Chapter 640: Heavenly Dao's Little Secrets

Streams of light rose from various immortal islands in the Donghai, converging toward Jin'ao Island. From all directions of the Three Thousand Worlds, groups of similar lights hurried toward the remote corners of the heavens and earth.

The latest edition of the Jie Jiao Golden Immortal Dao Discussion Conference and the Feng Shen Great Calamity General Strategy Meeting was about to be held on Jin'ao Island. Duobao, the eldest senior brother, had urged everyone urgently, and the message was quite pressing, indicating that the situation had become extremely serious. Thus, Jie Jiao immortals who were traveling, cultivating, settling down, or... ahem, making outstanding contributions to the efficient flow of Honghuang spirit stones, rushed back in haste.

In just a few days, Jin'ao Island was adorned with fluttering banners, colorful flags, resounding gongs and drums, and a continuous glow of immortal light. This spectacle even forced the Heavenly Court to dispatch two troops for full alert in the skies above the Donghai.

On Sanxian Island, Li Changshou and Ling E had not yet left. At that moment, Li Changshou sat on the meditation cushion usually occupied by Yunxiao, his hands supporting his forehead, his eyes filled with deep contemplation. Everything was developing in a relatively positive direction, yet he couldn't shake off a sense of unease. Jie Jiao, the Western Teachings, Chan Jiao... The struggle among the three teachings—striking first would give the advantage... What might Chan Jiao's reactions be? What ideas could Dao Ancestor hold? How should the Heavenly Court respond? And if saints passed by and a great battle erupted, how should they handle it? Piece after piece of information, possibility after possibility, flashed through his mind. His mental energy was fully engaged, calculating frantically.

Beside him, Yunxiao was like a serene painting of flowing clouds and water, simply standing there and embodying the essence of peaceful tranquility. Yet, at that moment, Yunxiao's eyes held a hint of apology and helplessness, her autumn-like gaze fixed on Li Changshou, as if silently conveying something.

Zhao Gongming paced back and forth nearby, his dao heart somewhat unsettled. Ling E knelt on the cushion in front of the screen, sipping tea gracefully, projecting an air of elegant composure, as if none of this concerned her. After all, she had no connection to the Feng Shen Great Calamity.

The room fell quiet for a while, and even the paintings hanging on the walls seemed to stir with restlessness.

Zhao Gongming couldn't help but ask:

"Changgeng, is there something off about this matter?"

"I can't quite put my finger on it," Li Changshou said slowly, exhaling. "I just feel something isn't quite secure. Is it really Duobao senior brother who took the initiative to deal with the Western Teachings this time?"

"Of course."

Zhao Gongming replied, "Senior brother couldn't possibly be influenced by the calamity's fate. He discussed it with our master, and after consideration, our master issued the kill order. Master's intent seems to be that if we act, we must strike decisively and eliminate the Western Teachings completely from the great calamity!"

Yunxiao suddenly asked:

"Shou, was this your arrangement?"

"No, I had the idea, but the Western Teachings have been quite stable lately, and I couldn't find a suitable opportunity."

Li Changshou shook his head. "This is the consequence of them suffering small losses at my hands before—they've become more cautious now. What makes me uneasy seems to be that things are progressing too smoothly."

"Smooth sailing isn't a bad thing, right?"

Zhao Gongming laughed. "If everything could go so smoothly, that would be ideal."

Li Changshou pondered for a moment but didn't respond.

Yunxiao said softly, "If it's too smooth, there might be external schemes at play, pushing things along."

Ling E blinked gently. She wanted to say that during their mountain cultivation, about eighty percent of good things had seemed too smooth in her senior brother's eyes. But considering her shallow cultivation and limited experience, she was merely a small accessory in the eyes of these great powers, so it was wiser to continue sipping her tea with poise, elegance, obedience, and depth.

Whoosh—

A flash of jade light appeared as a transmission jade talisman flew in, caught by Zhao Gongming's raised hand.

After reading the message inside, Zhao Gongming said in a low voice, "Changgeng, it's Duobao senior brother urging us. He's asking for your advice on what pretext we should use to go to war with the Western Teachings. Master just called him back and told him to find a sufficient excuse."

Li Changshou: ...

They hadn't even thought this through and just decided to pick a fight with the Western Teachings out of nowhere!? The Western Teachings had so much dirt—from their incense god nations and incense god religions, to the chaos in the Zhongshenzhou among the three teachings' immortal sects, and their years of stirring up discord among the Daoist sects—excuses for war weren't hard to come by.

