Stumbling out of the Li family's territory, the pig demon wiped the wound on his face. He flew in silence deep into Mount Dali, and only then did he dare burst out cursing.
"Dead hound... what a rotten idea he gave! Got me slashed by that sword for nothing! Thank goodness it wasn't Li Tongya in person... thank goodness, thank goodness."
He did not dare hold a grudge against the Li family, but in his heart he already hated the hyena-hound in the demon cave who had come up with the plan, grumbling and cursing all the way.
Riding the wind back, he had just landed in the demon cave when a pale-gray-furred hyena-hound hurriedly came out to meet him, sly eyes rolling around as he asked in a shrill voice, "Zhu Er! What did the Li family say?"
Zhu Er was just looking to pick a bone with him, and here the creature was walking right into him. Though servile and cringing before the Li family, Zhu Er still held some status in this cave. His eyes bulged now as he roared furiously, "Dead dog! Stinking hound! Scram out of my way!"
With that, he kicked out. The hyena-hound was only in the early stages of Qi Refinement, and let out a shriek as he was kicked flying, dispiritedly rolling away. Zhu Er marched aggressively into the cave. Seated above was a burly man with thick whiskers and a curly beard.
The man was gulping something down in great mouthfuls, cradling a slab of flesh and blood in his hands. Droplets of blood dripped from his brownish-red beard and hair, leaving them wet and sticky. His eyes were blood-red as he stared at Zhu Er and rasped, "What did Li Tongya say?"
Zhu Er withered in an instant, stammering out the whole story. The monster general flew into a rage on the spot, barking, "What audacity!"
His eyes were blood-red, demon qi boiling up as he cursed, "Brandishing some demon sect banner! Putting on airs like some damn noble clan! When I was reigning as king in the mountains, that Li Second was just a brat watering vegetable gardens! A petty cultivator on only a few layers of Embryonic Breathing! If not for Si Yuanbai, what right would his Li family have to bounce around?
"Now that I sent an envoy over, Li Tongya actually dares not even see him! Going too damn far! Ah!! Bullying this demon too much!"
The Foundation Establishment pig demon roared maniacally. The monster soldiers below knew his temper and silently huddled into a ball until he kicked tables and chairs to splinters, smashing blood and filth across the floor, finally venting some of his fury.
The gray-furred hyena-hound was a recent arrival in the cave and was the very creature who had proposed probing the Li family. Fancying himself clever, he slunk forward furtively and whispered, "Great King! The Li family is rampant and arrogant. Why don't we send..."
A fierce glint flashed in the burly man's eyes. Without waiting for him to finish, he swung his backhand across, slapping the hyena flying. Teeth scattered across the ground amid dripping blood as he howled in agony.
"Never mention the Li family again!"
The monster general roared. The monster soldiers felt as if granted an amnesty. Knowing in their hearts that their Great King had been cowed and was now pulling his head back like a tortoise in its shell, they exchanged glances, inwardly thanking their luck.
"At least we won't have to face the edge of an immortal sword..."
────
The Li family.
The spring breeze brushed the earth once more, and the lake waters returned to a docile pale azure. Perhaps because the season had arrived and there was ample spiritual essence nourishing it, the Li family's Wanling Flower finally sprouted.
The tender green shoot was delicate, appearing somewhat frail and listless, yet it was a Foundation Establishment spiritual root after all. The Li family treasured it like a jewel, watering it with spirit springs, carving out array formations, and burying spirit stones in the soil around it, terrified that this spiritual root might snap.
Fortunately, the old monkey at its side took meticulous care of it, blending the soil and smoothing the subterranean spiritual veins. Though the spiritual root did not look exceptionally robust, it grew day by day nonetheless, allowing everyone in the Li family to breathe a sigh of relief.
Mount Lijing.
"The spirit rice is growing quite well this year."
Li Xuanxuan walked along the mountain path with his hands clasped behind his back. Ever since the market town fell and he returned home, Li Xuanxuan had suddenly found himself with nothing to do. Within the clan now, every post was filled, and no one dared order him around, letting him remain idle.
