Chapter 82: Prepare for War

“Changshou!”

“If it wasn't for that poison pill you gave me from Elder Wan Linjun, I really wouldn't have seen you again!”

“Ah!”

On Potian Peak, at Jiu Wu’s residence in Jiu Xian Ju, within Jiu Wu’s pavilion.

Two and a half months had passed since the group from Du Xian Men safely returned to the mountain gate after the attack.

Li Changshou waited until Jiu Wu’s injuries had stabilized and the wave of disciples visiting had subsided before bringing Ling E to visit Uncle-Master Jiu Wu.

His master had been in closed-door cultivation the whole time, undisturbed by the events.

Over these two and a half months, Li Changshou worked day and night, pushing the outer and inner arrays of Xiaoqiong Peak to the limits of his current capabilities, completely depleting all the accumulated treasures he had.

With that done, he felt a bit more at ease.

As soon as he was led in by Jiu Jiu, Li Changshou heard Jiu Wu, sitting cross-legged on the bed, voicing such sentiments...

Li Changshou stepped forward to bow, his expression serious, and together with his junior sister, they performed a Daoist salute to Jiu Wu.

Ling E set down the tonic wine she was carrying and was pulled by Jiu Jiu to the side room.

This tonic wine was specially brewed by Li Changshou for Jiu Wu, to replenish vital energy, stop depletion, stabilize the foundation, and strengthen muscles and bones.

“Ah,” Li Changshou sighed, walking to the bedside.

Because Li Changshou had repeatedly instructed Jiu Jiu, she hadn’t revealed anything about his “dreaming” incident.

Even so, Jiu Wu was still overwhelmingly grateful to Li Changshou, all because that poison pill had saved his life at a critical moment.

“Uncle-Master, how are your injuries?”

“Not bad,” Jiu Wu gently exhaled, sighing, “But the two fellow disciples who were with me met a tragic end in Zhongshen State, their souls scattered beyond return.”

Li Changshou nodded, only able to sigh at the impermanence of the world.

After they lamented for a while, Li Changshou got straight to the point...

“Uncle-Master, how’s the investigation going?”

“We have some clues, but it’s not as good as having none,” Jiu Wu showed a hint of helplessness in his eyes. “I don’t even know how to put it...

“This matter might be related to the major sects of Chan Jiao.

“Some people don’t want the San Jiao Congress to proceed smoothly and seem intent on stirring up trouble in secret.”

Li Changshou thought to himself...

‘This can’t be that simple.’

But he didn’t say more, just sighed. “This involves far too much.”

“You’re right,” Jiu Wu shook his head, his eyes full of lament. “Changshou, let’s talk about that poison pill of yours...”

“Uncle-Master, do you want a couple more for self-defense?”

“Exactly,” Jiu Wu said firmly. “I can exchange them with immortal treasures, immortal pills, or any treasure you want!”

Li Changshou slowly shook his head, his expression serious. “The poison pill I gave you last time was actually granted by Elder Wan Linjun for me to study alchemy techniques.

“Uncle-Master, you should go to Elder Wan Linjun...

“Uncle-Master, I’ll send you a voice transmission.”

Muttering like that.

Jiu Wu quickly nodded in agreement, looking thoughtful.

Although Elder Wan Linjun had a notorious reputation, the power of that poison pill was clear after using it once...

Sometimes, a life-saving immortal pill is a life, and a deadly poison pill is also a life.

Jiu Wu said, “Alright, I’ll take Shi Shi with me later to pay a visit to Elder Wan Linjun.”

Li Changshou nodded lightly, then recalled the matter of Elder Wan Linjun’s self-created divine ability.

He himself would soon go to pay a visit and ask the elder to teach him that divine ability called Poison Heaven Net Hand, for self-defense.

Li Changshou asked Jiu Wu with genuine concern about the many details of the attack in front of Jin Gong Men’s mountain gate.

Jiu Wu answered everything without reservation.

When Li Changshou asked why the five of them had gone out secretly, Jiu Wu sent a voice transmission:

“This matter I’ve only mentioned to the sect leader and the elders, and the sect has ordered it not to be spread.

“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t say a word.

“It was a senior brother...

“Ah, it was an internal affairs officer who said that a high-level expert from another sect wanted to meet our Du Xian Men group in secret to advise on matters related to the San Jiao Congress, which lured the rest of us four into an ambush.

