Seeking Aid

Li Xiangping was taken aback. Seeing Wan Yuankai’s beaming face, his thoughts raced, and he thought to himself, *This Wan family is far too warm. I must stay on guard.* Keeping the smile on his face, he cupped his hands toward Wan Yuankai and repeatedly shook his head. “Your esteemed father is too polite! I cannot possibly accept this!” Wan Yuankai shook his head, drew a small pine box from his sleeve, and slid open its brightly polished lid. Nestled inside against silk cloth lay a pale greenish-white fruit. The fruit's surface was coated in a smooth, horn-like layer resembling snake scales. Mottled with pale azure and white, it gave off a faint gleam beneath the sunlight, looking remarkably fine. Yet Wan Yuankai wore an embarrassed expression as he murmured, “Our Wan family is beset by troubles both within and without, running a deficit year after year. This Songyue fruit offers some benefit for forming the Chengming Wheel. It is a mere trifle not worth mentioning, but I beg Brother Li to accept it so that I may report back to my father.” Seeing Li Xiangping scrutinizing the fruit, Wan Yuankai realized something and hurriedly explained, “Just cut open the skin with a small knife and drink the juice within.” Looking at the fruit, Li Xiangping weighed matters repeatedly in his mind, thinking, *If the Wan family is troubled inside and out, why tell me? Doesn't that just invite others' greed for no reason?* *Forget it! Whatever game he is playing, let me see how things unfold first!* “Then it would be disrespectful of me to decline!” Li Xiangping laughed heartily. Seeing Li Yesheng step forward to take the box and carefully carry it away, he changed the subject and said solemnly, “There is, however, a matter I must trouble Brother Wan with.” “Just call me Yuankai. Please, speak!” Wan Yuankai waved his hands repeatedly. “Our Li family has only just arrived here, and we know nothing of the neighboring clans. Would Brother Wan be willing to enlighten me?” “Of course.” Wan Yuankai nodded. Seeing Li Yesheng bring paper and brush, Wan Yuankai rolled up his sleeves and drew a thin line on the sheet, explaining, “This is Guli Road.” He then drew a circle at the center of Guli Road and wrote the character *Li*. Li Xiangping nodded, took up a brush, dipped it in ink, and drew circles above and below the word *Li*, labeling them Lake Wangyue and Mount Dali. “Our Li family backs against Mount Dali and faces Lake Wangyue, with Guli Road running straight through.” Wan Yuankai nodded and drew a small circle to the right of the Li family. “To the east is our Wan family.” He then raised the brush and drew a large circle above the Wan family, speaking with grave solemnity: “This is the Ji clan of the Tangjin Sect.” “The Ji clan of the Tangjin Sect?” Li Xiangping felt a sudden jolt in his heart and asked in return. “Indeed! The Tangjin Sect is an immortal sect from Daxu in the north, matched in strength with our Qingchi Sect. Lake Wangyue is immense; crossing through the middle of the lake to the north brings you to Mount Tangdao, the mountain gate of the Tangjin Sect. The Ji family is a power under the Tangjin Sect's rule.” Nodding to Wan Yuankai to signal him to continue, Li Xiangping gave an inward bitter smile: *Whatever you fear most is sure to come.* “For over a decade, friction between the Tangjin Sect and Qingchi Sect has never ceased. Though the two sects have not yet waged full-scale war, over a dozen families along the border have already been destroyed, leaving tens of thousands of mortals displaced. Both sides are merely probing each other.” Wan Yuankai looked uneasy, as though speaking aloud a worry that had weighed heavily on his heart for a long time. “This Ji family has repeatedly struck out, intruding upon our Wan family's territory and causing us untold misery. Years ago, their clan head, Ji Dengqi, attained Qi Refinement in his cultivation. My father has only newly entered the Yujing Wheel and is no match for him. “Whenever our spirit rice ripens, the people of the Ji family veil their faces, pretend to be rogue cultivators, and raid our village. For years, we have had no choice but to cower upon the mountain like turtles in their shells, letting the Ji family plunder the spirit rice.” At this point, Wan Yuankai’s eyes rimmed with red, and he clenched his fists