Bewitched by the divine ability of Perfected Master Bu Zi, Li Xizhi collapsed onto the low table with a thud and went still, his six senses extinguished into heavy darkness. Yet when the talisman seed in his Qihai acupoint stirred, his restraint was faintly dissolved, and sound began to filter through to him once more.
Yuan Tuan's voice sounded soft and gentle.
"Junior pays respects to the Perfected Master."
She raised her brows, greeting him while forcing herself to appear composed. The green-robed Daoist before her gave her a sideways glance as he sat cross-legged and picked up a jade teapot.
*Gurgle, gurgle...*
Emerald tea poured into the cup. Bu Zi did not answer immediately. He filled his own cup and said softly, "'Qingxianyue' is, after all, an ancient art of quite a high grade. You wasted so much time... None of us expected you could successfully achieve Foundation Establishment. You must have had your own fortunate encounters. Not bad."
"The Ancestor flatters me," Yuan Tuan replied submissively. Gentle breezes stirred through the attic as the Daoist and the female cultivator sat facing each other. Bu Zi pulled back his sleeves, took a sip of tea, and continued, "What was your harvest?"
Yuan Tuan's heart skipped a beat, but she feigned confusion, knitting her brows. "What does the Perfected Master mean?"
Bu Zi chuckled, his gaze sharp and his voice turning chilly. "Didn't you sneak off to Guanyun Peak just to search for scripture? I wonder which scripture the Yuan family seeks. The *Upper Empyrean Raccoon Scripture*? Or the *Pure Balance Descending Cloud Scripture*?"
He narrowed his eyes, studying Yuan Tuan's bowed, obedient posture, musing inwardly, *'Qingxianyue' illuminates the spirit, guards the nature, and prays away misfortune. I wonder how much my divine ability can sway her.*
After all, Yuan Tuan was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, not as easily duped as Li Xizhi beside them. Bu Zi stared at her and said in a low voice, "It could hardly be the *White-Headed Court-Knocking Scripture* or the *Rivers and Grand Tombs Scripture*! Those are not things your petty Yuan family can handle. Do not bring about your own ruin."
Bu Zi's words carried a heavy warning. Yuan Tuan hurriedly bowed to apologize, parting her lips to speak, but he abruptly cut her off.
"Yet the former two are not out of the question!"
He swirled the jade cup and said mildly, "Your ancestor Yuan Licheng was brought up by my own hand. If he has the ability to find the *Pure Balance Descending Cloud Scripture*, after breaking through to the Violet Palace he may very well reenter the sect, take the primary seat of Qingsui Peak, and become a Perfected Master of our Qingchi Sect.
"With Tang Yuanwu and Si Boxiu as precedents, adding Yuan Licheng would be of no consequence. This is our Qingchi Sect's sincerity."
Bu Zi set down the jade cup. Seeing Yuan Tuan lost in thought, he smiled. "Not everyone can play both sides like Xiao Chuting, treading every day and night along a sheer cliff. Look at him—even with methods as formidable as his, have the Xiao family had any easy days in recent years?"
"Thank you for the guidance, Perfected Master," Yuan Tuan responded.
Only then did Bu Zi cast his gaze upon the unconscious Li Xizhi nearby, murmuring, "From the Li family, I presume?"
"Precisely."
Hearing Yuan Tuan's affirmation, Bu Zi glanced at Li Xizhi with mild amusement and said with a smile, "There is one more matter. Years ago, Si Yuanbai claimed he had acquired a wisp of Great Yin Lunar Essence and shoved it to his disciple Li Chijing. We all thought him a fool—not using such fine Great Yin Lunar Essence for himself. And constrained by Si Boxiu, we could hardly interrogate him.
"Thinking carefully about it now..."
Bu Zi stared coldly at Li Xizhi and said softly, "Si Yuanbai is honest and generous, not foolish. Most likely, the Li family obtained the Great Yin Lunar Essence and passed it to Li Chijing through Si Yuanbai's mouth."
He hooked a slender finger. The slumped Li Xizhi suddenly sat upright, dazed and vacant-eyed. Bu Zi said mildly, "Where did the Li family obtain the Great Yin Lunar Essence?"
Li Xizhi appeared entirely dazed by the divine ability. Stumbling over his words, he began to explain how the Li clan had opened the cave abode on Meichi Peak, obtained the Great Yin Lunar Essence, and had Li Chijing bring it back. The story was coherent and consistent, and Bu Zi gave a slight nod as he listened.
