Chapter 217: Surface 40,000, Actual...

When the Heavenly Soldiers entered the scene, the accompanying music was initially just a playful touch, but Li Changshou had put considerable thought into it.

He wasn't merely trying to build momentum for the Tian Court; if that were the case, it would have been more effective to have Dongmu Gong bring his own musical troupe.

The sounds of the suona and drums served both as a lighthearted gesture and a clear signal to the East Sea Dragon King and the core leaders of the dragon clan: he, the South Sea Sea God, was aligned with the Tian Court.

By giving this subtle hint to the dragon clan at this moment, Li Changshou ensured that when the Jade Emperor's decree later reached the South Sea Sea God Temple, the dragon clan wouldn't cause any trouble.

As the saying goes:

Chaos erupts at the Dragon Palace wedding, and the Heavenly Soldiers descend to display the Emperor's might.

As the tens of thousands of elite Heavenly Soldiers charged into the sea, the main hall of the Dragon Palace was instantly filled with murmurs of confusion.

"Are those... people from the Tian Court?"

"The Tian Court has so many soldiers now?"

"They're not bad at all. I heard it was just a poor backwater of the Dao Sect before!"

"The Tian Court is here to slay demons and eliminate evil? What fine words they speak."

Li Changshou paid little attention to these discussions; most cultivators, after all, looked down on the Tian Court.

Of course, most didn't even bother paying attention to it.

Li Changshou quietly observed the reactions of the nine Tian Court figures in the hall and noticed they were all eager, ready to rush out and join the elite Heavenly Soldiers...

The Jade Emperor's acting was quite impressive; this incarnation fully embodied the role of a "Heavenly General," his eyes gleaming with the glory of upholding the Tian Court's dignity.

In the blink of an eye, the Heavenly Soldiers were about to reach the Crystal Palace!

This group truly represented the current elite forces of the Tian Court.

Being elite meant strict discipline was a given; these soldiers were proficient in battle formations, joint attacks, and coordinated maneuvers.

Furthermore, their immortal armor was no ordinary gear!

The forty thousand sets of armor formed a complete spiritual treasure system, capable of assembling various grand arrays; when three or five soldiers gathered, their armor would connect with spiritual power, allowing them to share strength and provide timely support.

Li Changshou wished he could acquire a few hundred sets to enhance his paper effigy tactics.

But for now, that was just wishful thinking...

These armors were expensive to produce, and Li Changshou was still preoccupied with the Little Qiongfeng wandering plan, so such flashy items would have to wait.

As the forty thousand Heavenly Soldiers rushed toward the Crystal Palace, they had already divided and regrouped, gathering twenty thousand on the east side and twenty thousand on the south side.

Li Changshou strongly suspected that these soldiers had been carefully selected; scanning them with his immortal sense, he saw they all had upright postures, handsome features, and decent aptitudes...

It seemed the Jade Emperor Majesty placed great importance on this "debut" of the Tian Court.

The Dragon Palace quickly sent experts to negotiate, and the Tian Court side had generals step forward, stating they were there on orders to assist the dragon clan.

Before that Dragon Palace expert could return to report, the East Sea Dragon King's orders had already been issued everywhere—

Treat the Heavenly Soldiers as reinforcements for the dragon clan; all dragon forces should coordinate with the Heavenly Soldiers for mutual support and enemy suppression.

And so, the forty thousand Heavenly Soldiers smoothly joined the battle, flanking the tens of thousands of enemy elites who had advanced toward the Dragon Palace.

As they were about to engage in close combat, all the Heavenly Soldiers moved in perfect unison, reciting incantations and forming hand seals, each tossing out...

Three beans.

A series of crackling and booming sounds erupted in the sea water;

Above and below each soldier, three "peculiar immortal soldiers" appeared.

Over their heads were a curvaceous archer and a burly warrior;

Immortal Bean Soldier: Frost Archer

Immortal Bean Soldier: Divine Might Shieldbearer

The forty thousand Frost Archers drew their bows simultaneously, unleashing tens of thousands of ice-cold arrows formed from immortal power, turning the surrounding hundred miles of sea water bitterly cold.

The forty thousand burly warriors that emerged charged forward with large shields, leading the assault in a mighty, unstoppable wave!

The immortal beans equipped by the Heavenly Soldiers were all standardized;

Assuming no errors in their casting, the Heavenly Soldiers' side now had an additional forty thousand Frost Shooters, forty thousand Giant Shield Warriors, and forty thousand...

Pea Shooters!

The dragons of the clan and their immortal guests were genuinely stunned.

In the battlefield, the forty thousand Pea Shooters swayed unsteadily;

They moved to a cheerful rhythm, spitting out fist-sized, multicolored beans from their mouths, following the archers and contributing their immortal power...

