Chapter 57: Merit

What’s going on?

Due to his spiritual sense being disturbed by a shining light from the north, Li Changshou’s paper effigies approached the village. Hiding in the treetop of a large tree, they finally managed to observe the situation inside.

Hundreds of villagers had gathered near the village gate, where a stage was set up. Several figures in Taoist robes were leaping and dancing on it.

Someone was preaching here...

Li Changshou realized the shining light was actually coming from a clay statue behind these 'preachers'. He chuckled inwardly as the paper effigy, now in the form of a middle-aged man, jumped down from the treetop, ready to leave immediately.

He had thought some treasure had appeared, hoping to find an unexpected gain. But in this day and age, where could one find so many treasures to pick up?

If this kind of preaching happened outside the Southern Continent, it would likely be a promotional event by major sects to recruit disciples. However, if it was within the Southern Continent, it was either to swindle money or to accumulate karmic merit from offerings. Such occurrences were not uncommon.

The cultivation levels displayed by those preachers were all at the third or fourth stage of the Transcendent God realm. The old Taoist guarding the three-foot-tall clay statue showed cultivation at the peak of the Return to Void realm, approaching the Return to Dao realm.

In any case, it was none of his business.

The paper effigy formed hand seals, hid behind the tree, and began to use the Earth Escape technique. A chant of scriptures drifted on the wind, reaching the paper effigy’s ears and Li Changshou’s mind.

He heard the scripture chanting: "...may the great vow attain the supreme path, granting the West to bear bodhi..."

The Western Sect?

The paper effigy formed hand seals even faster. As soon as slight ripples appeared on the ground in front of it, the effigy impatiently burrowed in, fleeing more hastily than before.

At the same time, Li Changshou’s true body on the deserted island also stood up, used a shapeshifting spell to transform into a swimming fish, and headed straight east.

The Western Sect was a source of great karma; why stay here and wait instead of fleeing? Unexpectedly, this was still the southwestern part of the Southern Continent, very far from the Western Ox Continent, yet the Western Sect had already extended its reach here to collect offerings.

However, just as Li Changshou was about to escape, his spiritual sense suddenly detected something unusual in the seawater to the southeast. About eight hundred li away, a dense aura of demonic energy was swimming towards the direction of the shining light.

Li Changshou immediately stopped, descended to the seabed, and fully concealed his presence. He also halted the paper effigy still moving underground, leaving it motionless there.

A great sea demon attracted by the village’s light? This was not a good sign.

After observing for a while, this great sea demon’s cultivation was equivalent to a spirit cultivator in the early True Immortal realm. Its body, enveloped by demonic energy, was a peculiar-looking large fish, somewhat resembling a manta ray, but with a more massive body, over a hundred zhang in both length and width.

If considering it might be concealing its cultivation, a conservative estimate would place it at the late True Immortal realm. Beneath the dense demonic energy, tendrils of bloody light, like flames, coiled around the creature. This was a sign of its extreme malevolence, indicating heavy slaughter and visible karmic debt.

Li Changshou’s heart stirred. Of course, he didn’t have any special fondness for such strange-looking creatures; he was purely interested in the karmic power on this great demon. Clearing such dense karmic debt would earn a good amount of merit!

Should he kill this great demon while he was at it? Li Changshou’s mind raced.

After becoming an immortal, his foundation was too weak, and he didn’t have many treasures. Merit was a good thing, and quite rare. If he just stayed in the sect practicing, without doing good deeds beneficial to the stability of the world, he wouldn’t gain a single bit in hundreds of years.

If one was a ruthless individual solely focused on proving the Dao through strength, they would avoid being blessed by merit to ensure they weren’t influenced by the Heavenly Dao later on. But Li Changshou didn’t have such lofty ideals; his considerations were very practical: if he had more merit protecting him, his safety factor would also be higher.

If he could obtain great merit in the future, he wouldn’t follow the example of other great cultivators in cultivating magical treasures; he would definitely first aim for a Golden Body of Merit! With a Golden Body of Merit, it would be like a death-exemption token; no matter what calamity he encountered, he wouldn’t have to fear too much.

By then, even a Saint would hesitate to forcefully strike him, considering whether it would cost them several times the merit power of the Golden Body of Merit. Of course, a Golden Body of Merit was extremely difficult to forge, requiring immense merit power. By now, the Heavenly Dao was nearing perfection, and opportunities to gain great merit were few.

Going to the Heavenly Court might offer more chances to earn merit; Li Changshou had considered this before. But first, the matter at hand. Eliminating this great demon would undoubtedly bring a good amount of merit.

As the saying goes, 'grains of sand make a mountain, drops of water make an ocean'; everything must start somewhere. As for getting entangled in karma with the demon race, humans and demons were natural enemies. Even if he were polite to demons, if he ever fell into the hands of a demon master, he would only end up in a boiling oil pot. There was no need to be polite to demons.

However, if considering the opponent might be concealing its cultivation, he would also have to bear a slight risk. This was the South Sea, not a gathering place for demons. Within a two-thousand-li radius, there was only this one great demon’s aura, and a few scattered small demons on an island.

