“Ah.”

The soft sigh accompanied the drifting white clouds, disappearing into the distant horizon.

The sky in the Heavenly Palace never appeared low, but Minister Wood’s emotional state was now simply stifled.

Just thinking that he might have caught the Western Religion’s attention and been added to their calculation list, Eastern Minister Wood’s originally quite stable Dao heart couldn’t help but ripple with various emotions.

If there was no other choice, who would want to become tribulation ash? Who would want to bury their longevity Dao fruit?

But in the Great Wilderness, the Sages were supreme. If a Sage of the Western Religion moved against him, what could he do to respond?

After hearing Star Lord Venus analyze the subsequent developments in the Hall of Universal Light, Minister Wood’s heart just…

Grew colder and colder.

It was as if a voice constantly echoed in his ears:

No hope left, just wait for death; eat what you can, drink what you can.

‘Should I… try to leave behind an heir?’

‘If I’m schemed to death by the Western Religion, the Heavenly Court should treat my wives well.’

Once entering the Heavenly Court, it’s deep as the sea; from then on, carefree life becomes a stranger.

Had he forgotten the joy of cultivation after all these years of ups and downs in the Heavenly Court?

There was no choice…

Minister Wood thought back and forth, hesitating repeatedly, forcing himself to hold on for half a month, but finally couldn’t resist appearing before the Palace of Venus.

He adjusted his expression to appear utterly haggard; then paid attention to his trembling voice, using an elderly tone plus vibrating endings for better emotional impact.

Taking a breath, lifting the hem of his formal robe, hurrying forward with small steps, and reaching the Hall of Venus, he called out:

“Save me, Changcheng! Save me, Changcheng… huh?”

Minister Wood’s voice came to an abrupt halt as he raised his hand to cover his bumped nose, staring at the layers of light walls that had appeared before him, momentarily stunned.

What a powerful defensive formation, actually able to completely conceal its fluctuations.

While Minister Wood was surprised, the surrounding celestial soldiers and generals didn’t dare to look, each pretending to be wooden statues.

Eastern Minister Wood waited outside for a while, then couldn’t help calling out again:

“Changcheng? Is Changcheng at home?”

Strange, Changcheng would usually leave a paper avatar when going out, why was there no response this time?

Inside the Hall of Venus, Ling E, who had come upon hearing the news, watched the old immortal outside the formation craning his neck to look around, thinking of her Senior Brother’s instructions…

‘When Brother goes out this time, I might not be able to spare attention later. If anyone comes looking, tell them I’m at a crucial point in closed cultivation and cannot be disturbed. Remember, you must also be careful and cautious, don’t draw others’ attention, the Heavenly Court is in an unstable period.’

Ling E couldn’t help tugging at her hair – Senior Brother was again having her inform others…

What should she do?

A flash of inspiration struck her mind, and Ling E blinked, turning to float back to Small Jade Peak.

Soon after, the petite Bear Lingli came hurrying with a blue stone in her arms. Ling E closed the protective formation from inside and immediately reopened it, and Bear Lingli casually threw that blue stone toward Minister Wood.

Eastern Minister Wood was stunned at first, but then smiled calmly – he was a Golden Immortal after all. He raised his left hand casually to press toward the incoming blue stone.

Thinking back to his heroic days on human battlefields;

Looking back to ancient times, laughing while slaying demons…

Crack!

At the crisp sound, many celestial soldiers and generals were startled together, but fortunately, the blue stone landed steadily three inches in front of Minister Wood.

Eastern Minister Wood calmly put his left hand behind his back, the unnatural bend in his left arm hidden by his wide sleeve. Though his face was pale, he still wore a senior expert’s smile.

The stone was inscribed:

[Star Lord Venus is at a crucial moment in closed cultivation]

Minister Wood nodded in understanding and smiled, “Then I’ll come back later, come back later.”

After speaking, Minister Wood turned and floated away, his figure not the least bit disturbed, making many celestial soldiers and generals deeply moved.

Truly worthy of being the Heavenly Court’s most senior civil official.

Where had Li Changsheng gone?

To Xuandu City, of course.

