MSBITRS Chapter 57 V1

What… is going on here?

Due to his spiritual senses being disturbed by the radiant glow to the north, Li Changshou and his paper-body avatars approached the village, perching atop the branches of a tall tree to observe the scene below.

Hundreds of villagers were gathered near the village gate, where a makeshift stage had been erected. Several figures in Daoist robes leaped and danced upon it.

Someone was preaching here…

Li Changshou soon identified the source of the glow—it wasn’t a divine treasure, but rather a clay statue standing behind the so-called preachers.

He chuckled inwardly. His middle-aged paper avatar descended from the treetop, ready to leave immediately.

He had initially thought a valuable artifact had emerged and came hoping to claim it for himself.

But in this era, opportunities like that were few and far between…

If this kind of preaching happened outside of the South Continent, it was likely a major sect recruiting disciples.

But within the South Continent? It was either a scam to amass wealth or a ploy to collect incense offerings and spiritual power.

Such occurrences were hardly rare.

The so-called preachers on the stage displayed cultivation at the third or fourth stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

Meanwhile, an elderly Daoist standing beside the three-foot-tall clay statue exhibited power at the peak of the Void Return realm, nearing the Crossing Tribulation stage.

In short, none of this had anything to do with him.

The paper avatar formed hand seals and concealed itself behind a tree, preparing to burrow into the earth and leave unnoticed.

But then, a chant drifted through the air, carried by the wind into the ears of the paper avatar—and into Li Changshou’s heart.

The words were:

“…A grand vow to attain the Supreme Dao,
May the Western Paradise bear the Bodhi fruit…”

Western Sect?

The hand seals formed by the paper avatar sped up instantly. As soon as faint ripples appeared on the ground, it dove in without hesitation—this time, escaping even faster than before.

Simultaneously, on a remote island, Li Changshou’s true body stood up. He cast an illusion technique to transform into a fish and swam swiftly toward the east.

The Western Sect was a source of immense karmic entanglement—he wasn’t about to stick around and find out what would happen!

To think that even here, in the southwestern part of the South Continent, far from the Western Paradise, the sect had already extended its reach to harvest incense offerings…

Just as Li Changshou was about to flee, his spiritual senses detected a disturbance in the waters to the southeast.

Roughly eight hundred miles away, a thick aura of demonic energy was moving toward the glowing light in the village.

Li Changshou immediately halted and sank into the ocean depths, concealing his presence to the utmost degree.

He also commanded his underground paper avatar to stop moving and remain motionless.

A great sea demon was being drawn to the village’s radiance.

This was not good news.

After careful observation, Li Changshou discerned that the demon’s power was equivalent to the early-stage True Immortal realm. Beneath the dense demonic aura, its body resembled a massive, ancient fish—somewhat similar to a manta ray but spanning over a hundred meters in both length and width.

Considering the possibility that it was concealing its true strength, he conservatively estimated it to be at the late-stage True Immortal level.

Moreover, tendrils of crimson energy coiled around the demon’s body like flames—a clear sign of its malevolence.

This thing had slaughtered countless beings. Its karmic sins had already manifested in the form of visible blood energy.

Li Changshou’s heart stirred.

Not because he had any special interest in bizarre creatures—no, he was eyeing the immense karmic sins clinging to the sea demon.

Purging such a heavily burdened entity would yield a considerable amount of merit!

Should he take it down?

His mind raced.

Since ascending to immortality, his foundation had been weak, and his collection of treasures was limited.

Merit was an invaluable resource, yet extremely difficult to obtain.

If he simply meditated in a sect and refrained from interfering in worldly matters, he could cultivate for centuries without earning a single shred of it.

Of course, those who sought to attain enlightenment through sheer strength alone would avoid merit altogether to prevent the Dao of Heaven from influencing their path.

But Li Changshou had no such lofty ambitions—he was far more practical.

With more merit shielding him, his survival chances would increase significantly.

And if, by some fortune, he acquired enough merit in the future, he wouldn’t waste it on refining mystical treasures like the great figures of old. No—his priority would be forging a Merit Golden Body!

