Half an hour had passed since the collapse of the blood-colored light pillar cast by the Twelve-Petaled Crimson Lotus.

Peace had swiftly returned to the vicinity of this ancient Asura city.

After Ancestor Minghe’s presence vanished, the outer Asura clan members fled in panic while wailing in grief. The disciples of the Dao sects did not give chase, instead being instructed by their senior masters to immediately withdraw from the great city and return to the Five Continents, forbidden from carelessly using their immortal awareness to investigate.

Earlier, the second wave of more than twenty immortals from both the Enlightenment and Severing sects who had attacked the great hall half an hour ago now stood at the edge of the Taiji Diagram’s coverage with grave expressions…

The atmosphere was somewhat oppressive.

The Asura corpses floating at various heights in the distance added to the heaviness of this place.

“What should we do about this?” Senior Chijing asked in a deep voice.

Immortal Maiden Qiongxiao’s almond eyes were bright as she stated firmly: “Today’s events must not be leaked!”

“Indeed,” agreed Great Dharma Master Lingbao, one of the Twelve Golden Immortals of the Enlightenment Sect. “We should make a pact to never reveal what happened here!”

The immortals nodded in unison, each making their promises before establishing a simple oath.

True Lord Yellow Dragon whispered, “Senior Brother, what should we do next? Should we… bring them back?”

“No, let’s return on our own,” Senior Chijing shook his head. “Let’s pretend we were never here and leave the explanations to Changgeng.”

“Agreed.”

“Agreed!”

“That’s best!”

With that, this wave of experts from both the Enlightenment and Severing sects who had come as reinforcements exchanged glances, gave some instructions to Li Changshou and hurriedly departed on their clouds in different directions.

Perhaps thousands of years later, when future generations study the rise and fall of the Dao sects, they might notice traces of this incident. In the shadows of major Dao events like the “Non-Aggression Pact at the Tower of Reincarnation” and the “United Dao Seal on the Crimson Lotus,” they might discover the mysterious “Secret Accord of the Three Schools at the Ancient Asura City.”

Future generations might be curious, exhaustively research, and imagine wild theories about what it represented and what truly occurred.

However, under the layers of historical lenses, the truth had already become unrecognizable, becoming merely empty gossip for later generations to tease even later ones with.

‘Master-Ancestor, do you remember that incident from that year?’

‘We mustn’t speak of it, mustn’t speak of it.’

‘Was it really that the Demon Ancestor’s remnant soul summoned a hundred thousand demon soldiers trying to seize that Crimson Lotus, only to be defeated by everyone’s combined efforts?’

‘More or less, more or less.’

Li Changshou: …

Wasn’t this just a case of the three senior brothers simultaneously falling for a trap and making fools of themselves?

Was it necessary to be so formal about it?

Who hasn’t had their moment of stumbling?

Were the three senior brothers of the Dao sects really this petty?

Looking at the Twelve-Petaled Lotus floating before him, Li Changshou slightly furrowed his brow.

Next would be how to handle this Crimson Lotus…

He probably had quite a journey ahead of him.

Those ordinary Asura clan members who had been controlled by divine abilities had disappeared without a trace in this sea region, like schools of startled fish.

As Li Changshou had said, the vast majority of the Asura clan no longer had direct connections to Ancestor Minghe. They had been reborn through the Six Paths of Reincarnation, born in the Sea of Blood, and were beings recognized by the Heavenly Dao.

The truly troublesome Asura clan experts were those old Asuras who had survived from ancient times or the new Asura talents who harbored dreams of the Asura clan’s glory days and had been taught by these old Asuras.

These were two groups within the same clan but existed in different social strata. No matter how many ordinary Asuras were sacrificed, Ancestor Minghe’s followers wouldn’t bat an eye.

Ancestor Minghe’s remnant soul had already been sealed by the joint efforts of Senior Chijing and the other twenty-plus immortals from both sects.

The Twelve-Petaled Crimson Lotus had also been severed from its connection to the Sea of Blood, currently just a few steps away from its complete form.

After Senior Chijing and the others left, the ancient Asura city returned to silence once more.

The eight top experts of the Dao sects still slept peacefully.

