Li Changshou stood at the ruins of the Crystal Palace, staring at the deep underwater crater before him, somewhat puzzled…
Why did they run?
What were they running from?
Originally, with Ox Head and Horse Face serving as “guest performers,” Li Changshou thought he could handle things more steadily this time, without needing to take action himself. He had been quite confident in his plans for delay, breakthrough, and escape.
But halfway through the execution of his first strategy, the Grand Master suddenly gave an order. As a prospective junior brother, he could only passively adapt, change his approach, and showcase the traditional skills of a Dao of Humanity disciple, Heavenly Court official, and Junior Master of the Mystic Capital.
At this point, the problem seemed to become [How to properly handle thousands of experts alone].
However, the real question was—
[When facing thousands of experts who lack major divine abilities, how can one casually let them know that they cannot break through one’s defenses, especially when one has a ninety-eight percent chance of escape at any moment?]
Li Changshou’s decisiveness in changing the “script” mid-way stemmed primarily from having already prepared this backup plan, giving him complete confidence before taking action.
Secondly, it was because there were no Saint-level disciples among the opponents here.
Even among Primordial Fierce Beasts, there were varying levels of strength. Wen Jing and Jin Chan were already considered formidable characters, while this batch of fierce beasts in the Western Sea Dragon Palace was notably weaker.
Furthermore, this group of dragons had all been mentally controlled by the Western Religion’s spells. Though each elder dragon possessed great strength, accumulated over the Western Sea Dragon Palace’s long years, there were no true ancient powerhouses like the Western Sea Dragon King present, nor did any ancient war dragons guarding the sea eye appear.
Otherwise, Li Changshou wouldn’t have dared to act so rashly!
Looking at how he accomplished this…
First, he counterattacked using paper avatars in the form of gourd spirits, then deliberately endured attacks from dozens of dragon clan elders, creating psychological pressure and building the image of a “powerful expert.”
Throughout the entire process, he kept his target locked on their leader “Prince Ao Shi,” pressuring him with words, protecting himself with precious treasures, and successfully ambushing and capturing Ao Shi with teleportation techniques…
In this plan, the most challenging part wasn’t using teleportation to reach Ao Shi’s side, but rather how to successfully escape from the encirclement of dozens of dragon clan experts.
Li Changshou’s solution was very simple—
Don’t get surrounded in the first place.
The moment his body exploded into water streams, his true form had already dodged to one side using teleportation, concealing himself with the power of the Taiji Diagram. He used dozens of water streams to attract attention, while secretly employing the Heaven and Earth Teleportation Technique to send a Golden Immortal realm paper avatar behind Ao Shi.
Li Changshou’s mastery of the Heaven and Earth Teleportation Technique was far inferior to the other teleportation methods that he had practiced for many years. When his main body used it, there would be significant obstacles and leave many traces.
However, using the Heaven and Earth Teleportation Technique to send paper avatars to specific locations was something Li Changshou had long since mastered.
When the paper avatar struck using the Great Yu’s Flood Control Map to trap Ao Shi, Li Changshou immediately used remote item transfer to retrieve the treasure map back to his main body. Then his main body appeared to attract attention, using this to cover the activation of the Earth Fiend Spirit Explosion Formation on the Golden Immortal realm paper avatar…
The implementation of the entire plan could be described as flowing smoothly and seamlessly, without any major flaws.
Throughout the process, Li Changshou only needed to time the key moments well to create an impression of “coming and going as he pleased,” making people dizzy and overwhelmed, thereby deepening their psychological shadow.
[The so-called “danger” during this period was nothing more than an illusion of the enemies and observers.]
But what puzzled Li Changshou was that after this spirit explosion, the enemy forces…
Just retreated like that.
They retreated very quickly—before the spirit explosion’s aftereffects had even dissipated, all the rebel dragons had turned around in unison and speedily withdrew from the Crystal Palace.
As they left, many fierce beasts and rebel dragons were cursing and muttering, saying things about Heavenly Court officials this and that, and even claiming that the Heavenly Court’s martial officials were just for show, while the real fierce characters were all retired among the civil officials.
This was slandering the gentle and kind image of the Heavenly Court’s immortals and gods!
But their quick retreat left Li Changshou slightly disappointed, as he had already prepared to sacrifice three or more Golden Immortal realm paper avatars today.
—There was a limit to how many Golden Immortal realm paper avatars could exist simultaneously, but they could be recreated after destruction.
Why did they retreat?
Weren’t these rebel dragons all mentally controlled by the Western Religion? What happened to their supposed fearlessness of death?
