“Old Man of the Moon, you’re just a deity managing marriages – what do you know about love between men and women!”

In the front hall, a drunken Celestial General was sobbing;

The Old Man of the Moon wore a helpless expression, only able to speak words of comfort, yet completely unwilling to loosen his stance and promise to tie a red string for this Celestial General.

Having served for ten thousand years, what hadn’t the Old Man of the Moon encountered?

He had seen such situations many times.

He could only continue offering comfort, speaking for some reason, and then contact other Celestial Generals to handle this matter.

Fate mainly depends on one’s efforts – to create some wonderful stories with that immortal maiden would require careful long-term planning and heartfelt dedication…

Before this, the Old Man of the Moon had been repairing the clay figure that Great Master Xuandu had previously crushed.

The clay figure was formed from the power of Heaven’s Way, constantly resonating with Heaven’s Way. Though it could be repaired, the process was extremely complex;

The key was to temporarily ‘remove’ this clay figure from the Wheel of Fate, then add it back after repairs were complete.

Just now, as the Old Man of the Moon was about to complete his work, this Celestial General suddenly came crying;

Since the clay figure couldn’t be separated from the Wheel of Fate for too long, the Old Man of the Moon handed the final, very simple assembly work to two disciples, while he went out to deal with the situation.

In the rear hall, two young servants carefully attached the clay figure’s new left arm. The entire clay figure emanated a trace of mysterious Dao rhythm, instantly becoming whole.

Then…

The smaller servant, pointing at the bit of clay still left on the table, asked quietly: “Senior Brother, what should we do with this?”

“Oh no! We connected the shoulder wrong! There’s a small gap! It’s terrible, we can’t stuff it back in.”

“Then, will Master punish us?”

“Hmm…”

The larger servant pondered, showing a thoughtful expression, turning the clay figure over in his hands for examination when his eyes suddenly lit up.

He discovered that at the bottom of this clay figure because its feet were slightly spread apart, the width was just right.

Exchanging glances with the smaller servant, they worked together, carefully stuffing that bit of clay into the gap between the feet;

Then the larger servant took a small hairpin and poked this bit of clay deeper inside, hiding it better.

Great success!

Just as the two servants finished their remedy, the drunk Celestial General in the front hall was carried away by two friends who had rushed over.

The Old Man of the Moon strolled back with his hands behind his back, asking gently: “Have you two finished the repairs?”

“Yes- yes, Master, we’ve finished!”

The Old Man of the Moon took the clay figure and looked at it, nodding with satisfaction, casually tossing two bottles of pills to his disciples.

“Well done, go to the front hall to cultivate.”

With these words, the Old Man of the Moon carried the clay figure into the starlit sky, summoned the group of clay figures from the Crossing Spirit Gate, and gave a gentle push with his hand.

The Wheel of Fate appeared as the Great Dao turned.

The male clay figure slowly floated back to its original position. The three female clay figures around it immediately resonated, three red strings slowly drifting toward the newly returned figure.

The Old Man of the Moon let out a gentle sigh of relief – finally done.

Then he saw this clay figure sway slightly, imperceptibly avoiding a red string that was reaching toward it.

“This fellow, truly single-minded in pursuing the Dao?”

The Old Man of the Moon stroked his beard and smiled, looking at the three barely changed red string ends on this clay figure.

“Interesting, let’s see how long you can avoid it. We can’t force this matter.

We can help people find happiness, but we cannot force difficulties upon them.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the male clay figure gently avoided another red string’s entanglement, then the figure’s body trembled, and [the bit of clay that the two young servants had stuffed in earlier] slipped out from between its feet, floating in the sea of stars…

The Old Man of the Moon was immediately stunned, his face instantly going blank as he tilted his head to look at the male clay figure that had just been repaired, now surrounded by three other clay figures…

This?

How- how could this happen?! This had never happened before!

Could this person be so utterly determined?!

No, this might have been some debris that accidentally fell in during the repairs.

Come to think of it…

The clay figures are just vessels for the red strings, the left arm is important because it might generate new fate strings, this…

The Great Master probably won’t notice…

This is just a Heaven’s Way marriage clay figure, it has no other symbolic meaning, at most, it might create some subtle resonance with the person, but it won’t affect their body…

Right?

‘Remember to pay special attention to this!’

The Great Master Xuandu’s hurried reminder when leaving still rang in his ears. The Old Man of the Moon’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he hurriedly stepped forward, catching that bit of clay floating in mid-air in his hand.

Crushing it, grinding it to powder, putting it in his sleeve, looking left and right, then quickly walking to the clay figure’s front, carefully examining it, he cautiously applied the powder in his hand to the shoulder socket of the previously broken left arm, where the repair seemed imperfect, with tiny cracks…

“Nothing happened, haha, nothing happened.

