When Li Changshou first transferred his consciousness into this paper puppet, he felt quite uncomfortable.

It was that kind of feeling…

He felt thin, light, fragile, and helpless, with virtually no defensive capabilities—completely lacking any sense of security…

But after moving around for a while, he adjusted to it.

After leaving the town district and confirming he was being followed, Li Changshou pretended not to notice and flew on his cloud toward his predetermined destination.

Since the area around Linhai Town was arranged with an anti-Five Elements formation that prohibited random teleportation, he needed to create some distance before he could use earth teleportation to leave.

Those “strange men” following him had already positioned two people ahead, setting up some formation traps in the dense forest.

‘They probably targeted me when I took out the high-grade spirit stones,’ Li Changshou pondered, feeling somewhat helpless.

Spirit stones were considered hard currency in both East Victory Divine Continent and Central Divine Continent, as they had the widest range of uses, were in demand by all cultivators, and had stable production.

High-grade spirit stones could only be produced in the core of spirit veins, making them rare and precious, worth many times more than ordinary spirit stones.

The dense forest three hundred zhang ahead should be where they would make their move.

That location was just beyond the edge of the anti-Five Elements formation, at the boundary where he could use earth teleportation to escape…

The other party had planned this carefully.

The combat capability of his paper puppet was questionable, and its defense was certainly inadequate, only equivalent to a Returned Void realm cultivator’s strength;

However, the immortal power was directly infused by himself, capable of casting powerful spells…

This location was close to the town district, and although secluded, strong spiritual energy fluctuations would certainly attract attention from many cultivators.

Moreover, if the paper puppet consumed too much immortal power, it might run out of “fuel” and be unable to return home.

The paper puppet carried one-third of his assets.

Although he had paper puppets number two and three as backup, it was better to avoid losses if possible…

He needed to end this quickly while preventing them from touching him!

The closer he got to their trap, the stronger the feeling of gazes converging on him became.

Since his main body wasn’t present, there was no spiritual sense warning;

Li Changshou glanced at the diamond-shaped stone hanging at his waist, his second most satisfying achievement in artifact refining—the sensing stone.

—His most satisfying achievement was the Soul-Capturing Zhenzhu.

In these six years, besides adding formations like “Spirit Attachment” and “Immortal Power Stabilization” to the paper puppet, he had only created this little gadget.

Currently, the stone was showing a purple-red color, indicating that three or more immortal and spiritual senses were locked onto him.

Ahead in the forest, two figures hiding behind trees watched vigilantly.

There was also someone hiding in the clouds above, appearing to just pass by but maintaining the same flying speed and direction as Li Changshou…

So blatant?

The town district was indeed chaotic, full of wandering cultivators of all sorts, and once outside the town, there were no rules.

Distance to their trap: a hundred zhang…

Fifty zhang…

Ten zhang…

Li Changshou suddenly halted his cloud and muttered, “I forgot to buy something.”

With that, he turned to head back toward the town district.

Suddenly, a treasured light crashed down from above, and two figures each appeared from behind and in front, rushing toward Li Changshou with flashing treasures in hand!

Li Changshou’s mouth twitched slightly, but he immediately put on a shocked expression and plunged toward the forest below.

“You! Who are you, people!”

Narrowly avoiding it, a three-chi-tall square seal descended with thunderous momentum, crashing down right in front of his face!

The fierce wind blew, making the long hair of Li Changshou’s paper puppet dance wildly!

As soon as he landed, five figures pounced at him from front, back, and above.

Li Changshou hastily retreated two steps, his right hand gripping the sword handle at his shoulder, shouting:

“Wait! We can talk about this!”

The five people didn’t hesitate at all—two cast spells, two threw magical treasures, all charging toward Li Changshou.

Li Changshou’s eyes focused, drawing his sword three inches from its scabbard, as streams of colorless and traceless powder were driven by his immortal power, secretly floating toward the five people.

He executed exquisite footwork, narrowly dodging the incoming treasures, spells, and talismans, appearing quite disheveled and frantic.

The ambusher with the highest cultivation in the air extended his left hand toward Li Changshou;

Mysterious ripples immediately appeared around Li Changshou, slowing his movements.

That treasure seal crashed down again!

Li Changshou’s surrounding aura suddenly trembled, directly exposing his Element Immortal cultivation level, forcefully breaking through the surrounding ripples, and once again narrowly avoiding the seal’s strike!

His eyes filled with anger as he growled, “Don’t force me to draw my sword!”