Just as Yang Jian’s matter had concluded and Li Changsheng hadn’t rested long, he received a ‘transmitted image’ from his master.

At that time, Li Changsheng hadn’t rushed over immediately, but had Golden Peng take his paper avatar to build a ‘landing point’ for a one-way teleportation array in a Great Thousand World not too far from Xuandu City, sparing no expense.

Then, Li Changsheng ordered the Celestial Palace to secretly assist in building the ‘starting point’ of the one-way teleportation array in a Great Thousand World not too far from the Five Regions.

The teleportation array was one-way, with the ‘starting point’ keeping sufficient buffer distance from the Five Regions, and the ‘landing point’ from Xuandu City, eliminating about ninety-five percent of the journey.

This way, they could achieve the purpose of quickly supporting Xuandu City while preventing the array from being used by outside demons if Xuandu City fell.

This was his balance between ‘stability’ and ‘efficiency.’

Then came the most crucial question.

Who to select to help defend Xuandu City.

In the image his master had shown, though Senior Brother looked somewhat disheveled, the Taiji Diagram was holding the entrance to the Great Wilderness world, and Senior Brother’s magical power was abundant – his condition wasn’t too bad.

Otherwise, Master wouldn’t have ‘transmitted an image’ to him but would have directly descended on Xuandu City to set up a barbecue grill.

The Dao soldiers were formed from divine powers anyway, so their deaths and injuries weren’t worth grieving over.

‘Why doesn’t Master personally move to eliminate Kun Peng?’

This doubt arose in Li Changsheng’s mind, but thinking carefully, it could be explained.

If the Master handled everything personally, what would they, his two disciples, be for?

Li Changsheng had considered the possibility of Kun Peng suddenly making his move before, but due to his confidence in Senior Brother, and since Xuandu City wasn’t a place ordinary beings could reach, he hadn’t concerned himself too much with this matter.

This situation was truly brought about by his actions.

First, he had killed Kun Peng’s old shell in the Chaos Sea but hadn’t spread this news throughout the world as Kun Peng had anticipated, causing Kun Peng’s fake death scheme to fall apart on its own.

Then, to scheme against Maitreya, Li Changsheng exposed the matter of Kun Peng’s second primordial spirit, making Kun Peng’s fake death plan completely meaningless.

Afterward, Kun Peng sent the outside demon Du Shuren to make contact, and under Heaven’s Dao’s watch, Li Changsheng directly refused Kun Peng’s ‘invitation,’ leading to Xuandu City being frantically invaded by outside demons…

Though Li Changsheng didn’t quite understand what Kun Peng wanted to do, he had now determined that Kun Peng must have some connection with Senior Lang.

And Kun Peng was probably interested in him as a fellow townsman of Senior Lang.

Unfortunately…

Li Changsheng now acted with the backing of Heaven’s Dao and was valued by the Dao Ancestor, so he naturally had to avoid any association with Senior Lang.

What was Kun Peng’s intention with this move?

Li Changsheng quickly came up with… three relatively plausible possibilities.

First, Kun Peng was secretly collaborating with the Western Religion, actively appearing to help clear Maitreya’s name or executing a strategy to lure the tiger away from the mountain.

Second, Kun Peng wanted to take advantage of the chaos to cause trouble, pressuring the Great Wilderness world, and benefit from the ‘internal strife’ of the Six Sages.

Third, Kun Peng wanted to lure him outside the heavens.

Because Du Shuren’s previous ‘Kun Peng asked me to pass you a message’ incident, among these three possibilities, the third seemed most likely.

If so, a major question arose.

Assuming Supreme Clarity Master knew everything from ancient times until now completely, his sending such an image rather than just the character [Go], did this represent that Master also wanted him to meet Kun Peng?

This was truly a major question.

Li Changsheng had immense respect for Supreme Clarity Master; in his eyes, Master’s inclinations represented the ‘right and wrong’ of past events.

Thinking about how Supreme Clarity Master had once acted to conceal that ‘chronicle’…

Li Changsheng couldn’t help feeling somewhat lost.

Between Senior Lang and the Dao Ancestor, who was right and who was wrong?

