Chapter 290: Treasure Not Yet Born, Big Bosses Arrive First

Life, after all, is like this—always filled with unforeseen hardships that one must face.

For instance, you might be walking along and get hit by something out of nowhere, or while refining pills, you could be struck by heavenly tribulation, Tianfa, and not just once, but nine times in a row, each strike stronger than the last, leaving you severely injured...

Yet, people must learn to be resilient, and finding joy in suffering is an essential skill for any mature man.

Well, Tianfa isn't entirely without benefits.

In the glow of the setting sun, Li Changshou, now dressed in a new robe crafted by Ling'e, lay back in a rocking chair outside his pill room. He gazed at the 'blood-spitting pouch' that had turned to ashes in his palm, savoring the comforting spread of medicinal energy from the two sixth-grade healing pills within his body, and a serene smile crossed his face.

This had given him a bit more resistance to heavenly thunder, so next time he was struck, the injuries would be lighter...

With that, Li Changshou continued to ponder his troubles.

'If making each Jin Xian realm paper effigy requires enduring Tianfa once, who could withstand that?'

There was no other solution to this problem; he would have to wait until he recovered and try again.

If it turned out that every Jin Xian realm paper effigy's formation demanded that the creator withstand nine strikes of Tianfa, then he would have to abandon this path altogether.

To be safe, when assembling the second Jin Xian realm paper effigy, if it triggered Tianfa again, he would immediately destroy the second one and see if that could ward off the tribulation...

Treasures like Bao Cai are precious, but one's life is even more valuable.

Tian Xian realm paper effigies weren't unusable, after all; he could just rely on sheer numbers in a swarm tactic to win through quantity!

Taking a deep breath, Li Changshou struggled to his feet, his body aching and numb all over, feeling as if it might fall apart at any moment...

He made his way back into the pill room and headed to a bookshelf in the corner. With his hands forming incantations, he cast an improved version of the transformation technique.

In an instant, he transformed into a small butterfly and slipped into the hidden compartment behind the vase in the bookshelf.

Footsteps approached from the side as Paper Effigy No. 3 took its post, walking to the pill furnace and sitting in meditation as if everything were normal.

In reality, Li Changshou's mind had already shifted to his only Jin Xian realm combat paper effigy. Controlling it, he headed toward the underground one-way earth vein teleportation array.

With a Jin Xian realm incarnation, his evasion techniques felt so smooth...

Just then, a somewhat absurd thought suddenly arose in Li Changshou's mind.

Had he, unintentionally, created something extraordinary?

Glancing down at his paper effigy and the pill slowly rotating in its abdomen, he connected it to the currently popular Yuan Shen path of cultivation in the Honghuang world...

Because the Honghuang environment was so ideal for cultivation, places outside Nan Zambuj Continent were filled with pure spiritual energy in every breath, and spiritual veins could be found just about anywhere on a mountain.

In such conditions, it wasn't too difficult for humans to embark on the path of cultivation—as long as they had the aptitude and the techniques, they could start, though how far they went varied.

Thus, the current cultivation system was straightforward: refine qi, cultivate the Yuan Shen, and ascend to immortality.

But if the external environment weren't so favorable, requiring cultivators to constantly purify spiritual energy to meet the needs for immortality...

Wouldn't that demand an entirely different cultivation system?

The Jin Dan大道, perhaps?

His method for paper effigies, which involved condensing an external pill to enhance oneself, seemed like it could, given enough time, lead to the development of a new cultivation system suited for environments with weak spiritual energy!

A single Jin Dan swallowed into the abdomen, and I... ahem, the heavens above remain the same!

As these thoughts crossed his mind, Li Changshou felt a faint warning in his heart, as if a pair of eyes in the void were watching him.

This gaze wasn't fixed on his true body or his paper effigy incarnation, but on his Yuan Shen and his true spirit, carrying a hint of admonition.

Li Changshou quickly dismantled those ideas into fragments, bowed toward the air, and silently reminded himself.

Don't think about it, mustn't think about it!

Why am I always dwelling on these pointless things?

In an instant, that sense of being watched vanished. Li Changshou let out a soft sigh of relief, then urged the Jin Xian realm paper effigy to delve deeper, heading toward the vicinity of Wu Shou Mountain.

After more than half a month of investigation, Li Changshou had a good grasp of the situation there.

The demon city on Wu Shou Mountain was called Ci Tie City, a major stronghold for the demons.

Ever since ancient times, humans and demons had been locked in endless warfare. Neither side could completely eradicate the other—the humans couldn't wipe out the demons, and the demons couldn't revive their former glory—so they had fallen into a stalemate.

