“It’s just a reincarnation. Why such a serious matter that brought everyone here?”

At Mount Qian Yuan, before the cave dwelling.

Master Tai Yi looked at the vigilant Li Changsheng and Yu Ding before him, as well as Yang Jian who stood a bit further away, leaning on his Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear and scanning everywhere with his Heavenly Eye. For a moment, Tai Yi felt helpless to comment.

“Let’s check the Spirit Zhenzhu’s fetal spirit one more time,” Li Changsheng said worriedly.

Master Yu Ding slowly nodded. “Very well.”

Tai Yi opened his mouth, then resigned himself to the situation. From within his red robe’s sleeve, he took out a precious pearl.

Inside was a tiny infant sucking its thumb, faintly bearing Spirit Zhenzhu’s refined features.

Li Changsheng’s brows furrowed as he immediately noticed something unusual. He smiled wryly and said, “Elder Brother Tai Yi, how many benefits did you bestow upon Spirit Zhenzhu? This divine soul is nearly flawless, almost comparable to a Primordial Spirit.”

Tai Yi’s eyes curved into crescents as he said lightly, “Who else would care for one’s disciple if not oneself?”

Li Changsheng seemed to want to say something but swallowed his words back.

There was nothing wrong with caring for a disciple, but this level of care was somewhat spoiling and might be detrimental to Spirit Zhenzhu’s growth after reincarnation.

Helping improve a fetal spirit’s foundation was an extremely difficult task, let alone how Master Tai Yi had pre-emptively eliminated Spirit Zhenzhu’s future ‘bottlenecks.’

The amount of effort and treasures spent… Li Changsheng found it hard to imagine.

Indeed, this Tai Yi was another hidden wealthy landlord of the Ancient Wilderness.

Better make a note of that.

Master Yu Ding asked, “Does Elder Brother know where Spirit Zhenzhu should reincarnate?”

“Chen Tang Pass, to Li Jing and his wife.”

Tai Yi put away the fetal spirit and clasped his hands behind his back, smiling with a trace of mockery in his eyes as he sighed, “Helping my disciple reincarnate, and somehow ended up gaining a godson in the process. Isn’t that right, Godfather Li Jing?”

Li Changsheng couldn’t help but blush, hurriedly saying, “That was just a misunderstanding, just a misunderstanding.”

But Master Yu Ding asked, “Why Li Jing?”

“I don’t know either,” Tai Yi shook his head. “This thought just appeared a few days ago. After careful self-examination, I determined it must be an external suggestion.”

The implication was clear – it was Heaven’s arrangement.

Yu Ding, Tai Yi, and Yang Jian all looked at Li Changsheng, who spread his hands with an innocent expression.

Heaven’s will, you know.

Don’t try to understand it, just feel it.

“Well then, let’s go,” Tai Yi smiled. “We’ll find an auspicious day for Spirit Zhenzhu to reincarnate into the Li family.”

“Not so fast.”

Li Changsheng pondered for a moment before saying seriously, “Elder Brother, should we perhaps request Second Uncle Master’s decree? To protect Spirit Zhenzhu’s reincarnation?”

Master Yu Ding: …

True Lord Yang Jian: …

Tai Yi waved his hands repeatedly. “That’s unnecessary, unnecessary. With all of us watching over, what could go wrong?”

“To be on the safe side, let’s still request one,” Li Changsheng persuaded earnestly. “We shouldn’t give ill-intentioned people any opportunity. Prevention is better than cure.”

“This…”

“Elder Brother, Spirit Zhenzhu is your only legacy inheritor.”

“Alright then,” Tai Yi conceded, frowning as he said, “I’ll make a trip to Mount Kunlun right away.”

Li Changsheng said, “Elder Brother Yu Ding, please accompany Elder Brother Tai Yi.”

“Very well.”

Yu Ding nodded gravely. Having a mysterious trust in Li Changsheng, he now fully sensed the ‘severity of the situation’ and pulled Tai Yi along as they rode clouds toward Mount Kunlun.

Yang Jian immediately moved to follow but was called back by Li Changsheng.

“Nephew Yang Jian, come with me to Chen Tang Pass first to make some arrangements.”