Li Changshou, Baize, True Lord Taiyi, and Immortal Maiden Qiongxiao surrounded the slowly rotating Crimson Lotus, each with different expressions.

Among them, Li Changshou’s expression was the most calm, after all, everything was under control, and no “0.2” incident had occurred.

Qiongxiao looked at the lotus with some disdain and muttered: “Will Master use this lotus to stabilize the sect’s destiny?”

Baize smiled and said: “Treasures shouldn’t be judged this way. We just need to deal with Minghe’s remnant soul… the Sages will surely have a way.”

“Difficult,” True Lord Taiyi clicked his tongue and smiled. Fortunately, Li Changshou was quick to react and bumped True Lord Taiyi, or that half-sentence ‘it’s not like the Sages are omnipotent’ would have slipped out!

Qiongxiao asked softly: “Brother-in-law, what did you do to that little Asura princess?”

“What did I do?”

Li Changshou blinked and turned his head to look at the corner a hundred zhang away.

There, the silver-haired girl was curled up in a ball, sitting dazed against the broken wall, arms crossed over her knees, eyes vacant with tear stains not yet dry at the corners.

The Yuantou Sword lay beside her, having been unsealed by Ancestor Minghe himself, now awakened as the true killing treasure Yuantou.

At this moment, the Yuantou Sword was emanating a faint bloody light, as if condensed into a large hand, gently caressing the silver-haired girl’s forehead.

The Green Bull was sitting in meditation nearby, his eyes showing slight guilt, and he wasn’t saying much at the moment.

Some flute notes drifted by, seemingly also consoling the silver-haired girl…

Following the sound, Holy Mother Guiling stood on a broken wall not far away, wearing a light green dress, her long hair dancing in the wind, her crystal-clear fingertips lightly dancing, playing music that made this Sea of Blood seem like dusk in the mortal realm.

Li Changshou smiled and said: “Can Master Baize guess how I did it?”

“Water God’s calculations surely have no oversights,” Baize thought carefully for a moment before replying, “The human heart is most difficult to predict, this is truly something this poor Daoist cannot understand.”

“I didn’t do much.”

Li Changshou took out two recording orbs from his chest and handed them to Qiongxiao and True Lord Taiyi respectively, saying seriously: “If senior brothers and sisters want to know what happened later, they can watch these, which contain detailed records.”

True Lord Taiyi frowned as he accepted the recording orb, asking puzzled: “You had time to record this then? Weren’t you worried about your paper clone being casually destroyed by them?”

Li Changshou said: “Precisely because the paper clone was weak, it was the safest.

They weren’t sure about things and also wanted to negotiate with us.

Originally, I wanted to use the recording orbs to record my conversation with Ancestor Minghe, to explain the meaning of life to Iron Fan Princess afterward.

But after Ancestor Minghe took the Yuantou Sword, Iron Fan Princess unexpectedly broke free from the mirage dream state and woke up.

This was something I hadn’t anticipated.”

Qiongxiao said softly: “That sword must be very important to her.”

Baize said: “If we make some deductions, this Iron Fan Princess should have been born after ancient times.

Previously, when the Great Dharma Master was chasing the previous owner of the Yuantou Sword to Spirit Mountain, Western Teaching took the opportunity to keep the Yuantou Sword.

Subsequently, the Asura clan must have chosen Iron Fan to go to Spirit Mountain to wield this Yuantou Sword.

Iron Fan had previously attacked you, Water God, and appeared several times… and this would explain why she came alone, without joining up with the Asura clan experts.”

True Lord Taiyi: “And got hit by a bull halfway.”

The Green Bull nearby frowned and glared at True Lord Taiyi.

Li Changshou quickly changed the subject: “This Ancestor Minghe still follows the ancient ways.

As soon as I entered that great hall, he immediately showed a fierce expression, and right in front of me, took out a human soul to devour, threatening that after his resurrection, he would cause trouble for humans.

Perhaps all the tough ones from the older generation are like this – supremely arrogant and destroying all who oppose them.”

Baize felt quite emotional about this: “From the primordial times to now, who knows how many such fierce beings there have been in Hongmeng.

The reason the two Beast Emperors of ancient times could gather all races of beings was also because of the Golden Crow’s reputation for benevolence beforehand.