Suddenly, Li Changshou grasped the key point. Jie Jiao was afraid of acting without justification, which would damage their reputation and give them the label of bullying the weak.

Different saints had different ways of thinking, and "outward appearance reflects the inner self" was no joke. Tongtian Jiaozhu had a youthful appearance, valuing face, loyalty, and being approachable. Yuanshi Tianzun had a middle-aged form, deep in scheming, thorough in thought, and ambitious. Taiji Laoshi had the look of a gaunt elder, understanding everything, always clear-minded, preferring inaction and tranquility. As for Nüwa Daren—she was simply the most beautiful, and no one could argue otherwise.

Thinking of this, Li Changshou couldn't help but laugh.

Yunxiao asked gently:

"Have you come up with a clever plan?"

"No," Li Changshou said with a smile. "I can't quite grab hold of the Western Teachings' little weaknesses right now. It seems we can only build momentum in advance and not rush things. I suggest proceeding with the Dao Discussion Conference as planned, extending it to allow more time for preparation and layout."

"Alright!"

Zhao Gongming agreed and turned to get busy.

Yunxiao sighed softly, "Without a just cause, it's hard to feel at ease in our dao hearts."

"This is a conflict between the Daoist sects and the Western Teachings," Li Changshou said seriously. "If the Western Teachings had acknowledged themselves as the fourth teaching of the Daoist path back then, it wouldn't have come to this. Those two saints of the Western Teachings have ambitions too great, wanting to establish a teaching equal to the Daoist sects, yet lacking the courage to face the Three Pure Ones in battle, and they've accumulated a lot of karmic debt with the Heavenly Dao..."

Li Changshou paused, his eyes widening for a moment before he quickly composed his expression and closed his eyes in concentration. A profound dao rhythm shook him, and his dao heart felt uneasy.

He suddenly considered a possibility: Was his own rise, step by step, stepping on the Western Teachings, also within the Heavenly Dao's calculations? Saints were the foundation of the Heavenly Dao, but they were merely bound to it through the Hongmong Purple Qi. While their great dao maintained the Heavenly Dao's operation, their individual wills could influence it.

Suppose—and Li Changshou could only assume! Suppose the Heavenly Dao had a will similar to that of living beings, what would it need to further expand? Based on his understanding of the Heavenly Dao, he could now give a precise answer: four paths, three directions.

The first path: Cultivate more saints to consolidate itself and maintain heavenly stability, but this would also mean being influenced by the saints' wills, adding more constraints to itself.

The second path, which was currently underway: The Feng Shen Great Calamity to cultivate righteous gods! By forcibly incorporating Daoist experts into the Heavenly Dao's sequence, transforming part of the living beings' power into the Heavenly Dao's order force!

The third path: Expand the Honghuang world outward, dominating a broader area of the Chaos Sea, converting more chaotic energy into spiritual energy—the energy form of Honghuang—and incorporating it into the great heavenly cycle. Li Changshou had observed the boundaries of the Chaos Sea; this was happening, but progress was very slow.

The fourth path, and the most terrifying one: Devour the saints. Or rather, assimilate them, incorporating the saints as its own foundation! Among the six saints, who was the weakest? It was indeed Zhunti, especially now that he had been stripped of two layers of his cultivation by his teacher, with even two branches missing from his Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree.

Zhunti's enlightenment as a saint was based on grand vows and merit, essentially just empty promises, for which the Heavenly Dao bestowed the merit of sainthood, making him the sixth saint. Could this be the Heavenly Dao's grand scheme? To weaken Zhunti to a certain point and then assimilate him, directly absorbing him as part of itself. This would weaken the constraints of the saints' great dao on the Heavenly Dao and strengthen its own order force, thereby breaking the current core balance of Heavenly Dao, six saints, and Dao Ancestor?

Li Changshou's dao heart trembled slightly, suddenly recalling a reminder from his teacher many years ago: "Saints cannot die." The unspoken second half might be: The Heavenly Dao would lose control!

Li Changshou shuddered a little, sinking into thought and sighing inwardly. All of this was based on the assumption that the Heavenly Dao had a form of existence similar to living beings. But did it?

When Qiyuan was incinerated to ash by Lu Ya, and he hid in the Hunyuan Golden Bowl to comprehend the Dao of Balance, that gray shadow that gazed at him; earlier at Huaguo Mountain, when he tried to approach the Mending Heaven Stone, the same gray shadow appeared; and most crucially, the same story he heard from various sources about the death of Senior Lang, where the saints and Dao Ancestor himself said that Dao Ancestor and the Heavenly Dao had joined forces to suppress that taboo.

