Strange, why were there suddenly so many powerful immortal senses searching back and forth in this area?

At the shore of the East Sea, in the eastern part of the Southern Continent, on a coastal hillside along the continuous coastline.

In a fishing village made up of dozens of simple stone houses, Li Changshou, disguised as a cold-faced old Daoist, was holding hot water offered by several old women, drinking while gazing at the sea.

He had just given away some talismans in the village, now receiving the villagers’ warm gratitude, using this as cover to make his activities along the East Sea more reasonable.

—Many wandering human cultivators would use this method to earn some fortune and merit for themselves.

But there was a principle that Li Changshou had understood very early on.

Help good and receive good results, help evil and receive evil results;

He couldn’t be certain whether the people he gave talismans to were good or evil, so the safest approach was to freely distribute some intentionally incorrectly drawn “bedside sleep-aid talismans” with no real effect, thus avoiding karmic entanglement.

In the distant sea, the figure of an azure dragon passed by quietly, quickly hiding in the clouds.

‘Indeed it’s the Dragon Clan, they seem to be searching for something.’

It wasn’t suitable for him to go to sea now, to avoid encountering these dragons.

So, Li Changshou ate and slept outdoors, walking and stopping along the seaside, moving from north to south, observing mortal life, and gaining some insights from it.

Half a month later, Li Changshou had also walked over a thousand li southward, finally confirming that those Dragon Clan experts had left this sea area they had repeatedly searched.

After some consideration, Li Changshou still decided not to change his original plan to cross tribulation in this sea area.

After waiting another two months, he finally confirmed that this area of several hundred li had completely settled down;

He chose a night, quietly cast shape-changing arts, transformed into a moderately-sized fish, and dove into the somewhat warm seawater.

Using the water escape technique, he headed toward several small islands he had seen on fishermen’s sea charts before.

The tribulation site couldn’t be too far from the mortal world;

The human mortal world was his emergency shelter—if he was ambushed before or after crossing tribulation, he could directly hide in the vast sea of humanity.

The tribulation site also couldn’t be too close to the mortal world;

Mortal turbidity was mixed and could easily pollute a cultivator’s dao body and primordial soul. If he could successfully cross tribulation when ascending to become an immortal he would naturally absorb spiritual energy from heaven and earth;

Absorbing mortal turbidity wouldn’t cause major harm, but it wasn’t ideal.

—His master’s tribulation crossing wasn’t complete, so the spiritual energy absorption phase was very brief.

What were the Dragon Clan looking for two months ago?

Li Changshou was also somewhat curious now.

What person or treasure could cause them to mobilize such forces, searching back and forth at the edge of the East Sea?

Although he couldn’t see the forms of those Dragon Clan experts at the time, they didn’t conceal their auras at all, which could be sensed from several hundred to a thousand li away…

Never mind, it had nothing to do with him.

Secretly cross the Heavenly Tribulation, then find a place to cultivate for two or three years, stabilize his dao practice, conceal his aura, improve the Turtle Breathing Technique, then return to the sect, continuing his stable life as a young disciple of the Dao of Deliverance Sect.

He could barely suppress his realm now and could break through to Return Dao Nine at any time.

Carefully advancing in the seawater, Li Changshou slowly approached several small islands of several hundred mu in area, carefully observing each one, but didn’t find a place that satisfied him.

It wasn’t that these small islands weren’t enough for him to hide, but rather their structure was somewhat complex, with too many hiding places, making it easy for people to conduct deep searches.

Not an ideal place for secluded tribulation crossing.

Li Changshou thought for a moment and continued searching southward because those Dragon Clan experts had moved from south to north two or three months ago…

Swimming quickly, searching slowly, he kept a calm mindset, seeking his destined place.

In the late night, Li Changshou’s eyes suddenly lit up as his spiritual sense discovered a rather good small island;

The small island was generally ring-shaped just several small mountains protruding from the sea surface; scanning with a spiritual sense, the structure of this place was clear at a glance, unlikely to attract others to examine carefully.

Approaching the small island in fish form, Li Changshou became increasingly satisfied. Using a water escape technique, he first circled the small island from afar more than ten times before deciding to approach it for investigation.

