The clamor in Lijing Village had lasted deep into the night, yet the villagers were already awake at cockcrow. The early autumn dawn brought sweet, crisp air and glistening dew, but a bleak hush hung over the village.
The Liu and Li families had distributed some dry rations. The refugees curled up at the village entrance, gnawing on the food. The middle-aged leader looked at the twenty-odd people around him with deep worry, thinking bitterly to himself:
*We truly have grievances we cannot voice. That boy went and killed their decision-maker—forget staying, we won't even be able to leave alive now.*
A stir rippled through the refugees. Heads turned toward the mountain path, and someone shouted:
"Someone's on the road! Look at that old man!"
Down the winding path came a gray-haired farmer, his clothes and arms spattered with blood. With his left hand, he struggled to drag a bloody corpse, while over his right shoulder rested a hoe from which hung a mangled human head, hair trailing loose.
"It's the assassin!"
Those with sharp eyes recognized the headless body's clothing and felt a chill run down their spines. He had escaped only last night, yet by morning his head had been taken. None knew who this old man was, but the Li family's reach and authority were truly terrifying.
Seeing Old Man Xu draw near, the crowd hurriedly backed away to clear a path.
Old Man Xu's face was ashen, his eyes hollow as he trudged forward, not sparing a single glance at the onlookers around him.
By the time he shuffled to the Li family courtyard at the end of the village, tenant farmers had already run ahead to deliver the news. The Li family opened the courtyard gates. Looking exhausted, Li Mutian stood at the entrance with his family to meet him.
"Uncle Xu, what is this..."
"That Yuan family remnant... I killed him. The corpse and head are both here. Summon Liu Linfeng and Tian Shoushui to identify them."
Hunched over, his limbs cold as ice, Old Man Xu dumped the body onto the ground and slumped down, gasping for breath.
Li Tongya hurried out from the inner rooms with a bowl of tea to press into Old Man Xu's hands, but the old man trembled so hard he could not even hold the bowl, drinking only as Li Tongya guided it to his lips.
Before long, Liu Linfeng and Tian Shoushui arrived alongside Old Man Xu's eldest son. Old Man Xu recounted the whole story before everyone. After several rounds of verification, the dead youth was indeed confirmed to be that Yuan family remnant.
"Uncle Xu, Eldest Brother's vengeance is fulfilled. The Li family cannot thank you enough..." Li Tongya began with reddened eyes, but Old Man Xu waved a weary hand, tears streaming down his face as he spoke:
"None of you need thank me. I received kindness from Hu'er, so I killed this man for him. I will never hold this debt over you to seek wealth or favor from the Li family. An old man like me has only a few years left to live. If you truly wish to thank me, then once that child is born, bring him to see me."
With that, he pushed himself up with great effort. Ignoring the Li family's pleas for him to stay, he leaned on his eldest son and walked out the door.
The Li family held the funeral over several days, white mourning cloths draping the entire courtyard. In life, Li Changhu had been generous and righteous, and weeps could be heard from every household in the village. Pressed by the endless affairs, Li Tongya's preparations for breakthrough were delayed again and again. It was not until two months after Li Changhu's burial that his mind settled enough to condense the Xuanjing Wheel and step across the threshold into cultivation.
***
Two years later.
Bright morning sunlight filtered through a sparse cluster of young trees in the courtyard, dappling the ground with patches of shade. Beneath one tree sat a handsome youth, legs crossed, wholly focused on his breathing and qi refinement.
Before long, he exhaled a long breath of turbid qi, ended his art, and looked around the courtyard with a smile.
A boy of about two years old, holding a handful of wild flowers, came skipping and bounding into the rear courtyard. Beaming with delight, he babbled:
"Uncle... hug..."
Li Chijing chuckled and gently scooped the boy up, lifting him high before resting his forehead against the child's little head. "Has Xuan'er been a good boy today?" he asked warmly.
"Wanna... hug..." The boy paid no heed to the question, giggling as he squirmed in Li Chijing's arms.
"Xuan'er! Come out, quickly!"
Lady Ren did not dare enter the rear courtyard, calling out in a hushed voice from the gate.
Setting the child down, Li Chijing watched with a smile as the boy bounded into his mother's arms. Then Li Chijing murmured, "This Zhouxing Wheel is truly difficult to cultivate. A full year and a half, and at long last it's almost done!"
"Jing'er, you really don't know when to be satisfied!"
Behind him, Li Xiangping stood up, laughing and scolding in a low voice: "We've only just cultivated the Chengming Wheel of the second layer of Embryonic Breathing, without even brushing the edges of the third layer's Zhouxing Wheel, yet here you are complaining that cultivation is too slow and wasting your time!"
Li Chijing gave a cheeky grin, not bothering to answer the jab. Instead, he went on, "Tonight I can begin condensing the Zhouxing Wheel, and then I'll show you all what it means for dharmic power to circulate without end."
"You boy."
Li Xiangping chuckled. Seeing Li Mutian walk into the rear courtyard with his hands clasped behind his back, he bowed his head and greeted, "Father."
Li Mutian had aged noticeably over the past two years. His hair was streaked with gray, his wrinkles deep, and his face set in an unsmiling scowl from morning till night; he looked older by a full decade.
"Xuanxuan really is a mischievous child!"
Catching sight of his grandson, Li Xuanxuan, a smile finally surfaced on Li Mutian's face. After Li Changhu's death, the old man had lost all appetite and grown persistently weary. The birth of this posthumous child had breathed new life into him, helping him pull himself together once more.
As soon as Li Xuanxuan was born, Li Mutian climbed out of bed and gathered the Li family, instructing Li Xiangping to find three mnemonics from the *Reception Method* to establish the generational naming poem for the Li family's descendants.
Li Xiangping pondered for several days before selecting three verses from the text that described the methods of Embryonic Breathing:
"Deep and clear the Xuan scenery, bearing brightness like sun and moon.
Circulating through the Crimson Palace, communing with the Azure Origin.
Jade Capital mirrors the images, beholding only the primal spirit."
The sons and daughters of Li Tongya and Li Xiangping's generation would take their names from 'Xuan scenery': boys would take Xuan, and girls would take Jing, and so forth.
Li Mutian had also consulted Lady Ren. After pondering through the night, Ren Ping'er chose the character Xuan, thus completing the name of Li Changhu's posthumous son: Li Xuanxuan.
"You simply dote on him too much, Father," Li Tongya said with a chuckle, setting the wooden slip in his hand back onto the shelf.
"Nonsense!" Li Mutian snapped in mock fury, glaring and bristling his mustache, before sobering up. "I intend to keep Yesheng by my side to learn."
"Li Yesheng?"
Li Tongya lowered his head in thought for a few breaths. "That is indeed a good idea. Yesheng is all on his own and particularly close to our family. We need to cultivate arts and refine spiritual qi, leaving us no time to manage mundane affairs. Yesheng carries the Li family blood as well, so he is more than suited for it."
"I only worry that as time goes by, he might develop selfish desires and line his own pockets..." Li Chijing frowned and questioned.
"Your father can live another ten years! At least long enough to keep him in line!" Li Mutian replied firmly, adding cold and steady, "Ten years from now, our children and grandchildren will have grown up. How could he harbor any improper ambitions then?"
"Ruling men requires both grace and severity. Once Li Yesheng marries and has children, he will be easy to keep in hand," Li Xiangping said mildly.
"Indeed."
Li Chijing retrieved a wooden slip from the shelf, blew off the dust, and chuckled softly. "Ten years of cultivation... It truly fills one with anticipation."
Chapter 18