Now that his Water Escape and Earth Escape were perfected, traveling a hundred thousand li a day was effortless. If he killed this creature, he could immediately flee to the mortal world to hide, without fear of retaliation from other demons. Moreover, if he had the ability to stop it while ensuring his own safety, but simply watched this great fish demon go kill its own kind, it would be a bit unreasonable. After all, he had lived two lives... although Li Changshou had reservations about whether the creatures in Bear Village were 'his kind'.

With a try-it-and-see attitude, Li Changshou employed his Water Escape, moving dozens of times faster than the great demon, silently rushing to an area of the sea a hundred li from the shore. Aside from the three great immortal sects, most escape techniques in the Primordial World were difficult to find. Moreover, among spirit cultivators today, there was a prevalent trend of valuing treasures over techniques, causing many to underestimate the usefulness of escape techniques.

Calculating the great demon’s projected path, Li Changshou flicked his sleeve, and six paper effigies flew out, transforming into men and women of various appearances, builds, and auras. The six paper effigies immediately became busy at the seabed, quietly setting up a suitable trapping array for use underwater. The treasure umbrella was temporarily unusable, as its upgrade wasn’t complete.

Li Changshou, meanwhile, escaped towards the shore, regrouped with the paper effigy hidden underground, put it away, and then found a coastal forest to hide in. He closed his eyes, concentrated, and every rustle within several hundred li entered his mind.

A moment later, towering waves surged on the sea surface a hundred li away! A circular grand array appeared on the sea surface, directly trapping the colossal waves! The hundred-meter-long great demon, unaware of the ambush ahead, crashed directly into the temporarily deployed trapping array. Realizing something was wrong, it immediately began to ram wildly!

The six paper effigy clones appeared from various locations, rushed around the great demon, and each scattered several bottles of poisonous powder, adhering them to the demon’s body with immortal power. In an instant, the seawater around the great demon became terribly murky, the demon’s entire body was rapidly corroded, and its demonic soul suffered heavy damage!

"You are! Who... are you..."

This time, Li Changshou deployed his last two bottles of supreme-grade Immortal-Softening Powder. Although this great demon had a higher cultivation realm, its resistance to the poison was clearly inferior to that of the Second Prince of the East Sea Dragon Palace he had encountered before, and its movements immediately became incredibly sluggish.

Li Changshou’s nerves were highly strung. Once the six paper effigy clones had finished scattering their poison powder, they each held precious swords and charged forward in a cross formation. Talismans, connected by immortal light, also appeared in the seawater. The sword array and the Samadhi True Fire unleashed their power simultaneously!

The talisman array, like chains, locked down the great demon from all sides. The array’s power erupted, sealing, electrocuting, freezing, charcoal-grilling... The demon’s body, already largely corroded by the poisonous powder, now had little defensive power left.

Six immortal swords, enveloped in Samadhi True Fire, slashed across, immediately creating six intersecting cracks on the great demon’s body! Streams of Samadhi True Fire burrowed into the cracks, using the demon’s essence, qi, and spirit as fuel, igniting a raging inferno! The great fire instantly enveloped the demon in the sea, but the latter couldn’t let out any screams.

In the trees on the coast, Li Changshou clenched his left fist. The six paper effigy clones, each wielding a fiery sword, plunged into various parts of the demon’s body. Inside the array wall, in the seawater, flames surged! Water columns erupted from the sea surface, and several fragments of the demon’s body, enveloped in Samadhi True Fire, shot into the sky. Its demonic soul, chained mid-air by the talisman array, was then directly engulfed by the surging Samadhi True Fire!

Li Changshou used the Five Elements Escape technique, seamlessly transitioning from Wood Escape to Earth Escape to Water Escape, and rushed towards the location of the trapping array. By the time he arrived at the array, three paper effigies were seated on the sea surface, chanting scriptures for salvation, rebirth, and disaster relief. Three other paper effigies were dealing with the residual poisonous powder in the seawater, sucking the polluted water and the inextinguishable flames into their mouths for later retrieval.

This Samadhi True Fire was truly fierce; in the time it took to brew a cup of tea, the great demon’s massive body was reduced to nothing but a pile of ashes on the sea surface.

Li Changshou surfaced, and a question suddenly came to mind. The Samadhi True Fire was too powerful. If he needed to use it for alchemy within the sect, or if someone suddenly asked him about his Samadhi True Fire cultivation, wouldn’t it be awkward? He should figure out how to reduce the power of this true fire. Ideally, its power should be controllable, adjustable at will.

Li Changshou tossed out a Soul-Devouring Orb, and with a flick of his sleeve, the ashes and seawater were drawn into his palm, formed into a water sphere, thrown into the air, and gently dispersed. Unexpectedly, it felt a little satisfying...

The chanting continued. Li Changshou held the Soul-Devouring Orb, examining the memory fragments within. 'Hmm, this great demon indeed wasn’t from the South Sea; it originally lived in the West Sea. Its ancestors weren’t particularly powerful. Deep-sea demons, lacking fortune, had always struggled to rise. This fish demon had killed countless beings; it was impossible to count how many fishermen had perished at its hands. Killing it was acting on behalf of Heaven.'