At Li Changsheng’s call, Yang Jian immediately saluted and accepted the order, carrying his Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear as he followed at Li Changsheng’s side.

Riding clouds for some distance as they headed toward the northeastern part of the South Jambudvipa Continent, Li Changsheng’s eyes held traces of contemplation.

Halfway there, Yang Jian couldn’t help but ask:

“Star-Lord… Uncle, who wants to scheme against Spirit Zhenzhu?”

“I don’t know,” Li Changsheng said slowly. “There might be someone plotting, or I might be overthinking. But no matter how I analyze it, I feel there’s a fairly high chance someone wants to use this for revenge – about a ten percent possibility.”

Eh?

Yang Jian blinked. If that was the case, weren’t they being overly cautious… calculating against clouds?

Li Changsheng pondered, feeling somewhat uneasy.

He carefully considered his current arrangements.

The [High-Level Servant] paper clone wasn’t idly wandering in the Li residence. It was now under the mansion, right beneath Li Jing’s nose, setting up the Heaven-Severing Immortal-Breaking Formation that could seal off the Li residence when necessary.

A newest-model paper clone army, including six ‘Golden Core’ paper clones he could control, was already buried under the Li residence.

Li Changsheng truly didn’t want the tragedy of Yang Jian’s family to repeat.

Taking a step back, Li Changsheng could accept being inferior in magical power to the schemer, but he couldn’t accept Spirit Zhenzhu being harmed due to his carelessness.

Why did he feel the schemer was a certain Sage from the Western Teaching?

Simple – they had sufficient motivation: revenge.

Currently, Western Teaching’s hatred points are focused on Severing Teaching and Human Teaching.

That one knee Li Jing took directly placed him in a position he shouldn’t have reached, and now he had become the perfect target.

This was a serious issue Li Changsheng only realized during his last divination.

That certain Sage whose name couldn’t be mentioned had personally dealt with Yang Jian’s family before. It would be perfectly reasonable for them to move against Li Jing’s family.

Looking at the Three Sages of the Dao School, they wouldn’t act against a Western Teaching Sage over a junior disciple;

Especially under the current complex situation with the Great Investiture of the Gods Calamity about to fully erupt in a few years.

The only one who could oppose the Western Teaching Sage now was Patriarch Tong Tian.

But the Orthodox Teaching and Severing Teaching had just arm-wrestled in Chaoge City. Going to request Patriarch Tong Tian or Yun Xiao, Elder Zhao, and the others to protect a future golden fighter of the Orthodox Teaching?

That wouldn’t make sense.

He could request help from Grand Magus and Sister-in-law Kong Xuan, but if the Human Teaching mobilized fully to protect an Orthodox Teaching junior disciple’s reincarnation, it would involve the Sages’ face and the Human Teaching’s stance in the Great Investiture Calamity.

It wasn’t time to make that choice yet, and Master had only tacitly approved his protection of his ‘godson’s family.’

Fundamentally, for the Dao School, a third-generation disciple’s weight was still too light.

After much consideration, Li Changsheng had only invited Master Yu Ding and Yang Jian, this master-disciple pair.

He was simply standing from his own position, wanting to look after Spirit Zhenzhu, with whom he shared deep feelings.

That was all.

To be safe, the things he least wanted to happen were the most likely to occur. Li Changsheng had already accepted that Spirit Zhenzhu’s reincarnation would not be peaceful.

A false alarm was better than being caught unprepared.

At Little Jade Peak, Li Changsheng knelt before his Master’s portrait, summoned the Taiji Diagram and the Heaven-Earth Ruler, equipped his [Human Teaching Universal Treasures] set of three, instructed Ling E and Xiong Lingli not to go out, and quietly sent his true body to the Li residence.

“Ah…”

On the cloud heading east with Yang Jian, Li Changsheng let out a soft sigh.

Yang Jian looked at Li Changsheng puzzledly, his eyes showing confusion.

What could trouble this man?

“Yang Jian.”

“Disciple is here,” Yang Jian instinctively lowered his head and cupped his fists.

