"The *Xuemo Dharma Book*..."
Li Xuanxuan pondered for a breath, vaguely recalling that Li Tongya had once mentioned this technique; it seemed to be a method belonging to the Jinyu Sect. Inscribed on the title page was the fourth rank, containing only the Qi Refinement portion of the manual.
"It appears that among demonic cultivators, methods are also held as leverage to maintain control layer upon layer. Demonic cultivators are selfish and self-serving, after all; if their Daoist path weren't held hostage, they would have scattered long ago..."
"There must be more to it than that."
Li Yuanjiao paused slightly. Not all demonic cultivators had any hope of breaking through to Foundation Establishment. Between them, there had to be other connections or means of commanding subordinates.
"It isn't surprising that the Three Sects and Seven Gates possess demonic methods, but finding a Jinyu Sect technique on a demonic cultivator in the Qingchi Sect's territory is intriguing. Could the demonic cultivators in Qingchi's lands have secretly defected to the Jinyu Sect?"
Puzzled, he murmured, "Or perhaps... the demonic calamity is something tacitly allowed, or even intentionally instigated, by both the Jinyu Sect and the Qingchi Sect? But even so..."
"What benefit could there possibly be in doing that!"
Dressed in black, Li Yuanjiao stared intently at his father, thoroughly baffled.
"The clans and rogue cultivators have sustained Qingchi for years. For them to be slaughtered by demonic cultivators in vain like this—to say nothing of the fact that Qingchi Sect will have to dispatch people to enlighten replacements next year—the lands ravaged by the calamity will languish for decades at least, and it takes nearly a century for small clans and rogue cultivators to grow and mature. Isn't that letting outsiders feast upon their own egg-laying hen?!"
"Perhaps... the demonic calamity serves another purpose."
Li Xuanxuan shook his head and turned his attention away, reading through each of the ink-black jade slips one by one.
They were *Life-Sacrificing Blood Gale*, which was likely the gale of blood the demonic cultivator had used to flee; followed by *Ghost Infant in the Womb*, an art of reincarnation; and the *Blood-Transforming Duyuan Scripture*, used to convert from the immortal Dao to the demonic Dao...
There were five arts in total, all requiring human blood, spiritual mechanism, resentment, and severed heads—none of them good things. The two men read only the general outline to gain a rough understanding of the secrets behind demonic cultivation.
Demonic cultivation also began with Embryonic Breathing. However, upon condensing the six Embryonic Breathing wheels, one did not immediately refine qi. Instead, the six wheels merged into a single deviant mansion.
Once this deviant mansion was formed, the Juque Court, Shengyang Mansion, and Qihai Acupoint united into one. The physical body was no longer the foundation of cultivation; rather, like the Buddhist cultivators, it became merely a boat to cross the sea of suffering.
The profound and obscure mysteries within were many, almost imbued with a bizarre demonic power that sought to draw a person's spiritual sense inside and instinctively circulate according to the manual's path. Fortunately, the force was not powerful, and after only a brief daze, both men snapped awake.
Li Xuanxuan, feeling he was not someone of iron will, did not dare look too closely and hastily let go.
"A deviant mansion... So this is what is meant by the technique of different cauldrons, same furnace..."
Li Yuanjiao had also heard Murong Xia speak of it when he traveled south back then—something about raising a human head in one's abdomen, yet this was somewhat different. In any case, the world had many paths of cultivation, impossible to fathom entirely.
"Still, when I went to the Guanyun Peak market a few days ago, the four Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators besieging Guanyun Peak clearly radiated the brilliance of immortal foundations... How is that explained?"
As Li Yuanjiao was pondering this, Li Xuanxuan silently picked up the black jade slip of the *Blood-Transforming Duyuan Scripture*.
*Crack!*
With a flex of his hand, Li Xuanxuan crushed the jade slip recording the *Blood-Transforming Duyuan Scripture* to powder. Putting away the remaining four jade slips, he told Li Yuanjiao:
"Find a secret room to store them. Having these manuals for reference will keep our juniors from facing demonic cultivators completely unprepared."