More accurately, who had a higher proportion of being ‘right’?

Different conclusions could be drawn when analyzing a matter from different angles. Apart from [Pure Evil], [Desire Driven by Evil Thoughts], and [Boundless Greed], there were no absolute rights and wrongs.

“Who should I invite to help at Xuandu City?”

Li Changsheng pondered briefly and quickly had candidates in mind.

The most important quality for those going to Xuandu City was having a firm Dao heart that wouldn’t be taken advantage of by outside demons.

Among the experts he could call upon, those with relatively steadfast Dao hearts included Old Fellow Zhao, who had no major attachments, and whose Sea Stabilizing Zhenzhu was quite suitable for handling major situations.

With Old Fellow Zhao appearing, Golden Spirit Holy Mother certainly wouldn’t be left behind – husband and wife together eliminating demons.

Cloud Maiden…

Li Changsheng instinctively wanted to avoid this Dao title, unwilling to let Cloud Maiden risk danger outside the heavens, but in terms of Dao heart firmness, Cloud Maiden was definitely among the top five among Dao disciples.

If he ignored this out of bias, his favoritism would reach Purple Void Palace!

Therefore, when sending jade tokens, Li Changsheng also sent one to Three Immortal Island.

After sending out several jade tokens, Li Changsheng considered another problem.

If he brought too many Severing Sect immortals to Xuandu City, wouldn’t that directly harm the Severing Sect if the Three Realms erupted in great war?

Yes, balance was needed.

Li Changsheng turned his attention to the Orthodox Teaching, sending one jade token to Jade Void Palace and another to Qianyuan Mountain.

It was an old common sense from his previous life – an excellent team must have stable initiation points and stable taunt points to cover the main damage dealers as they unleash their firepower.

True Lord Grand Supreme was crucial.

Within half a day, the first batch of experts supporting Xuandu City gathered at the ‘starting point’ of the one-way teleportation array.

The Severing Sect was led by Big Sister Golden Spirit Holy Mother, accompanied by Zhao Gongming, Fairy Cloud Maiden, and Turtle Spirit Holy Mother.

The Orthodox Teaching sent True Lord Yellow Dragon, True Lord Grand Supreme, and True Lord Jade Capital.

— The jade token Li Changsheng had sent to Jade Void Palace only mentioned Xuandu City’s emergency and requested True Lord Grand Supreme and True Lord Jade Capital to come help, without asking for additional support.

The Pure Teaching had few disciples, just Li Changsheng himself, plus the two mounts already waiting at the other end of the teleportation array.

After the experts gathered, Li Changsheng briefly introduced the situation at Xuandu City, pointing out that Demon Teacher Kun Peng had likely appeared, and distributed a batch of mind-clearing pills to the immortals.

Though all were Great Wilderness experts, spiritual pills produced by the Pure Teaching were still rare items.

Upon hearing about Kun Peng, the Golden Spirit Holy Mother, and the others’ expressions became extremely grave. Knowing today’s dangers, they raised their vigilance to the highest level and each stepped into the teleportation array, crossing layer upon layer of space-time.

Just this one teleportation depleted spirit stones on both sides of the array, shattering them. The value of the precious materials consumed could have powered the Crossing Immortal Gate’s mountain-protecting formation for a thousand years.

Though long-distance teleportation was convenient, it was indeed wasteful;

If the Taiji Diagram could spare some power outside Xuandu City now, Li Changsheng wouldn’t have been so ‘extravagant.’

Golden Peng, who had been waiting for a long time, transformed his body to a hundred-zhang size and carried the various experts.

White Marsh transformed into an auspicious beast form, standing on Golden Peng’s forehead, the three seven-colored long feathers on his head gently floating, sensing the fortune and danger ahead.

Li Changsheng thought for a moment, then suddenly said: “This time, I shouldn’t appear directly.”

“What’s wrong?” Zhao Gongming asked with concern.

Li Changsheng said: “Kun Peng might be looking for me, and I don’t want to be found by him.”

True Lord Grand Supreme’s eyes lit up as he smiled: “You’ve even managed to get entangled with Kun Peng?”

