“Hey, they’re fighting in the Northern Continent!”

“You just noticed such massive spiritual fluctuations? What were you doing before, merely secluding yourself to ponder the Jade Maiden Heart Scripture?”

“Fellow Daoist, if you slander me again, this poor Daoist will have to resort to violence!”

At Mount Kunlun, where a group of old Daoists usually gathered for tea, several figures stood in the air, gazing toward the northeast.

There, a patch of fire clouds had appeared in broad daylight, with rolling thunder and howling winds that could be faintly heard even from this distance.

An old Daoist asked: “Is the Heavenly Court serious this time? Not just making a show of deterrence, but truly going to war with the demon race?”

“Perhaps the demon race went too far before, causing trouble everywhere while Star-Lord Taibai was absent from the world. The Heavenly Court’s action now is to sweep away their previous decline.

Taking action against the demon race now, striking the mountain to frighten the tiger, is indeed a wise move.”

“Indeed, indeed.”

“That’s the reasoning.”

As the crowd spoke, a stream of light shot over from the battlefield, transforming into an old Daoist form.

This Daoist’s face showed lingering fear as he cupped his hands to the group of unofficial cultivators, hurriedly descending to a pavilion below to calm his nerves with tea.

The group watching the excitement and waiting for news immediately followed: “What did you find out?”

The newly returned Daoist took a sip of tea and sighed:

“Tragic, too tragic!”

“How tragic? Don’t keep us in suspense, fellow Daoist!”

“This poor Daoist just returned from the Northern Continent’s border, witnessed it with my own eyes!

Wave after wave of demon soldiers harvested by heavenly troops, divine arts, and magical treasures covering thousands of miles, spiritual sense couldn’t even spread through the dense immortal light! They say other areas are also engaged in great battles, the Heavenly Court has mobilized several million heavenly soldiers at least!”

“Does the Heavenly Court have so many immortal soldiers?”

“Sprouting soldiers from beans, I suppose. This poor Daoist can smell the bean powder burning from here.”

“Wonder if the demon race will suffer serious damage this time. The Heavenly Court still lacks accumulation, probably heading for mutual destruction with the demon race.”

“That’s not right. Star-Lord Taibai might not always win, but he never loses.”

The newly returned Daoist collapsed into a chair, slowly exhaled, and answered with certainty:

“No, this definitely won’t be mutual destruction. The Heavenly Court is going to uproot the Northern Continent’s demon race entirely.

Star-Lord Taibai is being ruthless this time. The Heavenly Court unknowingly accumulated so many Long Life Immortals.

You haven’t seen it – those demon soldiers scatter at the first charge, heavenly soldiers pursuing and killing from all directions, endless heavenly thunder and inexhaustible heavenly fire, plus battle formations I’ve never seen before. Hundreds of True Immortals working together can contend with Golden Immortal demon powerhouses!

Those fierce old demons are either surrounded or personally eliminated by Star Lord Taibai. The two sides are completely different levels!

The Heavenly Court is truly willing to shed blood this time!”

The crowd of Daoists drew in sharp breaths at these words, exchanging glances, analyzing how the demon race’s heavy losses would affect the primordial world.

Like old village uncles gossiping.

After the crowd discussed back and forth for a while, they saw a white cloud drifting over, carrying the increasingly prosperous True Person Du’e.

Look at this True Person, wearing an elaborate silk robe with gold-threaded immortal cranes on gray Daoist robes, holding a bronze mirror in hand, occasionally changing angles to examine it, constantly making sounds of “Oh,” “Ah,” “Wow,” making the crowd of Daoists unbearably curious.

Just as the crowd was about to ask about this bronze mirror, True Person Du’e muttered: “Oh? This is Lady Houtu’s avatar? The rumored Seven Emotions avatar has such power!”

In an instant, pairs of eyes gathered around, and some Daoists even used flying eye techniques, their eyeballs popping out behind True Person Du’e to look at the mirror.

What the mirror showed was the great battle between heaven and demons in the Northern Continent!

