Chapter 578: Advance of the Beauty

Without mentioning the six retired Human Sovereigns who later arrived and descended into the lake with Li Changshou, two hours later, at Taibai Palace, on Lesser Qiong Peak, under the willow tree by the lake, Ling'e sat cross-legged amidst the ethereal mist, her slender fingers plucking the strings of her zither, playing a melody that was pleasant but lacked any clear structure.

A gentle breeze caressed her face, neither adding to her worries nor alleviating her sorrow. She looked up at the alchemy room, as if she could see through layers of formations to discern her senior brother's figure, likely meditating at that moment.

Where is he hiding now? Ling'e's slender fingers left the zither strings. She raised a hand to cup her chin in thought, then picked up a stone tablet, carved a musical phrase, and stared blankly at the lake for a while.

What is senior brother doing outside with his paper effigy this time? If only senior brother didn't have to bother with outside matters after his cultivation, and could spend every day playing music, having fun, and frolicking with me. How wonderful that would be. I could plan our daily meals, prepare snacks and tea, and we could sit or even lie down in the thatched hut, play chess, chat, wait for the sun to set, and then stroll and talk under the moonlight and starlight…

Ling'e's cheeks flushed slightly as she naturally thought of some intimate gestures, like sleeping in each other's arms under a tree, or resting her head on her senior brother's arm for a nap… Cultivators must seclude themselves for training, so Ling'e didn't dare to constantly cling to her senior brother. On average, it would be wonderful if they could be this affectionate for just one month every ten years. If she and her senior brother were like the Dao Companions of the Immortal Ascension Sect…

“What are you thinking about?”

Li Changshou's voice came from beside her. Ling'e instinctively jumped up, clutching her zither, and nearly ran away. But then, Ling'e turned to look at her senior brother, her attention immediately drawn to Li Changshou's expression. She quietly asked, “Senior brother, what’s wrong?”

“Hmm?” Li Changshou forced a smile, his features etched with deep fatigue. He gestured to Ling'e and sat down on the grass under the tree by the lake. His Daoist robe had lost its spiritual glow. Li Changshou seemed utterly spiritless, staring blankly at the lake. What could be wrong? Senior brother rarely didn't sit cross-legged; instead, he simply plopped down on the ground… Such a detail.

“Senior brother,” Ling'e softly called out, put away her zither, smoothed the few wrinkles in her skirt, then knelt behind Li Changshou. She gently massaged his shoulders, wondering how to encourage him to confide in her. She could feel her senior brother's low spirits, so she dared not be too lively. She merely used this gesture to show her presence and companionship.

Li Changshou raised a hand and patted her small one. “Come sit beside me.”

“Oh,” Ling'e stood up and moved to Li Changshou's side, sitting obliquely with her slender legs neatly together. She watched her senior brother's profile and quietly asked, “Did something trouble you in the Heavenly Courts?”

“Troublesome… I suppose not.” Li Changshou rubbed his temples and sighed, “I just suddenly saw something that I'm still trying to process.”

“Would you like some tea? I also made some snacks…”

“Just stay here with me for a while.”

“Okay,” Ling'e said no more, quietly sitting beside him. She looked at her senior brother’s profile, marked by weariness, helplessness, and inner conflict. She leaned in, resting her head on his shoulder, her breathing intentionally softened.

The lake surface shimmered with faint light, the distant forests were a rich green, and beyond Lesser Qiong Peak's almost completely transparent array barrier, white clouds dotted a clear blue sky. A breeze ruffled their hair. Ling'e quietly savored this rare moment of closeness; although she knew her senior brother was in low spirits and she shouldn't be overly joyful, she couldn't suppress the happiness in her heart, wishing this moment could last a little longer.

Unfortunately, her senior brother always adjusted his mood very quickly. However, this time Ling'e was somewhat taken aback. After staying still for half an hour, she was almost comfortable enough to fall asleep, yet her senior brother remained in such a despondent state. After some thought, Ling'e still asked with concern, “Senior brother, is there anything on your mind you can tell me? Hmm… While I might not be able to solve your worries, I can certainly listen.”

“What could I have on my mind?” Li Changshou chuckled, his sense of loss mostly dissipated. “I'm just wondering if everything I'm doing now is truly right or wrong.”

Ling'e quietly said, “Didn't you say, senior brother, that there's no absolute right or wrong, and it's enough to simply be true to your own heart?”

Without turning his head, Li Changshou raised his left hand and ruffled Ling'e's head, disheveling her carefully arranged hair ornaments. “Still trying to instruct me with those words? With your limited experience, do you even understand what that means?”

Ling'e made a face. “Just trying it, it sounds quite reasonable! Ow, ow… my face will get swollen!”

