Empty?

At the bottom of the Blood Sea, amidst the ruins of the chaotic great city, that group of Asura clan experts inexplicably lost their composure. Caught between anger and sorrow, their killing intent refused to settle, and their behavior grew increasingly frenzied…

Li Changshou took advantage of the chaos to slip away, using the Taiji Diagram to pass through the layers of formations here, quietly infiltrating beneath the great city.

But when he carefully investigated the situation below, he couldn’t help but slightly furrow his brows.

Below were only clouds of spiritual energy, nothing else.

Just like the void above the Nine Heavens, probing deeper beneath the Blood Sea would similarly lead to the outer void.

Had he judged wrongly?

Li Changshou’s form swiftly sank, quickly distancing himself from the great city overhead.

Those Asura clan experts, the complex formation arrangements in the ruined city, the situation beneath the great city…

It all seemed to be trying to prove that this place was merely a trap—a trap that Li Changshou had easily dismantled using the power of Lady Houtu’s Seven Emotions Avatar.

Inside the Glazed Treasure Pagoda, all the Dao Gate experts were deep in thought.

Golden Spirit Supreme Mother said, “It’s obvious now—this place is either a trap targeting Junior Brother Changsheng or it’s a decoy to attract us here while they strike elsewhere.”

“Hmm…”

Zhao Gongming stroked his beard and hummed softly, carefully choosing his words before speaking in his deep, mellow baritone:

“Where should we search next?”

His voice exuded steadiness and elegance.

Golden Spirit Supreme Mother replied: “With the Great Tribulation approaching and the Heavenly Mechanisms in confusion, this Blood Sea is unlike the Four Seas. It has countless abnormalities and houses many powerful fierce beasts. Finding where the Western Religion has established their second cycle of reincarnation will be no easy task.”

Master Tayi, hands tucked into his sleeves, smiled and said: “With Changsheng here, rather than worry about this, we should be more concerned about how to handle it if the Seven Emotions Avatar loses control again.”

Hearing this, Master Yuding’s brows slightly furrowed as he said in a low voice:

“Senior Brother, the Wrath Avatar has already returned to the grass ring. Could you perhaps get down from this poor Daoist’s body?”

“Eh?”

Master Tayi looked down, gave an embarrassed smile, and jumped down from Master Yuding’s left shoulder, raising his hand to brush off Master Yuding’s shoulder.

“A moment of urgency, just a moment of urgency.”

Dao Man Duobao suggested: “Why don’t we split up to search?”

“Elder Brother, we absolutely cannot separate.”

Cloud Roamer said: “Just now, the Great Virtue Houtu already mentioned that previously it was an Immortal who manipulated the Wheel of Reincarnation’s Dao. That Immortal might well be guarding the critical location right now. He… invited us here precisely to deal with such a situation. If we split up, wouldn’t we be letting the Western Religion pick us off one by one?”

Zhao Gongming said seriously: “Elder Brother, my Second Sister speaks correctly.”

“How could it be wrong? Of course, she speaks correctly!”

Dao Man Duobao hurriedly said: “It was your brother’s mistake earlier, making a foolish suggestion. Please don’t blame me, Junior Sister.”

Beside them, Master Tayi couldn’t help but laugh, saying:

“Our two sects each have their sect relationships here.”

The four Severing Sect experts frowned as they looked over; Master Tayi’s legs weakened slightly. Fortunately, the Yellow Dragon True Person beside him spoke up just in time, smiling as he changed the subject, discussing how they should proceed next…

The immortals discussed for a while but came up with no other effective methods.

Yellow Dragon True Person asked again: “Why is Junior Brother Changsheng still descending?”

“Let’s not disturb him. Changsheng must be fully calculating our next moves,” Zhao Gongming said. “We can’t place all such heavy burdens on Changsheng’s shoulders alone. Who knows more about the Blood Sea?”

Master Yuding suddenly spoke: “He’s come out.”

Indeed, Li Changshou had already burst out of that pure spiritual energy layer into a pitch-black void ahead.

With his immortal consciousness unobstructed and extending freely, Li Changshou could only sense incomplete Dao imprints and, in the depths of the void, that thin membrane of Heaven and Earth formed by the power of the Heavenly Dao.

As usual, waves of insight arose in Li Changshou’s heart, which he temporarily set aside to carefully savor later.

