Upon an ordinary white cloud, Li Changshou stood in an ordinary posture, drifting at an ordinary safe altitude, ordinarily returning to Xiaoqiong Peak.
His mind was anything but as calm as his expression.
The leadership position had already been pushed off — only to be kicked right back by Youqin Xuanya. And to make matters worse, she had welded the door shut and slapped two layers of Heavenly Immortal-rank seals on top.
Fortunately, he had already pinned the blame on Jiu Wu, establishing his image as the "innocent victim of a cruel prank." His current position was not entirely passive.
As for Jiu Wu's damaged reputation — the short Taoist had dug the pit first, and Li Changshou had merely given him a solid kick to the forehead while climbing out of the bottom.
In any case, no one would truly dare hold the Nine Wine Immortals accountable. The matter would simply fizzle out.
Li Changshou's mind turned to the question of why Jiu Wu had done this.
Presumably, the short Taoist simply found it amusing.
During the last few drinking sessions, Jiu Wu had been encouraging him to actively cultivate some reputation in order to receive the sect's focused patronage.
Li Changshou could clearly sense that this senior uncle possessed a peculiar sense of "responsibility." He wanted Li Changshou to use the leadership position to expose his sixth-rank Return-to-Void cultivation, thereby gaining the sect's attention and elevating himself from "outstanding disciple" to "immortal seedling."
But doing so...
Would be entirely pointless!
Nothing but a recipe for disaster!
Li Changshou rubbed his forehead.
His cultivation was his greatest trump card. Even the smallest exposure of it would cost him a degree of safety and inevitably draw attention — or even wariness.
The Du Xian Sect on the surface appeared entirely harmonious, but undercurrents surged everywhere. Resources within the sect were finite, yet the disciples of each peak kept growing in number. The covert competition between peaks was, in fact, extraordinarily fierce.
Did they truly think he did not know how his master had been injured all those years ago?
Even without precise information, through reasoning, deduction, and cross-verification, the conclusion was clear: Master had been sabotaged by someone within the sect itself!
From Master's consistent refusal to speak of the matter, Li Changshou could infer that the faction responsible was not small. They had presumably intended to cripple his master, cutting off the Xiaoqiong Peak lineage entirely. But Master had clawed his way back onto the path of cultivation and never given them another opening.
The Du Xian Sect's rules were strict. Disciples who had not yet become immortals had to report to Baifan Hall before leaving the mountain, and could only pass through the mountain-protecting grand formation after receiving approval.
For an immortal seedling in whom the sect placed high hopes, the sect would even assign a Primordial Immortal or even a True Immortal to accompany them.
Some eighty or ninety years ago, Li Changshou had been able to deduce with near-certainty the circumstances under which his master's injury had occurred.
First: during an excursion for experience. Second: during some intra-sect competition.
The latter was more likely.
Jiu Wu had joined the sect thousands of years ago, entering directly under the Venerable Wangqing — starting high, flying fast, and belonging to the mightiest Potian Peak lineage. This inherited worldview left Jiu Wu blind to the petty scheming within the sect.
But Li Changshou could not afford such complacency. Xiaoqiong Peak occupied the very bottom of the sect's power hierarchy, forcing him to keep... one... no, two, three... several dozen cards up his sleeve.
*'Well, when it comes down to it, I can think of no good way to refuse.'*
Any excuse of illness or claiming symptoms of qi deviation would almost certainly invite the sect's experts to come inspect him hand in hand.
Pretending to have had a sudden breakthrough requiring immediate seclusion at this juncture would, with ninety percent certainty, result in a physical examination.
Beat Blue Ling'e half to death so that he would need to stay behind to nurse her?
A jest, a jest — he could never bring himself to do that. She was his adorable junior sister, whom he had watched grow up from childhood.
Fine then.
Even with Zhang Liang's stratagem broken, there was always another way over the wall.
On the trip to the East Sea four days hence, he would simply say not a single word more than necessary, mention not a single syllable beyond what was needed, and let Youqin Xuanya become the de facto leader of the younger generation. He would merely reduce his presence to a minimum.