Li Yuanjiao nodded and picked up a jade bottle from the table. This bottle was a size larger than ordinary elixir bottles, pale cyan throughout.
Extending his spiritual sense inside, he found a mouthful of clear, bright spiritual water. Profoundly cold and pale black, it filled slightly less than half the bottle, sloshing as a unified whole. It emanated waves of freezing chill that made Li Yuanjiao shiver in a daze. He whispered:
"Spiritual water of heaven and earth?"
Li Xuanxuan quickly took it for a look and shivered just the same. Yet his knowledge was hardly greater than Li Yuanjiao's. Although he had recognized some spiritual items over many years in the market, he had never seen spiritual water of heaven and earth.
"Perhaps? It could also be some special spiritual qi of heaven and earth..."
He hesitated a moment, and seeing Li Yuanjiao carefully put it away, hurried to say:
"Store it in the clan treasury just to be safe."
Of the remaining scattered pills and elixirs, barely a bottle was usable. There were even two green bottles: one containing blood qi and the other resentment qi—by their estimate, roughly the amount taken from a thousand people. There were also the severed heads and organs of Qi Refinement cultivators meant for casting arts. Li Xuanxuan called someone in to hurry and bury them.
Not knowing how to handle the two green bottles, they could only store them away for now. The remaining thirty-some spirit stones were the true prize, allowing Li Yuanjiao to breathe a great sigh of relief.
One had to admit that demonic cultivators accumulated rich fortunes through burning, killing, and looting. An ordinary Qi Refinement cultivator carried no more than five or six spirit stones, yet this man had thirty-five—enough to give the Li family plenty of breathing room over the next five years.
"It's just a shame that the demonic cultivator's storage bag couldn't be kept. It had quite a large capacity and was certainly of no small value! That demonic cultivator didn't seem particularly powerful... Who knows where he stole or looted it from."
Li Xuanxuan shook his head with regret. Storage bags were the easiest places to conceal traps; even the current direct-line members of the Li family had subtle tamper protections on theirs. Given the urgency of the situation back then, Li Xuanxuan could hardly have known the bag was so fine, nor did he dare keep it.
Having divided the spoils, both were in excellent spirits. Clan soldiers came up from below, followed by an old monkey around five feet tall. Its face was wrinkled and its eyes clear and wise as it silently made a bow.
Treated for its injuries and cleansed of the fire poison, Li Xuanxuan could now see that the monkey was quite old. With the charcoal ash washed away, its fur was snow-white. It was short, not even reaching Li Xuanxuan's chin, and looked at him with profound gratitude.
"May I ask..."
For a moment, Li Xuanxuan was unsure whether to call it "Fellow Daoist" or "Senior." Noticing that something seemed wrong with the monkey's throat, allowing it to produce only simple syllables, he asked gently:
"Might I know Fellow Daoist's name?"
The old monkey shook its head, pointed at Li Xuanxuan, and then pointed at its own forehead. Li Xuanxuan grew thoughtful and asked:
"Would Fellow Daoist be willing to dwell with my Li family?"
The old monkey nodded repeatedly. Li Xuanxuan was overjoyed; after all, this old monkey possessed the combat power of the fourth layer of Qi Refinement and likely understood medicine and spiritual flora as well, making it a truly tremendous help. He probed gently:
"From now on, Fellow Daoist shall join our household and take the Li name."
The white monkey nodded, opened its mouth, and spat out a verdant jade pestle. Watching Li Xuanxuan take it, Li Yuanjiao was also pleasantly surprised, saying repeatedly:
"The Wanling Flower on Mount Huaqian has yet to sprout. Why not invite him to have a look?"
Li Xuanxuan understood, lowered his head to explain to the monkey for a while, and ordered clan soldiers to escort it over. Only then did he turn back, smiling at Li Yuanjiao:
"Don't just admire the fine luster of those magical artifacts. In my view, none of them compare to this old monkey. Tomorrow, we'll teach him to read and write. Once he writes down his techniques and knowledge, our family will gain another lineage inheritance!"
