Chapter 603: The Twelve Golden Immortals of Elucidation Sect How the Hell Do We Fight This?

No, is it really necessary to tease him like that?

Shizu, why must you make it so obvious? At least leave him some dignity...

Even if you waited and let him earn a tiny bit of merit later, like carrying a fairy across the clouds for tens of thousands of years, or helping the underworld purify some female resentful spirits, or sealing Bian Zhuang's immortal power and tossing him into the Tianhe River, then acting all moved and granting him the merit he owed—that would at least make sense.

But now!

Does Taibai Jinxing have no face?

Does the Steady Sect Leader not need to mingle in Honghuang anymore?

Amid the golden light, Li Changshou stood up straight, his face stern, his tall figure upright and commanding as he looked up directly at the golden clouds in the sky.

His expression was imposing without anger, his presence strong without force!

Beside him, Ling'e blinked, unsure what to say or do, when Li Changshou suddenly shouted loudly:

"Thank you, Shizu, for understanding the hardships of my cultivation and the difficulties of my affairs, and for bestowing boundless gongde!

It is my duty as a Daoist disciple to risk my life for Heaven Court and to resolve your worries!"

The golden light in the sky slowly faded, and the various auspicious signs disappeared.

Li Changshou stood there for a while, his back looking a bit desolate.

He sent a message to Xiong Lingli, who was sneaking bites of grilled fish in the spirit beast pen, telling her to go out, then dismissed the nosy immortals and gods, and quietly lay back on his lounge chair.

His Lingtai Gongde Pool was once again at eighty percent full.

Li Changshou calculated that based on the merits he had earned and his contributions to the stability of heaven and earth, what he just received was exactly what was owed from before.

Tian Dao is impartial and selfless; Daozu isn't one to deceive children—he said he'd give it, so he did, though the timing is entirely up to Daozu's discretion.

Li Changshou placed two layers of barriers on his Dao heart, activated the various great arrays around Xiaoqiong Peak, and even turned on the nearby Zhentian Array, before gritting his teeth in his mind and cursing:

'This is just freaking ridiculous!'

It was way too discouraging for an ordinary minister like him.

Oh well...

What else could he do about it?

He didn't dare to challenge Daozu. Previously, he thought that as long as he went with the flow and actively used his initiative in the changes of heaven and earth, he could succeed in eighty percent of things.

But now, after walking this far, Li Changshou realized there were so many restrictions and precautions.

The Equilibrium Great Dao he had comprehended was both a good thing and a bad thing.

The good part was that it gave him infinite possibilities, making him the biggest variable in heaven and earth. If used well, it could even balance, restrict, and monitor Tian Dao.

The bad part was that his foundation was too weak, with no real accumulation, so he had to rely on Tian Dao and Heaven Court to gain momentum. Now, one wrong step could lead to a deadlock.

"Shixiong?"

Ling'e approached, holding the acquired top-grade gongde escape treasure 'Shou'e Shuttle', and asked, "Can the gongde inside this be drawn out?"

"No," Li Changshou said with a bitter smile. "Don't worry, I'm fine, just a bit down. Let me be alone for a while. Later, I'll prepare some wine and dishes—come drink with me, okay?"

"Okay!"

Ling'e quickly agreed, cradling the shuttle and putting away her own lounge chair, then flew on a cloud toward the lakeside stove.

Though it felt a bit inappropriate to be happy while her shixiong was down, Ling'e couldn't stop the smile at the corners of her mouth, and her whole body felt light and carefree. As she flew out of the pill room area, she even hummed a cheerful tune.

Li Changshou: ......

He really missed Bai the chef.

Down but not defeated, gloomy but not despairing—he couldn't turn into a little bundle of sorrow.

Li Changshou quickly adjusted his mindset, putting the matter of the gongde golden body aside, and started thinking about what treasure to refine next with his gongde.

Excluding the treasures his teacher lent him, the standout items in his possession were the Xiaolü Shen Spear, which was strong in combat and had unlimited potential, and the Chuangxin Lock, which was great for surprise attacks.

