A Little Planning for the Investiture of the Gods

It had been several days since he left. Nothing should have happened on the mountain, right?

On the way back to Du Xian Sect, Li Changshou pondered this slightly.

His master should still be drinking on some other peak, and he had already instructed his junior sister to honestly enter Secluded Cultivation.

The most likely trouble would be someone visiting Lesser Qiong Peak and accidentally stumbling into the formations around the alchemy room. Though the trapping and bewildering formations had no direct killing power, staying inside them for too long could easily throw one's state of mind into disorder and breed inner demons...

However, after nearly driving Martial Uncle Jiu Wu mad last time, Li Changshou had made a few small alterations to the Chain Array.

—He had left behind a "guest reception" route.

If an outside thief broke into the formation, driving them mad or simply erasing them was naturally no problem. But with the sect's Mountain Protecting Grand Formation in place, how could outside thieves ordinarily sneak in?

Under normal circumstances, anyone entering the formation would probably be fellow disciples who had come with strange purposes. Killing them or driving them mad would both be inappropriate.

Thus, Li Changshou had set up several signboards along a "dead-end" path, leading intruders into a comfortable, welcoming environment to temporarily settle them down.

This would avoid later awkwardness, keep them from wandering around, and give him ample time to make other arrangements.

Besides, if he trapped a True Immortal and the other party kept attacking their surroundings, they might trigger the hidden killing formation...

Whether the intruder died or was injured had nothing to do with him, but if the sect held him accountable for violating the rules by constructing formations, that would be truly troublesome.

The surface formations existed to prevent others from approaching the alchemy room. Setting up a "guest room" within the formation could properly resolve those two crucial problems.

This was a necessary measure Li Changshou had adopted after deep consideration.

What was more...

He had even borrowed his master's name. The writing on the signboards all imitated his master's handwriting.

After all, his master was the peak master, while he was merely Lesser Qiong Peak's Chief Disciple.

I'm finally almost back.

Li Changshou's gaze swept across the mountain ranges flashing past in the distance as he calculated the little remaining distance of his journey.

Once he returned, he would continue suppressing his cultivation and study Samadhi True Fire.

At his current Minor Realm, if he risked his life to suppress the speed of his natural breakthrough, he should still be able to hold it down for around two years.

Two years would only barely be enough for him to cultivate Samadhi True Fire to the beginner stage.

And the next time he went out, it would be to formally undergo the tribulation.

Then again, how should he explain the alchemy room and the Chain Array around it to his master? If his master asked how the Chain Array had been arranged, should he reveal a little of his hidden strength?

Naturally, he trusted his master, but what if his master let slip the truth after drinking...

Forget it. His master and junior sister were the people closest to him. The "permissions" and treatment they received from him ought to be equal.

When he returned, he would speak with his master and let him understand him to the extent that his junior sister did.

As they neared the mountain gate, the night wind was unexpectedly warm.

By the time they returned to Du Xian Sect's mountain gate, it was already the middle of the night, with a bright moon and sparse stars.

Everyone dispersed before the Hall of Hundred Affairs. Li Changshou bade farewell to Martial Uncle Jiu Jiu as well, then rode a cloud toward Lesser Qiong Peak.

Youqin Xuanya clearly wanted to say a few words to Li Changshou, but the moment she landed, several martial uncles called her into the Hall of Hundred Affairs, leaving her no chance to get away.

Li Changshou drifted away without drawing anyone's attention. As the saying went, joyous occasions made the spirit shine, and he had gained quite a lot over the past few days.

But when Li Changshou recalled this trip to the Eastern Sea, his expression quickly darkened...

Even now, he did not understand why that Dragon Clan Prince had chosen him to leave the formation that day.

To prevent himself from encountering that Ao Yi who refused to play by the rules again, he would have to stay farther away from these ancient nobles in the future.

Lesser Qiong Peak was quiet. From afar, Li Changshou discovered that neither his junior sister nor his master was in their respective huts. His spiritual sense swept across the grand formation, and at a glance, he saw his master and junior sister trapped at the edge of the formation...

What?

How had they gotten trapped in there together?

His master had been in Secluded Cultivation and knew nothing of the rear formations, while Ling'e had watched them being constructed. How had they both wandered inside?

Could it be that they thought the scenery there was nice, so master and disciple had gone in together to drink tea and watch the stars?