The crowd of Daoists swarmed forward. True Person Du’e smiled and shook his head, descended from the cloud with the mirror, and sat in the middle, leisurely showing off his first-hand ‘intelligence.’

In the mirror, a maiden with near-perfect features, figure, and bearing was walking through the battlefield stepping on lotus flowers.

Each time her toes touched the seven-colored lotus flowers, gentle ripples spread out, like silent spring rain nurturing all things, or like autumn wind reluctant to sweep away fallen leaves.

Within a hundred miles around her, there were only puppet soldiers released by the heavenly army and large numbers of demons with complex expressions.

The demon soldiers were crying or laughing, either perishing with nearby companions in madness or submitting to capture and execution in despair.

Suddenly an old demon burst from underground, transforming into a giant golden-haired elephant, eyes full of ferocity, viciously charging toward this maiden who carried a trace of disharmony in her perfection;

The maiden didn’t even look back, her toe touching down slightly harder, and a gray ripple passed by. The giant elephant froze stupefied in mid-air.

The elephant looked up at the sky, then at the earth, witnessing the tragic state of demons everywhere, reflecting on how his race had reached its end, how the remnant glory of the demon court would no longer shine in the primordial world.

He transformed into human form, looking at his rough hands, and without warning used all his strength to strike his head, his body slowly crashing down from the sky…

“What’s the point?”

The maiden sighed softly, continuing to stroll around the battlefield, maintaining the balance of her Seven Emotions power;

Where she passed, heavenly soldiers and generals all made way, relying on puppet soldiers to battle the demons, yet achieving the effect of wind sweeping away clouds.

On Mount Kunlun.

The crowd of Daoists who witnessed this through the mirror were all shocked, not knowing what kind of technique this was.

Fortunately, if Senior Lang hadn’t popularized “One Hundred Ways to Use ‘Holy Shit'” in the primordial world, otherwise the immortal pavilion’s banquet grounds would surely be in an uproar.

True Person Du’e sighed: “The power of mortal Seven Emotions is a supreme Dao, how marvelous.”

As he spoke, his finger lightly tapped… bringing up a scrolling ‘list’ in the mirror, opening the first column with the most simultaneous viewers, seeing a young general charging between demon gods.

Actually, not only could this be seen in True Person Du’e’s bronze mirror, but in the large bronze mirrors previously established by the Heavenly Court in various towns of the Central Divine State, the same scenes were being broadcast.

The Heavenly Court’s campaign to eliminate the demon race.

Those scenes…

The mysterious and chilling Seven Emotions avatar of Houtu, where she passed, all beings lost control.

The fierce ancient war immortal, seemingly recreating the devastation of the ancient war between immortals and demons.

The unstoppable three-eyed celestial god, charging everywhere with his three-pointed double-edged spear. Wherever great demons charged toward the heavenly army’s formation, his rushing figure would appear the next instant.

And those well-measured yet unpredictable Heavenly Court battle formations, already considered a ‘revolution’ rewriting the concept of primordial combat;

Various powerful battle formations were displayed before the cultivators’ eyes, making many who thought the Heavenly Court lacked experts reassess its strength…

Of course, what attracted the most attention was still Star Lord Taibai.

Although he looked quite disheveled when surrounded and attacked by dozens of demon experts at the Northern Continent’s border with his kindly appearance;

His heroic image of tearing open his Daoist robe and sweeping through thousands of troops with the small Slaughter Divine Spear was indeed somewhat handsome.

To be precise, handsomely aged.

Although Li Changshou also wanted to sit majestically on clouds watching the Heavenly Court’s troops charge into battle, since his side had few experts to begin with, to be safe, he still personally entered the fray… and attracted the attention of most of the enemy’s experts.

This battle in the Northern Continent lasted three days and three nights.

The originally sunless Northern Continent had azure skies appear in some areas from the fighting.

At the Northern Continent’s border, beyond the endless miasma, the continuous mountains were dyed blood-red, countless immortal bean ashes mixed with demon blood becoming patches of sticky paste.

