MSBITRS Chapter 61 V1

“The trouble Ling’e caused this time will undoubtedly cost her a good deal of luck. Confining her for twenty years to prevent further incidents should help restore some of it.”

In the alchemy chamber, Li Changshou sat in a rocking chair, his eyes slightly narrowed as he pondered.

This matter had nothing to do with him as her senior brother, nor was it his responsibility to clean up after her.

But Ling’e’s temperament…

Perhaps he and their master had spoiled her too much. It was time for her to face some real challenges.

The words “the world is perilous”—no matter how many times he repeated them—would never be as effective as her experiencing that truth firsthand.

With that thought, Li Changshou tapped his fingers lightly against the armrest of his chair.

The rustling of the forest leaves was near, the whispering wind far away.

A poetic sentiment suddenly struck him, and he murmured:

“So poor.”

Maybe he should cultivate his junior sister’s virtues, intellect, physique, and artistic talents—have her “accidentally” encounter a wealthy noble of the Primordial Era, marry him, and then secretly pocket the betrothal gifts along with the sect’s dowry?

Just a joke, just a joke. He was simply frustrated with his little junior sister—he wouldn’t throw her out like that.

Now that he had ascended to immortality and was on his way to further enlightenment, it was time to restrict his junior sister’s access to certain information.

To outsiders, he was currently an outstanding fourth-stage Return-to-Void disciple.

To Jiu Wu, he was likely a seventh- or eighth-stage Return-to-Void prodigy.

To his junior sister, he was merely a Nascent Immortal…

That was enough.

A secret was only a secret if he was the only one who knew. The moment a second person knew, it became “news.”

After sitting idly for half a day, his immortal sense picked up on Ling’e quietly copying scriptures under a tree. His anger dissipated somewhat.

The rumors Ling’e had told him about their master…

If they were true, then the ordeal with Wang, Liu, and Liu was eerily similar to what his master had gone through eight or nine centuries ago—except the outcomes had been completely different.

Back then, his master… had been robbed of his love by another.

That rival shattered his master’s Dao foundation, nearly crippling him, yet the sect’s punishment for the culprit was merely a hundred years of meditation in seclusion.

And during those hundred years, that person successfully ascended to immortality.

That was all the information he had gathered so far.

Since it was an embarrassing affair, the incident had been buried. Nearly nine centuries had passed, and no one spoke of it anymore…

Little Qiong Peak was supposed to have had two disciples in his master’s generation. His master once had a senior martial sister, meaning Li Changshou and Lan Ling’e were supposed to have had a senior martial uncle.

Qi Yuan and his senior martial sister—Li Changshou’s supposed senior martial uncle—were childhood sweethearts.

But before his master was ambushed, his senior martial sister left the sect, saying she was going to find their grandmaster. Yet, like the grandmaster, she never returned…

No one knew what had happened.

Come to think of it, for a sect under the great teachings of the Human Dao, wasn’t the internal chaos a bit excessive?

Was Duxian Sect deliberately sabotaged?

Could it be that someone from the Heavenly Court—perhaps an unnoticed Red String Immortal—had tangled up the sect’s disciples with an absurd number of fated love ties?

Among the three great Daoist sects, each had its flaws.

The Chan Sect immortals were mostly schemers, making them seem overly calculating.

The Jie Sect was a chaotic mix of creatures, with loose regulations that made them seem like a mob.

And the Human Dao Sect, which was supposed to be unattached and free from karma, had the fewest true Dao practitioners—yet it seemed cursed with an overwhelming obsession with romantic entanglements!

If there were some Yin-Yang Celestial Techniques, Dual-Flow Harmony Sutras, Voracious Tiger Zen Methods, or Loneliness-Too-Painful Mantras floating around, that might explain things.

But Duxian Sect, whose core Daoist scripture was the Doctrine of Non-Action, had ended up like this?

Shouldn’t the proper atmosphere of the sect be one where most disciples peacefully cultivated on their respective peaks, avoiding all karma and finding even the management of the sect to be a tiresome bother?

“If the opportunity arises, I should investigate the other Human Dao sects across Zhongzhou. See if they’re the same mess.”

Li Changshou muttered to himself, tucking the thought away.

Of course, he couldn’t control what others did. If he could simply avoid such troublesome matters himself, that would already be a great success.

As for his master’s situation, he needed to plan carefully. But now that he had leads, he was no longer stumbling in the dark.

If his master truly had an old enemy, then as his disciple, he had to strategize accordingly.

Avoiding karma did not mean fearing karma.

This was something Li Changshou had been contemplating for years.

His master’s rival had been on equal footing with him a thousand years ago.

And from what Li Changshou had heard, the most talented member of his master’s generation was Jiu Jiu Martial Uncle.

For now, he would assume his master’s enemy was at the late True Immortal stage—if not higher.

If the rival had been concealing his cultivation, then at worst, he was a Heavenly Immortal.

Right now, as long as Li Changshou could gather some particularly deadly poisons, he could start refining pills potent enough to kill a Heavenly Immortal.

In the future, he would prepare an enormous stockpile of poison pills and powders for his master.

Then, when the time was right, he would encourage his master to act more visibly. If that old enemy still harbored hostility and made another move, his master could seize the opportunity to counterattack. That way, even the sect wouldn’t be able to object.

His master’s enemy likely had backing within the sect, so he needed to consider how to handle the aftermath as well.

His greatest advantage was that he remained in the shadows.

And given how small and insignificant Little Qiong Peak seemed, the enemy likely didn’t take them seriously.

As for how far he should go—it all depended on his master’s desire for revenge.

If his master sought retribution, then as his eldest disciple, Li Changshou would do everything in his power to help.

If his master wished to let it go, then he would simply fulfill his duty as a disciple by crippling the enemy’s Dao foundation and leaving it at that.

After all, the enemy had already ascended to Heavenly Immortal Dao, while his master could only ever become a Turbid Immortal.

Looking at it objectively, his master had suffered a loss.

He had also lost his senior martial uncle.

This karma… was one Li Changshou had no intention of avoiding.

In fact, he was willing to reveal part of his true strength for this cause.

If he moved, it would be swift and decisive—giving the enemy no chance to retaliate.

Closing his eyes, he continued refining his thoughts.

Outside the alchemy chamber, one formation after another quietly activated.

After more than three years of silence, Little Qiong Peak once again began to gather spiritual energy…

After copying The Sutra of Stability three hundred times, Ling’e went to Little Ling Peak to apologize to Liu Yan’er and seek her forgiveness.

When Ling’e arrived at the alchemy room, Li Changshou scolded her a few more times before handing her the second version of the Turtle Breathing Technique. He then spent two days teaching her about cultivation before formally enforcing her twenty-year restriction from leaving Little Qiong Peak.