It was certain that the Heavenly Dao had a thinking form similar to his own. But was it only that? What was the exact relationship between Dao Ancestor and the Heavenly Dao? And what schemes did Dao Ancestor have when the two saints of the Western Teachings became saints?

In the end, his thoughts remained the same: This Honghuang was simply too dangerous.

Two hours later, above Sanxian Island:

"Why the sudden rush to leave?"

Zhao Gongming muttered, looking at the master-disciple pair, Li Changshou and Ling E, standing before him. He almost wished he could send his second sister along with them. The home advantage wasn't enough here.

Li Changshou smiled and said, "I've been away for quite a while. His Majesty the Jade Emperor has gone to Zixiao Palace to request Dao Ancestor to establish detailed rules for protecting mortals during the later great calamity. I'll return first to oversee the Taibai Palace and prevent any mischief from troublemakers. Besides, I can't be of much help here."

Yunxiao said gently, "Be careful on the way, and don't let your guard down."

"Ling E, come inside and hide."

Li Changshou opened his robe sleeve, and Ling E's face flushed slightly as she transformed into a stream of light and entered it. When she reappeared, she was a tiny, three-inch-tall fairy, clinging to the edge of her senior brother's sleeve. She waved lightly at Yunxiao and said:

"Sister, I'll head back first."

"Alright," Yunxiao replied softly. "We're in the midst of the great calamity now, so I can't keep you here longer. If you face any unhappiness or grievances, feel free to send me a message anytime."

"Sister, you must take care of yourself too..."

The two exchanged soft words of caution, one after the other, bidding farewell reluctantly.

Seizing the moment, Zhao Gongming sent a voice transmission to Li Changshou: "Changgeng, do you have any usable tactics against the Western Teachings right now? They don't need to be too sophisticated, just enough to preserve our reputation."

"It's simple enough," Li Changshou replied with a jest, "but it requires thick skin. For example, if Jie Jiao publicly announces that the Western Teachings are developing a secret curse targeted at Daoist cultivation methods, capable of massacring Daoist immortals, and then launches a direct assault, followed by another announcement that the curse has been destroyed—no one could really object."

Zhao Gongming's eyes lit up, and he praised, "You're so clever, Changgeng. How didn't I think of that?"

"Don't actually use it," Li Changshou said seriously. "That's a last resort, just a way to cover up bullying the weak. We should base it on facts. The Western Teachings have done plenty of dirty deeds; even though they've tucked away their little tails now, it's not hard to find their flaws."

Zhao Gongming stroked his beard and pondered. He genuinely felt this idea was quite reliable and cleverly conceived.

Li Changshou stopped Zhao Gongming and Yunxiao from seeing them off further, and with Ling E, he returned to the East Heaven Gate. On the way, he flew a bit slower on purpose, pondering how to provide support for Jie Jiao while reexamining his own footsteps along the way.

The night wind blew, and Ling E swung her little feet on his shoulder, humming a tune, which gradually calmed his dao heart. His series of plans still weren't steady enough; he needed to put more thought into perfecting them.

"Ling E Xianzi," Li Changshou teased, "what have you gained from this trip?"

"The gains are plenty," Ling E said with a proud smile, then sighed lightly, "It turns out the world is so beautiful."

"Experience and knowledge are also a form of cultivation."

"Exactly!"

Ling E said joyfully, "Once things settle down later, Senior Brother, will you take me to explore more places?"

"Of course."

Li Changshou said seriously, "But it's possible that before we can visit many places, we'll have to leave the Honghuang world. That's for safety reasons, though not absolute."

"Senior Brother, you don't need to change your original plans because of this. Wherever you go, I'll follow."

"Not bad, your awareness is good," Li Changshou said, reaching out to gently poke the tiny fairy on his shoulder. She hugged his fingertip and gave it a playful pounding, bursting into giggles.

After the playfulness, Li Changshou's dao heart was completely at peace. He fully supported Jie Jiao's harsh measures against the Western Teachings, but he still needed to consult his teacher first. Although there was a rule in Honghuang that "if a saint doesn't stop it, it's tacit approval," for safety's sake, he had to ask in person.

He decided to ask just one question, get the answer, and leave quickly, not giving his teacher a chance to rest. As long as his teacher agreed, Li Changshou could go all out against the Western Teachings.

