To avoid too much trouble, Li Changshou thanked them, and while the tower-like girl ran off to call others, he left behind a pile of gold and silver treasures and quietly...
Departed without saying goodbye.
He didn't go far. Executing the Earth Escape, he traveled a hundred li and hid within the trunk of a large tree in the coastal forest, using his immortal sense to survey every corner of the settlement.
It was said that different soil nurtured different people;
Could this settlement have had "muscle-enhancing medicine" mixed into its soil?
Wherever his immortal sense reached, he saw groups of powerfully built men and women busy at work—and not just ordinarily powerfully built, but that kind of...
That kind of...
Indescribable strength that exuded an air of nobility.
Everywhere his immortal sense touched, there were men and women brimming with explosive muscle, each with arms as thick as his junior sister's waist. Children rolled massive millstones weighing several hundred jin back and forth as toys...
Except for a handful of elderly and children, most of the people in this settlement had roughly the same physique as the tower-like girl he had seen earlier.
*'Perhaps I'm overthinking this. This is just a settlement that values muscular beauty.'*
Li Changshou chuckled inwardly, multitasking as he observed the settlement while carefully sensing his immortal body and primordial spirit, which hadn't fully recovered.
Immortal sense was far more useful than spiritual sense—not only did it cover a greater range, but the "images" it perceived were also more vivid and detailed.
Before his tribulation, Li Changshou's spiritual sense could at most reach one to two hundred li, and the images were blurry—only within thirty li could he see clearly.
Now it was different. A casual release of immortal sense could probe two thousand li away.
For instance, even from a thousand li away, he could roughly distinguish the two figures wrestling in the forest meadow and their approximate combat movements...
It seemed that wasn't fighting over there...
Ahem, never mind the details—the point was that his probing ability had received an enormous boost!
Li Changshou's attention returned to the settlement a hundred li away;
The girl who had taken care of him for a period rushed with a group of people toward the wooden house where he had been, discovering the pile of gold and silver valuables he had left on the bed...
He had now been away from the Du Xian Sect for more than nine months. He could remain outside for at most another three or four years; otherwise, his master and the sect stewards would come searching.
During this time, he would find an island to continue his secluded cultivation.
There were still many things to do. He needed to keep his thoughts clear and schedule each task properly.
Healing and stabilizing his realm went without saying;
He absolutely had to find a way to conceal his immortal power and immortal body, simulating his original mortal Dao body;
Since he had initially chosen to hide his cultivation as a trump card, he would have to stick to that path to the end. If he were suddenly exposed, the Du Xian Sect's higher-ups would definitely become suspicious.
—The development of the third version of the Turtle-Breath Calming Art had to be put on the agenda.
Beyond that, Li Changshou still had to face an awkward reality.
Because after surviving his tribulation, his strength had taken a massive leap forward, earning him the legendary "ascension";
This was naturally a good thing, but a full third of his previous enemy-suppression methods had become completely meaningless, and another third had seen their effectiveness greatly diminished.
For example, the Immortal-Weakening Powder and various poison pills had already become somewhat obsolete.
When his cultivation had been insufficient, narcotics and poison pills had been his protective利器;
But now, the poison pills' effects were inferior to a single slap from his palm...
All those poison pills he had previously refined to deal with True Immortals could only be sealed away, to be used in specific environments in the future.
Or, he could take them to a market town on the edge of Central Shenzhou and trade them for medicinal herbs and materials.
The bronze crossbow's power could increase based on the user's mana and immortal power levels;
This attack weapon that consumed very little immortal power could be kept. He would refine it with immortal power later to unlock its potential, and it could continue to be used by paper incarnations.
The Threefold True Flame was similar—its power grew with his strength. All he needed was to supplement his cultivation and condense immortal fire later.
The paper-cut incarnation divine ability required further comprehension. Future paper incarnations would have more wondrous uses, and their power would be far greater than before;
The Five-Element Escape could also enter an entirely new realm;
The sword formation treasure artifact needed to be re-refined;
Some powerful talismans he had wanted to create before but couldn't, he could now produce;
The Heaven-Exchanging Treasure Umbrella could incorporate more powerful formations...
And so on and so forth...
Counting carefully, he truly had many things to do. Three or four years might not be enough.
