Lingyanzi

Chen Donghe bowed in gratitude to Li Tongya, and Li Xuanxuan led him away to swear the Xuanjing Spiritual Oath and read the cultivation method, while Li Xuanling also took his leave to cultivate. Watching the juniors depart, Li Tongya set down the teacup in his hand. He stood up and counted the years. In just a year or two, he would be fifty, yet he still had less than half the journey remaining before reaching the seventh tier of Qi Refinement. He could not help but smile wryly: "Both the talented and the mediocre have perished by the hands of others, leaving me, somewhere in between, to cultivate bitterly here. The world is ever-changing and ruthless. I had best cultivate diligently!" With that, he rose upon the wind and returned to his cave dwelling to cultivate. *** Over three hundred li away from the Li family, through the mountain forests, a young man clad in cloud-patterned robes was fleeing in desperate disarray. Wearing a jade cap and Taoist vestments, he held aloft a pale purple jade bead, sustaining a radiant purple shield as he sped across the sky. Behind him pursued two white-robed Taoists, both with flowing long beards, clutching Dharma swords and riding flying shuttles. Clinging tightly to his heels, their magical artifacts continuously cleaved bright silver sword lights that struck the shimmering purple shield, bursting into flashes of clashing spells. "Lingyanzi, stop running! You only prolong your own agony. This region holds nothing but insignificant little clans; coming out will only get them killed!" The two pursuers' beams of light firmly hemmed him in, preventing him from flying toward the commandery city. Looking down at the scattered mortals dropping to their knees in terror below, Lingyanzi felt a wave of despair. 'Where on earth is that Li family of Lijing!' He hailed from Ziyan Gate, one of the Three Sects and Seven Gates located to the west of Tangjin Sect. He had come to Mount Dali on urgent business, only to run straight into these two bastards from Changxiao Gate. They had chased relentlessly after him for three full days and three nights, circling the outer perimeter of Mount Dali from the southern foothills all the way to the northern foothills. After much struggling, he had managed to stumble across a clan. Lingyanzi had dodged attacks while shouting for aid, but it turned out to be merely a petty clan on the edge of Xunlin Plain. How could they dare intervene in a conflict between the Three Sects and Seven Gates? They had only replied timidly: "Our strength is meager. Senior, please proceed west. There is a clan called the Li family of Lijing, said to be a clan of sword immortals. They will surely be able to resolve Senior's plight." Furious, Lingyanzi had cursed thrice, yet had no choice but to keep flying westward. Now, as the surface of the lake seemed almost within reach, he still had not caught sight of any Li family of Lijing. 'Master protect me... do not let the legacy of Ziqi Peak be severed in my hands...' 'If not for this Ziyan Spiritual Shroud, how could I have lasted this long against these two Changxiao Gate bastards? But now my pills and talismans are completely exhausted. If I still cannot break free, I fear I will truly fall here today.' Swallowing his final pill, Lingyanzi surged with true essence once more. Ahead, a sprawling mortal settlement appeared, and two mountain peaks finally came into view. Seeing the brightly radiant grand formation, he was filled with wild excitement. Hurrying forward, he projected his voice: "I am Lingyanzi, a disciple of Ziyan Gate, ally of the Qingchi Sect! Currently pursued by enemies, I implore the seniors of the Li family ahead to lend a hand!" Empowered by dharmic power, his voice rolled like thunder, startling the townsfolk below into raising their heads and whispering anxiously amongst themselves. Below, the entrance to Li Tongya's cave dwelling was urgently knocked open by Li Xuanxuan. Before Li Tongya could speak through his furrowed brow, Lingyanzi's voice boomed in once more: "I am a disciple of Ziyan Gate, ally of the Qingchi Sect... seniors of the Li family ahead, please save me!" Li Tongya's expression darkened, and he cursed inwardly: 'The disputes of the Three Sects and Seven Gates—how did they end up at my doorstep!' 