With nowhere else to go besides his daily talisman crafting, Li Xuanxuan could only wander about, taking in the sights and keeping an eye on his grandsons.
"It's funny to think back... In the old days, cultivators were scarce in our clan, and this spirit rice was as hard as iron. At first, the mortals had to chop it with axes empowered by the Golden Light Technique..."
At his side, Li Yuanjiao listened to his reminiscing and gave a gentle nod. Although Li Xuanxuan was his biological father, Li Yuanjiao had grown up following his elder brother Li Yuanxiu, and had not actually had much contact with Li Xuanxuan.
Because of his parentage, Li Xuanxuan was likewise not very close to him, harboring secret guilt. Hearing him ramble on now with small talk, Li Yuanjiao actually detected a hint of nervousness in him, and merely pursed his lips in silence.
Through this brush with life and death, Li Xuanxuan had finally broken through to the long-desired fourth layer of Qi Refinement, but his cultivation had slowed to a snail's pace once more. He was now fifty-nine, and seeing that his cultivation speed would drop further past sixty, he muttered to himself, "With my aptitude, breaking through a single layer after sixty might take over a decade. I might as well just take a talisman pill to break through to the fifth layer first... so I don't have to deal with the trouble after turning sixty..."
Just as he was thinking this, a cheerful call came from behind.
"Grandfather! Clan Uncle!"
Li Xuanxuan turned around to see two youths walking up the mountain path, both appearing twelve or thirteen years old. The one in the lead was at the third layer of Embryonic Breathing, his face beaming with a smile as pleasant as a spring breeze. Dressed in a brocade robe, a pale-green jade bead hung loosely from his wrist, swaying with his steps.
The one behind was tall and straight, handsome and striking, with a sword slung across his back. Looking far more reserved, he parted his lips with a smile. "Xijun greets Grand-Uncle and Clan Uncle."
"Good, good, good."
Li Xuanxuan happily took the hands of the two juniors, greeting them warmly and inquiring in detail about their cultivation progress. Li Yuanjiao only watched with a smile. Chatting and laughing, the group arrived at the small courtyard on the mountain.
Li Yuanping sat in the seat of honor, quietly opening a letter in his hand.
The Li family had received two letters this month. One came from Chen Donghe in the west, saying that demonic cultivators had likewise appeared within the Jinyu Sect's territory, leaving one of the miscellaneous qi Shanyue who went with him dead and the other wounded.
The Li family currently had plenty of miscellaneous qi Shanyue under their command. Li Yuanping made the final call to dispatch two more loyal ones over. Had it not been inappropriate to make a big fuss, Li Yuanping would have gladly sent several more.
The other letter was sent back by Li Xizhi within the sect. He wrote that things were going very smoothly for him there, and vaguely hinted that the situation at the Guanyun Peak market was complicated, advising them not to probe or investigate too closely to avoid trouble.
He also mentioned that a member of the Fei family had joined Yuanwu Peak two years ago. That Fei clanswoman was named Fei Qingyi. Though she lacked talent in artifact refining, her aptitude for cultivation was quite good, and she had won the favor of Yu Muxian.
"Two years ago..."
Li Yuanping gave a low sigh. The Fei family had made no noise for seven or eight years, and had kept her entry into the sect under tight wraps. If not for this letter from the sect, not a whisper would have reached the lake. It seemed they feared the Li family might obstruct them, and so had enforced strict secrecy.
"Ping'er!"
Seeing Li Xuanxuan's aged face appear before the courtyard, with the two youths standing courteously to the side with hands cupped, Li Yuanping hurriedly stepped out to welcome them, handing over the letter as he did.
Li Yuanjiao scanned the contents, folded the letter, and pondered in silence. Li Yuanping spoke up. "The Fei family has remained quiet in recent years, rarely corresponding with us, and their disciple only cultivates on the peak."
