Chapter 341: Lifespan Has Its Limits, the Dragon Clan's Calamity Looms

Li Changshou gazed at the seemingly empty sea ahead, his mind racing with one thought after another.

He had transformed into a fish using Hua Xing Shu and was currently avoiding the attention of the figures lurking below the sea.

These thousands of figures had emerged from a distant trench, where a Qian Kun Shifting Great Array was still active.

Just moments ago, Yunxiao had suggested he go and destroy that array to cut off their retreat and reinforcements.

Li Changshou had carefully explained his reasoning.

"First, the Western Teachings are using their full resources this time to extort the Dragon Clan. If we aim to wipe out this force entirely, it's likely to draw in some shameless big shots.

"Second, if this is just a feint, these Western forces are like a disorganized mob—they'll strike quickly and then retreat, not causing much trouble for the Dragon Clan.

"But if we block their escape, it might force them into a desperate fight, leading to unnecessary casualties for the Dragon Clan.

"Third, the Qian Kun array site might be guarded by disciples of a Saint, which could turn into a brutal, prolonged battle."

Yunxiao pondered his words briefly before nodding seriously.

"You're right.

"A quick strike versus a desperate stand—the difference is huge. Your description is quite vivid."

At that moment, Li Changshou felt a bit uneasy, as these idioms didn't really fit the context of the Honghuang world.

But back to the main issue.

From the situation in the Four Seas, it was clear that the Western Saints had intervened directly.

And their move was straight to the point, targeting the Dragon Clan's vital spots by revealing the locations of the Four Seas' sea eyes.

Strangely enough, the West Sea sea eye had become the safest place right now.

—Li Changshou had discussed this with the Jade Emperor earlier.

If the West Sea sea eye were breached, the rebellious dragons there would be burdened with karmic debt from the Heavenly Dao, forcing them to seal it themselves.

No one could escape that fate.

Today, Li Changshou only had a ninety percent certainty because he couldn't guarantee whether Saint Zhunti would appear personally; though the chance was low, it would be their ultimate trump card.

Could a Saint stoop to robbery?

No, no—Saints wouldn't call it robbery.

It would just be that the Dragon Palace's treasures were fated for the West, and the Saint was simply following destiny by taking some resources back.

The Western Teachings were notorious for their double standards.

Li Changshou didn't comment on it and certainly didn't claim any right to speak on the matter.

Just then, Yunxiao sent another message, detailing the strength of the beings that had appeared in the South Sea.

This was incredibly thoughtful of her.

According to her, the Western forces here included a mix of fierce beasts, demon clans, human clans, and several powerful innate beings.

Most of them were at the Tianxian realm, but dozens had exceptionally thick auras, and there were a few Daluo Golden Immortals.

Li Changshou found this extremely tricky.

Was this the main attack point?

If it was just a diversion, the Western Teachings were deploying far too many resources!

Moreover, near the sea eye, Li Changshou couldn't use his spirit explosion tactics.

He couldn't just blow up the sea eye with a golden elixir and seventy-two paper effigies while they were only trying to intimidate the Dragon Clan.

The karma from that would be catastrophic!

In fact, Li Changshou could only hide here for now; he had to wait for the enemy to make the first move, reveal the sea eye, and then rush out to help.

Otherwise, the Dragon Clan might mistakenly think he had led the enemies here.

What worried Li Changshou most was whether the dragons guarding the sea eye were sufficiently alert.

Yunxiao was lurking not far behind him, but Li Changshou didn't consider having her act directly.

Although the Grand Pure One had quickly turned this assistance to the Dragon Clan into a Daoist mission,

Yunxiao already had her own great tribulation of karma looming, so it was best to minimize any ties with the Western Teachings to avoid adding more variables for her later.

How should he handle this?

Li Changshou pondered for a moment, watching the group of demons and monsters settle in, and carefully thought through his options.

Flexibility in thinking was crucial at times like this.

Soon, he had a plan. The fish he had transformed into opened its mouth and released a small fish.

The small fish wagged its tail and used Water Escape, vanishing in an instant.

Yunxiao's voice transmission reached him:

"Is this to create some noise and alert the Dragon Clan early?"