Three stars converging on the moon is a good fortune! Good fortune indeed!

Ah haha, hahaha…”

The two young servants at the hall door quietly slipped away…

Shortly after, the Old Man of the Moon stood there with his hands behind his back, muttering:

“This, if there are any bad effects… ultimately it’s because I did something wrong, what should be done about this?”

…

On Little Jade Peak, in the underground secret chamber.

Li Changshou sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, quietly cultivating. His body was like crystal, his immortal soul unblemished; a ball of Samadhi True Flame slowly circulated within his body, making his skin appear almost translucent, with immortal light flickering within.

After a careful inspection, he still hadn’t found any abnormalities in his body.

He thought for a moment, then settled down to seclude himself here for several months, only relaxing somewhat when his current minor realm was nearly perfected.

It should be fine now.

Although his current minor realm was perfected, Li Changshou wasn’t in a hurry to break through immediately. Following his previous plans, he would comprehend this realm anew.

Step one, review the old to understand the new;

Step two, change perspective, verify Dao fruits, check for gaps and fill them;

Step three, suppress the realm, strive for excellence.

Only after repeating these three steps several times, reducing the probability of ‘oversights’ to the minimum, could this level of the realm be considered stable.

The early opportunities in the Primordial World had already been seized by those innate bigshots. If he wanted to have enough strength to protect himself in the future, he could only seek stability in the early stage, middle stage, and late stage, and then accumulate deeply for a breakthrough in the very late stage.

His thinking had always been very clear.

In today’s Primordial World, the strength of the vast majority of experts has already taken shape;

What he needed to pursue was the height he could reach in the future, not racing against time.

After another half year or so in seclusion, Li Changshou finally confirmed there was nothing unusual with his body, and the itchiness in his armpits hadn’t appeared again.

Having gone through ascension, with his realm reaching the appropriate level, he had comprehended the upper volume of the “Non-Action Scripture.”

But he currently had no suitable opportunity to work on the lower volume of the “Non-Action Scripture,” and secretly cultivating the sect’s core technique was taboo, carrying some risk.

There are no walls in the world that don’t let wind through.

Setting aside all those countermeasures and trump cards Li Changshou had prepared, his final protection was, in fact, not doing anything that violated the Crossing Spirit Gate’s core rules or harmed its interests.

Take it slowly.

The “Non-Action Scripture” was profound and extensive, with the upper volume having an overall outline;

He could carefully comprehend it, slowly understanding it word by word, sentence by sentence, surely gaining new insights.

Perhaps he could even figure out some new tricks.

After another hundred years, when his peers in the sect started successively facing their tribulations, he could arrange to ‘coincidentally’ be out when passing his immortalization tribulation. It wouldn’t be too late to cultivate the lower volume of the “Non-Action Scripture” then.

Returning from the secret chamber to the pill room, he put away the paper person avatar that had been sitting for so long it could completely pass for real;

Li Changshou sat beside the furnace, slowly beginning to consecrate this large furnace.

This furnace, named the ‘Thousand Poisons Hundred Golds Furnace,’ was a superior immortal treasure, Elder Wan Linyun’s backup pill furnace.

The furnace body was made of hundred-forged bright flame gold, incorporating over a hundred precious materials in its forging. Let alone being used by a Celestial Immortal like Wan Linyun for pill refining, even if an ordinary Golden Immortal used it for pill refining, it wouldn’t explode directly.

Looking carefully at this furnace’s outer wall, beneath the black metallic luster flowed streams of pure spiritual power. Using meticulous techniques, a hundred types of venomous insects and twelve kinds of extremely poisonous mythical beasts had been carved upon it.

But this furnace itself had no poisonous corrosion. On the contrary, when refining poison pills, could suppress the toxic volatilization of the poison pills, increasing the safety factor somewhat.

Originally, Elder Wan Linyun wanted to give Li Changshou another more precious furnace that could increase the success rate of pill formation and improve poison pill quality, but Li Changshou insisted on choosing this backup furnace…

This point made Elder Wan Linyun quite moved.

After all, the current Primordial World environment was no longer that of remote antiquity or high antiquity. Treasures were hard to come by, and people valued treasures over techniques;

Young people who could remain unmoved in the face of great treasures were truly too rare.

— Though Li Changshou was just going for the safety factor.

After opening the furnace and refining a batch of poison pills, Li Changshou was very satisfied with this furnace…

Next, he could discuss the ‘money-making’ plan with Master.

“You’ll have to make do with these minor formations for protection for now,” Li Changshou murmured, “When we have treasure materials, I’ll ensure you’re safe and sound here, with no one able to bully you.”

