Chapter 726: View the Honghuang from a Different Angle

In the central hall of the Kunpeng Mijing,

The Four Mei Protectors had set up the Si Xiang Zhen, tasked with maintaining a connection to the gaps in the Dao hearts of the Honghuang creatures. Following Li Changshou's instructions, they planted some easily removable "benign heart demons" in certain creatures who might be useful.

After all, if a good person's heart demon could lead them to evil, why couldn't an evil person's heart demon lead them to good deeds?

This was a Honghuang-level insight.

At that moment, Li Changshou... felt a bit awkward.

In a moment of earlier excitement, he had spilled his initial plans, but luckily it was only to those two, and he hadn't revealed his ultimate counter-strategy against Daozu or the key weapon to breach his defenses.

He still needed to maintain some element of surprise.

If he said too much, it might affect Yunxiao's Dao heart and their fundamental understanding of Honghuang.

Reflecting on what had just happened, there was still a faint sense of embarrassment.

A very particular kind of embarrassment.

He was, after all, a relatively mature man, yet he had suddenly felt that bookish idealism from his past life's university days when discussing entrepreneurial dreams.

Upon reflection, he realized his state of mind might be a bit restless, so he silently recited scriptures hundreds of times.

He wasn't trying to put on a show; he had simply been holding back for too long. Yun and Ling E were his closest companions, and they were beyond the surveillance of Honghuang's Tiandao, so he couldn't help but open up in that moment.

What would they think of him?

Li Changshou slightly opened his left eye a crack, watching Ling E and Yunxiao as they planned the layout of the entire hall, arranging some flowers and plants.

This harmonious scene truly made him... unable to resist checking with his immortal sense where his senior brother was.

There was killing intent!

Cough, back to business.

Li Changshou was currently reviewing Xu Bodhi's memories.

Through the "Dao Heart Seed Demon Great Law"—a provisional name—he had induced Xu Bodhi's heart demon, embedded a mimetic primordial spirit into Xu Bodhi's body to lie in wait, and then used the methods of the outer domain heavenly demons to turn Xu Bodhi into his own second primordial spirit puppet.

This process carried some risks, as the three thousand great Daos were constantly monitored by Tiandao.

That's why Li Changshou chose to act immediately after arriving in the Kunpeng Mijing, when Daozu and Tiandao were busy constructing the heavenly barriers and preparing defenses against his frontal assault, diverting their attention elsewhere.

How could Li Changshou possibly launch a direct attack?

That would only trap him in Daozu's schemes, forcing him to fight against the spiritual energy and creatures of the entire Honghuang—utterly unwise.

The best plan was to dismantle Hongjun Daozu's heavenly system from within.

Of course, Xu Bodhi was just one piece in Li Changshou's scheme, with over thirty backup pieces: Qi refiners whose Dao hearts had gaps and who possessed decent strength.

But Xu Bodhi was the most crucial.

The reasons? First, he was Tiandao's chosen monkey trainer.

More importantly, Li Changshou had discovered early on that Xu Bodhi cultivated the Dao of Emptiness Solution, advocating that all phenomena arise from causes and conditions, and that emptiness is the essence of all things.

Combined with his Dao title, it formed the word "void."

This aligned with the famous phrase from his old home, Lanxing: "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form," an extension of this Dao.

Old Void was gone.

The Dao rhythm of this path was close to the Taiqing Dao, perfectly concealing Li Changshou's own understanding of the Dao.

—Of course, emptiness and wuwei were completely different concepts.

Later, as long as he found the right opportunity to visit some Daoist experts across the heavens, he could nominally "absorb the strengths of various schools" and "practice both Dao and Buddhism," allowing his strength to leap forward reasonably.

In reality, the true Xu Bodhi was dead; what lived on was Li Changshou's second primordial spirit.

For safety, Li Changshou had erased Xu Bodhi's original consciousness, replacing it with the mimetic primordial spirit and incorporating Xu Bodhi's primordial spirit into the mimetic one.

The second primordial spirit method came from Senior Lang, and the mimetic primordial spirit from his research on outer domain heavenly demons; with these two trump cards played, he had achieved a perfect flanking maneuver.

It was like a "thousand-year kill" aimed straight at Tiandao's back door.

Suddenly, a voice like a hundred birds singing came from nearby.

"Sister, shall we go out and greet everyone?"

Ling E whispered, "Just say my senior brother is in a bad mood, in closed-door cultivation, and can't meet anyone for now."