Better to prioritize the most important tasks first—refine his most commonly used escape techniques.
Priorities mattered. Life came first.
What was the point of ascension? What was the point of achieving immortality?
Immortalhood had turned him from an ant into a slightly stronger ant;
Ascension had given this ant wings, sending it flying into the air—but it was still merely a flying ant, and now an even more conspicuous target.
The Primordial did not count ages. In its countless years, even though great calamities descended repeatedly, the number of powerful beings that remained was still rather excessive.
Above were the Heavenly Way, the Dao Ancestor, and the Six Sages;
Below were ancient powerhouses, the Three Teachings' big shots, remnant Witch and Demon strongmen, late-rising human experts, reincarnations of various great figures...
He was currently not even a third-rate expert in the Primordial—he was still far from that.
And the key point was...
He was also extremely poor.
......
His immortal sense caught the noisy commotion from the settlement. The sturdy girl, clutching the pile of gold and silver valuables Li Changshou had left, squatted on the ground, wailing loudly.
"I didn't lose the Immortal!
I didn't sell the Immortal either!"
Seeing her squatting on the ground, crying like a two-hundred-jin child, the surrounding "towers" and "vajras" still ruthlessly berated her...
"We asked you to look after the Sea God. Such a big Sea God, how could you lose him?"
"Oh, you just had to run out to call people, didn't you?
Couldn't you have stood at the window and shouted 'The Sea God is awake! The Sea God is awake!'?
Why go running around everywhere!"
"Everyone said that was the Sea God, not some Immortal!
Xiong Lingli, oh Xiong Lingli! Don't listen to your father's nonsense! Offending the Sea God is no small matter!
Quick, take these worldly gold and silver valuables to the village chief's house for me! Don't let these worldly things offend the Sea God!"
Xiong...
That surname was rather fitting—the physique of a literal bear.
The adults scolded the girl for a while, then dispersed. They didn't punish her. They began searching the settlement and its surroundings for their "Sea God."
Li Changshou continued observing secretly.
Something was abnormal about this settlement, and this was the only reason Li Changshou had stopped a hundred li away rather than departing immediately.
When things were abnormal, there was either a demon or a treasure.
The settlement had over a thousand humans who made their living by fishing, hunting, and farming. Life was relatively fulfilling. The weather was favorable here, with no natural disasters.
As for human trouble...
Even if a mortal kingdom sent several thousand regular soldiers, they might not necessarily be able to take this settlement, let alone small bands of mountain bandits or sea pirates.
But the vast majority of these people had no cultivation—they were all mortals—yet they all had physiques as sturdy as the girl's. This truly didn't add up.
First of all, their nutrition simply couldn't support it.
Not to mention that these people showed no special effort to exercise their muscles...
Among the possibilities Li Changshou could think of, the most likely was that there was some special water vein or food ingredient here—one that was both abundant and satisfying.
Often, such things that mortals took for granted turned out to be treasures for alchemy, artifact refinement, formation crafting, or cultivation.
Moreover, there were no traces of outside cultivators here. The few people at the Qi Refining and Spirit Transformation levels within the settlement had probably cultivated some incomplete cultivation manuals—which wasn't rare among mortal societies...
This was what had piqued Li Changshou's interest slightly, leading him to decide to stay a hundred li away and observe for a while.
These sturdy folk searched the settlement fruitlessly, so the entire bear clan mobilized;
After an exhaustive half-day search by the whole settlement, an old man called out helplessly:
"The Sea God has returned to the sea!"
So, these villagers—most surnamed Xiong—returned to the settlement and held a lively bonfire feast to bid farewell to the Sea God's return to the sea.
Li Changshou observed for three days. He also secretly inspected the local water sources, investigated the settlement's common foods, and searched the surrounding hundreds of li, but found nothing abnormal.
Could it truly be hereditary physiques?
He didn't want to delay too long here. Unable to find the cause of the abnormality, he decided to leave directly.
In the middle of the night, Li Changshou squeezed out of the tree trunk, transformed into a medium-sized fish, and threw himself into the warm seawater to find a place for his next period of secluded cultivation.
