Mount Yuting was the steepest and most precipitous among all the peaks held by the Li family, soaring straight into the clouds. The courtyard atop the peak was not large, yet it held a jade well as expansive as a pond. Intricate markings covered its surface, bearing an air of great antiquity, and its clear, crisp water shimmered with dharmic light.
Li Qinghong exhaled a breath of white mist and opened her almond eyes, veiled in a hazy purple light. Pushing both palms outward, crackling streams of thunderous dharmic power surged forth. Her red lips parted slightly as she murmured:
"Is the Purple Lightning Secret Origin Method truly just a secret art altered by later generations...?"
She had practiced this technique for six years and read through many other Qi Refinement cultivation methods, yet the archaic, domineering essence in the Purple Lightning Secret Origin Method was one of a kind. Its various chants and techniques were entirely unheard of elsewhere, frequently leaving Li Qinghong marveling at its profound wonder.
After pondering with anticipation the profound might she would wield once she formed the Lake of Mystic Lightning in the future, she waved her hand to disperse the spell. Li Qinghong swept her gaze across the courtyard and called softly:
"Li Xicheng!"
From behind the house immediately came a flurry of hurried footsteps. A boy of twelve or thirteen ran out, his eyebrows gentle and flat, his face drenched in sweat. Stopping before Li Qinghong, he smiled and said:
"Aunt!"
The Li Xicheng before her was none other than Li Yuanyun's son, the eldest of the Xiyue generation. His father, Li Yuanyun, possessed no spirit apertures and had never cultivated, so he had fathered a child earliest. His eldest son of the main line, Li Xicheng, was already thirteen years old and possessed spirit apertures, though his talent took after his father's branch and could only be considered above average.
Li Yuanyun had gone to the market, and Li Xicheng needed someone to look after him. As Li Yuanyun's elder sister by blood, Li Qinghong was the most suitable choice, so Li Xicheng had naturally been sent to Mount Yuting to cultivate on the mountain.
"Practice the spear."
Li Qinghong casually took up a wooden spear and placed it into Li Xicheng's hands, making the child hold the long spear level and stand there all alone. Li Qinghong blinked her eyes and asked:
"Are you cultivating the Shanglang Wheel Nourishing Method?"
"Replying to Aunt, yes, I am!"
Li Qinghong nodded in silence. The Shanglang Wheel Nourishing Method was a third-rank technique Li Tongya had exchanged for the family's direct line to cultivate. As someone who had received a talisman seed in the clan, what she cultivated was the Taiyin Breathing and Wheel Nourishing Scripture, which naturally could not be spoken of.
"Xicheng, Xizhi, Ximing... I wonder which of them will be blessed with immortal fortune..."
"Brother Jiao wants to send Xizhi into a sect... he probably won't be able to receive a register. That leaves Ximing and Xicheng!"
While Li Qinghong was lost in thought, Li Xicheng was already sweating profusely, his spear-holding arms trembling as he gritted his teeth in silence.
She straightened Li Xicheng's arms and was about to offer some pointers when a voice rolled in like thunder from outside the formation:
"Rogue cultivator Ning Heyuan comes to pay his respects! Will the mountain master of the Li family please show themselves for an audience!"
Startled by the booming shout, Li Xicheng dropped the wooden spear with a crisp clatter against the ground. Wiping his sweat, he looked timidly toward Li Qinghong.
Li Qinghong raised her eyebrows and looked outside. There stood a youth clad in green robes, the storage bag and dharma sword at his waist glowing with circulating light. From top to bottom, he was draped in spiritual gauze and clothed in spiritual cloth, and even the jade embellishing his attire was of the highest grade—extravagant to the extreme.
"A rogue cultivator? Who are you trying to fool?!"
Li Qinghong sneered and flew out of the formation. Ning Heyuan was still babbling noisily, chattering away:
"I have long heard of the renowned Li family of Lijing, famed for their unmatched swordsmanship. Heyuan has traveled thousands of li for the sole purpose of defeating your clan's peers with my blade, to temper my Sword Dao..."
Before Ning Heyuan could finish his sentence, a woman in a white gown flew out of the grand formation before his eyes. She radiated heroic vigor, a purplish gleam dancing like fleeting lightning within her eyes. Her vermilion lips were lightly pursed as she stared straight at him.
"A female cultivator?!"
Not seeing the sword-wielding youth he had imagined, Ning Heyuan paused, thoroughly embarrassed. Li Qinghong, however, sneered and drew her spear, smashing it downward right at his head. With a wave of her hand, surging purple lightning burst forth alongside it with tremendous momentum.
"Wait... An ancient art... Miss!"
