Dong, dong—
Hiss, hiss—
“Li Changgeng, if you have any honor, give me a quick death!”
“Ah! Kill me if you dare! Kill me!”
“Are you even human? Are you still—Ah!”
Screams of agony.
Not screams heard by ears, but spiritual fluctuations perceived by the divine soul.
Yun Xiao’s delicate eyelids trembled slightly before slowly opening. A moment of confusion flashed through her eyes before quickly being replaced by clarity as she sat up alertly.
Where was this place?
She found herself in a magnificent palace carved into a mountainside. Her eyes fell upon craggy strange rocks and numerous rare treasures. More remarkably, the place was rich in spiritual energy, though outside was a grey murky chaos.
Just as Yun Xiao was about to circulate her immortal power, she detected that familiar aura, and her divine sense spotted the silhouette standing on the steps outside the palace doors. Her tense spirit immediately relaxed.
Flashes of memories crossed her mind, freezing on the image of Li Changshou leaping up after blasting open the kun fish’s back with his spear.
Yun Xiao couldn’t help but reveal a gentle smile, though lingering fatigue left her slightly uncomfortable.
Suddenly feeling a robe sliding from her upper body, Yun Xiao looked down to find it was one of Li Changshou’s Daoist robes.
Looking at herself, she realized she was only wearing her inner garments, with her blood-stained dress folded beside her pillow.
For some reason, a slight blush crossed her beautiful face.
‘Is this the shyness of post-celestial beings?’
Thinking thus, Yun Xiao rose and draped on the Daoist robe, her slender fingers trailing down it from top to bottom, making it fit perfectly to her form.
This was the innate desire for beauty in living beings.
Everything was fine now.
Picking up the sheathed Qingping Sword, Yun Xiao slowly stood, her three thousand strands of azure hair cascading down like a waterfall. She couldn’t help but touch her cheek as her divine sense revealed several simple scenes from after she had fainted…
This was the third time she had blushed since waking.
“Frivolous,” she softly muttered.
Li Changshou’s silhouette on the palace steps stiffened.
He had only taken a small advantage in an impulsive moment…
Had he been too forward? Was Yun Xiao fundamentally conservative?
Let it pass, let it pass. If one doesn’t think about it, there won’t be any description. Without description, there won’t be any encounters with the highest divine beast passing through the Chaos Sea.
Yun Xiao’s toes lightly touched down as she floated out from the palace, her long hair automatically coiling into a simple cloud-like bun. Her depleted spiritual power only added to her air of delicate fragility.
Before she even landed at the palace, she had already taken in the full situation of this place.
This was a secret location within the Chaos Sea, and compared to the previous two “Kun Peng Caves” they had encountered, it was far more magnificent and complete.
At least hundreds of Great Daos intersected here, constructing a relatively stable realm.
Various formations were distributed in different positions, absorbing chaos essence and breaking it down into the Five Elements and Yin-Yang spiritual energy, transforming this place into a small immortal paradise within chaos.
The main structure was a pitch-black stone mountain, with spirit springs and streams, flying stone waterfalls, dense forests and lakes, and illusory secret formations.
The formation-created azure sky held several floating white clouds that were not completely still.
As gentle breezes passed by, the vitality hidden in this place spread forth, making one’s spirit soar.
The great palace was within the mountain body. If one climbed to the peak and looked outward, the Chaos Sea appeared like a sea of clouds, just somewhat gloomier.
Was this Kun Peng’s old lair?
Walking out of the great palace, Yun Xiao was unconsciously drawn to a scene caught in her peripheral vision. Turning her head to look, she saw the kunfish’s massive body floating outside a dome-shaped battle formation barrier, as majestic and enormous as a mountain range.
“How are you feeling?” Li Changshou stood up and looked over, asking with a smile.
Yun Xiao touched down on one foot, gentleness in her smiling eyes as she silently gazed at him for a moment before looking away and responding: “I’ve recovered.”
Li Changshou nodded, several dialogue options floating through his mind.
A real man absolutely cannot express concern through ‘complaints’ at this moment, saying things like ‘Why didn’t you follow Golden Peng together, going alone was too dangerous’?