This area was the southwestern part of the Southern Jambu Continent, within the sphere of influence of the South Sea Dragon Palace;
But because the South Sea Dragon Palace was too far from land and not as active as the East Sea Dragon Palace, this sea area was remarkably tranquil and peaceful. Li Changshou quickly found a small desolate island and went into hiding there to cultivate.
Three months later.
Li Changshou's Dao-Wound had fully healed. His Water Escape and Earth Escape had both improved dramatically. He had also re-cultivated the Threefold True Flame, condensing immortal fire.
Five months later.
Sitting in a cave within a reef, all the immortal light around Li Changshou had retracted. His breathing no longer released wisps of clear energy, his eyes no longer held piercing divine light, and the fragrance about his body had vanished.
He stood up, looked himself over for a while. His aura no longer fluctuated in the slightest...
Walking to the reef, Li Changshou stood quietly, observing the reactions of sea creatures.
Previously, due to the pressure of his immortal presence, fish and shrimp in the sea would flee en masse;
Now that he stood there, the sea creatures were momentarily startled but then resumed their normal, idle play...
After thinking for a moment, Li Changshou first simulated the aura of the seventh rank Return-to-Void stage, then concealed it, revealing instead the aura of the third rank Return-to-Void.
The third version of the Turtle-Breath Calming Art—complete.
*'When I return, I'll teach the second version to Ling'e.'*
He exhaled softly. Li Changshou's mood was quite pleasant. Not wanting to waste more time, he was about to return to his previous cave to continue cultivation;
Just as he was about to turn around, a streak of seven-colored treasure light suddenly appeared on the northern horizon.
Li Changshou's immortal sense immediately probed toward it, discovering that the source of the treasure light was the settlement of the tower girl, Xiong Lingli...
That settlement really did have something good!
However, such a commotion would likely attract the attention of other cultivators. If he rashly went there, he could easily fall into danger.
After deliberating, Li Changshou took a paper incarnation from his sleeve and blew a breath onto it.
The paper figure trembled a few times, slowly came to life, stretched its small arms and legs, then leaped from Li Changshou's hand and landed on the sea surface;
The small paper figure took two steps across the water, then with a pop, transformed into a middle-aged Daoist's appearance. It caught the three treasure pouches Li Changshou tossed over, turned, dove into the seawater, and vanished.
Li Changshou returned to the cave, closed his eyes to focus, and entrusted his consciousness to the paper incarnation.
He kept his mindset very relaxed.
If he could pick up treasure, he would. If it required any action beyond "picking up," he would withdraw the paper incarnation.
After all, as his realm increased, higher-level paper incarnations became more laborious to create.
And this was the mortal world—there couldn't possibly be any powerful treasure artifacts here.
......
At the corner of the turtle-shaped island where the South Sea met the East Sea.
"Fellow Daoists, I truly wasn't making things up;
On the way back last time, I happened upon someone undergoing the Nine Heavens Divine-Demon Tribulation. I said he wouldn't survive, but to my surprise, he did!
After the tribulation, he was even struck by Heavenly Punishment. I thought he was surely finished, but...
Guess what happened?"
Beside the treasure pool, an old Daoist was chatting animatedly with more than ten cultivators of similar standing.
In a corner beneath the pool's surface, Ao Yi had assumed his true form—a green dragon—coiled motionlessly at the bottom...
The Primordial was truly terrifying.
The nightmare still hadn't faded, but this time Ao Yi had voluntarily requested the Dragon Mother to send him back to the territory of the Jie Teaching's immortals.
Because Ao Yi knew that the Jie Teaching also had some humans among its ranks, and he could observe them, learning from them the things the Dragon Clan lacked.
Especially, that cunning and scheming.
The topic among the cultivators by the pool gradually shifted to the young dragon beneath.
One sighed: "The gaps at the bottom of the pool have been sealed with restrictions.
I wonder what this Dragon Prince finds objectionable about our Golden Turtle Island that he wants to escape."
"Youngsters simply don't want to listen to their elders—that's not unusual," the old Daoist who had just recounted the tale of witnessing the tribulation chuckled, stroking his beard. "Rest assured, as long we treat this Dragon Palace Prince well, he'll eventually appreciate it and settle down here to cultivate."
The cultivators all nodded;
Beneath the pool, Ao Yi shifted his dragon head slightly but paid them no heed.