“The ones who ambushed us included three Tianxian realm experts and sixteen Zhenxian realm experts.

“Before the fight even started, that affairs officer collapsed instantly...

“When we checked later, like the attackers, his primordial spirit was withered, completely drained of primordial spirit power and soul.

“We could only vaguely infer from the attackers’ identities that they seemed to be from Chan Jiao’s immortal sects.”

Li Changshou felt a jolt in his heart, but his face showed only a hint of fear as he lamented with Jiu Wu once more.

The two of them whispered through voice transmissions for a long time, drawing several strands of spiritual senses and immortal senses from the adjacent room to probe over.

Soon, Li Changshou asked his final question for this visit:

“Uncle-Master Jiu Wu, in the inner hall of the Dao Treasury, I found a jade slip that mentioned... the sect’s underground earth veins have an escape earth vein teleportation array...”

Jiu Wu couldn’t help but chuckle bitterly and sent a voice transmission to Li Changshou:

“It’s true, the elders, peak masters, and the older generation of affairs officers all know about it, but we just don’t mention it.

“After the catastrophe of the group of demons’ raid ten thousand years ago, our Du Xian Men’s sect leader felt it necessary to have a backup plan, so he created an escape route for disciples who aren’t strong in combat.

“That earth vein leads to the coast of the East Sea. If a powerful enemy attacks, disciples can go underground from the Hall of All Things and use the teleportation array to leave, thus avoiding the disaster.

“However, only the Hall of All Things has the path down.”

Li Changshou looked enlightened, but in his heart, he smiled...

Now, he could officially declare that the path to that earth vein teleportation array had two routes!

He had never seen any jade slip related to the underground escape route; he had simply...

Dug right into it!

More than half a month ago, while preparing an earth vein escape passage for Xiaoqiong Peak, Li Changshou had broken through the earth vein beneath Xiaoqiong Peak and nearly damaged that large array.

The so-called earth vein teleportation array wasn’t complicated; despite the word ‘teleportation,’ it wasn’t a Qiankun Great Array. It simply borrowed the momentum of the earth veins to move along them, instantly appearing thousands or even tens of thousands of li away.

The sect’s arrangement had saved Li Changshou a lot of effort.

But for safety’s sake, Li Changshou had still set up a smaller earth vein teleportation array in a more remote location, in the opposite direction from the sect’s large one.

This had used up his last stock of treasures.

Jiu Wu cautioned, “This matter can’t be spread; it might cause panic among the disciples.”

Li Changshou nodded in agreement and steered the conversation toward topics of recuperation and healing...

Half an hour later.

Jiu Shi came from the side, holding a bowl of soup and a bottle of pills, and said softly:

“Wu Wu, it’s time for your medicine.”

Seeing this scene that resembled a famous painting from a past life—Da Lang, time for your medicine—Li Changshou tactfully stood up and bid farewell to the two uncle-masters.

His junior sister also floated out from the room and bowed to Jiu Wu and Jiu Shi.

Jiu Jiu had wanted to go with them to Xiaoqiong Peak to play, but realizing she couldn’t be so heartless, she stayed with Senior Sister Jiu Shi to see Li Changshou and Ling E off, waving goodbye to them before continuing to attend to her Fifth Senior Brother...

Playtime had to be timed right.

Li Changshou took his junior sister to the Hall of All Things, where they paid respects to the portrait of Ta Qing Laozi, before returning to Xiaoqiong Peak...

On the cloud road, Ling E noticed Li Changshou’s somber expression and whispered:

“Senior Brother, is the problem very serious?”

“The information we have now is too limited to determine,” Li Changshou sent a voice transmission to his junior sister. “I’ll go into seclusion in the pill room for a few days to think this through carefully.

“If there’s any unusual sign in the sect, crush the transmission talisman I gave you right away.

“Don’t worry about wasting it; I can refine more.”

“Oh, alright.”

Ling E nodded prettily and watched her senior brother descend to the pill room, standing on the cloud and sighing softly.

Although she wanted to be as tense as her senior brother...

Glancing around the sect, with smoke curling from various places and cranes flying auspiciously, everything was as peaceful as ever...

‘Is Senior Brother... just too sensitive?’

Ling E sighed lightly and flew on her cloud toward her thatched hut.

The arrays around the pill room activated, and the surrounding forest became eerily calm, with no spiritual energy flowing.

