After seeing off An Zheyan, Li Tongya bathed, burned incense, and changed into formal attire—a grey robe adorned with white cloud patterns along the sleeves. Carrying his sword on his back, he walked on foot to the summit of Mount Lijing and pushed open the ancestral hall’s heavy doors. Inside, the spirit tablets stood quietly, appearing exceptionally solemn amidst the drifting coils of smoke.
These were the six generations of ancestors recorded in the old village chronicle, alongside Li Genshui and Li Mutian. Li Tongya was technically a ninth-generation descendant, though if counted from the time they first embarked upon the immortal path, he was a member of the second generation.
Li Tongya gazed at the numerous tablets shrouded in incense smoke. Facing the foremost tablets, he knocked his head three times, performing the formal kowtow, and spoke with solemn deference:
“Unworthy descendant Tongya respectfully offers sacrifice to our ancestors and elders, making this report before our forebears! For seven generations, our family labored diligently to harvest the five grains, until my father founded our path and obtained the teachings, leading us into the immortal dao. Ever since, this junior has toiled from dawn till dusk, fearful and vigilant come nightfall, walking with utmost caution and never daring to make a misstep.”
His eyes grew moist, and he slowly prostrated himself once more, continuing:
“Lingering enmities of past years took my eldest brother; western barbarians raided, cursing my sibling; an elder of an immortal sect devoured my youngest brother. Only Tongya was left to maintain the household. After forty-two years, I have finally forged an immortal foundation to bring some solace to you, my elders.”
Li Tongya straightened up. While resentment stirred in his heart, there was no room for bitter complaint. He had killed many people himself—expanding east, conquering west, slaying out of greed and anger. In the murky depths of the mortal world, no one was truly master of their own fate.
He turned aside, where the memorial tablets of his two brothers and Li Yuanxiu stood. Weighed down by outside pressure, he had not even dared to place Li Chijing’s tablet alongside them. Li Tongya quietly cupped his hands in a silent salute, uttering no further words.
Finally, Li Tongya took a step forward, pushed open the stone door, and waved his hand gently. Several magic-powered candle lamps flickered to life within the stone chamber. After bowing respectfully, he reached out to lift the magical mirror from the stone altar.
The moment he touched the magical mirror, a flash of clarity burst in Li Tongya’s mind. The mirror levitated into the air, its luster brightening considerably. Amidst a dazed haze, Li Tongya saw three streams of light shoot downward and condense into three lustrous white pills, circling within the mirror’s face.
“Xuanzhu talisman seeds!”
Li Tongya was overjoyed. Following his breakthrough to Foundation Establishment, the number of talisman seeds within the magical mirror had reached nine. Greatly exhilarated, he murmured to himself, “So the number of talisman seeds is determined by the strength of the one making the sacrifice! A Foundation Establishment cultivator using the magical mirror can condense nine of them!”
He had previously been worried that the Xiyue generation would have no talisman seeds available. Breathing a sigh of relief, he felt a tremendous weight lift from his shoulders. Bowing deferentially once more, he thought to himself, “It seems the power and mystery of the Taiyin Mysterious Light must have undergone a great change as well. I wonder how it will fare against Foundation Establishment cultivators…”
***
Within the mirror realm.
Lu Jiangxian exhaled slowly and rose to his feet.
With Li Tongya breaking through to Foundation Establishment, he had received significant feedback from the talisman seed, gaining considerable benefits. Though it fell far short of what Li Chijing’s breakthrough had yielded, it was still comparable to recovering a peak Qi Refinement talisman seed.
“Li Tongya’s breakthrough to Foundation Establishment was almost too easy.”
Lu Jiangxian frowned slightly. He had watched Li Tongya’s entire breakthrough process from the side. Li Tongya assumed it was thanks to the Xuanzhu talisman seed and the talisman qi, but as far as Lu Jiangxian knew, neither possessed the function of increasing the success rate of Foundation Establishment. Talisman qi only provided substantial aid when condensing divine abilities in the Purple Palace realm.
“The River Unity Qi Formula, the Vast Ocean Leviathan Talisman…”
Lu Jiangxian had a few suspicions, yet he could not be certain. He thought to himself, “Once the Li family succeeds a few more times, I should roughly be able to decipher the underlying rules.”
He beckoned with his hand. The blue-edged sword standing on the large green rock at the mountain peak leapt up abruptly. Lu Jiangxian caught the longsword, tossed it lightly, and asked, “Is there anyone else who catches your eye?”
The sword paused, slowly emitted a faint glow, vibrated with a low hum, and settled back onto the green stone, completely motionless.
“It seems Li Tongya and Li Yuanjiao’s sword talent still falls short.”
Lu Jiangxian shook his head. Not just anyone could receive this blade. One needed sword dao talent nearly equal to Li Chijing’s to inherit his path. Even then, it would not grant Li Chijing’s realm of sword cultivation in a single overnight epiphany; rather, it would manifest as a sword mark between the eyebrows, steadily elevating the host’s sword dao cultivation over time.