The spirit explosion just now didn’t cause particularly strong casualties—it only tore apart about half of the elder dragons within the “Heaven and Earth Sealing Core Range.”
The other half still had complete corpses remaining.
But because of these traitor dragons’ dense positioning and the Heaven and Earth Seal, the spirit explosion’s power was reduced. Only thirty percent of the other thousands of experts were injured, while seventy percent were mostly unharmed…
The outer rebel armies suffered more casualties, but they were mostly True Immortal realm dragon soldiers, fully embodying the accurate definition of “cannon fodder” in the Primordial World.
When they retreated, it wasn’t just these thousands of experts who withdrew—the tens of thousands of troops on the outskirts also quickly retreated to the Western Continent. They completely disregarded formation, fleeing in extreme disarray.
Li Changshou couldn’t pursue in time and could only use his not-yet-fully-formed Water God divine position to calm the Western Sea’s roar, reducing the deaths of sea creatures and avoiding accumulating too much karmic burden for himself…
Then, while organizing in his mind the series of subsequent operations for this plan, he felt somewhat regretful.
He couldn’t implement them anymore.
No matter how he calculated, he still couldn’t accurately gauge the “hearts of living beings.”
This time, what he miscalculated was the enemy’s psychological endurance…
At this moment, with Li Changshou as the center point, half of the Crystal Palace behind him in the fan-shaped area remained intact.
Obviously, during the spirit explosion just now, Tower Lord had helped, protecting this remaining seed of the Western Sea Dragon Palace.
Ao Shi, who had returned to human form, was now lying behind Li Changshou, covered in wounds and barely breathing, severely injured.
To be safe, Li Changshou cast a spell of immortal power, adding several… dozen seals to Ao Shi’s dragon soul, preventing him from self-destructing.
Li Changshou then surveyed various locations and activated some paper avatars to assist the dragon clan experts coming from three directions, helping them avoid encountering the main rebel force and preventing unnecessary casualties.
As the light membrane of the Five Elements Formation slowly retracted, the gourd spirits returned their small gourds to their heads, each transforming into paper figures flying toward the gourd vine, entering the split gourds.
Li Changshou opened his left hand, and the gourd vine retreated into his sleeve.
He glanced at the deep crater before him, sighed softly, turned around, and walked a few steps toward the Western Sea Dragon King.
The hundred-plus dragon soldiers instinctively stepped back, while the dragon clan experts crowding around the throne had extremely complex expressions.
Behind the throne, two figures wearing war shaman masks crouched there, hands tucked in their sleeves, whispering:
“Is this what the Water God meant by buying time? Neigh…”
“Isn’t it?” Ox Head chuckled, “Killing all the enemy forces to buy time for our reinforcements to arrive—that counts as delay too, moo…”
“Should we still collect souls?”
“How can we collect them? There aren’t any souls left. The Water God is coming, let’s quickly leave!”
As they muttered, the two shamans jumped behind Li Changshou, holding their arms and dragging chains, walking to the Western Sea Dragon King’s front.
Supported by the elegant and beautiful Dragon Mother at his side, the Western Sea Dragon King stood up somewhat shakily and bowed, saying:
“Thank you, Water God, for saving our lives.”
“Dragon King, no need for such formality,” Li Changshou quickly replied, then took out two bottles of pills, “Dragon King, were you poisoned?”
“Indeed,” the Western Sea Dragon King felt quite ashamed at this, “Even though Water God had warned us before, I was still careless and fell for their scheme. I never imagined that the Western Religion had already completely hollowed out my dragon palace.”
Li Changshou’s left hand gently shook, placing Ao Shi, who now only retained a rough outline, in front of the Dragon King and Dragon Mother.
The Dragon King’s eyes bulged as he struck out immediately, wanting to kill Ao Shi on the spot.
The dragon palace warriors and elders at the side called out softly: “Your Majesty…”
The Dragon Mother also reached out to try to stop him, but as her delicate hand raised, she only uttered the word “Your” before stopping her movement.
Ao Shi could not be allowed to live.
But at this moment, Li Changshou stepped forward and sighed softly: “Dragon King, he cannot be killed right now.”
The Western Sea Dragon King’s eyes were bloodshot as he said in a low voice: “Why does Water God plead for this rebellious son!”
“This is not pleading,” Li Changshou said, “Ao Shi committed treason and attempted patricide—his crimes are enormous and deserve death by law. But since both the Dragon King and Ao Shi are currently in the Heavenly Court’s divine position sequence, wouldn’t it be more appropriate to bring Ao Shi to the Heavenly Court for the Jade Emperor to pass judgment?