Li Changshou administered a light punishment, feeling inexplicably happier. Then, with a dejected sigh, he simply lay down under the willow tree, resting his head on his arm, lost in thought. A short while later, he sighed again… Ling'e, sitting beside him, first blushed slightly, then her forehead beaded with sweat. She quickly turned her head and forcefully cast the 'Purity Heart Art' to calm herself down. She then removed the hair ornaments disheveled by her senior brother, letting her dark hair fall freely, and took a deep breath. Exploiting Senior Brother's Vulnerability, Round Two!

She tried to make her movements as natural as possible, slowly shifting from sitting obliquely to lying on her side, inching closer to her senior brother's arm. She didn't dare to look at his expression or feel his gaze, as she intended to rest her head on his arm… Three inches… two inches… Am I… really going to do this? Isn't this a bit too proactive? She was still an immature little immortal, and she should maintain some immortal maidenly reserve!

The arm Ling'e had targeted suddenly shifted. Ling'e's slender body instantly stiffened, instinctively thinking her senior brother had deliberately moved away from her. A wave of disappointment was about to well up in her heart; but her cheek felt the texture of his Daoist robe; she was already resting on her senior brother’s arm… and it was quite comfortable. A wisp of gentle aura brushed past. Ling'e sighed in relief, her stiff body relaxing slightly. Maintaining her side-lying position, she could now clearly see the texture of the fabric on her senior brother's Daoist robe. Her two small hands had nowhere to rest, finally settling on her chest, pressing against the edge of her inner garment.

She didn't know how much time had passed. It could have been mere breaths, or perhaps one or two hours. Ling'e heard her senior brother's murmur…

“I know that right and wrong are not absolute, and that an individual's sense of morality is insignificant before heaven and earth. But for some things, even though I know they have more elements of wrong, if they benefit me and allow me to establish myself more stably in this world, I consider doing them. I even deliberately ignore the wrong elements, then tell myself that I'm merely acting with the flow of events, and that the state of this world is fundamentally irrelevant to me. This is the Primordial World; one cannot generalize. I've always wanted to be an observer, coldly watching this Primordial World, discerning its Dao, observing its rules, and utilizing its principles to strengthen myself and pursue transcendence… In this process, it's acceptable to disregard actions that don't align with my own views, right?”

Ling'e frowned, and quietly asked, “Specifically, what kind of things?”

“Many things, it's hard to explain.” Li Changshou slowly sighed. “I shouldn't be telling you this. I was just deeply affected by the miserable state of an elder I saw earlier.”

Ling'e subtly shook her head, then looked up at her senior brother, whose complexion had gradually returned to normal. She felt an inexplicable pang in her heart. She didn't know where she found the strength, but she actively reached out and leaned closer to Li Changshou.

“There’s no 'should' or 'shouldn’t' about it, senior brother. Can you tell me more?”

“It's actually nothing major; I just suddenly became overly sensitive.” Li Changshou's smile became a little brighter. The door to his heart, which had just opened, had silently closed. He said, “I just met the Human Sovereign of ancient times, Elder Suiren. He was… well, he was corrupted by demonic energy, and now he is neither human nor ghost, neither immortal nor demon.”

A wisp of spiritual thought flowed, and this scene appeared in Ling'e's mind: A volcano crater, sealed by a grand array at the bottom of a lake, where thick smoke dissipated to reveal a lava lake below. On the lava lake lay a figure, disheveled and barely maintaining human form. Six divine swords pierced his shoulders, legs, torso, and head. He lay on the molten rock, his entire body wrapped in chains…

Li Changshou sighed: “Most other Human Sovereigns are reincarnations of ancient beings, now living peacefully in Fire Cloud Cave. Yet this particular Human Elder, who had fallen into the demonic path to contend with the Demon Emperor, battling alongside ancient demonic soldiers against the Demon Court, now had to endure the suffering of demonic energy corrosion and the Heavenly Dao’s suppression of that demonic energy. It's both ridiculous and absurd. Alas, such is often the way of the world. To be swayed by emotions is unwise. The fact that I could help alleviate Elder Suiren's suffering is already my best effort.”

A faint image reappeared in Ling'e's mind: a female immortal in a light, white gauze dress, with a sacred and dignified face, stood on the volcano crater. A soft halo glowed behind her, and her entire being exuded pure white holy light. She pressed her hands together, humming tunes as if chanting scriptures, and wisps of white light flowed into the demonic body below, counteracting the demonic energy.

Li Changshou remained silent, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

Ling'e asked, “Senior brother, do you think the Heavenly Dao is unfair to Suiren?”