Of course, their subsequent slaughter of humans was not at all a benevolent act.”

True Lord Taiyi asked again: “Changgeng, how did you manage to get Iron Fan to attack Ancestor Minghe?

The more I think about it, the more I feel you’re… tsk, quite frightening.”

Li Changshou made a gesture for silence and transmitted his voice:

“Once I figured out how to break through the mirages here, today’s overall situation was already ninety-eight percent stable.

With the three teachers watching from behind, and the Heavenly Dao Lord monitoring this place, it was completely wishful thinking for Ancestor Minghe to try to escape, and no matter how many casualties the Asura clan suffered, the karmic burden would fall on Ancestor Minghe’s head.

So, at that time I had already shifted my focus to another matter…

Getting Iron Fan to break free from the Asura clan’s constraints.

Naturally, I was also somewhat angry before, as Ancestor Minghe’s evil was too pure, so when he was at his wit’s end, I deliberately provoked him with words and didn’t give him any dignity.

As for how I persuaded Iron Fan, there were mainly three points.”

“Oh?” Baize hurriedly asked, “Which three points?”

Li Changshou continued to transmit his voice to everyone:

“First, it was continuous groundwork. When Senior Brother Green Bull explained his relationship with Iron Fan to me earlier, I asked in detail, and when I heard that Senior Brother Green Bull had told her to ‘maintain her own identity,’ I was inspired and continued to guide her along this line of thinking.

In conversations with Ancestor Minghe, it was mostly about leading Ancestor Minghe to say things like ‘Asuras are like grass.’

When Ancestor Minghe abandoned the ordinary Asura clan members and used them as supplements for his Blood Divine Child, he suffered the backlash himself.

Iron Fan’s various previous behaviors had proven that she was not merely a puppet but had perseverance and attachment.

Second, it was provoking Ancestor Minghe at a crucial moment, making him act rashly in his desperation, showing an appearance of being willing to turn all Asuras into his magical power regardless of consequences.

This essentially forced Iron Fan into a corner – at that moment, what she was thinking must have been either dying together with her clansmen and returning to the Ancestor or making a choice between the Ancestor and her clansmen.

Third, I also used some not-so-honorable methods, using divine consciousness to influence her spirit, and guiding her step by step toward rebellion.

Because the timing was fleeting, there wasn’t time to slowly explain these principles to her. I could only get her to act first and let her slowly contemplate it afterward.

What was important wasn’t how much damage she could do to Ancestor Minghe – she actually couldn’t harm Ancestor Minghe’s remnant soul.

What was important was that she broke free from her previous self and developed the consciousness to resist.

Even a powerful being who created a race should maintain the most basic respect for that race, and shouldn’t treat each different individual as their private property.

Perhaps this is what makes Goddess Nüwa most admirable.”

Baize’s eyes were full of emotion: “Water God… truly worthy of who you are.”

True Lord Taiyi also offered a rare positive evaluation: “I’ll give you credit for this one.”

Qiongxiao looked at Li Changshou thoughtfully and said softly: “Now I finally understand why Sister praises you endlessly.”

Li Changshou smiled and said: “Please don’t elevate me so much. I just couldn’t stand seeing certain things, and it happened that I could help with minimal effort.

If there had been even the slightest difficulty today, I would have chosen another path to persuade Iron Fan.”

After a pause, Li Changshou continued:

“Time is of the essence. I should hurry to the Taiqing Temple and ask Master how to handle this Crimson Lotus. The lotus will temporarily stay here, suppressed by Elder Tu and the Taiji Diagram.

Later I’ll probably need to make a trip to Yuxu Palace as well, and won’t be back for at least half a day.

When Golden Peng returns, tell him not to wander around and wait for me here.”

Baize smiled and said: “Thank you for your hard work, Water God.”

Li Changshou smiled gently and stood up.

Just as he was about to use his water escape technique, Holy Mother Guiling’s flute music stopped, and the silver-haired girl curled up under the broken wall suddenly raised her head to look at Li Changshou. A glimmer of divine light showed in her eyes as she grabbed the Yuantou Sword and rushed over.