What he really wanted was to refine one or two defensive treasures as trump cards.

His earlier idea of making a small outfit for Yunxiao was actually quite difficult and not practical upon closer thought.

Men basically all know some needlework.

But clothing-type treasures are the hardest to refine—it's not just about sewing some fabric and adding talismans for defense.

Back when Li Changshou was selling pills in the market town and undercutting his own Du Xian Men's pill business, he had seen truly 'refined' immortal robes and skirts.

Every single thread was inscribed with prohibitions like 'Zhujing', 'Juling', and 'Guling' for effects like light enhancement, and these threads were woven into the treasure robe;

The prohibitions on each thread connected and complemented each other, creating outstanding overall effects.

This was a whole field of study; without hundreds or thousands of years of immersion, he couldn't master it, and he didn't have that much time to dive into it.

Yunxiao was still in the midst of the calamity.

Li Changshou thought that, although he had the imperial decree from Yudi, he still couldn't solve the problem of the three Xiao sisters sharing fate.

The powerful treasures in Yunxiao's hands were mainly the Hunyuan Jindou and the Jiuqu Huanghe Array diagram; the Jinjiao Scissors and Futlong Suo were meant for Qiongxiao and Bixiao.

If they ended up in battles or calamities in the future, it would easily leave them at a disadvantage, not enough to go around.

The Hunyuan Jindou was good for both offense and defense, and the Jiuqu Huanghe Array was a trapping formation. Previously, when chasing Kunpeng, she had used Tongtian Shizu's Qingping Sword.

Speaking of which, why hadn't Tongtian Shizu summoned him?

They had agreed to use Kunpeng, but now, after over thirty years, there was no news.

Anyway, back to the point—if he was giving Yunxiao a gift, he might as well make an offensive treasure.

A weapon? Or maybe a brick?

Li Changshou looked at his gongde and fell into thought.

What he was best at refining was, of course, Paper Dao Ren.

Next was the core of Xiaoqiong Peak's defense system—the 'Tenfold Lingqi Cannon' that had nearly blasted the Grand Mage's pill room back in the day.

Coincidentally, he had gotten a 'one ten-thousandth' of some senior's heritage, so he wasn't short on materials and could always seek 'technical support' from Doushuai Palace.

How about making a whole lingqi cannon?

Imagining the elegant and gentle Yunxiao in battle, pulling a lingqi cannon from her sleeve, slinging it over her shoulder, and blasting out a destructive black line before the enemy could react...

Li Changshou pondered for a bit, his eyes lighting up, then he got up and hurried back to the pill room, vanishing into the secret chamber below.

Two hours later, Ling'e arrived on a cloud from the lakeside, carrying trays of dishes floating around her.

"Where's Shixiong?"

She looked around and heard Li Changshou's voice:

"Set up the table at the entrance first; I'll be right there."

"Okay," Ling'e replied, skillfully setting up the low table, laying out cushions, arranging the jade trays in a flower pattern, and pouring a cup of wine for her shixiong.

Li Changshou soon floated over, holding a jade talisman, his eyes full of thought.

Ling'e had prepared a few topics to discuss, but seeing this, she realized she should just be quiet and well-behaved—her shixiong was probably thinking about something important.

Sure enough, as Li Changshou ate and drank, he kept staring at the jade talisman in his hand and took the initiative to chat with Ling'e about some refining basics. The shixiong-mei chatted about it in detail.

"Shixiong, are you refining a treasure for Yunxiao Jiejie?"

"Yes," Li Changshou laughed, "I can't hide it from you. Come take a look."

Ling'e agreed and scooted over with her cushion, sitting right next to her shixiong.

Li Changshou lightly tapped the jade talisman with his finger, and it glowed with flowing light, forming a three-dimensional image—the design for his Hundredfold Lingqi Cannon.

This cannon looked unassuming, a straight tube narrowing at the front and widening at the back, but it had over a thousand components, all forming a complete treasure.

"What does 'hundredfold lingqi' mean?"

