Li Yuanping rode along on horseback. Once the initial surge of excitement passed, he faintly felt the urge to cough again. The armor he wore was icy cold, while the cloth beneath was slick and clammy with sweat. Held in his arms, Li Ximing clutched the horse's head and sensed something amiss, asking, "Father, how has your health been lately...?"
"Heh."
Li Yuanping gave no answer. With a pale face, he guided the horse toward the carriage draped with fluttering black banners and dismounted. At his side, Dou Yi hastily stepped forward to take the reins. Li Yuanping said, "Lead this horse away and... give it to Xicheng to ride. Starting tomorrow, there is no need to prepare carriages for outings."
He ducked inside the carriage and began undoing his harness and peeling off his armor. Sensible and obedient, Li Ximing lit the charcoal brazier within. Li Yuanping coughed twice, sat down beside the brazier, and spoke in a gentle tone:
"Sitting high in the grand hall, the letters coming up from the various towns are always full of empty platitudes about peace throughout our borders. Riding Zhongsuo these past few months, using its legs to see everything with my own eyes, has finally brought peace to my heart."
"We have seen that Li Jiman as well. Ming'er, what do you make of him?"
Li Ximing's small face was bathed in a faint golden-red glow by the fire. He poked at the burning charcoal twice with a wooden stick, seemingly recalling the encounter, before replying, "I see him as arrogant, stingy, and cruel."
"Mm."
Li Yuanping nodded in agreement and asked softly, "In your view, would this Shanyue realm be better off in the hands of the Tian clan, or in the hands of Li Jiman?"
Li Ximing frowned slightly and said, "I feel that no matter whose hands it falls into, there is no real difference. It only depends on which side can bring greater benefit to our family... The Shanyue territory is vast, yet the spiritual items and spirit rice paid up as tribute right now are far too meager."
Li Yuanping had not expected profound insights from a child in the first place. He let out a low sigh and replied, "It is not just Shanyue. As the clan expands, a trend of covert struggles and overt rivalries has grown rampant across the seven towns. Prominent families and branch lineages clash and fight fiercely. Were it not for the Clan Rectory and the Jade Court Guard suppressing them, I fear there would be even more sordid affairs."
"From the beginning to this day, our clan has spanned five generations. If counted from the day the old ancestor returned to establish our foundation, nearly a century has passed. Achieving success is easy, but maintaining a household is difficult—this is precisely what it means."
Father and son conversed inside the carriage. The lead spiritual horse gave a snort and halted in its tracks. Dou Yi called out from outside:
"Patriarch, we have arrived at the town."
Li Yuanping led his eldest son down from the carriage. Dou Yi leaned close and murmured in a low voice, "Patriarch, Chen Donghe and the others are already waiting in the hall."
"Mm."
Li Yuanping stepped into the hall. Though he was merely an Embryonic Breathing cultivator, several Qi Refinement cultivators in the hall all rose from their seats out of respect. Li Yuanping took his place at the head and first looked toward Chen Donghe at the side, saying courteously, "Uncle-in-Law, what brings this about?"
Chen Donghe was now in his fifties, possessing a cultivation at the fourth layer of Qi Refinement. His gaze was gentle as he offered a slight cupped-hand salute and replied, "I have already packed my bags and prepare to set out for the western shore together with Jingtian."
Li Yuanping nodded in realization. He picked up a storage bag from the desk, walked down a few paces, and placed it directly into Chen Donghe's hands, saying in a solemn tone, "These are talismans, spirit stones, and provisions prepared by the clan. Two Shanyue miscellaneous qi cultivators have also been arranged in the town to attend to menial chores at your beck and call... Take care, Uncle-in-Law!"
Chen Donghe and his wife had long intended to travel abroad. To the outside world, they claimed they were heading out to temper themselves, but in truth, they were venturing to the vast desert of the Jinyu Sect in the west to collect Golden Sun Radiant Primordium.
This had always been a secret affair. Hearing Li Yuanping say he was assigning two Shanyue miscellaneous qi cultivators, Chen Donghe looked up sharply. Li Yuanping smiled and said, "Worry not, Uncle-in-Law. These two bear multiple familial ties and have sworn a spiritual vow of Xuan Scenery. They are thoroughly dependable."
The cultivation arts of the Shanyue were crude and archaic, tailored to the bloodlines of their various tribes. They were easy to practice yet incapable of achieving greatness. Consequently, while five miscellaneous qi cultivators had emerged over the years, they merely tended to spirit herbs and were unfit for important duties.
