Liu Miaotu had wandered the mountain for a full day and night. Far from catching sight of any immortal treasures, he had not found so much as a single hair. Sitting on a large bluestone in a towering rage, he cursed the idlers of the village:
"A pack of plague-ridden curs! Spouting nonsense about fine treasures on the mountain—it's all bloody farting!"
Watching the mountain mist begin to rise, Liu Miaotu shuddered. He thought to himself, *Though the wolves, leopards, and tigers were driven off this mountain a few years ago, who knows if a few slipped through the net? This mist rose too unnaturally; better head down first...*
Liu Miaotu rose and walked along the mountain path for nearly two hours, yet all around remained a murky blanket of white fog with no exit in sight.
"Truly uncanny! Why haven't I reached the bottom yet?!"
Looking again at the large bluestone before him, a chill ran down his spine. He cried out in disbelief, "Impossible!"
This was plainly the very stone he had been sitting on before. He had walked along the trail for two hours—how could he still be right where he started?!
Panic seized him. Liu Miaotu spun around and bolted, shouting as he ran. Only when he stopped to catch his breath did he realize the bluestone stood right in front of him once more.
"Dammit... I can't get out."
Night fell. Liu Miaotu was dressed thinly, and between his wild agitation and the biting wind, he simply blacked out.
***
When dawn broke, Liu Miaotu finally came to, burning with fever. Faint shouting reached his ears. Looking up, he saw the vague outline of a figure seated not far away. Just as he scrambled to his feet, a sharp bellow rang out:
"Who's there!"
Still dizzy and disoriented, Liu Miaotu's knees gave way and his feet slipped, sending him tumbling head over heels until he rolled right up before the man.
Liu Linfeng took one look at his face and recognized him as a vagrant from his own Liu clan. Everything clicked into place at once. A surge of fury shot straight from his chest to the crown of his head. His face flushed bright crimson as he barked, "What the fuck are you doing here?!"
The shout jolted Liu Miaotu awake. Shrinking back, he stammered, "C-chopping firewood on the mountain."
"Bullshit!"
Liu Linfeng unleashed a torrent of curses, thrusting a finger at Liu Miaotu's nose. "Why the hell didn't you inform the master family before coming up the mountain? Is this a place you're allowed to set foot in?!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Liu Linfeng himself snapped to full alertness. A chill crept up his spine to the back of his neck. He thought anxiously, *How did my Liu clan produce such worthless trash? Now we're in deep trouble. My nephew is ruthless and suspicious—how could he possibly spare this wretch's life? Heaven forbid this brings disaster down on the rest of the Liu family!*
Looking at Liu Miaotu pounding his forehead against the earth like a pestle, Liu Linfeng made up his mind. His expression shifted instantly, turning cold as ice.
"Follow me. Let's see if we can at least keep your little life intact!"
Liu Miaotu scrambled after him into a courtyard, where Liu Linfeng produced a thick hemp rope, hauled Liu Miaotu's hands behind his back, and began tying him fast.
"Patriarch, you... what are you..." Liu Miaotu asked, thoroughly terrified.
"Taking you to plead guilty. Only then will it look sincere."
Liu Linfeng waved his hand, surreptitiously hung a blade from his waist, and said coldly, "Move!"
"Yes, yes, yes, thank you, Patriarch!"
Before long, the two arrived before the main courtyard. Liu Linfeng pointed to the mud by the roadside and said, "Kneel there."
Leaving him there, he went in to summon Li Tongya and Li Xiangping. Stepping into the courtyard and seeing the two seated above, Liu Linfeng dropped to his knees and said bitterly, "The Liu clan has failed to discipline its own. I beg the masters for forgiveness!"
The sight of him kneeling made the brothers leap to their feet and rush forward to help him up. Li Tongya said in a heavy voice, "Uncle, you must not! How could it come to this?!"
With a bitter smile, Liu Linfeng recounted Liu Miaotu's disgraceful conduct. Hearing this, Li Xiangping merely remarked softly, "Handle it as you see fit yourself, Uncle. There is no need for such ceremony."
