Distracted Spirit and Alternate Body

Light dimmed within the hall. A ritual lamp beside it had been stoked three times, warming the whole great hall like a furnace, yet the old man on the couch remained damp and cold. Half-asleep, half-awake, he had lain there for three months, until suddenly he remembered that he did not bear the surname Li. “Back then, Father was called Ye Chengfu.” When Father was still called Ye Chengfu, days were always rushed, as if he plied a trade at the village entrance, but work was scarce, so he hired out to work in other people’s homes. Occasionally he carried back a large sack of rice, beans, and wheat, stepping proudly through the door and calling himself the third clever person of Lijing Village. Li Qiuyang no longer remembered clearly. If he himself could break through Foundation Establishment, he should be able to recall more. The old man lifted his head. Beside him, Sun Bai was applying medicine to his lips, using Jiao Wood spiritual resources and mana to nourish the [Lip]—this Combined Fire symbol of the gateway of appetite—hoping he might cling to a few more breaths. This was already the helpless measure of drinking poison to quench thirst. The old man stared blankly at the ceiling and asked weakly and faintly: “Xuan… Xuan…” The white-haired old man beside him coughed twice, his upright body bending forward, tears filling those drooping eyes, and answered: “Wait… wait a little longer.” Li Qiuyang indeed remembered little, but he still remembered kneeling before that old man when small, receiving the [Qingyuan Wheel Cultivation Method]. Li Mutian had instructed him to revere the clan and the Way, honor relatives and be harmonious with kin, and thus he began to bear the surname Li. With this acceptance, Li Qiuyang’s status had been elevated for one hundred and sixty-five years. Now on Lake Wangyue, even Foundation Establishment cultivators were courteous to him. “Ancestor… Sir has arrived, Sir has arrived!” In a daze, a gentle breeze reached the pillowside. Li Qiuyang struggled to open his eyes, and what met his sight was again an old face. Li Xuanxuan was older than Chen Donghe beside him, practically beyond description, but his spirit was still present, his face full of tears. “Qiuyang… old friend, now you are leaving too…” Li Qiuyang struggled for a while but could not turn over. If not for a Jiao Wood Foundation Establishment cultivator clinging to his life, he should have gone long ago. Li Xuanxuan had run a shop in the Xiao family market when young and served as a shopkeeper. Li Qiuyang and he had escaped with their lives together during the demon raid. Now the Li clan juniors could no longer understand that fear of being tossed by wind and rain, alone and unsupported. Moreover, old friends had perished; the two embraced each other for warmth, and their bond was deep. The Li Qiuyang of old was gone. The old man lying in bed was like a piece of rotten flesh. Combined Fire harmed the body and injured life; that Combined Fire had burned away his body, later mended, but the damage to his foundation and lifespan could not be restored. Li Xuanxuan could hardly make out his appearance anymore, only seeing two cloudy pupils within skin and flesh. Li Xuanxuan was grief-stricken in his heart, and a fear-like loneliness surged up. He bowed his head and said: “Qiuyang… Qiuyang… what is there that you cannot let go of?” The old man on the bed exhaled twice, showing no reaction. Li Qiuyang’s talent was not poor. That spirit fruit of old had helped him cultivate swiftly, but it also ruined his hopes of Qi Refining, leaving him to cultivate only miscellaneous qi. Yet none of his many descendant lines could achieve anything. Over a hundred years had passed, and no one had surpassed him. Li Qiuyang struggled to move his eyes, staring at Li Xuanxuan. He actually knew this elder of the main house had many secrets, and he also knew he had never truly entered the upper echelons of the Li clan—much less Chen Yang, who had become Foundation Establishment with outstanding talent; could he get in? The so-called Qingdu bloodline was merely a joke. Yet he had held Li Yuanxiu, held the horse’s reins for Li Xiangping, drunk tea with Li Xuanfeng, led Chen Mufeng through Lixia Commandery. The moon set, the sun rose. He had experienced sixty-two thousand sunsets on Lake Wangyue. For this land that bore and raised him, and for the clanspeople on this land, he held deep sorrow and love. The old man seemed to use all his strength, opening and closing his mouth, murmuring: “Xuanxuan… they are too close…” Li Xuanxuan raised his brow, slightly startled, reached out to support him. Sun Bai stood up somewhat fearfully, instructed a junior beside him to moisten the old ancestor’s lips with medicinal soup, then quickly withdrew. Li Xuanxuan seemed somewhat lost, gazing blankly and saying: “Who… who is too close…” Li Qiuyang struggled up, coughing violently twice, as if he would cough out his lungs. He groaned: “Get out…” Li Xuanxuan took the medicinal soup from the junior’s hand, waved to dismiss the idlers. Chen Donghe raised his brow at the old man on the couch who was about to breathe his last, saw him staring fixedly at himself, covered his tears, and turned to withdraw. The whole hall was left with only Li Xuanxuan. Li Qiuyang began to gasp violently. A little more strength entered his hand. He gripped Li Xuanxuan’s hand, gnashing his teeth: “They and you… too close… Jiang… Jiang family…” Li Xuanxuan’s lips trembled. The old man’s teeth