Long Ji was about to enter the tribulation.

In the Jasper Pool, within Queen Mother’s warm pavilion.

After Queen Mother spoke of this matter from behind the pearl curtain, Li Changshou remained silent, carefully analyzing the necessity of Long Ji entering the tribulation.

Queen Mother’s given reason was that Long Ji had tribulation in her fate and needed to experience one journey in the mortal realm.

But Li Changshou had to consider whether this might be the Ancestral Master of Dao testing his bottom line.

Long Ji was his disciple, and in the original Investiture of the Gods tribulation, she was demoted to the mortal realm for some reason, then assisted the Enlightenment Teaching camp, repeatedly achieving remarkable merits, and was finally forcibly matched with a defeated opponent, even being called a model of female immortals.

In the end, she died tragically and was deified on the list as the Red Phoenix Star.

This…

Seeing Li Changshou’s seemingly troubled expression, Queen Mother said softly: “Star-Lord, I know you are Long Ji’s master and love her dearly, naturally reluctant to part.

But Long Ji’s tribulation matter was determined long ago, written in the heavenly mechanisms, difficult to change.”

Li Changshou raised his head to look at the pearl curtain as if trying to see Queen Mother’s face and eyes.

Queen Mother showed no abnormality, neither displaying helplessness from being coerced by Heaven’s Dao, nor showing any trace of guilt.

Li Changshou asked: “Your Majesty, why exactly must Long Ji enter the tribulation? This minor deity truly doesn’t understand.

Moreover, my Human Teaching disciples need not enter tribulations, I ask Your Majesty to reconsider.”

Queen Mother hesitated briefly before saying:

“Long Ji is my heart’s treasure, naturally I’m unwilling to let her face such a dangerous situation as the great tribulation.

But firstly, Long Ji’s fate itself is lacking. Her birth back then relied entirely on Heaven’s Dao’s protection, owing Heaven’s Dao karmic debt, which should be repaid through this great tribulation.

Secondly, Long Ji is a Heavenly Court princess yet lacks an official deity title. She also wishes to take this opportunity to gain a position in Heaven’s Dao’s sequence.

Furthermore, this great tribulation is meant to expand the Heavenly Court’s official deities. If the Heavenly Emperor’s daughter also responds to the tribulation, she can serve as a model for all immortals.

I ask Star-Lord to consider these internal circumstances carefully. Long Ji is entering the tribulation as the Heavenly Emperor’s daughter, not as a Human Teaching disciple.”

“Your Majesty need not be so polite with this minor deity,” Li Changshou pondered for a moment. “How about this – let Long Ji make her own decision. If she wants to enter the mortal realm for tribulation, I will naturally find ways to protect her completely.

As for serving as a model for all immortals just because she’s the Heavenly Emperor’s daughter, that’s unnecessary.”

In the latter half of that statement, Li Changshou naturally couldn’t say directly.

He had just directly confronted the Ancestral Master of Dao in the Purple Mysteries Palace, and now Long Ji was being arranged to face tribulation – the internal circumstances of this matter were certainly not as simple as Queen Mother said.

The implication was that the Ancestral Master of Dao still stubbornly wanted to follow the Investiture of God’s script, letting the great tribulation smoothly complete its predetermined objectives. This was also the Ancestral Master’s bottom line…

In this round, both sides revealed their bottom lines, letting the Investiture of the God tribulation continue operating.

Well then, let’s see how many people he could get onto the list with their physical bodies intact.

Li Changshou continued: “When Your Majesty speaks to Long Ji later, please be mindful of your wording. Just say the heavenly mechanisms reveal she has tribulation in her future path, but whether to enter the tribulation or not is under her control.”

“This…”

Queen Mother hummed lightly, “Very well, please wait a moment, Star-Lord. I’ll summon her now.”

Li Changshou thought briefly and said: “I’ll wait outside the pavilion, trying not to meet her to avoid influencing her judgment.”