Beyond their adversarial relationship, humans and demons had established some mutual understandings, opening certain towns for trade and exchange.

For example, along the borders of Beiju Luzhou, there were many mixed towns where humans and demons coexisted.

—Before being dealt with, the Daoist Kui Si had visited one such town.

Ci Tie was named after one of the top ten demon saints of the ancient demon court, and this city was likely established by the demons in his honor.

The rulers here were the Niu demon clan, considered a major clan among the demons today.

Crucially, after inquiring for some time, no one could confirm whether there were any experts from ancient times still lingering in this demon group.

Li Changshou dared not take this lightly.

He had witnessed the scene where Niu Tou and Ma Mian forcefully subdued Shura clan experts, and Niu Tou and Ma Mian were Wu clan masters who had followed Niangniang Houtu into the underworld during the ancient war, belonging to the unremarkable category.

If he used Niu Tou and Ma Mian as the standard for 'ordinary ancient Jin Xian,' then this Niu demon group might harbor a few tricky figures.

The valley that the great one Fuxi had divined for the spiritual treasure's location was the 'clan land' of this Niu demon group...

Pull one hair and the whole body moves.

The useful information he had gathered so far:

Ci Tie City was rich in fine gold resources, ideal for forging sharp weapons.

This Niu demon group wasn't particularly hostile toward humans; they had existed for tens of thousands of years, generally followed the rules, and stayed neutral during conflicts between humans and demons, never getting involved.

Human Qi refiners seemed to have overlooked this place, with no immortal sects leading efforts to exterminate the demons.

But Ci Tie City was still demon territory, home to many demons with deep karmic burdens, and occasional attacks on human Qi refiners leaving the city weren't unheard of.

Those human Qi refiners bold enough to go there were naturally quite capable, with cultivations starting at least at the late Zhen Xian realm...

How did Li Changshou gather this intelligence?

Collecting information required a multifaceted approach and some technical finesse.

First, he used an old Daoist paper effigy, under the pretext of purchasing Xuanjin, to infiltrate Ci Tie City.

A few days later, he adopted the appearances of a young girl and an old woman, visiting the nearest immortal sect and market town to inquire about the Niu demons of Ci Tie City.

The young girl went to that immortal sect thousands of miles away and asked the elderly gatekeeper if he had seen her grandfather, explaining that her grandfather had mentioned going to a place called Ci Tie City but she didn't know where it was.

The old woman went to that market town, asking if anyone had seen her husband, and while at it, gathered rumors about Ci Tie City...

This way, he could cross-reference information from multiple sources without risking counter-surveillance.

There were some finer details, like using the young girl's appearance to approach the elderly gatekeeper, ensuring these old immortals wouldn't shoo her away immediately...

Li Changshou had seen such scenarios play out many times while monitoring the Du Xian Men.

Anyway, back to the treasure hunt.

Before taking action, Li Changshou always needed a solid plan, along with several backup schemes.

After the Jin Xian realm paper effigy arrived, it didn't rush into anything. Instead, it set up lookout posts around Ci Tie City, outside the valley, and in various locations, conducting a comprehensive observation...

For half a year.

During this time, Li Changshou detected three instances of Jin Xian realm pressure from the same expert, likely a demon master stationed in Ci Tie City—this frequency was quite active.

Incidentally, he identified weaknesses in the city's array formations and pinpointed vulnerable spots for breaching them from within.

He also figured out the troop deployments, shift rotations, and response speeds for reinforcements in various areas...

Beyond that, he caught sight of the city lord's wife's sister meeting the North Gate guard demon general in the wild mountains under the moonlight, and saw the city lord's brother-in-law exchanging flirtatious glances with the city lord's wife and brushing legs under the table.

The city lord was a late Tian Xian realm Niu demon who spent his days drinking and feasting with a group of demon experts, his tuft of green hair quite distinctive...

'The treasure I'm seeking is most likely their clan treasure.'

Li Changshou speculated.

His battle plan was straightforward: a diversion to lure the tiger from the mountain.

Feign an attack on Ci Tie City to create a sense of crisis, draw out the experts from the valley, and then slip in to search for the treasure.

The only uncertainty was the realm of the strongest in this Niu demon group—if a Da Luo Jin Xian was lurking there, most of his paper effigies would be doomed.

So, to play it safe, Li Changshou brought along the newly made golden paper effigies No. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

Three Jin Xian paper effigies for the feigned frontal assault, one for entering the valley to search, and the other two on standby for quick escapes!