"Please, come with me," Liu Linfeng answered, shaking his head. He led the two to the front gate and pointed at Liu Miaotu kneeling outside.
The moment Liu Miaotu saw the three of them, he began to wail and plead. Unexpectedly, Liu Linfeng lunged forward, dropped low, and drew his arm back, slashing his blade straight across Liu Miaotu's throat. Liu Miaotu managed only a pair of choked squeaks as blood burst from his neck like water. He coughed violently, spitting out a dozen puffs of bloody froth, before collapsing with a dull thud, moving no more.
"Uncle is thoughtful as always."
Li Xiangping clapped his hands and watched Liu Miaotu fall, then turned to Li Tongya with a smile. "He picked a patch of mud so as not to soil our family's stone steps."
Li Tongya only sighed deeply, looking at Liu Linfeng. "We'll have to trouble Uncle to clean this up."
"Naturally," Liu Linfeng replied at once, dragging the corpse off into the woods.
Only then did the two brothers turn back into the courtyard. Li Tongya kept his brow furrowed, but Li Xiangping patted his shoulder and said in a low voice, "He brought it on himself."
Li Tongya let out a bitter laugh, met his younger brother's gaze, and explained, "It isn't that I pity him, only that it leaves me with mixed feelings. It is precisely because the Li family has you managing affairs that Father was willing to step back. In the end, men like me simply aren't ruthless enough."
Li Xiangping smiled and shook his head. "You, Li Tongya, would have killed him just the same. Only you would have summoned the villagers to witness it, enumerated his eight great crimes, and severed his head openly and aboveboard—just so your conscience could rest easy.
"Killing is killing either way. Why go through such trouble!"
***
Standing before the small courtyard at the foot of the mountain, Li Tongya felt Li Xiangping's words echo in his mind, stirring deep reflections within him.
*If I had not killed him, our Li family would become the next Wan family, infiltrated from the inside out until we were riddled like a sieve.*
Shaking his head to banish the incident from his thoughts, Li Tongya gently pushed open the courtyard gate. Inside, he saw Liu Rouxuan obediently sitting cross-legged, circulating her breath and absorbing spiritual energy.
*This Qingyuan Wheel Nourishing Method relies purely on breathing in spiritual energy to condense the Xuanjing Wheel, and the efficiency of that refinement is terribly low. No wonder Rouxuan remains an ordinary mortal after cultivating for nearly two years. On the other hand, from what I've heard, Li Qiuyang has progressed by leaps and bounds with the power of the Shejiao Fruit, and is already on the verge of forming his Xuanjing Wheel.*
Liu Rouxuan was always beaming whenever she saw him throughout the day; it was rare to see her cultivating so earnestly. Li Tongya could not help looking at her for a few moments longer. Sensing her eyelashes tremble and her nostrils flare softly as she prepared to emerge from her meditation, he hurriedly turned his gaze away.
"Brother Ya!"
The moment Liu Rouxuan opened her eyes and saw Li Tongya, she cried out in delighted surprise.
"Mm," Li Tongya replied softly, lowering his eyes, feeling somewhat like a thief caught in the act.
Liu Rouxuan quietly watched his profile, then suddenly said with a touch of dejection, "I am already seventeen. The girls I grew up with in the village have probably long married and had children, yet I don't even have a companion."
Hearing this, Li Tongya could not help but shake his head. "Now that you have stepped onto the immortal path, there is no need to dwell on such things," he said gently. "You are different from them. Focus on cultivating well; forming the Xuanjing Wheel comes before all else."
"I am very earnest! I cultivate for sixteen hours every day!" Liu Rouxuan pouted in quiet defense, then looked up at him. "Is Brother Ya also on his own because of cultivation?"
Seeing Li Tongya nod gently, Liu Rouxuan's cheeks flushed a faint crimson. Her breath quickened slightly as she whispered, "Brother Tongya... could you... still consider me?"
Chapter 36