In the air, that middle-aged Daoist at the early True Immortal realm coldly smiled, continuing to retrieve and throw the seal again, smashing it toward Li Changshou’s forehead;

The other four people cast more spells and divine abilities, sealing off Li Changshou’s retreat angles…

In the primordial world, the way of smashing with bricks had flourished for ages.

Suddenly, among these people, the weakest one in the Return to Dao realm trembled and called out: “Small…”

As the others turned to look, their vision simultaneously blurred.

The True Immortal in the air turned pale, and just as he tried to turn and fly away, his form inexplicably stumbled, directly plummeting from the sky!

The four people on the ground fell even faster, instantly lying sprawled in the forest.

Li Changshou’s left hand waved, and the Luo Heaven Treasure Umbrella rose into the air, spreading out a barrier formation.

He who had been retreating while gripping his sword handle suddenly stopped, then rushed forward along the ground, finally drawing his… sword?

This was no ordinary sword!

Below the sword handle was half a blade, but the blade had no edge, and at the tip were seven treasure ropes!

Li Changshou swung this strange sword, and its ropes instantly extended, just like Master Qi Yuan’s whisk, immediately binding the True Immortal who hadn’t yet hit the ground, along with the other four people!

Li Changshou casually pulled, and these five figures instantly gathered before him!

Meanwhile, from Li Changshou’s sleeve, three paper puppets tumbled out, transforming into three stern-faced old Daoists before hitting the ground.

Paper Puppet One took out a demon-suppressing wooden fish, Paper Puppet Two grabbed a soul-summoning golden bell and took out two cans of immortal-burning powder, while Paper Puppet Three assumed a hungry tiger pouncing stance…

The five people fell before Li Changshou in a stack, Two immediately sprinkled the immortal-burning powder, Three stripped away their storage treasures;

Li Changshou’s palm produced several clusters of Three Realm True Flame, stuffing them between the five people.

The flames instantly blazed up…

The wooden fish struck, bell sounds rang, and chanting began.

Li Changshou’s gaze fixed intensely on the direction of the town district, seeing some people seemingly looking this way, but none approached.

His immortal sense swept the surrounding ten li, alert to every movement, as the thrown Soul-Capturing Zhenzhu began rapidly spinning, absorbing the remnant souls of all five people at once.

From his counterattack until only ashes remained before him, less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea had passed.

Li Changshou activated earth teleportation, inserted the sword back into its scabbard on his back, and the paper puppets jumped back into his sleeve in sequence;

The few treasures on the ground that had been half-destroyed by the Three Realm True Flame were also collected into a special pouch for handling garbage.

Finally, Li Changshou’s sleeve shook, and those ashes scattered with the wind, becoming nutrients for the local grass and trees;

He retrieved the modified Luo Heaven Treasure Umbrella, stepped into the ground’s “quicksand,” and his figure swiftly teleported northward.

Those investigating the area only caught his departing silhouette, and that muttered phrase…

“I told you not to force me to draw my sword.”

This sword cultivator was truly formidable…

…

Calculating that the paper puppet still had abundant immortal power reserves, Li Changshou first traveled ten thousand li north, then took a detour east before teleporting back to Degree Immortal Gate.

The earlier situation had truly been dangerous…

Fortunately, True Immortal had been careless and overconfident, accustomed to smashing people with treasures, hadn’t displayed much of his strength, and was knocked down by the poison powder Li Changshou had released.

Now, Li Changshou had a replacement for the Soft Immortal Powder—the Heart-Bewildering Soul-Intoxicating Powder.

The poison powder released when drawing his sword earlier actually comprised six types, and when that True Immortal fell from the sky, he was already half-dead, what was finally consumed by the Three Realm True Flame was just his still-twitching primordial spirit.

‘If I had been so careless, the one who would have perished would certainly have been me.’

Li Changshou reflected in his heart, taking this as a warning;

He felt no joy at all about winning a battle and gaining several people’s belongings for nothing.

There was nothing to be happy about—being targeted showed that he wasn’t steady enough, that his actions had been too hasty.

He would write a self-criticism report when he got back, and next time let Master come out to stroll around for a few days.

However…

Looking at the medicinal herbs, poison grasses, and spirit beast cubs packed full in those pouches in his sleeve, he estimated he would be busy for three to five years.

Get rich!

Protect the Dao with wealth!

Hurrying all the way, Li Changshou returned to the dense forest at the appointed time.