Yunxiao said softly, "That's fine, but be careful with your expressions. Even Qiongxiao and Bixiao mustn't hear about this."

Li Changshou felt a weight lift from his heart.

His earlier urge to confide probably wouldn't affect how they saw him.

Once they left the array, Li Changshou opened his eyes, glanced at the now-altered hall, gave a few instructions to the Four Mei Protectors, and continued adapting to the "Xu Bodhi" identity.

Better to be safe than sorry.

He needed to come up with a few more backup plans and not rely too much on the Heavenly Demon Great Law.

Laying out Xu Bodhi's memories, the information inside was quickly absorbed and categorized by Li Changshou into "important," "ordinary," and "junk information."

Xu Bodhi was born at the end of antiquity, a fairly ordinary innate great power, and his memories were overwhelmingly numerous.

Thus, Li Changshou didn't review them in chronological order but followed Xu Bodhi's original impressions, starting from the deepest ones.

Incidentally, the most vivid memory for this guy was being hunted by Li Changshou.

Full of resentment and hatred, but alas, no chance for revenge now.

Li Changshou could also use deduction methods to access these memories directly, ensuring no major oversights.

Given how miserably Xu Bodhi had been chased by him before, it would be perfectly reasonable for "Xu Bodhi" to act more cautiously from now on.

Over the next half month, Li Changshou reviewed the entire development of the Western Teachings and gained a crystal-clear understanding of their internal structure.

Along the way, he also saw many of Xu Bodhi's good deeds.

—Though all those good deeds combined didn't outweigh the evils he committed by establishing a single incense fire divine kingdom.

'Let's walk the Honghuang path again, shall we?'

Li Changshou chuckled lightly to himself.

It was quite interesting, the growth path of Bodhi Ancestor.

Thus, half a year later, Li Changshou received a message from the Western Teachings' great saint, summoning all disciples hiding from disasters back to Ling Shan.

Without hesitation, Li Changshou mimicked Xu Bodhi's walking posture in his cave several times, practiced his most commonly used divine abilities, carefully nailed down Xu Bodhi's speaking tone and habitual phrases...

Finally, he wrapped himself in a faint Dao rhythm of Emptiness Solution, concealed his form, and returned to the Five Divisions Continent.

Walking through the heavens once more, Li Changshou could clearly sense that the world had become a bit more stable.

Yet, the voices of the creatures were slightly more subdued than before.

The great thousand world where Xu Bodhi had hidden was not far from the Five Divisions, and Li Changshou calculated the cultivation level Xu Bodhi should display, along with the corresponding escape speed, arriving "on time" at the edge of the West Sea.

He didn't dare use the Wind Language Spell, instead releasing his immortal sense honestly, and immediately gathered a lot of information.

For instance, Jiang Ziya of Chan Jiao, the overseer of the Fengshen Tribulation, had already held the Fengshen Ceremony at the Fengshen Platform, enfeoffing the gods of the Heavenly Court, leading to its great prosperity.

Li Changshou had entrusted the God-Smiting Whip before leaving, which was part of his calculations.

But Jiang Ziya's name wasn't on the Fengshen List; he, the one who oversaw the enfeoffment, stayed in the mortal world as a great lord, which was quite lamentable.

It couldn't be helped; he had lost yin virtue due to being harmed by Guangchengzi earlier.

Li Changshou had worried that Daozu might forcibly alter the memories of all creatures and directly implant the original Fengshen script.

But after listening carefully to the discussions from various places, he breathed a slight sigh of relief.

The slayer Zhao Gongming was enfeoffed as the True Monarch of the Dragon and Tiger Mystic Altar, overseeing the Wealth, Combat, Thunder, and Plague Departments, while Jinling Shengmu was enfeoffed as the Yuanjun of the Fighting Palace, managing the Combat Department and commanding the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions.

This couple could now be considered key figures in the Heavenly Court.

Clearly, Daozu had considered the consumption of heavenly essence and hadn't massively altered the memories of creatures; he only corrected "Taibai Jinxing," erasing Li Changshou's name.

What a show of face.

The same treatment as Senior Lang.

In fact, one of Li Changshou's major trump cards lay in uncovering the secret of Senior Lang's death—why Arlang had to shatter Honghuang.

Based on the information Li Changshou now held, after the creation of heaven and earth, Senior Lang had fallen into a deep sleep due to severe injuries. Upon waking, he became a founding hero of the heavens, using his second primordial spirit "Demon Clan Fuxi" as cover to wander Honghuang.