Harvesting Golden Sun Radiant Primordium alone would require a full twenty years. Chen Donghe naturally understood Li Yuanping's intentions, so he nodded in comprehension and voiced his thanks. With outsiders present, it was improper to elaborate, so he simply took the pouch, offered his farewells, and departed.
Only after Chen Donghe left did Li Xicheng step forward from the side, saying respectfully, "Reporting to the Patriarch, the tribute of spirit rice and spiritual items from Eastern Shanyue for the past five years has been delivered: two thousand one hundred jin of spirit rice, two hundred Baiyuan fruits, two hundred jin of topaz spirit rice, and eleven varieties of assorted spiritual items."
He paused, then added, "The total value amounts to seventy spirit stones! Everything has already been brought to the foot of the mountain."
"Good."
Li Yuanping nodded in acknowledgment. The Qingchi Sect maintained an almost hands-off approach toward minor clans of Embryonic Breathing and Qi Refinement, taking only a pittance of tribute to signify subservience. Toward established noble families, however, their taxation was exorbitant.
Now that the Li family was recognized as an established noble house, the spiritual goods due every five years were exorbitant:
"Ten thousand jin of spirit rice, counted as one hundred spirit stones; five hundred Baiyuan fruits and five hundred jin of topaz spirit rice, counted as one hundred spirit stones; and the rest of the miscellaneous spiritual tributes amount to another twenty to thirty stones..."
Yet the Li family's current output could barely cover half of that. The remaining deficit of over a hundred spirit stones had always been the headache plaguing Li Yuanping.
In past years, part of it was made up through the Guanyun Peak market by issuing bounties for outside cultivators and clan members to gather herbs and hunt demon beasts in the mountains. Combined with the proceeds from talismans drawn by Li Xuanxuan and others, after subsidizing those clan cultivators, it barely netted a profit of forty to fifty stones.
On the other hand, they relied on the Qingwu ore vein within their territory. By mining it at full capacity, they could obtain another forty to fifty spirit stones every five years. The remainder was scraped together through Li Yuanping's relentless penny-pinching to barely make ends meet.
"We still have to supply cultivation resources for the clan's cultivators..."
Hearing Li Xicheng report that Eastern Shanyue's harvest this year was not particularly abundant, Li Yuanping felt another massive headache coming on. He nudged the teacup on his desk and muttered softly, "Mount Wutu still lacks a grand protective array, which is truly pitifully bare... Operating at a deficit year after year like this is no long-term solution."
Standing before him, Li Xicheng remained respectful. Noting that his earlier report had been delivered smoothly without his usual woodenness, Li Yuanping could not resist asking, "How stands the situation in Shanyue?"
Li Xicheng was clearly unprepared for the question. Taken aback, he pondered for several breaths before answering with some trepidation, "The Tian clan assists in governance... Prince Li Jiman is valiant..."
"Enough."
Hearing that Li Xicheng spoke neither of 'the Tian clan ruling' nor 'the Tian clan seizing control of court affairs,' Li Yuanping had no patience to hear more. He said gently, "Go and cultivate."
"Yes!"
Li Xicheng cupped his hands and withdrew. Li Yuanping exhaled a long breath, turned his head toward Li Ximing, who was studiously reading at his side, and said in a low voice, "Xicheng is simple and honest, gentle and generous. If you govern the family in the future, your brother Xicheng can be assigned tasks, but he must never be left to hold down a front on his own."
Li Ximing was rather fond of his eldest brother, Li Xicheng. For a moment, he felt it was neither right to nod nor shake his head, so he silently buried his head back into his book. Fortunately, a subordinate came up from below and reported:
"Reporting to the Patriarch, word has arrived from the Yuan family."
"Oh?"
Li Yuanping swiftly looked up. The man reported, "Master Yuan Tuan has arrived at Xunlin Plain and will reach Moon-Gazing Lake on the full moon of the eleventh month."
"Splendid!"
Li Yuanping broke into a broad smile. Today was the third of the eleventh month, which meant Yuan Tuan would arrive in twelve days. He chuckled and said, "Send someone to reply, saying our clan respectfully awaits the immortal master's gracious arrival."
***
Rain fell incessantly over Linghai Commandery. Situated in the southern reaches of the State of Yue, it was surrounded by mountains—gloomy, damp, and stifling. Rainwater gathered between the valleys, frequently submerging the low-lying hollows.
A youth waded through the water within the dense rainforest for a while, surrounded by the unbroken croaking of frogs across the ground. His brow knitted tightly as he muttered in a sullen voice, "Master, why must we circle all the way back to this godforsaken place?"
"Who knows what madness has gripped the Qingchi Sect?"
