"Report!"
A clan soldier rushed into the courtyard and made his way to the back hall. Announcing his presence outside the door, he hurriedly fell to his knees.
"Come in."
A youthful voice drifted out from inside the hall, clear and rising slightly at the end with the easy lightness characteristic of his age.
The soldier entered the back hall, presenting the short letter in his hand to Li Pingyi, who had stepped forward to receive it, and said in a deep voice, "A dispatch from Jingyang Town."
Li Yuanxiu read the brief letter and murmured, "The fourth son of the Tian clan clashed with a man of the Liu clan on the streets of Jingyang Town, coming to blows and knocking out three of the Liu man's teeth... Upon learning of this, the Liu clan was filled with indignation and sent an overnight petition to Aunt Liu, seeking justice."
Li Yuanxiu pinched the small slip of paper, caught between laughter and tears. His uncle-grandfather Li Tongya's wife was of the Liu clan, which lent them no small standing among the various towns. Though the Tian clan had lost their chief backer, several members of their clan still wielded real authority. The two families squabbled incessantly, and now they had taken their grievances straight to Liu Rouxuan.
"Truly someone with no sense of propriety. Unable to handle even such a trivial matter, they rushed right off to report it."
"Should we intercept that messenger?" Li Pingyi asked.
Li Yuanxiu waved his hand and said softly, "No need."
In his heart, he thought slightly less of the Liu family's head of affairs. Li Yuanxiu could have intercepted the messenger who went to report it, but out of respect for his elder, he had refrained from interfering.
Before long, another clan soldier entered the courtyard. Without even looking up, Li Yuanxiu asked, "How did Aunt react?"
The clan soldier blanked for a moment, not expecting Li Yuanxiu to already know what he had come to report. Swallowing the long speech he had prepared, he answered concisely, "The Liu messenger presented the letter, but Her Ladyship set it aside without saying a single word..."
Li Yuanxiu nodded slightly. After pondering the letter before him for a few breaths, he lifted his brush, wrote the character for *reviewed*, pressed down heavily to leave a dot, and continued writing:
*Reassign the Tian son to the Qingwu ore vein for a term of three years.*
Upon receiving the letter, Liu Rouxuan's reaction had not been to reprimand her kinsmen harshly for picking fights, but rather to quietly suppress it. From this, Li Yuanxiu knew that his aunt harbored a bit of displeasure toward the Tian clan's actions, yet out of lingering affection for Third Aunt Tian Yun, she was unwilling to take action herself. Now that he understood the elder's stance, he meted out a minor punishment to the Tian clan. Only then did he say to Li Pingyi below him:
"Fetch a clan member of a junior generation to give that Liu family head of affairs a subtle warning. How could they have the face to report such an embarrassing trifle to an elder? Utterly lacking in sense!"
"Yes!"
Li Pingyi answered in a low voice. Suddenly, his ears pricked up. Li Yuanxiu also sensed something amiss and raised his head toward the courtyard outside.
*Clang, clang...*
The chime of weapons touching the ground rang out. Outside the courtyard, the clan soldiers all bowed their heads and dropped to one knee, laying their blades on the earth. Through the open courtyard gate, a robust figure appeared like a gust of wind. His gaze was calm, and his long brows stretched toward his temples, lending him an unconstrained, untamed air.
On the man's back rested a golden longbow engraved with intricate patterns, and in each hand he carried a startlingly large, sharp-snouted canine beast, both still whining softly. Paying no mind to anything else, the man entered the courtyard and smiled as he looked up at Li Yuanxiu at the front.
The soldiers in the back hall were all old hands who guarded the homestead and naturally recognized the newcomer. In an instant, they sank to their knees with a rustle of movement, resting their weapons flat on the ground to show their respect.
Though Li Pingyi did not recognize the man, the sight of that iconic golden bow struck him with shock. He followed suit and dropped to one knee, lowering his head and saying respectfully, "Greetings, Clan Uncle!"
Li Yuanxiu set down his brush and hurried down the steps. Cupping his hands respectfully, he bowed his head and said, "Yuanxiu greets Cousin-Uncle..."
"Hahaha!"
Li Xuanfeng tossed the two demon beasts onto the ground with a thud and laughed heartily. Looking closely at Li Yuanxiu's appearance, he said with a smile, "A few years without seeing you, and you have already grown into a man. Xuanling told me you were quietly brilliant, but I see you are both handsome and gifted with inner virtue. Good, very good!"
