Li Yuanjiao pinched a hand seal to flick the dust from his robes and burned incense before finally entering the secret chamber to retrieve the magical mirror. Holding the icy, greenish-gray mirror in his hands never failed to set his heart pounding, leaving him feeling somewhat at a loss.
"The fortune of an entire clan rests upon a single mirror."
There was no record of the mirror's existence in the Clan History. It was only after Li Yuanjiao received the talisman seed that Li Tongya retrieved the Inner History from beneath the stone altar in the secret chamber. Li Yuanjiao had wept and laughed as he read through it, only then coming to understand the magical mirror.
After reading those jade slips repeatedly until they were firmly etched into his heart, Li Yuanjiao finally walked out of the ancestral hall.
What slightly puzzled him was that even the Inner History was vague and contradictory regarding the origins of the greenish-gray magical mirror.
In the Ancestral Biographies, his aunt Li Jingtian had written:
"The lord promptly obtained the magical artifact, received the register, and began his cultivation."
Yet in the Biography of Li Mutian, she had written:
"The Old Ancestor traveled north with an immortal, achieved an immortal foundation, and traversed Wu and Yue wielding the Mysterious Mirror. After two hundred and nineteen years, he returned to his homeland to establish the clan."
"'Promptly obtained the magical artifact'... What does 'promptly obtained' even mean..."
Li Yuanjiao pondered absentmindedly. Before he realized it, he had already left the mountain and flown more than ten li to the north. Only then did he snap out of his reverie and draw the magical mirror from his robes. The mysterious patterns upon its surface faintly glowed, lending the greenish-gray frame an even more imposing air.
Brushing his fingers lightly across it, Li Yuanjiao sank his spiritual sense into the mirror and spoke reverently:
"Li family disciple Li Yuanjiao, humbly favored by the profound grace, respectfully invokes the Xuanming wondrous dharma, calling forth the Taiyin Mysterious Light to slay the wicked and rebellious, cleanse filth, and subdue demons!"
The moment his words fell, a bright gleam flashed before his eyes. It felt as though he were floating high up into the sky, until all of Lijing Town and the Li family estate lay spread out before him.
The clamor of voices, the crowing of roosters, and the barking of dogs from below rang clear in his ears. From the patrolling clan soldiers to the dense forests and the rippling, dark blue lake, everything appeared vividly before his eyes.
"Phew."
Li Yuanjiao knew that with a single thought, the dazzling Taiyin Mysterious Light would strike any corner at the foot of the mountain in the very next breath. He opened his mind, zoomed his perspective far into the distance, and traced the path indicated by the jade bracelet.
Passing through the forest and dark, jagged boulders in an out-of-body state, a cave dwelling soon emerged before him. It was crude and cramped, its stone walls covered with hack marks left by blade qi, evidently excavated in great haste.
In the center lay a prayer mat, where a middle-aged man in black robes sat cross-legged, turning the jade bracelet in his hands.
The man possessed a rather sinister countenance, a short beard, and a cultivation level at the second layer of Qi Refinement. From time to time, he glanced outside with furrowed brows, lingering terror etched across his face, as if frightened by something unseen.
Seeing the jade bracelet in his hand, Li Yuanjiao understood immediately and thought to himself,
*There really is something wrong...*
The cultivator was dressed in ordinary robes that revealed nothing about his identity. Li Yuanjiao committed the man's face to memory, then circled the peak once without discovering any other traces of life.
Restraining the urge to strike him with a beam of Taiyin Mysterious Light, Li Yuanjiao slowly pulled his hand back. Just as he was about to return his senses to the mountain, he suddenly paused, reminded of something.
He looked north toward Hanyun Peak of the Fei family, where the white glow of the Cloud-Gathering Southern Sky Array operated day and night without pause. An irrepressible desire to investigate welled up within him.
*Why not take this chance to see what is happening beneath the Fei family's great array!*
After a few breaths of contemplation, Li Yuanjiao rode the wind aloft. Since the magical mirror could not be placed in a storage bag, he hid it carefully within his robes and concealed his figure as he flew across the lake.