Behind him walked a disheveled man, unkempt and fierce, stepping atop black mist with a raspy voice. "Of all things, they haven't dispatched a single Foundation Establishment cultivator related to this! We have no choice but to cross Linghai Commandery first and head to Yishan City on the border of the Southern Frontier to see!"
"This body is already past its usefulness. If I hadn't practiced 'Drinking the People's Blood' in the past to suppress it, this flesh would have long been eroded by the golden nature into a puddle of pus and blood..."
The youth narrowed his eyes and said with an ambiguous tone, "Yet didn't Master say you sought a few specific types of dao foundations? Charging into Yishan City like this, I fear there will be no turning back, and we can only push deeper into the Southern Frontier."
"If we reach the depths of the Southern Frontier, where will we find a body for you to seize?"
This youth was none other than Jiang Yan, who had been missing for years. Uncounted cultivators had been wreaking havoc across the State of Yue under his banner, yet he had slipped back into Linghai Commandery without anyone realizing.
A flicker of suspicion crossed Jiang Yan's eyes as he probed with that question. Yet Jiang Boqing waved his hand dismissively and replied, "Your master here reached Foundation Establishment at thirty and attained the Violet Palace at sixty—a peerless genius! When the time comes, I'll simply figure something out!"
Jiang Yan waved his hands and laughed aloud, retorting, "Since Master claims to be a genius who established his foundation at thirty and reached the Violet Palace at sixty, why did you abandon this path of the Violet Palace and Golden Core back then to practice bizarre cursed scriptures instead?"
"Blast it all."
The rough fellow grunted, the markings on his face twisting together along with his shifting expression. He snapped viciously, "Back then I was a genius, so how could I understand the dirty undercurrents between Violet Palace and Golden Core cultivators? All I knew was that I had never encountered anyone who shared the same immortal foundation as mine, so I buried my head in bitter cultivation day in and day out. Only after I attained the Violet Palace—"
"Only then did I learn that Duanmu Kui, the damnable Master of Mount Wu, walked that very same path!"
The vessel he possessed was teetering on the verge of collapse. His expression was warped and hideous, barely recognizable as a smile, as he continued, "Duanmu Kui was a peerless figure who suppressed an entire era! How could I afford to wait for him to make a move on me? Frightened out of my wits, I immediately shed my divine abilities and severed my dao foundation, seeking emptiness to craft talismans. I discarded most of my cultivation before I managed to become an unorthodox master."
"Oh?"
Jiang Yan remained composed and asked in return, "What does it mean to 'seek emptiness to craft talismans'?"
Jiang Boqing shook his head, a hint of pride surfacing on his face as he explained, "It was a method I obtained from an ancient text—treating one's lifebound divine ability as a talisman to refine, transforming one's entire cultivation along with the dao foundation into an immortal talisman, shifting from the path of the Golden Core to the path of Shamanic Talismans..."
A few traces of yearning surfaced on his face as he said in a softened tone, "In my youth, I received the legacy of a senior from the Yuehua Yuan Mansion. This technique was among those leavings. It was exceedingly arduous; it only succeeded because the High Shaman Lotus-Blood Three-Nine Nature I pursued possessed profound affinities with the art of talismans."
"Treating one's entire cultivation as a talisman to refine..."
Jiang Yan mulled over those words. When he turned his head around, his face was glistening with bright tears. He asked in a low voice, "Is Master currently treating my entire cultivation as a talisman to refine?"
Jiang Boqing had still been chattering endlessly, but upon hearing those words, he abruptly froze. Opening his mouth, he barked, "What utter nonsense are you spouting?!"
Yet Jiang Yan only grew more certain. His tears gradually ceased. Staring quietly into Jiang Boqing's eyes, he said in a heavy voice, "Though your disciple does not cultivate the path of the Violet Palace and Golden Core, I understand full well that this path is never something that can be shifted back and forth at whim. Turning a core into a talisman was already pushing the limits; using golden nature to seize body after body on top of that—how could anything in this world be so casual!"
His eyes shone sharply, and his tone turned freezing. "If your disciple guesses correctly, Master's golden nature was already grievously damaged. Now that your golden nature is dissipating, there is no longer any chance of seizing a dao foundation to begin a new life!"
"Ah...!"
The fury on Jiang Boqing's face slowly subsided, quickly giving way to a faint trace of admiration. He whispered, "Indeed. I have long since lost any chance of seizing a vessel..."
