“Elder, please head to Po Tian Peak first. I’ll return to my peak for some quiet cultivation,” Li Changshou said respectfully.
As soon as he passed through the mountain-protecting formation and entered the white jade-carved mountain gate, he presented the Soul-Capturing Pearl and a treasure pouch filled with “spoils of war” to Elder Wan Linjun with the utmost reverence.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about keeping some for himself.
Most of the storage treasures they had seized were already destroyed by Elder Wan Linjun’s poison flames and had little remaining value…
Besides, this was a matter of life and death for the sect.
In a vast world like this, it was rare to find a reliable backing.
Truth be told, the Duxian Sect had always treated him, this “outstanding” disciple, quite well. Even though he came from the weakest and poorest part, no one had ever gone out of their way to make things difficult for him.
On the contrary, many elders from the Hall of Mortal Affairs, because of the Liwei Spirit Fish, had shown him extra care.
That’s why Li Changshou truly didn’t want to see the sect fall.
Just like today, he had revealed his trump cards—the Sensing Stone and the Soul-Capturing Pearl—right in front of Elder Wan Linjun.
—For him, it was simply doing his part.
His principle was this: as long as he could ensure his safety, he would do everything in his power to help and protect the sect.
Seeing the pouch and the pearl handed over with such humility, Elder Wan Linjun narrowed his eyes and gave a faint, cold smile as he accepted them into his sleeve.
Several True Immortal stewards standing nearby, along with the duty-bound gatekeepers, all broke into a cold sweat on Li Changshou’s behalf.
They had no idea who this small Return-to-Void realm disciple was, but…
Knowing how the Poison Elder smiled like that, this disciple’s future was now a mystery of blessings and curses!
Elder Wan Linjun immediately mounted a cloud and flew to Po Tian Peak to report everything to the sect master and grand elder.
Li Changshou turned and respectfully saluted the remaining sect immortals, then flew off at a relatively low altitude, deliberately choosing a quiet, unused path back to Little Qiong Peak.
On the way, he kept pondering that mosquito, killed by one of his paper puppets…
That mosquito…
Would it help to create some kind of “mosquito repellent”?
When he got back to Little Qiong Peak, his junior sister and master were still diligently practicing their escape techniques.
Li Changshou didn’t disturb them and quietly returned to his pill room.
After activating all his formations and checking the sensing stones hanging throughout the area, he allowed his paper-puppet avatar to revert to its original puppet form.
A wisp of green smoke rose from the ground, forming Li Changshou’s figure. He pinched the puppet and tucked it into his sleeve.
“Speaking of mosquito repellent…
How would I even make that? What are mosquitoes afraid of?
Poison in the blood?”
He chuckled at his idea.
If it had been someone like the legendary Mosquito Daoist, that kind of terrifying figure would be way out of his league…
But if it were like today—a mosquito that could control puppets and still be swatted by a paper puppet—then Li Changshou could probably come up with a few countermeasures.
His Paper-to-Human Transformation technique now had a natural enemy it could suppress!
Come to think of it…
Everything he had set up over the past six months hadn’t been for nothing.
Even the sacrifice of those few old trees had been worth it.
With a sense of quiet satisfaction, Li Changshou took out the paper puppets he had used to clean the battlefield and chant scriptures.
He opened the pill furnace, channeled Samadhi True Flame, and tossed the puppets inside.
The flames flickered gently, and the puppets turned to ash in an instant.
He then checked all the small items he used to prevent divination tracking.
After a thorough inspection and confirming everything was in order, he finally let out a small sigh of relief.
Before long, he fell into quiet thought again, carefully analyzing whether he had accidentally exposed anything.
The puppet that swatted the mosquito had mimicked another’s aura…
He had never revealed his face to Elder Wan Linjun…
And that one burst of true flame from the elder almost incinerated the entire mountain…
“There shouldn’t be any leaks,” he muttered.
What he had noticed, though, was a similarity between Elder Wan Linjun and his own master—
They both tended to get carried away easily.
Maybe they’d been living up in the mountains too long, forgetting just how dangerous the world really was?
Luckily, he’d been able to rein in the elder in time. If Wan Linjun had shown himself and been ambushed by that mosquito, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Pacing back and forth in his pill room, Li Changshou continued to work through his thoughts, until everything started to click into place…
Today’s incident wasn’t exactly unexpected.
Half a year ago, he had already drafted out all possible future scenarios.
Today’s battle simply confirmed two or three of those possibilities.
“Just as I thought,” he muttered.
Aside from being part of the Human Sect’s legacy, Duxian Sect had no special features of its own.
What had brought them trouble was a minor dispute they’d had with some alchemists from Golden Ao Island.
Someone had decided to make a move based on that.
This hidden puppet master had orchestrated the ambush outside the Golden Palace Gate in Central Divine Continent—not just as an attack, but as a way to increase Duxian Sect’s visibility.
The goal? To ensure that all three great sects would take notice of this Human Sect legacy dwelling in Dongsheng Divine Continent.
Then, when the three sects gathered at Golden Palace Gate to discuss the Three-Sect Sourceflow Assembly, that mastermind would use his puppets to destroy Duxian Sect.
A small risk. A small price.
But with potentially great reward.
In his mind’s eye, Li Changshou could almost see it—a shadowy figure looming behind Duxian Sect, reaching a hand toward Po Tian Peak.
But behind that shadow, there was an even more immense, albeit slightly blurry, figure, raising its hand as if to swat the shadow away.
Great sects. Hidden conflict.
The Duxian Sect was not without hope.
The mastermind behind this entire scheme didn’t dare to step in personally—he could only control puppets remotely through insects!
—This was confirmed through fragments of the soul memories; within the memories of both humans and demons involved, there was always the faint buzz of a mosquito.
The real question now was how Duxian Sect would respond.
If Li Changshou’s guess was right, then soon there would be a dang dang dang dang, dang dang dang…
No, not some monk’s classic scripture chant from the future.
Suddenly—
DANG—
DANG—
The bell atop Po Tian Peak rang out.
This time, the sound was deep and penetrating.
…
As the bell rang, streaks of light flew out from various peaks—one, two, or even several figures each—rushing toward the main peak, the Duxian Hall.
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152