In the brief moments after the tribulation, the Daoist Qi Yuan traversed a long and winding path of the heart.
At first he had thought: *Heh — this poor Taoist actually used sword-release to become a muddy immortal before the Heavenly Tribulation... and in full view of everyone, no less. He swallowed that pill without a second's hesitation, turning his back on death with such poise...*
*Hahahaha. There is no showing my face in the sect again.*
Then his thoughts drifted to the day his disciple had knelt before him and pressed that very pill into his hands.
*So be it. This was all Changshou's painstaking effort.*
*Here I was, this so-called master, always thinking of using the tribulation to prove my convictions through death — and all along I overlooked how desperately my two disciples wanted me to live. That pill must have been terribly difficult to obtain. Changshou must have suffered greatly for it. He just broke through to the Return-to-Void stage in the Northern Jambu Continent — how could I squander his efforts?*
*So what if I am a muddy immortal?*
*The road ahead is not sealed shut. It is far better than becoming a Ghost Immortal or having my soul scattered to the winds. And from here on, I can protect my two fine disciples. That is enough.*
So the old Taoist Qi Yuan cupped his hands and gave Li Changshou a deep Daoist bow.
Figures arrived from every direction, converging to offer their congratulations. The old Taoist was startled at first, then fell easily into the rhythm of cupped-hand replies, chatting with old friends he had not seen in years — catching up on family matters, asking after children, trading the small talk of immortals who had once been close.
*A muddy immortal is still an immortal. I can live happily for tens of thousands of years.*
*Work hard at cultivation and become a True Immortal. Take on a few more disciples. I can make something of Little Qiong Peak yet!*
Qi Yuan's face gradually broke into a grin.
It was right then, while still surrounded by well-wishers, that his eldest disciple's voice reached his ears through a whispering incantation.
"Master, if anyone asks what pill you used for the sword-release, tell them it was an Immortal-Dissolving Pill. The formula for the Immortal-Dissolving Pill can be found in the outer hall of the Dao Treasury Pavilion, on a sheepskin scroll tucked in the corner of the second-to-last bookshelf in the northwest section. If someone asks whether you have any more Immortal-Dissolving Pills on hand, you may promise at most three — and only to immortals you trust, who are close to you, and who genuinely need one. The ingredients are terribly hard to come by, and the pill can directly kill an immortal. It is easy to bring trouble upon yourself."
Qi Yuan blinked. He scanned the crowd until he found his two disciples, then smiled and gave a small nod to show he had understood.
Li Changshou set down the last stone that had weighed upon his heart. Feeling refreshed and at ease, he turned to Blue Ling'e with a smile. "Junior Sister, keep watch here for a while. If Master invites anyone for tea later, be diligent about it."
Ling'e hurried to ask, "Where are you going, Senior Brother? Aren't you going to congratulate Master?"
"I am going to rest for a bit," Li Changshou said lightly. "Let Master finish with his guests first. According to sect custom, achieving immortality is a grand occasion — plenty of people will come to pay their respects. There is no rush on our part."
"Mm!" Ling'e replied softly. "Go rest, Senior Brother. You have worked hard these past days. I will keep an eye on Master."
So while immortals converged upon Little Qiong Peak from every direction, Li Changshou slipped away unnoticed and returned to his pill chamber.
He did not activate the outer grand formation — only the array surrounding the chamber itself, spanning a hundred zhang in every direction. He dragged a rocking chair to the front of the chamber, settled into it, and gazed out at the distant forest and the water nearby. His eyes half-closed, he rocked gently.
After all that effort, Master had finally weathered the tribulation.
With this experience of Master's tribulation, his own understanding of the Heavenly Tribulation had grown by another measure. Once his foundation deepened a bit more, he could begin daring to attempt his own — no longer suppressing his cultivation.
But the tribulation could not happen within the sect. Otherwise, the hidden cards he had spent a century accumulating would be exposed by at least half.
Then again — Master's strength before the tribulation was genuinely pitiable. The Immortal-Dissolving Pill had dissolved his body and soul almost instantly...
Li Changshou closed his eyes and hummed softly the celestial melody that had played during his master's transformation into an immortal. Before long, he drifted into a half-dreaming, half-awake state of Dao comprehension.
His breathing deepened, his spirit merging with heaven and earth.