Li Changshou rode his cloud over. Rather than immediately releasing them, he inspected the grand formation inside and out before taking out the Jade Card that controlled it and shutting down the outer trapping formation.

The breeze stirred, white mist drifted through the woods, and the once-dense forest had lost some of its undergrowth.

Ling'e immediately cried out in delight. "Master! Senior Brother is back!"

Old Daoist Qi Yuan's spirits rose. He started to stand, then seemed to remember something and settled back down, putting on a stern face as he grabbed his fly-whisk!

"Ahem! You little... Li Changshou, you brat! Get over here and accept your punishment!"

Li Changshou, who was drifting down from the air, blinked and caught a whiff of something unusual...

The moment he landed, his master's Fly Whisk lashed toward him.

After advancing to the Turbid Immortal realm, Old Daoist Qi Yuan's strength had truly leaped forward. In the blink of an eye, the Fly Whisk transformed into a sky full of white nets. Had Li Changshou not restrained himself with all his might, his instincts would have dragged him away at once!

The white net descended, tying Li Changshou up tightly with the Fly Whisk.

Ling'e immediately launched a limp, powerless hungry tiger pounce from the side, and Li Changshou went along with it as his junior sister shoved him down...

Several miserable howls and bursts of laughter rang through the woods.

But this "lesson" for Senior Brother was not as intense as Ling'e had imagined.

With Senior Brother offering no resistance and Master watching the entire affair from beside them, she was somewhat at a loss over what to do.

She was only the junior sister. If Master did not demonstrate, she could not really hit Senior Brother...

When she looked up, Ling'e suddenly saw the faintly warning look in her senior brother's eyes.

Hmph!

Gritting her teeth, she raised her delicate hand and brought it down viciously, only to stop just before it made contact...

In the end, that slender hand merely landed on the spots where Master had struck Senior Brother several times. Remembering how those places had been swollen from Master's blows, she could not help but gently...

Rub them.

"Ah, Ling'e has truly grown up."

Li Changshou wore an expression of gratified relief, though beneath it lingered a trace of helplessness. He earnestly lectured her:

"A young lady must be reserved.

Lusting is one thing, preferences are another. It is not as if Senior Brother cannot understand you—you have reached that age, after all.

But as a Qi Refiner, you still need to restrain the impulses in your heart. What if they give rise to inner demons? Don't you agree?"

"No! I was only—"

Ling'e's pretty face instantly flushed red. She nervously glanced at her master, only to find him frowning at her as well, looking both awkward and as if he wanted to speak but held himself back.

"I was only... Stupid Senior Brother! You're bullying me! Awooo!"

"A gentleman uses his hands, not his mouth. Why have you turned so vicious that you're biting now?"

"Hmph! If I can't outtalk you, can't I outbite you?"

"Master, aren't you going to discipline Junior Sister? How will she ever marry in the future?"

"None of your business! I'll grow old and die on Lesser Qiong Peak!"

At some point, Old Daoist Qi Yuan had turned and left the woods. A faint smile rested on the old Daoist's lips as he slowly floated back to his thatched hut.

Not long afterward, Li Changshou emerged from the woods with grass clippings all over his head and his clothes in disarray. Looking at the several bite marks on his arm, he truly did not know whether to laugh or cry.

Junior Sister was a rabbit. Case closed.

Behind him, Ling'e's cheeks were red, yet she pretended to gaze at the stars as if nothing had happened.

Once they reached the thatched huts, a strand of Old Daoist Qi Yuan's voice transmission entered both their ears:

"From today onward, your master will enter Secluded Cultivation to comprehend the Dao of the Turbid Immortal. All matters on Lesser Qiong Peak shall be managed by you, Changshou. If there is anything important, you may come consult your master at any time.

Ling'e, you must still pay attention to your words and conduct. You should hold your senior brother in respect."

Lan Ling'e immediately answered in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz, "Y-yes, Master..."

Soon after, layers upon layers of formations lit up around Old Daoist Qi Yuan's thatched hut, sealing it off from the outside.

Li Changshou turned around, his gaze deeply meaningful. "You told Master?"

Lan Ling'e instantly gave in, stammering, "Well, um... just... a little..."

"A little, or a billion little bits?"

"Definitely just a little!"

