Chapter 39: Three Teachings, Qi Refiners, Heavenly Tribulation

Although they had started off on the wrong foot, with the Dragon Palace pulling a fast one right at the beginning, the people from Duxian Gate became much more cautious as a result.

Li Changshou felt slightly relieved about this, though he himself didn't relax his vigilance in the slightest.

As the crowd around them grew, Li Changshou felt a bit uncomfortable in such an environment, especially when strangers were nearby in several directions. He had to constantly pay attention to every rustle of wind and movement.

He secretly cast the Feng Yu Curse.

Whenever a breeze passed, it would carry wisps of information to Li Changshou, and he processed these messages methodically in his mind.

Using spiritual sense to probe others was like staring at them with your eyes, and if the other person was alert, they might notice.

This was what he called "active probing."

With the Feng Yu Curse, however, he could not only send messages to those he locked onto with his spiritual sense but also passively receive information from the surroundings.

Li Changshou referred to this as "passive probing," with the advantage of not draining his divine soul, though the downside was that all sorts of information flooded in, requiring constant mental analysis.

From early on, he had consciously trained his observation skills, willpower, and focus.

In this state, most Qi Refiners at his level would only last a few hours before getting distracted and easing up on monitoring their surroundings.

But Li Changshou could maintain the Feng Yu Curse for surveillance for hundreds of hours straight!

Though...

Turning a perfectly good immortal cultivation life into that of a "human surveillance machine" did feel a bit tragic...

At least it brought him some peace of mind.

Because of the Feng Yu Curse, Li Changshou could also hear the chatter and laughter of many Qi Refiners, picking up on all sorts of interesting tidbits.

The topics among the True Immortals mostly revolved around this grand meeting and the main platform above, where Heavenly Immortals were gathered.

True Immortals were mostly concerned about what agreements would be reached with the Dragon Palace, how the East Sea boundaries would be divided, and whether human Qi Refiners would face harassment from the Dragon Clan in the future.

Among the younger disciples, discussions always included the word "Heavenly Tribulation."

Most Qi Refiners feared Heavenly Tribulation because it was incredibly dangerous and an unavoidable trial for everyone.

—Of course, if someone stopped cultivating or got stuck at bottlenecks in the Qi Refining, Spirit Returning, Void Returning, or Path Returning realms without breaking through, they wouldn't have to face it.

In Duxian Gate, as long as most Qi Refiners didn't go mad from cultivation deviation, they had a chance to face Heavenly Tribulation.

This was because Duxian Gate was a renowned immortal sect in Dongzhou, making it hard for ordinary humans to enter, with complete teachings, advanced techniques, sound internal systems, and excellent benefits.

Other sects weren't necessarily the same.

Looking across the Great Wilderness and the Three Thousand Worlds, nine out of ten humans lacked the qualifications to become immortals, and over nine out of ten were ordinary mortals.

Among Qi Refiners, due to qualification limits and incomplete techniques, about nine out of ten couldn't reach the Heavenly Tribulation for immortality.

And of those who did face the immortality tribulation, only one or two out of ten survived...

By that calculation, it seemed there weren't many human immortals.

But actually, the number of human immortals now far surpassed the total from the peak of the Wu and Yao Clans.

There was no helping it—the human population was just too vast.

After extensively reading ancient texts, Li Changshou summarized the three main factors behind the human race's rapid rise and defeat of the Wu and Yao Clans in the late Wu-Yao War:

First, the innate Dao body granted by Nüwa the Great God.

Second, their rapid reproduction and exceptional adaptability to environments.

Third, the cohesion and unity fostered by human sages.

As for claims like "Heavenly Dao greatly favors the human race," Li Changshou didn't buy it.

How could the impartial Heavenly Dao show favoritism to any one race?

The Heavenly Dao's calculations foretold changes in all things under heaven, and its early indication of the human race's rise seemed more like a "prophecy" than a predetermined fate.

The idea that "the human race rose thanks to the Three Teachings of Daoism" was even more laughable.

