Chapter 108: I'll Take the Merit, You Carry the Blame

Chapter 108: I'll Take the Merit, You Carry the Blame

"Thanks for the guidance, Brother Longevity!"

At the edge of the forest, with his horns on top of his head, the youthful figure of Ao Yi made a deep bow to Li Changshou.

He had just gone against his principles as a dragon by making such an excessive request to Brother Longevity...

Though it was a mutually beneficial arrangement, he couldn't deny his own selfish intentions, putting Brother Longevity in a difficult position.

Brother Longevity was constrained by the Taoist principles of Ren Jiao, and he pursued a reputation of tranquility and non-action. The matters of the South China Sea God Sect had to be kept secret and strictly confidential.

Even though Brother Longevity didn't directly express it, Ao Yi wasn't a foolish dragon; he could easily infer the situation.

Now, the South China Sea God Sect was gaining momentum, with witches serving as messengers, profound teachings being spread, and adept practitioners of Ren Jiao backing it!

The abundant merit was witnessed by Ao Yi himself and couldn't be faked.

What was the most lacking for the dragon clan now?

Merit!

In the distant ancient times, due to breaking the chaos, both the dragon and phoenix clans incurred boundless karma. The phoenix clan directly declined, and the dragon clan, with its strong reproductive capacity, used numerous treasures to suppress its fate and sacrificed countless lives to fill the Nine Polluted Springs of Heaven and Earth to barely survive...

During the ancient era, the dragon clan secretly formed positive connections with the emerging human tribes, becoming totems of some tribes, secretly accumulating some merit, which eased the situation for the dragon clan.

So, how important was merit and how dreadful was karma, the dragon clan understood deeply.

Though it was difficult to articulate earlier, Ao Yi had uttered the sentence:

"Brother Longevity, can I help with the South China Sea God Sect, become a guardian, and earn some merit to protect myself?"

In reality, Ao Yi wanted to earn some merit for the dragon clan on his own.

What surprised Ao Yi was...

Li Changshou quickly agreed.

But Ao Yi could tell that Li Changshou's agreement was somewhat reluctant. Ao Yi understood; after all, Li Changshou wasn't the actual decision-maker, just a proxy pushed forward.

Li Changshou must value their friendship to reluctantly agree, allowing Ao Yi to come to Anshui City half a month later...to listen.

Coincidentally, in this half month, he would return to the East Sea Dragon Palace to find his father king and have a good conversation with him.

Plan in the dragon, success in heaven!

Ao Yi was now full of enthusiasm. After expressing his gratitude, he bowed to Li Changshou several times.

Li Changshou returned the gestures, pondering for a moment, expressing his slight concerns...

Soon, Ao Yi made a solemn oath in person, chanting mantras, swearing never to reveal Li Changshou's connection to the South China Sea God Sect to any third party.

In this way, Li Changshou also felt a bit relieved.

And Ao Yi felt a burst of emotion...

This friend, he, Ao Yi, had made!

...

Watching the little dragon fly away on the clouds, Li Changshou shook his head lightly.

In the future, be a bit kinder to this secondary head of the sect.

Since he had joined the South China Sea God Sect, how could he let him just be a mere guardian?

Li Changshou had already arranged it almost, directly appointing Ao Yi as the second head of the South China Sea God Sect, also serving as the Guardian of the Azure Dragon!

Later, after sorting out the affairs of the sect and dealing with those messengers, he would place another statue of the second sect head next to each of his statues, directly giving half of the South China Sea God Sect's merit to the dragon clan!

If it weren't for the Heavenly Dao already recognizing him as the South China Sea God, he wouldn't be able to change the sect leader unless he destroyed the sect. So, Li Changshou wanted to follow the example of the ancient human tribe's ancestors and pass on the position of the sect leader of the South China Sea God Sect to a member of his own sect.

These merits couldn't be simply taken advantage of by the dragon clan.

Using earth escape techniques, Li Changshou began to get busy again.

The most critical step had been taken, and now it was up to the reaction of the dragon clan.

What was this event?

Originally, he came to destroy the South China Sea God Sect, but his plans were repeatedly disrupted. He found himself exposed due to the interference of various forces...