With six Jin Xian realm paper effigies at his disposal, Li Changshou felt a lot more confident about the treasure hunt.

Of course, the most reassuring development for him during this period was the matter of the Jin Xian realm paper effigies.

—After recovering from his injuries, when he tentatively created the second Jin Xian realm paper effigy, it didn't attract Tianfa's attention again.

However, in the process of making more, Li Changshou vaguely sensed that if the number of active Jin Xian realm paper effigies exceeded nine, Tianfa would descend once more, and even more ferociously than before.

Oh well, oh well;

Enough is enough.

Six Jin Xian incarnations were sufficient for now; they could even put on a show of 'six great human Jin Xian surrounding Ci Tie City.'

The signal for the feigned attack was set to sound in three days!

He aimed to breach Ci Tie City's array within half an hour, intercept any reinforcements, eliminate the demons with heavy karmic burdens in the city, and then enter the valley for the treasure!

The battle was... about to begin...

"Teach Lord brother."

This sudden ripple truly caught Li Changshou off guard.

He quickly gathered his focus, sending a wisp of divine sense to the newly renovated Sea God Temple in An Shui City, using it to bridge into the dream realm and connect with Ao Yi.

What could have happened?

Li Changshou hadn't overlooked the Dragon Clan; it was just that things had been relatively stable there lately, with the necessary troubles already handled.

"Teach Lord brother!"

In the dream realm, Ao Yi, dressed in a gold-embroidered white robe that made him look even more refined, bounded over in a few steps and bowed with a Daoist salute.

Li Changshou smiled and said,

"Look at how radiant you are; do you have some good news?"

"Heh heh, big brother, do you have any important matters in the next few days?"

Hearing Ao Yi's counter-question, Li Changshou pondered for a moment and replied,

"I have a small task to handle; I'll be quite busy for the next half month or so. Is there something you need me for?"

Ao Yi paused, frowning as he said,

"Big brother, if you have business, why didn't you tell Ao Yi? I'd be happy to handle it for you!"

"It's fine; it's just about finding something."

Li Changshou shook his head with a smile, then asked,

"What about you? Is there something urgent?"

"It's not urgent," Ao Yi quickly said, "It's just that Teacher Qin Wan from Jin'ao Island found me and asked if I could invite you to a banquet on Jin'ao Island.

In three days, two Jin Xian masters from Jin'ao Island are holding a Dao companion ceremony, and everyone wants to make it lively."

"In that case, I won't go," Li Changshou said with a smile, shaking his head. "Later, have someone come to An Shui City, and I'll prepare a gift for you to deliver on my behalf."

"Alright," Ao Yi nodded immediately, then looked at Li Changshou with concern. "Big brother, if you have any tasks, please let your little brother know!"

"Don't worry," Li Changshou said, patting Ao Yi on the shoulder.

Ao Yi knew Li Changshou's identity as a Du Xian Men disciple, so it wasn't impossible to ask for help from the Dragon Clan's experts to deal with Ci Tie City, but that might just add to their burdens.

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Li Changshou smiled and said,

"I won't hesitate to ask if needed."

Ao Yi grinned and quickly dashed away.

There was a joyous event on Jin'ao Island...

After thinking it over, Li Changshou felt this matter probably had nothing to do with him and wouldn't affect his plans.

Back to preparations!

Thus, three days later...

Half an hour before Li Changshou was set to launch his attack.

On Jin'ao Island, hundreds or even thousands of figures gathered inside and outside a great hall.

In a corner of the hall, Holy Mother Huo Ling, wearing a golden crown, frowned at the empty main seat in the center.

Holy Mother Jin Guang, dressed in a short skirt, hurried over from the side and whispered,

"Where's senior brother? Why hasn't he arrived? Didn't he come with you?"

Holy Mother Huo Ling couldn't help but lightly tap her forehead.

"He said he caught a whiff of some treasure about to emerge and went to check it out. Now, who knows where he is."

"This..." Holy Mother Jin Guang thought for a moment. "We already announced that Senior Brother Duobao would come to witness for them... What do we do now?"

"Maybe we can invite another senior disciple."

"We can't go to Bi You Palace... How about this," Holy Mother Jin Guang said quickly, "I'll go ask our two sworn brothers and see if we can invite one of the three senior sisters from the nearby San Xian Island."

Holy Mother Huo Ling looked a bit guilty. "I'll come with you. My master is truly..."

"Ah."

The two holy mothers exchanged glances, both letting out bitter sighs.