Queen Mother naturally agreed and sent someone to summon Princess Long Ji.

Before long, Long Ji arrived on a cloud. After paying respects to Queen Mother, Queen Mother spoke as Li Changshou had just suggested, asking Long Ji whether she wanted to face her tribulation.

If she wanted to face it, they would protect her completely;

If she didn’t want to face it, they could directly block it.

Long Ji thought for a moment and asked softly: “Mother, does the Heavenly Court need your child to face this tribulation?”

Queen Mother sighed lightly and didn’t answer.

Long Ji said: “If the Heavenly Court needs your child to walk in the mortal realm, your child will go without regrets.”

“You should consider more, don’t rush to answer.”

Queen Mother’s words carried hidden meaning, but Long Ji gently shook her head.

Long Ji said: “Mother, are you suggesting that your child should seek Master and use his position as the tribulation’s main controller to block your child’s tribulation? Wouldn’t that put Master in a difficult position?

Your child was born in the Jasper Pool, accompanied by immortals all along, blessed with good fortune, without any dissatisfaction.

Now the Heavenly Court should prosper, yet various great immortals harbor grievances against Father for initiating the tribulation. The deified immortals may also find it difficult to fulfill their duties as official deities, holding thoughts of defiance against Father.

As the Heavenly Emperor’s daughter, if I descend to the mortal realm for tribulation together, it can show this great tribulation has no connection to Father but comes from Heaven’s Dao. Their resistance to Father might lessen somewhat…

Mother, let your child go.”

Long Ji raised her head to look at Queen Mother, her face carrying a smile, her eyes twinkling with starlight.

“Your child is willing to journey to the mortal realm. If I’m not even brave enough to face such training, I’m not worthy to be Master’s disciple.”

Queen Mother couldn’t help but frown, but Li Changshou smiled and shook his head, making a ceremonial bow to Queen Mother before his form dispersed into green smoke.

Hmm…

He should still find a way to let everyone in the Enlightenment and Severing Teaching know that whoever touches his disciple, he would retaliate by touching their master.

Best to be thorough – go to the Doulu Palace to ask Old Lord to help refine more Nine Cycles Golden Pills, then find Yang Jian to have a word, asking him to look after his cousin.

Have Golden Roc find a divine bird to serve as Long Ji’s mount.

Can’t neglect the Dragon Clan either – they must be hiding many water-system divine beasts. Getting a ‘Virtual Kun’ might be difficult, but getting a divine fish that can spout water would be like a ‘premium mount, click to receive.’

Gathering some bonds would provide more protection for his disciple.

The best protection would be having Long Ji skillfully use the slogan ‘My Master is Star Lord Taibai,’ while he placed more Heaven’s Might Earth’s Fierceness Spirit Explosion Arrays around her.

With just this one disciple, he must pay extra attention.

The Human Teaching’s excellent tradition of protecting their own couldn’t be broken in his hands.

Long Ji still had to busy herself in the Jasper Pool – Queen Mother probably wanted to have a good talk with her. Li Changshou, concerned about Spirit Zhenzhu’s reincarnation matter, shifted his consciousness to the Southern Jambudvipa Continent.

Should he have Long Ji help with some tasks?

If Long Ji could walk in the Southern Jambudvipa Continent, she could handle many small problems that were inconvenient for him to deal with.

“Never mind.”

Li Changshou laughed.

After all, within the great tribulation, the more actively one moved, the more likely problems would arise, and it wasn’t as if he couldn’t handle things himself.

His consciousness swept past Chaoge City, where Li Changshou saw Di Xin sitting on the steps before the throne, several old ministers pacing back and forth, while Wen Zhong was nowhere to be seen.

A minister said: “Your Majesty, although this matter is strange, what’s done is done and cannot be changed.

If those old stubborn ones seize upon your poem-writing incident, saying you don’t respect the Holy Mother and ancestors, it would truly be dangerous.