Once above the Nine Heavens, one could reach out and pluck the sun, moon, and stars;

Once below the Nine Depths, the Blood Sea’s limits would similarly return to the void.

But following this, Li Changshou didn’t immediately turn back. Instead, he sat cross-legged in the empty darkness, quietly pondering, organizing the information he had already grasped.

Had the opponent truly laid out false formations deliberately?

[When unable to determine which level one is on, either stand on every level or step outside of them all.]

At this time, the Western Religion was likely already building its place of reincarnation. They wouldn’t give him much time to stand on every level, explore every possible location, and analyze the probability of each possibility occurring.

He could only try to ‘step outside.’

The emptiness within the substance, the substance within emptiness—when emptiness and substance become indeterminate, concealment is achieved.

Setting aside his subjective speculations, deductions, and conceived notions, what ‘substantial’ information did he truly have in his possession now?

[The West urgently needs to establish Divine Kingdoms through incense offerings and reopen reincarnation to reverse their declining situation in this Great Tribulation.

The Dao of Reincarnation has been disturbed;

The Blood Sea’s Asura clan knows about the Western Religion’s plans to reestablish reincarnation in the Blood Sea;

Following the trail of investigation here, I found the ‘epicenter’ and sensed an Immortal’s Dao rhythm;

The power of the Seven Emotions Avatar is quite useful in group battles… ahem, this point isn’t important.]

If concluding based solely on this information, this ‘epicenter’ must be the most critical location!

After slightly extrapolating from these pieces of information, Li Changshou immediately caught the key point of the situation.

If this great city was merely a trap, why were there only Asura clan experts visible on the surface?

And why, when these Asura clan experts clearly showed signs of abnormality, were there no Western experts to support them?

It didn’t make sense.

The Asura clan itself didn’t have too many karmic obstacles—they were among the Three Good Paths in the Six Paths of Reincarnation, or rather the Upper Three Paths, a great clan recognized by the Heavenly Dao!

If the circumstances weren’t special, why would the Western Religion’s many experts allow these Asura experts to break through the formations throughout the ruined great city?

This was the flaw!

Li Changshou slowly stood up, looked up, then reversed his position, head down and feet up, to ‘look down’ at the Blood Sea.

From near to far, the increasingly dense spiritual energy and scattered ‘clouds and mist’ made the Blood Sea below appear like dark red earth.

The Yin-Yang Taiji Diagram slowly appeared on Li Changshou’s chest as he quietly instructed in his heart:

“Search for any abnormalities in this place’s heaven and earth—there might be heaven-and-earth restrictions set up by an Immortal. Try not to expose ourselves.”

“Mm,” Old Master Diagram responded calmly, as the Taiji Diagram’s phantom image on Li Changshou’s chest silently dispersed, transforming into two streams of yin and yang energy that disappeared.

Soon, an image appeared in Li Changshou’s mind.

Just at the ‘back’ of the ruined great city, at a certain place, Li Changshou had passed by earlier, where several grand formations overlapped… space showed a slight wrinkle as if there was a half-hidden door.

Li Changshou’s soft sigh circulated within the Glazed Treasure Pagoda:

“Everyone, please prepare yourselves. There should be an Immortal guarding this location.”

In the pagoda, except for Fairy Cloud Roamer whose expression remained as cold as usual without any change, the other experts either showed sudden realization or gave light chuckles.

Or like Yellow Dragon True Person, who frowned with his hands behind his back, trying hard to observe the situation outside…

What was happening now?

…

To be safe, Li Changshou added two more layers of disguise.

He dared not use teleportation methods or disturb space-time, relying on the Taiji Diagram’s concealment to slowly approach the spatial anomaly.

Since the Seven Emotions power had already been contained earlier, the ‘front’ of the ruined great city had quieted down again.

A group of Asura clan experts looked at the formation layout they had disrupted with their own hands, at the corpses of their companions scattered in various places…

They were confused, shocked, and uneasy, tensing their spirits as they guarded around that abandoned palace.

From beginning to end, the Asuras hadn’t even seen Li Changshou’s shadow, completely unaware of why they had collectively lost control earlier; many Asura experts even thought they had been affected by the Great Tribulation…

Was the Asuras’ tribulation about learning to commit suicide?

These Asura crowds already had their hands full, and naturally couldn’t be expected to notice a certain ‘returning’ ordinary divine official from the Heavenly Court.

