“Right here?”
“Yeah, move it three more inches toward the Qian position, have the array base face south, and embed it six feet three inches deep.”
“Got it…
Hup—there!”
Three months after Jiujiu came out of seclusion, three figures were busy working outside the alchemy room of Little Qiong Peak.
Li Changshou gave the orders, Ling’e cheered them on—
And Jiujiu handled everything with multitasking precision: suppressing the array’s spiritual energy, adjusting the fluctuations of each formation, confirming the placement of the array bases, and finally wrapping each prepared base in immortal power and slowly embedding them into the ground…
This process couldn’t afford even the slightest mistake.
After placing the latest array base, Jiujiu let out a long sigh, leaning against a tree and catching her breath.
“How… how many are left?”
Li Changshou glanced at his storage pouch. About a third remained—more than sixty array bases still needed to be set.
But…
What he needed was just the appearance of “Martial Aunt Jiu helping with the setup,” and to ensure she would have a strong memory of helping out. She didn’t need to place every base herself.
Most of the ones already installed would still need fine-tuning by him later on.
Li Changshou smiled and said, “Just three more. Thanks for all your hard work, Martial Aunt.”
Upon hearing there were only three left, Jiujiu’s face instantly lit up like a survivor of a great ordeal.
“Finally! After all these months, we’re almost done.”
Off to the side, Ling’e caught something in Li Changshou’s expression and tilted her head in thought.
Has Senior Brother already reached the point where he doesn’t need Martial Aunt Jiu’s help to set up arrays?
Jiujiu popped a spiritual wine pill into her mouth and crunched it. With a couple of loud snaps, her energy returned.
“Let’s power through and finish the job!”
Shouting her rallying cry, she leapt up again and hurried to the next location for burying an array base.
Ling’e tidied her hair with a giggle and picked up the bamboo basket, hurrying after her.
“Martial Aunt, have some fruit and take a quick break.”
“You’re so thoughtful, Ling’e. Your senior brother? All he does is boss people around!”
“Senior Brother’s just doing it for the safety of our Little Qiong Peak. Thank you for all your hard work, Martial Aunt. Let me massage your shoulders…”
“Sigh, a little to the left…
We’re both suffering souls in this life.”
Amid laughter, Ling’e and Jiujiu disappeared deeper into the forest.
Li Changshou strolled along behind them, deep in thought about the operation of the formation and refining the theory behind his interlinked arrays.
They worked for another half a day.
By sunset, the final three array bases were finally in place.
Jiujiu was a whole new person—energized and enthusiastic. She grabbed Ling’e and called for Li Changshou to join them in a fateful showdown back at the hut—“Battle of the Immortal Gods!”
Li Changshou quietly sighed to himself. The formation here would still need several more days of fine adjustments, but there was no rush.
As they walked out of the woods, Li Changshou suddenly had a gut feeling.
What was that…?
He looked at his Martial Aunt and junior sister jumping around up ahead. Retracting his right hand into his sleeve, he began calculating with his fingers, and quickly arrived at an insight—
The porcelain vial he had given to Martial Uncle Jiu Wu… the pill inside had been taken out.
That vial wasn’t just ordinary porcelain—it was a magic tool for preserving pills and maintaining their efficacy.
Li Changshou had made some modifications to it, adding two restriction seals and a trace of his simulated spiritual sense.
If the pill inside was removed, he would immediately feel a response in his heart.
So what happened…?
Did Martial Uncle Jiu Wu run into danger and use the [Corpse-Immortal Soul-Dissolving Pill]?
Or did he simply take it out to show someone?
Of course, it was also possible the bottle had just broken on its own…
Although his martial uncle could be a bit unreliable at times, he was always cautious when handling external matters.
Otherwise, the sect wouldn’t have assigned him to prepare for something as politically delicate as the “Three-Teachings Conference.”
Chances were high that something had happened.
And with Zhongshenzhou so far away, Li Changshou couldn’t do anything directly at the moment.
As he thought it through, a plan quickly formed in his mind.