'Granted, Ziyan Gate is an ally of Qingchi Sect... but Qingchi Sect is no decent sort, having repeatedly brought great harm upon our family. If we step forward to aid him, we will inevitably draw the wrath of whichever member of the Three Sects and Seven Gates is hunting him! Yet if we refuse, we might well offend both Qingchi Sect and Ziyan Gate at once. What a mess...' Li Tongya was just considering stepping out of his cave dwelling when Lingyanzi above, battered by the frenzied assault of the two pursuers and unable to endure much longer, shouted frantically: "I have heard the Li family is a clan of sword immortals, formidable in strength! Will you truly refuse to lend a hand? I, Lingyanzi, will surely offer treasures and secret manuals afterward..." Li Tongya's face grew uglier still, and he sighed: "Sheltered by reputation... yet also burdened by it! This man has likely begged numerous families for aid along the way, and they kicked the problem down the line from one to the next until it landed squarely on our Li family. Seeing how dire his condition is, this trouble must not blow up in our hands." Looking closely, Li Tongya approached the boundary of the grand formation and extended his spiritual sense. He discovered that Lingyanzi was at the sixth tier of Qi Refinement, while of the two cultivators brandishing Dharma swords, one was at the seventh tier and the other at the sixth tier. Their true essence surged powerfully; they clearly were not easy opponents. "I am Yuyunzi of Changxiao Gate! You lot had best not meddle in business that isn't yours, heheh! Offend my Changxiao Gate, and the Qingchi Sect won't be around every moment to protect you! Who knows if one day your clan will be wiped out while the culprits walk away scot-free? That Qingchi Sect of yours has always been heartless and ungrateful—would they ever stand up for a petty little clan?" Hearing this, Lingyanzi started, then shouted urgently: "Don't listen to their deceit! If I fall here, Ziyan Gate will never let the matter drop! Once they trace the trail here, you will face their wrath just the same..." Li Tongya felt a mounting headache, but an idea had already formed in his mind. He mused inwardly: 'If we intervene openly now... driving the two off would indeed rescue Lingyanzi, but we would inevitably be targeted later. If we do not save him and Ziyan Gate investigates, we will still be held accountable... It would be safest to kill these two quietly.' With that, he soared into the air, stepped outside the grand formation, and said softly: "Li Tongya of the Lijing Li family greets both Daoist friends!" Lingyanzi's face initially brightened with delight, but seeing that Li Tongya was only at the sixth tier of Qi Refinement, he blurted out: "Why send you? Where are your elders!" Li Tongya cupped his hands and said apologetically: "Our Foundation Establishment ancestor is currently not within the formation. I am afraid you have wasted your efforts." The two men from Changxiao Gate laughed aloud at these words. Exchanging a glance, they thought: 'Since this Li family's ancestor isn't here, after killing Lingyanzi, we can take the opportunity to extort them as well...' Lingyanzi's face went pale. Raising the jade bead in his hand, he cried out: "Is the Li family truly so heartless..." Utterly desperate, his spirit crushed, Lingyanzi was about to stake his life in a final struggle when a low, buzzing voice resonated in his ear—Li Tongya's voice transmission via dharmic power: "Senior, head out over the lake first. Shake them off along a loop, then double back to land in the forest along the lake shore. Follow the mountains deep into the corner of the lake, where there is a mountain crowned by a great white banyan tree. We shall bring our men to await Senior there and ambush these two... That way, our Li family need not make an enemy of Changxiao Gate, and Senior can escape unharmed—a win for both sides..." Lingyanzi rejoiced inwardly, but not a ripple showed on his face. Shaking his head in grief and indignation, he stepped onto his flying shuttle and flew toward the lake. The two men from Changxiao Gate laughed heartily, nodded toward Li Tongya, and rode their flying shuttles in pursuit. Li Tongya watched them vanish into the distance, then went down and called out a completely bewildered Li Xuanfeng from his cave dwelling. After changing their robes, Li Tongya explained the situation as they rose upon the wind together. Flying through the mountains for a few quarters of an hour, they landed beneath the great banyan tree. The fox was sleeping lazily. Cracking open a single eye to look at him, it called out: "Oho, a junior has come!" Li Tongya cupped his hands and explained his plan. Then, having instructed Li Xuanfeng to lie in ambush on the opposite mountain crest, he took out spiritual cloth to mask his face and stood quietly beneath the tree, waiting for the three to arrive.