Li Changshou thought to himself that she was clever, then flipped his fish body over, waving his tail up and down against the immense water pressure.

—That was his way of nodding.

However, Li Changshou didn't act immediately.

Based on the Western Teachings' usual tactics and the current situation, their next strategy would likely be:

First, strike at one location to cause chaos among the Dragon Clan and draw their support, creating a sense of crisis.

Then, hit two more places in succession, gradually spreading out the Dragon Clan's experts and making their forces run ragged, which would make it easier to coerce them.

His opportunity to strike would come when the Western Teachings launched their first attack, disrupting their rhythm.

So, he focused his mind, and small windows appeared in his thoughts as his 'computational power' surged.

His main focus was on the North Sea and East Sea.

The North Sea remained calm.

The army of Dragon Clan traitors from West Niu Hezhou, crossing the northwest border of North Buzhou Continent, was already close to the North Sea, like dark clouds looming over a city about to fall.

The North Sea Dragon Palace had deployed a large number of experts in that direction to form defenses.

The Western Teachings clearly had multiple layers of schemes against the North Sea Dragon Palace—one obvious wave, another hidden one, and likely two or three more backups.

There was no helping it; this was the Dragon Clan's weak point, the easiest place to crush them.

In the East Sea, the East Sea Dragon Palace was the strongest, united as one, with the East Sea Dragon King and many elders being incredibly powerful.

There were probably at least two layers of schemes here, and it was the most likely to erupt first.

The West Sea sea eye couldn't be ignored, but due to its karmic restrictions, the self-interested Western Teachings were unlikely to cut off their own arm.

If they did decide to strike there, Li Changshou wouldn't stop them and might even petition the Jade Emperor—

Given Heaven's weakness, they couldn't help the West Sea Dragon Palace seal a breached sea eye, so perhaps His Majesty could decree that the Western Teachings suppress it nearby.

If their experts sacrificed themselves to seal the sea eye, it would be immense merit, helping their Saints repay some of their great vows' interest.

Only those with a clear conscience could play such tactics.

The subsequent developments in the Four Seas unfolded just as Li Changshou had predicted.

The first disturbance came in the East Sea, where a group of unidentified experts launched a surprise attack on the East Sea sea eye, disguised as an undersea volcano.

One of Li Changshou's paper effigies happened to be within a thousand li, observing the entire scene.

But these experts only broke the nearby great array, exposing the true form of the sea eye, then immediately switched to guerrilla tactics without pressing the assault.

Upon reflection, the Western Teachings' actions here killed several birds with one stone.

They pressured the Dragon Clan, tested their preparations, and signaled:

We already know your weaknesses.

However, the sea eye wasn't the Dragon Clan's weakness—it was their...

Reverse scale.

Hundreds of astonishing auras erupted from the East Sea Dragon Palace as the elders and generals rushed to support!

The East Sea sea eye was a massive pit, with clear seawater constantly overflowing from its edges.

In the pit, old dragons opened their eyes, their bodies intertwined and layered at the bottom.

Beneath them lay numerous terrifying dragon corpses, devoid of souls but still radiating intense pressure.

This was both the sea eye and the dragons' final resting place!

The ancient war dragons guarding the site rose from the sea eye's edge, exploding with fierce killing intent.

The nerves of this ancient overlord race had been directly triggered.

That was when Li Changshou struck suddenly in the South Sea!

The small fish he had sent earlier quietly approached the direction the Western Teachings' experts were facing, then transformed into a Tianxian-level sea demon with an eight-armed octopus head, shouting:

"Ula!

"For the glory of the Western gods!"

The demon's body, wrapped in demonic energy, swelled instantly and then burst with a bang!

The seawater churned as the imitated demonic power surged in all directions!

Suddenly, a transparent wall-like structure appeared in the previously empty sea area, resembling ice crystals.

Li Changshou looked closely and realized...

It wasn't a wall at all—it was an enormous dragon body!

The scales, several zhang wide and crystal-like, shimmered gently as a massive dragon coiled there, its body like stacked great cities!

Upon closer inspection, this dragon form seemed to be formed by an array, with its head lowered in observation, showing no signs of life or being a true dragon corpse.