Clearly, it was after the human race gained momentum that the three Daoist ancestors established the Three Teachings to borrow human luck for their own enlightenment, earning boundless merit in return.

Though as a Daoist disciple, saying this might be seen as heretical, Li Changshou always felt that the three Daoist Saints had benefited from the human race without doing much for them in return.

The Human Teaching was named after "humans," yet Taqing the Elder only took Xuandu the Great Mage, the first-generation human, as a disciple, and Duxian Gate's ancestor Duer Zhenren has an unclear origin, likely not human and not a direct Taqing lineage.

Moreover, Taqing Laozi hadn't yet gone to the human mortal world to spread the Daode Jing.

This made Li Changshou afraid to delve into the chapters of the Daode Jing he had memorized!

Chan Teaching was better—Yuanshi Tianzun took many first-generation humans as disciples, and these Chan Teaching followers established sects in Central Divine Continent, promoting cultivation methods among human Qi Refiners.

But Jie Teaching went a bit too far...

Tongtian Jiaozhu essentially used human luck to support other races, with hardly any humans among his disciples—that was quite unscrupulous.

The relationship between the human race and the Three Teachings of Daoism was that the former served as the foundation for the latter, while the latter was merely an added boost for human prosperity, like extra insurance.

In the Great Wilderness, everything was full of schemes.

The true heavyweights who contributed to the human race's rise were either living leisurely retired lives in Huoyun Cave or had already reincarnated.

If he voiced these thoughts, he'd surely be labeled as "deviating from the classics," so Li Changshou kept them to himself and never shared these theories with anyone.

For example, when teaching Ling'e, he only instructed her on how to avoid karma, how to escape in emergencies, and to cultivate the noble quality of taking responsibility for her own actions without dragging her senior brother into it...

Ling'e actually had excellent qualifications, with the potential to become an immortal seedling, and she was quite diligent herself.

Li Changshou always believed that immortal cultivation aptitude might be some kind of hidden inheritance.

Even if eighty generations of ancestors were ordinary mortals, a world-shaking genius could still appear, and Ling'e was just such a case.

After quietly waiting for a while, Li Changshou overheard another interesting topic...

The success rate of human Qi Refiners passing Heavenly Tribulation.

This varied greatly depending on the teachings—disciples from different sects had vastly different chances.

For the vast majority of Qi Refiners not under the Three Teachings, without superior techniques or the protection of Three Teachings' luck, out of ten attempting the tribulation, often only one survived.

For those under the Three Teachings, as long as they didn't make mistakes, Chan Teaching and Human Teaching Qi Refiners had a survival rate of about five or even six out of ten under Heavenly Tribulation.

It's worth noting that the average survival rate for the Three Teachings was barely three out of ten, dragged down mainly by Jie Teaching.

Chan Teaching followed "selecting the best for entry," with a high rate of disciples achieving immortality and a moderate number of lineages.

Human Teaching followed "inaction and going with fate," with a moderate immortality rate, but Taqing Saint didn't like taking disciples, so there were very few lineages.

Jie Teaching followed "teaching all without discrimination," with disciples from humans, demons, and spirits mixed together, survival rates varying by fate, immortality depending entirely on luck, and lineages spread widely across the Three Thousand Worlds...

This meant that even with the Three Teachings' advanced Dao methods, prosperous luck, and Saints' innate treasures suppressing fate, they couldn't fully raise the immortality rate.

What's more, Tongtian Jiaozhu, as a Saint, didn't have a treasure to stabilize his teaching's fate—he controlled the Zhuxian Four Swords, great weapons of slaughter.

So, Li Changshou was eternally grateful that his master had brought him into the Human Teaching lineage...

"Xiao Changshou, come over here."

Shishu Jiu Jiu suddenly sent a voice transmission, and Li Changshou diverted a thread of his attention to see her waving at him from over there.

Li Changshou shook his head slightly at his shishu, indicating he didn't want to move.

Jiu Jiu glared at him, her gaze full of threat.

Li Changshou pretended not to notice and continued feigning closed-eye meditation while maintaining the Feng Yu Curse.

Soon, Jiu Jiu walked over with a smile and sat down behind Li Changshou's low table.