At that time, Senior Lang was acquainted with Hongjun, and several great powers formed a mysterious organization together.

The Honghuang Residents' Committee.

This organization was crucial, nearly determining the direction of major events in antiquity; Senior Lang and Hongjun Daozu were the masterminds and chess players behind it.

The Three Pure Ones, as the incarnations of Pangu's primordial spirit, were key talents cultivated by this committee.

However, as Senior Lang and Hongjun Daozu fell out, and Senior Lang was killed in their final battle by Hongjun and Tiandao together, this mysterious organization turned to dust in Honghuang.

The Three Pure Ones were even unaware of these details.

To this day, Li Changshou still had two unresolved questions:

One was how his own crossing into Honghuang had been achieved, and the other related to the True Spirit Dao.

These would be directions for his future enlightenment.

What Li Changshou could confirm now was that the master of the Western Teachings' Zhiyin and Junti saints was also a member of that committee back then.

He was probably eliminated by Daozu later.

This easily brought to mind the "ancient coffin mysterious elder" buried with the Heavenly Demon Venerable's spiritual core under the Wheel of Reincarnation Tower.

But no, the timelines didn't match; Li Changshou hadn't identified that elder's identity, but through tracing the evolution of Honghuang's various Daos, he had ruled him out.

That was just an innate great power who died in antiquity, incredibly powerful but unable to truly perish.

Honghuang is eternal, with secrets aplenty.

Li Changshou knew he had only been in the heavens for a short time, just over a thousand or so years, and his understanding of these matters was still too limited.

Without lingering in the Tianya Cape market town, Li Changshou gathered some useful information and sped toward the West Niu He Continent.

The Fengshen Tribulation had been forcibly ended by Daozu.

In the time since he left, the Three Realms had undergone many changes, but all were within his previous calculations.

Due to Jie Jiao's furious rebellion against heaven, Tiandao brought down heavenly punishment, destroying thousands of Jie Jiao immortals, and the tribulation karma was finally settled, officially concluding the great tribulation.

The Fengshen Ceremony was lively, with the Heavenly Court descending the Fengshen List, and Jiang Ziya enfeoffing three hundred and sixty-five main gods.

What people talked about most was Emperor Xin and Daji being enfeoffed as a pair of gods overseeing "wedding affairs," supplementing the God of Marriage's position and giving this mortal king and queen a decent ending.

For Qi refiners, the most noteworthy were the Jie Jiao saintess group: Aside from Jinling Shengmu becoming the Yuanjun of the Fighting Palace and Jinguang Shengmu as the Lightning God—or "Dianmu"—the others were elusive.

Some said Gui Ling Shengmu and Wudang Shengmu had perished under heavenly punishment, their souls utterly destroyed;

Others claimed a large group of Jie Jiao experts had fled to the outer heavens, biding their time for revenge against the Three Realms.

The most intriguing was that Yunxiao, Qiongxiao, and Bixiao, those three fairies, hadn't appeared at the Fengshen Ceremony at all, yet they were enfeoffed as "birth-assisting immortal envoys."

In other words, they had legitimate identities to return to Honghuang at any time, completely different from Li Changshou's "smuggler" status.

What was this?

Daozu showing goodwill toward them?

Li Changshou could only smile at this and not dwell on it.

No one in the Three Realms discussed the saint battle, and no one knew what happened in Zixiao Palace; only a few great powers knew that a stone statue had been added there—the previously strongest saint who could make Daozu panic.

After the Fengshen Ceremony, Daozu appeared above the Fengshen Platform and set a rule:

No more saints would appear in Honghuang.

Zixiao Palace would hide beyond the heavens, with the Three Realms revering the Heavenly Court, and the Underworld, Dragon Palace, and saintly teachings assisting the Heavenly Court, all under the Jade Emperor's jurisdiction.

This was essentially a house arrest order for Zhiyin Saint and Yuanshi Tianzun.

Because the source of the news—here in the Tianya Cape market town of the West Sea—Li Changshou couldn't get information about Duxian Sect and would need to probe for it later.

The first step was to start by gathering current Honghuang intelligence.

The paper Daoists hidden across the land were all in dormant state, dissolved into the sand, soil, and earth veins, like grains of sand or dust.

But he absolutely dared not use this intelligence network.

The "Bodhi Ancestor" persona had to be completely separated from that "paper-cutting maniac," with no elements that could link them.

Ahead, Ling Shan was in sight.