Wasn’t the Immortal Lady’s desperate pursuit simply because she was worried in her heart?
“I made you worry,” Li Changshou’s eyes showed traces of self-reproach, “I responded too hastily and didn’t arrange the aftermath properly.”
Yun Xiao gently shook her head, floating down while holding the Qingping Sword: “I was the one who lost perspective and didn’t trust you enough.”
“Let’s not speak of this anymore,” Li Changshou turned to look down two steps.
Following his gaze, Yun Xiao saw a ten-zhang-long great fish bound to the Minor Slaughter Divine Spear, slowly swaying above a pile of Samadhi True Flame. The fish’s body was somewhat translucent, and having lost all strength to shout or curse, it could only continue twitching.
Li Changshou’s eyes held a smile as he crossed his arms and sighed deeply:
“What a pity, what a pity. I was still one step too late, letting its divine soul forcibly absorb the Purple Virtue of Primordial Heaven.”
Yun Xiao blinked gently, already understanding the key points, and asked through voice transmission: “You didn’t want this strand of Purple Virtue of Primordial Heaven?”
“The upper limit is too low. If I were just a Golden Immortal realm cultivator now, I certainly wouldn’t hesitate.”
Li Changshou replied via voice transmission: “Moreover, the timing is wrong.
If I directly merged with the Heavenly Dao now, I fear many things would have to follow the Heavenly Dao’s will, leaving no room for negotiation.
Don’t tell others about this.
Earlier when I was inside Kun Peng’s body, I forced his divine soul to appear and battle me, deliberately held back, forcing his divine soul to forcibly merge with this Purple Virtue of Primordial Heaven.
In this matter, at most, the Dao Ancestor Master would fault me for poor handling, but wouldn’t directly move against me.”
Yun Xiao asked: “The variable occurred because Master released the true ninth strand of Purple Virtue of Primordial Heaven?”
“Mm,” Li Changshou nodded gravely, his expression somewhat complicated, “The matters here are rather complex, but you needn’t worry. The Dao Ancestor wouldn’t bother feuding with a small disciple like me.”
“But…”
Yun Xiao seemed to want to say more but stopped herself. Seeing the faint smile on Li Changshou’s lips, she also revealed a smile, “You’re better at planning than me, I’ll follow your lead.”
Li Changshou smiled: “Many thanks for Senior Immortal Lady’s understanding.”
Her fine brows furrowed slightly as she thought of those few simple scenes that had just flashed through her mind, and she said reproachfully:
“Is this how you show respect to your senior?”
Just as Li Changshou was about to reply with some witty remarks, he saw that great fish condense into a black-faced elderly Daoist with a fierce expression, still bound to the Minor Slaughter Divine Spear and enduring the scorching of Samadhi True Flame as he cursed:
“Are you two done flirting? Do you dare give this poor Daoist a quick death!”
“Hmph!”
Li Changshou immediately put on a righteous expression and scolded:
“Kill you? That would be too easy! This poor Daoist still needs to take you back for Senior Uncle Tongtian to deal with!”
Kun Peng’s divine soul cursed: “Never did this poor Daoist imagine that after a lifetime of illustrious reputation, I would ultimately fall to a wet-behind-the-ears youngster like you!”
Li Changshou raised his hand to stroke his chin, having already restored his true appearance.
Joking aside, having finally gathered his courage to take advantage of Yun’s crisis, stealing a kiss while arranging for her to lie on her side, using a disguise would have been too improper.
Civilized Primordial Chaos begins with respecting one’s Dao companion.
Li Changshou said seriously: “This poor Daoist has cultivated for several hundred years, how am I wet behind the ears?
Kun Peng, you were merely defeated by your greed. If you hadn’t swallowed me into your belly then, how would you have ended up passive at every turn?”
Kun Peng’s face showed anger, but he didn’t respond, his expression gradually becoming desperate before finally letting out a cold laugh.
“You are indeed cleverer than that fellow townsman of yours.”
Li Changshou glanced at Yun Xiao, but the Immortal Lady merely maintained a calm expression while gazing at the kun fish, very wisely not asking or interfering too much.
But now, taking advantage of this moment far from the Chaos Sea, and while Golden Peng and the others couldn’t find this location for the time being, Li Changshou decided to let Yun Xiao understand more about himself.
