"Oh?"
Li Tongya looked up at Lu Sisi, only to see him speak with undisguised greed spread across his face.
"The things on Lake Central Islet should rightfully belong to us lake-dwelling families! This is a venture that requires zero capital—how can we let those rogue cultivators snatch it away for nothing?"
"I intend to call upon the nearby An family so we can wipe out this fleet of rogue cultivators together and take over this business for ourselves! Whichever family's mortals enter the formation, the spoils belong to that family. Brother Tongya, what do you say?"
Seated in the place of honor, Li Tongya suddenly envisioned the mountain of corpses that had blocked the road so tightly when he returned home along Guli Road all those years ago. Pausing with his teacup, he cast a glance at Lu Sisi and chuckled.
"Would the Yu family not want a venture requiring zero capital? Would the families across the lake not want it? Senior Lu, if you cannot sort out the ring of families all around the lake, seizing this business for yourself will only mean making wedding clothes for someone else."
At these words, Lu Sisi instantly froze. When he saw that fleet out on the lake, he had rushed over in high spirits, not thinking things through in the heat of the moment. He offered an embarrassed, sheepish smile.
"Brother Tongya is as thoughtful as ever! This foolish old man was reckless..."
Setting down his teacup resentfully, Lu Sisi wracked his brain to find a few more topics to converse with Li Tongya about, but having run into a wall here, he departed in dejection.
"The old fellow's end is near, and his mind isn't so sharp anymore... Lake Central Islet has been scavenged countless times by Foundation Establishment cultivators of every stripe. Even if one went in, they probably wouldn't bring out more than a few Embryonic Breathing trinkets. Going through all that trouble for nothing..."
Having seen Lu Sisi off, Li Tongya felt a deep gloom settle over his heart. He lifted the teacup only to set it down again, smiling bitterly.
"You look upon those of the Purple Palace with shock and terror, your life and death resting entirely on a single whim of theirs! Yet when those mortals look upon families and sects like yours, are they not equally terrified, left entirely at your mercy? The ugliness of this world has always trickled down from top to bottom. It truly holds no meaning at all!"
With that, Li Tongya shook his head, secretly questioning himself in his heart:
*If the family didn't possess this magic treasure that uses mortal incense to condense talisman qi, would the Li family have still been able to hold their ground in the four towns in the face of Jianixi's menacing army back then?...*
A shudder of apprehension ran through his heart. Casting those myriad reflections to the back of his mind, Li Tongya understood that the Li family remained nothing more than an ant before the Purple Palace cultivators. This was no time to ponder such things. Calculating the dates, according to the methods laid out in the *Sacrificial Beast Method*, the day to offer sacrifices to the magical mirror and condense talisman qi was approaching. He could prepare to condense talisman qi for several juniors.
"I might as well go see that fox and ask around about some Qi Refinement monsters without backing to use for the sacrifice."
Leaving the courtyard, Li Tongya rode the wind aloft. Following the contours of the mountain terrain, he searched for a while until his memory led him to a large banyan tree with whitish leaves standing on a hillside beneath a cliff.
The Bairong Fox lay under the tree with its paws crossed and its large head propped up. Seeing Li Tongya land beneath the banyan, it spoke lazily:
"Brother Tongya, what wind blew you over to my neck of the woods?"
In the past three years, the fox had met with Li Tongya many times and had grown very familiar with him. Taking the spirit rice from Li Tongya's hands, it stuffed it into its mouth, its foxy eyes squinting comfortably into slits as it routinely began recounting what it had seen and heard in the mountains over the past few months.
"I heard a sword immortal emerged from Qingsui Peak, scaring that old pig so badly he hasn't dared step out of his cave for months. During the days Si Yuanbai was in seclusion, he was arrogant as could be! Now he's turned coward, afraid of becoming a whetstone Si Yuanbai left behind for his disciple."
Li Tongya was taken aback, saying in surprise, "Your news is remarkably well-informed!"
"Haha, of course!"
The fox flicked its tail and said with an air of mystery, "The twenty-second uncle of my nineteenth cousin is an attendant to a Three-eared White Fox in a fox cave at the southern foot of Mount Dali. He learned of it from their idle chatter. That Lord Three-eared White Fox is truly formidable—all he needs to do is crouch by the commandery border and listen, and the words of all those Embryonic Breathing and Qi Refinement cultivators drift right into his ears..."
"A Foundation Establishment demon fox?"
"Purple Palace!"
The fox shook its head, glaring at him as it cried, "Why do you think Purple Palace cultivators are called grand cultivators and grand demons? It's because a divine ability is condensed within the Purple Palace! It's nothing ordinary spells can compare to. Depending on the individual's Dao foundation, it possesses all sorts of wondrous transformations—it's extraordinarily powerful!"