Li Yuanjiao nodded and simply replied, "Why would our family ever bother stopping them from taking a disciple? They could have laid it out in the open. Doing it so sneakily only makes them look guilty. It has Fei Tongyu's fingerprints all over it—cherishing his own skin, timid, looking over his shoulder at every step, just like a field mouse bustling about to survive the winter."
With that, he handed the letter back to Li Yuanping and said, "Pay them no mind!"
Li Yuanping nodded as he put it away, smiling. "Brother's description is truly apt."
Li Xuanxuan, on the other hand, looked at the letter from Chen Donghe and frowned. "Donghe managing everything alone is troublesome. Perhaps I should go help him."
Li Yuanping shook his head. "Though that pass is large, having three people gathering qi is already the limit."
Speaking of gathering qi, Li Yuanping had actually considered sending people into the mountains to gather mountain spiritual qi. In seven or eight years, one could harvest a strand of Xiaoqing spiritual qi. Gathering Xiaoqing spiritual qi required an expansive mountainous domain, and the Li family happened to have Mount Dali right behind them. While they could not venture deep inside, it could still accommodate three or four people gathering qi simultaneously.
Moreover, Xiaoqing spiritual qi was useful not only for advancing to orthodox qi cultivation, but also in pill alchemy, artifact refinement, and talisman crafting. A single strand was therefore worth around thirty spirit stones. Unfortunately, common though this qi was, it was immensely troublesome to collect, requiring seven full years of leaping and roaming through mountain forests, which delayed cultivation.
"Once our miscellaneous qi cultivators grow in number and can be sent into the mountains, we can have another source of income every year."
Just as Li Yuanping was calculating how much profit would remain after deducting stipends and allowances for those cultivators, a man rushed up from below and said respectfully, "Patriarch! Madame Xiao née Li has returned to visit... only..."
"Qingxiao?! Hurry, show her up!"
Li Xuanxuan called out repeatedly before stopping abruptly. Seeing the clan soldier hesitating, he asked in confusion, "Only what?"
The clan soldier dared not conceal it and answered, "The madam is dressed in mourning white..."
Everyone in the courtyard was startled. Li Yuanping froze for a breath, stunned. "Dressed in mourning white?!"
Li Yuanjiao's expression changed as well, and reacting immediately, he pressed urgently, "Xiao Xian? Or Xiao Jiuqing?"
The clan soldier hurriedly withdrew. With grim expressions on everyone's faces, Li Xuanxuan struck the armrest and said in a heavy voice, "It must be the doing of the demon calamity!"
After waiting a short while, Li Qingxiao indeed arrived, dressed in plain white mourning robes.
Her face had grown far more drawn than when she married away, her eyebrows faded and her lips pale. She looked exhausted, and a faint scar showed on her wrist, a testament to the bitter days she had endured.
When Li Qingxiao departed, she had still been a charming young maiden. In less than ten years, she returned looking like a frail, sorrowful matron. Pale-faced and with red-rimmed eyes, she fell to her knees with a thud the moment she entered the courtyard, weeping, "I beg my two clan brothers to save my family!"
Her face was drained of color, tears flowing like a broken string of pearls. Unable to bear the sight, Li Yuanping hurried down to help her up, but Li Qingxiao stubbornly remained kneeling.
"What happened?!"
Li Xuanxuan asked in heartache. Li Qingxiao's voice was like the weeping of a cuckoo shedding blood, plaintive and sorrowful as she lamented, "My Yushan is situated at the northernmost edge of the Xiao family's territory, right next to Ziyan Gate. We already suffered grievous losses in that demon calamity. My husband's clan uncles and clan brothers died in battle together, and not a few were injured or had their Daoist paths severed...
"Later, when the demonic cultivators pushed north toward Ziyan Gate, they took the pass out of Yushan. My husband did not know, and while cleaning up the aftermath with my father-in-law, they ran right into the demonic cultivators heading north..."
Tears streamed down her face as her delicate fingers pressed against the stone tiles on the ground. She closed her eyes in agony and said, "When the clan went looking, both my father-in-law and husband were dead, along with more than ten kinsmen—not even their remains were left!"