Most savage was that several simple-minded members of the Ancient Ones actually drooled at this paste, having strong urges to taste it…

The demons gathered in the Northern Continent were completely swept away, with the eight divisions of heavenly soldiers suffering fifteen to sixteen percent casualties, and dozens of heavenly generals falling.

Yin winds blew as Netherworld yin soldiers took away the remaining souls of sacrificed heavenly soldiers and generals.

Demon souls were destroyed on the spot to reduce the Netherworld’s workload, while the heavenly soldiers’ souls each carried merit as they stepped onto the ‘VIP reincarnation channel.’

Priority reincarnation, abundant fortune, plus complimentary services like free membership to the Moonlight Old Man’s Temple and lifetime protection from the Wealth-Rolling Temple.

The Heavenly Court would not treat poorly those who shed blood for it.

After the great battle, the Northern Continent was devastated.

The Heavenly Court’s armies returned to camp, forming ranks in the sky to return through the Northern, Western, and Central Heavenly Gates, with the Jade Pool victory feast still to come.

However, Li Changshou was in no hurry to return. With his hands behind his back, maintaining his elderly disguise, his figure appeared on one mountain peak after another, strolling through this battlefield.

Seeing this, the various Heavenly Court deities sighed with feeling, following in the sky, in no rush to return to the Heavenly Court to claim merit.

Some immortals sighed: “This is Star-Lord Taibai indeed.

Decisive in ordering attacks without hesitation, yet unable to control that compassionate heart afterward, experiencing the pain of all beings’ passing.”

The various deities nodded in praise, their words of admiration for Li Changshou endless.

Finally, the Seven Emotions avatar flew over from afar, her long dress unstained by dust, three thousand strands of black hair dancing in the wind, her face carrying slight sorrow. Seeing Li Changshou, she sighed softly:

“They were too pitiful.”

The immortals in the clouds felt grief rise in their hearts, with several deities of unstable mental states unable to hold back their tears.

Li Changshou smiled faintly and said calmly: “They were given many chances before, and this path was their own choice. There’s no point discussing whether it’s pitiful or not.”

The one currently controlling the Seven Emotions avatar was naturally Little Sorrow.

Little Sorrow asked puzzled: “Then why are you wandering around here?”

“Finishing off survivors,” Li Changshou frowned and said, “Those demon experts are very cunning, some might have escaped by playing dead. Look… there’s one right ahead.”

As he spoke, Li Changshou casually struck out with his palm, causing a small mountain ahead to collapse, directly killing an eight-headed great snake that had been playing dead.

“Having eight heads instead of developing into nine, how peculiar.”

Li Changshou shook his head and sighed: “The heavenly army system is still imperfect. We should add logistics teams for battlefield cleanup later. So many precious materials are wasted.

Though these demons had meager possessions, small amounts add up. Even mosquito legs, thin as they are, contain meat.

These heavenly soldiers and generals, never having experienced hard times, don’t know the value of conservation!”

Little Sorrow: …

Various immortals: …

Li Changshou made a welcoming gesture, inviting Little Sorrow to inspect the area with him. Little Sorrow didn’t refuse, and the other Seven Emotions avatars emerged in turn to greet Li Changshou.

“Thank you all for your help this time,” Li Changshou smiled. “Without your intervention, heavenly army casualties would have been at least thirty percent higher.”

Little Sorrow sighed: “How pitiful I am, ending up being used as a magical treasure by you. All that talk about friendship was just lies.”

Li Changshou didn’t respond directly, actively steering the conversation’s direction.

If he fell into Little Sorrow’s logic, the sorrow would surely multiply exponentially.

Li Changshou asked: “How has your time playing in the mortal realm been these years? Would you like to stay in the Heavenly Court for a while?”

“Wherever I go is arranged by you,” Little Sorrow muttered softly. “They still want to travel and see the Three Thousand Worlds.”

“In a few hundred years,” Li Changshou smiled. “After the Great Tribulation dissipates, no one will interfere much with where you go.

It’s just that now, you haven’t completely separated from Lady Houtu, and you’re still within the Heaven’s Dao sequence. If you can’t control the Seven Emotions power eruption, it might affect the Great Tribulation’s progression.