Still more than ten li away…

Eh? The ocean current seemed somewhat strange.

Li Changshou saw a small whirlpool in the seawater, used their spiritual sense to examine inch by inch, quickly discovering that there was a very hidden rock cave underwater;

The rock cave was very narrow, with an overall upward-slanting structure, connecting to some small pond within the island…

‘Not bad, good place, even has a natural escape route!’

Li Changshou became more satisfied the more he looked.

Decided, this is the place!

…

‘Want to catch this prince and take him back? Dream on!’

Ao Yi transformed into human form, his body pressed against the cold, hard rock wall, carefully investigating the situation within three li of the small island, secretly operating the Dragon Clan’s secret method [Hidden Dragon Technique].

He knew he couldn’t extend his spiritual sense too far, or it would be extremely easy to expose himself…

But because of this, he couldn’t determine whether his clansmen were still lingering in this area.

No matter, he had patience, even though he had hidden here for three months, he could continue waiting.

For the pursuit of his dragon life;

For the bloodline flowing within him;

For his responsibility as the Dragon Clan’s Second Prince!

Once he got ashore, leaving the Dragon Palace’s sphere of influence, the situation would be much more favorable for him.

Ao Yi was also somewhat helpless—he hadn’t expected that those searching for him weren’t the immortals on the island;

That Great Immortal Wuyun had directly notified the Dragon Palace, and the Dragon Palace had dispatched many experts to intercept from north to south!

That day, if Ao Yi hadn’t reacted promptly and continued sneaking forward in the water, he would have almost directly encountered these clansmen!

His luck was decent—while hiding underwater, following the undersea terrain, he quickly found this ring-shaped small island and discovered this hidden rock crevice…

Unexpectedly, he had evaded his clansmen’s search.

‘Hmph, such an excellent hiding place, only this prince could find it!’

Thinking of this, Ao Yi felt quite pleased with himself.

Suddenly, Ao Yi sensed danger approaching;

This wasn’t something he had detected, but rather an ability inherent in his bloodline to sense crisis.

About to be found?

Ao Yi’s heart immediately tensed, pressing closer to the rock wall and not daring to move, frantically operating the Hidden Dragon Technique.

He only regretted that his Dragon Clan ancestors were too proud and hadn’t researched superior methods of transformation and concealment!

Suddenly, a human Daoist appeared outside the rock cave, entered the crevice, and approached his location.

Ao Yi immediately relaxed, furrowed his brow, focused his gaze, and this Second Dragon Prince had already made his decision, quietly preparing his strongest strike.

Ambush him—this old Daoist’s aura wasn’t strong, and he hadn’t discovered himself using the Hidden Dragon Technique. Once he came closer, he was dead!

Kind immortals get bullied by immortals, kind dragons get ridden by immortals!

This was the principle a teacher taught him at the Egg School!

The old Daoist swiftly swam closer…

Ten zhang…

Eight zhang…

Five zhang…

Here he comes!

Ao Yi narrowed his eyes, waiting until the old Daoist was no more than three zhangs from him. Pressed against the rock wall, he suddenly struck, his form bursting with azure light!

In the cold seawater and narrow rock crevice, an azure dragon head suddenly rushed out, opening its long crocodile-like mouth without hesitation, poised to swallow this cold-faced old Daoist Li Changshou in one bite!

Innate Divine Ability: Heaven Devouring Earth Consuming!

Li Changshou froze for a moment…

But his reaction was also incredibly swift, almost instinctively dodging to the side, his left hand quickly flipping over two porcelain bottles.

In a flash, the dragon’s head flickered with dazzling azure light in the seawater, the dragon’s mouth directly bit off Li Changshou’s left arm and swallowed it!

Li Changshou groaned, and hurriedly retreated, his right hand quickly forming seal hand signs!

Ao Yi launched his fierce attack but was dodged, and was somewhat surprised at this cold-faced old Daoist’s lightning-fast reaction;

The azure dragon immediately pursued downward, but unexpectedly the opponent had already used the water escape technique, his form whooshing out of the underwater rock cave…

Can’t let him escape!

Ao Yi’s heart raced, and his dragon tail swung as he immediately gave chase, but he suddenly felt dizzy…

What had he just swallowed?