A wisp of golden light suddenly flew up from the sea surface and entered Li Changshou’s arm. Li Changshou’s heart suddenly filled with a slight understanding, feeling that his path had gained some protection, and his quest for immortality seemed to have become a little smoother. This was merit.

Roughly estimating, he would probably need to kill several million such demons with heavy karmic debt to forge a Golden Body of Merit. 'Or maybe, forget it,' he thought. 'Staying in the mountains and not going out is pretty good.'

'Hmm?' Li Changshou frowned, seeing something strange in the creature’s memory fragments: attacking villages, pretending to be repelled by the clay statue, then returning to the sea to hide. And then attacking other villages, pretending to be repelled by the clay statue, then returning to the sea to hide.

Li Changshou couldn’t help but twitch his lips. As soon as the chanting ended, he immediately gathered his paper effigies, magical treasures, and treasure bags. He didn’t even bother to retrieve the array foundations, hastily destroyed the grand array, cast illusion spells and shapeshifting techniques, and frantically used Water Escape towards the east.

This great demon belonged to the Western Sect! It was allied with those who were preaching in Bear Village! They would first promote the essence of the Western Sect there, then wait for the great demon to attack, then use the clay statue to pretend to repel the demon, displaying a 'miracle' to gain a group of loyal followers, providing offerings to the Western Sect!

This scheme was undoubtedly despicable, but Li Changshou didn’t have enough sense of justice to expose it, and truly did not want any involvement with the Western Sect. The Two Western Saints loved to guide people to the West and were also plotting for the Investiture of the Gods. Before and after the Investiture of the Gods calamity, many unnecessary conflicts within the Taoist sects bore the shadow of these two Saints’ behind-the-scenes machinations!

And after the Investiture of the Gods, Laozi transformed barbarians into Buddhas, forcing the Western Sect to become Mahayana Buddhism. This was a struggle over sectarian fortunes, involving five Saints! Even a Daluo Golden Immortal was just a pawn casually moved by Saints in this game, let alone a minor immortal who had just passed his tribulation. 'Can't afford to mess with them, better run, better run,' he thought.

Like lightning, Li Changshou alternated between Water Escape and Earth Escape, heading east. He had originally thought that traveling a hundred thousand li a day was his limit, but unexpectedly, he had covered a hundred thousand li in half a day. Potential, it seems, truly emerges when you’re scared.

He went ashore, concealed himself, found a place to 'touch up his makeup', and completed his physical and magical disguises. This time, Li Changshou transformed into a frail scholar and hurried northeast.

His right hand, hidden in his sleeve, gripped the Soul-Devouring Orb, as Li Changshou meticulously examined the scattered memories of the great demon. Before long, he indeed found some more useful information. He even heard the words 'Immortal Ascension Gate,' mentioned by someone else to the great demon during a conversation about the Three Sects of Immortals.

***

When Li Changshou had fled five or six hundred thousand li away, at the Bear Village gate, a group of burly men and women were bored, yawning constantly, watching the figures on the stage jump around. The cultivators themselves were also puzzled, constantly exchanging glances. Logically, their boss should have appeared by now. Why was there no movement? Did the boss oversleep? Or go to the wrong place?

This prayer dance had been performed three times already, and the simple villagers below were getting bored.

"Cough!" The old Taoist lightly coughed, stopped chanting, then swayed his head and shouted in a peculiar tone: "Believe in the revered deity, and you shall receive the deity's protection, becoming invulnerable to blades and spears, and unharmed by water and fire! Wang Cai, come, demonstrate for everyone."

The chosen young man immediately responded, secretly applying a talisman to himself. He then knelt respectfully before the clay statue, lit incense, and golden light appeared on his chest and back. This talisman was called the Vajra Talisman, a relatively low-level talisman, easily able to withstand mortal weapons.

However, as the young disciple stepped forward half a pace, just about to follow 'procedure' and call one or two people to come up and slash him with knives, his spiritual intuition began to thump wildly, issuing frantic warnings.

Looking at the entire field filled with absurdly strong humanoid creatures, Wang Cai gradually felt swallowed by shadow, his mouth twitching several times. Suddenly, he spotted a cute-looking little girl with swollen eyes behind the crowd. His heart brightened, and he pointed at the girl, saying: "Young lady, would you mind coming up to test if you can hurt me?"

"Huh? Oh." Xiong Lingli looked up, wiped her blurry, tear-filled eyes, her small face particularly endearing. But the moment she squeezed out of the crowd, Wang Cai’s legs couldn’t help but tremble.

"This... this one..."

"Do I really have to hit you?" Xiong Lingli asked softly.

"Yes, yes." Wang Cai turned his head to look at the team’s second-in-command, the old Taoist, who glared at him. Wang Cai could only agree, repeatedly telling himself: "This little girl is just a bit strong, but she’s still mortal; yes, she’s just mortal. We are cultivators, we... won’t be afraid."