Li Yuanxiu stepped over the bluestone slabs as he made his way up the mountain. The main courtyard was quiet and deserted; several elders had already entered closed-door cultivation. Only Li Xuanling remained in the garden, holding a tea bowl in one hand while reading from a white jade slip containing the River-Crossing Torrent Steps with the other. Seeing Li Yuanxiu stride in with joy written across his face, he asked softly, "What good fortune brings such delight to your face?"
"Eastern Shanyue was attacked by a demon beast, and Mu Jiaoman died suddenly. His son, Shamoli, has fled to seek refuge with our family and is waiting at the foot of the mountain right now."
Li Yuanxiu stated the matter concisely. Li Xuanling hurriedly set down his tea bowl, tucked away the jade slip in his left hand, and nodded with a beaming smile. "A good thing indeed!"
Noticing Li Yuanxiu's bright, piercing gaze and his hesitant pause, Li Xuanling asked, "Judging by your look, have you already formed a plan in mind?"
"Indeed."
Li Yuanxiu cupped his hands. Having clearly prepared his thoughts on the way, he laid out his ideas one by one. "Now that Shamoli has fallen into our hands, we will certainly support him to become the master of Eastern Shanyue. However, in my humble view, this affair in Eastern Shanyue is fraught with peculiarities. Though we hold Shamoli, we must not take Mount Wu lightly. We should wait a little, gather intelligence first, and only then discuss the matter of deposing or enthroning a ruler."
"Well said."
Li Xuanling nodded solemnly and inquired, "What kind of person is Shamoli?"
"I have already met Shamoli. He appears ignorant of statecraft and hopelessly obtuse, but we must also guard against the possibility that it is an act put on for our family. For now, let us keep him here, supply him with beauties and singing girls to test him a few times, and ideally have him leave several heirs behind with our family."
"Oh?"
Li Xuanling pondered for several breaths. Suddenly struck by a thought, he asked, "Has this person reached Qi Refinement yet?"
"Not yet!"
Li Yuanxiu looked up to meet Li Xuanling's eyes; their thoughts had clearly converged. Li Yuanxiu smiled and said, "Our family still holds a copy of the Purple Lightning Secret Origin Method. Once he leaves offspring with us, we can swear him to a Xuanjing Spiritual Oath, conceal the technique's side effects, and bestow it upon him to render him infertile. Perhaps it will even leave him moved to tears of gratitude. When he returns to Eastern Shanyue, no matter what treacherous thoughts he may harbor as he grows older, he will have no heirs of his own. He will ultimately need our Li family to dispatch the royal heir we have raised and instructed for years. That way, everything will remain firmly within the Li family's grasp."
Li Xuanling nodded approvingly. Taking up the thread of conversation, he said in a low voice, "We need not even refine a full portion of Xuanyin lightning liquid. We only have to extract ten or twenty percent and mix the rest into impure qi for him to refine. Even if the Purple Lightning Secret Origin Method is formidable, what could he possibly amount to when cultivating impure qi? Once he reaches Qi Refinement, he will merely be a mediocre practitioner. That way, he won't break free from our control by growing overly powerful with a third-rank cultivation method..."
Li Yuanxiu nodded vigorously, their minds completely aligned. Exchanging a glance, in just a few words, they hatched a scheme to keep Shamoli thoroughly under their thumb. Li Xuanling gave a hearty laugh before composing his expression.
"Though we have calculated it thus, I still must discuss this matter with my father to keep him informed. His elderly self knows many secrets, and we can also ask him about Mount Wu."
Li Yuanxiu cupped his fist and said in a deep voice, "Then I shall begin attending to this matter first. Shamoli is particularly close with Brother Jiao, so we will need Yuanjiao to show his face more often."
"Go ahead and do so without worry," Li Xuanling replied. After pondering for a few breaths, he patted the storage bag at his waist, rummaged through it, and retrieved several jade boxes. He instructed, "Inside these jade boxes are several Embryonic Breathing-tier spirit fruits of various kinds. Most were gifts exchanged between families, primarily meant to boost cultivation. However, our family lacks adequate pill recipes, and rashly consuming them directly easily leads to an unstable foundation, needlessly adding difficulty to future cultivation. Therefore, they have remained with me unused, on the verge of losing all their spiritual qi and turning into ordinary fruits.