"Indeed. For a petty clan to gain a single wisp of Lunar Essence is already great fortune; how could there be a second?"
Bu Zi was short of this wisp of Great Yin Lunar Essence to refine pills, so he had merely inquired on a whim. Hearing this, he let out a regretful sigh and muttered, "Perhaps when an opportunity arises, I can search Lake Wangyue again. Who knows if there might still be one?"
With that, he rose, brushed his sleeves, adjusted his footwear beneath the attic curtains, and departed on his own.
Yuan Tuan sat in silence by the table for a long while before slowly exhaling a breath. With a tap of her finger, she roused Li Xizhi and said gently, "Xizhi!"
Li Xizhi feigned grogginess. Protected by the talisman seed inside him, he had regained awareness long before, and that tale had been deliberately told. Having heard the Qingchi Sect's promises to the Yuan family, he committed them silently to memory.
***
Li Clan.
Mount Wutu.
Li Yuanjiao let out a long breath, the cultivation within him gradually steadying. Before the new year, he had spent several months in seclusion and successfully broken through to the seventh layer of Qi Refinement. Having now cultivated in silence for nearly half a year, his cultivation had stabilized.
He needed only a few more years of accumulation to break through to the eighth layer of Qi Refinement. With the aid of a talisman pill, Foundation Establishment would be within sight.
The past two years had been relatively calm, though demonic cultivators still appeared on Xunlin Plain in small numbers. North of Lixia Commandery, the Ziyan Gate had begun to suffer assaults from demonic cultivators. It seemed the rumors were true: the faction of demonic cultivators that had previously besieged Guanyun Peak, fearing vengeance from the Xiao family, dared not linger and had mostly headed north.
Xunlin Plain had seen quite a few deaths for a time, but as it was the Yuan family's backyard, how could they allow demonic cultivators to run rampant?
Yuan Licheng, the Yuan family's peak Foundation Establishment ancestor, had personally stepped forward, leading four Foundation Establishment clansmen to sweep through and slay several demonic cultivators within their borders, driving all the rest out. Xunlin Plain had gradually stabilized as well.
Tucked behind Lixia Commandery and Xunlin Plain, Lake Wangyue—shared by the Li, Yu, and Fei clans—was shielded by the Xiao and Yuan families. It suffered no losses at all, and in fact gained considerable benefits.
First, rogue cultivators, terrified of the demonic practitioners, retreated toward Lake Wangyue. Some entered Mount Dali to establish lineages, while others lodged as guests among the scattered clans on Lake Wangyue. A few had fled for their lives along the entire journey and, weary of drifting, submitted to the Li family to serve as retained guests.
Second, with the destruction of the Guanyun Market and devastation across the four borders, many rogue cultivators lost their channels for selling raw materials. With demonic cultivators running rampant, traveling about was unsafe, leaving them no choice but to sell cheaply to nearby prominent clans.
Li Yuanjiao had been in seclusion for over half a year, during which much had changed at home. Li Yuanping made a special trip to Mount Wutu to go over clan affairs one by one:
"In Eastern Shanyue, between retained guests, Shanyue tribesmen, and clan cultivators, there are sixty-five Embryonic Breathing cultivators tending spiritual goods. After deducting stipends, the annual yield is one thousand four hundred jin of spirit rice, which, combined with other spiritual materials, is worth around twenty spirit stones.
"Across our four peaks—Lijing, Mount Huaqian, Mount Huazhong, and Mount Yuting—there are over seventy Embryonic Breathing cultivators. After stipends, the annual yield is one thousand six hundred jin, which, combined with other spiritual items, amounts to twenty-five spirit stones!"
Li Yuanping looked beaming with joy as he said with a smile, "Our clan's annual profit is currently forty-five spirit stones, which makes two hundred and twenty-five spirit stones over five years. At last, we can match the tribute owed to the Qingchi Sect!"
Li Yuanping had racked his brains to balance the clan's revenues and expenditures. Now that income and expenses finally broke even, his complexion had become much rosier.
After all, the Li family was now a large enterprise, and the expenses required to maintain it were truly astronomical. Absorbing the fleeing cultivators from the roads had finally given them some breathing room. Seeing Li Yuanjiao's pleased look, Li Yuanping continued:
"There are ten Shanyue miscellaneous qi cultivators. They lack combat strength and mostly handle transport and errand duties in the clan. There are five clan cultivators and non-clan miscellaneous qi cultivators, all assigned to posts.