At that moment, roars echoed from the South Sea Dragon Palace as a large number of Dragon Clan experts arrived.

Dozens of dragon phantoms appeared in the sea eye, quickly exposing the Western Teachings' hiding spot.

Battle erupted around the sea eye in an instant!

With the East Sea and South Sea sea eyes both in chaos...

Li Changshou didn't join the fight directly; he only sent paper effigies to assist.

The group of traitorous dragons and fierce beasts from the West Sea, now in the South Sea, received orders and charged toward the South Sea sea eye.

'How many layers of setups are there in the South Sea?'

Li Changshou pondered, continuing to monitor everything.

After Jin Chanzi was sent back for remolding, the Western Teachings had clearly switched to a more cunning planner.

Although the East Sea and South Sea were in turmoil, the Western Teachings maintained order in their advances and retreats.

The Dragon Clan, however, had lost some composure upon discovering the two sea eyes, eager to eliminate the strong enemies quickly.

Originally, Li Changshou had advised the Dragon Clan on a strategy of graded trump cards, revealing their strength step by step to boost their own morale and pressure the enemy.

But now, they seemed to have forgotten that, throwing out all their power at once to swiftly secure the sea eyes.

Their momentum was strong, but their endurance was lacking.

If the enemy used delay tactics, it could easily wear the Dragon Clan down.

Fortunately, the Heavenly Soldiers hadn't entered the fray yet, leaving some reserve forces.

Li Changshou sighed inwardly.

Without strict command and discipline, even the best strategies were like trying to cook without rice.

The Dragon Clan was probably in for some real hardship and losses this time.

As the battles raged in the South Sea and East Sea, beneath the vast ice shelves of the North Sea...

Dozens of vortices silently appeared, and figures emerged, gathering behind a woman in blood-red robes before rushing deeper into the North Sea.

'When will Lord Water God finally let this king leave the West and serve the Human Teachings?'

In the icy seawater, Wenjing Daoist couldn't help but grumble inwardly as she led a group of Western experts toward the North Sea sea eye.

Any longer, and she'd become the commander of the Western Hongmong fierce beasts!

Wenjing Daoist had just been appointed as the commander for the North Sea operation and received the exact location of the sea eye.

Now, she and her experts had been sent here to assault it.

Ah, dragons are so adorable, and their blood tastes delightful.

Pity she could only symbolically drain a few.

On another note, that newly emerged Saint's disciple named Dizang had some impressive strategies.

For the first time, the Western deputy leaders had formulated a complete plan without revealing it to any subordinates,

And only gave orders moments in advance, specifying who should go where and do what.

It was Dizang who had suggested this.

So, Wenjing Daoist had no chance to send a message to Anshuicheng.

She had noticed that the Western Teachings suspected an internal spy and was being extra cautious, so she hadn't acted rashly.

After charging through the water for a while, Wenjing Daoist spotted a forest of massive ice pillars in the distance.

These were enormous white ice columns stretching from the North Sea ice plains to the sea bottom, with the sea eye hidden in one of them.

Wenjing Daoist raised her hand, sensing the currents, and commanded:

"Attack! Shatter all these ice pillars!"

Shadows darted from behind her—some transformed into massive demon forms to ram ahead, others unleashed divine abilities and treasures to bombard the area.

At that very moment, a voice transmission reached her ear, making Wenjing Daoist perk up.

It was from a Western deputy leader...

"More comrades are on their way; make sure you're ready to coordinate."

Wenjing Daoist nodded calmly, a drop of blood seeping from her fingertip to form a blood mosquito that vanished quickly.

Soon after, the North Sea sea eye was exposed, and the dozens of ancient war dragons guarding it charged out to meet the enemy, only to be repelled by the Western Teachings' ambush as North Sea Dragon Palace experts arrived for reinforcements.

The Western Teachings had thrown in quite a few experts here.

Li Changshou's paper effigies had already detected this, and it matched his predictions perfectly;

Even Wenjing Daoist's appearance in the North Sea was within his expectations.

At that moment, the Grand Pure One was at the North Sea sea eye; he wouldn't interfere much with the Dragon Clan's casualties but would ensure the sea eye remained intact.

