Qingxuan

No sooner had Yuan Tuan's words fallen than Li Ximing took a step forward. Clad in loose white robes, he carried himself with an effortless grace, though his voice still bore a childish ring as he bowed respectfully. "Junior Li Ximing greets Senior!" Yuan Tuan looked him over carefully. The long gauze ribbons at her waist fluttered gently as she smiled. "My senior brother said an alchemist had emerged here whose breath was balanced and in whom water and fire were harmonized. Seeing you today, you truly are fine stock!" With that, she took Li Ximing by the hand and asked softly, "Does Ming'er have a handy cauldron of his own?" Li Ximing was slightly taken aback. Glancing at Li Yuanjiao, who nodded slightly, he answered, "In response to Senior, I already have one!" The Li clan's cauldron was a Qi Refinement artifact that Li Tongya had wrested from another's hands when the market fell apart in the old days. The clan was frail back then, and Li Tongya had kept it locked away in dust for years, fearing that possessing such a treasure would invite disaster. Only now, with the family's foundations secure and an alchemist of their own, did they dare bring it forth, and even so, only a few members of the main lineage were aware of it. Yuan Tuan paused at his reply. She patted the storage bag at her waist, her spiritual sense brushing against the azure cauldron within, and felt between tears and laughter. She thought to herself, *Blast it. So I wasted a favor from Yundan Peak for nothing...* After all, the Li clan had not even been established for a full century. Yuan Tuan had never imagined they would have already prepared a cauldron. Pondering for a breath, she untied an azure jade bead strung with red cord from her wrist and slipped it onto Li Ximing's, smiling. "Consider this my meeting gift to Ming'er!" Seeing how extraordinary the bead's luster was, Li Yuanjiao knew at a glance that it was no ordinary item. Secretly delighted, he hastened to demur out of courtesy: "Peak Master! How could we possibly accept this!" "Nonsense!" Yuan Tuan looked at Li Ximing with a beaming smile. Seeing the serious, composed expression on his young face, she grew all the fonder of him. "This object was my protective treasure during my Qi Refinement days, named Qingxuan. After being tempered by my cultivation methods for years, it possesses considerable wonder. It can take the form of an eagle, hound, tiger, or deer, full of spirit and vitality. It is quite a fine magical artifact throughout Embryonic Breathing and even Qi Refinement. "Now that I have attained my Dao Foundation and nourished it for two years with Qingxianyue, it has grown even more miraculous, almost on par with a Foundation Establishment artifact. Qingxianyue's abilities overlap significantly with this treasure, so I no longer have any use for it. I might as well gift it to Ming'er!" Li Yuanjiao could naturally see that Yuan Tuan had originally intended to present a cauldron to repay their favor. Replacing it with this jade bead meant it had to be of comparable value. Cauldrons and similar artifacts were priceless treasures with little supply on the open market, so for this bead to serve as an equivalent made it quite extraordinary. He immediately said, "Hurry and thank the Immortal Master." "Many thanks, Senior!" Li Ximing bowed formally. Yuan Tuan nodded, stretching out a slender hand to emit a faint white light that enveloped the entire area above and below, severing the inside from the outside. Only then did her expression turn solemn. "Is your esteemed clan aware of the demonic scourge?" Li Yuanjiao instantly sharpened his attention. To the side, Li Yuanping, Li Xicheng, and the others also pricked up their ears. Li Yuanjiao answered: "Living in northern Yue, my clan has indeed heard of it. Rumor has it that Jiang Yan commits every evil imaginable, spreading demonic heritages everywhere. They circulate among rogue cultivators and even the common folk, stirring up countless demonic disturbances. It is especially grim in the south..." "Indeed." Yuan Tuan nodded, lowering her voice. "Though Jiang Yan opposes the Qing... my sect, what he cultivates is a shamanic legacy, by no means the demonic path spoken of in rumors. Moreover, this man has been missing for years. There must be another secret behind the demonic scourge." "Senior means..." Li Yuanjiao frowned slightly and replied, "Someone else in the state of Yue is deliberately spreading demonic legacies... Has anyone in the sect gone to suppress and destroy them?" Yuan Tuan wore an enigmatic expression as she murmured, "None. However, voices of concern have arisen among the peaks, fearing that if the demonic scourge is left unchecked, it will ultimately recreate the tragedy of Pingming Ferry." The ancient clash between the immortals and demons had taken place in the great war of Pingming Ferry. It had shattered the heavens and cracked the earth, burying rivers and mountains and sinking the Shenzhou continent. The immortal path lost the north, which invited the barbarian nomads to sweep downward and allowed the Buddhist faith to flourish, leading to the present state of the world. Li Yuanjiao nodded in silence, understanding the gravity. Yuan Tuan cautioned: "In