"Father's fortune is truly blessed."
Li Yuanjiao had harbored the exact same thought, complimenting him with a hearty laugh. He picked up the emerald-green jade pestle and jade mortar. Though both were low-grade magical artifacts, coming as a complete set made them quite rare and precious. Pondering for a moment, he said:
"Let's call them the Jasper Pestle and Jasper Mortar."
The corner of Li Xuanxuan's mouth twitched. For the first time, he realized his son was extraordinarily terrible at naming things. Shaking his head, he remarked:
"Xizhi's name was thought up by Guiluan, wasn't it?"
"That's right."
Li Yuanjiao didn't understand why his father suddenly brought that up, looking baffled, which only made Li Xuanxuan chuckle and shake his head.
***
Li Xuanxuan recuperated in his cave dwelling for several days. Since Li Yuanjiao was waiting for news from Guanyun Peak, he simply refrained from returning to Wutu Peak, staying on Mount Lijing to wait for reports while chatting more about family affairs with Li Xuanxuan.
Li Xuanxuan talked for two whole days, starting from the death of his father, Li Changhu, until clan soldiers reported from below that Tian Youdao and An Zheyan had returned.
Tian Youdao had broken through to Qi Refinement only at sixty years of age and now had the appearance of an old man, wearing a gray gown. He had been dispatched to investigate Guanyun Peak. Cupping his hands solemnly, he answered:
"Chen Taojing fought four opponents alone, holding out for half a day before dying of exhaustion. Before his death, he cried aloud: 'The Great Ling lineage is ended!' His cry shook heaven and earth, echoing without end."
Li Xuanxuan and Li Yuanjiao exchanged a look, both feeling the chill of mutual peril. Tian Youdao continued methodically:
"Upon his death, azure water drifted over Guanyun Peak like rain and mist. Demonic smoke billowed, carrying the horde of demons south."
"South?"
Both men immediately relaxed. As long as the demonic cultivators had not scattered throughout Lixia Commandery to spread chaos everywhere, it was definitely good news. Li Yuanjiao murmured:
"South should mean they headed toward places like the Xunlin Plain."
Viewed this way, the movements of this group of demonic cultivators seemed extraordinarily suspicious. They had originally converged from places like the Xunlin Plain to breach the Xiao family's market, only to immediately return whence they came. It was plainly aimed at making things difficult for the Xiao family.
Having delivered his report, Tian Youdao promptly took his leave. An Zheyan hurried up. His temperament was far more boisterous; despite experiencing tremendous highs and lows, he still spoke with breezy vigor:
"Reporting to the Clan Head! The Xiao family's grand formation on Xianyou Peak remained open for six full days, sealing inside from outside and making us wait patiently.
"Only after the grand formation was lifted did the Xiao family send someone out to lead our several families inside. We met Young Master Guitu, who said that although the Xiao family was attacked, there was no severe harm done—only two Foundation Establishment cultivators were lost. The Zhenren has returned to the peak, so there is no need to worry."
"The Zhenren has returned to the peak."
Li Yuanjiao waved a hand to dismiss him. He could not tell how much of Xiao Guitu's words were true or false, but since the Xiao family was their backing, they had no choice but to believe it, true or not.
"Let us just wait and see..."
Just as An Zheyan withdrew, the old monkey came bustling up. After gesturing back and forth with Li Xuanxuan for a while, they finally understood.
"The spiritual spring on Mount Huaqian is insufficient to provide ample spiritual mechanism."
Li Yuanjiao came to a sudden realization. No wonder Wang Xun had said the Wanling Flower was delicate; the spiritual spring on Mount Huaqian was not enough to satisfy this spiritual plant. After careful thought, he suddenly remarked:
"The families on the east bank... neighboring our lands are the Rui family and the Pu family. Don't they seem to possess a spiritual spring?"