To this end, he decided to bring online a handsome gentleman.
Li · elegant features, composed bearing, handsome to the point of being plain · Wujing.
Come to think of it, Youqin Xuanya's last trip to the Northern Jambu Continent might have genuinely rattled her. After returning to Potian Peak and entering seclusion for several years, her cultivation had advanced in rapid succession — she was now at the eighth rank of the Return-to-Void stage, overtaking the original top-ranked senior brother of Potian Peak.
This was precisely the confidence behind Youqin Xuanya's willingness to step forward and "forcibly take over" today.
Such rapid consecutive breakthroughs, though rare and coveted, were not truly a good thing. They might lay hidden groundwork for her future Heavenly Tribulation.
In cultivation there was the saying "haste makes waste." Li Changshou's own progress at his current level had been achieved in utter secrecy, step by step, solid and steady.
Roughly sixty years ago, shortly after secretly breaking through to the Return-to-Void stage, Li Changshou had witnessed a fellow sect member being struck to ash by Heavenly Tribulation during their ascension.
From that day on, he had begun forcibly suppressing his realm, endlessly perceiving the "details" of each stage, reviewing and deepening his understanding until every minor realm had been repeatedly "trod upon" into perfect solidity. Only then would he advance to the next step, carefully calculating his probability of survival when facing the tribulation.
At the time, Li Changshou had made a firm resolve: even if it cost two extra centuries of foundation-building, he would do everything in his power to prepare for the Heavenly Tribulation.
And yet somehow, his cultivation speed had not slowed as a result. If anything, suppressing his realm was growing increasingly difficult...
Perhaps this was the Great Dao's unique tempering, reserved for him alone.
...
When Li Changshou returned to Xiaoqiong Peak, his junior sister was already cultivating.
He sat in quiet contemplation under the tree for a while, then shook his head and offered a blessing to Jiu Wu — wishing him an early arrival of offspring, son or daughter, each standing eight chi tall.
He turned and set back to work.
He began crafting a new set of foldable "Far-Whatever Birdcages."
Master's tribulation had proven that the Far-Whatever Birdcage could effectively resist and diminish the power of Heavenly Tribulation.
Although the one he had made for Master had been shattered by the tribulation's force after blocking a single lightning bolt, the device itself genuinely fell within the rules permitted by Heaven's Dao.
One birdcage could withstand one bolt?
Then, with nine Far-Whatever Birdcages prepared, would it not be possible to survive the tribulation entirely unscathed?
To this, Li Changshou could only shake his head with a wry smile.
For his master, the tribulation had been a death sentence. But for himself — as long as there was a ninety-nine percent guarantee of survival, that tribulation would represent the greatest opportunity since the start of his cultivation!
First, the tribulation was the most critical step in a Qi Refiner's "breaking the cocoon and becoming a butterfly."
When tribulation thunder fell, the primordial spirit ascended.
The mortal body transformed into an immortal vessel, the divine soul became an immortal infant. From that moment one stepped into an entirely new world — becoming one of the marginally less insignificant ants in the Primordial.
Second, the tribulation was also a rare opportunity to make direct contact with the Great Dao.
If a Qi Refiner could gain insight during the tribulation — seeing the future trajectory of their own Dao in the space between life and death — they might truly "ascend."
Records within the Du Xian Sect noted that the Venerable Wangqing had broken through directly to True Immortal rank within half an hour of completing his tribulation. His advancement past the Primordial Immortal stage had been remarkably smooth, and his subsequent cultivation had proceeded with unstoppable momentum.
According to ancient texts, during the Primordial era, there were even human Qi Refiners who ascended beyond Heavenly Immortal rank immediately after their tribulation.
Of course, Li Changshou harbored no such grand expectations. He merely aimed for a relatively modest goal —
To pass through the tribulation safely and with a flawless Dao foundation.
To lay a solid base for the long, step-by-step climb toward "eternal life."
The reason he had crafted the birdcage was as insurance against the final thunderbolt — or the second-to-last one.
For the earlier strikes, he intended to endure them head-on to extract maximum benefit, and he was fully confident in his ability to do so.