chattered, and he began to spit blood, murmuring: “He… if he were here, all ruined… then clean…” Li Xuanxuan could not tell who the old man meant by “he”—was it the old ancestor Li Mutian? Or Li Xiangping? He of course knew what the Jiang family meant. Ever since Li Ximing became Violet Palace, he had long, long not considered this matter… “The Jiang family… is that Jiang family senior who was killed by others… but my house is just beginning to flourish. Not even mentioning Prince Wei, Jiangqian and Quewan are both Violet Palace seeds. Even if the Violet Palace were entirely lost, destruction would be certain. Where would there be need to worry about internal trouble…” He fell silent for a moment. The old man before him finally collapsed. Li Xuanxuan turned around, sat on the steps, first choked up, then lowered his voice and began to cry. Outside the hall came confused footsteps. The first to rush in was an unknown man who fell to his knees before Li Xuanxuan with a thud, wailing: “Ancestor!” A middle-aged man following closely behind was jostled by him, but not to be outdone, knelt on the ground and cried even more fiercely, his voice howling like thunder. Li Xuanxuan lifted his tear-blurred old eyes, swept over the people crowding in one after another, blankly drew the curtain over the bed, and flicked his sleeve, throwing all these people out. The hall instantly grew quiet. Only Chen Donghe remained, weeping with closed eyes. Li Xuanxuan cried for a while, then noticed the weeping outside had dwindled to scattered sounds, mostly whispers. Weakly and powerlessly, he said: “Separated by six generations, kin are no longer kin. Foolish indeed, they are very foolish.” … Lulai Island. The wind and rain over the sea had subsided. The sky showed a strange touch of green. All colors were blocked outside by the cave abode’s light. The blue-purple radiance on the walls flickered one by one, pushing all the surging spiritual energy inside. In the center sat a woman in white, her pair of willow brows curved, her complexion calm, her vermilion lips slightly parted, as if containing hazy colorful radiance. Her hands formed seals at her abdomen, divine light brilliant. After an unknown time, she put away her marvelous technique. The colorful radiance retracted into the ascending yang. She stood up. In her apricot eyes, light brightened and dimmed. She exhaled and raised her brows. ‘The difficulty of [Seat Radiance] is far lower than imagined… perhaps just two years of effort…’ Li Quewan had spent much of her early cultivation on [Mysterious Witchcraft Arts]. Her spirit aperture was between her brows; she could visualize the ascending yang very early, and she had extraordinary witchcraft talent. Yet cultivating this art was still like rowing upstream, every step difficult. Fortunately, this cultivation was not without result. When she turned to cultivate secret arts, it felt like unwinding silk from a cocoon, as clear as watching fire. The time spent in her early years was repaid manyfold, as if aided by a god! ‘[Complete Dan] tests one’s cultivation greatly. If [Seat Radiance] were cultivated by an ordinary person, without ten or twenty years it would be impossible… but in my hands it is quite easy…’ She sighed in relief, but worried in her heart: ‘I heard the clan uncle was enfeoffed as Prince Wei… I don’t know how much trouble there is. How hateful that I can only stay overseas and help with nothing.’ Her desire to achieve Violet Palace grew more urgent day by day. Fortunately, she had patience. It was nothing more than diligent effort. Only when it was time for letters from home did she always end seclusion on time. She walked out of the cave abode. Cultivators on both sides bowed one after another. Li Quewan hurried out. Indeed, in the great hall of the cave abode, lights were dazzling. On the purple-gold tabletop were reflected the pale blue patterns on the murals. In the center sat a man, clad in white fur, waist bound with a spirit pearl, three vertical marks on his brow, staring at a scroll on the table. “Greetings, True Person!” This person was Yuanbian True Person Liu Changdie. Liu Changdie appeared very steady. These years he had not closed himself off much, merely guarding this one island. Earlier he would still go out for a stroll, but after that night of thunder and rain, he had not set foot outside this island. Not for any other reason—he was simply afraid! That night’s thunder and rain were highly abnormal, obviously driven by someone. Liu Changdie restrained his temper and did not go out. After the matter passed, he secretly calculated. Combined with the marvel of his own divine abilities, he truly gained many clues. ‘That night, a high cultivator must have acted, perhaps plotting against me… but because of the great formation, and being in the East Sea, the Dragonfolk stopped him, so he failed!’ Liu Changdie’s long years in the South Sea and East Sea were not without reason. Many things on his body had been obtained as “opportunities” by accident in the East Sea and South Sea. He had long suspected that the Dragonfolk had a need to secretly protect him. Now this incident had confirmed all his doubts. ‘To hide here in the East Sea, within this great formation, yet someone still wants to harm me. If I went elsewhere, who knows what would happen!’ Seeing Li Quewan, Liu Changdie appeared very pleased. He nodded to her, then stood and smiled: “You are punctual.” Liu Changdie came to this island upon Li Ximing’s indication that he must protect Li Quewan, so he kept it in mind. After a private exchange, he was immediately astonished—this junior’s cultivation was so high, her spellcasting thoughts so clear, not at all like a Foundation Establishment cultivator! Upon further inquiry, he learned that Li Quewan had long cultivated witchcraft, which gave him some relief. ‘The Talisman Witchcraft Path is ancient, surpassing the ancient immortal path of breathing qi, nurturing nature, eating rosy clouds, and drinking dew. It points directly to the root of the Great Dao…’ This ancient immortal path of breathing qi, nurturing nature, eating rosy clouds, and drinking dew usually referred to the Three Mysteries Daoist Tradition, emerging from the Primal Two Modes. One path continuously spread and developed until it became the later Three Mysteries Daoist Tradition spread across the world. But the Talisman Witchcraft Path was a tradition spread across the world in the same era as the Primal Two Modes! ‘Just the Talisman Witchcraft Path alone, among the Binggu ancient arts, occupies the three positions of Bingxiu, Shangwu, and Yuzhen—the first, the most important positions of one-nine, three-nine, six-nine. See its power!’ ‘If one could achieve great success in the path of Talisman Witchcraft, mastering most of the Violet Palace and Golden Core arts would be effortless…’ Of course, the difficulty of such great success was not low. It was not just learning a bit of witchcraft, knowing some curses and hexes… at least one must be an orthodox inheritor of this path! In the past, Duanmu Kui could suppress all heroes, and Jiang Boqing was versed in both Immortal and Buddhist paths—this was where it came from! For this reason, Liu Changdie thought very highly of this Li clan junior. He had even seen her future Violet Palace path and, vaguely, treated her as another Violet Palace cultivator. He smiled: “Come! Look at this!” Li Quewan was even more respectful toward him. She quickly stepped forward, stood beside the table, and saw a golden scroll on the case. Its texture was soft, appearing to be made of spirit silk, with mysterious runes and several lines of colorful large characters. [Marvelous Scroll of Distracted Spirit and Alternate Body]. Li Quewan examined it carefully. Liu Changdie smiled: “This scroll was sent by your family, obtained from some Changxiao Gate. It is an ancient artifact, so it was locked by a secret concealment method. Let me solve it… it took quite some effort.” “Now that it is opened, it is a marvelous art of shifting form and changing body. Quite refined. It can refine an alternate body, used for preserving life, cultivating the Way, avoiding calamity, evading disaster. If one’s cultivation is high and one has some good things on one’s person, perhaps one could even use this art to be reborn.” Li Quewan’s gaze burned as she stared at the golden characters in the scroll. She sighed: “Truly so precious!” Li Quewan did not fully understand Li Zhouwei’s current situation, but she understood that with a perfected divine ability, one either seeks gold or rebirth. Thinking it might be useful to her family’s True Person, she immediately smiled, examining it carefully. This thing might not have been much in ancient times, but in the present age where arts like rebirth and walking the Great Void are mostly lost, it cannot be called not precious. Liu Changdie nodded and sighed: “Pity, the main purpose is still the first four. Rebirth is merely an add-on. If one could refine the alternate body to the point of being usable for rebirth… the materials spent could cultivate who knows how many Violet Palace cultivators, how many divine abilities added for oneself… but it adds not even a few degrees of certainty. Why bother?” “Compared to the ancient demon embryo, the Heart-United Ten-Color Pearl… or even Golden Nature, the possibility of success for this art is too low, too low. With many side effects, it can only be a retreat one must take when there is no choice.” He smiled: “In short… still precious. I have benefited from it, looking a few more times.” Li Quewan quickly shook her head, speaking respectfully: “Sir, you and my family’s True Person are close as bosom friends. It is only natural to share this… how could there be such words… one cannot let Sir waste so much time solving the scroll for nothing…” Liu Changdie shook his head and laughed. He no longer thought his time was something precious. He took out a letter from his sleeve and said: “A family letter… take a look.” Li Quewan treated it like a treasure, took it to read. Liu Changdie watched her profile, secretly sighing: ‘I’ve long thought… if there were a son or daughter under my knees to pair with her, that would be good. But now it seems… even if there truly were offspring, they would not be worthy of her.’ Liu Changdie was pondering when suddenly someone hurried in from before the cave abode, paid his respects before him, and said respectfully: “Reporting to the True Person… there is… there is a Demon King waiting outside the island! Wishing… to see the True Person!” “A Demon King?!” Liu Changdie’s first thought was the Dragonfolk, and he was startled. But suddenly he sensed something. He took out a golden jade pendant from his sleeve, looked closely, slapped the table in realization, somewhat embarrassed: ‘It is Senior Fuxun coming to my door!’ —— Main Characters of This Chapter —— Liu Changdie [Early Violet Palace] Li Quewan [‘Divine Marvel Awaiting’] [Peak Foundation Establishment] Li Xuanxuan [Qi Refining Ninth Layer]