Launching an expedition to the east bank had long been Li Yuanping's plan. First, it would resolve internal clan friction; second, it would allow them to collect tribute; third, since those families used mortals as medicine, the Li family held the moral high ground.
"In that case, an expedition against those families is unavoidable."
A messenger was sent to inform Li Yuanping. Since the demonic cultivators had not moved west, Li Yuanjiao had no need to rush to consume that pill. He simply cultivated in quiet, striving to break through to the seventh layer of Qi Refinement before the turn of the year.
With the market destroyed, Li Xuanxuan naturally could not return. Taking advantage of the insights gained from his brush with death, he went into secluded cultivation. Li Qiuyang, who had not spent extended time with his family for years, also returned home.
***
Heavy snow fell at the turn of the year.
Snow had been exceedingly sparse over the past two years, making this year's heavy snowfall a rare sight. Perhaps meant to mourn those who had died in the catastrophe, it fell exceptionally hard.
A vast sheet of white blanketed heaven and earth. Li Yuanping stood atop a high watchtower, gazing down. Below, the ranks of soldiers stood listless, their hands and feet trembling in the biting winter chill.
He brushed the snow from his clothes. Beside him, nine-year-old Li Ximing, who was at the second layer of Embryonic Breathing, wrapped himself in thick furs and accompanied his father in the snow.
Li Yuanping's complexion remained pale, but compared to two years ago, it appeared more haggard, and his hair was slightly graying—though he had deliberately dyed it black, which actually made him look somewhat younger.
As the demonic cultivators came and went, there was no telling how many lives they had claimed along the way. The Li family had spent several months gathering intelligence; some said this group of demonic cultivators had drifted into the territory of the Ziyan Gate, while others claimed they were roaming the Xunlin Plain.
"If anyone has a headache, it should be the Yuan family's turn to suffer it."
Having settled the matter of the Shanyue over these past days, Li Yuanping seized the opportunity to resolve internal family matters before any demonic cultivators headed toward Lake Mochiyue.
This matter was, of course, the expedition to the east bank that Li Yuanping had contemplated for so long—subjugating the chaotic families neighboring them on the east bank to impose order.
"Clan Head, it is time."
A young man's voice roused him. Clad in armor and holding a long spear, Li Xicheng stood quietly before him. The tempering of recent years had matured him considerably; at least he no longer spoke or acted with confusion.
"Mm."
Li Yuanping looked down once more. The troops below had stood in the heavy snow for quite some time, looking dispirited. The other detachments had set out long ago, leaving only this single branch held back until now.
Having finally received his orders, Li Xicheng hurried down the high platform and mounted his steed. The Zhongsuo horse beneath him had a cultivation level even higher than his own, standing quietly in the snow.
"Hyah!"
Cold snowflakes sprayed as he rode forward, leading these young master soldiers through the snow-clad mountains and forests. Doubt lingered in his heart:
*The families on the east bank are weak... Just one Qi Refinement cultivator and a few Embryonic Breathing cultivators would be enough to settle them in the snap of a finger. Why bother using clan scions as soldiers and officers? Isn't this superfluous?*
This time, the Li family had mobilized over five thousand men, advancing in five columns. The other four columns were made up of clan soldiers; perhaps due to a shortage of manpower, clan scions had been conscripted to fill out this column under Li Xicheng's lead.
Maintaining an unhurried pace, Li Xicheng wove through the forest, unable to fathom the clan's true intention. As snow swirled and settled with a soft rustle, other thoughts crossed his mind:
*The Clan Head said this was to rectify clan conduct, which is why clan scions were made soldiers. Yet they weren't drilled beforehand; it was completely out of the blue. Marching through a snowy night—what good could that possibly do?*
The confusion in Li Xicheng's heart only deepened. This conscription had been utterly abrupt, almost like rounding up criminals, forcibly dragging this group of scions along. Most of them were notorious troublemakers with tarnished records...
Suddenly, an inkling of understanding dawned on him. Looking back at the troops trailing a dozen paces behind, he silently swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
*Perhaps... there was never any intention of using these people at all...*
Chapter 346