Why don’t Your Majesty use the excuse of drunkenness, saying you’re fond of female beauty and intend to seek several beauties from various countries for companionship.”

Another minister said: “Yes, Your Majesty, being fond of female beauty isn’t even a bad reputation, and it can cover up the danger of disrespecting ancestors.

Goddess Nu Wa is the deity who created humans, the ancestor of all humans – this point is most troublesome.”

A question mark slowly appeared on Li Changshou’s forehead.

Being fond of female beauty isn’t a bad reputation?

Never mind, never mind – everyone has slightly different values, mutual respect, mutual respect.

His consciousness swept past Emperor Xuanyuan’s ceremonial tomb, seeing only a group of small monsters remaining, and knew that Fox Girl Xiao Lan, the Pipa Spirit, and the Wild Pheasant Spirit had been drawn to the Holy Mother’s Palace by Goddess Nu Wa’s Monster-Summoning Banner.

He swept past Mount Qi, past East Lu, past the Su Kingdom, past the Holy Mother’s Temple…

Li Changshou patrolled the southern continent’s realm once, then glanced at those sects in the Middle Divine Continent that had fought until they were ‘exhausted,’ before finally returning his consciousness to Chen Tang Pass.

He needed to find a way to scout out the situation in the Jade Void Palace; otherwise, he would always feel somewhat uneasy.

As for the Fire Cloud Cave, it wasn’t appropriate for him to go there at this time.

If it caused the Ancestral Master of Dao some anxiety and made him move against the Fire Cloud Cave prematurely, that would be rather inappropriate.

In a corner of the Li Manor, a certain high-ranking servant stretched lazily, changed into an elaborate servant’s uniform, put on his unique jade identity tablet, tidied his handsome bangs, and wearing a somewhat rippling smile, slowly walked out the door.

The Primordial World might lack champagne, but the way of bearing oneself with grace would always be difficult to perfect.

Accompanied by a stream of “Brother Wang, good morning~” and “Brother Wang, hello~”, Li Changshou calmly arrived at Li Jing and Lady Yin’s tower. Li Jing had naturally gone to the military camp to handle military affairs.

Lady Yin, having been pregnant for too long, could no longer move about freely, but having cultivated foundations herself, it wasn’t too difficult to endure.

At this moment Lady Yin was sound asleep. Li Changshou didn’t disturb her, checked the spirit talismans and formations arranged in various places, then went to sit idly beside the tower, calculating the timing of Spirit Zhenzhu’s birth.

Lady Yin’s endurance was ultimately limited. If the pregnancy lasted too long, it would also damage her essence.

Considering both the adult and the fetus comprehensively, being pregnant for three years and six months was indeed a good choice, but Li Changshou intended to have Nezha born two months early.

There was no other reason – accumulate changes to reverse the great tragic fate of bone-scraping and flesh-cutting.

When everything followed Heaven’s Dao’s script, as each node of Nezha’s fate was illuminated, the possibilities themselves would become fewer and fewer.

When Li Changshou previously spoke of his plans to Master Pure Clarity and the Great Magus, he deliberately avoided a key question.

—How to incorporate variables.

Taking Yang Jian as an example, Heaven’s Dao’s constraining force wasn’t obvious then. Li Changshou deliberately wrote the script arranging Yang Jian on silk cloth, naturally visible to the Ancestral Master at a glance.

At that time, as long as the final purpose met the Ancestral Master’s expectations, he could let himself act freely.

But now amid the great tribulation, Heaven’s Dao’s constraining force was approaching its maximum. For Li Changshou to change Nezha’s fate, he would have to snatch fate from Heaven’s Dao’s hands.

This was notably different from arranging Yang Jian – he must compete with Heaven for control of the script.

Although both paths led to the node of ‘making Nezha the vanguard of the Investiture of the Gods tribulation,’ one left and one right, joy and sorrow were completely different.

The same principle applied to Long Ji.