"It refers to the utilization rate of lingqi," Li Changshou explained with a smile. "If an ordinary Jinxian has a lingqi utilization rate of one, then the hundredfold lingqi cannon means a rate of one hundred.

Of course, there's still a lot of room for improvement.

I can't go into this path too much with you, as it might affect your future cultivation—just get a basic understanding.

Most qi refiners absorb lingqi into themselves, turning it into magical power within their bodies. As their Dao realm improves, their utilization rate of lingqi that matches their own Great Dao increases significantly.

Under the same quantity, the purer the magical power or the more refined the immortal power, the greater the power of divine abilities and spells, right?"

"Yes!"

"But, Ling'e, have you ever thought about whether lingqi fundamentally changes when it becomes magical power?"

Ling'e blinked, indicating this was beyond her, and anyway, her shixiong looked so handsome when he was serious.

"Doesn't it change?"

"No, it doesn't. The divine abilities or spells you unleash still turn back into lingqi in the end, with very little loss of lingqi itself.

An ordinary Jinxian probably only has a utilization rate of one thousandth."

Li Changshou smiled faintly: "When I was setting up the great arrays on Xiaoqiong Peak before, I pondered how to fully release the energy of lingqi.

Imagine two mirrors facing each other at an angle—if you shine a beam of light into them, it reflects twice and returns along the original path.

If a strand of lingqi keeps entering a special conduit, it can release more energy in a short time.

That's the concept behind the lingqi cannon, though there are still many problems to solve. I plan to go ask Laojun about it soon..."

Ling'e stared blankly as Li Changshou spoke with enthusiasm. By the end, she couldn't understand what her shixiong was saying at all, but she knew it must be impressive...

Thus, fifteen years later.

By the spiritual lake on Xiaoqiong Peak, a thirty-zhang-long cylindrical cannon perfectly lit up all its prohibitions.

Li Changshou pointed his sword finger lightly, and vortices appeared at the hem of his robe, stirring up winds from all directions of Xiaoqiong Peak.

In almost an instant, these vortices drained half of Xiaoqiong Peak's lingqi!

Li Changshou smiled in satisfaction, his eyes full of emotion.

Next, he needed to find a place to fire a shot and test its real power.

With that decided, Li Changshou took his main body and this long cannon, slipped out of Taibai Palace secretly without even telling his Yudi incarnation, used a false identity, and flew out of the Five Divisions Continent.

In the void, Li Changshou summoned a mountain as a target, set up layers of cheap but sturdy arrays around it, positioned the hundredfold lingqi cannon, and fired from a distance.

The mountain shattered!

In the face of that black beam flickering with purple arcs, the mountain and arrays held for only half a moment!

If Li Changshou hadn't stopped in time, that beam might have hit a great thousand world and caused countless casualties.

Hmm, the power was quite good.

Then, Li Changshou returned to Heaven Court, picked an auspicious day, resolved a few issues, and officially infused the long cannon with gongde.

To his surprise, such a large cannon only absorbed about thirty percent of his gongde before it couldn't take any more.

Li Changshou sensed that Tian Dao had imposed a limit.

Anything stronger could disrupt Honghuang's ecology and cause irreversible damage to heaven and earth.

It was best to know when to stop; one should be content.

After all, this was just a killing treasure for Yunxiao to use for self-defense and surprise attacks.

Once infused with gongde, the long cannon looked like golden glass, with streams of immortal light flowing inside and a obscure Dao rhythm emanating from the muzzle.

—Some key parts were refined by Laojun himself.

Phase one was complete; next, he needed to refine it further in terms of portability, feel, accuracy, and secrecy.

This refinement took another ten years.

Time flew by in the mountains; while cultivating and refining, Li Changshou continued to monitor major events in heaven and earth, safeguarding the peaceful Heaven Court.

The battles in the three thousand worlds raged on, but casualties among living beings were starting to be controlled, as all sides followed the rule of fighting in the void.

The Five Divisions Continent, far from quieting down after Ling Shan suffered losses, became incredibly noisy. In Zhongshen Continent, more and more immortal sects were fighting fiercely, fueled by the calamity.