“Such vulgar words! What do you mean by entangled?

It’s just that I previously went out with the fairy and killed Kun Peng’s old shell.”

Li Changsheng shook his sleeves, then looked at Cloud Maiden standing quietly beside him and smiled: “Fairy, might I borrow your cloud sleeve to hide?”

Cloud Maiden was unconcerned about this, raising her hand to spread open her flowing sleeve, indicating Li Changsheng could enter freely.

Li Changsheng’s figure leaped up, but during the leap, he shrank to three inches in length and entered Cloud Maiden’s sleeve.

This way, he could observe secretly and put the Prime Yellow Tower on Cloud Cloud.

Cloud Maiden seemed to realize belatedly, after Li Changsheng’s true body jumped into her sleeve, that this was perhaps too intimate.

Especially since Li Changsheng wasn’t being very well-behaved near her arm, occasionally rubbing and poking, making her cheeks slightly flush red.

Li Changsheng was also full of emotions at this time.

With his form shrunk, observing Cloud Maiden’s arm skin up close, he discovered…

The fairy’s skin indeed had no pores!

To continue the narrative, the group of experts hurriedly arrived at the gap in the Heaven’s Dao barrier, before a black void vortex.

White Marsh said: “Small danger ahead, everyone be careful.”

From within Cloud Maiden’s sleeve came a voice:

“Master White and Golden Peng should provide support here. Later if there are any that slip through, or troublesome outside demons, if you cannot kill them then at least try to delay them.”

White Marsh and Golden Peng each agreed, assisting at the vortex.

Golden Spirit Holy Mother said: “Ready your divine abilities, raise your magical treasures, there’s likely a hard battle ahead.”

“Agreed.”

“Agreed.”

At this point, Golden Spirit Holy Mother summoned her Dragon Tiger As-You-Wish, manifesting her six-armed form, each jade arm holding various battle treasures.

True Lord Grand Supreme summoned his Nine Dragons Divine Fire Cover, nine fire dragons surrounding him.

Cloud Maiden took out her Chaos Origin Golden Dipper held in her left palm, her right hand gently poking her left sleeve, signaling a certain Heavenly Court authority to behave and not distract her.

Zhao Gongming raised his twenty-four Sea Stabilizing Zhenzhus and held the Golden Wood Whip in his hand.

Li Changsheng noticed a detail.

At this time, there were several more connections between the twenty-four Sea Stabilizing Zhenzhus and Old Fellow Zhao, with spiritual power flowing more smoothly.

Thinking carefully, when ordinary Heavenly Court authorities borrowed the Prime Yellow Tower, Earth-Leaving Flame Light Banner, or Heaven-Earth Ruler, various cross-talk scenes would appear in their minds.

Old Fellow Zhao had twenty-four pearls – if each pearl’s spirit was independent, wouldn’t that be…

Just thinking about it was terrifying.

True Lord Jade Capital manifested that familiar jade cauldron above his head, while seven-colored light surrounded True Lord Grand Supreme’s primordial spirit.

Preventing a wipe – commendable.

True Lord Yellow Dragon looked at Turtle Spirit Holy Mother, hoping to find some comfort, but saw Turtle Spirit Holy Mother now surrounded in pale green gentle light, holding a jade flute, with over ten musical instruments floating behind her.

Turtle Spirit Holy Mother herself emanated a pure righteous aura, brewing waves of primordial spirit fluctuations.

A true hidden expert against outside demons.

True Lord Yellow Dragon: Perhaps, this poor Daoist should also guard outside?

“Charge!”

Golden Spirit Holy Mother gave a light shout, and six streams of light shot skyward, crashing into the vortex ahead.

True Lord Yellow Dragon’s mouth twitched twice as he became the seventh stream of light…

Within this vortex was dense Heaven’s Dao power, seeming to cross layer upon layer of barriers, as if traversing endless space-time.

Li Changsheng carefully experienced it, feeling the strange fluctuations produced by various Great Daos being slightly twisted, experiencing the various wonders contained in Heaven’s Dao’s gap.

Immortal awareness was compressed around the body unable to probe outward, most of the six senses ineffective, only the eyes able to see faint streams of light flashing in the darkness.