I can only ask for your understanding on this point. If you find the mortal realm of the Southern Continent more interesting, you can continue playing there.”

Little Sorrow pressed her lips together in acknowledgment, her eyes full of self-pity.

Her eyes flickered slightly, then suddenly her mouth twisted and her nose snorted as she crossed her arms and said:

“The Heavenly Court has too many rules and isn’t much fun. I’ll play in the mortal realm for a few hundred more years!

When you’re free, bring people to visit me, and bring along that flamboyant Daoist who likes wearing red clothes – we miss him!

Hmm, we promise not to beat him to death!”

Another avatar had taken over.

Li Changshou smiled: “Chatting with you, fellow Daoist, one must indeed think quickly.

That’s fine then, play in the mortal realm if you wish. If things seem wrong, hurry to the Eastern Sea. I’ll speak with the Dragon King later.

The Dragon Clan has many experts. Even if they can’t suppress you, they can buy some time.”

“Yes, yes, understood, let Little Sorrow come out to chat with you!”

Little Anger rolled her eyes, “Old immortals are no fun!”

Li Changshou smiled without speaking, continuing to stroll around the battlefield.

Finishing off survivors was also a test of patience.

As he walked, Li Changshou glanced at a certain shaded woodland area, his lips curving in a faint smile as he took out a jade tablet and began inscribing some text and diagrams.

In a corner of that woodland, two masked male Ancient Ones crouched on the ground, each holding a palm-sized grass blade to conceal themselves, secretly observing Li Changshou and the Seven Emotions avatar from behind.

“Bull, should we just walk over and kneel? Moo~”

“The Ancestor’s avatar is the Ancestor, Star Lord is taking a walk with the Ancestor, don’t disturb them, let’s wait, neigh!”

“These past few days of fighting were satisfying, but many brothers were killed or wounded,” Ox-Head sighed. “After staying in the Netherworld so long, I’ve become somewhat sympathetic to all beings, feeling life isn’t easy.

But this was also enmity left from ancient times, it’s good to resolve it.”

Horse-Face casually stuffed a blade of grass in his mouth to chew, replying:

“With demon kings either dead or fled, they won’t cause any big trouble for the next thousand or two years.”

“What a pity,” Ox-Head said with some regret. “Those few great demons that looked delicious got away. Living so many years as long-lived demons, they must have been tender.

Horse, with the demon race temporarily dealt with, doesn’t that mean we won’t have chances to come out anymore?

Moo~”

“I think it’s better to be peaceful, constantly going out isn’t proper.

Didn’t your grandmother say? This world tends toward stability, the order brought by the Heavenly Court is gradually improving, neigh!

All good things, neigh~”

“What are you two marshals crouching here for?”

That familiar voice suddenly came from behind. Ox-Head and Horse-Face jumped with a start, turning to see Star Lord Taibai standing before them, while their Ancestor’s avatar had already flown away on clouds.

Ox-Head shouted: “The Netherworld’s Two Soul-Collecting Envoys pay respects to Lord Star!”

The two Ancient Ones knelt on one knee, bowing their heads.

Li Changshou smiled and helped them up with two streams of immortal power, saying gently:

“The Heavenly Court still has many aftermath matters for me to handle, so I won’t chat long with you two marshals.

Here are eighteen secret recipes for preparing seasonings, you can study them yourselves.

I’ll visit the Netherworld another day.”

Pushing over the jade tablet in his hand, Li Changshou smiled and waved, his figure dispersing as blue mist in the wind, leaving Ox-Head and Horse-Face to frolic in the forest, rushing in different directions across the battlefield.

Ingredients everywhere across the mountains!

…

After the Northern Continent demon-elimination campaign, the Heavenly Court took advantage of the momentum to station immortal soldiers at the Northern Continent’s borders, beginning the grand “Heaven and Earth Demon Sweep” plan.

