Chapter 61: Little Poor Peak

　　The trouble that Ling’e has caused this time will definitely cause her to lose a lot of her luck. She should be able to make up for it after being grounded for twenty years without any further incidents.

　　In the Pill Chamber, Li Changshou sat on the rocking chair. His eyes narrowed slightly as thoughts ran through his mind.

　　This matter had nothing to do with him being her senior brother, there was no need for him to do anything about the aftermath.

　　Only, with Ling’e’s personality…

　　Perhaps he and Master had pampered her too much. It was time for her to be trained.

　　The world is dangerous. As a senior brother, he could say this countless times, but it would never come close to having her experience it personally.

　　As he thought about this, Li Changshou gently tapped the armrest of the rocking chair.

　　He could hear the rustling of leaves around him.

　　Feeling a little poetic all of a sudden, he said, “How poor.”

　　“How about I nurture my Junior Sister’s intelligence, beauty, poetry, and create a ‘coincidence’ for her to run into a wealthy family. I’ll marry her off, give her some gifts and then steal the sect’s dowry?”

　　Just kidding. Just kidding. He was only angered by little Junior Sister, but it wasn’t as though he’d throw her out.

　　Now that he had become an immortal and ascended for a period of time, it was time for him to lower his Junior Sister’s access to the information.

　　In the eyes of others, he was now an outstanding Fourth Stage Void Return disciple.

　　In Jiu Wu’s eyes, he should be an immortal seedling of level seven or eight Void Return.

　　In Junior Sister’s eyes, he should be an Essence Immortal Immortal…

　　That was adequate.

　　The secret was known only to himself and hence, a secret. If someone else knew about it, it would be called “News”.

　　After sitting idle for half a day, his immortal senses captured that Ling’e had been copying sutras under the tree. Li Changshou’s anger subsided greatly.

　　Ling’e told him about the rumors regarding Master…

　　If it were true, then the incident this time round concerning the three – Wang, Liu and Liu – would be very similar to what his master had experienced eight or nine hundred years ago. However, the outcome was completely different.

　　Back then, Master’s lover… had been snatched away by someone.

　　His master’s love rival had shattered his master’s Dao base and attempted to cripple him. However, the punishment from the sect only required that person to reflect upon himself for a hundred years.

　　Moreover, the other party had transcended the tribulation to become an immortal in the course of that hundred years.

　　So far, these were the only things he knew.

　　This matter had been suppressed because it was inglorious. It had been nearly 900 years since then, and no one had mentioned it again…

　　There were actually two disciples from the Little Qiong Peak among her Master’s generation. Her Master also had a Senior Sister. Li Changshou and Lan Ling’e should have had an Uncle-Master.

　　Qi Yuan and his Senior Sister, Li Changshou’s Uncle-Master, were childhood friends.

　　However, before his Master was ambushed, this Uncle-Master left the sect. He said that he went to look for Grandmaster, but just like Grandmaster, he never returned…

　　He did not know what had happened.

　　Come to think of it, was it really okay for a disciple of the Ren School to be so unruly?

　　Had the Immortal Du Sect been set up?

　　Could it be that someone had gotten the Moon Elder[1], who was not regarded highly by anyone in the Heavenly Courts, to give their disciples a random bunch of red threads?

　　The three schools of the Dao Sect analyzed the situation carefully. In fact, each of them had their own shortcomings.

　　Most of the Immortals of the Chan School were scheming and they made people feel that they were calculative.

　　Jie School had a mixture of good and bad people; their rules were not strict. It gave people a sense of disharmony.

　　On the other hand, the Ren School, supposedly free from karma and that had few Dao regulations, started behaving as if they had fallen under a spell. They began a trend of finding themselves a Dao companion, among themselves!

　　If within the Sect there were things like ‘Yin Yang Sky-Refining Mantra’, ‘Gathering Heart Technique’, ‘Wolf Like Tiger Chant’, and ‘Too Difficult to be Single Curse’, that would have been reasonable.

　　However, given this atmosphere in the Immortal Du Sect, which had adopted the Inaction Sutra as their core path…

　　Shouldn’t the normal way of life involve cultivating peacefully on one’s own peak and to avoid all karma, and finding something like managing the sect a very troublesome chore?

　　“If ever given a chance, we should investigate Ren School’s religious teachings in the Central Deity Continent and see if they share similarities.”

　　Li Changshou mumbled to himself and took note of this matter.

　　Of course, he could not care too much about others. It was good enough that he could take care of himself and not stir these troubles.

　　It was necessary to take a long term view on his Master’s matter. However, now that he had a clue, there was no need for him to rely on blind guesses.

　　If his master really had such a deadly enemy, he, as a disciple, would have to plan well.