In the past twenty years, six sects of the Three Teachings had been destroyed;

Nineteen non-Three Teachings sects had been destroyed in the same period.

The brutality of the immortal wars was unimaginable, and many experts unwilling to fight had fled to the three thousand worlds, where half the areas were relatively stable.

Nanzhou and Beizhou, along with the Four Seas, remained peaceful, with mortal countries focused on passing down their lineages under Tian Dao's protection, steadily advancing toward that era.

However, the issues with the Four Seas Dragon Clan were becoming more prominent.

As time passed and the Dragon Clan reestablished itself, many dragon nobles and their descendants, who hadn't contributed much to the clan's revival, were now swelling with arrogance due to their accumulated power.

Li Changshou was getting a headache over these deep-seated dragon problems. If he cracked down hard, it would seem unrighteous, like burning bridges after crossing.

But if he let them continue to inflate, a disaster for the Dragon Clan would be inevitable.

After thinking it over, all he could do was write a few letters to the Dragon King and have Ao Yi deliver them for advice.

Unfortunately, the old Dragon King was too absorbed in his dull pursuits and gave no response.

This was the most difficult for Ao Yi's father, the patriarch of the Dragon Clan.

Li Changshou could only continue to observe and didn't want to intervene too early...

For safety's sake, Heaven Court needed to condemn the Dragon Clan's extravagant ways more often.

Finally, after twenty-five or six years of tinkering with this treasure;

Combining the refining techniques of the Renjiao Leader's incarnation, Taishang Laojun, Li Changshou's innovative ideas, and the support of Senior Lang's heritage, Li Changshou produced a satisfactory finished product—

Acquired top-grade gongde spiritual treasure: Hundredfold Lingqi Crossbow!

Since there was no concept of '炮' in Honghuang, Li Changshou cleverly named it a 'crossbow'.

By the spiritual lake on Xiaoqiong Peak, Li Changshou slung the lingqi cannon, now shrinkable to half a zhang long, over his shoulder and posed dramatically.

"Ling'e, look! Imagine your Yunxiao Jiejie carrying this treasure cannon—is it imposing? Is it domineering?"

Ling'e blinked and finally said the words she'd held back for over twenty years:

"Shixiong, are you sure Yunxiao Jiejie... will like a treasure with this design?"

Li Changshou paused, using immortal power to hold the treasure cannon and examining it from the side. He even summoned a female version of his Paper Dao Ren to try carrying it...

"Hmm? I overlooked that. When giving gifts, the key is whether the other person likes it."

Ling'e quickly added: "As long as it's from you, Shixiong, Jiejie is so gentle—she'll definitely like it."

"Sending a cannon to a fairy doesn't seem quite right."

Li Changshou folded his arms and studied it, glanced at his gongde pool, and saw that Senior Lang's heritage hadn't been used much, then snapped his fingers handsomely.

"In that case, let's make a full set!"

"What full set?"

"A set for battle."

Thus, a hundred years later.

On Sanxian Island.

Li Changshou drifted over slowly on a cloud, with Qiongxiao and Bixiao waiting outside the mist early.

As soon as they met, Li Changshou took two brocade boxes from his sleeve, saying it was a small gift as a token of respect, which made the two fairies beam with joy. They called him "brother-in-law" repeatedly and led him into Sanxian Island.

Bixiao giggled: "Brother-in-law, you haven't come to the island to see Jiejie in so many years—did you bring any treasures?"

"I did, I did," Li Changshou laughed, "but this item is quite significant and can't be shown casually. I'll only let your elder sister see it later."

Qiongxiao huffed: "Stingy! Clearly, you didn't prepare anything!"

Li Changshou just smiled without arguing.

He was here specifically to deliver the gift.

Once on Sanxian Island, they reached the immortal pavilion. Yunxiao, who was cultivating, was called out by Qiongxiao. Seeing Li Changshou's figure from the window, she smiled inadvertently.

She said softly: "Wait a moment; I'll freshen up quickly."

Then she lowered her head and returned to her boudoir, her steps light, setting up a few barriers and changing into a simple white elegant dress.