Though there were some plans whose knowledge he wouldn’t share with anyone, his basic situation and possible future circumstances were things Yun Xiao should be aware of.
“This fellow townsman you speak of, were you very familiar with him?”
“Heh,” Kun Peng gave a cold laugh, “The old shell this poor Daoist refined, which is to say the Second Divine Soul method, was gifted by him.”
“Then, who is he?”
Li Changshou frowned as he asked such a question. Kun Peng started, traces of memories flashing through his eyes, but at every crucial moment, his gaze would become utterly blank.
After a long while, Kun Peng said: “A fog of confusion.”
“Indeed, his existence was erased at the level of the Dao.”
Li Changshou muttered softly, frowning in thought.
At his side, Yun Xiao couldn’t help but ask: “Are you looking for some senior from high antiquity? I might know some clues, after all, I am also a being from ancient times.”
Li Changshou winked at Yun Xiao and, in front of Kun Peng, summarized what he knew about Senior Lang:
Immortal Lady Chang’e’s teacher;
Pangu’s minor assistant in opening heaven and earth, but was accidentally injured by Divine Pangu while fighting the Primordial Divine Demons, slept through all of high antiquity, first awakened to create a false identity with the Second Divine Soul, and second fully awakened only at the end of ancient times;
Indirectly caused the outbreak of the War between Immortals and Demons;
Secretly guided Holy Woman Nüwa in creating the human race;
Was familiar with Dao Ancestor Hongjun, both loving and fighting;
Was jointly suppressed by the Heavenly Dao and Dao Ancestor, all traces of existence erased, memories of Chang’e and others modified, leaving only Holy Woman Nüwa, who knew everything but would never speak, as the sole informed party;
Enjoyed playing cards;
Was quite a flirt.
Yun Xiao: …
Kun Peng suddenly said: “I have many of his relics. If you can spare me, I will…”
“Aren’t this senior’s relics all there?” Li Changshou lifted his chin toward the kun fish’s body, “If I’m not mistaken, there should be a secret chamber or palace at the vital position in your body.
There’s a mark in your divine soul that seems to have been forcibly added. If you violate certain promises, this mark will directly destroy your divine soul, correct?”
Kun Peng’s divine soul’s expression became extremely gloomy.
Li Changshou observed Kun Peng’s expression and smiled again: “If I’m not mistaken, that secret chamber is in your heart meridian, with restrictions you can’t break. If forcibly broken, it would destroy both you and itself.”
Pausing his words, Li Changshou saw confusion flash through Kun Peng’s divine soul’s eyes, and his heart immediately understood something. He continued:
“It seems this senior had already anticipated his failure when risking that final step, and left some backup plans.”
“Are you his reincarnation?”
Kun Peng’s divine soul’s eyes burst with intense hatred, “You’ve been playing me from the start!?”
But then, Kun Peng froze, muttering:
“No, no, the Dao Ancestor and Heavenly Dao absolutely wouldn’t let him leave any traces, and your current cultivation hasn’t been restricted by the Heavenly Dao…
Who are you?
Who exactly are you!”
“A civil official of the Heavenly Court, Star of Metal Essence, small Daoist child of the Supreme Clarity Observatory.”
Li Changshou swept his Daoist robe, and Kun Peng’s divine soul was immediately pulled up by the Minor Slaughter Divine Spear.
“Since my Immortal Lady has awakened, and we can’t get any more information from you.
Let’s go see what this senior left behind, and why he knew there would be someone like me coming later.”
Hearing those words “my family,” Yun Xiao’s gaze lingered affectionately without response.
Kun Peng gave a cold laugh, closing his eyes to await death, showing an uncooperative demeanor.
But Kun Peng suddenly felt two sharp gazes and opened his eyes to look. He saw Li Changshou holding the Immortal-Slaying Flying Knife, with a pair of eyes staring intently at Kun Peng through the mist flowing from the gourd’s mouth.
Li Changshou said calmly:
“Weren’t you the one calling me to the Chaos Sea, Senior?”
Kun Peng’s divine soul instinctively shuddered, his entire spirit stunned for a moment before sighing dejectedly.