The furnace wasn’t any spirit treasure, so naturally, it gave him no response.

Having been back for some time, he should go to Danfeng Peak to pay a second visit to Elder Wan Linyun.

He couldn’t just take benefits and disappear.

‘Hmm… I’ll catch some spirit fish, have Ling’e make some dishes, and bring two jars of fine wine to pay my respects.’

Li Changshou pondered thus as he slowly walked out of the pill room, riding clouds toward the thatched cottage.

His immortal consciousness easily penetrated through the formations around Ling’e’s thatched cottage, seeing her dozing at her window desk;

Her waterfall-like dark hair cascaded past her fragrant shoulders and willow waist, her thin clothes revealing graceful curves;

If not for her occasional “hehe” laughs and muttering “Senior Brother” in her sleep, breaking most of the artistic conception, such beautiful scenery could truly move one’s heart and spirit.

Beside her hand on the stone tablet was an unfinished relief carving, depicting Li Changshou returning to riding on clouds…

“Not cultivating properly.”

Li Changshou shook his head but didn’t disturb Ling’e, rolling up his sleeves to busy himself in the lakeside kitchen.

After two hours of busy work, a delicious meal was complete.

Thinking of those first two years when Ling’e came to the mountain when the young girl accustomed to fine clothes and food couldn’t quite handle the mountain’s austerity, Li Changshou’s culinary skills were honed during that time.

Later, Li Changshou actively cultivated his Junior Sister’s spirit of enduring hardship and working hard for prosperity. After she achieved abstinence from food, he passed on all his culinary skills.

Dividing the leftover dishes into two lunch boxes, he quietly placed one beside his Junior Sister and the other in front of the Master’s door.

Then, Li Changshou carried several small dishes and two jars of fine wine, floating at an appropriate height, avoiding the sect’s busier cloud paths, and heading toward Danfeng Peak.

Soon after he left, Ling’e’s nose twitched slightly, attracted by the food’s fragrance, and slowly opened her eyes.

“Eh?”

Smacking her lips, Lan Ling’e saw the lunch box beside her hand and also saw the bamboo strip placed on top.

‘Don’t be lazy in cultivation, diligence brings immortal fruits’

Ling’e was first stunned, then revealed a delighted smile.

Senior Brother had been here!

And made food for her!

Hmm?

Unusual.

Lan Ling’e instantly stood up, left hand supporting her right elbow, right hand pinching her smooth chin, pondering for a moment.

‘Hmph, Senior Brother must be testing my lessons, examining whether I still remember what he taught!’

With a point of her finger, a talisman flew out from her sleeve, attached to the lunch box;

Then she threw the lunch box out the window, fire flashing on the talisman, instantly shattering the lunch box.

This movie can’t be called perfect, but at least it’s excellent, right?

Ling’e smiled proudly, then stepped out of her thatched cottage, searching for her Senior Brother’s figure.

However, her gaze… was quickly drawn to the identical lunch box in front of Master’s door;

The proud smile gradually froze on her pretty face, and Lan Ling’e raised her hand to her forehead, letting out a soft moan.

It was Senior Brother’s cooking.

Haven’t eaten it for so many years… how did I…

Ah, I’ve been corrupted by Senior Brother!

“Master is in seclusion, surely hasn’t noticed either, the food is outside the formation.”

It would just go bad if left there…

Ling’e looked left and right, then tiptoed toward her Master’s wooden door, bending down to pick up the lunch box on the ground.

‘Master, your disciple isn’t trying to snatch food from the tiger’s mouth, you’re busy comprehending the immortal path, and surely won’t come out of seclusion, waste is bad after all, right…’

Creeak–

The wooden door slowly opened, and Senior Qi Yuan, who was stretching, looked down to see his little disciple at the door, immediately showing a gentle smile.

“Ling’e, what are you doing here?”

“Well… Master…

Senior Brother made some food, and had disciple bring it to you.”

“Oh?” Qi Yuan immediately beamed with joy, taking the lunch box, “It’s rare for you children to show such filial piety, Master can eat this before going to Breaking Heaven Peak.”

Ling’e turned her back to her Master, her small mouth pouting, looking pitiful.

I’m crying, Master, I’m crying, Master…

She took a breath, casually asking: “Master, do you have business at Breaking Heaven Peak?”

“Ahem!”

Senior Qi Yuan tried to maintain his composure as he said: “It’s nothing major.

Isn’t Master an immortal now?

Master just received notice from the Hundred Ordinary Palace that our Little Jade Peak can now participate in the peak masters’ small gathering held every ten years.”

“Oh, eh?”