Chapter Fifty-Seven "Merits"
What's going on here?
Because Li Changshou's divine sense was disturbed by the treasure light from the north, Li Changshou's paper avatar and others approached the village, hiding in the treetops of a large tree, and only then could they observe the situation inside the village.
Hundreds of villagers were gathered near the village gate, where a stage was set up, and several figures in Daoist robes were dancing on it.
Someone is preaching here...
Upon closer inspection of the source of the treasure light, it turned out to be a mud statue behind these "preachers."
Li Changshou smirked inwardly, and the middle-aged man formed by the paper avatar jumped down from the treetops and was about to leave immediately.
He thought something valuable was happening and wanted to take advantage of it.
Nowadays, there aren't many treasures to be found...
If such preaching events happened outside of the Southern Mangrove Continent, it was probably just propaganda activities conducted by major sects to recruit disciples.
But if it happened within the Southern Mangrove Continent, it was either to scam money or collect merit for incense offerings.
This kind of thing was not uncommon.
The cultivation bases displayed by the preaching figures were all at the Nascent Divinity Realm, third or fourth stage.
The old Daoist guarding the three-foot-tall mud statue exhibited a cultivation base nearing the pinnacle of the Returning Void Realm, almost reaching the Reversion Realm...
In short, it had nothing to do with him.
The paper avatar formed hand seals and began to use Earth Concealment from behind the tree, while a chanting sound of scripture drifted into the paper avatar's ears and Li Changshou's mind:
"...With great vows to attain the supreme Dao, I vow to achieve enlightenment in the Western Pure Land..."
The Western teachings?
The paper avatar's hand seals became faster, and as soon as ripples appeared on the ground in front of him, the paper avatar couldn't wait to dive into them.
At the same time, Li Changshou's main body on the deserted island also stood up, transforming into a fish and swimming straight eastward.
The Western teachings were a big cause and effect. Why wait here?
Unexpectedly, this was still the southwest of the Southern Mangrove Continent, far away from the Xiniuhe Prefecture. However, the Western teachings had already extended their tentacles to this place.
But just as Li Changshou was about to flee, his divine sense suddenly detected something unusual in the southeast direction, within the sea.
About eight hundred miles away, there was a dense demonic aura moving toward the direction where the treasure light was shining...
Li Changshou immediately stopped his movement and dived to the bottom of the sea, concealing his traces with all his strength. He also stopped the paper avatar, which was still moving underground, and kept it motionless.
Was a sea demon attracted by the treasure light in the village?
This was not a good sign.
After careful observation, the cultivation base of the sea demon was equivalent to an early-stage True Immortal in the Cultivation Realm. Its body, enveloped in demonic energy, resembled a strange-looking giant fish, somewhat similar to a manta ray but much larger in size, reaching over a hundred zhang in length and width.
Considering that the opponent might be concealing their cultivation, a conservative estimate would place them at the late-stage True Immortal Realm.
Under the dense demonic aura, strands of blood-red light still surrounded the sea demon's body, like flames.
This was a sign of its extreme wickedness, with severe karma already manifesting.
Li Changshou's heart pounded.
Of course, he didn't have any special fondness for such bizarre creatures; he was purely interested in the karmic power emanating from the sea demon's body.
By eliminating such thick karma, he could earn a lot of merit!
Should he take the opportunity to kill this sea demon?
Li Changshou pondered quickly.
After becoming an immortal, his foundation was too weak, and he didn't have many treasures either.
Merit was a good thing and quite rare; if he secluded himself in the mountain gate and didn't do anything beneficial for the stability of the heavens and the earth, he wouldn't gain even a bit of merit for hundreds of years.
If he were a ruthless person with the goal of proving the Dao through strength, he would avoid being blessed by merit to ensure that he wouldn't be affected by the heavenly Dao later on.
But Li Changshou didn't have such lofty ideals; his concerns were practical.
—With more merit to protect himself, his safety factor would also be higher.
If he could obtain great merit in the future, he wouldn't cultivate treasures like the others. Instead, he would first create a merit golden body!
With a merit golden body, it would be equivalent to a pass to escape death. Even if he encountered a sage who wanted to attack him forcibly, they would hesitate whether they would lose several times more merit than the power of the merit golden body.
Of course, creating a merit golden body was extremely difficult and required a huge amount of merit power.
As of now, with the heavenly Dao approaching perfection, opportunities to obtain great merit were rare.
Going to the heavenly court might provide more opportunities to earn merit; Li Changshou had considered this matter before.
But first things first.
Killing this sea demon would undoubtedly earn him a considerable amount of merit; as the saying goes, even a mountain is made of tiny grains of sand, and a sea is formed by drops of water. All things must start somewhere.
As for getting involved with the demon race...
The human race and the demon race were natural enemies, and even if he treated the demon race kindly, if he fell into the hands of a powerful demon, he would only end up being thrown into a pot of oil.
There was no need to be polite to the demon race at all.
But if he considered that the opponent might be concealing their cultivation and that he might have to bear some slight risks...