But if someone with keen spiritual senses stood outside this dense forest and looked in, they might feel a chill run down their spine...

...

Entering the pill room, Li Changshou casually deployed a paper figure avatar, which turned into smoke and returned to the underground chamber.

He took out a stack of blank scrolls and laid them out one by one on the ground, then removed his shoes and walked back and forth on them.

This wasn’t because he needed a special “posture” to think clearly...

Half an hour later, Li Changshou produced a homemade charcoal pencil, sat cross-legged, and wrote a vertical line of small characters on the top left of the top scroll:

Suppose I am the one scheming behind the scenes.

He then drew two arrows: one straight, labeled “The attack is unrelated to the previous debate with Jin’ao Island qi refiners”;

The other slanted toward a large blank area below, labeled “Related to the debate with Jin’ao Island qi refiners”;

After pondering, he added arrows to each item, gradually listing out all possible developments he could imagine and analyzing them one by one...

This time, he wouldn’t overlook even the slightest possibility!

“The known information is indeed very limited.”

All they knew was that the one scheming against Du Xian Men had vast divine abilities, capable of controlling Tianxian and Zhenxian realm qi refiners and instantly destroying them.

The motives could be divided into several:

Grudges against Du Xian Men, plotting for Du Xian Men’s assets...

But the most likely motive, which Li Changshou highlighted:

Disrupting the San Jiao Congress and stirring up conflicts among the three teachings.

Analyzing from the source and verifying from the results, not missing any logical chain;

Li Changshou wrote and drew, his immortal sense enveloping all of Xiaoqiong Peak, his charcoal pencil growing shorter and shorter.

Three full days later.

Li Changshou let out a long breath, sitting at the desk in the underground chamber, with a “black screen” propped up by his immortal power in front of him.

It was covered in dense words, symbols, arrows, and diagrams;

Over a dozen “storylines,” hundreds of possible scenarios...

Even without knowing the mastermind, as long as the other side made the next move and he detected it, he could identify the corresponding storylines!

Li Changshou wasn’t trying to find out who the mastermind was; that was pointless.

Because the other party was likely someone he couldn’t touch now, and contact would mean instant death.

Li Changshou just wanted to react quickly when the other side acted and he noticed it, making the right response...

Exposing his cultivation would only add one more elder-level fighter to the sect, which wasn’t very useful.

Were there few elders in the peaks?

In the short term, he couldn’t gain any say in Du Xian Men.

So, it was better to hide his cultivation as a trump card and secretly do his best to protect himself and the sect...

Moreover, in practice, hiding in the shadows allowed him to play a bigger role.

Taking out three wooden plaques, Li Changshou picked up a carving knife and began to work on them;

He used a “disappearing after viewing” potion to write three strategies on them, placing them in three pouches.

The first strategy: Cry.

He had already laid the groundwork with Uncle-Master Jiu Wu, who would soon go to Elder Wan Linjun;

This pouch would be passed from Elder Wan Linjun to Jiu Wu, with strict orders for Jiu Wu to stay in the sect. If the sect was attacked and the protective mountain array broken, Jiu Wu must open this pouch.

The so-called “cry” wasn’t just random crying; it had to be done properly.

On this wooden plaque, Li Changshou wrote:

Go to the Hall of All Things, find the ancestor’s portrait, and cry from the heart, saying that Du Xian Men honors the Ta Qing Miaofa, has no disputes with the world, yet is being used by others to destroy this Ren Jiao lineage, aiming to provoke conflicts among the three Daoist teachings, and beseech the ancestor to manifest...

The second pouch was for Uncle-Master Jiu Jiu, but it had to wait until a major event occurred; he couldn’t give it to her directly.

The third pouch was for his master, detailing what he needed his master’s help with, essentially asking his master to protect his junior sister and leave.

If a sect war broke out, his master would definitely go to the front; preparations had to be made in advance.

As for Li Changshou himself, he didn’t need protection; once he detected the signs, his main body would be in an extremely safe place...

After sealing the pouches, Li Changshou shouted lowly:

“All forces, prepare for battle!”

Uh, it seemed like he was the only one in the army.

He waved his hand over the table, and two rows of small paper figures jumped out from his sleeve, bowing in unison to Li Changshou.

Li Changshou smiled and tried again.

“All forces, prepare for battle!”