Ling Shan still looked half-shorn, but on the flattened mountaintop, grand golden palaces had been built, surrounded by immortal light, clearly a sacred cultivation ground.

The West, with their old face-saving projects.

Li Changshou landed smoothly into the Ling Shan great array, nodding to the one or two familiar old Daoists who knew Xu Bodhi, then hurried toward a hidden hall in the back mountains.

That was where the core disciples of the Western Teachings held their routine meetings.

Entering the hall, Li Changshou maintained a cold expression, walked to the leftmost mat in the first row, lifted the hem of his robe, and sat down cross-legged.

Which foot to step with first when entering, which leg to place on top when sitting, the frequency of his breathing afterward, the range of his Dao rhythm's extension—these were all packed with details.

He even glanced twice toward where Zhiyin Saint was currently residing before lowering his head in silence.

"Bodhi Shixiong..."

A voice transmission came from nearby, from an old Daoist.

Li Changshou quickly recalled the basic information on that old Daoist and transmitted back, "What is it?"

The old Daoist laughed, "Could you come by later? I've prepared some immortal tea for you to taste."

"Busy."

Li Changshou calmly transmitted back, glancing briefly at the old Daoist before closing his eyes in meditation.

It wasn't that he was trying to act cool; that's just how Xu Bodhi treated his Western Teachings fellows.

Soon, two or three dozen figures sat in their places, the atmosphere quite somber.

Suddenly, a sigh was heard, and on the mat before them appeared an old Daoist in white robes, looking worried—it was Zhiyin Saint.

Li Changshou and the other disciples stood up, bowed to Zhiyin, and addressed him as teacher.

They then sat back down, waiting for Zhiyin Saint to speak.

Li Changshou: ...

Circumstances demanded it; he would always have only one teacher, one master!

Zhiyin Daoist sighed softly and said:

"Now that the great tribulation has passed, I've called you here to discuss how the Western Teachings should proceed.

The most pressing issues we face are the disruption of our luck and the sudden addition of thousands of disciples.

Feel free to speak your minds."

The disciples remained silent, most eyes gathering on the seven or eight figures in the first row.

A young Daoist asked, "Teacher, is the Golden Lotus truly in ruins?"

"Ah..."

Zhiyin sighed lightly, and a golden light bloomed in his palm, revealing a golden lotus pod.

The pod had three wilted petals hanging on either side, but at least its spiritual power was stabilized.

Li Changshou furrowed his brow, looking at Wen Jing's handiwork...

In short, he nearly burst out laughing.

"Alas, it was my mistake," Zhiyin said. "Now, though we've lost the Golden Lotus to suppress our teachings' luck, it's no worse than Jie Jiao's state before the tribulation.

The next great tribulation is still far off, so there's no need to worry.

Moreover, Tiandao foretells that the West will prosper greatly, so stay at ease."

A disciple said, "Teacher, could we use merit to restore the Golden Lotus?"

Immediately, another disciple retorted, "The three thousand worlds have been occupied by the Immortal Alliance and the Heavenly Palace. Rumors say the Heavenly Palace's lord died from cultivation backlash, and the Heavenly Court has directly taken over.

Where would we find merit?"

The disciples fell into a wave of concern.

Zhiyin added, "The Merit Golden Lotus is hard to restore; I'll seek another object to suppress the teachings' luck.

Don't rush about the three thousand worlds for now. As per Tiandao's foretelling, the most important thing is to spread our teachings' doctrines first.

I've summoned you back today to decide on spreading the doctrines.

Bodhi, do you have any good ideas?"

Li Changshou, following Xu Bodhi's temperament, immediately replied, "This disciple has no strategies, just a couple of doubts."

Zhiyin smiled slightly and said, "What doubts?"

Li Changshou said, "Why, when our foundation is in the West Niu He Continent, have we not widely spread our doctrines there? The three thousand worlds are important, but the Five Divisions are the core."

"Good point," Zhiyin laughed. "Bodhi's words are the strategy."

Li Changshou's heart twitched slightly.

He had been careless.

He only considered that adopting the "Bodhi Ancestor" false identity would bring many conveniences for his schemes, but overlooked this detail.

Now, he had to offer plans for the Western Teachings!

Though Xu Bodhi had been defeated by him, Li Changshou, several times before, those failures proved it due to that "Taibai thief's" cunning, not Xu Bodhi's weakness.

But from another angle...

As long as he prepared thoroughly, couldn't he steer the Western Teachings' chariot toward the West Sea and straight into the ocean trench?

Tsk, this was getting interesting.