　　Avoiding karma is not fear of karma;

　　Li Changshou had been plotting this for many years.

　　The other party’s cultivation level was about the same as his Master’s a thousand years ago.

　　He had heard that the person with the best potential in his Master’s generation was Martial Aunt Jiu Jiu…

　　For now, he would treat his Master’s enemy as a late-stage Perfected Immortal. If he hid his cultivation base, he would be a Heavenly Immortal.

　　Now, as long as he could obtain powerful poisonous herbs, he could refine some pills that could kill Heavenly Immortals…

　　In the future, he would prepare hundreds of millions of these pills and poisonous powders for his Master to protect himself. When the time was right, he would let his master deliberately act more lively. If the other party could not help but attack his master again, he would let his master retaliate. That way, he would be able to account to the sect…

　　The other party could very well have the backing of another peak in the sect. He still had to consider what to do next.

　　His advantage lay in being in the ‘shadow’. Also, the other party probably looked down on their Little Qiong Peak.

　　As for the level he wanted to achieve, it was all his Master’s wish.

　　If Master wanted to take revenge for what happened back then, as the eldest disciple, he would secretly help.

　　If his Master was unwilling to take revenge, then he would do his small part as a disciple and destroy the other party’s cultivation base.

　　The other party had already become a Heaven Immortal, while his Master could only be a Turbid Immortal in the future.

　　After careful assessment, he realized that his Master had suffered a loss.

　　After all, he had lost his Uncle-Master…

　　Li Changshou did not want to avoid this karma and was willing to reveal part of his trump card.

　　If he did not move, it would be fine; but if he did, he would make it impossible for the opponent to retaliate.

　　He closed his eyes and continued to ponder.

　　Gradually, the array formations outside the Pill Chamber were activated.

　　Little Qiong Peak, which had been silent for more than three years, began to gather Primordial Energy once again…

　　After Ling’e copied the ‘Steadiness Sutra’ three hundred times, she went to Little Spirit Peak to apologize to Liu Yan’er and asked for forgiveness.

　　When Ling’e arrived at the Pill Chamber, Li Changshou reprimanded her a few more times. He gave her the second version of the Qi-Calming Turtle Breathing Mantra and taught her two days of cultivation homework. The punishment for her not leaving the Little Qiong Peak for twenty years had officially begun.

　　“I hope you have taken heed, where this matter is concerned.”

　　“I understand, Senior Brother.” Ling’e bit her lips. “From now on, I’ll copy the scriptures every day.”

　　Li Changshou handed over a treasure pouch and sighed. “It’s not that I’m strict with you. But you grew up in the sect, and also in an aristocratic family of the mortal world. You do not understand the difficulties of the world.

　　“Let me tell you about this trip. I… Forget it.”

　　“Huh?” Ling’e blinked, her eyes filled with curiosity. “Senior Brother, what’s the matter?”

　　Li Changshou stood with his hands behind his back. He looked up slightly and smiled bitterly. “Go back and cultivate… Ling’e?”

　　“Here!”

　　“Hurry up and cultivate. Don’t think about other things.

　　“You must strive to reach the fifth-stage of the Dao Requital Realm before the next grand ceremony, so that you’ll be valued by the sect.”

　　Li Changshou rubbed his eyebrows and sighed softly. “This way, even if I were to disappear on that day, you will still be taken care of by the sect to cultivate.”

　　Ling’e asked softly, “Senior Brother, are you… running away?”

　　“Why should I run away? Go back and rest. I’m going to start refining pills.”

　　Li Changshou chuckled. Ling’e was puzzled.

　　When she came out of the Pill Chamber, Ling’e tilted her head and thought for a while. Then, she turned to look at the Pill Chamber…

　　Why did it feel like her Senior Brother was a little strange?

　　In the Pill Chamber, Li Changshou started refining pills skillfully. He refined the “clarifying” immortal pill for his Master. The materials he used were not poisonous, so he did not need to wear a safety suit.

　　Once the fire in the furnace stabilized, Li Changshou started to think about another important matter.

　　Money.

　　“Little Qiong Peak, Little Qiong Peak. I am truly crazy poor.”

　　He needed a large amount of precious materials and spirit stones. Otherwise, he would not be able to do anything.

　　He wasn’t looking to make a fortune. He only wanted to have a stable source of income outside the monthly allowance of a disciple.

　　In the mountains…

　　Cough. In the mountains, safety is one of the great benefits. But one of the disadvantages is that I can’t get any precious materials or spirit stones.

　　Could those idols at the South Sea be disguised as offerings harvesting machinery and sold to the Western School?

　　Forget it. It would be akin to seeking death if he did this, and he’d have to avoid the South Sea for the rest of his life.