Li Changsheng smiled, “No need to be so formal… Has your cultivation been stable lately? I see your Dao realm seems to have deepened somewhat, nearly catching up to your Orthodox Teaching senior brothers and sisters.”

Yang Jian smiled warmly, replying in his clear voice, “Uncle is teasing me. My cultivation is still too shallow. It’s only thanks to Uncle’s guidance and Master’s teachings that I’ve progressed somewhat quickly, though my foundation might be a bit unstable.”

“Mm, it’s good that you can recognize your unstable foundation.”

Yang Jian: …

He was just being modest.

Was it really unstable?

Li Changsheng took out a jade talisman from his sleeve and tossed it to Yang Jian, smiling, “This is a method for the Dao-Severing Realm that I improved recently when I had nothing else to do. It will help strengthen your foundation and allow you to comprehend the Dao realm anew. You can use it more when you have free time after the Great Calamity.”

Yang Jian solemnly put away the jade talisman and said to Li Changsheng, “Thank you for Uncle’s guidance.”

Li Changsheng waved his hand and continued, “Your reputation in Heaven now is impressive, but this fame all comes from the Bronze Mirror system, making it rather superficial. It’s time to learn to settle yourself. Think about it – haven’t you been struggling lately to find new content for your livestreams? Not knowing what to present to Heaven’s immortals and gods?”

“Yes!” Yang Jian immediately became energetic, frowning as he sighed, “It’s just as Vice Commander Bian Zhuang said – wracking my brains every day to think of content for the Bronze Mirror is too mentally exhausting. So, I plan to broadcast only once a year from now on, to have more time for self-cultivation. The demons around Mei Mountain for thousands of miles have almost gone extinct.”

Li Changsheng smiled without speaking, not wishing to continue this discussion.

Once upon a time, he had viewed this youngster as his successor in training, but now…

Ah, what a pity.

Before Master Tai Yi and Master Yu Ding arrived, this paper clone of Li Changsheng and Yang Jian reached the airspace above Li Jing’s mansion first.

The two concealed themselves as Yang Jian activated his Heavenly Eye to observe all of Chen Tang Pass.

Li Changsheng, however, gazed toward the East Sea.

Beneath the ten thousand miles of waves in the East Sea, another scheme synchronized with Chen Tang Pass was underway. If the progress hadn’t gone wrong, that little dragon would have already transformed into a graceful youth.

“Uncle,” Yang Jian said softly, “why do I feel something’s wrong with Chen Tang Pass’s spiritual energy flow? The spiritual energy is trapped within the great city and has accumulated for a long time. There seems to be a grand formation hidden, though the formation master is quite skillful.”

“Mm,” Li Changsheng nodded with a smile, saying, “I laid the formation.”

Yang Jian immediately understood and continued scanning with his Heavenly Eye.

[True Lord Qing Yuan’s Exclusive Monitoring System: No Blind Spots, No Omissions, Ten Thousand Sweeps, Ultra-Long Standby.]

After about half an hour of silence, Yang Jian asked again, “Uncle, is that beautiful woman in Li mansion’s back courtyard the mother of Elder Brother Spirit Zhenzhu’s reincarnation?”

“Oh? Did you notice something?”

Yang Jian said, “I see she bears a pearl in her womb, already pregnant, but the fetal spirit hasn’t arrived – it must be waiting for Elder Brother Spirit Zhenzhu’s divine soul.”

Li Changsheng smiled, “Spirit Zhenzhu’s past difficulties were because his spirit pearl attained the Dao but his foundation was lacking. Taking human form to cultivate is most suitable, which led to today’s reincarnation.”

“But Uncle, why are we so nervous about this?”

Yang Jian lowered his voice and asked quietly, “Is it because we don’t have the Netherworld’s permission?”

Li Changsheng silently took out a branch volume of the Book of Life and Death from his sleeve, showed it briefly, then calmly put it away.

Yang Jian’s expression at that moment was quite complex.

Li Changsheng smiled and quietly waited for Tai Yi and Yu Ding to arrive.

After about half a day, Master Tai Yi and Master Yu Ding arrived together, both looking somewhat relaxed, clearly having been successful in requesting Sage’s decree.