The Taiji Diagram was a Primordial Treasure and among the strongest of the Primordial Treasures.

As one of the three founding artifacts of creation, the Taiji Diagram itself possessed immense power and was constantly ‘changing,’ fully demonstrating the true meaning of Taiji. Simply placing it before oneself could generate endless insights for cultivators.

The Taiji Diagram specialized in defense, its power exceeding the Xuanhuang Tower by quite a margin.

The offensive treasure that matched the Taiji Diagram was the Pangu Banner in the Primordial Heavenly Lord’s hands.

—The Pangu Banner could shoot out Chaos Sword Energy, possessing the sharpness of Pangu’s Divine Axe. When wielded by an Immortal, it had the power to slay other Immortals.

Of course, if the Pangu Banner were to attack the Taiji Diagram…

That would truly become a fable story.

Li Changshou had a small virtue—he fully respected his supreme treasure.

At this moment, he didn’t need to taint Old Master Diagram with his meager immortal power at all, relying entirely on the Taiji Diagram’s control throughout the journey.

And striving not to hold Old Master Diagram back!

Thus, when Li Changshou transformed into a mosquito and stealthily approached where space showed abnormalities, using the Taiji Diagram to dissolve the space here and enter this pocket world from normal space…

He didn’t expose himself in the slightest, and space showed no disturbance at all!

This principle was very simple.

In the rankings of calculation ability in the primitive chaos, Supreme Pure Immortal ranked first, the Taiji Diagram ranked second, the various Immortals’ specific rankings were unknown but collectively ranked third, and Grand Law Master Xuandu, who possessed the Taiji Diagram, could only rank fourth!

Speaking of this pocket world, it truly deserved to be called a separate realm.

When Li Changshou, transformed into a mosquito, entered this place, it was as if he had entered a narrow valley. Looking into the distance, he faintly saw a tall gray pagoda.

This pagoda was about a thousand zhang high, with three hundred and sixty levels. The sun, moon, stars, and celestial bodies revolved around it, and images of the myriad beings were carved on its body.

At this time, the pagoda had already lit up over a hundred levels from the bottom, with the Dao of Reincarnation penetrating up and down.

Li Changshou immediately understood—when this pagoda was fully lit, it would become a Heavenly Dao Treasure!

The Immortal’s methods were truly extraordinary.

This pocket world was genuinely not small, with the pagoda at least a thousand li away from him. There seemed to be two invisible walls on the left and right, and multiple layers of formations guarding ahead…

With Immortal’s methods, they could naturally completely seal off this ‘small world.’

But at this time, if they wanted the pagoda to become a Heavenly Dao Treasure, they had to maintain a connection with the outside world and fully contact the Heavenly Dao.

“Be careful, little disciple.”

The Taiji Diagram’s spirit thought resonated in Li Changshou’s heart: “There are many experts ahead, hiding in layers of formations.”

Li Changshou acknowledged inwardly but didn’t rush forward immediately, instead pondering some…

Small strategies.

Seeing such an array before them, most beings’ first reaction would naturally be to break through step by step.

—This was almost all beings’ fixed mindset.

Li Changshou, however, held back, continuously discussing the Taiji Diagram in his heart, deducing whether there were other ways to break the situation…

At this time and place, he was essentially facing off against an Immortal directly. Li Changshou couldn’t allow himself any rashness or impatience, nor did he want to face an Immortal.

With only one life and happiness ahead, he was unwilling to fall here.

Moreover…

“Why must we break in?”

Li Changshou asked in his heart: “Old Master Diagram, can you break this pocket world? We only need to disturb the space here and expose that tall pagoda—that would be enough for this mission.”

Old Master Diagram immediately responded:

“Don’t rush, let me examine it carefully first… If we want to break this place open before the Immortal acts, we need to find a location where yin and yang are perfectly balanced.”

Reliable.

Li Changshou continued hiding near the entrance of the pocket world, ready to use his strongest combination of escape techniques at any moment, not daring to even use passive reception-type divine abilities like the Wind Speech Curse.

And at this time, inside the Glazed Treasure Pagoda…

“Eh? How did Junior Brother Changsheng discover such intricate arrangements?”

Yellow Dragon True Person looked puzzled.