His immortal consciousness stirred, and he saw Li Jing galloping on the official road of Chen Tang Pass, with commoners along the way shouting for the General, some directly calling out:

“General! Has your honorable wife given birth? When can we drink the celebratory wine!”

Li Jing mostly just smiled and nodded as he galloped past.

He was a Celestial Immortal, able to perform high-difficulty moves like ‘horse-trampling flying heads’ at any time, and Chen Tang Pass’s road planning was done well, with ‘non-horse-powered lanes’ and ‘pedestrian paths’ on both sides of the main road, so there were no worries about hitting pedestrians.

It was still morning at this time. Li Jing hurrying back from the military camp could only have one explanation.

Coming back to visit his heavily pregnant wife? [X]

Discovered the high-ranking servant had ‘come alive’ and rushed over specifically! [✓]

Sure enough, Li Jing leaped through the manor gate, rushed all the way, and came directly before the high-ranking servant ‘Wang Chang’an.’ He unconsciously went to raise his hand in salute, but Li Changshou had already jumped up, winking at Li Jing.

“Ahem!”

Li Jing cleared his throat and said sternly: “Chang’an, come with me for a moment.”

“Yes, master, please lead the way.”

This was in front of others.

After they went to the study in the neighboring courtyard, closed the main door, and activated the immortal power barrier, Li Changshou straightened his back, and Li Jing clasped his hands and bowed: “Foster Father, look at this item!”

As he spoke, Li Jing took out a storage treasure from his sleeve, and from the treasure shook out a large stone.

This large stone was like amber throughout, sealed within it was a long bow and three divine arrows, covered in complex patterns and carved with ancient pattern talismans, seeming to be an ancient treasure.

Li Jing asked: “Foster Father, what’s the background of this item?”

What background could it have – the Xuanyuan Heaven-Earth Bow and Thunder-Shaking Arrows, one of the great treasures used by Xuanyuan to greatly defeat Chi You back then, only its whereabouts had been unknown. In the future, it would be casually drawn by the playful little Nezha, shooting dead the Azure Cloud Lad thousands of miles away with one arrow, triggering the great battle between Lady Stone Cliff and True Lord Tayi.

“An ancient treasure,” Li Changshou asked in return, “Where did you obtain this item?”

“Just last night, I was restless and gazed at the sky, suddenly seeing stars flickering. I thought it was a comet and was cursing my bad luck, but unexpectedly this stone fell from the sky, landing outside the military camp.”

Li Jing said softly: “I’ve already strictly ordered that this must not be casually spread outside. If this is some great treasure, please keep it in safekeeping for me, Foster Father.”

“What?” Li Changshou smiled, “Are you afraid of karmic entanglement?”

Li Jing smiled bitterly: “I now understand that sometimes even what fate gives oneself requires one’s fate to be strong enough to keep it.

Li Jing is willing to use all future fortune to protect mother and child, all four of them. My strength is insufficient; even with treasures, I cannot contend with powerful beings. Better not to use them.”

Li Changshou nodded with a smile, then slowly paced, light constantly flickering in his eyes.

Even if the Heaven-Earth Bow and Thunder-Shaking Arrows weren’t used, there might still be some ‘Life-Taking Spear,’ ‘Soul-Chasing Lock,’ ‘Azure Cloud Lad Must Die Curse,’ ultimately linked to little Nezha.

Heaven’s Dao, or rather the Ancestral Master’s approach, had always been thus.

But was this bow and arrow truly placed by Heaven’s Dao?

Not necessarily.

According to Li Jing’s account, when Li Jing felt something wasn’t quite right, it should have been during the heaven-challenging time when the Fuel Fire Dao condensed humanity’s will. At that time Heaven’s Dao had no attention to spare; if any movement was discovered by humans, the Ancestral Master’s schemes would certainly have been in vain.

The Ancestral Master, being old and experienced, naturally wouldn’t be so unstable.

Then who placed this set of bow and arrows?