This was the South Sea, not a gathering place for demons. Within a radius of two thousand miles, there was only the demonic aura of this sea demon, with sporadic minor demons on some islands...
Now that he could use Water Concealment and Earth Concealment and travel a hundred thousand miles a day, he could kill this thing and immediately run away to hide in the mundane world without fear of retaliation from other demon races...
Moreover, if he had the ability to stop this big fish demon from killing its own kind while ensuring his own safety, it wouldn't be right to just watch it.
After all, he had lived two lives...
Although Li Changshou held a reserved attitude toward the creatures in the Bear Village, whether they were of the same kind.
...
Approaching with a try-it-out attitude, Li Changshou invoked the Water Escape Technique, moving ten times faster than the demon ahead, silently rushing to a sea area hundreds of miles away from the shore.
Apart from the three major sects, most of the escapement methods in the Primordial World are quite difficult to find.
Moreover, among the group of cultivators nowadays, there is a prevailing trend of valuing treasures over techniques, causing many to underestimate the usefulness of escapement techniques.
Calculating the route the demon ahead is taking, Li Changshou flicked his sleeve, and six paper figures flew out, transforming into men and women with different appearances, shapes, and auras.
The six paper figures immediately got busy underwater, quietly arranging traps suitable for activation in the water.
The Treasure Umbrella is temporarily useless, as it has not yet completed its upgrade.
Li Changshou then went towards the shore, joining the paper figures hidden underground, retracting them, and then finding a tree-lined area near the sea to hide.
Closing his eyes, focusing, every movement within hundreds of miles entered his heart.
Moments later, towering waves surged on the sea surface hundreds of miles away!
A circular formation appeared on the sea surface, directly trapping the huge waves!
The hundred-meter-long demon ahead failed to detect the ambush ahead and charged straight into the temporary trap set up, realizing the situation was amiss, it immediately began to frantically struggle!
The six paper figures split up and appeared from various directions, rushing to the demon's side and sprinkling several bottles of poisonous powder, adhering to the demon's body with immortal power.
In an instant, the seawater around the demon became turbid, and its body was rapidly corroded in various places, its demon soul also suffered heavy damage!
"Who... are you!"
This time, Li Changshou used the last two bottles of Superb Soft Immortal Powder...
Although this demon's cultivation level is higher, its resistance to medicine is obviously not as good as the East Sea Dragon Palace's Second Prince encountered before, its movements immediately became extremely sluggish.
Li Changshou's spirit was highly tense;
With the poisonous powder scattered by the six paper figures, each holding a magic sword, rushing to the demon's side, symbols connected by immortal light also appeared in the seawater;
The Sword Formation and the Samadhi True Flame simultaneously exerted their power!
The Symbol Formation was like chains, locking the demon from all directions, the power of the Symbol Formation erupted, sealing, electrocuting, freezing, and roasting...
The demon, which had been corroded by the poison powder by more than half, had no defense left at this moment.
The six immortal swords enveloped by the Samadhi True Flame swept across, immediately leaving six intersecting cracks on the demon's body!
Streams of Samadhi True Flame penetrated into the cracks, using the demon's essence, energy, and spirit as fuel, the flames burned fiercely!
The great fire enveloped the demon in the sea in an instant, but it couldn't emit any screams...
In the trees on the coast, Li Changshou clenched his left hand into a fist, and the six paper figures each held a fire sword, rushing into the demon's body from various places.
Inside the formation wall, within the seawater, flames surged!
Columns of water spouted up from the sea surface, several pieces of remnants enveloped by the Samadhi True Flame shot into the sky, with the demon souls chained in mid-air by the long chains of the Symbol Formation, they were directly engulfed by the surging Samadhi True Flame!
Li Changshou performed the Five Elements Escapement Technique, seamlessly transitioning from Wood Escapement to Earth Escapement to Water Escapement, rushing towards the location of the trap.
When he arrived at the formation, three paper figures were sitting on the sea surface, reciting sutras, chanting the Rebirth Mantra, and praying for disaster avoidance;
The three paper figures were dealing with the remaining poison powder in the seawater, inhaling the polluted seawater and the undying flames into their bodies, to be recovered later.
The Samadhi True Flame was indeed fierce, in the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the huge body of the demon had turned into a pile of ashes on the sea surface...
Li Changshou emerged from the water, suddenly thinking of a problem in his heart.
The power of the Samadhi True Flame is too strong, if he needs to use it for alchemy in the future or if someone suddenly asks him about his cultivation of the Samadhi True Flame, wouldn't that be...
This Samadhi True Flame should be considered how to reduce its power; It would be best if its power could be controlled and adjusted at will.
Li Changshou threw out the Soul-Capturing Bead, flicked his sleeve, and the pile of ashes and seawater were captured in his palm, forming a water ball, which he threw into the air and gently exploded.
Unexpectedly, there was a slight sense of relief...
As the chanting continued, Li Changshou grasped the Soul-Capturing Bead and examined the remaining memory fragments inside.
Hmm, this demon was indeed not from the South Sea, it originally lived in the West Sea...
