An Zheyan was humming a tune atop a mountain peak, gazing up at the bright moon. A small table before him held a pot of wine and two dishes. Savoring a couple of mouthfuls with relish, he exhaled a long breath and sat in quiet content.
Back when he held great power within the An family, An Zheyan had cut quite the formidable figure. Yet whether it was monster beast bear paws or clear-water spirit fish, everything had tasted bland in his mouth, leaving him with an empty sense of bewilderment. After suddenly suffering such dramatic ups and downs, however, these ordinary mortal dishes and simple wine tasted far more delicious than anything he had enjoyed before, and his days were surprisingly much more peaceful and comfortable.
At that thought, An Zheyan could not help but let out a self-deprecating chuckle. Just then, a servant came rushing up the mountain below, his lantern swaying precariously as he panted heavily for breath, calling out repeatedly:
"Master... Master...!"
"Huh?"
Seeing the servant's panic, An Zheyan felt a prick of apprehension and lowered his voice. "Is it the Madam...?"
"No, no!"
The servant shook his head vigorously and answered, "Word came from the main family! Yu Yufeng of the Yu family has fallen, and the Patriarch has broken through to Foundation Establishment! They are preparing to march on Mount Huazhong and reclaim our foundation!"
"What?!"
An Zheyan looked up in disbelief, utterly shaken. His legs went numb, and he looked around shivering, at a loss for words. Only after the servant called to him a couple more times did two streams of tears spill down his cheeks, and he burst into loud laughter.
"Damn it all... Li Tongya really is a genius! Dammit all..."
In his surging excitement, he forgot all proprieties in how he addressed him. Leaping down from the boulder, he kicked open a brownish-red door and bellowed:
"Chen Donghe! Chen Donghe!"
Chen Donghe was holding his sword in thought when An Zheyan kicked his way in with aggressive momentum. Thinking the bastard was staging a revolt, Chen Donghe instantly treated him as a grave threat and leveled his sword against him. To his surprise, An Zheyan was both laughing and weeping as he cursed:
"What the hell are you still practicing your sword for? We're going to fight!"
Seeing Chen Donghe's bewildered look, An Zheyan hurriedly shared the news. Chen Donghe was immediately overjoyed. He already knew Li Tongya had reached Foundation Establishment, but he had never expected Yu Yufeng to die out there so cleanly and swiftly. Nodding repeatedly, he summoned the wind to take flight, ascending into the sky alongside An Zheyan. Down below, armored soldiers were bustling through the town, their coldly gleaming blades reflecting bright and dazzling in the torchlight.
The two paused briefly as a young man approached riding the wind, wielding a golden bow. His features were sharp and resolute, his attire crisp and practical. Both immediately cupped their fists in greeting:
"Xuanfeng." / "Milord."
Li Xuanfeng gave a slight nod of acknowledgment and said, "The An family has two peaks: the first is Mount Yuting, the ancestral lineage vein, and the second is Mount Huazhong, which was acquired from the Ji family back then. You two will come with me to Mount Yuting and take it. Mount Huazhong is left to the Patriarch and the others."
An Zheyan naturally knew this all too well and nodded repeatedly. Beside him, Chen Donghe frowned slightly and murmured, "This is certainly good, but I've heard the Yu family stationed cultivators to keep watch over the An family. In going there, won't we have to confront the Yu family head-on, tear off all pretense, and fight it out?"
Li Xuanfeng shook his head and laughed. "Hahaha! We were invited by Brother Zheyan to eliminate the concubine-born brother who defied clan law to seize control of the family, restoring order and rectifying wrongs. We already hold the righteous cause. As for any Yu family cultivators, neither you nor I have ever seen them—they are merely rogue cultivators An Zheyu hired."
"Indeed."
A figure descended slowly from the sky, robes flapping in the wind. His features bore a seventy percent resemblance to Li Tongya, and a sword hung at his waist. It was none other than his son, Li Xuanling. Nodding slightly at those words, he took up the conversation and said:
"In recent years, the families along the eastern shore have been restless. They harbor both hatred and fear toward the Yu family, who have constantly had to suppress them. Fearing public outrage, Yu Mugao refrained from annexing the An family outright and chose only to keep them on a loose tether. Now that we hold legitimacy in our hands, so long as we act swiftly, the Yu family—having lost Yu Yufeng—will not dare say another word."
Chen Donghe nodded. After conversing for a short while, Li Xuanfeng led the other two away on the wind. Li Xuanling paused in midair as his elder brother, Li Xuanxuan, caught up riding the wind and asked in a low voice:
"Brother Ling, does that An Zheyan seem honest enough?"