Golden Spirit Supreme Mother smiled and said: “Didn’t we say earlier? Matters that consume mental energy, just leave them to him. You and I should prepare for battle now—we might have to fight our way through.”

Master Tayi praised: “Changsheng truly deserves to be the outstanding disciple recognized by all three teachings as particularly strong in… techniques!”

“Senior Brother,” Master Yuding sincerely suggested, “perhaps speak less.”

Tayi gave an embarrassed laugh.

Dao Man Duobao, standing by the pagoda window, said curiously: “Changsheng has moved… Could he be planning to sneak to that tall pagoda?”

Golden Spirit Supreme Mother said: “If so, once our whereabouts are exposed, wouldn’t we be attacked from both front and back? We should fight our way through instead.”

“Let’s watch,” Fairy Cloud Roamer said softly, “he must have thorough arrangements.”

The immortals each nodded.

Regardless of their relationship with Li Changshou, just from watching his actions along the way, they had developed a mysterious trust in him…

They saw Li Changshou, transformed into a mosquito, fly before the first formation wall, with the Taiji Diagram appearing before the mosquito, gently rotating.

Taking advantage of the formation’s momentary inattention, Li Changshou smoothly slipped inside.

There was an illusion within the formation. Li Changshou entered an elegant garden, surrounded by misty fog.

A young Buddhist monk sat on a meditation cushion at the edge of a pavilion, accompanied by a large green-furred dog, with a low table and hot tea set before him.

Ksitigarbha?

Li Changshou remained expressionless, following the Taiji Diagram’s guidance toward the wall of the next formation.

Suddenly!

Without warning, Ksitigarbha spoke:

“Since the Water God has come, why not talk with me? Our religion does not wish to wage war with the Dao Gate. The Three Thousand Worlds can be divided between the Heavenly Court and us—all this can be discussed.”

The mosquito that Li Changshou had transformed into instantly froze in place!

In the pagoda, the eight experts Li Changshou had invited simultaneously drew their magical treasures, standing before the pagoda’s exit, ready to rush out and silence any threats!

But Li Changshou remained extremely calm at this moment, his mind operating at high speed, analyzing various possibilities.

How had he been exposed?

Could it be that a Western Religion Immortal had discovered his whereabouts and notified Ksitigarbha?

No, had he truly been exposed?

Stay steady, wait longer, and use constancy to respond to endless changes.

The first layer of formations fell completely silent, until a moment later, when Ksitigarbha spoke again, saying exactly:

“Since the Water God has come, why not talk with me? Our religion does not wish to wage war with the Dao Gate. The Three Thousand Worlds can be divided between the Heavenly Court and us—all this can be discussed.”

Confirmed—all beings with spiritual intelligence are essentially echo machines!

This Ksitigarbha…

Li Changshou’s mouth twitched slightly, his heart not completely relaxed as he continued to stay in place.

This tiny mosquito, wrapped in the Taiji Diagram’s essence, perfectly merged with space-time, ready to escape beyond it at any moment.

The experts in the treasure pagoda: …

Master Tayi shook his head: “Ah, another one with more schemes than hairs on his head.”

Finally, after Li Changshou heard Ksitigarbha repeat the same words three times, he confirmed that he hadn’t been exposed and quietly headed toward the next formation.

Inside the Glazed Pagoda, Dao Man Duobao took out two conch shells, using his previous technique, and everyone heard the transmitted voices of Ksitigarbha and his mount…

“Master, stop calling out. This place was arranged by the Second Patriarch. No matter how capable the Water God is, he won’t find this.”

“Chaos has erupted outside, yet no enemy traces are revealed—it must be the Water God without doubt.”

“Master, you mustn’t underestimate the Dao Gate experts. Didn’t you say earlier that several Dao Gate experts had already been invited by the Water God to Fengdu City?”

“I certainly won’t underestimate the Dao Gate experts’ combat abilities, however…”

Ksitigarbha paused, summoning some flames in his left palm to warm the tea before him, continuing to transmit:

“Among the Immortals’ disciples, only the Water God could find this place at this time.”

Then, Ksitigarbha spoke again, calling out:

“Since the Water God has come, why not talk with me…”

Behind Ksitigarbha and Kalavinka, a mosquito silently slipped into the formation wall.

Kalavinka’s ears twitched slightly, but it just wagged its long tail, pretending not to have noticed anything.