There were no powerful figures in its ancestry, and the deep-sea demon race has never been able to rise due to the lack of luck...
A ray of golden light suddenly flew up from the sea surface and entered Li Changshou's arm;
A slight understanding suddenly emerged in Li Changshou's heart, feeling a sense of protection in his own Tao, and his path to seeking longevity seemed to have become slightly smoother.
This is merit.
Roughly estimating, after killing millions of these deeply sinful demons, he could condense a golden body of merit...
Or maybe it's better to forget about it and stay at home in the mountains.
"Hmm?"
Li Changshou frowned, seeing something strange in the memory fragments of this thing.
Sneak into villages, pretend to be repelled by clay statues, return to the sea to lurk...
And then sneak into other villages, pretend to be repelled by clay statues, return to the sea to lurk...
Li Changshou couldn't help but twitch his mouth slightly, just as the chanting ended, he immediately packed up the paper figures, magical treasures, and treasure bags;
Without bothering to retrieve the formation base, he hastily destroyed the large formation here, cast a mirage spell, and madly activated the Water Escape Technique towards the east.
This demon is from the Western Teaching!
It's the same group as those who preached in Bear Village!
They first propagated the essence of the Western Teaching there, then let the demon sneak over to attack, and then used clay statues to pretend to repel the demon and show 'miracles', thereby gaining a group of loyal followers and providing incense offerings for the Western Teaching!
This plan, if described as despicable, is definitely despicable, but Li Changshou doesn't have so much sense of justice to expose this matter, and he really doesn't want to have any dealings with the Western Teaching.
The two Western Saints love to proselytize towards the west and are also planning for godhood;
Before and after the calamity of godhood, many unnecessary conflicts between the Daoist sects were plotted behind the scenes by these two saints!
And after the godhood, Laozi turned the Hu people into Buddhists with one hand and forced the Western Teaching to become the Mahayana Buddhist gate...
This is a contest of teaching fortune, involving the five saints!
The Great Luo Golden Immortal is just a pawn casually manipulated by the saints in this game, not to mention him as a newly ascended little immortal.
Can't afford to provoke, can't afford to provoke, quickly slip away, quickly slip away.
Flying like the wind, Li Changshou alternated between Water Escape and Earth Escape towards the east;
Originally, he thought that traveling a hundred thousand miles a day was already the limit, but he didn't expect that he would run out of a hundred thousand miles in half a day.
Potential is something that can still scare people.
Onshore, covertly, finding a place to touch up his appearance, disguising both physical and magical means;
This time, Li Changshou transformed into a weak scholar and headed towards the northeast.
Holding the Soul-Capturing Bead hidden in his sleeve, Li Changshou carefully observed the scattered memories of this demon.
Before long, he really found some more useful information; Moreover, he even heard the words "Degree Immortal Sect" in a topic related to the three Daoist sects, which was mentioned by others to this demon...
...
When Li Changshou escaped fifty or sixty thousand miles away.
At the gate of Bear Village, a group of burly men and women were bored to death, yawning incessantly, watching the few people jumping around on the platform.
These several Qi cultivators were also somewhat puzzled, constantly exchanging glances.
According to reason, shouldn't their boss show up by now? Why is there still no movement?
Did the boss oversleep? Did he get the wrong place?
The prayer dance had been performed three times, and the simple villagers below were already tired of watching.
"Cough!"
The old Daoist coughed lightly, stopped chanting, first swayed his head, and then shouted in a strange tone:
"Believing in the venerable god, you can gain the protection of the god, swords and spears will not harm you, water and fire will not invade you! Wang Cai, come and demonstrate for everyone."
The selected young man immediately agreed, secretly pasting a talisman on himself, kneeling and bowing before the clay statue, a golden light appearing on his chest and back.
This talisman is called the Vajra Talisman, which is considered a relatively basic talisman, naturally resisting mundane weapons is no problem.
However, when the young disciple took a step forward, just about to go through the 'procedure' and call for one or two people to come up and cut him with a knife; But as far as his eyes could see, his thoughts suddenly rose, and his heart's intuition was pounding, madly warning him.
Looking at the scene filled with many unnaturally strong humanoid creatures, Wang Cai's entire person was gradually engulfed by shadows, and his mouth twitched a few times.
Suddenly, he found a girl with swollen eyes and a cute look behind the crowd, his heart rejoiced, and he pointed at the girl and said:
"This girl, can you come up and try, can you beat me?"
"Huh? Oh." Xiong Lingli raised her head and glanced, wiped her teary eyes, her little face was particularly pitiful.
But as soon as she squeezed out of the crowd, Wang Cai's legs couldn't help but tremble.
This... This girl... "Are you really going to hit you?" Xiong Lingli asked softly.
"Yes, yes." Wang Cai turned his head to look at the second-in-command of the team, the old Daoist glared at him, so Wang Cai had to agree like this, constantly telling himself in his heart: This little girl is just a bit stronger, she's just a mortal; Yes, she's just a mortal.
We are Qi cultivators, we... shouldn't be afraid.