recent years, my family has repeatedly caught traces of demonic cultivators on the Xunlin Plain. We even lost two Qi Refinement disciples to them. It appears to be intensifying and spreading toward the north. I must ask your esteemed clan to keep a watchful eye." "Thank you for the warning, Senior!" Seeing Li Yuanjiao respond respectfully and clearly take the matter to heart, Yuan Tuan conjured a wisp of azure light at the tip of her pale, tender finger. As it touched the ground, it transformed into two white deer that blinked their eyes and stood still with their heads tilted. Yuan Tuan spoke softly, "Good disciple, come with me back to our peak!" Li Xizhi hurriedly bowed farewell to his parents and bid goodbye to his brothers one by one. Only then did he mount the white deer and rise into the clouds. Yuan Tuan also drifted lightly onto the back of her deer, saying gently, "If you wish to send a letter to the sect, you may direct it to the Yuan family. The blessings left by our predecessors will eventually run dry; I hope you all cultivate diligently." Her voice lingered in the air as the two white deer rode the clouds away, vanishing without a trace within moments. The remaining crowd looked up into the sky. Li Yuanping was the first to speak: "Qingxianyue truly carries the aura of an immortal family. I wonder which path of Dao Foundation it belongs to!" The two brothers exchanged a glance, inwardly delighted by how smoothly the matter had gone and the harvest they had reaped. At their side, Li Xijun leaned close to Li Ximing and whispered curiously: "Brother! Let me see your new magical artifact!" Li Ximing nodded at once. He had been eager all along, but out of a desire to uphold the clan's dignity, he had refrained from showing any overt excitement before Yuan Tuan. Now his eyes shone bright as he channeled his magical power. The jade bead gave a faint glow and spouted a plume of azure light that descended toward the ground. Touching down, the azure light coalesced into a white deer with tucked knees, no larger than a kitten. Extremely nimble, it stared wide-eyed at the people around it. Li Xijun laughed, swinging a leg over to ride it. How could the spirit deer allow that? It darted left and right, scurrying behind Li Ximing to hide. Giggling, Li Xijun caught it by its antlers and began tumbling about in play, while Li Ximing clutched the bead and pursed his lips in amusement. "First layer of Embryonic Breathing." Dressed in black, Li Yuanjiao swept his spiritual sense across the spirit deer and murmured a remark. Li Yuanping nodded and replied, "It should scale with the bearer's cultivation." "Ming'er!" At Li Yuanping's call, Li Ximing reluctantly held up the magical bead and handed it to Li Yuanjiao. Taking the magical treasure Qingxuan, Li Yuanjiao channeled his magical power into it, remarking after several breaths, "It has some spirit within; it has already recognized its master." With that, he returned the jade bead to Li Ximing. Li Ximing's eyes had been glued to the treasure all along; overjoyed to see it returned, he tied it back onto his wrist. After seeing the children of the Xi generation out, several clan guards stepped into the lower hall to take up their watch. Sitting down on either side of a low table, Li Yuanping said in a hushed tone: "The demonic scourge draws near. Over the past few days, I looked over the clan's situation, so let me share it with you, Brother." "Very well," Li Yuanjiao replied. Li Yuanping began, "At present, our clan has six Qi Refinement cultivators. You are at the sixth layer, our eldest sister is at the fifth layer, Uncle-in-Law has left home, Father is at the third layer, and Sister-in-Law Guiluan and Mother, Lady Dou, are at the first layer. "Aside from the direct line, the collateral branch has one Qi Refinement cultivator named Li Wen, who has just broken through. He came from the Jade Court Guard and specializes in protective duties." He paused, turning toward the guards below to instruct, "Call the battalion commander inside." The guard acknowledged the order and withdrew. Li Yuanping continued: "Among those with outside surnames, Tian Youdao, Tian Zhongqing, and Xu Gongming are at the first layer of Qi Refinement, while Guest Elder An Zheyan is at the seventh layer. There are also seven or eight other miscellaneous qi cultivators like Li Qiuyang, mostly Shanyue; if they run into demonic cultivators at Qi Refinement, they would merely be throwing their lives away..." Having heard this, Li Yuanjiao said in a heavy voice, "Excluding Uncle-in-Law and Father, who are not at home, that leaves six in the early stage of Qi Refinement, two in the middle stage, and one in the late stage." "Correct," Li Yuanping affirmed. Just then, a man stepped up into the hall. Broad and burly with rugged features, he fell to his knees like a toppling gold mountain or a collapsing jade pillar, uttering in a gruff voice, "Guard Li Wen greets the Family Head and Clan Uncle!" A Jade Court Guard was treated on par with a battalion commander, so Li Wen had enjoyed fairly ample cultivation resources. Moreover, he cultivated the fast-progressing Court-Knocking Palace Guard Incantation, leaving him barely in his early thirties. Li Yuanping hastened