“Just how treacherous is your hometown, to produce ruthless individuals like you and that fellow?”
Li Changshou: …
Just an ordinary Earth person, a medium-sized Aquarius.
…
When bringing Kun Peng’s divine soul back inside the kun fish’s body, Li Changshou naturally put away the Immortal-Slaying Flying Knife.
After all, Great Shaman Yi’s soul had already been awakened. These matters he would only let Yun Xiao know about, it wasn’t convenient to let a third person know.
As for Kun Peng’s divine soul?
For such a menace, Li Changshou was naturally considering how to preserve its extreme speed while attempting to cleanse, modify, and restrict its divine soul, ensuring it wouldn’t have another chance to speak.
A true living treasure.
Though Li Changshou felt he had been ruthless enough this time, the events that followed and the knowledge gained made him suddenly realize that he was just…
A kind person.
Leading Yun Xiao forward, naturally he couldn’t be tainted with blood.
Li Changshou used immortal power to open up a barrier and had the Xuanhuang Pagoda float between himself and Yun Xiao. As they walked forward, he repeatedly added restrictions to Kun Peng’s divine soul.
Should Kun Peng attempt to use even a bit of the magical power stored in his body, the Minor Slaughter Divine Spear would extend numerous barbs, severely wounding Kun Peng’s divine soul into unconsciousness.
In dangerous territory, they naturally dared not be reckless.
Li Changshou’s earlier guess was correct—that secret chamber was within Kun Peng’s heart chamber, hidden in the wall of Kun Peng’s main heart meridian.
Approaching the main heart meridian, there was a winding small path that led directly to this place.
If Kun Peng’s body as a dead object, the ancient stone door embedded in the dark red “rock wall” ahead was filled with a certain historical sense of vicissitude.
But just thinking about this being inside Kun Peng’s body…
Li Changshou felt a constant sense of discomfort.
“This is it.”
Kun Peng’s divine soul reminded in a deep voice, his gaze complex as he stared at the stone door before them.
Through the long years, he had exhausted every method and thought of every approach, yet had never been able to open this ten-zhang-tall stone door, not even finding any clue how to do so.
Li Changshou waved his sleeve, completely sealing Kun Peng’s divine soul, and stood with Yun Xiao before this stone door, pondering.
The stone door was blank and bare, with a crack in the middle, its sides embedded in the flesh and blood of Kun Peng’s heart meridian.
Sensing carefully, this stone door was perfectly integrated with Kun Peng’s heart chamber, containing numerous extremely complex restrictions within.
Li Changshou’s cultivation years were shallow, and his research into restrictive arts wasn’t deep, but just looking at this smooth stone door, he could directly sense that its creator had extremely profound attainments in the path of talismans and restrictions.
With vast periods, one truly could do as they pleased.
Yun Xiao said: “Let me try first, you be careful.”
“Your magical power hasn’t recovered yet,” Li Changshou proactively stepped half a step forward, blocking Yun Xiao behind him, and slowly pushed out a palm toward the front.
Boom!
The stone door trembled lightly, and the kun fish’s enormous body shuddered.
Li Changshou glanced at Kun Peng’s divine soul bound like a zongzi, pondered for a moment, and just as he was about to try other methods, a flashing point of light appeared on the stone door.
Then, a line of small text appeared behind the light point—text completely different from that used in the Primordial World.
‘Jiancedaorenzuqixi.’
What was this?
Interestingly, with his past battles through levels 4-6 of foreign language study, he actually couldn’t recognize this complex sign…
Uh, ‘Human Race Aura Detected’?
Li Changshou’s forehead was covered in black lines. Just as he was about to complain, those small characters flickered and disappeared, and two light points appeared on the stone tablet, followed by two lines of [Pinyin].
In the Primordial World, reading and writing were based on characters; this ‘Roman letter phonetic system’ had never appeared.
In other words, Senior Lang had intentionally left a special message for his fellow townsman.
He had thought there might be some [Even for odds, signs for quadrants], [Heaven King covers Earth, Pagoda suppresses River Demon] type of code words.
Unexpectedly, the most basic pinyin was the simplest and most effective ‘authentication method’.
‘If you have subdued Kun Peng now, click here.’