Qiongxiao and Bixiao teased Li Changshou a bit before laughing and going elsewhere to play, though their immortal senses remained locked on the area.

Li Changshou waited quietly in front of the immortal pavilion and picked a beach on Sanxian Island as the demonstration spot, his eyes carrying a faint smile.

Laojun, you've worked hard!

Thanks to Meiwen Hua and the other four Meis, who were confined in Taibai Palace, for providing the image references!

He hadn't expected to create something like this.

Considering the brutality of battles in Honghuang and the speed of various 'swift experts', Li Changshou had specially added all sorts of great arrays and perfectly integrated his micro-array concepts into it...

"Why did you come so suddenly?"

Yunxiao's gentle voice interrupted Li Changshou's thoughts.

Li Changshou smiled: "I was worried you lacked treasures, so I specially refined one for your self-defense."

Yunxiao couldn't help but smile a little: "I have the Jindou; that's enough. You keep it."

"Your path ahead still has calamities, and in Heaven Court, I'm just mediating," Li Changshou extended his right hand. "Come on, let's find a quiet spot."

His gesture was very natural, but Yunxiao hesitated slightly before extending her soft hand and placing it in Li Changshou's palm.

The two walked hand in hand to the beach Li Changshou had chosen earlier.

He set up two more arrays and three barriers, making Yunxiao even more curious.

"This treasure is extraordinary; it's the limit of what Tian Dao allows me to do, with Laojun's help throughout.

Remember, only you can use this. Don't give it to Qiongxiao or Bixiao, even if they throw a tantrum. Don't soften your heart.

If it's misused, it could cause huge karma."

Hearing Li Changshou say this, Yunxiao grew even more curious.

Yunxiao asked: "What kind of thing has you so tense?"

"You can think of it as clothing, or as a special avatar.

Look."

Li Changshou flipped his left hand, and in his palm rested a palm-sized jade statue.

This jade statue had Yunxiao's face and figure, dressed in a long skirt, incredibly lifelike.

Yunxiao was quite pleased to see it, but before her smile could fully bloom, Li Changshou tossed it gently. The jade statue burst with treasure light and flew a hundred zhang away, suddenly expanding!

In the next instant!

A two-hundred-zhang-tall jade statue stood silently on the beach, with a jade-like texture. Strands of ling power surged through it from top to bottom.

Under the sunlight, it appeared semi-transparent. Upon closer inspection, it was filled with prohibitions and talismans inside.

"This is..."

Li Changshou laughed: "A treasure I obtained from the Chaos Sea; half of it was used on this."

As he spoke, Li Changshou opened his palm toward the jade statue's side, and light surged from his palm.

Buzz—

Buzz buzz buzz—

The jade statue vibrated rapidly from top to bottom, layers of light rings shaking up and down. Its tightly closed eyes suddenly opened, and vortices appeared on its back, wildly drawing in the boundless lingqi from the East Sea!

It raised its right arm, and a solid protective array activated instantly!

The slender legs under its 'skirt' stepped forward, shaking the universe, with over a dozen great arrays unfolding in an instant, even making Yunxiao feel her immortal power sluggish.

It lifted its left hand, and a dark cannon muzzle appeared in its palm.

"This is the main crossbow; it has the greatest power."

Li Changshou explained with a smile.

The jade statue's raised hand swayed slightly, and immortal light flashed on the fixed 'skirt', from which 360 slightly smaller dark muzzles emerged.

All-around, no blind spots!

"Like it? It pairs perfectly with your Jiuqu Huanghe Array."

Li Changshou asked warmly.

Yunxiao: ......

"Mm," Yunxiao nodded gently, noticing the line of small characters on the jade statue's right arm, her eyes filled with tender affection.

To the gentlest Yun.

"Achoo!"

In Zhongshen Continent, on Erxian Mountain, in Magu Cave.

Huanglong Zhenren, who was meditating, shivered, sneezing during his enlightenment. He opened his eyes and muttered, then switched to another cave chamber and continued resting with his eyes closed.