A nine-petaled lotus drifted from his chest — vivid in color, lifelike, its petals and platform imbued with the Dao he had comprehended, so wondrous and natural it defied description. The small lotus vanished into the breeze like a wisp, but it served as a catalyst: more and more lotuses emerged from every part of his body, orbiting him in a slow spiral. A faint look of tranquility shone in his half-lidded eyes.
He snapped back to awareness quickly, dispersing the lotuses and sealing the aura he had nearly let slip. Even the pill chamber was not truly safe for cultivation — he should return to the underground chamber. After all, someone at the level of the Venerable Wangqing might casually sweep Xiaoqiong Peak with their spiritual sense at any moment.
He dozed in the chair for a while.
Then a white cloud drifted in from the direction of the mountain lake. Li Changshou's eyes opened at once, and he spotted the stocky Taoist standing atop it. He quickly deactivated the nearby formations and rose to greet him.
"This disciple greets Senior Uncle Jiu Wu."
Jiu Wu laughed and scolded: "Your master is over there throwing a feast for his guests, and you are here napping! Your junior sister's little legs are about to fall off from running around!"
"This disciple dislikes crowds. I can only let my junior sister, who is better suited, shoulder the burden," Li Changshou replied with a smile. When Jiu Wu drew close to the pill chamber, he reactivated the dozens of surrounding arrays and cupped his hands. "Please come inside, Senior Uncle."
"No time — I am about to head out on a trip. I stopped by to tell you two things." Jiu Wu waved a hand and fished a jade token from his sleeve, tossing it to Li Changshou.
Jiu Wu said with considerable pride, "Take a look. What is this? Don't say your Senior Uncle only drinks your Old White Liquor and never does anything to benefit his 'drinking buddy'!"
Li Changshou: ...
*Drinking buddy. We have barely shared a drink seven or eight times over the past two years.*
*And every time this Senior Uncle visits, it is the night before the Ganges River Old White Liquor brewed for Jiu Shi is ready to come out of the cellar.*
Li Changshou held the jade token in his left hand, letting it hover at his side, and sent a wisp of spiritual sense into it.
Hmm?
The upper volume of the *Wuwei Scripture*?
Li Changshou was mildly surprised. He looked up at Jiu Wu on his cloud. "Senior Uncle, is this... appropriate?"
"What's inappropriate about it?" Jiu Wu squinted with a grin. "It is an unwritten rule of the sect: each generation's top twenty disciples in cultivation may study the upper volume of the *Wuwei Scripture* ahead of schedule. Ordinary disciples must wait until they achieve immortality. You should be at the sixth sub-stage of Return-to-Void by now — the sect would rank you in the top ten without question. I recall you broke through a small sub-stage the last time we drank together."
That time...
Li Changshou felt a touch of helplessness. To prevent himself from undergoing the tribulation too early due to insufficient preparation, he had been suppressing his cultivation, unwilling to advance to the ninth sub-stage of Return-to-the-Dao. But a few months ago, during a drinking and poetry session with Jiu Wu, the inspiration had struck suddenly, and he had inadvertently comprehended a breakthrough...
Fortunately he had left three buffer sub-stages, and Jiu Wu had been far too tipsy to notice.
Jiu Wu continued, "Rest assured, I did not reveal that your cultivation has reached the sixth sub-stage of Return-to-Void. This upper volume of the *Wuwei Scripture* is a reward for the upcoming mission — I fought hard with the Merit-Transmission Elder to get it for you, and brought it over early. Well? Would you like to study it? This is the Du Xian Sect's true mountain-guarding legacy!"
"I would," Li Changshou said with a nod, but sent the jade token back. "However, this disciple has no wish to leave the mountain just now. I am afraid I must decline your generous offer, Senior Uncle."
Jiu Wu's large eyes narrowed beneath his thick eyebrows. "I have not even told you what the task is. How did you know it involves leaving the mountain?"
"It can only be the Demon-Sweeping Assembly hosted by the East Sea Dragon Palace," Li Changshou replied, his tone earnest. "The news has been circulating in the sect for some time — it would be hard for this disciple not to know. Many of our outstanding fellow disciples are fighting for the chance to make a name for themselves at this assembly. Why recruit a lazy person like this disciple to fill the ranks?"
"If they are all fighting for it, why are you unwilling?" Jiu Wu asked, puzzled.