to tell him to rise, explaining to his brother, "He has spent recent years in secluded cultivation to break through, which is why he looks unfamiliar to you, Brother." Li Yuanjiao nodded and asked, "Which branch are you from?" Li Wen replied in a deep, muffled voice, "This humble one's great-great-grandfather was the concubine-born younger brother of Old Ancestor Mutian, the youngest son of Ancestor Genshui, and the concubine-born uncle of the fourth branch..." Seeing this burly man recite the lineage with immense pride and practiced ease in that booming drone, Li Yuanjiao found it both comical and a headache. He cut him off at once: "I understand. You belong to the line of Ancestor Genshui's youngest son." Li Wen nodded proudly. He had recited that entire string without a hitch, clearly having it on the tip of his tongue on a daily basis. Li Yuanjiao drew a bottle of pills from his storage bag, tossed it into his hands, and said softly: "Consider this a meeting gift from your clan uncle." "Many thanks, Clan Uncle!" Li Wen bowed once more, murmured a gravelly thanks, and withdrew. "He seems honest and straightforward," Li Yuanjiao remarked faintly, watching his retreating figure. With a pale face, Li Yuanping nodded and pointedly observed, "Though the collateral branches have many people, their talent leaves much to be desired. Out of all those people, only he has emerged, and among miscellaneous qi cultivators, they only have Uncle Qiuyang." "Yes." Li Yuanjiao nodded, setting his jade cup upon the table. "It is a bit too sparse. I fear it might give us away." After all, every generation of the Li clan's main lineage produced spirit aperture bearers, with each generation's talent surpassing the last. While the branches of the first and second uncles had many descendants and plenty of mortal offspring from both main wives and concubines—which pulled down that terrifyingly high ratio somewhat—the collateral branches remained far too withered. Not a single decent genius had emerged from them in all these years, which could not help but arouse the suspicions of discerning onlookers. "What are your thoughts, Brother Ping?" Li Yuanping had already made his calculations, yet he still looked to his elder brother. Hearing the question, Li Yuanping nodded slowly and replied: "We must tackle it from both ends. For the collateral branches, we will reduce their household registry through penal convictions and encourage cultivators to marry into other families and adopt their names. For the main branch, we will branch out and multiply to swell our numbers... In recent years, I have been gradually setting these wheels in motion." Li Yuanping paused, his expression turning somewhat grim as he explained, "After all, striking a name from the ancestral temple is a grave matter that hits the collateral branch right where it hurts. Aside from changing 'Li' to 'Ye' and being expelled from the branch, nothing hurts more than death. We still must proceed step by step." Li Yuanjiao nodded. Staring into Li Yuanping's eyes, he said in a low voice, "I have a better way." "I would gladly hear the details." Li Yuanping looked up. Li Yuanjiao began: "Right now, playboys and scoundrels are multiplying among the collateral branches. Although the Clan Rectory has many cultivators, they cannot spend their cultivation time every single day watching over and policing clan members. Gradually, they are finding it beyond their strength, and several fools have even been played like fiddles by prominent clans." His voice was low, drifting through the air. "If we could have a great battle and, following protocol, draft the clan's scions as soldiers and commanders to prune the withered and preserve the sound, it would surely cleanse our house from top to bottom and lighten our burden tremendously." In his youth, Li Yuanjiao had campaigned on the battlefields, rolling heads across Shanyue lands. Back then, Li Yuanping was not yet born. By the time Li Yuanping took up affairs, Li Yuanjiao had long reined in his temperament, talking with him day and night without displaying any ferocity. Only upon hearing these words did he understand why their father, Li Xuanxuan, used to constantly remark that Li Yuanjiao carried too heavy a bloodlust. Taking a silent breath, he asked, "A great battle against whom?" "It might not need to be a great battle. It is merely a thought." Li Yuanjiao chuckled softly. Staring with a pleasant smile at the letter from Eastern Shanyue on the table, he said warmly: "Eastern Shanyue is now likewise choked by entrenched nobles, bloated beyond measure. Back then, we needed those nobles to keep Shamoli in check. Now that the Tian family has established itself, keeping them around only lets them embezzle spiritual materials and usurp our spirit fields." He sipped his tea and lowered his voice. "First, the vermin within the clan; second, the Shanyue nobles. Before the demonic scourge arrives, we must cleanly resolve these two matters. We cannot allow these two worms to hide, survive, and grow fat while the clan is weakened afterward." *** The Xiao family, Xianyou Peak. The clear, cold pool rippled faintly, and the spiritual herbs along the bank grew in crooked patches. Riding a ray of multicolored