When His Majesty gives the order, if Ao Shi is to be executed, he will naturally be sent to the Heavenly Court’s Dragon Execution Platform. When the Heavenly Dao’s execution blade falls and a dragon’s head drops, the Heavenly Dao will naturally break the heart-controlling curse on him.
If at that time, Ao Shi sincerely repents, perhaps His Majesty might show mercy and allow his true spirit a chance to reincarnate.”
As Li Changshou paused his words, the Western Sea Dragon King, Dragon Mother, and the surrounding elders all cast grateful looks at him.
Given Ao Shi’s actions today, even if he was mentally controlled, he had to be executed, otherwise, the Dragon King’s authority would be completely lost.
Li Changshou actively stepped forward to intervene, firstly to avoid the tragedy of a father killing his son, secondly to maintain the Heavenly Court’s dignity, and thirdly to take this opportunity to establish the first step of “formal contact” between the Heavenly Court and the Netherworld.
Though just a few sentences, there were many considerations behind them—this was a bit of Shou’s small wisdom.
Li Changshou asked further: “Dragon King, why did Ao Shi and his forces surround but not attack earlier?”
“They were demanding to know the location of the Western Sea’s treasury,” a dragon clan elder sighed softly.
Li Changshou nodded slowly, realizing this topic shouldn’t be pursued further. He didn’t want to be seen as hinting at anything.
Suddenly, dragon roars echoed as dozens of azure dragons rushed through the seawater from both south and north, heading toward this location. At that moment, thunder rolled above the dragon palace as a golden light shone down, from which rows of Heavenly Generals emerged…
—It was the “rescue” and “cover” teams Li Changshou had arranged earlier, arriving right on schedule.
The situation immediately became somewhat awkward…
Soon after, over a hundred experts from the South Sea and North Sea Dragon Palaces, along with one hundred thousand Celestial River troops, surrounded the Crystal Palace ruins, looking at the empty “battlefield” and falling into intense self-doubt.
Did they even need to be here?
…
Half an hour later;
The Western Sea Dragon King led his remaining forces, along with the experts who came to support from the three seas, to temporarily guard the Western Sea Eye.
Li Changshou also ordered the Celestial River army to return to the Heavenly Court and hurry to the North Heaven Gate to prepare for the second wave of “airdrops.”
Afterward, Li Changshou looked at the two large jars of Dragon King blood before him, his eyes full of delight.
What excellent materials…
This was the Dragon King’s blood that had accumulated large amounts of intense poison while treating and purging toxins from the Western Sea Dragon King earlier!
Raw material for poison pills!
Golden Immortal-level poison!
According to Li Changshou’s preliminary judgment, this poison should have come from some Primordial Fierce Beast—it was an innate deadly poison, so potent that even a veteran Golden Immortal like the Western Sea Dragon King could barely withstand it.
Although he had revealed his “Gourd Spirits” trump card, his arsenal of trump cards would soon see an expansion!
Li Changshou carefully took out three treasure pouches, triple-layered them, and stored the two large jars of Dragon King blood.
The conditions here were too crude to casually handle such deadly poison. He would have to wait until the dragon clan warfare settled down, then use paper avatars to process it slowly in some desolate mountain.
“What are you going to do with that stuff?”
Tower Lord asked lazily in his mind, then educated him earnestly: “Just explode it! What’s so great about poison? It’s beneath true mastery!
You’re a man who has mastered the secret art of Avatar Spirit Explosion!
Explore a few more times, and how could Fairy Yunxiao not fall for you?”
Li Changshou smiled without responding, already accustomed to Tower Lord’s outlandish remarks.
“Water God, sir,” Ox Head asked weakly from the side, “where are we going next?
We brothers have memorized all the lines you mentioned! Moo~”
Horse Face quickly added: “Our Netherworld Bureau will always be your allies, Water God! Neigh!”
Li Changshou nodded with a smile, “Thanks to both fellow Daoists’ help earlier or the situation would have spiraled out of control.”
“Please don’t say that, sir,” Ox Head muttered, “if it weren’t for Horse Face and me insisting on coming along, probably few of those dragon palace rebels would have escaped!”
“That’s not quite right…”
Just as Li Changshou was about to explain the changes in the earlier situation, that familiar Taiji Diagram appeared in the seawater beside them.
Li Changshou, Ox Head, and Horse Face immediately swam over and disappeared from the scene.