To guard against "equipment malfunction," this foldable Far-Whatever Birdcage was actually the sixth set he had produced in the past two days.
With this life-saving instrument, his survival odds against the tribulation had risen to ninety-nine percent.
Furthermore, once he had the opportunity to study the "Scripture of Non-Action" and steadily broke through to the ninth rank of Return-to-the-Dao, his confidence in surviving the tribulation could reach ninety-five percent.
At that level, he would be willing to gamble his precious life.
Incidentally, in his earliest calculations, in order to keep himself humble, steady, and under sufficient pressure, Li Changshou had from the very start "shamelessly" assumed he would face the full nine bolts of a Nine-Strike Tribulation.
Why "shamelessly"?
Because Nine-Strike Tribulations were the exclusive province of prodigies and geniuses — and Li Changshou had never considered himself any kind of cultivation prodigy.
He had merely used the time others spent catching their breath to devote every moment to studying the art of cultivation...
"Ah, there is one more matter of some importance. Let me record it."
Li Changshou suddenly thought of something, stopped his woodworking, and produced a jade slip. With his spiritual sense he inscribed a heading and a passage:
*['Etiquette Guidelines for Facing Heavenly Tribulation'*
*Heavenly Tribulation is the Great Dao's trial for Qi Refiners. Though the Dao is supremely impartial, after the Patriarch of the Dao merged with it, there is a strong possibility that a sliver of human nature was imprinted upon it.*
*Following the principle of 'better to believe it exists than to assume it doesn't — seek no merit, only to avoid error,' when facing Heavenly Tribulation one must constantly remind oneself: do not raise the middle finger, do not shout abuse, do not silently denigrate the Great Dao. Repeatedly tell yourself that the tribulation is an opportunity bestowed upon you, a moment where risk and reward coexist, an equal trial borne by all.*
*Begin by offering a Dao salute to the tribulation...]*
*'Should I also prepare a speech of thanks? Thank you, Lord Great Dao, for finding the time in your busy schedule to strike me down?'*
Li Changshou pondered a moment, then continued writing with his spiritual sense.
Upon careful reflection, though his strength and accumulation were already considerable, the other preparations for the tribulation needed several more rounds of meticulous planning.
Indeed, even with the Scripture of Non-Action, one must not rush.
...
Four days passed in a flash. Li Changshou spent three and a half of them in the pill chamber, reserving the final half day for assembly.
During the journey, the sixteen True Immortals and eleven disciples rode together upon a single large white cloud, each sitting cross-legged in quiet meditation.
Several Heavenly Immortals occupied separate clouds, floating above in an implicit protective formation.
The Venerable Wangqing sat upon the foremost lotus-shaped cloud.
Having powerful sect protectors overhead was genuinely comfortable.
Li Changshou sat in a corner, feeling the gentle breeze between heaven and earth, his spiritual sense probing the surroundings, two paper figures pinched between his fingertips.
As the true leader, Youqin Xuanya sat at the very front, wearing once again her beloved flame-red long dress and an ornately prepared phoenix-tail hair ornament. She was like a blooming fire spirit flower — eye-catching, proud, and extraordinary.
As the false leader, Li Changshou lurked in the farthest corner, eyes half-closed in meditation. His robe was clean but thoroughly ordinary — the same kind any disciple could collect from Baifan Hall.
But it was clear that Youqin Xuanya did not intend to dominate the front alone for the entire journey.
After barely half an hour of steady travel, Youqin Xuanya rose gracefully with her great sword on her back and walked over to the expanse of open cloud beside Li Changshou.
"Senior Brother Changshou," she asked softly, "may I sit here?"
Li Changshou's internal response: *Just sit — I'll move in a moment.*
"Junior Sister Youqin is too kind. Please, by all means," Li Changshou replied with a smile, though his finger indicated a spot slightly farther away.
Youqin Xuanya gave a gentle nod, delicately lifting the hem of her skirt before settling cross-legged. Her movements remained elegant.
And Li Changshou's gaze, quite without intention, swept across her hands...
She wore a pair of heavy gloves that did not quite match her flowing dress.
That was thoughtful of her.