Li Changshou paused in thought for a moment before speaking. "During the last training assembly, when we swept the East Sea, we actually killed quite a few unruly shrimp soldiers and crab generals from the East Sea. This time, the Du Xian Sect will surely face difficulties from the East Sea Dragon Palace. You know this, Senior Uncle — this disciple truly does not wish to be drawn into such troublesome matters."
"You are observant indeed," Jiu Wu chuckled lightly, standing on his cloud in contemplation.
Jiu Wu lowered the white cloud a bit closer, his expression worried. "Honestly, I would not have troubled you this time, but Changshou — there are not many sharp ones in this generation of disciples. The most experienced among them, Yuan Qing, got himself into trouble and was executed. Going to the shore of the East Sea this time means not only the Dragon Palace but also several rival sects who hold grudges against us. They may send disciples to deliberately cause problems."
"Several elders are worried that our young disciples cannot hold their tongues — that they might be provoked by verbal taunts and create embarrassing incidents. No one else in the sect knows that you, Li Changshou, are brimming with cunning schemes..."
*Ahem* — they do not know that your nephew is in fact deeply resourceful and hidden beneath a modest exterior. But I know you are steady and deliberate, and you think before you act. That is why I want you to come along, to warn our fellow disciples when the need arises. Besides, this time my own master will lead the party personally, and several sect elders will accompany us — safety is absolutely guaranteed. Consider it? This is the *Wuwei Scripture* — a true art of immortality."
Indeed, the *Wuwei Scripture* stirred Li Changshou's heart deeply. But...
He considered for a moment, then slowly nodded, lowering his voice. "This disciple will still appear at the second sub-stage of Return-to-Void, and will follow Senior Uncle's instructions to caution our fellow disciples as much as I can. But whether they listen is beyond this disciple's knowledge."
"Ha ha — rest assured, they will have no choice but to listen." Jiu Wu tossed the jade token back. "Take it. Study it well, and reach the Return-to-the-Dao stage soon."
*I knew this little scoundrel would not take the bait without a reward. The Merit-Transmission Elder approved passing this scripture to you a year and a half ago — luckily I held it back for just this moment.*
With that, Jiu Wu turned his cloud and flew back the way he had come, a faint smile lingering at the corners of his mouth.
Li Changshou deactivated the formations to let his Senior Uncle leave, then — not bothering with the inconvenience — activated them once more. He stared at the jade token in his hand, lost in thought.
The paper incarnations drained mana continuously, and could not stray too far from him...
Sure enough, getting too close to powerful seniors might bring the backing of the sect, but it invariably attracted all manner of unexpected complications.
Still — the upper volume of the *Wuwei Scripture* had fallen into his hands with ease, and it was not some crippled upper-half version like the *Nine Palms for Subduing the Dragon*. This was not a bad deal at all.
---
The second day after Qi Yuan achieved immortality, at the hour of dawn.
Blue Ling'e sat before the now-empty thatched cottage, her shoulders aching as she rubbed them with tired fists. Master had gone off the previous night to a feast on another peak with a group of senior uncles she had never even seen before. It had taken her two full hours to clean the cottage inside and out.
"Stupid Senior Brother — he did not even come to help!"
No sooner had the complaint left her lips than the corner of her eye caught sight of a large gourd flying in from the horizon. Her cheeks puffed up at once.
Auntie Jiu Jiu had come to look for Senior Brother again...
Those two must have something going on!
Over these past years, the longest stretch between Auntie Jiu Jiu's visits to Little Qiong Peak had been twelve days — a mere twelve days! Hmph. They were both female Qi Refiners. So what if she was a True Immortal?
No — for a True Immortal to develop to that particular scale was also somewhat outrageous...
Ling'e cast a downward glance at her own chest and nearly burst into tears.
*Senior Brother must prefer—*
"Excuse me?"
A voice came suddenly from behind her. Ling'e instinctively leaped to her feet, her skirt flaring as she reached behind her to press a hand against a cache of silver needles, her gaze sharp and wary toward the source of the voice.
Then Ling'e froze for a moment.
The newcomer wore an ice-blue, one-shoulder gown that fell to her feet, a broad-bladed sheathed sword strapped across her back. Her simply tied hair swayed gently in the breeze. That face — strikingly beautiful, cold as frost — was very familiar.
"Does Senior Brother Li Changshou live here?"