By the lake, Elder Qi Yuan heard the bell and immediately rode a cloud toward Po Tian Peak.
He was, after all, still a peak master in name.
Seeing this, Li Changshou quickly sent his master a sound-transmission message, reminding him: no matter what he hears or sees at the meeting, don’t speak out of turn—just follow the sect’s arrangements.
The bell startled many disciples who had been deep in secluded cultivation. The Duxian Sect’s grounds quickly became lively.
This kind of emergency bell might not ring even once in a thousand years. At this moment, all the cultivators were watching, unsure of what exactly had happened…
Not long after, sixteen figures flew out from Po Tian Peak, bursting straight through the protective mountain formation, heading toward the “dust-storm battlefield” from earlier.
Leading them was the sect master himself, followed by Elder Wan Linjun, Forget-Emotion Master, and other top experts of the sect.
Li Changshou, of course, understood…
They weren’t going to inspect the results—they were going to hunt for the enemy’s main force.
But this trip would inevitably be in vain. At best, they might uncover a few clues left behind in the enemy’s rush to escape.
The next time the enemy appeared, it would almost certainly be to launch a full-scale assault—and that time wouldn’t be far off.
Within three years, something major would happen.
The storm is gathering; the winds are rising. On a quiet little peak, he sits alone, undisturbed.
Li Changshou lay back on a reclining chair, holding a jade slip he had copied from the Dao Canon’s inner hall, quietly reading the characters and illustrations inside.
This feeling of having seen through the entire situation—it was honestly pretty satisfying…
Of course, the most satisfying kind of life would still be one where nothing ever happens.
This jade slip was titled “The Hundred Spirit Record,” a compilation of rare spiritual beasts and birds—some of which, incidentally, were also rather tasty. Ahem.
Mosquitoes had plenty of natural enemies.
But finding one that had decent spiritual power, could counteract the blood mosquitoes he’d seen today, and was available right now in large, breedable numbers—that was proving tricky.
But fortune favors the persistent.
Half an hour later, Li Changshou’s eyes lit up—he’d found one. It was already being raised in the spirit beast enclosure on his own Little Qiong Peak!
A faint smile appeared at the corners of his mouth. He reached into his robes and pulled out a porcelain vial.
Back when he’d gone to North Ju Luzhou to gather herbs, he had casually wiped out Yuan Qing’s gang and ended up with a pair of Love Gu insects.
These were a type of Gu worm—part of shamanic sorcery, not Daoist methods.
At first, Li Changshou had considered using this pair of Love Gu to influence the most exotic spirit beasts he could find—hoping they’d “work hard” and bring some new life into the world…
But he had never found suitable targets.
Recently, during a pill-refining session by Thick Fortune, Li Changshou had been researching some unorthodox alchemical recipes and stumbled upon a sustainable way to use the Love Gu.
By feeding them a type of Spirit-Sealing Poison Grass, he could transform them into stone—what he called Love Stones.
Then, by soaking those stones in a concoction of spirit spring water and various herbs for forty-nine days, he could create a rare, secret medicinal solution.
This liquid had the mystical effect of enhancing affection, something akin to pricking someone with Moon Elder’s Lovestruck Tree—and it could also be used in pill refining.
The bottle of elixir in his hand had been refined from just such a solution.
Naturally, it was custom-made for precious spirit beasts!
“Thanks for your hard work…
Big Jade, Little Jade.”
He stood up, still smiling faintly, and floated toward the spirit beast enclosure at the back of the mountain.
Out on the lake, Ling’e was still practicing her water-escape technique “day and night.” Standing on tiptoe, she glanced toward the pill room—and just happened to catch a glimpse of Li Changshou floating by, hands behind his back.
“That annoying senior brother! Can’t even stop by and talk to me!
I’ve been practicing for days and nights without a break, and he doesn’t care one bit…”
The direction Senior Brother went in…
Ling’e puffed her cheeks and quickly followed after him, curious about what her senior brother was doing in the spirit beast enclosure.
Not because she wanted to talk to him or anything!
Before long, Ling’e flew up on a cloud above the spirit beast grounds and immediately spotted her senior brother crouching beside a small pond.