Before Ning Heyuan could get another word out, he hurriedly drew his sword to block. Li Qinghong's long spear slammed down ruthlessly. In an instant, thunder roared and detonated with a deafening crash, leaving Ning Heyuan dizzy and disoriented.
Yet Ning Heyuan was no incompetent either. After the initial shock of the sudden clash, he retreated several paces in rapid succession. Rain clouds clear as limpid water manifested around him, drifting and undulating by his side. The sword qi upon his blade was remarkably refined, blocking Li Qinghong's onslaught firmly.
*A fine cultivation technique... and surnamed Ning...*
Seeing the dharmic glow about him, his cultivation at the fourth layer of Qi Refinement, and an orthodox sect method of exceptionally high grade, Li Qinghong already had her suspicions. She thought to herself:
*The Qingchi Sect...*
Now understanding who he was, Li Qinghong—who had recently lost her father and harbored an unspeakable gloom in her heart—struck with even greater ferocity. True essence flowed through her sea of qi acupoint, and the Perilous Sparrow in the Vast Sky blazed bright, enhancing both her speed and offensive power by a margin.
Ning Heyuan had just managed to hold off Li Qinghong's offensive, only to find this white-robed female cultivator growing fiercer with every blow. Bolts of thunder detonated repeatedly, flashing through the sky in blinding bursts. It was his first time clashing with a lightning cultivator, and his palms were throbbing with numbness. He said with a wry smile:
"Wasn't the Li family supposed to be a clan of sword immortals? Why did lightning arts show up instead...? This technique is bizarre to the extreme, with abnormal phenomena accompanying her every move. How does this look anything like Qi Refinement... anyone who didn't know better would think she's Foundation Establishment!"
The two traded blows for a while. Li Qinghong fought with mounting vigor, the purple hue in her eyes deepening as she forced Ning Heyuan back step after step. Ning Heyuan had no choice but to parry her spear aside. His sword suddenly flared with light, transforming into two rainbows that shot straight toward Li Qinghong's face.
Li Qinghong flicked her spear, weaving several blossoms of purple spear florets that drifted through the air to clash with the rainbow light. Meanwhile, freeing one hand, she traced a lightning talisman in the empty air. With sharp twists and strokes, she infused it with dark purple lightning true essence and shouted:
"Ha!"
This art was a spell recorded within the Purple Lightning Secret Origin Method, penned by an ancient predecessor without any recorded rank. Li Qinghong had practiced it for many years; as she unleashed it now, the talisman rose like a blazing sun and descended toward Ning Heyuan.
"Good!"
Seeing Li Qinghong resort to a spell, Ning Heyuan also formed a hand seal with his free hand, releasing a stream of clear, bright dharmic power that collided with the talisman.
Boom!
A thunderclap roared across the clear sky. Purple lightning and flames erupted in billowing smoke and scattering dharmic power, crashing toward Ning Heyuan's face. Ning Heyuan cursed under his breath and pinched another incantation seal, gathering a shimmering, radiant light.
This light swept forward like mist and rain. Li Qinghong raised her spear to block, but the dazzling lightning and sharp spear glow were forcefully repelled several zhang away, while the flames and smoke were extinguished in unison, falling completely silent.
Li Qinghong staggered back a dozen steps. The spear in her hands groaned under the strain, its dharmic light dimming.
*What an exceptional spell!*
Li Qinghong glared fiercely at the dharmic light in Ning Heyuan's hand, guessing at a glance that this had to be an inheritance from one of the main peaks of the Qingchi Sect, most likely a fourth- or fifth-rank spell.
Only the spells passed down within the Three Sects and Seven Gates deserved to be called true spells; they were strictly forbidden from circulating outside the sects. Compared to them, the spells traded among rogue cultivators and aristocratic clans in the outside world were mere child's play—mostly first- or second-rank substandard trifles.
The dharmic light remained undisturbed in Ning Heyuan's hand, yet he cursed softly and waved his sleeve to disperse it, admitting somewhat dejectedly:
"Miss, you possess fine lightning arts and fine spearwork... to force me into using Siyuan Qian Light... I was indeed overconfident."
Li Qinghong had zero goodwill toward the Ning and Chi clans of the Qingchi Sect. She merely committed the name Siyuan Qian Light to memory, nodded coldly, and replied:
"Please take your leave, sir. Forgive me for not seeing you off."
Ning Heyuan choked on his words. He opened his mouth, all his pent-up sentiments trapped in his throat. Seeing Li Qinghong about to descend back to the mountain, he could only call out:
"Might the fairy leave her name?"
Li Qinghong paused. In the end, she spoke:
"The Li family of Lijing, Li Qinghong."
Chapter 309