Shortly after…

“Master, do you think this thing your Western Religion is doing can succeed? Establishing a second cycle of reincarnation isn’t so simple—at the critical moment, a Dao Gate Immortal will surely appear to stop it.”

Ksitigarbha gave a light laugh, slowly sighed, and transmitted back:

“As long as Immortals don’t perish, it’s all just a game.”

…

Meanwhile, behind the first formation that Ksitigarbha was guarding…

Li Changshou easily bypassed six old Daoists, slipping into the third formation from a corner of the local formation, and continuing forward.

According to the Taiji Diagram’s investigation, there were twelve formations in total here. Passing through all twelve would allow them to reach the base of that tall pagoda.

The Tower Lord, who hadn’t spoken much until now, couldn’t help but mutter:

“Little disciple, wouldn’t it be more impressive if we fought our way through? In the end, we just need to force out the Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree, and this round would be our victory. What are you afraid of?”

Li Changshou answered solemnly in his heart:

“Why does everyone think that placing a few experts in each formation makes those experts the guardians of that formation? If I were designing this place, let alone hiding the true path elsewhere, these layers of formations would just be a feint.

Even the experts placed in various locations would have only one purpose…

Vigilance.

If they discover an enemy’s infiltration, they would raise the alarm, attack together, and seek to kill quickly—why would they scatter their forces like this?

Putting myself in their position, I truly don’t believe the West would let us break through formation by formation.”

Tower Lord: “That makes sense.”

Space-Time Ruler: “Not wrong.”

Taiji Diagram: “Don’t be distracted, the Western Junior Immortal is in the pagoda ahead.”

Junior…

That’s quite a unique way of addressing them.

Silently reaching the seventh formation, Li Changshou stopped his forward flight, descending to search for what the Taiji Diagram called the yin-yang balance point of this pocket world.

Just breaking this balance would cause this pocket world to collapse instantly!

In the seventh formation, a golden palace formed by illusion formations floated in mid-air, containing twelve Western Religion experts and several primordial fierce beasts hiding in the shadows.

Li Changshou had no intention of dealing with them, quietly flying to a corner outside the palace and releasing the Taiji Diagram…

With just one word of ‘begin’ from Li Changshou, yin, and yang would connect, space-time would reverse, the balance would be lost, and it would naturally collapse!

In the pagoda, Li Changshou’s voice, carrying inevitable tension, fell into the eight experts’ ears:

“Everyone, please prepare. The Taiji Diagram is about to destroy this pocket world. An Immortal is very likely to intervene directly. Success or failure depends on this key step.”

After speaking, Li Changshou glanced at the Xuanhuang Tower and Space-Time Ruler at his primordial spirit, as well as the Merit Pool that temporarily couldn’t form a Merit Golden Body.

His clear and bright dao heart activated at full power, repeatedly confirming that he wasn’t being affected by tribulation fate.

—Actually, it was his current position and the Immortal behind him that forced him to accomplish this great matter.

The Taiji Diagram urged: “Little disciple ready? I can destroy this place at any time.”

“Wait,” Li Changshou responded internally, as the mosquito, relying on the Taiji Diagram’s dao rhythm wrapping, quietly flew under a Western Religion Immortal disciple’s meditation cushion.

Trump cards were ready—the Xuanhuang Tower and Taiji Diagram accompanied him;

The experts in the Glazed Pagoda could fly out in an instant!

The Immortal’s likely reaction and action afterward would be to stabilize this pocket world…

Was everything set?

No, still not enough…

After all, facing an Immortal, he truly lacked confidence. He didn’t have the Grand Law Master’s dao realm, and his Balance Dao hadn’t grown enough to affect an Immortal…

Master had even sent the Taiji Diagram over—there was no reason not to save him in a critical moment.

This time he didn’t need to seek merit; directly exposing the Western Religion’s secretive establishment of a second cycle of reincarnation would ensure victory…

At worst, he could lose face once in front of Cloud Roamer and immediately cry out for Master’s help!

How could he intervene in the battle between Immortals?

The Taiji Diagram urged again: “Ready?”

“Well… let me think more.”

“Mm, little disciple spoke too late,” the Taiji Diagram’s spirit sense was unwavering—if it had human form, it would probably wear a calm expression with lifeless eyes right now. “Already done.”

Done!