All these old dragons and elders, having lived for so many years, had seen all sorts of things.

But these Pea Shooters—they had never seen anything like them!

Just as someone was about to mock them aloud, a burst of freezing energy exploded outside the Dragon Palace, and the forty thousand Frost Arrows delivered the full force of forty thousand Yuanxian realm cultivators!

The sea was instantly filled with a vast expanse of frozen sea creature sculptures!

Following that, the fist-sized, glowing beans flew into the pile of ice sculptures and exploded in unison!

The five elements cycled, with wood and fire generating each other!

In normal times, even if it were several times more Yuanxian strikes combined, the experts seated in the Dragon Palace wouldn't bat an eye.

It was just a minor spectacle.

But now, watching those pillars of fire erupt in the sea and shatter the ice sculptures...

The dragon clan and their guests were, more or less, surprised.

What was astonishing wasn't the power of the beans spat by the Pea Shooters;

It was that these odd-shaped, unserious-looking magical soldiers, with strength equivalent to only Yuanxian realm troops, burst forth with killing power on par with Zhenxian realm soldiers!

"Wonderful!"

"The Tian Court has such remarkable techniques!"

As praises erupted from all sides, the Pea Shooters launched their second volley;

Then, the forty thousand cheerful Pea Shooters began to wither rapidly, turning into heaps of ashes in the sea water in the blink of an eye.

The immortal power that formed them was only enough for two volleys—this was the trade-off for boosting single-attack damage.

Still, the effect was quite impressive.

Hidden in a corner of the Dragon Palace, a certain pioneer of prehistoric immortal bean hybridization wore a contented smile...

With the Pea Shooters' two volleys providing cover from the tens of thousands of armored troops and Frost Archers, the forty thousand Tian Court elites charged into the mostly cleared battlefield and mercilessly slaughtered the remaining enemies...

Afterward, these forty thousand Heavenly Soldiers and eighty thousand Bean Immortal Soldiers wheeled around and fiercely assaulted the outer battle lines.

Each of these Heavenly Soldiers still had two "Pea Shooters" on them.

After this battle, in future Tian Court campaigns, enemies would not only have to count the number of Heavenly Soldiers;

They'd also have to calculate how many beans those soldiers might be hiding...

The debut of the Heavenly Soldiers, combined with the modified "Scattering Beans into Soldiers" technique and the immortal beans he had painstakingly cultivated...

The overall effect far exceeded Li Changshou's expectations.

Li Changshou hesitated briefly, then decided to keep his hidden paper effigy legions from appearing.

Enough was enough; no need to overdo it...

And it certainly wasn't because he felt bad about losing so many paper effigies or the vast resources and years spent refining various poison pills.

The paper effigy legions were originally prepared to support the Heavenly Soldiers, to guide them through any stalemates.

—Now that the Tian Court was so short on forces, if Li Changshou let too many soldiers fall here, it would be hard to explain to the Jade Emperor, and it might even implicate Dongmu Gong.

By this point, most of the objectives of this plan had been successfully achieved.

Next was figuring out how to repel the enemies and withdraw the troops, wrapping up the Tian Court's display of power perfectly.

"Changshou?"

A sudden call from the Grand Pure One came to his ear, and Li Changshou quickly composed himself, standing up to say, "Grand Pure One, your disciple is here."

Xuan Du, the Grand Pure One, smiled and asked, "Is this the divine ability I gave you?"

"Yes," Li Changshou replied, "Your disciple made some minor adjustments to how the divine ability is used and improved those beans."

As he spoke, he took out the latest modified version of Scattering Beans into Soldiers, along with the highest-quality immortal beans and poison immortal beans he had cultivated, and presented them to the Grand Pure One.

The Grand Pure One picked up a bean, examined it closely, and then sighed.

"How many schemes do you have rattling around in that head of yours?"

The Grand Pure One chuckled and scolded, "Put this away for now. The Tian Court might find it useful later.

Today, you've helped the Heavenly Soldiers so much. If my junior uncle forgets to reward you, you can come to the Tushita Palace and seek justice from the Old Lord."

Li Changshou's heart stirred.

Was this a discounted invitation to the Tushita Palace?

He quickly nodded in agreement.

This trip to the Dragon Palace had already yielded great gains: the spiritual pills bestowed by the Grand Pure One, and now this conditional invitation.

In the future, he just needed a good excuse to visit the Tushita Palace and pay respects to the Old Lord!

These past twelve years hadn't been wasted!

Li Changshou bowed in salute, stored the divine ability and immortal beans in his storage treasure, and asked, "Grand Pure One, how is Senior Zhao doing?"

Xuan Du's expression turned peculiar. He pointed at the crystal mirror and laughed, "I'm truly impressed with this Junior Brother Zhao."

