Chapter 100: Men Should Be True to Themselves

"Why isn't the array set by my Fifth Senior Brother working anymore?"

Straddling her large gourd, Jiu Jiu clutched her forehead, munching on those elastic, non-sticky spiritual pills that restore spirit, solidify essence, and boost energy. She drifted along hazily until she reached the skies above Xiaoqiong Peak.

Jiu Jiu was feeling a bit dizzy right now...

The protective array around her residence didn't know what kind of tantrum it was throwing or what show of force it was putting on—it just wouldn't open. After several unsuccessful attempts, Jiu Jiu naturally couldn't indulge it!

As a cultivator at the late-stage Zhenxian realm, though she didn't understand array paths, she had her own unique method to break arrays—

Protect herself with immortal power and smash through with her head.

Then, drawing on her long-standing experience of hard labor on Xiaoqiong Peak, Jiu Jiu personally repaired the array foundations buried beneath her house.

As a result, the original arrays on the pavilion—the protective arrays, isolation arrays, soundproofing arrays, spirit-gathering arrays...

None of them worked anymore!

Jiu Jiu couldn't help but press her hand to her forehead. Arrays, alchemy, and artifact refining—these three things were just too complicated.

She wanted to find someone to help with the arrays, but discovered...

Her First Senior Sister and Second Senior Brother had gone out with their master to investigate the enemy's background using the corpses left behind that day;

Her Third Senior Sister had gone to accompany her dao companion, and Eighth Senior Brother had gone to accompany his dao companion, both busy handling the aftermath for the fellow disciples who had died in the war on other peaks;

Her closest Fourth Senior Sister and Fifth Senior Brother had gone out with the elders from the Hall of Hundreds of Affairs to procure treasures for repairing the mountain-protecting array foundations;

Sixth Senior Sister and Seventh Senior Brother were in seclusion, healing each other, and apparently, they had some kind of, hee-hee-hee, wondrous technique that allowed them to help each other and progress together...

Thinking of this, Jiu Jiu stifled a laugh as she sat on her large gourd and entered the array of Xiaoqiong Peak, drifting downward.

She wasn't just coming here for wine today—she had serious business.

—To ask Changshou for help in fixing the arrays around her pavilion!

Jiu Jiu summed up her failed repair experience—it was probably because she lacked Li Changshou chattering away beside her...

Once inside the isolation array around Xiaoqiong Peak, Jiu Jiu couldn't help but smile contentedly.

Ling E was meditating under the trees, Changshou was refining pills in the pill room, and Senior Brother Qi Yuan was nowhere to be seen.

Xiaoqiong Peak seemed completely untouched by the sudden disaster that had struck before—it was as peaceful and serene as ever, with a touch of interesting charm.

Jiu Jiu didn't disturb Ling E, who was cultivating, and flew straight toward the pill room, where the arrays ahead opened on their own.

Along the way, she noticed...

The woods near the pill room had inexplicably lost several patches, with a few new ponds added.

Was he messing with feng shui?

Jiu Jiu blinked but didn't pry further.

Li Changshou had naturally spotted Jiu Jiu early on.

He stood in front of the pill room and secretly paused the large team of paper effigies he had sent out yesterday for the Nanhai affairs, tucking them away underground in some inconspicuous corner of Dongsheng Shenzhou.

He left a trace of his mind to monitor things there while shifting most of his focus back to his main body, offering a slight smile to his little grandmaster uncle flying in from the air.

A moment later, Jiu Jiu explained her purpose a bit hesitantly, smoothing the hair by her ear.

"Could you help me out this time... with some remuneration, of course."

"Grandmaster Uncle, if you need anything, I'll naturally do my best to assist."

Li Changshou smiled and said, "There's no need to mention remuneration.This mountain gate disaster has made me realize a lot. From now on, if you ever run out of wine, just come here to get some."

Jiu Jiu's eyes lit up at once, chuckling, "Oh, come on, is this your way of trying to latch onto me?"

Li Changshou quickly shook his head, deliberately putting on a serious face.

"Grandmaster Uncle, that kind of leg-hugging gesture isn't appropriate. After all, there's a generation gap between us.Though generations aren't a big issue, I've always seen you as a respectable elder."

"That's not what I meant—I was talking about relying on you, not..."

Jiu Jiu's face flushed slightly, and she fidgeted with her hands behind her back, her clean face turning a bit red.