While rushing forward he hurriedly looked inward, seeing in his belly a small ‘paper’ arm segment, two porcelain bottles almost dissolved by his divine ability, and two clusters of medicine power already quietly dissolving…

In an instant, his head grew heavy and his tail light, drowsiness overwhelming!

Sleeping drug!?

What a powerful sleeping drug!

Ao Yi realized he had fallen for a scheme, the bloodline power in his dragon body erupted, azure light flashing on his forehead.

In such dangerous circumstances, if he fell unconscious he would certainly die. He could only strike while these two drug powers hadn’t fully taken effect, kill that one-armed old Daoist!

Charge!

Whoosh—

The seawater ahead suddenly opened up, and the azure dragon rushed out of the rock crevice in an instant;

To combat the drug’s spread, Ao Yi instantly swelled his body, but in this instant, he saw the cold-faced old Daoist standing quietly in the dark water ahead…

The dragon’s mouth opened and lunged forward fiercely again!

Diamond-shaped black ice appeared in the surrounding seawater, with flames burning inside, simultaneously shooting toward the old Daoist!

His arm was healed?

No, this wasn’t the same person!

Ao Yi’s increasingly huge dragon head sank, the dizziness growing stronger, his thinking becoming very sluggish, making him increasingly anxious.

At the same time, Ao Yi also felt more similar drug power converging from the seawater in all directions, entering various parts of his body, directly eroding his dragon soul!

Meanwhile, several identical figures suddenly turned out from behind that old Daoist, each holding an opened porcelain bottle!

They simultaneously used water escape, six figures swiftly dispersing in the seawater, easily dodging Ao Yi’s dragon body and charging forward by inertia.

Six bottles of Immortal Softening Powder, one bottle of supreme grade Immortal Softening Powder…

This Ao Yi still stabilized his form in the seawater, his dragon eyes’ divine light murky, his tens of zhang long dragon body swaying, but immediately trying to rush toward the sea surface…

As if able to read Ao Yi’s thoughts, those six figures had already regathered above;

The twelve sleeves of these paper person copies billowed in the seawater, the treasure pouches within opened, quickly releasing talisman after talisman, weaving into a large net in the water!

One hundred and eight talismans were like one hundred and eight small formation bases, spiritual power flowing on them, rapidly drawing the water attribute spiritual energy in the seawater.

Formation Array • Water Element Heaven Shocking Seal!

In the blink of an eye, a hundred-zhang diameter square seal condensed, smashing down toward the azure dragon below!

Light surged around the great seal, carrying mountain-collapsing momentum, directly ignoring seawater resistance since it was formed from spiritual energy;

The azure dragon below raised its head and roared in anger, azure mane exploding outward, dragon claws straight, charging toward the great seal with unstoppable momentum!

At this point, Ao Yi had no extra mental energy to think, the intense dizziness preventing him from continuing to judge, his heart filled only with an intense fighting spirit and that unwilling-to-submit dragon heart!

I am Ao Yi, the Second Prince of the East Sea Dragon Palace!

“Roar—”

Dragon roar, great seal fall!

Visible shock waves exploded in the sea!

Ten li of sea surface raised heaven-reaching huge waves, the island nearby continuously trembling!

Look again!

The great seal exploded with a bang, but the azure dragon was unexpectedly unharmed externally!

But the dragon’s long eyes slowly closed, its huge body seeming to lose all strength, falling toward the hundred-zhang-deep seabed…

‘Even dragons who haven’t become immortals are this resistant? The Immortal Softening Powder’s formula still needs improvement.’

In a rock crevice three hundred zhang away, Li Changshou frowned, his spiritual sense monitoring thirty li around.

Fighting methods in water were naturally different from those on land, also forcing him to use some “techniques” that consumed spiritual power.

Time to verify the effect of the Three Realm True Flame;

The formation array just now was only impressive in appearance.

Li Changshou narrowed his eyes, casually taking out six small silver flying swords from his sleeve, and throwing them toward the paper person copies.

These six flying swords carried streaks of white light, instantly becoming three-chi-long treasure swords, steadily caught by the six paper-person copies.