Qiongxiao’s graceful figure flashed like lightning, appearing in front of Li Changshou, holding the Golden Crocodile Scissors while glaring at the approaching Iron Fan.

Green Bull shuddered and rushed in front of Iron Fan, spreading his arms to block her:

“Iron Fan! If you want to strike, strike me!”

Iron Fan frowned slightly, her tear-stained delicate face showing some helplessness as she said softly: “I’m not here to fight.”

Green Bull gave an embarrassed grin and moved aside.

But Qiongxiao remained vigilant, standing in front of Li Changshou, completely forgetting that Li Changshou had two powerful treasures – the Qiankun Ruler and the Xuanhuang Pagoda – and the Taiji Diagram was right above their heads.

Iron Fan lowered her head as she walked up to Li Changshou, bent her legs, and knelt, holding out the Yuantou Sword with both hands, saying in a trembling voice:

“Water God, I beg you to spare the Asura clan. I am willing to offer this sword in exchange for the Asura clan’s peace.”

Li Changshou raised an eyebrow, and seeing this, Qiongxiao shrugged and stepped aside.

The Yuantou Sword emitted a series of sword hums, withdrawing its blood light to express its ‘unwelcome’ attitude toward Li Changshou.

Such a powerful killing treasure, taking no karmic burden from killing…

Li Changshou’s eyes flickered slightly before he smiled, gripped the sword’s scabbard, and calmly took it.

Iron Fan instinctively gripped the sword blade tightly, then immediately let go;

She wanted to look up at the precious sword but lowered her head again.

“Thank you, Water God, for your mercy!”

Li Changshou said gently: “As a disciple of Taiqing, I promise not to pursue matters with the Asura clan.

You also know there is a group of stubborn spirits among the Asura clan. If they oppose the Dao sects, the Heavenly Court, or humanity in the future, I naturally won’t show mercy.

But as for the Asuras who live peacefully in the Sea of Blood, I will not raise a hand against them.”

“Thank you…”

Iron Fan’s voice trembled slightly.

Li Changshou smiled and casually threw the Yuantou Sword in his hand to the side, hitting Green Bull full in the chest.

“Senior Brother, you temporarily keep this sword. Your temperament is gentle, your character noble, your actions steady and composed – you naturally won’t use this sword to kill indiscriminately.

Also, since Iron Fan is without a treasure for protection, remember to show some consideration!”

With those words, Li Changshou winked at Green Bull, his form turning into a stream of water and disappearing in an instant.

Green Bull had two large question marks floating above his head.

But after all, he was Sage’s mount, with a “jianghu status” similar to the Seven Attendant Immortals of the Severing Sect like Immortal Dark Cloud. At this moment, he quickly recovered and repeatedly bowed in the direction Li Changshou had departed.

Iron Fan knelt there dazed for a while, tilting her head slightly, unable to process what had happened.

Green Bull gave a light laugh, crouched beside her, and handed over the Yuantou Sword.

The silver-haired girl frowned slightly, then gave a light snort and turned her head away, one corner of her mouth puffing up, her pretty face showing a touch of stubbornness.

Green Bull scratched his head in confusion, had to put the Yuantou Sword in his arms, rubbed his nose ring thoughtfully, then took out two small palm-leaf fans about two inches long from his belt and said softly:

“Would you like to use these for protection first? They’re good treasures too.

They were fans given to me by Lord Lao. This one is yin-attributed and can fan out the Supreme Yin Mystic Wind, which can blow a Golden Immortal tens of thousands of li away with one wave, especially effective against fire-type treasures.

This one is yang-attributed and can fan out Supreme Yang Fire, and is one of the few treasures that can restrain my nose ring.

Which one would you like…”

“Thank you, but there’s no need. We’re neither relatives nor friends.”

“Ah, no rush, no rush. Just like Brother Changgeng said, take things slowly. Just consider it a loan from me, hehe.”

“No.”

“Just take one. Or would you like to look at these? I have more than ten treasures here refined by Lord Lao.”

To the side, True Lord Taiyi and Baize exchanged glances, the latter’s eyes full of amusement, while the former looked at the Nine Dragons Divine Fire Bell in his hand, inexplicably wanting to bash his head against it.