tightly. Hearing this, Li Xiangping had already guessed Wan Yuankai’s intention. With a grim expression, he said, “Our Li family is weak and few in number. I fear we cannot be of much help.” Seeing Wan Yuankai’s look of grief and indignation, Li Xiangping quickly asked, “How many immortal cultivators remain across your entire Wan family?” Wan Yuankai froze, glancing hesitantly at Li Xiangping before gritting his teeth. “My father is at the peak of the Yujing Wheel, while I have only formed the Qingyuan Wheel. There are two juniors at home who have just formed the Xuanjing Wheel. As for the Ji family, aside from that old scoundrel reaching Qi Refinement, they have two at the Zhouxing Wheel and one at the Chengming Wheel. As for the Xuanjing Wheel, there should be several more, though they never come along to raid.” Hearing this, Li Xiangping asked in slight confusion, “Someone from the sect once told me that if an enemy attacks, one can use the jade seal to seek aid from the sect. If the sect dispatches a Foundation Establishment immortal cultivator, that should resolve your pressing crisis.” “How could people like us ever summon a Foundation Establishment master!” Wan Yuankai cried out vehemently, gnashing his teeth with clenched fists, the picture of deep-seated bitterness. “When we activate the jade seal, it takes at least two shichen for a Qi Refinement cultivator from the city to arrive. By then, it is too late for everything—not only is all the spirit rice lost, but seeking aid repeatedly will only offend the responding cultivator for no good reason!” Having just said this, seeing that Li Xiangping was about to speak again, Wan Yuankai hastily continued, “This time, my father sent me to visit everyone because he also wishes for our two families to form an alliance, so that we may borrow your noble clan's strength…” Li Xiangping sighed inwardly. Since Wan Yuankai had laid his cards on the table, Li Xiangping gave up on digging out more information. He smiled bitterly and said, “It is not that we are unwilling, but that we truly cannot! Our Li family has few hands and only stepped through the gates of cultivation a year ago. My father has four sons: our eldest brother died young, and while our youngest brother’s cultivation is high, he has already gone to cultivate in an immortal sect. My elder brother and I possess shallow cultivation, not even equal to yours. What do we have to contend against that Ji family?” “Is there not still your esteemed father!” Wan Yuankai looked at Li Xiangping with eyes full of hope and anticipation. “To tell you the truth, my father is merely a mortal…” “Impossible! How could a mere mortal father three children with spirit apertures? My father, with his Yujing Wheel cultivation, fathered a full seventeen children before having me alone!” Wan Yuankai’s face immediately filled with suspicion. Li Xiangping was utterly horrified. Thoughts flashed through his mind, and with barely a pause, he played along with a bitter smile. “In his earlier years, my father fought with someone and had his cultivation crippled…” Wan Yuankai’s expression changed at once. Somewhat ashamed, he replied, “I was too reckless! Your esteemed father must have already formed the foundation of the Great Dao. Yuankai was truly insolent.” With that, he sank back into his seat in a daze, his eyes filled with sorrow. Li Xiangping was equally shaken. That outburst from Wan Yuankai had truly sent cold sweat pouring down his back, nearly shattering his composure. *So the higher a cultivator's realm, the greater the chance their offspring will possess a spirit aperture. I almost gave ourselves away over such a minor detail!* Seeing Wan Yuankai's dejected mood, Li Xiangping calmed himself and spoke: “Then at the end of Guli Road, to the west of my Li family, does Brother Wan know what lies there?” “West of Guli Road…” Wan Yuankai stared blankly for a moment, looking thoughtfully at the drawing. Assuming a posture of deep contemplation, he said, “Mount Dali slopes to the west. Going west along Guli Road mostly takes one deeper into the mountains. I have never heard of any settlements along that stretch, though I did hear…” “Heard what?” Li Xiangping pressed. “I heard my father say our ancestors explored to the west, and that Shanyue haunt the regions west along the road.” “Shanyue?”