The Grand Pure One and Master Tu were basically their own trump cards.

After careful consideration and full observation, Li Changshou felt a bit relieved, his Dao heart remaining mostly undisturbed.

Next, he needed to think about how to handle the possible direct appearance of the Western Saints.

Above the South Sea battlefield, beams of golden light descended from the sky as one hundred thousand Heavenly Soldiers, led by Marshal Hua Ri Tian, arrived to provide aid.

However, the Heavenly forces could only operate on the periphery.

In the midst of the experts' chaos, they'd just be cannon fodder.

As the Jade Emperor's incarnation joined the battle, Li Changshou's fish form retreated and swam to Yunxiao's side.

Yunxiao enveloped Li Changshou with her Dao rhythms, and the two hid once more in the sea.

The moment he revealed his true form, he heard Yunxiao ask with concern: "Why do you look so pale?"

"I'm just thinking about some things," Li Changshou smiled. "Now that the battles have started everywhere, all I can do is wait for things to settle. I've used every scheme I could."

Yunxiao said softly: "Just do your best; you don't have to force everything to be perfect.

"Nothing in the world is flawless."

Li Changshou nodded gently, about to say something lighthearted, when a doubt arose in his heart.

Something felt off.

It wasn't his plans or arrangements; he had done everything possible to help the Dragon Clan handle the Western Teachings' three-pronged attack.

The Western Teachings' actions this time were markedly different from before.

Wenjing Daoist hadn't sent him any messages.

The West Sea rebel army had withdrawn so readily, clearly aiming to preserve their forces and pressure the Dragon Palace later.

The positions of the Four Seas' sea eyes were fully exposed.

The new planner for the Western Teachings was clearly more skilled than the previous ones.

Li Changshou stood with his hands behind his back, lowering his head as he analyzed the overall situation.

If I were the Western planner, what would I want from the Dragon Clan?

Wealth...

But just wealth?

A flash of insight struck Li Changshou, and his face suddenly paled.

No, not just wealth—they also wanted to restore the Western Teachings' prestige!

The Western Teachings had lost face too many times with the Dragon Clan. If they couldn't punish them, how could their two Saints maintain their dignity?

In the Honghuang world, it's all about strength, not good or evil!

From that perspective, among the Four Seas' sea eyes, one was likely to be breached.

But if the Western Teachings did that, they'd incur karmic debt. How could they avoid it?

What exactly was off.

Right in front of Yunxiao, Li Changshou sat cross-legged in the seawater, closed his eyes, and used his paper effigies to observe the battles.

That sense of unease.

During the West Sea spirit explosion, he had used his Water God authority to stabilize things and scanned the affected 'cannon fodder' with his immortal sense.

That's it—this was wrong!

He had often considered this when plotting against the Dragon Clan before, but later overlooked it because the Western Teachings had fully controlled the West Sea Dragon Palace!

The Xianjiao soldiers were discontented and harbored resentment!

This was the karma the Dragon Clan owed—the accumulated grudges from treating the Xianjiao soldiers as less than human since ancient times!

Yes, the Western Teachings didn't need to stir up that conflict; they could just...

Make the Dragon Clan bear the karma of the sea eye's breach themselves!

The West Sea Dragon Palace was under Western control, but after the spirit explosion's impact, the number of Xianjiao soldiers among the rebels sent to the South Sea and North Sea...

Was clearly off!

"East Sea!"

The Western Teachings' real target was the wealthiest, strongest, and most representative East Sea!

Who was the mastermind behind the Western Teachings' plans this time?

Li Changshou turned to Yunxiao. "Immortal, could you go to Emei Mountain and ask Brother Gongming to come out? We need to head to the East Sea—I require the aid of the Dinghai Divine Pearl!"

Yunxiao nodded immediately, her eyes full of concern, and her figure turned into a mist, vanishing swiftly.

Li Changshou took a deep breath.

Escape arts, full power!

"Hmm?"

Sensing a fleeting familiar Dao rhythm amid the fierce fighting, Marshal Hua Ri Tian frowned slightly and glanced toward the northeast.