Li Changshou couldn't help but chuckle lightly. Jiu Jiu suddenly realized she had been playfully teased by this grandnephew of hers.

She glared at Li Changshou and snapped fiercely,

"Come with me! Fix the arrays!How dare you joke about me like that—do you have a death wish?I get so tired helping you refine pills every day, and today, even if I don't exhaust you, I'll work you half to death!"

Li Changshou cupped his hands in salute but asked Jiu Jiu to go ahead first, saying he'd catch up in half an hour.

This way, he could avoid drawing attention by traveling with the Little Wine Immortal and also find a suitable hiding spot for the paper effigies he'd sent out.

Jiu Jiu didn't think much of it and, since she needed to prepare some treasures for repairing the arrays, hopped back onto her gourd and flew off cheerfully to her residence.

After Jiu Jiu left, Li Changshou stood at the pill room door, pondering for a moment, then returned inside to sit in meditation.

He closed his eyes and shifted his mind to the paper effigies he had sent out.

To quickly resolve the Nanhai Divine Church issue, Li Changshou had "challenged himself" and "taken a bold risk" by adjusting the paper effigies for a few days, then asked his master for help to send the large team out.

For this trip to the Nanhai, he had dispatched:

The new Shen-class Paper Effigy No. 1 and Shen-class Paper Effigy No. 2 as the main and deputy leaders;

Six Tian-class Paper Effigies, responsible for travel, escape, combat in critical moments, and several original-style paper figures with divine abilities.

The firepower carried included micro array disks and self-developed poison-throwing tools, mainly unused poison pills from the Duxian Gate war.

The operation's goal:

To make the Nanhai Sea God Church collapse naturally in the shortest time possible, through peaceful and covert means, thereby freeing himself from this unstable "bomb."

Controlling the Tian-class No. 2, which was carrying the group of paper effigies and paper figures for the journey, he used earth escape to hide them even more securely and left a trace of his mind to stay vigilant.

After handling things remotely, Li Changshou sat in meditation in the pill room for a while.

Once the time was right, he stood up, changed into a clean robe, checked the various items on him, and thought about anything he might have overlooked...

He had always been hesitant to go to the Nanhai, mainly fearing an ambush by the Western Cult experts, who might be lying in wait.

But now, with religious conflicts emerging there,

Li Changshou had to intervene before it escalated into a large-scale mortal bloodbath.

After careful consideration, he decided not to retrieve these paper effigies this time.

Moreover, to avoid more trouble, while adjusting these paper effigies over the past few days, he had focused on enhancing their "self-destruction" attributes;

Allowing the paper effigies to "die" anytime and anywhere, maintaining their transformed forms, and self-ignite or self-burn directly into ashes, scattering completely once and for all!

As a man, one should be ruthless with one's own paper effigies!

Furthermore, during a previous check, Li Changshou accidentally discovered that, perhaps because he had buried a pile of demon clan experts' ashes on Xiaoqiong Peak...

Those old spirit trees had regained new vitality!

"Before the little trees grow up, I'll have to count on you all."

Li Changshou smiled, sat in front of the pill furnace, and quietly pondered his subsequent plans.

Gongde and yezhang—these two things are quite mysterious and closely related.

Although gongde can offset yezhang, based on Li Changshou's understanding:

Yezhang is like a poison pill;

Gongde is like the antidote pill.

Even if he had ten thousand antidote pills prepared, he wouldn't want to swallow even one poison pill!

Even if yezhang is canceled out by gongde, it might still leave some mark on him.

Though he had survived the ascension heavenly tribulation and achieved immortality, with his cultivation now stable as he steadily advances step by step toward the Changsheng realm,

There was still another hurdle awaiting him...

The Jin Xian tribulation.

The heavens do not allow living beings to live forever; birth, aging, illness, and death are the natural order.

Without death, how can one attain life?

Only with gongde's protection, if the Heavenly Dao deems that allowing him to live forever benefits the stability of the world, can he be exempt from the Jin Xian tribulation.

If yezhang entangles him, facing the heavenly tribulation would be a dead end, whether it's the Cheng Xian tribulation or the Jin Xian tribulation.

Therefore, Li Changshou wanted to avoid any yezhang at all costs—the Nanhai Sea God matter had to be handled quickly.

He would also make multiple preparations, constantly strengthening himself;

Although the Jin Xian tribulation is terrifying and records of it are scarce in ancient texts, it should still have an upper limit of intensity...