Quietly poking his head out from the earth, the paper puppet quickly arranged the square box properly, glanced at his sensing stone, and found it flickering with light.

Li Changshou soon located his master hiding ten li away and transmitted, “Master, please withdraw your immortal sense first.”

Qi Yuan, who had been curiously examining this paper puppet, immediately agreed and withdrew his immortal sense.

The diamond-shaped immortal stone indeed stopped flickering with light.

The paper puppet’s form slowly shrugged and swayed, mouth chanting:

“Small, small, small…”

Streams of immortal light surrounded it, and that reinforced paper puppet appeared again, with a bulging small cloth bag slung over its shoulder, nimbly jumping into the box and even closing the lid itself.

“Alright Master, take back the box, pretend nothing happened, and return to the mountain.

Next time, let’s find a suitable reason to come out for a stroll.”

Qi Yuan immediately chuckled, rode his cloud over, and retrieved the box.

Li Changshou’s spirit returned to his main body in the dan room, immediately letting out a long sigh of relief.

That feeling of being fragile, helpless, weak, and pitiful finally disappeared.

The main body was still more comfortable…

And safer.

…

‘What would Senior Brother Changshou like?’

Within Degree Immortal Gate’s Breaking Heaven Peak, not far from the Nine Immortals’ residence of the Wine character, there was a cliff cave dwelling.

Though unremarkable from the outside, the interior was quite exquisite.

Entering the cave led to an elegant “great hall,” with a zhang-square lotus pond visible on the left, its bottom paved with spirit jade, the water emanating soft light, and occasionally one or two koi fish under the lotus leaves;

On the right was a spacious reception area with meditation cushions, lounges, and screens, flanked by curtains, with several landscape paintings hanging on the rock walls.

Continuing to explore inward, there were two branching paths, one leading to the dwelling where the True Immortal Jiang Jingshan, the owner of this place, practiced in seclusion and lived;

The other led to the boudoir of You Qin Xuanya, Jiang Jingshan’s disciple and the current generation’s top disciple among the young disciples of Degree Immortal Gate.

At this moment, You Qin Xuanya, who had just awakened from her enlightenment state, was pondering the question above…

Master had said before that exchanging gifts was an effective means of deepening relationships.

She wanted to give Senior Brother Changshou a gift, and also wanted to receive a return gift from him, thereby proving that Senior Brother Changshou also considered her a “friend.”

Close friends needed constant communication and deepening relationships, they were confidants who could talk about anything, a state that You Qin Xuanya quite yearned for.

Unfortunately, until now… she didn’t have a single one.

‘My cultivation isn’t high, I just have some skill in earth teleportation, speaking of this might make people laugh.’

Earth teleportation.

You Qin Xuanya blinked gently, her eyelashes trembling as she thought of something.

She turned toward the nearby wardrobe.

The room’s furnishings were very simple, but the few pieces of furniture were all of extraordinary materials.

Taking out a jewelry box from the wardrobe, as soon as she opened it, brilliance burst forth, revealing many spiritual lights flickering.

These were all rewards from her father emperor and mother empress before she came to Degree Immortal Gate to seek immortality;

Although the mundane world of the South Continent was now mixed with turbid qi, and human emperors and kings were entangled with too much karma for any cultivators to dare interfere with a nation’s ruler’s lifespan or fate;

This didn’t prevent these rulers from obtaining cultivation methods through various means.

Almost half of the mundane world’s human rulers had ways to increase their lifespan, and the You Qin Kingdom was a typical example of immortals and mortals mixing, with cultivation levels from the ruler to the generals, comparable to a small immortal sect.

You Qin Xuanya searched through the jewelry box for a while, soon picking out an earth-yellow pearl.

This wasn’t a magical treasure, but rather a pearl formed from a spirit vein, containing pure Five Elements earth power within, though not a great treasure, it did provide some enhancement to earth-attribute spells.

And to earth teleportation as well.

This kind of naturally formed pearl was hundreds of times more precious than magical treasures and tools of the same effect.

“Will Senior Brother think the gift is too light?”

You Qin Xuanya carefully considered for a while, but still made her decision, taking a small brocade box and placing the pearl inside.

After some thought, she also took out a delicate handkerchief, hesitated, and pondered for half an hour, before finally writing on it:

‘To Senior Brother Changshou’

Covering the pearl with the folded handkerchief, and closing the brocade box, she smiled with pursed lips, her lotus steps becoming much lighter.