The Looking Glass

"Hey, Brother Xiangping!" As Li Xiangping walked back carrying his basket, a girl approached from the distance. Her face was round and her features plain, but a bright smile lent a quiet charm to her eyes and brows. "Sister Yun." Li Xiangping turned with a smile and held out his catch. "Look at the fine fish I caught. Take a couple home to try." "Oh, I couldn't!" Tian Yun lowered her head with a giggle. Girls matured early; though only eleven, she had already shot up taller than thirteen-year-old Li Xiangping. In Lijing Village, men and women typically wed between thirteen and fifteen. Among their generation, the two of them were the closest in age, and in her heart the girl had long since settled on him as her future husband. "Nonsense, take them!" Li Xiangping stuffed two fish into Tian Yun's hands without a second thought. Of all the villagers, Uncle Tian was the kindest, and Xiangping liked him best, so naturally he looked out for his daughter. Bidding Tian Yun farewell, Li Xiangping hurried home and set the basket into the small pond. After a moment's thought, he took out the looking glass, wiped it clean, slipped it into his tunic, and picked up three wooden lunchboxes from the table before heading out to the fields. Out there, his two elder brothers and his father were toiling under the sun. The Li family had four sons: Li Changhu, Li Tongya, Li Xiangping, and Li Chijing. In Lijing Village, mention of the four Li brothers never failed to draw thumbs of praise. Whenever Tian Yun's father spoke of them, he would say with open envy, "Li Mutian is blessed with such good fortune!" Yet Li Mutian, supposedly so blessed, did not see it that way. As the only man in Lijing Village who had ever traveled to the outside world, seeing his boys breaking their backs in the fields brought him nothing but bitter heartache. "Fine lads ought to study books or command troops! Slaving in the mud is for cowards!" he would snap, pointing a finger at Uncle Tian. Yet life was like that—those who had seen the light were often the most miserable. Li Mutian had served in the army and killed men. Returning to Lijing Village in his forties, he had bought land with his military pay and become a prominent householder, yet he remained the most discontent of all. When Li Xiangping reached the edge of the field, his eldest brother, Li Changhu, was already waiting under the shade of a tree. At seventeen, he had already grown a faint wisp of a mustache. "Take your time, Third Brother. No rush." Li Changhu smiled, affectionately patting Xiangping on the head as he looked at him with gentle warmth. "Uncle Tian said you had quite a haul today." "Way too much, Brother!" Li Xiangping laughed heartily. "We'll finally have a proper feast tonight!" "You silly boy." Li Changhu wiped the sweat from Xiangping's brow, took one of the wooden boxes, and called out toward the field, "Second Brother—!" "Coming!" Li Tongya hurried over with a hoe in hand. He sat down and greeted Changhu as Eldest Brother first, then offered Xiangping a warm smile. "You two go ahead and eat, I'm heading back." Li Xiangping had been busy all morning and was ravenously hungry, so he scampered home without delay. *** While resting in Li Xiangping's basket, Lu Jiangxian had sensed an inexplicable pulling force drawing him in. As they drew closer to the Li household, the sensation only grew stronger. When they passed the large scholar tree at the village entrance and entered the settlement, the pull reached its peak. Lu Jiangxian felt a stifling tightness in his chest; the mirror trembled faintly within the basket, a reddish glow seeping through its surface. *That's a part of me, or something of vital importance,* Lu Jiangxian realized with sudden clarity. *To the north! In the direction of that great lake!* As Li Xiangping walked farther from the village entrance, the pulling sensation gradually subsided. Lu Jiangxian committed the direction to memory. Having tagged along with Li Xiangping on a full circuit around the village, Lu Jiangxian could now understand the gist of what everyone was saying, piecing it together from his perception of their thoughts, actions, and tone of voice. It seemed this was merely an ordinary little hamlet. There were no martial artists leaping across rooftops, nor any immortal cultivators soaring through the sky. The people dutifully rose with the sun and rested at dusk. Their tools and the scale of their fields were utterly unremarkable. *This place really seems to be an ordinary village. Even the finest house is just a two-story structure of mud and timber...* Lu Jiangxian mused. If there were immortal cultivators here, why would they live in a cramped mud hut? *Formidable power brings formidable productivity. This village is far too backward.* With a clearer picture of his surroundings, the framework of a plan began to take shape in his mind. That night, the Li household was unusually lively, with the mother and the two younger boys busy washing and cooking vegetables. Li Xiangping had returned with a bountiful catch, while his younger brother, Li Chijing, had secretly caught a nest of fat field mice in a grain sack while picking mulberry leaves on the mountain to feed their silkworms. Delighted, Li Mutian clapped both boys hard on the shoulder, praising them until they held their heads high with pride. Boys in their mid-teens were growing fast, and the dishes on the table quickly vanished into their bellies. Li Mutian took only a single bite, while the mother, Liu Linyun, watched the four brothers with a beam of affection. Only the big yellow dog darted restlessly beneath the table, weaving eagerly between their legs. After supper was done. The moon slowly climbed above Mount Dali. Li Xiangping leaned against the corner of the wall, chewing on a stalk of barnyard grass, while his father, Li Mutian, gazed up at the sky with furrowed brows, as though searching for something. "Oh, right, Father," Li Xiangping said, patting his father's trouser leg as he pulled the looking glass from his tunic. "I picked this thing up from the river early this morning." "Oho." Li Mutian took the looking glass and squinted, turning it over and over in his hands. "Not iron, not bronze... what fine treasure could this be?" The cool moonlight drifted down before the house, and as if coming alive, it began to gather over the surface of the mirror, forming a faint lunar halo. Li Xiangping could not help rubbing his eyes; it was as though all the most breathtaking moonlight he had ever seen in his thirteen years was unfolding within that delicate shimmer. "Father!" Li Xiangping whispered. "Shut up!" Li Mutian's face drained of color. Forcing his gaze away from the halo, his hands shook violently. He shoved the looking glass back into Xiangping's chest and hissed in his ear, "Get inside and hide! Tell your brothers to grab their blades and come out!" For the first time in his life, Li Xiangping saw such fierce, murderous intent on his father's face. His eyes were narrowed, like an eagle poised to strike. "Y-yes..." With trembling voice and weak knees, he dragged himself step by step into the house. Outside, the night was still serene as Li Xiangping pushed open the bedroom door. "Brothers... Father said to grab your weapons and get out to the doorway, quick!" Li Xiangping nearly cried out, speaking in a shaky whisper to his two elder brothers lounging by the bed. "What?!" Li Changhu stood up in shock. Bracing Li Xiangping with both hands, he asked with deep concern, "Is Father hurt? Did he say what happened?" Second Brother Li Tongya, however, rolled over and pulled two sabers from beneath the bed. He then took down the rattan armor and a long staff hanging on the wall, glanced grimly out the window, and whispered, "It must be an enemy at the door." He handed over a saber and the rattan armor, gripped the staff in his hands, and clapped Li Changhu on the shoulder. "Brother, don't ask any more questions. Third Brother, take Mother and Fourth Brother to hide in the back courtyard." "Right!" Li Xiangping hurried off to find their mother. Li Changhu quickly regained his composure, donned the rattan armor, and strode toward the door with saber in hand. Outside. Li Mutian stood in the doorway, staring quietly at the melon patch before the house. Once the two youths fell in behind him, he waved a hand and took a saber from them. "You two split up—one to the left, one to the right. Scout the front and back of the house and make sure no one is lurking about." The two brothers quickly agreed and parted to search both sides. Li Mutian then strode openly into the melon patch in front of the house. Bending down, he grabbed hold of something and hauled a person right out from among the vines.