Li Yuanxiu smiled faintly and replied, "The family still relies on the support of our elders. My petty cleverness is hardly worth mentioning—I am merely keeping the various branches in order for our clan."
Li Xuanfeng waved his hand and pointed at the two hyena-hounds on the ground, explaining, "The sacrifice is approaching. I captured these two demon beasts and have already sealed their cultivation. Go ahead and make the preparations for the sacrificial rite. Second Uncle and your father are both in closed-door cultivation and likely won't be able to show their faces, so arrange the positions properly. I leave the clan's affairs to you."
"This junior understands."
Li Yuanxiu nodded solemnly. Li Xuanfeng smiled, inquired about his cultivation progress, and seeing that he had no doubts regarding his training, rode the wind and departed through the gates.
Li Pingyi cast an envious glance after the departing Li Xuanfeng and said softly, "With Clan Uncle emerging from seclusion, the matter of the family sacrifice is settled."
"Indeed."
A look of joy appeared on Li Yuanxiu's face. He said softly, "Invite several clan elders over. When it comes to the sacrifice, we must still consult the old folk. We can hold the sacrificial rite at the end of this year."
* * *
The winter snow arrived on schedule, and the ice along the lakeshore froze solid. At the foot of the mountain, every household lit lamps in accordance with tradition. Young boys and girls bowed beneath the moon and frolicked before the lanterns, their laughter drifting far and wide.
After consulting the clan elders, Li Yuanxiu had all the arrangements for the sacrificial rite in order. The market on the streets was bustling with a surge of people, and everyone craned their necks to gaze at the two massive hyena-hound demon beasts chained upon the stone altar, whispering among themselves.
Lu Jiangxian's divine sense emerged from the mirror, gazing down upon the lively scene beneath the mountain. Pale golden incense faith drifted out, dancing and swirling like threads of gold before settling onto the surface of his mirror.
"Time flies like an arrow; three to five years pass in the blink of an eye... Is this what it is like for long-lived beings?"
Lu Jiangxian had stayed on the mountain for nearly fifty years. He had watched Li Tongya cultivate from a mere mortal into Qi Refinement, watched Li Xuanxuan grow from an innocent child into the master of a clan, and watched the elderly die while newborns came into the world. He was filled with profound sentiment.
There was no unusual flow of time within the mirror. Over these past dozen-odd years, Lu Jiangxian had spent genuine time delving into shamanic arts, gaining an increasingly profound understanding of the path. The curses and arts he conjured could now easily slay Qi Refinement cultivators.
"Here it comes."
On the stone platform paved with bluestone in the center of Lijing Town, the gathered crowd prostrated themselves. Sacrificial stone blades plunged into the brains of the two hyena-hound demon beasts. A copious surge of vitality and essence rose up, mingling with the pervasive incense faith as it flowed forth and poured into the mirror's surface.
"Here stands the Li family of Lijing, reverently offering pure wine, assorted delicacies, and ceremonial sacrifices, keeping the incense burning year after year without end... Offering burnt sacrifice and blood homage, serving the divine to bring down blessings."
Standing atop the mountain within the world inside the mirror, Lu Jiangxian saw wisps of grey talisman qi emerge in his hand. Observing the subtle changes in the talisman qi, he pondered for a moment, lifted the jade flask on the table with his right hand, and separated out half of the talisman qi to preserve for future study.
His divine sense lingered for a while over the members of the Li family's Yuan-Qing generation below, and Lu Jiangxian mused to himself:
*Talisman qi may be precious, but for me, it comes at no cost. If I bestow it too frequently, it will seem cheapened and lack gravity.*
Looking at the crowd below, Lu Jiangxian calculated:
*From now on, I will only bestow one or two wisps of talisman qi to each generation, prioritizing quality over quantity. Any surplus talisman qi can be condensed into talisman pills or held in reserve.*
*As for today's sacrifice... each person can only be granted a talisman once. If I bestow it right now, it would merely be a Qi Refinement grey talisman. A few years won't make a difference. Once Li Tongya reaches Foundation Establishment and procures Foundation Establishment demon beasts, I can confer Foundation Establishment white talismans upon the Li family members of the Yuan-Qing generation.*
Having made up his mind, Lu Jiangxian activated the magical mirror to condense half of the talisman qi in his hand into talisman pills. Within the stone chamber on the mountain, the greyish-blue mirror shone with clear white light, floating up quietly and spitting out six intricately patterned talisman pills.
Chapter 175