Li Tongya quickly etched these words into his memory, feeling that this bag of spirit rice had already paid for itself. He stroked the fox's head, scratching until it curled up slightly, and shook his head.
"I am merely a Qi Refinement cultivator. I might not even break through to Foundation Establishment in this lifetime. No matter how powerful it is, it has nothing to do with me."
"On the other hand, my younger brother has already attained Foundation Establishment. Once he returns from Nanjiang, breaking through to the Purple Palace within a hundred years or so shouldn't be a problem."
With that, a trace of a smile surfaced on his face, and he chuckled softly.
"If I have good fortune and live long enough, perhaps I may even live to see the day he ascends to the Purple Palace."
The fox curled its lip and squeaked, "That would be fine, so long as he doesn't end up like that Yu Yuxie—a splendid Dao foundation forged from Taiyin moon essence, turned into medicinal ingredients for a great flood dragon through and through!"
The moment those words were spoken, they exploded like thunder beside Li Tongya's ears. His mind went entirely blank. Startled and horrified, he sprang up from the ground and cried:
"What did you say?!"
The fox had never seen him like this before. Its fur puffed up in fright, and it scrambled backward on all fours, stammering:
"Yu... Yu... Yuxie..."
Li Tongya looked panicked. Exhaling a long breath to compose himself, he tapped his storage bag, dumped a large bag of spirit rice before him, and said in as level a voice as he could manage:
"Tell me about this Yu Yuxie."
The fox did not dare touch the spirit rice. It squeaked twice and replied:
"I... When I served before that lord, I heard that this person once obtained a wisp of Taiyin moon essence on Lake Wangyue, forging the Dao foundation 'White Jade Plate.' I also saw him venture into these mountains—a pair of twin swords beating back monsters in constant retreat. Later, he died in Nanjiang."
"Later still, I heard that because the Dao foundation cast by that Taiyin moon essence was so exceptionally miraculous, the Qingchi Sect gifted him to a great flood dragon in Nanjiang to be refined into pills... It seems the Qingchi Sect has done this more than once..."
Li Tongya's body swayed, and he slumped to the ground. Pale-faced, he stared silently at the spirit rice scattered across the earth. Hearing this, combined with the Qingchi Sect's usual nature and Li Chijing's inability to send a single letter for over a decade, the myriad suspicions in his heart and the Xiao family's hints had all come true. He kept his lips pressed tight, uttering not a word.
Seeing him hang his head in silence, the fox grew flustered. It carefully gathered a handful of spirit rice from the ground back into the bag, licked its fur, and likewise lowered its foxy head to stare at the ground, not daring to speak.
Li Tongya gathered his wits. Looking at the fox curled into a frightened ball before him, he said hoarsely:
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist, for informing me. Consider this spirit rice your reward."
With that, he rose upon the wind, streaking toward Mount Lijing like a shooting star. He paid no heed to the fox calling out below, chasing a few steps before muttering blankly:
"How could this be worth so much spirit rice!"
Reaching Mount Lijing, Li Tongya passed through the glittering golden Sun Dial Profound Light Formation and descended toward the rear courtyard. Pushing open the stone chamber doors, he respectfully retrieved the mirror. Sinking his spiritual sense into it, he indeed saw two glowing, smooth, round talisman seeds.
Lu Jiangxian's divine sense lingered outward, watching him quietly. To prevent Li Tongya from growing suspicious, Lu Jiangxian had concealed the three newly added talisman seeds, watching as the middle-aged man before him turned pale, his lips slightly pressed together, his hands trembling uncontrollably.
Only after a long while did Li Tongya recover his breath. A sudden flush returned to his pale face, and only now did tears begin to stream down. Clutching the sword at his waist, he cried out in bitter grief:
"Jing'er—!"
Tears flowed down the middle-aged man's cheeks. He let out a resounding wail, his knuckles turning white as he sobbed:
"Fine, what a..."
Yet his cautious nature brought him to an abrupt halt. Li Tongya wept for a dozen breaths and coughed up a mouthful of blood. Only then did he clear his head from the dizzying stupor. Wiping away the blood, he respectfully placed the magical mirror back onto the stone altar.
Kowtowing with deep reverence, Li Tongya wiped his tears and walked out of the ancestral shrine. Taking a deep breath, he murmured:
"Jing'er... Oh, Jing'er... Your elders and brothers misjudged that Si Yuanbai and pushed you into the fire pit... Second Brother failed you."
Clutching the longsword tightly in his hand, Li Tongya remembered the letters Li Chijing had sent home year after year along with the cultivation methods he had exchanged, and the five spirit stones Li Chijing had scrupulously scrimped and saved. His heart grew all the more sorrowful, and he whispered softly:
"Second Brother will remember this vengeance... Jing'er..."
Chapter 130