After they left, several figures flew out from all directions and began working busily at the deep crater, delivering finishing blows to each corpse and collecting the remaining souls with soul-capturing pearls.
They then gathered the corpses together and lit them with Three-Realm True Flames.
They chanted scriptures—the Soul-Crossing Sutra, the Disaster-Dispelling Prayer, and the Supreme Clarity Soul-Settling Incantation.
A paper avatar created a bubble in the seawater, gathering and scattering the ashes within it, while playing a suona horn inside the bubble, instantly maximizing the ceremonial atmosphere…
In the Sea God Temple.
The Grand Master, Fairy Yunxiao, Li Changshou, Ox Head, and Horse Face appeared in succession as if they had never left.
Li Changshou closed his eyes in concentration, monitoring the movements across the four seas through his paper avatars.
For the Western Religion, although they hadn’t found the “Dragon Treasure Materials” in the Western Sea, their losses weren’t too severe thanks to their decisive retreat. Today was far from over.
At this time, the South Sea and East Sea had fallen into turmoil, with rebel sea forces launching fierce attacks, putting the dragon clan battle lines under immediate pressure…
Seeing Li Changshou frown, the Grand Master asked: “Changgeng, how is it?”
“Chaos has erupted everywhere,” Li Changshou said, “The paper avatars I arranged have already discovered that force of Western Sea dragon rebels. They’re moving north and south along the edge of the Western Blessed Continent.
It seems they’re planning to attack the North Sea and South Sea.
The Western Religion’s goal this time is clear—they want the accumulation of countless years from the dragon palaces as a foundation for their great prosperity.”
The Grand Master frowned and said: “Western Religion’s prosperity? Where does that leave our Dao School? Like this!
Junior Sister Yunxiao, you protect Changgeng and go to the South Sea. I’ll oversee the North Sea. We must foil the Western Religion’s schemes!
This action is for the flourishing of Dao School’s fortune!”
With these words, a Taiji Diagram appeared behind the Grand Master as he stepped into it.
Fairy Yunxiao, standing quietly at the side, blinked gently.
It seemed she had been assigned a task.
Li Changshou hurriedly said: “Senior Brother, this matter!”
The Taiji Diagram flashed and vanished, and Grand Master Xuandu had disappeared.
Yunxiao couldn’t help but laugh softly, saying in a gentle voice:
“Senior Brother Xuandu has a point—resisting the Western Religion isn’t solely the Dao of Humanity’s affair.”
Li Changshou smiled helplessly, then said: “I must have seemed quite crude fighting earlier.”
“When fellow Daoist acts, you’re either still or move like an avalanche,” Yunxiao smiled, “Fellow Daoist was simply born too late. Had you started cultivating in ancient times, you would have long since become a great power.”
Li Changshou shook his head and smiled, “It’s good that you don’t think my methods are too unscrupulous.”
Yunxiao tilted her head slightly, her eyes showing traces of contemplation as she asked softly: “Could it be that fellow Daoist thinks I only know cultivation and don’t understand the dangers of the Primordial World?”
Li Changshou smiled warmly and slowly shook his head. Their eyes met, and both felt they understood each other a little better.
In the corner…
Ox Head said quietly: “Horse, we’re kind of awkward here, moo.”
Before Horse Face could “neigh,” a Taiji Diagram appeared behind the two, and two large hands reached out from nowhere, pulling the brothers directly into it.
The Grand Master’s voice transmitted from the Taiji Diagram:
“Changgeng! Catch!”
A black-light flew over, landing directly in front of Li Changshou, who caught it with both hands.
An Innate Merit Divine Treasure—the Heaven and Earth Ruler forged by the Supreme Clarity Saint!
This ruler was shaped like a blunt sword and had once struck the Eastern Emperor Bell and crushed Kun Peng’s soul. It was one of the few offensive divine treasures of the Dao of Humanity!
Of course, like the Primordial-Yellow Tower, this was only borrowed, not bestowed.
Though “borrowed” might sound too formal—this should be considered a Dao of Humanity special feature: Shared Divine Treasures!
The Heaven and Earth Ruler trembled slightly, and a thread of spirit consciousness rang in Li Changshou’s mind, beginning a crosstalk routine with the Primordial-Yellow Tower.
“Let’s head to the South Sea Dragon Palace then, let’s not delay important matters,” Fairy Yunxiao took the initiative to speak.
“To have dragged you into such karma…”
Li Changshou spoke apologetically.
“Don’t worry,” Yunxiao’s eyes contained starlight as she held her hands behind her back and said: “Just put more thought into your arrangements and don’t give me a chance to take action.”