Li Changshou had considered the possible reactions of the Taoist sect and Ren Jiao if his identity as the South China Sea God were exposed, and whether he could cling to the Ren Jiao adept to defend against the schemes of the Western Jiao adept.

But after continuous calculations, the result was a dead end.

At the critical moment, Li Changshou reversed his thinking, seeking survival from desperation, turning the factors that were harmful to him into favorable conditions!

He actively accepted the South China Sea God, used his identity as a disciple of Ren Jiao, and his understanding of Ao Yi to involve the dragon clan. Then he used the dragon clan as a shield to withstand the pressure exerted by the Western Jiao in the future, attracting attention from all sides.

Next, Li Changshou would rectify the internal affairs of the South China Sea God Sect, repair the details of the teachings, improve the management structure of the messengers, strengthen self-supervision within the sect...

At the same time, he would make the dragon clan the best tool for displaying divinity and let them protect the believers, avoiding bloody conflicts among them.

This would solve the fundamental purpose of his trip to the South China Sea—avoiding the accumulation of karma.

The reward he gave to the dragon clan was the twenty percent of the merit taken by Ao Yi.

However one calculated it, Li Changshou wouldn't suffer any loss.

What the dragon clan needed most now was merit and fortune.

Li Changshou was sure that after Ao Yi returned to the East Sea Dragon Palace this time, although there would be some twists and turns, he would still return on time.

Moreover, there was a high probability that Ao Yi would bring dragon clan experts to station themselves on the edge of the South China Sea.

He only needed to do three more things to withdraw and let the South China Sea God Sect operate on its own—

Deal with the compliant messengers of the Bear Clan with drugs;

Find a way to conceal the appearance of his numerous statues;

Restrict the development of the South China Sea God Sect, allowing them to spread their teachings only along the coastal areas without touching the interests of the Taoist sect.

This was Li Changshou's first major initiative...

Or rather, he was forced to the edge of the cliff by these guys and had to take the risk of counterattack.

Prepare for the worst, fix the most details!

Li Changshou's paper clones rushed to the Bear Clan, using the only thing he could do through the statues at this moment—sending dreams.

Together with the drugs, he continuously displayed divinity within the Bear Clan, turning these mostly inbred fools into devout believers of the Sea God.

Would the witches of the Wu Clan pursue it?

What if they did?

The messengers of the Sea God Sect had improved the lives of these witches, giving them benefits too.

"Besides, this whole Sea God Cult was set up by these witch folks, and Li Changshou was just a 'victim'.

Two weeks flew by in a hurry.

Li Changshou was busy as a bee on the outskirts of the South Sea, and even had to secretly send over a batch of paper figurines because his immortal powers were draining too fast.

He racked his brains, planned the whole thing out, and tried to eliminate any loopholes.

Hard work pays off; in two weeks, most of the 1,700 idols had already been covered up, with the new ones intentionally blurring their faces.

——In the beginning, the cult needed clear faces to determine where the merits should go.

But by now, the South Sea Cult had developed to the point where revealing their true faces wasn't necessary anymore.

And Ouyi didn't let Li Changshou down. Initially, Ouyi brought back three hundred dragon soldiers and a few high-level immortals.

But Li Changshou secretly ordered the godsend to gather the followers again, to manifest once more, and declared Ouyi as the Second Master of the Cult, as well as the Grand Guardian of the Blue Dragon.

Ouyi was a bit dumbfounded. Afterwards, Li Changshou explained to Ouyi the reasons he had prepared long ago: the South Sea was remote, and Li Changshou couldn't usually pay much attention to it, so it might require more effort from the dragons, hence it was reasonable to give Ouyi more merits. Ouyi couldn't refuse, so he sent another message.

The dragons were suspicious of this matter, but their experts took turns to deduce the origins of the Cult's leader, and the conclusion they reached was... nothing found.

Yet Ouyi swore he had direct communication with the Cult's leader.

This must be a certain expert who inadvertently confirmed the details of the Cult's connection to the witch folks.

So, six experts and a thousand dragon soldiers were dispatched from the East Sea Dragon Palace to be stationed on the outskirts of the South Sea.

The strength of the South Sea Dragon Palace could also be deployed at any time.