In a low voice, she asked, "Changshou, my nephew, did you bring any of those fun things of yours?"

"No," Li Changshou replied via voice transmission, "Those are reserved for Xiaoqiong Peak, meaning they can't leave Xiaoqiong Peak."

Jiu Jiu's face fell, but she still maintained a dignified posture as she complained via voice transmission:

"This is so boring. These kinds of assignments are such a drag, and we have to wait here for two or three days until the meeting officially starts...

Plus, my master is up there, so I can't even slip away."

Li Changshou smiled faintly, pondering how to get his shishu back to her seat quickly.

This was drawing too much attention, which wasn't good.

From his sleeve, he pulled out a wooden six-colored cube and gently slid it in his hands; the finely polished blocks felt great, quickly catching Jiu Jiu's eye...

"What's this?"

Li Changshou paused, showing her the cube's jumbled colors, then his hands moved like lightning, restoring it in just two breaths.

Jiu Jiu's eyes lit up instantly.

Li Changshou scrambled the cube again, placed it beside him, and transmitted, "Don't give it to anyone else."

"Understood, don't worry—your rules are all clear to me!"

Jiu Jiu agreed at once, picked up the cube, and began trying to solve it, soon absorbed in the task as she slowly got up and returned to her low table.

Finally, things calmed down again.

Li Changshou continued his role as an unnoticed human surveillance device, waiting for the Dang Yao Grand Meeting to end.

Half a day later, most of the invited immortal sects had arrived, and the Water Lotus Platform was filled with handsome men and beautiful women; if you glanced around idly, it was quite pleasing to the eye.

Suddenly, drums and gongs sounded, and a white cloud floated in from the air, carrying dozens of people in purple and red robes—"sea folk"—sent by the Dragon Palace as a large underwater orchestra.

One could see:

Clam maidens playing zithers with pearls in their mouths, as Jiaoren sang mesmerizingly.

Jiao Dragons played flutes, shrimp beat drums, Turtle Immortals blew horns, and crabs struck gongs.

Below, groups of graceful sea maidens in light, sheer skirts glided onto the vast venue, dancing elegantly.

Their movements were enchanting, sleeves waving and scattering fragrance.

The two-day grand Dragon Palace performance officially began...

Li Changshou didn't pay much attention to it, but the surrounding chatter died down considerably as most people watched the singing and dancing, reducing the messages he had to process in his mind.

If the next few days could pass this peacefully, that would be ideal.

Li Changshou prayed silently in his heart while analyzing potential troubles he might encounter.

Sparring probably wouldn't involve him—he was only seen as a second-stage Void Returning cultivator, not fit for such an occasion.

So, there wasn't much related to young disciples.

Except for...

Hmm? Shimei Youqin Xuanya stood up, carrying her meditation cushion and her great sword, heading toward him.

This...

They had no grudges, so why be so aggressive?

Youqin Xuanya had only taken a couple of zhang away when Li Changshou's slightly helpless voice transmission reached her ears.

"Sorry, Shimei Youqin, I want to rest alone."

Better to turn her down and avoid giving her any ideas.

Youqin Xuanya paused a couple of zhang away, looked up at Li Changshou, and placed her cushion next to a female True Immortal.

That True Immortal smiled and said, "Come, Xiao Ya, let me show you a poem I wrote recently."

"Yes, Shishu...

Changshou Shixiong, are you feeling unwell?"

Youqin Xuanya asked softly, her beautiful eyes full of concern.

Li Changshou shook his head calmly, made a gesture of invitation, and smiled as he closed his eyes to meditate.

It was a bit awkward...

But with this shimei not coming over to draw more attention, it was all for the best.

Li Changshou had already noticed that since she stood up, many gazes had turned toward the Duxian Gate area.

Although they were all Qi Refiners, Youqin Xuanya's demeanor, appearance, and figure were exceptionally outstanding, making it hard not to attract notice.

If anyone wanted to marry her home, it might be more reassuring to fatten her up a bit.

—Sincerely suggested by her fellow disciple, Li Changshou.