He called out, “Martial Aunt Jiu!”
“Hm? What is it? Come on, don’t just stand there—join the fun! Hee hee ha ha!”
Li Changshou gave a polite cough and walked up with a serious expression. He said a few quiet words to Jiujiu—
Her and Ling’e’s faces both shifted… to something rather strange.
Jiujiu blinked, stunned. “Are you serious?”
“Of course I am,” Li Changshou said solemnly with a nod.
“So let me get this straight…” Jiujiu pinched her earlobe in disbelief. “You dreamed last night that my fifth senior brother was in danger?
That he was being chased down by seven or eight musclebound maniacs built like bears?”
“That’s right,” Li Changshou said with a straight face. “And today, after thinking it over, I still feel uneasy.
For cultivators like us, sometimes dreams carry hidden meanings.”
Jiujiu frowned and whispered, “But if something happened to my fifth senior brother, shouldn’t my fourth senior sister be the one sensing it?
If I had that dream, it’d make sense—he practically raised me, like a father or big brother.
But you… Why would you dream about my senior brother? What does that even mean?”
“I’d like to think Martial Uncle Jiu Wu and I are drinking buddies—kindred spirits, even,” Li Changshou said with a wry smile. “Let’s not get bogged down in the details.
Martial Aunt Shi should have a way to contact him, right? Will you trust me on this?”
“Of course I trust you.”
Jiujiu answered seriously, “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t catch whatever you throw at me with my mouth!”
Ling’e turned away, trying hard not to laugh, knowing her senior brother was being serious.
“Martial Aunt,” Li Changshou said, “please take this seriously. I rarely dream, and when I do, they often come true.”
Jiujiu hesitated a bit, then murmured, “But waking up Fourth Senior Sister from seclusion just because of a dream…
Alright, fine. I’ll go try to wake her.”
Li Changshou added, “Also, Martial Aunt… please tell them you saw it in a dream.”
“What? Are you afraid of getting scolded?”
“It’s not about that. I just don’t want people to get the wrong idea… and honestly, I don’t want to draw any more attention from the sect.”
Jiujiu let out a snort and chuckled. “As if anyone wants to stare at you all day!”
She waved her hand. “Alright, I’ll go wake up Fourth Senior Sister. You two wait here for me!
We’ll play that ‘God Battle’ game together when I get back!”
Li Changshou and Ling’e both responded in unison, and Jiujiu yawned, then took off into the sky on her giant gourd.
As soon as she left, Ling’e walked up with her hands behind her back and gave Li Changshou a playful bump on the shoulder with her own.
“Senior Brother… was that real?”
“Was what real?”
“You dreamed that Martial Uncle Jiu Wu was being chased by a group of big, burly guys.”
“A dream is just a dream—it’s not real.”
Li Changshou stood with his hands behind his back, a trace of helplessness in his eyes. He sent a voice transmission and said:
“But something happening… that might be real.
Pack your things when we get back. Bring anything you might need and keep it with you.”
Ling’e blinked in surprise. “What’s going on, Senior Brother?”
“Just being cautious,” Li Changshou said, his eyes narrowing slightly as a glimmer of divine light flickered within them. “You always need to prepare for the worst.”
Biting her lip, Ling’e nodded and ran off to her thatched hut to pack.
…
The stone Li Changshou had casually tossed… stirred up a tidal wave within the Heavenly Immortal Sect.
Jiujiu returned to Po Tian Peak and told Jiushi that she had “dreamed” of Fifth Senior Brother being chased by a group of brutes.
Although Jiushi had been disturbed during her meditation, she didn’t get upset. Right in front of Jiujiu, she took out a message talisman she had created with Jiu Wu—a Ten-Thousand-Mile Spiritual Thread…
But—
There was no response.
Jiushi was momentarily stunned, then took out a treasured mirror.
This was the Heart-Linking Mirror, bound with Jiu Wu’s heartblood. With a spell, she could see whatever he was seeing at that moment.
—A must-have for checking on your Dao companion and keeping third-party troublemakers at bay.
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152