Rebellious Dragon Prince, Online...

"Just growing a beard... You gave your martial uncle quite a scare."

Jiu Jiu drew the wooden spoon back into her hand, then sniffed the wine in the jar beside her again. Still shaken, she said, "I thought my yin and yang would fall out of balance and turn me into neither man nor woman or something."

Li Changshou shook his head with a quiet laugh. He had always deeply admired his little martial uncle's train of thought.

"Martial Uncle, once this batch of pills is complete today, I'll likely enter seclusion for half a year to a year to cultivate Samadhi True Fire. I prepared a year's supply of those wines for you in advance, but drinking too much of this stuff isn't good either. Martial Uncle, please drink in moderation. They're on the shelf beside that jar of Medicinal Wine, in the usual place."

"Half a year?"

Jiu Jiu put away the wine jugs, casually set several empty ones down, then walked over with her hands behind her back and earnestly reminded him, "Although Samadhi True Fire can be cultivated from the Void Returning Realm onward, at the beginning, it requires burning your Essence, Qi, and Spirit to condense a Spark of Hope! Don't get impatient and drain your Vital Energy practicing spells, leaving yourself weak in spirit, weak in qi, and weak in essence. That would be terrible!"

Li Changshou nodded with a smile and continued sorting the herbs with his head lowered.

Jiu Jiu yawned out of boredom and muttered, "I've been stuck at a bottleneck these past few years. Breaking through in cultivation has become rather troublesome. But this has happened several times before. I'd be stuck for a few years, then somehow break through on my own. After breaking through, I'll have to enter seclusion for several years—possibly even decades. You might not see your martial uncle for a very long time."

Li Changshou smiled. "Martial Uncle has already begun focusing on the Wu Wei Scripture, hasn't she?"

"That's right." Jiu Jiu summoned a Bamboo chair and sat beside the table, listlessly slumping over it. "Once you become immortal, you can cultivate the Wu Wei Scripture too. If your aptitude is good enough, you can start at the Void Returning Realm. What a pity... Ah, right. Fifth Senior Brother told me that your master seems to have begun comprehending the Wu Wei Scripture as well."

"Yes, Master received the scripture sent by a sect steward two months ago," Li Changshou said casually. "Actually, Martial Uncle's state of mind is the most fitting for cultivating the Wu Wei Scripture. Seek nothing by force, seek not too much."

Jiu Jiu blinked. "Little Changshou, why do you speak in the same tone as our master?"

"Martial Uncle Jiu Wu also gave this disciple the first volume of the Wu Wei Scripture before," Li Changshou replied. "Aren't these words all meanings found within the scripture?"

"So that was it."

Jiu Jiu murmured softly. She sat to one side, quietly watching Li Changshou arrange the herbs, and before she knew it, her mind drifted away...

A moment later.

"Little Shou Shou... You're actually rather good-looking too... Hehehe... How did I not notice before?"

"Hm?"

Li Changshou, who had already been preparing to begin pill refinement, turned around and found his martial uncle asleep on the table, still muttering dreamily.

After becoming immortal, one's Immortal Body was free of impurities. Though his little martial uncle never tended to her medium-length hair, it remained silky smooth, glossy, and black. With only a simple phoenix-tail braid, no jewelry, and no powder or paint, she gave off an unexpectedly simple and pure impression.

While asleep, his little martial uncle truly deserved such praise as skin like jade, flesh like congealed cream, heart clear and spirit crystalline.

Unfortunately, when awake, she was far too flighty.

Shaking his head with a smile, Li Changshou quietly walked out of the pill-refining room. He admired the little spirit fish he had raised in the yin-yang-fish-shaped pond and waited for Jiu Jiu to wake from her nap.

After all, he was asking something of her and borrowing Jiu Jiu's pure immortal power to refine pills. He could not be too harsh on his little martial uncle.

Two days later.

After refining the pills, Li Changshou temporarily sealed the pill-refining room, leaving active only the arrays within three li of it.

After seeing Jiu Jiu off, he went to find Ling'e and tell her that he would be entering seclusion.

This time, Li Changshou intended to formally condense the Spark of Hope for Samadhi True Fire. It would take around half a year.

Ling'e, dressed in loose training clothes and studying the technique of scattering medicine beneath a willow tree, was immediately somewhat puzzled...

"Senior Brother, aren't you entering seclusion by the pill-refining room this time?"

"Cultivating Samadhi True Fire can easily blow up a room," Li Changshou said with a smile. "I'll make a little wooden raft shortly and enter seclusion in the lake. That will be safer."

Ling'e blinked lightly, seeming to want to speak but stopping herself.

Li Changshou placed several Porcelain bottles in her hands and instructed her on the use and dosage of the pills in each bottle.

After pondering it over and over in her heart, little Ling'e finally asked in a soft voice, "Senior Brother, shouldn't Samadhi True Fire... be kept hidden? Isn't this spell very powerful?"