No matter who it was, they could be treated as promoters of Heaven’s Dao’s script – there wasn’t much difference from Heaven’s Dao placing it directly.

Changing surface forms wasn’t enough to reverse the entire fate, and moreover, Tayi burning Stone Cliff was also a signal of the formal split between the Enlightenment and Severing Teaching, considered a relatively important node in the great tribulation.

He shouldn’t interfere too much, lest he suffer backlash.

Spreading open a small notebook in his mind, Li Changshou carefully examined his plans surrounding this matter, meticulously pondering it through…

Half an hour later.

“Enshrine this as a town-protecting treasure,” Li Changshou exhaled, “No need to ask more, it wasn’t my arrangement. Later you’ll know whose scheme this item was.”

Li Jing bowed to accept the command. Li Changshou’s finger touched this amber stone, and the large stone transformed into strands of spiritual energy, the bow and arrows within slowly falling to the ground, just like ordinary objects.

Li Changshou said: “Try and see if you can draw the bowstring.”

“Yes.”

Li Jing raised his hand to draw the Heaven-Earth Bow to his palm, concentrated his spirit and breath, and tried to pull – the bowstring didn’t move a hair.

“This?”

He applied his law power with both palms until his face turned red, and his finger joints were almost cut by the bowstring – the bowstring still didn’t move a hair.

Li Changshou smiled: “This requires technique, can’t always use brute force, let me try.”

Li Jing hurriedly handed over the Heaven-Earth Bow. Li Changshou grabbed it and carefully examined it for a while, his right hand flying up and down, touching various places on the bow. The patterns up and down the bow lit up with brilliant light.

Li Changshou pulled the bowstring, feeling as if he were trying to move a mountain, but was able to draw it half a foot.

Hmm?

Li Changshou had a flash of inspiration, his eyes suddenly brightening.

“Leave it with me for a few days, I’ll add something to it, set up some fingerprint authentication and other anti-theft measures.”

Li Jing was stunned, and although he didn’t understand exactly what was going on, he immediately nodded in agreement.

Several hours later, industrious lamplight lit up in the high-ranking servant’s standalone small house.

Li Changshou sat behind the low table in his room, looking at the table full of scattered ‘parts’ before him, then looked at the large gourd that had been brought here earlier by the [Coachman] paper avatar.

At the gourd’s mouth, a phantom figure sat cross-legged, staring directly at Li Changshou.

It was naturally Great Shaman Yi’s spirit.

Great Shaman Yi, the man who shot down the suns, the strongest archer of the Shaman tribe, could even be considered the Primordial World’s number one divine archer, naturally an expert on bows and arrows.

He had just arrived here, took one look at the structure of the Heaven-Earth Bow and Thunder-Shaking Arrows, and directly said:

“Simple, still using the same forging method as the Immortal-Slaying Flying Knives considered the most prosperous ancient forging technique.”

Under his guidance, Li Changshou took the bow and arrows apart into pieces in no time, studying the restrictions within thoroughly.

This made Li Changshou exclaim at his professionalism and expertise.

As an ordinary official of the Heavenly Court, he should handle overall planning and coordination, but couldn’t do everything in detail – professional matters should be left to professionals.

And then…

“How do we put it back together?” Li Changshou gestured at various parts, wanting to start but vaguely feeling something wasn’t quite right.

Great Shaman Yi: “However you took it apart is how you put it back together… probably.”

Li Changshou: …

Alright, probably.

He took out an image-recording ball from his sleeve, carefully reviewed the disassembly process, and began tinkering.

Until dawn broke.

“Master Bai? Ah, yes, something small has come up here that needs Master Bai to come over.

No rush, no rush, arriving in the Five Continents within two months is fine. Mm, that’s right, this matter is exclusively for Master Bai, I’m afraid it would be difficult to conclude without Master Bai.

Thank you for your trouble, Master Bai, thank you for your trouble.”

Tsk handled.