As long as his dao and cultivation accumulation exceed that upper limit, he'd naturally have a seventy percent chance of surviving the tribulation.

The other thirty percent would come from preparations beyond his cultivation.

"Ah..."

Li Changshou sighed softly as he stood in front of the pill room.

In the end, it all came down to diligent cultivation;

"Allow yourself a bit of leniency in cultivation, and you'll bury a bit of bitterness in your tribulation."

Li Changshou murmured to himself, thinking this line could be added to the later versions of the "Stability Scripture."

With a light chuckle, Li Changshou rode a cloud into the air and slowly flew toward Potian Peak...

That line wouldn't be a problem even if someone overheard it.

At this point, his apparent cultivation was at the eighth stage of Fanxu realm, so it was only natural to start worrying about the Cheng Xian tribulation.

"Are you really going to make a move?"

In the depths of the Nanhai, near a certain immortal island on the sea surface,

The youthful Ao Yi stood before the girl named Han Zhi, who had a slightly higher cultivation than him, and lifted his chin slightly to gaze at the three kin before him.

On the immortal island, many human cultivators flew into the air, watching the conflict leisurely.

The cause was simple:

Ao Yi and Han Zhi were strolling in the Nanhai and had wandered into this sea island market town, where they ran into his cousin—born around the same time and hatched from the egg together—the Second Prince of the Nanhai Dragon Palace.

At that moment, the three dragon kin in luxurious robes with horns on their heads stood in front of Ao Yi.

The one in the center had a slender build, narrow eyes, and though his face wasn't as handsome as Ao Yi's, he had one advantage Ao Yi lacked...

This person had a normal stature, standing eight chi tall.

He was the Second Prince of the Nanhai Dragon Palace, Ao Mou.

Today's incident started with Ao Mou mocking Ao Yi for bringing shame to the dragon race. Ao Yi originally hadn't said anything and just wanted to leave with Han Zhi to avoid conflict with his kin.

But how could Han Zhi stand by and let her martial uncle be wronged?

One retort, two light scoldings, three dragons grew angry, four arguments, five words of disagreement, six fists raised;

Seven bystanders chattered, drawing nine sides to investigate—it was quite the spectacle!

In short, both sides had clashed and agreed to a fight at sea.

Ao Yi asked, "Are you really going to make a move?" Ao Mou sneered twice and signaled his two dragon attendants to step back.

Ao Mou's cultivation was about on par with Ao Yi's, and their bloodline powers were similar, both being sons of the Dragon King.

Although Ao Yi had been cleansed once, he had also gained many benefits from the Jie Jiao;

Ao Mou was confident in his profound divine abilities and wanted to teach a lesson to this "second cousin from his uncle's family" who had disgraced the dragon race.

At that moment, the two dragon princes faced off across the sea and immediately began fighting.

The battle was intense, and they were evenly matched, but Ao Yi quickly gained the upper hand, suppressing Ao Mou.

Ao Mou, however, remained calm, activating his divine ability as his figure vanished instantly on the sea surface.

In the water, he was unbeatable!

Divine ability: Youlong Huashui!

Ao Yi's eyes narrowed, and profound ice and heavenly fire gathered around him as he scanned the sea surface.

This feeling... he had experienced it before...

Suddenly, several figures appeared on the sea surface, all resembling Ao Mou, charging at Ao Yi with spears and swords!

But Ao Yi didn't panic at all. He stomped his foot on the sea, causing waves of water to condense into azure dragons that smashed and exploded around him, shattering all the figures!

Ripples spread across the sea!

Just then, Ao Yi's figure leaped suddenly to the left rear. He raised his fist first, then changed it to a palm at the last moment!

Amid the booming sounds, water columns erupted, making the scene even more chaotic.

As the splashed water fell, looking at where Ao Yi stood...

Ao Yi was now hovering three chi above the sea, his bound hair gently swaying behind him.

His left hand was behind his back, his right hand extended forward, gripping Ao Mou's neck and lifting this eight-chi-tall, lanky dragon prince into the air.

Ao Mou's eyes widened as he trembled,

"You... how did you find my true form..."

Ao Yi said indifferently, "Your kind of divine ability is far inferior to that of my friend."

With that, the image of that elegant, knowledgeable human cultivator flashed in Ao Yi's mind. He casually tossed the Ao Mou in his hand aside.

"Go, apologize to my martial nephew."