"As for Qi Refinement, we have gained another retained guest, who also bears the surname Li and is called Li Qilang. He is at the second layer of Qi Refinement, previously running errands on Xunlin Plain. Hearing that a Li family had risen on Lake Wangyue, he came along the way to seek refuge."
Righteous qi cultivators among rogues were rare after all, so recruiting one was already a gain. Li Yuanjiao took it in stride, setting down the sword in his hand, as Li Yuanping added:
"Regarding the spiritual spring, I have already dispatched people to purchase it from the Yuan family. Though it will cost some resources, we can plant the Wanling flowers first. We cannot delay any longer."
"Well done," Li Yuanjiao praised.
Li Yuanping waved his hand, and an old monkey was brought forward.
The old monkey was now draped in a Daoist robe, wearing shoes and socks, with a storage bag tied at its waist. Its eyes were bright, its demeanor placid, carrying an inexplicable air of an accomplished cultivator as it walked.
With draped white fur and tidy robes, the old monkey had already learned to read and write. Unable to speak, it merely bowed low with clasped hands and presented two jade slips.
One was titled *Travels of the White Monkey*, an autobiographical account of the monkey demon's life, which Li Yuanjiao skimmed through.
It turned out the monkey demon hailed from Mount Qingkong in the State of Wu. Originally a wild monkey in the mountains, it had cultivated for an unknown number of years, gradually gaining intelligence after breaking through to the Xuan Scenery, before being captured to grind medicine.
Later, Qingkong Temple, which had captured it, was destroyed. It drifted to Tujun Gate on the border of the State of Wu, where it was again assigned to pound medicine. More than a decade later, Tujun Gate was wiped out, and it finally fell into the hands of the Yu family.
Short on hands and seeing its proficiency in the craft, the Yu family had likewise set it to pounding medicine.
*Truly proficient in the craft...*
Beyond that was the destruction of the market. Li Yuanjiao merely skimmed through it before moving on to the other jade slip.
This one was titled *The Medicine Pounder's Treatise*, recording the properties and conflicts of more than a thousand spiritual herbs. Li Yuanjiao read it with wonder. Attached at the end were two pill recipes from unknown origins:
Yuya Pill and Mingxin Pill.
Both were the most common pills used by Qi Refinement cultivators, already recorded in their own clan's alchemy texts and of modest value. The preceding records of herb properties, however, brought a broad smile to Li Yuanjiao's face. He glanced at Li Yuanping, whose eyes crinkled with pleasure as well.
As for the method the monkey demon practiced, prior to Embryonic Breathing it relied entirely on breath control. After reaching Embryonic Breathing, it practiced a demon cultivation method bestowed by the Yu family, upon which a certain spell had been placed, preventing it from being recited.
Li Yuanjiao consoled the old monkey kindly and slipped two bottles of pills into its embrace. Unceremonious, the old monkey tucked the pills into its pouch, gave a heavy nod, and bowed.
"Clan Head!"
While the two brothers were speaking intimately, Shamoli quietly stepped forward with an odd expression. Leaning close to Li Yuanjiao's ear, he murmured, "Clan Head! Down the mountain came... a pig demon, dressed in robes, claiming to be a demon soldier from Dazhu Cave, here to pay a visit..."
"A demon soldier? A visit?"
Li Yuanjiao was taken aback. Though he had never heard of any Dazhu Cave, he immediately thought of the Foundation Establishment pig demon at the northern foothills of Mount Dali. "What cultivation?" he asked quietly.
"Peak Qi Refinement," Shamoli replied in a low voice.
Li Yuanjiao frowned. "Go invite it up."
Shamoli nodded and withdrew. Beside him, Li Yuanping pondered and said, "The pig demon must have matters to discuss. Yet our ancestor's prestige is too formidable, so it dares not come in person and sent a lesser pig demon to convey the message instead."
"Indeed." Li Yuanjiao gripped his hilt, forming a few conjectures of his own, and said in a heavy voice, "I have heard some word of this. With our clan's rise and expanding territory, these demons can no longer obtain blood food, and are often slain by cultivators entering the mountains, making them resentful."
As the two spoke in low voices, a white pig roughly six feet tall trotted swiftly up from below. It stood on two legs, with fat jowls and large ears, looking rather comical. Were it not for the bone fork in its hand, it would have shown none of a demon's ferocity.