Li Changshou’s primordial spirit trembled. Before he could make any response, this pocket world that the Western Religion had painstakingly arranged suddenly began to shake violently!

Space-time showed layers of ripples, and those two invisible giant walls instantly shattered!

Waves of magnificent dao fluctuations, like heavenly floods, surged toward this ‘small world’!

In the tall pagoda, an old Daoist who had been sitting quietly suddenly opened his eyes, golden light surging around his body as he raised his left hand, and then pressed down.

The entire pocket world on the edge of collapse instantly stopped shaking!

This old Daoist looked directly at where the Taiji Diagram’s true form was!

There, the formation had already shattered, the palace formed by illusions dispersed, and over ten figures either standing or sitting stared in shock at that three-chi-diameter Taiji Diagram.

The Taiji Diagram now seemed forcibly held in place, unable to continue rotating…

After all, currently, it was just the supreme treasure expressing its power on its own, lacking an expert’s activation.

The Taiji Diagram trembled slightly, its yin-yang fish seeming to come alive, rotating in reverse by some degree, and the pocket world shook violently again!

At the corners in all directions, large sections had already begun to collapse!

In the tall pagoda, that old Daoist raised his right hand and pressed down, and this pocket world once again stabilized!

The Taiji Diagram, relying solely on its inherent power, had been suppressed by the Immortal—and this was with the Taiji Diagram launching a sneak attack and the Immortal responding hastily!

Li Changshou sighed inwardly…

Even an Immortal on the edge of leaving their group was still this terrifyingly powerful!

The old Daoist in the tall pagoda let out a cold snort, and a light gray dao essence rippled out like water waves, surging toward the Taiji Diagram.

In this instant, Li Changshou knew that today he would inevitably have to act—must act!

Otherwise, the situation he had painstakingly created, the position he had worked so hard to achieve, would likely be destroyed here…

Near the Taiji Diagram, a green light suddenly bloomed as a meditation cushion was thrown up!

The middle-aged Daoist sitting on the cushion’s eyes widened, but before he could make any response, he had already fallen forward.

The bronze ruler flew out, striking directly before the Taiji Diagram. The hand gripping the bronze ruler seemed to coalesce from nothingness, followed by the wrist, arm, shoulder…

The Space-Time Ruler slid down from above, creating a space-time rift ahead that barely interfered with the dao essence dispersed by Immortal Zhunti.

Li Changshou’s form fully appeared, naturally with his disguised young features. He rushed one step behind the Taiji Diagram, his right palm striking its center!

In his heart, with his greatest courage, and strongest will, he angrily shouted!

‘Master!

Save me!’

Space-time balance, break!

Li Changshou’s balance dao essence merged into the Taiji Diagram, which suddenly burst forth with black and white light. The old Daoist in the tall pagoda’s hands seemed to press on emptiness, his palms losing all sense of grip as his body trembled slightly.

The pocket world shattered completely everywhere!

The ruined city of the Asura clan above shook violently, tidal waves thousands of miles high rose in the Blood Sea, and a huge phantom of the Taiji Diagram covered thousands of miles before instantly dispersing!

That thousand-zhang-high Reincarnation Treasure Pagoda shook violently, its lights solidifying, the images of myriad beings nearly collapsing.

In the Jade Emperor’s Palace, the White-Robed Jade Emperor, who had been reviewing memorials, suddenly stood up, golden light flowing through his eyes as he looked down into the depths of the Nine Depths, seeing a treasure pagoda suspended inverted at the edge of heaven and earth!

Deep in Spirit Mountain, beside the Golden Lotus Pool, a thin elderly man wearing loose Daoist robes slowly sighed, saying nothing more.

In the depths of the Nine Heavens, in that pure and simple Supreme Pure Observatory, the old Daoist’s mouth pulled into a slight smile…

In that small courtyard near the Jade Void Palace on Mount Kunlun, the middle-aged Daoist lying in the rocking chair revealed a peaceful smile.

In the Chaos Sea, one of two streaks of light chasing each other suddenly stopped, transforming into a young Daoist.

This young Daoist frowned toward the primordial chaos, then looked toward the light ahead that had already vanished without a trace, his mouth twitching slightly…

“Why is the Heavenly Dao shaking for no reason? This time I might have caught up!

If this poor Daoist finds out who’s causing trouble, I’ll level them with one sword!”