This paper clone of Li Changsheng exchanged greetings with the two elder brothers and smiled, “All settled?”

“Settled,” Tai Yi smiled. “Spirit Zhenzhu has been coated with a layer of the Sage’s Dao charm.”

Li Changsheng also relaxed slightly and made a welcoming gesture: “The auspicious time will be in three hours. Shall we?”

Thus, three disciples of the Orthodox and Human Teachings and one grand disciple of a Sage concealed themselves above the Li residence, chatting and discussing the Dao while waiting for the auspicious time to arrive.

As the moment drew closer, Master Tai Yi inexplicably became somewhat nervous and asked softly:

“Chang Geng, how should we arrange this reincarnation?”

Li Changsheng smiled, “However it should be arranged, that’s how we’ll arrange it. We just need to send the fetal spirit down from the clouds into the pearl in Madam Yin’s womb. Once the pearl shows a heartbeat, the reincarnation will be complete. Nothing else needs to be done.”

He paused, looked down at the Li residence, and measured the distance from the clouds to Madam Yin.

Not secure enough.

“How about this,” Li Changsheng said, “We’ll be more thorough. Later, Yang Jian will keep watch, Elder Brother Yu Ding will control the situation, and Elder Brother Tai Yi and I will sneak to Madam Li’s side to personally escort the fetal spirit in. How’s that?”

Master Tai Yi’s mouth twitched: “Sneaking into a lady’s chamber – truly the behavior of a Heaven Court official.”

Li Changsheng said calmly, “It’s all for Spirit Zhenzhu.”

“Go, go,” Tai Yi immediately agreed, “Being more careful is appropriate.”

Yu Ding thought it excellent, while Yang Jian seemed to want to say something but chose to silently accept.

Thus, these four immortals of both power and beauty waited on the clouds a while longer. When the time was almost right, they slowly rode the clouds down… to the roof of the pavilion in Li Jing’s back courtyard.

Li Changsheng made a gesture, and four transparent figures began bustling about.

Yang Jian looked around, his divine sense locking onto Li Jing’s figure in the military camp;

A jade cauldron appeared on Master Yu Ding’s chest, spreading a strange aura to monitor the spiritual disturbances of living beings in this area.

He immediately discovered Li Changsheng’s large number of paper clones.

Meanwhile, Li Changsheng and Master Tai Yi each used transformation arts to become mosquitoes, quietly entering Li Jing and his wife’s bedchamber.

On the soft couch, Madam Yin lay reclining with her eyes closed for a short rest, a bamboo scroll beside her hand, her breathing even and expression peaceful.

Li Changsheng silently apologized, Master Tai Yi silently asked forgiveness, and the two mosquitoes made a Dao salute to Madam Yin before flying to the couch and transforming into transparent figures.

Master Tai Yi raised his hand and pointed at Madam Yin, who quickly fell into a dream;

In her dream, a Daoist in red robes came riding clouds, holding an infant and threw the infant to her through the window…

Outside the dream, Master Tai Yi took out Spirit Zhenzhu’s fetal spirit and slowly pushed it toward Madam Yin.

At this moment, the flow of time seemed to become very slow.

Li Changsheng opened his divine sense fully, his Empty-Bright Dao heart already activated, watching the area within several hundred miles intently.

Three feet, two feet, one foot…

Nothing happened?

Had he been fighting with air this whole time? The Western Teaching Sage wasn’t taking revenge on him in this matter?

Suddenly!

Li Changsheng’s Dao heart trembled, and his paper clones in the room, back courtyard corners, garden, and city towers all looked toward the western military camp!

At this moment!

The flow of time seemed frozen – this was an illusion caused by Li Changsheng’s dramatically increased speed of processing information.

Only this way could he react in time!

The sky suddenly darkened for thousands of miles around Chen Tang Pass, and a giant hand appeared above the military camp, reaching down to grab Li Jing!

Along with the hand came words like rolling thunder:

“This child has a destiny with our Western Teaching.”

Deep beneath the earth, Li Changsheng’s eyes instantly blazed with water-blue divine light!

The Taiji Diagram, in an instant, appeared across the sky!