"Submissive on the surface, but who knows what he thinks inside," Li Xuanling replied.
Li Xuanxuan frowned slightly and said, "We have already promised Feiruo to him in marriage and granted him freedom of movement. He should have no reason to fear being cast aside once his usefulness is spent."
"At the sixth layer of Qi Refinement, he still carries some weight on the lake. He knows his own worth."
Li Xuanling shook his head, speeding forward through the wind alongside Li Xuanxuan. In the distance, Mount Huazhong came into view, its undulating ridges enveloped in an array emitting a faint white glow.
***
High above Mount Huazhong.
Li Tongya stood aloft in midair. Within the protective array below, cries and weeping echoed while scattered torchlights flickered across the mountainside. Looking down at the rather dense array with magical radiance circulating over its surface, he suddenly felt a wave of daze wash over him.
*How many times has it been now?*
In less than a century, these spirit veins across the lake had witnessed countless slaughters and military tribulations. The Wan family was wiped out by the Ji family; the Ji family was destroyed by the Lu family; the Lu family was subsequently dismembered; and now, he, Li Tongya, stood in the sky above this mountain.
"Sigh..."
Crystal-clear, supple water flood dragons rose from beneath his feet, climbing from his waist to his chest and surging past his neck, dancing and leaping at his sides. His broad hand gripped the hilt, drawing the ordinary dharma sword inch by inch from its scabbard, revealing a snow-white blade etched with mysterious patterns.
How cautious a man Li Tongya was; he never dared to be overly conceited. He had no intention of playing the game of having Qi Refinement cultivators lay siege while the Foundation Establishment cultivator acted as a grand finale, letting the enemy stall until reinforcements arrived. From the very start, he drew his sword with full force. He had not studied the *Moon Crescent Sword Scripture* to utter mastery, but he had practiced this technique, the Lunar Crescent Sword Arc, for forty years. Since advancing to Foundation Establishment, he had yet to draw his sword with full might. Now, feeling the thrill of the hunt, he invested a full tenth of his dharmic powers into it.
*Clang!*
Li Tongya slowly closed his eyes, channeling his Vast Sea immortal foundation with all his might. Sword qi and dharmic power surged together within that single sword. After a long moment, he suddenly swept the blade upward, unleashing a snow-white flash of sword light. Massive as a ship's sail and swift as lightning, it flashed and vanished between heaven and earth in a fleeting instant.
*Bang!*
The grand array below detonated with a resounding roar, violently fluctuating with creaking, grinding noises. A massive fissure slowly split open across the entire mountain, laying bare the elevated terraces and buildings within.
The barrier flickered with great difficulty, holding on for only a few breaths before dissolving into the air. With residual power still lingering in the sword qi, Li Tongya shifted his thoughts, dispersing it into scattered droplets of spring rain that drifted down across the mountainside.
"The power is quite good!"
Having shattered the array, Li Tongya felt a surge of exhilaration. The sword qi dancing along the dharma sword in his hand pulsed continuously, showing signs of changing its form. Delighted, he thought to himself:
*Having stagnated in the realm of sword qi for so many years, there is finally a sign of breaking through to sword origin!*
Below, the cultivators of the Yu and An families had only just thrown on their clothes and grabbed their sabers and swords, hurrying out of their courtyards, when the mountain's grand array had already shattered with a thunderous crash, dissipating into specks of white light. Everyone looked at one another in stunned disbelief, gazing blankly at the dazzling dharma sword radiating flowing light in the sky.
As the cool spring rain filtered through the woods and hit their faces with an icy chill, someone finally dropped their dharma artifact with a clatter and fell to their knees with a thud, weeping and wailing:
"What the fuck are we even fighting for?!"
"This is a Foundation Establishment immortal cultivator! A Foundation Establishment immortal cultivator! If Yu Xiaogui isn't here, how can we possibly hold him back?!"
Not only were the An family cultivators on the mountain petrified, even the Li family's Embryonic Breathing cultivators below froze for a breath. None had expected the enemy's grand array to turn to ashes in an instant. Looking up in shock and delight at that figure standing between heaven and earth, they roared, "Long live the Patriarch!" and charged straight into the breached defenses.
The cultivators on Mount Huazhong were stripped of all will to fight. While the Yu family cultivators still put up resistance, shouting that this was territory under the Yu family's rule, the Li family cultivators had already received their orders—treating them purely as rogue cultivators, they clashed in a frenzy of blades. Meanwhile, the An family cultivators tossed down their dharma artifacts with loud clatters, dropping to their knees and begging for their lives.
Chapter 241