Li Changshou’s left hand spread five fingers, and six paper persons danced with swords, their forms intersecting to form a six-pointed sword formation.

Left hand pressing down, six paper persons head down feet up, operating the sword formation to grind down toward the azure dragon, Six Realm True Flame simultaneously igniting on the six immortal swords!

The surrounding seawater seemed nonexistent, the Three Realm True Flame’s power completely unaffected!

Suddenly…

Li Changshou sighed helplessly, the six true flame immortal swords about to pierce the azure dragon’s skin barely stopped.

This wasn’t because Li Changshou felt any mercy;

This little dragon had just struck ruthlessly, directly trying to kill him, so counterattacking and killing him would be reasonable.

Settling karma on the spot, then leisurely escaping, changing to cross tribulation at the South Sea’s edge, succeeding and returning to the mountain… this was the plan Li Changshou had made the instant the little dragon ambushed him.

But, a flashing purple triangular scale appeared on the azure dragon’s back, the secret method symbols carved on it something Li Changshou had seen in ancient texts.

If he killed this dragon, his primordial spirit would immediately be locked onto by the Dragon Clan’s secret methods, and he would face endless pursuit by the Dragon Clan.

According to Dragon Clan rules, if one saw this kind of purple scale flash and held back, not only would they not be pursued, but they would receive thanks from the Dragon Palace…

That information recorded in the ancient text was released by the Dragon Palace themselves, equivalent to giving their important young dragons one more chance at life, verified several times as true from ancient times to the present.

Who was this little dragon? His identity must be noble.

Most likely, he was the target those Dragon Clan experts were searching for.

Li Changshou shook his head, the six paper person copies quickly returned, beginning to search various places for traces he might have left;

But just as Li Changshou was about to leave after cleaning up the battlefield, he looked again at the East Sea Dragon Palace’s Second Prince below, who had transformed into human form at some unknown time and was now sleeping soundly.

It was him?

What was he doing here?

Those Dragon Clan experts searching from south to north…

Thinking back to the last time this little dragon deliberately lost to him…

Could it be his conjecture that day wasn’t wrong, that this little Second Prince had indeed wanted to reverse-shame the Dragon Clan during the Demon Subduing Assembly, but ended up ‘winning’ against him, failing his scheme?

Afterward… could it be he used the excuse of paying respects at Sage’s door to continue stimulating Dragon Clan nerves?

Finally, this fellow was sent to the Truncation Teaching grounds to take a master… and then escaped to here?

This really could be a continuous drama!

If Ao Yi had escaped from the south and appeared here, looking at this fellow’s route, he was trying to reach the Central Divine Continent or Eastern Victory Divine Continent, possibly even targeting the Dao of Deliverance Sect…

Li Changshou narrowed his eyes;

If this little creature managed to find his way to the Dao of Deliverance Sect, the sect’s most likely response would be to first stabilize this dragon prince, then inquire with the Dragon Palace about this matter, and it might end up causing quite a big disturbance.

Never mind, the Dao of Deliverance Sect was after all his sect, and this little dragon was protected by the Dragon Clan’s secret methods so he couldn’t be directly killed…

What a troublesome situation indeed.

This time he had taken a big loss—using so much sleeping drug, yet couldn’t even collect dragon blood.

Li Changshou released several more paper persons and took out the Beauty’s Enchantment Essence he had refined earlier for Junior Master.

A moment later, a bamboo raft floated gently on the sea surface;

Ao Yi lay on the bamboo raft reeking of alcohol, his body flickering with weak purple light.

A peaceful smile appeared at the corners of Ao Yi’s mouth as he held a ‘wine gourd’ made of shells, drifting toward the northern deep sea with the ocean current.

Having been fed over twenty bottles of Beauty’s Enchantment Essence, he was expected to sleep for several dozen days.

Moreover, Ao Yi had been thoroughly washed dozens of times from head to toe, leaving not a trace of any aura besides his own…

Even that bit of paper that had been swallowed by Ao Yi and couldn’t be digested by the dragon’s stomach had been retrieved by Li Changshou using paper persons.

As for the Dragon Palace’s thanks, Li Changshou had no interest whatsoever, having already escaped southward.