"Zhu Er of the Mount Dali Demon Cave greets the Great King of the Li family."
The pig bowed clumsily, yet its eyes darted toward the old monkey nearby. Sizing up the monkey's unfamiliar cultivation method, suspicion arose in its heart even as it called out respectfully.
"An envoy of the mountain pig demon?"
Demons had always bullied the weak and feared the strong. Moreover, this pig demon had clearly devoured many humans, its aura dark and murky. Li Yuanjiao naturally showed it no courtesy, calling out sharply and fixing his gaze upon it.
"Yes, yes, precisely."
Though high in cultivation, the pig demon was terrified of Li Yuanjiao. Shaking its large head, incapable of tactful speech, it blurted out in a rush, "Your cave has monopolized all several hundred thousand blood food below the mountain! My side cannot get even a shred. Our Great King has not had a proper meal in over a decade..."
It turned out that while the Mount Dali Demon Cave had always restrained demons from descending the mountain to eat humans, that applied only to monster generals and demons registered within the cave. Minor demons and ordinary beasts were left unchecked.
Though this pig demon was registered in the cave and forbidden to descend and eat humans personally, it could drive lesser demons to capture people outside for an occasional meal or two. Far from high authority, the Mount Dali Demon Cave would not police things too strictly.
After all, with countless demons coming and going from Mount Dali, which demon passing through the mortal realm did not casually eat a person or two? But with the Li family's rise, the pig demon's blood food grew increasingly scarce, naturally breeding discontent.
Seeing the pig demon appear cowardly and timid, Li Yuanjiao glared fiercely at it. Thoroughly frightened, the pig demon spilled everything like beans pouring from a bamboo tube:
"Your cave was originally the master here, monopolizing all the blood food beneath the mountain. Not allowing our scions to come reap a share is only natural. Yet of late, your cave has repeatedly slaughtered our Great King's troops—isn't that simply unreasonable!"
At these words, Li Yuanjiao and Li Yuanping exchanged a glance, understanding at once:
*So it was rogue cultivators entering the mountains to hunt demons, indiscriminately slaughtering and harming this pig demon's subordinates...*
The lesser pig demon remained timidly on its knees, whispering, "Our Great King... hopes to receive some blood food in compensation. Merely a hundred robust men."
Hearing this, Li Yuanjiao frowned. "Rogue cultivators have always entered the mountains, drawn solely by profit. They flee as soon as they kill a demon. How can that be laid on my clan's head? Your Great King merely seeks an excuse to extort us!"
With a cold sneer, he unsheathed his sword with a metallic clang. The scales of Jiaopanying gleamed in his hand as he cursed, "Do you truly take my family for an easy mark?!"
Before the words faded, a moon-white Yueque sword arc flared in his hand, slashing down with overwhelming force. Being at the peak of Qi Refinement, the pig demon reacted swiftly, pulling in its large head as thick black mist surged up to envelop its body.
*Clang!*
The opening stance of the Li clan's sword art was the fiercest. Caught off guard, the pig demon suffered a slight loss: the moon-white sword qi forcefully ripped through the black mist, flashing like a beam of light across the pig demon's cheek and carving away a slab of flesh from its greasy face.
"Ah!"
Zhu Er shrieked in agony, clutching its face as it stumbled back several paces, babbling frantically, "A misunderstanding! Great King, it's a misunderstanding!"
Li Yuanjiao would have liked to leave it here as a sacrifice for the magical mirror, but since the pig demon had a backing after all, he did not strike again. Picking up a small cloth from the table, he wiped Jiaopanying nonchalantly and said harshly, "Tell your Great King: if it has the nerve, send more men to test us. But tell it not to test the sharpness of my ancestor's treasured sword with its own pig head!"
"Yes, yes, yes!"
The pig demon kowtowed repeatedly. Li Yuanjiao said in a deep voice, "See the guest out!"
Li Yuanping hurriedly dragged the pig demon down, saying pleasantly, "Escort Brother Pig down."
Once Shamoli had led it away and the old monkey bowed and took its leave, Li Yuanjiao finally sheathed his sword, murmuring, "This pig demon has grown suspicious and came to test our clan. We cannot show any hesitation now."
"Demons have always bullied the weak and feared the strong," Li Yuanping agreed, adding in a low voice, "In any case, that pig demon is bound by the demon cave and will never dare descend the mountain. Even if it makes trouble for us, it can only send a few Qi Refinement demons into our hands—which is just what we desire."
Chapter 349