“Don't speak so carelessly,” Li Changshou said sternly, making a silencing gesture. “The Heavenly Dao is not exclusively for humanity; it is the Heavenly Dao of the entire Primordial World. Although humanity prospers now, in ancient times, the Demon Court was actually closest to the Heavenly Dao. After the great war, Suiren's fall into the demonic path also became a hidden danger to heaven and earth, which is why the Heavenly Dao suppressed and imprisoned him.”

Ling'e blinked, somehow feeling that her senior brother wasn't saying these words for her benefit. Connecting this to her senior brother's earlier comment about 'many things having wrong components,' it was clear that he also didn't approve of the Heavenly Dao's handling of certain matters and had a disagreement with it. When Ling'e occasionally extended her immortal sense, she also heard some news in the Heavenly Courts, knowing that her senior brother was the orchestrator of the Great Tribulation, the second-in-command of the Heavenly Courts, and the Dao Ancestor’s favorite disciple. In other words, her senior brother was now working for the Heavenly Dao and using its momentum to cultivate. Ling'e suddenly understood.

Her senior brother himself had deep affection for humanity and never went easy on powerful demons. However, he would also give opportunities for reform to evil mortals. Although this was a double standard, her senior brother had once said something similar with a smile during a debate with Mr. Bai, which Ling'e happened to overhear while delivering snacks to Black Pond Peak. Her senior brother had said: “Mr. Bai, I am fundamentally human, and I must stand on humanity's side. Don't talk about grand perspectives or broad horizons; one should not forget their roots. For all other sentient beings apart from demons, as long as they don't compete with humanity, I can treat them equally. The struggle for dominance in heaven and earth is inherently a life-or-death battle. I cannot enjoy the benefits that come with humanity's current status as the protagonists of heaven and earth, and then turn around to care for those demons who once fought humanity in life-or-death battles.”

From this, it can be concluded that her senior brother harbored a special emotional attachment to Suiren, who had once led humanity to find light in the darkness! There was only one truth! Her senior brother, the Heavenly Dao's golden enforcer, was dissatisfied with the Heavenly Dao's suppression of Suiren, which had sparked resentment towards the Heavenly Dao in his heart! This was the reason for her senior brother's depressed mood today.

But she quickly realized and refrained from mentioning the Heavenly Dao further, quietly asking, “Senior brother, do you remember what you told me before?”

“What?”

“Rather than trying to be a hero when your abilities are insufficient, it's better to keep living until you stand at the pinnacle of all beings, able to set rules, and then rewrite the living conditions of the weak throughout the Primordial World. Senior brother, you’ve actually already done it.”

Li Changshou calmly said, “Don't take it seriously. Those were just words I casually made up in earlier years to keep you from being headstrong and causing trouble everywhere.”

“But…”

“Alright, get up. Go copy the 'Scripture of Stability' three hundred times as punishment. I'm going to spend some time with Master.”

Ling'e's face fell. She had intended to whine and lie there a bit longer, but Li Changshou's figure had already transformed into a wisp of clear breeze and drifted away, leaving only a few soft chuckles that made her roll her eyes repeatedly.

In old Daoist Qiyuan's thatched hut, Li Changshou appeared, offered three sticks of clear incense to his master's memorial tablet, and stood lost in thought for a while. Over at Fire Cloud Cave, Mei Wenying was still continuously purifying Suiren's demonic energy. But Li Changshou had already noticed that her spiritual power could only 'alleviate' the condition; it couldn't truly eradicate it. He had no connection with Suiren, nor were they acquainted, but the moment he saw Suiren in such a state, his Dao heart couldn't help but tremble slightly, and he felt inexplicably dejected.

Ling'e, surprisingly, didn't run away this time… Li Changshou naturally remembered her words from earlier. It was shortly after Ling'e came up the mountain, and he had even been punished by his master for it. The pinnacle of all beings… setting rules… the living conditions of the weak… In this Primordial World, merely being able to care for those he wished to care for had already exhausted him. How many people could he truly manage?

“Alas.” Li Changshou clasped his hands behind his back, standing quietly before his master's memorial tablet, his gaze slightly complex.

In the secret chamber beneath Fire Cloud Cave's lake, Mei Wenying chanted for three days; in the thatched hut on Lesser Qiong Peak, Li Changshou stood quietly before his master's spiritual tablet for three days; under the tree by the lake, Ling'e, who had copied the scripture three hundred times as punishment, sat holding a scroll and reading, occasionally turning her head to glance at the figure in the thatched hut. As Mei Wenying, somewhat weakened, lowered her hands, her gaze full of tenderness as she watched the figure lying on the lava lake, several emperors flew from the side. The figure below seemed to awaken from a deep dream, slowly sitting up; Li Changshou, still in his master's thatched hut, chuckled lightly. His figure transformed into a wisp of green smoke, drifting back into the mountain body of Lesser Qiong Peak, leaving only a message for Ling'e: “Don't mention the Heavenly Dao again in the future. This is the Heavenly Courts, after all.”