Li Changshou casually tapped his junior sister on the head, naturally without using any strength.

Although they stood face-to-face, Li Changshou still used the Sound Transmission Method to explain in detail, "Classes have only just stopped these past few years, and you've already forgotten everything I taught you? Samadhi True Fire was bestowed by the master of Jiu Wu and Jiu Jiu. Deliberately hiding it and refusing to use it would only make others more suspicious. Only something others cannot think of, cannot guess, and would never connect to the information you usually reveal can count as a trump card. It is not simply judged by how powerful it is."

Ling'e stuck out her tongue and lowered her head, obediently accepting the lesson.

Li Changshou took out two more Porcelain bottles and transmitted, "Put these two bottles of pills before Master's door. These are immortal pills I refined for Master; they can transform turbidity into clarity. Don't sneak a taste, or the medicinal power of the immortal pills will make you burst apart."

Ling'e was immediately delighted. "Then after Master takes them, won't he be able to..."

"Difficult." Li Changshou shook his head, sighed softly, and strolled into the woods to prepare the little wooden raft he would need.

Lan Ling'e opened the jade bottle and took a sniff. A surge of pure Vital Energy rushed toward her.

She gently inhaled a breath, and her whole body became lightheaded and dizzy. She staggered back to her room and hurriedly sat in meditation to cultivate and dissolve the medicinal power.

Li Changshou laughed softly at the sight. He found an old stretch of forest, rolled up his sleeves, and got to work in earnest.

Two days later...

"What was that sound?"

Lan Ling'e, who had just awakened from meditation, rose and looked out through the wooden window. Her little mouth fell open as she let out several soft cries, black lines covering her lovely forehead...

I'll make a little wooden raft shortly.

Her senior brother's words echoed in her mind as she looked at the fifty-zhang-long "simple" great tower ship that had just been launched onto the lake. Lan Ling'e could not help patting her forehead.

Did Senior Brother have some misunderstanding about the words "little" and "big"?

Lan Ling'e lowered her head and glanced at the curves beneath her training clothes, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly.

Stupid Senior Brother, as expected...

Martial Uncle Jiu Jiu had ruined his normal standards for size!

In truth, Li Changshou was not someone who cared much for enjoyment. When making little contraptions, he placed greater importance on practicality.

The little wooden raft was merely simple planks of wood joined together, without any restrictions. In terms of crafting difficulty, it truly counted as a little contraption.

A place for seclusion had to have simple warning arrays, soundproofing arrays, and anti-scrying arrays. To place and conceal the array cores for these arrays, some space was needed after all.

Beyond that, he had a few little designs of his own.

The two-story tower ship contained seven rooms of equal size. Every room connected to the others, and each held a meditation cushion.

Once he entered seclusion and activated the surrounding arrays, he would place several paper figures in each room. Should someone trigger the arrays, the restrictions on these paper figures would immediately activate, transforming them into his appearance—enough to pass false for true!

They were simply essential goods for guarding against assassination attempts!

Unfortunately, this design was still not perfect. There was still a one-in-seven chance of being assassinated...

"Ling'e, I'm entering seclusion now."

Receiving Li Changshou's sound transmission, Lan Ling'e hurried to the door and waved her little hand at Li Changshou, who stood atop the "tower ship."

Li Changshou formed hand seals with both hands. Layer upon layer of arrays on the little wooden raft activated, obscuring a vast stretch of lake below. Amid layer upon layer of glowing membranes, the little wooden raft also became much blurrier...

Shortly afterward, a faint white mist rose over the water's surface, and Lan Ling'e could no longer see where her senior brother was.

Li Changshou placed paper figures in each room, then quietly arrived at a secluded cabin. After feeling around in a corner for a while, he opened a hidden compartment, beneath which lay clear lake water...

He formed a hand seal and used the Illusionary Form Technique to become a spirit fish. Without a sound, he slipped into the water and fled toward the lakebed, likewise covered by layer upon layer of arrays, leaving only seven paper figures lying throughout the cabins.

The main reason he had made the raft so large was so that these layers of arrays could cover the waters below.

And beneath it lay Li Changshou's third seclusion site.

When his master had brought little Ling'e up the mountain years ago, he had entered seclusion here and refined Netherworld Coldfire to the initial stage...

Among the five elements, water overcame fire. Cultivating a Fire Method beneath the water was truly an excellent means of preventing too much fire qi from gathering and causing a self-destruction.

It was just that...

The originally lushly forested Lesser Qiong Peak had suddenly gone bald in one small patch.

Eastern Sea, Crystal Palace.

Ao Yi, how dare you! You dared speak such wild words, show no respect for your elders, disgrace the might of our clan, and slander the glory of our clan! Do you know—do you know what crime this is?!

Within the empty Second Prince's Hall, the Dragon Clan youth Ao Yi was bound to an iron pillar by chain after chain. His eyes were tightly shut, while the furious scoldings from that day faintly echoed beside his ears.