The waves rolled beneath him. After flying for a short while, Li Yuanjiao found a small islet near the northern shore and sat down cross-legged. He brought out the magical mirror once more, closing his eyes to focus his mind.
Past the lake water along the shore, the northern terrain rose steeply. Following the ascending landscape, Li Yuanjiao caught sight of the chaotic state of the Fei family's domain.
Smoke billowed from over a dozen towns. Fires and spells intertwined, demonic qi rose in thick plumes, and dark-colored spiritual power surged in turbulent commotions. One could even spot several cultivators fighting one another, the light of magical artifacts clashing repeatedly in the air.
With the Fei family's immortal mountain locked down, the secular towns were staffed mostly by Embryonic Breathing cultivators who could not suppress the passing rogue cultivators. Everything barely held together on the Fei family's past prestige. The various towns refused to yield to one another, fracturing into disarray and teetering on the verge of open conflict.
Taking advantage of the situation, demonic beasts from Mount Dali and Daxu swarmed like wolves catching the scent of blood, devouring and abducting people on a massive scale. The Embryonic Breathing cultivators could barely protect themselves, let alone purge the beasts.
*The Fei family has been an established clan for many years after all. At least the passing rogue cultivators dare not make an open move, or things would be even worse.*
Casting only a brief glance over the scene, he turned toward the gleaming white formation blanketing the towering Hanyun Peak. It was indeed ancient, with many intricate and archaic array patterns that were said to be capable of keeping even Foundation Establishment cultivators at bay.
Li Yuanjiao probed forward, bumping lightly against it. His vision suddenly brightened, and as though passing through empty air, he slipped past the Fei family's clan-protecting array.
Hanyun Peak was veiled in clouds and mist, rich with spiritual energy. Pines and cypresses dotted the slopes while white snow drifted down. Falling snowflakes mingled with scattering joss paper, blanketing the mountains and ridges in stark white. White silk ribbons tied throughout the courtyards fluttered gently in the wind.
At the foot of the peak lay a collapsed cluster of houses, utterly devoid of human presence. Empty though it was, deep gouges were visible among the ruins, where sharp sword qi still welled forth, tearing the snowflakes to shreds.
Li Yuanjiao quietly raised his viewpoint and saw a handsome young man dressed in mourning hemp kneeling in the uppermost courtyard. He was only at the peak of Embryonic Breathing, surrounded by a group of clan uncles and elders, all wearing sorrowful expressions.
"Tongyu... this array has been running for nearly half a year. The family truly cannot sustain such an expense..."
"Indeed! Tongyu... the Clan Head did leave behind a substantial fortune, but it cannot withstand this kind of depletion..."
"You kneel in the ancestral hall every day, oblivious to how spirit stones are being poured away like water..."
Snowflakes fluttered down softly. Kneeling in the center of the courtyard, the handsome young man in mourning dress, whose face had once seemed so carefree, was now fraught with grief and unease. He clenched his teeth and remained silent.
This man had attended Li Yuanjiao's wedding, and Li Yuanjiao remembered him—he was Fei Tongyu, the young master of the Fei family. His cultivation had also advanced, having now reached the peak of Embryonic Breathing.
Glancing past the crowd, Li Yuanjiao looked up toward the spirit tablet in the seat of honor.
*Spirit Tablet of the Deceased Honorable Lord Fei, Taboo Name Wangbai, Style Name Shengyu.*
The flickering candlelight cast a glaring gleam over the characters of the pale-gold tablet. A pitch-black coffin lay in the snow-covered courtyard. After looking closer, Li Yuanjiao was seized by sheer horror.
*Fei Wangbai... is dead.*
The corpse in the coffin had both eyes shut, his face looking just as it had in life. But the head had been severed from the body, and a white cloth covered the neck to conceal the ghastly wound.
*Fei Wangbai... is truly dead.*
A grand Foundation Establishment immortal cultivator, the sole genius to break through to Foundation Establishment in the Fei family for a hundred years, the man who had quietly pushed the Yu family from their peak and led the Fei family to stand tall beside Lake Wangyue—had died silently upon his own immortal mountain.
Chapter 313