In the mirror...

Zhao Gongming was lying on a cloud, vomiting blood profusely;

The six old Daoists before him looked utterly dejected, their faces dark with anger, each teetering on the edge of exploding but forcibly holding back.

Zhao Gongming said weakly,

"Ah, how tragic! My fellow Jie Jiao disciples, bullied so by the Western Cult.

I, a lone fighter against six, wounded like this by you all...

Ah, today, you Daoist friends must come with me to the Green Touring Palace no matter what."

"I—"

One old Daoist grabbed his jade ruler, ready to strike.

But Zhao Gongming glared, suddenly perking up a bit as four "twin shadow orbs" appeared around him.

His expression clearly said...

Go on, hit me—I've got it all recorded!

The old Daoist with the ruler stomped his foot hard and cursed, "Shameless! Utterly shameless!"

"Pah—"

Zhao Gongming spat out another mouthful of blood and smiled bitterly, "I've been hurt this badly, and you still use hidden force on me!"

"You liar, I didn't use a bit of my power!"

"Daoist friend," the hunchbacked old Daoist stepped forward, cupping his hands to Zhao Gongming, "Today isn't the time for games with you, Daoist friend. If you're interested, we'll certainly accompany you later.

But the Dragon Palace is in crisis, and our teacher has ordered us to provide aid. Please don't block our way."

Zhao Gongming perked up at that.

He suddenly understood what his old brother Sea God had meant earlier—the Western Cult was playing both sides!

First, a covert attack, then stepping in to "protect" the dragon clan—this was a scheme to crush the dragon clan while fooling everyone else?

"If we're talking shamelessness, I, Zhao Gongming, can't compare to you all."

Zhao Gongming said feebly, looking up at the sky and sighing gently, "The human world has a saying: first time's a stranger, second time's a friend. We're all acquaintances now.

Come on, make a choice—either come with me to the Green Touring Palace, or the usual deal?"

"Daoist friend! Don't push it too far!"

"And the usual deal? You're disgracing your Jie Jiao Saint like this—aren't you afraid your Saint will destroy your cultivation?"

Zhao Gongming didn't mind at all, just lay there, using the Sea Stabilizing Pearls to seal the surrounding space.

His teacher was in seclusion year-round; if the teacher found out, given his temperament, he might just... advise on the force of spitting blood and the expression when lying down, then go test it on other Saints.

At that moment, Zhao Gongming's composure, his ease, his utter confidence that he had them cornered...

Without years of experience in this line, no one could pull it off so naturally!

Li Changshou shook his head at the crystal mirror and sighed, "Though the touch-porcelain method came from me, I'm far from matching Senior Gongming in this art."

Beside him, Xuan Du laughed so hard he slapped his thigh, repeatedly exclaiming, "Brilliant! Exceptional!"

As the two were enjoying the show, waves of dragon roars echoed from outside the Dragon Palace, growing louder.

The Grand Pure One said with a smile, "The reinforcements from the North Sea Dragon Palace have arrived, and those hidden Western Cult threats are retreating.

It seems the South Sea Dragon Palace is being aided by the West Sea Dragon Palace."

Li Changshou finally breathed a sigh of relief and said quickly, "Grand Pure One, let's notify Senior Gongming to withdraw. No need to press on."

"Very well."

Xuan Du closed his eyes and focused, a faint shadow of the Taiji Diagram rotating in his palm as a wisp of Dao rhythm entered the crystal mirror.

In the mirror:

Zhao Gongming blinked, then slowly rose from the ground.

The six Western Cult experts' expressions changed, and they watched him warily.

But Zhao Gongming shifted his demeanor entirely, becoming solemn and serious. He bowed to the six and sighed softly,

"Since you Daoist friends still can't find a way out, I'm quite disappointed.

Oh well, toying with you like this is pointless anyway. I've lost interest, so I'll take my leave."

With that, Zhao Gongming waved his hand, and the twenty-four Sea Stabilizing Pearls shot back from all directions, circling around him.

He glanced cautiously at the six, stepped back two paces, and with the pearls trembling slightly, vanished from sight.

One old Daoist shouted, "Daoist friend, please stay!"

"Forget it, let him go! We have more important matters!"

With the seal lifted, the six old Daoists immediately scoured the East Sea with their full power, witnessing the situation at the Dragon Palace.

Wen Jing Daoist and the others had just retreated, and the Dragon Palace forces, aided by the Heavenly Soldiers, were driving back the sea clan rebels and deep-sea demon troops...

"Zhao Gongming! You've ruined our great plan!"

One old Daoist gritted his teeth and roared, then suddenly spat blood, his Dao realm unsteady from sheer rage, sustaining a light injury.