Chapter 57: Merit

"What's this, what's going on?"

Due to his Xian Shi being disrupted by the Bao Guang from the north, Li Changshou's paper effigy avatars approached the village and hid in the treetop of a large tree, from where they finally observed the situation inside the village.

Hundreds of villagers had gathered near the village gate, where a stage had been set up. Several figures in Daoist robes were jumping around on it.

Someone was preaching here...

Upon closer inspection, the source of the Bao Guang turned out to be a clay statue behind these "preachers."

Li Changshou chuckled to himself inwardly. The middle-aged man formed by the paper effigy jumped down from the treetop and was about to leave.

He had thought some treasure had emerged and came hoping to pick up a bargain.

But in these times, treasures to pick up were few and far between...

Such preaching activities, if they occurred outside Nan Shan Bu Zhou, were likely recruitment drives by major sects to gather disciples.

However, if they happened within Nan Shan Bu Zhou, they were either scams for money or ways to collect incense merit.

Such things weren't uncommon.

The preachers displayed cultivation levels around the third or fourth tier of Hua Shen realm.

The old Daoist guarding the three-chi-tall clay statue showed cultivation at the peak of Fan Xu realm, nearing Gui Dao realm...

In any case, it was none of his business.

The paper effigy formed hand seals with both hands and hid behind a tree to begin casting Tu Dun.

A segment of chanting scripture drifted over on the wind, entering the paper effigy's ears and Li Changshou's mind.

The scripture being chanted was:

"...Vowing to attain the supreme Dao, promising to establish Bodhi in the West..."

Xi Fang Jiao?

The paper effigy's hand seals moved even faster, and as soon as slight ripples appeared on the ground in front of it, the effigy eagerly burrowed in.

It fled even more urgently than before.

At the same time, Li Changshou's true body on the deserted island stood up, cast Huan Xing Shu to transform into a swimming fish, and headed straight east.

Xi Fang Jiao meant big karma—better run than wait around!

He hadn't expected that even here in the southwestern part of Nan Shan Bu Zhou, so far from Xi Niu He Zhou, the Xi Fang Jiao had already extended its tentacles for collecting incense.

But just as Li Changshou was about to escape, his Xian Shi suddenly detected an anomaly in the sea to the southeast.

About eight hundred li away, a thick demonic aura was moving toward the direction of the flashing Bao Guang...

Li Changshou immediately halted and sank to the sea floor, fully concealing his presence.

He also stopped the paper effigy that was still tunneling underground, keeping it motionless beneath the surface.

A major sea demon attracted by the Bao Guang in the village?

This wasn't good.

After careful observation, the sea demon's cultivation was equivalent to the early stage of Zhen Xian realm for Qi refiners, its body wrapped in demonic aura—a strangely shaped large fish, somewhat like a manta ray but larger, over a hundred zhang in length and width.

If it was hiding its true power, conservatively estimating it at the late Zhen Xian realm.

Surrounding this demon was a wreath of blood light, like flames.

This was a sign of its extreme wickedness, with heavy killing karma and manifested negative karma.

Li Changshou's heart raced with excitement.

Of course, it wasn't due to any special fondness for such odd creatures—he was simply eyeing the negative karma power on this major demon.

Eliminating such dense negative karma would yield a good amount of merit!

Should he take it out?

Li Changshou quickly pondered.

After becoming an immortal, his foundation was still weak, and he didn't have many treasures.

Merit was a good thing and quite rare.

If he stayed in the sect and cultivated without doing anything to stabilize the world, he might not get even a trace in a few hundred years.

For those who pursued the Dao through sheer force, they had to avoid merit blessings to prevent later influence from the Heavenly Dao.

But Li Changshou didn't have such grand ambitions; his concerns were practical.

—With more merit for protection, his safety would be higher.

If he could obtain major merit in the future, he wouldn't follow the big shots in nurturing treasures; he'd first create a merit golden body!

With a merit golden body, it would be like a get-out-of-jail-free card, so he wouldn't have to fear most calamities.

By then, even if a Sheng Ren tried to strike him down, they'd hesitate over losing merit several times over.

Of course, refining a merit golden body was extremely difficult and required vast amounts of merit.

Now that the Heavenly Dao was nearly perfect, opportunities for major merit were scarce.

Going to the Heavenly Court could offer more chances to earn merit, something Li Changshou had considered before.

But back to the present.

Taking out this major demon would surely bring some merit.

As the saying goes, grains of sand make a mountain, drops of water make an ocean—everything starts somewhere.

As for entangling with the demon race...

Humans and demons were natural enemies; even if he were polite to them, if he fell into the hands of demon experts, he'd just end up in the frying pan.

No need to be courteous with demons.

But if the demon was hiding its cultivation, there might be some risk to him...