A Merit Golden Body was akin to an indestructible safeguard. No matter what catastrophe befell him, he wouldn’t have to fear it as much.

Even if a Saint wished to strike him down, they would have to consider whether it was worth sacrificing several times the amount of his accumulated merit.

Of course, forming a Merit Golden Body was no simple feat—it required an astronomical amount of merit.

Currently, opportunities to gain such great merit were scarce, as the Heavenly Dao had grown increasingly complete.

The Celestial Court, however, did offer more merit-earning opportunities. Li Changshou had already considered his options there.

But first, he had to deal with the present situation.

Slaying this demon would undoubtedly yield a substantial amount of merit.

As the saying goes, a mountain is built grain by grain, and an ocean is filled drop by drop—everything had to start somewhere.

As for creating karmic ties with the demon race…

The human and demon races were natural enemies. Even if he treated them with the utmost courtesy, if he ever fell into the hands of a demon expert, he would be thrown into a boiling pot without hesitation.

No need for mercy.

Still, there was the chance the demon was hiding an even greater strength, which posed a slight risk to himself…

Then again, this was the Southern Sea, not a demon-infested region. Within two thousand miles, there was only this one major demon presence—aside from a few scattered low-level demons on a nearby island.

With his mastery of Water Escape and Earth Escape techniques, traveling a hundred thousand miles per day was effortless.

If he killed this demon and immediately fled into the mortal world to lay low, he wouldn’t have to worry about any demonic retaliation…

And if he could stop this creature from slaughtering humans but chose to stand idly by, wouldn’t that be a bit too heartless?

After all, he had lived two lifetimes…

However, he wasn’t entirely sure if he should consider the villagers of Xiong Village as his “own kind.”

…

With a “might as well give it a try” attitude, Li Changshou activated his Water Escape technique.

His speed was over ten times that of the sea demon, allowing him to silently reach a section of the ocean a hundred miles from the shore.

Outside of the Three Teachings’ immortal sects, proper escape techniques were difficult to find in the Primordial World.

Moreover, within the current generation of cultivators, an obsession with treasures has overshadowed the importance of movement techniques. Many failed to grasp their true value.

Calculating the demon’s route, Li Changshou flicked his sleeve. Six paper avatars shot out, transforming into figures of varying appearances, genders, and auras.

They swiftly got to work on the ocean floor, setting up a trap designed for underwater combat.

The treasured umbrella was still undergoing an upgrade, so it was temporarily unavailable.

Li Changshou, meanwhile, retreated toward the shore, merging with his underground paper avatar before stowing it away. He then hid himself in a forest by the sea.

Closing his eyes and focusing his senses, he monitored every movement within hundreds of miles.

Moments later, a massive tidal wave rose over the ocean, a hundred miles away!

A circular formation emerged on the water’s surface, instantly trapping the giant wave within!

A hundred-meter-long sea demon, unaware of the ambush ahead, charged straight into the hastily arranged entrapment formation. Realizing something was wrong, it immediately began ramming against the barrier in a frenzy!

Six paper avatars appeared from different directions, surrounding the demon. Each scattered bottle of poisonous powder, binding the toxins to the demon’s body using immortal energy.

In an instant, the seawater around the demon turned murky. Its body began corroding rapidly, and even its demon soul suffered severe damage!

“Who… are… you…?”

This time, Li Changshou sacrificed his last two bottles of supreme-grade Soft Immortal Powder…

Though this sea demon had a high cultivation level, its resistance to poison was inferior to that of the Eastern Sea Dragon Palace’s Second Prince. Its movements immediately became sluggish.

Li Changshou remained on high alert.

The six paper avatars, having emptied their poison bottles, each drew their swords and charged forward in formation. The seawater was suddenly filled with talismans linked by immortal light.

The sword formation and Samadhi True Fire erupted at the same time!

The talisman formation coiled like chains, binding the demon from all directions. Its power surged, sealing, electrocuting, freezing, and scorching the monster…

Already half-corroded by poison, the demon’s defenses were almost completely broken.

Six immortal swords, each wrapped in Samadhi True Fire, slashed through the demon’s body, leaving behind six deep, intersecting wounds!