At this moment, Li Changshou, who had already escaped tens of thousands of li away, caught this scene with his divine awareness and his mouth twitched as he sighed…

Just as expected.

Li Changshou reflected on his calculations for this encounter – in dealing with Ancestor Minghe and the Crimson Lotus, he had planned about six layers deep.

But for Old Bull’s happiness, he had planned more than ten layers!

If his Master didn’t give him some reward for this, it would be unreasonable!

This time’s “accomplishment” deserved at least eight out of ten points, no exaggeration.

Before leaving the Netherworld, Li Changshou first went to Fengdu City.

He handed over the remaining souls in the sphere treasure to the Yama Kings and specifically kept back that chattering ghost of a scholar who had been “balanced” by Ancestor Minghe, thinking he might be useful later.

Li Changshou also went to thank the four Yama Kings and learned that those resentful souls who had been put to sleep by the mirage had been placed outside the city. He rode a cloud over to visit them.

This successful handling of Ancestor Minghe’s remnant soul owed much to these resentful souls’ efforts.

— Li Changshou’s paper clone that had been sent to seek help from the Yama Kings had already confirmed that there would be no problem with these resentful souls sleeping in dreams, they could drink Lady Meng’s soup in their dreams without affecting the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

However, just as Li Changshou was about to appear before the mountainsides full of sleeping resentful souls, three figures floated over chatting and laughing.

It turned out that Bianzhuang, thinking of the Netherworld’s specialty of beautiful female resentful souls, insisted on coming to see them and had asked the “Netherworld regular” Spirit Zhenzhu Child to be his guide, sneaking out from the Heavenly Army camp…

Ao Yi had come to keep an eye on Bianzhuang, not intentionally coming out to play.

He was still a responsible Heavenly Court commander.

These three fellows had also discovered the mountainsides full of sleeping resentful souls; Bianzhuang looked around continuously with praise, evaluating many beautiful female resentful souls.

Li Changshou’s mouth twitched as he transmitted a few words to the three of them before directly leaving on his cloud.

“I was planning to look for you, but didn’t expect you’d come here.

These dreaming resentful souls have greatly helped the Dao sects. You three substitute for me here and recite the scriptures of deliverance, washing away their resentment and helping them enter the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

Complete it within one month.”

Ao Yi, Bianzhuang, and Spirit Zhenzhu Child were left standing there dumbfounded as a light autumn breeze blew past behind them, carrying away two fallen leaves.

…

Li Changshou didn’t delay further. He left the Netherworld, flew straight up the Heavenly Pillar toward the Nine Heavens, then along the celestial dome toward Taiqing Temple.

As a proper deity of the Heavenly Court, he naturally wouldn’t be blocked by the Heavenly Dao force at the edge of the Heavenly Court, finding the small temple above the Nine Heavens without any hindrance.

Outside the temple gate, Li Changshou bowed once and called out loudly:

“Disciple Changshou pays respects to Master, coming specially to ask how to handle the Crimson Lotus!”

That familiar, elderly voice responded: “Enter… that is.”

Li Changshou pushed open the wooden door, lifting the hem of his Daoist robe as he entered with a lowered head. He was about to bow again but was pressed onto the meditation cushion beside the gaunt elder by the word ‘sit’.

Supreme Lord Taiqing’s mouth revealed a faint smile…

This should be a smile – Li Changshou had seen it before.

Laozi asked: “How do you think it should be handled?”

Li Changshou hurriedly said: “This disciple thinks we should destroy Minghe’s remnant soul inside it, preserve as much of the Crimson Lotus power as possible, and give the karma-bearing Crimson Lotus to Uncle Master Tongtian.

It’s just that this disciple doesn’t know how to explain this to Second Uncle Master.”

Laozi nodded slowly and began to ponder, seemingly thinking about how to prevent his two younger brothers from quarreling.

Li Changshou’s heart relaxed – it seemed his thoughts hadn’t gone against his Master’s in…ten…tions…

Wait!

Master has started pondering!?

Li Changshou tightly pressed his lips together, looking at his Master who had now closed his eyes, his dao heart twitching repeatedly.

And so, after eighteen days and nights had passed…

“Changshou?”

“Dis-disciple is here!”