This was the South Sea, not a demon gathering area. Within two thousand li, there was only this major demon's aura, with a few scattered minor demons on some islands...

Now that he had mastered Shui Dun and Tu Dun, traveling ten thousand li a day was no problem. He could kill this thing and immediately flee to the mortal world to hide, so no other demons would retaliate...

Moreover, if he could stop it safely but just watched as this big fish demon harmed his own kind, it wouldn't sit right.

After all, he had lived two lives...

Though he had reservations about whether the beings in Xiong Village were truly his kin.

...

With a mindset of giving it a try, Li Changshou cast Shui Dun, moving ten times faster than the demon, and silently reached a sea area a hundred li from the shore.

Apart from the Three Teachings and immortal sects, most escape arts in the Hong Huang world were hard to come by.

And nowadays, among Qi refiners, there was a trend of valuing treasures over arts, leading many to underestimate escape arts.

Calculating the demon's route, Li Changshou flicked his sleeve, sending out six paper effigies that transformed into men and women of different appearances, builds, and auras.

The six paper effigies immediately got to work on the sea floor, quietly setting up a trapping array suitable for underwater use.

The Bao San wasn't useful yet—it hadn't finished upgrading.

Li Changshou then escaped toward the shore, rendezvoused with the hidden paper effigy underground, retrieved it, and found a seaside forest to hide in.

Closing his eyes and focusing, he sensed every movement within hundreds of li.

A moment later, massive waves erupted on the sea surface a hundred li away!

A circular array appeared on the sea, trapping the giant waves directly!

The hundred-zhang-long demon didn't notice the ambush ahead and charged straight into the hastily set trapping array, then realized something was wrong and began rampaging wildly!

The six paper effigies emerged from various spots, rushing to the demon's side, each sprinkling several bottles of poisonous powder and using immortal power to adhere it to the demon.

In an instant, the seawater around the demon turned murky, and its body was rapidly corroded everywhere, its demon soul severely damaged!

"You... who... are you..."

This time, Li Changshou used up his last two bottles of top-grade Soft Immortal Powder...

Though the demon's cultivation was high, its resistance to the powder was clearly weaker than that of the Second Prince of East Sea Dragon Palace, and its movements slowed dramatically.

Li Changshou stayed highly alert.

Once the six paper effigies finished scattering the powder, they each gripped immortal swords and charged in a cross pattern, while talismans linked by immortal light appeared in the seawater.

The sword array and San Mei Zhen Yan activated simultaneously!

The talisman array acted like chains, locking the demon from all sides, its power exploding—sealing, electrocuting, freezing, and charring...

The demon's body, already half-corroded by the poison, had little defense left.

The six immortal swords, wrapped in San Mei Zhen Yan, slashed across, instantly carving six intersecting gashes into the demon!

Streams of San Mei Zhen Yan burrowed into the wounds, using the demon's essence, energy, and spirit as fuel, and the flames spread rapidly!

The fire enveloped the demon in the sea in the blink of an eye, but it couldn't even scream...

In the trees on the shore, Li Changshou clenched his left fist, and the six paper effigies each held a fiery sword, thrusting into the demon's body at various points.

Within the array barrier, the seawater erupted with firelight!

Water columns shot up from the sea surface, and chunks of the demon's body, wrapped in San Mei Zhen Yan, flew into the air. Its demon soul was chained in midair by the talisman array and directly consumed by the surging flames!

Li Changshou used the Five Elements Escape Arts in succession—Mu Dun to Tu Dun to Shui Dun—and rushed to the array's location.

By the time he arrived, three paper effigies were sitting on the sea surface, reciting the Du Ren Jing, Wang Sheng Zhu, and Xiao Zai Qi Fu Zhu.

The other three paper effigies were handling the remaining poisonous powder in the seawater, sucking in the contaminated water and undying flames into their bellies for later retrieval.

This San Mei Zhen Yan was truly fierce; in the time it took to brew a cup of tea, the demon's massive body had reduced to a heap of ashes on the sea surface...

Li Changshou surfaced, suddenly thinking of a problem.

The power of San Mei Zhen Yan was too strong; if he needed to use it for alchemy in the sect, or if someone suddenly asked about his progress with it, what then...

He really needed to figure out how to reduce its power.

Ideally, make it controllable, adjustable in strength.

Li Changshou tossed out the She Hun Zhu, waved his sleeve, and gathered the pile of ashes and seawater into his palm, forming a water ball that he threw into the air and gently dispersed.

Unexpectedly, it felt a bit satisfying...

The recitation continued, and Li Changshou grasped the She Hun Zhu, checking the fragmented memories inside.

Hmm, this demon wasn't from the South Sea; it originally lived in the West Sea...

Its ancestors weren't particularly powerful, and deep-sea demons had always lacked luck, unable to rise...