　　How was he going to make money?

　　The most beneficial thing to me now is, one, to access the Dao Repository accessible only to the Sect’s Immortals.

　　Secondly, I need to do some subcontract work, making pills for the sect, so that I can earn some extra money and use the pill-concocting as an excuse to obtain some herbs. This also brings a considerable amount of benefits.

　　He did not need to spend too much time in isolation for the next few decades. Although he had accepted the enlightenment of his ascension, he had yet to fully digest it. It would not be a problem for him to take out a few hours to refine pills every day.

　　There were also people from the various peaks who could carry out tasks such as contract pill refining. They only needed to register at Bai Fan Hall, which would then assign the jobs.

　　However, he had to plan this properly with his master. He could not take on the Immortal Pill assignment on his own.

　　Why not choose Martial-Uncle Jiu Jiu to collaborate?

　　It was not that he could not trust Uncle-Master Jiu Jiu. She was currently in seclusion, and she did not know much about pills. Furthermore, she was too high-profiled in the sect, so it was easier for people to suspect her.

　　Moreover, if Master were to become active, he could also lure his past enemy to surface, killing many birds with one stone.

　　Li Changshou rubbed his chin and pondered for a while. When he saw that the fire in the cauldron was unstable, he casually threw a wisp of True Flames over.

　　Then he suddenly froze.

　　Did I… use my true strength, the True Samadhi Flames just now?

　　Crack, crack…

　　Boom!

　　The Pill Chamber trembled violently, and the roof was instantly sent flying!

　　After a while, Li Changshou, whose face was charred black, opened his mouth. He was speechless. He felt bitter in his heart.

　　Looking at the pile of metal lumps that looked like blooming lotus flowers, he thought about himself, the intense effort that he had put in to repair the Elixir Furnace…

　　Ha, hehe…

　　Indeed, it was faster to earn money by trading joss sticks and incense oil with the Western School…

　　“We solemnly promise that we will not produce incense. We are just porters for incense offerings…

　　“It’s really the Little Poor Peak. I’m even poorer now.”

　　Li Changshou was amused by himself. He smiled and shook his head. Then, he got up and started to pack up the ruined cauldron.

　　Fortunately, it was just a wisp of True Samadhi Flames. If he had thrown a mass of it, the Pill Chamber could have been razed to the ground and would have had to be rebuilt tomorrow.

　　…

　　At the place where the clouds in the sky disappeared, and the Immortal Island connected to the Cloud Galaxy Ring.

　　The Heavenly Courts, which had been established not long ago, were floating in the middle of the Central Deity Continent, suppressing the Primordial Destiny.

　　At present, the Heavenly Courts were somewhat deserted. The five Heavenly Gates that led to the five continents each had their own soldiers. However, the well-situated grounds of the Heavenly Courts and the NIne-layered Celestial Palace were barren.

　　If not for the fact that the Grand Pure One had created an incarnation to become the Grand Supreme Elder when the Heavenly Courts had just been established, and used this to protect the Heavenly Courts and the Jade Emperor…

　　Perhaps the huge Heavenly Court would have been captured by those ambitious old demons by now.

　　The Ninth-Heaven of the Heavenly Court’s Honorable Dao Sect was a Dao Cultivation Ground reserved for the Three Pure Ones. Immortal light could be seen in it, but there was only a small Dao Temple. It was the place where the Grand Pure One’s father cultivated daily.

　　The Lingxiao Treasure Hall was located on the 8th Heaven. It was magnificent and glorious, but it did not have much of a presence in the primordial times.

　　In the surroundings of the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, there were many garrisons. As the Jade Emperor’s Dao Ancestor, Hong Jun, who had been serving Lord of August Heaven Hao Tian for tens of thousands of years, he was obviously worried about his own safety.

　　Within the Seventh Heaven, there were many “departments of Foreign Affairs” of the Heavenly Courts, as well as the immortals’ residences. This was also the seat of the Tushita Palace.

　　On the 7th Heaven, in an inconspicuous corner, an elegant immortal palace was built on an immortal island. The immortal island floated in a sea of clouds…

　　The most eye-catching thing about this immortal palace was not its architectural style, but the red silks hanging everywhere.

　　Could it be, there was a marriage of immortals in the Heavenly Courts?

　　However, that was not the case. This was the place where the Heavenly Courts oversaw all weddings in the Three Realms. There was a plaque with gold and jade embedded on it.

　　[Marriages of Heaven and Earth]

　　Moon Elder’s palace.

　　[1] In Chinese mythology, the god of marriage and love is Yue Lao, or the “Moon Elder”. A divine matchmaker, he pairs up couples using a read thread.