The small paper figures instantly looked fierce, waving their arms menacingly.

Enough joking.

The three most urgent things he needed to do now were:

Rapidly expand his “poison delivery weapon arsenal,” increasing the quantity of poison powder without limit;

Strengthen his paper figures so he could control them with divided attention, never putting all his mind into them;

Gain Elder Wan Linjun’s deeper trust—this was a powerful thigh, not inferior to a Jin Xian!

Standing up, Li Changshou looked at the two characters for “mastermind” written in the center of the black screen, his eyes flashing with sharpness.

‘No matter if you’re from the West, the North, have a grudge against Du Xian Men, or are from Chan Jiao, Jie Jiao, or Ren Jiao and don’t want the three teachings to reconcile...

‘As long as you dare to move!

‘Hmph!

‘I’ll dare to run...’

...

Half a year later, in Zhongshen State, at Jin Gong Men’s mountain gate.

Three figures flew out of the immortal island—these were three qi refiners from Jin’ao Island, who had arranged to return to Jin’ao Island, tired of staying here.

These three happened to be from the group that had gone to Du Xian Men that day;

The other two had listened to Yuan Ze Laodao’s complaints and empathized, deciding to return early to Jin’ao Island for cultivation.

Wasting time here was better spent relaxing freely back home!

After flying a thousand li on the white cloud, Yuan Ze Laodao, at the rear, had a flash of blood in his eyes, stepped forward two paces, and suddenly said, “Two Daoist friends...”

The two turned back, suddenly hearing a buzzing like mosquitoes, and before they could react, they felt a sting on the back of their necks and immediately slumped backward.

Yuan Ze Laodao casually supported the two middle-aged men and continued flying southeast on the cloud as if nothing had happened.

Another half month later,

Yuan Ze Laodao stopped the white cloud in a dense forest on the border between Zhongshen State and Dongsheng Shenzhou, in the demon territory.

As if prearranged, shadowy figures converged from various parts of the forest, surrounding the three and kneeling without rising.

These figures included demons, humans, and spirits, all wrapped in black clothes, fully concealing their auras.

Their only common trait might be the faint, healed scars on their necks.

A demon held three trays and approached, kneeling before the three, with blood light flashing on the trays—three fist-sized, seven-petaled blood lotuses.

At that moment, only visible to these three, a blood-colored shadow flitted around them, drifting...

This figure’s face was blurred, but its figure was exaggeratedly voluptuous.

It whispered gently in their ears, its soft voice burrowing into their hearts.

“Take it... Take it...

“This is the immortality you’ve always sought...

“The San Jiao Congress is just Chan Jiao trying to suppress Jie Jiao; you have a way to stop it now...

“Only you can stop it...

“Go quickly and destroy Du Xian Men, Du Xian Men...”

The three Jin’ao Island qi refiners, led by Yuan Ze Laodao, each picked up a seven-petaled blood lotus and said in unison:

“We obey!

“This time, we won’t fail!”

Thousands of li away, in the depths of a certain valley, Wen Jing Daoist, sitting on a jade-colored cushion, smirked coldly.

She didn’t intervene further, turning and flying toward the West.

Controlling the Jie Jiao qi refiners and arranging puppets to attack the five immortals from Du Xian Men at Jin Gong Men was to draw attention to Du Xian Men.

Then, have the Jie Jiao qi refiners disguise themselves as a joint force of Chan Jiao immortal sects and demons to wipe out the small Du Xian Men...

The scheme would succeed.

For her, this was just a minor plot; those three Jin’ao Island qi refiners were her decoys.

As long as this happened, regardless of the outcome, it would widen the rifts among the three teachings.

It was both a hidden scheme and an open one.

And she...

How could she show herself? If she accidentally attracted that senior brother from Ren Jiao, she had no confidence in escaping.

Withdraw before the event, return secretly to Western Cult, and watch the show from afar—that was the wise choice.

If those three succeeded or failed, she could directly make them vanish into ashes, leaving clues pointing to Jie Jiao and Chan Jiao, and that would settle it.

‘For this success, what will those bastards from the deputy cult leaders use to reward me?

‘Hmph, what will they use to honor this queen!

‘Those useless fools, if not for the two lords protecting them...

‘I’ll suck you dry sooner or later!’

Wen Jing Daoist sneered, her figure disappearing, leaving only a faint mosquito buzz fading into the distance.