Since Ouyi had to go back to Golden Turtle Island for cultivation and couldn't stay in the secular world for too long, Li Changshou allowed him to arrange a few dragon experts as the true dragon guardians of the South Sea Cult, which would also earn them a small amount of merits.

These guardians would patrol various places and protect the coastal territory and followers of the Sea God Cult.

Ouyi was full of enthusiasm, constantly planning the next steps for the Cult's propagation, aiming to expand it in the next thirty years and spread it along the coast in the next three hundred years!

As for Xiongzhai, Li Changshou and Ouyi had also discussed it in detail and reminded Ouyi not to get too involved with Xiongzhai.

At this moment, Ouyi couldn't be said to be completely obedient to Li Changshou, but he was also very grateful and trusting.

He no longer called him 'Elder Changshou', but changed to 'Brother Master of the Cult'...

Nothing else, just to feel closer!

Li Changshou retained the right to tease him at any time, and he was grateful that he was only the Brother Master of the Cult and not the 'Brother Master'.

Although he could now leave this place, how could Li Changshou really feel at ease?

He continued to secretly scheme, and after three months, most of the paper figurines had exhausted their immortal powers and were destroyed on the spot by Li Changshou.

He left two paper figurines on the outskirts of the South Sea for emergencies. At this point, Li Changshou's basic idea was also considered accomplished.

He took the merits while letting the dragons bear the blame, and it was the dragons who actively proposed to join the cult, owing him a cause and effect that would be repaid by the dragons in the future.

——Of course, Li Changshou wouldn't do such a thing, it was just cooperation and mutual benefit.

The Sea God Cult was also on the right track, the practice of collecting money within the cult was stopped, and the Xiongzhai godsend was also named after the Sea God.

With the continuous manifestation of the true dragons protecting the followers, the number of followers increased rapidly every day.

However, Li Changshou still couldn't completely relax, and continued to plan for several months, anticipating possible problems and preparing for contingencies...

Six months later. Li Changshou finally came out of the underground secret room and decided to tell his master and senior sister that the problem had been temporarily resolved and there was no need to worry too much.

However, as soon as he saw Linge, he startled her.

"What happened to you, senior brother! Why do you look so haggard!"

In the grass hut, Linge quickly put down her needlework and got up to greet him, looking worriedly at Li Changshou's somewhat exhausted face.

What happened?

Busy with major events for half a year, deducing the grand trend of the world for so long, and mental fatigue took its toll.

After all, all this involved the existence of sages and grand immortals...

Li Changshou yawned, holding two paper figurines in his hand, and floated to the side of his senior sister's bed, lying down.

"I'll rest here for a while to recuperate, sister, please watch over me, and tell Master later that everything is fine for the time being, so he doesn't need to worry..."

With that, he closed his eyes to rest, still leaving a part of his mind active and alert.

Linge blinked gently, her senior brother... voluntarily got on her bed...

"It's good that everything's resolved, senior brother, you lie down."

Linge said softly, slowly walking forward, and lifted her senior brother's legs hanging outside the bed into the bed.

Looking down at Li Changshou's tired face, Linge pursed her lips, with a hint of pity in her eyes...

But, pity aside, how could she miss such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

Linge licked her lips, her plan started in her mind, evil thoughts taking root in her heart.

She quietly went behind the screen and took out the set of light and thin gauze skirts she had previously worn, revealing her snow-white skin.

She dared not do anything directly to her senior brother; but while her senior brother was asleep, she could hide beside him, and then secretly remind Master to come over and catch them in the act...

As long as she asked Master to make a decision, her marriage to her senior brother would be settled...

She had long planned this, but her senior brother had never shown a flaw.

Today...

A rare opportunity, a perfect match, and a perfect marriage! She had to seize it in one fell swoop...

"Is there any disciple of Xiaojiongfeng who has not yet closed the door? I am the disciple responsible for guarding the mountain gate today, and there are people outside the mountain gate looking for someone from Xiaojiongfeng."

A shout came from outside, and a figure had already broken through the outer defensive array.

And Li Changshou, who was now sitting up on the bed, opened his eyes slowly.

Huh!

The screen was punched through by a small fist.

"What's wrong?"

Li Changshou asked with a yawn.

"N-nothing, just... killing mosquitoes!"

Mosquitoes?

Li Changshou shivered, no longer feeling sleepy.