Without turning his head, Li Changshou gently waved her over.
Ling’e got the hint, suppressed her presence, and floated down to his side. Gathering her skirt, she knelt on the grass next to him and followed his gaze.
“Uh…”
“Shhh!”
Li Changshou made a quieting gesture. Ling’e couldn’t help but put a hand to her forehead, averting her eyes.
There, on a lotus leaf in the pond, two rare Jade-Eating Spirit Frogs, their bodies as translucent as jade, were… doing something highly inappropriate and indescribable.
Ling’e pursed her lips, turned her head, and whispered,
“Senior Brother, I may be hopelessly in love with you, but you really should watch your image!
Certain things shouldn’t be so… obvious. They affect how I see you, you know?”
Li Changshou casually replied, “Well then, thanks—please rate me as slightly above average.”
Ling’e rolled her eyes and huffed, “Absolutely not… You’re top tier!”
She blinked, looking at the jade frogs, and suddenly remembered something.
“Wait—you said before these spirit beasts are really hard to breed. You wouldn’t even use them in pills or for wine because they’re so rare, right?”
Li Changshou shook the now-empty porcelain bottle in his hand and smiled. “A mountain hermit always has a few tricks.”
“This is…?”
Ling’e’s face turned red as realization hit. At first, she looked a little disgusted, but then blinked again and teased:
“Ohhh~
So you did secretly refine those kinds of pills!
The books were right—pill alchemists always have these weird ideas!
Sigh… fine. Since I’m your dear little junior sister…
Do you have any other spirit beasts you need to breed?
I guess I can reluctantly lend you a hand!”
Li Changshou replied flatly, “Don’t get any funny ideas. Every one of those bottles has a special seal on it.”
“Stingy… What kind of senior brother is this, wary of his junior sister?”
“Well, it’s because this senior brother has a very scheming junior sister.”
Ling’e immediately rolled her eyes again, turning away to look at the spirit beast pens, though who knows where her mind had drifted off to.
She, of course, didn’t realize that Li Changshou was very much handling serious business.
These spirit beasts would become a vital part of Little Qiong Peak’s defense system.
And after this crisis passed, the frogs wouldn’t go to waste either—they could invite Uncle Wu the wine immortal, over for some hotpot and a feast.
They’d probably taste amazing!
Half a day after the bell rang, the dozen-plus experts who had flown out returned to Po Tian Peak.
Moments later, the sect master personally issued an order: from this day forward, no disciples or elders were to leave the sect grounds, and the mountain-protection array would be fully sealed.
After that, the sect master and several Grand Elders gathered with Elder Wan Linjun to carefully discuss how to prepare for the next conflict.
Wan Linjun’s seniority was nearly at the Grand Elder level, though he never cared for status. He usually stayed on Pill Cauldron Peak, buried in alchemy and cultivation.
Although his influence in the sect wasn’t the strongest, his position was solid.
And considering Elder Wan Linjun had just single-handedly killed so many powerful enemies and saved the sect from disaster, the sect needed to show proper appreciation, both in principle and in sentiment.
Yet, calling it a “reward” felt inappropriate. A “thank-you gift” didn’t feel quite right either…
After some thought, the sect master could only smile and say:
“This time, Elder Wan Linjun must’ve used up quite a few rare and valuable poison pills. The sect should replenish those losses for him.”
Elder Wan Linjun frowned slightly when the sect master handed him a storage ring. He instinctively wanted to refuse.
Doing this for the sect was only natural. He didn’t want this kind of compensation.
But then, a thought crossed his mind. A sly smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
Well… this could count as a reward for Changshou.
“In that case, I’ll take it.”
With that, Elder Wan Linjun turned around, cane in hand, and walked out of the main hall, leaving the others with the silhouette of a stooped but elegant old man.
The sect master, who was actually of the same generation as Elder Wan Linjun, immediately furrowed his brow. He turned to the Grand Elders behind him and whispered:
“Did I say something wrong just now? Did I upset Elder Wan?”
The Grand Elders could only respond with wry smiles.
Truth be told… they didn’t know Elder Wan Linjun very well either.
wannaberecluse On SRTT Chapter 50.1