First, devise a plan to provoke the Western Teachings into action, create conflicts between them and Jie Jiao, and give Jie Jiao a justified cause. Secretly monitor the Western Teachings' experts, especially their saint disciples, and prioritize eliminating the most harmful ones, like Maitreya and Wubodhi.

Maitreya was currently hiding in the Chaos Sea, and as long as they had his location, he couldn't escape the Kunpeng ship's pursuit. That location information was likely hidden within the Western Teachings.

The Heavenly Court would handle controlling public opinion and minimizing the impact on Honghuang. He would also secretly ask the Grand Pure One and Kong Xuan's wife to return and guard against Zhunti directly attacking Jie Jiao's disciples.

What he needed to do was stabilize Chan Jiao. However, Li Changshou was now convinced that he couldn't stop Chan Jiao. On the surface, Jie Jiao was targeting the Western Teachings, but essentially, it was a contest with Chan Jiao. The Western Teachings' greatest asset was their two saints; as long as those two didn't fall, Chan Jiao would have ample motivation to rush to their aid—it would just delay the timing.

Should he involve Yang Jian to settle his unfinished karma with the Western Teachings? Li Changshou quickly dismissed the idea. Yang Jian had it tough enough already, with his strong personality, and now as a Heavenly Court star and a major figure in the Bronze Mirror, he'd be in a difficult spot sandwiched between Chan Jiao and the Heavenly Court. After all, a discarded successor was still a successor.

Upon returning to the Taibai Palace, Li Changshou sent Ling E back to Xiaoqiong Peak and hurried to the Taiji Temple in the Ninth Heaven.

This time, he came and went in a rush. He bowed at the gate, entered, bowed again, stated his purpose directly, and asked his teacher about involving himself in Jie Jiao's affairs.

The saint nodded slowly, about to speak, but Li Changshou bowed and said he understood.

"Teacher, do you have any other instructions? If not, your disciple will return to make arrangements."

The Taiji Laoshi smiled warmly and said:

"Don't overwork yourself; rest often."

Li Changshou felt a twinge in his nose, almost tempted to lie down and sleep right there. Just a joke, of course. Over the past three years, he'd been in a semi-relaxed state, multitasking without overtaxing his mind, and he'd even dozed off several times while with Ling E—fully clothed, of course.

"Teacher, your disciple will head back now."

Li Changshou bowed deeply, and the Taiji Laoshi seemed to exert effort to raise his hand, causing the Taiji Diagram to float slowly toward Li Changshou, settling on his back as he left the courtyard.

Teacher has approved! No more doubts!

Li Changshou descended directly from the Ninth Heaven, returned to the Taibai Palace, pondered for a few days, and then sent out several jade talismans, summoning Ao Yi, Jin Peng, and Xiao Longji.

This matter had nothing to do with the Heavenly Court; Li Changshou was purely acting from the Daoist perspective. Since Jie Jiao needed an excuse to strike the Western Teachings, he would provide one for them.

"Jin Peng, go quickly to the Three Thousand Worlds and follow the steps outlined in this jade talisman. Keep everything concealed."

"Yes! Teacher, rest assured!"

Jin Peng agreed, took the jade talisman Li Changshou handed him, bowed, and hurried away.

"Ao Yi, disguise yourself as Ke Le'er or someone else, and personally spread the message in this jade talisman across the immortal islands of the South Sea. Remember, you must go in person, not delegate to others—this is of great importance."

"Yes!"

Ao Yi responded firmly and turned to leave.

Xiao Longji's eyes were full of anticipation as she held her breath, waiting for Li Changshou's instructions.

Li Changshou smiled warmly and said, "Go to the Yuxu Palace for me, deliver some gifts, remember to dress prettily, and bring along more of the Yaochi Xianzi."

Xiao Longji blinked gently, not quite understanding why, but she replied crisply, "Yes!"

With Lingzhu Zi gone, the errand-running tasks had fallen to her.

After Xiao Longji took the treasure pouch Li Changshou gave her and floated away, he stretched lazily and continued with the follow-up arrangements.

"Report—"

A heavenly soldier's call came from outside the hall. Li Changshou waved his hand, conjuring a cloud mist illusion outside, and asked calmly what the urgent matter was.

"Reporting to the Star Lord! Gui Ling Shengmu of the Biyou Palace is seeking an audience at the East Heaven Gate!"

Gui Ling? Li Changshou was a bit puzzled, unsure why this fairy, who usually spoke softly and held a status within Jie Jiao similar to Bixiao's, had suddenly come to see him.