"Take these spirit fruits and give them to Shamoli when the time is right. Have him rapidly raise his cultivation so it does not lag behind our plans. Feeding him up to the Qi Refinement stage sooner will make things much easier to handle."
"Understood!"
Li Yuanxiu accepted the jade boxes, held them in his hands, and said respectfully, "Uncle has indeed thought of everything. Xiu'er shall see to it immediately."
Li Xuanling watched him leave the courtyard and mentally reviewed the matter from beginning to end before setting off for Meichi Mountain to seek out Li Tongya.
***
"Mu Jiaoman died suddenly..."
Li Tongya set down his jade slip. Listening to Li Xuanling recount the causes and sequence of the Shanyue unrest, a cloud of doubt crossed his mind. He muttered, "Mu Jiaoman had his own ways of contacting Mount Wu. Reasonably speaking, paying a certain price should have allowed him to enlist the help of Qi Refinement disciples from Mount Wu. How could he have been beaten to death by a demon beast so brutally..."
Li Tongya pondered for a few breaths, recalling that Xiao Yuansi had once mentioned the Shanyue's Purple Mansion cultivator was approaching the end of his lifespan. Judging by how long the Shanyue had entrenched themselves in this region, this Purple Mansion cultivator was likely the most senior among all the Purple Mansion experts, having lived for nearly six hundred years and reportedly prolonged his life several times through secret arts.
"The one on Mount Wu is likely already preparing to break through to Golden Core. The Xiao family is also at a critical juncture right now. I should still write a letter to inform them, which will also allow us to inquire about the specific situation and gauge Mount Wu's current grip on the Shanyue.
"Go summon Donghe up here."
Li Xuanling nodded and withdrew. Li Tongya picked up a jade slip from the stone table. After a thought, he set the blank jade slip back down and replaced it with a cheaper sheet of spirit cloth. Dipping a brush in ink, he wrote a brief letter, sealed it, and lifted the jade slip to resume reading.
More than four years had passed since Chen Donghe broke through to Qi Refinement. Currently, he had newly entered the second layer of Qi Refinement. Having refined qi by ingesting genuine heaven-and-earth spirit qi and practiced an orthodox method, his true essence was mellow and pure. Approaching respectfully, he greeted in a deep voice, "Donghe pays respects to Senior!"
Li Tongya waved a hand and handed the letter to him, saying warmly, "I must trouble you to make a trip to the commandery and deliver this letter into the hands of Senior Xiao Yuansi of the Xiao family. If he can reply immediately, bring the response back with you."
"Understood!"
Chen Donghe bowed and took his leave, riding the wind out of the cave dwelling. Li Tongya turned to look at Li Xuanling standing beside him and asked softly, "Have you broken through to the Lingchu Wheel, the sixth layer of Embryonic Breathing?"
"Replying to Father, I broke through only last month."
Sweeping his spiritual sense over him, Li Tongya nodded. "You are twenty-five this year. This pace is just right; there is no need to rush. Accumulate for a few more years, and you will be able to break through to Qi Refinement before thirty."
"Your child will keep that in mind."
Li Xuanling acknowledged, then presented the plan he and Li Yuanxiu had devised. Li Tongya listened impassively before replying, "Yuanxiu knows how to calculate. Eastern Shanyue supplies vast amounts of grain and materials eastward every year, including many spiritual items. This concerns the food and clothing of the more than one hundred thousand people under our Li family's rule, and in turn affects the volume of incense offerings during next year's ancestral sacrifices. There must be no missteps. If Mount Wu is truly unable to look after itself, we can also boldly take further steps to seize control of Eastern Shanyue."
"Your child understands. However, what if that Shanyue cultivator truly succeeds in forming a Golden Core...?"
Li Xuanling was prudent by nature, so he cupped his hands and asked. Li Tongya smiled at this and said, "In the path of cultivation, so long as the foundation is solid, the earlier one breaks through, the better. Yet these Purple Mansion cultivators only attempt a breakthrough when their lifespans draw to a close, dragging it out until their life force is on the verge of collapsing. This alone shows they have little confidence to begin with.
"I have also perused many historical records. After the War of Immortals and Demons, the State of Yue was established, and during that period there were still individuals who broke through to Golden Core. Later, Yuehua Yuan Mansion secluded itself from the world, and the Three Sects and Seven Gates entered the secular realm one after another. The State of Yue existed in name only, and not a single cultivator has broken through to Golden Core since, let alone this Shanyue cultivator."
Chapter 165