A cold smile hung at the corner of his lips. He endured the stabbing pain in his back, yet his gaze remained as resolute as it had been that day.

Ao Yi now only felt that this Crystal Palace was absurd beyond measure—and laughable beyond measure.

When he had stood at that celebration banquet, faced his father, who had kept his eyes narrowed as though pretending to sleep, and spoken those words:

Your son wishes to apprentice himself to the Du Xian Sect and cultivate the sacred methods of the Three Teachings!

Those dragon-faced expressions of shock and disbelief, swiftly twisting out of shape...

Those furious cries calling him rebellious and unfilial, the shame of the Dragon Clan, utterly senseless...

The surging auras of those Dragon Clan experts had nearly crushed him, a little dragon barely ten years old, flat on the spot!

The ones who scolded him that day were all either his father's brothers or even older ancient dragons, and they had the right to scold him, their nephew.

As for those sea-clan ministers and Dragon Clan generals without Dragon King Bloodline, none dared utter a sound, yet every one of them conveyed contempt through their eyes.

Seeking apprenticeship at a Sage's school was deemed rebellious and unfilial.

Going out to seek a master and cultivate was regarded as betrayal of the Dragon Clan.

Laughable. Truly laughable...

"Utterly ridiculous!"

Ao Yi could not stop himself from shouting furiously. His delicate features were filled with pain!

The iron pillar behind him radiated a grim, icy power. Ice spikes pierced into his fair, smooth back one after another, making Ao Yi's entire body tremble violently in agony.

Yet his gaze remained clear, and the resolve within it had not diminished in the slightest!

A short while ago, the Dragon Mother had just left after painstakingly urging him to admit his mistake soon...

My son, are our clan's methods not enough for you to learn and use? Are our clan's treasures not enough for you to play with? Why must you do something so absurd—and before so many of your uncles and elders in the clan, speak such outrageous words that defy all convention? You wish to apprentice yourself at a Sage's school, but do you know that apart from Jie Teaching, none of the Sage schools accept Dragon Clan disciples! The master of Chan Teaching even accepted a bastard wild dragon as his disciple back then, borrowed a supreme treasure, and stripped away the last of our Dragon Clan's fate and fortune to place it upon that vile dragon. How could the clan possibly forget such humiliation? My son, who has bewitched your heart?

How could Ao Yi not know his mother's words? How could he not know how much truth they contained?

True Person Huang Long, one of the Chan Teachings Twelve Golden Immortals, clearly possessed the Ancestral Dragon Bloodline. Back then, he had merely been gravely injured and accidentally fallen into the Kunlun Mountains, where the Three Pure Ones, who had not yet become Sages, kept him in their courtyard as an ornamental dragon for the Three Pure Ones' household.

Before the ancient Sages emerged, the Dragon Clan considered this a disgrace. They severed relations with True Person Huang Long and removed his name from the Dragon Register.

After the Three Pure Ones became Sages, the Dragon Clan could not bring themselves to curry favor with True Person Huang Long. Instead, they began spreading rumors within the clan, branding him with the insulting name "wild bastard."

As for the claim that Sage schools did not accept Dragon Clan disciples...

After the Three Pure Ones became Sages, a group of Dragon Clan experts brought young dragons to Golden Ao Island to seek apprenticeship. They were exceedingly respectful toward the Sage.

But when they heard that Lord Tongtian, whose threshold for accepting disciples was the lowest, would merely allow the Dragon Clan's finest disciples to become disciples of a Sage's disciples rather than directly taking them as his own disciples, the Dragon Clan experts turned around and returned, believing the Sage had deliberately humiliated them...

What was absurd?

This was absurd!

Ao Yi's entire body trembled faintly as the light from the iron pillar behind him gradually weakened.

I, Ao Yi, must endure.

Only if he, the Second Prince of the Dragon King, completely lowered his stance and apprenticed himself to the Du Xian Sect, a sect ranked in the middle to lower ranks among the Three Teachings Immortal Sect...

Even if he had to kneel unceasingly before the Du Xian Sect and enter as a Registered Disciple...

Could he shatter the Dragon Clan's meaningless pride and tear apart their twisted self-respect!

If even such humiliation could not wake the drunken Dragon Clan, then he would use the Sage's methods to stand at the summit of all living beings!

When that day came, he would ask these ancient venerables...

What truly was the Dragon Clan's path forward!

Drawing in a breath, Ao Yi opened his mouth and shouted:

"Let me out—"

"I want to see Father!"

"I want to go to the Du Xian Sect and apprentice myself to a master to cultivate the Dao!"

Outside the hall, a group of teary-eyed maidservants stood with heartbreak written across their lovely faces. Yet Immortal Flood Dragon Soldiers blocked them, preventing them from approaching the Second Prince by even a single step.