light, Xiao Chuting broke through the Great Void and sat down upon a bluestone at the peak's highest point. "'The High Witch Blood-Bearing Three-Nine' golden nature—truly magnificent." Stroking his beard, Xiao Chuting was filled with emotion. That golden light had flared in the Great Void for more than a dozen breaths, alarming every Violet Palace cultivator in Wu and Yue, leaving them to marvel at the once-in-a-century spectacle of golden nature evaporating. "Qing Jifang is young after all. Judging others by his own standards, he truly believed that no matter what cornered state these Violet Palace cultivators reached, they would still cling greedily to life and submit to his Mount Changhuai." Recalling how Qing Jifang had been thrown into terrified confusion and struck square-on by the high witch's golden nature, Xiao Chuting felt quite gratified. "Jiang Boqing... Ever since Duanmu Kui fell and *Answers to the Beggar Beneath the Mulberry Tree* vanished, he knew he did not have long to live... Yet he was unwilling to accept it. He simply had to charge forward and strike out before he was willing to die..." Back then, Jiang Boqing had stood tall in the Great Void above Lixia Commandery. An aura rivaling the peak of Violet Palace had scared the Qingchi Sect's Violet Palace masters into utter helplessness, leaving them to watch blankly as Jiang Boqing manipulated everyone like marionettes, without a single soul daring to utter a peep. Looking back at him today, he had scraped by for over a decade under the Qingchi Sect's rule, forced to damage his own golden nature to seize a Dao Foundation and flee in all directions. In the end, he had been reduced to sacrificing his life merely to gravely wound a junior. It was truly lamentable. "Just his luck, as well. To reach the end of his lifespan and die right when Duanmu Kui fell made him the target of everyone's arrows, stripping him of any chance to reincarnate..." He brought out a white jade fishing rod, resting it upon the bluestone. Just as he prepared to channel his divine ability to see what good things had appeared of late, a warm, gentle voice sounded by his ear: "Welcoming the Ancestor back to the mountain! Yuansi comes to pay his respects!" A flicker of helplessness surfaced on Xiao Chuting's face. After dodging left and right, Xiao Yuansi had still caught him. In an aged voice, he said: "Come up!" Before long, Xiao Yuansi flew up, clad in white and smelling of medicinal herbs throughout his body—evidently having just finished refining a furnace of pills. Landing before Xiao Chuting, he bowed respectfully. "Yuansi greets the Ancestor and congratulates the Ancestor on the great completion of his divine ability!" Seeing his stiff, polite manner, Xiao Chuting could not help but let out a low chuckle. "Have you come on account of Li Tongya?" "The Ancestor's perception is sharp beyond compare; Yuansi is filled with admiration!" Xiao Yuansi stood respectfully. Xiao Chuting had no choice but to set down the white jade fishing rod in his hand and console him in an exasperated tone: "I have done all I could! Li Tongya's fate is already sealed. The various Violet Palace masters have pushed him to that point, and it is not something I alone can alter." He then laid out the entire chain of cause and effect regarding the Wrathful Mahā, concluding: "I have already done everything in my power to sway the threads of fate. Since Li Tongya's fate cannot be altered, we can only use him to seek more benefits... My Xiao family shares some closeness with his house, but not to the extent of offending an entire circle of Violet Palace masters and ruining a plan people have spent years preparing, all for his sake." "Why must it be Li Tongya!" Having heard the whole story, Xiao Yuansi felt a stifling weight in his chest and could not help but question out loud. "Why must it be Li Tongya?" Xiao Chuting sneered coldly, lowering his voice. "Perhaps his fate is sweet and fragrant. Perhaps his location sits right on the border between north and south, making him easy to manipulate. Perhaps he was the nourishment the Mahā prepared many years ago..." He paused slightly, as if pondering something. The scene in the Great Void that day surfaced in his mind, and he added silently to himself: *Perhaps they aren't using Li Tongya to bait the Wrathful Mahā... but to test certain other beings...* Seeing Xiao Yuansi fall silent, Xiao Chuting shook his head and sighed. "What a pity that the fool Liu Changdie scurries east and scurries west, running from east to west and from west to south, as if wishing he could tread over every inch of Yue's soil. He has tangled these threads of fate into such a muddy mess that nothing can be deduced clearly anymore. "Count them up... South of the river, the number of Violet Palace masters who want to slap him dead with a single palm has already reached double digits. Wherever he goes in the east, the east complains; wherever he goes in the west, the west curses the streets. All of them are holding their tempers and exerting every ounce of restraint." Xiao Chuting chuckled into his chest, as if recalling something amusing. Xiao Yuansi watched him in bewilderment, having only caught the name Liu Changdie, completely at a loss.