‘If you are now subdued by Kun Peng, just kill yourself.’
Li Changshou frowned, using immortal power to point at the area marked by the former, whereupon a line of common Primordial World text appeared.
[Hometown Authentication: Twelve Questions.
Question One: Under what circumstances does one plus one equal three?]
Yun Xiao blinked, but before she could speak, she heard Li Changshou say with certainty:
“It equals three when calculated incorrectly.”
[Question Two: Looking at the future global situation, it must be…]
“A world of red flags.”
[Question Three: What were the three great mountains pressing on the people’s heads in modern times?]
“Imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism.”
[Question Four: A sprig of winter plum stands proudly in the snow, please sing it in your most familiar melody.]
“A sprig of winter plum~ stands proudly in snow~”
“Pfft!”
Yun Xiao couldn’t help laughing beside him, while Li Changshou’s forehead was covered in black lines.
Had he… been off-key just now?
…
Through all twelve questions, Li Changshou answered in succession without much hesitation, almost all being common knowledge from his past life—experiences impossible to have in this life.
Moreover, after answering the questions, the stone door also displayed the rules.
Correctly answering eight out of twelve questions would open this stone door.
The light points on the stone door flickered gently, and lines of small text appeared upon it. Li Changshou seemed to hear a long sigh.
[Seeing these words proves I have thoroughly lost.
Fine, I had already prepared myself for this outcome. With Hongjun, it was either my death or my doom, but some things had to be done. Death is but a bird flying to heaven, it’s all about having the guts.
It was ultimately my fault.
In the Heavenly Dao’s calculations, I saw your arrival, fellow townsman.
Don’t worry, you’re not my reincarnation, you’re just a poor chosen one, and I don’t have anything worth leaving you anyway. I guess Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao will erase everything of mine.
These are the rules of our game, and I accept my loss.
Oh right, I have a disciple who’s the Three Realms’ number one beauty, but you probably won’t reach that level, so I won’t arrange anything there.
Also, I still have several drops of Pangu’s original blood essence, but feeling your level probably couldn’t use it, so I won’t tell you where it is.
Since I’ve already lost, there’s no need to pass this heavy task to your hands. However the world develops is how it develops—the objective can’t be shifted by subjective will, right?
Let’s stop here, no need to pursue further. Just get by well in the Primordial World—there are many immortal ladies here, they’re beautiful, speak sweetly, and are pure-hearted.
You must have seen my journal, right? Those pages at the back—I tore them out myself. Don’t ask, let’s just say I was going through an embarrassing phase.
Hongjun is a decent old fellow. Mix under his command, don’t have thoughts of breaking the world’s balance, and generally, nothing will go wrong.
Taking a loss is fortune, don’t be competitive like me.
Oh right, if you meet the Golden Crow clan’s young prince, that is, that Luya Daoist, look after him for me.
Behind this door are some welcome gifts for you, nothing much, just some primordial premium treasure materials and spirit roots.
Not much, just one ten-thousandth of my foundation.
This ark was originally prepared for my own return home, now it’s yours too. There’s a stone tablet inside with the user manual.
Sigh, after so many years in the Primordial World, I still want to go home and look around.
The endpoint of heaven and earth will ultimately be extinction.
Left by a bastard]
Hum—
The two stone doors gently trembled, slowly opening as the text faded away. Li Changshou’s forehead was covered in black lines as he looked at the palace ahead that resembled a treasure vault, momentarily not even wanting to enter.
Who was he looking down on?
Bring out the Pangu blood essence, and his Eight-Nine Mystical Art could advance to a realm even Mother Houtu couldn’t comprehend!
That number one beauty was now actively pouring wine for him!
And that Lu…
Uh, this, could it be…
This isn’t scientific—the Demon Empress’s true form was also a Golden Crow?
Li Changshou glanced at Yun Xiao, discovering her expression was extraordinarily fascinating at this moment. Even the beautiful immortal lady couldn’t handle this level of information bombardment.
Steady now, first send some paper avatars to explore. Though treasures are good, life is more important.
At this moment, what Li Changshou cared most about were the two words Senior Lang mentioned at the end.
[Ark].
Kun Peng?