Tapping the table, Lu Jiangxian picked up a small booklet compiled from the curses and techniques he had devised over the past ten-odd years. After a moment of thought, a line of characters surfaced on the cover on their own:
Xuan Shaman Daoist Arts.
Brushing the dust off the cover, Lu Jiangxian set the book back down, musing internally, “Shamanic arts cannot be practiced by just anyone either. In a few years, if someone with extraordinary spiritual sense appears in the Li family, I will bestow it upon them to verify what I have learned…”
***
Li Tongya walked out of the ancestral hall in much better spirits. Checking around the immortal cave, he found that Li Xuanfeng had already entered secluded cultivation, while Li Xuanxuan was engrossed in studying talisman crafts. Li Tongya thought to himself, “Qinghong is still at the Fei house. I should go notify Fei Wangbai and bring Qinghong home.”
With his mind made up, Li Tongya rode the wind aloft. Rising from Mount Lijing, he swept across the dark cyan waters of the lake. After flying for a short while, a large islet emerged before him. Lights flickered across its expanse alongside the continuous rumble of thunder and fire, faintly revealing broken walls and tumbled ruins beneath—the remains of the Lake Wangyue market.
Seeing this, Li Tongya felt a stir in his heart. When the market was destroyed years ago, Chen Taoping of the Lingyu Gate had triggered the array, which was then shattered by the Lightning-Smiting Formation-Breaking Wedge, giving rise to this prohibitive grand array. Back then, Li Tongya was merely a Qi Refinement cultivator, left to watch helplessly from afar. Now that he had stepped into Foundation Establishment, he could finally descend onto the islet to take a look.
Bolstering his protective shield with true essence, Li Tongya descended into the prohibitive grand array. Thunder roared violently, striking his shield in relentless succession. His true essence drained away like flowing water. Fortunately, his magical power was profound, allowing him to forcefully endure the falling lightning purely through his cultivation base. Executing the River-Crossing Torrent Steps, he dropped down onto the islet.
After a dozen-odd breaths, Li Tongya finally pierced through the grand array and landed on the islet. Feeling the dense spiritual qi all around him, he felt instantly refreshed.
“The spiritual qi here is richer than anywhere else I have seen. If not for the troublesome prohibitive grand array, a family would have claimed this place long ago.”
Li Tongya marveled under his breath. Taking measure of his magical power, he found he had consumed over twenty percent of it—equivalent to nearly half the total reserve of an ordinary early Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Crumbling walls and debris littered the ground, overgrown with thick patches of wild mugwort. He stepped forward, avoiding the bleached bones beneath his feet, and began traversing the islet.
“Over more than a decade, passing Foundation Establishment cultivators must have scoured this place countless times. There probably isn't much of value left.”
After circling for half an hour without finding anything, Li Tongya rode the wind straight to the very center. Array patterns covered the smooth ground. A grand structure had once stood here, but now only four pale stone pillars remained, uneven in height and desolate in their solitude.
In the center lay a deep well, pitch-black and bottomless. Li Tongya probed downward with his spiritual sense, yet found nothing even when pushing his sense to its limit. After pondering for a breath, he pressed both hands against the well’s rim. The well water surged instantly, churning up murky mud from the bottom.
The well gushed endlessly. Li Tongya’s sea of qi depleted steadily, forcefully expending twenty percent of his magical power to draw out a volume of water the size of a small hill. The spewing well water flowed like a trickling stream, following the terrain into the distance. Li Tongya’s expression brightened with joy. Beckoning with his hand, a jade chest flew up from the bottom of the well. Its surface bore intricate carvings, and it felt warm and smooth to the touch.
With a flick of his finger, the jade chest sprang open. Yet inside, it was completely empty—not a single object remained.
“Ha!”
Li Tongya froze for a moment, then could not help letting out a soft laugh, muttering, “I truly did arrive too late.”
The item in the chest had clearly already been taken. That person had likely lacked mastery over water control arts, yet possessed certain divine abilities or secret techniques that allowed them to effortlessly steal the contents from across the deep well, leaving behind only the exquisite jade chest at the bottom.
“Even though the contents are gone, this jade chest is no ordinary item. Its surface is densely carved with formation patterns; it should have no trouble preserving spiritual treasures of the Purple Palace realm. Its material is something I have never seen before, so the trip was not entirely in vain!”
Li Tongya turned it over in his hands for a while, nodding in satisfaction. He had not harbored high expectations to begin with, so obtaining such a fine jade chest only improved his mood. Stowing the chest away with a flip of his sleeve, he sat cross-legged and meditated for a quarter of an hour. Then, rising on the wind, he broke through the prohibitive grand array and headed north.
Chapter 215