Jiang Yan took a slow step backward. Watching Jiang Boqing standing entirely unguarded, a bitter smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he hissed with venom, "It seems you and the Qingchi Sect are birds of a feather after all. No wonder... no wonder! What a colossal behemoth the Qingchi Sect is! Yet when I fled through five commanderies for years, they failed to capture even a petty cultivator like me."
"Rivers of blood flowed all along the way. Every time I broke through an outpost of the Qingchi Sect, the exact materials I needed for a breakthrough always happened to be there... Those reserves of blood qi and resentment gathered over decades were delivered into my hands gourd after gourd."
His pupils dilated, and his fists clenched so hard they nearly bled. He shrieked in a shrill voice, "Jiang Boqing! What a marvelous show you staged all by yourself... You and Qingchi each took what you needed and put on a grand performance!"
"You were never looking to seize the body of some cultivator with a special immortal foundation—those were merely sweet words to keep me pacified! The Three-Nine True Talisman in my Qihai acupoint, the Shamanic Blood Talisman in my Shengyang Mansion—these are the very things you were scheming for!"
His voice echoed through the mountains, leaving Jiang Boqing utterly speechless. Flesh and blood flaked and dropped steadily from Jiang Boqing's face. After freezing for several breaths, Jiang Boqing replied:
"I do share close ties with Bu Zi, and the demonic disaster was indeed a trade of mutual benefit between me and the Qingchi Sect... That is why the blood qi and resentment were delivered into your hands one by one. You are a clever child; you guessed right on these points."
He paused, shaking his head slightly, and answered, "However, my golden nature is damaged. I lost the ability to seize a vessel long ago, and no talisman or scroll can save it. Those two shamanic talismans within you were nurtured by my own hands... While extraordinary in wonder, they possess no function as a foundation for vessel possession."
Blood covered the face of Jiang Boqing's current body, yet a gentle gaze shone through. He said in a low voice, "Seizing this body was solely to keep you safe. Without dedicated spiritual medicines and matching cultivation arts to sustain it, I will eventually perish alongside this flesh sooner or later. I thought I could keep it from you until I saw you safely out of the Southern Frontier..."
Yet Jiang Yan remained unmoved. Taking another step back with an alert expression, he stared at him coldly and retorted, "Just because you say it isn't so, that makes it true? How am I supposed to believe you!"
Jiang Boqing frowned and looked at him, suddenly struck by alarm. Abruptly working his tongue and lips, he roared:
"Halt!"
Jiang Boqing brought his lips and teeth together, releasing a thunderous shout that made Jiang Yan's head buzz. Jiang Boqing's expression changed drastically as he cursed, "Blast it! A divine ability blinded our eyes!"
A wave of clarity washed over Jiang Yan's eyes. Before he could process the shock, Jiang Boqing grabbed him, rode the wind into the air, and shouted, "Flee, quickly! For him to obstruct us with a divine ability means he is definitely not far!"
"A Violet Palace cultivator?!"
The hairs on Jiang Yan's body stood on end. Pushing his magic power to its limit, he rode the wind in flight and asked in disbelief, "Aren't you in league with the Qingchi Sect? Why would a Violet Palace cultivator be sent to hunt you down?!"
"Most likely an old enemy from my past!"
Jiang Boqing's burly, unkempt vessel cursed in agitation, frantically calculating in his heart. In sheer disbelief, he muttered, "How could this be?! Who could have deduced our whereabouts!"
The two had flown for barely a single breath when the biting wind between heaven and earth screeched to a dead halt. The wind gathered beneath their feet by magic power ceased flowing entirely. In the void before them, streaks of black flowing light manifested, and the multicolored radiance of a Violet Palace divine ability surged forth.
"Senior Jiang."
A youth ambled slowly out from the Great Void. He was clad in an unadorned Daoist robe, with delicate facial features, holding a dharma bead in his hand that looked grayish and devoid of anything miraculous.
"Even you have lived to see such a day."
"Qing Jifang..."
Jiang Boqing stared fixedly at the youth. Clearly, this person's appearance here had exceeded his expectations, and he could not fathom his intentions either. He simply asked in a heavy voice, "What are you after?"
The Daoist robe of this Violet Palace cultivator fluttered gently. He gave the dharma bead in his hand a light spin, watched him quietly, and spoke:
"Senior need not be nervous. This junior merely has many questions to ask—be it concerning *Answers to the Beggar Beneath the Mulberry Tree*, or the Shangyuan Sword Immortal, Xiao Chuting, Tang Yuanwu..."
"Just what were you all plotting? And whose hands did that immortal book ultimately fall into...? Mount Changhuai is exceedingly curious about all of this... Please accompany me back to the State of Wu, Senior."
Chapter 330