The Heaven’s Dao power was so dense it felt somewhat oppressive, but insights arose in Li Changsheng’s heart, which he kept hidden.

Empty-Bright Dao Heart, open!

The path ahead suddenly cleared, and Li Changsheng’s immortal awareness immediately spread to various places, seeing the great battle at Xuandu City.

They had emerged from directly below the Taiji Diagram, which was slowly rotating, its yin-yang energies covering this place, crushing and repelling countless black energies that struck it, yet itself showing no trembling.

This verified what Li Changsheng had thought before…

As long as the Taiji Diagram was here, outside demons couldn’t break through Xuandu City’s final defense line. Kun Peng must know this – his appearance leading outside demons to fiercely attack Xuandu City must have some purpose!

And Kun Peng…

Li Changsheng looked up from within Cloud Maiden’s sleeve, seeing through the Taiji Diagram’s phantom image that short figure standing with hands behind back above, surrounded by streams of black shadows.

Under the Taiji Diagram’s illumination, countless outside demons crowded the void between the edge of the Chaos Sea and the edge of the Great Wilderness world.

Among these outside demons, besides Kun Peng, several figures were emanating intense pressure.

There was a strange being with half its body hiding in the Chaos Sea, seemingly ten thousand zhang tall, with seven-colored tentacles at its waist, vaguely showing the silhouette of a ‘woman wearing a thick skirt’;

There were also terrifying fierce beasts with dragon-like bodies but bearing bone wings;

And there were those with arbitrary shapes and appearances following their will, emanating bizarre pressure, even containing dozens of incomplete Great Daos…

Primordial God-Demons!

Grand Master Xuandu was now sitting cross-legged in the center of the Taiji Diagram, two figures weaving back and forth around him, trying their best to block those outside demons’ impacts on both the Taiji Diagram and himself.

Though two fists were hard-pressed against four hands, and the Grand Master was effectively trapped here, unable to move away from the entrance to the world, he showed no injuries at this time and was handling things quite composedly, with the appearance of being able to hold out indefinitely.

Li Changsheng didn’t speak now, only instructing everyone not to reveal that he had also arrived, observing secretly.

He sensed his Senior Brother’s suppressed anger and, without much thought, said to Cloud Maiden:

“Cloud, reach your hand in.”

Cloud Maiden reached her right hand into her sleeve, accepting the Heaven-Earth Ruler and Prime Yellow Tower that Li Changsheng handed over, her delicate finger gently poking Li Changsheng’s chest.

Li Changsheng accordingly coughed twice, lying down by Cloud Maiden’s arm, turning to wrap both hands around that smooth jade arm, sighing in transmitted voice:

“It’s over, it’s over, I’m seriously injured, without some benefit, I won’t be able to get up.”

Cloud Maiden transmitted a ‘pah’ at him, her voice gentle and soft, then immediately turned her attention to the great battle about to erupt.

Zhao Gongming gave a light shout: “It is Kun Peng!”

Golden Spirit Holy Mother gave a cold snort, her figure the first to shoot skyward!

The other Dao experts each brightened their magical treasures, charging through the Taiji Diagram without hindrance!

Grand Master Xuandu suddenly opened his eyes, traces of anger flashing through them.

Cloud Maiden gave a light shout: “Senior Brother, please accept this treasure.”

The Heaven-Earth Ruler flew from Cloud Maiden’s hand, becoming a gray stream of light breaking through several black shadows, reaching Grand Master Xuandu’s side, steadily gripped by the Grand Master’s raised right palm.

The Grand Master rose to his full height!

At this moment, a small tower flew above the Grand Master’s head, sprinkling thousands of strands of prime yellow energy.

“Fellow Junior Brothers and Sisters need only guard the Taiji Diagram.”

The Grand Master said calmly, then looked up toward Kun Peng, the god-demons, and the crowd of outside demons above.

A small tower floated above the Grand Master’s head, sprinkling streams of prime yellow energy, making the Grand Master’s figure appear so magnificent.

“These past few days, have you enjoyed beating this poor Daoist? Trash.”