"This!"
The Li family members all mourned in silence. Helping Li Qingxiao up, they offered words of comfort and brought tea, but how could Li Qingxiao drink anything? She said anxiously, "The Jiuqing line of Yushan is thus extinguished, leaving only me and my husband's two boys, still in their swaddling clothes... But with all the male cultivators of this line dead, according to the rules of the Xiao family branch lines, the seat of leadership of Yushan must be ceded to several clan cousins!"
Weeping, she continued, "Yet when Xiao Xian was alive, his constant thought was how vicious those cousins were. If I hand this seat over, how could I face my husband?! And how will my two babies survive in the future?!"
Hearing this, Li Yuanping had a vague premonition. His face paled slightly as he took a step back and said gently, "Sister, do you mean...?"
Li Qingxiao knelt down once more, her face white as snow and her lips trembling, finding it hard to speak. In a low voice, she murmured, "I only hope... I only hope the family can send a few loyal men to accompany me to Yushan... as long as they have the strength to suppress the various branches of Yushan..."
"You..."
Now even Li Xuanxuan fell silent. Staggering back a step, he was caught in a painful dilemma. Li Qingxiao's gaze lingered across their faces, and she pleaded mournfully, "I know the clan's difficulties, and all these years I have never brought trouble to the family... It's just... it's just... I truly cannot watch with open eyes as the seat of Yushan falls into the hands of others!"
Li Yuanjiao's expression was grim. He stared at Li Qingxiao for a long while before finally speaking in a muffled voice, "This is the Xiao family's internal affair, sister! The Xiao family is a Violet Palace immortal clan—how could they permit an ordinary noble clan like ours to meddle?!"
"I understand!"
Li Qingxiao collapsed to her knees, weeping quietly, unable to say anything more. Li Yuanjiao's expression shifted before he asked, "Is Senior Yuansi in the clan?"
"He already received orders to go to the East Sea long ago!"
How could Li Qingxiao not have thought of Xiao Yuansi? She had sent people to look for him in the clan long before, but now she could only answer weakly. Li Yuanjiao sighed softly, helped her up, and wiped away her tears, saying in a heavy voice, "Do not panic just yet. There will always be a way."
Once Li Qingxiao was settled calmly in a seat, Li Yuanjiao waved his sleeve and instructed, "Invite Madame Xiao and Qinghong over."
When Xiao Guiluan and Li Qinghong arrived on the wind and heard the matter, Li Qinghong gripped her spear in silence, her eyes lowered, rendered speechless for a moment. Xiao Guiluan, being outside the immediate emotional turmoil, was much clearer-headed. After a brief thought, she asked softly, "Madame, the Yushan branch suffered heavy losses and should have been resting and recuperating. Why would they suddenly turn out in full force? Xiao Jiuqing is a clever man and would never do such a thing. Was it an assignment handed down by the main clan?"
Li Qingxiao shook her head and whispered, "It wasn't that our branch turned out in full force, but... but after the previous demon calamity, Yushan was mostly in ruins. Countless formations were breached, with hardly any left intact, which is why they were killed so easily...
"My father-in-law had the foresight to find an excuse about escorting supplies to send the women and children to Xianyou Peak, which was how I escaped with my life."
Xiao Guiluan nodded silently. The Xiao family was currently recuperating; the formations first repaired would certainly be those at Xianyou Peak and the main branch. The formations of the Yushan branch were numerous and intricate, so it was only natural that repairs there were delayed.
She paused, her expression turning solemn as she asked in a deep voice, "Were those demonic cultivators eventually wiped out by the Xiao family?"
Though stricken by sudden tragedy and overwhelmed by grief, Li Qingxiao had not rushed back blindly. She had made arrangements for many affairs, and had only returned home as a last resort after seeking aid from various quarters had failed. She answered immediately, "Those demonic cultivators came abruptly. Entering Yushan Pass via the gorge road, they killed and fled, disappearing into the north without a trace. Though the clan rushed to the rescue, it was already far too late!"
Chapter 350