Accompanied by several curses, this young Daoist whipped his flowing headband and his form directly vanished…

Looking back at the source of the disturbance, at the very bottom of the Five Continents of the primordial chaos.

Outside the Blood Sea, beneath the ruined city!

The old Daoist in the tall pagoda wore a stern expression, his body already wrapped in layers of gray mist, his eyes—seeming to have witnessed all the world’s vicissitudes—staring at the young Daoist behind the Taiji Diagram.

With the pocket world’s collapse, the formations here dispersed on their own. Over one hundred and sixty experts from Western Religion were all staring at Li Changshou in the central position.

Before Li Changshou, the Taiji Diagram slowly rotated, manifesting two phantom images rotating in opposite directions, protecting his front and back.

The mark of the Xuanhuang Tower appeared on Li Changshou’s brow, layers of primal yellow essence falling.

“Hiss—”

Li Changshou suddenly drew in a cold breath, raised his hand to stroke his chin, and muttered: “Master told me to learn how to use the Taiji Diagram to move through heaven and earth, how did I end up here in the blink of an eye?

Could this be… Spirit Mountain?

Please continue, continue, and carry on with your business. I’m just passing through, I’ll leave now.”

Li Changshou very naturally used the Space-Time Ruler to cut open a space-time rift before him, saying:

“Please forgive the disturbance.

How strange, how did I end up at Spirit Mountain?”

After speaking, Li Changshou was about to step into the space-time rift, but just as he raised his foot, the rift instantly closed!

“Water God!”

Near the tall pagoda, an old Daoist with silver-white hair wearing tattered robes pointed at Li Changshou and cursed through gritted teeth:

“You still think you can leave?”

The surrounding crowd of experts immediately moved to charge forward, but the supreme treasure’s pressure burst forth around Li Changshou, making them all shudder.

The Primordial Treasure Taiji Diagram!

“Fellow Daoists!

Divine abilities may be blind but spirits have eyes, treasures may be heartless but I have feeling!”

Li Changshou called out loudly: “This poor Daoist merely passed through here. If I’ve damaged your formations, this poor Daoist is willing to compensate with some spirit stones!

Why must we resort to violence?”

The group of Western Religion experts immediately grew furious!

Wen Jing Daoist, hiding in the shadows, had his mouth twitching slightly, his eyes full of mirth, yet not daring to laugh out loud.

Li Changshou turned his head to look around, his eyes brightening as he saw Ksitigarbha and Kalavinka at the back of the crowd.

“Brother Ksitigarbha, it’s been so long, I’ve missed you dearly.”

Black lines hung on Ksitigarbha’s forehead as he coldly said: “Fellow Daoist truly has great abilities, to have sneaked here without anyone knowing.”

Li Changshou smiled and said: “It’s all thanks to Brother’s reminder.”

“Water God, stop using such underhanded methods,” Ksitigarbha snorted. “This poor Daoist failed to discover you, letting you infiltrate this place—I share responsibility with all the other senior and junior brothers.

Fellow disciples, why don’t we join forces to trap him here with formations and hand him over to our two teachers for punishment?”

Li Changshou’s smile faded, his expression becoming solemn as he said: “Brother’s reaction is truly swift, worthy of being my most admired Western Religion disciple.”

“You!”

Ksitigarbha frowned and shouted lowly, but before he could finish speaking, he was directly interrupted by Li Changshou.

“Today I truly stumbled upon this place by accident, seemingly guided by some mysterious sensation.”

Li Changshou turned his head to look at that tall pagoda and sighed: “I never imagined that your Western Religion would do such evil!

The Dao of Reincarnation, the power of the Heavenly Dao, Divine Kingdoms of incense offerings…

Could it be that you plan to use reincarnation methods to eternally imprison countless beings whose minds you’ve controlled, using them as tools to extract merit?

Do you truly not feel guilty?”

An old Daoist calmly said: “All our Western disciples are compassionate and loving. Establishing this Reincarnation Pagoda is merely to allow kind and righteous beings who accumulate goodness and virtue to reincarnate peacefully and receive their blessings.”

Li Changshou showed confusion, enunciating each word clearly:

“Who determines compassion and love? Who judges kindness and righteousness?

Heaven and earth already have the Six Paths of Reincarnation, the Heavenly Dao is supremely impartial, and merit and karmic obstacles are clear.