Except for the eastern region of the Eastern Victory Divine Continent, the three forces of the Heavenly Court, Dragon Palace, and Netherworld worked together, taking only two months to turn the Five Continents upside down.

Any great demon with a karmic burden, regardless of background or origin, was sent into reincarnation immediately upon discovery.

Those with deep karmic burdens were directly scattered to soul and spirit, and only their true spirit was allowed to reincarnate.

However, according to Star-Lord Taibai’s guiding principles, searching the Five Continents once was far from enough. They needed to review, verify, and cross-check across multiple departments to minimize the number that slipped through the net.

Not relying solely on military force, Li Changshou used multiple approaches, dividing the demon race’s internal factions, managing the ‘good’ demons separately, and implementing a ‘rewards for reporting’ system.

The demon race’s prestige… well, there was no prestige to speak of anymore.

Their power plummeted, falling from a second-tier power in the primordial world to an insignificant force in less than half a year.

Previously, the Northern Continent demons could unite to launch raids against the Northern Central Divine Continent, causing many problems.

But now, just a few Central Divine Continent immortal sects joining forces could challenge the demon race’s remaining main force alone.

The Ancient Ones and Demon race once again reached a certain subtle balance.

These were just the methods others could see Li Changshou using; in secret, he began re-promoting the concept of ‘spirit,’ using the distinctions between essence, spirit, and monster to divide the concept of demon.

Making all beings who transformed not consider themselves demons – this was the fundamental strategy for controlling demon race power.

Similarly, this was also Li Changshou’s [Dao].

Five months passed, and the Five Continents remained sealed, but the Three Realms were no longer as panic-stricken as initially.

Just as various parties thought the Heavenly Court would gradually withdraw, the eight divisions of heavenly soldiers suddenly mobilized again, this time heading straight for the Western Cattle Gift Continent, searching high and low, back and forth.

After eliminating demons, the Heavenly Court’s spear now pointed at Spirit Mountain.

Several days later, heavenly soldiers and generals distantly surrounded Spirit Mountain but merely encircled it without any indication of their intentions.

At this time, Spirit Mountain was somewhat anxious.

Previously, the Heavenly Court’s sealing of the Five Continents had been too swift, giving them no chance to react.

Large numbers of primordial fierce beasts and ancient vicious demons who had submitted to Spirit Mountain hadn’t been able to escape in time.

Over these six months, as heavenly soldiers and generals searched everywhere for beings with karmic burdens, these fierce beasts and demon beasts could only hide near Spirit Mountain;

And these past few days, though heavenly soldiers and generals seemed to be patrolling randomly everywhere, they had sealed all routes out of the Western Cattle Gift Continent.

From underground to high in the sky, the heavenly soldiers hadn’t missed a single corner.

But the Spirit Mountain old Daoists still generally had some confidence.

— Spirit Mountain was a Sage’s domain, with two Sages cultivating within. Even if the Jade Emperor came personally, he couldn’t directly search this place.

The previous incident with Yang Jian was a special case, and the Heavenly Court had no second Yang Jian to use.

But what the Spirit Mountain crowd didn’t know was that on the third day of the heavenly army’s encirclement, a golden light shot from the edge of the Eastern Sea toward the Heavenly Court!

In the Taibai Palace, Li Changshou suddenly opened his eyes while meditating in the hall;

A heavenly general reported that Marshal Golden Roc had entered the Eastern Heavenly Gate, but Li Changshou’s divine sense had already locked onto what was in Golden Roc’s sleeve.

There, three recording spheres were sealed by immortal power, emitting faint light.

‘I wonder how Senior Brother’s acting skills have developed.’

Li Changshou carefully considered the upcoming arrangements, unconsciously imagining the scene of the Great Dharma Master and Kong Xuan bustling about near ‘Kun Peng,’ causing him to squint and smile.

Meanwhile;

At the foot of Spirit Mountain, in a certain hidden cave dwelling.

Daoist Wenjing stood at the cave entrance, looking through several layers of restrictions at the heavenly soldiers and generals in the clouds and on the ground in the distance.

‘Water God had me infiltrate until now, could it be for this day?’