Ling'e's lips curved subtly downwards. Then she thought of herself resting on her senior brother's arm three days ago and couldn't help but cover her face with her hands, lamenting her own boldness. She squeezed out a phrase between her fingers… “Hmph, he’s so two-faced, that annoying senior brother.”

In the underground secret chamber, Li Changshou’s figure appeared behind the desk. He gracefully sat back down at the desk, picked up his brush, focused his mind, and split his attention in two. Half of his attention was dedicated to discussing the next steps with the emperors of Fire Cloud Cave, while the other half continued to refine the plan laid out before him: “Fishing for the Big Fish.”

Using the ninth wisp of Grandmist Violet Qi from the Eighth Path as bait, creating hype and confusing the truth to serve as lure; using Xuandu City as a loophole in the Heavenly Dao, with the explanation that the ninth wisp of Grandmist Violet Qi would traverse heaven and earth before directly escaping into the Sea of Chaos via Xuandu City to dissipate—this served as the fishing rod. Setting up multiple ambushes in Xuandu City, striving for 98% certainty of success, mobilizing all available resources, and later seeking the assistance of a promising young individual in Biyou Palace; to create a fishing line that even Kunpeng couldn't break free from!

Of course, while this was the general idea, several backup plans also needed to be prepared. How to minimize the impact of this matter on the Primordial World, how to avoid causing widespread chaos among cultivators, and how to respond if other reclusive mighty figures were also drawn out—all of these needed to be clearly considered and contingency plans prepared in advance.

In fact, Li Changshou had long noticed his habit of 'a good memory is not as reliable as a bad pen' and had taken certain precautions for it. Some plans could be written on cloth, paper, or jade slips; one could even say he deliberately wrote them down. For instance, this plan to deal with Kunpeng. Li Changshou knew the Heavenly Dao could and would monitor him. All of this would be seen by the Dao Ancestor. The birth and completion of this plan might create a series of effects, reducing the difficulty of its later execution.

As for some plans, Li Changshou could only construct them in his mind, using characters only he understood, to prevent the Heavenly Dao from prying into his Dao heart. For instance, during the eleven years he spent in the Primordial Golden Dipper after his master's accident, Li Changshou, in front of the embodiment of the Great Tribulation, formulated a century-long calculation and millennium-long plan: “The Disappearance of X.” From this, he concluded that the Heavenly Dao could not casually pry into his inner thoughts. If the Heavenly Dao could figure out what this meant, Li Changshou… wouldn't dare to carelessly provoke it.

Regarding Kunpeng, 50% of the reason was that Kunpeng's scheme this time involved his close relatives and friends. Another 30% was because if Kunpeng continued to act, it would put him in a passive position. The remaining 20% of the reason was related to this 'Disappearance of X' plan. To some extent, if Kunpeng had not appeared within the Heavenly Dao's scope before, Li Changshou wouldn't have had to act against him; but this Primordial being, who had clearly escaped the Primordial World yet was unwilling to remain hidden in the Sea of Chaos, had returned. This forced Li Changshou to consider eliminating Kunpeng or nullifying its 'uncontrollable' nature. As for any elder, regardless of their character or whether they were madly bent on destroying heaven and earth, it had nothing to do with Li Changshou.

But the tragedy of Elder Lang—Li Changshou would absolutely not let it happen again! The words ‘My destiny is mine, not heaven’s’ sounded mighty, but they couldn't be achieved by merely shouting them out. Instead, they required a thousand years of strategic planning, ten thousand years of careful plotting, meticulously accounting for every detail. Li Changshou had actually already had a premonition. The end of stability would still involve a desperate struggle. Even with 98% certainty, he might ultimately have to rely on that remaining 2% to survive. Ultimately, he could…

“Who are you?”

Such a weak and ancient voice suddenly arose in his mind. Li Changshou immediately discarded all extraneous thoughts, redirecting most of his consciousness to the secret chamber in Fire Cloud Cave, looking at the one who had communicated with him. Suiren had now stood up. The divine swords suppressing him had vanished. Dressed in ragged linen clothes, he looked up at Li Changshou’s paper effigy. Li Changshou’s paper effigy offered a faint smile and bowed to Suiren; his true body, however, raised a hand to touch his right arm, where a broken jade piece was tied. This fragment of the Human Sovereign’s Fire Virtue Jade possessed the power to conceal from Heavenly Dao’s detection. This karmic debt could finally be repaid today.

“Disciple of the Grand Pure One, Star Lord of the Heavenly Courts, and Human Cultivator Li Chang Geng, I pay my respects, Elder!”