Li Changshou put on a stern face. "Come inside."

Lan Ling'e's body trembled. Her little face immediately fell, and she instantly switched into a tearful mode. Entering her thatched hut, she moved a cushion over, put her legs together, knelt, lowered her head, and pretended to cry—all in one smooth motion.

Casually activating the surrounding formations, Li Changshou said calmly, "Speak. What exactly did you tell Master?"

"Senior Brother, Master forced me..."

Several black lines immediately appeared across Li Changshou's forehead. If anyone else heard those words, they might think some scandalous human tragedy had occurred on Lesser Qiong Peak.

Come to think of it, should he add the option of a mistress for Master to his plans for Master's old age?

That was worth considering.

As for the bits and pieces of information his junior sister had revealed to Master, Li Changshou did not care all that much.

After all, his junior sister knew only so much.

Given his understanding of Little Ling'e's personality, he had anticipated today's situation long ago.

In the dead of night, the formations around the alchemy room were fully activated. Li Changshou started the pill furnace and casually refined a batch of pills, leaving a Paper Clone to watch over it while his true body appeared in the underground secret chamber.

Safe and sound.

He took out three Jade Cards and played with them for a while. He put away the Lightning Method and the Wu Wei Scripture, then forcibly imprinted the cultivation method for Samadhi True Fire into his mind before sitting there in a slight daze.

The Great Cataclysm of the Investiture of the Gods...

Although secretly cultivating to Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal within the sect was the ideal state, that would require the accumulation of long years.

And as a sect of the Three Teachings Immortal Sect, Du Xian Sect would very likely be swept up by the Great Cataclysm of the Investiture of the Gods.

The Great Cataclysm of the Investiture of the Gods was not merely the single storyline of King Wu's Campaign Against Zhou in the Mortal World of the Southern Continent. It should be a great calamity involving the Three Realms and targeting disciples of the Three Teachings.

The more prosperous the Central Divine Continent was now, the more devastatingly it would surely be destroyed then. The immortal sects of the Eastern Continent of Sheng likely would not escape the calamity either.

But Li Changshou was not without a way to avoid this great calamity.

It was very simple: get ashore in advance.

The Great Cataclysm of the Investiture of the Gods was, in truth, the process by which the Jade Emperor of the Heavenly Court established authority over heaven and earth. Its nominal cause was Jade Emperor Haotian going to the Dao Ancestor to weep and complain that the disciples of the Three Teachings were rude and powerful, that they did not obey the Heavenly Court's orders, and that he, the Ruler of the Three Realms, was a ruler in name only. He had no manly dignity at all and could not even hold his head up before Junior Sister Queen Mother, leaving his masculine vigor utterly wilted...

Ahem, he had strayed too far.

Judging from the outcome of the Investiture of the Gods, the disciples of the Three Teachings entered the Heavenly Court to become gods, while the Saints no longer personally manifested in the world, laying the foundation for the Heavenly Court's governance of the Three Realms.

Then, as long as he infiltrated the Heavenly Court early and became one of its veterans during its difficult years, he would not need to become any high-ranking official. He could hide his cultivation and serve as a minor clerk, all for the sake of having his name entered in the Heavenly Court's immortal registry.

When the Great Cataclysm of the Investiture of the Gods descended, his name would already be in the Heavenly Court's immortal registry, so it would have nothing to do with him. How could the Investiture of the Gods Calamity fall upon his head again?

Would they invest the Heavenly Court's immortals and gods all over again? That would defy both Dao and reason.

Once the immortals and gods of the Investiture of the Gods went to take up posts in the Heavenly Court, it would be brimming with talent. He could then drift downstream with the current and use the momentum to retire. He could gain the credentials of a Heavenly Court veteran while returning to the mountains to continue cultivating in peace.

What was not to like?

Li Changshou tapped his fingers against the table as he carefully considered the specific plan.

To enter the Heavenly Court's immortal registry, it had to happen before the Jade Emperor went to the Dao Ancestor to cry and complain. There should still be plenty of time. Having Master become a Land God was also quite a crucial step, one that could save him much calculation.

It all depended on whether Master was willing.

Though a Land God was lowly, numerous, and wielded little authority, he was still, at any rate, an Orthodox God of fortune and virtue...

Perhaps a Land God could even find himself a... Land Goddess.