilled in water techniques, they wouldn’t drown.

In ancient times, they had even developed secret techniques allowing the Demon Tribe to sink to the seabed and run freely, just with slightly more resistance and pressure, and their big feet having slightly less traction.

And in ancient times, the only thing that hindered the Demon Tribe from hunting in seawater…

Was fish bones.

Li Changshou made a gesture in front, and Bull Head and Horse Face immediately stopped, honestly standing behind him.

A faint trace of Dao rhythm enveloped their three figures, letting them merge with the seawater, completely concealing their forms.

The Grand Magus and Immortal Yunxiao had already vanished, but Li Changshou could feel them protecting him from the left and right in secret.

This treatment…

Was simply unmatched.

By now, they were near the Western Sea Dragon Palace.

Li Changshou’s immortal consciousness swept across thirty thousand miles, seeing large groups of immortal dragon soldiers mobilizing everywhere; these troops had subtly surrounded the Western Sea Dragon Palace, but their blade tips pointed outward.

The Western Sea Dragon Palace was now wrapped in layers of formations. The small pagoda at Li Changshou’s primordial spirit trembled slightly, and Li Changshou’s immortal consciousness immediately became unobstructed, seeing what was happening inside the Dragon Palace.

These traitors had indeed made their move!

Currently, the Western Sea Dragon King, Dragon Queen, and the Dragon King’s last batch of loyal followers—dozens of experts and over a hundred immortal dragon soldiers—were holding out in the Western Sea Dragon Palace’s main hall.

The main hall’s formation was in imminent danger, surrounded by groups of figures everywhere.

The Western Sea Dragon Palace’s Crown Prince Ao Shi and the Dragon Palace elders had launched a palace coup, citing the Western Sea Dragon King’s loss of virtue as the reason.

Those showing themselves now were only dragons of the Dragon Clan, but within the Western Sea Dragon Palace, dozens of black shadows lurked, with quite dense karmic obstacle power…

Li Changshou’s eyes brightened – what a group of Primordial Fierce Beasts!

Looking again at the main hall’s situation, the Western Sea Dragon King’s current state seemed somewhat off – his entire body’s energy appeared strong, but gave a sense of being strong outside but weak inside.

Li Changshou quickly deduced that the Western Sea Dragon King had been afflicted by some kind of ‘Dao poison,’ immediately deepening his wariness of the Western Teaching.

The Golden Immortal poison dan he had been conceptualizing, the Western Teaching already had it, and could even harm an ancient ‘Great Luo’ like the Western Sea Dragon King!

Li Changshou transmitted his voice to Bull Head and Horse Face: “If we encounter danger later, immediately come to my side.”

Bull Head and Horse Face couldn’t help but blink.

This Water God…

Who was he looking down on?

Before Bull Head and Horse Face could argue, Li Changshou had already used immortal power to carry them toward the Western Sea Dragon Palace.

Along the way, they swaggered past those immortal dragon soldiers without exposing the slightest trace;

Approaching those layers of formations, faint Taiji diagram marks would appear on the formations, letting their three figures freely merge within, completely unobstructed.

Taking advantage of this brief interval, Li Changshou had already gathered information transmitted from various paper avatars.

The East, South, and North Sea Dragon Palaces had already reacted, with experts secretly rushing to the Western Sea;

The three Dragon Palaces had already begun ‘hurriedly’ preparing armies according to their previously discussed plan, making a show of preparing to rescue the Western Sea.

In reality, the main forces of each Dragon Palace had already been hidden away, and here in the Western Sea, they only needed a group of experts to work together to rescue the Western Sea Dragon King and Dragon Queen.

At this point, Li Changshou had already made his judgment, clearly knowing what he needed to do.

One word: stall.

Stall until the three Dragon Palaces’ experts appeared, stall until the Heavenly Court’s outer circle created a diversion, rescue the Western Sea Dragon King and Dragon Queen, as well as those ‘loyal ministers’ here – that would count as achieving the first stage of victory!

With the Primordial Yellow Pagoda protecting his body and the Grand Magus at his side, Li Changshou’s self-preservation was assured; but without the Grand Magus taking action, trying to rescue people by himself would be too difficult.

—Immortal Yunxiao wasn’t included in the considerations.

Having analyzed the situation clearly, Li Changshou formulated several plans.

In this kind of situation, to delay time, the first thing to do was attract the opponent’s attention, and make them wary and confused, best if they had misgivings.

Li Changshou quickly transmitted voice instructions to Bull Head and Horse Face, but finding Bull Head and Horse Face a bit slow, he simply said:

“The situation is urgent, act according to my transmitted orders!”

Bull Head and Horse Face immediately nodded heavily!

Heads could be cut off, blood could flow, as long as they didn’t have to use their brains.

At once, Li Changshou quickly devised a simple script and relying on the Taiji Diagram’s power, brought Bull Head and Horse Face around groups of experts, successfully reaching the outer area of the inner hall.

The side forcing the palace coup naturally also knew time was pressing…

That Western Sea Dragon Palace Crown Prince was also a ruthless one, now wrapped in golden light, his energy quite shocking, seeming to have forcibly increased his power.

The rebel dragons jointly broke through the main hall’s last formation layer, and Ao Shi led a large group of experts charging into the main hall, sword pointing at his father on the throne.

“Father King, you’re old, it’s time for you to rest!”

The Western Sea Dragon King’s whiskers trembled, his long dragon eyes full of pain, and he let out a low roar, just about to speak!

“Neigh——”

A clear horse’s neigh echoed throughout the main hall, followed by a deep bull’s bellow.

A group of dragons in the main hall frowned, both sides somewhat confused.

Suddenly, a series of iron chain friction noises floated around the main hall;

The hundreds of illuminating treasure pearls throughout the main hall began to flicker constantly, and on the walls to both sides, two mighty figures appeared!

They were like two giants, each holding chains, coming from the shadows.

“Who!”

A rebel elder shouted: “Who dares play tricks here!”

The response was just two cold laughs.

“Neigh~ We’re playing tricks?

You’re wrong, we are spirits and ghosts.”

“Hahaha! But since you’ve sincerely asked, we shall mercifully tell you!”

Crack!

A thunderclap exploded, and two black shadows suddenly appeared from the seawater at the great hall’s ceiling!

These two figures each folded their arms, their bodies swelling with rolling blood energy, wrapped from neck to ankle in coil after coil of chains, slowly descending from above.

If they had just descended directly, they probably wouldn’t have made it three feet before being cut down in the chaos.

Thus, following Li Changshou’s transmitted voice instructions, they immediately began alternating their lines, one person per line, but with imposing momentum—

“To prevent the disruption of Yin-Yang order!”

“To protect the peace of the cycle of reincarnation!”

“To lead you to find the lost defiled earth!”

“To accept the guidance of the great virtuous Houtu!”

“I am Bull Head!”

“I am Horse Face!”

“Underworld Yinsi, Soul-Collecting Envoys, at your service!”