This fish demon had killed countless people, with uncountable fishermen from the seas meeting their end at its hands—slaying it was truly acting on behalf of heaven.

A wisp of golden light suddenly flew up from the sea and merged into Li Changshou's arm.

He felt a slight enlightenment in his heart, as if his Dao had gained some protection, and his path to longevity seemed a bit smoother.

This was merit.

Roughly estimating, if he killed a few million such karma-heavy demons, he might condense a merit golden body...

Maybe it was better to just stay in the mountains and not go out.

"Hmm?"

Li Changshou frowned, spotting something odd in the demon's memory fragments.

Ambushing villages, pretending to be repelled by the clay statue, then retreating to the sea to hide...

Then ambushing other villages, pretending to be repelled again, retreating to hide...

Li Changshou couldn't help but twitch his mouth. As the recitation ended, he quickly packed up the paper effigies, treasures, and storage pouch.

He didn't bother recovering the array foundations, hastily destroyed the array here, cast Zhang Yan Fa and Huan Xing Shu, and frantically used Shui Dun eastward.

This demon was with Xi Fang Jiao!

It was in cahoots with those preaching in Xiong Village!

They first promoted Xi Fang Jiao doctrines, then had the demon attack, pretending the clay statue repelled it to show a "miracle," thereby gaining a batch of loyal followers to provide incense offerings for Xi Fang Jiao!

This scheme was certainly underhanded, but Li Changshou didn't have the sense of justice to expose it, and he truly didn't want any involvement with Xi Fang Jiao.

The two Sheng Ren of Xi Fang Jiao loved converting people to the West and were plotting the Feng Shen calamity.

Around the Feng Shen events, many unnecessary conflicts in the Daoist schools had their shadows behind them!

After Feng Shen, Lao Zi transformed the Hu into Fo, forcing Xi Fang Jiao to become the Mahayana Buddhist school...

This was a struggle for religious fate, involving five Sheng Ren!

Even Da Luo Jin Xian were just pawns moved by Sheng Ren in this game, let alone a newly ascended minor immortal like him.

He couldn't afford to provoke them—better flee quickly.

Racing like the wind, Li Changshou alternated Shui Dun and Tu Dun eastward.

He originally thought ten thousand li a day was his limit, but unexpectedly, in half a day, he covered that distance.

Potential truly emerged when scared.

Once on land, he concealed himself, freshened up a bit, and prepared his disguises with both physical and magical means.

This time, Li Changshou transformed into a frail scholar and headed northeast.

With his right hand hidden in his sleeve, clutching the She Hun Zhu, he carefully examined the demon's scattered memories.

Soon, he found some more useful intelligence.

Even more, he heard the three words "Du Xian Men" in a conversation about the Three Teachings' immortal sects, mentioned by someone to this demon...

...

When Li Changshou had fled fifty to sixty thousand li,

At the Xiong Village gate, a group of burly men and women stood around bored, yawning as they watched the people on the stage jumping about.

These Qi refiners were also puzzled, exchanging glances with their eyes.

By rights, their boss should have appeared by now—what was the delay?

Did the boss oversleep? Or go to the wrong place?

They had already performed this ritual dance three times, and the simple villagers below were getting tired of it.

"Cough!"

The old Daoist coughed lightly, stopped reciting scriptures, shook his head dramatically, and shouted in a strange tone:

"Believing in the revered god grants its protection—invulnerability to blades, immunity to water and fire!

Wang Cai, come demonstrate for everyone."

The young man selected immediately agreed, secretly pasting a talisman on himself. He knelt before the clay statue, offered incense properly, and golden light appeared on his chest and back.

This talisman was called Jin Gang Fu, a basic one that could easily withstand ordinary weapons.

However, as the young disciple stepped forward, just about to follow the 'procedure' and call someone to strike him with a blade,

What he saw made his thoughts race, and his spiritual sense screamed warnings.

Looking at the crowd, each one a ridiculously strong humanoid creature, Wang Cai was gradually overcome by shadow, his mouth twitching.

Suddenly, he spotted a red-eyed, rather cute-looking girl in the back of the crowd, and his heart leaped with joy. Pointing at the girl, he said:

"This young lady, would you come up and try if you can hit me?"

"Hmm? Oh."

Xiong Lingli looked up, wiped her teary eyes, her little face looking especially pitiful.

But the moment she squeezed through the crowd, Wang Cai's legs couldn't help but tremble.

This...

This one...

"Do you really want me to hit you?" Xiong Lingli asked softly.

"Y-yes."

Wang Cai glanced back at the second-in-command of their group. The old Daoist glared at him, so Wang Cai had no choice but to agree, repeatedly telling himself:

This girl is just a bit sturdy, and she's only a mortal.

Yes, she's just a mortal.

We are Qi refiners; we... won't be afraid.