According to your words, you despise the Heavenly Dao, ignore the Heavenly Dao’s order, and intend to use reincarnation to scheme for heaven and earth’s great fortune!

What?

Are you all Western Religious elders? Could it be that you think the Heavenly Dao favors the Heavenly Court, and you want to use this to shake the Heavenly Dao’s foundation?”

“Enough.”

A voice full of authority yet calm as still water floated slowly from the tall pagoda, as clouds and mist appeared around it!

A golden light appeared throughout the area, the Immortal’s authority shaking heaven and earth. All beings in the Blood Sea fell silent at once, countless souls in the Netherworld trembled inexplicably.

The Immortal manifested their dharma body;

Li Changshou felt relieved inside—he had already accomplished his goal that day.

“Human Teachings disciple Li Changsheng,” the Immortal’s dharma body formed from clouds and mist spoke, “you deliberately sabotaged my Western fortune, using clever words to try to escape responsibility.

Previously, considering your service to the Heavenly Court, this poor Daoist had ordered all disciples to show you utmost tolerance. Yet now seeing you in person, you don’t know heaven’s height from earth’s depth, completely disregarding this poor Daoist, and should be punished for the crime of disrespecting an Immortal.

Since this is so, this poor Daoist will, on behalf of Elder Brother Supreme Pure, give you some lessons, pressing you beneath Spirit Mountain for a thousand years.”

After speaking, that dharma body slowly raised its left hand, about to strike down at Li Changshou.

A phantom of the Taiji Diagram formed above Li Changshou’s head, but before this phantom could become substantial, Li Changshou already shouted:

“Wait!”

Before his voice fell, a cloud of mist suddenly appeared beside him.

A golden fighting bowl floated before Li Changshou, and the mist condensed into a fairy in white clothes, her beautiful face slightly cold as she stared at Immortal’s dharma body.

Severing Sect, Cloud Roamer.

Li Changshou smiled helplessly inside. The words he was about to say were interrupted by her entrance, and he could only raise his hand to pull at Cloud Roamer’s long sleeve, telling her not to be impulsive.

“Eh?”

Another light exclamation came from Li Changshou’s sleeve, followed by a flashing light as a heroic figure emerged—wearing battle armor, sporting a beautiful beard, and holding a golden wooden whip.

Twenty-four precious pearls appeared around several people, emitting brilliant blue light; half the Western Religion disciples unconsciously took half a step back!

Severing Sect, Zhao Gongming!

Elder Zhao said leisurely:

“Changsheng, didn’t you say you were taking this elder brother to a good place for drinks? How did we end up here?

Eh? Isn’t this the Immortal, Western Religion’s Second Uncle?”

As he spoke, Zhao Gongming cupped his hands and called out: “Greetings to Uncle Master, greetings to Uncle Master!

Elder Brother, quickly come out to pay respects to Uncle Master Immortal!”

“Ah ha ha ha!”

Several loud laughs came from Li Changshou’s sleeve, followed by flashing lights as Dao Man Duobao and Yellow Dragon True Person flew out together, making Daoist bows and paying respects to the Immortal’s dharma body.

The difference was that Dao Man Duobao directly stood in front of Li Changshou, while Yellow Dragon True Person stood behind him;

And in Dao Man Duobao’s hand was a jade talisman containing an Immortal’s dao essence.

Then golden light flashed from Li Changshou’s sleeve again as Golden Spirit Supreme Mother emerged, her left hand holding a jade ruyi scepter, her right hand gripping a slender precious sword. At this moment she merely snorted coldly, too lazy to even make a bow.

Five-colored divine light flickered gently as Kong Xuan stood beside Dao Man Duobao, making a shallow Daoist bow to Zhunti, his eyes eager for action as he said calmly:

“Phoenix Clan, Kong Xuan.”

His pride immediately showed.

At this moment, the Immortal’s dharma body’s raised left hand slowly lowered, instantly making the atmosphere here even more awkward.

And this scene was perfectly captured by the last two figures flying out of Li Changshou’s sleeve.

Master Yuding stood beside Li Changshou, about to make a Daoist bow to Immortal Zhunti, when Master Tayi, still unsteady on his feet, in the process of raising his hands to make a Daoist bow, had his mouth uncontrollably let slip:

“That’s it?”

Instantly, tens of thousands of miles around fell silent, and even the Immortal’s dharma body showed signs of expanding…